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!

There's something i'm definitely missing out on right? What is the world keeping from me?!?!

Why do Singaporean girls have such smooth, even skin while my skin is lumpy, pimply and uneven and discoloured like the MOON?!?!?! It's not fair! ROAR!

Please tell me what the secret is, puh plleeaaasssee????

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.

It's no fun being stuck: I can't write my literature review because i haven't read enough, and I can't read enough because i keep fallin' asleep while readin'! It's so annoying! Despite my nerdy-nose-always-in-a-book kind of face, sorry, me and Books ended our relationship since junior college and university. Academic reading killed the reading star.

I did love reading, i did. Past tense.

So, if you've ever let me borrow a book of yours out of sheer goodwill to share knowledge, I'm sorry you haven't seen it in a while...

I ought to start a self project, to pick up a book and begin enjoying a good story, for a start.

On a completely different note, and for the sake of having pictures in this post, here are two REALLY PRETTY DRESSES! Plucked them off xinmsn.com. Inspiration for a wedding dress. :)

Love the blend of cool, calm, flowy colours, like water and the sunset sky coming together into one canvas. And the overall structure of the dress. Too bad I lack long legs. Meh.

Love the print, colours and structure.

(Photos courtesy of xinmsn.com, from the Monique Lhuillier Spring/Summer Collection 2011)

I'm (already) dreaming of a white Christmas...

And all the food I want to cook.

In actuality, i've not exactly perfected any one dish yet. It's just that i've experimented and tried out different recipes... but it doesn't mean that what i want to cook again will turn out the same way.

The only dishes that i know reasonably well that will turn out well (but not always the same way) is my potato gratin and carrot cake and butter cake. Stuff to put onto bread is also relatively safe. (Eg. prawn and avocado or the egg, red pepper and basil filling). I think my button mushroom burgers are pretty good too. :)

Anyway...

Christmas is coming. And i CANNOT wait!

This is Jed licking his lips. Just like the way i am now too.


OH. and HELLLLOOO CANADA!!!!

***

My mum was real sweet, she came home after work a few days ago and put this magazine on the kitchen table saying, "Nah, i got this for you."

It was a copy of what looked like a new women's magazine called "beautymap". Mummy knows daughter loves make up and beauty products. :D

And so i spent a short while on sunday morning relishing the articles inside and came across a short tutorial on how to put on eye liner. And i can say that FINALLY, FINALLY a women's magazine has SUCCESFULLY taught me how to put on eyeliner the way i like it without confusing me to the point of just giving up.

I'm so happy with my discovery that i foresee myself wearing thicker eye liner now. Hohoho.

I really enjoyed that really rare just-me-alone-time, sitting in the living room with the morning sun coming in and fiddling about with make-up, making a mess of myself and laughing at how ridiculous i look or going ah so des at how i've discovered how to do something new.

I didn't think too much about this recipe by Pioneer Woman because i'm not a corn person. But then when i realized that i had pretty much all the main ingredients in my fridge waiting to be used up (they were leftovers from previous cooking endeavours), i thought: How PERFECT! Onions, bacons, corn, cream, broth/stock... Can't go too wrong.

So i made the corn chowder. OH. It is DELICIOUS. HOHOHO!!! I modified it of course cos i didn't have all the ingredients she stated and i also was simply just using up leftovers. It definitely doesn't look like much though. HA.

I learnt that putting parsley on top of soup ISN'T just about putting it on top!!!!!!!
The soup has to be firm/thick enough to hold the parley leaves. You have to choose the right leaves that look good to balance out the look. Enough leaf, enough stem. The soup can't be too hot, or else the edges of the leaves get cooked/soggy/etc. I'm not sure why the parsley leaves that i have had in restaurants look dry-ish, but freshly rinsed leaves that look healthy and green tend to be heavy...
As you can tell, my parsley deco is a fail. HAHA. I just thought some green would be nice for photography, even though they just look like flat 2D, green patches. HAHA.

***

I love you girls. Though we definitely don't see one another frequently, i thank God for the regular meets... As rightly pointed out by Germ, i quote: "It's like when we can say, 'Didn't i tell you this the other day?', when the 'other day' could have been about 6 months ago or 1 year."
Amen.

