honey drizzle

2008-12-07T06:35:00.000-08:00

Going away til christmas(: uh but before I leave I always start to feel homesick.

2008-12-03T07:52:00.000-08:00

Its confirmed, its chikungunya. Haha my house has always had an unusual high population of mosquitoes, so it was expected. But why chikungunya? The NEA people came today though, its been 5 cases so far I think, one in my house.

I've been making brioche today. Its probably the most therapeutic thing on earth. Haha its resting in the fridge overnight now it rises super fast. I love working with yeast(: Haha dough monster that wont stop growing. Browned butter with vanilla bean, browning the butter with 3 whole vanilla beans, the most flavourful butter! Thanks salad for your spices!!! Haha and the huge stack of precious vanilla beans. And cocoa beans(:

Im in such a mess today. Busy baking then helping out for my grandfather's birthday dinner. I dont know whats wrong with me I dropped 5 eggs on the floor today.

RMUN bbq last night. In short, a nightmare getting there, heavy rain, skewering sausages, drinking penalties (both kinds), scandalous card games. Haha but yeah it was fun seeing everybody again(: Ah Im missing the next ecosoc1 meetup ):

2008-11-30T20:20:00.000-08:00

Lemon apricot mousse cake. Lemon chiffon cake layers brushed with spicy ginger syrup, with lemon mousse and fresh apricots. For my grandfather's birthday dinner, which got cancelled so I'm trying to figure out a way to finish up the cake ): I've never used fresh apricots in a cake before, my mum bought a huge basket of them, so I tried using them in a lemon cake.

White chocolate raspberry cheesecake, for fellowship sunday. I decorated it with strawberries, which actually doesnt make any sense.. I used korean strawberries which looks nice whole but strange when cut up. I wish I didnt do it.

I kind of liked the cake, even though I dont like cheesecakes on the whole. It only had half the amount of cream cheese than in other cheesecakes. It has a sour cream topping too.

Making marshmallows. I've always wanted to try them.

Passionfruit marshmallows.

Whipping the mixture til its fluffy.

Cutting up the marshmallows and dusting with icing sugar. Its a bit sweet and didnt hold up well at room temp. Oh well, it makes good s'mores.

Another meringue nest with ice cream.

Saucepan chocolate fudge drops.

2008-11-29T21:03:00.000-08:00

The bar at sheryl's house.

Memories(:

Mani at btsp, with liana and cheryl.

2008-11-26T08:18:00.000-08:00

Iceskating at kallang. It was super expensive la. I havent iceskated in ages. Maisie was learning and it was grace fong's first time but in the end she was the one zipping around.

HAHAH, I cant stop laughing when i see this photo. Maisie deleted the original one. Hahaha sze wing's macro (with flash) which nearly blinded her.

Micheal's early birthday lunch(: At Kushin bo, haha we were all so greedy ended up really stuffed after that. Aileen came! I havent seen her in an age.

small group. haha fellowship at andrew's on sunday(:

2008-11-24T01:21:00.000-08:00

Meringue glacé. Meringue shell filled with honey vanilla bean ice cream and strawberries. I blame the weeping meringues on humid weather. They also coloured a bit): It was a little of a sugar overdose, with honey in the ice cream and meringue, but I love eating ice cream in meringue nests for the different textures.

I couldnt find lavender honey for the last few months. So I used a mixed floral one, it wasnt the same flavour.

Naan bread. I've always wanted to make homemade naan. It's my favourite of indian breads, and one of the fastest yeast-risen bread recipes. I dont have a tandoor oven, so the recipe called for cooking the bread in a wok.

With chopped coriander. I think there's special pleasure in making your own breads(: But this is nowhere near tear drop shape.

Baking in Sheryl's house(: We baked there last time, but I cant remember what we made. Chocolate eclairs(: Choux pastry filled with vanilla bean pastry cream glazed with bittersweet chocolate glaze.

Filling and glazing choux buns.

Shiny(:

2008-11-19T17:43:00.000-08:00

The weather has been so humid, and my meringues have been weeping. ):

Im in a bread making phrase(:

2008-11-17T06:10:00.000-08:00

Its amazing that O Levels are over. I tried counting and we roughly spent six months this year mugging. And having 10 weeks of freedom is overwhelming.

I cut my hair! Haha its not really that short but I took a long time to get used to it. Like when you try combing your hair it ends suddenly. Everybody cut their hair recently. And Sharon dyed hers. Haha I want to see(:

Friday was class outing to Sentosa. I havent been there in ages. It was going to rain though so we went back to vivo. Maisie's present arrived from hk that day, so on Saturday me and melinda mrted all the way to serangoon to drop it off. Haha we took mrt so many times that week we have become quite good at it(: Serangoon is the new cool.

Today with Tricia and Sze wing in town.

Time really flies! I cant believe its been two years. I was looking thru liana's old pictures. Oh gosh we looked so geeky and weird then, I guess we've all grown. We need a twotee party.

2008-11-17T04:37:00.000-08:00

(very) Overdue pictures (:

Vanilla Bean Poundcake. Plainly perfect staple, its like vanilla ice cream of the cake world.

Chocolate chip cookies. Not your average kind, One being it has NO chocolate chips, but chopped up Valrhona 80% dark chocolate feves, and it has hazelnut butter added(:

Haha the bread I woke up on 6am on my birthday to bake. Buttery cinnamon swirl rolls.

Ispahan! Finally made it again so I could take pictures this time. Baked it for the lit girls(: I love the Ispahan but its really expensive to make and I spent 5 hours in the kitchen for this, yes only special occasion(: My aunt gave me Rose extract for my birthday! Made from real rose petals, not the artificial bandung chemical esters. Its really exquisite. Rose scented macarons, with rose cream, raspberries and lychees.

2008-10-17T05:41:00.000-07:00

Surprise birthdays. We're so good at it we should start a company. Haha Cheryl you can be president.

My sweet sixteenth many moons ago in botanics(: I'm really grateful to all who came, and Cheryl and Melinda for planning it and the 'fake surprise'.

Cupcake from ivfen/jiani/xiaohui.

Maisie's, 111108. It gave us such a headache. And she knew.

Distraction techniques.

Choi Sze Wing! Lunch at NewYorkNewyork plus surprise at night in her house. Chocolate brownie cheesecake birthday cake, with my candles that we supposed to burn with a coloured flame for 7 minutes. Some couldnt even light up.

Maisie and Sandra on their newfound marshmallow roasting skills.

2008-09-06T02:54:00.000-07:00

Back to old school.

Haha tracing our heritage, with Cheryl and Melinda. Its a pretty compound anyway(: Except for the more than 100 steps. Free Wall e tickets! When we went to cathay some guys gave us three tickets that they 'accidentally bought'. And there were exactly 3 extra. Hahaha omg cheryl didnt spend a cent that day.

Vivo with Esther Meibin Sheryl and Nat. Sharon was sick): Make it happen was quite nice, haha plot cliched as most other dance movies. But they dance really well(:

Dinner at Novena with sophia grace f tricia maisie! (: Haha it was nice catching up. We ate so much(:

2008-09-05T17:42:00.000-07:00

Dark chocolate shortbread base, topped with strawberries and chocolate mousse. Strawberries on top as of previous charlotte. For RAD potluck party at anette's house on Sunday. Haha simpsons and retarded games at the park(: Mrs lim dropped by to give us our exam certificates with her husband too. Ah she brought petit fours from goodwood. We had so much food in the end, only ate about half of what we brought.

My stupid cake self destructed by the time it got there. The mousse is not stabilised with gelatin so it was more sensitive to temperature than I had thought.

Nicole! Haha my roulades always cracked for the first 3 tries. Yours is seriously not bad(: Hahaha okay chocolate raspberry roulade. Mixed about the recipes and oven times, actually ended up okay(: Flourless chocolate roll cake filled with whipped cream and raspberries.

2008-09-04T07:39:00.000-07:00

Not until the break of day from national day a long way back ago. Camwhoring and missing all the celebrations, jamie the next top photographer(:

Cherry focaccia. I love it really, sweet-savoury bread. I really need a proper cherry pitter, I use a piping tip as a makeshift and the cherries end up all deformed.

Raspberry Beignets, an italian doughnut filled with raspberry jam. Maybe its just me or I dont like anything fried. I dont think I fry doughnuts properly.

Matcha macarons with chocolate chestnut filling. I think more matcha powder in the macaron next time

2008-08-18T23:23:00.000-07:00

Fleur de lait, 'flower of milk' ice cream with kirsch marinated cherries in syrup.

RAD party after prelims(: Haha omg we have the weirdest juniors ever.

2008-07-30T23:52:00.001-07:00

SAJC's Rapture @ esplanade! Omg it was amazinggg. It was really inspiring, 20 items full of energy and passion for dance. Alicia is an incredible dancer! Haha she danced in 7 items in one night. I could hardly survive 4 for dance night. She's become so much a stronger dancer in SA. Haha now we all want to go there.

Kids on the move; tricia and felicia! The tiny ones who used to teach us plies in mrs lims. Omg they are really good at hiphop even though they are so small. Like they shake and everything(: And! Acs primary was a guest performer. By yutaki! Didnt know he could choreograph something we liked. Ah it was super cute, little kiddos acting cool with really cool durian spiky hairstyles. It was so adorable. Cresent girl's vitality performed again too(: I love their dance. It reminds me of dance fantasia when we were so wowed by their item.

There were 20 items, and all were really wow. The first item had ruggers inside, haha i didnt know zaki could think of such things. I love all their hiphop items, there was a really nice moulan rouge item, ballerinas doing punk, miss wee's item was nice too! Haha jamie and elaine were in the sba one. And the black and white zaki one which I really love.

