Valentine's day!

 know maybe it's a litte bit late, but
Happy Valentine's Day!

or maybe for some, shitty fcuklentine day. well for me, it's fall for chocolate day. remember what they say?

i whipped up some really good (and easy!) chocolate layer cake for valentine's day. well maybe it's not really a cake, maybe you can call it pudding. or parfait. or whatever. u named it. one thing it's true though, it's yum.

you're gonna need :

200 ml ganache ( store-bought chocolate pudding will do too)
brownies
fruits you like. ( i used oranges and strawberries)

i used betty's instant fudge brownies because
1. i'm too lazy to whipped up my own brownies,
2. betty's taste sooo damn good.

i whipped up my ganache with ratio of 1 : 1. so 1 part of chocolate with 1 part of cream. this time, i used 200 gr of chocolate and 200 ml of cream.
chop the chocolate to pieces, and melt then on double boiler. let it cooled for a few minutes then incorporated the cream.

sometimes i like to put my ganache in the refrigerator until it reached the desireable consistensy

i added some chunk of white chocolate because i was running out of my dark chocolates. teehee. don't worry, it won't change the flavour, these dark babies are waay too strong.

bake the brownies according to the box's direction ( your favorite recipe or store-bought brownies will do too) and cut them to squares

cut your fruits, i cut my stawberries to squares and add some sugar in it

then, the fun part. assembling!

put the fruit first,

dipp some chocolate

add the brownies

then more chocolate

fruits,

and more chocolate! ( oh I loveee them!)

sprinkle some grated white chocolate, tied it with a ribbon, and there you go

full of love valentine's gift.

enjoy!

Cirebon

Hellowww Cirebon!

karena liburan ini gue bengong-bengong aja dirumah, nyokap pun mengajak gue untuk 'ngintil' trip beliau ke Cirebon. Mata gue langsung bersinar hijau saat diajak wisata kuliner. karena waktu yang singkat,kita tidak sempat mengunjungi semua tempat makan khas, tapi ada beberapa makanan yang menarik perhatian ( dan lidah) gue.

pertama, Pepes Telur Rajungan. kita makan di H.Moel, restoran seafood yang terkenal enak disini.

mba-mbanya ngeserve makanan yang sepertinya dijadikan appetizer ini dengan embel-embel bangga "Pak Bondan makannya ini loohh!!"
oke deeh mba... ahaha

gigitan pertama, nyess yang terasa pedasnya menari nari dilidah. nyokap pun menspot potongan cabe rawit nikmat itu bertebaran di pepesnya. berbeda dengan pepes yang gue tahu lembek dan nyek-nyek, pepes ini teksturnya sedikit keras. telur rajungannya dibentuk kotak-kotak dan ketika digigit terasa butiran butiran kecil menyebar dilidah. mantap.


setelah pepes ini, hatiku tertambat pada Kepiting Saus Padang.

saus padangnya kuat dirasa manisnya, tetapi rasa pedasnya juga tajam. sedikit seperti pedas manis, menurut gue. potongan bawang bombaynya memberikan kesejukan di makanan tersebut.  dasar maruk, kayaknya 1/2 porsi gue habisin sendirian, hehehe.

hari kedua, diterangi dengan terik matahari yang terlalu ramah ( pulang-pulang gue HITAAAM sekali) menu makan siangnya adalah Nasi Jamblang. ini dia makanan khas yang cirebon-banget! tempatnya disebelah pelabuhan, hanya berbekal plang besar, lalu dsitu ada pintu masuk kecil ke tempat makannya.

nasi jamblang adalah nasi dengan berbagai macam lauk, jadi prasmanan gitu kita bebas memilih menu apa yang diinginkan. harganya juga murah meriah, sekitar 7000 smp 10000 kalau tidak salah. nasi jamblang dimakan atas daun jati, jadi baunya khas sekali.

untuk lauknya, gue disarankan sm tante gue yang suaminya asli cirebon untuk memesan balakutak yaitu sotong kecil yang warnanya hitam. rasanya gurih dan sedikit asin. lauk lainnya tahu, ampela dan kerang. sebenarnya tante gue rekomendasikan remis, tapi remisnya habis :(

yang lucu adalah si kerang ditempatkan di daun yang berbentuk mangkuk mungil. luchuuuu.

