December 26th, 2013

Merry Christmas 2013!

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Homer: Now that just leaves little Maggie. Ah, a squeak toy. It says it’s for dogs, but she can’t read.

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☆☆☆ VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! ☆☆☆

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How did you spend your Christmas this year?

Did you get a present that you wanted?

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This year Mr.D gave me a beautiful Marimekko teapot, & I gave him a Hario glass teapot!! – I guess we’ll be drinking a lot of tea from now on! Lol! ^^ As for the children, our boy was given a Hubsan x4 Quadcopter (a dinky remote controlled indoor flyer that RC enthusiasts would nod their approval to), & our girl received a well-made toy accordion which still sounds pleasant to the ear even when played in a muddle (phew!).

Santa (cough cough) gave them each a Mosaic Craft Kit, an attempt for sure to keep the kids busy while the parents have a well deserved rest…

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We ate our Christmas dinner on the 24th, like we always do. And it’s always me that cook. Again this year it was roast duck, brussels sprouts with crisped up bacon, duck-fat roasted root veg (potatoes, parsnip, carrots), home-made gravy sauce. It all went well & got chomped down, which is a delight after 3 hours of cooking in the kitchen.

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The party itself is always the usual fair too – children popping the Christmas crackers throughout the dinner, reading out the silly jokes that fall out, the adults having a vague attempt at guessing the answer whilst sloshing in copious amounts of red wine. Ofcourse, elemental to the cause, we don on the cheap yet colourful paper hats. The dessert was, funnily enough, my usual flourless chocolate cake (that I sell on the stall), simply because I had an order to make 2 of these that very morning, & I decided to make an extra one for us too. (There’s no rest for the wicked…?)

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Today (26th), I write this blog post from bed…! I’ve gotten a terrible cold, I’m feeling terribly woozy. Sore throat, gunky nose. Every year around this time I get ill like this – even after a year of having caught no cold. It’s as if my body reserves all this bad stuff for when I finally find the time to relax… Mr.D has taken the children to the local cinema so the house is quiet right now. Bliss…

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Anyway, dearest people who read this blog, VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! And I wish you the very best for the coming year!  Love, T xx

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December 3rd, 2013

Coco&Me chocolate workshop in Paris!

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Guess what, guess what, guess what!?  

Something really exciting happened & I just have to tell you!

This time last week I was in Paris! No, not as a holiday, but was there to… (ahem!) teach about chocolates…! Yes! It was all expenses paid (Eurostar, over-night hotel stay, plus lesson fee) & so much more…! I know, tell me about it, it’s totally amazing what happened, & I’m totally over-the-moon & thank my lucky stars! ^^

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It was about two months ago I think, I received a message from Mrs C, a long-time blog-reader of mine, that she would like me to do a chocolate workshop for her. It was her 40th birthday this year, & her friends had gotten together to gift her with having a workshop by me! But that she lives in Paris…, so the question arose as to where it’ll be held. Mine? Well…, I have a firm policy not to teach at my family home – which Mrs C totally understood as she herself has a child. In which case, at hers in Paris? Ooooh, Paris? What? Me go to PARIS?! And to top off my already elated ear to ear grin, Mrs C offered to sort out the expenses for the train & the hotel! Oh.My.God!? Seriously!? So at that point I was on the telephone to my Mr D who was at work, asking him for his opinion/ what he thought. Although, to be frank, regardless of Mr D (who did enthusiastically agree also), my mind was already made up on going anyway! I mean, what an opportunity!

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Planning for the workshop was exciting & actually, pretty easy:

  •  I knew I’d definitely be showing how to temper chocolate on a marble slab, plus another tempering method called ‘seeding’ using the microwave. Although I prefer the marble slab method (as you can control the temperature better ~ which is very important when working with chocolate), the seeding method is rather useful when only a small amount is required, for example for piping a little chocolate decoration.
  • And of course the workshop should naturally delve in to how to adapt the tempering technique to actual products. You can use it to enrobe by dipping, & you can use it to mould for hollow & solid shapes.
  • Ganache & it’s wonderful variations must also be included in to the workshop too. Ganache, as most of you will know is double cream & chocolate combined. Simple to say, but the science behind it very complex, & the success lies with how well you emulsify the two entities: cream (fat suspended in liquid) & the chocolate (liquid suspended in fat). – - There’s various ways of flavouring the ganache too. Like brewing tea like Earl Grey with the double cream first to infuse it! Or what about making caramel with water & sugar, then adding that to the cream?  – – You can also control how soft you’d want your ganache by changing the ratio of cream to chocolate!

