Espresso cream puffs

my baking for this week - the espresso cream puffs adapted from "Baking with Julia" book

for the puffs

215 gr flour
235 gr milk
200 gr unsalted butter
6 eggs
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

pre heat oven at 400F

add espresso, sugar, vanilla to milk, bring to a simmer, stir and make sure all espresso is completely dissolved

add butter to milk and stir until butter is completely melted

add flour to milk/butter at once, stir until flour is well incorporated, continute to cook and stir until a thin crust is formed (about 30 seconds more).

scrape paste into a mixing bowl, beat in 1 egg at a time. i used mixer at low speed for this task.


pipe dough on parchment lined pan, leave at least 1" in between so puffs have room to grow.

bake for about 20 mins, lower heat to 350F and bake for 5 more mins. let puffs cool on rack completely before storing.


for the chocolate espresso creme anglaise filling

470 gr milk
5 yolks
70 gr sugar
3 tablespoons flour mix with 100gr of milk or water.
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon frangelico

add chocolate, espresso, vanilla to milk bring to a simmer, stir and make sure all chocolate + espresso dissolved completely

whisk yolk and sugar until all sugar is dissolved completely.

add a quarter of simmer chocolate milk slowly to the yolk while continue with the whisking

add the yolk and milk back to the simmering chocolate milk while whisking continuously. stir over medium heat until the curd is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon (took me 1-2 minutes)

strain flour solution (make sure there's no lump) and add to simmering curd while whisking continuously. continue to stir over medium high heat until the cream thickens (about 10 minutes for me).

add frangelico, mix well and strain in to a bowl, wrap with plastic pressing onto the cream surface (to prevent skin to form). let it cool completely before chilling it in refrigerator.

pipe the cream in puffs when ready to serve.

South

Another impromptu dinner out with my friend so no pics for this post :(

the food was refreshing with smaller portion and light on the fat.

i had a couple glasses of pinot grigio, delish as always, not too dry nor too fruity. i forgot what my friend order... something bubbly??? anyway, she liked it.

we shared the "bushman plate" which is kind of like an appetizer plate with fried calamari, salmon capaccio, fried pork belly, olives and eggplant mash. everything on this plate was perfect. i usually don't like salmon but love it here, fresh and limey with the marinade. the pork belly was surprisingly lean and tasty.
for entree, i had the crab omelette and my friend had the some kind of fish capaccio. the omelette was excelent in miso broth and noki mushroom. my friend said the capaccio was a bit on the sweet side for her.
for dessert we shared the licorice parfait with lime sauce. the combination of licorice and lime was refreshing, i want more!!!

http://www.southfwb.com/

SF20

the vintage furniture show, we loved, loved, loved... but everything was expensive and i don't have space for any additional furniture... this show made me want to decorate...

Bar Tartine

After the beautiful furniture show on Saturday, my friend and i headed over to bar Tartine for a late lunch. the restaurant is almost full and we were able to grab a table. i liked the decor with big marble bar counter top and bistro tables. the staff were super friendly and layback. the space was still almost full at the time and the noise level was high!

my friend had a champagne to start and i tried the blacberry proseco aperatif, it was a bit on the sweet side but i like it. i've had much sweeter aperatifs before.

for lunch she had the duck galatine which is kind of like a pate. it was very tasty, and i love pate so i really enjoy a morceau that she gave me.

i had the open face fried pork belly sandwich with heirloom tomato, very good and also very fattening! i gave my friend the last piece of pork belly since i couldn't take anymore fat. the fat and the meat was crispy on the outside, tasty indeed!

my friend had another champagne and that was it for lunch, no dessert today.
http://www.bartartine.com/

New Asia

Sunday brunch, we - a few friends from work - gathered at New Asia in China Town for dimsum. it's a huge place and there's a line to get in but the wait was not so bad - about 10 minutes for us.
the place is bright with huge chandeliers, we went upstairs for out table. the table cloth was stained with soysauce and what not (hopefully it is a sign of authentic food??? like my friends said) and the unsavoring stains were quickly covered up with white paper placemat.
the dumplings were good and big, i don't thing i ever had any dim sum dumplings this big! my chinese friend said it's "old school" dim sum.
sticky rice in grape leaves

shrimp dumplings (ha cao)

sesame ball with sweet bean

shanghai dumplings

mustard green (cai lan) with oyster sauce

they were all good, i was kind of turned off by the stained table cloth but my friends told me that's the sign of good authentic food. next dim sum outing we will have to try a new place since there are so many in the city...

New Asia
772 Pacific Ave
San Francisco, ca 94133
415.391.6666

Lavender Vanilla Creme Brulee

Creme brulee was my baking for this weekend. adapted from Martha Stewart's coffee creme brulee recipe, here's what i made...

