Mint Chocolate Chips Cakes with Fresh Mint Leaves from My "Herb Garden"

Some people hate mint flavored baked goods/drinks because the minty flavor and scent reminded them of...tooth paste/mouth wash?
How many of you feel this way? I'm curious.
SC is one of them, he absolutely hates mint flavor (when it's not tooth paste/mouthwash/chewing gum/after dinner mints) and always asked me not to bake anything...minty.
I dunno...but I love it, I always order minty stuff from time to time.
I find the flavor, refreshing and cooling, especially love it for summer.

Anyway, I am the one who bakes stuff at home, so I get the final say.
Mint it was.

I used peppermint essence, but to crank it up a notch, I included quite a bit of mint leaves from my tiny and miserable "herb garden". My hands felt all minty after picking these tiny mint leaves. I love it!

Look at those tiny little green spots in the cake...cuter than green food coloring, don't you think?

Recipe
(yields 6 cupcakes)
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- a pinch of salt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tsp peppermint essence
- a few sprigs of mint leaves (you can use less, my plant is not really "healthy" so the leaves are so tiny!)
- about 10 chocolate chips per cake

I did this the absolutely lazy way.
Preheat oven to 180C, pour all ingredients (except chocolate chips) into food processor (since I need to break down the mint leaves into tiny spots anyway), pulse until well mixed and the mint leaves are all broken into tiny spots. Pour into muffin tray lined with paper, add chocolate chips, bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Minty fresh!

If I wasn't too lazy I'd make some minted buttercream/cream cheese frosting...but of course I was too lazy.
Maybe next time la.

What other flavors I can mix with mint?

Bouchon Bistro Francaise - Overheard Something Annoying

Last weekend, SC and I brought baby Marcus to have lunch with a group of pretty ladies in this lovely place. We arrived early. We were seated at the gorgeous charming little patio at the back of the restaurant. There were two ladies lunching at the only table next to us. As we waited for the others to arrived, I took pictures of the menu to tweet and tease my other lunching companions. The next thing that happened annoyed me.

One of the ladies, after shooting some unfriendly glances our way, started making comments on how she was not impressed by people who take pictures during meals, she wondered, audibly, why "some people" can't just enjoy their meals without taking pictures. And by "some people" she probably meant me? She continued to make unpleasant remarks about food blogs and how food bloggers have no credibility, and she said, rather smugly, that she doesn't follow any food blog. Her words of "wisdom", loud and clear, most probably for our benefit?


She knew exactly that we were within earshot and we should have been able to hear everything she said very clearly. While I respect that everybody has the right to their own opinions and free to express them, I couldn't help feeling appalled by her rudeness. Ew. 


But, oh wells, if I had a Hong Kong dollar for every annoying person I encountered, I'd be able to buy newer, bigger, and more bad ass top-of-the-line food photography gear to wave in their face by now. 


Aaaaanyway...the lunch!
The food looks absolutely gorgeous under the most perfect soft natural sunlight ever!

Decent bread, lovely soft and creamy butter. 


'
The country pate and toasted baguette with a side salad was not my favorite. The pate was not bad, but the already cold toasted baguette didn't do it for me.



The onion soup was absolutely delicious!



Sweet and hearty. Love it!


There were some other dishes that I didn't get to taste, so I won't comment, but look at this gorgeous tomato salad with goat cheese and balsamic dressing..

..I kinda regretted that I didn't order that ^_^'


The roast of the day was roast beef served with a side of fries.

The beef, despite looking beautifully cooked, was dry and chewy. The side of fries, on the other hand, was a winner! They're well seasoned, crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Delicious!


Our friends who ordered the seared salmon with spinach and lemon butter sauce both mentioned that the fish was overcooked.

Ouch. 


The creamy mushroom tagliatelle looked fantastic...



But I always pick meat over meatless, sometimes to my detriment...
I ordered steak tartar with french fries. It arrived looking amazing...


...and it has some really good flavors. There was a good balance of rich, creamy, salty, and acid, but the meatiness was kind of lost somewhere.

The fries were still fantastic though. I finished each and every single piece.


To sum up, my favorites are the fries, the onion soup, and the charming place. I'd go back for those and maybe try their dessert and pasta.

A set lunch costs HK$108, add HK$48 for the steak tartar.


Bouchon Bistro Francaise
F/F, 49 Elgin Street, Soho, Central
中環蘇豪伊利近街49號地下
Tel: +852 2525 9300

Mochachocolata-Rita's on Facebook!

Finally! I've made a Facebook Page!
Why? Am I just being "trendy"? Is it just a carbon copy of this blog? Does it ever occur to me that my readers are already sick of me?
Hmm...good questions.
I don't know.
But I can tell you what you're going to see on the page.

Past Food
The yummy, the so-so and the yuckies that didn't make it to the blog, simply due to the laziness of the blog owner, such as this bowl of noodles that killed my palate...


Almost real time updates on stuff that I eat or made, just as these baked goods from last night...

...these were literally still in the oven when I posted it on the page.

Some ingredients that get me inspired...

...this was used in last nite's baked goods.
Can you smell the impending disaster?

Go on and like the page if you like ^_*

Cute Froyo Toppings - Yogurtime, Soho, Hong Kong

Do you remember these adorable little jewels?

I remember not liking them when I was a kid.
What? A kid who doesn't like sugar? Was I mad?
Well, I was the kind of kid who'd prefer a fried chicken drumstick than sweets, you see.
A budding salt lover I was.

But now...

Sigh.
Now I love them! Not that I need the additional sugar in my diet...
At first I picked them as my froyo topping because they look cute, the staff pointed out that they taste exceptionally yummy with froyo. He's right.
Love the crunch and slight savoriness of the cookie base and adore the sweetness from the sugary top.
I picked raspberry and chocolate-banana froyo that day.
Because I love the colors ^_^'
They taste more like sorbet than froyo.
But still...don't you think they look cute?

Yogurtime
G/F, 46 Elgin Street, SOHO
Central, Hong Kong
中環蘇豪伊利近街46號
Tel: +852 6165 4608

Weekend Breakfast - Cream Cheese & Kaya Sandwich with Cinnamon Coffee

Just thought I'd share my weekend breakfast...when it's not instant noodles/dimsums/Hong Kong fast food...it's gotta be an easy sandwich.

This time, it's cream cheese & kaya (weird?) on fluffy and soft honey egg sliced bread. I love the creamy, tangy and slightly savory flavor of cream cheese with anything, including with the sweet and coconutty kaya. Toasting the bread would be nice, but I was just too lazy. Heheh.


I also love the addition of a little cinnamon on my sweet black morning coffee. Love the sweet fragrance. I am so not a coffee purist, obviously ^_^

How was your weekend? Delicious?