Last week came the time to plan for the weekly dessert special at the restaurant.  I was given free reign to make what I wanted...well, jeez, if it's up to me I'm going to make chocolate cake!

( I made some cake )

I had some green tea kit kats a long time ago and have been longing for them ever since. I found a good ebayer in Japan and ordered hoards of them, as well as cherry blossom kit kats!

Hot damn, are they very effing good.

EDITED WITH CHERRY BLOSSOM CLOSE UP!





( More Goodness inside! )

I have found a pretty sweet Asian market within a short drive. Now my goal is to figure out how to purchase safe sushi sashimi-grade fish, and how to prepare it safely. It's all good and well to go and buy a prepackaged, uh, package of salmon (that looks very much like the salmon on top of my favorite nigiris), but I have the fear!

All I want to do at home is make awesome nigiri and rolls.

I do not, however, want to have The Sick.

So, just looking at their website (http://www.99ranch.com/) doesn't give me a good list of products. Generally when I go in they have selections of seafood, and there are always some packages of salmon there, similar to this, but with the white foam tray and all wrapped up. Can I just buy that and add rice (with various other items) and have a tasty snack?

Ideally I'd like to make things like this but want to be safe.

So - hints, tips, links, personal experiences. Help?

[x-posted a bit]

I made cupcakes for my entry to the baking competition.  It was my first time making cupcakes...it was great fun!

The theme was it had to be something green, so I made Carrot Cake with Matcha (green tea) cream cheese icing.

It was good fun!  

Click here for more pictures of every participants' entry



 

No, it has nothing to do with James Bond, Robert Downey Jr. or Torchwood--I named this recipe "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" because the strong flavors of caramelized onions, green garlic, ramps and goat feta will make such an explosion in your mouth that if you kissed someone after eating it--well--it would certainly make a lasting impression!

Of course, the solution to this problem would be to feed your intended kissee some of the spaghetti first--that way no one will be offended when the kissing and banging happens after dinner.

Recipe and photos here.

Cooking up some rose and corriander syrup spheres in fructose to put a nice finish on them before topping duck and shallot slices. Kinda hard to tell which is sugar boiling and which are the spheres! :)



In other news, my 20kg of Michel Cluizel Los Ancones chocolate arrived yesterday... expect many hopefully fab pictures!

My friend's mom is a part-time cake decorator. You can believe my excitement when she offered to teach me how to make beautiful cakes. It was on April 26th, and I'm so happy with the cake (although it's all eaten).