Sunday, September 23, 2007
i hate this freaking ahm assignment.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
the busiest ever
im on spring break now
but im spending the 2 weeks on work attachment at The Lost Dogs Home. 8 to 5 everyday. on top of that, ive got 2 assignments, a report on the attachment, and a test to study for.
funfunfun
Thing of the day!!!~comfort food:safeway chicken,vanilla coke, timtams.
im on spring break now
but im spending the 2 weeks on work attachment at The Lost Dogs Home. 8 to 5 everyday. on top of that, ive got 2 assignments, a report on the attachment, and a test to study for.
funfunfun
Thing of the day!!!~comfort food:safeway chicken,vanilla coke, timtams.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
How to make: A pretty good cup of coffee at home
While waiting for the water to boil, heat up half a cup of milk in the microwave (a couple of rounds will do)
dissolve 1.5 tsp of instant coffee and 2 heaped tsp of milo in the milk.
Fill mug with hot water.
Add 1/2 tsp of sugar (or as much or as little as you want).
Instant mocha!
Not quite the gourmet coffee but when all you need is some caffeine coursing through your veins and chocolate down your throat, this works.
I havnt quite managed to make an excellent coffee using my coffee plunger yet. its probably because im got the coffee making technique wrong, and the milk isnt steamed, and i havnt got hazelnut syrup to top e latte off.
Thing of the day!!!~
Brownies which i made on monday for kenneth's surprise party yesterday..i've got an offer to be paid for a tray of them brownies..hehhehheh..its funny how my baking experiences with sam always turned out disastrous in one way or more..but i've had mostly success stories with my experiments over here..i really don't know why we have this lack of luck with our bakes at home! haha oh and.. the surprise was actually successful!! unlike this other occasion i remember when i was the surprisee and i happened to alight the cab at where the people planning the surprise went to hide...
While waiting for the water to boil, heat up half a cup of milk in the microwave (a couple of rounds will do)
dissolve 1.5 tsp of instant coffee and 2 heaped tsp of milo in the milk.
Fill mug with hot water.
Add 1/2 tsp of sugar (or as much or as little as you want).
Instant mocha!
Not quite the gourmet coffee but when all you need is some caffeine coursing through your veins and chocolate down your throat, this works.
I havnt quite managed to make an excellent coffee using my coffee plunger yet. its probably because im got the coffee making technique wrong, and the milk isnt steamed, and i havnt got hazelnut syrup to top e latte off.
Thing of the day!!!~
Brownies which i made on monday for kenneth's surprise party yesterday..i've got an offer to be paid for a tray of them brownies..hehhehheh..its funny how my baking experiences with sam always turned out disastrous in one way or more..but i've had mostly success stories with my experiments over here..i really don't know why we have this lack of luck with our bakes at home! haha oh and.. the surprise was actually successful!! unlike this other occasion i remember when i was the surprisee and i happened to alight the cab at where the people planning the surprise went to hide...
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Green Tea Shortbread Cookies
ok they look nothing like Sam's food photos but then again, as much as i love my IXUS 750, its really not a dslr.. =P haha so yea..i'll just say that this is definitely a case of the food tasting better than it looks. not that i wana blow my own trumpet..but i think if you love greentea flavoured stuff, this recipe is really good.
2 cups flour
1-2 tablespoon green tea powder (see Note 1)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup/ 113.5g unsalted butter (room temperature — See Note 2)
1/2 cup caster sugar (go for a little less if you prefer the cookies to be less sweet)
1. Sift the flour, powdered tea and salt into a bowl.
2. In a mixer bowl, cream butter and powdered sugar until fluffy.
3. Add flour mixture to mixer bowl and mix slowly until dough just comes together.
4. Pull dough together carefully in a log, approximately 2 inches in diameter.
5. Wrap dough log and place in freezer for 30 minutes or until dough has firmed to the touch.
6. Slice dough into 1/4 inch rounds and place on baking paper, approximately 1 inch apart.(i just greased my pan with butter cos i didnt have baking paper at that point in time, but i'd recommend baking paper cos just cos using butter adds tt much more calories to each cookie)
7. Bake in a preheated 160 deg C oven for 16 to 18 minutes (or until the cookies are just starting to turn golden around the edges), turning the pan halfway through the baking time.
8. Remove cookies immediately from the cookie sheet and cool on a wire rack.
9. Store in an airtight container or wrap well and freeze. (you'll most probably finish all before any needs to be put into the freezer =D)
10. The well-chilled cookie dough can also be rolled out and cut into desired shapes before baking.
11. NOTE 1-- powdered green tea is not merely green tea that has been pulverized in a food processor or food mill, it's a special kind of tea that has been prepared to dissolve nicely.
12. NOTE 2-- don't use the microwave to soften the butter, room temperature butter is the correct consistency for this recipe.
the thing about recipes is that they always measure butter by the cup.. and i really dont understand why..because how on earth do you measure a cup of butter??!your butter is supposed to be solid still so i really dont get how to measure a cup of butter accurately.. so the direct conversion of a cup of butter to grams is 226.8g. but of course it doesnt have to be that accurate. the smallest divisions for my kitchen scale is 40g, so i just measured out a little less than 120g. and the recipe worked out great. i made half the amount stated cos i wasnt sure how well it was gona turn out and i was rushing for time when i was baking so i only managed to leave the dough in the freezer for 15mins(i figured half e amount of dough would probably need only half the amount of time in the freezer..hehheh..oh but this isnt true of the baking time yah..)take note of point 2. i creamed my butter and suger BY HAND tje!it is not true that it is not that hard to cream butter by hand! its very hard and very tiring!!! i used a fork, egg whisk and a wooden spatula to cream the butter..experimenting in the hope of finding one which would make the creaming easier..i think the end all 3 were necessary for different stages of the creaming.. My arms were fully dead by the time i managed to cream it enough, probably not the most ideal amt of fluffyness but certainly an acceptable amt. i read in some food blog somewhere that creaming butter should be done by hand at least once to appreciate the hand mixer. haha. yes hand mixer i really appreciate you. the next day, i went to big w and i found a $10 electric hand mixer! Whaa!! big W really gives me nice surprises some times.. i didnt know there were such cheap hand mixers.. i bought it on the spot. oh one more thing, it is quite important to leave a good amount of space between each cookie cos they expand sideways by quite alot. they dont stick together even if they bump into each other, but squishing ur cookie just disallows it from maximing its full potential. haha..
my green tea shortbread cookies were inspired by melody's greentea red bean muffins and these greentea cookies tt i bought at home..they wernt as nice as my cookies btw.. hehheh this one's a keeper!
oh and Sam is an amazing photographer and make-up artist. Link hire her if you need a job done! =D
Thing of the day!!!~studyinggggg...i must study for my physiology test next thursday.....i must study for my physiology test next thursday.....
ok they look nothing like Sam's food photos but then again, as much as i love my IXUS 750, its really not a dslr.. =P haha so yea..i'll just say that this is definitely a case of the food tasting better than it looks. not that i wana blow my own trumpet..but i think if you love greentea flavoured stuff, this recipe is really good.
2 cups flour
1-2 tablespoon green tea powder (see Note 1)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup/ 113.5g unsalted butter (room temperature — See Note 2)
1/2 cup caster sugar (go for a little less if you prefer the cookies to be less sweet)
1. Sift the flour, powdered tea and salt into a bowl.
2. In a mixer bowl, cream butter and powdered sugar until fluffy.
3. Add flour mixture to mixer bowl and mix slowly until dough just comes together.
4. Pull dough together carefully in a log, approximately 2 inches in diameter.
5. Wrap dough log and place in freezer for 30 minutes or until dough has firmed to the touch.
6. Slice dough into 1/4 inch rounds and place on baking paper, approximately 1 inch apart.(i just greased my pan with butter cos i didnt have baking paper at that point in time, but i'd recommend baking paper cos just cos using butter adds tt much more calories to each cookie)
7. Bake in a preheated 160 deg C oven for 16 to 18 minutes (or until the cookies are just starting to turn golden around the edges), turning the pan halfway through the baking time.
8. Remove cookies immediately from the cookie sheet and cool on a wire rack.
9. Store in an airtight container or wrap well and freeze. (you'll most probably finish all before any needs to be put into the freezer =D)
10. The well-chilled cookie dough can also be rolled out and cut into desired shapes before baking.
11. NOTE 1-- powdered green tea is not merely green tea that has been pulverized in a food processor or food mill, it's a special kind of tea that has been prepared to dissolve nicely.
12. NOTE 2-- don't use the microwave to soften the butter, room temperature butter is the correct consistency for this recipe.
the thing about recipes is that they always measure butter by the cup.. and i really dont understand why..because how on earth do you measure a cup of butter??!your butter is supposed to be solid still so i really dont get how to measure a cup of butter accurately.. so the direct conversion of a cup of butter to grams is 226.8g. but of course it doesnt have to be that accurate. the smallest divisions for my kitchen scale is 40g, so i just measured out a little less than 120g. and the recipe worked out great. i made half the amount stated cos i wasnt sure how well it was gona turn out and i was rushing for time when i was baking so i only managed to leave the dough in the freezer for 15mins(i figured half e amount of dough would probably need only half the amount of time in the freezer..hehheh..oh but this isnt true of the baking time yah..)take note of point 2. i creamed my butter and suger BY HAND tje!it is not true that it is not that hard to cream butter by hand! its very hard and very tiring!!! i used a fork, egg whisk and a wooden spatula to cream the butter..experimenting in the hope of finding one which would make the creaming easier..i think the end all 3 were necessary for different stages of the creaming.. My arms were fully dead by the time i managed to cream it enough, probably not the most ideal amt of fluffyness but certainly an acceptable amt. i read in some food blog somewhere that creaming butter should be done by hand at least once to appreciate the hand mixer. haha. yes hand mixer i really appreciate you. the next day, i went to big w and i found a $10 electric hand mixer! Whaa!! big W really gives me nice surprises some times.. i didnt know there were such cheap hand mixers.. i bought it on the spot. oh one more thing, it is quite important to leave a good amount of space between each cookie cos they expand sideways by quite alot. they dont stick together even if they bump into each other, but squishing ur cookie just disallows it from maximing its full potential. haha..
my green tea shortbread cookies were inspired by melody's greentea red bean muffins and these greentea cookies tt i bought at home..they wernt as nice as my cookies btw.. hehheh this one's a keeper!
oh and Sam is an amazing photographer and make-up artist. Link hire her if you need a job done! =D
Thing of the day!!!~studyinggggg...i must study for my physiology test next thursday.....i must study for my physiology test next thursday.....
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
i need to change my blogskin. im sick of this big fat juicy strawberry nonsense. =P i need to stop putting on this pinky and yayee and woweee facade and show the world the true me. haha. maybe i should jump on the wordpress bandwagon before too many people start using it and i have to boycott it the way im boycotting facebook. hah. have i told you about my facebook boycott? well, basically im abstaining from facebook just to prove the point that i dont need to do what everyone else is doing. ive said and declared it outloud so many times that i cant possibly cave in! and thats kinda real sh*t sometimes cos i have been facebook tempted countless times, held back only by my strong moral principles. damn those principles. so yes, to wordpress or not the wordpress..?
but if i wordpress, tt means that i'll have to give up christeena.blogspot.com! !!the horror and pain! ive had this blog for mmmmmm see i cant even remember how many years ive had this blog!tts how long ive had it! if i took a guess..i'd say..5years?haha ok it is 5years..i checked my archives..that's another thing about me.. i get attached to things that ive had for a while and im reluctant to embrace change.
hmm. but this blog skin definitely has to go sometime soon.
Thing of the day!!!~Pud Balls!
but if i wordpress, tt means that i'll have to give up christeena.blogspot.com! !!the horror and pain! ive had this blog for mmmmmm see i cant even remember how many years ive had this blog!tts how long ive had it! if i took a guess..i'd say..5years?haha ok it is 5years..i checked my archives..that's another thing about me.. i get attached to things that ive had for a while and im reluctant to embrace change.
hmm. but this blog skin definitely has to go sometime soon.
Thing of the day!!!~Pud Balls!
Sunday, September 02, 2007
yayy my threadlesses have been shipped!! =D
The Best Non-word lyrics ever!
Ra-ma la-ma la-ma ka ding a da ding de dong
Shoo-bop sha wad-da wad-da yipp-it-y boom de boom
Chang chang chang-it-ty chang shoo-bop
Dip da-dip da-dip doo-wop da doo-bee doo
Boog-e-dy boog-e-dy boog-e-dy boog-ed-y
Shoo-by doo-wop she-bop
Sha-na-na-na-na-na-na-na yip-pit-y boom de boom
Ra-ma la-ma la-ma ka ding-a de ding de dong
Shoo-bop sha wad-da wad-da yipp-it-y boom de boom
Chang chang chang-it-ty chang shoo-bop
Dip da-dip da-dip doo-wop da doo-bee doo
Boog-e-dy boog-e-dy boog-e-dy boog-e-dy
shoo-by doo-wop she-bop
Sha-na-na-na-na-na-na-na yip-pit-ty boom de boom!
Ra-ma la-ma la-ma ka ding a da ding de dong
Shoo-bop sha wad-da wad-da yipp-it-y boom de boom
Chang chang chang-it-ty chang shoo-bop
Dip da-dip da-dip doo-wop da doo-bee doo
Boog-e-dy boog-e-dy boog-e-dy boog-ed-y
Shoo-by doo-wop she-bop
Sha-na-na-na-na-na-na-na yip-pit-y boom de boom
Ra-ma la-ma la-ma ka ding-a de ding de dong
Shoo-bop sha wad-da wad-da yipp-it-y boom de boom
Chang chang chang-it-ty chang shoo-bop
Dip da-dip da-dip doo-wop da doo-bee doo
Boog-e-dy boog-e-dy boog-e-dy boog-e-dy
shoo-by doo-wop she-bop
Sha-na-na-na-na-na-na-na yip-pit-ty boom de boom!
I miss Sundays at home.
i miss the routine of going to church, going out for lunch with my family(and the weekly challenge of deciding where to go to eat), shopping for a bit at whichever place we decided to go to, coming home, doing whatever it was for a while, then taking a nice long 3h nap on our comfy yellow(now dirty yellow) sofa until dinner time. or maybe i just miss the 3h naps. Thing of the day!!!~going to church on sunday mornings.
i miss the routine of going to church, going out for lunch with my family(and the weekly challenge of deciding where to go to eat), shopping for a bit at whichever place we decided to go to, coming home, doing whatever it was for a while, then taking a nice long 3h nap on our comfy yellow(now dirty yellow) sofa until dinner time. or maybe i just miss the 3h naps. Thing of the day!!!~going to church on sunday mornings.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
The Secret to baking well
is to get a good recipe. =D with that, all things are possible.
oh and when getting a measuring jug, it's worth while getting a glass one cos then u can microwave things like your milk directly inside it, and its also much easier to wash. oily plastic things are a pain in the *** to wash.
Thing of the day!!!~Baking is fun =D
plain and chocolate scones!
baked them yesterday for breakfast for ltc today..and people seemed to like them! haha yay..thanks to junni for the recipe! ..i've acquired a new hobby =D who wants to be my good friend? =D
is to get a good recipe. =D with that, all things are possible.
oh and when getting a measuring jug, it's worth while getting a glass one cos then u can microwave things like your milk directly inside it, and its also much easier to wash. oily plastic things are a pain in the *** to wash.
Thing of the day!!!~Baking is fun =D
plain and chocolate scones!
baked them yesterday for breakfast for ltc today..and people seemed to like them! haha yay..thanks to junni for the recipe! ..i've acquired a new hobby =D who wants to be my good friend? =D
