Last update for 2009

The year just zoomed past like that... looking back, I have had a good year and I am so grateful. Apart from recovering from the leg injury (almost), I have also started practising and teaching yoga again. Also moving into this new house and having so much space to bake, ain't that wonderful? Not forgetting, I had vacation in Japan, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Singapore this year! Wow...

However there have been more baking activities than yoga. My yoga classes - both as a student and a teacher, are currently in hiatus. Not something I want really, but I just can't seem to find a good teacher with good classes and timing (and reasonable fees!) that I want to follow. But then any yoga is better than no yoga. This should be a top priority in my 2010 resolution ;)

And my students have been really bogged down with work and we decided to cancel all December (and probably January & February?) classes till the dust settles down. It's all within expectations - people do drop out from classes. Just take it in stride and see if the interest is rekindled.

My resolution for 2010 - I want to be a better person. In every way. I believe in continuous improvement (thanks to my profession haha...).

More baking posts coming up in 2010. Happy New Year to you and me! :)

Fondant just for fun

Some expired, mouldy fondant that deserved a last chance to serve its purpose, before being dumped into the bin ;p

Brownies - Yes I made it!

Not willing to give up so easily in my search for the best brownie recipe, I decided to try again one day after all the failed attempts.

This time, I tried two Chewy Brownies recipes - one from a newspaper cutting yonks ago, another one from Martha Stewart.

I had to reduce the sugar by nearly half in each recipe, yet they still turned out a bit too sweet for my liking. But - they were successful! Finally :)

At least they look like brownies hahaha... with a crusty and shiny top.

And only today I saw a fine line in a recipe book that one shall never use self-raising flour in brownies. Darn, it was my own boo-boo that spoilt my cakes yesterday ;p

The one on the left, some no name recipe which requires the brownies to be refrigerated straight from the oven (I was really cynical), and the one on the right by Martha Stewart, just had to go through the normal cooling process.

The verdict: Both were equally tasty and chocolaty, BUT the quick-cooling process somehow made the brownie on the left very moist and chewy! So, that is the best-kept secret :)

And I also learned by accident today that brownies are so nice to be eaten refrigerated. What a pleasant discovery :)

I am so going to put on another 5 lbs this weekend ;p

Brownies

These days when I bake, I make sure I try at least 2 recipes. A kiasu attempt to minimise energy usage. Nah, I'm just being friendly to the environment ;p

Suddenly I have this interest in baking brownies. All my attempts in the past have not been memorable. Somehow I decided to give KAF another chance, and from my previous "success" of substituting KAF all purpose flour with self-raising flour in the vanilla cake recipe, I thought I could do the same again.

Unfortunately, the batter already felt wrong before it went into the oven . It was very thick, so thick that it wouldn't even melt into a smooth top in the oven at high heat! The results:

Using all purpose flour. While it has the right look for brownies (shiny top), it failed to rise. Wasted my Varlhona cocoa powder :( It was tough, not at all chewy, like how I like my brownies to be.

Using self-raising flour. It was all crumbly while warm, and gosh, it became as dry as cookie crumbs after it was cool. So disappointing. I think I should really give up on KAF recipes from now on. We just don't have the right flour in this part of the world! I'm going to make my dog very happy with these failed brownies ;p

Another recipe that uses chocolate and no cocoa powder. The colour was not right, and the texture was too cake-like - not chewy, no glossy top. In my definition - FAILED too. But still edible, at least not dry. Put some chocolate fudge on top for my niece :)

As I was looking through my recipe collection, gosh, I have like 10 brownie recipes!! Will try some of them again when I'm in the mood. This is too much failure to bear in a day :(

There are so many recipes that I want to try (red velvet, mango mochi, ang ku kueh, MORE vanilla cupcakes and brownies) but I really should stop for a while. I'm fattening myself and my parents...

More cupcakes - still seaching for the BEST recipe!

In an experimental mood again.

This time, I made some lemon poppy seeds cupcakes since mom gave me a lemon (which has been sitting in the fridge for ages and drying up!). The texture was not bad, and definitely very fragrant. But after it was cool, I find it a little dry and tough.