Dalam perjalanan pulang, gue menyempatkan untuk ngemil tahu gejrot di stasiun. gerobaknya unik!

tahu gejrot itu tahu kulit yang dipotong dan dimakan dengan saus cuka plus bawang merah dan cabai hijau. nendang deh!

overall the trip was fun, kecuali untuk mataharinya. giliiingg panasnya gak nahan! gue berharap bisa kesana lagi kapan-kapan dan makan lebih banyak lagi ( opppsss ; 9 )

Nasi Jamblang Pelabuhan
jl Yos Sudarso ( samping pelabuhan)
(0231) 323468

H. Moel Seafood
Jl. Kalibaru Selatan no 39
(0231) 206886-247850

Babies!

baby girls, in particular.


rrr.... no, i'm not pregnant,

it's baby girl cupcake!
this is Vanilla cupcake with cream cheese and fondant topping :)

cupcake ini sample untuk kak ghani, mentor business class gue di YoungBiz dulu, untuk acara aqiqah putrinya.

oke, i must to admit mungkin ini karya yang jauh dr sempurna, tapi gue bangga abis! ahahaha. karena ini adalah kali pertama gue bikin figure dari fondant. Selama ini mainan fondant cuman me-roll fondant dan mencetaknya dengan cookie cutter.
I keep on saying bismillah the whole time, berusaha dan berharap supaya figure selanjutnya yg gue tempel ( misal ; menempel hidung, dot, mata, dan tangan) tidak merusak figure lainnya.

Senang, gue membuat hadiah untuk diri sendiri. vanilla cupcake with swirl of chocolate cream cheese frosting.

semoga kak ghani dan keluarga juga suka dengan decorating fondant ini. i'm bringing the samples to their home tommorow!

Carrot Potage

I love books. I love books like pigs love shit. lol.
Gue tumbuh dengan buku, lebih senang berada di gramedia di banding zara, lebih senang menghabiskan duit di kinokuniya dibanding departemen store belanja dan bergenit ria memakai make up. ( kecuali parfum. gue cintaaaaa parfum!) gue suka bau toko buku, gue suka bau buku baru, gue suka.... eh, Enough with my bookgasm, bukan itu inti dari post ini, hahahaha.

recipe books :)

Kecintaan gue ke memasak juga tumbuh dari buku. Manga sih, sebenarnya (komik jepang). Komik-komik spt cooking master, kitchen princess, antique bakery, gue sambat habis. Membaca tokoh utamanya memasak bikin gue pengen ikutan.
So, this is it, resep yang dipraktekan dari buku komik

Enaaaaak bgt, and mind you, it’s HEALTHY!

Carrot potage is basicly carrots, onion, blend into one and then incorporated wih milk and cream. Rasa langu dari wortel hilang dan terganti gurih dari bawang Bombay dan manis dr susu dan krim.
Cucok untuk orang yang ingin makan sehat dan doyan sayur
Dan juga untuk ngibulin anak kecil yang ga doyan sayur supaya mau makan sayur, ( wortel sayur kan ya? -tee hee)

Patut diingat bahwa wortel kaya dengan vitamin a dan c, membuat mata sehat dan kulit indah.


Carrot potage

Untuk dua porsi

U will need :
30 gr butter
1 / 2 bawang Bombay
1 wortel
Garam dan lada secukupnya
1 kaldu blok ( i used chicken stock)
200 cc susu
50 cc cream

1. Kupas kulit bawang Bombay dan bersihkan wortel, potong separuh dan iris setebal 2 mm

2. Panaskan butter dipanci, tumis bawang dan wortel dengan api sedang

3. Larutkan kaldu blok dgn 300 cc air panas, tambahkan tumisan bawang, beri garam dan lada. Angkat dari api.

4. Setelah agak dingin, hancurkan tumisan bawang dengan blender. Saring hasilnya agar tidak kasar.

blend baby blend!