Me sheryl, cherilyn, sharon, ally, vicky, sasa (:

Zaki! 'please come to sajc!' haha(:

2008-07-30T23:52:00.000-07:00

Founders day 08(: Haha these photos are long overdue. Most pictures from others.

Liz xie and her makeup(:

Next thing you know!

Cheryl's falsies.

Haha it was a blast, omg so fun.. Ee leng cheryl andrea zoe came to my house for makeup and hair before that. The makeup artist was pretty good(: We all had falsies! Everyone generally looked extremely pretty that night, so different all dressed up.

Yes and comm dance for the really last time. Haha I love comm. Time passed really fast though, it was over before we knew it. Took a million pictures, facebook is flooded with them. Ah omg, yes I will really miss mg(:

2008-07-20T06:55:00.000-07:00

Dance Sec4 farewell on Wed (:

I cant believe its our time to leave dance club already. The 4 years in mg dance have been amazing, all of us have grown so much. I love our 'gift', the sec 3s wrote notes and the pretty ballerina charm, it was more personal(: And thank you sec ones for the brownies/notes/paper cranes! It was really really sweet. I love our awesome juniors. It was a tearful farewell for the sec4s though, I couldnt ever imagine this day.

And yes omg omg founders! (: Next think you know one last last time.

sec fours<3

dance club 08!

Serene meetup with sophia tricia liana sze wing maisie. Gabby had something on.

We found a cool jap place(:

Saturday: Plmgs musical, My father's gift, with ecosoc1s audrey rachel andro and rich. It was really good(: Haha audrey and I couldnt stop laughing at cheryl and anisha.

Cook's assistants one and two! Haha anisha and cheryl you guys were amazing!

2008-07-11T03:19:00.000-07:00

Dance comm. High tea with Mrs Poh at Goodwood Park on mon! Missing Laura who had food poisoning): Ate/talked for three hours straight, haha Mrs poh kept asking us to eat more. The food was good though(: I think it made me realise how much we actually bonded as a comm since last year.

Milk chocolate espresso meringue mini cake. Espresso meringue layers speckled with freshly ground coffee, layered with swiss milk chocolate mousse. Topped with Kahlua whipped cream and a dusting of cocoa powder. For my dad's birthday(:

Dark chocolate souffle with black cherry sorbet. I love the purple black hue of the sorbet. Sauteeing bing cherries makes a really intense sorbet.

Fresh ginger ice cream with dark chocolate truffles. I dont like any spice flavored ice cream, but this one wasnt too strong . The ginger flavour was light and refreshing with nuggets of dark chocolate truffles(:

2008-07-07T07:29:00.000-07:00

MG DANCE NIGHT 08.

Seven whole months up to this day. All our sweat blood and tears(: I guess all the practices and meetings and cleanups were really worth it.

By God's grace(: Bliss for the really last time for sure, seniors back for practice again. And for night, holding hands backstage and praying, to evoke the emotions in the audience, and we did. Dance comm item, energy! Haha mrs poh giving us support from backstage. And n.u.t.b.o.d, our last dance as mg dancers. And between that frantic makeup and costume changes backstage.

It went too fast, days leading up to the day and before we knew it it was over. But I'm really grateful to the teachers whose dedication would not have made dance night possible. Also, dear joni dancers for sacrificing everybit of their recess/lunch we could find and coming extremely early on the day itself to practice. And DANCE COMM 08, I love you guys(:

After it was over. Properly, after receiving enough flowers to open flower shops and cleaning up and rearranging the tables when everyone had left. Debrief in the staffroom, bittersweet. What I felt was sadness that this was end of dance in mgs for good. After the highness of the day, it was really completion of dancing for 10 years in mg. And its been so much part of me. Tears came for the sec4 comm members. I will miss mg dance loads and loads♥

Sharon! Dance night was truly yours. Haha, we love your choreo(: You've been the most amazing president.

mascara for jaime

dance comm! ♥

2008-07-02T03:07:00.000-07:00

The past few days have been, overwhelming and exhausting. Today cleaned up joni's, smashed my toe and then had dance comm practice. Its never ending.

Well, all tickets have sold out. 900 tickets in 10 days have been quite a feat. We're opening up another 100 more seats(: Thank you, God for this opportunity.

2008-06-19T18:15:00.000-07:00

alicia plus sec 4 comm.

Dance camp for the past three days, and there's only one word to describe it - intensive. I seriously ache all over. We are doing bliss!! Teachers just told us a few days ago even when we had been pushing for it since months back. So we came early to practice before camp, and we have alot more cleaning up to do. Not sure if I can cope with so many items. Then mini-concert yesterday. I was seriously nervous, yeah screwed up some parts.

Rad results, I guess I'm really thankful. To Mrs Lim especially for the countless hours of practice in the months before the exam.

twoweekstwoweekstwoweeks.

Later:

Went to arab street to buy the organza for hall decorations. Walked around trying to find cheapest fabric. There was one stall owner who didnt know how to use a calculator. He would press X instead of ÷ and + instead of =. When he found out he couldnt get an answer he would just switch calculators and start over. Hahah but in the end a nice lady gave me a big discount because she knew I was on a budget. It was still a huge mistake, I really burst the budget.

2008-06-11T03:27:00.000-07:00

HAHA this is so cute. (: Macarons meet mother burger.

I was attacked by baboons yesterday.

2008-06-05T22:47:00.002-07:00

Passionfruit milk chocolate macaron. Such a Pierre Herme combination. Macarons sandwiched with milk chocolate passionfruit ganache. I tried Joycelyn Shu's macaron recipe this time, because I'm not very fond of the one I always use and given up (for now) on french meringue. It turned out to be quite successful, even though I got several cracked shells.

The passionfruit ganache, I think my ratio of liquid to chocolate was wrong. So it ended up more like a sauce even when I chilled it. I thought it was a gone case, until I started beating it and then it stiffened and thickened like magic! Hahaha okay not really, I probably whipped the cream in the ganache. But I didnt think it would behave like a whipped ganache since I replaced some of it with passionfruit puree.

Green and Black's organic milk chocolate.

3 different cocoa powders, all of different shades. Natural , dutch, dutch processed.

edited: Leaving tonight, thankfully the violence has died down.

2008-06-05T22:47:00.001-07:00

National Geog challenge. They were some random rmun people, mongolia in my council, and alicia from ym! Haha that was unexpected. Geoad: They gave us bright neon shirts to run around in and sealed our handphones as well as contact with the outside world.

It started raining badly, they had to suspend the trail. Our feet were drenched and soaked through for the entire day. The questions were difficult! Like once the station was at chinatown mrt, but we had to go to ang xiang hill guided by part of a shop's logo. Helped a lost looking RI guy gain 8 pts. We came up with alot of random answers, pretty much screwed up the round.

Geo-ad screening only the top 15 videos. Haha we were praying so hard we would get through this. Which we did, top 10 for geoad(: There were some pretty cool ones. Barker got first for geoad, but seriously we didnt get their video. RGS won overall. And during the grand finals sze wing and I probably pissed off a guy sitting in front of us.

foot reflexology

Went over to vivo at the other side of the island after that, for dinner at rmun council meetup. Haha I love my council. Some people left earlier though.

kim!

rachel back fromt thailand

remnants of ecosoc1.

2008-06-05T22:47:00.000-07:00

Dance comm outing on wed to shop for our costume. Haha it evolved several times throughout the day. But yes, we got it in the end(: This dance is really truly Sharon's.

dance prac yesterday.

Yesterday, crashed Ecosoc 3's meetup. Hahaha, extreme stalker-ism. Four of us in ecosoc1 met at dhoby, then went to novena where we bumped into the ga2s. Ecosoc 3 was a pretty easy group to spot. Followed them to a jap restaurant Revenue house, someplace I've never knew existed.

blank came in the end. It was quite weird, one long table, directors then ecosoc3 people, then crashers(: I think they mostly ignored us. It was kind of pre-meetup meeting, so I dont feel so bad on missing the real one. Hahaha our kill two birds with one stone theory! Ecosoc 1's meetup is on saturday which so happens to be geog challenge day. My entire inbox is flooded with rmun mail! I hope I can go for dinner after that, but I think I may be dead tired.

Ecosoc 1: Audrey, chandini, cheryl, me.

The crashers! Minus audrey who left early. Cheryl me, charis, sze wing, chandini, sulyn.

backgrounddd.

2008-06-03T03:59:00.000-07:00

Forest noir cake. The lack of alcohol has no longer inhibited me from cherries in desserts. Beneath the darkest of chocolate glazes, three layers of chocolate genoise cake layers brushed with cherry syrup. sweetened whipped cream and cherries. Topped with more fresh cherries.

In general, I get quite put off whenever I see other blackforest cakes in bakeries. Maybe its the name, or the fact its loaded with cream and cheap dyed cherries.

Cheryl Lam and I went shopping at vivo after church. Haha omg, (mostly window) shopped til we dropped. Cheryl tried her first creme brulee! (:

Went to school on Monday, loaded with more homework. Zaki practice later without zaki. We are so dead, dance night is so close already. Dance comm practice was crazy! Next thing you know ♥ Dance comm outing tomorrow!

2008-05-30T08:02:00.000-07:00

RMUN 2008. Actually a very interesting experience. Yeah, I hardly spoke and was absent for the conference half the time, but I dont regret joining. Its been such a learning journey. The people in my council are really nice, and made alot of new friends. It was hard getting used to all the formalities of the conference, the directors always had to interupt us midsentence to remind us to speak in third person. Point of personal priviledge! Haha we ended up refering to other delegates by their country instead of their names.

