Taiwan 2012: 新北投 Xinbeitou & 淡水 Danshui

One thing on our list to do during our vacation in Taipei this year includes visiting a sauna. The cousin and I popped by Xinbeitou first for a visit to a hot spring on the way to Danshui (they are located on the same metro line). There are several hot spring hotels in the area, and apparently, the last of the sakura flowers were supposed to be in bloom (it was in April). Sad to say, it was raining the day, and all I saw of the sakura flowers were on the below pitiful tree branch.

 新北投 Xinbeitou

Merry Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

Here are some quick snapshots of how the festive season has been so far through my iPhone. I find that it is so much easier to upload photos from there instead of my camera cos I'll already have done all the photo editing on my phone anyway when I upload on Instagram/Facebook.

First gift exchange of the year on 15 Dec 2012

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

A while ago, I was, for some weird random reason, in a cupcakes phase. I was dreaming about cupcakes non-stop, googling for recipes, and fretting over which flavours I should make first to satisfy that urge. I know. It's really weird yeah. I've never been much of a cupcakes person - I'm more of a cake girl (or rather, an entremet girl) most of the time.

I stumbled upon the loveliest sunshine yellow cupcakes at Shirley's site > here. And I knew I just had to make it. I absolutely love all kinds of citrus, especially lemon. And though I'm not a fan of meringue in general, I knew I had to make these. Oh yes, I must. And yes, I did.

 Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Japanese Strawberry Shortcake (イチゴのショートケーキ)

It's been a sad weekend. I mean, I had a great time at work on Friday in the afternoon, primarily because we had a carnival of some sort, and everyone basically just chilled out playing some simple childhood games, and nomming on ice cream, popcorn, candy floss and kachang puteh (the theme was "Childhood Carnival"). But, I had been feeling a lil under the weather since Thursday, so I reckon the activities on Friday just pushed me over the edge and I was seriously sick by Saturday morning. I must have gone through a whole tissue box, and my nose was still dripping like a faucet. Sigh.

Anyway, enough on moping. I made a strawberry shortcake again last month for the Dad's birthday (that's four straight years). Sigh. I know. And after all that I had said I wouldn't be baking it again this year...

 Japanese Strawberry Shortcake (イチゴのショートケーキ)

Purple Sweet Potato Mantou (紫番薯馒头)

And this post on homemade steamed buns should conclude my mass baking sessiona with purple sweet potatoes. How unfortunate. I mean, just look at the vibrant pop of colour below! In fact, everything that I had made previously with these awesome purple sweet potatoes had a really rich vibrant deep purple hue, refer here, here and here.

Purple Sweet Potato Mantou (紫番薯馒头)

Societe Canteen

Here's another new cafe that I checked out last month.

Societe Canteen

David Lebovitz's Chocolate Bread

It might seem like I'm spamming my blog with posts recently, but really, my backlog of posts is no laughing matter. I have posts on my baking and restaurants lined up all the way to end December (and I haven't even included my travel posts!). So, pardon me while I try to clear some of it before the year is up...

I was craving chocolate bread. And stumbled upon David Lebotivz's recipe for chocolate bread, which seemed to have quite a lot of rave reviews. Fate, so be it then.

David Lebovitz's Chocolate Bread

The Broers Cafe

I popped by Broers cafe after my visit to L'Etoile here. It was relatively near by, just a 5 minutes car ride away.

The Broers Cafe

Chocolate Nutella Brioches

I actually really enjoy baking bread. But due to time limitations, I don't really take the time to bake bread as often as I would like to. And also, there's also the factor that I have an innate fear of yeast.

Oh. Oh. And the fact that bread equates carbs. Going low carbs is probably the way to go for losing weight, but I'm in love with everything carbs-y, thus even though I've been exercising regularly for the past few months, I'm just not seeing any weight loss. Sigh. Perhaps it's time to sever loosen my relationship ties with carbs.

Anyway, here is a recipe for the most buttery brioche, that is filled with awesome chocolate, AND nutella. What can I say? These are definitely NOT diet friendly, to say the least.

Chocolate Nutella Brioches

L'Etoile Cafe

About a month ago, I started cafe hopping on the weekends with a girlfriend. Two cafes per Sunday. We did it about two weeks or so straight cos our schedules happened to coincide. For once. We started off with a brunch cafe, followed with a coffee joint after. L'Etoile was our "late brunch" (I wonder what one call lunch+dinner. Lunner? Dinch? Ha!) cafe option.

L'Etoile Cafe

Strawberry Vanilla Almond Entremet

It's official. I've just turned a quarter century years old for about almost a week already. And man, do I...not feel much of a difference actually. In fact, I realise that the years just fly by so quickly ever since I hit 21 a few years back. What I definitely feel is, there is a change in how my body feels at the ripe "old" age of 25, as compared to say, a fresh young 20. I get tired way much easily nowadays. I could stay up late till the wee hours of 2am in the past, get only a mere handful hours of sleep, and still not be tired. Trust me when I say definitely can't do that now. I'll probably be zombie-fied and if I don't get a cuppa of coffee in me, I'll be half dead on my feet for sure.

ANYWAY. I digress. I had a really enjoyable birthday so far this year. I met up with friends for a birthday brunch the day before my birthday. The Sis and I went for a great lunch and coffee on my birthday itself (which was a Monday - but my workplace have a birthday day off scheme!) and I met up with a girlfriend for dinner. Then on the public holiday on Tuesday, I had a few girlfriends over for a homemade brunch party. And there are some more upcoming birthday gatherings...I'm blessed.

I was really fortunate on my birthday. First of all, I dropped $50 in a shop, but managed to find it when I retraced my steps. And second, when I was out shopping, I noticed I had a bleeding blister from the new shoes I was wearing. I asked my Sis if she had a bandaid, all the while rummaging through my bag to look for one. At the moment, the sales lady approached me, offering me a wet tissue AND a bandaid to clean up. That's just so nice of her isn't it?

Anyway, back to the cake at hand. I made this cake recently cos I wanted to use up the strawberry puree in the freezer. And also, because it's been pretty long since I last made an entremet.

Strawberry Vanilla Almond Entremet

Matcha Hotcakes (抹茶ホットケーキ)

It's November. The time of the year where birthdays are aplenty. Family and friends alike. Have I ever mentioned about a tiny little awesome quirky fact about my family? Psst. Our birthdays are all in November. My Mom's birthday was on the 6th. My Dad's birthday is today. Mine's on the 12th. And my Sis's on the 30th. Have you notice something interesting about the dates? They are all in multiples of three! And aside from my Sis (the oddball *whoops haha), our birthdays are all in sequence! If only her birthday was on the 15th...Then it'll really be uber cool.

Anyway, for Dad's birthday this year, I know I had said that I'll prob give the strawberry shortcake a miss after three consecutive years of making it. I guess it's sorta become a "tradition" now cos the other day, the Sis was just asking, "So when are you making the strawberry cake?" It's been a busy week, so while I havn't actually finished it, I'm in the process of making it! I actually baked the sponge last night, and as we are heading out for a dinner buffet tonight for the Dad's birthday, I thought that I'll assemble it after we head home from dinner and we can cut it tomorrow (since I reckon we'll all be stuffed silly with food anyway). The sponge looks promising. It felt soft and spongy when I was clingwrapping it last night, so I hope it will taste soft and spongy as well.

Anyway, moving on to the hotcakes. I love pancakes. Yet, I rarely make my own at home cos my guinea pig, aka the Sis, is not a fan of pancakes in general. So, in order to satisfy my pancakes urge, I decided to make matcha pancakes to lure her into eating some too cos like me, she's quite the matcha fan.

Matcha Hotcakes (抹茶ホットケーキ)

Purple Sweet Potato Choux Puffs (紅芋シュークリーム)

More purple goodness. If you are still not yet sick of my purple sweet potato endeavours, I actually have one (or maybe two) more upcoming posts...

