Cuppies for little Nabil

I was planning to do either a research on my baking or finishing up my cornflakes by making more Cornflakes Snow this week, but when I received a call from Nora asking me to bake her son some birthday cuppies for his friends at school, I just couldn't turn her down.

She hadn't really decided on a theme but almost confirmed on Sesame Street. After much thought, she decided to go theme-less, as long as it's suitable for a boy's birthday.

So these were what I came up with - something bright, colourful on Double Chocolate Cupcakes with peach-flavoured icing.

I hope little Nabil & friends enjoyed looking & receiving the cupcakes after school!

Monday ramblings

I'm a bit depressed with my website and have been thinking of it since morning. Seems that I'm unable to upload new pics for my pages & therefore it looks outdated. I admit I've been neglecting it for a while, so.......(hee!) Anyways, I'll try to rectify it the best of my IT abilities as soon as possible. Otherwise I'll have to resort to other alternatives. (So stress!)

Yesterday, we celebrated little Ghazi's 2nd birthday. Planned to buy him a Spongebob Squarepants (one of his favourites, besides Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) cake, but by the time I wanted to place an order it was too short notice. My fault - lack of planning.

I end up buying a Spiderman cake for him after work. Happiness! And for Zinedine's birthday next month, I've placed an order for a Transformers cake for him. He is so into Transformers and Optimus Prime especially. He's got the bag, pencil case, shirt, pants, toys.... Well boys will be boys I say.

Till the next entry! Good nite!

Goodies for friends

Sorry for this overdue post... Been wanting to upload but having some probems with editing photos from my new phone (I prefer taking pictures using my mobile phone rather than my Kodak cam simply because I have my mobile phone with me all the time... hee!)

Lemon Meringue

As promised, here are the pics of the goodies prepared for ex-colleagues & posse on 4th October '09. I was relieved that my friend who initially wasn't able to come over, managed to. And I think we spent over an hour just chatting up. How I miss those moments.

Chocolate Mousse

Come night time, the group came. I think there were more people this year as the living and dining hall were taken up. Some of us didn't even manage to chat. Nevertheless it was good company. Thanks guys! And it makes me feel happy that they enjoyed the desserts that were prepared & displayed. Close friends have been seeing the goodies pics I've uploaded in FB and I thought perhaps I let them have a taste this year, instead of preparing festive food this Hari Raya.

Japanese Cheesecakes, Brownie & Mango Cheesecake

It took me days of planning; and juggling work and making sure I managed to prepare these in time was crucial as I did these alone.

The goodies that I prepared were Lemon Meringue, Original, Matcha & Strawberry Japanese Cheesecake, Mango Cheesecake, Chocolate Hazelnut Cheese Cups, Chocolate Mousse and Brownie. I thought I'd have some extra time to do another batch of Cornflakes Snow, but time did not permit. So I guess I'll do it some other time just for me to eat ; )

(From top ~ Lemon Meringue, Chocolate Mousse, Chocolate Hazelnut Cheese Cups)

It was definitely a tiring week for me. But it was paid-off and I'm relieved I managed to complete what I'd wanted to do. This was a test for me too, to see how much I can do within a week (with advance planning of course). One thing that I wasn't that satisfied was presentation though. I was too caught up with trying to complete my tasks that I didn't plan enough on how to present the goodies.

Oh well... I'm looking forward to trying something new next year, with proper guidance from an expert. I really hope my work schedule next year will be a little bit more flexible and I have the energy to carry out my plans, Insyaallah.

Hopefully once that is accomplished, I'll arrange for another food-tasting for another group of friends.

Ninety percent complete

It has been tiring for me for the last 2 days, whipping up goodies for Sunday. But despite being very busy juggling a few tasks at once and getting tired at the end of the day, I'm quite excited and happy to receive our usual Raya 'kakis'.

So far I've completed about 90% of my scheduled tasks - Brownie Platter, Chocolate Hazelnut Chesecake, Mango Cheesecake, Chocolate Mousse, Original / Strawberry & Matcha Cotton Cheesecake. I'll complete everything with Lemon Meringue in the morning.

It's been a while since I made these much and I unwillingly admit that age does make the difference. I get tired easily nowadays, compared to three years ago when I first started out.

Tiredness aside, I finished baking at 3pm and then made preparations to go visiting at 5pm. Although it was raining heavily, we covered four houses today. Pity that we had to 'drag' the 2 boys while they were still feeling weak. By the time we covered the last house, Ghazi had already fell asleep while Zinedine was looking for a place to lie down. We reached home at almost 11pm.

I felt bad as I had to inform one of our ex-colleagues that we were already leaving the house when she checked if we were in to visit. I'm still thinking about it as I jot these down. Hopefully we can arrange for a get-together some day.

Pictures will be up soon. I've yet to think of the table set-up. I hope to get some rest after baking the Lemon Meringue, before receiving my guests.

Oh hopefully the goodies will be enough for everyone and everything turns out well!

Goodies tasting

This weekend will be a very busy one for me. As I will be making preparations for my goodies sampling for some friends who are coming over on Sunday.

Initially the plan was to cook Mee Betawi. But consideraing that our friends would be eating cooked food from other houses (by the time they reached ours, they'd be full & bloated = won't eat much = food wastage), both hubby & I decided to do smething different this year. We thought we'd let our friends to try the goodies I make and hopefully they will help to 'market' sistabrownie to others.

This is by the way quite a last minute plan as I've only decided this week, leave approved, stock up on baking stuff yesterday (not forgetting a quick trip to the hairdresser's heh), finalizing the deco on my cuppies' order and then the baking marathon begins.

Among the goodies I'll be preparing are the Brownie Platter, three types of Cotton Cheesecake, Chocolate Mousse, Cheesecake (haven't decided which one to make), Lemon Meringue Pie and a new goodie which I hope to introduce & market as well.

I really really hope I'll be able to complete all these on time, despite having plans to visit aunts & friends tomorrow.

To my food people who are reading my blog, please come and join us for the goodies' sampling / tasting this Sunday. SMS or email me for the address.

Cheers!