favourite recipes for everyday cooking and baking

  Never judge a book (or falafel) by its cover. Before this, I never gave much thought to falafels. They are the round brown balls that look like croquettes or arancini, and are commonly displayed in kebab stalls at the food courts here. I love kebabs, but those falafels just never looked appetizing to me. That was then. A few weeks ago, a friend decided to introduce me to Lebanese food at Al Aseel , where I ordered the mixed plate, consisting of grilled chicken, lamb and kofta with a variety of dips and tabouli. These were served with some pickles and a side of Lebanese bread. I wasn't a fan of the bright neon-coloured pickles, but everything else was superb. It wasn't until I had almost finished eating that my friend commented how I was not eating it the " proper " way. So, what is the proper way? Well, first you tear off a small triangular piece of bread. With the bread between your fingers, use it to grab som...

My sister thinks that my posts are long and verbose at times. Well, I don't deny that. I guess I enjoy reliving the gastronomic experience and want to describe every chewable aspect of it. Maybe I should explore how to incorporate sound effects in my posts/photos next time. Crunch! Crackle! Slurp! Ahh.... Now, what would best describe these meltingly tender beef cheeks and that silky smooth cauliflower cream? OMG....Simply awesome. Movida Slowly braised beef cheeks in Pedro Ximenez with cauliflower puree Source: Movida Spanish Culinary Adventures Ingredients 1.5 kg (3 lb 5 oz) beef cheeks 125 ml (4 fl oz/½ cup) olive oil 3 carrots, roughly chopped 1 garlic bulb, halved 1 brown onion, sliced 500 ml (17 fl oz/2 cups) Pedro Ximenez sherry 500 ml (17 fl oz/2 cups) red wine 3 bay leaves 3 tablespoons thyme leaves 1 teaspoon fine sea salt 1 head of cauliflower, broken into florets 185 ml (6 fl oz/¾ cup) cream 40g (1 ½ oz) butter Method 1. Trim the beef cheeks to neaten them up and remove...

  I brought this cheesecake to my uncle's housewarming party last Saturday. My aunt took a look and said "I think I've seen this cake before, with the cow-pattern. Wasn't it on TV recently?". Yes! It was on Destination Flavour Japan on SBS. "The show with that Adam Liaw guy from Masterchef..." she says. I was thinking, gee, she must have REALLY wanted to eat that cheesecake to have remembered it so well. I guess it is a rather unique-looking cake. And it tastes absolutely heavenly. Velvety smooth and silky, not too rich, not too sweet. It's really the perfect cheesecake. It's the Choco Moo cheesecake , made popular by Farm Design Hokkaido Cheesecake. What makes this cheesecake so special is the use of Jersey milk that has high butterfat content, although you can also substitute with regular milk. The inside of the cake has little balls of chocolate ganache. The chocolate really shouldn't be oozing out like the picture above. I didn't let...