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So let me tell you about how the first day went.

My day started as I woke up at 5:30am. Outside was pitch black still & I wondered when the last time was that I woke up in the dead of night like this! But the excitement & the anticipation of traveling & giving a lesson blew away any smidgen of sleep in me no problem. Mr D kindly woke up early as well & drove me to a nearby station at 6:40am.

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Coco&Me - coco and me - www.cocoandme.com - station platform outside in the dark

(Here comes the train! And no, that’s not me in the picture. I’m not that stocky…!)

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Boarding the 8:30am Eurostar for the 2 hour+ journey, I arrive at Gare du Nord to meet Mrs C. We notice each other straight away (she sent me pictures of herself prior)! We both can not conceal our smiles & grins. Oh how happily bizarre this is! And how great that we managed to pull it off! There’s so much to say, so much to talk about!

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Coco&Me - coco and me - www.cocoandme.com - chez casimir in paris gare du nord - Coquilles St.-Jacques

(Coquilles St.-Jacques. Delicious!)

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We talked & walked to the nearby restaurant called Chez Casimir where Mrs C very kindly bought me lunch. Chez Casimir was a quaint & very French place. When we entered just after 12 noon, it was rather empty except for one couple by the window, but by the time our starters came, the place was heaving with locals. Considering it was only a Monday lunchtime, this place was doing very well indeed! (& that is despite it’s rather worn exterior, I might add! Looks can be deceptive… Surely I should know that lesson by now?? LOL)

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Now, let’s skip forwards to later that afternoon for the actual 3 hour lesson/ workshop. I explained to Mrs C that we would be working with several recipes in tandem. The reason simply because there is a lot of waiting-time for the ganache to stiffen enough to pipe-able consistency & again more resting time required to then be able to roll them (or cut them) in to shape. - Working with several recipes all at once like this can sound daunting, but I should at this point mention that Mrs C is a very competent baker. And that this workshop is veering toward the advanced level.

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Coco&Me - coco and me - www.cocoandme.com - Broadway Market london E8 - personal chocolate workshop held in Paris 2013 - truffles, bonbons, moulded heart

(We made all of this in just 3 hours!!!)

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I hand over my hand-written recipe for Earl Grey Ganache Truffles. We infused the double cream with Earl Grey. Then re-heat it to pour it over chocolate to make ganache. I explain amongst other things that we exercise creativity & taste preference by deciding how much cream to chocolate ratio you use to determine softness, & how much dark to milk chocolate ratio you use to determine the sweetness.

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Whilst the Earl Grey ganache is cooling to correct consistency, we move on to make Caramel Ganache Bonbons. For this ganache, we first make caramel with water & sugar. Made with simple ingredients but tricky to successfully stir lump-free if you don’t know how. When medium-light amber in colour, we poured in the double cream that’s been warmed in another pot in tandem. It’s always a bit of a wow moment as the cream ‘fiercely erupts’ to threefold all of a sudden. I hold it as one of the little pleasures in the kitchen. This hot cream then gets sieved over the solid chocolate to form the final ganache.

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At this point in the lesson, I was hoping for the Earl Grey ganache to be pipe-able, but oh dear, it’s too soft still… Gah… Okay-okay, er… so yes…, let’s pipe design on the chocolate mould!

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We melted 50 grams of white chocolate by the seeding method, which is the one of the two tempering technique that I wanted to show. We both took turns to pipe a simple design on the heart shaped chocolate mould I brought with me. – At which moment…, I felt a little proud. The very mould was what I purchased in MORA (a professional cookware shop in Paris) over 7 years ago. Who would have thought that I would be bringing it back to Paris, this time to use it to teach with!? :-)

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Leaving the decorated mould aside to dry, we got back to the Earl Grey, now pipe-able. We practiced piping as systematic as possible, spherical & all of equal size/ weight, because the uniformity of shape effects the final beauty of the product. Where as the caramel ganache, we simply cut in to squares.

