Okay is okay- churros and friends

I apologise. The title is misleading. It's just that friends sounded better than friend.
So my childhood friend is in town and wanted something fruity and... Cool I guess.
With not much time (literally half a day) I pulled out my secret stash of inspiration. These 'a la minute' (or should I say a la jour) are usually not complex to understand. Stemming from a insufficiently provocative idea, these light and fluffy churros were an excellent vehicle to test out some new things- commercial yogurt and a hot Phirni espuma.
A little bit of yuzu in the pomegranate gel did wonders in elevating the flavour. I simply froze some pomegranate seeds for an instant granita. Such a simple thing I've ignored all my life!
I guess at times, simpler things are okay by me.

Grapefruit yogurt sherbet, hot phirni espuma, pomegranate yuzu gel, frozen pomegranate seeds, churros

Bye Summer/ Why my socks are strange

I'm finally back from the hiatus? Not sure if a couple of weeks classifies as one; creativity is a demanding process at the least. The past few weeks have been somewhat transitional. Abstaining from creating this period has given me a sense of clarity- what my food is about and where it's headed next. I've almost always been around fancy, fine, food. But I'm going to be a hypocrite and say that this isn't it for me. The from where I stand, it's not sustainable. But most importantly, the result never seems to be worth the time. What is to a dessert with a jillion components? It never posed itself as dramatic- like a simple lemon tart perhaps. Minimalizing juxtaposition mars the beauty of the dish.  I guess it's safe to say that even though we search for balance in a dish, components usually need to present themselves in extremes and be slightly off. An apple tart slightly acidic, fudges a tad too sweet an chewy are in 'balance' by not being completely neutralising. And that, is a facet I'm keen on exploring. Summer's almost over in my country (technically Autumn has started but leaves don't fall at 32 degrees) and I wanted that one last zing of the season. Lemon sorbets. It's been stuck in my mind for months, however, I was keen on waiting for galgals (a really nice big Indian citrus) to be back in season. Just because I'm trying to be a minimalist doesn't mean that passes as a complete dessert for me. I added some blood limes (!!!) to the sorbet after churning. Assuming that the freezing point was higher than the sorbet itself, the blood like vessels would freeze, giving bits of ice and flavour bursts to the sorbet.  Cream. First thing in my mind and my only stop. I made a little panna cotta set with cocoa butter and flavoured with a little yuzu juice. I was keen on skipping the gelatin just for trials sake. I didn't want white chocolate, mostly because I've been trying to avoid it in my dishes. However, chocolate has become such an indispensable part of the pastry kitchen, I gave up to cocoa butter. I genuinely wanted to stop at a cream, but stepped a bit further with some passion fruit and barley water. I didn't think barley water would really work as it is texturally. And so came about the 'faux passion fruit'. I'm still as amazed when I see chia seeds 'set' liquids. Them along with some freeze dried passionfruit et voila, une fruit de la passion!  I also promised on my facebook to address why I wear different socks on each foot. It started out of laziness when I was young- I could never find the other half of the pair of socks! Time constraints made me give up- I would eventually struggle looking for socks. A couple of years down the line- I entered the food industry, and with white coats and black pants days, everything seemed far too monochrome and organized. I guess theres a little whim in things being slightly off- somehow, wearing socks that were bright and different throughout the day made me happy. Anytime I wanted respite from a tone, I could just look down...