Since the oven was switched on, I may as well retry the KAF golden vanilla cake recipe. I just cannot understand and accept why my cakes have all failed while the website shows nicely risen cakes. So I decided to substitute the all purpose flour with self-raising flour. The result was quite ideal while it's fresh (at least it rose!), however, hubby had difficulty swallowing it a day later, and dad thought it's too moist! So, I still have not found the best plain vanilla cupcake recipe :(

Leftover fondant. The ugliest fondant flowers ever... ;p

Scones & Lemon Cupcakes

Finally a free weekend :)

I had planned to do some shopping, catch up on my sleep, finish up my near-expiry yoga passes, and of course, the main agenda was baking.

Found this supposedly BEST scone recipe on the internet. I wanted to make a comparison with my best scone recipe which was generously shared by the housekeeper of White House, Cameron Highlands. So, the challenge took place.

The new recipe requires a little bit more work as it requires buttermilk. I had to make some myself as they are hard to find off-the-shelf here. And the verdict...
The new recipe was a little more difficult and messy, but they both taste almost the same - except that the new recipe produces taller & fluffier scones (on the left). Quite happy with the results.

Since there was some buttermilk left, and I had a lemon in the fridge, I decided to try a lemon cupcake recipe. It was good except a little dry - which was unfortunate because I had wanted to also finish up the fondant I made one month ago. Well, guess that will have to wait till next week :) My creative juices can only flow when I am in the mood.

Overall it's been a good weekend except for the PMS that is affecting my sleep. Have been attending Yin Yoga classes to sooth the discomfort, but I'm not sure if that's helping.

Looking forward to the short week ahead. Hope the mood and inspiration to bake and decorate come back by next weekend, before the fondant turns bad!

Life...

It's been a week full of ups and downs.

I was praised at work by a few directors, including my boss - which was really motivating and encouraging :) At least the project is heading the right way.

I was also given an opportunity to attend a course I have been wanting to attend for the past few years, and my company has agreed to pay for me. RM8,500 is not a small sum.

And then I made sure I'm free this weekend so that I can pay my 'yoga debts' ie. go for more classes before my passes expired. I have even planned on which classes to attend. And by the way my leg is 98% cured - I can do my king pigeon pose just like before! Just waiting for my full lotus pose to feel more comfortable on my right knee before I attempt bound lotus.

I also wanted to sit down, have some quiet moments so that my creative juices (if any) will flow for me to put my fondant to good use before it starts to become mouldy. And experiment more cakes.

I was also looking forward to the big meeting and free lunch next week with all my colleagues.

Then, yesterday evening, my mom called to tell me that her dad passed away. My only grandparent left has passed away. I didn't expect this at all as he was doing quite ok though he had a stroke 2 years back. It was saddening. And we'll need to spend time at the wake this whole weekend until the following Monday.

And I have been waking up at 3am everyday for NO REASON. I feel so exhausted. My whole body is aching, my eyes look swollen. I can't even go back to sleep and wake up at an earthly hour. I am tired of being tired!! What is wrong with me...

I also found out some of the people whom I really wanted to catch up with have decided not to attend the big meeting. I am indeed disappointed.

This is life I guess... we can't have everything. We just have to take it with a stride, with no attachments, with no hopes... just sail through it, all the ups and downs, with no emotions, cos we will never know when it is ending.

Good cakes & bad cakes

Have been baking diligently, more like experimenting new recipes to find the best in each category.

Some really good results for carrot cake... yums (the pictures don't do justice here!!).

And some really BAD and disappointing results for King Arthur Flour's recipes.

KAF Yellow Cake

KAF Fudge Cake

It's especially disappointing when I used only the best butter and cocoa powder - Valrhona from France. The cakes just refused to rise and ended up rock hard :( Is it really caused by the flour?? But the recipe calls for all purpose flour, isn't that like normal flour (except for the branding)? WIll definitely try again with a branded flour, not going to give up. But may use cheaper margarine since it's experimental and there's no guarantee of success.

I must say that I was kind of disheartened with the failures... after so many years of baking I still fail. And this time I had no other choice but keep on trying because I promised to bake a cake for dad's 70th birthday.

So I tried another Valrhona Chocolate Bundt Cake recipe I got from the internet that promised a light and aromatic cake. But I was again disappointed. It hardly rose and definitely not light in texture. Since I was running out of time, I had no choice but to use it.
The fondant part was fun, made and painted some peaches and gold ingots - but I was really pressed for time - I could have done a better job! Anyway, I hope my family enjoyed the cake - if not the taste/texture, at least the 'beauty' of the fondant ;p

Makes me wonder again - do people really SHARE their recipes 100% especially on the internet??