We passed two resolutions I think. One written by Japan and USA which passed pretty easily with some amendments. The other written by France and a whole lot of other countries was amended so much it almost changed form. We had to vote four times, and motion to divide the house before we could pass it by a slim margin.

RMUN crisis on the second day. North Korea wanted to launch an attack on South Korea because of a severe shortage of food. We combined councils to debate on the crisis, though I wished I stayed longer it was more interesting than our individual councils. At least there was a topic countries strongly conflicted on.

d&d! There was the weird name picking game but it didnt really work out. Some delegates/directors went up the stage to dance, omg some super funny. But according to Cheryl, people werent as enthusiastic as last year. We ended half an hour earlier, some people even left early. My council went for supper later but I couldnt go): End of RMUN, I kind of miss it. Council meet-ups(: Superlatives haha omg. And I still dont know who __ is.

Maisie koh, delegate of Mexico

Fashio parade! Emcees with ultra lame country name puns. I ran, i-ran!

Delegations of Mexico, Germany. Maisie in a dress, yes(:

Ecosoc 1! In picture: germany,mexico,columbia,belgium,israel,slovenia, myammar,libya,brazil,?,france,greece,south africa,japan,serbia,china, uk,russia,directors. Thank you to all the new friends I made in pl, rv, cedar, sc etc. And audrey rmun council partner(:

Rai, Ms talkative from brazil!

Cheryl and Anisha! (:

Cheryl! us with __ emcees for fashion parade. (haha near stalker-like behaviour)

2008-05-28T20:24:00.000-07:00

Mass of cupcakes.

Chocolate Eclairs. Choux pastry filled with vanilla bean pastry cream with chocolate glaze. Bad pictures. I remember when we made eclairs and cream puffs for home econs at the prima tower place. Haha I didnt really like working with choux pastry then, but its actually really fun(:

End of long week. Shuttling back and forth between school and RJ for dance, rmun and school. Next week, more dance. I think I forgot all my steps.

2008-05-25T06:30:00.000-07:00

The day I made 104 cupcakes. Two flavours, vanilla raspberry swirl ; chocolate banana swirl cupcakes. It was for my cousin's birthday party, but not many got eaten up. Well, I had fun baking them, practiced swirling for eternity.

Walked up to my aunt's house early to help out. Its quite stressful organising a birthday party for a four year old. Peranakan food, chocolate fountain, bouncy castle and the magician that repeated exactly all the same tricks and puns that he performed last year. I got a box of Valrhona in return(:

My parents are overly paranoid about xenophobic violence in South Africa. ):

2008-05-22T06:43:00.001-07:00

I've got alot of baking to do for the weekend. Mini-cupcakes for a party(:

MATCHA ice cream! I'm in love with matcha. And this green tea ice cream. Managed to get good quality matcha green tea powder from Japan. I wanted to make a dark chocolate green tea mousse cake for my mum, but I decided it was too precious(:

Vanilla bean strawberry mille-feuille, or "A thousand layers". Puff pastry layers with sliced strawberries and vanilla bean pastry cream. This is one of the rare things I make that my sister would eat.

Chocolate raspberry macarons. A few weeks ago I had alot of problems with macarons. I never achieved the result I had when I first tried macarons with french meringue. This must have been the third/forth batch of shells I made before I could actually fill them. Chocolate macaron shells, and raspberry macaron shells, filled with dark chocolate raspberry ganache.

Vanilla raspberry swirl cupcakes. Andrea says vanilla and raspberry are my favourite flavours. I think this is my favourite cupcake recipe. I had thought I had lost my vanilla bean cupcake recipe, but I adapted another one(: I thought the raspberry puree swirls were over-swirled before I baked them, but after coming out of the oven it looked even more dramatic.

Melting chocolate meringues. This is like eating a baked chocolate mousse in cookie form, with a thin crisp exterior. Very fragile meringues, very bittersweet, and nothing like I've ever tasted before. I love their rustic appearance(:

(azalea)

Fifth time. I need to start writing out the compiled recipe proper. I didnt have enough time is its just garnished with grated chocolate curls. Buttermilk chocolate cake base, sliced strawberries, white chocolate mousse.

2008-05-18T02:28:00.000-07:00

(After 60 days)

Midyrs are finally over. I'm really thankful. On Friday after dance I just came home and slept and made a chocolate pound cake. Baking, I havent touched my kitchenaid in a week.

On sunday, RMUN ecosoc1 council meet-up at Kap. Out of the 24 countries, 16 delegates turned up. We put up this make-shift 'Are you from Ecosoc 1?' sign because nobody really knew how everyone looked like. All of us seated on a long table, we had to stand in the middle to present our views. We were a weird bunch.

Truth and dare, or more like dare and dare. I think the macs staff wanted to kick us out. I left after nearly 3 hours and they were still writing the joint-resolution. Yeah but throught meeting up, I got to know the delegates on ecosoc1 a litte better.

Today, 4G class outing at East Coast! 18 of us turned up(: We got dunked in the sea, and miraculously found Salad's handphone amongst the waves. Rented bikes up and down East Coast, were one big bunch that kept blocking the way.

Geo-ad Earth destroyer! Finally closure after two months. After adding all the sound effects, it seemed really different and put everything together. The video has actually evolved quite a bit over the weeks. 'We might actually win!'

Father-mother group portrait!

Distracted while recording Salad's really cool GAMEOVER clip(:

(may3) Pictures I owe Sheryl from long long ago:

Mrs lim's preprimary.

2008-04-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

PIERRE HERME, world gourmet summit.

Mezza9, grand hyatt. It was fully booked, half of Singapore was there.

Dessert that night, Emotion Satine, Variation, dessert Ispahan

variation of chesnut, passionfruit and matcha green tea. Topped with passionfruit ice cream and a tuile.

Satine: Compote of passionfruit, seasoned orange segments, cream cheese cream, shortbread cubes.

My dessery ispahan!!(: Rose flavoured macaron biscuit, rose petal cream with raspberries and lychees. Lychee sorbet, rose petal aromas and raspberry sorbet. Omg, it was truly heavenly.

The ispahan.

Culiary Masterclass! at STB.

It was somewhat a smaller event than I expected, though the room was filled.

Pierre herme.

He spoke french during the masterclass, so another french chef was translating. Haha his accent was quite funny, he kept saying poof pastry for puff pastry.

He made two desserts, his revelation and tarte mogador. It was really complicated, I think it would take me a week to make them. Each dessert had 4 to 5 components. We also got the recipes as part of the class.

Andrea and me with the world's most famous pastry chef. He is visible annoyed, the crowd just thonged to get his autograph/take pictures. Hahaha, newspaper article the next day: Fans mob pastry guru. Such rock-starism.

Tasting! Tarte mogador: Shortcrust pastry, milk chocolate and passionfruit ganache with candied ginger, roasted caramelized pineapple with 3 types of vanilla (tahiti, mexico, madagascar) flourless chocolate cake, topped with a chocolate macaron.

Revelation: It was surprisingly good, usually I dont like anything that plays between the lines of savoury and sweet. Puff pastry with tomato, mascarpone vanilla bean cream with olive oil, studded with black olives, tomato and strawberry compote.

2008-04-14T01:27:00.000-07:00

I've been making macarons during the weekend and most batches have cracked. Its really depressing. Its been so long and I cant even bake properly. I need to master making good french meringue macarons.

Changed seats today. I will miss Jacq and Julia even though they always put stuff in my hair(: Haha now seating next to zhang hui and zoe.

Dance auditions. Sharon does it really well, like getting everybody to listen to her. I remember the auditions we held for the sec ones and how much we screwed up without her. For the first time, it was a dance club thing. Not like a zaki/bibiana/xiaolin item. The dance club is getting too cliquish. Dance night!

We're super dead for RMUN. Audition date is same day as our geog video. Hahahah omg the forums are really weird. Lets break the ice! Its alot more work than I imagined though, but everyone says its fun in the end.

2008-04-10T03:39:00.000-07:00

Geog quiz at acjc yesterday. Opening part was really weird, so do you think you can geog? Written component was not as bad as NUS though, more related to what we learn in the class. Amazingly we got through the second round! Maisie and I took part in geopardy, got paired up with SJI. It was so irritating the supposed 'easier questions' with less points were more difficult that the high point 'difficult' ones. We were really bad at first, I think we trailed throughout the whole round. The hurricane question!! Omg we so knew that one okay):

We caught up a bit at the end, didnt get past it but we didnt deserve it anyway. One of the SJI guys was a scholar who knew many people in our class. The other won the top 4 individual prize okay. We didnt know he was that smart! He just sat in one corner and didnt really say much. ACSI won though, quite surprisingly. Defending champion was dethroned, for once.

We finished comm dance today! Sharon is amazing(:

Mango, banana, simple syrup, mascarpone.

Makes mango mascarpone ice cream.

2008-04-06T02:54:00.000-07:00

I feel I'm really distracted nowadays. Like I cant sit still and concentrate for long. Maybe its this long term aim of midyears, prelim, olevels and everything seems so far far away. Okay midyears are creeping up soon. After that will be crazy.

Acjc quiz next week, will have to skip rad and I hate doing that. Especially since there's only 3 weeks left. I hope acjc wont be as bad as the nus quiz, it was only because of a miracle that we pulled through.

Oreo cake for my sister's birthday. Its been a long time since American styled cakes and tea breads. This was our black and white cake(: Although the crumb was more tender last time.

