Chocolate and Caramel Tarts

Does anyone else dislike condensed milk? Well, I hate it. I can hear my mum now, telling me, "Don't say hate, it's a very strong word". Well, I haaaate it. Sorry if you do like it though. I don't find it disgusting, I just find the milk powdery taste rather...overpowering.  Buuut...I like caramel? Besides there are those recipes that boil a can of condensed milk for about 5 hours, and then have to wait for it to cool so it doesn't explode. I'm making it from scratch. Hey, I think it's likier to fail this way (i.e. crystallisation)...but I like the flavour a lot better and it's faster. I also don't own a candy thermometer and I've always bluffed my way through these recipes...they always work.

By the way, I was searching up pictures of caramel tarts...and I just wanted to say that I don't want to see soft ganache style chocolate and runny caramel. I want a chocolate topping that SNAPS and caramel that is not runny, not chewy/hard but just right. It should provide (I sound kinda formal here?) that slight resistance when you bite into it and teeth marks will be visible and...combine that with the flaky pastry and... I wanna another one.

Blueberry Pancakes

So I don't really like plain pancakes...especially with honey or maple syrup. I'm not sure why though. But when I saw these adorable little fresh blueberries on sale, I thought, "..." Actually, I didn't think of anything. I just felt like buying them, even though they're still rather expensive. At least these ones were blue-ish, not purple. So at 10pm, I decided I wanted pancakes...which I totally shouldn't 'cause eating so late will make me grow sideways. But I said to myself, "I'm just making them ahead for breakfast tomorrow so I don't have to wake up extra early. I'll only eat one."

I ended up having four. Psht.

I like my blueberry pancake batter a bit sweeter because I don't serve them with any other sweet syrup. I love how the blueberries just burst when you bite into the warm pancake. Omnomnom.

Pan Fried Chicken

You know, as I was writing the list of ingredients, I thought, "Yep, all good. Nice and neat"...AND I FORGOT TO WRITE DOWN THE CHICKEN BOOBIES BREAST!! And, you might (or might not) notice the lack of photos of the uncooked/marinating chicken. Why? Because taking photos of raw chicken sucks. IT LOOKS TERRIBLE. *moans* Simply unacceptable.

The number of servings maybe a little inaccurate since it might only serve one and a half people...unless you're serving with something else. And a few friends know that sometimes, I don't eat very much. One of them apparently finds it very funny to imitate me eating a crumb and then going, "I'm full now". Gee, I'm just overwhelmed from the hilarity of it.

Um, don't flip the chicken too much alright? You know, because the juice will run out and you'll be left with a lemony, slightly spicy, slighty garlicky piece of cardboard. Not fun.

 

I made this some while ago for lunch, and I had the warm, juicy chicken in a fresh roll of bread from the bakery, with avocado, butternut lettuce and some mayo...

If you're a super garlicky person, add another crushed clove of garlic instead of mincing it. Crushing makes it easier to remove before cooking, because I don't know about you, but I absolutely detest little pieces of minced garlic on my chicken, I just feel as if I need to pick each piece off ...but I can't be bothered. However, I have no problem with the lemon zest since it sort of seems to disappear. Hmm...