Bake escapades

Addiction

2010-11-06T07:25:00.000-07:00

I don't think my dad has been too pleased with my new addiction to buying gorgeous bundt moulds. But, can you really bear to put a halt to this? When normalcy (banana chocolate chip teacake) gets an instant face-lift and comes out looking completely new and refreshed, it can be pretty hard.

So I say cool stuff, and bring on more moulds pretty please!

Onehelluvacake

2010-10-31T03:18:00.000-07:00

So, I'm pretty sure that it's no secret that I wasn't the best student back in school. When everyone had their noses buried in books, camping in the infamous school library, I was at home looking at books.

Yes, looking, not reading. When friends were turning to Amazon as a last resort for finding that all critical text that some other desperate soul had on a permanent loan from the library, my searches inadvertently veered off-course to the land of baking books.

My mum definitely freaked out when I excitedly showed-off my random new found baking books via skype two weeks before finals.

But, something good did come out of all my random purchases. Flipping through the book earlier this morning left me convinced that a chocolate merlot cake would be just the thing I needed to complete the weekend.

And let me share with you the best kept secret ever:
Chocolate+Merlot = Unadulterated Bliss.

'Nuff Said. I'm going to have another slice.

Homecoming

2010-10-24T05:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, we get so caught up with getting by day to day that we forget. We forget the dreams we once used to have, forget the love and passion that bred creativity and experimentation. And more importantly, we forget that sometimes, it is this very dream that completes you, that gives you the very energy you need to get by.

I have neglected my buttersugarflour for an inexcusable length of time. For some strange reason, perhaps due the successive triumph of my weekend lazybones, it didn't feel like it was that big a deal. But I guess withdrawal symptoms surface at different points with different people- some go into cold turkey right away and some succeed for a while before really hitting you hard. I was, of course, the latter.

It finally hit me, after spending two hours being surrounded by terribly gorgeous cake moulds, that really, I've truly missed my long lost friends. And that really, placing me in the middle of cake mould land is as detrimental as placing me in a shop filled with gorgeous prêt-à-porter! Needless to say, I couldn't have gone home empty handed could I?

Buidling the cake's body was itself such an indulgence! Liquid, dry ingredients, liquid. Adding complexity with every humble ingredient, folding everything till it became one cohesive velvety smooth layer and finally tumbling the contents into the gorgeous moulds. Everything just seemed so in sync and exactly how it should have been.

I guess we all have bad days (or weeks). Perhaps then, the only way to get yourself out of a rut and start embracing whatever life has to offer- good or bad, is to go back to what truly makes you happy.

Everything will fall into place. Somehow.

Shots to start the day.

2010-06-27T00:14:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, this is perhaps the one thousandth time I'm talking about Ann Siang. But let's face it, if there's any place to get your latte on a Sunday morning, this is the best place to be.

It is particularly awesome on weekends, with the slow buzz that makes the lazy Sunday morning perfect. What I love about it really, is that old guildhalls (we actually have a Dried Goods Guildhall!) complete with the low rumble of mahjong tiles emanating behind closed shutters and refurnished shophouses stocked with merchandise carefully sourced from around the world can sit side by side and still look perfectly in sync.

A little bit of old magic never fails to make my day (:

♥ to the best friend who has to constantly put up with my crazy random exploration habits.

Surprise ♥

2010-06-10T07:05:00.000-07:00

Look who decided that I needed a smile to start my morning?

Straws and My Tart Craze

2010-06-06T05:45:00.000-07:00

The one thing I missed out 3 years in ol'London was strawberry picking. The season of straws always coincided with the dreaded examinations or post-exams when exploring Europe was more in vogue. Last year was no exception, with my examinations stretching way longer than everyone.

So while the flatmate and his visiting brother happily trooped out to pick/eat/both straws, I was stuck at home with my nose plastered to my books in a desperate bid to reverse my fate. T'was a real bummer to say the least, but of course, the said flatmate did come back with a huge box of straws for us and made a really yummy traditional Eton Mess out of his yummy picks.

With my last tart crust turning out into a joke (see mango tart post), I was quite adament on making a successful tart - both process and end product. And yay! finally managed to beat the heat (with flour) and rolled out my tart crust the way it should have been done (: Chef G would've been proud.

And then I found out that my sis finished the milk. Imagine my horror! To have a tart shell and gorgeous red straws lying around and NO milk to make the pastry cream. I think I must make an awful chef- no maison en plus whatsoever and always finding out that I'm lacking some ingredient or another at the very last minute. But, I decided to substitute it with whipping cream instead. Not as smooth as desired, but still, a fuller bodied (in terms of fat percentage) denser creme patissier made its debut.

Don't straws just make you want to smile?

Sunday Brunch Out

2010-05-30T05:01:00.000-07:00

Picnic plans on Saturday had to be shelved last minute due to certain last minute responses to the exigencies of a biannual event. But, when you've been looking forward to it for the past two weeks, shelving plans can be a real let-down. Sooo, thanks to my wonderful, amazing, darling girls, we re-arranged it for Sunday instead!

Yes, we had none of the whole chicken on foccacia jazz that was planned, and really, all that we got were kinda junk food. But in between stuffing our face with kettle chips, trading latest on-goings and hiding under umbrellas (them, not me), we had a whale of a time.

No elaborate planning needed, just great company and great weather.

That's how Sundays are meant to be.

Insanity.

2010-05-22T06:44:00.000-07:00

The rate at which the weeks have been flying by really freaks me out. Every week, I feel like I'm split into a million, billion pieces dealing with ongoing/pending issues and only on Fridays do I gain some semblance of sanity. But I guess that's probably how everyone feels at work and we all have our own ways to get it out of our system.

The God of Alchies wasn't on my side last night, and some other method was definitely much needed for me to keep that semblance of sanity for the weekend. So, when I saw the fresh ripen mangoes at the Wet Market this morning, I decided that I was going to bake a Mango Tart.

I realised, a little too late (and after I've made my Pate Sucree) that we had no rice at home. Uncooked rice (in case you think I've gone mad), is the poor man's alternative to the posher baking beans that are available in any baking specialty stores. They help in the process of blind baking to keep the tart shell looking the way they should. But of course, there is always a poorer man's alternative out there and I had to resort to repeated docking of the pastry whilst the tart was baking in the oven to prevent air bubbles. Crisis resolved!

Thank goodness my creme patisserie came out looking the way it should, providing my mangos with a nice blanket of creamy goodness.

With insantity kept at bay for the weekend, maybe, just maybe, next week could be a better one.

Come picnic with me (:

2010-05-16T02:28:00.000-07:00

You know how sometimes, just sometimes, getting takeaways just doesn't cut it? On those days, the dad, sis and I will drive down to our friendly neighbourhood butchers' to get ourselves a ready roasted chicken. Throw some campbell soup into the pot (mushroom only please), mash up some potato and voila. Easy peasy, no?

But when you start doing this on a weekly basis, things can start to get a little boring. So instead of just attacking the chicken fingers and all, I decided that I wanted my chicken on foccacia AND on a blanket of gouda. And that's what I did! Of course, sans all the lettuce and tomatoes and everything the mom tried to convince me necessary.

The only thing that was missing was a picnic mat, but of course the parents would hear nothing of that sort (only because our garden is really just a patch of grass and of course with the crazy heat we've been experiencing, the mom just goes into a well-rehearsed the-sun-is-terrible mode).

SOooo, I've managed to psych my darling bestfriends into a picnic in a fortnight! Can't wait!

London- the ex lover.

2010-05-14T22:43:00.000-07:00

So after months of hard work, non existent weekends and pure exhaustion, alcohol was definitely in order last night. Sure it's temporary relief, but I'll say any relief is better than none.

Our little party of four started talking about the crazy days in London and soon realised that we were sitting on two different sides of the fence. You see, we started personifying London as the lover- the dashing dark and handsome stranger that you'd wish to have flings with over and over again. And of course, Singapore was the dependable archetypal Mr.Right that girls tend to marry and end up with even if the constant yearning for the darker side remains. Because dependable and safe (and boring) is always good, no?

Well, that's how the other girls saw it. But K and I stood on the opposite side of the fence. Sure, London was the lover that taught us so many things, allowed us to breathe freedom, lured us to see the world proper with our own eyes. London was sexy and seductive, but London wasn't exactly the ideal perfect lover. In fact, London was pretty nasty and cold to us at times, and many a time we'd wonder why the hell were we there.

Sure, Singapore's dependable and safe and undeniably my Mr Right. But whoever said being in the comfort zone isn't a good thing (or boring?!)? We've gone out and explored options. We've had dalliances and decided that it wasn't for us. And I've decided that being able to have my favourite Roasted Pork Noodles in the morning with loved ones is something that I cannot do without.

Besides, I live with the faith that my new lover will throw me fantastic surprises when I least expect it.

When the kids go out to play

2010-04-04T05:40:00.000-07:00

Spent Sunday with the nieces and nephews/Dimsum/Cracking Eggs can actually look like a whole lot of fun/Off to Botanics to feed the fishes/Running after 4 kids can be a full workout/Enough exercise done for April methinks//

Ah, what I'd give to be a kid again.

Why I live for weekends

2010-03-28T02:40:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-03-27T08:40:00.000-07:00

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..

2010-03-23T06:42:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-14T05:36:00.000-07:00

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.

2010-03-13T23:23:00.001-08:00

'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

2010-03-12T08:50:00.000-08:00

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.

Push the (shortbread) buttons

2010-02-28T04:49:00.000-08:00

Seriously, where do my weekends go too? I've begun to feel that somehow, two days never ever seem enough. On top of that, I've gone as far even to decide that maybe somehow, a lack of a social life and spending more time spacing out and doing my own things doesn't seem half as bad.

D-I-Y Sunday involved the sister and me furiously shaping shortbread into buttons before the merciless heatwave our country is currently facing softened everything to nothingness. But external factors can always prove to be useful excuses when things don't usually go your way. Attempt Martha Stewart in a non air conditioned kitchen was really not the wisest move.

And yes! the cookies are PINK! I think the heat finally got to me.

of Yogurt Cakes and The Invasion of the Monkeys

2010-02-20T18:03:00.000-08:00

I've been in a bit of a yogurt renaissance at the moment. I used to go crazy thinking up crazy variations of yogurt cakes back in London (and despite that, usually almost always ending up with the lemon poppyseed yogurt cake). But being in SG where poppyseeds are almost non-existent and where mommies are going eww to the idea of yogurt cake, I've dismissed any inclination or desire to even suggest, let alone attempt to embrace it.

Seriously, it is different living with 3 guys who would eat almost everything I bake with extremely supportive attitudes and living with the mom and sis and the dad who doesn't eat anything with fruits in it. The idea of a much lower average consumption and too much wastage (and eating the same thing for breakfast 3 days in a row) has constantly weighed on my mind.

So thank goodness for the lunar new year holiday break - where an abundance on food is actually encouraged! Baked up a mandarin orange version of it on the eve (for our visitors as a change from the usual bakgua snacking) and a blueberry version on the 7th day (since it was 人日). Blueberries, unfortunately, were a tad sour, so thank goodness the sweetness from the yogurt cake helped to counterbalance a little. Is it too much to ask for sweet blueberries? ):

On a separate note, the monkeys from the forest nearby have once again restated their claim over my neighbourhood. But this time, they've actually taken to walking into more kitchens (mine included) and stealing the lollipops we bought for the nieces.

Looks like a huge scrub down and dettol-ing is in order. Sure hope the invasion is only temporary.

The Weekend Brigade

2010-01-31T05:52:00.000-08:00

Weekend Woohoos:
Self-declared abstinence from anything excel related.
Finally got my Melissas in a proper pair and in the right size.
Dim Sum with the loved ones at Crystal Jade Golden Palace.
Caught Legion with the cousins.
Pre-CNY traditions:
Rolling cookiedough in cornflakes after dinner.

And so, I ended January with joy, food and love.
(Hopefully enough to fuel me through the predicted rough February)

Breathe. And all will be well.

Instant Gratification.

2010-01-24T05:15:00.000-08:00

After dinner dessert on a stick.
Instant Gratification.

