Cake Decor: Flower Practice

The leftover Swiss Meringue buttercream frosting was used in my flower practice @_@.

Porridge

Craving Porridge from Siam Sunset in LA. That place has the best thai food. In the end, I just made it myself. Not as good as the one at Siam Sunset, but it will do for now.

Stir Fry Glass Noodles

Mom makes the best Stir Fry glass noodles. I had some broccoli and mushrooms in the fridge, so I decided to make some.

Baked Salmon w/ curry panko crust

Rosann's yummy looking baked salmon picture made me crave baked salmon, so I took my frozen Salmon out and kind of threw stuff together to make Baked salmon with curry crust. (I saw the curry powder in my spice drawer, and thought it'd be fun to try adding it to the panko mixture lol). Well, all I did was mixing in chopped Shallots, parsley, garlic powder, curry powder with panko. Add a little olive oil, then plop it on the Salmon and baked. It was really good.

I also made Garlic Yukon mashed potatoes to go with it. Super quick and easy meal. yay!

Japanese Cheesecake

I made Japanese Cheesecake today. It's not as dense as the american cheesecake and it's also less sweet.

Birthday Gifts

Sunny sent me extremely pretty Bow tie pasta for my birthday. They are so pretty that I was afraid to eat them lol. I ended up making a Chicken Piccata-ish pasta plate with them.


Mike Butkus sent me chocolates from France. It's super fancy, and the way it snaps when you bite into it... so so divine. <3


And a Kaffir Lime Tree that I've always wanted from Alan, "How to Train your dragon" Art book from James, Mini Vaccuum from Derek, and a super cute pot holder from Laine. <3

Sunny in the kitchen

Sunny is leaving to Seattle soon for school, so we've been hanging out often lately. She's been making yummies while I'm preparing for Comic Con @_@. Macaron's recipe from "I <3 Macarons" book. and we've been experimenting with the "Best Recipe Cookbook". The salad is the wheatberry salad.

Strawberries

Chocolate cupcakes with Strawberry Whipped creamcheese Frosting.

The rest of the strawberries went into the Strawberry sponge cake with whipped cream frosting. I like whipped cream frosting. It's light and it doesn't use as much sugar as other types of frostings :p

Corn Zipper & Pineapple Desserts

it's so cute.. I saw it on sale, so I couldn't help it.

One of my friend, Benny, likes pineapple, so I was attempting to make him a good pineapple treat. I made Pineapple sponge cake. Yummy frosting, but the cake itself was a bit dry. I'd layer the cake next time, so that there are fillings in between. Since it was a birthday present, I wanted to give him something that's really yummy, so I tried again. This time, I made Pineapple Mousse, and it was super yummy and light. I think he likes it :)

Radish

"Hello, I am a radish"
Radishes are probably one of the cutest vegetables. They are cute little bulbs and the color is so pretty. When you slice them up, they are white with pretty outer red rings <3. Because they are so cute, it's hard not to buy them. I think they have a really nice texture. They add some crunchiness into things. I put thin slices of them in my salad as well as my sandwiches, and the crunchiness makes everything taste so much more yummy. See? I like them so much, I even made a radish character! Inspiration comes from everywhere *nod nod* :p

Ketchup & Pasta + Coconut Cupcakes

A lot of asian countries use Ketchup in their pasta. Most americans seem to think that it's really really weird to do so, but I remember having my pasta with ketchup when I was a kid in Thailand. That was one of my favorite dish, and since I have most of the ingredients already, I decided to try to make it. For the thai version, you're supposed to use Macaroni, but I only had Penne, so Penne will do. (Too lazy to go out to buy the right stuff.) I think Ketchup is yummy, so I really liked it :p. I used Japanese ketchup (which I think tastes a little different than Heinz) They're also a little sweeter. I was definitely satisfied :d.


