Another plum recipe. I loved the look of this one way more than my plum tart. I used Jacques Pepin’s recipe, and I’m glad that the plums were much juicier this time round. One thing I didn’t get to do is brush the plums and crust with preserves after taking it out of the oven. We didn’t have any preserves, but I think they would have added a nice shine to the pastry.

Next, I would make a thinner crust and try to not overmix it. I thought that I didn’t overmix it, but you could tell that I did by the toughness of the crust! I would also add more almonds to the filling to give it more flavor.

My family liked the plum tart way more than the plum galette. The crust in the plum tart had more flavor and was more crumblier. I think I might do Ina Garten’s crust with Jacque Pepin’s almond filling and plums.

8/27

IMPROVED!! Made a smaller galette with 1/3 of Jacque’s recipe. Instead of his almond filling, I made almond paste which tasted SO good. I really want to make a pastry with just the almond paste as the flavoring. It was wonderful. The dough was more flaky but I had baked it for long, almost 50 mins to an hour. I overbaked it because I was waiting for the crust to turn a nice golden brown. It was only when I took the galette out of the oven and brushed the crust with preserves did it look good! Next time, I’m thinking to wash the crust with egg before sticking it in the oven. This should give the crust a nicer look.

Tips:

• Use almond paste instead of Jacque’s almond filling
• Don’t overbake the tart. Bake it for 25-35 minutes
• Brush the crust with egg wash before sticking it in the oven
• Brush the crust with plum preserves after taking it out of the oven
• Add a drop or two of almond extract to your almond paste to intensify the flavor

We finally harvested the basil sitting in our patio garden. I swear this is the most tiring shit I have ever done. It was a lot of checking for bugs, because we don’t use any pesticides.Instead of pine nuts and parmesan reggiano, I used walnuts and romano. I liked the taste of walnuts, but I would have liked parmesan reggiano more. I also added some lemon which was not a part of the original recipe.

Now I need to enjoy the pesto! There is angel hair pasta, chicken, or bread.

As unforgettable Gordon Ramsay quotes go, “this is absolute dogshit.”

I used the Ina Garten recipe for Plum Tart. My only modifications included adding 1/4 tsp of cinnamon and nutmeg, and I accidentally overmixed the batter. The dough should have been more crumbly, but it was more of a cookie dough.

Tips

• I could have also added more cinnamon and nutmeg (1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp cinnamon)
• Use a juicier and sweeter fruit like peaches OR I could poach the plums in sugar in order to sweeten it and draw out the juices
• Make a crunchier and crumblier topping, maybe with oatmeal. This means that Ina’s crust would only be used for the bottom, and a new crumble recipe should be used for the topping.

This wasn’t awful. It’s definitely a work in progress and I intend to right my wrongs.

8/24

Yesterday I made a great plum tart! I used a utensil to turn the dough into a crumbly mix, and that helped tremendously in spreading the mix onto the pan. I also added butter shavings onto the plums, because I notice that it adds more liquid to the plums. I did pack the plums and did not make too much dough.

Tips:

Add a bit more flour to the dough if I am using more plums. I could alternatively keep the flour measurement the same and use less plums.

Sprinkle chopped almonds or walnuts onto the top for a crunchier topping

Add butter shavings to the plums to make them juicier

I need to stop making food that I have no idea how they’re supposed to taste. It’s a real crapshoot since I would never know if the taste is right.

I made tres leche cake last night and it’s sitting in a three milk bath in my fridge. I didn’t have enough whipping cream to top it off so I’ll need to buy that. I hope it’s not too soggy by the time I finish work.

Tips:

• Use a whisk when mixing the dry and wet batter in order to break any clumps
• You really can make egg white peaks too stiff, so don’t do that
• Really mix in the egg white peaks and the batter to make it a liquidly consistency. You don’t want there to be pockets of egg white.
• You can probably make less of the milk mixture poured on top
• 25 mins at 350 degrees was plenty in the oven. Check to see if it is done by 20 mins.

8/13/18

The consistency was good. We could have cut down on the sugar added, since there is a lot of sugar in the sweetened condensed milk already. I would probably cut it down to 1 cup of sugar. Zach LOVED this cake. I thought it paired really well with the strawberries and mint. I agree with my dad that it could have used more spices.

8/15/18

This cake actually got less sweet and tasted a lot better on the second day! I think it’s because the sweetened condensed milk was so heavy that it drained out of the cake. It was a perfect sweet. Maybe I shouldn’t cut down on the sweet next time.

This recipe is great. Ash made it for me once, and it was SO good. He doubled up the spices or else it would have been bland. Keep the fat on the chicken so the sauce is thicker and tastes better. Use yogurt instead of heavy cream. When it is time to shred the chicken, discard the fat. Season liberally with salt and lemon (not lime).

Round 2 of Bò Kho. The first round was a soupy, flavorless disaster. I should have known when the recipe had only four ingredients. For Round 2, I found a new recipe that looked a little more promising with a longer ingredient list.

I worked a long time on this round. I started at noon with marinating the beef, and I ended around 4pm. I still didn’t like the flavor! The original recipe called for far more water, but I didn’t add as much because this is supposed to be stew. The use of coconut water was really interesting. My parents said that no Malaysian recipe uses coconut water, and I was hoping this would add a new flavor. It didn’t add much at all! It tasted just like water, but who knows. Maybe my taste buds are shot? I think I just don’t like fish sauce too. It’s very high in sodium and sour. It reminds me of another fish sauce in Malaysian dishes called Budu, but we only use Budu as a dipping sauce. There’s no dish that uses Budu as a flavor base.

I need to find a dish that would actually appeal to me. At least this time, the dish had flavor. That is a win.

I think the next recipe would be an Indian dish. I already have it scheduled this Wednesday.