Me love COOKIE!

super easy and quick Cookie monster design!

Who loves cookies? The lovable big blue guy from Seasame St. - Cookie Monster!! And is there anything cuter than a cookie monster mani/pedi? Hell naaah! well right now for me anyways...the proof is all in the nail! I used a dark blue (Jay Jays in Sultry- Navy) for Cookie Monsters head followed by 2 coats of bright blue glitter (Ultra 3 in Blue Glitter), his eyes and mouth are painted on with Chromocrylic Acrylic paint (white and black). For the choc chip cookies I used 3 coats of a shimmer light brown (NYC Colour in Apricot), 1 coat of Ultra 3 in Gold Glitter and dotted NYC Colour in Plum Professor for the chocolater chips. I finished my nails of with a generous coat of NYC Colour Non Chip top coat. You could use non shimmery/sparkly colours too but I just love that added sparkle!

Adorable tootsies!

Nail art and anime.

2nd Attempt...much better!

         I seems strange to say but my new hobby has me inspired to be artsy, so I pulled out my craft box...What started as a hunt on autobot/decepticon faces for nail decals has ended with me reinventing the autobots by sketching G1 animated transformers faces on to the new version of the cartoon characters bodies. Sounds kinda weird but it is easy to do and looks ton better than the new cartoon - which is a sad reinvention of the classic characters.

Onigiri & sushi mani

Anyways...back to the nails. The pikachu heads were easy enough to paint but the lil details like placement of eyes and mouths were harder not to mention my black & white nail polishes with sticky and dried way too fast so today I redid them with my new yellow polish (suprisngly good cheap nail polish!) Ultra 3 in Honolulu, and my old acrylic paint (black & white), I used revlon in cherries in the snow for the cheeks. Top coat is NYC colour in non chip (NYC colour is the same as Ultra 3).

First attempt...only the ring one is cute!

I drew this for Ant...Ratchet the autobot medic.

1 step closer and a whole lot of relief!

Ahhh thats not much to say but I have finally booked all my flights and everything trip wise is in order! I cannot wait to be home with the hubby and puppy!!

Purrrty nails DIY

This was my matching hand. Love themed.

This one is dedicated to my hubby! A.F

        

         

           Everytime I go get a mani, I see these cute lil designs on fake nails - teeny lil cherries, tropical sunsets, animal prints and the likes. So pretty and delicate, surely you can't do it yourself right? WRONG!! Jackie always has pretty nails but hers are acrylic and I hate acrylic nails - they're nice til they grow off then a pain to get off. Leaving the only other option - painting, which is simple til you have to do your other hand! Now I'm fine with the painting part but when it comes to the the detail my hand gets the wobbles - resting my left hand on my knee really helps stablise and so do easy designs. There are a zillion tutorials online on youtube but Cutepolish is by far my favourite her designs are so quick and easy to do, I even managed to paint my right hand with to trouble! I love how you can use everyday items like art acrylic paint, toothpicks, newspaper etc. to create simple but totally adorable looks! I am totally addicted! Today I painted both my mum and lil sisters nails and redid mine even though I only just water marbled them last night!

Marbled (Hot Pink, Orange & shimmery
orange that looks gold)
This look is easy but really messy!!

Cherries on my sisters nails on shimmery white (my
 mum had the same design but on an matte white background)

Mine - Lots of shimmery pink roses on a pale blue background. This design like the cherries is by Cutepolish, but I added my own touch with a couple of rose buds (dots) It reminds me of a cute lil rosey china tea cup!

I'm not sure what's next...maybe a hello kitty french manicure or this...


Pikachu nails!! they are totally KAWAII!

Brainstorming macaron flavours...

Jackie and I at work!

          This Friday is my sweetie pie Jackie's birthday and I decided I would make her a mini macaron tower for her birthday. I also wanted to experiment with inventing and mixing up my own macaron flavours...I really want to try making Red berry macarons (strawberry shell with mixed berry jam), Chai latte (marsala shell with vanilla bean buttercream), I really want to make pistachio but for the sake of the lemons falling off our tree - Lemon tart (lemon shell with lemon curd). Might also experiment with different nut meals, I just read that Australian almond meal has the tendency to be a lil on the wet side and you should dry it out first but to be honest I have never done this and it has caused zero problems for me. Just as it's not necessary to age your whites (dehydrates them), never had a problem either way! Ahhh this week is going to be an exciting week in the kitchen. It is hard to explain the joy I get as I eagerly watch my lil babies growing in the oven! ^_^

Mutant lemons from our tree! They are completely organic and we get
more and more fruit every year, occassionally I bottle my own lemonade
concentrate - perfect summer thirst quencher! Simply boil appox.
1:1 ratio of sugar and lemon juice (depends on your taste and the fruit)

         *Update*
The lemon macarons were lovely but next time I would fill before serving cos the curd made it a bit too moist and delicate. The berry ones are yummy but I ran out of jam and filled some with curd for strawberry lemonade flavoured ones!! The chais did not turn out :( too much air - it grew a foot then kept growing dome shaped and cracked so sad!! T_T they collapsed so I toasted them and made chai snaps - the flavour is to die for but next time I will just grind the spices instead of using the instant chai mix (might work better!) but for now I'm sick of the kitchen lol I have a new hobby instead!

Things to look forward to this year...

My kitchen is a no-bake zone this weekend, I'm working at the resturant tonight then I have 30mins to race to the otherside of Perth to work at the bar, then working again on sunday at the bar ( thank goodness I avoided the sunday lunch shift at the resturant!). Hence I do not have nadda to blog about...But the things I'm looking forward to this year (or what is left of it!).

1. In 6wks or less I will be flying home to the hubby & furry child

2. Halloween - for all you Americans, I'm sure it's nothing new cos it's a big deal there, but over here it's not widely celebrated. Hence when I walk to work every Halloween in costume I get the ooh look at the weirdo goth vampire Asian or the likes!

3. November...erm why November you might ask - well the Marine Corps Ball duh!! I've only been to one ball ever and that was 5yrs ago - senior year...sigh...gosh I'm OLD!!! lol I'm going all out unconventional and wearing a Saree (traditional Indian dress), It really does show in all the right places without being too much!

4. A white Christmas. As everyone knows Christmas is in December regardless of the season, being in the southern hemisphere it's summer - the season to be jolly around a BBQ pit whilst drinking beer and prancing around in a bikini. "throw another shrimp on the barbie" - Not this year thank you! It's about the snowmen, beanies and nog (minus the egg) this year!

5. Snowboarding - which has been in hiatus in the storage compartment under the bed for the past year!

6. Not sure where this fits in but ordering Alpaca yarn online from Catnips Yarns, natural undyed yarns at bulk prices!

Jobs..

Americano..

I hate job hunting! The countless waiting rooms, interviews and then the dreaded suspence as you cross your fingers for a call back. I loath it with a passion, although I've never had a problem getting or keeping one, the process never gets easier. Needless to say I'm not looking forward to doing all that again in Twentynine Palms...Now I'm not going to say I love my current jobs all the time but there are some things about it I'm going to miss...like my work mates esp my little Jackie!! and my cool boss Mike @ the euro.

But most of all this...

Making countless layer cocktail shooters. (cowboys, squash frogs, B52s...)

Or fruity Bob Marley's for my regulars.

What can I say lol I am addicted to

 making layered shooters! 



inventing my own shooters - this one
is for the Greek resturant I work at.



Kasutera - honey sponge cake.

My terrible cutting -_-'

          Mmm mmm...Kasutera, it should be called honey cloud cake! it's so moist, light and really brings out the flavour of the Marri honey I used. The recipe uses a lot sugar, which I might cut down on next time I make it. It makes enough for a 25cm square cake which I cut into 3, I found it really easy to cut using a long serrated bread knife.
       

              I read that kasutera is not a good sponge for shortcake/sandwich cake but it must be some sort of myth cos I found it so easy to work with and cut. Simply turn the cut on its side and cut it in half, I spread lil cream on each half then piped 3 rows of koshian paste in the middle of the bottom half with a row of cream on either side place the top half on and coat cake with remaining cream. Pipe some decorations, put on a nice plate and voila!
It really is the perfect tea time cake, with a nice hot cup of bitter black or green tea.

