CHRISTMAS 2012

This is an overdue post of my Christmas in Year 2012.

 

 

Love the glowy feel of the X'mas lightings ~

 

 

 

Bought this cute Santa to place it on my pot of plant in office ~ HO HO HO!

 

 

 

A lighted X'mas tree greeting card ~ credit card size

 

 

 

A colleague's creation of this lil' piece of X'mas ornament ~ cute & nice!

 

 

 

Snowman cake from our Finance team's colleagues ~ lotsa fresh cream!

 

 

 

I baked this X'mas Mango logcake with my TMG!

 

 

 

Ordered this chocolatey X'mas logcake for a friend ~ the Santa with sunglass is funny! 

 

 

 

Thanks Lily for baking these delicious chiffon cupcakes.

 

 

 

Beautiful cupcake for this festive season and also in celebration of Eve's birthday in advance ^.^

 

 

 

Bought this for Eve's birthday gift :)

 

 

 

Gifts from my boss and colleagues ^0^

THANKS!!!

 

 

Hope all of you have a great YEAR 2013!

 

Cheerios ^.^

My SEOUL FoODie JoURneY in Oct'2012

This is my 3rd trip to Seoul. The previous 2 trips were on packaged tours during winter season whereas this time is on my own ~ free and easy. Autumn is a good season to visit Seoul and the weather is very cooling but it can be very cold at night.  I have collated all my foodie photos that I ate in Seoul.  ^0^
 

In the mood of baking ^_^.....

It's a long weekend this week and I'm in the mood of baking ^.~

I have tried out the popular Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes recipe today. It's quite a simple bake and the cake texture turns out soft.  I have omitted piping the cream into the cakes and just eat it plain.  Yummy to go with my cuppa Kopi C ^_^

Since my friend has pandan leaves, we decide to pound the leaves and extract the juice for baking our pandan muffins.



Still not enough of baking, here we go for sponge cupcakes.  We also decide to whisk the whipping cream and sugar into thick creamy form.  Thereafter, we pipe on the cupcakes and top up with blueberries.

MORE bakes....Double Chocolate Muffins ~ rich & chocolatey!

Gosh! Overbake today ^0^

超爱吃粽子 ~ I love to eat dumplings ^.^

It's my first time making the dumplings with the help of my dear colleagues. Quite a tedious process as we need to shop for the ingredients, wash/cut, marinate and fry the ingredients. Next challenging and tiring process is the way of wrapping the dumplings.  I just cannot grab it well and wrap tightly.  However, after a few try and watching my colleague did the wrapping, I manage to do it but not nicely wrapped thou'.  But at least I tried and have fun in doing it.  All of us have enjoyed the day and tasting our handmade dumplings ^.^

Glutinous Rice - Washed, marinated with dark & light soya sauce, salt, pepper, 5 spice powder.
After a few hours, we fried the marinated rice until fragrant.
Thereafter, leave it aside and we proceed to cook rest of the ingredients.

Pork belly with some fats on it will be more tasty.  The bowl of pork is also marinated the same way as the glutinous rice. Thereafter, fried the pork till it's cooked.

Chestnuts (boil to soften them), Mushroons (sliced) ~ added garlic & shallots for more aroma and fragrant

Oh I forgot to take pics of the salted egg yolks and dried shrimps which are part of the ingredients for the dumplings.

We bought a packet of the bamboo leaves ~ soak overnight and next day, put them in boiling water. Then transfer to a bucket of clean water and wiped the leaves.  Note: to soak the leaves in water until you use them.

Hmm I really don't know how to describe the wrapping process ~ should have shoot a vid for your view.
Anyway, you should be able to google online or watch in youtube for the wrapping demo :)

See this is my first dumpling that I made ~  Happy till max ^0^

my bunch of dumplings waiting to go into the pot ^^

boil for at least 2.5 to 3 hours since our dumplings are smaller in size.  If those big ones, at least 4-5 hours.

The shape seems ok but it tasted a lttle blend :(.....should have put more soya sauce.
Well, not bad for a first timer like me ...hehe ^^

 

Putff Pastries Baking ^.~

Recently, I registered for the puff pastries baking class with BakinCalf . The recipes are quite easy but the folding process of the dough with margarine can be tedious and challenging.  The rolling process and thickness of the dough must take note correctly.  Overall, it was an enjoyable class and the puff pastries turned out nicely baked and delicious ^.~

Portuguese Egg Tarts ~the flakey crust is my fav.

 

Twist Puffs glazed with sugar and cinnamon powder.

Palmier Puff glazed with sugar

Tada ~ piping hot puffs from oven

Yummy egg tarts and chicken pies ~ nice color

Here's my box of puff pastries which I brought home o(^^)o

Prive Cafe



Prive Cafe is located at Keppel Bay with its beautiful waterfront surrounded with yachts. It  is a geat place to chill out with your family and friends.

  The cafe does serve all-day breakfast till 5 p.m. I was there on a friday night so I did not get to try their chef's recommendation of eggs benedict. We ordered their other recommended main courses and dessert ~  The Ultimate Fish & Chips (Battered Dory Fish with Fries served with Tartare Sauce & malt vinegar), Organic Mushroom Linguine with white wine cream sauce and Carrot Cake (its moist & yummy).