Ohh I just can't wait!

This might sound ungrateful because the snow season hasn't reached its prime, and I promise I'm relishing in my weekly Whistler Sundays!, but I can't wait for summer... to start dance school again!
Kaoma - The Lambada

Chloe Golightly
...on holiday.

chloelnlam@gmail.com

It's Pie Day!

It's American Pie Day! So it's party time, and what better way to party than with tarts and pie!
Take a look at what I've been up to lately:

Hint: click the first photo to enter the photo viewer.

Poppy seed granny smith pie (ridiculously fragrant, and the apples means it's not overbearingly sweet!)

This one was my dad and mom's favourite

Orange chocolate marble cheesecake tart

Toffee chocolate peanut butter pie! Riculously rich!

Fresh fruit tart with crème pâtissière!

Raspberry lemon crème brûlée tart

Chloe Golightly
...on holiday.

chloelnlam@gmail.com

Living on the wild side (Part 1 of 3)

As a kid, I was such an animal.  When my mom called up the stairs for dinner time, I would charge down the hallway like a rhinoceros, round the corner and swing along the banister like a monkey, and finally jump down from the seventh stair-step like a leopard.  I had a little ongoing game where each night I would attempt to jump from one step higher.  My dad had a little ongoing nickname he teased me with, Gorilla.  And on numerous occasions, he would try to convince me I was born from gorillas, and adopted.

I gave the animal idea another thought the other day.  If you could come back to life, reincarnated as another animal, what would you choose? Or perhaps, if you were an animal in your previous life, what do you think you were?  Here are my 3 answers:

Number 1:

A wolf, pencil crayon texture and blending

Stay tuned for my two remaining answers.  What are yours?

Chloe Golightly
...on holiday.

chloelnlam@gmail.com

This series is dedicated to my best friend, the greatest zoologist in the world, Bdon Licata-Salmonella)

The day I conquered the cassoulet toulousain...

The day I conquered the cassoulet toulousain...

• Was the day I ran around to 5 butchers and 3 grocery stores
• Was the day I spent $65 on 7 cuts of meat
• Was the day that stretched into 3 days, all dedicated to preparing one dish
• Was the day I was introduced to the French culinary concept of boiling entire unpeeled garlic heads
• Was the day I spent a night with my alarm set for every half hour to wake up and stir the ragout
• Was the day I realized just how heavy the cast iron pot was, and it only got heavier
• Was the day I couldn't understand how something could be fried, cooled, boiled, cooled, boiled, cooled, baked, cooled, baked, and cooled... and not spontaneously combust along the way
• Was the day I defiled French cooking with (get this :P) gluten-free bread crumbs!
• The night I shared the toulousain cassoulet with my friends (tonight) was theee most gratifying

The cassoulet is a slow (sloooow) cooked carnivorous casserole of Castelnaudary, a region of Southern France, named after le cassole, the inverted-cone-shaped pot that it is traditionally baked in.  This toulousain version includes duck confit and nutmeg toulousain sausage (both specialties of the region of Toulouse, 50 km south of Castelnaudary), as well as ham hock, pork shoulder, pancetta, prosciutto, and pork skin.

Bon appetit!

Hint: click the first photo to enter the photo viewer.

And finally, the savoury cassoulet:

Chloe Golightly
...on holiday.

chloelnlam@gmail.com

A little winter baking and cooking

With the start of the new school term, I haven't found much time to update on my latest gastronomic undertakings, but I have been busy in the kitchen.  My latest adventures are a result of finding exotic ingredients in the cupboard, tackling insatiable cravings, innovative experimenting, and of course, the incessant desire to test the boundaries of gluten-free baking!

Hint: click the first photo to enter the photo viewer.

Vodka lumpfish caviar deviled eggs

Ginger crème caramel

Original vanilla crème caramel (this was my first time making it!)

Officially the new signature Chloe dish, infused with Korean spicy beef hot pot soup and lots of black pepper!

Mexican spiced cookies with chocolate, chilli peppers, coffee, and cinnamon! (gluten-free)

Gluten-free scones, go wild with dried fruits, nuts, toffee bits, and white or milk chocolate chips!

Rice flour muffins, another gluten-free breakfast packed with fruits and even chocolate!

Chloe Golightly
...on holiday.

chloelnlam@gmail.com

Happy New Years! 23 Things To Do in the New Year

It's a time for goal-making, for change, achievement, resolution, opportunity, transformation, challenge, and everything else that may lie on the horizon.

To start this new beginning, I've decided to collect a bunch of old photographs and compile a list of thing that have made me who I am, things that bring meaning to my life, and things to focus on for the future.  Taken across a span of many years, by an array of cameras (though one photo was snapped by my mother), during a variety of moments in my life, it's a way of reminiscing and waving goodbye to the past, and welcoming the future.

Here we go:

1.)  Create (with colours, food, words, clay, everything and anything!)

2.) Live like you're a kid - fearless, imaginative, daring, open-minded

3.) Take tea (and homemade scones if possible, these are gluten-free ;P )

4.) Serenity now, insanity later

5.) Be with loved ones

6.) Read, read, read... then read some more

7.) Make music (hint: a great view accents piano playing well)

8.) Rest and relaxation

9.) Endless roadtrips (this one's through the Rockies)

10.) Find beauty in the littlest of things

11.) Embrace change, for the better

12.) Moments of reflection

13.) Take a leap of faith (perhaps at Lion's Bay!)

14.) Sunsets, Sunrises

15.) Long walks, long runs

16.) Stay positive when things are grey and gloomy

17.) Explore

18.) Be in touch with nature

19.) Dream, big (of unicorns, princesses, princes, and castles)

20.) Traverse the unknown, and get lost

And a multitude of  21.) Fun, 22.) Love, and 23.) Laughter

Happy new years!

Chloe Golightly
...on holiday.

chloelnlam@gmail.com

P.S. Today is also Bloody Mary Day, Commitment Day, and First Foot Day. For those of you with New Years Resolutions, you're going to need all three (and a lot of the first).

New years night at the movies

I went to see "Django Unchained" tonight, and I have to say I couldn't have picked a greater film to kick off the year (not even Les Mis, and I'm a big fan of musicals).  I promise, it wasn't just the horses and bareback riding that won me over (though automatic brownie points when I saw that).  Trust me, if you can catch alllll the levels of social commentary then you'll know what I mean ;)

Wishing you a great new year of great new films!

Chloe Golightly
...on holiday.

chloelnlam@gmail.com