1 week from home....

Christmas is just round the corner and I'm ONE week away from HK, Noel and home.

I've been SO excited lately I can hardly sit still or focus on my readings for more than 10mins at time! Hahaha!

I've missed home and Noel (well, in my books, they're the one and same! :D) and am looking forward to seeing them both soon.

Meanwhile, I've decided to offload pictures from my overly bloated camera memory stick in lieu of the obscene amounts of photos I intend to take during the Law Christmas ball, which I'm ecstatic over as well.

Hahaa! Speaking of the Law Ball - I haven't even gotten round to piecing an outfit for that night yet, and I haven't got a party dress in my wardrobe! :S This is going to take some creativity and imagination but I'm looking forward to the challenge on Monday evening! Gambatte~!

Ok! So what have I unearthed from my huge stash of food pictures?

This: My 1st ever attempt at making my own granola. (If my memory serves me right, this was made during Spring this year... SO sometime in or around April 2010? Hahha! I KNOW... I'm pathetic at updating this blog! I promise to be more consistent this year. Kekkeke~

Maple Cranberry Crunch is what I've called it! Check it out! I love how the ruby of the cranberries contrasts so wonderfully with the rich gold of the granola bits.

Isn't it gorgeous!?

Noel absolutely ADORED it. Since neither of us has a sweet tooth, this was less sweet compared to normal granola and as I used less butter, honey and sugar, the stats on this batch was much lower and healthier compared to the average granola without compromising on the other health benefits! I'm pretty proud of how it turned out though I feel that I should bake them longer and have them crisp up a bit more next time.

More crunch, more bite! *nyom!*


2010 marks the year where I have been in a perpetual mood to bake and create. My latest hobby (I suppose) = Creating recipes and feeding people. SOooooooo shortly after the granola, I jumped right into making my first ever loaf of bread!

Hahaahahaha! This was an enjoyable/interesting experience 'coz I didn't have the right tools to make a perfect normal-bread-looking loaf, so I had to improvise and baked this in a round tray.... But anyhoo...

The process:

This was the first proofing. Such a cute tiny ball of dough huh =D

After 1 hour! @.@ My baby has GROOOWWWWN~!

Turning the dough out and punching the air out of the little lump! *bam bam bam!*

The final product!! And my first ever loaf! Woot! Proud mama here! YES.

This was scrumptious. The crust was firm and crusty... the dough was soft and supple with just the right amount of elasticity. I was pretty pleased with my 1st attempt - without ANY tools even! Hahah! Yes I know, I'm pretty jurassic in my equipment; I make everything with just a wooden spoon, bowl, sheer arm power *flexes* and my trusty oven!

We're not huge bread lovers, but we managed to finish this eventually. You probably can't tell, but the loaf was MASSIVE! Lol! We put it in the deep freezer and retoasted it before eating it... It lasted us a good month! @.@

Before I forget! This was the stash I made for that day - didn't take pictures of the cookie tarts I made (boo~) but at least there's this shot!




Look familiar? Haha! Yeah, they're my Jam Jewel cookies - the red ones at least. The green ones were coconut jam cookies - which were even more popular than the jam ones! @.@ Guess I know which ones to make more of and sell next time! I think Noel loved it so much he ended up hiding a stash for himself away from his colleague at one point! Lol!

My boyfriend cracks me up. He's my biggest fan and vice versa. =)

Ok! It's 7:47am now! And I'm off to get my customary morning run! Toodles peeps!

Chat soon!

Peace! xoxo

The Beggar's Answer to Croque Monsiuer

Everytime I visit Pat Val, I'm always so tempted to have their Croque Monsieur.... But it's TOO large a sandwich for me to finish and so payin 5quid for half a sandwich just never seemed worth it.

Which explains this beggar's answer to the Croque Monsieur.

I don't think I need to say much 'coz the pictures themselves will speak a thousand words....

Mmmmm.

Look at the cheese! Mmmm.

For my version, I used mild mozzarella slices instead of emmenthal or gruyère cheese (a much cheaper and healthier alternative I assure you) and replaced the ham slices between the bread with spinach (just coz I love spinach so! And am not a fan of... Well, meat).

Not usually one to praise my own cooking (since I hardly eat what I cook), but DAMN, this was GOOD.

So good, I suggest you try it too! xoxo.

the 1st update in donkey years

I've been negelecting my blog.

So today, I've decided to utilise the most of my weary bones and extra time to pump some life into my dormant blog.

First off, quick run down of the main 'highlights' of my life - finished year 1 of law school (exams were nightmarish); learnt golf from Dad; am living happily with Noel in HK; zipped off to Langkawi for a friend's wedding; finally set foot in Singapore after a good year and a half and had a blast of a good time meeting up old friends.

Loving the new me.

On a side note, stress piled on as I was heading into the first week of exams and so, as usual, I diluted the pressure by working my muscles into dough, butter and flour.

Here was my first ever attempt at making bread - Cinnamon rolls!

Food tasting. =) I miss you Kyle! I don't get to bake for you no more!

My verdict: I was a tad too conservative with the sugar so the bread came out a bit flat and tasteless. That said, I felt the bread wasn't as elastic/springy and airy as I would've liked it to be. I suppose it was because I hadn't let it proof for long enough.

Shall attempt it again once I get an oven!

My 2nd bake-fest came when I was soooooo stressed with studying contract law, I threw whatever I had into a bowl and kneaded like MAD.

Poof! Coffee scones.

These were YUM.

That's it for now!

Hope I'll be more conscientious in updating! Till next time!

Peace out!



C.
xoxox