Blueberry coconut and chocolate hazelnut financiers

Around the same time I made the icecreams (yes, plural, I still have images of vanilla bean icecream to upload, that's for another post), I had lots and lots of leftover egg whites. I didn't feel like making macarons, but I was meeting some friends that week, so I decided to make some financiers to share. I used the same recipe for the raspberry financiers I made previously, tweaked it around a little, and came up with two new flavours - chocolate hazelnut and blueberry coconut.

Bye bye Bkk.

The trip to Bangkok with the sister this week is off. Sis had acute appendicitis over the weekend, and had to undergo surgery to remove her appendix. She is currently on a loooooooong mc (getting the helluva bored outta her mind doing nothing - she's not made to idle snigger. I mean, hello free time? Hell yeah baby.). The doctor advised against traveling, so sigh. I can't say I'm not disappointed cos I was so looking forward to the two of us having fun. But oh well, more on that later.

Anyway, at first we thought it was food poisoning - and she suspected my homemade icecream (how sad) but luckily (or should I say not?) it was not food poisoning, the doctor's final diagnosis was appendicitis. Anyway, the suspected icecream was one I made a few weeks back - Oatmeal praline icecream, which she loved anyway.

Here's some pictures before I get to my rants. Pardon me for the rantings.

Whisky; Oatmeal praline; Whisky soaked raisins.

Blood donation

I went for my first blood donation today. It felt good to give the blood to those who might need it. So, why not head down to the Blood Bank HSA, located at Outram MRT to donate blood too? It's a real breeze to pop in there, fill up a form, donate and that's pretty much it.

Hmmm, does it mean I get to know my blood type now? Haha. ;)

Anyway, catched two movies in these two weeks. First was 500 Days of Summer. That movie was awesome. Let me just say, GO WATCH IT! I love Summer's wardrobe outfits, they were simply fab and totally my style, if you get what I mean (to those who like to point at clothes and go...Hey, that's so your style! You know who you all are! (:) I wouldn't even mind watching again. Haha. The lead actor/actress were hot. Heh.

Julia & Julie, on the other hand, hmm, what should I say? It was a good show, nothing as good as 500 days. I think primarily, the reason it attracted me to the show was the topic - food. Yet, the ending for the movie was just, I don't know a better word, other than lacklustre? It was as though the director didn't know how to end it and just slam bam it into an ending. Gah. A side note, do not watch the movie on an empty stomach. For it is about simply food, food and endless food. Don't bother antagonizing your own stomach. ;)

Peach and raspberry pies

It's my first interview later on in the afternoon. Hopefully things aren't as bad as expected cos I know somehow the first few interviews are always tough. Well, practice makes perfect and I will manage to master the tips of how-to-pass-through-an-interview-successfully in time to come. (:

Here's ending off with some white peach and raspberry pies I made a few weeks back. I had enough pastry and filling to make one big pie and one miniature one. It's my first attempt at doing a lattice design atop a pie, and I must say it should have been easy, just that my pastry making skills are not up to par as the weather in Singapore is simply blistering heat 24/7 and I usually get like overworked dough before I even know it. :( I need to conquer tart dough! That means I'll be making more tarts/pies in the near future!

Mini pie slice with a mini scoop of Haagan Daaz's Apricot and Cream icecream. Yums.

CB girls

The photo was taken in July/August (?) at our first CB outing after I came back from Australia. There was another CB gathering tonight at my place, where we ordered in pizza, and had fruits fondue after that while chatting about everything and anything till about 12am. Topics range from our pasts, our present and our futures. Sometimes, I just think it's really good to have this bunch of girlfriends to talk to and relax, reminisce about the past, worry about the future, and just wind down. Hopefully, we'll catch up more often now that I'm back as I really look forward to our every catch up session. (:

P.S. Girls, we reeeeeeeeally should consider changing our *cough* term for ourselves. "CB gang", as Dawn very aptly point out, is going to be a tad embarrassing when in future, our husbands ask us whom we are meeting, and we reply, "There, that CB gang lor." Imagine, we'll be (in Dawn's words again) 老 CBs. Which really sound quite vulgar. Hahahaha!

Pear banana walnuts muffins

Let me tell you more about these lovely muffins. I think that the pear is an often overlooked fruit for baking muffins. The common choices are banana, chocolate(fine, it's not a fruit but it is a popular choice!), apple, blueberries or raspberries. Yet, the humble pear is a really good fruit to use in baked goods cos they have a subtle light fragrance that heightens the finished product. If you get what I mean. The pears also soften considerably after baking so it doesn't matter if the pears are still not yet fully ripe. Add some chopped walnuts for the crunch factor, well, I think I've found a pretty healthy muffin recipe! (: