Book Review: Perfection In Imperfection by Janice Wong

If you are a dessert aficionado and/or lover of beautiful cookbooks, you have to get Chef Janice Wong's first book, Pefection in Imperfection. This hand-stitched, hand-made book (every cover is hand-torn and stuck on) is the product of many hours of loving labour.

It contains recipes that form Janice's signature dishes featured at her 2am Dessert Bar, all beautifully shot and artistically directed. The recipes are not meant to be direct replications of her dishes, but more to teach techniques that can be applied to your own interpretations and inspire you to create your own versions. Even if you don't get around to the recipes, the book is a visual treat for the eyes!

The book was launched a couple of weeks back in Singapore in a warehouse space filled with edible installations created by Janice such as marshmallow icicles, sugar crystal corals and rocks, edible moss, and fruit puree paintings. You can watch her interviews and see the launch here on Razor TV:

Part 1

 

 Part 2

 

 Part 3

 

I'm glad to have such a talented friend and she never ceases to amaze me with her energy and creativity. Follow her crazy adventures on her blog, and go get the book now on her Perfection in Imperfection website!

A Feature in Heart Home Magazine

I mentioned in one of my last posts that I was asked to contribute an article to a soon-to-be launched interiors magazine Heart Home Mag. Well, it's just been launched! And it looks amazing, there's so much great content by the creative community gathered by the founders Arianna, Carole and Daniel. I'm so honoured to be part of this inaugural issue!

The feature I contributed is of course one on food. I made, styled and shot the summer berry tarts and also various flavours of fromage blanc ice cream. The shoot was inspired by an artist's atelier. I wanted to highlight the vibrant colours of the berries and to make the food look like edible paintings.


I've posted my favourite shots that I styled and took here, as not all pictures could be included in the post. The recipes on how to make the tarts and a fromage blanc ice cream is over on Heart Home. Do go over to  Heart Home Mag and have a read!

Guest Post on 6 Bittersweets - Pink Wedding Macarons

Some of you may know I was back in Singapore recently for a wedding of my close friend J. Other than bridesmaid duties, I had also offered to make some of her bridal flowers (reception tables, bridal bouquet and bridesmaids' bouquets) and put together a dessert table for her lunch reception. It was all very fun albeit a little hectic, flying in from London with all my recently collected vintage china, sourcing flowers and ingredients in Singapore and having to make a large batch of macarons, rice krispies treats and meringues. Oh and arranging the flowers, did I already mention that? :)



I had the pleasure of meeting up with Xiaolu from 6 Bittersweets and she kindly took some (amazing) photos and also lent a hand at making the desserts. This was the first time I demonstrated macarons to an audience of more than 1 and I must say it's quite fun! I've guest posted this fun experience, with a photo tutorial, over on 6 Bittersweets.

Xiaolu has very generously decided to give away her copy of i <3 macarons by Hisato Ogita to one lucky reader. To enter, comment on the post at 6 Bittersweets, follow 6 Bittersweets or Heaven in a Wild Flower via email, reader, and/or Twitter (@6bittersweets or @heavenwildfleur). Full details and terms over at 6 Bittersweets. So hop on over to read all about it as well as to visit Xiaolu's amazing blog!

All The Greatest Things!

How has everyone's summer been? I've been up to all sorts of things, but that's not really a good excuse for my absence is it? I put it down to Twitter addiction, busy travel schedule and plain laziness :) There are some pretty exciting projects I've been involved in that I can't wait to share! Some will have to wait but will divulge a couple of things here.

For those who follow the online UK decor scene, you'll know about Heart Home magazine, an exciting online magazine that will be launched in September! It promises to be a collection of inspiring, creative and beautiful interiors and design treasures with a focus on the UK. I'm terribly honoured to be a part of this, and will be contributing a food article to the inaugural issue. Very excited! It took me  a crazy amount of time and effort to bake, style, photograph and write up just one article, it's no wonder I post so infrequently on my blog (tho I should think about posting much shorter photo logs). I can't how much work my lovely friends Arianna, Carole and Daniel over at HHM are up to launch the mag. Good luck guys!

I've also just spent one week taking a floral design course at the Covent Garden Academy of Flowers and it was a wonderful experience! The course I took was  Summer School I, where basics of flower arrangement are taught, along with other technical skills like wiring, contemporary design and structural construction. We made hand-tied bouquets, corsages, table arrangements and larger structures. My favourite must be mossing up a wreath from scratch. Now what does that mean, you may ask? I didn't know before this week either! We take a simple copper wire ring frame and basically wrap bundles of moss around it until it's fat and thick! The resulting wreath is what you see hung on the ladder in the pictures, isn't it lovely?



