Hello!

Quarter-century and still breathing! How awesome is that? Haha. Of course, for my big day I had to bake my own birthday cake. Althought I failed baking this before, I was confident that I could ace it this time around. I baked a Cotton Soft Japanese Cheesecake.

Heres what you need:
- 140g fine granulated sugar
- 6 egg whites
- 6 egg yolks
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 50g butter
- 250g cream cheese
- 100ml fresh milk
- 60g cake flour (can also use plain flour)
- 20g corn flour
- 1/4 tsp salt

The secret to making a consistent cake was actually in the meringue and the cake flour. This time, I whipped my meringue until it was a bit stiff and used cake self raising flour instead of all-purpose. This made a huge difference because, obviously, it helped raise cake and the meringue acted like a skeletal structure it help hold it up. The result? It was amazing, piece after piece I wanted more but I was serving for 10+ people and they all wanted seconds. Next time around, I will try adding some sort of frosting onto since it really did look very plain and simple. I guess some fruits would have been nice.

Aside from that, my day consist of morning baking, then some interested encounters at dim sum. We saw two elders stacking up the dim sum in take out boxes. I wonder what they are going to do with all the dim sum take outs. Maybe they live in a seniors home? I am not too sure but it was quite a site. Then I hit the range with the lovely Zoe and hit a few on the green. I didn't do so well but she was quite a natural. Finishing off the evening was a night at Rodney's by bay. I had so many oysters and even had one that was still moving! Yuck. It was all good. Had a nice time and will continue keep you guys posted on my upcoming dinner!

Cheers! 

At midnight, the old man and I at Boston.

Finally you are mine!

Drinks with my pubisher and CEO

Hello All!!

Boy, it was a crazy celebration but I made it and now its all over. =( On tuesday, my old man cooked up a storm in our small kitchen and he came up with a lot of interesting foods. I still have to chase him down and ask him for each of the names but for now you can enjoy the eye candies.

I gather all the family and relatives that were free Tuesday August 21 2012 and made a special request; that was to dress nicely for a nice dinner. Of course, I wanted to make this a big deal and told my little ones to dress up fancier than others. To my surprise, they came with ties, dress shirts and vests. I was very happy with the results and could tnot imgaine the amount of respect I got for my quarter century.

Back on topic, the food was exquisite! All my favourite dishes were there, roast beef, LOBSTER!, chicken, smoked salmon, SEA BASS and pasta. The best was the steam lobster with vemicelli, I can never get enough of it.

For dessert, we had the traditional sponge fruit cake and a fruit meringue; old man style.

The next day, I walked into work and bumped into a lot of "Daniels". My co-workers decided to make a "Daniel Day" and took on my habits ie eating corn in the morning, bringing steammed rice with meat. They dress up like me by wearing bright coloured polos, tight pants, funky glasses and converse. This was a really nice gesture and something that has never been done before at the office. I was very touched and almost died laughing. A friend of mine never wears polos and he wore a BRIGHT cyan American Eagle Polo that he bought from value village. I love my coworkers. =)

There was so much love building up to my birthday, check my next post!

Oh gosh.

This cake was a bit different. I will let you know how bad it was in a bit. =(

Hello All!

Okay, here I stand, before my work of art. This cheesecake was for my significant other's father as a birthday gift and yes, it looked good and ready but everyone was in for surpirse.

Green tea cheesecake

• 2 (8 ounce) containers fat-free cream cheese, softened
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon green tea powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker pie crust

As you can see, it was a straight forward bake and take away cake. The only thing I would complain about is the lack of green tea matcha. The only thing I didn't use was the graham cracker pie crust. I always refer to the Jamie Oliver one and it has always gotten many praises for it's buttery cookie aroma. Upon tasting it, it was salty and I had no clue why! The only thing I could come up with is the fact that it was not cold enough.

When I took it home and refrigerate it over the course of the day, it was fine. My grandma had a slice and said it was too sweet and my mom said it was perfect. So I am as confused as you are. But boy, was I ever so embarassed at the fact that it was salty and no I did not add salt. No way in hell I did. Oh well, I will let this be a lesson for me. =)

Hello friends!

It's been way too long since I baked something real nice but here I am with fresh new stuff! My friend from the UK lent me her books and I decided to give it a try since there will always be macaroon fans out there. To me, it's basically just meringue with food colouring so nothing I have not done before. The only hard part was hunting down the ground almonds. =(

Meringue  
75g ground almonds 
115g icing sugar 
2 large egg whites 
50g sugar 
pink food colouring  

Filling  
55g unsalted butter softened 
1/2 tsp vanilla extract 
115g icing sugar 
4 strawberries finely chopped

The stage that really made me a bit frustrated was the piping of the meringue, I hate piping to be honest but it's a skill that I will have to develop and get use to. I wish there was an easier way, I will have to ask my master bakers or if you have any ideas you can message me. =) Everything else was pretty straight foward, blending the meringue and folding in the dry ingredients. The one mistake I came across was I didn't strain all the water from the strawberries beforehand and I added it in the filling making it a bit watery. But other than that, the taste was legit and my family loved it!

Can't wait to make another batch! Keep you posted. =)