解药 [Antidote]

2010-01-24T04:20:00.000-08:00

Selective escapism.
Solo driving around.
Brunch with S at Dempsey.
Greasy Bacon Strips with Fluffy Omelet.
Coffee at Palheta.
Chocolate Pancakes with the Sis.
Excel Reports.
Joy.

B.

2010-01-10T04:25:00.000-08:00

I've been pretty tied up with my new found job (yes, my fairy jobmother finally paid a visit), and trying to make best friends with microsoft excel pivoting and whatnots. For a girl who has been using microsoft word all her life, this is a super duper uber steep learning curve and I'm proud to say that I can pivot like a pro now! woot!

So, with work being the new boyfriend, I have barely enough time to breathe. But still, we all need to eat. And one can really only take away excel woes with copious amounts of sugar, or in Saturday's case, treacle.

S took me to her latest find and we finally got both our brie fix. But what really caught my eye were the glazing sticky buns sitting right beside the cakes screaming 'Eat me now!'. And you can't say no to that, can you?

Oh and who can resist a smile when you chance upon sunshine cookies?

B Bakery
15 Bussorah Street S(199436), Arab Street

of christmas and giving

2009-12-18T18:35:00.000-08:00

A friend once told me that philanthropy was merely men's way of making themselves feel good about themselves. I guess different people have different feelings about volunteer work/philanthropy. Some associate it as a purely monetary contribution, while others pursue it as a lifelong commitment.

I've always had very conflicting views over these community involvement projects (CIP). Instead of donating (whatever coins I have in my pocket) weekly to the hoards of teenagers trying to fulfill their quota of CIP along our famous shopping street, I'd rather donate food, something more practical.

So, I spent the greater part of yesterday baking the light fruit cake + chocolate cookies (in gingerbread men cut outs) and driving me and Y down to our nearest hypermarket to stock up on Milo/Coffee/Soda Crackers for the old folks home. Yes, I drove on my own. But I made sure that the carpark was an open-aired one- just so I won't have to deal with the humiliation of cars honking at me while I make my 12948th attempt at reverse park.

Y has been involved with a project on community music, working with dementia patients for the past year. She kindly invited me to join her and professors yesterday as they carried out their 'Christmas Special'. Watching them conduct carolling, simple jigsaw puzzle playing - I doubt there was any other way I could have spent a better afternoon.

Oh and by the way- I gained a whole lot of encouraging fans! 'Ying ah, you should open a shop!' I'm just glad that we were able to make their day- my best Christmas present ever!

Can you smell the brandy?

2009-12-11T03:16:00.000-08:00

Because I was terribly bored at home, and with the newly tightened braces really getting on my nerves, I decided to bake. A lot of people find me weird because seriously, who needs a precision, full on concentration hobby when you're simply just frustrated with your teeth (and yourself for wanting to have nice teeth. The price of vanity.) But yes, I bake to distract myself from pain and it has served me well.

Yea, my fruit cake doesn't have quite the dark glamour of the traditional ones, but I never really like cakes that colour. Christmas on our little island is far from the gloomy, cold, miserable dark at fourp.m. christmas-es experienced on the other side of the globe- so why bake the traditional heavy dense cakes that are usually doused so heavily with alcohol, you can't taste nothing.

Thank goodness we learnt how to bake the light fruitcake at school :). Although Chef C went a little crazy in administering Rum to the finish product, I kept my dousing well under control. And instead of Rum, I used Brandy instead- simply because Brandy has such a christmassy smell, non?

Still, you'd be surprise at how the brandy permeates the entire cake when it has been given its 48 hours of rest. Add a splosh of brandied butter and you've got yourself Christmas on a plate!

So I lived to see the Greek Sunset

2009-12-08T21:05:00.000-08:00

The Greek trip I took this year was one helluva trip. From crashing ATVs to seeing riots+shouting+chaos unfold before my eyes - I think I left Greece shell-shocked and never really recovered from all that. Yes, the people were friendly, the islands were spectacular and the food was great. But, it has taken me 8 months worth of hindsight to see this.

But I'm incredibly thankful that I lived to catch the gorgeous Greek Sunset at Oia and that the huge bruises peppering my limbs didn't require much medical attention save for an xray (that mysteriously disappeared).

I guess the best part of the trip was properly enjoying Greek cuisine. After all, it was here that I fell in love with Feta and Moussaka. It was also here in Greece that we got to climb the beautiful cobbled pathways in the freezing midnight spring wind (resolutely to the pub in the middle of the labyrinth). It was here that I finally got to see the sugarcube houses and blue-domed churches of Santorini. And it was here that I made one of the best decisions.

You've never really lived, till you have lived. Oui?

Un plus, s'il vous plaît

2009-12-08T05:51:00.000-08:00

I guess maturity found its way to me this year. All that jazz last year with the customised cake, the one thousand parties and non-stop clubbing has been firmly replaced with something much simpler. No one ever said you needed to have a lot of money and friends to make a birthday a meaningful one.

All you need is close friends, good croissants and excellent coffee.

We found our way to Mirabelle Patisserie (chef's LCB alum, yay!)- to have one of its famed croissants. But we had to settle for just the PainauChocolat in the end (instead of both Chocolat and Frangipane) because the Frangipane Croissant was sold out. At 11am.

Left the shop with a couple more treats but the PainauChocolat never did get to meet the camera ):

Wish I bought one more for the road.

Mine Came Early

2009-12-08T02:09:00.000-08:00

Look what my darling aunt got me! I feel truly loved :) Anyone wants an Oreo Cookie Cake?
William Sonoma is truly genius.

When we all become Kids

2009-12-06T07:37:00.000-08:00

Spent the later half of the day having fun with my little nieces in the kitchen today.. and my sis and I couldn't resist starting on the cookies first whilst waiting for the arrival of our princesses.

Kinda regretted not going crazy on the food gels and having only one colour to work with. But thank god for my sister's obsession with (what we call) roly polies. Having these multicoloured goodness in your fridge are almost guaranteed to put a smile on any kid's face :) and of course darling R couldn't resist eating as she decorated her cookies!

Good times and the perfect way to spend the birthday week!

When Boredom Creates

2009-12-04T17:40:00.000-08:00

Friday's Project: The Basketweave Attempt #1
Just because I've been hugely enamored by its intricacy :)

Because ilovepeanutbutter

2009-12-02T20:50:00.000-08:00

My love affair with the peanut butter (smooth only please) goes way back. Can you imagine a world without peanut butter? Or worse, without Peanut Butter and Jelly (PBJ) on toast/whitebread/brownbread? I think, and I am certainly not exaggerating, that my world would crumble into a heap of nothingness without my PBJ.

Of course, the mom is always freaking out when I tell her that I had that for breakfast(or lunch, or dinner) because when I eat PBJ, I eat PBJ. One slice never suffices and I think my record is half a loaf at one go.

[note to self: never buy a jar of peanut butter when you are alone overseas, especially after you haven't had any for a long time]

But I digress. While PBJ is clearly essential for me to function, Peanut Butter alone can do wonders too! In a bid to stop myself from wolfing down another half loaf, I decided the next best thing would be to make peanut butter cookies! And I did.

This marks the end of the baking hiatus and the return of weight gain. How smart was I to think that the 5 batch of cookies that is now sitting on my counter top is going to be 'healthier' than a loaf of bread.

Where are santa's helpers when you need them?

When you have Breakfast for Dinner

2009-12-02T16:21:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, don't you just feel that having pasta/rice/(insert random dinner menu here) just doesn't cut it for dinner? Well, I felt just like that on Monday. And thankfully, the gang was also sick of having dinner for dinner :)

So off we went to Hatched, a relatively new place specializing in all-day breakfast. Whywhywhy you may ask?

1. You don't have to queue. I've heard the horror stories about the queues at breakfast/brunch.
2. No one said you can't have brioche+bananas+bacon+maple syrup for dinner (bytheway, the picture turned out awful, so I decided not to put it up). While the bacon insert was a tad weird, I'm always up for anything.
3. It feels like you're having brunch/dinner/brinner in Stockholm. I think both the reindeer and the light wood furniture had something to do with it.

I highly doubt the Swedes enjoy the oily, greasy, quintessential brit breakfast (oodles away from minimalist perfection, if you ask me). But, the home-like, christmassy vibe kinda worked out. And when you can actually have conversations (not shouting matches) over a meal out (at a pocket-friendly place) -- I say that's a great place!

Hatched
26 Evans Road, #01-06 Evans Lodge

Relish-ed ♥

2009-11-26T22:59:00.000-08:00

I think a lot of my friends were raising a whole lot of eyebrows when they heard that I was going on nature trails. Well, maybe it was purely the fact that I have been willingly (read: not forced) embarking on my new healthy lifestyle with my aforementioned survival expert/professional tree chopper/lopper/biologist/bird-spotting pro friend, S.

Our destination on Wednesday was Sungei Buloh! The thing is, each time I go on these trails, I feel quite upset that it has taken me so long to get reacquainted with nature (whatever of it we have on our island). Walking into multiple cobwebs in the jungle through trails often forsaken, sharing paths with monitor lizards and gecko-lookalikes and spotting signs that warned of crocodiles is a refreshing (and sticky) change from our city jungle landscape. YES! While we didn't see one, the idea that we could cross paths with one added a whole lot of excitment to the trail.

The nature reserve itself was - to put it in one word- tranquil. It was as if we were in a completely different country. With the salty breeze in our hair, we paused from time to time trying to spot birds with S' mother-powerful binos. By the way, I can now tell a waterhen from a kingfisher after her very helpful tutorial on How to Recognise Types of Birds 101. Ask me!!

Oh and did I mention that we saw the resident family of otters? I would have taken pictures of them basking in the sun, conversing in their really cute squeaking sounds. Would have. Because my camera only has a pathetic x3 optical zoom. Because the nature-lover stranger beside me had a x30000000 optical zoom hugeass camera, and anything I attempt to take would have been amateur. Because, you have to go down and see the little darlings for yourself. ♥

And of course you have to feed the hungry trekkers, because to do otherwise would be just pure evil. I've been wanting to try Relish for the longest time. After hearing/reading rave reviews about the place, S and I decided that it was the best place to fill our tummies after our trail.

The place itself has a rather nice vibe.. quite laidback and going with the whole white-walled clean cut feel. We lucked out because it was Wednesday and they offer a fantastic deal for the ladies : free dessert with an a-la-carte order :) We both decided to go for the BBQ Pork Burger and trust me when I say that it tastes a gazillion times better than it looks (my parents haven't said really nice things about how it looks, so I guess I eat with my nose, not my eyes). The meat is braised/flavourful/tender/melts in your mouth/not charred. Plus I guess the fact that we both were thankful that we didn't order different things- we couldn't imagine giving half of it away- says a hell lot. We are such carnivores. The combination of oriental-inspired burger served on foccacia, tucked underneath the reds really worked.

S ordered the vanilla/sesame icrecream while I ordered the Pandan Pannacotta. I was expecting the pannacotta to be heavier on the cream, so I wasn't quite prepared to taste a lighter and eggier fusion version of the Brit classic. S wasn't too excited with her icecream (we swear we tasted oregano in the sesame mixture). We ended up swopping - because eaten together with the vanilla ice cream made the sesame-herb dessert work, and because S quite liked the gulamelaka -pannacotta pairing.

Can't wait till the next nature trail, or when I can join S for a spot of fieldwork :) fingers crossed for the latter!

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
301 Neo Tiew Crescent
Singapore 718925

Relish
501 Bukit Timah Road
#02-01 Cluny Court

Venturing East

2009-11-21T06:37:00.000-08:00

So I've heard countless ravings about all the fantastic eats in the East, but the thing is - no amount of persuasion can get my very practical dad to drive all the way just to eat the newest big thing in Singapore. Don't get me wrong, Singapore isn't big at all. In fact, we are really tiny. Many foodies don't mind the queues, the drive or the belly, but the truth is, patience never did run strong in the family's veins. Unless it's been given 10 thumbs up, a twenty minute drive across our little island has never been deemed that worth it. (We are just plain lazy)

Well, I decided to put an end to all this slothlike behavior and thus found myself in Joo Chiat with Jia on Friday. The latest brainchild from the people who brought us Awfully Chocolate, Everything with Fries is basically your burger shop - a tad more upmarket and with the very obvious product differentiation. I had the lamb burger while Jia had the pork and both were rather decent garb. I was a little disappointed in the variety of fries offered -with a more varied assortment of flavourings compared to type of fries (thickcut or shoestring) the apparent main actor seemed a little lacklustre and didn't quite rise to expectations.