White sour cream oreo cake with bittersweet chocolate glaze. Shiny! (:

Thanks for trusting me enough to share.

2008-03-31T05:20:00.001-07:00

April Fools.

1. wearing our pe tshirts backwards
2. forming MARI ME for ms lau in the hot afternoon sun
3. fake hairy spider/lizard

I love my class! (:

I made a new friend today.

2008-03-31T05:20:00.000-07:00

Spontaneous writing: Why I like my class.

Tam mei: I dont like my class, I lurveeee my class. But seriously 4G is the most amazing class ever, I cant imagine myself being in any other.

Sec 4 Olympics. 4G won first for floorball, second handball and first for esther's awesome poster. (: I love our class olympics t-shirt! Opened the olympics with the ceremony, weird rituals and jiani the mc! Coming back to win games after losing in the first half, post match analysis, jacq our secret star. Went through 6 games, first place(: Quite incredible actually, we arent the best team, or practiced really hard. Maybe we are quite bonded as a team.

Giselle in the park! It was a really good thing we planned to go two hours before the performance, got a really good place. It was really really crowded later on, a thousand plust people packed into the grassy patch. Most prepared group, we had everything coordinated(: There was a large group of Sota girls, met Geraldine there too. Favourite bittersweet chocolate hazelnut cookies for picnic, Jiahui was allergic! Haha Jo an brought really good iced dragonfruit strawberry jelly dessert, me and esther scheming barter trade(:

Sheryl came from funorama, sharon as always was late. Went up to the building that was our dressing room for BUTS last year, good memories(: I remember sneaking down to the slanted stage and trying not to get noticed by the audience. The performance itself was really good!! Giselle and the queen of the willies was amazing.

Dead giselle

Willies!

Dying prince

sec 4s plus sec 1s

esther, its a bit late for breakfast.

our old dressing room.

All of us.

2008-03-26T03:47:00.000-07:00

Chocolate hazelnut pecan brownies. It has sour cream as an ingredient, so it kind of deep and a little cake like. But its one of my favourites. I finally found baking it in a shallow pan helps solve all oven timing difficulties.

Passionfruit gelato! I usually add raspberries when even I make this, but its much nicer without.

Pomegrenates. I finally learnt how to juice them properly, but its really messy. The whole kitchen is sprayed with the ruby red juice.

No churn pomegrenate ice cream. Yes I know anything no churn is filled with sugar and cream and more cream to keep it from freezing hard. But I didnt feel like making a custard that day.

Strawberry honey mascarpone tartlettes. I love making tarts(: But I dont really like the cream filling here, combination of honey and lemon makes it too sharp for the strawberries.

Chocolate short dough, tartlettes to be baked.

Filled with mascarpone lavender honey cream.

Strawberries on top(:

So pretty! Every blood orange is different when you cut them up.

Macaron shells. I cannot colour macaron shells properly. Ever. This was supposed to be a dark red but it ended up a weird pink. Pink is so not blood orange.

Mountain of blood orange macarons. I realised I could just add reduced blood orange juice to make a flavourful buttercream. But it was so sugaarrysweet when filled. I think maybe just blood orange curd next time.

Yiling's sweet sixteen today(: Hazelnut honey chocolate bee cake. Bees look retarded this time round. Haha it was so weird when I baked it, I made one cupcake and took it out of the oven too early and the bottom part was totally liquid. The main cake had a huge empty space at the bottom. I cant decipher the molecular gastronomy of the cake.

My sister is determined to go on a trip with her friends to Taiwan in June. Hellloo, even I dont go on overseas trips alone.

2008-03-23T06:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, RMUN conference briefing. Its crazy, so much research and work to be done. I'm doomed to three whole days speaking only in formal technical language, wearing school blazers and writing resolutions. We couldnt understand half of what they were saying. Mgs team 2 is Mexico! (: Which is so out of everything, but at least.

Later, ballet, bubble tea, and the maze of kampong chai chee. Joni's boyfriend is a super pro pianist. And I kept screwing up yesterday.

Today Easter! Ym easter play(: Hahaha traditional cinnamon/dark chocolate hot cross buns like at cedele, with my aunt and uncle like last year. I've received a ton of valrhona blocks from my dearest aunt(:

2008-03-13T01:22:00.000-07:00

I survived today! (: Nearly 6 hours of dance killsss. I dont think I will be able to do it again tomorrow. Haha and the little ones from chai chee came and demonstrated their free movement. Omg they are so cute half our size bobbing around during triple runs. Anette: I hope nat doesnt knock them over.

Vanilla bean creme brulee with golden raspberries. They sell golden raspberries in Singapore! I thought they were grapes at first by their colour. They taste like normal raspberries, but less intense.

I think it was just a little too rich. I made a matcha version, but the green tea was too subtle.

Blowtorch! I've wanted one since forever, but my mum thinks I'm going to set fire to the house.

I love making bruleeing the custards! My aunt lent me her blowtorch, its quite fun to see the sugar crystals caramelize into a thin golden shell. I didnt expect the flame to be so easy to control. I think I used up about half of the butane gas. When I try to brulee a custard, I have to stop a few times just to refill the gas in the blowtorch. Maybe I'm not doing it correctly.

More ubinnn pictures from hillary's blog.

This is so retarded.

2008-03-10T02:26:00.000-07:00

WE GOT IN!!! (:

Its amazing, incredible. We screwed up the entire paper and we still managed to get pass this round. Our chances were pretty slim, with 78 schools participating instead of last years 55. And choi sze wing you totally freaked me out, I thought you knew the results already. I could hardly dare open the email.

Only with God's grace could we have made it, and I'm really glad we have this opportunity. Geoad and geotrail here we come!

2008-03-09T18:02:00.000-07:00

YM destination again at pulau ubin.

Travelling there and back took a lot of time though. Bus, ferry, activites by crosstrainers at ubin, lunch, ferry, bus. Yes but it was fun outing, I guess we bonded more as a small group. Went arund kampong ubin playing station games. We didnt complete all, just went around for the fun of it.

Hahaha and others can i cannot was this 'secret station' that was actually two xtrainers offering us green tea and twisties. Yes, so having andrew in our group, it was inevitable for us to lose miserably without even knowing it. But seriously it was them who offered it to us, and we ignored the 'for xt only' written all over them. Actually xt can stand for a lot of things.

Aileen the gambling queen with her innocent elmo cards. Haha, bridge.

Gods people. Our banner(:

Giant man-eating fish.

2008-03-08T01:23:00.000-08:00

Last week:

Wednesday, Cheryl's sixteenth birthday(: Worst birthday cake surprise ever, our plan was foiled, so tried to get another 'surprise'. Piece of agaragar with a lighted skewer, hahahah.

Later met with maisie outside cheryl's bus stop and called her mum to let us in. Haha, she was very surprised(: Then after getting over it, we went to orchard and met up with liana for dinner. Artfriends and expensive cellophane paper.

Taka. What if the lift opens?

On Saturday, Geography challenge. Maze of buildings at NUS, waited for salad and grace fong to arrive. MCQ part was individual, I guess we all got thrown off by the global warming theme, so we hardly studied anything else. It was quite difficult though. Group part was better, mandai and eco-tourism. We had ideas, but very poor time management, scribbled down a proposal about huts without electricity in the middle of the forest in the very last minutes. Then lunch with ms tham at bukit timah market, she treated us to icecream at venezia(:

Later, inprompto buying of flowers for melinda and tam mei with cheryl at gutherie(: Band[age] was really good though! Tolstroy played really well! Hahah and astrid thought she found her soulmate, as a result of Bandage stamps that bore a very close resemblance to her birthmark. Redeeming the riot won in the end, which was well-deserved. Bandage comm did a great job! It was a pretty amazing night.

2008-03-06T03:28:00.000-08:00

MAISIE KOH GOT INTO ROUND TWO OF PHYSICS OLYMPIAD! Hahahah thats pretty amazing considering its someone who couldnt even log in to the system until 5 min before the competition. Well, studying the huge big college physics book she never wanted to touch again must suck. Its structured! But Maisie is a genius anyway. (:

2008-03-04T03:43:00.000-08:00

Working with caramel. (and chocolate) I've got a major phobia of caramel garnishes. They look so amazingly pretty I always think its impossible to make them at home. Caramel is really versatile though.

Testing for caramel, from transparent drops to dark red amber beads. Its like a rainbow!

Sneak:

I didnt intend to make spun sugar. But I had some caramel left and the threads were getting everywhere. I imagine they would look stunning on a dessert. One huge caveat, they dont hold up long in the humid weather.

Chocolate. Frustrates. Me. I dont know why maybe its the weather everytime I try to fashion something out of it it gums up against my spatula.

Canele. Their packaging is pretty(:

All the flavours they had that day. Dark chocolate, rose, cafe, violette, passionfruit milk chocolate, caramel fler de sel. Their macarons are quite good, better than bakerzin, which is such a franchise. The caramel sel macaron was the worst one I have ever tasted, I felt that I was trying to bite through dry plaster. Gunther's make better ones(:

I love making desserts, I think one thing that makes me really happy is that others enjoy them too. My parents get tensed up at the slightest hint that Im going to do it as a profession. Although I cant see the point of a job you have no interest in.

Chocolate peanut butter cupcake from long ago here.
Pretty cake minature figurines here. Evangeline of bossacafez says they are from action city. Omg, I wanttt. (:

2008-02-27T02:49:00.000-08:00

We passed physics olympiad!!! Hahaha yes, we're so proud of ourselves. Trying to skim through the thousand page plus book yesterday, nothing could go into my head. It was really last minute, considering we should have started 6 months ago. The content was way way beyong our understanding.

