Tokyo 2016 (Day 1-3) Odaiba, Akihabara, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneysea

In December, we took a vacation to Japan, our 3rd year in a row (: We really love Japan, especially Tokyo so I kept bugging the hubby to get tickets in early Sept.. On the night of my teacher's day dinner, we finally booked our tickets! Shortly after, we found out that we were expecting Baby A! Thankfully, the pregnancy has been rather smooth and with our gynae's green light, we went ahead with the trip! 

Click on to read more! 

Cartoon's battle with cancer..

Cartoon has been my family dog since 2006. He came to my hubby and I in 2014. He wasn't in a good state and we gave him a new home.. He's been our darling ever since. From sleeping in a corner in the hall to occupying each and every corner in the house! We lost him to cancer in November.. I'm sharing this in memory of him.. it's a long post so click on... 

Hot Cocoa Mix

It has been an insanely busy week but being Teacher's Day on Friday and that celebrations were on Thursday, I squeezed some time to make little gifts for a few colleagues.. 

I did up a Hot Cocoa Mix after being inspired by Tasty's video on Facebook. It was pretty simple to put together but it took me 3 days to complete (the hunting of the decoration and the tying etc) cos there was just SOOO much to be done this week. 

It involves 5 simple ingredients and it was a delight to make as much as it was to gift. 

Creamed Mushroom Pasta with Pan Seared Chicken

Today was a busy day. Hubby and I woke up early to clean the house before ma and our aunties came over to make mooncakes. I decided to whip up a simple lunch after our cleaning session and before they came over. This recipe is simple yet delicious. It requires few ingredients and is good on its own, even without the chicken I cooked today. 

I did a simple LIVE video of it earlier in June and it was well received! Here's the link to the video tutorial where the quantity is explicitly mentioned. 

LIVE video (replay) here. 

I added some back bacon in today's version. I pan searched the sliced back bacon of about 100g till it was ALMOST cooked. I removed it before adding the butter.. (I didn't clean the pan so as to retain the good flavour of the bacon).. I added it just before adding the cream to the pan.

As for the pan searched chicken, I used 2 chicken legs (fresh ones preferred). I seasoned it with salt, freshly grounded black pepper, garlic powder, dried parsley and dried oregano before pan searing it with about 2 - 3 tbsp of oil. I cooked it for a total of about 12 minutes on medium-low heat, flipping it every 3 minutes or so. 

This is delicious, trust me. Enjoy it! (: 

Pandan Gula Meleka Cake

I got rather inspired to bake after a couple of successful bakes last week.. On Sunday, I baked this Pandan Gula Meleka Cake, inspired by the Ondeh Ondeh.

I've been wanting to blog this recipe but since school started on Monday, the admin work and marking has been hellish. I literally slept 2 hours every night, with the exception of last night where I had a better 6 hour sleep. My apologies to those who have been waiting for this recipe!

I'm still dead tired but most of my tasks have been completed for the term.. It's exciting to know that my September Holidays are just round the corner! I plan to catch up on a lot of sleep, bake and craft! 

So anyway, this Pandan Gula Meleka Cake is made with a pandan chiffon base, a swiss meringue gula melaka buttercream and a buttercream sauce.

It'd take about 3 - 4 hours to bake and I'd rate it a difficulty level 3 out of 5 if you can do chiffons.. and maybe a 4 out of 5 is chiffons are tricky for you.

Old fashioned cake (slices) with homemade piping jelly

After a long wait, I finally gathered energy to bake these Old fashioned cakes. They probably evoke memories for you as much as they did for me. I grew up with them and I loved them alongside many different types of cakes XD 

I used a chiffon cake base adapted from the pandan chiffon cake recipe I have and a recipe for Swiss Meringue Buttercream by Crystal Kuek. I also took the liberty to make my own piping jelly! This recipe takes about 3 to 4 hours to bake and I'd rate it a difficulty level 3 out of 5. 

Chocolate Fudge Cake

So I've been on a hiatus for like a really long time. I guess work got the better of me.. and I grew lazy. It didn't help that I hurt my back earlier this year and ended up crafting a lot. 

Miniatures have amazed me and opened brand new doors for me (: I started Cynthia's Miniatures too. 

The house has been really messy too (Guess we got too lazy and busy)... Just 2 weekends ago, we cleaned the guest room, gave away our sofa bed and it's now specially for crafting.. and lazing (: It's got tons of pillows and it's Cartoon's land of many pillows XD

So the kitchen did get cleaned too.. with that, I decided to bake this cake that has been on my list for the longest time ever. This Chocolate Fudge Cake was shared by a friend who took it from 8 days magazine. I added my twist to it by adding some hazelnut paste and changing some parts of the method.

It's a delicious fudge cake that's just sweet enough without being sickening. The cake is light and fluffy while the fudge lends a sweet touch to it. It was really well received by my friends and colleagues! 

So here's the recipe for the Chocolate Fudge Cake. It'd take about 3-4 hours to bake and I'd rate it a difficulty level 3 out of 5. 

Homemade Mango Sorbet (With just 2 ingredients)

Last week, my office combined forces (haha!) to order mangoes from the supplier. We ordered a thousand odd bucks worth of mangoes from the supplier! 

As the weather was just really warm, the mangoes ripened a little too soon for my liking. I had gotten 2 cartons after all! These Chousas were pretty sweet and had a lovely creamy texture.

After sharing one carton with both my families, I had one carton to myself. I was busy over the weekend conducting replica food classes (Yes I do them now!) so I haven't had the time to play with these lovely mangoes.

 

 

I did 3 workshops over the weekend and ma came over for some fun too! 

Cartoon was a little busybody! 

Nonya Kueh Bracelet! 

A Disney inspired donut bracelet from one of the sessions! 

Replica food has been my latest hobby, especially after I hurt my back in April/May.. I've been on a baking/cooking hiatus ever since! XD 

Anyway, I was inspired by Gemma of Gemma's Bigger Bolder Baking and decided to make some Mango Sorbet! 

I peeled 6 mangoes.. 

Slice the mangoes into small pieces and freeze them. I did so in a bowl and it got stuck together. I'd suggest that you freeze them on a baking sheet instead! I allowed my mangoes to freeze overnight.

In a food processor, add mangoes and condensed milk. I blitzed them in the ratio 200g mango: 35g sweetened condensed milk. 

Allow mixture to blend till you get a nice and creamy texture. Scoop into containers and freeze overnight.

'

I stored them into mini containers with lids purchased from Cold Storage. I added a lovely sticker from Taobao just to make it prettier! My hubby enjoyed it last night... I took some to the office and my colleagues loved it too! It's just so rich in mango flavour and it's so easy to make. I hope you'll enjoy making it too!