WHB #222 Hosting Announcement

Hi everyone :-) Mea culpa..I almost forgot that I am this week's WHB host (well unfortunately I had some minor explosion problem with my laptop :-) )

As usual it is always my honor and pride to host Weekend Herb Blogging ,this mouthwatering event that puts vegetables, herbs, plants and fruits into the limelight. WHB as we all know is the brainchild of Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen. It is now under the caring wings of Haalo of Cook Almost Anything but it still brings us the same aroma and passion for anything green. The rules are simple, post about any herb, fruit, vegetable, flower or plant. The post can be informative, a spotlight of a particular ingredient and/or a recipe where your chosen produce is one of the primary ingredients in the recipe. The post should include about the event "Weekend Herb Blogging" with appropriate links and a link to this announcement. I will be posting the roundup next week :-)

In the meantime enjoy some shots of the Chinese New Year Celebration I took in Binondo Manila. We wanted so much to stay longer and enjoy the event but Mayumi got scared of the dragon :-)

Vegetable Bouillabesse and a Dinner date with mon Cheri

Remember I promise you a week ago about this romantic "tete à tete" dinner with hubby. Well we finally succeeded in getting a reservation last night to this two starred Michelin restaurant. And I'm warning you this is the first time for me to eat in such classy gastronomic restaurant who's regulars are celebrities (French that is), local politicians, well-off old couples and some food lovers who saved their hard earned money or probably just a lucky couple who received a gourmet check as a farewell gift from some generous colleagues. We fall on that last category of course.

The restaurant is bewithchingly situated at the foot of the famous Les Baux de Provence. Imagine this, a castle and fortress that is spectacularly set a top a rocky hill of the Alpilles mountain overlooking the beautiful Provence. We arrived at the restaurant around 8 in the evening with a temperature of minus three degrees outside. Fleeing the nippy weather with a high heeled shoes wasn't reallly practical specialy if one wants to adore the charming garden of the restaurant. All I remember was that I made a small reflection when I saw a flock of swan swimming comfortably in a Siberian like pond. "How the hell do they do that?" Even the fountain was half frozen. Anyways, it was such a refuge to enter in the warm lobby of the hotel leading to the restaurant. The decoration was sober, nice and clean sans too much frou frou. The table was solely decorated with a long stemmed white rose, the cutleries were not even placed. They were actually dressing our table and bringing in the silver cutleries for every service. I must admit that I have never seen so much people attending to us. The manager brought us to our table chatted with us for few minutes to make us comfortable and propose to bring us a glass of champagne. Then another guy came and brought us the menu card. I'll save you the delicious "blah blah" he made explaining every course. We chose our dishes then came the "wine specialist" holding the wine menu card and then goes our wine orders.

Now are you ready for the real spectacle?

The first set of our amuse-bouches were brought on the table. It started with green olives fait maison (home-made). I brine my olives but I have never tasted anything like that before it was really good and the color was bright bright green. Interesting! Next was a long rectangular plate of three mini-amuse bouche. There was a ginger spice cracker topped with beet root gelée, a spoon of creamy tapenade and black radish stuffed with tuna rillette. They were all beautiful to look at. These three bite-size goodness of different texture was really amazing. After few minutes another girl came with a small verrine of very cold nutty like cream with bubbling concoction on the top. I didn't get the name, hubby told me they were ancient vegetables very commonly used during the Middle ages but is now rarely seen in the market. It was my favorite it was really astonishing how the low temperature of the soup brought a completely different taste.

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Then came our first entrée; A velvety like creamy soup of pumpkin with bruscheta of onion confit and slices of fresh black Truffles. What was interesting was how dramatically artistically it was brought on our table; first the semi-concave plate adorned with a bruschetta lightly buttered topped with some onion confit and cream chantilly then after came another serveur to pour delicately the creamy pumpkin soup. Every spoon was really comforting.

The next service was the fish plate. It was red tuna perfectly grilled à la plancha served in the bed of vegetable tagliatelle and bits of Parma ham accompanied with a sauce of balsamic and red wine reduction. I rarely eat fish but this was really good!

