inspired to learn: food styling

Recently I was looking through some loveliness on Donna Hay's website, and ran into some neat Australian videos of her giving food styling tips!

If you've not heard of Donna before, she is likened to Australia's Martha Stewart, but I would say that she is a cross between Martha and Ina. She is known for her simple and elegant style, along with her great entertaining tips. These videos are from the Australian reality series called Masterchef and they certainly showcase why she is one of Australia's best food stylists.

I love all the little tips that she gives in these videos, and her down-to-earth nature is so likable! In these videos she teaches how to style a bowl of pasta, how to create lovely ganache drips on a cake, how to make the perfect layer cake, and how to give the classic caesar salad a twist. Seriously, watch these videos and you'll learn a little something! The things she does are so smart, and I'll be sure to employ these the next time I make a cake or hard boil an egg!

wonder foodie: smitten with this kitchen

I have been wanting to make this tart ever since I saw this post two summers ago on Smitten Kitchen. The tart looked absolutely scrumptious and I would sometimes revisit the post just to see the mouthwatering photos of it. Silly, I know! But the occasion finally arose where the fruit was in season and I could buckle down and make it. Yes!

And the verdict? Deeeeelicious. This recipe will be one that I repeat! The combination of spicy gingersnaps and sweet nectarines with a creamy custardy filling is delightful and easy to make. I think I'll make it again this week for another potluck! Ooooh. Here's the finished product, hopefully it looks just as good as Deb's. I heart summer.

wonder foodie: chocolate wonder

Mmm ... we went to a friend's house for dinner today and we made this chocolate cake in little ramekins. It's very much like lava cake or flourless chocolate cake since it only has a 1/2 cup of flour in it. It was rich and delicious, and the perfect end to a simple meal. And in place of raspberry puree, I just used reduced sugar raspberry preserves. Yum. Chocolate is just the thing sometimes.

image via 100% chocolate cafe

wonder foodie: cooking with grandma

During the past few weeks I've been making many calls to my grandmother to enlist her help in making some of the dishes of my childhood. It's great to have her instruction on how to properly steam yook beng (meat cake) or how much water is needed make lan fan jook (a thick rice porridge).

It's the feeling of passing on a legacy, and being reminded of all the great dishes you ate and loved while growing up.

My favorite feature on Chow is the Cooking with Grandma segments. Each one highlights a grandmother cooking with her grandchild -- and even though the measurements are not exact, the love and history in the recipes are overflowing. Love it! This most recent feature is one of my favorites - Cooking gnocchi in a tomato-porcini sauce with Grandma Paola! Mmmm, I think I'll try this one soon.

wonder foodie: eating with your eyes first

One of my new favorite websites to browse for delicious dishes is Tastespotting. You can type in a search for anything from chocolate chip cookies to roasted chicken and it will come up with delectable snapshots of food photos for you to pick from. Then it will link you to the food blog that the photo came from, and the recipe for that dish.

Isn't that amazing? Talk about eating with your eyes first ... what better way to figure out what you'd like to try cooking next? The image above is a simple berry souffle recipe that you can find here. I think I'll be trying my hand at these soon, since I just bought some brown organic eggs at Target on sale. Side note, the Target near us just reopened and it is 180,000 square feet of Targety goodness. Fresh produce and meat? Frozen food section that lights up when it senses someone is near? Get out of here!

wonder foodie: making mallows

Ohhh yes, we did it! Last weekend, my sister and I took a day to tackle the delicious task of making the drool-worthy Neapolitan marshmallows that I blogged about earlier. And the result? Amazing bites of soft, fluffy and light-as-air marshmallows with three different layers of flavor.

This wasn't my first encounter with the homemade confection, but definitely results in a huge batch of sweets. I made marshmallows two Christmases ago from this Design*Sponge article, and those marshmallows were very small, much like mini marshmallows that you'd find at the grocery store. This recipe from Brownie Points blog made such a generous serving, I'll probably halve the recipe next time around. I highly recommend this recipe, and suggest investing in a candy thermometer and a Kitchenaid mixer.

Marshmallows are a deceptively simple sweet to make, and I think it's waiting for the sugar to get to the right temperature that's the hard part! We really enjoyed this process and enjoyed giving them out to people afterward since the three full batches made so much. Great for a party favor or little Christmas treats with packets of hot cocoa. Note to self: next time add a bit of pink food coloring to the strawberry to give it that true Neapolitan look. I love that we really did this ourselves and I didn't have to purchase them on Etsy. Yay!

wonder foodie: a delicious summer

So far it has been a summer of delicious food and lovely company - I love that we get to grill, and I think it is by far my favorite season for this reason. Followed closely by the holidays, of course. We had a little picnic in the park with grilled ahi tuna sandwiches (marinated simply in lemon juice, salt and pepper) and orzo with asparagus, sweet corn, and tomatoes. Then a meal of dry-rubbed pork, grilled corn, a mozzarella basil and tomato with orzo salad, broccoli slaw, and carmelized pineapple (not pictured).

And then I had a simple (free) lunch, that I jazzed up with spring greens, dijon mustard and a side of edamame! Mmm yum. And since the hubba loves having cheese and crackers as an appetizer to our meals, I found this wonderful sharp cheddar from New Zealand at Trader Joe's. Cut that up with some crackers and you've got yourself a scrumptious starter. Awwww yes.

And I can't forget my favorite summer food - strawberries! I had some leftover from a farmer's market trip and they were getting a bit overripe. So I added some sugar, let them sit in the fridge overnight, and pureed them. Then I mixed the puree with some freshly whipped cream and topped some almond & vanilla cupcakes a la this recipe. Very light and so easy to make. I think I ate two in one sitting. Hope you're having a tasty summer!

wonder foodie: a little clammy

Back in May, my sister, her boyfriend, and my husband and I prepared an early Mother's Day dinner for my mom. She was going to go into a long slew of medical treatments the week following, so we weren't sure if she'd be up for a celebration on the actual Mother's Day.

So we quickly got together an impromptu menu and made a four course meal for her, picking from different cuisines and putting our own twist on certain dishes. Here's what we had:

Steamed Manila Clams with Garlic Crostini
Green Chopped Salad with Balsamic dressing
Grandma's Steaks (she made this on the spot, so we had one more course!)
Kimberly's Special Chicken Tikka Masala
Banana Tarte Tatin with homemade Mango Ice Cream

The steamed clams were my favorite dish to make - I had this recipe bookmarked for 4 years ever since we had the clams at the Lahaina Grill in Maui. Finally came an occasion to have it! The recipe is fairly simple, but going into it I had no idea how much clam juice costs! Yikes! I paid $6 for two 8 oz. bottles at my local grocery store. Next time I'll shop around first. That said, it was completely delicious and fed 7 people that enjoyed it. Everything else was delicious and yum, time to do it again!

wonder foodie: zabaglione at home

When the hubba and I want to go on a date night, one of our favorite places to go is a local Italian restaurant. And when we go, I always get the Zabaglione with mixed berries. It's a light, delicious, and slightly nutty custard made with eggs, Marsala wine, and sugar.

It seemed pretty simple, so I wanted to try to replicate it at home. We had a post-Memorial day dinner yesterday and I gave this recipe a try, adding a little less of the Marsala to cut down on the alcohol flavor. And it was a success, though I think I'll add even less Marsala next time. But it was a nice combination of sweet blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries with the smooth zabaglione and freshly whipped cream. Mmmm, summer is coming! I can feel it. Two berry posts in a row! Parting fact: the french word for zabaglione is sabayon!