5. Masukkan hasil saringan ke dalam panci, tambahkan susu dan cream, panaskan di atas api sedang. Setelah mendidih, kecilkan api dan panaskan selama 1 menit.

6. Tuangkan di atas mangkuk, dan hias dengan dots of cream

enak dimakan dingin maupun panas

enjoy!
 

a new address!

www.cookeatchew.blogspot.com

Embracing 2010 and my randomness yang semakin menjadi-jadi. See, I still write in English and jump to bahasa in the mid sentence. I just can’t seem to get it right. Pardon me, English readers. Maybe I need that thesaurus and dictionaries by my darling vaio side.

I’ve been looking for a new blog address, just because. I still love the name kedai-mimpi and how that name reminds me of my-oh-so-idealistic dreams. You guys know, opening bakery,becoming the Indonesia top-pastry chef and all. I still desire those dreams, but I suppose my daily-blogging-life is not that ideal. At times, I eat and write and never get to publish it to blog. Or I just chew and don’t think at all. I don’t pay attention to the yummy-ness detail on food, just eat it to satisfy my hunger and get back to whatever I’m working on.

Unconsciously, my idealistic dream gives me these walls that write as if everything I do have to be perfect. Duh, I’m far from it . Trying to get everything perfect and trying to look smart doesn’t take me anywhere. In the end, I don’t do a thing and I’m a thousand steps behind that place I want to be.

In cookeatchew! I want to have fun. I want to make the most of 2010 and stay in the present. The present is a present we all should enjoy. So I hope all my readers will enjoy it as much as I do!

Julie/Julia

I just watched the Julie/Julia movie starred by the legendary actress, Meryl Streep as Julia child and Amy Adams as Julie powell. It is about two different woman living a different life in totally different city, different time and have only one thing in common: their passion for food. And I have to add, a superiorly ( is that even a word? ;p ) affectionate husband.

Geez, if u like to cook and have watched this movie, u’ll understand why I’d die to married those kind of guy in the future.

the story goes back and forth from Julia child life in around 19-something to Julie Powell life in 2002. Julia child struggled to get her cook books published and Julie Powell tried to find some meaning in her life by cooking her way through Julia’s cookbook and blog about it.

It’s very entertaining and inspiring. Gue rasanya ikut tersiram semangat Julia memasak dan Julie menulis. Every journey starts with a single step. It might not be a very perfect step, we might stumble or fall, but at least we took that damn step, because the first step is always the hardest step.

setuju?

Di film ini banyak sekali food quotes yang keren, and I’ll post it someday, promise! Tapi akan lebih mantap kalo kalian nonton sendiri laaaah :)

Ps : Julie Powel sendiri menulis buku tentang proyek cooking her way up through julia’s cookbook ini berjudul Julie & Julia : my years of cooking dangerously and for those of you who have never ever ever heard of Julia Child ( just like I do before I watched this movie) monggo dicheck ke Wikipedia di http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Child

enjoy!

Chicken Fajitas

The dish itself it's quite exquisite. i first cooked it when i enrolled to culinary school 2 years ago. ( or maybe more? ahaha)

originally comes from mexico, chicken fajitas combined the warm heat of paprika, sweet chicken dusted with cinnamon and served with 2 dipping sauce, guacamole and salsa, ganished with sour cream. the earthy flavour of avocado and the tangy from the salsa enrich chicken fajitas. look at that! what a colourful dish :)

i stupidly added too much cinnamon when i stirfried the chicken. hiks. FYI, cinnamon doesn't gives you the sweet flavour. cinnamon smells amazing, but too much of it will leave bitter aftertaste on the end of your tounge.

a lesson i guess, a reminder for me to spend more time cooking and learning :D