Nectarine Raspberry Ice-cream Meringue Cake

Last week was intense. There were two birthday celebrations; a visiting Aunt's and my daughter's. Shopping list, cooking, baking and preparations were doubled for a twicer fun. Then there was death. Cory Aquino the Filipino influential political leader admired and respected by many passed away. Although I wasn't there to physically live the moment, the fang of sadness was all over me. In between these two emotions there were numerous last minute appointments before summer holidays begin, lots of paperwork to hand over to my boss and then there was also the Weekend Herb Blogging hosting. To make things even more challenging, Mayumi's nursery school is already in vacation since last week so I found myself juggling everything, hardly. (Whew.)

And ooops, I almost forgot. There was also my dad's presence whom I felt strongly at the eve of my little girl's birthday. Goosebumps, excitement or just simply burnout. I don't know how to explain it but I felt it. All that in a week of a roller coaster ride of emotions! This week just started. Hoping for a much sluggish phase but with Mayumi around that seems to be futile!
This is my entry to WHB this week is hosted by lovely Anh of Food Lover's Journey. For more details on hosting and guidelines check out Haalo's Cook Almost Anything Blog, the new mother of WHB created by talented Kalyn.



Nectarine Raspberry Meringué Ice-Cream Cake
Ingredients:

nectarine ice-cream
half a cup of nectarine purée
1 tablespoon of honey
half a cup of pounded praline (caramelized nuts)
3 big egg yolks
3 big egg whites
75 g of sugar
30 cl of heavy cream (very cold)

raspberry ice-cream
half a cup of raspberry purée
1 tablespoon of honey
3 big egg yolks
3 big egg whites
75 g of sugar 30 cl of heavy cream (very cold)

Procedure: It is the same preparation for the two ice-creams. First incorporat the honey on your purée. Then whisk the white eggs until they become stiff, you can add a pinch of salt to keep it stiff. In a separate bowl, beat your heavy cream until it forms a peak. Add the sugar little by little. Followed by egg yolks. Fold in the flavors (the purées, the praline). Mix altogether. Fold in the beaten egg whites delicately. For the nectarine flavored ice-cream add your meringué. Put this in ice-cream maker. If you do not have you can immediately proceed to assembly.

Assembly In a rectangulaire shaped mold cover it with plastic wrap. To facility un-molding the ice-cream cake. Pour the first flavor followed the second flavor. Put it in the freezer minimum 5 hours. Take out from the fridge twenty minutes before serving. Decorate it with some cream chantilly.

Enjoying her new fish...

Raspberry Vodka Granita

Exhaustion, Rolex Watch, 41° Celsius and Michael Jackson

I was here. I was here all the time. But hey, no I wasn't.

Did it ever happen to you that you're there physically "in" but mentally "out"? For the past weeks I was totally worn out and I felt like I was in deep depression. No amount of chocolate theraphy could help me get out from the hole. And the worst thing of all it was so hard to keep afloat when things around you were flowery and delicious. I got lots of great news from my family; mom is getting better, sis just had a cool opportunity to work in a prestigious international hotel. The news were fabulous I should be jumping with joy but all I could say was "good" and back melancholic in my corner. That's not me. Hubby was excited and proud brandishing me his new rolex watch, a gift he received from his beloved uncle. Like a kid with his new toy I should be teasing him but I was just simply dead. I really don't know what occured to me. Was it the short retreat in the mountain of alps that gave me this after effect of loneliness and exhaustion? I'm still perplex. But everything changed since I got this call from the director of my daughter's nursery school asking me to fetch her for she was really sick. She had a 40°celsius fever and we needed to rush her to the doctor. As I was a lying on the couch last night with my daughter as we watch the hommage movie for Michael Jackson, oh don't tell me it's his departure that causing me this...

Here's my entry to Weekend Herb Blogging created by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen, now in the caring hands of Haalo of Cook Almost Anything. This week's host is Cheryl of Gluten Free Goodness. Don't forget to check-out the round up.

