tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45549587560821357702026-03-20T15:11:24.113+08:00A cooking, baking and everything in between blog!Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.comBlogger138125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-12039896598336471662012-12-25T21:48:00.002+08:002012-12-25T21:48:33.041+08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I decided that I should repeat the tradition of updating on Christmas. This year's Christmas is markedly different from last year's, mainly because I'm spending it overseas in Perth with another loved one of mine and I just had a 'barbie' on the beach. That's Aussie for BBQ! It was a novel experience, spending Christmas by the beach, enjoying the gorgeous sunset and

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-65822602662400363572012-12-12T13:13:00.002+08:002012-12-12T13:13:54.088+08:00

This is perhaps a very delayed post considering that I baked this some time ago when there was a fad to make this Ogura or Xiangsi cake on the local blogosphere but well, better late than never! Work is gradually slowing down, which is fantastic, because I will be going on leave from 21 December for a short holiday to clear leave (and to relax)! This will be my first Christmas spent in

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-54371349553952783022012-12-02T22:01:00.002+08:002012-12-12T12:17:19.023+08:00

This is probably my longest absence from the blog - the last post was in September and it's already December! Time really flies, and I can't wait for Christmas to arrive! I was swamped at work for the past two months, and in November, I was swamped with orders for cupcakes and cookies, thanks to the company's charity food fair which I chose to participate in.  So here's what I've

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-56674623618323329622012-09-23T18:56:00.001+08:002012-09-23T18:58:40.205+08:00

If you asked me a couple of years ago if I would ever utter the words kouign amann (pronounced as quiee-ah-mahn) in Singapore, I would have thought you're nuts. But well oh well, with the great number of 'hipster' cafes and patisseries and bakeries popping up in Singapore lately, it appears that pastries like this king of laminated pastry has made its appearance in our sunny

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-64453597279140562602012-09-11T14:21:00.003+08:002012-09-11T14:22:45.167+08:00

Over the weekend I finally had time to upload photos from my CF card (containing photographs I took while I was in Sydney almost 2 months ago) onto my computer. It made me feel a little sad, because those days were so carefree and for the month I was there, it was the first time when I didn't have to study because I had no exams sit for and there was no work to worry about, because work had

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-68726900644757471132012-09-07T15:03:00.001+08:002012-09-07T15:03:29.137+08:00

I first had the idea of doing up this table because I was toying with the idea of going sugar-free (another failed idea) and at the same time doing research into sugar substitutes for my diabetic family members - remember my post on sugar-free chocolate cookies? I realized that knowing about the different types of sugars available in the market helped me in my decision making. I learnt what

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-31755572046713019872012-09-01T13:15:00.003+08:002012-09-01T13:15:37.513+08:00

It seems like eons ago when I last posted on my vanilla sugar cookies and I thank you out there for emailing me, showing me support and asking me about ordering the cookies :] Things have been a tad busy lately - the first week of August I was busy baking for a huge wedding order of 200 petit-four sized cakes, and in the second week, I was baking up a storm for a dessert table for a grand-dame's

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-6107621279363680322012-08-05T23:25:00.003+08:002012-08-05T23:25:55.680+08:00

Saccharine sweetness is the phrase that comes to mind when I think of sugar cookies. I have never bought sugar cookies myself, but have tasted a number of them during parties where the host orders a bunch of special cookies to celebrate the occasion. I don’t recall what designs or where the cookies were bought from, but the one thing that strikes me is the sweetness, and ironically, the

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-25740555024429077072012-07-21T21:35:00.000+08:002012-07-21T21:35:16.066+08:00

I can finally tick off the Great Ocean Road from my 'places to visit' list. It's sort of a half-tick, because I didn't exactly manage to visit all the sights that I had wanted to visit, and we only reached Port Campbell before doing a U-turn, because reality had to butt its ugly head in and I had to rush to Melbourne CBD to get some urgent documents couriered back to Singapore. Sigh. The 

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-3990212601356949522012-07-09T07:49:00.003+08:002012-07-09T07:49:24.572+08:00

I have been rather quiet on the blog the past week or so, because I'm on holiday! Once again I'm in Sydney, and it's been awesome to get away from the humidity and do some seasonal grocery shopping! :] I enjoy grocery shopping and puttering around in the kitchen in Sydney so much so that Jon always asks me if I'm visiting him or his kitchen when I'm here ;p Winter in Australia is great,

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-38170488073363076932012-06-26T14:20:00.000+08:002012-06-26T14:21:11.519+08:00

I have been rather remiss in posting this past few weeks. If you noticed, the last post didn't have any pictures and the previous one on Levain Boulangerie consisted of photographs taken way back during Vesak. The ironic thing is that although I've been baking rather diligently the past few weeks (for a colleague who is my first huge (and paying) customer), I've been way too lazy to

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-26984271581204010032012-06-19T14:19:00.002+08:002012-06-26T14:22:26.042+08:00

Right at the start, I think I should qualify the title to state that it's mainly just Johor Bahru (which I'm most familiar with) and a little bit of Kuala Lumpur. I'm not familiar with the other states/baking places, so I really can't definitively say. For details of shops and prices of ingredients in Singapore, check out these two links. For shops in JB, here's the link. Also, I

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-87612523889182471592012-06-05T08:00:00.000+08:002012-06-26T14:23:04.744+08:00

