Gougère

I am a fan of eggy batter, and choux pastry is a perfect snack when I feel a little peckish. I tried to make choquette, but the Nestle chocolate chips burned, so it was not a sucess. So I quickly grated some gruyère cheese, mixed them into batter and piped them on the cookie sheet. I sprinkled more cheese on top before baking.


flour 1 cup
water 1 cup
butter 90g
a pinch of salt
2 handfuls + more of grated gruyère
4 eggs (room temp)

Preheat oven to 200C.
Bring water, butter and a pinch of salt to a boil in a pan. Once the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat. Add flour and mix vigorously using wooen spoon. Let it cool for 5 mins.
Once the dough has slightly cooled, add one egg at a time, mixing well. Add cheese to the dough, reserving some for sprinkling on top.
Pipe the dough on the sheet, about a walnut size, 1 inch from one another.
Sprinkle cheese on top.
Bake for 25-30 mins in the oven till golden brown.

Best served warm with wine or beer.

It is raining outside and I am listening to Leslie Cheung's 為你鍾情. Such a classic. -0-

Things that make me happy

1. My spoilt but still adorable dog whose butt I am constantly tempted to bite.
And her paws...I love its smell.
2. Fresh high thread count cotton sheet
3. Snuggling up in my bed in the weekend mornings, knowing that I don't need to get up for another hour.
4. Reading books or magazines while soaking in lavender-scented bath
5. Freshly baked chocolate chip cookies
6. Hot chocolate made of shaved Valhorna chocolate
7. Vanilla ice cream topped with hot fudge sauce and cream
8. Morning in Picadilly Circus watching people going to work.
9. Fortnum and Mason around Christmas
10. Stollen
11. Christmas in Paris
12. Tiramisu from Zafferano
13. Carrot cake from Ceci-Cela
14. Mistuko, a perfume by Guerlain
15. All the perfumes by L'Artisan Parfumeur
16. Fresh jasmine flowers
17. Smell of my mom - Sisley Eau de Campagne, I think.
18. Summer in England
19. Hot scones smeared with butter, and then topped with rasberry jam and a thick layer of clotted cream.
20. Washing my feet before going to bed. I am convinced that this helps me to sleep.
21. Marmalade
22. Apricot jam
23. Learning a new language
24. Faye Wong (王菲)...ooh...I worship thee.
25. Sipping a mug of hot chocolate on a icy morning in Paris
26. Louboutin heels
27. Clarins body oil
28. Full-body exfolation Korean style and body massage afterwards
29. Smell of freshly cut grass
30. Whipped cream on anything
31. Cheese
32. My friends. Whereever they may be.
33. Smell of wet trees
34. Thigh-crunching squat. More painful the better.
35. Karen Mok (莫文蔚)
36. Lemon tart
37. Dooly, an old Korean cartoon character.
36. Gargamel and Azrael from The Smurfs
37. Farewell My Concubine (Movie)
38. Ice tea on a hot summer's day - it must have mint leaves
39. Tamarind
40. Flaky paratha
41. Smell of old books
42. Old pictures of my parents
43. Old love songs
44. Christmas carols
45. Afternoon nap on a rainy day while listening to old love songs
46. Buttered savoy cabbage
47. Tom from Tom and Jerry
48. Pork cracklings
49. Mille feuilles from Goumard (I don't think they do it anymore)
50. Kashimiri embroidery
51. Chips (fries) with salt and vinegar
52. Gooey, sticky and sweet pecan tart
53. Thick bath robes at the hotels
54. Reading history books
55. Being home alone
56. Quiet mornings - no phone calls, no door bells
57. Macaroons from Ladurée
58. The moment when I am about to fall asleep
59. Medjool dates
60. Sandwiches from Prêt à Manger
61. Peanut butter cups, preferably frozen
62. Chocolate-covered almonds
63. Toasted marshmallow
64. Palsun, the Chinese restaurant at the Shilla Hotel. I have been going there since I was little. Although the restaurant underwent a renovation, it still reminds me of my granddad. Very expensive for me to go there with my friends, so I rely on the grace of someone else's charity (like my parents and aunties and uncles) :P
65. Walking around London
66. Walking around Paris
67. The National Gallery, London
68. Klimt
69. Staying true to one's principle
70. Korean style beef jerky made by my mom
71. Ho-dduk - a Korean style panfried cake stuffed with sugar, cinamon and nuts. They are often sold on the street.
72. Topanyum, a type of Korean salt made on soil bed. It is very high in minerals. When used in food, it makes all the difference. Far superior than the famed Sel de Guérande.
73. Roast turkey with stuffing
74. Kelly bags
75. Pesto
76. Bruxelles
77. Avocado
78. Passionate performers
79. Wong Kar Wai's films
80. Zhang Yi Mou's films
81. Enjoying a latte at home.
82. Korean apples
83. Having a goal in life
84. French cruller from Mister Donut
85. Brussel sprouts
86. Having butterflies in my stomach when I am about to travel
87. Korean beef bbq
88. Green orange juice I had in Lahore
89. Butter croissant
90. Nice stationery
91. Being born into my family
92. CSI the TV series
93. Location of my workplace - surrounded by mountains. Very rare in Seoul
94. Having a boss who inspires me
95. Old Korean songs, like Yongpil Cho and Patti Kim
96. Creamy dip scooped up with tortilla chips
97. Pig's trotter Korean style
98. Cantonese roast meat
99. Chaat
100. Dosa
101. Having a job
102. Saffron
103. Pistachio lokums
104. Rose petal jam
105. Candied fruits from South of France
106. Grasse
107. Medieval cities in France
108. Violet petal jam
109. Botanical paintings
110. When my spoilt dog sleeps on my chest lightly snoring down my face.
111. Waterstone's
112. Thick youghurt drizzled with honey
113. Lavender
114. Patchouli
115. Thinking of what to cook for my lunch gatherings
116. Going to ballet performance
117. Pavlova
118. Fluffy pancakes
119. Hot tea
120. A good salad on a sunny day (Lots of nuts, bitter radichio, goat cheese)
121. Regular work-out session with my trainer
122. Tanya Chua (蔡健雅)
123. Smell of frangipani and monoi
124. Vanilla flower
125. Lever arch files
126. Yoon Dong-Ju (윤동주), a Korean poet who was tortured to death by Japanese in 1944,
and his beautiful, beautiful poems.
127. A Guinot facial at 122 Knightsbridge
128. Ear candling
129. Making body scrub at home
130. Chinese massage
131. Taipei
132. Hong Kong
133. Timtam slam
134. Packing for a trip the day before listening to music
135.