*Tips for next time I will beat the egg mixture a lil longer and tap the pan a bit harder next to pop the bigger air bubbles - there aren't many but there definately were a few in my cake!

Matcha Kasutera

            The perfect sponge has always eluded me, often over cooked or undercooked or with huge air cavities...with the little matcha I had left, I really wanted something nice that would go with my leftover koshian cream - A bit of a fancy slice with cream in the middle! I heard a genoise sponge would better suit my purpose, however the japanese dessert book I have uses a Kasutera like sponge for layered desserts. Half the recipes I found seperated eggs, the other half did not. Not sure what the difference would be if you chose to do it that way...but I went for not seperating the eggs. You simply beat them up with grandulated sugar over a pot of hot water (to thoroughly combine sugar and eggs) til it's all pale, fluffy and mousse like (30-40mins)! Then add a mixture of honey and milk while whisking (NOT beating, use a hand whisk) before whisking in one tablespoon at a time of flour. It's tedious and gets harder and harder but you won't have any flour pockets which is extremely important to create the dense light nature of the kasutera. A baked Kasutera should be spongey and spring back when pushed down on. The recipe says to seal in plastic and cool in the fridge - I hope it won't be soggy!! I feeling quite fatigued tonight so it's bed time for me with my fingerscrossed that my Kasutera will be well like a Kasutera - moist and light like a cloud!

You an find the recipe here @ Just Hungry
* I mixed and sifted my matcha with my flour, otherwise if you want to flavour you could try different types of honey.

On a side note seeing as I have appox. 6wks left in Perth, I'm teaching my mum how to make macarons. It's tough finding powdered flavourings and colourings here so I'm going to dry some sugar free kool aid - they're so vabriant colourwise and I'm hoping the flavour will come through in the shell. I googled to see if others have attempted this with no luck...so we shall see - I'm hoping for success as there are even less ingredients you can find out in our area Yucca Valley...Stay tuned folks!

Matcha Macarons Take 2! + Peanut Macarons.

Macarons Take 2

     Today I commenced take 2 of making the perfect matcha macaron and macaron in general...and I learnt 2 extremely important things - 1. temperature and age does not matter! And to think yesterday most my macarons were cracked and under cooked, it was a hugeeee improvement. I made perfect macaronage separating eggs and letting them sit whilst preparing the other ingredients and 2. letting the "crust" form/ making sure the shell felt dry to touch before baking was essential for nice smooth macarons. I used fan forced and preheated at 175C then lowered to 150C when I put the first try in, turned the heat up for a couple of minutes in between each tray to ensure proper temp (made it easier to know when it was cooked). I also had a trial tray that I put in first to calculate baking time and to ensure optimum baking conditions - the result? every tray I baked pied, rose evenly and cooked. They all came off the tray without any hassle AND I baked on a single tray with a single sheet of baking paper!

*I should mention on a side note that I used one less eggwhite - so 90g eggwhites...30g castor sugar. My batter was not as runny as yesterdays!

Like I said I only have a star nozzle haha but
 I love the unique ridges on the macaron.

The bottom looks like this when cooked
and peals right off the baking sheet

I also tried making peanut ones using only ground roasted peanuts, it formed a very smooth runny batter after only a few turns...I think next time I will put more peanut meal to make it denser or a little bit of almond meal...which I didn't add as I didn't want it to take away the peanut flavour. The resulting macarons were very airy and a few had ruffled pied. But the crunch, chewiness and flavour are to die for esp. combined with the bitter dark chocolate ganache! 

As far as the matcha macarons were concerned...they were perfect! I made a 2nd batch of Koshian with only 1/2cup of caster sugar, spread a some leftover ganache on the shells then piped on stars of koshian. The flavour was much richer and taster without the added cream and the texture was just lovely! This will be my filling of choice everytime I make matcha macarons, its very traditional Japanese in terms of ingredients and just sensational!

Macarons...

