My Birthday Week

I have groused about it before, but on the weekend Bon Appétit came up with 75 weeknight dinners. Do they really think people are going to plough through 75 suggestions unless, like me, they are searching for recipes to share. Another email I got contained snacks for football weekends, there were dozens of them. I never did get to the end any more than I got through the 75 recipes. Maybe I am just lazy, but I can't imagine anyone, with a busy life, work, kids etc. etc. would bother to go through so many recipes. 24 hours after writing this, I get another email offering 100 lunches!!!!

My first bowling for the league went pretty well. Had two good games and one moderate. I was quite pleased. Being the first day, I won't find out how many points we gained until we go in on Thursday. Update: We are lying 2nd. I hope we can stay up there. Thursday bowling went well too and the alley owner gave me a bunch of rhubarb from his garden as a birthday present. Yum. Tonight we go to the Red Lobster which I understand has a Shrimp Fest running. More yum although the shrimp here is not as tasty as the ones we got straight from the sea in North Carolina.

Tuesday was my free lunch at Mandarin. It also coincides with the Moon Festival this month which is celebrated mid Autumn during a time of moon watching. Of course, this means Moon Cake which I really love and which nobody else seems to enjoy.  The bit in the middle of the cake represents the moon. The cakes are predominantly made with lotus seed paste and are very sweet. I am giving you a recipe but I know I would never make it, and I don't suppose any of you would either. I ate plenty of it for lunch together with a lot of other specials just prepared for the Moon Festival. They had some Korean chicken which was delicious.

Wednesday morning I felt absolutely lousy. Ended up going to bed for the rest of the morning but by lunchtime was starting to feel OK. No idea what the problem was.

So we went to the Red Lobster for supper and I ordered the Seaport Lobster and Shrimp, but I

couldn't get the local pic so ended up with the US pic. The only difference, I didn't get broccoli, I did get rice. Matt had Blackened Arctic Char. I had been very tempted to have the Arctic Char myself as it is one of my favourite fish. I forgot, being a creature of decision I decided to get some Chocolate Wave Cake to go home. However, Matt got some to eat there so I changed my mind. Ate a lot of it and then changed my mind and took the rest home. It is so delicious. Not only that I ate two of their biscuits too - really a birthday is no excuse.

I have been writing this email in bits and pieces all week, so if the timings seem a tad off, sorry about that.

Moon Cake

A step by step guide for making mooncake, a traditional Chinese dessert typically eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival for good luck.

For the dough
100 g all purpose-flour
60 g Golden Syrup
1/2 tsp Alkaline water available at Asian grocers
18 g Vegetable oil

For the filling
420 g Lotus seed paste
6 Egg yolks salted
1 Tbs Rose-flavoured cooking wine available at Asian grocers

For the egg wash
1 Egg yolk
2 Tbs Egg white

1. FOR THE DOUGH
2. To prepare the Chinese mooncake dough use a large bowl, mix the golden syrup, alkaline water and oil well. Sift in the flour. Use a spatula to combine all the ingredients. Don’t over–stir. Knead into a dough. Cover with film wrap and rest for 40 minutes.

3. Mix egg yolks with wine. If the salted egg yolks are homemade and freshly broken from the shells, you’ll see the egg whites turn opaque after mixing with the wine a few minutes later. Wipe the yolks dry with kitchen paper. Cut each into two halves. Set aside. Roll the lotus paste into a long tube.

4. Cut into 12 equal portions of 35 grams.

5. Roll each portion into a ball shape. Set aside and preheat the oven to 180°C.

6. FOR THE EGG WASH
7. Whisk the egg yolk with the egg white. Sift through a fine sieve.

8. FOR THE FILLING
9. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions. Roll each portion into a small ball shape. Cover a dough portion with a plastic film and roll into a thin disc. Then take a lotus paste ball and poke a hole in the middle with your finger.

10. Place the egg yolk inside and roll and shape into a ball. Wrap and seal the lotus paste ball with the dough disc.

11. Spray the mooncake mould and place the stuffed mooncake into the mould. Lightly press the mould handle, then remove the mooncake from the mould. Transfer the stuffed mooncake onto a lined baking tray.

12. Repeat this step to finish the remaining dough and lotus paste.

13. Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 to 12 minutes. Brush the mooncakes with egg wash, at about five minutes, before removing from the oven. Continue to bake until the pastry turns golden brown. Remove from oven and leave to cool on a wire rack. Store in an air–tight container. The pastry will become soft and shiny in one or two days: the mooncake recipe is ready to be enjoyed.

