Banana cake

I've never been so embarrassed before.

Just when i promised a gf, Livia, a banana cake for her birthday treat, my cake had to turn out to become a disaster.

How 'malu' is that eh?

But, thick skin me *yes, again* carried on with the plan and gave my gf the cake which has texture like kueh, dense and heavy but nevertheless, the banana cake taste was there and she loves it. Hehe.

Later, after giving much thought to it, i came to 2 possibilities why the cake became like that. It is either greedy me put in too much banana or my baking powder has expired.

Still feeling unsatisfied due to my failure, i was determined to bake the banana cake again. This time, i bought a new bottle of baking powder and as for the banana, old habit dies hard. I still like to put a little more banana than what the recipe calls for.

This is what i got :D

Light and fluffy and very banana-ish texture

Made a whole lot of it. Shuoze did the choc chip and the nut topping :P

So i guess the baking powder was the guilty one aye?

Last but not least, a picture of my gfs and i at Marmalade Pantry for Livia's early birthday celebration.

Nice food especially for the mains ;)

Moist chocolate cake again :P

The little flower cakes here were done for the kids using egg tart moulds. Boy, i had a tough time getting the cakes out even though i greased the moulds. Don't think i am able to line it.

This cake was baked solely due to 2 reasons..

• inspired by Angie after seeing her cute little steamed chocolate cupcake on her extra cute leaf plate
  
• constant pestering from Shuoze who has been requesting me to buy chocolate cake for him whenever we pass a bakery shop and of course, whenever i bake a cake which is not a chocolate cake, he'll go 'why not chocolate cake? i want chocolate cake'

So after a back breaking day on Monday (hb had half day off you see, which is real rare, so we made use of the day to the fullest) i still came back and baked, or rather, steamed these cakes for my loved ones :D

These ones are for my neighbour :D

You must be thinking, aiyoh.. made so much! *lol* Well, it was by mistake.

Initially, i intended to do only half the recipe but after mixing the wet ingredients, i realised i didn't 'half' the sugar like others *kabish*.

So i had no choice but to add the rest of the half ingredients in since i do not want to end up with an overly sweet cake.

And as for the loaf cake which is also from the same batter [yes, it is that much], it was meant for our own consumption. Hence, no decorating except for the chocolate ganache.

Usually for cakes, i always forgo the frosting, icing, bla bla bla except chocolate ganache which is the only exception because we simply love chocolates! I normally use Val Rhona chocolate for all my bakes and ganache. Simply heaven..



See how moist and sinful it is? Almost the best chocolate cake recipe i've ever had *wink*. Must really thank Dralion from KC for her brilliant recipe :)

But you know what?

Even if my waist does expand because of it, it's worth it :P

Quickie II

.Tuna puff

Guess what this is made of?

Prata!!

Fab isn't it? Never had i thought the frozen prata would make such a good 'pastry' :P

This fantastic super quick and easy + yummilicious (you simply gotta trust me on this) idea is adapted from Sophie, KC forum.

The original recipe is actually to make sausage rolls, which i have tried. After tasting it, i feel that the frozen prata would taste even better if i were to make it into a tuna puff [not that the sausage rolls weren't good] and boy, am i right or what? *thick me* :P

Fussy son loves it. So does fussy hb! Hb even requested for it yesterday for dinner.. lol but i didn't make it for him. Simply too tired after the being out the whole day plus, baking a chocolate cake after we got home. My back simply couldn't take it. So hb ended up eating instant noodle. Heh.

Next time round, i might even try making it into curry puff.. if i'm feeling extra hardworking that is.. hehe.. or, or if someone is willing to reward me if i do it, i definitely will! :D

p.s: it tastes very much like the tuna puff from Polar or Delifrance but hb claimed this is better

How it looks like inside but can't see clearly though because the man can't wait to have his next bite. Thus, i anyhow snap without focusing properly in order not to waste time :P

Bags!

Okie, enough of my pathetic entries.

This entry sure to bring a smile to my face. Lol.

Who doesn't love bags? Anyone?

I think personally, i love bags more than shoes. Hohoho. Perhaps because i hardly come across shoes design which i fancy but the same cannot be said about bags. I always, always see nice bags around. Guess that explains why i own more bags than shoes? :P

The gorgeous velvet pink bag with the dragonfly diamantes here is totally gorgeous!

It's from Guess and it comes in 2 colours, pink and black. Both colours are beeauuutiful and i spent like half an hour deciding which to get. In the end, i went for the pink one since i have other black bags lying around in the house already. But you know what? Till today, i've not used it yet and it has been months! *grin*

Girls!

