This sounds weird to me, even. But yes, i'm going to be catering macarons for a friend's wedding. I'm quite dazzled by the whole prospect because i'm really just a novice baker and all i've done is to give macs away for fun. And yes, i still do get downright ugly macarons no matter how many times i've pursued making the perfect ones.

And true, i've ever toyed with the idea of setting up an online store for my baked stuff but even then, they were just dreams... Dreams encouraged by those around me to bring to fruition but gained no real ground because i'm not confident of my ability to commit since i'm suppose to be getting a "proper" job after i graduate. (Friends see the potential but i'm not sure if my family would balk at me becoming a stay home baker. Hmm.)

So yes, to my surprise, a request from an old classmate came around on FB and i readily said yes. It's a great honour. Being able to provide something for a friend on her special day is a great privilege i don't take lightly.

And it's certainly a wonderful opportunity! I'm not sure if you can call it a big break, but we'll see how it goes... I guess i'll only know how good my stuff are when i get feedback from a wide range of people. 500 people at the wedding. No small number, yo. I'm glad i'm just starting off with an order of 200. I cannot fathom making 500 macs at the moment. D-8

Gem and i have had a few conversations on what happens if it really takes off. Not in a large scale way, but what if people begin to write in asking for orders for various events like birthdays and baby showers. Would i be able to manage it all? I don't know. I count myself really blessed that Gem is a designer! He not only designs environmental sets for events, he also has had a hand in designing wedding invitations, namecards and the like. Heehee. So, no mystery as to who will be helping me with my namecard if i even decide on making one. Haha.

So, yes. Although this is going to be my first time doing something like this, i'm going to have to pray hard... That the macs don't mess up on me and my friend on her special day. I hope that everyone will enjoy my handiwork as much as i enjoy making them for their eating pleasure. :)

Credits go to: http://notsohumblepie.blogspot.com/2010/08/macaron-troubleshooting-new-recipe.html

Since last year, i've been meddling with tons and tons of sugar, almonds, egg whites and possibly suffering from fat overload from trying to cook and get rid of all the spare egg yolks lying around. All in the name of making one of my favourite desserts: the macaron.

I've tried the french method, italian and even swiss methods of making the meringue and i've had so many failures and partial successes that at times, i throw tantrums just because of a tray of failed macarons. And okay, there was one particular day when i had 16 failed trays all in one row. Talk about discouraging.

But you know. When i want something to be made right, i stick to getting it down right.

I've been reading this blogger's macaron posts over and over again for a while now and i've been given so many tips and pointers without her knowing it. I am forever grateful to her! For her honesty, her candidness, and her efforts, because now i can make macs at home and make macs to give away to others without having to spend a bomb on those being sold commercially which aren't that delicious. Some are great, but would me a pretty penny. (But of course, some flavours are beyond my ability to recreate so i'm still thankful)

Yes, so these are my chocolate macarons made with her recipe that includes dehydrated egg whites. I didn't age my egg whites (read: impatient) but they still turned out decent i guess. What i'm most stoked about is that they are so nicely filled up (no hollows), have nice, smooth, non oily and non translucent shells and they have feet! Most of my french meringue macs die before reaching the oven (weird batter), or come out looking like something else altogether. The only thing i'm not toooo satisfied about is that they do not that that delightfully crisp exterior. They are just soft all the way through.... Hm. :( I wonder if it has something to do with not aging the eggs or not having them rest enough.

