Basil Pesto Panna Cotta with Honey Macadamia and Cherry Tomatoes
I was surfing the Saveur magazine site when I came across this recipe for pesto panna cotta. The idea of using basil to create a panna cotta was so intriguing that I immediately bookmarked that page. Normally, I would not consider using basil in a dessert but the recipe looked good and the green color of the panna cotta looked very inviting.
Now, if I could only find some basil here, I would be good to go. Yes, dear readers, it’s really hard to find sweet basil here. Thai basil, on the other hand, is easily found. I was ready to make this and substitute with Thai basil when good fortune smiled on me.
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Waldorf salad is one of my favorite salads. I like its combination of sweet, savory and tangy flavors, and crisp and bursty textures. We took a winning Waldorf salad recipe and stood it up on its head.
Tall Waldorf Salad
When we were brainstorming ideas for the Royal Selangor Jellyriffic Challenge, Annie suggested making a Waldorf salad in jelly form. As she described it to me, at first I was skeptical. But the more the idea turned over in my head, the more I warmed up to it. Plus, I love puns: standing the Waldorf salad up turns it into a “Tall-dorf” salad 
! So I agreed that we should do it.
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I made a terrine!!!
Can you believe that? If I’ve not already been challenged enough trying to make jellies everyday, I decided to go a whole leap further and try my hands at making a terrine. I hardly eat terrines much less think of making one.
It’s one of those foods that I try maybe at a really fancy restaurant (like when we went to Chez Panisse) and then don’t even think of attempting at home. That has been one aspect of this Royal Selangor Jellyriffic Challenge that has been good. It has really pushed me to try new things and be adventurous in foods that I would not normally try.
But even then, I decided on baby steps. Some terrines call for pâté-type meats and fats and different animal parts that I’m not so used to working with. I found this recipe which called only for chicken meat. Oh yeah, I can do that!
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If you bake a lot like Annie does, you’ll use a lot of vanilla extract in your recipes. That can be costly, as commercial vanilla extract is expensive. The recipe for how to make your own vanilla extract at home is seriously easy to do, and cheaper in the long run than buying commercial vanilla extract.
But first, let’s back up a bit. Do you recognize this tree?
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