Far too long......

i have jus realised that its been almost two months since i updated my blog....tsk tsk.....my adoring fans must be disappointed...nya,nix,eric,norman,rabera....this is for all of you:)
There is so much to upload i dont even know where to start!!!! i think il start with what i found most exciting....tarts!!!

TARTS

well for tarts there is the basic shortcrust pastry...one you have mastered that you can make all sorts of tarts,chocolate tarts,banana and chocolate tarts,apple tarts...the list is endless!!!!
so the procedure to make the short crust pastry is as follows:
ingredients: flour,salt,sugar,butter,egg yolk,water
method: sieve flour and combine it with all the dry ingredients. next rub butter into the flour using your finger tips (this is to prevent the butter from melting)until it becomes like bread crumbs. next make a well in the center,put in the water and the egg yolk. bring the dough together into a ball.DO NOT KNEAD!!keep chill for about ten minutes
while the dough is resting you can make the filling for your tart...thats up to you....you could take cooking chocolate and melt it with butter and milk and use that as your filling:) or you could take green apples,cut them into cubes and cook them with sugar and water and cinnamon until they become soft then use that as a filling for your tart...
to cook the short crust pastry, you need to blind bake it. this means that you need to poke holes on the dough once you have put it in the tart baking tray then put dried rice or beans on the dough to prevent it from rising...if you dont understand i hope the pictures help:)

Peach sponge cream cake....

I really dont know if the title of my log makes sense but once you see the pictures it will definitely make lots of sense......:) this is the amazing cake we made in pastry class....sigh.....wat i wouldnt give for a piece of this cake right now!!!!!

We started by first making a basic sponge cake. Once it had cooled, it was then cut into two.(as shown in the picture above)

Once we had halved the cake,syrup from the peaches was poured on the sponse cake to moisten it.

Cream was then used to layer the top of the cake.Diced peaches were then added as a fiiling for the cake as well as to give it taste n flavour.

Once this had been completed,the other layer of cake was placed on top some more syrup from the peach was added to moisten the cake.Cream was then spread on top and on the sides of the cake.

Crushed sponge cake was then stuck to the side of the cake so as to give it a beautiful finish.

 Once this was done the top was then decorated with some more cream and voila!!!!the beautiful end product:)

Dont you just feel like having a slice of this cake......

A taste of home away from home....

To say that i have had an awesome week and weekend(food wise) would be an understatement!!!!!!it all began on friday night when my friend and i decided to experiment with my newly purchased multi purpose cooker!!!(whoever invented that gadget totally rocks!!!!)

We decided to try our own version of spaghetti....we boiled the pasta then fried some tomatoes and sausages with abit of spice and put the spaghetti back in and mixed it all together....the end result is one of the above pictures..:) i must admit it was one delectable meal!!!!!!much better than the rice and chicken that i keep eating!!!

The next day was even much better because we got to cook one of our traditional meals called ugali.It is made from maize that has been finely ground into flour.....we had it with spinach and fried beef.The picture of the end result is also among the pictures above. Though as an aspiring chef i am trying to be open minded and try all the foods that i can from the different cultures represented here, i had jus really missed something that was from home.....

To crown off the week my friend and i made some pilau. This is another of our traditional foods that is rice seasoned with different spices such as cloves, garlic, vegetables such as potatoes n carrots can also be added.Meat is also usually added but since we did not have any we improvised it with sausages:)

To add some flavour  to the rice we made a side salad called kachumbari...its made from onions, tomatoes and avocado....Now this weeks meals are what i call a taste of home away from home!!!!!

Mashed Potatoes......

 Today was my first food cooking lesson!!!!it was simple but interesting dish.......potatoes:)

I got to learn how to make lyonaisse potatoes,potato a l'anglaise and my favorite mashed poatoes!!!yum yum:)

So i have done a little research and have found certain things that can help you get the perfect mashed potatoes:)

How you get to your desired mashed potatoes is going to depend on four simple factors:

• What type of potato you are using?
• How you cook them?
• How you mash them?
• What you add to them?

How you cook the potatoes

Always start your potatoes in cold water with salt added to it. How much water? Just enough to cover the potatoes. Bring the water to a boil and cook the potatoes until they are tender when pierced with a knife. How long it takes depends on how many potatoes you are cooking.
When done, drain them immediately! Do not rinse, just drain and put them back in the pot and return the pot to the stove on low heat. This will make a huge difference because the low heat will allow some of the excess water to evaporate leaving you with less water and more potato resulting in more flavor.

How to mash the potatoes

How you mash your potatoes will greatly effect the texture and style. There are several tools and methods all having different results. For example, the most common masher is the Wire Masher. With it you can create either a smooth or textured mashed potato depending on how much you work.
If you are looking for fluffy, airy potatoes, try an electric mixer. Often used in restaurants to stretch how far a potato can go, the mixer whips air into the potato giving them more volume and staying power.

What to add
Most people put milk or cream to give it a creamy flavour.....there are the fun extras that can be added such as cream cheese, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and whatever else you may like in your mashed potato recipe.

All in a days work.....

Today i had two very interesting classes....butchery and pastry. The most exciting part  about the butchery class was the dressing and the thrussing of the duck!!!!For starters i did not know that a duck's meat is red!!!!I thought that it would have white meat like that of a chicken.....i also discovered that it is very tasty especially if its is made as a confit....Confit is a french word that means preserving. Confit of duck is a delicacy that should be tasted by all!!!!!
The pastry class was also as interesting where i got to learn how to make a butter cake and creme anglaise to go with it!!!!talk about a fun filled yet very knowledge filled day!!!!!!At the top two ways in which you can serve the butter cake!!!

the journey continues.....

here is a continuation of my journey in the kitchen.....the next step after learning how to set up a kitchen is learning how to cut up different vegetables.Here are some pictures of the vegies thats were cut up

history of different foods

In the spirit of sticking to what my blog is about,i will start off with the history of different foods....i hope to post a history of a different food everyday!!!Today i will start with cake because that is what im craving as i write this post!!!!The most common cakes especially back home in kenya are blackforest and chocolate fudge cake.I dont know if its just me but we like sticking to what we know and don't experiment that much.On one of my siblings birthdays i got the chance to taste an ice cream cake....it was DIVINE!!!!!!
The idea of ice cream and cake evolved from Renaissance-era where people had desserts composed of cream and biscuits. These were called trifles. These fancy desserts were enjoyed by middle class and wealthy people. The difference? Freezing technique. Victorians prided themselves on fancy ice cream "bombes" (ice cream molded into special shapes). A survey of old cookbooks confirms biscuits (Savoy, sponge) were sometimes used to line the mold that held the ice cream. Voila! Ice cream cake!!!(www.ehow.com)
So the next time your out to buy cake,why dont you try and have a slice of ice cream cake....i am sure u will love it as much as i did!!!!i hope the picture i have uploaded will inspire you to go out and get a slice.....:)