Cream Puffs

This is a picture of my first time making choux pastry, and well, assembling them into cream puffs. It was quite an experience. Firstly,  I messed up the first batter by trying to sub 2 large eggs with three small eggs. The batter turned out to be too liquid and just spread out when I spooned them onto the baking sheet. I redid the batter, kept to 2 small eggs and it turned out just fine!
Next, I bought some whipping cream and started to whip it with my hand mixer. I roughly reached a creamy texture but I thought it might not hold piping patterns so I just whipped it a wee bit longer. And it turned into cheese. Heh. just kidding. But yes, the whipped cream turned into curd that I could pick up with my fingers. I was quite horrified and had no choice but to store the choux pastry shells until I got more whipping cream.
Finally, I achieved somewhat creamy texture with my second carton of whipping cream and filled my choux pastry shells. And even made some swans :)
Overall, Im really satisfied with how the choux pastry turned out but the cream wasn’t quite sweet enough. The powdered sugar did help a bit with the sweetening tho. Definitely gonna try to whip up some eclairs or profiteroles next time round.

A 3-course lunch by the Culinary Institute of America Students

Quite a while back, say in February, my friends and I attended a banquet lunch service prepared by the CIA. The CIA occasionally organises such banquets and meals are at an affordable price of $10-$16 depending on the number of places booked and whether you opt to have wine as part of your meal.

While waiting for the appetizer to be served, baguette slices and brioche slices were provided. Breadsticks were offered to us as well. A refreshing drink was also served. I didn’t quite catch what the drink was but tasted like a sparkling mix of lime and guava.



Seasonal Mix Greens Salad

The appetiser was a seasonal mixed green salad with mushrooms and quail egg, topped with a guava dressing, if I remember correctly :p The endives made it quite bitter though. And if i'm not wrong there mizuna in there too. I liked the onions, which were really sweet and tasty and eased the bitterness of the salad. There is also some sort of citrus peel, which made it a little more refreshing.
                             

And heres the main course: Pesto crusted salmon on pumpkin mash with beans and beurre blanc and garnished with a sundried tomato.

Pesto crusted salmon on pumpkin mash with beans and beurre blanc and garnished with a sundried tomato

To put it simply, this was the best salmon I have eaten so far. (though I probably haven’t really tried that much salmon dishes apart from fruit salsa salmon, teriyaki, garlic-ginger, steamed, sashimi)
The pesto was tasty and aromatic and pumpkin mash smooth and sweet. was great and the beurre blanc was light.

                                        

Then heres the desert!
I was especially looking forward to this. This is a cheesecake with oreo crust served with raspberry coulis and raspberry cream. I think that’s a tuile on the side?
Surprise! As I dug into the cheesecake and had my first ‘forkfull’ of the treat, I realised that hidden within the cheesecake is tiny pieces of white chocolate! With the cream cheese and strawberry/raspberry flavours, its quite divine :) not too sweet, and just the right portion not to be too heavy.

Overall, it was a great meal and value for money if you don't mind eating food prepared by trainee students. Still, they are of high standard and quality. I apologize for the inconsistent placement of pictures, Im still struggling a little with the image insertion functions. :x



Oreo Cheesecake with Raspberry Coulis