Walnut Cake-Lumiere-Rob Feenie

Finally a day to myself, aside from making cheesecakes for friends. I decided to retry a recipe. I have always loved nuts don’t know the reason why….but I decided to make the walnut cake by Rob Feenie from Lumiere.

I first creamed the butter and sugar then added the vanilla and incorporated the eggs one at a time. Next I sifted the flour and baking powder. When the creaming of the butter sugar mixture was done, I toasted the walnuts and ground them. Once everything was complete, I combined the butter sugar mixture with the flour and added the maple syrup. Finally I added the ground toasted walnuts and baked the batter at 325F for 45-60 minutes. As a suggestion, one could raise the temperature a bit and shorten the baking time as I found the cake a bit dense. Perhaps, I will add less eggs or reduce the walnuts as it weighed down the mixture. I will also try the cake with the supposed ice cream which compliments it perfectly. Nonetheless, the taste was good, a maple walnut flavour from the toasted walnuts and maple syrup.

Walnut Cake

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup maple syrup (try 1/2 cup)
juice of 1 lemon
1 1/2 cup butter (I used 1 cup)
1 1/4 cup sugar (I used 1/2 maple sugar and 1/2 sugar, it was sweet enough)
pulp of 1/2 vanilla bean
1 cup walnut pieces toasted and ground

A Cheesecake for a Sunny Day

I have been receiving orders for a year now from a department in a post secondary institute. Thanks to my connection with a friend whom we met at VRC, which is a sport club. Sole purpose was for extra practice for a varsity team in the beginning. Nonetheless, we have been friends for a good little while. In light of this, I made this cheesecake for the occasion. I would say, for myself, it would be one of the more time consuming cheesecakes as I needed to use leaves to make the petals.

Instead of a graham cracker crust, I opted for a pate sable crust, in my opinion, it was probably the most versatile one. Next I proceeded to make the new york cheesecake base by creaming the cheese, sugar, sour cream and eggs. To add a little more tang to the cheesecake, I grated some orange zest into it. I then topped it up with strawberries. I was quite careful not to over bake the cheesecake thus watched it carefully and baked it in a water bath. Once the cheesecake was done, I allowed it to cool in the oven prior to removing it. I then glazed the cheesecake with Valhrona Absolut and toasted some coconut as a garnish.

Next, came the petals. I melted some white chocolate, I used Valhrona but one could basically use any chocolate. I then brushed the melted white chocolate onto the leaves. To save time, I chose to freeze the petals a bit for easier peeling. As a tip, to not break the delicate white chocolate leaves, peel the leaf away. I continued making leaves until I had enough to arrange into a flower. Once the flower was done, I sliced up some mangoes and centered some raspberries to make the flower look more realistic. Using food colouring, I then painted the petals rose red and the leaves green. As a quick touch, I added a lady bug perching on one of the petals as seen in nature. The end product, well for me I knew I had pushed my boundary. Hopefully you’ll agree as well.

Raspberry and White Chocolate Cheesecake

We’ve been getting rather good weather lately in the city and everyday I am enjoying watching my little pear tree grow with fruit that I’ll be eating. In light of this sunny warm weather, I have been venturing around town again some of these spots are QE Park and Jericho. I love the way how spring is full of surprises from watching little ducklings follow their mother gliding across a calm and clear pond, to watching mallards take flight and land gracefully. Up at Jericho, even the bunnies are enjoying the warm weather as they bask in the warm weather while others race each other around having fun of their own.

In light of this good weather, I decided to make something to reflect it. I have been stockpiling purees for some time hoping to use them and now I have a chance. With raspberries in mind, I visited one of my favorite inspirational bloggers. I chose not to use the oven as it would create more heat in house thus opted to make a no bake cheese cake.

I first creamed the cheese adding sugar and whipping cream. Then I defrosted some raspberry puree to add to the mix. Next came the gelatin which I bloomed in cold water and melted it over a hot water bath. Note: Please make sure the process is quick or the gelatin will set almost immediately. As an alternative to a large cheesecake which I was pretty sure my family would not eat, I decided to make smaller ones. Once they were set, I decorated them. The blogger choose to leave the cheesecakes as is. However when I made the graham cracker crust from scratch, it was too thick thus I decided to cover it with a border. I then decorated it with some pistachios to highlight the white border. In the end, well you can be the judge. I like it. Enjoy a light refeshing dessert.

