I was recently inspired by another post on Joy the Baker (yeah, again ha) and decided to try roasting some black plums myself for breakfast. The sign to make these was when I found the exact same plums she used - at our friendly neighbourhood NTUC! Heh. Maybe plums are in season bah, but still!

They turned out quite pretty but the taste was a bit dubious haha. D didn't like the dried herbs but for me it was cos the plums weren't ripe enough yet and yet a sour undertone. Wld be lovely if I had used riper plums :)

Halved plums lightly seasoned with olive oil, a pinch of salt and sugar and some dried thyme

A piece of plum takes the plunge into my bowl of yogurt and cereal!

A baking Friday :)

It's been close to 2 weeks since I last baked! The itch to bake something returned and I decided to try out more recipes this morning. Decided on a simple maple and pecan layer cake (I took a triple layer cake recipe and made it two layers and didn't cream the sides for simplicity :P) and a lavender shortbread recipe I came across yest night on Joy The Baker's blog. Maple and lavender... Two ingredients I love!

Unfortunately the cake wasn't v successful - I was quite worried that my cake layers will end up with muffin tops that I baked them at a lower temp and for too long... So the cake texture turned out a little harder than I expected. I also had grand plans for flower-shaped lavender cookies using my small tart trays but somehow the dough turned out too sticky for that :(

 creaming the first layer...

 Laying the 2nd layer on top - the sponge cake is filled with pecan nut goodness!

 all done and decorated with pecan halves! cut a slice for myself... 

who eats the remaining 7 slices? (D hopes it's not him)

Yeah - unfortunately shortbread is mainly butter and sugar and flour (and in this case, some lavender too)

 A lavender shortbread and green tea picnic!!

This afternoon visited my cousin's ice-cream shop Merely Ice Cream at Sunshine Plaza. It's been open since Mar this year; and I finally decided to date my parents to go show my brave cousin some support! He quit his bank job to set this up with a few friends.. and though he is working hours are much longer than before, he is apparently happier doing what he does! If you are in the Bugis area, do drop by to give my cousin some support! I tried three flavours and samplers of several others - their green tea is pretty good; but sadly for me the "seasonal" Red Velvet Cake flavour was no longer available. Also like this flavour called Horlicks Panda (Horlicks with Hello Panda bits inside) heh.

On another happy note - I've not been harrassed by any side effects (like nausea, depression, dizziness etc) since starting on the anti-malarial drug yesterday! Hopefully they continue to stay away from me. Annoying though that I need to take the drug 2 weeks before and up to 4 weeks after the period of stay in Laos!

Nice places in SG!

We checked out the Artichoke cafe for brunch this weekend - their haloumi cheese and mushrooms plate was delicious! We also ordered some sausages with eggs and creamy semolina pudding but that ended up being too 'heavy' for our liking. Good food, but main courses and dessert were a little pricey :(

As their new sister bakery Overdoughs had just opened nearby, the pastry-fanatic in me cldn't help checking it out too. They sold more unconventional stuff like baklavas and cakes/ tarts not commonly found in local bakeries - I got myself a lemon and lavender cake bread thingy and a plum and rhubarb pie. While making my purchases I also cldn't help staring at the open kitchen, where one baker was doing some final touches to a tray of passionfruit meringue tarts. Somehow it's easy to feel envious of ppl who set up bakeries but when you have to do it yourself, it's another (tough) story!

After the brunch/ pastry stops I also stumbled upon a lovely shop at Bras Basah Complex! So I now have a new little cactus in my house (among other knick knacks I got) - D is right, I am such a stalker and hoarder of random little things.