C'est LA viE

I did mention that I helped my friend to proof read her literature review last week, and in return, she sent me this easy peasy banana cake recipe.

So I baked a loaf of banana cake, using the African red-ish brown banana (I pretty sure is from Africa) I bought from the market. The banana itself is meant to be use for baking, I assumed the banana had a higher amount of sugar than the normal one, so I lessened half of my sugar amount for baking.

Turned out, the banana loaf is perfect, thanks to the baking powder, it rise and I am able to take it out clean and easily from the base.

It is all good, the sweetness, the texture, the smell~ This recipe is real good! As soon as I finished one slice, I realized…..oh my, I forgot to add in butter!!! Wow, no wonder in terms of banana cake, this one is not that moist…but guess what? It still taste good, and healthier!

FYI, recipe:

2 eggs

270 g light/soft brown sugar

200 g banana (ripe): 2 big bananas or 3 small bananas

280 g flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

140 g margarine/butter

Method:

1. Beat the eggs and add brown sugar.

2. Add mashed banana to the mixture, mix well.

3. Add the rest dry ingredient into the mixture.

4. Melt the margarine/butter and stir well into the mixture.

5. Pour the mixture into greased loaf tin, bake at 170oC for 1 hour if in a loaf tin, 30 minutes if in muffin tin.

So, one is never enough? Haha, I baked another cheese cake for Qing for his birthday~

Well, this time I think was not that great as compared with last cookies and cream cheese cake I baked last yr for my parents when they came NZ, bt wit my full-heart wishes, it's still tasted good! =P

Happy Birthday, Qing! =D

haha, I love tried out new recipes, and for ochazuke is really simple!

Because all u need is just rice, with pre-made rice seasoning (include seaweed, and bonito flakes, sesame seeds..etc), then I add an egg too, (heat via microwave), then pour in japanese tea!! (I used genmaicha), yes, is just like rice in tea!

And u may think is weird, but actually it works!! I can directly feel the simple but healtiness of the dish!  DAISUKI DES!!!

Yeahhhhh! finally I am able to make my own macaroon! Thanks for the destiny, thanks for able to meet up some frenchs, and thanks sophie and sara!!

You guys are really awesome, today baking day is the MAX!!! WOOOAH!!

Now I eventually realized how difficult to make macaron, how details for every steps, how precise for the time, how accurate for the numbers!

with sophie's direction, of cause I learnt to make macaron from the begining! Haha, I forgot to take the photo of the initial ingredients....=P And straight away jump to the macaroon caps making step.

so this is macaroon caps before baking, actually I found it hard to squeeze from the plastic bag, but haha sooner or later I could pick up the skill, and actually we need to let them "rest" as longer time (at least 1hr) as possible, the longer time they set for "breath", the better and smoot appearance they get! However, due to the time constrainst, we just left for 1 hr and half, then back to oven for 11 mins...

after around 10mins.....tada~

well, the first batch is not really good, with cracked appearance, and soggy texture, so we baked the second batch for 1 minute extra, see! How detailed and specific the baking time affect the outcome!

and yes, it proved that the baking time is also a main factor for the successful macaron! the second batch did look better !!

and we also made the filling ourselves, this was the caramel filling, and we also made a chocolate filling (I dint take photo, ooppsy), and today I only figured out caramel is so easy to make!(again, the goodness of food product development!!)

then, place the caramel filling on the macaron caps, and then just close up like cookies....

done!!!

me and sara were so satisfied with our first home made macaron!! (and ya, sara only first knew macaron from this baking day!), and notes: the pussy cat behind me was sleeping so deeply in the rainy day =)

Besides macarons, we also made fondue and chocolate thruffle!!! WOOOAH!! We really knew how to use up every single little thing!!!

And yup the photos on top were the baking process of chocolate fondue, which is also a french dessert! NICE!!

and some more photos for the chocolate truffles.....

So I finally, eventually bought my soba noodles and sauce from Wellington, and cook my soba tonight!

And I come across that the cool soba is better than the warm one, really love the chewiness and authentic flavor of buckwheat (soba)

I matched this wonderfully made soba with the dry fried tofu and some chinese vege and mushroom, well, should try out the inari sometimes, I think they are perfectly matched for each other!

and never forget the creativeness of japanese for making soba sauce! You don't want miss it!

Is a perfect option for vegetarian, yes and I started my 3 days vegetarian/week mission! Felt healthy and perfect! =)

The wonderful snow made my day, but the highlight of the night is my soba dinner!

At the end, I did not manage to prepare a hot soba, as I discovered the cold and chewy soba is so attractive to me!

Love the color, love the wheat, love the mentsuyu, love their combination!!

SO this is my first soba, and I am very happy with it!

here is how I match my soba, chinese pak choy with pre-fried tofu and mushroom, and of cz not leave out the wonderful mentsuyu!

when the cold soba was dipped into my pre-heat mentsuyu sauce, emmmmm, taste delicious and refreshing! Love the texture, and the wonderfully made mentsuyu!

我的okonomiyaki大成功！！

非常健康的食材，但是可恶的carbs还是要提妨~

步骤非常简单：

1。把cabbage洗净，切丝 （分量因人而异，我用了5片）

2。把一杯半面粉，和一杯水混合， 加入切丝的cabbage， 然后加入2粒鸡蛋，让整个混合物更滑

3。在frying pan上涂上薄薄的一层油， 我用margarine

4。 接着把步骤2 里的混合物慢慢的铺在涂上油的frying pan上，但切忌别放太厚，就薄薄的一层就好了，否则很难熟

5。接着在面向自己的大阪烧上（就是还没熟的那一面）放上ham,但是其实也可以选择放上海鲜，或薄薄的猪肉片

6。然后当下方的（面向锅底的那一面）熟后，就要大显生手啦，翻面。。。哈哈（小心不要弄破）

7。等另一面也熟后就摆盘，涂上okonomiyaki sauce, 还有mayonaise,和放上bonito flakes

成功拉！看到bonito flakes在大阪烧上翩翩起舞，莫名的兴奋！