Cake Pops 2

I decided to make more cake pops since I had some store bought icing left from last time. I thought it was suppose to last 3 months but read the label again and it said 30 days. Darn! Had to throw it out.

Luckily the cake was kinda moist that it held together as a ball so I didn't use any icing. I didn't go out to buy because the icing would be wasted since I'd use less than 1/3 of the icing.

I crumbled a cake that I froze previously and made into balls. I put them in the freezer to firm up.

Roasted Squash Soup with Apple and Brie

I love soup...doesn't matter from where or what country. Give me a bowl of steaming hot soup and I'm happy!! I think it's because I grew up having soup after supper every night and if there wasn't homemade soup, well, instant was better than nothing. I don't have soup after supper all the time now and miss that so soup is a big treat!!

I'm not so into creamy soups because they are too rich. The only creamy soup I like are New England Clam Chowder and Mushroom soup. Unfortunately I don't know how to appreciate rich soups.

Recently I noticed in the last 5+ years, butternut squash soup and roasted red pepper soup are really popular. I've been wanting to make this type a soup for a long time.

What stopped me was when I looked at the recipes, many asked for cream or sour cream to be added to the soup. I know that adding the dairy product will make the soup silkier and smooth but also more calories. One big pot of this would be too much for me to enjoy.

As well most soups are pureed. I didn't own a blender until recently and Magic Bullet for a big pot of soup would take forever. So that was a major deterrent.

So when I discovered this recipe called "Roasted Squash Soup with Apple and Brie" in my The Rest of the Best and more, I was excited.



Even better was that it required ingredients I already had at home. To make it rich and creamy, the recipe asks for Brie, which seemed optional to me.

Nails

I just wanted to show my nails. I went to Bloom Essentials to get a pedicure. At Bloom Essentials, they have a pedicure called Picasso Pedicure, where they draw pictures on your nails.

I've posted my Skull nails before and really liked it. I was pretty sure I was going to get the skull one again.

The esthetician showed me the Christmas designs and I ended up also really liking the snowflake one. I couldn't decide on skull or snowflakes. The esthetician suggested doing both so I had snowflakes AND skulls.








The blue was really cool and wanted to paint my finger nails too at home but Bloom Essential sold out on their OPI "Roadhouse Blues" nail polish. They suggested to go to another spa close by to buy it. But I was walking in flip-flops in the cold that I decided that I just wanted to go home.

Now that my Christmas party is over, I probably won't be buying the nail polish. I don't wear nail polish on my fingers because I bake too often and usually touch the dough. So I didn't want people to accidentally eat nail polish in my food when it starts to flake off.




Bloom Essential's website is http://www.bloomessentials.com/
You'll love their Picasso Pedicure!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fascinator 2

At work, we decided to have a Secret Santa gift exchange. For those of you unfamiliar with this, we pick names out of a hat and buy gifts or write notes to that person. In school, we called it Kris Kringle. Anyways for work, to make it easier, we only did one gift exchange. The gift price limit was $10.

Now I hate buying gifts under pressure and dreaded this. I looked around at shops and couldn't find anything decent for $10. Then I decided to make a fascinator for the person I got.

At first I was going to use a hair comb to make the fascinator but since I was making a small fascinator, I decided it was too big.



I found a smaller hair clip that was unused at home. I decided to use that as my clip.

Meat & Bread

A friend took me to this place around springtime and I LOVED it. I couldn't blog about it then because my phone battery was dead. I was determined that I would come here again because it was is delicious and also to share with my readers.

Unfortunately I tried coming here on a Sunday and found out they were closed. So this time, I went on a Saturday. They were busy!

The name of this sandwich place is simple. It describes what they serve, Meat and Bread.

2011 New Year's Resolution update- FAILED

I just broke my 2011 New Year's Resolution. After working so hard on keeping my resolution for 11 months, I finally failed. I was so close!!!

ABC Restaurant

At the suggestion of an anonymous comment, I went to ABC Restaurant (愛彼茜餐室) to try out their souffle.

The One

After supper, I was very thirsty and didn't want to go home. So where did I go??? Bubble tea!!!

Went to a place called The One Restaurant (美味x係-can't replicate 3rd word)

Why is Christmas Pudding Considered Rich?

I was just talking with a co-worker and she said her husband makes the most awesome and rich Christmas pudding. I love Christmas pudding. Every Christmas, it is a treat that my dad heats up (no he does not make his own) and makes a custard sauce to go with it.

My co-worker described it as "rich". Many people have described it the same. I have always wondered how or why it was considered rich? It's filled with dried fruits, shouldn't it be health? Is dried fruit rich or unhealthy?

I tried looking at recipes to see why it was rich. Is it because it uses a lot of butter? I've seen variations of 1/2 cup butter to 1 cup butter. But cakes also use that much better. OR because of the eggs? But the recipes I looked at required 2 to 4 eggs. Cakes and creme brulees use way more eggs. Some traditional recipes use suet which is beef or lamb fat. Not many recipes I saw used it. But if it did, I guess that would make it rich, right?


OR is because it is typically served with a custard or hard sauce? That is rich. My coworker's husband serves with an alcohol-spiked butter sauce. That would also be very rich! Is this why Christmas pudding is rich, because of the serving sauce?


Why is Christmas pudding considered rich? Does anyone know the answer?

Just a rambling from the mind. (ps. It's so much nicer to blog using a computer than an iPhone!)

Mr Zhang's Karaoke Restaurant

Initially I wanted to have Chinese hot pot for supper but when my friends and I saw that the price was $25 per person, we decided it was too expensive and tried this new restaurant.

It seems that Northern Chinese food is quite popular. I'm not sure if it's because there are a lot of new immigrants from China and not from Hong Kong or it's a trend but many new restaurants are popping up that serve this type of food.