Nevertheless... Thank you Miss NSHP! :D

dinner feast we had with some relatives over. veg, salad, beef rendang, thai basil chicken, prawns, sausages and hot rice.
view of the sun setting between the two trees.

love how the wooden building stands out against the sunlit mountain.

water suspended in time.

yummy lunch of egg-mayo-onions, tomato, cheese and black pepper. i think i'm getting a little pudgey. hmm.

one of the dogs from another dogsled team. handsome guy isn't he? :) i love how he stared right into the camera.

this is Sun and Chocolate, two of the dogs from my dogsled team.

and this is Sun again. he's so adorable and in doofy way but he used to be one of the top racing dogs around in Vancouver, BC.

dog butts as we go along! they apparently love running and they thrive in subzero temperatures! like, -10degreesC and below? i think it was -25. the guide says they eat 5000 calories a day!

stopping for a break and i get a really good shot of them looking back at us. they're probably saying: c'mon guys! lets get going already!

my morning hot chocolate before the dogsled tour. it's so good on a cold, snowy, slushy morning.

a snowball for my targets. muah hahah. but had a change of heart afterwards and didn't throw it.

random shots from the day. :)

doing the snow angel thingy. it really did look quite pretty when you get up!

soiling my pretty boots. but boy, they are so comfy, and right out from the box too!
aunt says: it was meant to be. i say: amen.

cold and windy up here! we were coming out from the food court to go back to the gondola station and had to run through a bit of open space. we decided to brave the cold for some photos, so aunt, mum and i each took turns to scamper to that scenic spot.

yes, mum's idea to put reindeer branch ears on ourselves.

After my 4 failed trays of macarons (4! FOUR! That's a painful lot of failed macarons...) two nights ago, yesterday afternoon i gritted my teeth and set to work again to find out what went wrong and what i should be doing to achieve nice looking macarons. Notice i say "nice looking", because perfecting the insides is another madcap adventure altogether.

The recent consistent failures really started to sap my reservoir of hope and belief in myself. For every 1-2 pretty macarons you see here on this blog, there were tons more that didn't make it. Tray after tray of wasted ingredients, time, money and energy.

But it was those early successes (Thank You Lord!), without knowing how in the world i did it, that's keeping me driven to keep trying. It was because i managed to make them before that i know it's possible to make macarons at home! It's not just for the professionals. I read up on macaron 101s from credible bloggers (who are equally MacCrazy), made notes and tried to understand the problem behind the failures.

So back to yesterday afternoon.

Inserted my first (rather crowded) tray of macarons into the oven, and as usual, they started their dismaying habit of puffing up and cracking, and not developing any feet... In my desperate attempt to save them, i opened the oven door slightly to reduce the temperature in hope of stopping the impending macaron death. Before, i would have kept the temperature at 150degress (Heat should be set to come from the bottom. But that's just my oven.) because that's what the recipes said.

But this time, i decided to take things into my own hands. (though i did remember some advice out there that mentioned to lower the temperature once you put the macarons in. some people agreed, some disagreed. i didn't think it would work for me, but...)

Strangely, i noticed that some macarons looked smooth. The top wasn't cracked, and to my delight... they started to develop FEET. Even, pretty feet. The pretty ruffled bottoms! I was on the verge of screaming. Hyperventilating. But okay, theatrics aside, all i did was message 2 of my life's dearest people, Jiejie and Gem.

Sure, some of the macarons died because of the uneven heat distribution in the oven. BUT HEY! Some turned out looking REALLY good! I was ecstatic. And i still had one more tray to experiment with.

So, preheated the oven back up again to 150-160degrees (it overshot a little this time) and buanged the 2nd (not so crowded) tray in. I did the same thing, which was to let the temperature settle down to 140degrees thereabout. I had to sit in front of the oven and stare into the window very intently, watching the oven themometer's needle and watching my macarons' reaction to the heat.

Result: Perfectly smooth, feet-ed macarons. I was so pleased. And messaged Jie and Gem that i could now Rest in Peace.
(to which Jie replied: "Dun die so fast leh, u havent made the peppermint ones")
Oh yeah, I had promised to make her those.

I'm not 100% sure if this is the solution to my macaron problems (other than not making them on a humid day). So i'm going to try again soon to replicate the conditions, after i'm done eating/passing out to GP List the ones i just made. The positive thing about seeing the same looking failed macs is that i know i'm doing everything consistently. Which means, there are perhaps only just 1-2 (God forbid more than that) factors that need to be tweaked. Guess it turned out to be the temperature fluctuations.

