My 1st attempt in Baking ^0^ (Part I)

WOW! I really had a great time at the baking workshop which I registered with BakinCalf. The experience was fun, challenging (handle the whisking, heat, measurement etc ~ hehe!), a little messy and lots of washing too. I'm burnt out after baking for almost half a day. It can be tiring but when you see the cakes and puffs that made by yourself ~ It's definitely worth it! Of course, if your passion is into baking, i guess you won't complain about the mess, all the cleaning and tiredness :P Now I can understand why my baking instructor has quit her job and do full-time baking.

Ok, let's come back to my baking workshop which I gathered 6 of my colleagues to join me and had some fun (sort of team building ~ haha!) We requested to learn 2 recipes (sorry not revealing the recipes as promised to my baking instructor) ~ Chiffon Cheesecake and Choux Puffs with different pastry creams. It seems easy to bake but NOT really for a first timer like me :( Anyway, I still manage to bake something edible out of it..haha! I took quite a number of photos so this may be a long post :)

Measuring all the ingredients and sifting the flour

Boiling the mixture

Cooling the mixture

Hand whisking the mixture can be tiring : )

Whisking the egg white

This is the right texture ~ foamy and stiff ^.~

After whisking and folding the cream and egg white mixtures, we pour the batter into the chiffon tin which is in paper form.

Woohoo, now it's ready to set in the oven.

We are so anxious to see how the cakes turn out ^.^

Look like toilet rolls haha ^0^
Upside down to cool the cakes

My cake mixture was over whisked and become dense so it didn't turn out well. However, it still had the cream cheese flavour and EDIBLE! haha!

I will update my Part II post on the baking of Choux Puff. Cheers ~

BARCELOS Flame Grilled Chicken

Oh I miss the Youth Olympic Games Opening Ceremony on TV last night :( and heard it was spectacular especially the fireworks display. I always enjoy watching it.

Anyway, I was out for a dinner gathering with my long time friends :) LT suggested to Barcelos @ Novena which is newly opened and they have 2 other branches at Vivo City and Holland Village. The dining restaurant @ Novena is quite small and their service is not too bad. Barcelos is always compared to Nando's and Kenny Rogers. Roasters I have no comments yet as I have not tried Nando's which is another popular dining chain for its peri peri chicken. I must try it one day even though I always see long queue outside the restaurant at Bugis Junction.

Their menu which serves chicken in salad, pitta pocket, wrap, pasta, skewers, burger or just chicken meal with choices of your side dishes such as garlic bread, corn, coleslaw, salad, soup, potato wedges, fries and rice.

I ordered 1/4 chicken meal with garlic breads and coleslaw; and I asked for mild peri marinade. My friends ordered supa peri (hot and spicy) marinade but they claimed it was not very spicy. Their spiciness level is extremely high ~ they love chilli padi.

We did not wait long for our chicken meals to arrive ^.~ The garlic roll is crispy and delicious. I guess I can eat a whole loaf haha :P The coleslaw is good too. Their signature flame grilled chicken is moist, juicy and not tough (I chose breast meat instead of thigh). The chicken was not overly grilled and cooked. Unlike some which I tried, the skin was overly grilled and turned charcoal which gave a bitter taste. Overall, I am happy with my meal :)

Here's the chicken thigh which my friend ordered. BLINK BLINK *v*. My preference is either chicken wings or breast meat.

OMG, Naughty neko-chan is out to attack the chicken thigh...watch out!! LOL ^0^

Here's another set meal with corn and coleslaw :P

Like I always say, a meal without dessert is not a complete meal..hehe ^0^ so we went to HANS for hot tea and black forest cake. Great satisfaction! Yummy!

There goes my weekend foodie post and I am looking forward to my baking workshop next weekend. WOOooHooOO ^.~

CHEERIOS!

