Mercury Retrograde with Kenny Rogers & Bee Gees - You and I

Mercury Retrograde is empowering us to rethink and reset our body, mind and soul...

The key to succeeding during this challenging time is to see things from a different point of view, to activate the wisdom that lives within us as well as to reconnect with our physical mind and body with trusted intuition, bringing about clear thinking and emotional comfort. Then when we see a challenge coming, we'll be able to turn it into an advantage. (source: Tree of Life Tarot) 

Hearts speak louder...than and words grow softer...
This song keeps resounding in my head... simply beautiful!!!

(credit: Lang Leav)

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Rumi -- What do you think will happen?

"What you seek is seeking you."

--Rumi

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Sachertorte

Sachertorte is considered the most classic and famous of all the Viennese cakes, to be served with Viennese Coffee whilst enjoying Mozart’s as background music! :)

There are many stories, arguments and competitively countless recipes about the original Sachertorte. Sachertorte lovers claimed that the Viennese taste of Sachertorte should be very dark and chocolaty, but fairly dry, with a bit sweet, dark icing. The chocolate used should be as bitter as possible, and the bitter almond essence is an essential ingredient which makes all the difference to final taste of the cake.

Well, I wish I had tasted as many Sachertorte as I would love to…No matter how original the recipes, or how good the competition, I know exactly which one is my most favourite taste. In this recipe, I intend to use pure cocoa powder instead of melted dark chocolate for the cake mixture.

My very intimate reason: there’s intense richness of dark chocolate Ganache for the cake’s topping, blending with the taste of densely chocolaty, rich cake of the jam, butter and cocoa mixture, a plus. I can feel that my tongue has already reached to chocolate orgasm!!!  

Ingredients:

• 125 g plain flour
• 32 g good quality pure cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 125 g sugar
• 100 g unsalted butter
• 4 eggs, separated
• 2 tablespoons strawberry or apricot jam
• 2 tablespoons strawberry or apricot jam, extra, melted
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• ¼ teaspoon bitter almond essence
• Pinch of salt

Ganache Topping:

• 150 g dark chocolate, chopped
• ¼ cup cream

with "Sachertorte Signature"...Love it! :)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to moderate 180 °C. Brush a 20 cm round cake tin with melted butter, line the base and side with baking parchment.
• Sift the flour and cocoa into a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre. 
• Combine sugar, butter and jam in a small sauce pan. Stir over low heat until the butter has melted and sugar has dissolved; remove from heat.
• Add butter mixture to dry ingredients. Using a whisk, stir until just combined; add egg yolks, mix well. Blend in the almond essence.
• Place egg whites in a mixing bowl. Using electric beaters, beat until soft peaks form. Using a metal spoon or spatula, fold egg whites into the cake mixture until thoroughly blended.
• Pour mixture into the prepared tin, smooth surface. Bake 50 minutes or until the cake is firm to touch and has shrunk slightly from the sides of the tin and that skewer comes out clean when inserted in centre of cake. 
• Leave cake in tin 10-15 minutes to cool a little before removing from the tin and turning onto wire rack to cool thoroughly before glazing and topping.

To make the glaze: 

• Heat the jam with lemon juice with low heat and bring just to boil.
• Cut the dome off the top of the cake horizontally. Turn the cake so that the base side is up. Slice the cake in half and sandwich together with most of the glaze. Brush the remaining over the top of the cake. Leave to set.

To make Ganache Topping:

• Combine chocolate and cream in small saucepan. Stir over low heat until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat.
• Pour Ganache Topping evenly and completely over the top of the cake, allowing the topping to flow down the sides. Smooth sides using a palette knife without touching the top of the cake, or it will lose its sheen. Place remaining mixture in a piping bag and pipe “Sacher Signature” over the top of the cake. Allow to set. 

................................................

Did you know...

that today is Ich Bin Ein Berliner's Day?

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Thai-Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls

Fresh Spring Roll is my top-listed dish of all time due to its healthy, simple yet beautiful presentation with colorful herbs and vegetables as well as its perfect blend with grilled or barbecued meat and sweet & sour chili sauce, ideally for picnic food and Tapas-BBQ-Cocktail party among friends 

or just anytime you feel like...anytime, really! Trust me :) 

This recipe is a tribute to my hungry love for Hoi An's grilled pork/chicken skewer with some adjustment to my Thai tongue, of course. For quick and tricky short-cut, you can buy grilled meat from your favourite hawker in town. Thai people, from all walks of life, are very familiar to marinated pork skewer, or "Moo Ping" / "Moo Yang" in Thai. The children love to eat it with steamed glutinous rice as breakfast before they go to school. You can buy it with price range from 5 Thai Baht up to 45 Thai Baht a skewer. I still recall the nostalgic taste of the best "Moo Ping" in my hometown when I was a little girl...long long time ago...and Here I go again! :)

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Diana Panton - Moon River - Super Moon in Capricorn June 23rd, 2013

Tonight: Super Moon in Capricorn, the brightest and most powerful lunation of the year!
 I'm thinking of my 2 timeless love songs: 
1. Moon River by Diana Panton...She's got such a sweet, smooth, sensual 'n' soothing voice like honey-moon-dew (honeymoon + honeydew)! :)  (p.s I also love Andy William's version, Audrey Hepburn's version in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" as well as Lisa Ono's Romantic Bossa ) 
2. Moonlight Serenade (Frank Sinatra's and Glenn Miller's)....
Such "Sweet & Sentimental" songs to make you believe in fairy tales, magic spells 
and everlasting love!  

.....................