The third service was our meat dish, it was a classic lamb dish braised tenderly in red wine, tomatoes and black olives. The meat was accompanied by a creamy polenta in parmesan. The dish was really good but I must admit I regreted for not choosing the other dish proposed by the Chef for it was less traditional.

Of course we needed some pause...... but then few minutes later the serveur arrived with a cart of cheese of all types and of all sizes you could imagine. My special favorite was the creamy fresh goat cheese with fig. Really really good! They have special toasts of raisin bread (pain au raisin) to accompany the cheese that I would really like to know the recipe :-)

Before we had our dessert the serveur came again with a small verrine glass of cream of passion fruit topped with a spuma of coconut cream. This wasnt part of the dessert this was just something to make us busy while waiting for the chef to prepare our dessert.

The grand finale was naturally a chocolate dessert. It was a three layered dessert of three chocolates of different taste and temparature. It was served in an aquarium like glass were in the first layer was an intense chocolate soft biscuit topped with a warm dark bitter chocolate and a very cold mousse of chocolate au lait. There was a praline of hazelnuts on the top of it and scoop of dulche de leche ice-cream beautifully adorned with a long thin piece of black chocolate. If heaven had taste I'm sure it was close to this :-)

We had some coffee and then "again" the serveur brought us a plate of mini mignardises (sweet stuffs) there was Rosemary creme brulée (an interesting taste), Raspberry madeleine and strawberry sablé (biscuit).

It was an amazing delicious night.Verdict; considering the price, this is something we will do again once a year unless some rich kindhearted fellow will offer it for us "again"!

Vegetable Bouillabesse
for 6 persons

Bouillabesse is a traditional Provencal fish stew originating from the city port of Marseille.

1 liter of fish stock (about a kilo of fish carcasses)
1 celery chopped
1 carrot
1 onion
1 fennel
one cup of chopped pumpkin
2 tablespoons of Pastis (anis based liquor)
Some boiled vegetables of your choice: broccoli, potatoes, carrots, etc
some olive oil

In a large casserole put your fish stock, celery, carrot, onion, fennel and chopped pumpkin. Bring them to boil. Pass them all together in a mixer and strain. Put it back in casserole, add your pastis, olive oil, salt and pepper and boiled vegetables. Bring to boil. Serve with some croutons.

Beef Wellington Mushroom & Chestnuts and Sauce au Foigras

What was the last embarrassing moment that you had?

My list is long but let me share you the latest one. Imagine this: Christmas shopping rush is everywhere. This is my favorite time of the year not only because of the gifts that I will receive but I always feel great to offer gifts to people I care. And besides who doesn't love shopping, aside from our husbands (of course :-) ). I was garbed with my favorite winter outfit, my bag, my list and my wallet. I decided to go early morning so I have plenty of time to choose before really buying them. I entered the first shop, and there the sound goes, "beep". I disregarded it and continued looking around and eventually decided to go. There the sound went again "beep". I just made few steps and there the security of the shop stopped me. Explaining that I "beeped" and stuff. I gave my bag and everything and they found nothing and let me go. I was disgusted and told them their security alarm must be broken or something. Then I went to go to the next shop. And the same thing happened again ,the security alarm "beeped" once again. So I said "I must leave", but there goes the security to check my stuffs "Again". Believe it or not after the fifth shop and I had the same "beeping" incident I finally decided to go back home. My worst nightmare, in reality. What must be beeping on me? My keys, my bag, my sweater? I have really no idea...Well I'll just be shopping gifts online I guess. I bet you have a lot of embarrassing moments to share too.

By the way, I would like to invite you to check out the beautiful feature write-up about Dhanggit's Kitchen on Femina Magazine. Thanks again Rajani for this!

I am sending a slice of this yummy Beef Wellington with Mushrooms and Chestnuts over at talented Haalo of Cook Almost Anything, this week's host of Weekend Herb Blogging #214, that delicious event pioneered by Kalyn now under Haalo's caring hands. If you want to participate please don't forget to check out the link.




Photos from top to bottom, left to right: The beef freshly cut, the two Mayumi's playing in the kitchen, the plate of beef with veggies before serving, the beef with the knife, and Mayumi trying to write her name.

