Mothers' Day Cheese Portion

Bake a batch of Cheese Portion for
Mothers' Day celebration at Ah Ma house.
As i was out with mum, so i missed the party they have over there.
Made my presence felt with my cheese portion... haha..

Anyway these are the same recipe i have always bake.
This time using Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Paste.
They are differnt from the vanilla extract i have previously used.
The paste contain many little specks from the vanilla pod.
I like the way how it adds a litle "sparkle" to my otherwise plain cheese.

But the draw-off is that, ppl that dun know,
may simply think that the cheese is contminated with some dirty stuff!!!

Note: Bisquit base was not so aromatic n nice with cream cracker, seems like Jacob's taste better then the traditional one this time round.

Homemade Granola Bar

After a long hiatus~
Been really occupied with my weekends & weekdays,
that i have no time to bake.
All the other time left, just felt like resting... haha..

Short update.
I pass my skilled cert which i took up in March.
Finally over after a month of night lesson, 3 times a week.
Been running ard the weekends looking at various venue.
So far, all the venue are all not bad..
Some have been strike out due to budget,
some cos of capacity.
Till now, i have no idea if i want to do it once,
or split it into 2 day event!!!
Annyway, its still under planning stage..

Really very tired these few mornings when i wake up.
Almost have to drag my feet n head out of the bed.
Dunno is it due to the frequent dreams that i'm having recently,
so feel like didnt rest well enough.
Couldnt wake up yesterday morning,
so went to see a doc for my sore throat that couldnt get
well after lingyang, paosheng & pipagao.
Not forgetting the eye strain thats coming back also recently.

So while resting at home yesterday,
i manage to bake a batch of Granolar Bar..
Always wanted to that for a healthy breakkie.
The colors of the Granolar is soooo comforting...
apricot, cranberries, pumpkim nuts, sunflower seed...yummy..
But one disaster, the whole thing stick to my parchment paper!!
so i have bars that like have paper still sticking to them, lol!!
Nonetheless, everything was well..
But the bar cld be a tad dryier still..
still can feel the stickness of the honey..
But its really really yummy...
Even darling commented that its nice, great to chew on as snack!

Will give it another try after the present batch finish..
this time, i'm gng to add less honey.

Busy March.

Will be on course for the entire month of March.
Mon, Wed, Fri burnt!
To add on, its my bday month!
Maybe i shouldnt have plan the course this month,
haha, my own fault.
Now, i cant even plan for a short getaway with schedule like this.
Shall be the busiest March to be encountered.

Cake Balls

Use the left over Rich Chocolate Cake that i bake on Thursday evening,
and made them into Cake Balls, for Granny Bday celebration.

It was fairly easy,
the method is similar to Cake Pops,
just that this time round, i didnt stick a stick/pick into the balls.

Cake Pops was actually brought into trend by Bakerella.
Can find out more from her website,
she does them in all sort of beautiful & whimsical design.
I manage to stumble upon it one fine day while browsing some food blog.
I have wanted to try it cos it looks so simple & darn pretty.
My first time trying it turn out kinda disaster. lol...
The chocolate cake base together with peanut butter frosting,
was simply CRAZY & ultimate WRONG match.
Guess i was pretty lazy after a round of baking that night,
so i simply tried it out with what frosting i have on hand, peanut butter...

Now that i have gone thru all the correct step/method of doing it,
and really put effort into making them,
they turn out real good.
See, food do have a temperament of their own.
If u dun love what you're doing & put ur heart into in,
they wont turn out good..
Thats why, im always so bend on doing all the mixing, shaping, baking myself.
And thats the reason my mum / Chun always complain
when i really need their help,
i'll nag that its out of shape, proportion, is wrong etc... lol..
and then they'll give up, dun help me any more...

All about Cream

This is a confusion, at least always to me.
Esp true for double, single & thicken cream.
So i decided to do a little research so i can easily come back to.
Found this great table from here.
It have clearly listed out the different amount of fat content
for the different type of cream.

Click on table for better resolution table

Chocolate Cake Pops

Cake Pops (thru Digitally Filtered Lens)

Set out to bake a uber sinful mini chocolate cake for J.
In the end, made Chocolate Pop instead with the cake.. lol..