So today I made the macaron shells...I suppose my heat wasn't 100% even in my oven, T_T resulting in some cracked shells bordering some decent looking macarons. I am going to try again tomorrow for 2 reasons - 1. I have a lot of koshian cream leftover and 2. my strive for perfection. But with one less egg white and they will petite sized macarons instead!

Here are some pics of today...

Add your sugar slowly at slow speed. when
 I get a few ripples I stop and swap to my whisk.

Til I get this...stiff shiny glossy peaks. STOP!
Don't over beat. I whisk and check a lot when I'm close.

Add to your powder mix and fold 50 strokes max.

Fill your piping ball, I used a big star nozzle cos
I don't have a plain one but it's ok cos it smooths up.



Like so :) rap & tap your pan to release the big
bubbles then let it sit for an hour whilst preheating your oven.

 They took about 14-16mins to cook cos they were bigger. Cool them and pipe your cream on! They taste better overnight in the fridge but if you don't have paitence like me, have a nice mug of bitter black tea or matcha and a macaron(or 2 or 3 or 4...they are too good!).
In hindsight I would've used less cream but I was using a whatever was leftover in the carton and didn't want to leave the most useless lil bit in the fridge, but it makes for a very light sweet chewy treat all round so I didn't mind.

Mad about Macarons!

          The other day I decided to make a cake, after a long absence from the kitchen. Inspired but the current anime I was watching at the time Yumeiro Patissiere, I grabbed my Japanese small cakes and tarts book flipped through and invented my own delightful layered cake. Layers of soft whipped cream  with stewed mandarins and Japanese egg custard filling sandwiched between 4 layers of heavenly soft sponge cake made the Japanese style without butter! 

*I whipped my cream using a hand whisk with the cream in a bowl on ice - it is easier and you don't over whip and split your cream. esp handy tip for summer!

         After my success of my mandarin layered cake I ventured on to make a Green tea pound cake with the matcha my mum was nagging me to use - It was a disaster!!
         My first mistake was in measurements the recipe called for 2 sticks of butter...no big deal right? Well it was in US measurements where 1stick of butter is 110g...over here in Aus a stick of butter is 250g...It turned my cake into a delicious butter pound cake instead! T_T
Not that it would've matter because the matcha was more grandulated than powdered and never blended into the batter anyway! I still got compliments on the cake which was the lightest most moist butter cake I've ever tasted, not to mention most of the excess butter melted out of the cake so I simply rested the cake on a piece of kitchen paper as it cooled.
        After that I couldn't stop thinking about baking with matcha powder...hmmm...should I make another pound cake? then it hit me. Macarons. I had made them once before, petite strawberry macarons with a dark chocolate & strawberry ganache, they looked so cute bottled up as sweet treat christmas gifts. I have been itching to try again, they were pretty easy the first time round except I might've added a bit too much dry mix and it was very hard to pipe. This time I am more prepared, I have googled extensively and can't wait til I make them tomorrow!

Korean Matcha/Nokcha powder

             So today I preped, It took me 4 Japanese/Korean supermarkets to find the matcha powder - the colour, aroma and texture of it is totally different to the one my mum bought from Japan! I guess the other one was more for beverages than cooking. Anyways you have to age your eggwhites 24-48hrs at room temp this makes it easier to create your meringue base, I am using a recipe that uses a French meringue base rather than the Italian method which uses hot sugar syrup. I always use a metal bowl and squeeze lemon juice on to the whisk or beaters, rinse and dry before using to remove any grease that may prevent my egg whites from becoming stiff! I used to over whip too so now I beat to soft peaks and manually whip till I reach stiff peaks. The other day I whipped 8 eggwhites for my sponge sheet cakes using a whisk - I would not recommend it at all... My arm felt like it was going to fall off...

Mix your powdered sugar, matcha & almond meal

*If you are unsure which method of meringue to go for visit this handy site. Also My Lemony Kitchen is an interesting read, she gives a personal insight to using all 3 types of meringues (French, Italian & Swiss).

Then sift it and pulse any chunky bits (don't waste expensive ingredients!)
 then sift it again atleast twice! I sifted 3 times.

