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.

Cold Feet + Budget airlines' dirty tricks

After thinking so much about and planning to do more meaningful things during my break from work, I am suddenly getting cold feet and feeling v tempted to just nuah3 at cafes/ at home instead. The annoying admin/ travel logistics for upcoming volunteer trips must have gotten to me too much. :( But yeah as the trips draw closer I am suddenly confronted with fears like - will I be bored/ have no skills to help/ not be able to get along with other volunteers cos I am AS/ unadventurous/ too old etc etc

So we were supposed to be flying off to Taipei tmr morning - but alas on Wed morning I was suddenly woken up by call from Dad. He narrated to me the scary news about impending typhoons (which will strike this weekend) showing on CCTV and urged me not to go for my trip and endanger my life... I mean I knew the weather wldn't be good, but not to the extent of life endangering..? But in any case, to save my Dad from worrying every single night while I'm there (and my mum from all the nagging) I gave in and decided to postpone my trip to Oct..

And then my nightmare with changing flights on budget airlines began. Cheapo me booked budget tics which were not refundable/converted to credits but luckily they can be still be changed for a fee - but with A LOT of hassle. Had extended conversation with tel operator about extra charges; was given lousy explanations for rationale behind fee policies (that was last night with JETSTAR) and this afternoon I had to make like 4 phone calls to Tiger Airways about various issues like sneaky booking fees slapped on online on top of change fees; system errors arising from incompatibility of the online booking system with Safari and Mozilla Firefox and such.

On the sneaky booking fee - was quite disgusted how Tiger Airways secretly slaps on a new booking fee (though small) for changing flights - in addition to the change fees (Abt $60 Sing) and fare difference. When I asked the tel operator - she was like oh, the system involuntarily does this but you can call us back to refund you the double-charged booking fee after you confirm and pay for the flight change online. Also thought it was v evil that in the payment summary, despite the new booking fee slapped on, the consumer is misled by the summary stating $0 booking fees though the total additional balance payable INCLUDES the booking fees! What inethical things you discover when you scrutinise the fee breakdown...

The total new fare is 5827 TWD, including the 191 TWD booking fee..

Since we had alri previously paid 3901 for the 'old' ticket, the balance due was thus 5827 - 3901 = 1926. But 1926 TWD includes the 191 TWD booking fee, yet the summary shows that there is no booking fee! Horrible.

Mini baking marathon and WWOOFing

Last Fri was quite exhausting, as I whipped up a record 3 desserts in a day - the blueberry cheesecake I made a couple of weeks back (sadly it turned out less yummy this time round); pear and cinnamon frangipane tarts and more cake pops! I wanted to treat my ex-colleagues to some home-made desserts at our housewarming and had planned to make 2 things... But I got a little paranoid that my pears (painstakingly sourced by D) wld become stale if I left them for too long and so ended up making 3 things. It was tiring though still satisfying - just wished someone else cld have done the washing up for me as my hands were rougher from all the washing up :( How do the real bakers manage to whip up so many things everyday?!

Come this Fri I will also fly off to Taiwan to volunteer at an organic farm as a WWOOFer! D and I will have a weekend getaway in Taipei before I begin my 2-week self-imposed hardship posting... Am getting cold feet and wondering if I can take 2 weeks of manual labour and scorching sun... but it's too late to regret and will just try to make the best of it. Hopefully turning vegetarian for 2 weeks can help me shed some calories :P Unfortunately typhoons are looming large - crossing my fingers that Taiwan wun be too badly affected while I'm there! And that we'd be lucky enough to get at least one nice sunny day this weekend (it's likely to be rainy the whole weekend. boo.)

Above: Tarts before cooking and while baking. 

Was really pleased that my tarts turned out quite pretty! :)

 and yummy too! (thanks to an excellent but a bit mafan recipe from What Katie Ate)

Also attempted to replicate the cake pops I learnt to make last Wed. They were relatively successful too - though the white choc coating provided by the instructor was a lot thicker than the one I made...

If you feel like you've had an overdose of baking blog posts - I can assure you that you wun be seeing any more in the next couple of weeks :P Will try to pen an entry or two about my farming adventures - if the internet access at the farm is good :)

Under-$35 baking classes!!

I am relatively proud of myself for sniffing out value-for-money baking class deals - in the past one week I took 3 classes for 3 different treats  - a $25 class for learning how to make cinnamon rolls at someone's house; a $15 Kemb CC demo class for chiffon cheese cake/ cream cheese choc cake and a $33 Groupon deal from Creative Culinaire at Tiong Bahru for making cake pops! (My mum thinks I am crazy - everytime she calls me I seem to have just finished baking something) The decorating part of the cake pop class was the most fun - because you can decorate them in any way you like; without having them all turn out the same as your classmates' :)

The most humbling class was the Kemb CC class - I signed up mainly because it was damn cheap and cos the CC was just 5 mins' walk away. Very convenient - plus I discovered too that if you sign up for a PAssion Card ($6 for 5-yr membership!), you only pay $15 instead of $20! Felt very pleased in an auntie way after registering haha.

