Thursday, February 27, 2014

Suit or Zuid?

Every weekend there doesn't seem to have anything going on and it has to be this weekend that every food competition need to be held. And it's this same weekend that I need to be in at work every single day of it and not sure what time I'll get off. Don't you hate it when it happens?

Well, good thing it's held at Sunday, so just maybe.....*fingers crossed*....that I can still go to one of these two competitions. You haven't heard/read about it yet??? This weekend, there will be the 2nd burger battle at Bar Zuid and the Family&Friends Cook-out at Suit NV. And both happenings start at 4pm. Can I split my belly and go to both?


The 2nd burger battle will have other teams than the last time. One of the new teams is Jamrock, so I'm thinking some Jerk Burger maybe??? I'm actually really curious what kind of creations they will be making. Like the last battle, the winner will go through to the final competition at the end of this year.

At the same time, the cook-out has a very competitive edge. The winner will not only receive $1000,- in money prize, but the dish will be sold at Sha-gi for a whole year and the winning team will also get to cook this dish in the tv show: Soeng Ngie's Keukengeheimen.

Both battle has its thing. At Zuid, we have professionals (restaurants only) present their burger creation, but at Suit, you have the amateur, who might have thought about a great idea and it could be made of anything. It can vary from a burrito to an exquisite foie gras ( I don't think anyone would really go that extreme!).

Since I don't know how to choose, it got chosen for me. I was asked to judge in the Family & Friends Cook-out; the only thing I need to hope for is getting off at work early!! Root for me?



 For more on both competitions, I'd recommend to also read:
http://thevictualsblog.ccmnv.sr/2014/02/suit-nv-soeng-ngie-present-first-family.html
http://thevictualsblog.ccmnv.sr/2014/02/iron-burger-battle-bar-zuid.html

Thursday, February 6, 2014

With Twinkle Eyes and Poppy Love

Valentine's day is near!!!! Some say it's a commercial stunt, some can't wait for this day to see what their loved ones got them or how they will be surprised. It's like Christmas for lovers! There is the festivity (not with garlands and Christmas lights, but with red hearts and pink roses everywhere), the smiling faces accompanied with the blushy cheeks when one receives a rose.

For this event, I joined forces with a friend of mine and we are bringing you Valentine Cheesecake. She owns 'Koekjes van Thuis" and I started my own " Poppy Love". But why I used 'Twinkle Eyes' to indicate her is because she always end her letters, posts and any writing with" Met twinkle ogen en een brede smile" meaning with twinkle eyes and a big smile. For more information, I'd like to refer to her blog http://eenlijstjevan5.blogspot.com/.

Poppy Love came as a homophone(words with the same sound) reference to Puppy Love. Remember the first time you fell in love? I hope my cakes taste so good that every time you eat it, you have the walking-on-air feeling. And next to that, the Poppy flower stands for beauty, magic, consolation, fertility and eternal life.

made by Philip Beck


So we're calling our cooperation 'With Twinkle Eyes and Poppy Love'. I was not even aware that the combination was so suitable for Valentine's day!!

My friend has been in the cookies and cake business for a while, but done at a small scale. I on the other hand am in a similar situation. We both have our jobs and the pastry business has been more a ' on the side' thing.  And this is something we both want to change.


In Suriname, it's very rare that people in the same business can work together, because they see each other as their competition. This initiative is partly to show that cooperation is possible and based on the following concept:

- we both have our own clientele and we both make different pastries, so why not group together and reach a bigger market
- everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. We're trying to complement each other to present the client with a better service and a better product.
- since we both have our jobs and it's not always possible to accept big orders, working together will create a smaller workload and a more often 'YES' as answer to any requests.

So, this Valentine's project is our first run.
We will be selling Valentine Cheesecake: A heart-shaped NY Cheesecake on a cookie-cake crust.
we stand for 'what you see is what you get', so this is made with a simple mobile camera to give a realistic projection.

The price is SRD 50,-.

If you want to order or receive more information, please call:
Amy 08735365
Aisah 08770680

You have until Tuesday February 11, 2014 to place an order

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

SCA Fundraising Dinner: Marriott

Monday night I was invited to the 3rd fundraising dinner of SCA by Jill-joy Landburg, acting secretary of Suriname Chefs Association and editor-in-chief of Victuals. I felt like being invited as a judge for an iron chef challenge or something. Soooo exciting!!

The purpose of these fundraising dinners is to raise funds for the Surinamese group to participate at Taste of the Caribbean. Last year, they brought home many awards and medals. This year, they need to represent Surinamese pride again!!

The main reason is of course to raise funds, but the other reason for these dinners is also to give these chefs the opportunity to stay on top of their game. All these fundraising dinners use the same concept of the Taste of the Caribbean challenge: all participants receive a mystery basket.

