bootylicious

Have you ever noticed just how much a plum resembles a butt?

have you ever wondered what 2.7kg of cheese looks like?

Good cheese is expensive here, so it’s much cheaper to buy it in bulk. That is, if you can eat it all.

I went to Metro, a bulk supplier, and brought home this slab of cheese.

Unfortunately, that hunk of cheese wouldn’t fit into my already bursting freezer, so I had to chop and package it into little bags for future use.

And if you thought this delectable mound of mozarella cheese is overdoing it, this is the SMALLEST block of cheese we could find. When you think you can take on 10kg of Cheddar, I’ll take you to Metro.

hold me!

Possibly the cutest monkey ever?

Courtesy of FJ (:

freedom

Dear friends, family and fond readers: My last exam was the day before yesterday.

Which essentially means that I’m free. I’ve never had so much time to do anything I wanted, with no overhanging deadline (cough EE!) or thought of “back to school in a month!”.

It’s oddly  inspirational and decidedly depressing at the same time. I love the freedom – after 13 years in the education system, heck I deserve it, but it’s just so…weird.

Depressingly, although I have the time to do anything I want to do, I also happen to be one of the most indecisive people in the world, and I”m not even kidding about that. So what do to in my new found time just escapes me.

But I have decided on one thing: I’m going to blog. A lot more than I used to.  So, hopefully you’ll see some changes to this blog in the near future, and hopefully I’ll be consistent about blogging, too!  All I have to do now is decide where to start…

Ahh, indecision.

a very happy valentines

Firstly, I would like to point out that I am not late for valentines day. I’m sure that somewhere in the world, it’s still the fourteenth.

To be honest, I’ve never celebrated Valentine’s Day before. I’ve never had a reason to, and it’s pretty much a commercial holiday. Not to mention, 3hrs and 15min of Chemistry HL exams kind of ruined the holiday cheer.

At least, that’s what I thought.

Like this pan, the day started pretty usual. Pretty boring. A little slippery from not sleeping enough, but it was nothing out of the ordinary. For those of you who don’t know, IB is pretty much synonymous with sleep-deprived.

But then it turned out that the chemistry test was alright. Not amazing. Not awful. Seems good to me. Just mix in a little bit of chocolate and it’ll make your day, right?

Just melt it with some delicious, dark chocolate and creamy butter.

And some dark brown sugar. Is it just me, or does brown sugar kind of taste like raisins? Not that I’ve been eating spoonfuls of sugar, of course.

And the caster sugar is so pretty! Just like snow! We had the most wonderful snowfall on valentines day. It was so soft and floaty, like icing sugar! But it didn’t taste like icing sugar. Especially when it went into my eye.

Which leaves us with…one batch of delicious brownies. Oh, didn’t I say that they were low-fat? Oops, my bad. They’re still deliciously fudgy, though! And not too sweet, either – just the way I like it. Chocolate > sugar.

But some things are too sweet for words.

loves!

i love it when i find hidden pans in the kitchen!

the cuteness of fruits

I have never quite realised how cute papayas are, or how yummy they are too! Have you?

of Books and Babies

Hello from Merry England! (:

Well, kind of. I’m typing this on my laptop on the way from Cambridge to Edinburgh so technically I’m still in England. Ironically, just because it’s me, there is a baby directly in front and to the left of me. Wonderful. I just love babies. In fact, I love them so much that when I walked into the carriage and found my seat, both of them were crying. In fact, it much resembled the sound of angels singing.

My laptop itself is actually on my lap for once and pressed up against my stomach with the screen barely 90 degrees open because it’s propped up against the edge of the little train table that has been taken up by the baby which is now thankfully fast asleep.

Obviously, I haven’t been baking here, especially not in the last few days for several reasons:

1. I’ve been cleaning/packing up my brother’s dorm room which is in an atrocious state.
2. The kitchen in stairwell 48 is in an even more atrocious state, of which the fridges are the worst.
3. Been sneaking in after visiting hours to Queen’s College to check out the facilities and actual grounds.

It’s all good though. It’s all good. Cross your fingers I get to some net soon to upload this post.

On another note,

My brother has finally graduated from University!

Only to return in a couple of months for his Masters, hahaha. Not quite there yet, not quite there yet. Personally, I find all of this University business quite unnerving. I’m still feeling really tentative about my own application.

Grades? Still lacking, even on the minimum requirement front.

Personal statement? Best not to mention it (Though you shouldn’t mention this to Ms Hobbs)

Aside from that…I still haven’t found a place for work experience. Help, please?

I will work on my personal statement. I will. I sound like the Little Train that Could. All I need is some motivation…and hopefully a socket to charge this laptop with.

On a more delightful note, I’ve finally retrieved my copy of Rose’s Heavenly Cakes. It’s basically 500 pages of pure cake heaven. It is the equivalent of planting a chocoholic (e.g. me) into Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. I’m totally itching to start baking some cakes, but it’s going to have to wait until I’m actually in a kitchen.