Hello Kitty

Somehow my October weekends have been filled with activites, including a short trip to Hong Kong. It was a good holiday, though I was a tad disappointed with the baking tools they have to offer. I visited at least 3 baking supply shops but I came out empty handed. Nothing I can't find here at a much cheaper price ;p And the shops were not easy to locate!

Finally a long weekend came (Deepavali) and I specifically put in my diary that I MUST use the cute Hello Kitty cutters I bought from Japan 4 months back.

And I have not baked this carrot cake (hubby's favourite) for years - time to practise :)

Beautiful orange batter ready for the oven.

Watching the cakes rise in the oven is therapeutic, and of course the cinammon aroma was uplifting :)

Nice golden brown carrot cupcakes ready to be decorated.

Making fondant was the most difficult task in the process. I was sweating buckets and the fondant just refused to leave my fingers alone no matter how hard I kneaded! ;p



Other than that, everything was a breeze... but due to the humid weather, I had no choice but to wake up at 6am to decorate the cakes so that I can bring them fresh to the office for my colleagues (yoga students) :)

Hello Kitty in a box :)

Lessons learnt:

1) The cupcakes for this recipe must not be put in the lower rack as they tend to dry up at the bottom quickly.
2) The base fondant for the Kitty should be thicker and wider to cover the cupcakes completely.

Not entirely satisfied with the results, I tried another carrot cake recipe the following weekend and I think it was fabulous! Did not decorate it though, purely for R&D purposes ;)

Chocolate Hazelnut Mooncakes

It's mid-Autumn festival tomorrow.

Somehow after tasting homemade mooncakes, I can no longer look at commercial mooncakes in the same light again.

They are always very sweet and oily, perhaps that helps them to preserve longer.

And they cost a bomb. For no good reason, except for the beautiful and colorful packaging.

So this year, despite the tight schedules (with a new niece and all), decided to get mom over to teach me some skills in making mooncakes.

It's actually pretty simple if you buy the lotus paste filling. Next year, when I have more time, I'd like to learn to make the lotus paste.

So this is how a mooncake is produced:

First, knead the dough for the skin till it's soft and pliable.

Next, make a ball with the 3oz filling, and wrap the dough around it evenly.

Dust some cocoa powder over the ball, fit it tightly into the mould.

Tadaa! It's ready for baking.

Final results after some egg wash and 30 minutes in the oven.

Verdict: Somehow I have very high expectations for my own products. I actually think we can do better than this! The skin felt a little biscuit-like instead of having the melt-in-your-mouth texture. Maybe that's how it's meant to be? I don't know. Seriously can't remember how it's supposed to taste/feel like since we only eat this once a year ;p

Will do better next year.

MJ Cake

MJ is my nephew's idol this year - he has different idols every birthday, from Pokemon to Spiderman to Barney to Naruto to Ben 10... but this year somehow he was very impressed by MJ's songs and dance, especially Smooth Criminal, AFTER MJ's death ;p

We decided to get the yummy chocolate indulgence cake from Secret Recipes, however as you know, they don't offer fancy designs.

But we know how important it is for kids to have a nicely designed birthday cake - regardless of the taste! To make him happy, I decided to try my skills in "drawing" MJ on his cake for him with piping jelly.

He was happy :)

Weekend Project

Right after the first batch of visitors (MIL, UIL, AIL) left my new house earlier this month, I spent the entire day working on 2 cakes that I had always wanted to try.

Strawberry shortcake with gooseberry (physallis) garnishing

The cake recipe was light & fluffy but I would try a rich dairy cream in my next attempt. I really miss the strawberry shortcake sold at Opera cake house in Hartamas – it was PERFECT, but they have since disappeared :( I need to find a richer cream to enhance the flavour of the cake and strawberries.

Yoghurt Cheese Layer Cake

This is a really time consuming project, although the end results look beautiful. However, as I could not find the right tool in KL and had to make do with my freehand cutting, the triangles were not symmetrical and hence didn’t stick too well :( Well I was really daring to pick the most difficult design as my first attempt haha… And yeah I would definitely try again and make sure this time it sticks! But honestly, layer cakes are so darn unhealthy – the amount of butter and egg yolks that go into it would terrify you!

Alternative Therapy

Decided to try a cheaper alternative on my leg injury. Went to see a sports injury masseur and I seriously think that guy is sadistic…

He just kept rubbing real hard on the parts/veins that hurt most, and told me that he could feel blockages and that was the way to unblock them.