Beef Wellington with Mushrooms and Chestnuts in Sauce au Foiegras
serves 6- 8 persons

This is a very easy and yet delicious festive dish you can prepare for this holiday.

about 1 and half kilo of beef tenderloin trimmed
3-4 tablespoons of olive oil
15 g of butter
4 pieces of parma ham
shallots chopped
about 80 g of chestnuts (i used fresh chestnuts that i boiled and mashed)
250 g of mushrooms (champignon de paris) finely chopped
salt, pepper and lots of herbs: rosemary and thyme
1 roll of puff pastry
1 egg yolk

for the sauce:
15 g of butter
1 small shallots finely chopped
2 tablespoons of olive oil
100 g of bloc de foiegras
60 ml of veal stock
1 tablespoon of heavy cream

On a pan with oil and butter brown the beef briefly on all sides. Add salt, pepper and herbs. On the same pan, fry the shallots, mushrooms and chestnuts, add some salt and pepper. You can pass this on a mixer to have a fine consistent texture. Roll out your puff pastry , put your parma ham, spread evenly the chestnut-mushroom mixture and put the beef on the top. Closely evenly the sides of the dough. Be sure you seal tightly the edges. With the brush spread evenly the eggyolk. YOu can make some the designs on the top using your knife. Bake this on a preheated oven at 250°celsius for 20-25 minutes. Set it aside and let it rest for about five to seven minutes before slicing it.

For the sauce, on the pan brown your shallots with olive oil. Add your sliced foeigras. Pour the veal broth and let it simmer for few minutes. Put some salt and pepper. Just before turning off the heat. Add the butter and heavy cream to thicken the sauce.

Nectarine and Peach Salad

It's good to be connected.

...... and one day you will be chatting virtually with friends that you haven't seen for fifteen years or more. If you are lucky probably even exchanging photos and happy memories of your long lost childhood. Laughing ridiculously in front of your computer, alone. You keep abreast each other by twitting up or hanging out in FB.

The next thing you know things get even better in being connected, you discover new friends never in your wildest imagination will cross your path. And these reel friends become real. Your friendship with them gets deeper, for they are genuine people. Next thing you know, you meet up, have lunch. And things get even better, you chat, you laugh but you are no longer alone.

Here's a glimpse to that colorful afternoon spent with my blogging friends Haze, Makis and Cathy. I'll be sending some of this delectable Nectarine and Peach Salad over at charming Susan the Well Seasoned Cook our host for this week's Weekend Herb Blogging, that event created by Kalyn now in the hands of Haalo of Cook Almost Anything.

From top left to right, table set up, red wine by Makis, a slice of decadent chocolate cake, my wire whisk still unwashed, pile of left-over rosemary pork barbeque and what's left of my famous rice artichokes salad.

Express Peach and Nectarine Salad
Ingredients:
3 yellow peaches
3 yellow nectarines
about 250 g of mache salad
about15 pieces of cherry tomatoes
one small block of feta cheese

vinaigrette sauce
3 tablespoons of olive oil
some salt and pepper
2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

Peel the nectarines and peaches. Cut them into bitesize pieces. In a salad bowl, toss the tomatoes, peaches, nectarine, feta and mache salad with the vinaigrette sauce.

Nectarine Raspberry Ice-cream Meringue Cake

Last week was intense. There were two birthday celebrations; a visiting Aunt's and my daughter's. Shopping list, cooking, baking and preparations were doubled for a twicer fun. Then there was death. Cory Aquino the Filipino influential political leader admired and respected by many passed away. Although I wasn't there to physically live the moment, the fang of sadness was all over me. In between these two emotions there were numerous last minute appointments before summer holidays begin, lots of paperwork to hand over to my boss and then there was also the Weekend Herb Blogging hosting. To make things even more challenging, Mayumi's nursery school is already in vacation since last week so I found myself juggling everything, hardly. (Whew.)

And ooops, I almost forgot. There was also my dad's presence whom I felt strongly at the eve of my little girl's birthday. Goosebumps, excitement or just simply burnout. I don't know how to explain it but I felt it. All that in a week of a roller coaster ride of emotions! This week just started. Hoping for a much sluggish phase but with Mayumi around that seems to be futile!
This is my entry to WHB this week is hosted by lovely Anh of Food Lover's Journey. For more details on hosting and guidelines check out Haalo's Cook Almost Anything Blog, the new mother of WHB created by talented Kalyn.