Carrot Cake

I was searching online for baking classes and stumbled upon a blog named BakinCow. It is a home-based baking business and they sell Tofu Cheesecakes and Carrot Cakes. It also conduct baking workshops under their BakinCalf programme brand. You can choose to learn cake decorations, baking cookies, cupcakes, tarts, puff and macaroons. They also conduct parent and child baking workshops too. Well, I have registered for my baking workshop with BakinCalf in August and I am looking forward to it

Below are 2 photos of the American Carrot Cake with Cheese Frosting which I order from BakinCow. Gosh! It is heavenly good Personally, I do not really like the flavor of nutmeg and cinnamon but NOT for this carrot cake. I will definitely ask for my 2nd serving hehe ^0^ The 9-inch carrot cake is quite heavy as it is filled lot of carrots, walnuts and golden raisins. They are really generous with the ingredients ~ just as what they stated in their blog. I must comment that the cream cheese is so yummy and the carrot cake texture is moist ~ unlike some carrot cakes I tried that were dry. This delicious carrot cake is highly recommended to all

DESIGNER BAKES

I was window-shopping at Orchard Road and spotted a small cake shop at a corner of The Centrepoint. The shop is named "Designer Bakes". Their lovely cupcakes and beautiful customised cakes on the display just attracted me so I took out my iPhone and captured a few shots.


Aren't the cupcakes cute and it's a pity to eat them.


This is absolutely gorgeous! So colorful!


Hmm ~ The Phantom of the Opera ? Looks elegant.



The little Angels are so Kawaii!

Oh no! Neko-chan is here again to grab a bite of BB's cake ~ LOL ^0^

KISEKI Japanese Buffet @ The Heeren

Have you watched "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"? I'm glad to receive a Bank's invitation to the movie on Saturday. It was an awesome movie filled with magic and some laughter too :) Here's the trailer:

Movie is not the topic of my post today hehe ^0^ It was my dinner last night. I read about the newly opened Kiseki Japanese Buffet @ The Heeren and decided to ask my colleagues along to try it out.

The restaurant is located at the basement of the mall. We arrived early but it was not until 6pm then it opened for dinner buffet. The restaurant has been attracting crowds as I saw long queues waiting to join in the buffet. So you got to be there on time to queue or make reservation in advance.

It serves a wide spread of all your favorite Japanese food from cold seafood, sashimi, sushi, tempura, teppanyaki, yakitori, shabu shabu, grilled meats and seafood, soup & salad, soba/udon, desserts (tofu cheesecake, mini assorted cakes, waffles, hot purple sweet potato soup, melon jelly, ice-cream) and cold/hot beverages. I'm so hungry as I didn't have a proper lunch and I'm gonna gobble all these scrumptious food and sinful desserts ~ SLURP ^0^

See our table full of good food ~ oishii desu ne ^.~ We just left our barang barang on the seats and chiong to attack the food haha ~ hunger defeats all! More foodie plates coming up :P

Pan fried potato strips with sour cream / The thin crust pizza is good / fried stuff such as calamari, crab claws, potato strips wrapped with ebi

The centre plate which is their special sauce ~ slightly spicy but it's a flavorful dipping sauce for our yakitori and other food :P

Oh I just can't live without having eggs in my meals. I always love chawamushi!

Here's our hot pot ~ full of veg, tofu and assorted mushrooms :)

Here's come my love of the day ~ Sushi and Temaki. The hot plate of egg, veg and karage!

Their sushi, temaki and maki are good for my satisfaction of the day ~ but of course I can't compare to those from Japanese sushi bars which are so fresh, delicious and expensive too :)

These are mine ~ Woohooo!

I like these small grilled fishes ~ shisamo (a.k.a. pregnant fish) It has lot of eggs and the bones are soft which you can eat the whole fish.


Fresh seafood which I didn't have much except salmon sashimi. I still miss those seafood at Greenwood Fish Market and Bistro.


Hope you enjoy this post and have a great weekend ^.~