Trust me no words can describe the pain… perhaps it’s like labour pain? (Not that I have experienced it before haha…)

That was the longest 10 minutes in my entire life and I swear, if he had given me a stick to bite I would have crushed it into pieces. But I was a tough girl. I didn’t not scream a bit, though I tried very hard to restrain myself from giving him a kick in his face when the pain was unbearable!

The results: Big patch of bruise on the back of my knee. It’s been 5 days now and it’s still pretty unsightly.

(Gosh... looks like elephant leg! Must be the angle ;p)

But I do feel better now. If it improves I think I’ll go back again… I mean for less than half the price of what the chiropractor charges, the pain is worthy ;p

First Class

One word – satisfaction…

After the long hiatus, I still have not lost “it”. I’m truly happy :) and they seemed to enjoy the class too, though they suffered some body aches the next 2 days! Hehe… I am a sadistic teacher!

Thanks to their prana, I felt so refreshed and confident again. Hope the leg recovers fully so that I can go back to my advanced practice, can’t let my skills stagnate if I want to be a good teacher.

Namaste.

Teaching again!

I have been offered an opportunity to teach again! I’m actually very excited about it, although I had a 11-month hiatus. Gosh hope I have not lost the “touch”. The good thing is they are beginners so they would probably not know if I fumble. And the best part is, I didn’t need to promote myself, but they found me on Facebook hehe… The down side is, they are my colleagues. To be honest I don’t really want my employer and colleagues to know too much about my personal life. Oh well… we can’t have everything in life.

Thank goodness my leg is getting better and I feel comfortable with the basic poses. Just hope two evenings in a week is not too tiring for my old bones!

First project @ New kitchen

Had a group of close girl friends over for dinner last weekend and oh boy, I was totally pooped out even though most of the cooking was outsourced! It must be the cleaning and the anxiety of hosting. Perfectionists ;p

Baked just 2 types of cakes for my new Ikea 3-tier glass stand:

*************************Chocolate cheese cake & Mini blueberry vanilla cupcakes ********************


And I wasn’t very happy with the results.

Lesson learnt: Do not tire myself organising parties because at the end of the day, I did not have energy to enjoy the company and the food.

Baking really requires a lot of patience and heart to it, no rush job can produce satisfactory results (though I did get compliments for them. Oh well. I do have ultra high expectations for my cakes!!!!!)

Looking forward to the next project – a whole new challenge. And no, I'm not cooking/baking/cleaning for another "housewarming party"... ;p

Doubtful

I am having serious doubt about continuing with my yoga practice for now.

My knee pain is back. Especially as I stand after sitting for a few hours.

I really don't want to risk it.

And I need to make an effort to go back to the chiropractor. Though I was so positive that I'll heal if I take good care of myself. Apparently not.

The House

It’s been a week since we got the new house and I have been very busy packing, cleaning & doing some minor refurbishment. Absolutely no time to bake or do yoga – yet.

I have been waking up at 5am daily to work on the house, and it’s still not quite there yet. I’m totally pooped out!!

And family and friends can’t wait to visit – I just have to reject them. For God’s sake, I don’t even have curtains yet – my front glass door is sealed by newspapers! It’s totally unsightly and no visitors shall be here till that is DONE.

I can’t wait for it to be completely CLEAN and NEAT.

So that I can take it away from my mind and focus on my baking and yoga. Again.

The best birthday present

Decided to visit the chiropractor for the last time on my birthday – if nothing improves, I give up!

I have had this nagging pain in my right knee for 9 months now, since my holiday in the US. I don’t know what happened but I seriously suspect it was caused by the extreme steepness in San Francisco. Well, old bones can’t take it anymore ;p

And because of that, I feel sharp pain whenever I bend my knee. And because of that, I can no longer sit in full lotus pose nor do my favourite king pigeon pose *sob*. And because of that, I was told to rest and take a hiatus from yoga.

I saw 4 doctors/specialists throughout these painful 9 months. Everyone had a different diagnosis and gave me different treatment/medication. I obviously spent a BOMB:

Tuina – slight hip dislocation – spent RM75 for acupuncture & tuinalogy
Tit Ta – serious lower back injury – spent RM80 for 2 treatments
GP – muscle injury – company’s account
Chiropractor – flat feet & lower back compression – spent RM900 (including corrective products for flat feet)

But nothing worked!!