Stupid Maisie couldnt log in to her account since the start, she thought her account was expired. Then we realised that she missed out the last two letters of the course ID. We actually only worked out 10% of the questions, the rest we tried to attempt while referring to the big fat book. And then we just gave up and randomly guessed. I click option A, you try option C. Only up to the second law of thermodynamics was tested, and I tried to read though everything):

Through pure luck(: grace26/50, maisiekoh29/50. Hahah I'm so happy, although we are nowhere near getting through to the next round. In a way its good.

Splitting vanilla pod.

Spanish lavender honey vanilla bean ice cream. The honey was 50% off(: But it was still twice as expensive as house brands.

Caramelized peaches with cinnamon

Honey vanilla ice cream with caramelized peaches.

My parents have set a budget for my ingredients, which seriously sucks. Especially with inflation, prices of butter and cream have almost doubled since last year.

2008-02-24T00:32:00.001-08:00

Flourless Chocolate hazelnut torte, and whipped cream dusted with ground hazelnuts. I think I overbaked it a little, its a bit dry for a chocolate torte. I really need to find a good queen of sheba recipe.

Saturday ballet at Mrs lim's studio. Sheryl's mum gave me and natalie a lift to kampong chai chee. Audrey and glenda also went(: There were two small girls about pri 2 who joined us for fun. Hahah they are so cute! With their frilly/sparkly leos and perfect saut. Mrs lim is the most dedicated, patient, amazing ballet teacher I've met. We pay for only 2 hours of ballet every week, but she'll always stay back or arrange for extra lessons for free. So she teaches us about 6 hours every week, just to get us on track.

Fusion 08. Yeah half the world turned up. Worship was amazing and I think Pastor Alvin chan's sermon was very meaningful. Laura and some other seniors were dancing. After that me and cheryl sat outside watching people go by.

Guess who.

2008-02-21T02:36:00.000-08:00

PIERRE HERME IS COMING TO SINGAPORE!

Creator of the Ispahan, and most aclaimed pastry chef in France.

2008-02-12T06:15:00.000-08:00

Pecan praline black bottom bars. I cannot ever get brownie oven temperature right.

I tried a new macaron recipe! Macarons au blanc monté. Those was the kind of macarons that I first began with, and all failed miserably. So I was hesistant to step away from macaron au sucre cuit recipe that I use all the time. The latter requires an Italian meringue and sugar syrups and precise measurements. The first kind of macarons are as simple as making dacquoise, and for the first time I viewed macarons as baking rather than some complicated chemistry ritual.

Macarons au blanc monte are unstable, maybe I failed then because I didnt have any experience in baking macarons. Macaron au sucre cuit was a bridge for me. Im not an entire convert, either, although the easier kind tastes better (though denser) because of the higher proportion of almonds.

Valrhona dark chocolate Macarons. Adapted slightly from Chef Pang's (Canele) macaron recipe.

MACARON GLACEE! Ugly pictures, ice cream isnt cooperative when it comes to photos. Yes, Im so in love, its a first try though. I think the ice cream scoops are ugly. Macarons dont freeze, with such a high proportion of sugar (hygroscopic). So they remain the same texture as they are at room temperature, and the ice cream isnt all soft when you assemble and freeze ahead of time.

Dark chocolate macarons with hazelnut gelato.

Big fat scoop of gelato.

Chocolate strawberry macarons. I filled the macarons with dark chocolate ganache and sliced strawberries. The rest of the shells were raspberry chocolate; a raspberry hidden in chocolate ganache. Except that the raspberries werent good ones. You can never find flavourful berries in a tropical country.

Black cherry ice cream. I wonder how it turns a vivid purple when cherry puree is such a dark black-red. Looks more like fresh fig ice cream, but I love it anyway(:

2008-02-02T02:23:00.000-08:00

This year I think my pineapple tarts filling is too pineapple-ly. ): Maybe its because I added pineapple juice to the pineapples when boiling it down. Canele makes the best pineapple tarts.

Mandarin orange sorbet, served in mandarin peel. Its tastes as bright as its colour. I'm annoyed at my ice cream maker, its either I got a semi-faulty product, or its just not worth its pricetag.

Mandarins

Sorbet

Chocolate budini. Its quite a strange dessert. Its name is Italian for chocolate pudding, yet its like part molten chocolate cake, part warm chocolate mousse, and part souffle. And its ingredients bear similarity to a torte.

Masteringphysics has come back to haunt me. We are so dead.

2008-01-24T04:24:00.001-08:00

Its the time of the year again. Stirring and cooking pineapples for hours, making hundreds of tiny closed tarts.

Sometimes I feel that I'm so unsuited and incompetent for the task the I am about to begin. I think half my life revolves it, I'm just trying to stay on top of everything.

2008-01-24T04:24:00.000-08:00

Chinese O level results came out today. All of us in the LT, then one lao shi announced nobody got below b3. Which was really incredible. Because all of us were already thinking of the possibility of retaking. Then seeing our actual grade, never had I imagined myself as getting a 1 for Chinese. God is amazing. Although I have never studied harder for an exam, it never could be though my efforts alone.

Almost everyone in class started crying. Haha for me tears of joy and amazement. We were so emotional for one subject already, next year I think we might explode getting 9 subjects in a row. MGS did really well though, top scorer(: Looking at last years sec4s getting their results, next year is going to be our turn.

Tricia, Gabby and Sophia came back to mg today! Haha Mrs Pandian was absent again, so we had a mini 2tee gathering outside our classroom during history. I miss 2t. Later during dance there was a cockroach in the dance studio. Hahaha Zaki freaked out. But other than that it was a quite bad dance practice.

2008-01-20T01:09:00.000-08:00

Cheryl and I realised that her mum and my dad were both caught for speeding last week. At the same day, same time, same place, by the same guy. Haha on the way to church. Probably half the cars on the road exceed speed limits anyway.

This so cute(:

2008-01-18T20:14:00.002-08:00

Finally a successful roulade! My fourth try(: It cracked a little, but at least it didnt fall apart. Maybe a thinner sheet cake would have been easier to roll.

Bittersweet roulade with orange chantilly. Its a world apart from store bought roll cakes, with their tough sponges and greasy fillings. Flourless chocolate souffle batter baked in a half sheet pan, with orange perfumed whipped cream and orange peel.

I made a mini pave with left over batter and chantilly(: Its rather messy.

2008-01-18T20:14:00.000-08:00

Dance auditions for sec ones on thursday. Went rather well, although we could have done better on our part. Haha I think we scared off all the sec ones. Yes but there is still hope for syf next year. Later was dance night planning, cant wait cant wait(:

Vanilla bean ice cream with strawberries. Vanilla bean is my favourite ice cream, I love its floral perfume.

2008-01-10T05:09:00.001-08:00

CCA fair was okay. Thankfully we could have recess to set it up. Thank you to esther and janice for helping out(: Yes, the bamboo courtyard ceiling is false. We managed to hang it up from the ceiling in the end. 25 sec ones joined! Well, its not the quantity, but alot of them have dance background so thats awesome. We are still having auditions though. Thats quite intimidating, both ways. Haha during the whole time, the girl guides were roasting marshmallows behind us (and using it to bribe the secones) . Bad for business):

After ballet, Dinner with charlene and cheryl at park mall. Watsons lady tried to make us run errands for her, find this skinny lady at the sushi bar please and pay me what she owes. I got conned of my 65 cents. Later GAP at main church, larisa and tao han also went. It was kind of different from what I expected. It was like a big small group prayer/worship, reminded me a little of worship we had in Australia. GAP made me think about alot of things. Like my future and what God holds in store.

So take me as You find me
All my fears and failures
Fill my life again

I have no more bed tonight, we are completely changing the furniture our room and study):

2008-01-10T05:09:00.000-08:00

Rad yesterday, I managed to get everyone's contacts in my class(: Yes one small step to getting a complete contact list. We continued class after our slot ended, Mrs lim is a really nice teacher. She doesnt hide the fact that we're horrible, but its not like she gives up on us. Haha Bibiana's dance is so sexy. I cant wait to dance night though(:

Today our whole row was sick. Our throats was dying, me and julia drank like 10 bottles of water between us. Primary two girls harrass us at recess, even roaring at them doesnt work. Haha melinda and I go to the toilet to check their flushing habits. Can you please wash your hands? They were more hygienic last year.

I baked weird cupcakes. New dutch-process cocoa from hersheys, now the cupcakes taste like oreos. Its really really weird. The quality differs so much from valrhona, but so does the price.

CCA fair and GAP later tomorrow. We have so many costumes, its so hard to display. Raffia, hangers safety pins blue tack, and ceiling with holes to hang everything by. A lot to do tomorrow.

2008-01-08T00:29:00.001-08:00

On monday dance with Zaki. New dance choreography(: Haha finally! after a year. Much knee spinning, we did quite a lot in one day.

Completed our great barrier reef powerpoint, no idea why we volunteered to do it in the first place. But I learnt more I guess. All the other groups had nothing much in relation to the gbr, so we ended up doing the entire segment ourselves. I wish I could see our group present.

Chocolate cherry clafoutis. Alliteration(: Bing season is ending though.

2008-01-05T00:07:00.000-08:00

New layout, my last one was old and stinky. It was a phrase, I admit. I cant care now for powdered sugar frostings and gumpaste flowers. I realise it doesnt have to be a masterpiece to taste good.