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Time for tempering dark chocolate on the marble slab. Thermometer probe on the ready, we start with melted chocolate in the bowl. Pour two thirds or so on the slab & I showed how to use two metal spatulas to slosh the chocolate on the surface. Spread wide, then bring in from the edges to form a mound, & then repeat the process to keep the temperature of the chocolate uniform. (the edges cool faster than the middle.) When it cools to 29 degrees, we then put this chocolate back in to the original bowl to combine with the hotter non-marbled lot to bring the overall temperature up to 31 to 32 degrees. Et voila.

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Or so it should have been… My nerves got the better of me it seems, as the chocolate was not tempered perfectly. It wasn’t bad, still had it’s sheen, & it hardened readily, but not super shiny as I’d hoped to show. ~ What a downer. ~ I’m so sorry Mrs C… But being a saintly angel that she is, she told me not to worry, it wouldn’t have happened if I were using my own equipment & was in my own kitchen. Bless her. Really, thank you for being so forgiving…

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We trudged on regardless, & coated the truffles & the bonbons, which has its plentiful set of techniques to master, & of which I am not going to be writing about here in fear of being long-winded. Oh yeah, before all of that, we poured the tempered chocolate in to the heart shape mould & tipped most of it back in the bowl again to to leave a film of chocolate to form a hollow shape. I explained that if you stick both sides together it becomes a case like an Easter egg.

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Also, did I mention that along side all of above, we made Caramelized Chocolate Almonds? It’s a rather moreish & beautiful snack made by coating the whole almonds in caramel until it’s all sugared up, then coating it with tempered chocolate by constantly turning it in the bowl like a cement mixer! Another fascinatingly different way of coating with the chocolate other than dipping like truffles!

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At that…, we finally finished our lesson. And phew, oh boy, on later thought, now that I write about all that we did, I realize it was rather a lot…!

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Coco&Me - coco and me - www.cocoandme.com - Broadway Market london E8 - personal chocolate workshop held in Paris 2013 - truffles, bonbons, moulded heart

(By the end the work top was a mess! But Mrs C still smiles!)

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That evening, I was invited back to Mrs C’s & had a lovely supper. Mrs C, her husband E & myself had the most pleasant time, chatting, chatting, chatting! Mostly about food, … of course. Helped by the excellent wine, relaxed & relieved after having had a good workshop, I can tell you that I slept soundly that night in the hotel. And you Mrs C, you must’ve been really knackered too, no?!

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Mrs C, you have been more than accommodating for me. It felt like it was more than ‘just’ a workshop & I can honestly say that this is definitely the highlight of this year by far for me. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

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cocoandme - Coco&Me - coco and me - www.cocoandme.com - private chocolate lesson in paris.

(Me, bebé & mum Mrs C.)  

cocoandme - Coco&Me - coco and me - www.cocoandme.com - private chocolate lesson in paris.

(Ooh, bebé! I Love~!)

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Ps: In the next post, I’ll write about how the following day went in my Paris trip! ‘Til then! Best, Tamami xoxo

August 29th, 2013

Join me at the Charity Afternoon Tea

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Hello~!!!! How are you doing this summer?? :) Is it hot where you live?

