Product Review: Silicon Baking Cups


Hello,

I thought I would pop in to let you guys know that I am still here. This blog has been abandoned for so long (for a good reason), but I want to try to go back posting more often.

As some of you may know from the last post that I was pregnant and I gave birth to my precious daughter last August. Time has surely flown by since then. It wasn't easy for sure, there were tears, there were a lot of hospital visits, lack of sleeps, and everything else. Now that the baby is a bit older (she just turned 3 months), I am so lucky that she could sleep through the night (mostly), and she is such a good baby. But still, I feel like I need more time every day. I am enjoying being a stay-home mom, but I have to go back to work in three weeks and I am dreading leaving my baby alone :(.

Japanese Cheesecake with Green Tea Swirls


I didn't do much on Memorial Day weekend yesterday. M left to Korea for a business trip, and I went to work on Monday while everyone else was in the pool or BBQ enjoying the sun. I was planning on doing a lot of baking but I didn't do as much as I wanted too. In fact, I only made different components for this and that, but no finished dessert yet. My long-time friend came to visit from Indonesia so we hung out for quite a bit. He was here when I started my early baking life so he got to taste some of my first cakes. I am making some of them while he's here, along with some other desserts like lemon tart.

White Chocolate and Raspberry Cake

It was one of my brother's birthday about a month ago. We didn't actually have any plan to celebrate it as his wife took him to a weekend getaway to Napa for his birthday.

The week after, the wife had a last-minute plan to have a gathering with LOTS of cajun-style shrimp among friends (there is this one place that we wanted to try) and a surprise celebration for my brother's birthday, which means that there had to be a cake. It was only two days before the gathering so I didn't have much time to make any fancy cake, not even to think about what cake to make.

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake with Mango Glaze for A Birthday

Ah. whether has gotten so nice lately and I've also been baking up a storm in my kitchen. I am excited! I guess I should make use of this time as much as I can to bake as I don't think I can bake often enough (or at all) after the baby is born.

The Making of A Wedding Cake


 I had the privileged to make a wedding cake for my friends' wedding, H and C about a month ago.  They asked me if I could make their wedding cake many months prior to the wedding, before I found out I was pregnant. Their request was pretty specific, they wanted a fondant-decorated dummy cake, and fancier cakes for the actual cake. The wife, C, had a specific cake in mind, that I would make my chocolate-hazelnut cake as one of them. I had made this cake countless time here and here and here (and many more not posted since it is the same cake) and each time, I changed it a bit. She wanted two kinds, so I suggested a fruity one. I came up with mango-passion and raspberry cake, similar to this cake, but with a bit of passion fruit added.

Meyer Lemon Tart with Candied Lemon and Peel


Spring is here! It came a month ago already but it seems like California got a late Winter this year. We had cold, rainy, and windy days last week, which is good since we are in severe drought. I even saw some snow on the top of the mountain on my way to work last week. I also saw rainbows, a few times! Despite being thankful for the rain, I have to say that I still LOVE the California sunny warm days, which what we have been getting the past few days after all that cold. I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE this time of the year, I open the windows all day, I try to have lunch outdoor, getting ice creams, it also makes me in the mood of baking!

Mango and Raspberry Entremet


Things have been busy lately, very busy. I am on my 2nd trimester and the nausea and vomiting are definitely much better, though it is coming back now and then. My belly is growing fast too! Having some of the energy back, puts me in the mood of baking. Nevertheless, I baked a lot since the last time I posted. I had wedding cake to make, bridal shower, multiple birthday cakes, wedding anniversary cake, and other simple cakes for snacks.

Exotic Orange Cake


First off, Happy Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, I didn't bake or cook anything as much as I wanted to. We just had dinner at Sweet Tomatoes with my brothers' and their family. DH surprised me with flowers though (and a dozen donut later on though this is not a surprise). It might be normal for others, but not for him. He is not the romantic kind usually, so I was surprised.