Lemon yoghurt cake

I had some leftover plain yoghurt in the fridge that was nearing expiry date. I googled for a light yoghurt cake recipe, and noticed that everybody seems to rave about Dorie Greenspan's recipe. So I tried, and I was very happy with the result. It is light and lemony, perfect with a cup of tea on a summer's day. It is also very simple and easy to make, so much so that I can memorize the whole recipe.

1 1/2 cup AP flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup plain yoghurt
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil (non-fragrant oil like grape seed oil)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 lemon
2 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
4 tablespoon icing sugar
Preheat oven to 175˚C

1. Put sugar and zest of one lemon in a bowl, and mix them together to make fragrant sugar mixture.
2. Add eggs, oil and vanilla extract to sugar mixture. Whisk well to achieve lemon curd-like mixture.
3. Sift flour, baking powder and salt to 2. Mix well.
4. Line muffin tins with cupcake paper. Fill upto 2/3. Bake for 25 mins or until the toothpick comes out clean.
5. Mix juice of 1 lemon with 4 tablespoon. Prick holes on the cakes with toothpick. Spoon lemon and sugar mixture over the cake when the cakes are still warm.
6. Enjoy with a cup of tea.

* Dorie Greenspan's recipe calls for warmed up marmalde glaze, but I replced it with lemon-sugar mixture.

Pampering, Korean style.