 Purple Sweet Potato Choux Puffs (紅芋シュークリーム)

Super Star K

I didn't realise until recently, but Tanjong Pagar is like a mini Korean town. There are so many (and I mean really many) Korean restaurants there. And quite a number of them are barbeque restaurants. The kind that you see in Korea - that specialised in BBQ and has the metal thing above the table to "suck up all the food fumes".

I visited two BBQ places in the past few months, and here's the first place that I went to.

 Super Star K

Black Sesame Madeleines (マドレーヌ黒ゴマ)

Don't mind me. I'm just you know, on a massive Asian flavours baking spree.

You will notice that the last few posts (and the next coming ones), featuring lots of purple sweet potatoes, black sesame and matcha flavoured desserts. I'm a big, huge, nah, strike that again, gargantuan fan of these flavours, and it's rare that I go all out to indulge myself in these flavours (rather than sticking to regular flavours like chocolate - not that I have anything against it; or lemon - which I love too by the way). So allow me to spam these flavours for a bit and more.

Black Sesame Madeleines (マドレーヌ黒ゴマ)

Taiwan 2012: Taipei Night Markets

I know this is super late, but here are more photos of the Taiwan trip in April this year. In this post, it's all about night markets in Taipei. We visited three night markets, but when we visited 師大路夜市 (Shida Night Market), it was raining heavily, so no photos - anyway, there wasn't much to eat there anyway (imo)!

My favourite night market in Taipei has got to be hands down Raohe St Night Market (it is situated near a wholesale shopping area Wufenpu). In fact, we made two seperate trips to visit the market cos there was just so much yummy good food. You might think how do two girls have so much stomach space for all the food below, no worries, it was not done at one go. The food consumed was the sum of our two trips - I just consolidated it all together. It was my second trip to Taiwan, so I mostly went for foods that I didn't try before, so I skipped dishes like 胡椒餅 (pepper meat bun) or 臭豆腐 (stinky tofu).

饒河街觀光夜市 Raohe St Night Market

Vanilla Bar & Cafe

Met the girlfriends at a quiet spot in the CBD on a weeknight for dniner. The place was full, but we could still get seats for four quite easily.

 Vanilla Bar & Cafe

Papa Palheta

Say 안녕 to Papa Palheta.

 Papa Palheta

Stuffed french toast with bananas and maple whipped cream

I've always wanted to make stuffed french toast. As you know, I'm a breakfast kinda person, so I love having all kinds of breakfast foods such as waffles, pancakes, french toast, big breakfast, scrambled eggs, granola yogurt, cereal with berries and milk. Yeps, I practically like every other breakfast option.

So, I told my Sis that I'll be making french toast. And since I know she's not really a fan of french toast, but she loves peanut butter, I decided to make PBB stuffed french toast. And that reads peanut butter banana (in case you were wondering...).

While I don't mind peanut butter (only the crunchy kind please!), I'm actually more of a Nutella girl myself. Thus, I decided to make both PBB, and NB (yeps, nutella banana!) for breakfast.
 

Stuffed french toast with bananas and maple whipped cream

Yeonkeun Jorim (연근조림)

I'm still making my bento lunches religiously at least once a week. It's been almost half a year now or so. And I realise that most of my bento lunches consist of Japanese/Korean styled side sides. I guess I really love the two cuisines alot...

Here's a new side dish that I've picked up recently. I like eating lotus root, and see it quite often in Japanese bento lunches on Instagram. So one day, I decided to google for a recipe. It really was quite easy to make, and I've already made it again yesterday for this week's bento lunches.

Yeonkeun Jorim (연근조림)

New York Styled Cheesecake with Cherry Topping

I made a cheesecake a while back. I had plans to surprise a girlfriend with desserts, and I knew that she likes cheesecake. It's been a while since I last made a cheesecake, and I don't normally make them since the family don't really take to cheesecake well.