I also had a fresh coconut, so I made coconut cupcakes. I even made Coconut Milk and Extract from the fresh coconuts. The cupcakes came out really light and tasty. When I was in LA, My aunt and uncle took me to Tavern Restaurant, and I had one of their cupcake topped with meringue frosting. I was so in love with that frosting and have been craving it for a while, so I decided to top these coconut cupcakes with meringue frosting. The frosting was so gooey and tasty that I couldn't stop eating it. >_< Too bad it hardens up and becomes less gooey the next day. That made me very sad T_T.

Kao Mok Gai

I've been into making thai food lately. They are usually quick, simple, and flavorful. That's why I like thai food <3. Kao Mok gai is a curry based rice dish. The fun part is that you get to throw the chicken into the rice cooker and cook them at the same time as the rice. When the rice cooker goes "ding" and the lid pops opened... your complete meal is in there :D~~

Shrimp Tom Yum

Made Tom Yum because I had left over mushrooms. I think spicy & sour is the best food combination.It was good, but mom makes it so much better. T_T.

Clam Pasta

Damian's Pasta with white clam sauce recipe. It's the best!

Tom Kha Gai

My mom sent me Kafir Lime leaf, and I saw Galangal and Lemongrass at whole foods, so I decided to make Tom Kha Gai. Actually, I've been craving this for a while, but I haven't found a good one at any thai restaurants around here yet. Plus, I like it a little less thick than normal, so I tend to like making this myself instead. I invited Derek and Laine over and I think they really liked it. I was so happy. I was a bit nervous since it's a very southeast asian dish, but Laine is from Malaysia, and Derek eats everything hehehe.

Chuno, Cupcakes, and Tart

Melt in your mouth Chocolate Cupcakes

A bunch of us went to Laine's house to watch Chuno (Korean Drama). Charles and Sunny has been raving about it. Finally, I get to see it and *sigh* It's so horribly addicting. It feels kind of like the old chinese drama that my brother loves so much. I used to watch a lot with him while he was around, but now that he's in Thailand, I haven't seen stuff like this in ages. I made Little chocolate cupcakes for the party. They are made of melted chocolate and butter with just a tablespoon of flour, so they are very light and melts in your mouth :D.

I also made Pear Ricotta Tart the other day.

Marco Polo Tea Cakes

Gina! If you are reading this, I made Marco Polo Tea Cupcakes! Maybe I should have made a whipped cream frosting for it, but I was too lazy. It came out pretty well. Nice, soft, fluffy, and smelled like Marco Polo tea :D
My aunt Gina and my uncle Tony introduced me to Marco Polo milk tea, and it became my favorite milk tea. They come in little cloth sachet and the box is golden. Look at the way it reflects! It looks like some kind of a treasure! (and oh it is a treasure *drools*)

Eating light

Made Cucumber Tofu Salad

and Lemon Creme Fraiche Cake

Lychee Desserts

My first time making Panna Cotta, and I decided to go with Lychee Panna Cotta with Blood Orange Jelly. Good choice! Tasty! yum yum. I didn't know that Panna Cotta is so easy to make :o

Oh and the extra Lychee were used up in Lychee cupcake with Lychee Rose Buttercream frosting. :)

Baking Mood

Now that I have a kitchen again. I've been in a baking mood. Cooking too. Drawing too. *Rolls around*
I've been making a lot of creme caramel/Flan. I think the recipe from "The Best cookbook" makes the best creme caramel of all that I've tried. Even Sunny who doesn't like Flan much gobbled it down. Other than that, I've been baking from japanese recipe. The thing that I like about it is that Japanese recipe yields really small batches and they're not that sweet. Japanese recipe are also a lot simpler. I almost never have to use my mixer. It just feels better when you're baking with 3 tablespoon of butter versus american recipes with the 2 Sticks! of butter. Then again it yields a lot less amount in the end as well. It's nice because I end up with much less leftovers. Then again when I bake something good, there isn't enough >_<. Well if I like something a lot lot, I guess I could always double or triple the recipe :p.

Today's lunch.. petty simple, but nice and filling.