Nonetheless, couldn't stop grinning when I saw this :

Altitude: 163.3m

2009-11-18T06:10:00.000-08:00

Armed with backpacks (circa 2003), water bottles, digital gear (cameras for me and binocs for S) and insect-repellant-d legs/arms/ears/necks, S and I finally set off to conquer the highest altitude in Singapore.

Yes, okay, scoff all you want. Our highest altitude is mere flatland compared to the Mt.Everest, but the nature trails are definitely worth a hike for the explorer in you. Although there really isn't anything much to see apart from trees, we did manage to spot squirrels, pigeons (colourful ones!) and families (and families) of monkeys.

Having grown up under the watchful eye of my overprotective dad, nature trails and treks were never really part of the weekend agenda. From what I can remember, we did go for one or two nature walks, but all that mysteriously died down after I turned 7 (and probably around the time when the little sister flatly declared that she was tired and didn't want to climb the hill halfway through our hike. Mind you, it was just the boring path up and down). Such a pity really, because shouldn't a childhood be filled with adventure and exploration? Shouldn't it be about kids learning more about nature (without the parents fussing around their grimy offsprings?)

Well, S (the more seasoned hiker/climber/lopper/survival expert) and I decided to go for the Green Trail- which looked really promising. We thought we were doing great - all the way until we reached the mid-point and saw the two grannies that were in front of us at the start halfway through their stretching exercise. Can you say Embarrassment (with a capital E) any louder? My only consolation is that we made it to the end and back down well ahead of our targeted time frame of 3hours.

And of course, we had to go for our breakfast #2. Rounded up our healthy morning exercise with the not-so-healthy iced milo, teh tarik, plain prata and muffins from the local bakery - pure bliss.

Old World Charm

2009-11-13T23:48:00.000-08:00

Being abroad for a span of 6-9months at each stretch, I am constantly amazed by the rapid changes in the city landscape. Yet, if you've read earlier posts, you'll know my fascination with everything old Singapore. Those old world peranakan shophouses that house everything from funky new retail shops/bistros/boutique cake shop along Ann Siang street, to art galleries and media/PR companies along the Amoy Street stretch are but one facet of the intrigue. What truly excites me is when I see a shophouse that has kept its original facade - grills, signboard and all.

Where people see backward, ugly, rusty or just plain ol' old, I see tradition, heritage and volumes of history. I see old world charm. S and I decided that we had to do the Chinatown - Kampong Glam heritage tour again, just because it felt right. Chinatown has become commercialised, but tell me which tourist destination hasn't? It is when you take the routes untaken and walk down new alleyways that you'll stumble upon something new. Wandering into mosques, walking past Chinese Medical Shops which could have definitely passed off as the Witches go-to supermarket (what with all the lizards, strange insectile thingies (?!) and all those nasties you put in boiling cauldrons) combines for the truly special Chinatown experience.

We chanced upon 大同饼家 or Tai Thong Cake Shop this time round. Having been around for half a century (now that's what I call real street cred), it is relatively impossible to not have heard of it or eaten their cakes. I have heard of their very famous Chinese New Year and Wedding pastries, but had no idea where their shop was located.

Call me ignorant if you must, but the stars must have decreed that I would have to find the place on my own, sans googlemap. And find it we did.

Tai Thong Cake Shop
#35, Mosque Street, Singapore

Mr Supermarché

2009-11-10T23:19:00.000-08:00

Everything about supermarkets make me happy. From looking at the fully-stocked, neatly arranged shelves, to the huge stock variety in their open freezers just makes me happy. Wandering around a very strange and unfamiliar London 3 years earlier made me scared/frantic/overwhelmed.

And then I met Waitrose.

Waitrose in the UK is kinda like the equivalent of the Cold Storage supermarkets we have here in Singapore. The variety of mushrooms, meat, fish, and more importantly cereals and yoghurt they stocked were mindboggling fantastic. At the very second I stepped in, all (and I truly mean all) my anxiety melted away. And throughout the three years there, no amount of stress could fight against my new Hero.

Hanging out with friends that feel the same way about Mr Supermarche inevitably entails that no matter what we plan our day to look like, we'd just end up wandering into supermarkets. S and I got reaquainted to Sara Lee Pound Cakes yesterday, when our healthy hiking plans got derailed by the tempermental weather. Imagine my delight when I saw those delicious frozen pound cakes that I renamed 'ice cream cake' (before the wave of real ice cream cakes infiltrated the market) as a little kid :):)

Yes, I know I'm sad.

I miss

2009-11-07T23:48:00.001-08:00

Really Good Vegetarian Food (Don't judge.)/Seductive aromatics of freshly ground beans toying with your olfactories//Perfect Lattes to end great meals/Almond Croissants/Communal brunch setting/The Large Oak Table/Truffles.

Because simplicity is key for the frazzled. And because sometimes, a whiff of comfort can make everything better.

Food for Thought - 31 Neal Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9PR
Monmouth Coffee Company - The Borough, 2 Park Street, London SE1 9AB; 27 Monmouth Street, London WC2H 9EU

The Place

2009-11-07T05:36:00.000-08:00

I found my favourite coffee-place today. And I wonder what took me so long. ♥

Hello Routine!

2009-11-06T18:03:00.000-08:00

The one thing I missed most about Singapore when I was abroad was the weekly prata breakfast we had at the coffeeshop near our place. My mom swears by the tea, without which she says she cannot function. My dad just likes the prata, which, unlike most places, is freshly pulled, slapped on the metal worktop and fried (with a whole load of unhealthy-thou-shalt-pretend-does-not-exist-substances) on your order.

The closest substitutes we had back in London were frozen pratas from Chinatown and A1/Jap curry packs that the boys bought in abundance. And after countless of suppers with the flatmates and ingenious methods, the four of us have unanimously declared that the combination of grilled frozen pratas with A1 curry triumphs everything else. Yes, we grill our pratas and they turn out wonderfully crispy/fluffy/everything you want your prata to be.

So, whether I clubbed till 3am or stayed home the night before, my parents would always make sure that we were there at half 7 for our weekly prata breakfast. And although it's not so much 'Hello Routine' when the former happens (more like a 'Go Away Now, Routine') the year without the real deal has left me pining for my long-lost friend.

It is possibly the only place you'll find me at my worst- read: hair flyaways, half-opened eyes and in my fbts (running shorts, for the uninitiated). But it is also the place that I feel the most comfortable in. Almost like breakfast at home, if you like.

Oh, on a side note, I have been banned from my beloved kitchen by my sister (which explains my lack of experiments). She has officially issued the decree that till the Big Exams are over, I am not allowed to do any noisy whisking, mixing or baking. No, she does not study in my kitchen (As J wondered in amazement). It is just that she has taken over the entire dining room, situated conveniently right next to the kitchen.

But of course, the withdrawal symptoms are too much to take and I have been not-so-secretly studying her schedule so I can fully utilise the pockets of time when she's in school to bake.

하나,둘,셋!

2009-11-01T01:51:00.000-07:00

we hate peas-carrots-corn club/baking powder pore cleansing foam (?!)/really good shaved ice at fareast//Yummeh Ginseng Chicken Soup at Crystal Jade

Hallowe'en

2009-10-31T01:29:00.000-07:00

It is one of those days where nothing really goes your way. My one-year-ago-flashback was spent in bed nursing a terrible hangover, hearing the boys talking about a friend who threw up on our neighbour's front door, cleaning up vomit in the sink (graciously left behind by a random guest) and just living the life of a normal student. Fastforward a year later and everything's gone wrecked.

Of course, there really isn't any point sitting around and moping over some of the very bad decisions I have made in life. And besides, didn't they say when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade? I had chocolate. A lot of chocolate. And I was in great need of a sugar high. But, precision weighing and baking isn't really for a grumpy/why-her-life-is-so-messed-up girl.

So out goes the digital weighing scale (oh, the travesty of it!) and in comes the measuring cups. Put everything in a deep pan, mix it all up and then add a handful of chocolate. Or maybe two. Or three. Anything to administer a life-can-be-good shot.

Just for the fun of it (and a bolt of inspiration from allrecipes.com), I attempted to make 'mummified' faces on my cupcakes. But of course, when nothing goes your way, nothing will go your way. Far from looking like some potential scary treat, my version turned out looking.. oddly, mouthlessly strange. Almost like a white version of mouthless Mr Messy.

Shoot me now.

Food for the Weary - ft Gypsy Toast

2009-10-29T05:58:00.000-07:00

The fog of unemployment incessantly circling around me has been refusing to dissipate. Being forced to reckon with the big issues of Life is exhausting and I wonder if I will ever know what kind of ride I'll be in for. In a weird sense, I miss being a student. The predictability of knowing when your lectures are, when your essays are due and when the fearful big exams are almost a comfort.

With big issues and big exams (for the sis) to face, one always turns to comfort food. And in my case, bring on the Gypsy (French) toast! I think I'm probably the only person who could eat Gypsy toast for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But the silky, eggy, milky, sugary concoction just adds so much dimension and character to the boring old bread. Add a pinch of cinnamon, or if you're feeling really rich, scrape in some vanilla beans (the real deal, not the essence/extract), toss it in sizzling buerre noisette and immediately the warm and buttery aroma makes everything so much better.

Venturing into The Land of Puff Pastry

2009-10-24T20:12:00.000-07:00

Attempting to make puff pastry in my little oven of a kitchen is suicidal. But of course, not enough of a deterrence to stop me from attempting it. Yes, I know store bought puff pastry is everywhere. With so many brands at my disposal, I really don't have to go through all that much trouble. Still, as Chef G reminds us constantly, those will never ever taste as good as the ones you make from scratch.

In fact, Puff Pastry land is really worth a venture. Especially if you are feeling particularly stressed up. Hitting the tourage into shape, folding and rolling becomes a chicken-soup-for-the-soul routine.

Well, maybe until you start to see the fat-dough-fat-doughx 729 layers, then it becomes sort of a nightmare, only because you know you are going to eat the morsels of sin you've created.

Because the heat in the kitchen made the fat really impossible to control - what with instantaneous melting of the butter, I had to work really really fast and really really efficiently. Uneven pressure on my pastry resulted in some of the layers tearing, so the result of the pastry itself was quite disappointing.

Nonetheless, I decided to go ahead and make little palmiers out of it. They didn't turn out as flaky as I hoped they would be, but still, the buttery sugar crisp combination made the perfect after-nap snack :)

One up for the Alcoholics

2009-10-23T22:43:00.000-07:00

Having way too much time on my hands, I decided that it was time to play around with recipes and try a spin on the classic strawberry shortcake. Because I had one too many mangoes in my fridge and because I had a bottle of vodka lying around (am I the only one guilty of this?) - the only logical happy ending is the marriage of both, oui?

I left my mangoes macerating in the vodka for a good 48 hours, so I think they were pretty potent by then. The strawberries, on the other hand, had to go without their alcoholic bath because somehow, strawberries and cream should be just that, sans frills.

I thought I pretty much found a lasting marriage, but I neglected the fact that my prized kitchen is a living oven. And that means thou shalt not attempt to make enough whipped cream for two cakes in one go under such extreme conditions and with a very sad excuse for a ice bath. Overestimating oneself is really not the smartest thing to do. Starting off with the strawberry shortcake only meant that my Mango Vodka Cake became the sacrificial lamb. The cream didn't go bad, but it became rather un-malleable, making the masking look like it had seen a whole lot of better days. But, I'd like to say that this just means another attempt at the Mango Vodka Cake(MVC) :)

O, and Oscar Wilde says that experience is just another name for our mistakes. Touche.