Its a eventful twist of fate.
I have been thinking of the cake for several days.
Then came to the conclusion of individual serve cake for the 3 of us.
Even thought of the design of the cake.
Then came the problem of frosting.
No fridge, what frosting to use le...
Chocolate coating best liao.
But cos its a chocolate cake, with chocolate frosting will be very dry.
So i decided to make some chocolate ganache.

Then came the second problem,
cck no stock / never sell single cream. DIE!!
So i ask Darling go out walk walk at railway mail.
Reach there then realise that no more Bulla single cream,
only stock there was a brand i never heard of.
Further more its on discount,
cos its near expiry date, 2 Mar 2010.. lol..
No choice so bought that & Bulla thicken cream, for backup.

Went home, start mixing butter & sugar.
When i add in the eggs,
the mixture look like they are separating..
Disgusted, i threw the first batch away.
Then started on second batch, same problem.
Then i think back, "did i have the same prob last time".
Then i thought, maybe never mind de.
So i went ahead and add i the flour etc.
the batter turn out all right, at least to me.

The next problem is with the ganache.
The ganache with single cream is simply too liquid.
Cannot use it to frost the cake without it dripping all over.
So in the end gave up that idea. Very down already.
Dunno why, this time round, my cake baking turn out a disaster.
So in the end i have a PLAIN chocolate cake that i cut out into mini size standing.
Chocolate ganche that i cannot frost the cake with.
So i went ahead with last resort,
coat the cake with chocolate coating then do monogram design on it.
But the coating takes forever to dry up,
and its past 12am already....

Looking at the crumbs i have,
i decided to try making cake pops that i have read up a month ago.
to my surprise, it works...
But the thing is, i canot try the pops last night,
cos its still drying, the taste will be different.

So i pack up the pops into nice boxes that i have collected (lucky me),
then this morning, i tried the pops,
They were delicious!!!
Its small, but cos the cake & ganache itself was
made with Valrhona 70% dark chocolate, the taste was very dense & sinful.
It's my second try at cake pop,
the first time fail terribly with peanut butter as a binding gel.

I use the Rich Dark Chocolate Cake Recipe by Peggy Porschen,
and also the Belgian Chocolate Ganache by her.
Good ingredients, really never fail me so far.
And i'm really falling in love with valrhona's chocolate,
they simply gave outstanding result, every single time i use it.
Have to stock up on Guanaja & Equatorial soon at Shermay's.

Changi Sailing Club

Saw a seagull gliding

1 of PICO's many sail

Went to Changi Sailing Club for CNY visiting to James's family.
This time of the year, and also the only time that
we get to meet up with James family members.
We dun meet up with his family on normal days,
only on special occasion like CNY.
So its still kinda hard for me to remember all his family members names.
And even the ranking of the uncles & aunts.

They usually will rent a chalet,
and everyone will gather there.
Normally, we will stay there for a few hours.
Me & mum uaully spend the time chomping away on nuts,
watching TV, and doing nothing else.
Cos, basically, i dun really like doing must "entertaining"
nor am i those type that like to "xian liao" with random ppl.

This time round, since its just next to the sailing club.
Thus we went round the sailing club taking photos & just stroll.
This is also the first time, i brought darling along.
I think i have miss the last 2 years gathering cos i have something on.

There's many ang moh there.
I think they're mainly those rich ppl,
family spending their weekend sailing,
reading, sipping champagne while their hubby & son sails.
I even spotted 3 girls sitting on top of a surf board,
bopping & laughing away... i really cant understand that.
Anyway, we reach teh chalet at 2plus, and left at 4plus...

After which me & darling adjourned to Yap house & thereafter Loon hse.
Gambling away at Bacala, darling lost all we have, which is not much, at Yap house.
Then at Loon house, i decided to try my luck,
and lucky me won some $$..
Darling also manage to win back all that he'd lose at Yap..
Went home at 2plus am...
The next day woke up at 10am,
to bake Ben's cake.

Evening met up TRT for dinner,
went Glenn hse gamble again...
Tired...