Anyways, on hindsight - I went to this demo class with a rather bad attitude - unwittingly picking on my instructor and sms-ing D about her perceived shortcomings - eg. how she was not v hygienic and used her hands without gloves; how she didn't know how to use the classroom oven and other little things :P (It was her first time coming to this CC to teach; and apparently she had never seen this model of oven before lah). But at the end of the class, she made this really springy and soft cream cheese chiffon cake that made me somewhat impressed... Towards the end of class, she also shared useful tips about how to beat egg whites properly! So after class I went home to reflect on my haughtiness and resolved to be more humble when I go for ANY class in future. If I go to class to pick on the instructor's shortcomings instead of focusing on things I can learn; I shld prob just go home instead..

Above:  Raisin cinnamon rolls before baking!!

Below: Cinnamon rolls after baking and after some DIY food styling :)

The instructor was v proud how her chiffon cakes always turn out soft and SPRINGY. She demo-ed a few times how the cake shld 'bounce' when you touch the surface lightly...

The fold-in method when using egg-white in the cake recipe... 

[Note the iphone and ipad stalkers in the background... I think it's v stressful to teach classes these days, it's hard to stop ppl from recording down your every word and action]

 Another interesting and "古老" (the instructor claims) tip she shared with us... Apparently wrapping up sponge cakes with a damp muslin cloth helps to keep them moist and nice (esp the sides of the cake) and that was how she transported them to the CC

 My decorated cake pops! But to do this at home I need to secure a good variety of confetti for decorating... :(

Espresso cupcakes!

I finally tried to make some cupcakes this morning - Espresso cupcakes with Nescafe white coffee instant mix haha. The coffee taste is quite faint; but just nice. The cake was slightly overbaked but the frosting helps to mask the dryness somewhat :)

I had quite a lot of fun spreading the frosting; and trying to make them look as perfect as possible. It's a pretty time-consuming task, and I'd prob need a lot more practice to perfect my frosting-spreading skills. Relatively satisfied for a first attempt lah :P

A morning out at Gardens by the Bay

I initiated a family outing with parents and sis to Gardens by the Bay yesterday morning.  Having spent quite little time with them in the past few months, I really wanted to be a bit more 'present'. It's nice really that I now have a bit more time to do so.. :)

We chose the wrong day to go lah - I guess it's sch holiday for many kids (day after National Day) and the place was swarmed even though we reached around 10+. After like a 30 min+ wait to buy tickets, we finally entered the 2 conservatories and entered a whole new world of flowers and plants we wld otherwise not be able to see in SG. The Flower Dome was nice, but I was more impressed by the other dome "Cloud Forest" with this huge 7-storey structure covered by all kinds of climbers and shrubs on the exterior. It felt quite out of this world when I was first greeted by the huge waterfall at the entrance..

View from the flower dome - with the Singapore Flyer and city skyline in the background!
Below: Some very pretty and exotic flowers in the Flower Dome

THIS was one of the weirdest plants I found in the Flower Dome - the woolly cactus with funny brown fur growing out from the 'crown'... eeks.

The majestic-looking Cloud Forest structure! 

The rest of the weekend shall be spent nuah-ing around, as I have tried to pack too many things into my week and I actually feel slightly exhausted despite not working.. A few hrs was thus blissfully and brainlessly spent in front of the TV this evening to 'recuperate' a little; I plan to be equally chill tmr and we're gg to go have a nice morning brunch! Really haven't felt so 'light' and carefree in a while! :)

This week's creations!

I am 'settling well' into my state of joblessness and getting more housewifey :P Baked some cranberry and white chocolate cookies on Mon afternoon; and blueberry cheesecake yesterday afternoon. Am getting quite interested in food styling, and have started to amass a mini collection of various knick knacks that can further enhance my food shots. And thankfully it's National Day today; so I was able to share my baked treats with my family - the cookies have been devoured over the past few days and I am now down to 2 pieces of cheesecake in the fridge :)

The cheesecake (with a thin layer of baked sour cream finish) wasn't supposed to be this shallow - but a few cm wider cake pan led to quite a significant fall in height. Well it turned out looking like a cheesecake pie, but actually not too bad lah, it's now slightly healthier with less cheese per slice of cake :P

Cooking is something I am somewhat capable of but enjoy less and prob will never be v good at - because I don't quite fancy the food preparation part, which can be quite stinky or 'gooey'... like getting rid of fats, ending up with garlic-smelling fingers etc. But we had some leftover cheese sausage from the weekend, so I threw together a 'chapalang' pasta with mushroms, grape tomatoes, asparagus and sausage for yesterday's dinner  :) 

Wonders of 3D printing and a lovely book trailer

I came across 2 interesting videos this morning while surfing online - one on 3D printing and another of a book on the topic of happiness.