I decided on a classic New York styled cheesecake, and since cherries were in season back then, I found a recipe for a cherry topping to top the rich concoction.

New York Styled Cheesecake with Cherry Topping

Spruce at Fire Station

I had been waiting for the place to open for ages since it is so near my place. It was originally supposed to have opened in May, but the opening was delayed for a few months before it finally opened. I was meeting my girl pals for brunch one weekend and immediately suggested the place (probably also because it was like within walking distance to my place...).

Spruce at Fire Station

Purple Sweet Potato Roll Cake (紅芋ロールケーキ)

I had plenty of purple sweet potato cream leftover as I had made a double batch. I didn't want to use it as a filling of some sort as I had painstickingly took the trouble to strain it. I wanted showcase it, but I didn't want to make another batch of mont blancs. While googling, I found this image and I was inspired to replicate it. I have not much experience making roll cakes, so I decided to try out this recipe that looks pretty good.

Purple Sweet Potato Roll Cake (紅芋ロールケーキ)

Habitat Coffee

Convenience is everything. I tend to visit places that are near to places that I frequent regularly, or is on the way to somewhere that I am heading to anyway. Habitat Coffee is uber near the Sis's shop, so I dropped by for brunch one morning some time back.

 Hazelnut latte at Habitat Coffee

Five & Dime Eatery

I was anticipating the brunch at Five & Dime Eatery, another place that has seen a surge in visitors after it opened. After two missed chances to visit the eatery (thrice's the charm?), I finally managed to get myself down there to see what was the hype about.
 

Five & Dime Eatery

Club Street Social

It's one of the latest (okay, not that latest by the time I get around to posting this) hippest place to be. I've heard good reviews about the place so I decided to drop by for lunch one day.

Club Street Social

Purple Sweet Potato Mont Blanc (紅いも モンブラン)

Friendship; it is something we all need. We invariably form relationships with people all the time. There are different stages to the sort of relationships people have with one another - be it a mere acquaintance or a close friend. I find that friendships last because two persons take the effort and time to stay in contact, update each other about their daily lives and just generally be there. It is often easy to gradually find that you might be drifting away from your friends - be it lesser time spent together or moving on with different schools/jobs.

I am thankful and humbled that I have two friends from my childhood days that I still consider my best friends. Our friendship have weathered through the years, and even though we were not (and are still not) the sort to meet up weekly, we have managed to stay in touch all these years. They have seen me throughout so much - my formative years as a crybaby kid, dorky adolescent, self-conscious young adult, to whom I am today.    We all stay relatively near each other, but as we were in different schools, and when two of us were studying abroad, we were not the sort that meet up daily, weekly, or monthly. We try to meet up whenever we could once every few months, and now that we have all graduated, it does make it easier to meet up more regularly.

2012 has been a great year. I got to travel with both of these friends - I traveled to Vietnam in January with one, and to Seoul recently in July with the other. It was quite an experience to just spend time with them 24/7. I feel that a vacation makes you learn so much more about someone whom you seem to have known all your life (and thought you know everything about them).

You might be wondering what my rambling about friendship is all about. It just happened that on my vacation recently, I happened to mention to my pal that I love sweet potatoes, especially the purple variety. It was just in passing, yet I was touched that she actually remembered this small fact. When we came back from our holiday, she actually gifted me with two boxes of sweet potatoes (one box of yellow and one box of purple). Awwww.

Needless to say, I was ecstatic (and thankful of course). And also, a little apprehensive. It's 10kg worth in total. Oh my god. How was I going to finish everything?

One thing for sure, I knew I was going to save some to make desserts. The first thing I planned to make was purple sweet potato mont blanc. I've been wanting to make it ever since I saw Evan's version here.

Purple Sweet Potato Mont Blanc (紅いも モンブラン)

Taiwan 2012: 永康街 Taipei Yong Kang Street

I've decided to just split up my travel photos according to themes. Instead of going by a day to day itinerary, I'll be posting my travel vacation photos in posts according to say, food, sightseeing, locations, etc. I'll *try my best to post the details of the food places I visited so if you guys want to visit, you can just grab the address to go.

