Preivously before the weekend, we had a pot luck in my company and I made sandiwches for everybody!

It contained:
toasted bread
glaric lemon mayo
smoked salmon
salami
romane lettuce
spinch

This was an instant sell out! One thing I didn't like was how I toasted the bread, it just made it more dry and crunchy. Ew.

It was a frigging crazy weekend! Two surprise parties, lots of yelling, ball, working out and of course arguing with the lady in red =\.

Saturday was a birthday surpise for Angel; my church friend. Jackie wanted me to bake a nice cheesecake for his girlfriend and gave me strict instructions to make sure it was good. Oh trust me, it was good. I used Jamie Oliver's reciepe for the cake and it turned out fantastic. Instead of using cream, I used milk this time and it actually wasn't bad at all. The milk made it more creamy in my opinion and gave it a smooth texture. Too bad I didn't get any pictures of people enjoying it but you get the picture.

Vanilla Cheesecake

Oven 350F
11 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
9oz digestive biscuits
1/2 cup superfine sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2lb cream cheese
1/2 cream
2 large eggs
1 vanilla bean or extract
1 zest of lemon
1 zest orange

sandwiches for the company

pre-oven cheesecake

yay done

old school friends

angel the bday girl

katy's bday!

Okay, how mad are you guys? No seriously. I know I have been so out of the radar but the only excuse I have is, I have been busy. Wait, no, I take that back. I am just so lazy to pick myself up and cook/bake. You caught me and now I owe you guys a few posts. It's always so weird coming back from a long vacation and a period where I haven't post no more. I know I lost most of you guy but thats okay, whenever you need me, I am here.

Anyways through the long weekend, I got a chance to bake a nice cotton soft japanse cheesecake. Please take a look.


Ingredients:

* 250ml milk
* 250 gm cream cheese, cubed and softened at room temperature
* 60 gm butter, softened at room temperature
* 6 egg yolks
* 55 gm cake flour
* 20 gm corn flour
* 1 lemon zest
* 6 egg whites
* 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
* 130 gm caster sugar

for the love of cake

double boil the milk and cream cheese

add egg yolks

add flour, corn starch

beat egg whites, add cream of tar tar, sugar

fold in egg whites

bake with water on a tray

done =)

"I love you like a love song baby, I, I love you like a love song baby..." Oh my, seems like I got Selena Gomez fever now instead of Bieber fever. The song just grew on me, its so catchy!

Hi again friends, how are you guys doing?! Each time I write up a new blog, I have no clue what I'm talking about but then again what do we know nowadays right? You are in a real treat today, I started cooking again. Well not really, but its been a while since I cooked something. This is a start. The lady friend wanted brunch yesterday and what the lady friend wants, the lady friend gets. (In terms of food only though, don't tell her I said that) Followed by brunch was "Fifteen Chocolate brownies" from Jamie Oliver. You can refer to my older posts if you want the receipe.

Heres the sandwich.

3 chefs - Smoked salmon on country boule with bacon and asparagus tartar sauce

for the tartar sauce:
50 ml chopped asparagus
15 ml chopped red peppers
15 ml chopped gherkins
15 ml chopped tarragon
125 ml mayo
15 ml lemon juice

for the sandwich
8 slices of eyr bread (I used country boule)
12 smoked salmon
2 shallots, thinly sliced
12 slices bacon, cooked crisp
2 heirloom tomatoes, thinly sliced
250ml arugula

could have diced it up some more

so easy and so good!

hmm baconnnn

"you know, if you added more smoked salmon I would have loved it more."

I'm hungry, rawr

soniaaaaaaaa

she wanted seconds and i caught her in the act

Hi friends, how are you guys? I had a really nice rest through the weekend because I had four days off. I had such a relaxing time that when I woke up this morning, I thought it was still my day off. So lately, I have been getting into my cooking / baking self again. I feel that I slacked off with my passion for cooking/baking and same with my design passion.

So I picked up the slack and decided to bake some goodies for myself and of course, friends that would be interested. =)

Tonight, I made brownies. This was a practice round for the real thing, my cousin really loved the brownies I made before and wanted to make it again.

So here it is:

The Best Brownies
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 oz baking chocolate
2 egg beaten
1 cup sugar
3/4 flour
1/2 hazelnuts or anything you want. (I used cranberries and walnuts)

I melted the chocolate first over a double boiler and then I added the butter. Followed by the eggs, sugar, flour and misc.

I baked it for 30 minutes at 350F. I let it cool down a bit for 10-15mins or so and then I caved in, I had to try some and to see if it was good for serving. I was quite surprised, it was exactly like how the book described it. I say that because last time when I tried to bake brownies, I failed big time.

This was has a soft center and crispy outside with lots of chocolate flavour.

Excuse my iphone pics. They are horrible, I know. Enjoy =)

What a long weekend, oh my. I had four days off and it passed by so fast! I guess that is what happens when you have fun. It's so cliche but at the same time, it is true. On Saturday, I got the chance to make tofu cheesecake and it was one interesting experience. You don't even need any cream cheese, all you need is tofu and a blender. Its a nice cool down dessert for the summer. I urge you to try this.


Tofu Cheesecake
2 (12 ounce) packages extra firm tofu, drained and cubed
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a blender or food processor, combine tofu, sugar, vanilla, salt, vegetable oil, and lemon juice. Blend until smooth. Pour into the pie crust.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until slightly brown, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven to cool. Refrigerate until chilled.

Pictures later. =)

Hello from Toronto! I just got back from the gym and other errands. What a nice day to update my blog, yes, I know I have been way behind on my updates but here I am. =)

Today a was a special day because I used one of my vacation days to relax at home and have some dim sum with the grandma. Then I encountered with a really old friend that I have not spoke with for over 3 years, she came up to me and started conversation with me so we spoke for a bit and departed.

Anyways the other day, well yesterday to be exact, we had a pot luck at work and I got the chance to bake my signature meringue for my co workers. =) I was very excited because they have all been looking at my pictures on facebook and commenting on them. Finally, they can try the "Daniel Oliver Experience."

Here's how it went down:

6 egg whites
1 cup of sugar
1 orange zest

cream:
1 cup 35% cream
1 vanilla bean
60ml powder sugar.

I baked it this time at 300F for one hour and it was a mistake because the meringue was in small blobs. It kinda got burnt, at least the bottom part anyways. Lesson of the day is always look after your meringue.

Next time I would recommend 220F and bake it for one hour. It will come out perfect!
Anyways, enjoy some pictures. =)

charlie and i

I love my cake stand mixer

blobs

beauty

pre boxing

say no to frozen desserts

all gone!

all gone!

I got lots of good positive feed back from my co workers! They all loved it and I even got a bow from my friend. It feels so good to see people enjoying your food.

if you haven't done so, add me on facebook and follow me there! On top of that I got A LOT of positive feedback on my bakery idea. I think I might go forward with it, you gotta dream big right? Haha