So I decided to give the chiropractor a last chance – since they have the most advanced equipment and took x-rays – at least some scientific proof was in place.

I complained to this new chiropractor from South Africa that nothing has improved much even though I have been wearing the recommended gear religiously. He did some further tests.

And told me, I actually injured my ligament.

He did some deep massages and set me back by another RM90.

And voila, the pain has significantly reduced!!!!

This has to be the best birthday present. I have suffered for 9 months, spent quite a lot – and it’s actually ONLY my ligament? Gosh…

Whatever it is I just want a full recovery. Fast. At minimal cost.

I want to be a king pigeon again :)

To a better life (hopefully)...

Finally, the suspense is over – we are getting the house in 5 days’ time! Yippee! I miss my baking and space (for yoga and such) so much!

But the downside is, the seller didn’t keep to his promises – he was supposed to leave all the fittings behind, but apparently he’s taking the hob and hood, and 2 units of air-conditioners! I’m feeling very pissed off because it’s his words against ours – and beat that – he’s a LAWYER. He said these are fixtures. WTF. I feel so cheated!!! The agent has gone MIA, not answering our calls, and we do not want to kick a fuss now because we have been waiting for this day to come for more than half a year – and that is ENOUGH, we’re not going to let him have another chance to prolong this torturous wait! And the worst party in this entire mess was our very own lawyer – they did NOTHING to protect our interest, they did not suggest that we should have demanded an inventory list from the seller to be attached in the S&P so that there are no disputes on what is left behind and what is not. Look at the sticky situation we’re in now! I really want to swear @#$%^&*!

Another thing to look forward to is our new car – yeah after deliberating for 8 months, we’ve decided that we CANNOT live with one car. It’s too troublesome, frustrating, a major cause for arguments, and I can’t even go for my yoga classes because I don’t want him to wait for me and waste his time. Bottom line is, it’s just very inconvenient. So we went through the options we had – from Myvi 1.0 to Honda Civic Hybrid 1.3 (DROOL!), and decided to settle for the middle path – Honda City – and that is also because I managed to find a showroom with ready stock – lucky me! But then it wasn’t very smooth either, was supposed to get the car today but now it’s postponed to next week due to glitches of the bank (duh!) and JPJ’s “system upgrade” (a perfect excuse for inefficiency). Anyways… we’re getting the car the same day as the house :)

So with the car I no longer have any excuses for not doing yoga regularly, except (these little devils that keep playing in my mind):
1. I hate to be in classes with students who remember me – especially with my cacat-ed right leg, there are so many poses that I can no longer do. They must think this Isha is so lousy. Sigh. *stressed*
2. I don’t have that many favourite teachers/classes – and the classes I like happen to fall into excuse #1.
3. I really miss YZ’s schedules and teachers. Now the teachers are everywhere and because of that, we have to join a few centres to continue attending these good teachers’ classes. No money la…
4. I can practise at home. I am after all a certified yoga instructor ;p
5. I AM A LAZY BUM!

I’m glad everything is falling into place – finally – but also upset that we now have to spend a lot more money to move in due to the broken promises. But I’m still hopeful – I am going to get a Bake Workshop for myself! And furniture shopping begins! Pockets empty! The vicious cycle is here again…

I hope my life is back to normal. I hope I AM back to normal. Normalcy is boring but less chaotic and confusing. And sometimes that really makes life easier.

爱自己

原来不刻意是最自然, 轻松, 没压力的幸福.

放开了, 再无推动力了.

爱就爱, 不爱就不爱, 睡著就好.

Decision made

RM600 for 3o vouchers, which expires in 6 months. Already regretting it because if I go for more than 2 classes a week, I should have bought the monthly unlimited package for RM168 -_-

Just wait and see how diligent I am :) Really not sure if this is a good choice - what if they close down/change management again?

Anyways, it will be a good (re)start for me.

I believe I can fly...

Still can’t decide on which package or yoga center to join, after the bad experience with the now defunct YZ. But I really need to start again after such a long hiatus, since my chiropractor has given me the green light to be active again :) Again, it helps to de-stress and gives me a sense of achievement after every class. As for teaching again, well, let me upskill myself further first.

I want to be able to fly – like a crow – someday…

Kakasana - Crow Pose

The countdown finally begins...

Counting down… 4 more weeks to my new house, new kitchen, new culinary workshop. Boy I’m excited. I miss baking so much… it’s therapeutic and calming. I certainly need that to de-stress from my daily job :)