Today, I'll be posting photos of 永康街 Yong Kang Street in Taipei, Taiwan. It really is an interesting place to visit. I was researching online for the best beef noodles in Taipei before my trip, and a lot of the online reviews pointed to a certain shop at Yong Kang Street, simply named as Yong Kang Beef Noodles. And alongside the reviews, I managed to discover that the area is packed with loads of small little cafes. With that in mind, I was determined to pay Yong Kang Street a visit.

I was so taken with the place on my first visit that I actually revisisted the place again on my last day in Taipei. Specifically, just to have another awesome bowl of the yummy beef noodles.

永康牛肉麵 Yong Kang Beef Noodles 

Taiwan 2012: 九份 and 十分

Here are some more photos of my Taiwan trip in April. My cousin and I met up with another two friends in Taipei, and rented a cab (the driver is like a tourguide!) to bring us around 九份 (Jiufen) and 十分 (Shifen).

The two locations were situated quite near each other, and the two popular tourist spots were actually pretty charming and old schooled villages. I liked how the places managed to retain their nostalgic charms, yet is pretty cynic enough to know that slowly but surely, tourism is going to change these spots in the years to come.

It is advisable to head to Jiufen early as it really was no laughing matter when the hordes of tourists start swarming in soon after us. There are tons of food to eat there at 九份老街, the most popular being the 芋圓 - taro balls (sweet), 魚丸 - fish balls (savoury), 花生捲冰淇淋 - akin to ice cream popiah, 阿蘭宇粿 - similar but not quite like glutinous dumplings - wrapped with sweet or savoury fillings.

I'll let the photos (with captions) do the talking henceforth...

九份老街

Cherry galette with almond cream

I swore that this year, when cherry season strikes, besides stuffing myself crazy with fresh cherries, I would actually set aside some for baking. And I did!

Cherry galette with almond cream

Hummerstons

Yet another brunch place. What can I say? I love brunch. And there's just a whole list of new places to try out...

 Hummerstons

Bacon caramel popcorn nomnoms

Once you step into the working world, I gradually realise that life will always be a cycle of "Hello, my name is XXX, and you are?" when you first meet your new colleagues, to "Bye! Farewell and wish you all the best in your new job!" when your colleagues leave for greener pastures.

Colleagues are the people you see most often than anyone else I guess. You see them five times a week, for at least nine hours. You lunch with them. You gossip together. You might even go out with them outside working hours too. So, in most cases, you would probably pray hard that you get colleagues that you can get along well with.

I bid farewell to one of my colleagues last month. She loves savoury stuff, and has been a guinea pig tasted some of my baked goods that I've brought to work. I've made some maple bacon macarons before for her to try, and when I saw a recipe for bacon caramel popcorn, I offhandedly said that I'll make some for her some time soon. Well, the time for "some time" came soon then expected, so I made these for her before her last day at work came about.

Bacon caramel popcorn nomnoms

Triple berries oatmeal crumble bars

It was blueberries season again...

Triple berries oatmeal crumble bars

ReStore

The same day I visited Toby's Estate for brunch, girlfriend and I decided that we needed some "sweet stuff" to end our meal. I know. How lucky I am that said girlfriend has a sweet tooth like me. Toby's Estate sweet offerings didn't appeal, and neither did any of the other cafes near by at Robertson caught our fancy. Thus, we whipped out our trusty iPhones and started googling for dessert places. What a surprise when we found that several places at Duxton/Ann Siang area were closed on Sundays (either that, or it was too late in the afternoon, and we were afraid that there might not be anything much left...).

We did managed to find one that we agreed on - ReStore. So off we drove (in our respective cars I might add - HA!) in search of that place. I'm no expert at directions, so I trailed happily behind my friend's car. We took a while to find parking (damn Singapore and its limited parking spots), but in the end, we managed to find lots pretty near the place.

