To be able to cook well, one has to start from learning the classic. I totally agree with this. When I was introduced to French food a few years ago, I was fed with some beautiful classic dishes that I think those are the dishes I should learn and master before learning “nouvelle cuisine” (new cuisine). Nouvelle cuisine is a new take in cooking and presenting food in French cuisine. Nouvelle cuisine is... 

My kind of dish apart from coq au vin, would probably be boeuf bourguignon. Boeuf bourguignon is a classic French recipe, where beef is braised in red wine with garlic, onions, carrots, bouquet garni, pancetta/lardons (bacon), and mushrooms. If you look at both recipes for boeuf bourguignon and coq au vin, they don’t look different at all. In fact, both dishes are similar in the ingredients used. Except for the... 

Last week, Britain experienced the biggest freeze of the century. Snow has caused misery to a lot of people and it has paralysed the country. It did snow in London but wasn’t as bad as last year. We barely got more than 5cm of snow in London, which I was kind of disappointed as I was hoping to build a snowman, haha! This winter is probably the coldest I have ever experienced in London since 2004. I have been wearing... 

Happy New Year! How was your New Year celebration? I can’t believe that we have stepped into year 2010! We didn’t do anything much on New Year’s eve, just went to a friend’s place for dinner. I still miss my holiday in France and the food. So, I guess by looking at the title, you would have guessed this post is related to a French dessert. Far Breton is a flan based dessert made with eggs and... 

A meal isn’t complete without a good dessert. I have learnt to make quite a few desserts in the recent years and I like the fact that they mostly taste and look good! My mom baked a lot when I was younger. She still bakes but not as much as she used to. She told me that the best present ever for her is when my dad and us praise her for nice cakes that she bakes, not to mention nice food that she makes everyday.... 

Madeleines are small shell-shaped  traditional cakes  from the town of Commercy, in the North of the Lorraine region of France. These little cakes are famous for the shape and smooth texture. Madeleines are perfect for snacking or afternoon goûter (afternoon tea) in France. In Lorraine, it is believed that the delightful madeleines came from a young maid named Madeleine who used to work for the Duke of Lorraine,... 

This week flew by quickly. It’s hard to believe that it’s now mid-July. The hope of having warm sunny day looks bleak. I can’t believe that when I go out, I still need to wear thin jacket at this time of the year. There was a thunderstorm 2 days ago. Probably the first time I have seen the brightest lightning in London. Well, the uninteresting weather news aside now. I may seem to be talking about... 

  I know that I am no master in baking but I have been hoping to bake more when I got more time. When comes to pastries, I only started to make savoury ones in recent years. I made quiches/tarts a while ago, like Spinach & Blue Cheese Tart and Cheese & Onion Quiche. They both were really nice and I like to make tarts for lunch from time to time as they are pretty simple and quick to prepare.   Last weekend,... 

This post should have posted on Sunday. But, something really weird happened! I couldn’t access to my Wordpress admin page and my website! I was worried for a few hours! I tried it from my Blackberry and it worked! I got a few friends of mine to check if they could access to my blog – most in London seemed to have problem getting onto my blog and after a while it said time out! One in Paris said it was... 

  It wasn’t too long ago I found her. From her blog, I can already tell that she is another talented cook! Not only that, her photos are stunning too! Even though Vanille from At Down Under is living on the other side of the world, internet and blogsphere have made it possible for me to get to know her food through her blog! Vanille is going to share with us a fantastic recipe today. When I was looking at the...