At arrival, it lacked a certain exposure that the fundraising is going on in the hotel. I saw no poster or anything mentioning it, probably a suggestion for the organizers. If anyone might have missed the advertisements, but whenever they visit the location and there are still vouchers left, they might be interested to join.




I received a menu and a survey to give points to the menu items I'm about to taste. The service was a bit chaotic. It gives a vibe as if the waiting staff was not probably prepared for this event since only part of the restaurant was used for the fundraising dinner, but the rest was still open for a la carte dinner.

However I received a menu, but I used a short description for the menu items in my blog.


I received my welcome cocktail and was not told that I needed to mix the two layers. So my first sip was from the bottom layer, which was soooo sweet and the guests at my neighboring table were nodding their head and agreeing that it was too sweet. So I took a sip of the upper layer and it tasted bitter and sour, so I came to the conclusion to mix those two layers up. And so both my neighbor guests and I  could still enjoy the drink.

I could sense some orange and blue curacao notes in the cocktail. And bingo, I was right!! The cocktail was made with orange juice, blue curacao and vodka, all nicely garnished with a slice of apple.






The appetizer: A surf & turf of chicken liver pate and smoked fish fritter.

The appetizer was nicely arranged on the plate. I like the colors used in this dish, nice contrast. It looked like a garden art piece or so. The fishballs were croquette-like and the chicken liver pate was very earthy and smooth with a sweet-ish finish. The best part of this dish was the yellow ginger sauce. And if it comes from me, you better believe it, cause I don't like ginger!! In the whole experience there was this orange looking cube, which left both my neighbors and me guessing what it is. It looked like carrot, but tasted sweet and has a softer texture, so I was thinking that it could've been papaya or something. At the end, it appeared that it was indeed carrot, but cooked in a markoesa juice sauce.

However the name states surf and turf of chicken liver, I wouldn't have guessed if I did not have the menu that that was the main item of the appetizer, I would've thought it was the fish ball.

Main dish: Parbo beer battered butterfish filet, Yams croquette and a spinach foam.

I love the yams croquette! (made of taro). It was well-flavored, soft and the crunchiness of the crumb-shell gave it a nice texture. The fish was crisp and I could taste some Indian spice in it. On the fish was the spinach foam, but probably because of the waiting time or so, the foam was already liquid. It didn't add any value to the dish for me.

Dessert: Brownie topped with wild berry cream, fried mint leaves and markoesa sorbet

The brownie is a very solid cake as brownies should be, very chocolate-y, but for me, the wild berry cream is a bit on the sour side. However the sorbet was not mentioned on the description, but it was the highlight of this dish. The flavor was surprising and I even thought it was a sorbet made of pomme cythere, but the chef told me it was a sorbet made of markoesa and pisang ambong. Another plus of this dish was surely the fried mint. However it looked like withered mint leaves, but the fried mint leaves gave a nice crisp to the sorbet.

If I have to guess the mystery basket, I would think of the following items: markoesa, fish and chicken liver.

The experience was enlightening! It is an opportunity to let your palate go wild and try to taste the ingredients that were used on the dish. For more information about the upcoming fundraising dinners, please visit Victuals or Suriname Chefs Association on Facebook.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

My first time eating poon choi

First of all, Happy Lunar Year! It's year of the wooden horse, so may everybody have an energetic and bright year!

Before you're gonna make fun of the word, 'poon', in Chinese it means 'bowl', so laugh it off and we're gonna continue with the dish 'Poon Choi'. It can also be translated as Big Bowl Feast.

This is a traditional dish mostly eaten at weddings and with new year. But I believe that the inventor probably lack serving plates and saw a wooden/metal basin nearby and thought, "you know what I'll just put everything in here and I'll call it 'Big Bowl Feast'.  This dish can include ingredients like pork, beef, lamb, chicken, duck, abalone, ginseng, shark fin, prawns, crabs, mushrooms, fish ball and so on and so on,....... However it might seem like a mix of too many things, it give a certain harmony feeling. It's like when you're eating crabs with a whole group of friends (at least in Suriname). Everybody just dig in the dish and start eating.

The Poon Choi I had with Lunar Year's celebration consisted of the following 'dishes':

- roasted duck
- steamed chicken
- beef stew
- fish ball
- beef ball
- sweet and sour shrimp
- mushrooms
- and underneath we found all kinds of Chinese veggies and stuff. It's like a treasure bowl and you just don't know what you might get.

The experience was fun since it was the first time and quite different from what I'm used to. It feels like a Chinese fondue with regular à la carte mixed together. And my advise: order a smaller bowl than the amount of people you have, since at the end we had a lot left over. It was nice to experience it once, but I prefer my à la carte experience.