Chocolate hazelnut feuilletine macarons

I mentioned in my last post that I made lime curd macarons for my girlfriend, I forgot to mention that I also made some chocolate macarons at the same time. Yeah, I like variety and I couldn't imagine just packing a box filled with macarons of the same flavour (don't mind me please, it's just me and one of my weird quirks).

Chocolate hazelnut feuilletine macarons

Lime curd macarons

I got to know a new buddy, who is a sour lover (cheers!) and her birthday falls in the month of May. I decided to make her some macarons for her birthday, and the flavours I then decided to make were quite obvious, isn't it? Something sour.

Lime curd macarons

Li Bai

It's been a long time since I last posted a new dining place on the blog. I'm still happily eating out as usual, just that I've gotten lazy at editing the pictures. Or I'm just busy re-visiting the same old places (cue *coughs House *coughs*). ^^

Anyway, the last time I had dim sum, I visited a Chinese dining establishment that I've never been to before - Li Bai.

Li Bai

Steamed milk with egg whites and purple sweet potato

I happened to find purple sweet potatoes at the wet market a few weeks back. To say that I was happy was kinda an understatement.

I'm a carbs lover (sigh, unfortunately), thus, needless to say, I love sweet potatoes.

Steamed milk with egg whites and purple sweet potato

Passion fruit bars

I'm happy now that I've found a couple of pals who loves sour goodies like I do. It means that I get to experiment more with some of my favourite mouth puckering fruits like lemons, limes and passion fruit and knowing that there'll certainly be willing "guinea pigs" for me. Heh.

We recently celebrated one of the sour fruit lover pal's birthday, and I decided to make some passion fruit bars for dessert. The first recipe I tried failed me (and failed me big time - that's a waste of butter and eggs!!! :( how depressing, I hate wasting ingredients, especially when food prices are constantly increasing.) and so I took a step back and went for the old lemon bar recipe I found back in my university days.

Passion fruit bars

Hugo & Victor's Victor Fraise Tart

I first saw it on the ultimate pastry website, Paris Patisseries, here. And when I happened to see it again later, on yet another website (recipe included), I knew that it was fate. I used to love hanging around (almost stalker-ish) the Paris Patisserie website cos of all the delectable goodies that the lucky Adam got to savour. I would look at the screen, gawking and drooling at the same time, wishing so badly that I could just hop on a plane to Paris to try the goodies myself.

While I couldn't exactly do that (though my lucky Sis did! - more on that in a while), at least I got to replicate a little something from Paris in my own little kitchen...

Hugo & Victor's Victor Fraise Tart

Latest addiction - 53A's We Should Be Together

My latest addiction. Been listening to it on replay the whole day.

Yeps, I'm one of those sort that wears out the track I'm currently addicted to for the next few days till I get sick of it. ^^

A really lovely track by a local band, really love the vocals of the lead singer Sara and this song makes me wanna cry (and I'm not even in an emo mood).

Chocolate cherry coconut almond granola

As I mentioned in my last granola post, I like having granola for breakfast. I mean, it's oats, and oats are supposedly good for the body isn't it?

What I have here today, is admittedly, not a healthy granola, but heck, we should all ease up a little bit, enjoy a little treat now and then (okay, almost all the time...) and just hit the gym more often to make up for the sinful stuff we consume...

Anyway, the granola I'm talking about is no other than this chocolate cherry coconut almond granola. Yeps, that's certainly a mouthful to say. You can always refer to it as the chocolate granola, ah then again, who cares what you call it, when everyone is more concerned with other pressing issues - such as fighting for the last bowl of it.

Chocolate cherry coconut almond granola

Churros and chocolate

It was one of those cold and rainy days. Shivering and longing for something hot to warm my insides. I ended up craving for churros. Piping hot churros, rolled in a cinnamon sugar mixture and dipped in a rich chocolate dip. Aaaaah. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted some physically in my hands, and not mentally in my mind.

The churros making process

Homemade granola

I love having granola for breakfast. Since my uni days, I've enjoyed pairing yogurt and granola, and sometimes, with a dollop of fresh berries or passion fruit. I've been making my own granola for quite some time, experimenting with different recipes. I was testing to see whether homemade granola can compare to store bought granola. While I've yet to achieve the exact texture of the store bought granola I enjoy, at least I know what goes into my granola, and I can adjust the flavours and additions according to my personal preferences.

Homemade granola with mixed fruits and nuts

Chocolate banana sour cream muffins

The Sister was making ice cream and she had some leftover sour cream. I hate waste, so I told her I'll use it up for her. Words said, I then had to go hunt for recipes that uses sour cream.

After a quick search, I thought that muffins and quick breads for breakfast are the most likely items to use sour cream, and I chanced upon this recipe, which encompasses one of my favourite combo as a breakfast item - chocolate and banana.

Chocolate banana sour cream muffins