Post-Thanksgiving and Happy Cyber Monday!

Ahhhh~ How was everybody's Thanksgiving? Full? Happy? Stuffed? or Exploded?
And how's the Black Friday huh? Crazy? Cold? Deals? Or like me, No Deals?
Unfortunately, the stuff I want would never be on sale. That's the sad fate for being someone with extreme high taste and rich unique sense of style. Kmmm, or just simply picky and unsatisfied.

Black Friday shopping wasn't successful, but giving-thanks was. I thank God for every single minute of my life, for I'm alive and kicking and loving every single minute of it. I had no chores to do, no one to please, just me, myself and I plus some valuable good friends. Life is REALLY good.

And of course, what is life about if there's no Crepes?
Banana Nutella Crepe from La Belle Crepe

Warm and soft crepe with sweet banana and the forever-heavenly-favorite Nutella cream. How could anybody resist that? How could life be completed if there's no afternoon Crepe and Coffee?

Just like those in Paris. Sweet crepes are fold in the triangle shape while savory ones are fold in squares. But either way, a cup of Cafe Au Lait is a must. For me at least. Caffeine addict here.

La Belle Crepe: right one Nicollet Ave, two three blocks from Macy's.  No better place for a pitch stop on the black friday holidazzle shopping spree (or window-shopping spree).

Bon Appetit!

Voila! The Giant Macaron!

Oh la la~~ The Giant Macaron from Dalloyau, Paris! Man oh man, this is really some piece of cake. Oh, no, it's not even a cake, it's just one GIANT MACARON!!! No kidding, macarons from Dalloyau is definitely the best and the most original. Dalloyau, being the birthplace of macarons, is for sure my all time favorite pastry shop in France. Only if I could go again... or get a taste of this giant macaron, which! I spent so much time and effort in ordering and planning for this little adventure.

I long-distance called Dalloyau couple times. Tried the one location near Bastille, hoping someone would help me out in English: " No, No, Madame, No English..." Then I tried calling the one near Champs Elysee: got transferred 4 times before talking to the English-speaking store manager (whose name I cannot pronounce...), finally ordered the cake "ehmmm, I want the giant macaron cake". "No madame, that's no cake. That's macaron with peach creme fillings" "oh... okay... I want that... "

"okay, Madame, I need a phone number from you."

Me, "oh... well, I'm actually calling from the US... so, I don't think you will call me back..."

"Urmmmmm, then you call back tomorrow to confirm."

So I called back the next day, just to find out that English-speaking manager with un-pronounce-able name wasn't even there... Then, I had no choice but to bother my lovely French friend Alex to help me confirm. It's just so beautiful listening to them talk... a language that's so hard to master.

Not lucky enough to taste the Giant Macaron... I can only mesmerize the taste of my petit macarons from Dalloyau...

Macarons, not to be confused with Macaroons (the coconut flavor smashy cookies), is a form of luxurious French pastry. Made with two layers of thin cookies and sandwiches a layer of ganache or cream fillings (like the peachy one). I would say that the thin cookies are probably the most important part of the macarons. One must master the technique in combining the right ingredients of egg whites, almond powder, icing sugar and sugar, with a controlled baking process, to finally achieve that perfect crisp and chewyness of a semi-dome shape macaron. The amount of ingredients and time involved are probably what make macarons so special and luxurious.

Dalloyau was the first to serve the French king the preciously prepared macarons. But it was until Laduree that perfects and evolutionizes the macrons we enjoy nowadays.

Lavender, peach, rose, chocolate, green tea, hazelnuts, coffee, and even foie gras flavors of macarons....

Take me to Paris!

Le Cordon Bleu Atelier 1

Entree: Salmon with Crepe and Avocado and Tomato Sauce.

Pan fried the salmon till it's pink and warm inside. Salt and pepper to taste. Crepe mix with fresh parsley leaves. Puree avocado and tomato for the side sauces. Wrap the salmon in the crepe and top with plain wipe cream. Decorate with some fried salmon skin.

Main dish: Chicken leg stuffed with chicken breast mousse, vegetable basket and gnocchi.

Debone the chicken legs. Add cream and the chicken breast in the food processor. Stuff the mousse in the chicken leg, pouch then wrap with the bacon. Pan fry till done. Veggie basket stuffed with roasted peppers and vegetables of your choice. Gnocchi stuffed with basil. Basil and chicken juice as sauces.

Le Cordon Bleu Superior Cuisine class is required to have two Atelier within the course. Atelier: studio or workshop. Students are given a 5 hours period to cook their designed dish. The list of ingredients are given ahead of time, so the students could better prepare and design the dish. Two dishes are required: a Entree and a Main Dish. 