I'm guessing that the higher temperature first allowed the shells to puff up nicely and harden while the falling temperature ensured that they don't crack right through. 140degrees allows the insides to cook and the macaron to form pretty feet.

The 1st tray. With dead and live macarons.

The beginnings of a discovery...
And here! Pretty macarons! FINALLY! After so many heart breaks.

I've got empty lemon and chocolate shells waiting to be filled... Yummy. :D Shall go look for ideas now. It took so much reading up to get the right tips online! Once I get consistent results with the italian method, i'm going to venture into the french method. Muah hahaha...

Now, if only the same zest for my dissertation would kick in...

MacCrazy

Yes. I've finally bought my equipment (i think the baking pans could be better though) and curiousity got the better of me... And so i've begun trying my hand at making the Diva Biscuits, aka the Macarons. The instructions looked easy enough. I soon found out it isn't about the steps. It's the technique.

I'm a fan of these sweet little monsters (you'll see why i call them monsters soon). And when i say i'm a fan, i really mean a slobbering, shifty wide-eyed, hyperventilating creature with a maniacal smile plastered all over her face, whenever i see macarons in the distance. Ask Gem if you don't believe me. I'm quite adept at shapeshifting like that.

Won't say too much, and let the photos do the talking.

Macarons have infinite ways of going wrong. Out of 2 trays, only 1/4 of them can be known to survive. My heart gets broken often by these tyrants. But i think my oven is partly to blame too.

Flat, porous, feetless pancakes. Friend says they look like japanese crackers. Too true!

More japanese prawn crackers. Meh. These were hollow, feetless and porous.

These miraculously had feet, but were sticky, flat and altogether just ridiculous.

After many tries, these macarons were born... Orange blossom with lemon curd filling, and rose with white chocolate filling.

Did them the italian meringue way which i will stick to for the moment since i've had some success with it. Making macarons the french meringue way has resulted in 100% failure rate out of the three times i have tried it! But i WILL get down to making them at some point in time.

Right now, i'm going to use the italian meringue method to experiment with different flavours. I think it's going to be green tea and white chocolate soon. And i so need a macaron flavour directory right now. Whoopee!

Time to get my act together, i.e., write that dissertation. But before that! Photos of oven and stove adventures while i was/am stuck at home fighting a flu bug. I wasn't feeling too great but new gadgets/cookbooks/ideas just flirt and tempt me to the point of submission.

So here's my first attempt at making lemon meringue kisses. They turned out light, crisp and sweet! Just the way it should be... Except that they also turned out tanned, which uh, i would prefer on my skin but not on theirs. Sandwiched in between is lemon curd which i made a few hours before and refrigerated. The recipe came from my The Australian Women's Weekly Macaroon and Biscuits book that Gem bought for me. :)

Verdict: Delicious, but FULL of sugar. You need to already be able to eat handfuls of sugar without going into a hyperglycemic fit or coma to enjoy this one. Okay, i kid, but you get my drift. And because my oven is extremely unreliable, i need to ensure that i have 1 hour of my life to spare sitting in front of the oven and regulating the oven temperature. I guess making this is best suited to when i have time on my hands or when i'm already working in the kitchen handling other stuff.

My poached egg! Granted, i didn't loop off the extra wispy egg ends because i couldn't bear to waste it. But I ACTUALLY POACHED AN EGG! With the whites surrounding the yolk all pretty like that.

Yolky goop. Narm. Best on top of an english muffin with smoked salmon.

My absolute fail rose macaron. It might look like something familiar, but trust me. Although this one was the prettiest of the lot, it doesn't meet "macaron standards". The others were flat, cracked, stuck, feetless and just downright ugly that it was both funny and heart wrenching at the same time.

Verdict: It tasted nice. Well, sort of. It had that rosy flavour i love, thin, crisp layer on top and chewy insides. But most of it was stuck to my wax paper anyway. This lucky one was atop my new Silpat baking mat (love!).