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Here in UK, we’ve been blessed with great weather pretty much all round! :) For example, around the end of July there was a long stretch of heat-wave too! I don’t mind a bit of hot weather but this heat-wave totally baked me in the kitchen on my weekly bake-a-thons. (Baker being baked on bake-a-thon. Possible tongue twister like Peter Piper?! Lol. sorry… feeling silly obviously.) And as for selling cakes in the hot heat, oh-my-god, standing under the plastic tarpaulin roof at my market stall was soooo unbearable. It was like being in a green house!!
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This prolonged hot weather is super unusual in UK weather standards if you ask me! Normally the weather takes a shine on us for about a week, then you abruptly have to wave a involuntarily bye-bye to summer & say a reluctant hello to autumn! Only…, in such summers, what is left is not a tan, but a hardly used sun-protection lotion which gets shelved to dusty oblivion. Disenchanted by the broken promise of summer, you might even imagine the bottle staring back like a Space Odyssey Monolith, ridiculing at the vain hope you’ve once had of using it up.
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But here it is. Hot weather! After one of the wettest winters & coldest springs earlier this year, it’s certainly something to be happy about! :)
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But enough of weather-talk! I actually wanted to let you know about the event that is coming up at the end of September which I really want to convince you to come!
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My dear friends F & S at The Pastry Network are organizing a Cocktail-style Champagne Afternoon Tea to raise funds* for an exceptionally wonderful charity called Make-A-Wish.
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Make-A-Wish grants the wishes of children with life threatening medical conditions, to enrich their human experience with hope, strength & joy.
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This charity makes me think of the famous Japanese idiom “ 病は気から” (yamai-wa-ki-kara), meaning “One’s attitude (spirit) can affect the path of an illness, for better or for worse.” When you feel sad you lose your appetite. When you smile you release endorphins which make you feel good. And when you do turn that frown upside down & have upbeat thoughts, it can physically change your body. I really believe so. 
Moreover, it is not just in physical illness, but when you’re feeling down or when you’re having a hard time, be it at work or in personal life, I faithfully think that actively living your life to make it better eventually makes for positive outlook/ outcome. People who are “trying their best” are shiny & beautiful.
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(Got slightly off on a tangent there… sorry.)
Anyway…,
The Cocktail-style Champagne Afternoon Tea will be held at The Park Lane Hotel (nearest station is Green Park), on Monday 30th of September between 3pm to 6pm, & the ticket price is 55 pounds per person.
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Ah yes, 55 pounds may seem a little hefty. BUT here’s what I think about this; 
– there will be an amazing TWENTY-ONE super-chefs from 19 top-notch & famous establishments at our service, making our canapés, chocolates & pastries. You’ve probably heard of them if you’re from this part of the world: Ladurée, William Curley, Wolseley, Delaunay, Koffmann’s… And I would imagine that the chefs will really go out of their way to create the most beautiful stuff, since the place will be swimming with people in the same line of business. To be honest, if you’re any sort of pastry-lover, I really think it’s going to feel like paradise has descended in to one room in Piccadilly. I mean, there’s all these other 5-star establishments such as the Dorchester, Langham & Lanesborough participating too who’re famed for their afternoon tea. Sampling pastries from them all in one time? O.m.g, it’s going to be totally unreal! It’s going to be amazing.
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I should also add that apparently some of the chefs will be holding the trays in the room. SO, which means, we’ll get to talk to them! And on the day, there will be raffle tickets on sale too – of which some of the prizes are:
- Koffmann’s dinner voucher
- The Delaunay afternoon tea voucher
There will also be a goodie bag from Valrhona, who is one of the sponsors of the event. 
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So come join me on the 30th to hold a bubbly in one hand & mmm… & ahhh… at beautiful food, all in the name of charidy…!! :) (There are only a limited number of tickets so please book well in advance to avoid dissapointment!)
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Date: Monday 30th of September
Time: 3pm to 6pm
Venue: Sheraton Park Lane Hotel, Piccadilly, London W1J 7BX
Ticket Price: £55 per person
Dress Code: Smart Casual (children under 12 years old cannot be accommodated)
To purchase tickets, please visit www.pastry-network.com
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*all of the proceedings go to Make-A-Wish Foundation UK.

July 9th, 2013

My kitchenware purchases 2012/13

www.cocoandme.com - Coco&Me - Coco and me - Marbleized splatter enamelware -  blue marble flat salad plate & red marble muffin tin. From Labour & Wait www.labourandwait.co.uk/‎
(Marbleized splatter enamelware -  blue marble flat salad plate & red marble muffin tin. From Labour & Wait. Now one of many enamel goods I already have. I love enamelware…!)

