Aug 31, 2009

How to shut Black up

Lazy (adjective): Disinclined to work or exertion

I was sms-ing a friend of mine about how I do not want to go out with him. It was already evening; the weather was hot (maybe not THAT hot but still…), it’s the fasting month and the time to break fast was coming soon. Furthermore, I don’t want to be in a situation where I have to rush from where ever I am just to reach home in time for break fast; it’s very troublesome.

Well, that’s the cleaned up version of the truth.

Alright, the main reason for me not wanting to go was because I was lazy; plain old pure LAZY. I’m human. The chances of me being able to successfully avoid that characteristic are…non-existence. So there! That’s the god’s honest truth. I’m sorry Black. Truly sorry.

Anyway, while I was apologizing for my laziness, that I’m sure most of us has it, in which it got me thinking that it’s really unnecessary for me to justify my laziness, for its part of being human, but with me being me, I apologized.

So in the midst of me composing a long sms of apology, I just remembered I have yet to wish him a ‘Happy Birthday’ (reason being, I kind of sort of forgot his birthday?) Imagine my surprise when I totally forgot about that small little information. I think this may be due to the fact that I actually met up with him before the fasting month to pass him his birthday gift as well as brownies, chocolates AND cookies. Ain’t he a lucky dude?

Anyway, doing the only right thing I could think of, I said, “Hey, at least I wished you a Happy Birthday in advance, bought for you stuffs AND baked goodies for you.”

That being said, I went to lengthen my sms of apology (from time to time, I do feel guilty you know).

I thought I did a great job in composing a heartfelt apology but was I forgiven? Noooo…I wasn’t let off the hook that easily. He made me walk down the guilt trip!! He said, and I quote, “It’s my birthday and you’re doing this to me? How could you?” If he thinks that’s going to make me feel guilty, he got another thing coming for him.

So I brought out the big guns. Instead of saying sorry, like what any normal apologetic people would say (which is obviously not me), I said, “Let’s call it even. This for all those times you stood me up or pang-seh me.”

Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you shut Black up. ;-)

Aug 30, 2009

"why would you want to be with me? i don't carry a baggage but a cargo hold in my life"


“This is going to take a LONG time. Come on farz, don’t give up. You can do it,” I said to no one in particular.

In the name of baking, I was willing to mentally prepare myself for long hours of being in front of the scanner doing what I deem as a necessity but others as a sign that my sanity has taken a turn for the worse.

Ok, so you guys know about my bad habit I stated in one of my previous post? Well, I got something to add to that. Not only do I find recipes online, I borrow books on baking from the library as well. That’s not the worst. This is:

I borrow not only one book at a time, but many at one shot.

So that was the position my sister found me in for the next hour. My sister went in and out of the room countless times and throughout those times, I was still busy flipping pages and scanning the pages I have marked with those cute little small rectangular-ish sticky notes that just had to come in various vibrant colors that made me bought more than what I needed. Well, let me tell you, it was a job that went way beyond testing your perseverance and patience. Despite having my tush glued to the chair and letting the machinery do all the work, it does get tiresome after some time, hence the testing of patience and perseverance.

Anyway, while I was busy scanning away, something got me thinking. in which when they do happen, it’s very rare till I can count them in one hand as my ability to multi-task is pretty much non-existent but not for lack of trying mind you.

So ANYWAY, I thought, wouldn’t it be so much simpler if I just take pictures of those recipes? I mean not only do I get to save time, but I can return those books early and borrow more books (baking books of course).

After asking my sister for the digital camera, I began snapping away.

Voila! I was done in record time. It took me no longer than 10 minutes to get the recipes I wanted. Comparing to the 60 minutes I spent scanning, I’d say this is a good way of acquiring the recipes I wanted out of any books.

Thank god for a fully functional brain.

Oh yea, did I mentioned my sister baked Reese brownie? Or was it pan cookie? I’m not really sure but either way, boy oh boy were they some serious stuff!! It is chocolate and PB goodness all wrapped in one. I couldn’t resist but to make myself a cup of coffee and sneaked one (oh fine! It was two pieces) brownie after breaking my fast. I also reheated my carrot cupcake to go along with my stash of unhealthy goodness and damn! It was dang good.

This is the pan cookie variation. Or so I’ve been told.
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Now, the one that is in front of the Hershey’s cocoa powder, it’s the brownie version.
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P.S. if you ask me, despite the taste being the same, I prefer the pan cookie version. It has a nice crunch to it.

Aug 28, 2009

- Health food makes me sick -
Oh the horror that is today.

Few moments ago, my stomach growled. After being deprived from food for at least 12 hours, my stomach was begging for sustenance. So there I was, on my laptop, minding my own business and trying real hard to ignore the calls of my stomach, but of course, my will as a human being wasn’t strong enough. The lonely cheesecake box situated at the corner of my table that I had gotten awhile back, god knows from which era, caught my attention. Perhaps it was because of its bright orange color that made my eyes shift that side or perhaps it’s just my stomach way of telling me to feed it with any food within reach but whatever the reason was, my hand reached out for it.Thinking that I get to enjoy at least a stick of cheesecake from the ‘Brick Factory’, I opened the box only to have it closed right back immediately.

