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I had the privilege to design safari themed cupcakes for a dear friend's baby boy 1st birthday. You should have seen his excited legs kicking when he saw the cupcakes.

My Favourite.

The Crowd's Favourite.

My largest order ever.

Made these for a very special woman in my life.... and she's none other than Yahlan! She's one amazing woman who has made a tremendous impact in my life. It was her birthday the past Sat so I decided to make her a little something. :)

Mother's Day is comin' up! Care to surprise your mum with custom designed cupcakes? Contact me at xinyingyau@hotmail.com! :)

I'm back.

I'm back. And I know it ain't exactly the most appropriate first dish to rave about since my diasppearance, but I think it's been given far too little credit than it should receive. And it's none other than a dish we commonly fight over in my house - yes, pig's stomach soup.

It's one which usually gathers people on both extreme ends - you either love it or hate it. My mum makes the best soup and my entire clan can vouch for that. It's intensely peppery from the generous amounts of black peppercorns and soothingly aromatic from the hours it spends over the fire. Not only is the soup deliciously tasty, the pig's stomach is tender and has an irresistable crunch to it. My mum never fails to tell me how many packets of salt she'll use to scrub and massage the intestine, so much so that the "scrub" is sufficient to flavour the intestine without seasoning it further. This is a dish I've yet to master, but I will!

A true delicacy.

My first pasta dish after discovering the wonders of melting anchovies in hot olive oil. Heat up your pan with olive oil, throw in a few fillet of anchovies till it's melted, add in chopped garlic and chilli, return your al dente pasta to the pan and toss. Top it with oven roasted chicken breast and a poached egg. Yums.

Just barely a week ago, a good friend of mine wanted to surprise her cell group with cupcakes and requested that I created something for her. I was really honored and greatly appreciative as she left the deisgn of the cupcakes entirely to me, believing that I will not fail her. With such a supportive friend, I kicked into full gear and made her these sheeps.... :)

7 hours of moulding in an air conditioned room, I was greeted with 30 smiling sheeps...



Having always been interested in cookies, I signed up with The Patiessier for their cucpakes and cookies class. And my amateur creations...

The man and his rib.

Just a word of advice to all who are looking for classes to sign up, be it cooking or baking, if the lesson outline is not given, call up the company and ask if it's suitable for you. Questions like, if I have no prior baking/cooking knowledge, it is still suitable for me? etc.

A valentine's gift.

The Girliest Thing

It was my cousin's 21st birthday and I was tasked to provide cupcakes as dessert. Having read up on a recipe for chocolate ganache, I was more than happy for the opportunity to try it out.

So I woke up really excited, my mind filled with pictures of how I wanted my cupcakes to turn out. After a total of 7 hours and a really bad back, I was really proud of how everything turned out and they're really the girliest things I've ever done :)

This had to be my biggest cupcake project ever, a total of SIXTY cupcakes and just a pair of hands. I had to sacrifice some calories to make sure the cupcakes were decent. That accounts for the 1 missing cupcake :P

Glazed with Chocolate Ganache.

If you were trying to sell your house, make a batch of these and let it sit in the living room, the dense chocolate aroma will definitely be a plus point. These were made with 73% cocoa chocolates. Dark is the way to go.... *yum*

Just frosting these pinkies made my day. They're the happiest and prettiest things to look at, don't you think? The people who invented piping tips were geniuses...

Mummy: You have to make different patterns!

I took 3 hours to come up with just 5 designs....Well, most of time went to experimenting with the near 15 tips I have. Thank God for disposable piping bags, they're truly a gift from heaven.

Verdict: Everybody loved the cupcakes, just that the birthday girl commented:

WHY ARE THEY PINK?????

Chocolate Ganache - Adapted from Cupcake Bakeshop

9 ounces strong dark chocolate, 73% cocoa

1 cup heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp butter, room temperature

2 cups icing sugar

1. Chop chocolates and transfer into a heat proof bowl.

2. Heat cream until bubbles form around the edge of the pan, pour cream over the chocolate.

3. Let sit for 1 minute then stir until combined.

4. Add butter and vanilla and stir until combined.

5. Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixture and let cool for 10 minutes.

6. Sift powdered sugar into the mixture and beat until combined.

7. Continue to beat with an electric mixer until lighter in color and creamy.

Pomegranate Cosmopolitan

I'm a big fan of pomegranates. A huge part of it is actually attributed to it's interestingly molecular interior which makes cracking the fruit open and getting its seeds out a whole lot of fun. I use to think eating the fruit was more of a fun thing to do rather than for its nutritional value. How each seed pops in your mouth and the burst of sweetness... Oooooh....makes me feel like having one now.

