{ 食譜 } 聖誕薑餅 Christmassy Gingerbread

        國中的時候，每到聖誕節我總要花個幾百塊在買聖誕卡片上，選聖誕卡是件快樂的事，有棉花鬍子的聖誕老人、紅鼻子麋鹿、十元小卡、一打開就唱聖誕歌的卡片，每次都在誠品選個一、兩小時，有時候還會看到去年滯銷的聖誕卡又被曬出來。除了幾張好朋友的卡片之外，三十張卡片其實內容大同小異，「聖誕快樂」、「新年快樂」還要中英文版本，其實自己沒什麼話想說，只是希望能藉由一張小小的卡片傳遞友誼，長大後只覺得送卡片既麻煩又浪費錢，從去年開始，我決定改用薑餅傳遞聖誕，容易做又好吃，但是要花上比較多時間擀麵壓模，還有畫糖霜，趣味性十足就是了。

        我個人其實蠻怕薑味的，但是這個食譜的薑味和肉桂味都不會太重，甜度來自於黑糖和蜂蜜，所以也不會過甜，糖霜使用檸檬汁因此帶有一點酸度，吃過的人都說好吃！

    The recipe is really good. I'm not a ginger lover, but the ginger flavor is not too strong here. The sweetness comes from brown sugar and honey, so it won't be too sweet. And it comes with some lemon flavor because I add lemon zest into the dough. Also the lemon juice brings some sourness to the icing. All my friends love it. 

{ 藝術 } 藝術家Joe Webb 復古與超現實主義

“I started making these simple hand-made collages as a sort of luddite reaction to working as a graphic artist on computers for many years. I like the limitations of collage...using found imagery and a pair of scissors, there are no Photoshop options to resize, adjust colours or undo.

My collages work to a basic rule of sourcing just two or three images... with these I can reinvent the original scene to communicate a new idea.

I suppose I’ve become fairly anti-technology... although I now promote my art on websites, own an iPhone and use Facebook...It’s confusing, I wish I had been born 100 years ago.”


— Joe Webb

{ 食譜 } 焦糖洋蔥 Caramelized onion tapas

我認為焦糖化的洋蔥是世上最甜美的味道，洋蔥需要長時間的加熱後才能將裏頭的醣份焦糖化，caramelize，必需不斷地拌炒才能讓水分蒸發又不至於燒焦，在洋蔥由透明轉至褐色的時候，甜味會漸漸地釋放到空氣中，嚐一絲洋蔥，真的很甜美，會頓時覺得辛苦都是值得的。

{ 食譜 } 栗南瓜馬芬 Pumpkin Muffin

前幾天在TLC看《名模烘培坊》，Lorraine Pascale做了這款南瓜馬芬，糖用得少，使用植物油而非奶油，看起來美味又健康，我把食材的種類和比例做了調整，成品不錯，但是還有值得改進的地方。

{ 食譜 } 葡萄柚炙蝦 grilled shrimp with grapefruit

People usually have no appetite during summer, so it's a good starter for this kind of burning hot weather. With a bit sourness and bitterness, this grilled shrimp is not only delicious, but also easily cooked. And what's more, it is also tasty when it's cold. Just make sure the shrimps are fresh.

炎熱的夏天就是需要這種色彩和香氣來開胃，材料簡單、烹調時間短、美味又健康。

{ 東京 } 東京癮 / Tokyo / Instagram

東京，
應該算是我目前除了台北以外最熟悉的城市，仔細算一算，七年內我就去了日本五次，其中有四次都是東京，一去再去，就像是2048讓人無法停止。

{ 音樂 } 來自都柏林的 Kodaline