Baking Journey: Chewy brownie cookie

Was on 2 days MC last week because of intense and persistent headache. Felt slightly better on the second day of the MC and was craving for something chocolatey, and hence decided to do some baking. 

This recipe was relatively easy; easy to prepare and easy to clean up. And most importantly it was so delicious I couldn't stop myself from going into the kitchen to take another cookie!

I've always been a chewy-cookie lover rather than a crispy-cookie lover. I prefer my Mrs Fields to Famous Amos, but too bad all Mrs Fields outlet in Singapore has closed down. Major sigh. 

So, this recipe was the perfect recipe for me because it was chewy, and it was more brownie-ish than cookie-ish! Look at the crinkly part on the top of the cookies. 

Trust me, you can't stop at just one!

Ingredients

1. 175g of 70% dark chocolate 

2. 50g of unsalted butter

3. 2 eggs

4.180g of caster sugar 

5. 1 tsp of vanilla extract

6.50g of plain flour 

7. 1/4 tsp of baking powder

8.A pinch of salt

Method

Place the dark chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl. Double boil the dark chocolate and butter.  Let the chocolate and butter melt, stirring the mixture occasionally. Once the chocolate and butter has melted, remove the bowl and let it cool to lukewarm. Take note that the melted chocolate-butter mixture should not be too hot, otherwise it may cook the egg mixture.

Place the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract in a separate bowl. Beat the egg-sugar mixture on low speed for 1 minute, then increase the speed to high and continue beating for another 4 minutes, until the mixture is thick and pale in colour.

Lower the speed to low and add in the melted chocolate-butter mixture and mix.

Sift in the flour, baking powder and pinch of salt directly into the batter and fold in gently. The batter will be watery. Place the bowl of cookie batter aside in a cool place for 10 to 15 minutes. The batter will thicken slightly.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line baking sheets with baking paper.

Scoop a tablespoonful of the batter and drop it gently on the baking sheet. 

Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes until the top of the cookies are wrinkly. 

Pregnancy Journey: Week 25

Oh man! Backlogged already. Am already at my 27th week as I am typing this!

Am also looking at #caibaobao's movements as I am typing. Just drank a mouthful of cold water, think he's being stimulated!

Week 25 was kinda exciting because it was also my appointment with the gynae! Shall talk about that later!

So at Week 25, I was still full of energy and has been obsessed about baking. Every waking moment, I think about baking macarons! Haha.

Week 25 was also the week where my husband started to say that I resemble a hippopotamus. I think my waist is getting thicker, even though I don't look like I've gained a lot of weight from my physical appearance. Have gained about 10kgs now! Yes, it's pretty scary but I really can't control my food intake!

Kicks have been getting very intense as well. No longer just kicks, but can totally feel the movements of caibaobao. At times, can feel his bony parts jutting out, but I still can't tell which is which body parts though. Caibaobao is especially active at nights and sometimes I would be woken up by his movements in the middle of the night. 

At Week 25, my bump has started to get more obvious and people have been volunteering their seats for me in trains and buses, which is good because sometimes I really really need those seats!

There was once during peak hour, nobody gave up their seats for me and all pretended to look at their phones. This kind woman actually came up to me and asked me if I needed a seat, and then proceeded to ask another woman who was sitting at the priority seat to give up her seat for me. 

Such a kind woman exist! Totally grateful towards her!

Hehe, okay here comes the exciting part!

We scheduled our gynae appointment on 16 September which was also the 25th Week.

While doing the routine scan, Dr mentioned that if we wanted to do the 3D scan to see baby's face, we could do it today as the baby was in a good position, facing him!

Of course, the anxious parents jumped on this opportunity and told him that we wanted to do it, though it was an additional $60!

And we finally managed to see our son!!!!! Exciting much!

So here's the first picture of our son!

I really think he looked like me, though some friends said that he looked more like the husband!

My baby is such a cutie pieee!! Love love him to bits! I know I'm saying this in every post, but we really can't wait to see him in Dec!

