Une morsure n'est jamais assez

Today my flat-mate and I, made some home-made apple turnovers using some delicious French Apple Compote.

It was quick and easy to make where we used the following ingredients :

- Two packets of fresh puff pastry
- Apple Compote
- Flour
- 1 egg
- Sugar for decoration

Utensils needed :

- Chopping board
- Rolling pin
- 15-20 cm diameter circular bowl
- Bowl
- Sharp knife
- Two Spoons

1- Lightly flour the chopping board and roll out the fresh pastry making it 2-3mm in thickness.
2- Take circular bowl, place on dough and cut around using the knife
3- Take circular piece of dough and spread apple compote on one side. Fold in half and place on foiled/greased baking tray
4- Carry on with 1,2,3 until all dough is used
5- Beat one egg and lightly glaze each apple turnover on both sides
6- When finished ensure to press down the outsides of each apple turnover so that the filling is kept inside
7- Place on a baking tray in the oven at around 200 C for approx. 15-20 minutes or until golden brown
8- Finish off by sprinkling sugar on the top of each apple turnover
9- Make some coffee and compliment with a hot apple-turnover

For best results, invite some friends over so that you can take full advantage to share what will be a wonderfully satisfying experience.

I hope yours will turn-out just as delicious as ours did.

Le Pouvoir des Fleurs

In my opinion, 2011 needs to start off as you mean to carry on. For my flatmates and I, it is about Success and Prosperity throughout 2011.

So, the other day I visited a florist in Bastille and stumbled across a beautiful pink and white Lily, that I ended up taking home with me. As you can see from the picture, the fruits of the flower are extremely large and look very healthy.

For me, the power of this flower resembles peace and tranquility, and I am positive it will bring success for my flatmates and I in 2011.

Quelle est votre opinion?

On my way to work early in the morning, I walk past many supermarkets in Bastille. I have come to realise that the likelihood is the supermarkets receive their deliveries early in the morning, before the store opens, to overcome be stuck in or holding up traffic. However, this is not always the case.

You see, many supermarkets along Rue De La Roquette have to accept their deliveries through the main doors because there is not enough room to have a seperate good inwards. This means lorries have to park out along the highstreet to drop off the delivery but Rue De La Roquette is not wide enough to compensate for the gigantic lorries. As a result, no matter what time of day, the deliveries hold up the traffic because delivery drivers use pump-trucks to pull the pallets, stacked high of goods, across Rue De La Roquette and in to the supermarket.

One of the reasons for this chaos is because there is no strategy behind the layout of Rue De La Roquette without any consideration taken into account for the 'What Ifs' when allowing a company to set-up.

This means that the delivery driver is forced to make many risks when delivering goods such as leaving the vehicle un-attended, moving heavy palletts up and down curbs, and in customer & vehicle pathways. What's more, the delivery driver is also in danger of getting run-over because many people become in-patient and frustrated.

In addition, this also adds to the wear-and-tear of the non-electric/electric pump-trucks. As you can imagine, road surfaces are un-even and are much rougher than smooth shop flooring. Therefore, this is also not a cost-effective solution that will detrimentally affect company expenses or even budgets.

In my opinion, this is an example of 'Statism' where the thought process is only to drive a tangible ROI and does not consider how the ROI can be driven effectively and efficiently.

Tiramisu, c'est pour vous!

First of all I would like to apologise for the quality of image, I was too excited in creating what I classify as one the most delicious Italian desserts.

Ok so now it's about time that I let you into the secret of how to prepare the tiramisu. You'll need the following utensils:

Whisk (fork), teaspoon, table spoon, one dish (egg yolks) and two big bowls (one for egg whites and one for coffee), ladle and a pyrex dish measuring 28cm x 18cm and aaprox. 6cm deep.

Next are the ingredients and you'll need :

2 eggs, 6 teaspoons of sugar, 250gms Mascarpone cheese, 4 or 5 cups of Lavazza coffee (percolated is preferred but filtered will do), sponge fingers, 3 or 4 tablespoons of Amaretti di Saronno, Chocolate (good quality or sweet cocoa).

Now that you have all of the utensils and ingredients, let's get started!