What does a girl need to survive in Seoul? Many things, I am sure, but pampering definitely features on the list. Pampering can mean many things, but to me, it usually means a visit to a spa. But being a civil servant living on a meagre salary, getting treatments at high-end spas is biannual treat for me. So I go to a Korean bath house in between.

The Korean bath house can be compared to the Turkish hammam. But the difference between hammam and Korean bath house is that there are at least two shallow pools for you to soak in after shower. Oh, and you have to be stark naked unlike some hammam where you are required to put on swimsuit. If you go to a small local bath house, usually there are one hot pool and one cold pool. Giant bath houses have as many as twenty pools of different temperature and types. You will find green tea bath, ginseng bath, mugwort bath, you name it.

In Korean bath houses, you pay entrance fee when entering the establishment, and you will be given a set of shorts and t-shirt, a small towel, and a key to your locker. Any additional service will be charged to your locker key, and you pay upon leaving the bath house. If you plan to stay in jjimjilbang, a hot cave-like rooms, wear shorts and t-shirts because often the jjimjilbang area is unisex. These jjimjilbangs are lined with jewel powder, charcoal powder and jade which are supposed to help you detoxify, but I am not a fan because I find the hot rooms hardly ventilated. These jjimjilbangs are located around the communal area where you will find a small store selling iced coffee, shikhye, baked eggs in the shell and more snacks. People come with their friends, sweat, chat, watch TV and drink cold drinks to keep them happy.

The bath area has pools and showers lined on the wall. After shower, you can soak in the water as long as you want. Generally, visitors are not allowed to use oil in the pool area as it is dangerous. If you feel that you have soaked long enough, you are now ready for the body scrub. (Many Korean dermatologists advise you against the Korean body scrub, saying that it is too harsh on your skin, but we do it anyway. I get it done once or twice a year, so I think it is harmless.)

Assuming that you have made a reservation, go to the designated area to meet the body scrubber. (I can't think of a better word for the ladies wearing mesh bikinis ready to scrub every inch of your body.) You lie down on a plastic bed, and the lady will start her work. A rough, rayon-viscose towel (It is called Italy towel. Don't ask me why. ) and a bar of soap are used to scrub off dead skin cells. If you are not Korean, you may find it a bit painful, but really, it is not that bad. You will be facinated (or disgusted) by the layers of grey dead skin cells falling off your body. Afterwards, the lady will wash your hair for you, giving you a brief head massage. If you opt for body massage, the lady will pound your body using baby oil. Usually, fresh cucumber mask(the lady will grate the cucumber on spot and put them on your face for hydration) or yoghurt mask is included in the service. At the end, the lady will rinse your full body and use hot towel to compress your neck briefly. Voila! You will feel so relaxed that you might even feel light headed.

If you are oiled head to toe, you cannot go back into bath. Have a light shower and get dressed. There should be a coin hair dryer in the locker area. Don't forget to have a coffee milk in triangular plastic container. It is a must.

Useful tips

1. Bring your own Italy towel. The body scrubbing ladies will use her own on her customers and will be washed after use, but sharing them sounds disgusting to me. If you forgot to bring them with you, they can be purchased at a stand in the locker area.

2. Bring your own bath products from shampoo to shower ball

3. If you do not like using petroleum-based baby oil (the body scrubbing ladies use it to briefly massage your face as well), bring your own plant-based body oil like I do. I recommend the ones in plastic bottles. The ladies in the bath will show you that you have option of aromatherapy oil which costs more than usual treatment, but they are not the fancy ones you will see in high-end spas. And they charge you A LOT for that. So bring your own.

4. Drink plenty of water.

5. Like any spa treatments, I try to avoid the Korean bath right after a meal.

It usually costs 40,000KRW to 100,000KRW for a set of body exfoliation and massage of about 30-50 mins. The whole experience will take about 1hr 30 mins. You might think that you will be awfully conscious of lying down naked on a plastic bed. But once you get used to it, you will fall asleep on the bed. A body wrap + massage can easily cost 250,000KRW at a fancy spa, so for me, Korean bath sounds like a good deal. There won't be any welcome tea and plush bathrobes, but the Korean bath will make you just as refreshed.