Sometime last February, Jayvee and I had this x deal where I’ll get this if he can prepare a 5 course meal by the end of April. We weren’t supposed to start with the dessert but one, am better off with sweets rather than main course and two, the cover of my new cookbook was too enticing.

Please excuse our messy kitchen!

Hot Vanilla Souffle (adapted from The Cooks’ Bible by Le Cordon Bleu)

125g butter
60g flour
500ml milk (heated)
1tsp vanilla essence (original recipe calls for 1/2tsp but it was too mild for us)
125g caster sugar
8 eggs, separated

Triple coat 6 125ml ramekins. This ensures even rising and prevents burnt edges.

• Brush the ramekins with softened butter
• Chill until set
• Brush another layer of softened butter
• Chill again
• Evenly coat the ramekins with caster sugar
• Chill until your souffle mix is ready

Make a white roux sauce

• Add the flour into the melted butter. Stir constantly.
• Remove from heat and gradually add milk. Beat continuously to blend.
• Bring to boil then lower the heat until you reach the desired thickness.
• Stir in the vanilla essence and 2 tbsp. caster sugar
• Remove from heat. Cool slightly. Blend in the egg yolks.
• Set aside

Create a soft meringue

• Whisk egg whites to soft peak stage
• Whisk in the remaining caster sugar to form a soft meringue

Gently fold in the soft meringue into the white roux using a large metal spoon. Spoon the mix into the ramekins prepared earlier. Bake at 190C for 15-20minutes (we baked ours for 15minutes). Sprinkle some icing sugar. Serve immediately.

Weeeee it rose and the texture’s PERFECT!

15 seconds after pulling out

20seconds after pulling out

Photos were by Jayvee, save for the first and the third.

I almost forgot to share with you what I made two Sundays ago for lunch!

Per my brother’s request

While I adopted my recipe from Rachel Ray, I make sure that mine’s tad tart-ier. I serve it with egg drop soup too to complete the quick oriental experience.

Remember my valiumtimes grocery list? Well this is how the cookie crumbled:

and

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Something I whipped up in 2 hours, marinating time included:

Turbo broiled chicken legs served with kimchi

Thyme and garlic fried rice

As a (sort of) beauty blogger, I can easily give you a quick list of products to try to smoothen and soothe your dry, itchy hands.

As a frustrated chef, I can definitely tell that my flaking hands will not respond to even the richest hand cream I have on my boudoir. From the looks of it, I think they are dying to be soaked in extra virgin olive oil while my cuticles need a generous swiping of almond oil.

So this is me, (finally) going back to work in the kitchen, trying to prettify myself the best way I know and seeking nirvana at the same time.

Vegan Pasta, July 2007

Hershey’s Kisses Cheesecake, April 2007

Grilled Tuna Belly, May 2007

ps. Thank you for hosting Pass The Sauce.