prince of morocco

i just came back from a quite-large class dinner! we ate at this moroccan deli at arab street; the mint tea was very interesting.
and now we know what a tagine is!

i just killed a fly that was like 2cm long.

as mentioned, i recently went to pantry magic at chip bee gardens. my favourite buy ever - ceramic ramekins:
the black tartlet pans were from phoon huat. i used up some remaining pie dough to pass off as tart dough, and made three pretty 'tart' shells.
the magnifying glass mode is really putting some focus onto the crusty and flaky properties of the shells. they were all so buttery and rich. i finally managed to use up the month-old pierre hermé lemon cream in these babies.
i think there is some wicked perversion somewhere when you enjoy looking at cream flop off a spoon when you invert it over a tart shell. anyhow, i topped the tarts with chocolate orange sticks that had been sitting in the refrigerator for too long.
perfect bite. soft yet firm, luscious cream on a crunchy/flaky and buttery-rich shell.
i came to a realisation today as i was making jeffrey cookies: there is a natural weather mechanism that is in favour of cookie-making in the mood. when the day is rainy, all you'll want are chewy, comforting cookies, and it so happens the moist air does work in your favour. leave your freshly-baked cookies on the wire rack a little longer, and they'll turn chewy.

and now, time to introduce the ultimate dessert. you know the warm chocolate cake from bakerzin? here is the home version, recipe from nigella.
the batter is made in a jiffy. as soon as the melted chocolate is folded into the egg-rich mixture, it changes from liquid to a thick gloppy sludge, which takes quite some time to spoon into the pudding molds. fortunately, there was no need to work fast. indeed, the prepared molds cooled be chilled for a few hours before baking (which means it can be done in advance and stored for some time, which is going to make it a regular dessert at home if i can take the richness). but it does use copious amounts of chocolate. cadbury then saves the day (and money); just don't overheat it.
undergoing the magical transformation in the oven. actually, what really happens is you're half-baking the batter. so while the exterior is cooked when you tip the cakes out onto serving plates, the spoon will break into it to reveal the gloppy sludge within.
for what it's worth, i think the quality of the eggs are just as important as that of the chocolate. the eggs are there to help form this firm sludge, which i think is aesthetically, and gastronomically, more appetising, instead of a liquid interior that just flows out. and besides, since the interior is likely to be half-baked - i don't think the temperature reaches high enough to cook the eggs, but then again maybe it does - be sure to use fresh eggs that you are confident of eating raw =/ i also think that this recipe should be included in the standard book of desserts, if there was one.
another realisation i reached when i was in a dessert shop: girls like to 'i don't know'. it seems, the hesitation position is the safer position, and the female gender the smarter one.