*

Now that i've purchased an oven thermometer (following Alton Brown's advice, though i bought the one he dislikes since i didn't have any other choice), I now realize how redonk my oven is. It explains quite a lot now!

This is a picture of my little furry angel, Jed. You don't see much of him here because he's so black, just maybe the outline of his black pointy ears. It amazes me how perceptive he can be. To most people, he's just a yappy, crazy inconsiderate dog, but to me, he's my precious 4-legged family who can be extremely human sometimes.

There's a story behind this photo of course. I had apparently eaten something wrong at lunch time on monday and got food poisoning. So i spent pretty much the whole of monday and tuesday in bed.

And true to being man's best friend, he kept me company. He would hop onto my bed every chance he got when he found me lying there, find a nice tight corner beside me and cuddle right in. All day while i was in bed and all night, for the 2 whole days/nights. On other nights, he might wander from room to room, but this time he was constantly by my side.

Somehow, he could sense that i needed some extra love, some extra comfort and quiet company. And his loyal K9 heart didn't fail to deliver.

Grumpy at having to wake up early, grumpy that i was running late because i woke up late and had to ensure that the dog was fed, leaving the house later than i should have, knowing that I was going to be inevitably late for the first day at a workshop at the office, meant that I was not in the best of moods.

So happened that i had also chosen to try a new bus route to work in hope that it would be shorter than my usual 1 hour 15 min route.

As the bus pulled into the road with my designated bus stop, as i was unsure of the route, i hesitated and didn't press the "Stop" button. And i was like, "ARGH! Now i have to spend more time figuring out how to get back! Am i going to be late!". I stared out the window in utter despair watching my bus stop pass right on by...

But wait! HANG ON!

For some unfathomable reason and without warning, the bus was already halfway past the stop when the bus driver suddenly swung the bus into the bus bay and stopped with a considerable jerk. Good thing it wasn't crowded or you'd have a bunch of rather disgruntled passengers.

I figured the driver thought that someone at the bus stop wanted to board. But not a soul did.

This took me by surprise, but at that moment it occurred to me that i should be getting off. So i sheepishly pressed the button to let the driver open the back door for me to alight and i hopped off as silently as i could.

The strange thing was, i thought i saw a caucasian lady at the stop who looked like she wanted to board the bus, But when i got off, she was nowhere to be seen.

I messaged Gem to tell him what happened and he said, "haha, maybe the bus driver was possessed by the Holy Spirit and stopped the bus...". You know, i might jolly well agree.

I saw God's grace that morning... and then remembered how it started. Remember miss grumpalofogus earlier that morning? Well, i did leave my home grumpy, but when i was waiting for the bus, i just started to thank the Lord for the beautiful morning, my able body (you know, to run across, uh, i mean jaywalk), and for just every thing that i had in my life. I also started to sing, in my head, a praise song that we've been playing in church recently. I'm glad i chose to change the way i started my day. From a heart of unrest, to a heart of praise and thanksgiving.

It's these funny little instances that God tells me that he knows his daughter needs a hand, and extends it down to her. I love it that He shows me He cares in my everyday living. :) God shows up beyond just church, for sure. It also goes to show and remind me again that God is in control all the time, and that He can always turn a bad situation around for good, and when i share about it, it's for His Glory.

As i mentioned yesterday, i made scones at close to midnight yesterday because my craving was just too strong... My inspiration was of course - Pioneer Woman, who cooks stuff that REALLY appeal to my tastebuds. Maybe i belong on her ranch and should work as a ranch hand just to eat her creations. I'll even volunteer to wash the dishes, which she hates to do. Anyway.

Here's how Pioneer Woman's scones look like (with the delectable vanilla sauce being poured over...):

(Courtesy of The Pioneer Woman, her website's link can be found on the right)
.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.
.

.

.

.

.

And here is mine.

I was laughing half the time i was making these! Firstly, i didn't follow the recipe's ingredient list (i used light cream instead of heavy cream. and i had wondered what went wrong. sheesh.) and since it's my first time trying this, my hands were clueless as to how to lightly and lovingly handle the dough. I more like manhandled it.