I've come across several 3D printing videos/ articles during the course of work; but I've mostly seen it used for manufacturing factory parts, home-produced toys and stuff. The vastly improved quality of life that this 3D printed prosthetic arms/ device brings to little Emma here in the video is quite amazing and touching:



I also saw a book 'review' with a very cute animated book trailer. I wish I can draw and sketch like these people - actually our v own Civil Service College is also gradually having a couple of courses on visual facilitation. I've gone for one taught by a civil servant who had the privilege to take one of these classes when The Grove experts came to SG - but it's quite hard to 'get it' if you're not already that talented at sketching/ drawing...

From tmr onwards, I will be relatively free to do whatever I like with my weekdays; and a day or two each week will prob be set aside for baking. I have amassed several to-try recipes from food blogs, lib books and random recipes I come across. If only there's some place I can borrow baking equipment from; cos many recipes require this baking pan or other (or several, to make a layered cake) that I dun alri have and need to buy... :(

With more baking plans in mind, I shld also seriously start exercising more. Have been terribly ill disciplined and lazy the past couple of weeks - wld I be able to get up early tmr morning to go for a morning run? Very questionable, but I shall try... 

Here are some new food photos - last Thurs (my first day of bummer-hood), I made some choc peanut butter ice-cream!

Home-made chocolate & peanut butter ice-cream. The original recipe showed visible swirls of peanut butter - but had I followed the recipe faithfully this treat would be extremely extremely sinful so I cut down on the peanut butter and kinda incorporated my crunch Skippy PB into the choc ice cream instead. 

 My lovely ex-colleague gave me a box of cookies on my last day - I decided to use them as props for my choc peanut butter ice-cream.. Choc cookie ice-cream sandwiches!

I didn't show any shot with the completed cookie - because when I put them tog the ice-cream started oozing out and became not so sightly :P

This is the latest addition to our kitchen! - we got it from Groupon and picked it up last weekend. It's apparently a limited edition colour - raspberry pink - not the colour I wld usually have chosen; but I suppose given the discount we can't complain too much about the colour. Kitchen Aids are ridiculously expensive in SG (more than twice what it wld have cost in the States) - but we were too lazy to ship it from the States; so the Groupon deal was a decent compromise :P

Hopefully it lives up to its name! Apparently (with the suitable accessories) this machine can do a lot more than mixing dough for baking - we have watched enough Iron Chef episodes to attest to that :P And hopefully we end up using it frequently enough to justify the money spent!

Next Wed will be my last day of work at HDB and I went back to MND this afternoon to visit some Hsg Div folks after my meeting with the HR side to 'explain' my departure.. It was a nice little catch-up session with some ex-colleagues. Those who were still there are still about the same - and it felt nice seeing some ppl whom I've not quite spoken to at all in the past year! In particular, was quite surprised when Miss M (the veteran appeals tracking officer who used to scare me by her aloofness but eventually warmed up to me in my 2 yrs there) decided to pass me an angbao for 'braveness to quit'! Thought she wanted to give me an angbao for getting married; but that was apparently less deserving of an angbao. Of course I didn't accept; but thought it was kinda cute and sweet of her to offer me such an interesting 'award' :P Not sure if I should call it brave or foolish; but I had better make good use of this break else my decision will definitely veer towards the 'foolish' end.

 Raspberry and White Choc Honey Almond Meal muffins

Yesterday I tried baking some Raspberry and White Choc Honey Almond Meal muffins with the recipe from Honey and Jam, a very lovely food blog by a 22-year old American young lady photographer/baker. The "selling point" about these muffins is that they are flourless and thus quite healthy.. No sugar, just a little bit of butter, and lotsa relatively wholesome ingredients like almond meal and honey. I was careless with the oven temp and accidentally set it at a higher temp; so the top came out a little burnt... but thankfully they still tasted quite delicious. This is a relatively simple recipe with good results, so will definitely make this again and try to do a better job next time!

 Muffin ingredients! (the yellow-looking chunks are white choc, not butter!)

 Baked muffins. One of them looked like it had a funny bird face ;)

Cross-section of my muffins - I shall stuff them with even more raspberry and white choc bits next time :P

Where are the best cupcakes in town?

I had a cupcake day on Wednesday. Decided to order some cupcakes from Plain Vannila Bakery for some ex-colleagues this week. Also happened to drop by Lor 4 Toa Payoh and got more cupcakes for the Thursday's breakfast from Charlotte Grace cakeshop. Plain Vanilla's one of the newest 'kid' on the block and is supposed to have one of the best cupcakes in town - they were quite good and very pretty, but somehow the flavours I tried (sea salt caramel and dark choc ganache) were not that WOW. The sea salt caramel cream was a tad too sweet for my liking - but to be fair I typically dun fancy caramel that much.

I got a red velvet and cookies and cream cupcake from Charlotte Grace - their cookies and cream one was alright but the red velvet one was quite delicious. There are quite a few more cupcake places in town, like Swirls and Twelve Cupcakes (tried the latter once, but cannot remb if it was good haha so i suppose it was alright). Shall trot down to Swirls one day on an August afternoon :)

 PV cupcakes - photo taken using my iphone in office! 

The yummy Charlotte Grace red velvet cupcake! The frosting a little melty alri in our hot climate :(