Keep watching this space to see how MVCII turns out!

Because life's one big picnic ♥

2009-10-17T01:34:00.000-07:00

The best friend and I are somewhat mad about picnics - birthday picnics, welcome-home picnics and random because-everyone-is-at-work-and-we-are-jobless picnics. We threw one of our random picnics on the Monday after I got back but someone up there must have been pretty miffed that we were celebrating unemployment and decided to pour water on us. While we spent the rest of the day roaming randomly around sixth ave (because our favourite cafe decided to shut itself for the afternoon), we were pretty upset that our picnic was ruined. For the record, the moment we got on our bus, it stopped.

But, being obsessed about picnics, as aforementioned, what's a little rain right? 2 days after, we planned a tea party picnic for ourselves. Right in front on my little patch of grass. And because I don't have a humongous lake with swans on my patch of grass, I decided the next best thing was to make choux swans! Top it all up with freshly baked F1 cookies, butter cookie cut outs and a whole jug of ice cold..ribena, and we were all set to enjoy our afternoon.

Fickle

2009-10-12T19:47:00.000-07:00

One of the things I missed most about home was the little Hongkong dessert shops offering their wide varieties of tongshui (the next best thing to eating tongshui in Hongkong, of course). The atmosphere in the shops are fantastic- no matter what time of the day you decide that its time for a sweet fix.These places are frequented by people from all age brackets, making me wonder just how much tongshui can Singaporeans really eat in a lifetime!

What I know for sure is that less than 24hours after my very comfortable 13hour journey back home ended, I found myself in one of the abovementioned shops. Now, we all know that we have to make many decisions in life. And being in one of these shops after a very long time left me in dilemma after dilemma. Hot tongshui, or Cold? Which choice should I pick (out of the never ending selection) if I should pick either?

Lucky for me, the dear friend I was with put an end to my deliberation and ordered both the Mango-Pomelo-Sago Ice Bowl and a bowl of Tangyuan (Glutinous Rice Balls in Ginger Soup). Even though the older folks would have frown upon this decision to eat both the hot (the Tangyuan) and the cold (Ice Bowl) in the same sitting, that was really the least of my preoccupations then and there.

Yumm.

O, and did I mention that I kept staring at the bowl of Mango Shaved Ice sitting on the table next to us? If only calories were never an issue ):

History: Upgraded

2009-10-04T01:22:00.000-07:00

Yuebing jie (Mooncake festival), as I lovingly call it as opposed to the accurate Zhongqiu Jie (Mid-Autumn Festival), brings back the fondest memories for me. From gathering at my gran’s place and lighting up the garden with pretty paper lanterns, to the walk my cousins and I would make around the neighbourhood with our lanterns. The classic moment had to be when my sis- who was more concerned in keeping the flame in the lantern alive then watching where she was walking , walked straight into a tree. Though it happened a good decade ago, none of us refuse to forget that moment (much to her chagrin of course).

What I guess is intriguing about Yuebing jie, is that we are celebrating the success of a revolution, a rebellion. We are in an age where rebellion is almost deemed as taboo, so having a festival that commemorates it seems like a nouveau concept.

But of course, it is designed to make us think that the rebellion was for the greater good and since victors (the rebels) write history, it really is anyone’s say. So, according to the stuff we learnt in Chinese textbooks, secret messages were actually baked within the skin of the mooncakes and passed around to avoid arousing suspicion from authorities. Completely ingenious really, and thank god there was no such thing as modern day custom officials (between the provincial cities) or specially trained dogs to sniff out pseudo mooncakes from the real deal.

I’ve always been a fan of the traditionally baked brown-skinned goodness (singleyolkonlyplease), and I always found the more modern versions of the snow-skinned ones too much of a OD of artificial flavours and colours. With everybody wanting a piece of the (yuebing) pie, everyone was suddenly inventing new flavours like champagne something or truffle something. True, they were pretty and exquisite- but taste-wise, something always seemed to be a little off. And just when I was about to give up on the chase for a good snow-skinned yum, I tried the Mandarin Oriental selection. No, they did not pay me to say this, but for the first time, I actually really really felt that maybe it was time to embrace the ‘other’ mooncake. The Black Gold Premium Chocolate was perfection really; and the Ginseng, Premium Bird’s Nest and Omega Egg White Custard (despite the complexity of flavour and its really long name) actually WORKED.

Brown- skinned goodness: 0
Snow Skinned New found love: 1

I cannot help but emphasize that I am not a fan of anything that sounds overly modern or extravagant, especially when we are celebrating something as serious as a rebellion, but this combination really worked out. And, we are celebrating a success (of sorts), aren't we?

Brunch extravagance

2009-09-06T10:35:00.000-07:00

Started the day with Brunch with S at Smith of Smithfields today and I really can't believe it took me this long to get here. Amazing atmosphere, great (real British) food - I had the smoked salmon, scrambled eggs on bagel while she had thick cut ham, 2 eggs and chips and of course a Bloody Mary and Mimosa Champagne to wash it all down :D Sunday Brunch hasn't been this perfect for a long time.

And we spent pretty much the whole afternoon wandering the streets of amazing Eastside.

Oh, and the coffeeboard menu of BrickLane Coffee Shop read 'In Life you get 1 shot at Bricklane coffee, you always get 2'. What's not to love?

Choux Finalement

2009-09-05T04:26:00.000-07:00

Remember a few postings ago when I lamented on my no-show lemon tart? After doing the post-post-mortem on it, I realised that it was not the meringue but the CURD that was horribly wrong. The curd that I casually dismissed as easy to get right was anything but the assumed.

I went through at least 2 dozen lemons, making big mistakes and small mistakes each time and finally, I got my curd to set proper. You have no idea how deep a breath I hold each time I disect my tart. But each time, or at least till the very last tart that I did, the curd would part like the Red Sea. And so, back to the drawing board I'd go, in an attempt to find the underlying casual factors prohibiting me from reaching lemon tart nirvana. Guess all that fretting and frantic practicing paid off and someone up there must have liked me because instead of lucky-draw picking the tart for the finals, I got choux.

To be honest, the choux was the item on the list that no one wanted to get. Let's face it, the choux is the main component of your dessert. And if it doesn't puff up, there's no way your cream (however lump-free and flavourfully yummy) can salvage it.

Thankfully, mine puffed up and actually looked quite good! Yay me.

I didn't bring a camera into the kitchen, so I have no pictures of my final product. According to the chefs, pictures will be taken for us (So we can't dispute and say we didn't make that) and hopefully I can put the picture up soon.

Fingers crossed.

Take Home Bounty

2009-09-01T08:53:00.000-07:00

As we saunter into September, with London waking up finally after the sleepy Bank Holiday weekend, reality is slowly sinking in. Term is drawing to a close (and I'm only reminded because my exams are tomorrow- double uh-ohs).

I'll be leaving in a fortnight! A proper, quantifiable number now, no longer an abstract oh-around-x months.

Yet, it feels like although everything is drawing to a close, I'm still soaking up (and eating up) lessons at the LCB. We made a rather impressive array today- ranging from the Chequerboard Sables, Batons de Marechal, Palais aux Raisins, Langues de Chat, Florentins, Macarons and Fudge!

I'm pretty sure that I'm about to swear off Fudge. Thou shalt not divulge contents but the artery-clogging-cellulite-inducing-little-square-of-dark-chocolate-fudge is seriously one hell of a bite.

And because these things are bite-sized, they become incredibly addictively easy to pop in your mouth! So much for eating a little bit of everything.

Then again, we only live once, so what's a little indulgence now and then? Oui?

All about Shrinkage, and the Meringue got left out.

2009-08-27T10:04:00.000-07:00

After deciding that I've procrastinated for way too long (a week to be exact), I thought it was about time I started exam prep-ing. One of the exam topics will be on the deceptively simple Tarte au Citron. Why Deceptively Simple? Because everything can go wrong, right from stage 1- the dough.

Shrinkage of the dough is every pastry chef's greatest nightmare (or at least mine). I was fixated on not overworking the dough, letting the dough rest amply before doing anything to it and letting it come out of the oven when it cried out for me. The tart was possibly the best I've done to date, with little shrinkage. So yay me!

The second part wasn't as daunting of course, but there's the potential risk of curdling your curd- as strange as that sounds. I didn't think I did too badly for this bit as well.

BUT. Lusting after the perfect tart, when really I have only been two-thirds successful, I neglected my Meringue. Ah, the Meringue in my Lemon Meringue Tart got smooshed. It looks great here, but really, I added the sugar in too quickly :( and perhaps the sugar wasn't ready as well. Also, biggest boo boo was not covering the tart in its entirety, so you can still see yellow bits.

So there, Cherylina really needs to keep her head on her shoulders and not forget the 33.33333% chance of failure.

Big lessons to learn. and hopefully Round 2 Tarte au Citron will yield one for the win :D

How to be a Good Neighbour (When you have too many cakes)

2009-08-26T12:26:00.000-07:00

It's official, the team of eaters has disbanded for various reasons (home, diet, whatnots) and zero credit on my phone has severely disconnected me from the rest of the world (limiting my ability to invite people over)

So this leaves me with several options:
(a) Eat up everything - which will probably give my mom nightmares about the ball rolling towards her when I land at Changi.

(b) Give larger portions to my only loyal member in the team - which will probably scare her mom when she finds out what I've been passing to her daughter.

(c) Give to ex-colleagues- Probably the best solution- but an hour walk away in the London rain didn't sound as appealing as curling up with a hot bowl of soup (not cake).

Hence, given my extreme sloth-like inertia to venture out of the building, I had to find a way to split cake. With the Charlotte au chocolat and the Charlotte aux Cassis staring back at me when I got home, I half regreted not distributing it to the gazillion people staring at me (and my transparent cake box) on my way home.

Next best solution: NEIGHBOURS! Cue How to be a Good Neighbour Lesson 101 for a win-win situation. I wouldn't have to leave the building and mom will not get nightmares, tres bien!

Thé Vert Genoise à la Confiture de Marron

2009-08-22T06:18:00.000-07:00

An update on one of the potentials for the big day in 2 weeks :) The birthday girl wanted her green tea - something cake, while I needed practice, so voila! I tweaked the recipe a little and altered the classic genoise to a green tea base sandwiched with buttercream and a layer of chestnut creme.

My masking and coating could do with a little more practice. I had the shakes halfway (trying to whip up genoise with a small whisk instead of the balloon was crazy!) so piping's still (very) much to be desired. But I was pretty pleased with the overall result, texture and taste :D Oh and everyone's telling me to bake wedding cakes.

En route to a career plan change?

The Last Day of What We Call Summer

2009-08-20T07:36:00.000-07:00

The new chef today said something that made a lot of sense: Pastry is a luxury. We don't need to survive- we need meat, vegetables and carbohydrates to survive. We don't need sugar. So, because Pastry is a gift, we have to make it look the best we can. Yet, looks are worth nothing if the cake itself tastes bad-- and no one can forgive a cake that tastes awful, despite the successful prettification it has undergone.

Doesn't that make sense? Yes, for sure my cake deco skills can be much improved, but at least I can seek consolation in the fact that the basics that I've learnt on my escapade at LCB will be something that I'll keep with me for life. As long as the ingredients are chosen carefully, reproduction of it will not be as daunting. Cake deco comes with practice, and practice I shall :)

We made Genoise a la Confiture de Framboises and Gateau Foret Noire yesterday. While I was completely disappointed with my medusa resembling vines on the cake, making the Foret Noire was quite enjoyable for me. Only thing was that the cherries were completely mascerated in some really potent alcohol that I'm pretty sure eating a few during the class itself would have rendered me incapable of weighing and measuring anything.

I know the pictures completely don't do the cakes any justice, but it was a quick shot in school before the next class came in for their practical. My cakes didn't really survive the trip home and I blame all 30 degrees of London's blazing heat (hence, no chance for phototaking no.2).