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Hello!!!! Hello!!!! Hello~!!!! 
How have you all been??? Tell me! I hope you’ve all been good!!!
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Me? Well, I can report to you that I’ve been alright y’know, I’m still my happy self. ^^  Although, I must admit, last week was a hard week for me, a few minor things has happened that upset me, I had to deal with a nasty character, but it’s nothing I want to discuss about in detail here. Besides, don’t worry, it was nothing too major nor dramatic that it changes me. Although…, what it did do however is, it made me all the more aware that I have a loving family, some true friends (& trusty blog readers!^^) & earn an honest living out of work I still love doing. That I am on a good track, that I am lucky.
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Though, talking about awareness of one’s status, recently, I’m also feeling much aware that every day seems to just meld in to one another without much distinction, … if that makes any sense (?) lol…, like how the cycle of everyday affairs is a given. It’s a ‘set’ that has to be done: Wake up, get the kids ready to go to school, make the beds, tidy the house, make the dinner, do the washing, then devote Thursday, Friday & Saturday to my market-work, etc, etc…
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Oh, but don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining! Far from it, I actually find comfort & peace in this secure situation, it”s rather cushy n’ snug isn’t it, although to some, it may come across as mundane & monotonous!
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Then…, perhaps it came from a counteraction to feeling monotonized, & in need for fun spontaneity, I suggested to Mr.D who just turned 49 last week, that for his next birthday ~ the big five-oh ~ I could perhaps take him on a holiday to somewhere very very special. Somewhere unusual from our daily lives. I was thinking somewhere where the stars are beautiful. Like Chile, as he is very much in to star-gazing. (He can’t stop watching DVDs about it). Then he says the one place he’d love to go to is the Himalayas. HIMALAYAS!? Like Tibet or Bhutan!? Wow! Now ‘THAT’ is very special. ^^ The very thought that this time next year we might be somewhere so extremely different from here excites me. So since then, I’ve been researching about how to travel there already. On the off chance, has any of the readers here been to the Himalayas?? If you have, I would greatly appreciate to know how you did it please!
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ANYWAY! Sorry, I suppose this is some sort of a food blog, so here’s some pictures of kitcheney things I bought within the last year! I hope you like them as much as I do! T xx

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www.cocoandme.com - Coco&Me - Coco and me - eBay purchase! Vintage chopping board from Germany. Wooden Mr & Mrs Onion heads crying.
eBay purchase! Vintage chopping board from Germany. Wooden Mr & Mrs Onion heads crying.
Usually my own policy when buying on eBay is to buy from the UK only, one, because the expensive overseas shipping fee outweighs the value of the item, & two, because having that personal limit stops me from buying willy-nilly (& I will). But, in this case, I decided to buy it regardless because I had a fond memory of seeing these many years ago, hanging on Mr.D’s late father’s kitchen wall!
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www.cocoandme.com - Coco&Me - Coco and me - broadway market cake stall - Beautifully grained wooden pedestals, from around the 1930's. Cakes look instantly classy when displayed on these!
Beautifully grained wooden pedestals, from the 1930’s. Cakes look instantly classy when displayed on these!
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Coco&Me - www.cocoandme.com Coco and me - broadway market cake stall - Tamami - Glazed tartan stoneware dinner plate by ANTA of Scotland. Rare & collectible. the tartan is an early, orIginal design by Annie Stewart, co-founder of ANTA. Handmade and decorated in the Highlands.
Glazed tartan stoneware dinner plate by ANTA of Scotland. The tartan is an early, orIginal design by Annie Stewart, co-founder of ANTA. Handmade & decorated in the Highlands.
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Coco&Me - www.cocoandme.com - coco and me - broadway market - Tamami - cake stall - Vintage Royal Worcester bread plate with animal pattern.
Vintage Royal Worcester bread plate with animal pattern. I’ve never seen this design before! I would love to know the name of the collection, but it doesn’t say it on the back other than Royal Worcester…
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Coco&Me - www.cocoandme.com - coco and me - broadway market - Tamami - cake stall - bread plate is from Alfred Meakin Studio. The design is called Little Green Apples
Again, another design I haven’t seen before. This bread plate is from Alfred Meakin Studio. The design is called Little Green Apples.
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Coco&Me - www.cocoandme.com - coco and me - broadway market - Tamami - cake stall - vegetable sun-drying net basket
And this is my current craze! (Lol! How boring am I??) It’s a vegetable sun-drying net basket!
You can put deseeded tomatoes, peppers, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, asparagus, daikon radishes…, all-sorts, you’d be surprised with the variety of foods that can be sun-dried. And if you’ve been lucky with hot weather, the veggies shrivel & dry in no time, & what you’d end up with are foods that has boosted nutrients & condensed umami flavour. It can also be preserved a lot longer, although I often just semi-dry them & have it for dinner that same day as drying.
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Now what else… Oh yeah, I also bought an OXO mandoline slicer in white (Don’t worry, I also have a cut-resistant glove!!). It’s a superb product, especially when you want to create beautiful apple galettes with uniform super-duper thin apple slices, but otherwise I don’t use it often, & is boxed up. At the end of the day, it’s quicker to cut foods yourself by knife, &, no matter how I try, I end up with the the end piece left over.
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Then I also bought my now 7th (!) hand mixer. This time, it’s a James Martin by Wahl hand mixer (300 Watt). I’m super happy with this one. It’s on the bigger & heavier side, but it is powerful (meaning it cuts the time in whipping eggs!) &, despite this, is quieter than the other models I have used in the past. I also like that the whisk attachment is ever so slightly longer than the other models’ too! ^^
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May 9th, 2013

