[Cooking] Compote de pommes

I brought many apples from the coast, expect some apple pie this weekend, and some apple compote in the mean time!

[Cooking] Who wants to crunch numbers with me?

I am testing the new bitter chocolate that I found at a shop... Delicious, especially with added butter and almond powder to make praline!

I also made some spinach hummus and froze it as an experiment (to use as a pesto) : I did not try it yet, but it should not be so different from when I freeze pesto, and the color is very nice =o)

[Cooking] Saturday Baking

It was a grey and cold Saturday and I am invited for lunch on Sunday so I decided to bake a bit (the heat of the oven warms up the appartment and the smell of the cakes warms up my heart).

I did some Sun:

Some smile:

Some... cake for a five guest lunch:

and some small cookies to offer to the concierges,colleagues and friends:

It was a nice way to warm up the appartment :) 

[Cooking] Merken

[Recipe] Friand

Several friends asked me for the recipe for the Friands that I do with the white of the egg when I do pies.
Here is one from http://userealbutter.com/2010/02/21/friands-recipe/:


slightly modified from Donna Hay’s Modern Classics 2

4 oz. (125g) butter, unsalted
1 cup almond meal
1 2/3 cups confectioner’s sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
5 egg whites
1/2 tsp almond extract (optional)
1/3 cup raspberries, fresh (or any berries)

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Place butter in a saucepan over low heat and cook until
melted and a light golden color. Set aside. Place the almond meal, confectioner’s sugar,
flour, and baking powder in a bowl and whisk to combine. Stir the egg whites into the
dry mix until combined. Pour in the butter and stir until completely combined. Stir in the
almond extract (optional). Grease a dozen 1/2 cup capacity muffin tins or tins of any
type. I like my square tins better (grease more as needed – Donna says ten in her
recipe, but I made 14). Spoon 2 tablespoons of batter into each tin and plop the a few
berries on top. Bake 15-20 minutes or until the tops are golden and spring back when
you touch them. Makes a dozen (or more).


You can find some more information on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friand.

[Cooking] Sunday morning 's crepes

I slept at a friend's place before going hiking, so I paid them back with crepes :)

I used my Android application "Clever Counter" to count the crepes:

Here you can see it better: just a counter, to count the crepes I did (and to correct if I made a mistake, and to reset the counter). Nothing fancy, but a nice illustration of my concept that everybody should learn to program simple things for oneself (a contrario of software engineers who must learn to program for others):

Anyway, it was fun doing crepes:

[Cooking] Happy Tuesday: Crepes and Robot-Shaped Chocolates.

A Happy Tuesday to all :)

I had some crepe dough leftover from yesterday night (3 guests out of 4 did not show up), so I made some crepes this morning. It was the occasion to test some "Dia a Dia" Jam that I brought back from the camping: :)

I also made some banana chocolate crepes:

And some artistic ones:

I really like my "crepiere francaise":

And given that I had melted too much chocolate the night before (for the guests who did not come), I made some cute robots-shaped chocolates with it :)

And left two crepes for Miriam, my adoptive mother in Chile!

[Cooking] Bug Soup

I was sick last night, so I did not even touch the soup that I had prepared. I froze it in some bug molds and I have some "bug soup" ready for later!

[Cooking] Roti Orlof

I made a roti Orlof for my neighbour Gloria:

She brought her niece, and I taught them both how to etch glasses. 

TNT playing "Le Petit Prince"

I was invited at the birthday anniversary party of an astronomer, so I made for him a mug with TNT posing as "Le Petit Prince", with a volcan, a rose, and --of course-- the stars :)

And of course, I baked him a cake full of stars:

TNT baking "Creme Brulee"

TNT is cooking too: this time, the "creme brulee" with a "chalumeau" ;)

First Lemon Pie of the year!

Comparative Cooking

One reason I like cooking so much is that it is so much like a scientific experiment (without the hassle to write the results).

For today's comparative cooking : chicken nature, gingembre and spicy (all steamed), with boiled then fried potatoes and tomato.

Bon appétit !

Tantehue

Je me suis échappé de la capitale durant les fêtes nationales du Chili: trop de bruit et trop de travail! J'ai été a la maison de campagne d'un ami, à 1h en bus de Santiago.

I escaped the capital during the national festivities: too much noise, and too much work! I went to the cottage of a friend, at 1h by bus from Santiago.

Me escape de la capital Santiaguina por las fiestas patrias de Chile: demasiado ruido, y demasiado trabajo! Fui a la casa de campo de un amigo, a 1 hora en bus de Santiago.

J'avais Internet G3 (mais presque pas de GPS, ce qui est curieux?), j'ai pu envoyé plusieurs cartes postales digitales via mon téléphone "Galaxy Notes". Un Geek en vacances reste un Geek après tout!

I had Internet G3 (but barely GPS), so I sent many digital postcards using my Galaxy Notes cell phone. A geek on Holidays is still a geek after all ;)

Tenia conexión Internet 3G (pero casi no GPS, lo que me sorprende?), pude enviar algunas postales digitales vía mi celular "Galaxy Notes". Un Geel\k en vacaciones queda un Geek ;)

J'ai enseigné à faire les brownies, et j'ai appris à faire des "empenadas", improvisant une variante de "empenadas" à la pomme, qui a eu beaucoup de succès!

I taught how to cook brownies, and learned how to make empenadas, improvising some mini apple empenadas which had a lot of success!

Enseñe a hacer brownies, y aprendí a hacer empenadas, improvisando una variante, empenaditas de manzana, que tuvo mucho exito!

Ça m'a fait du bien de passe du temps dans la nature, de jouer avec le chien, caresser un lapereau sauvage. Une surprise: le chat de la maison a reçu du lait de la chienne quand il était bébé, et ils continuent la scène maintenant qu'ils sont adultes, ce qui donne une scène assez "érotique" ;)

It felt good reconnecting with Nature, playing with the dog, cuddling a baby rabbit (wild!). A surprise: the cat of the house got milk from the bitch when it was a baby, and they are still at it now that they are adult, making for quite an "erotic" view ;)

Me hizo bien pasar tiempo en el campo, jugar con la perra, encariñar el conejito. Una sorpresa: el gato de la casa recibo leche de la perra cuando era bebe, y ellos siguen con la escena ahora que son adultos, lo que hace una vista un poco "erótica" ;)