I’m still well and alive… well, maybe not as well as I claim to be.  I’ve actually settled down in the new job quite nicely, and was thinking of starting baking regularly again a couple of weeks ago.

Alas, ‘tragedy’ struck before I could put my words to action.  I hurt my wrist again (when it was healing nicely), and it’s injured much more badly than the last time.  I really don’t want to go into minute details about how I hurt it that bad; it was simply such a complicated freak incident… an incident which involved a little bit of baking, a dirty kitchen counter, a table cloth and getting the table cloth caught at the cabinet handle thus pulling my wrist again.

Told you it’s complicated.  So don’t lose sleep over it while trying to picture the whole scene in your head alright?

I know I know, I’m such a klutz I’m really way beyond redemption.

Actually I was doing some baking to do my bit for charity.  A colleague took a picture of the bakes, I’ll put up the pic, provided I remember to download it onto the thumb drive. 

Just a little update which is befitting since we are coming to the end of July and I’ve been away from the blog for almost a month.  I started on my new job about mid-way through July, and is busy adapting to the routine.  I was so fatigued in the first week I was in bed by 10 pm every night and slept through the better half of Saturday.  Well… the last time I had to go to bed at 10 pm was during my late primary/early secondary days when the curfew was imposed, and sleeping till the sun is about to set is a luxury I haven’t had in quite a while.

And did I mention I have signed up for some enrichment classes held every Sunday afternoons and Monday evenings (before I found the new job)?  Needless to say, I usually don’t start my week off on a very high note.  I hate the fact that I have to attend both classes on consecutive days, but thank goodness, both classes are also coming to an end in a week or so.  I shall have to consider more carefully when considering if I want to go on to the next stage.

And, the wrist is still bothering me.  I am finally getting worried.  According to the sinseh, if I don’t treat it properly, I will stop feeling the pain eventually BUT I will also end up with a much weakened wrist.  Now, this is something I cannot let happen.  Any hobby-baker can tell you how important it is that she has both hands available to carry heavy equipment and trays in/out of the oven.  Can you imagine if I’m left with one ‘workable’ wrist?  Think I’ll probably strain it in no time as well, resulting in two weakened wrists.

Thanks to everyone who left comments and sent emails asking after me.  As you can see, I’m well alive and kicking (although I haven’t had the energy to reply to everyone as yet). I promise I will try getting back to my once-or-twice-baking-a-week routine soon.  With more recipes to share as well, of course. 

You ladies take care too!

For the benefit of non-local readers (if any), I shall explain what ROM refers to.  In the strictest sense, ROM refers to the Registry of Marriage in Singapore but we Singaporeans who are fond of abbreviating everything have taken to calling the solemnization of a marriage simply as ‘ROM-ing’.

At 12.30 pm on 07.07.07, an endearing couple I know of are ‘ROM-ing’ at a lovely club.  S & T are the loveliest couple I’ve ever met.  They are both such nice people they really deserve to have the most blissful marriage.

About a month ago, T, the bride-to-be approached me and asked if I could teach her to bake so she could bake her own ROM favours.  I agreed without any hesitation.

I spent the next few days browsing through all my baking books and searching online looking for the best recipe possible.  After some trial and error and discussion, we settled on the simple butter cookies recipe because the cookies keep really well and are tasty as well!

I hope S & T’s 60 guests will like the ROM favours T painstakingly learnt to bake.  And I wish S & T a blissful and happy marriage!

Apart from fulfilling some orders I have been receiving from friends and readers of my blog, we have also taken a short trip to Phuket to celebrate my birthday.  On top of that, I’ve also decided to leave my current job.  So you see, I have been busy.

This Baileys’ cheesecake has been a project I wanted to embark on months back when ex-colleague K fowarded a recipe to me in the email.  For some reason or another, I hadn’t been in the mood to make cheesecakes, so this post skeleton was left as a draft copy for quite a while.

Since many of my ex-colleagues are very fond of cheesecakes, I’ve decided to make this cheesecake my parting gift for a bunch of people I’ve worked with for close to 2 years.

Non-bake Baileys’ Cheesecake
200g digestive biscuits, crushed
100g butter, melted
160g sugar
5 tsp gelatin powder
240ml boiling water
500g cream cheese
100ml Baileys Irish Cream
50g melted dark chocolate, optional

1. Prepare an 8-inch springform pan.
2. Mix the melted butter and digestive biscuits in a mixing bowl till bonded.
3. Lay the mixture firmly onto the pan and freeze the batter for at least 15 minutes.
4. Pour boiling water over the sugar and gelatin powder in a small bowl and stir until dissolved.
5. Place bowl over hot water until the gelatin mixture turns clear.
6. In another large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and bailey’s until light and fluffy.
7. Gradually add in the dissolved gelatin mixture until smooth.
8. Poke some holes on the prepared crust layer with a skewer before pouring the cream cheese batter onto it.
9. Drop dollops of melted dark chocolate onto the cream cheese batter and swirl with a skewer.
10. Chill for at least 2 hours or overnight until firm before serving.

Yield : 1 8-inch cake

This is one cheesecake I will not get to taste for I don’t intend to linger on in the office after settling some administrative matters at the office.  I will have to depend on reviews from my ex-colleagues.  Will update accordingly once I get their reviews.

I apologise for the lack of updates recently; I’d somehow hurt my wrist last week while working hard at fulfilling some orders and have been avoiding doing anything which requires me to use it, including baking.

It’s on the verge of recovery, so I shall be back in action soon!

The idea to use matcha (green tea powder) and cocoa powder with the fantastic biscotti recipe I obtained (from a baking class I attended) came up more than 2 weeks ago.  Without much doubt, the reason why I waited till tonight to try it out is solely the fault of inertia.  So you see, the problem lies with physics and Newton’s First Law.  Absolutely nothing to do with my laziness.

I have no idea whatsoever how my Cocoa Walnut Biscotti would turn out, but I was quite sure it should be much easily accepted than my Matcha Almond Biscotti.  There are like a zillion of chocolate fans out there; in comparison, there are much lesser green tea fans out there, isn’t it?

Honestly?  I  like the taste of both flavours.  I’m sure it comes as no surprise that I prefer the matcha flavoured one.  The only problem I had was that the dough was a lot more lumpy and dry to handle, not to mention difficult to cut into pieces after the first bake.

It is my good fortune to be able to find some willing volunteers to try out the new flavours.  I will mention (briefly, that is) in my next post about the comments they have.  Meanwhile, enjoy the remaining of the weekend.  I understand how precious weekends are to working adults, even more so for those who have baking as a hobby.

I googled, and found a simple and sweet recipe.  There’s only a slight problem; I now have 3 strawberry sweethearts in the refrigerator for tomorrow’s orders, and space is simply not available.  Unless I unmold the cakes and stack them up into boxes.

Matcha Cookies
180g all-purpose flour
20g matcha
160g butter, room temperature
100g sugar
1 egg
50g sliced almonds

1. Sift together the flour and matcha in a medium bowl.  Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat the butter until smooth.
3. Add in the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
4. Add in the egg and beat until well-incorporated.
5. Stir in the sifted dry ingredients by hand until the dough is smooth
6. Stir in the almonds gently till well-distributed.
7. Shape dough into two rolls with the help of plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
8. Preheat oven to 180°C.
9. Line a baking sheet with baking paper.
10. Remove dough from refrigerator and slice thinly (about 5mm) before placing on baking sheet.
11. Bake for 12-15 minutes, one tray at a time.
12. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Yield : 15 cookies

I halved the recipe because I couldn’t bear to use too much of the expensive matcha I bought in Japan.  I’d rather leave them for drinking, you see.

And so, since I didn’t manage to squeeze out some space from the refrigerator to house the dough for a couple of hours, I put in the freezer for about 45 minutes .  And boy, was it a right decision!  I’m really bad with words, so all I can say is, the cookies were fabulously fantastic and delicious.  I was contemplating between having a cup of green tea or earl grey to go with the cookies, and my common sense ruled out the former lest an overkill of my senses with the taste of matcha.  But, I went with my heart and brewed a cup of green tea to go with my matcha cookies. 

And what a combination!  Contrary to what I thought should happen, it heightened the whole matcha experience instead of dousing it.

But, it’s not a recipe I’m keen to revisit anytime soon.  It uses up too much of my precious matcha.

(Eunice the green-tea lover , if you want to try these matcha cookies, MSN and let me know ok?  We stay near each other, so letting you try some is not a problem at all. )

I have 2 , no I have 3 shadows at home, especially when I’m baking in the kitchen.  Needless to say, 1 of the shadows belongs to me, and the other 2 shadows I have are my 2 golden retrievers.  Both are females, and both are so greedy it’s beyond anyone’s logical comprehension.

The dog on the left in the picture above is called Paris Shaula and she is the younger of the two, at 1 year 7 months old.  The one on the right is called Sugar Asterope, and she just celebrated her 3rd birthday last month.

They are the perfect kitchen companions anyone could ask for.  Whenever I’m preparing to bake, Paris will be the one lying near the kitchen and getting in my way while I move from the counter-top to sink and vice-versa.  Recently, she’s learnt that it’s not fun to have me either 1) tripping over her and getting chided or 2) stepping on her while working in the kitchen, so she moved camp to the fridge area.  Sugar is smarter; she lies down at the kitchen doorway and only walks in when the bakes are freshly out of the oven.

Alright, that’s all for the time being.  Till the next post on my golden girls.

It’s been almost a year since I started this baking blog. In the course of this 11 months and more, I’ve encountered numerous times when friends ask me why I bother to maintain this blog, especially so when I sometimes grumble about how demanding some people can be.  I had never deviated from my original intentions - to share, to learn, and to build up my self-confidence.

Now, when I say ‘to share’, I don’t mean it as a one-directional communication, neither am I saying that I will be sharing all the recipes I possess.  If I can attend baking classes, so can you.  And if I can purchase baking books, similar, so can you.  I am very fortunate because I haven’t really met nasty people leaving nasty comments.  The only downside I’ve faced is that it seems a small portion of my readers are more interested in getting free recipes.  Yes, they do ask nicely but I’m sorry, sometimes the answer is no.

I have ‘met’ and ‘got to know’ many other flog owners, in a cyber-sort of way (because we’d never met).  And I have learnt a lot from them.  Because I have little to offer to these baking gurus with my limited knowledge, I return my gratitude by offering my knowledge to others who need it, in a sort of pay-it-forward style.  And I never stop trying to get other novice bakers to bake more often because it’s such a fulfilling hobby, I think.

I have also met wonderful friends through my blog.  Readers who leave comments or email me offering their advice or knowledge, readers who just want to leave comments to encourage me, and readers who go way beyond their call of duty as readers of my blog. 

Many a times, the thoughts of placing google ads on this blog crossed my mind, only to be dismissed a short second later.  Personally, I dislike visiting and reading blogs full of advertisements.  As a matter of fact, it irritates the hell out of me.  While I can’t stop the blog owner for wanting to earn some extra income from the traffic to the blog, I can choose to stop visiting that particular blog.  Which I have done for numerous websites.  Hence, I resolve never to put it upon my blog readers what I do not like to see on a website.

I have started a mini baking venture after much encouragement from those around me.  But I prefer to keep it separate from baking as a hobby, so I’ve ‘housed’ the venture on another website.  You can always email me at cadenze[at]decadenze[dot]com if you are interested in paying for my bakes.

But I promise, I will not deviate from the original purpose of setting up this blog.  So yes, there will still be free recipes to share, experiences from attending classes, and occasionally, pictures of my two dogs.

Thank you for sparing the time to visit my blog, and I hope it has been a wonderful experience so far.