1- Seperate the 2 x egg whites and 2 x yolks and mix in seperate bowls.Yolks in the dish and the whites in the big bowl.
2- Add 6 teaspoons of sugar to the yolks and whisk until creamy and a biege colour (not yellow). Mix and leave.
3- In the big bowl, whisk the whites. This is time consuming and can be painful if you whisk by hand. The texture you are looking for is fluffy and white; like snow!
4- When both are ready, add the yolks slowly to the whites and roll (not whisk). Keep rolling until mixture becomes a biege/yellow colour.
5- Add the mascarpone spoon by spoon and mix in slowly to the mixture. Try to ensure it is smooth, creamy and lump-free.
6- Prepare the coffee and when ready , pour in to the second big bowl. Take 3 or 4 tablespoons of coffee and pour into the tiramisu mixture.
7- Add 3 or 4 table spoons of Amaretto di Saronno to the tiramisu mixture.
8- Slowly mix the tiramisu mix with the whisk (do not whisk).
9- Rinse the pyrex dish and dry. Using the coffee in the large bowl, dip one-by-one sponge finger into the coffee (sugar side up) and then place into the bowl (length-ways and without breaking the biscuit). After the first layer, ladle some of the mixture over the sponge fingers until all coated.
10- The ingredients should last you for two layers. Repeat 9 until all tiramisum mixture is finished.
11- On the final layer, finish off by sprinkling (or grating) chocolate on the top.
12- Place in the fridge for approximately 5 hours.
12- Enjoy a small portion with friends or family.

This should be enough to feed around 10 people because with tiramisu you only need a small portion.

I made this for myself and my two flatmates and there was enough to consume over 3 days.

Please bear in mind that mascarpone is a cheese and will stay fresh for approx. 3-4 days maximum.

All that is left to say is, bon appétit!!

Chinois Fondue or Steamboat

I am blessed by god to have the best flatmates in the world where we help each other and always manage to have a good time, no matter what time of day.

Having the opportunity to live with my flatmates provides each person with an opportunity to share culinary delights that either person would likely never normally experience.

This week we had the opportunity to try a Chinese Hot Pot...and it is what it says on the label!

The ingredients are as follows :

- Special hot pot sauces, herbs and spices
- Cabbage
- White carrot
- Chinese dried mushrooms
- Chinese noodle
- Lamb
- Tofu
- Pig skin
- Fried Round Gluten
- Coriander
- Sesame oil
- Lots of water
- Stove

The dish that is believed to orginate from Mongolia, is a great tradition in China to remedy those cold winter days and nights.

What's more, it is eaten whilst continuously cooking and you do not stop eating until everything is consumed.

As you can see from the picture, this was just the beginning and I can assure you that my flamtes and I consumed everything.

In the insightful words of my flatmate you have to 'Attack' the dish by helping yourself, so it is not for the faint-hearted.

This is such a great dish and a special moment to spend together that we try to consume a Chinois Fondue often.

If you have an opportunity try it because I guarantee that you will not be disappointed.

Repousser les limites

I have been meaning to make this post and finally I have got around it. Check out this advert by Virgin, France. It is an image of an elderly persons face on a young persons body. The strap line is 'Does not age too quickly!'

Where the rationality behind the advert could be listening to our music will make you feel and look younger than you really are.

However, did you know that this advert was banned in Clichy, France because the mayor did not like it. In addition, it certainly does it's purpose to create word-of-mouth where across France people stopped to read the advert.

Whatever, will their next message be? Let's just hope that it creates just as much buzz!

Rue de Lappe

Rue de Lappe is a famous street in Bastille that contains many bars, shops and cafes. It is a street that wakes up late and goes to bed late or early depnding on which way you look at it.

There is a lot more to this street than meets the eye and like most places in Paris you have to keep your eyes peeled because not is all quite as it seems where things can change without you even knowing.

During the Bastille Libre I managed to stumble across a bar that had a huge collection of clogs on the ceiling. However, I did not have enough time to consult the owner to ask why they have the collection and where they originate from.

One of my next missions is to provide some insight to this section, so keep checking my blog for regular updates.