What to do.. buy buy buy but never use :P




Another new collection of mine :P

It was love at first sight. I knew i had to have it the moment i saw it. Lol.Bought it just last week when i went shopping with mil for skincare.

I love the size of it, not too overly small like some of the wristlets i have and what's fantastic about it is the width of the wristlet. The wristlets i own previously are all so slim. I have to use a card holder to store my cash and cards instead of my purse -- can't fit in-- or simply chuck the cash and cards into them. But this cutie is different.

Check out the picture below. Fits everything nicely :D



But i have decided to keep this cutie till i birth. This is something which is not suitable for pregnant women. Too adorable for us to carry out now :P

I can't stand it anymore. I need to rant my heart out. Unfortunately, i can't.

I have been feeling really low since yesterday. Not having anyone to talk to about it makes things worst. Not that i can't pick up the phone and just dial, but more like the damage after that puts me off. So, i can't really talk to anyone about it. How sad is that?

Anyway, have you ever had any regrets in life? Something that would have changed your life entirely if you didn't choose to do it in the beginning.

Hmmmpphhh~

Perhaps blogging my feelings out might help to ease my suffering a little? Of course, in another blog which i might just start in a while. Heh.

Quickie

.Mini baked tuna cups with cheese

I love this new found recipe!

Looks so cute and inviting :D

Got it from the founder of KC, Gina. It's called er.. *hang on* .. opppss, i can't find the thread in the forum! *blush*

Anyway, it's called something like baked mini cups or .. wait, found it! Lol. It's called Mini baked cups! :P

Made a few adjustments here and there and these are what i got, mini baked tuna cups with cheese. It's really easy and simple to do plus, it's great for lunch! Need not brainstorm over what to cook for lunch when i'm on + lazy mode. Heh.

Shuoze's so called square pizza

Usually, Shuoze loves the mini baked cups but on the day i made them, he requested for pizza instead. Later i found out it was because of Jamie Oliver! He was watching the cooking show with me when Jamie made a pizza and after that, he insisted on having pizza as well, in round shape.

Somehow i managed to persuade him to eat the square one instead *phew*

psstt.. not a pizza definitely. Used exactly the same ingredients as above and guess what? He knows it's not a pizza too because he has seen me making super supreme pizza for thousands of times but he gave in to me. Lol. Cunning me!

3.

My dad got admitted to the hospital today due to abnormally high blood pressure, high level of diabetes and minor stroke.

It wasn't planned this way.

My eldest sister was supposed to bring him for full body medical check up only because she noticed that dad has a couple of stroke symptoms already and suddenly, she was informed by the doctor that dad must be admitted at that very moment. They didn't even allow him to walk after that. Sis has to push him to the critical condition ward using a wheel chair.

A wheel chair!

After much discussion, it was decided that there isn't any need for me to travel back. The rest of my siblings will be there except my second sister who is in Taiwan. Plus, with my current state, it gives more reason not a must to travel back and hopefully there wouldn't be any need for me to travel back till many years more to come except for joyful occassions.

Sigh.

Hopefully dad will be in a much better health after today and for the rest of the yearssssss.

2.

Just 2 days ago, my mom called to inform me that an aunt's husband had just passed away leaving my aunt and 3 daughters, with the eldest aged 8 and youngest only 3.

How sad can it get? :(

I dare not imagine if hb were to leave me all by myself with 3 (soon) young boys. Seriously, i don't think any normal being would be able to accept it.

What makes it worst is that my uncle passed away due to a doctor's mistake!

People complained heart pain, doctor only examined the liver and kidney and told them it was gastric. After being injected more than 10 times with some medicine, given countless tablets of pain killer and despite his non subside painful condition, doctor still refused to put him to ICU.

In the end, after some 12 hours of very agonising suffering with him hugging my aunt throughout, struggling for life and not able to speak due to the pain, my uncle's life was ended with only 1 word using his last breath, which was "HELP". Heart attack finally killed him.

Sigh. When my mom was telling me all these, i couldn't help but to cry. It's just so sad. I dare not even picture it.

My aunt's condition now is really bad and at the end of the day, she still has to carry on with life and be strong for her daughters. That.. is so damn tough to do.

Life is simply too unpredictable.. :(

1.

Things don't seem to be going smoothly these days. Tragedies struck one after another, for my personal life and also the world. Every morning when i flip open the paper, it's filled with mostly bad news, grievance or war. My hand gets heavier for each page i turn.