Before Day-Break

2009-08-18T07:25:00.000-07:00

If London were personified, she'd be an enigma. I've always thought I knew London, but the London I know never fails to amaze me. Right smack in the middle of the city, sandwiched between amazing partying hotspots and the financial district is the wholesale Smithfields Meat Market. Isn't that the last place you'd expect to find a market, let alone a wholesale meat market?

Well, at the serviced apartments where I was working at, I was asked where the market was on two separate occasions. I've heard of friends going really early in the morning (because like all wholesale markets they open at insanely early hours and close by 8/9am) just to get fresh eggs and ginormous cuts of meat. Interested as I was then, the small voice in my head nagged at me to not be silly because nothing was worth me getting out of bed at 4am in the morning.

Yet, these two guests piqued my interest! Seriously, if tourists bother to make it one of the must-do activities here in London- where we are famous for so many other things and certainly not our meat, then surely I'd have to make a trip there!

So, me and shun dragged ourselves out of bed at 5 to get there and we were definitely not disappointed :) I haven't placed any pictures up because the sight of the many many carcasses weren't exactly very appetizing and could be slighly offensive. But woah, we got 2 racks of ribs (all 1.8 kilos of it) for a fiver. YES. A FIVER. 'Twas totally worth leaving the warm comfort of my bed that early in the morning.

I really want to kill that little voice in my head.

Off Duty Chefs

2009-08-15T15:22:00.000-07:00

Living for food, living to create wonderful dishes for friends, and living to share that joy with friends. That was what connected us from the beginning and transcended from our weekly Tuesday dinners at nouveau restaurants into my living room.

Pitch was at the helm tonight, cooking dish after dish so effortlessly, flipping and tossing the pan's spicy, fish-sauced contents. Dessert was done by SH - the Korean Ho Duk! With its intriguing textures and flavours all coming together in a bite, eating it became addictive after a while.

So with the venue for our weekly gathering fixed at my place for at least the next couple of weeks, I'll say this is probably going to be one more thing I'm going to miss badly once I get home.

New found friendships, and home-cooked food in our home away from home. What's not to like?

Folie dans la Cuisine

2009-08-12T09:04:00.000-07:00

We got a new chef today. And boy o boy, for once, I wished it was Chef Graeme's reassuring face we would be seeing.

Our practicals are 2.5h sessions with assessments at the end of it. Usually, our chef would be on hand to assist. Today, ours just looked and rushed us. We were thrown into the deep end and forced to swim. Well, that wouldn't have been too bad, apart from the fact that we had to make 3 different things.

Not two like the usual, not two like what the other classes did. Why? Because he didn't know and a classmate thought we were doing it.

And yea, maybe 3 things in 2.5hours isn't life threatening, but nothing was going my way. Nothing. The kitchen staff under prepared ingredients, and I had to run up and down 3 flights of stairs twice to get the stuff.

Yes I gym, but all that running takes TIME. and time was ticking away.

The only consolation perhaps was that the Madeleines, Pain Gene AND Lemon Cake turned out fine. But because we didn't have time to make the glacage, our lemon cake went sans glacage.

It was mad mad mad in the kitchen and that was only first half. Only one finished all 3 and the rest of us probably got terrible grades for that class. :( Hoping to score more points in the second half, we stayed in the kitchen during lunch to go through the recipes and processes. And, surprisingly, despite it being probably the most difficult to date, my Alhambra turned out quite well :):) [and my apron was decently white at the end of it! whoop!]

I do need to work on my horrible writing though.

But, we've never been more relieved that our Wednesday has came and gone.

The (School)made Puff Pastry and the Giant Scone

2009-08-05T13:22:00.000-07:00

For some strange reason, I felt like supergirl today :) I was moving at top speed, weighing, mixing, and even my knife felt like a superhero gadget! Cutting fruits never seemed faster (and easier!)

We made more members of the puff pastry family today, with the puff pastry that we made from scratch. Mind you, all that violence in molding our butter, all that repeated rolling and turning of course resulted in the end product that was far from what you'd get in your friendly neighbourhood supermarket. Call it psychological but it really did taste a lot better!

Palmiers and the Bande were the order of the day and while Chef said that my Palmiers were a tad big, everything turned out pretty nicely :) But aren't Palmiers supposed to be nice and big anyway?

Part 2 of Wednesday was spent on Bread 101. Seriously, who needs anger management therapy when you can knead (pulverise), throw (whack) and punch your dough! Plus, you get to eat the product of violence! Tell me just how often and under what circumstances can violence be this delicious?

The white rolls turned out much better than our little adventure earlier this week while the Soda Bread we made looked like a x10 version of a scone!! Even its texture too was kinda crumbly like my all time favourite :)

Thank goodness I managed to divide and pack everything to my team of eaters (which has dwindled to a very sad 4). Eating these sweet/savoury treats can get addictive.

And Superheroes can't have such a diet, can they?

East Meets West: Tarte Bordaloue and Kaya Buns!

2009-08-03T10:26:00.000-07:00

It was one of those days really, where the baking craze kicked in and I really had to make everything and anything. Egged on by my schoolmate KP, the two of us decided to bake the Tarte Bordaloue that looked so yummy (but we couldn't make during practicals) and filled buns!

And since we will have to present a marzipan rose in a few weeks, the ever thoughtful KP bought marzipan so the two of us could practice. Voila! not bad for a first attempt, non? The tart came out perfect, so we were very pleased :)

On top of our diet-busting tart, we decided to put our new knowledge on bread to good use. So in came the bottle of Kaya and Sun dried tomatoes- the sweet and the savoury. I was being really annoying, insisting on making more Kaya buns but hey! its been a year since I had Kaya, so be nice :D Our creative shapes turned out.. strange, but the loaf ones came out nice and fluffy. Double Yay! Can't wait to go back and bake bread for gramps.

Tarte aux Pommes

2009-07-31T12:42:00.000-07:00

Weeks spin by and we're already in our 4th week at school. With our items getting progressively larger, I'm starting to panic at the thought of having all that food, but no one to eat. As friends gradually leave London one by one, my team of eaters simultaneously dips! Thank goodness more people will be coming back closer to the examination period.

We had our very unnerving mid term examination prep talk today and I'm rather determined to practice practice practice. I guess its a good thing that my internship is coming to an end, so at least I have more time on my hands to practice rather than the standalone Sunday.

Practical this week saw us making the Tarte aux Pommes as well as the Jalousie (which I'll be attempting at home again on Sunday). The Jalousie really was tres yum and was pretty much gone before anyone could say anything. The Tarte aux Pommes, was also quite well received, but not without my two favourite boys of course(ben and jerry's - what were you thinking!)!!

The Real Deal

2009-07-23T12:09:00.000-07:00

Despite most of year 2 trying to figure out the lemon meringue pie, (and eating up most of excess lemon curd through the various experimentation) I've never really been able to get the meringue and the tart shell quite right. Mind you, the pate brisee was tremendously difficult - what with the lack of baking beans, a rolling pin and various websites telling you different proportions, each trumpeting their version of it.

Thankfully, I got what I signed up for- tackling the basics :)

So my piping skills need vast improvement, but everything fell into place yesterday, despite our 2-practicals-in-a-row Wednesdays. The tart- check; the lemon curd- check; the meringue- check; the curd to meringue ratio- check. Voila!

And because it was 2-practicals-in-a-row Wednesdays, we made choux pastry as well. The take-home total was very staggering- 8 coffee creme eclairs and 8 choux swans! But thankfully, my team of eaters went straight for the win.

p.s. pardon the bad photo quality- the lighting's pretty severe in the kitchen, and the silver cake board wasn't helping ):

Transit City

2009-07-22T12:07:00.000-07:00

For so many reasons, London just seems to be a transit city. So many people have called London home, but only for a small pocket of time in their lives. Some come, lured by the opportunities the City holds, others, to etch out a better living; Or, some, in possession of the choice to pursue higher education in this crazy, yet wonderful city I've called home for 3 years.

I'll never forget returning home from summer break and hearing numerous 'Oh, it's good to have you back' everywhere I went, from people from all walks of life. It felt so strange, yet so right. London was just that. A transit city. Yet, a transit city that people somehow find each other and form friendships that may or may not outlive the future geographical distance that might span between them.

I've found great friends during my three years here. Friends supportive of what I want to do (i.e. eat all the stuff I bake- successes and failures), friends who listen to my constant ramblings and friends who are there to hold me up when I've had a drink (or two) too many. And I do hope that geography will never take its toll.

But graduating from university represents my step away from my transit city. Small steps (since LCB means a few more months here). I guess its that moment of real adulthood beckoning, so enticing, so liberating, yet so scary. I'm glad mummy came.

Pictures: Graduation Celebration Dinner at Homage (The Waldorf Hilton)

Nobu with Mum ♥

2009-07-10T14:17:00.000-07:00

Mummy's here in London! Went to the very acclaimed Nobu for lunch today after school and I really have to say that it did live up to expectations after all :) She had the spicy seafood udon which was pretty unusual while I had the bento box. I found a new favourite in the yellowtail sashimi which (I realised today) was pretty much massacred by the other restaurants that I frequent. The miso cod fish too, was in a class of its own - the marriage of all the flavours, steeped in some darn amazing marinade for 3 days was crazily yummy.

We shared the chocolate bento box for desert and all I can say is :):)

O! and I really had to take a picture of this. How cute is this!! If I ever drove a car, it'd be one of these for sure!

Meringues: Practical 2

2009-07-08T13:46:00.000-07:00

Life's pretty much in limbo right now- waiting for the results (still pretty much the dialectic between 'tell me now' and 'ignorance is bliss'), waiting for my fairy job-mother to toss me some amazing job offer too good to refuse, waiting for the movers to come.

Waiting is very tiring.

But I like to think I live in the moment, for the moment- and to be finally living the dream I've had since forever is pure ecstasy. Started school at LCB 2 weeks ago and already testing various heating points of sugar and making meringues.

Yes, meringues. I never really understood how people just eat the whole blob of snow white composite. But, you know how sometimes, one defining moment can alter staunchly held convictions? YUP. the pairing of the piped meringues sandwiched by a layer of chantilly cream was tres tres yum.

The Elvie

2009-07-07T10:55:00.001-07:00

So, back when I still had exams and all my flatmates were far done and happily going for afternoon teas at the Berkeley (yes. poor me), my flatmate came back one day with a little marzipan Alexander McQueen bag courtesy of the place. A quick net-a-porter check also became a reality check - at 974 pounds, I truly believe that was the closest I was going to get to the McQueen. Besides, the colour in marzipan looked a whole lot better.

But I do love the resemblance and it actually looked darn cute. And it being the closest I could get to a McQueen, I refused to chuck it in the bin (it was in my fridge for a good 2 weeks), until the same flatmate declared that it was either I ate it or he'd chuck it out.

Out it went, but I've now immortalised it.
Yay Me!

The Dark Side

2009-06-12T10:57:00.000-07:00

I don't want to grow older.
Because I don't want to have to say goodbye to the people I love.

Dream and watch the world go by

2009-06-06T07:13:00.000-07:00

It's a very painful feeling to have- knowing that the whole world can afford to laze on the grass while you know that while you can do that for now, you still have one more paper. The solitaire, set-way apart from the rest, the beacuse-the-admin-hates-history-students paper.

But of course, having a very hectic 3 papers before that, struggling to get the act together again and again, having various take-out meals over the past few weeks, I decided to just forget about the darn exams for the time being. To just eat well and not worry. To just dream and watch the world go by.

The Patisserie near my place dreamt up an ingenious idea- of packing tea sets in pretty bags, complete with maps of the gardens around our area. Picnic-ing without having to worry about what to bring- now, what's not to like!

The Orangery

2009-06-06T06:37:00.001-07:00

I've heard rave reviews of The Orangery from one of the flatmates, who insists that it is a fantastic place for tea and can definitely hold its place amongst the giants right here in London. So, with the ever fickle weather ruining plans for an outdoor picnic, J and I decided that we should celebrate Pau's birthday at The Orangery!

You never really believe in love at first sight till you experience it for yourself. And I think now I'm a fervent believer. Everything made it perfect. From the charming maître d', to the unpretentious decor - simple, white and pristine, the pieces just fell in place!