And here's the bump shot at 25 weeks! :) 

My belly looks really round like ball here!

GROW GROW GROW caibaobao!!

Cooking Adventures: Chicken mushroom Baked Rice & Fried Enoki Mushroom

Since my nose become less sensitive as the months go by, I regained my passion for cooking & baking. 

The husband had craving for baked rice one weekend evening and I decided to cook it for him, since it seemed relatively easy from the recipe I've found through Noob Cook .

If the print screen that I've included in this post is too small, please head over to the author's blog to find the recipe!

This meal was so easy to make, and so delish that the husband said that it was the best baked rice he has ever eaten!

That same night, I was also craving for Fried Enoki Mushroom after seeing my friend had it in one of her instagram post. I wanted to go to the cafe to have it too, but I felt that $7 was too expensive for enoki mushrooms. So I planned to cook it myself. 

However, that day was the day that I had spent so many hours in the kitchen (macarons making) since I got pregnant, and my back and legs were really giving up on me. I couldn't continue to make the mushroom, so the Husband had kindly volunteered to cook it for me!

And this was the end result. Very nice I say! Craving totally satisfied :) 

But our lesson learnt was that we shouldn't attempt to cook the entire pack of enoki mushroom just for the 2 of us. Too much, and we ended up throwing some away. 

Here's the recipe for the Fried Enoki Mushroom, taken from Happy Recipe.

It was a super satisfying dinner. And that's why they say, homecooked meals are the best!

So much WIN!

Pardon me, but I really think I'm a genius for being able to successfully bake these macarons within my 2nd try! Haha!

But honestly, these are really not easy to bake. Just to bake 2 batches of these, I spent a total of 4 hours plus in the kitchen. My back and feet were breaking at the end of the baking session. However, the pain was worth it when I saw these beauty rising in the oven. 

Also thankfully, I chose the right recipe. Credits to Foodie Baker. Definitely my go-to blog when I need to find other recipes to bake or cook in the future!

I think there were 2 learning points from baking macarons this time and I think they are the main reasons why my macarons succeeded. 

1. Patience. Loads of it. I can't emphasize how important this is!

After piping, you will need to let the macarons rest, until the top of the shell is no longer shiny. It should be matte before you popped it in the oven. Another indicator that the shell is ready is to slightly touch the top of the shell and if the batter does not stick to your hand, then you're ready to bake it!

2. Temperature. I think you really need to trial and error and see what temperature is best to bake your macarons. I tried the first one at 180 deg but the shells cracked, though it had beautiful feet. For the second batch, I baked it at 150 deg and the results were perfect! But my oven's 150 deg may be different from yours and the author's of the recipe, so you really need to play with your own oven!

Okay, here's the print screen of the recipe from Foodie Baker! Sorry it's a little untidy. Otherwise you can google foodiebaker's recipe! 

Good luck and enjoy the 4 hours! :) 

Pregnancy Journey - Week 23

Have I mentioned before Friday is my favourite day of the week! Because it means the weekends are approaching, and also because every friday means caibaobao is a week older! FriYAYs are so apt!

So here's the bump update. I think I can feel the stomach stretching a little because it's starting to itch around the sides, but it still look small doesn't it? Can't wait for my week 25 doctors appointment so that we can find out if caibaobao is growing healthily! 

This is roughly how caibaobao looks like now and look at the size of his hand. So small and cute! 

Caibaobao's major organs have completed their development and now its just piling on the fats which will make him a chubby and cute baby when he arrives in Dec 2016!!

This week I felt great, and there wasn't much pregnancy symptom that I was feeling. 

However, this week onwards, there had been an outbreak of the zika virus which have caused so much anxiety and frantic in Singaporeans, especially pregnant women! 

I was lucky that I managed to secure a few bottles of mosquito repellent before the entire nation wiped out every single repellent that exist in any pharmacies. 

I've been spraying myself generously with the repellent and hoping that I will not get bitten by any mosquitoes. My colleagues have said that I am a walking-campsite! So far, nobody has given me any weird stares because of the way I smell, but I'm sure they are thinking that I might be overdoing it when they smell my "perfume". But all for caibaobao!