And Ps, on moments like this, don't drown yourself on this granita :-)



Raspberry Vodka Granita

Ingredients:
1 and a half cup of fresh raspberry
half a cup of sugar
1/3 cup of water
1 tablespoon of lime juice
2 jiggers of vodka (you can put more or less depending on your choice)

Preparation:

In a small casserole put the water and sugar. Warm it up and make a warm syrup without letting it boil. Put your lime juice on the syrup and remove from heat. Purée your raspberries with your electric blender then strain it to remove the seeds and pulp. Add the raspberry purée on the sugar-lime syrup. Pour your vodka in it. Stir them altogether and place in shallow container. I used an old ice-cream container. Freeze them for several hours in the fridge. Remember that you need to stir them every hour to break and have that granita consistency.

Chocolate Raspberry Creme Brulée

I am warning you, this post is kinda disgusting so if you don't have the stomach for it just zap it and jump on to my recipe :-) and do not tell me I didn't warn you.

As I mentioned on my last post, after the spectacular stunt of my daughter escaping from her crib, that prompted us to buy her a new bed so she won't do that evasion trick with us again. Everything went well. We bought her her new bed and she loved it. Hubby and I thought we could finally have a good night sleep.

At around one in the morning that night, it was the same scenario again; I heard my little baby crying. I didn't even bothered to move from our bed for I know she could get out from her bed all by herself. I heard her little footsteps stopped right in front of our bedroom. And she softly said "Mama, Mama". I went out into the darkness and touched my little girl. "What was that?," I thought. She was sticky and was wet all over. I turned on the light and was shocked to see my daughter covered by pieces of food she ate and curdled milk all over her. I woke up hubby and when we went to see her bedroom it was even worse. A real crime scene of vomit galore. Don't worry I'll spare you the details. Just Imagine that soury smell all over her place. I gave her a quick bath, dried her up and let her sleep in the middle of us. Mayumi was smiling and happy. I was thinking at the back of my head, did she do that purposely to sleep her with us. But I abandoned the idea of course. Hubby was so annoyed with the smell of my little girl so I heard him whispering her " go sleep closer to Mama". When I noticed that both hubby and little girl were sleeping: I slightly tilted wickedly the head of Mayumi towards her dad. I was grinning. Eventually after an hour, Mayumi was vomiting again and this lasted until five in the morning. We didn't waste time and rushed her immediately to the hospital.

Don't worry guys, my little girl is doing well now. She tested negative on all exams they gave her and they even let us go back home the same day. Although It's still a mystery to us what caused that vomitting. The good news is, Mayumi has finally adopted her bed and she sleeps there now happily and tightly even as I type this post.

I am sending this dessert recipe of mine that I always prepare when there is a family gathering to Laura of Spiced Life who is hosting event for Family Recipes. And I tell you everybody in my family love this. For more details and round-up check out the link.

Chocolate Raspberry Creme Brulée
4 ramekins

Ingredients:
4 egg yolks + 2 whole eggs
20 cl of heavy cream
125 g of chocolate
250 g of raspberries
40 g of sugar
20 g of brown sugar for the caramel topping

Beat the egg yolks and two whole eggs with the 40 grams of sugar. Blend them well until them become creamy. Place the cream in a saucepan, over low heat allow it to simmer for about three minutes. The add your chocolate and let it melt. Turn of the fire and let it cool down before adding the eggs-sugar mixture. Pour this chocolate cream on your ramekins. Add the the raspberries on your ramekins. You can put roughly 5 to six raspberries per ramekin depending the size of your raspberries. You can save some raspberries for decorating them when you serve them. Place your ramekins in a baking dish and fill the baking dish with enough water to come halfway up the sides of the reamekins. Place the dish in a preheated oven 180° celsius and bake for 20 minutes. We have different ovens so the cooking time and temperature could vary depending on your oven just be sure that the custards are justly cooked; still creamy and yet firm. After their cooking time refrigerate for minimum of one hour the ramekins. Just before serving sprinkle the top with brown sugar. Put ice cube in a tray around ramekins and place try under a preheated hot grill for about one minute or until sugar melts and is golden.