A variation on a dessert tasting

Some writing is pleasing and some you have to make pleasurable.
For the past two years, I have written only about dessert tastings. Each time I have to make it appealing for both the readers and to my practiced eye.

Let us imagine that Alice, the March Hare, the Dormouse and the Hatter dropping in for a spot of dessert at the school on the afternoon of Friday, October 5. What will they eat? Well, they could start off with flambéed peach crêpes, then move onto a honey almond financier dressed with a blueberry grape salad and an almond milk sauce. Will they choose the goat cheese & pear tartlette annointed with candied walnut ice cream or a mocha torte topped with Kahlua cherry compôte and a puff of crème Chantilly? Perhaps the ginger and vanilla bean crème brûlée? No imaginary wine or tea will be served but they could help themselves to hot coffee and chilled water and have a pleasant afternoon trying to chat amicably. Care to join them? Reservations are available for 2:00pm. and 2:45pm.

Holding the fort for one’s department can sometimes be rather tricky. Last week’s dessert tasting was a case in point. The first seating had only 4 guests. To help out, I gallantly decided to be the fifth. Everyone was ordered to have two desserts. Having been on a South Beach-ish regime to lose ten stubborn pounds, this put me in a dilemma as I perused the menu. Now which one would add the least amount of fat overload? Should I choose the red plum Napoleon or the milk chocolate-macadamia par¬fait? The apricot galette or the mocha torte? Never having counted a calorie in my life, I thought it best to order those that looked small in size and nibble as delicately as I could. The mocha torte came first. Toothsome and chocolatey, I allowed myself only two bites and then made mincemeat of the slim brandy snap filled with cream. Was it a good choice? Heaven only knows. My stomach, on the other hand, was in ecstasy! Next up was the red plum Napoleon. I only nibbled on the crisp puff pastry squares not realizing that I should have been eating the accompanying nectarine ice wine salad which was probably less caloric. Then the puff pastry beckoned me with its crisp sprinkles of fine sugar and my heart went along with the idea, singing.
By this time, the reception area on the 4th floor was filling up quickly with what turned out to be 18 people for the second seating. I was stumped. Here, I had eaten two desserts carefully just to make up the numbers and now the table was overflow¬ing. With vengeance, I decided to go the whole hog and tucked into a final helping of three peach crêpe parcels anointed with honey butter sauce. The scales thankfully didn’t rock. I hadn’t gained an ounce. Hallelujah!

On Tuesday, August 7 we can all enjoy yet another “Afternoon of Desserts.” The selections include Pavlova, created in Australia by Chef Herbert Sachse in honor of the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. A fruit-filled meringue topped with pillows of whipped cream, it is both toothsome and creamy. In these hot summer days, what better way to refresh oneself than with coconut mousse encased in a caramelized maca-damia puff pastry shell with a scoop of mango sorbet or an almond pots de crème and a nibble of blueberry short-bread — ah, the lazy days of summer!

Meltdown Mavis

Meltdown Mavis struck early this week.
On Tuesday, I went for a demo by a famous chef and ate 4 tastings of what was made - mind you, these were only samplings. All desserts and so yummy.
The piece de resistance was the bomboloni - heaped on a dish looking gorgeous all sugared up and waiting to be bitten into. Sitting in the back has its advantages as one dish was given to the girl on my right and we both took one each and passed it down. Luckily for us, the dish came back rather fast as most people had eaten too many sweeties and couldn't face another! Not me, I was all up for bomboloni bliss. I took 3 more - two I ate in quick succession fearing that they may be taken away by a well-wisher and one I managed to take for the chef I work for. Then I went to the kitchen and took the phyllo last-minute surprise dessert that this chef had created one evening at the restaurant and which then became a fixture. My chef would certainly enjoy this. I then added another....for me!

Today - there was another meltdown.
At lunch, a tart with blueberries brimming over a pastry cream cried out to me and I put one on my plate before even taking a piece of salad. There weren't that many tarts and I wanted to make sure I got one.
Then another chef sent me an email telling me to "come up and get some" and I knew these were Danishes - oh, la, la! fresh, aromatic with desire - I brought down a plate and carefully offered everyone and they were taken but I also took a small one.
Then after work, I walked to Il Lab specifically for salted caramel ice cream. I had hoped a pint of it was available but only a tub was offered. What could I do? I bought the tub and lugged it home but first I ate a small cup with strawberry and chocolate.
I daren't step on the scale tonight or tomorrow morning in case I get dizzy from dread.