ReStore

Toby's Estate

Toby's Estate known more for its coffee rather than its brunch menu. I was quite surprised to hear they serve brunch too, so I decided to head there for a visit for brunch.

Toby's Estate

Skyve Elementary Bistro and Bar

I visited Skyve a few months back for a birthday brunch with some friends. The place was relatively out of the way (but luckily for me, since I'm a Westie, it's easily accessible as I drive anyway), and I like that parking is not an issue. In Singapore, parking is everything you fret about when you drive.

Skyve Elementary Bistro and Bar

Roasted cherries tartelettes with Oreo crust and chocolate ganache filling

Cherries were in season. I couldn't get enough of them. In all, I bought about a kilo (and more) of cherries in the last month. Whenever I happened to walk by the supermart, I'm bound to pop in to check whether cherries were available and whether they were on sale.

Roasted cherries tartelettes with Oreo crust and chocolate ganache filling

Tiong Bahru Bakery

I must say that this is one of my favourite bakeries as of the current moment. I've visited it once for dine in, and a second time for take away.

 Tiong Bahru Bakery

Taiwan 2012: 花莲 (Hualian)

My second trip this year (in April) was to Taiwan. I've been to Taiwan before, once, like I think, when I was 18? That's perhaps about six years ago, when I had just graduated from junior college and was waiting to go to university. It was my first ever overseas trip with my girl friends and I was super excited about it. Thinking about Taiwan does brings back fond memories (of how young I was...*sigh*).

This time round, I went Taiwan with my cousin. It's our second overseas trip together! Not counting the one and half years of our university days in Aussie. Ever since she's been back, she's been swamped with work (she works at KPMG - I think that's pretty self-explanatory) and I don't meet her as much as I would like to. So, our week long vacation together was thoroughly awesome. ;)

Ello Taiwan! 

Red wine poached pears entremet

Hi. Does anyone even drop by anymore? :)

I know I'm not an expert in many things, but I'm certainly a master in procrastinating. These days, I have simply no urge to blog, nor even, *gasp* bake. It seems my lackadaisical plateau has hit an even lower bottom than I had possibly imagined.

Oh well. I'm not going to question it, but go with the flow. Perhaps I've spent too much time overanalysing this, but I'll try to post some photos today to make up for the absence for the past two weeks. I had a baking session some time back with Evan, and we had decided to make another entremet together (yes, it's so hard to find like minded people who love to bake entremets - or rather, I'm just a very shy person to begin with so I don't reach out my hand first to know more people hee).

Red wine poached pears entremet

Katsudon (カツ丼)

I was going to blog more this month. Alas, I was busy with work, and also, I've actually been sick for the past week or so. First, with a bout of acid reflux where I was coughing non-stop for days. Then after an ah-may-zing night catching Jason Mraz live in concert at the newly opened Gardens at the Bay yesterday night, I caught a flu bug. I know. Lucky me.

Let me take a mo' here to stop and gush about how awesome the concert (Tour is a Four Letter Word) was. I almost couldn't even go cos I couldn't find a friend who was keen on him or who haven't already bought tickets. Then I managed to persuade a girlfriend to go with me, but the tickets were sold out. :( Fortunately, said girlfriend managed to caught wind that extra tickets will be released, so we did managed to buy tickets in the end. Phew to that. Cos I loved every single minute of the 2 and a half hours standing concert (legs were aching like crazy).

He started the concert with my favourite song from his latest album "Love is a Four Letter Word" - "The World As I See It", followed up closely with a few more songs from his new album. I admit it's a little hard to get high on his songs cos they are more mellow than hard rock thumping rhythms. Nevertheless, the crowds favourites would definitely be "You and I Both", "I'm Yours" and "Lucky" (where Corrine May was a guest to sing a duet with him) where everyone sang along word for word verbatim (and where the most people whipped out their phones to record him - I recorded when he sang "You and I Both"). I liked that his band was really good too, and he gave them time to shine individually with their solos. I can't stop stressing how great the performance was. *end fan girl rant*

You're here for the food aren't you? Sorry I took a while to get to it.