And here you have it. Sco-ca-kie! Which is, a cross between a scone (it tasted like one, a delicious one, mind you), and the consistency was like a cake and a cookie (doesn't it look like a giant cookie?)

Looking at the cross section though, i can't decide what it looks more like. A scone? Cake? Muffin? Bread?

When handling the dough to cut into rectangles, it was pretty impossible because it was gloopy and sloppy and resembled puppy rice-patty-vomit (ok, a puppy i used to have that ate rice). So i gave up and simply dropped dollops of dough onto the baking tray. Hence the cookie shapes. But hey! It tastes good! Though my mom says that 5 teaspoons of bicorbonate soda (as per the recipe) is crazy and it burned her tongue. I don't feel the burn though? *shrug*

Haha, i'm wondering who would want to try it this evening at church... Hoho.

Was going through my old chemistry, mathematics and biology exercises (oh, the blood, sweat and tears...) from JC because i decided that i really needed to empty out the clutter for a new season in my life.

While flipping through the stacks of files with fullscape paper filled with my writing of solving sums, finding measurements of chemicals, etc, i found that i didn't quite understand or remember any of the stuff from math and chem anymore. (Bio was my pet subject though)

Goes to show how essential those things learnt at the A Levels really are to real life huh. I can only hope that the abstract/logical/creative/etc thinking that was suppose to develop as a result of all that torture actually happened. Otherwise, what in the world was all that FOR?! HAHAHA.

Was reading some of my old posts. I think i'm pretty funny. hurhur.
In fact, i think i'm funnier online than in real life. Dangwabbit.

Last saturday, i was out of the house and trying to get to church on time. I had about 40min to get there but being a saturday, the buses usually take longer to come. I was running late because i had cooked and packed my own lunch for the day.

I had 2 options to get to church. On the same side of the road, i could wait for 92 which can take as long as 15 minutes to show up. Or, i could cross over to hop onto the 61. Which also takes ages to turn up, similarly, more so on saturdays. Weekend off peak kind of timings.

I refused to take a cab (unnecessary $ spent) and for someone with little time to waste, it was a gamble. Very often in the past, when i chose to cross over, i would see the 92 bus trundling along on the side that i had just forsaken and i'd mutter and grumble at Murphy for his stupid but ever so true, law of everything-that-can-go-wrong, will.

This time however, i turned to God. It was like a revelation. D'oh. God is all knowing, isn't He? Why didn't i think of this earlier.

Jo: *huffpuff*anxious* Okay God. Do you think you could tell me which bus will come first?
God: This side. 92 will come first.
Jo: *concurs*seems to get the same sense as well*

Meanwhile... Jo keeps swinging head looking back and forth to both ends of the roads. 92? 61? 92? 61? Come. ON! Time was ticking by.

And it's impossible to climb over the bridge and sprint in time to catch the bus on the other side. Especially in your saturday church best.

Boy, was i anxious. If you could see me, i looked like a very nervous meerkat.

Jo: *thinks* Come on! Either bus doesn't seem to be coming... (Roads looking devoid of either)
God: Don't you trust me?
Jo: But this is like, what if 92 doesn't come? Then it would be like, sheesh, that voice was just me talking to myself... I'm scared of that happening cos i want to know that it was you talking to me.
God: 92 will come first. It will.
Jo: Okay... *somehow feet stays implanted onto the ground*

Still swinging head back and forth looking at the roads.

10-15 minutes had already passed. Why do both roads look so empty?

God: Don't you trust me?
Jo: I do... Uh... But... (inside i was like, YEAH RIGHT?! You behaving like this doesn't seem to tell God that you do! But i can't help it...)

And guess what.

92 came. Spot on, with the contender bus 61 nary in sight.

And i got to church on time.

God, you ROCK. And you're pretty funny. And merciful to your silly daughter...

I need to practice hearing you better, Father.

Tried and Tested. Its works!

