Cream puffs or petits choux à la crème are delicious pastry invention. There is no other way of putting it... just plain genius.

The one from a box, however... a really dumb idea! I know because I tried it. It was qué horror! Never again. No matter how enticing the picture in that box looks like, don't touch it... it will be the end of your appetite.

I vowed that the next time I eat this miniature hills of comfort, it will either be from a proper panadería (bakery) or something that I made with my two brilliant hands... and on occassion, my mouth. I have a distinct urge to try out uncooked concoctions, so sue me.

The classic version, which I hope I will make in the very near future is a light and airy pastry with a silky creme filling either injected into it or sandwiched by slicing puffs in half.

My version is a petits choux à la crème alright but with a modern twist. I was elated when I took it out of the oven. As if I just painted my recent masterpiece. I stared at it dreamily for quite some time. It might not be Picasso but it is an art. I would have stared at it longer if not for my boys who were more excited than I was. Clearing throats and bravely asking when they can try it out.

I didn't create abstract puffs like the classic one, where the predictability of it's unpredictable rising occurs. My version started as geometrics, screaming of certainty and absolute precision but then it transformed and bloomed like a flower. Have you witnessed a caterpillar morphing into a butterfly? No? Yeah, me too... would be nice though to see that happen.

Going back to my cream puffs version, as it baked, the casings opened up to expose the filling, which in turn laminated the soft creme inside. The base puffed with just ever so slightly, it's like a ballerina's tutu. I dusted them with icing sugar. Pick one up. Delivered it gloriously.... into the trap and it got gobbled up and eaten in seconds. And yes, the minute my boys saw me, their hands dove right in. A supossedly edible centerpiece were gone too soon. I still think of its beauty now and again.

The melody of texture amazed me. There's a crunch on the outside pastry, a pastry doused with creme, there's a creme that's baked and there's a fresh creme oozing out of it.

Indeed a masterpiece.

I have become an avid twitterati lately and not only did I find Fooderati Arabia who welcomed me to their bossoms but bonded with other foodies who, like me, just won't shut up when it comes to food.

So it started as a "here's what I'm having for dinner" into "here's my version of your dinner" to "send me the recipe and let me have a go at it".  And the latest line from last night was "who's cooking it next?". A full day banter of which version looks tastier ended up as an encouragement/challenge to give it a try.

This is similar to our local dish called "giniling", which is silly really, I don't know why we do that. Giniling in English is ground, so, it's practically just translating the name of the main ingredient. Sounds like Pizza Pie and the recent shop I saw in Abu Dhabi, Panaderia Bakery.

So anywho, going back to triple C, although I've been cooking giniling for so long, never been tempted to cook CCC until I saw the photos posted by my twitter buddies. Something about remembering my dad coming from overseas duties with the GI Joe's, bringing home canned Chili Con Carne and us trying it but not really liking it much made me think, "maybe I'll like it this time". Maybe if I cook it from scratch and not try a canned version it'll taste way better because those twitter photos definitely look a million times upgrade from the canned ones I tasted moons ago?

And boy oh boy, am I am glad for that twitter banter. I think I just added another dish to my ever growing list of comfort food.

Here are just some of the photos I have taken before hubby and I tucked in. By the time we finished, we have sauce on our chins and have a hard to wipe grin. I gave myself a pat on the back as well as a little pat on my tummy, it was working overtime.

What did I do differently? I sauteed the quartered mushrooms in butter before adding them to the pot. I used chili flakes, chili powder and served it with sliced fresh chili's on the side,,, hubby love 'em deadly chilis. I added bouquet garni in the pot. And I also added a tiny dash of sugar while I was browning the meat. Sugar is actually my enhancer ever since... I have never used MSG in my life. A chinese pal thought me the beauty of sugar in the beginning of almost every cooking process.