My JC mates rank high on my list of important people in my life... I can still see snapshots or even little movies (though soundless) of the times we had walking around school and doing mundane or funny things. They walked closely with me back in the day, and i always get nostalgic remembering the times we spent together.

I remember as clear as day. When we were saying our partial goodbyes nearing the end of our JC journey, Betty came by with polaroid photos stuck to a small card and asked me to sign on it. So i did. And then i blew the whole thing up and stuck it on my room wall. It's been there for like 8 years now. I never regretted being that sentimental mush. :)

The wedding and wedding dinner performance is over... My battery is low, but not flat yet.

Got a couple of thoughts here and there:

1) Self written vows (i think they were) are so beautiful, personalized, genuinely spoken from the heart and soul. I teared hearing the groom and bride say them to each other. Somehow, i was really touched at this wedding, more so than the others i have been to recently. The couple are such sweet people as individuals, and when they are together... Wow, amazing work of art by God. Made in Heaven!

2) Practiced so hard, but things didn't quite turn out as anticipated. But the piece of advice from a friend that kept me from being overly disappointed was: "It's all about the couple's happiness. It has nothing to do with us." That completely took the attention away from our inadequacies and mistakes and i felt instantly depressurized because i know that the couple was already so happy that we could be there and had put in the effort for them. As long as they are happy, whatever buangs we made, don't matter.

3) Dang, i have leveled up. I now know the difference between and Major7 and a 7. IT TOOK ME SO DARN LONG. I WANT TO LAUGH AT MYSELF! WAHAHAH! Self deprecatory joke aside, wow. I can now play a couple of jazz pieces. Not superbly well, but something decent to build upon.

4) I realized that God has given me so many gifts, which was something that someone pointed out to me recently. At first, i brushed the comment aside. After all, who would think that they were brimming with any talent? But upon honest reflection, i realize that, hey, God really did put in me a few tricks up my sleeve... And i'm really blessed for it. Now how to bless others with them?

5) Met TWO (very long lost) people very unexpectedly! Miss RC and ES. Wow. Thank God for the opportunity. It was naiiccce. :D

Battery going flat in about 3, 2, 1.

See a cute daschund ("sausage dog") somewhere? :)

This was how the top of my butter cake looked like, having cracked open on the top after being baked. Gem spotted it. The artist he is. :)

Haven't been out recently to explore new things and places, hence the lack of pictures and udpates. Been pretty much preparing for things and events at home and trying to save moolah as well.

But i would love to go look for a nice dress for the wedding dinner performance (most of my blogshop dresses just don't cut it, the lengths are too short. haha, realized that sounded funny. don't cut it. too short. ok, never mind).

Looking forward to the event that has been challenging me to play music out of my usual genre! Hope to have loads of pictures. Hm.

Another wedding, another "gig". haha. Did i mention that i really LOVE playing at weddings? Yeah, i did. I think my repertoire of songs will increase with more episodes like this. So shiok. This time round, i'm having a chance to try my hand at jazz. I like jazz. I hear jazz riffs in my head, but i can't seem to produce what i hear in my head on the keys all that well. Ah well.

Been practising and praying that Father God will let the brain and fingers work together quickly and efficiently.

There's just something about being one with your instrument and playing for a cause. For love, for pleasure, in unison with friends.

I'm not a darn good keyboardist, but I'd LOVE to play at more friends' weddings! hurhurhurhur.

Random bits...

I think the KFC egg tarts ROCK.

After making and eating too much good stuff recently, the weighing scale has told me something i really don't like. Bah. Need to get back to exercising regularly.

A simple, outdoor ceremony would be lovely.
With my family, his family... All intact.
White, flowing, light and simple chiffon dress. Maybe i'll be barefoot too.
With a crown of dried flowers tucked into my long hair.

I can dream, right?

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)
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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.

some recent yums and places

Gem and i went to try the food at Amirah's Grill at Bussorah Street, on the recommendation of J. :) Thanks J! :D

This was the mushroom soup that came with Gem's set meal. It was a pleasant surprise that the soup wasn't your usual campbell mushroom cream soup. It tasted like there was effort put into it (spices, flavour) and there was chunky mushrooms in it. Not a ton, but enough to please. :)
The garlic toast and wrap.

