Is it wrong to make the same Christmas dessert two years in a row?  Does it help if you have a dessert buffet with a variety of options?   I served these Vanilla Cranberry Creams last Christmas where they were definitely a hit.  Every year I try something new, but this year’s new recipes have failed repeatedly (that is two desserts failed a total of three times) so they just may be on the menu again.

Recently I have become fascinated with all the different ways to thicken milk or cream.  The recipes combine the best of comfort (warm rich milk) and special (creamy chocolate, pungent vanilla) for a treat that is rich, but light enough to work even after a big meal.  When I found some fancy shot glasses for a steal at TJ Maxx, the rest was history.   cran-van-cream-on-on-tray

There are actually a number of different ways to create the various types of thickened cream desserts.   Use cornstarch and it is a pudding, gelatin makes a panna cotta, and eggs produce a pot de crème.  I have found my greatest success mixing eggs and cornstarch but I still call them pot de crème since it sounds so fancy ;-)  cran-van-cream-vertical

Despite its scary sounding name, the dessert is quite simple.  Would it help to call it pudding?

No time before Christmas?  These would be great for an elegant New Year’s Eve or a romantic Valentine’s Day.  Don’t you love the holidays!

I am always looking for quick tasty recipes. Life around us is always a buzz, time is scares, precious and we try to do the maximum in a day. There are so many things I want to do and there is so much to learn in life. I have often the feeling I am missing out on many things in life, that’s why I don’t like to waste time. So logical solutions are always welcome to improve and manage my life.

Actually by now I should have unlearned the hassle in live, for I am living in one of the most unpredictable places in the world. If the next minutes and hours are difficult to foresee, then  how can one follow the straight clear organized path? India is a place where u have to know how to handle hurdles and how to accept that sometimes you just have to wait. You have to be prepared too for unexpected situations, because anything is possible.The best way to experience that is when sitting in a taxi the first time in India. A french man, who was traveling with an Enfield through India, told me once that you have to flow like a fish in a river and be sharp like an eagle. I totally understand what he means, cause if you try to follow the western rules on the road in India, I guarantee that you ll have an accident. There are many things on the roads dogs, cows, chicken, pigs, goats and some careless fools. So you understand, here it is all about using your senses, the “remembering rules like in Europe” way doesn’t work. In the western worlds life is organized, easy to manage but also full of regulations. We give our freedom in exchange of security and a smooth running life Executive Development. All my life in Europe I did experience only once a power shut down, and then too only for 2 minutes. In Goa its happening everyday, any time and while I am writing, it just happened again ( I am serious!).

Coming back to food ( power returned, yuhuu!). My plan for today’s day, was to post a delicious, easy and quick to prepare dessert dish. My husband is the master of this dish and he is the one who introduced me to it. Its a traditional Indian recipe which is cooked and enjoyed throughout the country. It is mostly know as soji, in Goa they would spell it soege. Soji is a semolina cake/pudding which is prepared in a pan over hot fire, and traditionally served on a banana leaf (without the plate). No baking is involved, who has an oven here around anyways? I am sharing with you the basic recipe because I like it simpler and without extras. If you want, you can always add in scraped coconuts or almonds or even food colors to give it all an other dimension. Be creative, try out some flavour ideas for this dish, and share it with us here Neo skin lab!

Last weekend was a busy one. I spent a big chunk of the weekend at the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival where I volunteered on Saturday morning to assist in three seminars. The sessions included a Tuscan Wine Tasting featuring the wines of Brancaia Wines and Winery, a Spirits and Cheese Pairing, and a talk about farming by Tyler Brown, executive chef of  the Capital Grille in Nashville PolyU has offered a wide variety of Student Development programmes, covering entrepreneurship development, placement / internship programmes and student exchange Programmes, altogether nurturing tomorrow's leaders.

Being my first trip to the festival, I didn’t know what to expect at the food tasting on Sunday afternoon. I knew I would sample some fantastic food, but I didn’t expect the utter culinary orgy that it turned out to be!

When you walk through the gate, you get a real wine glass with a lanyard so you can eat while your wine glass is hanging around your neck. Brilliant! Some of the best restaurants from all over the south set up stations where they offer festival goers small 3 or 4-bite samples of their best dishes. And if there’s something that you really like, you’re free to take as many samples as you want.

The first row of tents comprised the barbecue area and my tail started wagging the minute I spotted a tent serving pulled pork and mac and cheese…truly some of the best I’ve ever had. After several samples of pork and brisket, we moved on to the seafood area where we sampled a fantastic sea scallops dish and the Big Green Egg tent where they were smoking some amazing fowl ielts fee.

Two other huge tents featured a variety of spirits, wines, and food, including doughnuts with caramel and bacon and fresh peach ice cream. By the time we finished meandering through the last tent, I was engorged and ready for a nap!

Needless to say, there wasn’t much time for blogging over the weekend. Trying to cook and photograph during the week after a workday isn’t ideal, but I was able to squeak out this easy grilled chicken recipe. If you have all the ingredients for the pesto, it’s a cinch to make in a food processor. Serve this chicken with some steamed vegetables and grilled tomatoes and you’ve got a healthy and delicious summer meal.