And the cakes, oh the cakes. We had the traditional scone set, a banana walnut cake and a belgian chocolate cake to share. I don't believe I can ever feel the same way about cakes again.

So yes, I've finally moved on from my last obsession, to this new one. Double Yum.

food for the weary

2009-05-16T02:20:00.000-07:00

nothing like a good ol' english breakfast to start the day!
breakfast with the flat - it's been too long.

pure agony.

2009-05-13T01:41:00.001-07:00

silence as the still, cold sunlight pours in + stillness holds the flat + tiptoe-ing across the halls, and into the kitchen to get sustenance.

Trying to cram words and ideas (as i always do)/when bed and warmth beckons.

guilt can get to you in funny ways + process of dragging me out of bed repeats again.

then alarms go off in the different rooms, not at once, but peppered over a few hours.

snooze, sleep, snooze. our favourite button.

then guilt starts to act again + the shuffling about begins.

good morning flat 6!

one big mess.

2009-05-02T08:16:00.000-07:00

i've learnt a few things over the last few weeks:

1. that you can't just decide you want what you used to have.
2. that i can never ever have what i used to have. because i gave that up.
3. that even having banana prata with sugar and curry won't make me feel any better.

and that if i still can't snap out of all this, i am going to fail badly.

did you say Korean for dinner tonight?

2009-04-21T02:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday being my turn to host P and R for dinner last night, I decided - since we are all almost acclimatising to R's pescetarainism - to cook (a variation of) Soondubu Chigae (Tofu Stew) and Dok Pokki (however you spell that- Korean rice cakes in sweet sauce). And since my ever M-I-A flatmate was at home yesterday, it made sense to cook bigger portions.

So 2nd attempt on the Tofu Stew turned out really well, but could do with more chili powder :D and as for the Korean rice cakes- the recipe i found online turned out to be simple and idiot-proof. We were all stuffed by the time we polished off everything and according to the flatmates, those little rice cakes kept 'growing' in his stomach. Not the most ideal dish when you are trying to go on a diet really!

Apologies for the crappy photos- my camera battery was running low, so everything had to be snappy :(

but then she's never looked at me that way before

2009-04-17T15:26:00.000-07:00

Disney is truly wonderful. Yes. I think if there's anything that's better then baking, its disney- disneyland, disney movies, disney songs - the works. It is my happy place I guess.. it gives a hope and a chance to escape into this whole new world where maybe, true love can exist.

Dinner was with P and R tonight.. and P made the most amazing potato and mushroom pie (the photos I took didn't do it justice, so I shall have to wait for her to make another one) complete with couscous and salmon.

I've been overthinking things lately - and though I would like to attribute it to too much studying, I suspect its a combination of the weather, claustrophobia and the recent turn of events. Not a lethal combination, but still one enough to get me all mixed up inside.

It's difficult to know if you've found the one, or if you've let go of someone whom you thought was the one. People you thought you knew may suddenly pull a Jekyll-Hyde on you. Regret, in the decisions you've taken in life, may weigh and join the huge pile of emotional baggage everyone carries with them.

Deliberations, considerations, pacing between choices. Sometimes life gets tiring, but that's life innit?

But, seeing P and R (and listening to tons of Disney propaganda) tonight made me realise that love is out there and will find you somehow.

Yes, its the look in the eyes that gives everything away. Love.

Till then, I guess some re-ordering of life is in order. You never really know if you can or already have moved on, nostalgia can be pretty tricky sometimes - pulling a cover over most of the blue spots.

Maybe there's no space or time for regret. Decisions made must stay that way. So instead of longing for something long gone, or playing the blame game and being a plain ol' nasty bitch, I should just let things go. As they should be.

'And I'll take with me the memories
To be my sunshine after the rain' - Boyz II Men

Full circle

2009-04-13T15:36:00.000-07:00

first cake i baked in London, 3 years ago.
i think listening to disney songs makes my mind wander. a lot.
focus hocus pocus!

petit dejeuner, dejeuner et diner

2009-04-08T08:09:00.000-07:00

You know you're in Paris when you walk into any patisserie or boulangerie and buy yourself possibly the best anything you've ever tried. The boulangerie just outside the hostel the friends and I stayed at had the most amazing financier I've ever tried.

But of course, the only reason we were in Paris (apart from disneyland, of course) was to have Macarons- arguably a Parisian invention. Having already had the Laduree macarons when I came with S two years back, it was time I tried the Ispahan at Pierre Herme that EVERYONE had been raving about.

So, after getting wrong directions from a rather cute looking guy, and a walk down an endless row of shops, I found heaven! The Ispahan lived up to every expectation that had been building up within me through my endless ploughing of foodie websites. And that's not all, the little macarons that they had were amazingly delicate with intense (not overpowering) flavours that danced and intermingled to perfection.

Oh! and of course we had to return to get an Ispahan each for the trip back home.

How the Parisians have only 3 meals a day I cannot comprehend.
If I lived there, even 5 wouldn't suffice.

existential reminders.

2009-03-27T06:02:00.000-07:00

In the world's most romantic place, the world's #1 destination for honeymoons and the reputably the best sunset in the world, I nearly died twice.

Yes, in the gorgeous Santorini in Greece, riding that All Terrain Vehicle featured in the picture, I lost control not once, but twice. The first time left me with bruises all over my left arm and hopefully nowhere else. The second one left me shaken. Because you see, if not for the shrub on the far left of the picture, I would have crashed downwards, with nothing to cushion the crash. Down the rocks and into the beautiful, expansive sea in the background.

And all I could think about is why the hell the damn brakes weren't working.

But I shall play the Pollyanna game and find things to be thankful about. To be thankful that the shrub managed to act as barrier. To be thankful that someone up there was looking out for me. To be thankful that my parents were just concerned about my safety rather than the hefty bill that came with the wreck.

And to be thankful for still being alive.

inspiration+turning22

2009-03-22T10:31:00.000-07:00

Jia turned 22 a couple of days back and we surprised her with cake+roshni. She was terribly un-cooperative, refusing to come by my place (when all of us were already waiting). To make things worse, she already suspected something was going on. Seriously. This is not fun at all! I'm going to start designating people random birthdays so the surprise element will always be there. Thank goodness Rosh arranged to come down a little earlier- one surprise beats none.

Was trying out various cakes throughout the week- Cake #1 was an apple crumble cheesecake- but cheesecakes and my oven really don't go together so I had to scrap it; Cake #2 was a chocolate raspberry cake with milk chocolate frosting which was gone in 2 days. Cake #2 was going to be THE cake.

But, when it came down to baking the cake on the day itself, I felt that I just didn't feel like making such a dense and heavy cake. Plus, I wanted a happy-looking cake (coz turning 22 doesn't mean you have to be all contemplative and serious ), if you know what I mean. And of course with the tiny little heaven-in-two-pink-discs as my inspiration, I just had to make the raspberry and lychee cake for her.

So, this happened.

Happy birthday (:

Princi

2009-03-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

Ever since Zar and I wandered into the amazing Princi on Wardour Street, I find myself craving their extensive range of food every single day. And more often then not, I cave in and then I find myself in the amazing place having their delish latte, or their lemon chibouse, or their mille feuille, or their aubergine pasta, or sometimes, a mix of everything. Yes. this is the only reason why I'm still hanging on to my gym membership.

People around me think I'm obsessed- its always an 'Again' I hear after people ask where I had my last meal. Well I think its just so difficult to find a place that does everything right, and when you find that place, why bother searching again? So i've actually never been there with the same people - because they would think i'm mad, wouldn't they. But I haven't gotten down to bringing jia there yet. I don't think she'd rave about it as much I am right now because she thinks my new obsession is (psychologically) unhealthy. Unhealthy in sugar terms perhaps, but there's always the GYM.

Needless to say, I had my daily intake of caffeine there as well today (: So you'll know where to find me in London.

Princi
135 Wardour Street, London, W1F 0UT

Midnight baking

2009-03-07T17:28:00.000-08:00

With week 8/9 being essay week, I spent most of the week (as mentioned previously) in the library. But having wireless in your library is not a great idea. Because essay writing tends to be a rather slow and tedious process, and the innate procrastinator in me always triumphs somehow. Yea, so I have to do 4 essays in a week, that's doable (right?) - surfing the net for recipes to try out wouldn't take much time, non?

Obviously not, because one site leads to another site, and then another. And when you are hungry from all that thinking (or dreaming), looking at gorgeous stylised food photography is NOT the way to go.

I eventually fell in love with the idea of making the Pistachio Pound Cake (above). We had a bag of pistachios lying around in the kitchen for about a week or two now, and no one seemed to know who the pistachios belonged to. SO. into a cake it goes! Might I say that cracking those small pistachios were truly a pain, but ah, sacrifices for the greater good.

Unfortch, jia doesn't share my new fixation with pistachios, and because she was supposed to come over for supper, I decided to try a different version of the lemon poppyseed yogurt cake. I'm beginning to think that my oven has decided to be very kind to me lately- because everything came out great (i.e. no smoke emanating and no charred on the outside, squishy in the inside cakes)!

Yay! perfect way to end my non-library day. And sadly, I'll be back there tomorrow. But this time, there'd be no embarrassing stomach growling because I'll be packing these yummers there for me and P.

So take that- irritating guy-beside-me-that-looked-and-laughed everytime my stomach growled.

Borough, once more

2009-03-07T17:16:00.000-08:00

Finding out that my darling new-library-partner, P, (yes, I hang out in the library these days) had not been to borough at all throughout her three years here shocked me (and other people who knew about this) beyond belief! So, with Saturday being our designated non-library day (yes we are that uncool), Borough market seemed the obvious destination. With me raving about the Apple+Strawberry Juice that the amazing Chegworth Valley Juice Company produces, she tried and bought a bottle of goodness. And not to mention the really tasty mushroom pate. Yumm.

Of course, no trip to Borough is ever complete without oohing and aahing at the amazingly perfect cakes, and wolfing down one block of the gi-normous brownie tower.

Can't wait to take the cousin there when he comes (:

the carrot cake

2009-02-28T15:04:00.000-08:00

Yes, this is getting a little obscene- i really shouldn't be baking and blogging twice in one day. But, it is the carrot cake, and there's never such a thing as too much baking in a day. Especially when my oven has decided to be nice to me today.

According to Pau, the center of (raw) carrots are really sweet, but being a real big non-vege lover, I think the only way I'll have carrots are in a cake.

Maybe its the generation gap, or maybe its my daddy being traditional. But it never fails to amuse me when he would look at the cake in deject and say 'This is not carrot cake!'. Sorry daddy, the day I can make Chai Tow Kuei (The Chinese-style white turnip cake), will be the day I can take over the world.

Well J did tell me that it's not difficult to make the Chinese version, so I shall attempt it one day. Watch out world, mwahha.

Still, I insist that my (amazing cookbook's) version of the classic american carrot cake is pretty decent, and it'll only be complete with a layer (or two) of cream cheese frosting. And unlike the Chinese-style version where people actually have debates over whether the white version or black version is better- the carrot cake's perfect just like that.

No debate required.

Sand-ies

2009-02-28T05:28:00.000-08:00

I woke up today feeling like I had to bake something. ANYTHING really. After pulling an all nighter to write my rather depressing essay on Genocide, I simply had to reward myself with something sweet. Something that would take my mind of all the atrocities. It helped, of course, that one of the flatmates had friends over for a game of pro-evo, so baking the Blondies did mean that not all of it would end up around my waist.

The idea of Blondies- Blonde Brownies intrigues me. Yes, don't laugh. When I told a friend about its existence, she went 'That's racist'. That left me in stitches. I mean, why would anyone want to make a non-brown brownie? All the fudgy, dense, chocolately goodness of the quintessential should never be substituted with anything else (What Blasphemy!)!

Or so we think.

Perhaps it was because I started the day baking these little squares of goodness- on an empty stomach, but the batter distinctly smelt like the cookie dough in B&J's Cookie Dough Ice Cream. I highly doubt that I was hallucinating, or that the lack of food in my stomach was playing tricks on my brain (just in case you're wondering). And if the batter alone could conjure up such perfect images, it can only be a good thing, oui?