We got to take what we made home, which means my flat was filled with lovely flowers like a garden :) If you have any interest in flowers at all, I would highly recommend Covent Garden Academy of Flowers. They have a variety of classes on different subjects for various skill levels - from casual 1 day courses to 4-month long intensive courses for those wishing to make a career out of floristry. And other than the skills you'll pick up, it was also a really relaxing and fun experience being at the Academy that differentiates them other places. Gillian and her team are the sweetest and nicest people, often pampering us with tea and cakes while we work hard on our arrangements. Gosh, I really miss my time there already!



I'm going to get more practice next week when I help put together some bouquets and decorations for my friend's wedding in Singapore. Stay tuned for pictures! Speaking of pictures, this week I'm starting a photography e-course run by the amazing Christina Greve of Divas And Dreams. What I love about her work is not just its ethereal dream-like quality, but the fact that she's very encouraging and teaches a lot about positivity and mindset in addition to technical skills.

So yes, there should be a lot more activity on this blog in the coming weeks, thanks for being patient and reading if you're still checking this blog!

Petersham Nurseries & Cafe

After 1.5 years of being in London, I finally made my way to Petersham Nurseries. It has been on my to-do list ever since I moved here since it ticked all the boxes for me - beautiful flowers and plants, interior/homewares and a great chef with a great cafe. Basically everything I could ever dream of. But due to various reasons (weather, laziness, hard-to-get reservations without planning), I never got around to going.

Last weekend, as a spontaneous idea to celebrate a friend's birthday, I called up Petersham on the Friday to see if they had space for Saturday lunch and luckily for me, they had a cancellation and could squeeze us in! So on Saturday, we set off for Richmond but little did I know that the journey would take us 1.5 hours (when google maps told me it would be 25 min with traffic, liars!). By the time we arrived, we were one hour late for our reservation. I had called ahead to inform them but I still felt super bad. It was also raining despite the promise of Spring so the ground was muddy and we got sprinkled on as we trudged through the pot-holed driveway to the nurseries.



The place was bustling, obviously the rain didn't deter the crowd. We walked through the garden and home shop to the back of the greenhouse where the cafe was. Decorated in a Indian ashram meets shabby chic gardenshed style, the cafe was cosy and casual.



Helmed by chef Skye Gyngell, Petersham Cafe recently was awarded a Michelin star though I've been eager to try her cooking even before this. They had a menu dated for that day, which usually indicates to me that they change the menu daily (or so I'd like to think). We shared a starter of Scallops with Agretti and Chilli Oil, and I followed with a main of Spiced Lamb with Butternut Squash and finished off with a Chocolate Hazelnut Cake.

I really loved the starter, not only were the scallops were perfectly done, but it was the first time having agretti for me and I enjoyed the texture and subtle taste (I think I could eat a whole plate of that stuff!). The spiced lamb turned out to be more of a ragout rather than a whole piece of meat but was nevertheless very tender and flavourful. I wasn't that huge a fan of the indian spices but at least it paired well with the butternut squash and yogurt sauce. The chocolate hazelnut cake was good, dark and not too sweet and served with some thick jersey cream. It was heartening to know that Petersham Cafe still retained its honest, home-style cooking that chef Gyngell is known for despite the Michelin star, or perhaps, received a star in spite of that. I've got her "How I Cook" book and love the recipes she presents inside as well.



I was also enthralled by the pretty flowers, decorative items and trinkets that were on sale in the store. Everything was presented so beautifully, every corner you turn there was a gorgeous vignette and of course I was snapping away happily. I was so tempted to buy the vases and the blue tin at the bottom of the picture. I love the table set-ups with the spools of thread. In the end, I came home with 3 potted plants which I hope survive the next few weeks, especially since I'm going to be travelling quite a bit!

If you've not been to Petersham Nurseries and Cafe yet, don't wait for 1.5 years like me before going. Even if you can't get a reservation at the cafe, there's always the quaint teahouse where they serve cakes and light snacks that looked like a great place to spend a lazy weekend afternoon. With spring just round the corner and hopefully warmer weather, I'm sure they'll be getting busy!

