credit to heartdivide 
 

I can’t think of any greater happiness than to be with you all the time, without interruption, endlessly, even though I feel that here in this world there’s no undisturbed place for our love, neither in the village nor anywhere else; and I dream of a grave, deep and narrow, where we could clasp each other in our arms as with clamps, and I would hide my face in you and you would hide your face in me, and nobody would ever see us any more.

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Thank you! :)

 I love teas, especially Earl Grey and Chai Latte. But I've never thought about incorporating it in my baking or desserts until recently when I chanced upon a recipe for Earl Grey pound cake and I must say, it was good :) Very light and satisfying.

For those who don't know, I've been searching for the Kenwood ice-cream maker for awhile now and Tangs has always given me the excuse that it has not been restocked or that it's arriving in the next 2 days ever since... early last year? I almost wanted to get the Magimix Glacier ice-cream maker that has built-in refrigeration but is thrics the price. Pretty heavy damage, especially since I'm not gonna be churning out ice-cream thaaaat often yet! Silly me though, because I forgot that there's a home section at Takashimaya and there you go! I lugged the entire thing across town and back to Paragon. Honestly, I was too happy with my new toy that I didn't care if I looked stupid and if it was so heavy my shoulders would break!!!

So 2 days ago, I made Earl Grey ice-cream. One word: Mmmmmmmm.
 

 

UPDATED ON 19TH MARCH 2011.

PRICES ARE NOT INCLUSIVE OF POSTAGE. 

Newly added bags: Marc By Marc Jacobs tote, Kate spade, Coach and YSL tote

F21, Cotton On, Topshop, TSR, OSF, Loulou Invades, Bonito Chico etc

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So an impromptu visit to the hair salon and I got 2-3 inches of my hair chopped off (heartpain here) because of split/dry ends and dyed my hair a dark copper with slightly red tones.

Watching my hair get snipped off was terrible. I nearly wanted to scoop my hair off the ground and glue it back to my head :( That was how shitty I was feeling. Not very used to the sudden lightness and thinness of my hair but it feels good to finally be able to run my fingers through and not get caught in some death tangle. I was having hair breakage + masses of tangled hair before. BUT I STILL LOVED MY HAIR! My curls are almost gone as well, its more of wavy now. Sighhhh~ Hair will grow, hair will grow.

Okay, an entire entry about my hair. Here's how I look now. Ignore the mozzie bite on my chin. Still getting used to the new hairstyle!

 







This morning saw me making ladyfingers and a white chocolate mousse. I decided to try something new and made this Strawberry-White Chocolate Charlotte Aux Fraises. Just in time for my 29th month with Jee.

It might seem time-consuming but really, it wasn't! The ladyfingers took 30 minutes or less to whip up and were quickly done within 10 minutes. The mousse was done quickly too. Just pop it into the fridge and let it set for about 4 hours or overnight. The ladyfingers can be done 1-2 days in advance...that's if you don't finish them all! I like to eat them plain, or dipped in hot chocolate. Mmmmmmm what an awesome snack :)

Here's the basic steps to making this awesome Charlotte!

1. After making the ladyfingers, line and assemble them around the mold with your round ladyfinger at the bottom
2. Fill in with mousse
3. Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. Remove from mold.
4. Decorate with strawberries
5. Tie with a ribbon to give it a elegant look and you're done! 

Ingredients for white chocolate mousse

320g white chocolate
4 eggs (separated)
1 ½ cups cream
1 tsp gelatine

Method

1. Melt chocolate on a double boiler until smooth.
2. Once chocolate has cooled mix in egg yolks. Mix gelatine with 2 tsp hot water, mix until the gelatine is completely dissolved and add to chocolate mixture.
3. Whisk egg whites until stiff peaks form, fold into chocolate mixture.
4. Whip cream until soft peaks form fold into chocolate mixture, refrigerate for at least 4 hours (overnight is best) until set and ready to serve.

Links: http://cilantropist.blogspot.com/2010/05/making-ladyfingers-or-savoiardi.html (for homemade ladyfingers)

I think this might be my new favorite thing to make! The tartness of the Korean strawberries compliment the smooth, sweet and milky taste of the white chocolate. It tastes just like strawberries and cream!

Definitely going to make it again. I mean, think of all the possibilities and combinations of flavors. Dark Chocolate Mousse, Strawberry Mousse, Vanilla Bean Pastry Cream and the list goes on....




 

 






Success! Third's the charm.

Here, my friend, is the elusive macaron. When I finally tried Ladurée's macaron in Paris last year, I just knew I had to muster all my courage and get down to trying to bake this cookie. While mine cannot be compared to theirs, I was pretty satisfied with the result. I've tried making them twice before but ended up with hollow shells due to over-mixing. Egg whites are not easy to work with.

So after hours of reading and researching as well as testing my oven's temperature, I got down to making these a few days ago. It's nerve-wrecking, watching these babies bake in the oven. It'll be such a blow to my self-esteem if I should fail again, plus the amount of time and ingredients spent. But eventually I saw feet and I did a little dance!!!! I told myself to be patient and wait for the shells to cool before removing them from the parchment paper. 

Although I couldn't get a consistently good batch, I still managed to get most of them right. Which is good enough for me. A really tiring experiment but the efforts paid off. I filled them with a raspberry white chocolate ganache and let them mature in the fridge for about 24 hours before eating.

I think I might try making them again sometime next week :) 

Here's the recipe! I feel that Italian Meringue was easier than the French Meringue method despite having to make the sugar syrup.