Nectarine Raspberry Meringué Ice-Cream Cake
Ingredients:

nectarine ice-cream
half a cup of nectarine purée
1 tablespoon of honey
half a cup of pounded praline (caramelized nuts)
3 big egg yolks
3 big egg whites
75 g of sugar
30 cl of heavy cream (very cold)

raspberry ice-cream
half a cup of raspberry purée
1 tablespoon of honey
3 big egg yolks
3 big egg whites
75 g of sugar 30 cl of heavy cream (very cold)

Procedure: It is the same preparation for the two ice-creams. First incorporat the honey on your purée. Then whisk the white eggs until they become stiff, you can add a pinch of salt to keep it stiff. In a separate bowl, beat your heavy cream until it forms a peak. Add the sugar little by little. Followed by egg yolks. Fold in the flavors (the purées, the praline). Mix altogether. Fold in the beaten egg whites delicately. For the nectarine flavored ice-cream add your meringué. Put this in ice-cream maker. If you do not have you can immediately proceed to assembly.

Assembly In a rectangulaire shaped mold cover it with plastic wrap. To facility un-molding the ice-cream cake. Pour the first flavor followed the second flavor. Put it in the freezer minimum 5 hours. Take out from the fridge twenty minutes before serving. Decorate it with some cream chantilly.

Enjoying her new fish...

Weekend Herb Blogging #195 Hosting

Taraaaaaaaaan!!!

It is the honor and pride of Dhanggit's Kitchen to host this week's Weekend Herb Blogging. This fabulous event that puts vegetables, herbs, plants and fruits into the limelight has gone a long fruitful way since Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen created it. WHB is now in the nurturing hands of Haalo of Cook Almost Anything but it still carries the same aroma and passion for anything green. Well actually color does not matter :-) The rules are simple, post about any herb, fruit, vegetable, flower or plant. The post can be informative, a spotlight of a particular ingredient and/or a recipe where your chosen produce is one of the primary ingredients in the recipe. The post should include about the event "Weekend Herb Blogging" with appropriate links and a link to this announcement. And to make this event even more exciting (but this is optional!) as my daughter turns 2 year old this week and she loves chocolate so anyone who wants to include chocolate in their post is highly appreciated!

Post your entries anytime this week but remember to send me your entries before the cut-off time.

To know more about hosting guidelines and scheduled host check-up the link here.

Send your entries to dhanggit AT gmail DOT com with WHB#195 in the subject and the following details:

• Your Name
• Your Blog Name/URL
• Your Post URL
• Your Location
• A photo: 300px wide

We eat vegetables and fruits more than three times a day and we all love chocolate. So you have no reason not to send me your entry. Or if not I'll cast you my magic spell and turn you into a cute toad. LOL Just kidding. You have until this Sunday August 9 (American Time) to send me your delicious entries.

Strawberry Tartar

Lost in Translation.

That movie of Sofia Coppola is one of my favorite. Not only because it was shot in Japan for where I lived sometime in my life. But it was quite a funny way to see how foreigners struggle in some foreign land. When my good Japanese friend to whom I have not seen for a long time (more than seven years) wrote to me few months ago about her upcoming visit here in France. I was really euphoric. For she is more than a friend to me, she is like a younger sister to me. And besides I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to practice my japanese the language I haven't spoken for a long while. I have never imagined that it would be that hard for me to speak Japanese again for everytime I opened my mouth its french words that are coming out. It was so frustrating at the beginning but I managed to keep up.

With her meager vacation left before her grand depart for her newly signed job in Honduras as a volunteer worker for JICA, she managed to spare three days to visit me here in Southern France. Her vacation was short but meaningful. Hubby took some day off to serve as chauffer, yours truly as the tourist guide and little Mayumi as the Mascot. She enjoyed Southern France and of course a little bit of my kitchen.

I am sharing here some of our photos too. A serving of this strawberry tartar also goes to Graziana of Erbe in Cucina this week's host of Weekend Herb Blogging. That authentic herb blogging event created by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen now in the caring wings of Haalo of Cook Almost Anything.