Petersham Nurseries

Church Lane
Off Petersham Road
Richmond
Surrey
TW10 7A
For cafe bookings:  020 8605 3627

Beautiful and Yummy Finds

Been really behind in blogging lately, in fact, behind in everything! I find myself playing catch-up with my life due to work, visitors and an extended battle with the mice plaguing my apartment (YES very gross and icky but it's not cos of me!). Haven't posted anything, baked, arranged flowers for a long time, and even my laundry is piling up to the height of Everest! I do hope there are still a couple of readers out there checking back now and then, and I'll endeavour to be much more regular :P

As a kick-off to doing more regular short posts, I'd like to share with you these great inspiring finds. First up is a props rental company called Found. Now, props rental sound boring right (if you're not into styling)? Wrong. Jeni runs this amazing company that specialises in vintage props rental in California (I think) For someone who ought to belong to Props Addicts Anonymous, I'm really envious of her ability to turn her hobby into a business. Her collection of stuff is a treasure trove! Check out Jeni's blog here. Just see these amazing pics where Found provided the props.

Pictures from Utterly Engaged

The next amazing find is the above website where I discovered Found. Utterly Engaged is an e-magazine and website on weddings and they feature tons of inspiration and pretty things, with a focus on showcasing indie vendors and talents. I just love their style!

Lastly, this is something I hope to try when I'm next back in Singapore. 3 Inch Sin is a relatively new dessert cafe in Bukit Timah, Singapore that serves the ubiquitous chocolate fondant with various molten fillings. With flavours like peanut butter, mint, hazelnut, who can resist? My sister and bro-in-law are raving about it :) I dig the simple concept (one main product, many variations) as well as their colourful funky marketing. If anyone else has tried it, let me know!

Mactweets Mac Attack 8 Challenge! - Black & White Sesame Macarons

 After missing the last few rounds of Mac Attack challenges, I am finally back! Thanks to Jamie of Lifesafeast, who reminded me this month's challenge was due this week when I met her at last weekend's Food Bloggers Connect (more on that soon I promise!), I am back with a vengeance!

This month's theme is "Take A Walk on The Wild Side", macarons inspired by Africa and the safari. The first thing that sprung to my mind when I thought about the theme was zebras. Don't ask me why but somehow that's the first animal that popped up in my head :) And since this month the World Cup kicks off in South Africa, I thought I'd make black & white macarons, inspired by both zebras and footballs! Other than the colours, I picked sesame as a flavour as it comes both in black and white variations and I love black sesame anything.

I made the shells using the tried and trusted recipe adapted from Cannelle et Vanille's basic recipe,
colouring half the shells with black colouring (though it didn't really come out very black) and left the other half au naturel. While they were drying, I sprinkled some black sesame seeds on the white shells and white sesame seeds on the dark shells. As for the filling, I whipped up a creme chantilly and flavoured it with black sesame paste (see recipe below).



Macaron Shells (makes about 50-54 shells)
recipe adapted from Cannelle & Vanille

100g egg whites, aged
3g egg white powder
130g almond flour (blitz in food processor to get a finer texture)
160g icing sugar
55g castor sugar
black gel food colouring (according to how dark you want it, I put about 1/4 tsp)
1 tsp black sesame seeds
1 tsp white sesame seeds

Sift icing sugar and processed almond flour together in a bowl. Set aside.

Mix egg whites with egg white powder and whisk in electric mixer until soft peaks on medium high speed.

Lower speed on electric mixer and add in castor sugar slowly while still whisking until fully incorporated. Continue whisking on medium high speed until your egg white meringue mixture reaches stiff peak stage.

Fold in 1/3 of dry ingredients (icing sugar + almond flour) into meringue with a spatula gently. Add in 1/3 more and fold again before mixing in the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients. Make sure all dry ingredients are incorporated into the meringue and start folding mixture more vigorously to form a shiny batter with the consistency of flowing magma or drips down like ribbons when you lift the batter up and let it drip down, and it should slowly disappear into itself without leaving a peak. Be careful not to over mix. If you are adding colour, add it just after all dry ingredients have been incorporated and before working the mixture into a shiny mass.

Line 2 baking trays with non-stick parchment paper (or silpat). You can stick it down with bits of batter in the four corners.

Fill a piping bag fitted with a 1cm round tip with the batter, and pipe even rounds of batter, about 3cm across, onto the tray. If you've mixed the batter properly, it should not spread flatly out too much (overmixed) or leave a peak (undermixed). Sprinkle sesame seeds on top of shells.

Let the batter dry for about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 170 deg C (convection oven or 180 dec C if conventional oven).

