Halloween Coconut Buns

Happy Halloween folks!

Halloween Coconut Buns

Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes

Think of a word to describe a chocolate cupcake.

Moist.
Fluffy.
Light.
Soft.
Chocolate-y.

This cupcake ticks all the above boxes.

 Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes

Seoul: 아현동 간장게장 (Ahyeon-dong Gangjanggejang)

Every time I visit Seoul, I am armed with a whole new list of "must-eats". I've seen this dish on variety shows a few times (by that I mean - Running Man), and always wondered how it tastes like.

간장게장 (soy sauce marinated crab)

Seoul: 까페오시정 (Cafe 5 Cijung)

Wishing I was back there, in those carefree moments again.

까페오시정 (Cafe 5 Cijung)

Seoul: 서서갈비 (Seo Seo Galbi)

Oh hey. Hello there again after my (almost) nine months hiatus. It's the longest I've ever left the blog unattended. I guess it was the Mt Everest backlog that's in the background that's been deterring me from even attempting to make a post. (Ha, what's new.)

Anyway, if you've been following me on Instagram, you will know that I'm still eating, traveling and basically living my life as usual. A break from blogging has not changed me, I simply have more time to do more of the above mentioned. I really wonder how I found all that time and energy to blog so frequently in the past. As I grow older, I rather be doing so many other stuff but blogging. That said, I'm back here cos with my traveling, I really really like having a place to log all my travel thoughts and info, so that it's like a sort of reference guide to myself (and whoever still reads this tiny old blog of mine).

If you visit my travel page, I've rearranged the travels to make it now countries-based instead of years-based. With my super slow mode of posting, I reckon it'll be wiser to do so (so I can fudge the dates of my actual visit). Without further ado, I reckon my first post in a long while should be about travel eats, and what best than at one of my fave all-time travel location - Seoul.

 Seo Seo Galbi (서서갈비)

Rainbow Cube Bread Loaves

It's the end of 2015. Yet another farewell to a year. Let's see, in the past year, I traveled to five cities, feasted on loads of good food, got a lil loony with purple streaks and had a job change. A pretty decent year of trials and changes I would say.

I thought I should celebrate by posting something special. So many things came outta my oven this year, but I thought that I should save the best for the last post of the year. While bread itself is nothing too extraordinary, I think the rainbow hues makes it special hey?

Rainbow Cube Bread Loaves

Artichoke Cafe & Bar

It's not a new brunch spot, it's not the usual brunch crowd you see at a typical cafe, and it's not serving the common brunch fare you see at every other brunch place. So where's this place again?

Artichoke Cafe & Bar

Paddy Hills

If The Lokal was my 2014 favourite cafe, Paddy Hills certainly is my 2015 favourite cafe. In the span of less than six months, I popped by Paddy Hills at least eight times. If you do the maths, it's a visit or two per month. It didn't help that it was within walking distance of my office, so it was extremely accessible to have lunch there, either with my colleagues or lunch dates with friends. Or rather, should I say, my old office, now that I'm in a new environment.

I've amassed a collection of food shots from my multiple visits. The cafe opened in March this year, and my first visit was in May and my most recent visit was in October. They had a menu update before my last visit, so I managed to try several stuff from their original and new menus. In fact, this might just be my longest picture post for a cafe haha.

Paddy Hills

Bangkok 2014: 3 Desserts to Try in Bangkok

Sweet tooths in Bangkok unite. There's a lot of dessert choices in Bangkok. I tried three in my trip last year, and though I'm pretty sure they are already well known in the blogging universe, but hey, there's never too much desserts photos right? ;)

1. Coconut icecream at Chatuchak Market

Coconut ice cream in Chatuchak Market, Bangkok

Purple Sweet Potato Pie

You know, I'm beginning to think I'm a born klutz. I sprained my ankle on Monday. YES, AGAIN. I last sprained it a couple months back. So it is seriously not funny at all.

Purple Sweet Potato Pie

Mango Ombré Cake

Since last year, instead of entremets, I've been making more layered cakes. It's pretty time-consuming to make entremets, and also, there's more cream in it than actual cake (I reckon the family prefers stuff that has more cake bits than cream bits), so unless I have extra time on hand, I don't think I'll be baking entremets much.

Mango Ombré Cake

Purple Sweet Potato Buns

Age is just a number. Certainly rings true when you're getting on your years eh?

Purple Sweet Potato Buns

Macadamia Nut White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Hello Nom-ember.

It's the time of the year again. Where the year end feasting begins. It's the month of birthdays. And soon, Christmas and New Year's Day will come chasing too.

Macadamia Nut White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Mango Coconut Loaf

Loaf cakes are one of the easiest things to bake. The most common loaf-type of cake would probably be banana cake (although it's normally called banana bread - I prefer calling it banana cake because it is not really a bread). When I chanced upon a recipe for a mango loaf cake, I was intrigued because I have yet to encounter a fruit-type loaf recipe which was not banana-based.

Mango Coconut Loaf

Double Chocolate Muffins

I was sick for the past few days. And boy do I really hate being sick. In fact, whenever I fall sick, it seems to be the same ol' flu bug that just wham bam smack me. It was especially bad on Wednesday night and I couldn't fall asleep because my nose was so blocked that I totally couldn't breathe. You know that feeling I'm describing right? The whole trying to breathe through your mouth motions, which totally sucks big-time cos you're sucking in loads of air, which makes you just want to burp repeatedly, which in turn hurts like mad cos your throat is quite sore. Aaargh.

Anyway. So I've been cooped up at home for the past three days not doing anything much except spam reading manga on my phone, or snooze in the afternoon because of the meds. I did actually managed to do some productive stuff though - like clear a whole ton of mail that was piling up like mad in the room, and also edit enough photos to form a couple few new posts. (Yay!)

When I am sick, it's porridge all the way for meals. Lunch and dinner. So needless to say, looking at all these food photos I edited made me a tad grouchy cos I was craving for them - in which I cannot eat them because I am sick. Bah. Especially these double chocolate muffins...

Double Chocolate Muffins

Restart

Back from the vacation, right back to reality.

The past two weeks have gone by in a flash. And before I know it, I'm starting on a new journey tomorrow.

Korea 2014: 코레아노스키친 Coreanos Kitchen

After spending a lovely afternoon just chilling around Garosugil at Sinsa-dong, the girlfriend and I walked over to Apgujeong area for our dinner. The girlfriend and I, we were both Mexican food lovers, and I had noticed that there were several interesting Mexican dining places in Seoul while doing prior research for dinner places.

코레아노스키친 Coreanos Kitchen, 2014

Korea 2014: 가로수길 (Garosu-gil)

As you read this, I'll probably be in Seoul by now! I've managed to upload more Korea 2014 photos, so enjoy!

 가로수길 (Garosu-gil), 2014

抹茶クリームパン (Matcha Cream Pan)

I have a looooooooooooooon backlog of baking posts to upload (since I've only been posting about my travelogues). I actually made these buns last year. Like waaaaaaaay last year. Heh.

 抹茶クリームパン (Matcha Cream Pan)

Korea 2014: DMZ

Everytime I travel to Korea, there are bound to be new sights to see. I went on a half day Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) tour on my 2014 trip. My friend booked the tour for us, and as the friend's parents are more comfortable with mandarin, we went ahead with a mandarin speaking guide.

DMZ, Korea 2014