But a recent search on Wikipedia revealed a lot more interesting facts about this intricately structured fruit:

1. "pomegranate" derives from Latin pomum ("apple") and granatus ("seeded")

2. The seeds have a name - arils.

3. It's a good source of Vitamin C and B5. Pomegranate juice provides about 16% of an adult's daily Vitamin C requirement per 100 ml serving.

4. Last year alone, 17 clinical trials were underway to examine the effect of pomegranate juice consumption on 9 diseases, including diabetes and your common cold!

5. In Arabic countries, pomegranates are used to cure mouth ulcers! Not bad for a fun fruit to eat huh?!

6. Pomegranate ('rimmôn') is mentioned in the Bible as one of the seven fruits/plants that Israel was blessed with.

I'm gonna be drinking more of this!

And so I was cupcake-recipe surfing and I chanced upon a Pomegranate Cosmopolitan Cupcake recipe and I knew I had to try it. A friend's birthday was coming up - a perfect occasion for some Pom Cosmo!

Excited, I woke up really early to start work on my Pomegranate Molasses, which is basically a pomegranate syrup reduced from its juice, sugar and lemon juice. I baked a simple lime cupcake, whipped up a batch of pomegranate-vodka cream cheese frosting and topped it up with a dollop of pomegranate molasses to give it an extra "pommy" boost, served up with a wedge of lime.

Here's how it looks!

I'm not a fan of sweet stuff but I actually finished the whole lot of frosting.

Pomegranate Molasses

4 cups Pomegranate Juice
1/2 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Lemon Juice

In a large, uncovered saucepan, heat pomegranate juice, sugar, and lemon juice on medium high until the sugar has dissolved and the juice simmers.

Reduce heat just enough to maintain a simmer. Simmer for about an hour, or until the juice has a syrupy consistency, and has reduced to 1 to 1 1/4 cups. Pour out into a jar. Let cool. Store chilled in the refrigerator.

If you want your pomegranate molasses to be sweeter, add more sugar to taste, while you are cooking it.

Pomegranate-Vodka Cream Cheese Frosting

225g Cream Cheese
225g Unsalted Butter
1 Vanilla Bean Pod, cut lengthwise
3 tbsp Pomegranate Molasses
3 tsp Vodka, to taste
2 cups Icing Sugar, sifted


Cream the butter and cream cheese together in an electric mixer.

Add Pom Molasses and vodka, taste.

Add vanilla beans to icing sugar.

Gradually add icing sugar sugar/vanilla bean mixture to bowl. Scrape down the bowl as needed.

The Feeding of 40

My largest feasting project for 2008.

Menu:

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

Grilled Chicken with Pesto on Baguette

Slow Oven Roasted Beef Fillet with Tomato Relish

Roasted Vegetable Dip with Breadsticks & Chips

Prawn Cocktail with Avocado Salad and Tomato Basil Dressing

Butter Rice with Raisins & Almond Flakes

Deep-fried Chicken Fillet with Orange Sauce

Spiced Dory Fillet with Mango Salsa

Strawberry Cheese Cake

The Feast.

To feed 40 people.

Fell in love with pumpkin soup from the first time I drank it. Roasted pumpkins gives the soup an additional sweetness because of the caramelisation.

The butter rice was a major hit. Surprising cos it required the least effort.

Spiced Dory Fillet with Mango Salsa.

Slow Oven Roasted Beef Fillet with Tomato Relish.

A fillet of striploin, sealed with spices, then into the oven at 100 degrees for an hour.What you get is a perfect hue of pink all throughout and a lightly roasted crust.

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

1 peeled, seeded butternut pumpkin cut in big dice

1 chopped leek

1 chopped onion

3 cloves of garlic

2tbsp butter

Few springs of fresh thyme

1.5l chicken stock

250ml cream

salt

pepper

1. Lay the diced pumpkin on a oven tray and drizzle with olive oil. Roast at 200 degrees for about 30 mins till it's brown and caramelised.

2. In a large pot, melt the butter. Add the onions, garlic, thyme and leek. Cook till onions are almost translucent. Add the pumpkin to the pot and cook gently for 5 mins.

3. Add the chicken stock and cook with a bit of seasoning for about 30 mins.

4. Remove the springs of thyme and blend the soup. Strain if necessary and bring to boil again, adding the cream.

5. Check the seasoning and serve with croutons and a dash of cream.

If you don't have an oven, you can skip the roasting and still serve up a bowl of deliciously sweet pumpkin soup.

Turning 25

Allow me to shout about something. It's probably one of the few things that I keep talking about even days after I received it. I'm blown away by the creativity and the heart and effort that went into it.