Bite-size french toast using everyday pre-sliced bread

NB: Please note, this recipe is especially created for when using everyday pre-sliced bread from the supermarket that is not stale.
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Coco&Me - www.cocoandme.com - Coco and Me - Quick french toast recipe with process pictures
(Bite-size French Toast! No need to fuss with knife! ^^)
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Desperately seeking ‘something’
Picture this – bang in the middle of the night, you’re working on the computer. Then the train of concentration loses its steam & thoughts of snacking invade the mind. You ponder what goodies you might’ve lurked in the kitchen cabinets, but a pang of desperation throbs you when the realization of anything everything sweet is missing from your life. Cue the stomach & its whining growl…  
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… This French Toast recipe actually came about at such moment. I desperately wanted a sweet ‘something’ to snack on in the middle of the night. But it needed to be:
  • very quick & simple to make (will not want to wait for my sweet fix)
  • easily can make for just for one person (it’s just me)
  • use ingredients that’s always at hand at home (it needs to be a reliable recipe to fall back on every time)
  • no need to fire up the oven (too fussy)
  • does not use the hand mixer (too noisy at night)
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Hmmm, French Toast! As a mid-night feast! Ah…, yes-yes, ofcourse it’s normally consumed for breakfast or brunch, I know that, but it’s ingredients – eggs, sugar, milk, bread & butter, I always have at home & who cares about formalities when no one is watching in this nocturnal hour? It should be simple enough to put together – just dip the bread in eggy milk then pan-fry it with butter, & hey voila!
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And so my quest starts.
But…, hang on, the first time I made it, it didn’t taste great. The result was unforgivingly too soggy in the middle. Why? Then I analyzed this:
= I’m using cheap thinly-sliced bread from the supermarket & the bread is not stale like it ought to be. 
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Stale? Yes,typically you’re supposed to use stale bread that’s gone a bit tough & lost a bit of moisture. I guess it must be a universal rule for it. I mean, it’s even called ‘pain perdu’ in French, which means “lost bread”, suggesting that the bread in question is of a wasted, or forgotten one.
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But realistically, how often do you have a perfectly stale bread at hand when you need it? I certainly don’t. Besides, the supermarket bread rather goes mouldy than stale when old. And so my solution to this was to… lightly toast the fresh bread (then cooling it) before dipping in the eggy mixture. That should mimic stale bread by taking some of the moisture away!
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To remedy the sogginess, I propose five solutions:
  • Put less milk in.  
  • Cut the bread in to smaller pieces so that it soaks the mixture quicker, & cooks to the core quicker. Smaller is also easier to flip over in the pan without fuzzing the shapes.
  • Fry the bread at very low heat to cook through to the core.
  • Use the lid as you fry so that it steam-cooks the bread. It’ll get fluffier & bouncier.
  • Warm the milk in the microwave prior to combining with egg mixture (I got this idea from the way creme patisserie is made). This in effect will make it quicker to cook as it is already warm when it hits the pan.
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Crust or no crust
When I was a child I used to just tear out & eat just the innards of the bread, which totally annoyed my mother. – Even now at age 37, I secretly still prefer to chop away the crust especially when making sandwiches, but my Mr.D ~ who is German & proper (Lol!) ~ would scorn, which totally makes me feel like a silly child again, so I daren’t do it nowadays. And now that we are supposed to set a good example in front of our children, I can never kiss goodbye to ‘le crust’.
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BUT! French Toast is an exception. This is a sweet dessert! It’s an indulgence. Might as well have it the way we like it huh? :) Besides, jokes apart, I personally think that the egg-sogged crust lends a slight wet cardboard-y texture, & takes half the fun out of eating the main super soft part anyways!