Strawberry Tartar

Ingredients:

500 g of fresh strawberries
a handful of fresh basil leaves
a handful of fresh thymes
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon of balsamique vinegar
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper

Procedure:
This recipe is very easy and fast to make. This serves around four persons. Cut your strawberries. In a bowl mix your your vinaigrette: olive oil, salt, pepper and balsamique vinegar. With your fingers add the thyme and minced basil leaves. Toss your strawberry. I served it with some mozarella balls and jambon serrano.

The colorful market of Aix en Provence

Me and my tired daughter

View of Marseille from Notre Dame de la Garde

Mizuho, Me, Mayumi & Hubby enjoying ice-cream

The historical arena of Arles

The beautiful beach of Calanques

Our cute mascot

You can also try this other strawberry recipes:
Strawberry Gaspacho and Basil
Strawberry Sweet Sushi

Chicken Tagine in Lemon Preserve and Olives

Today, I bumped my head at the fridge’s door and realized that hey, I missed out this month’s DB’s challenge. Ooops.

Gosh, I am totally lost and exasperated with our moving. I have moaned and groaned on this task that every time I finished packing one box it seems there’s another one to make. They are infinite. Oh for heaven sake, do we really have this much of stuffs? I sigh. Probably karma for some good things that I did, our annual family reunion came in as a gift this weekend: for it gave me and my husband a two-day break to do nothing but eat and chit chat.

One of the things I appreciate the most about this family event of ours is the décor: a 17^th century five story bourgeois villa in between lavender fields and chestnut & black truffles plantation, indeed the most treasured of our family’s patrimony. And I tell you, on occasions like this I savor more the stories we share on the long table than the sumptuous meal served. Blame it on my frustrations of being a reporter. Hopping from table to table for the latest buzz; Cousin A, the meteorologist in the family just got an offer for a five-year job contract in Tahiti! Wow, that’s great everybody’s excited. But hey, isn’t it that France-Tahiti flight being the farthest place we could ever think of flying could cost a whopping 2000 euros per person. Hmm, not really good news I thought. Oh have you heard that Cousin B is back dating again after her recent divorce? Now we have good news! Well Cousin C claimed it is still too early to rejoice for the guy he was dating with is still in the process of divorcing too. Hmmmm! And Oh Uncle A, the doctor finally after years of our convincing accepted to take his much deserved vacation with her wife, they’ll be flying to China next week. That’s great, I said. But probably you can advise us on what’s the best one to bring along on our travel; they asked me, backpack or a suitcase? Huh? I replied. Luckily I was saved by my mom-in-law asking me if I already prepared my cocktail dress for Friday’s occasion. No not yet I retorted. Roll out the red carpet for apparently dad-in-law will be honored the highest recognition given by the French government for his unwavering services as the highest judge of the Court of Appeals I hope Sarkozy will be there, I sneered. Gala event’s like that is not really my cup of tea but the free buffet table sounds promising to me I thought. I’m already dreaming of champagne and caviar when my husband approached and whispered on my ears; Honey, I think your chicken is burning!

Im sending this chicken tagine of to Valentina, our host for this week's Weekend Herb Blogging, the even created by Kalyn.

Chicken Tagine in Lemon Preserves and Olives

1 whole chicken cut in serving pieces
1-2 pieces of lemon preserved chopped
2 big onions sliced
1/4 cup of olive oil
half a stick of butter
half a cup of green olives
2 to 3 pieces of potatoes
2 teaspoons of tagine spice: curry, turmeric, cumin, etc
some fresh chopped coriander
1/2 a cup of chicken stock

Start by putting half of your olive oil and butter. Brown the sides of your chicken, set it aside. On the same casserole, put the rest of the oil and caramelize your onions. Put back the chicken and continue stirring. Add the spices and the preserved lemon. Add the potatoes and green olives. Put some salt. Pour the chicken stock. Simmer over low fire for about an hour or until chicken is tender and soft. Top it with chopped coriander.