Dark chocolate hazelnut cookies. Originally Bittersweet decadence cookies, I made a hazelnut version. Its a very very dark chocolate dough, I think there is more Valrhona chocolate in it than all the other ingredients combined. I love it the glossy-ness of it all(: Chewy outside, soft very bittersweet centre. I need to toast the hazelnuts, the flavour was too subtle.

2008-01-04T04:05:00.000-08:00

First week of school, I am really grateful for the weekends. Its only been three days, felt like a long week. Today I got forcefully signed up for sports day. Ballet later, I'm still doubtful about the exam. Not about actually about joining, but its been four years. I dont think I will be able to do it, its been too long.

After ballet, sheryl and I joined sharon and janice to decorate the recruitment boards. Glitter sprinkling, trying to use up the last remains of the glue, until our fingers cramped. I'm kind of in mini stress mode, after so long I forget what its like going to school. Teachers heaping a whole load in the first week, and also the next weeks without Sharon. Im apprehensive about it, and even she seems more worried about it than for herself.

I hope you;ll be okay(:

2008-01-01T02:07:00.000-08:00

New moist banana, everyone starts sprouting randomness.

maisie moist banana(!) says:
i like hippo
maisie moist banana(!) says:
yellow hippo
maisie moist banana(!) says:
stop compulsory education
maisie moist banana(!) says:
polar cakes voucher
sze (moist banana) omg its freaking january. again. says:
blue speakers run away
sze (moist banana) omg its freaking january. again. says:
hahahaha
sze (moist banana) omg its freaking january. again. says:
grey jackets smell funny
sze (moist banana) omg its freaking january. again. says:
ginseng tea under lockers
grace, (moist banana) says:
maisie moist banana(!) says:
egg tarts
maisie moist banana(!) says:
white hairbands
sze (moist banana) omg its freaking january. again. says:
crazy face pink flamingo
sze (moist banana) omg its freaking january. again. says:
wallet elephant doorknob love
sze (moist banana) omg its freaking january. again. says:
tired necks over white books
maisie moist banana(!) says:
big white envelopes
maisie moist banana(!) says:
contribute grace

We didnt get anything in the end. Hahahaha, love(:

2008-01-01T01:23:00.000-08:00

2008(: Its feeling strange though, its the start of everything all over again, o levels and getting used to everything again. 2007 has been a great year though, I've learnt so many things and did stuff I would not have believed I could have done. Sze wing's right, we've all grown up(:

Christmas present of a tonne of Valrhona dark chocolate from my aunt, thank you so much! 3 kilograms, will last a lifetime(: Meanwhile I have been attempting the Julia cake, yet I make mistakes so many times. Virtually everytime I bake I make mistakes. Yes, its supposed to be the way I should learn but sometimes I make far too many.

Chocolate genoise cake brushed with framboise syrup filled with vanilla creme fraiche and raspberries, wrapped with a chocolate band and topped with bittersweet chocolate glaze and raspberries. Yet again, I dont think I tempered the chocolate correctly, and the chocolate band cracked. The dumb chocolate glaze curdled, it was really weird. I couldnt get it to emusify properly.

Christmas baking: Dark chocolate espresso cookie sandwiches with kahlua buttercream filling.

Almond raspberry mini cakes. Actually its financiar batter baked in mini muffin pans.

I love why why love(: Haha, Ivfen agrees.

2007-12-28T19:20:00.001-08:00

Christmas baking, tiramisu. The genoise cake component was a disaster, experimented with oven temperatures and baking pans with bad results. But it was a very fun process(: Genoise cake brushed with Kahlua espresso syrup, layered with mascarpone cream, grated bittesweet chocolate and dusted with cocoa powder.

Yesterday, decorating dance noticeboard. Sharon the perfectionist, we ended up almost redoing the ballerina, at the end just the two of us, different colours for skin, leo, tights, tutu. Haha but it was fun. I love our board(:

And finally! Framboise(: Raspberry eau-de-vie liqueur.

I want a sea lion for a pet.

2007-12-22T17:22:00.000-08:00

Doing blue runs almost all day long. My muscles are aching like crazy, its exhausting. We finally graduated to blues though(: Blues are quite scary though, blacks are even more extreme. On the mountain the temperature is like -20 degrees, on the very top top the temperature drops even more. Your toes feel like they have frozen to ice cubes you cant even feel your nose. There is amazing powder here, it didnt stop snowing yesterday. They liken it to champagne.

Faux mountain climbing in Quito to the Andes. We cheated. We took this cable car up to 4100 metres above sea level, then climbed to reach the peak. We didnt reach it though, not enough time. The air was really really thin, every few metres you would stop gasping for breathe because of the sheer lack of oxygen. And the steep terrain. Altititude sickness, Quito is about 2.8 km above sea level, once we even used an oxygen tank at night.

And the Galapagos! It was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced, like seeing what the earth was a million years ago. With crystal clear waters, and creatures that are fearless of humans. Snorkelled with sharks, stingrays, turtles, marine iguanas, sea lions and penguins, among the usual fish. There are tropical penguins! The only kind in the world, they are tinyy. And the sea lions are the most adorable creatures on earth, whenever a group of snorkellers pass by, they would waddle into the water and swim with you. Its their form of entertainment.

Frustrating plane delays that extend hour after hour. I think we have been delayed more than 12 hours on the whole trip. That doesnt include waiting times.We got stranded at Miami, it was a total nightmare. I miss Singapore.

2007-12-07T05:48:00.000-08:00

Melted chocolate

Raspberries in sauce.

Chocolate raspberry molten cakes. Molten chocolate cakes with chocolate raspberry ganache truffle centre. I still cant unmold it properly though, so you cant see the molten truffle centre. Raspberries make such a vibrant puree. (:

Tuesday: Baking with tricia(:

Hazelnut macarons, with chocolate hazelnut filling.

Tricia's fabulous sliced strawberries! Hahaha she's an expert.

Chocolate roulade disaster no. 3. Everything goes smoothly until we try to roll it up.

Chocolate strawberry roulade cake. Bittersweet chocolate souffle cake sheet, filled with softly whipped cream and strawberries rolled up. It looks a disaster, but its good tasting(:

2007-12-02T05:42:00.001-08:00

Roasted banana ice cream with chocolate brownie. Roasted bananas in the ice cream give it more of a butterscotch flavour.

I finally got the perfect texture of the brownie using cocoa; chewy dense centre, crisp candylike top. Yeah but the chocolate flavour was very bland and not intense, I had used ordinary cocoa.

Project Doughnut: Vanilla bean and browned butter doughnuts. Making homemade doughnuts were an eyeopener, especially frying them. I probably shouldnt have done so though. Maybe its because I dont like doughnuts in the first place.

Cutting out the doughnuts, they were extremely soft and sticky.

Frying the doughnuts. It was really hard keeping the temperature of oil constant at 375F.

Doughnuts, twists and holes(: My twists are deformed, hahaha.

I didnt have a doughnut cutter so I used a measuring cup and piping tip instead! Haha(:

With a dusting of powdered sugar.

My camera got broken and fixed for the forth time. My dad is threatening to consficate it if I break it again. I think its for all the times I have dropped it. Haha almost every part of the camera has been replaced.

2007-11-30T23:59:00.000-08:00

Vanilla bean strawberry charlotte cake. Vanilla bean bavarian cream layered with balsamic macerated strawberries surrounded with ladyfingers brushed with mandarin orange syrup.

I learned from my mistakes in the mango charlotte, cut down the number of components and used a springform pan instead of a cake ring. This time it was good enough to eat(: Bavarian cream, almost like ice cream but at room temperature. It was what I had expected but a little too gelatinous.

First layer of strawberries, mandarin orange syrup brushed ladyfingers.

Strawberries on top of charlotte(:

Later at night: After unmoulding, with a regal red ribbon.

2007-11-29T07:00:00.000-08:00

Vanilla bean macarons. I love their floral sweetness. I think I got the oven temperature/timing this time. First batch was too dark (too high temp), second batch underbaked (too short time) but the last batch was okay. It didnt brown that much! (: You cant see much of the vanilla bean seeds from the picture though.

More dark chocolate love! Valrhona Guanaja and Michel Cluizel 70%. I have completely run out of Valrhona chocolate /cocoa powder for baking though. So I hesitate to make anything chocolate now.

Orchard with cheryl charlene maisie yesterday. Early game plan at cine in the tiny theatre. In far east, there was a bird inside the shopping centre! Cheryl went to chase it away, but later it flew into a shop we were in. I think it was lost. Haha charlene was symphathetic.

2007-11-25T02:53:00.001-08:00

Macarons from Paris!! Gift from aunt(: They are really really good, a assortment of different flavours (vanilla bean, dark chocolate, matcha, red bean, citrus, strawberry, coffee and some I cant identify). They look rustic, not like those with specimen types that are baked just for photoshoots. But they taste a million times better.

Raspberry chocolate cake. Chocolate genoise layers filled with mascarpone cream embedded with fresh raspberries, glazed with chocolate ganache and wrapped in a ruffled chocolate band and topped with some raspberries. Led to an once in a life time opportunity(:

Fresh mint ice cream with homemade fudgy chocolate chunks. Not like those neon green frozen confections, but infused with chopped mint leaves not flavouring. Very herbal, different taste sensation from after eights. Homemade chunks untempers the chocolate, so melts quicker in the mouth.

Hazelnut vanilla bean cheesecake with hazelnut shortbread crust. I found hazelnut butter(:

Honey oatmeal bread. I find this is the only bread that I keep making over and over again.

A million disasters this week, from uneven chocolate bands, cracked roulades, unset charlottes, thick sorbets. Inexperience plagues everything that I do.

