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Saturday 21 January 2017

Garden Party

Let's be honest.  A garden party is a good excuse to have wine with friends.  Our back garden has been revamped, and it looks amazing.  Just ask any of the friends that were here last night.  And we finally found a range of wine glasses we like.  No, not the normal ones (and definitely no the overpriced ones) but decent glasses that are available in the bigger sizes for red wine.  Red wine just tastes so much better in a bigger glass.  And of course, in typical Tiffany's fashion, I couldn't let the table stand bare of snacks from my side.  The interesting part is I planned the snacks under the impression today (21 January) is the Chinese New Year, however, it is only on the 28th.



Not to let small things like this bother me, I went ahead with what I planned.  Pork Dumplings and Vegetable Spring Rolls.  It is so easy when there's a perfectly good Chinese Grocer in N1 Value Center.  They really are the best when it comes to Oriental Food Items.  Note the dips, all 4 sauces from the grocer.  Sweet and Sour sauce, Thai Sriracha Chilli Sauce, Sweet and Sour Plum Sauce and Oyster Sauce.  And they were the first plates to be empty.  On a side note, the bottle products I prefer are the Dee Thai brand.  But of course, you came here for more recipes, so I won't disappoint you.  I made a classical New Orleans pastry called Beignets.  And of course, here's my version.  Little squares of yeast dough, deep fried to puff up like little pillows, and liberally dusted with icing sugar.  Okay, okay, basted with icing sugar.  Don't skimp on it, otherwise you lose the point of them.



Now I don't know if I make the dough correctly, but I always end up with a very soft dough that needs a bit of extra flour to handle, though it's still very sticky.  Until a chef from New Orleans tells me otherwise, I'll stick with this recipe as it is a winner in my circle of friends.  I have to also admit, I didn't have Ideal Milk, so I substituted with a mixture of milk and cream.  Don't ask me the exact ratio, as I was in a rush when I made the dough and didn't measure exact proportions, though it still totaled the correct amount of liquid.

Also, as I was a bit short on flour, I had to halve the recipe.  Thank heaven I still had the half a sachet of yeast left over from the Gozleme I made a while back (Blog & Recipe).  One thing I like about this recipe, same as many Turkish recipes, is you can make the dough, and easily have it in the fridge for a week with no ill effects.  When you're in the mood for some, just roll out a piece of dough, cut in squares and deep fry.  Who says you have to go to New Orleans to have these?

Oh alright, you can see what the garden looks like, even though you weren't here.


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