My other chicken recipes:
Chicken Curry Pizza
Chicken Supreme

Chocolate Coconut Pie

If there's one trait about me I am not proud of that would be my hot-temperedness. Oh for heaven sake it's a curse that runs in our blood a sort of a family heirloom. So as much as I can control this and to avoid further “collateral damages” my military attack could do I normally shut up my mouth and turn my back. Unfortunately yesterday wasn't just an ordinary day that I triumphed in holding back my anger.

Well you see, I got an invitation for a half-day Management seminar 2 weeks ago from my professional counselor. It has been several times I refuse to attend because of my busy schedule but I finally decided to do it, after all it will be for my own good. So I took the time out to fix everything at home, find someone to take care of Mayumi, put some appointment in the afternoon so that I could maximize also my time. When I arrived at the hall and told them I was there for this seminar, I was advised that I wasn't on the list. But the weird thing I wasn't the only one. There were eighteen unfortunate souls like me. The three secretaries were all panicking already on how could that happen that there was this much people invited to a seminar that doesn't even exist. Well, there was a scheduled management seminar that morning but it was for "Building Constructors". (Oh yes you heard that right, building constructors!) Everyone else was calm (I guess they were all too sleepy to react) well except for me I had my dose of hot chocolate that morning. I was fuming with madness and was busy bombarding with questions the terrorized secretaries that couldn't give me a decent explanation on what really took place. They were the organizers; they send the invitation to each one of us how come they don't know what happened? Of all the things I really hate that would be people's incompetence. But my path unfortunately always crosses with them.

So to pacify the angry me and definitely not to waste the time of other people who were there, they proposed that we attended this seminar instead. They negotiated with the speaker to tackle the subject on a much wider perspective to accommodate our needs. Especially when it comes to French government policies one single rule applies to all. My only regret, she didn’t talk much about her original topic for I could have learned a new stuff that can be useful for my house renovations.

Anyways, the only good thing that I could pull off from yesterday my meet up with another blogger, a Pinay who got a scholarship from Erasmus Mundus, who’s staying here in France for four months then off she goes to Finland and Netherlands (isn't that cool?). We had a succulent lunch in my favorite Vietnamese restaurant. Yay! Sorry for ranting, its my first anyways.

I'll be sending slices of this pie to Zorra our lovely host for this week's Weekend Herb Blogging, the event created by Kalyn. I'ts been a long time I haven't had my Friday Dose of Chocolate :-)

Chocolate Coconut Pie
For one big pie

Recipe for pie crust (pate brisée) here :

200 g of dark chocolate
20 cl of heavy cream (about half a small glass)
3 tablespoons of butter
1 egg
1 cup of fresh coconut

In bain marie melt the chocolate and butter. Out of fire, fold in the heavy cream and egg. Mix them well. Pour them over your shell pie. Arrange nicely your sliced coconut. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 180° celsius.

My other pie recipes:

Pinacolada Pie
Fig Coconut Custard Tart
Lemon Meringue Pie

Homemade Orange Wine

Orange wine

What is told in the ear of a man is often heard 100 miles away. ~Chinese Proverb

My mom always told us to mind our own business. It is a sign of respect to other people. But one Tuesday afternoon in the organic market in our area, I couldn't help myself eeves dropping two wine connoisseurs conversation. Their topic was how to make your own Home-made Orange Wine. I hope you like my Wordless Home-made Recipe this Wednesday.


This wine is just perfect for summer. The light and fruitful flavor of this wine will perfectly harmonize with the color and odor of the season.


Orange Wine

for every liter of white wine or rose wine you will need
2 organic oranges
20 cl of alcohol of at least 40% (I suggest you use Calvado, Armanac, Grand Marnier etc)
16 teaspoons of sugar

Cut the oranges in quarter. Mix the wine, alcohol and sugar together and let the oranges macerate for three weeks in this mixture. You need to put them in one big plastic container tighly covered like an empty water plastic container. Everyday you need to shake a little bit. After three weeks maceration, filter the wine twice to be sure that there is no more orange pulp left in the wine. Pour them on your wine bottles and put back the cork. Orange wines are served cold to accompany your white meat dishes, seafoods, or desserts. This wine is also best appreciated for the apperitif.

Drink moderately....

You can also try my other wine recipe:

Walnut wine