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Aesthetically pleasing French Toast shape? = 8:5 ratio
Upon cutting the bread, call me pedantic or just plain old silly, but I thought to myself: I wonder what the ‘most pleasing rectangle’ is?  
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The answer I settled on was to cut it to the golden ratio, which the special number is approximately 1.618. Meaning, I will cut the length to 1.618 times of the width. Or to round it up simply, the ratio of length to the width will be 8:5. I’m sure the ancient Greeks would approve of this french toast shape! Lol!
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NB: If you cut the toast in to 4, it’s pretty much 8:5 each, so no need to get the ruler out! 
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(Please take this whole measuring thing with a pinch of salt though, it’s all a bit of a pa larva that I’m making here…! You can ofcourse cut it in any way you like!)
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So how long should the bread soak in eggy milk?
Some say over-night, some say 3o seconds & hey pronto. I’m more in the latter camp. I like the idea of this to be a quick dessert that can be made by whim ~ impromptu with things that can be found in your everyday kitchen. Besides, the pre-sliced white bread from the supermarket sucks the mixture up like a kitchen sponge in no time anyways!
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Dressing up the French Toast
Please please try it with plain yogurt on the side. And a drizzle of maple syrup which won’t go amiss. And ah, perhaps even a sprinkle of cinnamon powder! The play between the cold yogurt & the hot french toast is so fine~♪, it’s so good~♫. The slight tang of the yogurt beautifully sets against the sweet toast too. 
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Coco&Me Quick French Toast Recipe
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Ingredients:
  • 2 slices of white bread (preferably thick)
  • 1 egg
  • 15g sugar (vanilla sugar if you have it)
  • 60g milk (full fat if you have it) 
  • A knob of salted butter (for the frying pan)
  • Maple syrup (optional)
  • Plain yogurt (optional)
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Method:
  • 1. Toast the bread lightly. (Here, don’t brown it, as you’d have the burn taste coming through the French Toast.)
  • 2. Cut the crust off the bread. Then cut to smaller size. (It’s easier to cut without squishing the ends if you cut the toast when it has cooled down.)
Coco&Me - www.cocoandme.com - Coco and Me - Quick french toast recipe with process pictures
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  • 3. In a bowl, whisk 1 egg until it loses its bounce, then add the 15 grams of sugar. Whisk until the sugar has completely dissolved.
  • 4. Measure 60 grams of milk in a mug & microwave until hot.  
Coco&Me - www.cocoandme.com - Coco and Me - Quick french toast recipe with process pictures
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  • 5. Slowly pour in the hot milk to the eggs, whisking all the time. (The hot milk will not cook the eggs as the sugar will act as a barrier.)
  • 6. Put the toast pieces in the eggy milk. Swish the bowl around to gently coat the toast on both sides. (Don’t handle by hand as the toast is very fragile when soggy, it will lose shape or tear.)
Coco&Me - www.cocoandme.com - Coco and Me - Quick french toast recipe with process pictures
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  • 7. Heat the frying pan with medium-low heat. Dissolve the knob of butter. Then align the soaked rectangular bread.  
  • 8. Pop the lid on & lower the heat to minimum.
Coco&Me - www.cocoandme.com - Coco and Me - Quick french toast recipe with process pictures
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  • 9. Wait for about 3 minutes or until the bottom side is nicely browned, then flip to the other side.
  • 10. And fry with the lid on top again.  
Coco&Me - www.cocoandme.com - Coco and Me - Quick french toast recipe with process pictures
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  • 11. When the bread is nicely browned, transfer to a plate & eat it straight away while it is hot! (preferably with a big dollop of plain yogurt & a generous drizzle of maple syrup!)
Coco&Me - www.cocoandme.com - Coco and Me - Quick french toast recipe with process pictures
Bon Appétit! T xx  
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