In my kitchen

I love cream puffs -- the durian ones in Singapore and the good ol' frozen ones from Sams Club. Hence, after several weeks of procrastination, I finally got it together and made some cream puffs.

Contrary to my initial impression, making choux pastry wasn't intimidating. In fact, it was fun and different. It was good. My pastry didn't deflate, and according to Keith, it wasn't too eggy or too "styrofoamy." I made two different fillings for it -- French vanilla and lemon. It was good. I can definitely work on making the filling sinfully creamier and a little less lumpy.

I have been experimenting this summer. Of the more memorable ones, I roasted a duck. It was quite interesting. I didn't care too much for duck meat. I used to love duck meat, but now, I just don't really like it that much. The following day, I shredded the duck meat and made some duck gumbo out of it. Much better. Anything with lots of spice, lots of onions, lots of celery, lots of thick soupy gravy on top of rice is great!

Keith experimented with bread making. He is definitely much better at making bread than I am. We had a sage loaf, a Spanish paprika and cracked black pepper loaf, a somewhat sourdough-like loaf. His bread were delicious and added that extra perfect touch to our dinners!

Also, I made a regular sheet cake -- omitting oil and used apple sauce instead. On top, I used a lemon glazed-like icing. It was yummy! The glaze hardens and forms a nice shell-like covering on top of the cake.