Gem and i, decided on a sort of short notice that we were going to have a "makeshift BBQ" date at West Coast. After my Shape Run (25th July), what better way to go chill and EAT than head over with my best friend to West Coast for a little fresh air and cancerous tasty grilled food, innit?

I headed to NTUC to get the readymade BBQ grill and some food. I was a little concerned that the charcoal inside would be of a lousy grade though... Gem packed whatever BBQ stuff he had from home and was making this way over.

Anyway, after a whirlwind of activity at home, we made it out of the house. We checked gothere.sg and landed up at West Coast Park. Yes indeed. Following the instructions, it led us to A PRIVATE HOUSING ESTATE along a road called "West Coast Park". EXTREMELY: -_-"""

So we caught a cab, and headed to the REAL West Coast Park, which we will now enter into any direction-giving website as "West Coast Highway". Dui man. But pretty darn funny.

Being the anal photographer wanting to be grilling food under the golden hour setting sun, i was hopping about anxiously hoping to set up our pit in time to catch the golden rays. Anyway. We reached West Coast Park with little ado, and we were greeted with lovely kites flying HIGH up in the blue sky. It was so beautiful. I was captivated. Awed. Check it out!

Neat huh. :)

Howdy!
Setting up our mama stall roadside BBQ grill. I felt so bad that we didn't have any bricks to prop up our grill, i had no idea that the grass would be so badly burnt afterwards. Next time, i'll do things differently.
Gem doing the fire work. The wind put out our flame a few times, but oh.. the fire turned out wonderful! Well done, Gem. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to eat and would have had to turn to the nearby Macs. :(
Lovely flame going on.

Embers! YAY!

Our fish in the foil, and..... our ENOKI WRAPPED IN BACON! Oh. My.

Are you drooling yet. I am. We made these together and created a special sauce to spread over it while grilling. Special sauce: Manuka honey+some Kicap manis thingy+soya sauce+lime juice+black pepper.

More stuff added onto the grill. With me around, you WILL be eating your greens.

US! Full and satisfied.
So here's my setting sun, taken from our sweet mama stall BBQ spot.

It's official! Makeshift BBQ grill set thingy works! Just buy your own firestarters though. The ones provided in the set didn't catch any flame at all.

13th July 2010 (Tuesday)

Gem and i decided to go for some japanese food at Liang Court. So here's me snapping pictures while crossing over the bridge, away from The Central. Hot, scorching day!

Us! Gem is cool right. :) He's slowly getting used to having to shave his head and he's growing out a goatee to see how it goes. I like. :)
Wot are these?
Card holders! Check our how cute and small they are...
Neat huh? Gem's friend kindly gave up two though i just wanted to buy one from him. It was so nice of him to do that.
My mushroom and egg bowl. Lovely. Tasty, slightly gooey with some sauce and in just the right amount for me. Delicious!

Gem's safe option... Teriyaki chicken. *yawn* Heh.

We later adjourned to Starbucks for our "serious talk". Lets just leave it as that, k. :)

Gem ordered a white chocolate coffee thingy. It was super sweet, but yum!

I started taking shots of his drink and my caramel macchiato because they were served under a spotlight. Couldn't stop the shutterbug in me. Haha.

And then... The really, really sweet Barista that day saw me snapping and he made us a special latte with a heart shape on top with the foamed milk! For free! I thought it was someone else's order at first but he motioned to us to take it and to continue having fun snapping more pictures. Gosh. That is some initiative on his part. TOP MARKS for service! I wonder what his name is.

The dessert freak shook cinnamon and vanilla powder over her drink.

All THREE drinks! Uhm, yum.

And then, all gone. Yum. Mm. *satisfied*

Went home and cooked up a chicken and mushroom salad dinner for Gem and I. He marinated the mushrooms while i did the chicken.

This is Jed taking advantage of a sleeping human in the morning. Snuggling in between warm legs and blanket to feel warm and comfy.

I woke Gem up and Jed proceeds to plonk himself down in Gem's lap.

Just look at the little punk. *sigh* :)