I measured and prepared all my ingredients for tomorrow so I won't be stopping to find anything, I would recommend it!
However I am using a different recipe for Green tea Macarons

Green Tea Macarons from Trangs kitchen adapted from Food je t'aime who adapted her recipe of Tartlette ^_^

INGREDIENTS:110 gm blanched almond flour (I usually buy almond flour in Whole Food Market)
200 gm minus 1 1/2 tbsp. confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 tbsp matcha powder
100 gm egg whites (from about 3 eggs), aged at room temperature for 24-48 hours
50 gm granulated sugar

Directions
1. Sift the confectioners' sugar, almond flour and matcha powder for several times
until blended. In a clean large bowl, beat the egg whites on high speed until foamy.
Gradually add the granulated sugar and continue beating until a smooth,
shiny meringue with stiff peaks forms. Add the ground almond mixture
to the meringue bowl all at once, then quickly but gently fold together using
a wide rubber spatula until no streaks remain (fold for about 50 strokes). You want to achieve a
thick batter that ribbons or flows from the spatula when lifted. And when you draw a line in the batter by your stapula, the batter will come together after you count from 1 to 5.

2. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. Transfer the batter to a
piping bag fitted with a plain wide round tip. Pipe into small rounds on the prepared baking sheets, spaced about 2 inches apart. Let sit at room temperature for about an hour to develop a hard shell.

3. Preheat the oven to 300 degree F. Bake for 8-10 minutes, depending on size. Transfer the pans to a
wire cooling rack and let cool completely before moving the cookies.

*Now I read somewhere that cooked cookies should come off the sheet even before they are completely cooled and that you should bake at subsequent 1-2min blocks monitoring very carefully...:P I guess I will find out tomorrow!

Koshian(adzuki) filling
I am using Yumi's recipe from the delectable hodgepodge well kind of... lol

Adzuki beans (they are actually deep red but my LED makes it look colourful!)

Ingredients
3/4 cup dried adzuki beans
3/4 cup castor sugar
3 3/4 cup water

mini crockpot(slow cooker)

Wash and drain adzuki beans, put in small crockpot with 3 3/4 cups of water and cook til soft. I cooked it for about 5hrs then strained most of the liquid out. Process the beans to a thick smooth paste and transfer to a pot, add the sugar and some liquid if too thick. Cook over low heat til it sticks to your wooden paddle - stir constantly to prevent burning. I took it off the heat a lil before it reached the consistency I wanted as it will lose water cooling down and thicken up even more.
It looked like this off the stove..

And becomes like this...

Make sure the paste is completely cool.
Then whip your cream (appox. 3/4 cup double/thickened/whipping cream) to stiff peaks and fold with your Koshian to combined.

Then...TASTE IT!! ^_^ oishi ne!

The last 4 months...

        I keep saying to myself "I gotta update my blog", I'm not sure if anyone really reads it...but I never got around to doing it. Anyway boy has it been a crazy past couple of months! I gained a hubby and we somewhat set up our lil house in Yucca Valley (Ant got posted to Twentynine Palms) and adopted our lil Jackabee puppy I affectionately named Wallaby (Wally for short). After spending much needed time with my man I returned back to Perth to organise the BIG move (NOT FUN!), whilst knitting and experimenting using koolaid to dye wool yarn. 10 knitted projects later I swapped the needles for a whisk and spatula, a much needed break for my wrists!

So here goes my life for the last 4 months in pictures!

                                                          1 husband and a dog later..
we drove...
387miles to the Grand Canyon, Arizona

and another 855miles to Boise, Idaho

Naturally the boys were pooped!

We camped, fished and 3-wheeled for a week before driving 664miles to



                                           

  Las Vegas!



A week later and I was back in Perth T_T

but I have been busy!

1. my 1st pair of socks!
   Toe-Up Thermal Sport Socks by Laura Chau

2 & 3. Snowflake Fingerless Gloves by Chris O'Brien





4. Big Herringbone Cowl by Purl Soho

5.Fruity Mug Cosies with my koolaid dyed merino,Button Up your Cup by Julie Tarsha