Source:  Fine Dining Lovers

Have a great day
 

Birthday Lunch, Costco, New Restaurant.

We went for my free lunch at the Mandarin Chinese Restaurant where I love to eat. As always I started off with their hot and sour soup which is to die for. They really make a great one. It is the Moon Festival so they had all kinds of special dishes of which I tried several. In the evening they are doing Peking Duck but we rarely go there at night, pity. Once I had finished the main items (I included some sushi and a few dumplings too) they came and slapped a coolie hat on my head, put a cake with a candle in front of me, sang Happy Birthday and took a picture which is in a frame which will stick to the fridge. Then I went for dessert and had moon cake which I love. Sorry Alex, I didn’t hold back, no willpower at all. I did have fresh pineapple though. Pic scanned better out of the frame.

Having had our lunch and said goodbye to our friends, we went on to Costco where we broke our bank account as usual. We don’t go often, probably we should, it wouldn’t cost us so much. We now have lots of meat, fish and chicken for the freezer plus a bunch of pills we take, not cheap but cheaper than buying them at the pharmacy.

My friend’s niece has just opened a restaurant in Kitchener, on King St. so we must give it a try . It’s actually very close to the bowling alley so maybe we can lunch first one of these days. Her mom owns a restaurant in Elora called Cork and this new one is called Gilt. I wish them every success in their endeavour. As yet I don’t know what they are offering in the way of food. During our bowling season we travel to different alleys and a bunch of us have lunch first. This might be a good place for us when we are at our local alley, Towne Bowl.

This recipe is so cute I couldn’t resist passing it on although Hallowe’en is not for a month or so yet.

Sugar Ghost Cupcakes

Taste of Home


I had 10 neighborhood kids stop by to help me make these cupcakes for a bake sale, though I have no doubt that most of the treats never made it that far! —Mysie Sabin, Franklin, Wisconsin

24 Servings

Ingredients

• 1 package chocolate cake mix (regular size)
• FONDANT:
• 1 package (16 ounces) miniature marshmallows
• 4 to 5 tablespoons water
• 1 package (2 pounds) confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• DECORATING:
• 1 can (16 ounces) vanilla frosting
• Blue, orange and green paste food coloring
• Miniature peanut butter cups
• Malted milk balls
• Clear vanilla extract

Directions

• Prepare and bake cake mix according to package directions for cupcakes; cool completely on wire racks.
• In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine marshmallows and 2 tablespoons water. Microwave, uncovered, on high for 1-1/2 to 2 minutes or until melted, stirring every 30 seconds. Stir in three-fourths of the sugar; turn onto a work surface coated with 3 tablespoons shortening. Knead until smooth and pliable, gradually adding remaining sugar and shortening. If necessary, moisten with remaining water. Wrap fondant in plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out.
• To decorate, set aside 1/4 cup frosting. Tint remaining frosting blue; frost cupcakes.
• For ghosts: Invert two peanut butter cups and stack, securing together with a small amount of reserved frosting. Top with a malted milk ball, attaching with frosting. Repeat, forming 24 stacks.
• On a work surface lightly sprinkled with confectioners' sugar, roll a 1-1/4-in. ball of fondant into a 4-in. circle; drape over a stack.
• For eyes and mouth, gently cut out shapes using pastry tips. Repeat for remaining ghosts.
• For pumpkins, stems and tendrils: Tint desired amount of fondant orange. Wrap fondant around malted milk balls; shape into pumpkins. Add imprint lines with a veining tool or toothpick.
• For stems and tendrils, tint a small amount of fondant green. Shape into stems; attach to pumpkins using vanilla. For tendrils, roll out remaining green fondant; using a pizza cutter, cut into thin strips.
• Gently wrap strips around toothpicks; set aside to dry. (Tightly wrap any remaining fondant in plastic wrap and store in a resealable plastic bag for another use.)
• To finish cupcakes: Place a small amount of reserved frosting on top of each cupcake; top with a prepared ghost. Carefully remove tendrils from toothpicks and attach to pumpkins, using vanilla. Attach pumpkins to cupcakes as desired. Yield: 2 dozen.

Editor’s Note: This recipe was tested in a 1,100-watt microwave. This recipe was tested with Kraft brand marshmallows.

Have a great day