Islands in the sky, food & travel

Hi everyone ! (Salut tout le monde, voir la version française plus bas) Now I understand why you must try these for dessert when you're in a café/restaurant in France ! A quintessential dessert dating back a couple hundred years, they are composed of a  chou , (pronounced "shoe") or a hollow puff pastry and filled with either whipped cream or ice cream and topped with creamy melted chocolate. These were fun to make but I’m not going to lie it took 3 tries to get the cream puff recipe down (about a week). But now that I’ve understood the ins and outs of that ordeal, I’m also trying savory ones (stuffed with tuna, salmon or avocado mousse).... but I digress. That’ll be for Christmas. Let’s get to this chocolate profiteroles business. Here is the recipe that worked for me: Dough: 240 ml water 75 g butter 200 g flour 3 eggs Pinch of salt  Filling: vanilla ice cream or other favorite Chocolate sauce: 200 g dark chocolate 100 ml half and half 100 ml milk Preheat oven 170 C/325 ...

With a bit of cream or cottage cheese and sugar, a delight. Here are the steamed kinds, some with fruit juice dripping out, but no matter, delicious nonetheless. Made boiled versions as well, which are chewy and best eaten warm. Hey there !  It's been a while, but you know, September. Here is a recipe that is pretty versatile for making sweet and savory dumplings !  Dumplings are a comfort food for those who grew up with them.  Here I've made the Polish/Czech Republic kind, but I will also make a savory version the next time around, with a Filipino recipe.  Same dough base though.  Say that several times before you go on. 😂 Here is what you need for the dough : 1 packet of yeast 80 g 230 ml or 1-1/4 cup milk 2 tablespoons of sugar 300 g flour (About 3 cups) A pinch of salt 3 tablespoons of butter or shortening Filling :  Choice of fresh fruits (I used blueberry, cherries, currants, plums) Fill with one type of fruit or a mix Warm the milk until it's room t...

Since we can't travel, I gave myself a challenge and cooked a Sri Lankan meal, based on spices I brought back from a trip there and others we've made at home. Here is one of my favorite dishes, Sri Lankan dahl. First of all, spices.  You may or may not have every one of the ingredients they use in Ceylan, but here are a few essentials that you could probably find in your grocery store.  I didn't have all the ingredients so just made the dahl with green lentils instead of red ones (a sin, gasp!) but the taste was wonderful anyway, because, well, we make do with cupboard ingredients nowadays (pandemic oblige). So depending on the number of people eating, measure 1 cup of lentils per person x 2 cups of water / per cup.  Boil lentils with chopped onion and tumeric about 20-25 minutes or until the lentils have softened. In a separate pan, fry garlic and ginger together.  Once gently browned, add the strained lentils.  Add coconut milk + spices. That’s it.  Here'...