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.

Kids' Birthday and Welcoming Fall

I don't know where the time has gone, but it has been flying by so fast. I think the birthday season for my family just ended. It started in July (right after I got back from honeymoon) and continued to October. You see, I have two brothers and their family living nearby and that includes five nieces and nephews. All of their birthdays, their parents, their grandma, and DH's birthday are one after the other. That is seven birthdays in about two and half months!!! I've been baking up a storm and I will post them one by one, but here's a glimpse of our changing season.
Some people get really excited that Fall/Winter is coming, especially those who live in Texas because they can now get a crisp weather, but not me. I love the warm 75F weather and crisp morning everyday in California and not looking forward to have to wear jacket all the time. But I have to admit that I love seeing the change of feeling that comes with it. Pumpkins are everywhere! All different sizes and shape, colors, it is exciting. The leaves are turning from green to yellow, then red, it is pretty!

Back to Blogging and Classic New York Style Cheesecake

Yup! Another very long break for me after almost five months of not updating this blog, but for a good reason.

A Long Break and Fermented Cassava Balls

As you have probably noticed, I have not been updating this blog for about four months! I couldn't believe it has been that long. Many things had happened since I wrote my last post and life couldn't be busier. It doesn't seem to slow down anytime soon.

Well, as a start, I got engaged! We got engaged mid January after coming back from vacation. With M being in Korea for business trip most of the time, it is really hard to plan. We are planning to wed this July in Bali, mostly due to practical reason since my family is there and we are having a reunion too for my family at that time, but Bali is also very pretty! Other than my wedding, I am also planning my parents' 50th wedding anniversary just two weeks before my wedding. Crazy!

Lemon Frenzy: Cheese Cake Citronné (two ways) and Assorted Lemon Tarts

First off, Merry Belated Christmas and Happy New Year! Whatever you did, I hope that you had a great time with friends and family and for those of you who had a Christmas break, I hope you had a nice one.

I wrote this post just before I left for my vacation, hoping that I could post one last one to wish you a happy holiday, but I was missing a few pictures and so I had to postpone it. I had a really great vacation despite being sick for half of it. I had 2 week-long vacation and I was sick for a week. I noticed that I have been sick on Christmas holiday every year, at least 3 years in a row, this is a little odd. When visiting M's family, most of us were sick, and so we spent the holiday in bed with M's mom running around to take care of us. I feel bad.

Winter Cleaning Part III: Chocolate-Coffee-Rum Entremet

It feels like it has been a while that this blog doesn't get updated. A little update here, I was on a baking frenzy the week before Thanksgiving, mostly making tons of lemon tarts and multiple Ambroisie and some other baked goods for office fundraising benefiting Canned Food Drive. Then I was gone for a week visiting Mike's family for Thanksgiving and for his nephew's birthday. It felt a bit weird not running around trying to catch up with time, but I got used to it very easily and thus making the day so much longer than usual :). I was back last week and took a week of break from baking and I am back in the kitchen now, at least for the next two weeks before the next trip. In the meantime, trying to finish office work as much as I can before my Christmas break.

Apricot and Matcha Tiramisu

Today is probably the first time I felt that Fall is here. It was a cool crisp morning with a little sunshine when I went to work today. Leaves are falling and the wind would blow them everywhere. Ah, this makes me crave for warm soups and the warm smell of cinnamon and winter spices. Nothing much is happening lately, my routine has been work, go home, cook, watch a few episode of Futurama, then fell asleep on the last episode. I did manage to make a couple different desserts last weekend though.