The smell!!Goodness gracious me!!If smell could kill, this one could definitely wipe out the whole of Singapore. The fine tasting cheesecake got moldy just by being placed at the corner of my table despite it still being wrapped in the box with the square packet thingy inside. The thingy main purpose (if I’m not mistaken) is to prevent molding to which I have to vehemently disagree cause as I have said, my cheesecake ended up something akin to ‘Fat Man’; the smell representing the mushroom cloud with my room being Nagasaki.

So I did what normal people would do; into the bin it went. Can’t really say I’m going to miss it because seriously, that cloud of smell has left a strong impression in which I doubt it’s going to be forgotten anytime soon.

Having said about smell, I baked carrot cake; cupcake style!!It was uber delicious! The smell was simply aromatic (a definite improvement from my ‘Fat Man’). I had to pinch my nose to prevent myself from inhaling the one thing that could break my fast as I had baked them around 9 in the morning. This is to avoid my mom from finding out I had done some baking cause if my memory serves me well (which is not often mind you), she strictly told me “NO BAKING farz.” But me being me, I made them. So I had them baked, cooled and pop them into the fridge all before my mom came back. Not bad eh? The carrot cake (ok, cupcake; for those that are so rigid in your baking terms) stayed hidden in the fridge (away from my mom’s prying eyes) till evening where I topped them with cream cheese topping. They were the first thing I grabbed when the time for breaking my fast came.

I got to say, the cake/cupcake is definitely better than the previous one my sister made (shh…don’t tell her I said that cause if she finds out, I’m so dead). The cake/cupcake is very moist due to the crushed pineapple (which I added more and decrease the amount of sugar to make up for the excess pineapple syrup) and the spices give the cake/cupcake the overall ‘omph’ that makes me categorize this recipe as a keeper. It wasn’t overly sweet and I think if coupled with a cup of coffee, this cake/cupcake would be the perfect snack for tea time.

I got that piece of paper with the recipe on it dog-eared mind you. It’s a definite keeper for someone who loves carrot.

p.s. my mom asked when I baked them and I replied, “Sometime just now.”



carrot cake cupcake-style!!!
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i love the two tone swirl. it's not that difficult to achieve but it does require 3 friggin piping bag!!
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see that retro board under those cupcake?? i'm proud of that piece of art work...it took me 3 long hours of cutting and pasting to get that but it was worth it. ;-)
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-You don’t need to tell me. Tell yourself. Convince yourself why you’re stepping down the path that you are. And you know the best thing about walking your own way?You don’t need other people’s opinions to go your way.”-


i have a bad habit. i don't know whether it is categorized under bad habits or not, but to me it is.

my habit
i always go online on the look out for recipes that i can get my hands onto and bake them.

why is it bad?
i always end up with more than 5 recipes on hand AND before i can finish trying those recipes out, my habit resume.

result?
a whole stack of recipes dating as far back as last year piling on my bookshelf.

solution?
start trying some of them out AND find for more recipes...;-)

what can i say, it's a habit i can't stop. i honestly tried, but it only lasted for a few minutes. as soon as i switched on the comp, my habit just kicks in.

i've baked quite a lot of stuffs these past few days. cake pops, matcha brownie, vanilla cupcake and the list goes on (which is still going to go on after i log off later). maybe soon i shall make cheesecake. what's baking without making at least cheesecake once? i guess this is where the result of my bad habit proves to be useful. time to start looking for cheesecake recipes. good luck me...

anyway, guess what?!!i am so ecstatic right now till no words can even begin to describe those feelings. it's because i have found the love of my life!!oh yeah...you guys read it right. found my baby somewhere at seah street(mentioning about the love of my life followed by some unglamorous street name kind of spoils the moment of anticipation i'm trying to build here). i've been searching for my baby for quite sometime and finally.....

i found my supply of valrhona chocolate and cocoa powder!!!

valrhona's my baby. high quality chocolate that seems to be widely used everywhere. i can't wait to use them. i think any recipes using this brand of product would be simply divine for valrhona is THE cocoa powder and chocolate for baking. i bought them a week ago but have not gotten the opportunity to use them. perhaps i shall not WAIT for the opportunity. i shall MAKE the opportunity and the only way i can think of is to sift through my stack of recipes and start looking. i'm glad i have a stack (ok, maybe two stacks but who's counting right..) of recipes on hand. it makes the job of searching simple really.

so, cheesecake and valrhona. got it. time to make my stack (ok, stackS)of recipes earn its (ok, their) keep at the corner of my bookshelf. time to start flipping those papers.