This week also saw me meeting up with my girlie friends from secondary school. 16 years of friendship, oh my! We're getting old! Love this group of friends because they have been so accommodating towards me since they got to know that I was pregnant, always trying to satisfy my cravings and also meeting somewhere near Punggol so that it would easier for me to go back home!

And that's us, celebrating Zhen's 29th at DTF. 

As I'm typing this entry, I'm currently wearing the exact same dress that I wore that day. Woes of being pregnant. You can't find many clothes that you still can fit into!

It's her birthday, but I'm the one receiving presents! Okay, not me exactly, but my son. 

She went to US recently for holiday and she thought of caibaobao and bought so many clothes for him! 

What was more touching was, she was already on her way to meet us when she realized that she had forgotten to bring out the bag of clothes, so she went back to her office to take them again. Awww, my caibaobao is so loved. 

Totally grateful for these little gestures!

Pregnancy Journey - Week 22

Was  at Week 22 as of 26 August 2016. 

The little one is not so little anymore and he is about 20cm. Totally can feel his little limbs karate-ing me. 

This week, the husband has managed to feel Caibaobao kicks. He was so happy, I wanted to tear when I saw how his face lit up with delight when he felt it. Having a child is really a blessing. 

This week, I also confirmed that Caibaobao hates Nutella. I thought all kids love it! Why Caibaobao?? Why???

Had already vomited twice after I took Nutella, And the second time I vomited, it was almost instantaneously after I finished my toast with Nutella. I hope Caibaobao grows to like it in the future because then I will have an easy time settling his breakfast when he's older. Hehe. 

People have also started giving up seats for me in the trains. I think my bump is getting slightly more obvious, though some people may still look confused and would look me up and down trying to confirm whether I was just fat or pregnant. Quite amusing to see their confused looks. 

And this is my bump at 22 weeks! My cute little baby is growing inside! :) 

This week also marked the final time that I could step foot overseas before Caibaobao's arrival because my passport was expiring!

So off to JB we went, since we were on a budget and it was so last minute! I didn't thought that the husband would agree so spontaneously when I had casually mentioned it. 

So yes, my last passport stamp. 

Though it was a short short trip, it was a very fufilling one. We spent the day eating, shopping, and KTVing. Love shopping at JB because everything was so much cheaper than in SG, but the husband had restricted me as we had only changed 100sgd. Bringing the husband out for shopping is such a burden! Sigh.

This marquee totally described me. I am not going to quit shopping, I am just gonna put it on hold until we're more financially stable! And that's my little-and-not-so-obvious bump under my clothing!

And our best best buys!

An Arsenal onesie. The 3 of us would be wearing the same arsenal "jersey", and a cute onesie from H&M. 

I think these 2 are the first clothings we bought for Caibaobao!

Prengancy Journey - Week 21

I shall do a week by week post from week 21 onwards (although this is already a backdated post, since I'm at my 22nd week today).

I share on the pregnancy symptoms that I am still feeling thus far. 

This week marks the halfway mark of my pregnancy journey! Hooray.

Can't believe that we are already halfway to meeting our little boy!

This is my 21 weeks bump shot! And some people have commented on how "compact" it looks, which I do agree it's a little small. Need to remind myself to ask my gynae if this is normal on my next appointment with him!

I am still vomitting on average once a week. I've since gotten used to vomiting since the first trimester though I still hate that feeling. 

Am still abstaining from pork cos that's the number 1 thing that induces my puke. 

Still feeling giddiness occasionally but as long as I lie down and take some bedrest, I would be fine later on.

I think one of the best highlight of the week was to be able feel the kicks and rolls my little boy!
Not sure how to describe these kicks and rolls, but it's a weird feeling especially the rolls.. but it's an amazing feeling.
The kicks and rolls were also useful to help me reassure myself that the baby is fine and growing well in my tum tum!

Alright thats it for my 21 weeks update!