2007-11-21T04:54:00.001-08:00

Australia measurement meeting in school with Nicole and Jacq today. Haha it was a really short meeting, I left earlier while Nicole and Jacq were still catching up on critical friend posts. I think I'm sick and my throat is burning. Side trip to buy rolled oats from coronation(:

These days Im just wishing time to pass by more quickly, but not necessary days. I've got a million things to do and no mood to do it. Watching Julia Child on the PBS programmes online, when my internet is working properly. Jacques torres and his chocolate presentation! Haha watching them use chocolate like its water, and he makes tempering look so easy. I bought his book(:

2007-11-13T05:31:00.001-08:00

Working with chocolate: Lets say it was a very bad experience. Its easy to give up when you have just wasted another 9 ounces of chocolate, your counter and everything else covered in a sticky, gummy mess.

One day I will get chocolate ruffles. (Picture from flickr user Jason & Amber)

Happy birthday Sze wing! (:

Haha yesterday Sze Wing, Liana and me dragged out a dead tired Maisie to Orchard to watch Stardust! It was really good, better than the book. Then we cabbed to serene and met Tricia and Shuyi. Birthday cake times three, plus 20 pretty golden candles(:

Today, lemon poppy seed layer cake.

2007-11-12T04:03:00.000-08:00

Folding whipped egg whites into chocolate batter.

Fallen chocolate souffle cake, according to the recipe. Its not really a fallen souffle, the texture is not as etheral and light, and it doesnt fall that much. Its more of gateau reine de saba, just lower in fat.

With banana sorbet.

I made basil ice cream today! Haha I felt like I was making some kind of basil cream soup and freezing it. Not for me, but as a gift. Actually its quite nice, lemon-scented and herbaceous. I was trying to puree the basil leaves with cream in the food processor but ended up getting basil whipped cream instead.

2007-11-11T04:03:00.001-08:00

Happy birthday Maisie Koh(:

2007-11-11T04:03:00.000-08:00

White chocolate and passionfruit cupcake, used my gumpaste flowers from long ago.

Passionfruit fool

White chocolate whisper cupcake, with passionfruit mousse frosting. Too soft to pipe anyway. Cupcake just has a whisper of cocoa butter.

Blackberry sorbet. I keep on making sorbets nowadays, they are too easy. You just puree fruit add sugar and water and freezeeee. (:

2007-11-09T00:17:00.001-08:00

Australia, Indescribable.

Its been the most amazing experience, I have had so much fun, saw many incredible things, made new friends. I have never seen ocean waters so blue, so clear (better than swimming pools), trees so tall, so old, biodiversity so rich, lakes so deep, rainforests so lush, so untouched, creatures so big, so unimaginable.

For one, I really glad for my bunkmates, Carisser, Nicole Chan, Andrea Fang, Jacq and Claire. I got to know people I never knew before, and make new friends. And on the last night in Bohemia, the name game(: I also got to know other people on the trip, like Min Feng and Joanne and everybody else. We didnt exactly break completely out of our cliques, but at least we bonded a bit. And before the trip I was dreading the fact I would be with people I wasnt close to.

I'm also thankful for teachers like Miss Yang and Mrs McDougall for going with us on the trip. They are the most patient and understanding teachers, who showed us how to appreciate God's creation, the trip wont have been the same without them. And for the Ming palace incident, for them knowing that it was a genuine mistake and being so understanding about it. Sorry to sze wing maisie and andrea for getting you guys worried.

2007-11-09T00:17:00.000-08:00

Australia, more pictures

Movie World!

Superman the ride.

One foot in New South Wales: 10am, another foot in Queensland: 11am.

Skyrail.

Skyrail over Barron gorge tropical rainforest. Lets donate to save the rainforest! Andrea says, nope, I will just pray for it tonight.

Kauri pine, this one is not yet fully grown, the oldest we saw was 1100 years old.

Jacq(: With the cows at the chocolate and cheese factory.

Lake Barrine, one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

The cruise details

Bohemian Resort, luxury accomadation for affordable prices. Well its true thats its affordable, $26 for 6 people per night.

Yabby pumping.

Fed pelicans with stinky sardines.

Jamie Oliver tells us catches a crab with dead mullet fish.

A walk in the mangroves.

Whale-watching! We saw quite a few, and they keep 'waving' at us by slapping their pectoral fins on the water. Sze wing likes her ponytail.

Snorkelling at Wavebreak Island. Quite traumatic, it was so freezing cold even before we stepped into the water, the wind was really strong. Huddled around shivering in the boat, while we waited for our turn as the rest swam in the frigid waters. We did see some fish, but it was so murky and cold you couldnt really see anything.

Green Island jetty.

Snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef! Water is incredibly clear, you could see all the way to the bottom. We didnt know we were going to snorkel there at first. The GBR was a million times better than Wavebreak. There were hundreds of fish, too many kinds to count, of different sizes shapes and colours. Not only fish, but hard/soft coral, sponges, sea cucumbers, clams, jellyfish, sea grass and a supposed turtle. We also saw a car wash, in where small fish were clean a bigger fish, by pecking at its scales, even going inside its mouth to eat the dead matter, symbiotic. Fun part was following a greedy parrotfish, making really loud noises as it fed.

2007-10-29T21:54:00.001-07:00

Chinese O levels over, what a relief(:

Warm bittersweet chocolate mousse. From Bittersweet by Alice Medrich. She has very interesting techniques and recipes. A chocolate mousse recipe thats baked instead of chilled, which eliminates tempering of eggs. Served with icy frozen raspberries, because chocolate on its own is an overkill.

2007-10-26T19:56:00.002-07:00

White chocolate ice cream. I think its an illusion that white chocolate seems more elegant in ice cream rather than bar form. Its not real chocolate, but chocolate isnt always a basis for comparism.

Im fed up with my ice cream maker. It makes good ice cream, but takes hours longer than it should, for which I have to listen to blender-loud noises coming from the kitchen.

Dark chocolate peanut butter torte with white chocolate ice cream. Making the torte is incredibly fun, you seem to make frosting, melt and whip whip. Then you pour it into a pan and bake it(: I would try it with hazelnut butter another time.

Chocolate banana swirl cupcake. For Astrid/ttm/eeleng.

3g cake(: Dark chocolate cake base with strawberries and white chocolate mousse. Extremely bad picture, it was completed at night and never got to see the day. Inspired by La Tartine Gourmande. Her pictures are extremely pretty.

Hazelnut chocolate meringue ice cream cake. Chocolate pavlova layered with hazelnut gelato. Pavlova doesnt freeze, the merits of a high sugar content.

2007-10-26T19:56:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, church camp kind of worship, after like 10 months. Its weird after so such a long time then we have something big during combined service and rest of the time is normal. Cheryl you should have stayed(:

Dance night planning starts, pros and cons(:

Meanwhile I try to figure out how to study for a language.

2007-10-26T19:56:00.000-07:00

Valrhona dark chocolate raspberry brownies. I used to think brownies were extremely cliched, everybody makes them. But if you take a very good brownie recipe made with very dark chocolate and add raspberries, it becomes something different altogether. When refrigerated it becomes truffle-like, dark and dense.

Vanilla bean mascapone gelato with pine nuts. I love vanilla beans, mascapone and pine nuts. The gelato is really different from anything else, the flavour combination goes really well though.

2007-10-19T05:14:00.000-07:00

My really bad history marks were pulled up tremendously by social studies, almost 4 grades. I'm so thankful. That lessens my depressed mood over the week, God really answers prayers.

2007-10-15T23:45:00.001-07:00

Strawberry and vanilla bean cake. Strawberries and cream in cake form, for my grandma's birthday(: Vanilla genoise cake brushed with strawberry syrup layered with macerated strawberries, filled and frosted with vanilla bean chantilly cream.

Making the cake was happiness, whipping the eggs and sugar and watch it climb higher and high up the mixer bowl till it tripled in volume, macerating the strawberries until they were dripping in their juices, whipping the vanilla bean perfumed whipped cream.

Bad pictures, was late for the dinner. I bought cookbooks today, and got really cute cookie cutters for my birthday(:

My ice cream maker works!

2007-10-15T23:45:00.000-07:00

Blood orange poppy seed macarons. I'm really happy, this was my most successful batch. Almost all came out identical. I always had a problem for consistency, half of my batch would look okay, and the rest ran into each other, had misproportionate feet and cracked.
The macarons didnt really taste like blood oranges, rather like oranges. Maybe because the buttercream was flavoured with blood orange curd. The poppy seed flavour was too subtle, I should have added more to the macaron shells, I had enough poppy seeds to last me a lifetime.

I'm not good with colour. The finished macarons didnt look anything like what blood orange macarons should look like, with no relation to the colour of its dark ruby juice that gave it its name. Maybe more rose, and orange. And I didnt want to colour the buttercream. The oven time and temperature needs some experimenting, I think I baked mine at too high a temperature at a shorter period of time. The macarons discoloured.

2007-10-11T05:12:00.000-07:00

Chocolate Kahlua truffle cake. Its called by a lot of names, chocolate intensity, chocolate indulgence, chocolate oblivion, and more. Its just a flourless chocolate cake, with no almonds or other kind of nut for structure. It doesnt have a crumb, texture is like truffles, but softer and smoother. And the coffee flavour is quite strong, the original recipe didnt call for Kahlua.

My springform pan isnt a hundred percent leakproof, and I should have know better. So some water from the waterbath seeped into the springform even when I wrapped it twice with aluminium foil. It didnt spoil the cake, but someone's portion had to be sacrificed. I need to get more cake pans. And, the cake slice was chilled when I sifted over the icing sugar, water condensed on it, forming an ugly sticky glaze. It spoiled the presentation. And I wish I had better cake cutting skills.