Growing up, coconut was always one of my favorite things.  Many of my family members shared that love, so there were always coconut-based desserts around for holidays and special occasions.  The coconut macaroon was definitely one of them, and my mom baked them every year for Christmas.  I’d never had a chocolate dipped coconut macaroon until I got older, and I was hooked instantly.  There’s just something about chocolate and coconut that’s irresistible to me, and these cookies are a huge weakness of mine. :)

I’ve gone through many coconut macaroon recipes, but this one?  It’s the real deal.  Not that the others aren’t good, because they are.  This one is just special. The cookies are thick, sweet, and chewy, and they have just a bit of honey in them, which adds a noticeable touch of flavor.  This recipe came from school, and they’ve been baked several times.  Each time, they’re gone in a flash, and have become a favorite among my classmates and everyone else that tries them. :)

These macaroons are made a little differently — the egg whites, sugar, and honey are cooked over moderate heat until just warm to the touch.  This warms the egg whites, and melts the sugar and honey.  The remaining ingredients are then added and cooked a bit longer.  Let the dough stand 30 minutes at room temperature to cool, and you’re ready to get baking.  Now, I’ve never made a macaroon recipe that required cooking the ingredients before, so I’m guessing that must have something to do with these cookies being so unique.

There’s only 1/2 cup of flour in this recipe, and I’ve been told that they’re great made with rice flour as well, which means gluten-free coconut macaroons for those that need or prefer a gluten-free option.  It’s so nice to have options. :)

The type of coconut you use in this recipe is important as well.  Be sure to use unsweetened finely shredded coconut, which is found in the health food section of the supermarket, or you can find it at Whole Foods as well.  It’s the coconut that I use the most to add to my oatmeal, granola, cookies, etc.  I love that there aren’t huge strands of coconut hanging out when I add it to something, but bits of it all throughout.  There’s a time and place for shredded, and it’s not here in these cookies The Best Beauty Center.

I knew I wanted to make a thumbprint out of these when I tried them.  They’re the perfect cookie for it as they really stand up and hold their shape.  I couldn’t resist the dark chocolate M&M’s in pastel colors for Valentine’s Day, but of course, you can fill them with whatever you like.  You can make Almond Joy Macaroons, or use your favorite candy.  Now, the chocolate dipping is completely optional,  but the chocolate is that extra touch that makes these really special.  And you always need a little chocolate for Valentine’s Day, right?  These aren’t just for Valentine’s Day, obviously, and I can guarantee that I’ll be making these all year round.  If you’re a coconut lover, you owe it to yourself to try these.  There’s just no going back — this recipe is a keeper. :)

I realized that my dessert section has been severely neglected, and I had to do something about it.  It isn’t that I don’t like dessert, but I’m definitely much more of a savory person.  I guess my sweet tough has never fully grown in, although a few months ago I went on a no sugar diet for two weeks and my sugar cravings went through the roof!  One of our neighbors drives a truck for the Pepperidge Farm company and he always has this Pepperidge Farm truck with a gigantic picture of a cookie on it parked out front.  I had to pass this cookie truck on my way home from work everyday and it was absolute torture!  I have never wanted sugar so much in my life, it was painful walking through the bakery section at the grocery store.  But now, thankfully, sugar is back in my life and that giant cookie truck does not taunt me anymore, at least most of the time Dream beauty pro…
A few months ago we went over to a friend’s house for dinner and they made us this really nice dinner with steak, roasted potatoes, and tomato salad.  It was delicious and I was really impressed, and then to top it all off, for dessert they served us gelato with berries that had been macerating in a sweet, sugary sauce.  We had them over to our house for dinner a few weeks later and the pressure was on.  I’ve been mostly gluten free for a little over a year now and sometimes it can be tough when we have friends over for dinner, especially when dessert is involved.  Do I make something with gluten in it and pay for it the next day?  Do I make something using a special gluten free product that may or may not taste any good?  I did make gluten free lasagna for some guests once and they promised me that it tasted good, but it looked more like a big pile of mush than lasagna.  For this dinner, I decided on chili with fritos (one of my go-to gluten free dinners when we have company over) and pound cake with homemade whipped cream for dessert.  I found a gluten free pound cake recipe on the Land O Lakes website and I figured it had to be yummy and buttery if it was from Land O Lakes Hong Kong nightlife.

The recipe called for a bundt pan but I didn’t have one.  I had an image in my mind of pound cake being in a long rectangular loaf shape, so I went ahead and used my loaf pan.  Unfortunately, there was a reason they were calling for a bundt cake pan, it was supposed to cook for about an hour and I had mine in the oven for a lot longer than that and it still wasn’t fully cooked in the middle and the top was a lot browner than it should have been, and by that I mean it was kinda black.  I decided to fix my mistake by cutting off the burnt top layer and then cutting the cake into thin slices and crisping it up in the pan with some butter, because pound cake needs more butter, right!?  I made some homemade whipped cream with some vanilla and brown sugar and then topped everything off with some mixed berries.  Despite my mistakes it turned out to be really good, and I even suspect that no one knew it was gluten free!
When I decided to make this pound cake again to share with you, I wanted to jazz it up a little so I added some fresh cherries and some lime juice and lime zest.  They made it even more sweet and delicious and perfectly complemented the vanilla pound cake!  I hope you enjoy this recipe, whether gluten free or not!

I was trying to think of flavors that would work well with a vanilla pound cake and fresh cherries just happened to be on sale at the store PSVANE!