It all started when AK lost his keys. We were at a company event in the KL Convention Centre. We planned it all out - AK would drive me to work in the morning, then I would take the company-provided transport to the Convention Centre where the event was held, and we would go home together. It was a perfect plan.
Then he lost his car keys. At 5 pm. In the KL Convention Centre, which was crawling with more than two thousand of our colleagues, and people rushing to places after work. After about two hours of fruitless searching we gave up and took a cab home to get the spare keys. With the horrendous after-work traffic, by the time we reached KLCC again we were both starving. So we decided to have dinner there (Little Penang, where else?) before going home. Of course, Little Penang just happens to be one lot away from Kinokuniya. Given that I seldom venture in the city nowadays, so why not??? Might as well make the most of it.
My intention was to check out Jamie Oliver's Cook With Jamie: My Guide to Making You a Better Cook. I had been eyeing it for the longest time.But Kinokuniya had the big, bountiful Bouchon Bakery displayed (conveniently) on its "promotions" table. I didn't even have to bring it to the front counter for the staff to remove the annoying plastic covers. The books were just lying there, waiting to be picked up. So naturally, before AK could ask if I was buying anything I grabbed one and paid the obscene amount of money (for a book anyway), and made AK lug this behemoth home.
Now, I own Bouchon, and have never cooked from it. The recipes just seemed too daunting - I mean, who has the time to make sure all the onion slices for French Onion Soup are all uniform in sized and shape? Maybe one day, when I quit my day job and go freelance :).
But back to the book. As soon as I got home and did all the things one must do before bedtime, I plopped into bed with my new best friend and read. Lovely little anecdotes from Thomas Keller's childhood about Oreos and his mum's pecan sandies, gorgeous photos of the food and even nicer, inside Bouchon Bakery. Really precise instructions (eggs are strained then measured or weighed, not counted in one or two, for example).
Now, I own Bouchon, and have never cooked from it. The recipes just seemed too daunting - I mean, who has the time to make sure all the onion slices for French Onion Soup are all uniform in sized and shape? Maybe one day, when I quit my day job and go freelance :).
But back to the book. As soon as I got home and did all the things one must do before bedtime, I plopped into bed with my new best friend and read. Lovely little anecdotes from Thomas Keller's childhood about Oreos and his mum's pecan sandies, gorgeous photos of the food and even nicer, inside Bouchon Bakery. Really precise instructions (eggs are strained then measured or weighed, not counted in one or two, for example).
I decided to break in the book (and my spanking new Teka oven in my spanking new dry kitchen - love) in with these chocolate chunk and chip cookies. The recipe surprisingly doesn't contain any vanilla, but does make use of unsulfured blackstrap molasses. I added half a teaspoon of vanilla concentrate, because I think there is nothing better in this world than vanilla and chocolate, otherwise followed the recipe to the word. They came out with a lovely deep caramelized flavour, sophisticated almost. AK wolfed down 3 cookies as soon as he got home from work - always a good sign. What's more, my new oven, while a little fiddly at first, didn't let me down, and I really enjoyed having all that space on my new breakfast/work counter. A girl could ask for little else. Joy indeed!
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