5 yolks
470 gr heavy cream
70 gr sugar (i used super fine sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons lavender extract
pinch of salt
sugar for topping (i used regular table sugar)

pre heat oven to 320F

add sugar and salt to yolks

whisk until sugar and salt dissolved

bring cream to a simmer, let it cool down for 5 minutes

add about 1/5 of hot cream (slowly) to yolk mixture while continuing with the whisking.

add the yolk and cream mixture back to the remaining hot cream (slowly)while continue whisking. add vanilla and lavender extract, whisk to mix.

pour the cream and yolk mixture through a fine sieve, skim and discard all the foam on top.

pour cream and yolk mixture to ramekins, set ramekin in roasting pan. add boiling water to roasting pan until it reaches half height of ramekins. put roasting pan on center rack and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until the creme brulee is set but still jiggling in the center.

let cool in hot bath for 10-15 minutes. wrap with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic to the surface of creme brulee, chill in fridge for at least 2 hrs ( i did over night).

when ready to serve, let creme brulee sit at room temperature for 10 minutes, spread about 1 table spoon of sugar on top (of each), caramelize with torch or under broiler (i used the torch).

Lava

another the impromptu dinner out without my camera, no pic for this post...:(

it was the tuesday after labor day and the bar was all quiet, there was only one bartender at the bar and a couple customers. we sat at the bar.

my drink was good enough, a cadillac margarita. she didn't salt the rim, there wasn't enough lime juice and it came in a highball glass? i enjoyed it anyhow. my friend had a couple martinis and a champagne... she didn't comment on the drinks and we were too busy talking, i forgot to ask.

the food was good to my surprise, since it sounds kind of different on the menu. they were all tapas size which i like. the seared tuna on some kind of fried chip (may be wonton skin???) was good. the grilled steak with hoisin sauce and sticky fried rice was again, surprisingly good. and the duck on mini buns with plum sauce was also tasty. my friend thought the duck would come on chinese steam buns but it was on mini burger buns (may be egg buns???) they were good any how.

the decor is modern casual, the bartender was very nice and friendly. the crowd was mostly asian that night and there was less customers than usual, said the bar tender.

Lava
527 Bryant st.
San Francisco, ca 94107
415.777.1333

Sol y lago

we had a late lunch at Sol y lago - a beach front restaurant in North lake Tahoe. it was around 3pm. i was famish and forgot to take pics....:(

a lovely restaurant where you can sit outside to enjoy the fresh mountain lake air... we had to move inside because of the birds and the bees... literally. Inside, guests can still enjoy the view and the lovely air minus the birds and bees!

the food was alright, i had the butter lettuce with goat chese, raisins and caramelize walnuts salad. it was good, although there was a bit of water on the lettuce that should have been shaken out, it made the salad more watery than a normal salad should be.
the second dish, i do not reccommend. it was shrimp ceviche but it was not... it was water logged shrimp cocktail with ceviche marinade (lime, tomato, onion, cilantro...) it was kind of tasteless except for the sauce. i should have known better not to order seafood since we were on a mountain lake...

my friend was not crazy about her food neither. she had the tortilla soup which was ok. she didn't like the mussels in the mussels and fries. i had some fries, it was good.

next time in Tahoe, if i'm eating here again, i should try the meat??? the location is fantastic and the staff was super nice!

http://www.solylago.com/

Tahoe

an impromptu day trip to Tahoe, my friend called me up the evening before, rented a car and off we went.
the drive was really pretty and it was a beautiful sunny day but not too warm...

beautiful evergreen...

passed under a brigde

the lake

the pier
the walking trail...

just a lovely day

Yank Sing

Supposed to be one of the best Dimsum places in SF, we came here for sunday brunch with a friend visiting from NY. the place was packed! and they are taking over the atrium at the Rincon food court... it was rather nice with the sky light and the water shower center piece from the atrium high ceiling...

i was pre occupied with all the dumplings and only took 2 photos... we had shrimp dumplings, shanghai dumplings (in photo), potstickers (in photo), shrimp chow fun, charsiu chow fun, siu mai, pork buns, fried tarot, charsiu sticky rice... so many i could not remembered. they were all yummy but my chinese friends thought they were just ok, not the best. i'm not the expert but i like them. Yank Sing don't have the special dumplings or dishes like the ones at Koi Palace but their dumplings were pretty good, i like them!

http://www.yanksing.com/

Dos Pinas

Another going away lunch, we went to Dos Pinas - a yummy Mexcican restaurant in SOMA/Portrero neighborhood.

it's a busy joint, all local professionals come here for lunch. the ordering takes place at the counter, a number will be given and announced when the food is ready so people can pick up their ordered food at the pick up window - it's rather efficient!

drinks - i ordered the cantaloupe juice, it's sugary sweet, i wondered if sugar was added????....

i had the prawn tacos with rice and refried beans, delish and a lot of it.

http://www.dospinas.com/wordpress/