Adventures in the kitchen - Part 2

Someone (:-P) has been calling me "my pooh-like, easy-go-lucky, consultant-turn-chef, always on the luck, boyfriend"... and while I object to being called pooh-like, but I do like the sound of 'consultant-turned-chef'.

I've had something of a positive-feedback loop in the kitchen for a while. You make a soufle and it rises, bake a cake it the roommate likes it... Who doesn't enjoy being praised with 'You should open a restaurant, man' - just for making some nice little friend rice.

Cheese Souffle in the oven and out!

The Incident of the Orange-Almond Cake

I saw the recipe in the cookbook and I knew I had to make it. I'm a sucker for oranges/mandarins, you see, and I would get to use my new handblender.

So first simmer oranges in barely boiling water, then leave to cool:

Then with the handy handmixer, puree:

Then bake:

So far so good. Sit down and thinking about that first bite out of the cake after it's piping hot out of the oven... my favorite rewarding moment.

Then amid the daydream, disaster strikes... the cake was happily baking when I realized that 'no sugar was used in this production of the cake batter'... panic hits.

Should i take it out? Mix in the sugar now? My roomie sees me peering into the oven with sweat on my brow muttering (he's thinking: leave the guy alone).

I concoct a seemingly brilliant solution. Make a light syrup and poor it over the cooking cake - the sweetness will be absorbed into the cake and the sugar will turn caramel on top.

Two minutes pass by. I shake the cake pan and the water is slushing around... okay, be patient, let's wait a bit more. Ten minutes and I can't see the cake cos the whole oven is steaming!

At this point I'm pissed. I spent two hours boiling these oranges, perhaps another to scrape off the skin and cut them into nice matchsticks to make the candied zest. So I decide to take the whole thing out and mash everthing back together with a fork... work out my agression :P

Another hour later (it's about midnight now), I find that it didn't turn out to bad after all.. hehe




Tada... at least with no sugar it's low calorie

Lesson learned: In cooking as in life, it pays to keep a bright outlook.