I am back...

Sorry for the long absence.... I have not been baking because I was away on a family vacation in Western Australia. Visited the Margaret River region. I did not have much time to shop, but when I did get a chance to enter any homeware stores... my eyes would be darting around, hunting for baking wares! My aim was to look for items that are uncommon in my home land... and yes, I did managed to find a few things. I will be baking again very soon.... eager to try out the vanilla bean dusting sugar!

Black Sesame Chiffon Cake

This is the first time I am icing a cake, and apparently I am not very good at it. Cake decorating is a messy business, and takes a lot of effort and concentration. I hope practice will make perfect eventually. The cake itself is a black sesame chiffon cake. I was expecting the cake to be totally black, but I guess I did not use enough black sesame for that to happen. Nevertheless, the cake still taste pretty decent. I am definitely going to bake this again.

Chocolate Almond Cookies

Chocolate cookies with almond bits embedded. They are not too sweet and rather crunchy. A nice snack that goes with coffee or tea. I think I will make more of these during Christmas.

Polvorones

I have been neglecting this blog a little for the last few weeks. In between, I was actively addicted to games on Facebook, discussion threads in some forums, as well as shopping sprees at the malls. I was also away on a short vacation. Having realized the seriousness of my addiction to Facebook, I decided I should pull myself away from those games for a while and do something more constructive, like BAKE SOMETHING!!! I also realized that Christmas season is approaching, so I should start thinking about what to bake for family and friends this coming December. As a start, I tried baking these Latin-American and Spanish traditional shortbread called Polvorones. They have a 'melt-in-the-mouth' texture and are usually served during the festive seasons like Christmas. I made a small batch for testing and it was well received by my sons! Now that I am in the mood to bake again, I am going to find a few more recipes and try them out one by one during the pockets of free time that I have in between sending and fetching my sons to and from school.

Matcha Macarons

I have a bottle of matcha ( green tea ) powder that I have always wanted to use for baking something with. Finally, I found some time last Thursday to make a batch of matcha macarons. The matcha powder gave the macaron shells a very nice hue of green. I did not need to add any additional food coloring to the mixture at all. Also, I baked these macarons with a friend in mind. I had promised to bake something for her, but due to my busy schedule, it was always being procrastinated. So I am very glad that I have finally fulfilled my promise.

Baby Full Month ( 满月 ) Cupcakes

Baby shower cupcakes in pastel blue and white theme baked for baby Sheldon's first-month celebration party. The cupcakes were decorated with baby's favorite things, including milk bottles, pacifier, bibs, pram, rattles, booties etc. I had great fun making these cupcake toppers, as they brought back memories of the days when my sons were new born babies. Reaching first month was a big milestone for both my babies and myself. It is great joy to see the baby growing in leaps and bounds within a month's time, and it also brings great sense of pride for parents, especially the first time parents! Happy first-month, Sheldon, and here's wishing you a beautiful life ahead!

Tee Off Cupcakes

These vanilla and chocolate chip cupcakes were for my neighbor, who is an avid golfer. The wife ordered the cupcakes for his upcoming birthday. It took me a while to hand-mould the golf bags, golf clubs and golf balls, but at the end of the day, I was pretty happy with the outcome. I hope the family enjoys the cupcakes.... and P, if you are reading this... the Poh family is wishing you a very happy birthday, and may you be blessed with everything nice throughout the year! Bon anniversaire!