"At night, I open the window

and ask the moon to come

and press its face against mine.

Breathe into me.

Close the language-door

and open the love-window.

The moon won't use the door,

only the window."

--Rumi

Concerning supermoon in Capricorn, kindly visit the link below for your further curiosity:)

http://thespiritscience.net/spirit/2013/06/22/supermoon-in-capricorn/

So let's make a wish tonight.... 

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Rich Chocolate, Mocha & Almond Ice Cream

This is a good creamy ice, smooth and rich but not cloying, and you can vary the amount of whipped cream to add to suit your taste. This ice is particularly good sprinkled with a thick layer of chopped hazelnuts, cashew nuts or toasted almonds before serving.
It should ideally be served when it is just on the verge of melting, if you serve it too cold the flavour will be masked, so take it out of the freezer for a while before serving to let it soften...

Ingredients:

300 ml single cream or milk or chocolate flavored milk

100 g plain or semi-sweet chocolate (if you use chocolate flavored milk, this is not necessary. 

Only if desired, for intensely rich chocolate taste)

3-4 teaspoons instant coffee powder 

(can be vary… up to 2-3 tablespoons for strong caffeine lovers)

4 egg yolks (medium sized eggs) or 3 egg yolks (large sized eggs)

2-3 tablespoons vanilla sugar or caramel coffee sugar

100 ml whipping cream or a cup of milk ice-cream (60g)

My another version of Rich Semi-sweet Chocolate Ice Cream
with Banana, chocolate coated Cashew Nut
& Almond, made 10 days ago!  Chocolate Porn, indeed!!!
Note* I used only 1,5 teaspoons coffee powder for this one.   

For chocolate coated nuts…to make the ice-cream even richerJ

80 g semi-sweet chocolate (melted)

80 g toasted almonds (or cocktail nuts, cashew nuts or hazelnuts or macadamia nuts) 

• Stir in your choice of nuts in the melted chocolate, using a fork to help picking the nut one by one onto a baking sheet. Chill for 5 minutes.

Note* Add the chopped nuts after folding the milk ice-cream/ whipped cream into the cooled mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining chocolate coated nuts when serving. Oh yes!!

• Scald the milk, then remove from the heat and add the chocolate and coffee. Leave to melt. Then stir until smooth;
• Whisk the yolks with the sugar until pale and thick, then slowly whisk in the chocolate-coffee milk;
• Return to the saucepan and stir over a gentle heat until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
• Gently fold the milk ice-cream into the cooled mixture. If you use whipping cream; whip the cream until thick but light and fold into the cooled mixture.
• Pour into a plastic freezer box, cover and freeze. Stir every 30 minutes with a whisk during freezing to break up the ice crystals and give a better texture. Freeze overnight with a layer of plastic wrap over the surface and the lid on the container. Keep in the freezer until ready to serve. Remove from the freezer 15-30 minutes before serving.

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The Great Gatsby (2013) - Official Trailer [HD]

"I love her...and that's the beginning of everything."

-- F.Scott Fitzgerald

I had a chance watching "The Great Gatsby 2000", starring Mira Sorvino, Toby Stephens and Paul Rudd... Looking forward to watching this 2013 version as well as 1974's with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow! :)

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Philly Swirl Brownies & Godot - The Fragrance Of Dark Coffee - Rain + Fire Ambiance

“Hydrogenated and androgynous milky white love 

is all I have to offer you. 

Would you like me to pour it in your coffee, 

or directly into your soul?
” 

― Jarod Kintz

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Durian Cheesecake

A friend of mine asked me “Is this the smelly thing?”
I replied “Some people find it terribly smelly…some, on the contrary, like it dearly! Just like anchovy or fish sauce philosophy…”

"Salika" is the best local
durian in Phang Nga!

Durian is known as “King of the fruits”… I wondered if it is because of its hard prickly rind with its uniquely strong and long lasting fragrance and taste… well… just wondering… My grandfather once told me that if you want to get rid of durian’s odour, after eating the fruit, either pouring some water onto its soft white bed where you pick the pulps, and rinse your mouth with….or eating mangosteen  (queen of the fruits) afterwards. He added that mangosteen is considered as a “yin” fruit, which can eliminate too much “yang” from Durian.  I couldn’t help but relating to what we were told…  “There’s a humble QUEEN behind every Great KING’s success and gloryJ!”  Let them eat Durian, then…

Durian Cheesecake 

(Anne’s Recipe for Durian Lovers)

• 60g or 1 pack of White Sesame Crackers or digestive biscuits of your choice
• 75g butter, melted
• 250g Cream Cheese Block, softened
• ½ can sweet condensed milk
• 2 teaspoons gelatin powder, dissolved in ¾ coffee cup boiling water
• ¼ teaspoon lime juice
• 1 -2 teaspoon(s) Vanilla butter or Coconut cream essence
• 2 local durians (small) Note: one durian may contain 6-7 pulps. Gently peel the pulps out of the seeds.
• White chocolate, grated. (Optional for decorating)

How to:

1.  Using food processor or a rolling pin to make cracker crumbs. Combine the cracker crumbs and butter and press into the base of a 16cm springform pan; chill.

2. Beat cream cheese using electric mixer until smooth. Beat in gelatin mixture until just combined.              Add condensed milk, lime juice and the essence, continue beating until smooth. Gently fold through half the pulps.

3.  Pour mixture into a prepared base. Top with the remaining pulps and refrigerate at least 3 hours or until set. Decorate with grated white chocolate if desired before slicing and serving. 

               Enjoy!

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