Its good with raspberries. And blood orange sauce. I found blood oranges too at ntuc, of all places. Its really nice to go to a supermarket and they stock things you think they wouldnt. Like pomegranates, or blood oranges or passionfruit or rhubarb.

Jong is in love with David Lebovitz too(: His ice cream book still eludes me, either they dont stock it, or I forget to bring the voucher.

2007-10-09T00:17:00.000-07:00

Green Island, in the rainforest.

Australia, indescribable. Our theme song really matches(:

It was the most amazing experience, I had so much fun, saw so many incredible things, and made many more friends. Never had I seen waters so blue, so even-better-than-swimming-pool-water clear, biodiversity so rich, trees so old, lakes so deep, creatures so big, so unimaginable.

For one, I really got to know my bunkmates better, Carisser Nicole Andrea Fang Jacq and Claire. I couldnt have asked for nicer bunkmates. I got to know people I didnt know before, and make new friends. And the last night in bohemia playing the name game(: Also I got to know people like Min Feng and Joanne too. We didnt exactly break out of our cliques , but at least we bonded a bit.

I'm really glad for the teachers who came with us, Miss Yang and Mrs McDougall. They are the most patient and understanding teachers. Mrs McDougall for encouraging us to write our journals, even though we didnt like it, but I discovered much more by writing my thoughts down. Miss Yang for reading it and writing really sweet notes back. They knew that the Ming Palace incident was a genuine mistake, and were really understanding about it. And I'm sorry Sze wing, maisie and andrea for getting you guys worried.

2007-09-23T02:31:00.000-07:00

The next wave 15, last public performance of Bliss. We were so sick and tired of the dance, but we were all sad to stand at the wings, knowing it would be the last time. Before this I was annoyed why there had to be a performance near the exams, but I'm glad we had this opportunity. We got to dance along with the nus dancers, who are all really good and probably all in SDT.

Oh, nus restaged vjc's Taal as Eternal! I love love that dance(: . Nus dancers had much better technique and it was way nicer watching it live. Some of the other dances were just disturbing. And we got to meet Zaini . He can dance! Very well too, he has his own solo in his chereography. But Zaki didnt perform, we never got to see him without his hat.

Everyday it was mostly the same, bun, makeup, full dress, company warm-up . Zaini's warm up on stage facing a thousand seats was interesting. We never knew what to do(: We got to watch on the first day, until minutes away from our item. We ran all the way down from the gallery to backstage, it was a mad rush, making sure nobody saw us. We fit all 23 of us plus Mrs Phua into one tiny lift! Haha and we still had space for yiling if she was there.

It was different, the last time without the sec fours. But they came to watch us too(: And we got to perform with Jerlyn, Nana and Rachel, who skipped school for practices. Bliss has been one amazing journey.

Sec 3 dancers<3 Zaki bought us a million lollipops! Hahaha can you imagine zaki in candy empire?

3 crazies.

Zaini's balinese walk.

2007-09-16T04:14:00.000-07:00

My dumb new ice cream maker doesnt work. Make ice cream, churn for hours and it doesnt freeze. I tried twice, then decided it must be something in the raspberry ice cream mix that has mysterious anti-freezing properties. I was so frustrated I just still-freezed it with a food processor. So now its like an icy granita.

I made a completely different ice cream and tried churning. It always became cold, but not cold enough to freeze. When I tried it with my aunt's ice cream maker of the same model, I got perfect Vanilla frozen yoghurt. So now my ice cream maker's back in its box, I dont think I will take it out again.

With blackberries.

2007-09-09T02:45:00.000-07:00

Asparagus cupcakes. Just kidding, my mum keeps on calling it that. Vanilla cupcakes with strawberry centre and pistachio buttercream. The buttercream is made partly from pastry cream, more refined texture. I dont like pistachios though.

Honey bee mini cake. Hazelnut honey cake with chocolate creme friache frosting. I used yellow tinted white chocolate putty to make the bees instead of mazipan, it tastes as good as it looks(: The cake has so much beaten egg whites in it, its so light and airy its almost like chiffon. I really like the frosting.

2007-09-06T00:00:00.000-07:00

Ugly cake(: Flourless chocolate almond torte, the kind that is baked to be eaten, not to be looked at. Being flourless, it has a lighter and moist texture than ordinary chocolate cakes. I like it alot, its more satisfying to make than cupcakes or macarons, better to eat too.

I couldnt be bothered to line the springform with baking paper, so the cake has an ugly patterned top.

After exams: Make marshmallow fondant!

2007-09-02T19:56:00.000-07:00

Raspberry honey creme fraiche tart. I made my own creme fraiche(: Its just leaving cream and some buttermilk at room temp for the bacteria to grow and thicken it. Reminds me of yoghurt making. I really like this tart though.

Honey drizzled raspberries.

Vanilla bean ice cream

2007-09-02T02:29:00.000-07:00

Went over to my aunts house, churned my vanilla bean ice cream with her brand new cusinart pro ice cream maker(: It made the creamiest and smoothest ice cream that my very old second-hand ice cream maker had never achieved. By the time I had ran all the way back to my house, most of it had melted. ): Im getting it for my birthday, so no more running up and down the street.

And, I really need to get this book! By David Lebovitz.

2007-08-31T03:33:00.001-07:00

Raspberry chocolate cupcake with white chocolate whipped ganache for teachers day. The white chocolate didnt stabilise the cream enough for these cupcake to be stored at room temperature though. And in the fridge the cake turned dense and fudgy.

Today assembly was bizzare. We forgot to go downstairs, faced the small flag in class at attention to make up for our mistake. Turned the clock backwards and discarded watches, hahaha it was really funny. But other than that today was blah, me and cheryl ended up watching the clouds to save us from direct sunlight.

2007-08-29T04:28:00.000-07:00

Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Cupcakes, for xls. I shouldnt have added chopped dark chocolate into the cupcakes, it made it too chocolatey.

Im really sick of school, and everything else at the moment.

2007-08-27T03:13:00.000-07:00

I really need to stop being addicted to flickr. ):

The British send an envoy to the USSR by boat to negociate- too slow.
By boat? Boat takes 2 weeks to get there!

Hahahaha, it was funnier then. Thank you Liana for the lovely cds! <3

2007-08-24T23:08:00.000-07:00

Passionfruit and mango macarons. This batch wasnt too good, the feet wasnt consistent and some ran into each other. ): I scraped the hi hat cupcakes for this, but it was quite disappointing.

My tuition teacher gave me water babies. Ivfen would like them(:

2007-08-24T19:47:00.000-07:00

17 eggs, 5 cups of sugar, and 50 cupcakes later.

Baking cupcakes for wesley food fair. Its a first for mass baking, I've never done a so many cupcakes at one go before. It was a much larger project than I had expected. Brownies was the original idea, my aunt finally agreed to cupcakes, she thought they wont sell.

Valrhona dark chocolate cupcakes with vanilla bean buttercream. I didnt want to use up my only stock of good quality vanilla beans, so I used one bean plus vanilla paste. The cupcakes were one of the better ones, smbc is really heavenly(:

But mass baking gets me so exhausted though. Carrying trayfuls of cupcakes up and down the hill to my aunts house at midnight, where she was still baking her way to her 50th loaf cake. Loaf cakes must have been much worse, it takes alot of batter and lots of baking time. Haha I got more Valrhona and a huge jar of poppy seeds to last my as a lifetime as a gift.

I lovee the vanilla flecks in the frosting(:

With bittersweet chocolate curls.

Outtakes, the next day.

2007-08-19T02:19:00.001-07:00

Lemon cupcakes by Joycelyn shu, I ate these! Haha, they taste quite good too, they are so pretty and very very detailed.

Joycelyn shu's having another cupcake (christmas) class at shermays(: My aunt was talking about the cookie class though, and only someone like Jaime is qualified to make such elaborate detailed piping designs.

2007-08-19T02:19:00.000-07:00

Im exhausted. I think I shouldnt attempt to bake and fill macarons at one go, macarons take alot of time to make. And its not like breadmaking when alot of time is waiting for the dough to rise, macarons need alot of active time. It wears me out.

Anyway today is a good day, I went with my aunt to shop for Wesley's church fair bakesale. She bought enough ingredients that could have lasted in my kitchen for a year, and more baking pans and equipment. Haha I snuck some stuff in (hazelnut extract!) (:

Valrhona Dark Chocolate Macarons and Chocolate Macarons with Nutella buttercream. I used my valrhona araguani dark chocolate in the swiss meringue buttercream, its so expensive though. I heard that theres a cheaper source for $30 a kg. I also made Nutella buttercream to fill half of the macarons, because Liana likes Nutella. I think.

2007-08-17T00:21:00.002-07:00

Chocolate orange cupcakes with orange chantilly. Cupcake base is flourless and butterless, but with one whole orange in it(: Orange chantilly made with reduced orange juice until it was a really thick syrup. I think the acid of the orange curdles the cream slightly so it tastes like buttermilk. But I could just eat the chantilly, its tastes like orange ice cream.

Topped with orange peel and bittersweet chocolate curls.

2007-08-17T00:21:00.000-07:00

Passionfruit macarons. I am a bit disappointed with the colour, I added far too litte food colouring in the macaron shell, so its a very pale rose orange. The passionfruit meringue buttercream, involved making of the passionfruit curd as well. Its good, but reminds me too much of lemon curd.

SMBC!(: