Why I live for weekends

I know, I know, the photo above is overexposed and (insert photography-junkie jargon) whatnot, but I couldn't help but choose it. Life's all about imperfections, not a perfections right?

Spent the weekend with the family as usual, and headed over to MinJiang for dimsum. Because it was decided a little last minute, all the indoor sitting were already reserved and we had to go for alfresco dining. But, seriously, I don't think I would have wanted it any other way! Yes, we had the insane heat beating down our backs, yet somehow, everything felt less stifling and a whole lot more relaxed. And although I do think dimsum really is how-to-present-prawns-in-1million-different-ways in disguise, the food was excellent and quite the perfect way to start a lazy Sunday.

All I need now is coffee from Palheta.

Let's bake away our friday night, shall we?

I stayed home on Friday night to bake 2 brownie cakes, 1 strawberry shortcake, 6 mini strawberry short(cup)cakes, 1 cheesecake and 1 oreocheesecake all in the name for charity. Not bad huh? And I did all of the above in 4 hours! I think, I've officially reached cake superstardom.

To be honest, I actually wanted to finish up the baking this morning, but I was on a roll last night. And when you're on a roll, you just don't stop, do you? Nothing, and I do mean nothing, beats seeing the butter+sugar+flour in their various proportions combine to form morsels of yumness. And of course, seeing your brownie falling out perfect from your (crisco-ed really well) William Sonoma pan really, is as good as having strawberries with champagne.

Okay, I think what was truly gratifying was that my tiny nuclear family wouldn't have to bear with eating the same thing for a few days straight. Which then meant that I could actually go CRAZY baking, without feeling guilty (which is a truly amazing feeling).

And in case you're still wondering, the huge cake with 'Cookie' emblazoned across it is my brownie which I'm damn proud of thankyouverymuch! Such a misnomer really, but don't the prints look amazing?


























I do need to make a special mention that doing all of the above within 4 hours wouldn't have been possible without the darling sister's help. My little commis de barrière's invaluable contributions really made cake superstardom achievable. (No, she didn't force me to do this)

So, till the next bake sale then (:

When life gives you strawberries..

you make a strawberry shortcake. Decided to bake a cake for a colleague's farewell over the weekend, and because Korean strawberries are all the rage at the moment- I thought the Strawberry shortcake would make a yummier alternative to any chocolate cake I could whip up.

Unfortunately - I did have a cake emergency! Imagine going back from your friendly neighbourhood supermarket only to find out that half your straws are rotten! Okay, that still wasnt as bad as finding out that I was on my way to finishing the second (and last) box of straws, double eeps!

Still, it did turn out pretty okay i'll say :) could have been better save for a few factors but yayness! looks better than the last one I did.

Mint

Meet my new-ish pot of mint! It has wilted and revived itself twice (after a dose of water) within the two weeks that I've had it. Not bad huh?

Don't get me wrong, I haven't been deliberately ill-treating my mints- its just the mercurial weather that we've been having that's causing all these freakish behavioural patterns. Plus, I've been conscientiously watering it- once in the day and once at night. Yay me!

Now I sound like I'm suffering from pre-mature aging (with me being proud of my plant and all). Or maybe, I'm just really looking forward to retirement.

Marbled.

'When I ORD-ed, you guys were still playing marbles!', said the dad randomly in the car one day while sharing another anecdote from his army days.

While I'll never get the chance to go through the war paint, sweat and mud (thank god), my life has been a pretty marbled mess. And all that talk about marbles resulted in inspiration for the rainy Sunday so I went back to basics with the marble cake. Yes yes yes, its all incongrous and all too random but you know what, I couldn't care less. After all, it is probably the cake unanimous with my childhood days where things were simpler and a whole lot less complicated.

Decided to attempt two different looks- one with the marbling done on the surface and the other not so much marbled but layered. Both turned out pretty good, I'll say.

And I'm just hoping my marbled mess turns out sweet.

Flippancy

Zero commitment. Proclamations of those three words are said way too much.

Neat resolutions and proper endings are just fabrications of the media, non?

So let's just sod all the expectations society has imposed, forget the world. And breathe.

Maybe decisions made will be better ones. And even if they aren't, at least a chance was taken.