I want wife

The first time he said this, R told him he will have a wife when he is older.
He seemed frustrated with our answer and showed it by yelling "I WANT WIFE!" and kicking away.
How can being single at this age cause such frustration?

It was only later that we realised he meant "I want to drive."
Isn't he much happier in the pictures below?

Green Tea Macarons with Adzuki Bean Buttercream

My Notes:
Macaron Shell:
Added 1tbsp matcha powder to ground almond and powdered sugar mix.

Buttercream:
Further reduced sugar in buttercream as adzuki bean is already sweet.
For 1 egg white, I used only 30g sugar.

First tray has a lot of cracked shells... maybe oven is not hot enough? I preheated it for 15mins this time. Or could it be my cheap tray that is slightly warped?
Second tray was better with 6 cracked shells.
Third tray as perfect with 0 (yes, nil!) cracked shells.

Next round, I will swap the trays and pin down the culprit!

My Favourite Artist

This is my favourite artist - Sophie Ang.
This is her work titled "Rapunzel looking at the stars".

Made: Black Sesame Macarons with black sesame buttercream filling

Made these today....
Green tea and carrot ones will just have to wait.

Used the same old recipe from Not so Humble Pie, but used only 200g icing sugar instead of 225g. Added in 25g of ground black sesame.

Actually I didn't mean to reduce the icing sugar, but 200g was all I have in my pack, and I was really too lazy to open a new pack... so decided to take a risk with just 200g. Don't think I'll ever make a great chef, seeing how lazy I am!

Finding my usual buttercream a tad too sweet, I also reduced the sugar by 20%, so 1 egg white this time, I used only 40g of sugar.

Macaron Class

R as really sweet to give me some time off to attend a macaron class today.
I really enjoyed the class and would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to learn how to make these little finicky stuff.

Left: Spiced macarons with citrus cream cheese filling
Right: Chocolate macarons with salted egg yolk filling

What a stiff peak looks like for French Meringue Method
Should have put some coloured backing behind... but the picture is good enough for me

See the salted egg yolks? R says eeeeeeeeeeeeeks!
But only after he has eaten it without knowing what it is.
It got pretty good reviews from Vikki and her husband though.

Class was held at Kitchen Capers' Baking Studio.

We learnt two types of method - the French Meringue Method and the Italian Meringue Method.
I have been using the French Meringue Method because I really cannot imagine how to handle a boiling pot of sugar syrup while holding my handmixer with the other hand.
Hmm... the other reason is that I am quite lazy... less stuff to wash up with the French Method!

It was quite interesting to see how the Italian Method is done, and I think I might just try it one of these days.

The instructor, Amy Lee, is really helpful in giving little tips on what to do and what not to do... and even information such as the different types of almonds and icing sugar.

She also baked us a cake for teabreak - a lovely light lapis surabaya. The centre layer of chocolate was just heavenly! This, coming from someone who is not really into chocolate. I actually took two servings of it. Would really like to attend this class, but I think it's just too cruel to have R look after the kids all by himself for 2 consecutive Sundays. Maybe next time!

And oh, the class was odd-numbered. Everyone came with a friend except me, so I had the privilege of partnering the instructor... that explains why my macarons look so good? Best of all, I get to bring all the macarons back for the macaron-bandits! :)

She even gave me the leftover aged eggwhites, which means I can start experimenting with macarons immediately without having to wait for my egg whites to age... yoooohoooooo! I am already thinking of green tea macarons with adzuki bean filling... and maybe even a carrot macaron!

Made: Wholemeal Bread Loaf

Made this bread loaf 2 days ago, but it was a little flat as my loaf pan is pretty big. The little girl loves it and could happily chomp down two slices for breakfast.

Decided to make a slightly bigger loaf this time by multiplying the recipe by 1.5 times. Also replaced some wholewheat flour with oat bran and sprinkled steel-cut oats on top. I didn't use any bread machine... exercised my flabby arms instead.

Ingredients for my 9x5 loaf pan:
Sponge Dough:
225g bread flour
150ml water
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast

Main Dough:
75g plain flour
75g wholewheat flour
30g oat bran
37g brown sugar
75ml whole milk
75ml water
pinch of salt
22g butter

My lazy way of writing out the method for my on reference... please refer to Florence's blog for good and detailed instructions!
1. Mix ingredients for sponge dough and rest for 2.5 hours.
2. Add in the rest of the ingredients (butter last) and knead.
3. Shape into circle, rest for 15mins.
4. Punch down, shape into swiss roll and rest for 10mins.
5. Punch down, shape into swiss roll again and put in loaf pan for 45mins or 80% full. (Mine took only 30mins... I cheated by putting pan on top of a pot of hot water so it rises faster)
6. Brush with water and sprinkle with oat bran and oats.
7. Bake in 200 degrees C for 30-35mins.

Recipe from Florence of Do What I Like
Her recipes are really good... so far I have not failed with any of them *touchwood*

Birthday Celebration in School

Her school has something new for birthdays this year.

They can do anything they want, by writing down their birthday plans and sharing with their teachers and friends ahead.

Her birthday plan

This was what we did:

Showed her friends how to make konnyaku Ribena jelly
We used the pinata as a backdrop for her birthday cakes
She wanted little roses for her banana cupcakes so I learnt it through Youtube
Don't they look like Rapunzel's garden?

And oh oh oh... if only I knew they were not going to have any more lessons after the birthday celebration, I would have brought a Rapunzel storybook along and told them the story... and maybe even get one or two of them to come up and act out some little parts... never mind, there'll always be next time!

Birthday celebration with the cousins

Made her this Rapunzel dress and the dollie.
Daddy made the pinata from papier mache.

The cousins and friends

Enjoying the strawberry shortcake from Four Leaves

Pinata time followed by bowling session

Sweet Success!

Look at the base! Nice and smooth. Although they're a little brown.
I was bracing myself for another sticky-bottomed macaron session today, but they turned out pretty well this time.

Any changes to recipe and method?
Recipe is the same one from Not So Humble Pie

My own notes:
- I used egg whites aged for 48 hours in the fridge.
- Instead of putting in the ground almond + powdered sugar in batches, I dumped the whole lot in and mixed vigorously for the first 10 strokes, then slower and more gentle after that. This I learnt from Tartelette.
- I put the piped macarons in an airconditioned room for a minimum of 30 minutes before I baked them.
- I preheated my oven for a full 20 minutes.
- Baked them on lowest rack (single tray) at 145 degrees C for 15 minutes.
- Did not open the oven door during baking.
- I still had a few that erupted like volcanoes. These were the ones on the front row near the oven door. I suspect the oven fan was probably blowing in that direction and the heat just broke the skin.
- Once out of the oven, I lifted the parchment paper and splashed a few drops of water on the tray. Left the macarons to cool totally on the tray then I peeled them off.

Snapshots of my little man

That's my sleeping baby

Rolling along at West Coast Park in the mornings with me

Getting potty trained for school this March

That's him pretending to sleep


Taken just today - he is Darth Vader with the hood

Patience...

Look what I got in my letterbox today?
These babies are plump and juicy and moist.
Exactly what I need for my vanilla buttercream in my Quest for the Perfect Macarons.
I got them just 2 weeks after I placed my order.
Whereas I only just got my CDs from UK yesterday - the merchant in UK sent it out on 18 Nov 2011!
Would that be the doings of Royal Mail UK or our first world country?

I put in 8 vanilla pods to 900ml of vodka, and off it goes into a cool dark cupboard.
See you 6 months later!