Sigh.

When will all these gonna end?

Lately, there was this news about a scholar who pushed a commuter --gf actually-- down the mrt track at Clementi and police has classified the case as attempted murder. If found convicted, he could be jailed for life and also caned.

Guess what?

He happens to be someone i know of but he's much closer to my younger sister than me though. Everytime my sister comes to visit, she'll look him up and he'll bring her around for shopping and dining. I even told my sister that he was quite a good catch if not for his emotion problems.

As a friend, he's really nice, gentleman and generous too! Not only he is smart, he is pretty good looking with good built as well.

We knew he has a problem when it comes to relationship. Just that we didn't know it would be that severe. He has it since ages ago.

Anyway, i feel really sad for him. Thank god the girl was able to think fast and saved herself else he would have been in a bigger trouble than he is now. If the judge really finds him guilty, his life would be wasted away just like that. From what i know, he just got promoted recently to manager in his department at a local bank and he is only 26. Sigh.

Hopefully he would be able to get off lightly because of his condition *fingers cross* even though he is in the wrong 100%.

Mooncake fever

I love the colour combination of this green tea snowskin mooncake i made for my mom a couple of weeks ago.

However, i was not a big fan of it though. Green tea mooncake simply just isn't my thing. Thankfully my parents like it and so does hb.

I guess that is what matters most right, for us who cook and bake? *grin* Seeing others liking our hard bake goodies and food :D

Next up is something which i baked today for the very first time.

Spiral teochew yam mooncake.

*whoa* This, i have to admit is really tough. Not so much on the process but more to skill wise. Needs lotsa practise and kung fu to make it perfect. Nevertheless, thick skin me decided to share my 1st batch of very ugly looking mooncakes just for laughs. Lol.

Initially, i was really really disappointed when i saw the mooncakes fresh from oven. So disappointed that i actually called my mom and hb to complain about it.

But guess what? All my hardwork somehow did pay off when hb took his first bite. Hehe. All he said was, hey (yes, that's what hb calls me sometimes, so loving right? *kabish*).. you can bring some up to ah mee and all (my in laws) to try. They'll like it.

That.. was enough to make my day from my gold-made mouth big boy. Haha :P

Ugly yeah? :P

p.s: recipe for the spiral mooncake was from Angie and it was possible to make because of her step by step picture guidance. Without it, i wouldn't even have attempted to make them :P

No name bun

Been wanting to bake this no-name bun from KC for such a long long time after all the raves but never got to do it till now.

Always procrastinate because somehow i feel my hands aren't good enough for baking breads :(

The end result was pretty ok. Love the butter taste and it's wonderful to eat it warm with strawberry jam and 2 slices of cold butter. Yums. But somehow it is not light and fluffy as everyone has commented. Instead, it's real heavy and soft (phew!). One small bun and u'll be full.

Wonder what did i do wrong.. hmm..

I need bread making classes! Any pros wanna teach me a thing or 2? *wink* :P

My latest obsession

is..

My Lovely Samsoon~

I heart heart heart this Korean drama to bits and pieces!

I am not a Korean drama fan at all. So far, i've only watched 2 of them. 1- Little Bride which was ok, not too bad. 2- Winter Sonata which i found boring (fans, pls don't hit me!)

But this.. *whoa* is totally addictive! Once you start, you cannot stop..

I first caught it on tv few weeks ago and i was hooked instantly. I love it so much that i even bought the VCDs! My very first set of drama vcd. Lol.. yes, i really like it that much. Of course, having the 2 lead actors in it doesn't help much either. My heart goes *thum thum*, *thum thum* everytime i see them on screen and i cannot help grinning from ear to ear! *melt* :P

If you like what you see below, wait till you watch the show. They are much much much more 'captivating' in the show.. *wink*


My new crushes..

Daniel Henney, an American

Gorgeous isn't he? *melt and faint* LOL!

Follow by..

Hyeon Bin

Wait till you see his to-die-for dimples. Your heart would skip a beat! And that smirk on his face.. *speechless liao* LOL.

Er er er.. am i too old for all these? :ppPPPppP

p.s: it feels kinda sad when i finished watching the whole drama. I'm so attached to it! How i wish it has 100+ episodes. Hehe.

Life..

Sometimes i marvel how life can turn out to be like..

My indon helper will be leaving on Sunday for good after working for us for 2.5 years. It's really saddening to realise that the day has finally came. She has been staying with my in laws since Tuesday and the boys and i have been missing her sorely. We are so used to having her around..