Presenting to you:

My very own MENU

They sure know what makes my heart tick :P

Menu drawn up just for me on my birthday :)

Check this out! Everyone is represented by a dish and its descriptions are actually their birthday wishes for me! How creative is that?!

Haha... the plan was that I could call up anyone on the menu and request for a delivery (of their dish) on my birthday!

This is done by a group of beautiful people, and they're none other than my cg, S35!

Never underestimate these young chaps. They're meant for great things :)

On the 26th of December, I had one of the most memorable dining experiences of the year - at Forlino, a place that I've been wanting to visit for a long time. Getting to Forlino was like finding my way through a maze. It could get a little intimidating if you're going there for the first time, but I must say that walk through the maze got my heart a little more expectant and excited.

What greeted me at the reception was a group of friendly staff who promptly brought me to my seat. The restaurant has a seating capacity of about 20 tables with 2 private rooms if you have a big group. After showing me to my seat, another intricately designed stool was promptly placed beside me for my bag. I was impressed.

As I was the last one seated, our waiter handed me the menu and formally introduced the specials of the night. He was quite a humourous guy and made ordering a pleasant experience.

An intricately hanging lamp shade hung over every table and created a warm soothing ambience, perfect for a night of romance. And did I mention the spectacular view of the Marina Bay??

Insalata "21"
Green Salad "21" $21

It is a salad of 21 different greens, refreshing and perfect as an appetising starter.

Capesante Gratinate alle Erbe e Salsa all'Arneis

Scallops on the Shell with "Arneis" Wine $32

Piatto di Salumi e Formaggi dalla Nostra Cantina

Home Cured Meat & Cheese Platter $26

Batsua' di Piedino con Costine e Salamino di Maiale

Pork Ribs with Grilled Sausage and Deep Fried Trotter $42

Fritto Misto di Pesce e Verdure

Deep-fried Selection of Baby Fish & Seafood with Vegetable Matchsticks $45

Ravioli de Aragosta, Capesante e Gamberi al Sugo di Finferli

Lobster, Scallop & Prawn Ravioli with Chanterelle Mushrooms $42

I adore this dish. Ravioli is of the right thickness and cooked to perfection. I've done my own raviolis before and it came out either broken or wrinkly. The texture was firm, slightly bouncy but not floury at all.

Costolette di Agnello "Scottadito" alla Moda di Mia Mamma

"Mamma Forlino" Lamp Chops $45

These chops are so tender, my knife literally just slid through the meat effortlessly. The first time I didn't have to saw my chops.

And a pleasant surprise! A dark chocolate birthday cake on the house.

It was then re-plated for the five of us.
It's all about presentation isn't it?

Not only was food fabulous and beautiful, the place was elegant and chic. But above all, service was impeccable. Simply flawless and I couldn't ask for more.

Cupcake Madness

It all began one lazy Sunday afternoon when it was the regular mahjong sessions for the mums and dads and I went over to my aunt's place for dinner. Who would have known that what was suppose to be a casual conversation with my 3rd aunt unleased my desire to bake. I had an insightful peek into the meticulously complex world of baking and that sparked a wave of baking in my house.

I've never been best friends with flour, butter and sugar. Somehow this combination seems almost impossible to handle. I remember my first cupcake baking experience resulted in a sunken valley, which I sheepishly tried to hide with the help of buttercream. So when I related that incident to my aunt, she generously shared her fail-proof cupcake recipe and imparted her touch of magic to me.

Equipped and excited, I was ready to conquer the trio again. A game of badminton with my cell group provided the perfect opportunity. After an hour and a half, along with my 2nd aunt who came by my house....

I made my first batch of Chocolate Banana Cupcakes!

You don't know how esctatic I was when I saw my cupcakes rise....

From then on, my Teka oven and Kenwood mixer became my best friends. Now I know why people can bake all day, it's truly therapeutic! The only thing I had to get pass was the monotony of weighing :P And so I went on a baking spree....

Apple Cinammon

I had 3 at one go...

Oreo Chocolate

Orange Almond . Apple Cinammon

Orange Chocolate with Marsh

Sunken Marsh has never looked prettier :)

Chocolate Chip with Marsh & Skittles

The happiest looking cupcakes

And we did something fun for dinner tonight! It was a snack I got from Nigella's TV show and she was doing TV dinners. It's a simple pan-fried mozerella sandwich. Nothing elaborate and fancy, but it was a whole lot of fun eating it!

My sister's first attempt.

And then my mum decided to join in the fun.

An attempt at the Guinness Book of World Records.

I wasn't gonna lose to her.