On the Trail of the Phoenix – Pengat Durian
The warm drafts of heat that overwhelms one has reached a point of becoming unbearable. Its almost impossible to be outdoors without breaking out in sweat, which at times can escalate levels of discomfort that makes surviving each dawn til dusk under such a turmoil a daily miracle. On a lighter and more positive note, not all about the heat is bad. Summer is the time for sunshine, blue clear waters, sandy beaches and bikini babes. But my mind is set on a different “catch”. The scorching months of late May to September bring with them a plethora of fruits, i.e. mangoes in all sorts of varieties, stone fruits of every thinkable species, but most importantly, it is the durian season again!
Simple Eats – Feather Light Fromage Blanc Cheesecake
One of the dining places we used to frequent over weekends was Ichiban, a Japanese restaurant at Parkway Parade as J loved the Tori Katsu Curry there. They have a loyalty card system where diners get a stamp for every 20 dollars spent. The stamps are then redeemable for free food items or dining vouchers. Many a times, we find ourselves falling short of just a few bucks to getting another stamp and of course the stack of Ichiban Fiesta Japanese Cheesecake sitting beside the cashier’s was the best option to “top up our bill”. Over time, we grew to love this cheesecake, buying it at every opportunity, even when we are not dining there.
I saw several fellow friends in the blogging community who have really positive reviews on the Featherlight Cheesecake recipe from Alex Goh’s “Fantastic Cheesecake” and I couldn’t resist the temptation to try it as well. Cathy from Cathy’s Joy and Jess from J3ss Kitch3n were a great source of motivation so despite not having tried this before, I jumped on the bandwagon and the cake was indeed true to what had been raved; the texture was very soft and light, totally effortless on the palate. Instead of using conventional creamcheese, I decided to use Fromage Blanc for the cake, since I bought a tub earlier in the week from Carrefour to have a taste of the real thing and compare with the ones I’d yielded from my earlier experimentation. Some modifications to the original recipe were made and I’d listed them below.
travellingfoodies 