I can’t believe this is only my 9th instalment of Travel Tuesdays! I first started this to make sure that I was diligent about uploading and sieving through my travel photographs, but I’m afraid I’ve yet to stick to that goal. I have to admit that sometimes, when I do look through my photos, I too am surprised by what I see - photographs do tend to record things that you never did notice ;p

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-7396779793990848602012-05-31T10:14:00.002+08:002012-05-31T21:53:48.000+08:00

I'm quite a horrible procrastinator. I remember almost a year ago, seeing similar entries on Lena, Zoe and Joyce's blogs, and then realizing that they were doing a small bake-along where all three of them would try the same recipe and post them on the same day. This Bake-Along was very useful for people like me, because I am usually hesitant to try new recipes, but with

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-76702189217825211042012-05-25T11:10:00.002+08:002012-05-25T11:10:42.446+08:00

Because my friends and I stay at far flung corners of Singapore, Orchard Road remains the most convenient place for us to meet because it is central. And everytime we meet at Orchard, we are met with the age-old problem. Where to eat?? We always end up eating at the same few places, and I always end up googling for new places to eat. The same thing happens when relatives come from overseas and

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-49114587403456395192012-05-20T10:40:00.000+08:002012-05-21T21:43:07.246+08:00

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. This is a slightly bastardized translation of what is perhaps the most famous star-crossed lovers play in the world - Romeo & Juliet. This quote might not have a direct link to the post, but it just popped up in my head when I was thinking of how to start off this post. My point was, in a multi-racial society such as Singapore,

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-37591267871579828122012-05-16T23:15:00.001+08:002012-06-04T13:47:13.196+08:00

I know I've complained about work tons of times, but work is getting really hectic. The very nature of my work requires me to be charging clients every hour, which means that busy-ness is a good thing, but sigh. I sometimes wish I had more time to myself to bake during the weekdays because baking during the weekends is simply insufficient! Despite my lack of sleep, I couldn't not post

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-87526924515264091272012-05-09T15:14:00.002+08:002012-05-20T10:40:46.337+08:00

I will be talking about revolutions today. When anyone talks about revolutions these days, you think about the 'Arab Spring', or the year of Arab revolutions that began in Tunisia in December 2010 and resulted in a wave of uprisings across the Arab world. And when you actually think about it (and it's been credited in many newspapers and other media around the world), then one catalyst for this

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-56414942029900834282012-05-01T10:19:00.002+08:002012-05-01T10:19:18.147+08:00

I have been in a blogging rut of sorts this past week. No oomph to post anything even though I have got a couple of recipes that I've tried later that I should blog about. The other reason is work I guess. I’ve been going home at about 10pm everyday, which means I’ve only got energy left to bathe and sleep when I get home. Even exercise plans have been put on hold because I can’t bring myself to

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-81198723174305466912012-04-18T20:45:00.001+08:002012-04-18T20:47:31.796+08:00

Sometimes, I'm obsessive compulsive to the point that even I get sick of myself, literally. I usually try variations on a single recipe and different recipes relating to the same thing for days on end until I satisfy myself that the recipe is the one I want as my "to go to" recipe, or the one recipe I'm willing to replicate to eat for the immediate future. Just take bread for example. My very

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-81565645365456574762012-04-12T14:53:00.002+08:002012-04-15T18:45:26.231+08:00

Finally the third instalment of Thursday's Trio! As you might have discovered, I find it rather hard to stick to a schedule - as you might or might not have realized, I have not done my Travel Tuesdays for a long long time (the last one was about Phnom Penh in June 2011) and neither have I completed my A to Z of Australia series either. In fact, I'm only at the letter E (for Eveleigh

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-26931095949216247862012-04-07T18:48:00.000+08:002012-04-07T18:48:29.634+08:00

Only now do I understand the joys of public holidays falling on a Monday or a Friday because it means long weekends yo! A few days ago on Monday, I was thinking that three days is a lot of time to bake, but was struck by sudden inspiration to head up north to KL! I asked my brother if he wanted to and lo and behold, a plan was formulated within minutes :] I do so love impromptu-ness! 

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-14900008983941976422012-03-30T09:31:00.000+08:002012-03-30T09:31:40.104+08:00

As promised, here are the winners of my strawberry powder giveaway! I know some of you added me on Twitter, but I'm not sure if it's because of the giveaway or otherwise, but because you didn't leave a comment as per the 'rules', I didn't include you in the draw. I used random.org to select the two lucky winners but the problem is I'm an IT noob and I have no idea how to copy and paste the

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-73704863004362907572012-03-20T18:43:00.000+08:002012-03-20T18:43:16.329+08:00

Today’s Jour du Macaron or Macaron Day in France, and a couple of other places around the world. If you’ve never heard of Macaron Day, well now you have. It’s created by none other than Pierre Hermé, in a collaboration with members of the Association Relais Desserts to raise awareness for a charity. This year, the charity is Autistes sans frontiers, or Autism without Frontiers. What happens is

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4554958756082135770.post-535078848149258692012-03-14T11:44:00.003+08:002012-03-19T20:38:45.690+08:00

I've been on a kick to use "all natural ingredients" or ingredients that are as unprocessed as possible. This of course translates to less refined flours and sugars, and more wholemeal flours, non-wheat flours, as well as different forms of sugar, such as molasses. This has also translated into using only 'natural food coloring' in my foods, and thus far, I've only experimented with red and green

Janinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08468008353213688833noreply@blogger.com36