I’ve learned some things so far; mostly from the state of my brother’s dorm kitchen. Who knew that butter could go mouldy? I sure didn’t. Also, orange juice that upon sight of the bulging cardboard case, I proclaimed that it was either “really really full or really really expired”. It was not the first option. According to my brother, he also threw away some milk that had expired on 1st of May. It had separated into layers apparently.

No pictures, my friends. I would like to keep my food down today.

For future reference, the kitchen in my future stairwell will be neat, tidy and most of all, CLEAN. If not, I will be forced to duct tape the fridge shut. No cleaning up after yourselves? NO FRIDGE! Things like this really make my germaphobia kick in like no other. It’s just purely disgusting.

Hopefully, I’ll be baking lots when I get home and when I’m in Singapore, though to be honest, I do kind of hate baking in Singapore. The oven is nice, but tiny and the counter is just really small. Not to mention I don’t have any of my awesome stuff there. The only consolation is that there is actually a baking supply store that I could live in. I mean, where else would you find edible glitter for your food? 🙂

I’m also (cross your fingers) trying to find a guest writer for this blog. Seeing as how I only update about once every 3 months, it would be nice to get some other input. Maybe some cooking rather than just baking would be a nice change. I do cook sometimes, but it’s just not the same as baking a cake. You know what they say about biologists being good chefs and chemists being good bakers. I guess it does make sense because bakers are a lot more anal about the smaller details –puts hands up-, though I am quite an awful chemist. Don’t tell anyone about how I lost an easy mark on my end of year exam because I forgot to add one number (curse you, carbon bond!).

Alas, my laptop is running out of batteries.

Until next time (sooner rather than later, I hope)…

Toodle pip! xx

relax, take it easy

Hey there, friends. It’s been too long, I’m sorry.

Yeah, I know. You, me and everyone else has probably just had one of the most stressful weeks ever. Duke of Edinburgh expeditions…Exam week…Getting results back…

But that’s okay, you know, because it’s over now. It’s the weekend! You should be at home, sinking deeply into your favourite sofa (or blue chair). Those feet should be propped up on the table, too. That’s right, go right ahead (as long as it’s not your dining room table. That’s just plain gross!).

Yes, you should be doing that…unless you’re me. You see, my brother came home again and that means lots of work for me. Lots of dishes to wash and tables to wipe. And lots of food to make.

So yeah, that’s what I’ve been doing all day. I’ve rebounded straight back into the kitchen scene and I love it. Well, except for the washing dishes part. Nothing’s perfect.

But seriously, I’ve made so much food today. I made breakfast…little whole-wheat pancakes. The whole healthy aura was ruined slightly when I mercilessly drowned them in maple syrup. Mmm…maple syrup.

I also made sandwiches for lunch. Creamy crab for my brother, chickens and olives for my mom and good ‘ol ham for me. That’s mine up there. I love it when my food looks like a rainbow. It makes me feel all cheerful and gay. In the cheerful sense. (:

And of course, there was cake. Where would my weekend be without cake? I had some Nutella sitting here at home that was just begging to be used. Hey, it asked for it! And I thought….what goes well with Nutella? Why, chocolate. Everything goes with chocolate. Of course, everything goes with Nutella as well, though I have to say the best way to enjoy Nutella is directly out of the jar with a spoon. Savour it slowly, guys!

I know there are so many people out there who refuse to sift. Why is it such a big deal?? Does it really make a difference? I implore you guys. No! I beg! Please please please sift your ingredients when baking. It makes such a huge difference. Maybe it’s just my overpowering hate for lumps talking, but this, my friends is why we need to sift:

Yeah. Check out that huge ass lump of cocoa powder on the right. That is not something you want to bite into in your cupcake.

“Mmm…delicious…chocolatey…ARHKGAD. UNSWEETENED COCOA POWDER! ARGHA KOFF KOFF KOFF”

And then you would choke to death on the dry lump of cocoa powder. Is that what you want?? You want to die a horrible death choking on your hideous tumour of a lump of cocoa? So be it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. REFUSE TO SIFT AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Besides, sifting is soo rewarding, especially when you’re rewarded with such innocent little chocolate cupcakes. Oh how naive they are, all unfrosted and such. But that’s going to change…this is a great example of when good goes bad.

Oh, so very bad. You see, chocolate cupcakes and Nutella frosting are the naughty couple of cupcakes. Enough chocolate to be completely and utterly addictive, and the hazelnutty taste of Nutella just gives it that twist that makes it oh-so-much better.

The best thing? These cupcakes are easier than pie to make. I mean this quite literally. Pie takes quite a while to make, you know. So really, it’s been a tough couple of weeks. Relax, take it easy.

With Love,

(It wasn’t me.)