Of course, I cheated and added copious amounts of chocolate chips and walnut pieces (yumm) which definitely gave more texture to the Blondies! The chips melted as I stirred them in my end product turned out to be a rather sandy-coloured Blondie. Not that I'm complaining really.

Nothing like a petit pick-me-up to perk me up after a terrible night (:

Sand-ies anyone?

Pancake Day (:

2009-02-24T05:48:00.000-08:00

Can't believe Lent starts tomorrow- time is really going by too quickly!

I couldn't bear to leave Singapore in January, but now, I just can't help but wish I had more time left in London. I'm truly going to miss hanging out in my flat with the flatmates and friends- all the sleepovers, the dinner parties, the parties-till-potential-eviction.. everything. Technically, I still have a good 5 months- plenty of time, oui?

Well, because it's Shrove Tuesday today (and because I really don't want to do my readings) I decided that we had to make pancakes. None of those thin crepe-y kinds. While those are good, they simply cannot compare to the warm, fluffy, thick American pancakes! I am obviously a proud product of the Golden Arches Era- pancakes=hotcakes (happy meal).

Unfortch, due to our conflicting schedules, only tannie and I could do lunch together- so I made a stack of pancakes. Chocolate Chip pancakes to be exact. (: And we finished them ALL. Yes, that stack. Between 2 of us.

And. Because the other 2 will be free for dinner, tannie decided that we should have pancakes for dinner as well (we never get sick of this I tell you)- complete with a side of bacon. sinful sinful sinful. I tried protesting - ain't that too much pancakes for one day? Okay, I pretended to protest, because as I write this, 2 batches of pancake batter are sitting in my fridge.

Gym anyone?

world domination

2009-02-21T16:14:00.000-08:00

It's been rather fashionable lately for everyone to ask what my plans for the future are. and unfortunately, i've given up trying to articulate my big grand plans into words. so, the answer has always been 'unemployment beckons'. I really do believe that i'll go home to be unemployed- except the duration of the stagnation and 'gap year' (so they euphemistically call it) will be determined by me and me alone. Well.. till then, me and shun have grand plans. big grand plans.

shun and i decided tonight, that spinsterdom, like unemployment awaits us. We'll rent a 4 room hdb flat/condo when we turn 30 years old, be the kind of aunts that take annual sabbaticals from december through to feb to avoid giving out christmas presents to our nieces/nephews/god children. And of course, we'll avoid the eternal question that will potentially plague us for the rest of our lives. Yes, the predictably annoying 'not married yet?' speeches.

and with all the money saved from renting/no-show during xmas/savings from not having to give out ang pows (hah), we'll either (a) buy a pretigious duplex in hongkong and get involved in businesses of unknown nature, or (b) start a joint private swiss bank account and prepare for world domination.

this two new potential careers definitely seemed more enticing then what we had planned last year, after our very devastating Political Theory examination (read: wedding planner for specialised weddings at Sungei Buloh and a catering services for weddings).

but yes, we have it all planned. students of history will learn about all the causal factors that drove shun to dictatorship and all that history, of course, will be constructed by me. history, after all, will be what I make of it. we'll let you think what we want you to think.

oh kay. maybe it's the poppyseeds in the lemon-poppyseed cookies doing the talking, but we are allowed to dream, non?

the unromantic romantic

2009-02-18T15:18:00.000-08:00

while the world went giddy celebrating the day of love with everything pink, sweet and hearts, the bffs and i spent pretty much of 13/14 watching brainless chick flicks and engaging in (very helpful) retail therapy.

for some reason, none of the pink or the love has found me (yet, i hope) - i ended up baking the very wholesome and very practical and not to mention unromantic banana loaf.

i'm not in a bah hambug mood really! i love vday and all its loving fuzziness. and although to many, the banana loaf may seem the complete antithesis of romance, i happen to think practicality is sexy. and of course, the familiar comforting smell that diffuses throughout my kitchen keeps me happy all day long.

so there. the unromantic romantic (: with the picture courtesy of my Holga

the fifteenth day: east meets west

2009-02-09T12:57:00.000-08:00

i would've completely forgot that it was the fifteenth day if tannie didn't remind me this morning. well something along the lines of: cher, do you need to buy some clementines to throw into the river?

Apparently according to some old chinese legend, the young unmarried women would throw oranges into the river on the fifteenth day of the lunar new year and the men who managed to retrieve their oranges would be their destined one. Well, i can't imagine anyone who would jump into the river thames for an orange in this freezing weather, and I certainly do not want any random guy (or sewage collector) retrieving my orange, thank you very much- so I decided against it.

Because this week is a terrible week for all of us- it being essay onslaught, us essay writers had to spend a quiet night in. Dinner was spaghetti with meatballs (: i made huge ones tonight- self indulgent really. and of course, the fifteenth wouldn't be complete without tangyuans.

blueberry muffins and lazy days

2009-02-06T17:30:00.000-08:00

I skipped lecture today (again) to have a longer lunch break with zar :) we headed to Primrose, the new cupcake bakery just behind Novello theatre for tea. Pictures of Primrose are on my handphone - so till I figure out how to upload the pictures from the phone to the computer, I'll just have to hope that we'll Primrose again soon!

And because I was so inspired by all things cupcakes/muffins, and because I had very very ripe blueberries in the fridge, and because I was feeling bored - I decided to bake blueberry muffins. They taste strangely healthy, but it has been long since my oven decided to work well, so I'll take whatever it decides to give me. Essay week is rolling by soon, which means more baking to be done. sigh, procrastinator me.

of multiple cuts and school's out.

2009-02-02T13:35:00.000-08:00

I cooked dinner for a group of friends last night to celebrate 人日. Apparently, on the 7th day of chinese new year is supposed to be everyone's birthday. I've never celebrated this ever before, but since I felt like cooking, this day was self-declared a must-celebrate :) Together with jia, we cooked up a number of dishes, but it really wasn't my day at all. I got stuck in a massive human jam in chinatown trying to buy tofu, got caught in really strong winds that pushed me backwards and then the accidents started occuring. We do not have a knife holder over here in our flat, and because the boys usually inserts our small fruit knife blade up into the to-dry container, the blade blends in with all our forks and spoons and other butter knives.

Guess what happens next? lol. that's cut number one. cut number 2 was when I was happily chopping the soft bone of the chicken wings. Not sure what exactly happened, but next thing I know, I get 2 cuts on the same finger. O, plus a couple of burns here and there.

whoever said you get to enjoy your (shared-with-entire-chinese-population's) birthday. hah.

but thank goodness, someone up there must've liked me- coz it snowed so heavily (7 inches thick to be exact) that school got cancelled! Best news I've heard in ages really (:(: It felt like a waste to stay at home when the grounds outside look so marshmallow-y and fluffy, so we went out. shopping. yes. we had brunch at muffinski's near covent garden, hung around the area and shopped. Covent looked especially pretty today, covered in a thick sheet of white.. okay, everything looked so much better covered in snow.

but because i do not own a single pair of waterproofs, my suede boots turned into nothingness at the end of our 5 hours of random strolling. Right up til the point where i couldn't feel my toes at all - not that fun at all. the boys at home thought we went shopping at Westfields, because its an indoor (big) shopping mall over here. But with 11 out of 12 tube lines closed, that really didn't cross my mind. The look on their faces when i told them we went shopping outdoors- priceless!

On a side note, i've found a new attraction to the Lomography Holga 135. And i think im going to get it- once i get past setting up a paypal account and all the additional paraphernalia. my love for vintage and old school just went up two notches!

And YAY! school's still out tmr! whoo hoo!

Borough Market

2009-01-31T14:27:00.000-08:00

I think the place that I'd miss most of London is Borough Market. It is one of those attractions that deserve to be called one. What's not to love really? The selection of fresh produce, amazing variety of cake, ready-to-eat proper food, and the very famous Fish & Chips.

I have been in Fish&Chips Land (FCL) for 3 years now, and I've only had that twice. It's not really difficult to tell that I'm not a huge fan. But you can't be in the FCL and not have the fish from Borough- so i was told. Jia and I headed down today to do just that. It wasn't cheap but the portion was large enough for two :)

And for the record, it was really tasty! for the copious amounts of oil we saw involved, it wasn't overly greasy.

Random Saturday brunches at Borough won't be possible soon, but till then I'm going to try to go as often as possible.

London Version: CNY

2009-01-27T15:54:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year spent in london was same old same old- except after 3 years of it spent abroad made me feel really (hmm.) jaded. yes, you celebrate with your friends, you countdown with your friends, you make really good food and eat together with them. Yet somehow, it just isn't the same. I miss the two reunion dinner nights on Chu Xi; the countdown with the cousins spent playing blackjack or 'dai di'. I miss going to 拜年 on the first day- visiting relatives and stuffing my face with all the new year goodies in every house.

Still, celebrating in London isn't that bad. I feel like things have sort of come full circle for me- celebrating with J and Z in year one and this year just made cny so much more meaningful. It still amazes me how J and I clicked instantly back in halls :) Going to Chinatown together to buy the entire stock of frozen fishballs, sotong balls, curry balls, prawn dumplings, and everything you can imagine was half the fun really. Eating with the close group of friends here in London obviously constituted the other half.

We ate, we drank and we gambled. Yes, I learnt to play Mahjong this year (so that's one strike of the never-ending to-do list) and I'm really quite excited about it. Thankfully, there'll be another celebration in 2 weeks so we can play for real (2 uncounted wins by the lover, and 2 all-draws on Sunday).

It is different, celebrating cny here. But whatever it is, celebrating it with close friends makes being away much easier. And so, without any jarring chinese new year songs (you know my stand on this), a rapidly diminishing stock of cny goodies from home, a crazy rush to vacuum everything before the Chu Yi, and then refusing to do anything on Chu Yi itself on top of an amazing steamboat dinner, I spent my last cny in ol' London.

The Best Friend's birthday

2009-01-22T12:49:00.000-08:00

I decided to do things a little differently this year. Instead of having joint birthday celebrations as we always do at the start of the year, I wanted to have a single special celebration for my dearest bff :) So because of our crazy shared love for picnics, I went to Toast at taka to get us sandwiches and salads packed, got her favourite Tako balls, darn good ice lemon tea from Toast and of course, the Elvis Cupcake from there as well. Zipping to botanics where we had the picnic, we laid the blue chequered picnic map- because nothing screams picnic more then chequered prints, and dumped all the food on it :D

The BFF even got us pseudo-champagne :D that was the real funn! the two of us attempting to pop the bottle was very hilarious, and i think a lot of tourists were more than amused. We spent the better part of the afternoon just sitting under our spot at the pavillion, before going across to 6th ave to meet Airen for Kampung Fish therapy. Yes, the little fishes that eat up all the dead skin on your legs to make them smooth. Its a little thing that we do whenever I get back to sg, and also a must on the list for the birthday girl.

Having to trek back to Bugis in our newly smooth and 'light' legs was tiring, but nothing a shared Cab can't solve :D Dinner and post-dinner was spent at Haji Lane. Having really good kebabs along with shisha-ing with the girls was really the best fun i've had in ages.

Love you hun, hope you had as much fun as I had planning the day for you. Can't wait till I get back so we can have more picnics. xx

Long overdue heritage tours: Amazing Race Part 2

2009-01-19T14:07:00.000-08:00

The BFF and I were torn between calling our random walks across singapore 'heritage tours' or 'the (slow) Amazing Race'. But yes, it was a mix of both really. We started from Chinatown, walking through the crazy crowds, exploring the markets, and the millions of textile shops above the main square. With it being the 2 week run-up to the Chinese New Year, all things red were flashing proudly, accompanied by terrible, yet familiar CNY songs. Yes, i find them terrible, so sue me. That said, CNY wouldn't be CNY without them. SO. contradiction contradiction.

