Crabsticks rangoon on pastry shells

I had a potluck gathering with some good friends last week. We discussed menu ideas through Whatsapp (isn't technology awesome?) and I decided to bring some appetizers and a dessert. We've been through this quite a few times already, and since it was a small party of five, we've (learnt through past experience) to keep the portions small so that we wouldn't end up with too much leftovers.

Appetizers: Crabsticks rangoon on pastry shells

Chocolate rum truffle tart and ARIA praline chocolate tartelettes

I made two chocolate tarts a few weeks back. I decided to experiment by making two "recipes" using the same base chocolate tart pastry and two different fillings. A flavoured chocolate ganache tart and a tweaked version of the ARIA chocolate tart.

 Chocolate rum truffle tart

Drips Bakery & Cafe

I've a girlfriend who's studied overseas at Melbourne before. We meet often to chat about our lives (during and post-Aussie) over brunch or shopping sessions sometimes, and we've always been meaning to set up a coffee date of some sort since she's sort of a coffee fanatic (what with the diverse cafe scene that Melbourne has...). We finally managed to arrange for a coffee session at one of the new coffee joints that I was planning to check out in late December 2011.

 Drips Bakery & Cafe

Tomato basil bread topped with brie and grilled cherry tomatoes

I'm back from my vacation in Vietnam. And that's just sad, cos I had barely half a day to rest, and I'm back to work again. Sigh. Thankfully, the first day back wasn't that busy. Well, I coped.

I've a lot of photos to share about my trip, but it'll probably take me some time to look through, process and upload. It's okay, I have a handful of backlogs to clear - first up being these tomato basil bread I baked before I left for my vacation.

 Tomato basil bread topped with brie and grilled cherry tomatoes

Loysel's Toys Cafe

Hi from Hanoi! I'm currently on a vacation in Vietnam (Hanoi/Halong Bay/Ho Chih Min City) and blogging from the computer that the hotel room has! Just had a really good cuppa Vietnamese filter milk coffee in the afternoon, and now, I'll be blogging about yet another coffee place I checked out in Singapore a few weeks back... I'm drinking more and more coffee these days. I hope I don't turn into a coffee addict!

 Having a cuppa at Loysel's Toys

Homemade ciabatta

Happy 2012! 새해복많이받으세요!

I borrowed a couple of bread baking books from my work place's library. Yes. We actually have a library at my work place - one that loans books from the National Library Board. My office is cool like that.

Homemade ciabatta