Sera's 1st birthday

Baked a cake for darling Sera last weekend. Sugee cake, covered with royal icing and fondant. The cake turned out well, and I was very happy. I couldn't stop eating the cake myself, the cake was delish! :) Happy that everyone liked the cake as well. It's gonna be a busy month ahead, two wedding cakes to make! One for my bestie, and another one for my uncle. Crossing my fingers that all will go well. Till the next time I bake :)

first ever cupcake order!

Cupcakes all packed and ready to go

And so I received a call from my sister while I was at work asking if I'm able to take a birthday cupcake order. 50 cupcakes, comprising of  vanilla, chocolate and red velvet cupcakes!

I was excited, and at the same time a little stressed out wondering if I'm able to do it. I've always baked for friends and family, but somehow this was different; if you know what I mean.

The cupcakes were themed around the idea of girly stuff and the color turquoise because the birthday girl was obsessed with that color.

I had fun making the cupcakes, received positive feedback as well. I'm glad :)
Do click more below for more pictures!

Have been baking and cooking quite a bit lately. Haven't had the time to update and upload. I shall do that soon.

Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache filling topped with mint buttercream & red velvet cupcakes topped with cream cheese frosting

weekday bites

Parmesan crusted chicken has got to be the simplest and most delicious meal to prepare on a weeknight!

Served with creamy mashed potatoes and some boiled broccoli. Absolutely yum! Squeezing some lemon on the chicken is just mmm mmmm!

is it finished?

After a long hiatus, I finally got myself back to painting. I wasn't exactly inspired by anything, just took the canvas and started going with the flow. Started with just blocks of colors. Went on with adding some textures to it. Wasn't a big fan of it at first, but it grew on me. Then the tree appeared, ah yes the tree appeared. Only for a while. Then I just stopped painting the tree because I somehow got confused.

I realize that most of my paintings are very much affected by my mood. Whether I'm having a good day, a so-so day, or even when I'm gloomy, it somehow shows in the painting.

Took the painting, put it on my table to see how it looked. I must say, it does look pretty ok. The painting seems complete, in an incomplete way. For now, I guess I'm just gonna leave it as it is.

The halfway painting.

My colorful mess. Acrylic on 16x20 canvas.

a lil bit o sydney

Welcome to the Sydney Fish Market

The place was packed with people!

Fresh GIGANTIC tuna

Lobsters!

Cold seafood platter for you?

Fresh oyesters!

The rainbow trouts don't look very colorful

Mouth watering seafood

The most delicious lobsters ever!


OH NOW ME IS HUNGRY!

I'm a cinnamon roll!

Cinnamon Roll

Okay maybe I'm not a cinnamon roll :)

Have been occupying my weekends with baking and trying out new things to cook and bake. I've always wanted to try my hands on baking pastries and have been putting this cinnamon roll recipe in my 'to-bake' list for quite a while now. So last weekend, I finally decided to bake these sweet babies. Verdict? Absolutely YUMMY! The recipe calls for a glaze for the rolls but I skipped that part. I'm sure with the glaze, the rolls will taste heavenly because everything with cheese in it, no doubt, yummers!

The recipe isn't very difficult to make, it's just the waiting time. All in all, about 3.5 hours of resting time for the dough to "poof". The wait however, was pretty worth it.

After the 3.5 hours wait, right before entering the oven.

I think one crucial point while making these babies is the kneading / mixing part. Kneading the dough till it's really soft and smooth (which takes a bit of effort if you're not using a mixer). Paying attention to this step will result in soft and fluffy rolls. The house just smelt so good while these were in the oven.

Jamie, Felina and Melinda, I'm posting up this recipe for you girls. Do give it a try and let me know how yours turned out :)

it didn't reach the 'O'

I've not been doodling or painting for a while now, should probably start doing that again. :) The painting below was a gift to a friend when she moved in to her new place. I really like that painting. 

Oh great, now my hands are itching to paint! Need to get more stretched canvas!

Acrylic on canvas

Ink on paper