Carrot Cake

carrot cake. goat cheese icing. candied walnuts. candied carrot strips. raisin coulis.

Kitto Katsu

Ever since visiting Japan I've had this obsessive addiction to Kit Kat bars. Not just eating kit kat bars but collecting and trying every new kit kat bar flavor that I can get my melted chocolate covered hands on. In Japan the bar's name is similar to the phrase, "Kitto katsu" which means, "You will surely win!". The Japanese, being very superstitious, would buy these chocolate bars for their children as good luck charms before exams. I know Japanese people seem so quiet and reserved but inside they are just wild wild people. How else can you explain the wacky flavors that Japanese kit kat bars come in, such as brandy orange, red wine, cherry blossom, soy sauce, banana, grape, iced tea, apple, peach, kiwi, red bean, hojicha, grilled corn, candied sweet potato, edamame, and the list goes on. I hoarded boxes of my two favorite flavors, white chocolate and strawberry, in my return luggage on the way back.

I scored these two packs of kit kats at Hong Kong Supermarket. Neither of them were great. The Caramel Macchiato McFlurry kit kat was too sweet and fake tasting. The Muscat of Alexandria started off tasting okay but ended on a bad note. Grape in a kit kat is just weird. Hmm unless its peanut butter and grape jelly flavor. I should send them my idea. Even though these two were a miss it's still fun to try them. At $2:49 each they are a little more expensive then our conventional kit kat.

Cold

This is a contrasting post to the one I posted on August 1, 2008 titled, "Hot". The weather has been so crazy cold. The other day when I was driving to work at 4:30am in the morning the thermometer on my car read 1 degree Fahrenheit. Just like our kitchen, located in the basement, doesn't have air conditioning in the summer it also doesn't have heat in the winter. And let me tell you, it is freaking cold! I go to work with a pair of tights on, my chef pants, and a pair of snowboarding pants, a long sleeve shirt, a long sleeved hoodie, my chef's coat, an apron, and two pairs of socks! My hands and fingers get so cold they become numb which makes shelling tart dough into rings really difficult. Forget about stepping foot into the walk-in. I try to drink hot tea and coffee to keep warm but the cup just keeps getting cold before I can drink it. Looking back on my "Hot" post, I can't remember how it feels to be hot. All I know now is the cold.

Shout Out Daniel

Pictures courtesy of the New York Times

Congratulations to restaurant Daniel for receiving four stars from picky food critic, Frank Bruni. Here is the article that was in the New York Times: Four Stars for Daniel


"Maybe because Daniel has the smarts to finish strong, presenting an unusually broad and exceptionally fine dessert selection, about half of it devoted, in a manner you could almost call populist, to chocolate in various forms, with various partners.

The other half is fruity, and maybe even better, the pastry chef Dominique Ansel adds brush stroke upon brush stroke to these colorful works of art. Cilantro-poached pineapple was joined by not only coconut ganache and coconut cream but also coconut meringue, a coconut sablé and a piña colada sorbet. It was a Bahamian beach vacation on a plate."



I had a chance to try the pineapple dessert Bruni is talking about while I was visiting a good friend there and it was absolutely delicious. Light on the palate yet big on flavor, it was just so right. Truly it was "a Bahamian beach vacation on a plate". I did my pastry externship at Daniel and I think they have the best desserts in NYC a long with their madeleines and petit fours (please excuse the crappy photo I took with my phone). I'm not being biased. The pastry chef there, Chef Dominique Ansel, is both imaginative and thoughtful in his creations. He is never afraid to explore different flavors and his execution is perfect. He doesn't get the fame that he deserves. Then again not all the big chefs out there are in it for the glitz and glamour. Some actually like to cook.

Check out Daniel's website. Look at the pictures. Peruse the menus. Call. Make reservations. You will not be sorry. It was one of the best meals of my life.

Time to Breathe. Preparation

Now that the holidays are over and everyone is either on their New Year's resolution diet or hermitting at home away from the cold weather work has been slow. The economic recession doesn't help much either. When pockets are low one of the things that people skimp on are desserts and pastries. But I'm grateful for the minute to breathe again. Valentine's day is right around the corner and I'm already preparing. These sugar cookies are going to be iced and decorated to look like the traditional powdery heart candies with the cute sayings on them that you got from your kindergarten crush. Right now I'm also taking advantage of the time to design some new cakes. I already have a carrot cake in the works. I just need to make the raisin coulis to finish. I think during economic times like this people tend to gravitate towards comfort foods and nothing says comfort like cinnamony carrot cake with cream cheese icing. I'm thinking about adding goat cheese to the icing but not everyone likes the funk from goat cheese. Another idea that is a comfort food is a Smores cake. Dense chocolate cake, homemade marshmallow layer, homemade graham cracker, covered in chocolate glaze. I wonder how that would fair. Not exactly french but I have to roll with the times. Once we get closer to spring I'm thinking about a honey cake. Possibly lavendar honey, some kind of cake, some kind of mousse with a crunchy honey comb layer. I'm really into the crunchy thing lately.