Gem's mixed kebab. Very tasty, each kebab had a distinct different flavour. Yum. Chicken, lamb and beef. The potatoes were just as tasty!
and THIS... my friends, made my heart SING. The HUMMUS. I'm so going to find out HOW to make it. I think i have an inkling of how to make the yellow one, but not the darker colour one. Hm. But oh boy. My eyes widened and tastebuds went WOOHOO when i tasted both of them. Ultimate delicious.

Jie wanted to bake something and i think the words "Alton Brown", "carrot cake", "Cheryl", and "cake" has been floating around enough to provide a subliminal message to her to look for a carrot cake recipe. Ok, it wasn't that subliminal.

Jie: I think i shall make carrot cake.

Jo: I also think that you should make the carrot cake.

And made it she DID. They were DELICIOUS!

So, these were carrot cake cupcakes to give to the neighbour! I slotted that sheet of paper in between the two rows to indicate which cupcake had which particular frosting. You can see that the lemon frosting looks firmer and has a more defined shape than the frosting made with maple syrup. But both taste heavenly. But you must love your sweet food in order to enjoy this!

I gobbled one down myself after the phototaking. How could i not... Yummy.

This was the beef stew (chocolate beef stew) that i made for my sister. I made it once some time ago, and she liked it. I didn't make a lot so she didn't get her fill of it. So recently she requested for me to make it, and HOW could i possibly refuse? :) I like to feed people (just like me mom, but perhaps not yet as skillful) and she's my sister so i'd gladly do it. Besides, it's awesome to know that someone enjoys your cooking. :DD

Raspberry and chocolate sauce cheesecake at Max Brenner. Shared it with JL. :)

Ok, this was before the syrup was poured all over the cake.

Gem and i were walking to Chinatown under the hot sun and saw this really nice wisp of cloud above.

Couldn't capture the whole long wisp, but yeah. :)

Love the rainbow colours! That paler section of colour you see on the building has nothing to do with paint... It was actually the reflection of light from an opposite building's metal(?) exterior.

Pretty rainbow colour, i love.

Have got loads of (food) photos to show you guys... Have just been quite lazy these days. Ack! Hoping to get em up soon. The blog's too quiet!

Yum. Made a really delicious pasta.

Ingredients:

1) Ordinary, boring, smoring, plain campbell mushroom soup (also add 1 can of = milk and water)
2) Garlic and onion (roughly chopped)
3) Leftover salsa (tomato, jap cucumber, chilli padi, onion, black pepper, salt, lime/lemon juice)
4) Basil leaves (from my OWN PLANT!)
5) Bacon
6) Pinch of mixed herbs
7) Linguine

Method:
1) Fry garlic and onions in olive oil till soft and brown
2) Add in can soup, plus the additional 1 can combination of milk and water
3) Stir till it smoothens out
4) Add in salsa and bacon
5) Throw in chopped basil
Keep stirring...

Meanwhile... Towards the end of the sauce-making...
1) Boil up your linguine till it is still a bit hard, just before hitting al dente (or you can have it al dente if you want a softer pasta at the end)

When sauce is done, just throw in the freshly cooked pasta.

Well, that's what i did. I realized tossing the freshly cooked pasta into another pot of hot sauce might cook it further and then make it softer than i would like. Which was a mistake. But good thing it was done slightly before al dente, so my pasta still had bite, which i like. Alternatively, maybe you could fish out the pasta first, let it cool before dumping it in with the sauce.

The result was delicious! And it didn't even taste like i used the boring old campbell soup. Yay!

It could have been better with some fresh prawns thrown in.

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.

A couple of days ago, i was discussing adding a new bookshelf to my room with my mom. You know, to house my growing book collection on my profession and hobbies.

Then she said, "Aiya, you'll be married out and gone already..."

That struck a raw nerve in me that i never knew existed till that moment.
And now, it bothers me.

Going to BonitoChico's Birthday Bash tomorrow! I have no idea what to expect... And i don't know what to wear! It's at a club (Zirca), and i, er, have been to clubs as often as i've been to the North Pole. I imagine the place is going to be filled to the brim with lots of young, nubile, pretty, heavily made up girls. haha.

If it wasn't for Y, i'd be feeling pretty lost. and probably very old. haha.

Time to whip out a dress i've bought but never had the chance to wear... and definitely not something from BC.