Monday, September 8, 2014

Mid-Autumn Festival 2014 x Homemade Snowskin Mooncakes


Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! 

I was always a fan of mooncakes but never like how expensive they are sold in shops. 
Went online and search for recipes for try making my own version of snowskin mooncakes. 

Apparently the steps are really simple and it was like playing with Playdough.
Since I was back home, I dragged Mom to get the ingredients and started making them!

Guide to make Snowskin Mooncakes for Dummies: 

You can get everything from the ingredients store and the one I went even had the pastes ready made so it saves us time and we can easily skip that part *Cheatinggg


1. The Ingredients
Glutinous Rice Flour (Gao Fen)
Icing Sugar
Shortening
Water
Food Colouring
Toothpicks
Mooncake Mould

and lots of patience!




2. The Mixture

Depending how many flavors you will be making and the size my measurements below were enough to make 10 small and 5 large mooncakes:


200g Glutinous rice flour
200g Icing sugar
100g Shortening

Mix all three and whisk them thoroughly.

Prepare approximately 230ml of water and if you like,

add food coloring to have pretty pastel mooncakes!

*Tip: Food coloring can be strong, to achieve the pastel-like, use a toothpick and dip the coloring into the water to avoid the strong texture!






3. The Dough:

 Pour in the water into the mixture while whisking until you achieve a lightweight dough. This is where the fun comes in!




As for the ready-made paste, just roll them into little balls depending on the size of how you like your mooncakes to be, the filling should be 2 times smaller than your dough. 

For the dough,
roll and flatten them, add the filling into the center of the dough and wrap them into a bigger ball.

Avoid creases around the ball as it will result in cracks.



4. Almost there!

Prepare a plate of glutinous rice flour and roll the dough around it till its fluffy. 

Get your mooncake mould ready and place the balls into it!


Fill the dough into the mould and make sure it's pressed hard to achieve the mooncake shape! 

5. Voila! 

Serve them chilled and take a photo with fake flowers for your accomplishment :P



I hope this lousy guide will set you on your quest to make yummy mooncakes as mine turned out.. fine. 

Except the part where I missed out the fillings on one (or a few) of the mooncakes and serve them to my ex-colleaguessss 
(Hahaha so maybe baking isnt my forte, im workin on it :P)


***

One thing I like about special occasions are Chinese celebrations. 
For some reason, there's always a thing to celebrate in the Chinese calender and dinner gatherings are always a must! :)

I had my dinner gathering earlier this year with a bunch of awesome ex-colleagues. 




Thumbs up for Carina for preparing everything and her Bf, Leon for letting us crash his place :)

#Carinaknowsbest

Flashback to a year ago and I had steamboat for dinner too with my homies back in Perth. 



It was great to see everyone again! :)


After dinner, we head down to lit up our lanterns!


There weren't any sticks provided on the lanterns so we had to go for an alternative by picking twigs/sticks to instead
which kinda explains why Eric has a big ass stick that could hold 3 lanterns. lol 


 Hope everyone had a good one!

Long ass post finally done,

Bai ! 

Saturday, September 6, 2014

20 Facts about Me :)


Since everyone is randomly giving out facts bout themselves, 
I thought maybe I should join in the fun too!
(legit excuse to update my blog :P)

I actually did a Dayre version a few months back on '50 Shades of Me' but I thought adding another 20 on top of the last 50 wouldnt be problem right? 

Besides, all I need to do is talk about myself :B

So here goesss:

1. I am very indecisive.
I tend to over-think stuffs and seek for advice from people before actually deciding. I guess it's probably because I'm too caught up with the consequences. :\

2. I.love.desserts. 
Be it ice-creams, cakes, chocolates? Anything sweet will definitely make my day. *shakes head

3. I enjoy reading.
 If I find an interesting read, I would try my best to finish it regardless of doing anything else. Everything can wait! Let me get to the ending first! 
(This actually implies to watching series/dramas too)

4. I guess I'm stuck in between an introvert and extrovert. 
I can be shy at times but there are times I can be overly friendly too! I guess it depends on situations :\

5. I am very self-conscious.
 In terms of weight and height. :( But to be honest, I havent really made an effort on fixing it D:

6. I hate durians! 
Bleughhh. I used to eat them but grown to hate the taste/smell and not to mention the aftermath of eating durians. So yea, no durians for me thanks!

7. I'm a leftie! 
Oh, and I also have ridiculously neat handwriting which everyone keeps telling me. :P *showoff

8. I would go for Asian cuisine any day.
 Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese over bread and butter okay?

9. I love sunglasses! 
Love to try out different styles and I feel they make me cool like that. Hehee. 
Also it helps me cover my tiny squinty eyes! .__. 

10. My soft spot is probably my heart. :\
 Like I said I tend to over-think which is why there are times I regret on my past actions and feel guilty for the whole day. 



11. I would love to learn more languages.
 Currently trying to pick up on Cantonese by watching TVB dramas and listening to my friends talk! :D

12. I hate awkwardness.
I try my best to avoid it but sometimes its hard so I choose the quickest exit before things gets worst! :\

13. I have yet to figure out what kind of talent I possessed.
I suck at Maths, Art can be a bit boring for me and I dont think I can channel myself into Music. So yea, we shall seee. 

14. I grind my teeth when I sleep.
I grind soo hardd to a point where its so loud and it makes screeching sounds without even realizing how have I actually done it.  

15. I haven't been living with my family for almost 6 years. 
I missed it every time I come home or when they're here to visit :(

16. I LOVE TO TRAVEL! 
I have a bucket list of places I'd like to visit but I know it's an expensive hobby. :\ *save money firsttt

17. I tend to scrunch my forehead a lot when I'm carefully listening to people talk.
 It makes me look like I'm annoyed or something but actually I'm just trying to stay focus okay? :P

18. I do not enjoy exercising but I'm slowly trying to like it. :\ 
Maybe if I do it everyday, I might get used to it? Hmm. 

19. I have started a keen interest in organizing and designing interior homes.
 Love going to Ikea for no particular reason but to always have this "I know where I can put this in my future home"excuse at the back of my mind. 

20. I get easily attracted to all things colorful! 
From flowers to food and even clothes. When I find them nice, I'll take a photo of it and look back at them again another day. 


Phewww!
 20 facts and that's a wrap! I feel like they are all pretty elaborated and reading them again gives a better picture of how well I understand myself. 

No wonder everyone's doing it, it's kinda fun hey?

Alrighttt, enough vanity for today!

Shall update once I have a topic to blog about soon!

x