In Search of the Perfect Biryani.....

Biryani....Hyderabadi asli biryani....a melange of basmati rice aromatic with marinated chicken with saffron and kewra eaten with raitha and passion....

If you eat a biryani that has tomato in it, leave the table and go home.

No tomatoes are to be found in an authentic biryani.

Rice, chicken, mutton, garlic, onions, cinnamon sticks, rice and an assortment of other delectable ingredients that spell ambrosia.

Eda....what?

Edamame. A strange name for a strange bean.

Saw it many times but never looked appealing enough for a taste. On Friday evening, that was all that was on the cocktail menu at the Buddha Bar. So I ordered it and ate most of it up mainly because the drink, the Black Buddha was a tad too bitter. J___ had a cocktail called "ginger" and that also was sour. The cocktails were poor, the music lacked base till later in the evening, the space was very pretty and the edamame saved the evening!

J said that the beans were not the best she had eaten. What were the best? A__ told me today that we needed to go eat Japanese where the best beans were served hot! Hot or cold, I am in pursuit of the best there is on the market.

I bought a small helping of steamed soybeans this weekend - they are expensive at $3.36 for 0.42 lb. Then later I bought wasabi flavored dry roasted ones which I have yet to taste. An 8 ounce bag for $2.99. On the cheaper side but which one will be devoured faster?

This bean may be the ideal snack that could replace my daily appetite for popping rather delicious chocolates indiscriminately into my mouth.

a regime....

Mulling over a regime. Trying to eat less.

Two friends - both from the East where frankness is common - bluntly told me that I looked "fat". Aaah! The dreaded word. The first acquaintance gave me recipes that evoked healthy eating and then made me aware that none of her family were over-weight. The other friend took one look at me and asked me what had happened. Then in the same breadth asked if I had any biscuits to eat? Thankfully there were none in the house.

Years ago I used to weigh myself with a cookie in my hand and when my Dad asked me what the reasoning was, I told him that if I had lost some weight, I could celebrate and if I hadn't, I could feel better by eating something sinful.

So a regime is what I am on now.

Pish Pash

Today I wanted a warming meal for supper.

It was chilly all day and rainy .

The fridge had various leftovers but I was tired of eating those again and remembered a recipe for a risotto with red wine and rosemary that I had not tried out. As I read through the recipe, I saw that it was good for stirring in left over chicken, meats and vegetables. Just the ticket!

Apparently, this risotto is made in the Piedmont area with Barolo wine. I don't bother with those niceties any more. Whatever red wine is at home is what I use - open or to be opened. I am not running out to scour out for the exact bottle of wine. I used to do those things years ago and wasted a lot of money in the bargain - this special herb, or that one ingredient - what a waste! I find that one can compromise just as easily.

This risotto was simply made with shallots, a bay leaf, fresh sprigs of rosemary and red wine. One change was the addition of some hot home made chicken/wine stock which softened the sharp taste of the rice as it was cooking. At the end, I added cut up roasted chicken, grilled asparagus, a handful of salad greens, a teaspoon of mascarpone, salt and pepper, cilantro (here the Piedmontese will be turning in their graves!) and a sprinkling of Parmesan.

This warming meal reminded me of pish pash which in Indian households could mean the advent of something delicious on the dinner table or something curiously strange. In this case, the bowl held plump grains of wine colored rice glistening among the wilted greens, shreds of chicken, sprinkles of cheese. Loaded with flavor, it was a dish worth repeating.

A wish

Last evening, I ate some ice cream. Some Sheer Bliss coffee ice cream.

Some?

Who am I kidding? I should be honest. I ate half a tin of ice cream. What I need to do is take out a portion into a cup and put the tin away. Self control being scarce, perhaps I should lock it away in an old-fashioned refrigerator - the kind that can still be dug up in India.

Ideally, I would like is to eat as much of it whenever I like and then by magic the pounds will fly out and latch onto Leland's tall, lanky frame. He is so lucky - he can eat and drink to high heaven and still remain string bean thin. He would not make a good model for Weight Watchers....the ladies there would eat him up alive...out of sheer jealousy.