Raspberry Cheesecake (Can be found here)

Base
55g …………………………… Digestive biscuits
20g …………………………… Butter, melted
10g …………………………… Granulated sugar
Cheesecake
200g ………………………… Cream cheese, soft
60ml…………………………. Whipping cream
100g ………………………… Fresh raspberries
100g ………………………… Raspberry puree
4g …………………………….. Gelatin sheets
1tsp ………………………….. Lemon juice
100g …………………………. Granulated sugar

Fruit Tart

Yesterday was a member of a teams birthday. Thus I decided to make a tart again. I first did the pate sable base. This time I opted for a sliced almond pistachio base. Next I did the custard. Then I organized the fruit. Since I did not have kiwis this time, but since I wanted some green colour, I opted for apples this time. I next arranged some mangoes and finally finished it off with some raspberries. The effect was like this.

Sun Run 2013

Wow after 2 weeks of training…the day was finally here and gone Well, I did not register but I ran the race just as well in light of the event. I am amazed that I pulled it off. I realize that I had not run long distance for 3 years but it so goes to say, that once you put your mind something with conviction and determination nothing is unachievable providing you put time and effort into it. This Sun Run was sweeter.

As I look back while I was training, sure there were individuals doubt me about my abilities and whether I was a good runner. At times I felt bad, but then I realized instead of utilizing that negativity, I decided to turn it into a motivating factor. While I may be bad, I’ll train harder. I may overweight, so I’ll eat less. Now I look back, I am all smiles, nothing can take that experience away from me. It is a journey after all.

I recently had the opportunity to work in a government and got to met a fine gentleman in his fifties. I had learned alot from him. As words of wisdom, even he mentioned that there will be haters, negative people around me the point was to not them effect me. I can’t control what they say but I can control how I react. The Sun Run journey really was something I would not forget due to the individuals who doubted and individuals who supported. Much like a road that has alot of hills with uphills and downhills, or life that has lemons. The key was not to give up and try harder.

I will not forget bolting through the finish line and finishing strong. It was sweet.

I hope that in the next few months, this positivity will shine in me and always believe in myself as that is where the strength is and it transpires with everyday life in terms of education, family, friends, relationships and work.

With the BMO Marathon looming closely. The Sun Run was used as a bench mark as to how fit I am and how much my body can endure. It made it more sweeter knowing that I am ready for the next challenge.

To all of those who question themselves, believe in yourself and know you are worthy.

Beautiful Day

Nothing beats good weather in the city. The sun has been kind to the city folks lately, as it shone brightly like a cherry shinny jewel in the sky, forever reaching out with its warm rays of sunlight like arms  touching every individual who was out strolling or basking and filling them with joy and cheerfulness. Even the local plantlife showed gratitude as they bloomed in brilliant colours like the rainbow. I took the advantage of snapped some shots again as everything was picturesque on good weather.

Honey Walnut Prawns

It’s the weekend again, and went for a visit to UBC.  Its a peaceful environment where I spent tonnes of hours studying for midterms at Koerner Library, or just running along marine drive, which in my opinion was more relaxed than SFU, a dungeon in my opinion.  I’m a biased student hehehe.  But truly, the campus was set in such a beautiful environment from the buildings to the gardens.  One could see the evolving of the campus through the years reflected through the architecture.  From old brick buildings to concrete to state of the art well lit glass buidlings.   Now, the LSI building replaced my studying place.  The LSI was spacious, quiet, well lit and my favorite close to science, anatomy and especially Biology.

Sigh, if only I could see a microscope or a scalpel again…. the memories.  Before doing a 180, I remember taking 1st year Biology courses and labs. I still remember anatomy etc., genetics and cellular mitosis.   Well there was more I remember in 1st year biology, see mom, my brain was not used to grow and fertilize grass and weeds

Now to the main subject, to prevent my family developing diabetes from sugar overdose, I decided to make a favorish dish of moi’s which was Honey Walnut Prawns.  I first fell in love with it in Seattle and overjoyed when it was introduced in Vancouver.  What makes it a delight was the dressing and the pralined walnuts.  The dressing was basically a mayo dressing w/ honey, condensed milk and lemon juice but enough to contrast the crispy prawns.

I first deveined the prawns and marinated with some salt and pepper.  Then I made the walnuts.  I first boiled the walnuts in a little water to rid the bitter after taste and then fried them a bit for a lighter texture.  Next I whipped up some egg whites until frothy.  I then dipped the prawns into the whites first and the corn starch and fried them.  Next came the dressing.

I really like this dish as it brought back memories to when days were better, my cousin was still here and people weren’t one tracked minded or mental fixedness.  Meaning whatever I say, they will always think its what it they think.  Oh well…I am not out there to solve people’s problems.  But growling problem in my tummy is solved and hopefully who likes prawns.

Honey Walnut Prawns found here as well for method.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup walnut halves
oil for frying
1 pound shrimp (peeled and deviened)
1 egg white
1/2 cup corn starch
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice

After eating them with my family, I now have 4 satisfied tummies.  Hehe…enjoy them.