Our new Filipino helper is here on Tuesday itself too. Indon helper managed to teach her a thing or two but of course, most of the teachings will still depend on me.

I really didn't expect that our indon helper departure would hit Shuoze so badly. I thought didi would be the one but guess i'm wrong. Sz was crying and crying, begging me to ask her back, forcing me to make phone calls to her so that he could talk to her and persuade her to return and even told the new helper that he doesn't want her. He only wants his old auntie. Don't want new auntie. His sobs were heart wrenching.

At such a young age, he knows the meaning of separation for good. He knows how to value a good relationship/ friendship. He knows what love is. Seeing him cry like that made me cried too. But after seeing me crying together with him, he actually told me not to cry, saying big girl girl doesn't cry. Then i told him that if only he stops crying, i would stop too. That was how the crying episode ended a couple of times else he couldn't stop no matter how hard he tries. He was only able to stop for a few seconds before his eyes got teary and the crying would start all over again.

Sigh.

My poor boy.

As for didi, he hasn't been eating / drinking well since she left. At night, he'd wake up more than 5 times crying. Guess didi isn't able to express himself well enough yet. He only calls out to her in the mornings after he wakes up. Today, i actually had to force him to eat using a cane! Or else, he wouldn't even wanna eat.

Sigh.

As for myself, i had already cried the moment she told me she was leaving for good. Unbelievable right? Is there any employer who cry when her helper leaves? If you haven't known any, now you have. So silly isn't it??

But the thing is, she was closer to me than my hb is. She was my friend. My gossip kaki. My confidante even (at times).

I see her everyday for 24/7.

Let just say we share quite a lot of common interests/ interesting conversation eg: good food, my silly crushes (i would go all excited telling her my new found crush!), clothings, slimming plans, women's dressing on the street (yeah, that too! :P) etc.

And now, she will be out of my life just like that. After 2.5 years. And i cannot accept it. A gf said this to me, "hunz, that's life. There are a lot more worst cases out there" which i don't know of obviously.

I guess i'm too protected sometimes, not having exposed to the world since i got to know hb when i was 19. I do wonder how cruel life can be at times too.. but i don't think i would like to experience it myself though and i guess this helper-leaving-for-good experience is just one teeny weeny part of life that i should learn to live with.

And you know what? I hate it!

Camay's wedding

Just got these long overdue photos from a gf of mine.. It has been months since the wedding which was held in May and the cat definitely got my tongue or rather, in this case, my hands? Not sure what to write.. Lol.

Anyway...

The bride was gorgeous as usual and i had the honour of being one of the bridesmaids even though i am married with 2 children. Funny right but who cares? :P

The bridesmaids' colours were champagne and tiffany blue. So we had to make dresses that were in that colour which cost me a fortune! Couldn't get it off rack. Ugh.

I had so much fun that night and it was definitely a memorable one. I got drunk too (my second time in my whole life) ! It was darn funny.. Must be the champagne *heh*..

Here are some silly photos we'd taken.. :D

Back!

It's ggrreat to be back again!

Been away for almost a week.. visiting family in KL. Can't wait to resume back my daily activity.. (even though there isn't much activities these days *heh* but you know what? Home sweet home *wink*)

Just got home after some 4 hours of driving. Yes, i drove back myself, all by myself.. amazing isn't it?? Wanted to surprise hb but he somehow suspected that i'd be coming back today. Cheh.. no fun anymore! :P

Later.. time to rest my back first :)

Tiramisu!

Who doesn't love tiramisu?

Almost everyone i know of lurve this Italian cake. Simply delicious..

So, imagine my joy when i got hold of a fool proof and easy to make recipe sometime ago. I was practically jumping with joy! Couldn't wait to make them myself.

Long story cut short, after some period of time trying to get hold of the baileys, i finally bought the correct baileys from Yahoo auction. Wasted no time but to do it almost immediately. Lol.

My verdict?

Simply delicious!! I love it! I'd say, it's as good as the tiramisu sold outside in the restaurants if not better than some. Not because i'm skilled or something, y'know but simply because i have a very good recipe *wink*

However, i wasn't entirely pleased though with the result. I should have added more of the cheese cream to the layers. In the end, i had so much of the leftover cream which i later used to eat with the cake for every serving i served.

And guess what?

I ate more than half of the entire cake!! *pat tummy*

No more tiramisu for me for the next 2 weeks :P

My tiramisu :)
Pardon the 'blur' area in the middle. Camera needs servicing!

Saw the thin layer of cream in the middle? That's what i was talking about. A thicker layer would be awesome!