The main ingredients are salmon and chicken. Bing decided to do a salmon dish for the appetizer or French Entree. He said that most people would tend to do the traditional ways: grilled salmon with lemon juice, baked salmon..etc The simple preparation. But if you want to stand out from the crowd and be recognized, you should know better than this. So, to add a signature to his dish, Bing wrapped the salmon in a crepe, and top with whip cream.  And for the main dish, he went with the stuffed chicken. I am very impressed with the little veggie basket, but I guess it's rather standard for culinary students? A tender darker meat chicken leg, stuffed with chicken meat mousse and pan fry with bacon wrapped around it. It must be very rich in flavor and distinctive in texture. Tender meat, mousse, and crispy bacon. 

Among all the ingredients, the gnocchi really caught my attention. I had no idea what it was when I first saw the picture. Silk worms were my first guess... "Gnocchi!" Bing corrected me. Well, I guess I've never had gnocchi before. Or even if I've had it, I had no idea what the name was. Pardon my ignorance please...

Mary has a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb...

CÔTE D'AGNEAU POÊLÉES <>

HARICOTS VERTS AU LARD ET CHIPS DE POMME VITELOTTE

Pan-Fried Double Lam Loin Chops "Maintenon"

French Green Beans With Bacon And Purple Potato Crisps

Please don't ask me how I managed to type up those French title. It was quite an effort, but not as much effort in preparing this dish. I had the honor to watch the LCB chef prepare it during the Superior Cuisine class. The entire class was taught in French, and I was probably spending more time staring at Bing than the chef, so please don't ask me how to cook this. But! you can still ask! I will let Bing do the explanation.

I never really like lamb. Not just because my last name "kinda" means Lamb. ("kinda" because my last name Yeung sounds the same as Lamb in Chinese, but not in writing. huh huh huh confusing?) Meat all have their own tastes. That's why some people don't like beef or pork, and for me, it's lamb. (and hey, don't ask me about Dog... I don't know how it taste like... I really don't!!!!) It's just too rich in flavor. One bite, the little lamb is just kind of rushing down your throat and up your nose at the same time... and it lingers around your mouth, in between your teeth... Next thing you know, I'd be chewing some garlic and swallowing it with some red wine... So, since I never really liked lamb, I never really cared how they were prepared etc. Yet, this lamb dish I had really changed my perception on lamb.

Bing said the lamb smell came from the fat. You should always cut off the fat from the meat, so the flavor is less intense (especially for the weak sauce Angela). The same goes for beef, pork, and other meat.  

 

The middle of the lamb should always be pink, around 45 degree C. Anything that is cooked more or less than a rose center is not considered as a good preparation. Basically there's no rare/medium-rare/medium for lamb. Only one-degree of doneness. For this dish, the lamb chops are garnished with chopped ham, mushrooms, onions, parsley, and top with truffle. The lamb trimmings were used for the sauce, together with shallot, carrot, onion and celery etc, all your basic ingredient for flavorful stock/sauce. Freshly prepared, this lamb dish was the perfect lamb dish. Not overwhelmingly strong taste or smell of lamb. The meat was juicy and very soft. I started to understand why people enjoy eating lamb. The texture of the meat is just different. So soft, so tender, just like my tongue was touching the super soft fluffy sheep skin... okay, maybe that's a little extreme... But it was just incredibly delicious. Not just your Rachel Ray type of Delish.

I'm glad that I have been exposed to the heavenly taste of lamb, and I really enjoyed it. However, I still don't think I would order lamb as my first choice if given the chances... Just not something for me... oh well, I know Bing is secretly smiling right now, cause he knows he could now have all the lamb chops all by himself... sure sure. this is the one time I won't fight with you. Go ahead, good eats!

Something Sweet, Something French

I wish I knew the name of this dish that Bing made at school yesterday. But, like I mentioned in his bio, he only likes very subtle attention. And that's the hard part for maintaining this blog. I have to try really hard to get him to send me pictures and descriptions of the dishes... Man, maybe I should be going to LCB and get trained. Then I'll never need to ask him what Iam eating... lol

I started a facebook group for Bing. Again with the subtleness, the group isn't so welcomed by Bing himself. But! I know he likes it. And yes, maybe I am a little crazy for doing all this. But what's life about if I'm not crazy?! Plus, I thought this would be a great way to make Bing become an overnight internet sensation or some sort. And maybe even landing a show in the food network!!!

But I don't think Bing has that TV personality (think about Bing Liu vs Rachael Ray... you got the idea). And since I'm the one behind all his great publicity, WE should be doing a food network show together! Maybe name it: kisskiss bing bing, cooking with love, french-wanna-bes asian cooking... i don't know... But anything we do is gonna be better than that Sara Semi-Homecooking... a stupid show that promotes instant noodles...

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