When batter is dry to touch (it forms a slight crust), turn the oven down to 140 deg C (or 150 deg C for conventional oven) and bake shells for 14-15 min, turning the trays halfway through baking.

After baking, lift parchment onto wire rack to let shells cool and gently unmould when cool.

Black Sesame Cream Filling

200ml whipping cream
20g icing sugar
20g black sesame paste (available from japanese grocery stores)

Whisk whipping cream in electric mixer on medium high speed until almost stiff, taking care not to overwhip.

Sift icing sugar over whipped cream and continue whisking to incorporate, until cream is stiff.

Fold in black sesame paste with a spatula until evenly incorporated.

Fill cream into piping bag fitted with 1cm round tip.

Assembly

Match pairs of shells of even size.

Pipe a small mound of cream filling onto one half of each pair of shells.

Top with the other shell.


So there you go, my entry for Mac Attack 8!

Also wanted to share some other pictures I took the other day when the girls came over for a girly sleepover. I was very inspired by the flowers I saw on my way home, and spent wayyyy too much than my usual flower budget on many different types of flowers. Arranged them into several different designs and decorated the house with them. We also went to Borough Market and bought saucisson, cheese and fruits for a pre-dinner snack, accompanied by some lovely Gewurztraminer. I do miss doing flowers, really need to practice more often, though it's not a cheap hobby!

Memories of Turkey and Greece

I've been really lazy lately about posting and a busy work schedule isn't helping. I've taken to tweeting short updates but guess that's quite different from a full post. The long awaited pictures from the Turkey and Greece holiday are finally here.

I love love love Santorini! It's an amazingly gorgeous place with pastel coloured houses perched on the cliff of a caldera. Maybe because we went during off-peak season, so it wasn't chock-a-block with tourists overcrowding every single spot. It felt really peaceful and if I had more time, I'd have gladly spent it there lazing around, reading and just taking it slow. We stayed in Firastefani, the neighbouring village to the main town of Fira, which was just a short 10-15 scenic walk away. It afforded us better views and away from the hustle and bustle of Fira. Other than the main sights of blue-domed churches, pastel coloured cliff houses, the caldera and volcanic island, there are also black and red sand beaches and quaint villages dotted around the island. Oia, the village at the northern tip of the caldera was especially pretty and supposedly has the most spectacular sunsets. I say supposedly because it was pretty cloudy the day we went and while we did see the sunset, there were way too many clouds.

Another highlight of our trip was the Good Friday celebrations in the town of Pyrgos. Situated at one of the highest points on the island, the church is perched right at the top and every Easter, they re-enact the events around Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. A funeral service is held, where people from all over the island come to pay their 'respects' and subsequently, the icon symbolising Jesus is carried out of the church and brought around the village. As that takes place, the village youths set fire to cans that line the spiraling periphery of the village pathways, creating an amazing sight. The pictures below don't really do justice to the magnificent fire display.





Let me leave you with a picture essay as a picture paints a thousand words. These are a selection of the squillion photos I took. Enjoy!

Istanbul Sights and Sounds

Istanbul Details

Amazing nature in Ephesus

Ancient town of Ephesus & other ruins

Athens Sights and Pantheon

The amazing natural scenery in Santorini - volcano, caldera,  sunsets, blue seas and skies!

Cliff houses in Santorini

Santorini details and miscellaneous shots

The classic blue domed churches of Santorini

Cats and dogs in Greece and Turkey

Doors of Santorini

Inspirational & Beautiful

So beautiful, pretty and so amazingly talented. The below pictures are from Housemartin, the blog for portland based home decor & floral shop ink & peat. Makes me ashamed that I haven't done any floral arrangements in a while...

Enjoy the beautiful florals and pictures!

Project Craft Room

Since I've got a compulsion to decorate and change things in my house ever so often, my energy is now directed to turning my guest bedroom into a craft room. Yes, it's an excuse to get new furniture, fill it with nice and pretty things and hopefully have a roomful of inspiration.

Currently, it looks more or less like this.



I'm going to push the bed against the window, so I get a lot more space on one side of the room so I can add a table and shelving or something. In the meantime, I'm being inspired by the lovely craft rooms on Apartment Therapy here and here. The below are some of my favourites:

via Apartment Therapy

There's also a lot of photos on Flickr, just doing a search on 'craft rooms' returned so many beautiful pictures. I'd love to add big nice armchair to it, not that there's going to be enough space haha. Anyway, stay tuned. Hopefully I'll get it done soon.