Katsudon (カツ丼)

꼬꼬나라 (Kko Kko Nara)

I tried out a few new Korean restaurants these two months. Here's one I visited with my friends for a birthday gathering last month near Tanjong Pagar.

꼬꼬나라 (Kko Kko Nara)

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day!

I decided to make a little something for the Dad. I do love my Dad and all (hey, we're family!), but I'm not one for words of affirmation when it comes to such things. I'm not that kinda girl who'll go "I love you, Dad!". But. I'm still rather a Daddy's little girl nevertheless. So, here's a cake combining a few of his favourite elements for this Father's Day!

This is one cake that will be enjoyed by the men in your life. I mean, I'd risk a bet to say that 90% of men likes rum and raisin as their choice of poison favourite ice cream flavour. So, make this for the special men in your life (fathers, husbands, boyfriends) and I'm sure it'll bring a smile to their faces.

 Caramel coffee rum raisin entremet

Scrambled eggs brunch

Even though I like visiting cafes to check out the latest "hotspots", in fact, I secretly prefer brunch at home.

I like that cafes provide a good atmosphere for me to catch up with friends, and I can spend time observing the cafe's decor and little details. But nothing beats having brunch at home for a thoroughly pleasant time. I mean, it doesn't matter if I wake up late, or whether I'm dressed in my PJs, I still get to enjoy my meal in peace at the balcony on a lazy weekend.

Scrambled eggs brunch

Blu Kouzina

Ever since my Sis's shop opening, we rarely get to go out to have family meals as she's working 7 days a week, almost 24/7. For one of our few family meals in April, we visited a Greek restaurant along Bukit Timah Road for dinner as it was relatively near our place.

Blu Kouzina

Brown butter blackberry granola muffins

I had bought some blackberries, thinking to eat them with yogurt and granola for breakfast. However, I had forgotten all about them, and by the time I remembered that they were still in the fridge, they were looking a little too ripe. I needed to use them asap.

My muffins stash had ran out at the same time, thus I thought that I could just use them in a new muffin batch.

Brown butter blackberry granola muffins

93 DegreesC Cafe

I went for a little "me time" early this month. I thought that it was quite a lovely trip made with me, myself and I. It's been a while since I went out by myself. I used to not mind going shopping or doing things by myself when I was in Aussie, but I rarely get the chance to do so now that I'm back in Singapore and surrounded by people I know.

93 DegreesC Cafe

Black sesame chiffon cake

And here's another black sesame sweet treat. I still have some more leftover black sesame paste, and I'm thinking of what other black sesame goodies I can make with it...Possibilities are endless but I have something in mind already. Let's cross fingers and hope that when I attempt it, it will turn out fine.

 Black sesame chiffon cake

お弁当 (Homemade bento lunches)

I've started bringing my own lunches again to work at least once a week since February. While not all of them are 100% healthy (one of my latest bentos was katsudon), at least I get to control what I put in my body as I try to include at least two different vegetables in every meal.

Here's some visuals of my lunch boxes for the past four months taken with my iPhone 4S. :D

 Bento - Inarizushi topped with buttered corn and crab mayo, hijiki carrot salad, sesame mixed cucumbers, leftover bulgogi chicken and ajitsuke tamago.

PAUL Bakery (takeaway)

Ooooh, managed to catch a breather. I'm 'sort of' over the extremely busy period at work already, gonna make use of this time to try to upload more of my super backlog of photos that date back to my April Taiwan trip! Wish me luck.

In the meantime, here's some tasty pastries I had (yes, a few months back) form PAUL's Bakery. Yet another big name in the pastries world, PAUL's Bakery, had opened a flagship store in the middle of town early 2012. I've visited it twice already, both times to get takeaways as the queue for dining in was really long and the place was super packed.

PAUL pastries