Chinatown got too crowded after a while, so in our pursuit of somewhere less maddening we tried to find our way to Ann Siang Hill. As mentioned in an earlier post, I have a crazy thing for shophouses. And Ann Siang Hill is the land of shophouses. What I find most intriguing is the fact that the facades are kept, but the insides are completely modern- with shops selling streetwear, to cakes, to high street brands. The unraveling of the old school mosaic exteriors to modern and functional interiors makes me feel like i've stepped into a completely different world. Okay, I do think it could be the air conditioning which makes the 'stepping in' process a whole lot cooler, literally. I don't know if I'm making sense here, but i don't know if I want too. Ann Siang is just a place for you to come see and fall in love with, and it'll never be for the same reasons, I guess.

I'm slightly ashamed to say that we had to rely on a pocket map that the BFF's mom got to help us navigate. We got a little lost somewhere along the way, but thank god the BFF can read maps (having a map, and knowing how to read it are completely different matters). And so, from Ann Siang, we headed off down Club Street and then on to Amoy Street Hawker Center. Having worked in the area, I've heard a million and one rave reviews about the food at Amoy. However, that million and one rave reviews= crazy long queues= not a good idea for lunch. But, it was a Saturday, and Saturday meant no people in suits fighting for a table, or standing in the long lines. Butbut, Saturday also meant that a lot of stalls weren't opened :( nonetheless, we managed to find a Malay Stall with the most amazing briyani ever. and i'm pretty sure it wasn't because we were hungry.

Along our tan-inducing walk, we chanced upon a very old school coffee bean shop. We have the amazing Monmouth in London, but I do think the old school coffee bean shops in Singapore are comparable. The aroma of the freshly ground coffee beans really takes the cake. Yes, i don't think the beans come from all over the world, but I love the old-fashioned, and these are the best.

I can't remember where we took the MRT from, but we ended up at Rochor for my last fix of Soya Bean Milk :) I only drink it from one place and one place only! I introduced it to the BFF during our secondary school days- and I'd drag her (we walked, mind you) all the way there just so we could have the iced-cold drink. yuum.

It's tradition, I say.

The things in life that just can't be left out.

2009-01-13T05:39:00.000-08:00

Studying overseas has made me appreciate the sheer diversity of the variety of food that we have at home.Whether it is meepok or satay or stingray, you name it and you'll get it. You just can't get the same stuff anywhere else, Chinatown or not.

Adam Road Hawker Center is one of the haunts i frequent back home in sg. It is impossible to go wrong here- judging from the snaking queues of the Nasi Lemak stalls to the equally long queues at the Prawn Mee stall. The Prawn Mee at Adam Road is the BEST prawn mee I've tasted in my entire life. Yes. I can't not eat before I leave because I'll keep thinking about it. It is that good! Being back for only a month this winter break meant that I just had to make a trip down.

So, we made a trip down during his lunch break to wolf down the whole of Adam Road! I had my prawn mee, and he had nasi lemak (without the chicken, because he was afraid I couldn't finish the rest of the food), and we had Oyster Omelette and a Roti John to share. O the goodness of it all! And although mayonnaise on top of the Roti John would have made it taste so much better, we stuffed our faces till we couldn't eat anymore. Lol.

I miss the food already, and I just had it. argh.

Day-Trippin' cross the Causeway

2009-01-07T07:58:00.000-08:00

Eating at Kelongs- Seafood Restaurants on Stilts (i think), has been somewhat a memory of the past for me. Whenever we made family trips up to Bintan in Indonesia, or Tioman Island, eating at a Kelong would be mandatory. I loved the fact that we could go fishing around the area, and get the cook to season and fry it the way we like it.

So, starting off our journey rather late and with a very very empty stomach, the 5 of us formed a search-party for the best kelong in JB. And of course the search party thing is silly, all we had to do was to ask the taxi driver to take us to the restaurant with the best seafood, and we were there pronto. JP's rather fluent Malay expedited the whole process while bringing the cousin's supposed knowledge of Malay to shame.

Empty stomachs usually creates false impressions of vast appetites, and we fell for that trap! Amongst the 5 of us, we had 9 coconuts (an entire tree really), baby squid, la-la(s), cereal prawns, tofu, vege, egg, and of course Lobster- done in 2 different ways no less. Phwaarrr. So we point out what we want in the life seafood tanks they had, and next thing we knew, the chef does something amazing to it.

At the end of it, JP was our last man standing. He literally polished up everything saying 'Don't waste the prawns'. The rest of us just stared while he did his job.

Now, I'm regretting not snatching the last prawn away from him. Darn.

A little bit of old, and a little bit of new

2009-01-05T04:54:00.000-08:00

Being back for a month now, I decided that I wanted my last week to be somewhat more fulfilling, something different. And with the Best Friend taking leave (thank youu!) today, we thought it would be a fantastic idea to spend the day exploring Little India and Haji Lane.

Since Rochor was our designated starting point for our very slow version of the 'Amazing Race', we couldn't possibly start it without drinking soya bean milk. Unfortch, the shop that I like wasn't opened when we got there, so we sat by the road eating the supernaturally delicious kueh lapis that the Best Friend's mom ordered for me. When the shop finally did open, we grabbed our drinks and pressed forth.

But that didn't really last long- we got distracted by the architectually impressive-ly structured NAFA, and sat on the fake grass to finish up our drinks, we still managed to continue our long hike (yea, right) towards Samy's Curry Restaurant at the Civil Service Club.

I decided on Little India because a friend of mine recently held her bday party there. And I got lost trying to navigate. It took a very patient JP on the phone, half an hour in the wrong direction and aching legs before I actually got there. So yes, I decided that I should put on the explorer cap to actually take in the sights proper, instead of the dizzying experience (not the good way) I had that night. And because JP told me that Samy's Curry was probably our best bet for lunch, that was our designated break.

To say that we were happy to see the sign would be the understatement of the new year. Haha.

Part 2 of our 'Amazing Race' and a very belated heritage tour saw us combing the Bugis Area and in specifics- Haji Lane. The mishmash of vintage apparel stores as well as lazy shisha cafes definitely tops the list for a laid back afternoon. With a new list of must-buys, and another date with the Best Friend to return on Thurs, I really can't wait. And although my legs feel like they don't really belong to me, there's going to be so much more to look forward too this week. School can wait.

old school fun

2009-01-03T05:12:00.000-08:00

Yes, the NYE was a terrible affair - from counting down with the parents at the swissotel (that's the good part) to clubbing with my childhood friend and the usual gang (the better part) to realising that there was not one single cab available on the roads (this is where it starts). Seriously, no cab at all, and i walked down the entire stretch. i gave up, and sat by the curbside alone in the wee hours of the new year, wishing for some form of transportation to magically appear beside me. and then a rickshaw pulls up. well, in Cinderella fashion really, although without the prince, or the glass slipper, and besides it was waay past midnight. Plus, Cinderella's carriage was a pumpkin - kinda free of charge, unlike mine. But hell, anything in order to escape the crowd and go somewhere with CABs.

But for all that jazz, what with reaching home at 5, there was something good to look forward to in the morning. Breakfast was spent with jean at rocher, eating tauhui 2 stores away from the one i usually patronise. He actually called before he picked me up just to check if I was awake. Hey, I believe I'm one of the few who can sleep at 5 and wake up at 9 for breakfast.

So we had tauhui and Jean just went 'of course we must have that (the dough fritter)'. and so we did. Breakfast dragged into a lunch, and even the aunty at the shop knew what a Heineken Man he was. Hah.

Love the mix of old and new in Singapore, and this was in front of where Jean parked. I <3 shophouses.

Last night was clubbing night. I have been drinking quite a fair bit this holiday back home in sg, but it's all in good fun, and I haven't gotten thaat drunk. I think. Yea, but yesterday was reuniion - with jo back from HK and Jean joining us, it was funfunfun. but as usual, the gang was late, and because he picked me up from my get together with my jc friends, we went for drinks at cafe iguana first. always good to start the alcohol first (woot!). I keep forgetting how great Iguna can be - the whole laid back feel, high ceilings, and very good house beer. Yes, I did not have an allergic reaction, so cheers! So 3 pints and a margarita amongst the 2 of us, and we joined the rest for a crazy night.

I'm going to miss singapore. For reasons and more.

The Quiche that said it all, and ended it all.

2008-12-30T05:29:00.000-08:00

For all my friends who were over at my place when I first attempted to make the Quiche, you'd know what drama it was. Read: Liquid seeping down to oven base, oven-base smokes up, smoke escapes from little gaps round the oven, kitchen becomes some 80s-period-drama-with excessive-dry-ice-setting, cept it wasn't cooling at all. Merv and I were literally trying to yank up a window that refused to open while fanning the smoke out at the expense of our poor lungs and eyes. So drama drama drama. thank god the quiche tasted alright. It wasn't properly done - runny insides, but my ever encouraging entourage said it tasted great.

I decided to give the quiche one more shot back home in sg. Armed with loads of bacon, greyure and double creammm, success finally found its way to me and the quiche finally turned out good :) Yay me!

Cake Week :)

2008-12-08T05:04:00.000-08:00

So after the crazy last two days in London spent with friends, it was time to celebrate the big 2-1 with the family. Maybe it was cause I was so excited about spending the first birthday in 2 years with the family, and maybe it was cause I was still in disbelief about getting Mr Ken. Ok, I think both. I just hope people on the plane didn't think I was some loony. Smiling to oneself is not really a reason for them to suspect otherwise.

The actual birthday itself was spent with the parents and mei. Mummy and Daddy took us to Carousel at Royal Plaza on Scotts for the buffet lunch. I actually told mummy before that I had a new fixation with oysters, so imagine my disappointment when I didn't see any oysters at the line (they only had it for dinner). BUTBUT! because of some crazy special arrangements, a plate of 12 oysters sat in front of me after I got back from getting my sushi. holy moly. imagine my sheer shock! that made everything 10x better i swear.

Best part was, when I thought daddy was getting the bill, the Carousel people came out in a cake singing 'Happy Birthday' to the tune of 'Too good to be True' (I'm pretty sure that's not the name of the song, but you get it). My jaw dropped. seriously, I was literally shocked to tears, much to the amusement of EVERYONE staring. very very embarrassing, but I was really touched. So that's the apricot cake above, that I received from the restaurant. :)

Mei and I celebrated our birthdays together on the 6th- the day I flew back, and her actual birthday. I think the cake was really the highlight of the night! Mummy ordered the cakes from Sheraton- where I did a stint of temp work in the pastry department, so I got to meet Chef Wong when we went to collect the cake. Mei got her favourite Opera, while I got a custom made cake. I'm bragging here really, but just to clear things up, it really isn't intentional. Really.

When I worked at Sheraton, I fell in love with this palm size chocolate dome. It was only available twice a week, and only in one size. But after making it once (its a tedious process), and having a taste of it, I was smitten. Yes, it does that to you. The chocolate mousse, with the orange creme brulee inside was the best thing I have ever ever tasted. So obviously, I really wanted that for the big one. :D So yup, the square cake is mei's opera, and the bottom two are front view and back view of the cake-of-the-year. yumyumyum.

So yes, that's the end of one week of birthday celebration, with the next spent in Korea, and the week after holding a birthday bash somewhere. Sonya would be so proud of me :)

Missus Wood

2008-12-04T17:54:00.000-08:00

Bigbigbig thanks to the lover and all my friends for getting the Kenwood MX271 Patissier Mixer 4lt 400W for my birthday. I'm still trying to take in the events of the day- from getting massively drunk Day 1, to waking up sick, to going for spa treatment with the lover and to dinner at our Korean joint. Everything seemed perfect but guess what? They came over and surprised me with Mr Ken.

Yes, I've always wanted a kitchenaid, but that's way too overpriced, and the Kenwood Mixer looks equally gorgeous. Plus, its the mixer that I'm always drawn too whenever I head down to Best Denki (back home in sg). OMG. i swear my heart rate has never reached such high levels, not even when I run at gym when I saw the big box. and though there's the logistics problem of taking back home when we graduate, for now, its bake first- think later. WHOO HOO.

so, say hello to my new lover- Mr Ken. And Day 2 of the Big 2-1 ends, with me and my stand mixer.

I can't stop smiling.