The Return of the Macaron Chronicles

Finally the macaron gods have smiled on me and I am in their favour again. Or perhaps it was the beginner's luck of the new Kitchenaid. Whatever it is, I finally succeeded at making macarons after 2 previous failed attempts. And this time, the flavour was a big hit! Chocolate Peanut Butter & Banana :) If I were ever going to make macarons for sale, I'd definitely include this! Once again, I shall let the pictures do the talking (courtesy of my new Canon 500D).

Updates

I had started some updates on my iPhone while I was in Hong Kong. Got a bit too lazy to finish it up properly and post it. However, I did post up the pictures on FB, so I'll let those do the talking intead.

In short, I was away for the past couple of weeks. First for a personal holiday in Hong Kong where I spent infinitely more than I planned, and then a work trip for a conference to Seoul, where luckily I was all shopped out and spent a lot less. Before the trips, I was busy with the weddings. Speaking of which, it's back to weddings since I've got 3 weddings in the next month.

I've done some major damage to my wallet starting with the HK trip, which I thought wouldn't cost me anything since airtix were miles and accommodation was free! How wrong was I! I went crazy at H&amp;M and some other shops (all Angela's fault!) and almost bought a Bottega wallet, which though I didn't, in turn led to me buying my Canon 500D (plus lenses). Bah. This was followed by crazy BB Cream and skincare sprees in Korea. I don't even use masks, creams and bb cream lor!!

The damage was further worsened tonight during the Tangs Singtel sale. Remember the dead mixer I have? Well, I replaced it.

Taaadaaaaaaaaa.



I am a proud owner of an ice blue (aqua to me) Kitchenaid! I also errr bought a set of Henkels knives and some anodised woks after being convinced by the auntie demonstrating that they were MUST BUYS. Gosh. I think I'm certified auntie. Sigh.

But ok, I think my new KA makes me cool. Heh.

Candy Bar, Strawberry Cake & A Dead Mixer

Apologies for the lack of posting. It's been pretty hectic the past few weeks with work and friends' weddings. Just this past Friday was Miss Ene's wedding and I was pretty tied up helping out as a jiemei and general planning. It was a great wedding and there were lots of fun moments! The full set of pics that I took are over on Facebook for those who are on my FB. Pulled out the below photos of the candy bar that I designed and set up for the happy couple :) I'm glad to see that people enjoyed it and there was hardly any candy leftover. Lots of kids on sugar high that night!

Finally got round to baking today. If you haven't noticed, yes I haven't made macarons in a while, nor even baked. I had wanted to make macarons but alas, once again the macaron gods are not in my favour. As I was separating the eggs last night, the stupid yolks slipped into the whites, which meant that the whites were tainted and won't whip well. I decided to just mix the yolks with the whites and find something else that will use whole eggs instead.

Inspired by the Patisserie Glace Strawberry Shortcake I had yesterday, I decided to do a strawberry cake. By the way, for those who've not gone to Patisserie Glace at Chinatown Plaza, you must!! It's got really yummy cakes! Anyway, so I bought some strawberries and attempted my very first layer cake. It was a good excuse to finally use the cake ring I bought.

I couldn't find a light strawberry sponge cake recipe that used whole eggs, since most of them called for beating the egg whites and yolks separately to maximise the volume of the cake. So I decided to just go with a Victoria sponge recipe in my James Martin Desserts cookbook, which I suppose was just a pound cake recipe (i.e. equal parts of butter, eggs, sugar, flour). I then whipped some cream with icing sugar to make the filling and spread it over the strawberry quarters.

Pardon my lack of cake decorative talent. I did have slightly more creative ideas but I didn't have enough whipped cream leftover to pipe a mound to plonk my strawberries on so I had to just stick them right onto the cake. The cake itself was a bit too heavy for my liking (I'm still dreaming of the airy light sponge cake from Patisserie Glace) and whipped cream melts pretty fast. One more thing to master - a good light sponge cake.

Oh... and I had so much trouble creaming the cake batter and whipping the cream using my handheld food processor whisk attachment. Why? Cos my Kenwood mixer has DIED on me. It refuses to turn on. The last time I used it, I had to cajole it for 15 min before it started. This time, when I turned it on initially, I heard a whir for maybe ONE second and it died... Sigh. And the warranty is over since I got it just about over a year ago during my birthday. Bah. Maybe it's time to finally invest in a Kitchenaid. Guess I can't really make anything for now, let alone macs. Boohoo.