Apps Goodies 2: Pin your your interest on Pinterest!

I wonder if you have a small pinboard hanging on your office cubicle wall for you to pin the calendar, post it notes, photos and of course the-ever-common motivational quotes such as "Never give up!", "The key to success is hardwork" to psych yourself up at work.

However you need not pin those boring stuffs on your board all the time. Imagine if you have alot of interesting stuffs to look at the board everyday and what's even better is that you can pin it on a virtual board so that you can bring it everywhere and share it with anyone. This is what Pinterest all about. 

I was introduced to this app by my good friend ky quite sometimes back, as she found some crazy food ideas and recipe on other's pinterest board which is interesting for girls hangout activities. The variety of ideas on the website really caught my attentions and I'm hooked on it ever since. So, its basically an apps which allows you to pin yours and other beautiful things you find on the web (images, videos, post etc.) onto your virtual pinboard. Its easy to view, organize, search as well as to share with others. Notice the small red pin-it button along with the facebook, twitter buttons at the end of each post in my blog. If you have a Pinterest account and like my post, you can pin it to your pinterest board so that others who follow's you can see my post as well. 

You can also create boards of specific theme. Currently I have 4 boards - Glorious food, Apps Goodies, Home design and Gift ideas. So whenever I've written a post for my baking addiction or apps goodies series, I will pin it on my Pinterest board to share with others. The first time my recipe got a repins from a complete stranger, I was over the moon. And that motivate me to write more! 

One of the great benefits of Pinterest as I mentioned before is that you can find so much of ideas from other's pinterest board. I've tried out many recipes pinned from others as well as planning to work on some diy craft ideas as well.

For example this rustic diy living room table made from the crates, how beautiful it is. I saw some similar one from Ben's cafe, so now I just need to get hold of some crates, anyone can tell me where to get some crates in KL?

Image from http://www.etsy.com/listing/105156860/rustic-crate-coffee-table-reserved?ref=sr_gallery_20&ga_search_query=crate&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=ZZ&ga_min=0&ga_max=0&ga_search_type=all

And this beautiful pebbles mat, according to the creator, you just need pebbles, glue gun and shelf liner!

Imaged from http://entirelysmitten.typepad.com/entirelysmitten/2011/03/fun-with-river-rocks-tutorial-and-bonus-ideas.html

If I get to know Pinterest earlier, I would have done this for my wedding

1) cactus for wedding favor

Image from http://myecowedding.blogspot.com/2010/02/wedding-favors.html

or 2) wedding invitation postcard

image from http://www.etsy.com/listing/93818178/save-the-date-magnet-or-card utm_campaign=Share&utm_medium=PageTools&utm_source=Pinterest

or 3) cute little candy pot for guests to munch while waiting

Image from http://www.bridalpartytees.com/blog/?p=1390

Anyway, what are you waiting for, start pin it today and don't forget to pin my post if you like it!

Apps Goodies 1: Picture perfect with PicMonkey

I'm starting another series of posts apart from my "Baking Addiction" series, its called the "Apps Goodies" series. In the course of my years of blogging, I've come across many useful website/ apps which do wonders. These apps basically do stuff which is beyond our intellectual capabilities and it simply enhances our entire online experience. I will share some apps which are interesting, it may not necessary popular/ widely used but it must be FREE, so that it can be beneficial to many.  

The first Apps Goodie i'm gonna share here is a photo editing app. I was looking through some of the last pictures of Miko, as I wanted to choose some to sent for printing and framing. However most of the pictures turn out to be quite dull and boring, mainly due to the lighting and of course amateurish photography skill. ;)

Usually I will use an application called Photoscape for photo editing. It is a very light, user friendly application and most importantly its free! However, it lacks some of the futuristic filter algorithm (like Instagram) which can enhance the photos with a single clicks of  button. In another word, I'm too lazy to go through step by step editing to improve the color, brightness, add special effects etc. With that being said, usually I don't edit photos that much, at most I'll just adjust the brightness. And I'm kinda against those sepia or retro binge who instagram every photos before they publish to the facebook. I mean its fine to edit a few photos just to show a different kind of feeling or perspective, but EVERY photos, come on... 

Anyway, being the usual me, I detest using the main stream photo editing application i.e. Instagram. In fact Chrome webstore has a very good app which literally does everything for you. Its called PicMonkey. The thing I like about the application is that you don't have to register or install the application in order to use. On the main page of the website, just choose to edit a photo or create a collage, and you can start to use right away! It allows you to save all the edited photos and export to social network website and even Pinterest.

I love the pastel color and seasonal design of the website, its looks very different from the usual black sleeky techno themed website of the similar kind.

The most useful features of this apps is the basic edit and effect tab. Like I mentioned before its really a dummies for photoshop app, whereby with a single click, you can enhance your photos to create different kind of effect with various filters such as Dusk, Urbane, Cross process etc. 

For example, this is a original photo of miko and me. It was taken without much lighting and it lacks character. 

And these are the photos after applying different filters (the filter used are stated in the photos), see how different the before and after is. Personally I like the Time Machine filter the best, the colors goes very well the flourish curtain at the background 

This is another favorite of mine, which is added with old photograph frame and caption

I think I'll use this photo, love the Cinematic effect! 

Not a big fan of I-am-an-elite-facebooker-because-I-instagram? fret not, you can always try out PicMonkey!

Pork, music and friends

3 things that made me very happy last night. 

Firstly, the glorious pork meal at Swine, Ben's, Publika. We had Pork Ribs, potato skin with mozzarella cheese fillings, spaghetti carbonara and pork confit with watermelon and lychee salad. I know the name of the salad sounds kinda weird, but its a definitely must have. Fruity and herb-ish, sweet and salty, crispy and soft, all in 1 plate.

Great desert and coffee at The bee's, with beautiful and relaxing ambiance. It was the perfect place for hang out after a good porky meal. We had a sinful  Chocolate Berry Ice-Cream Cake which is served in a glass, it's a dark chocolate ice cream mixed with berries and a biscuit base. Dove into the layers of chocolate ice cream, berries and biscuit, and have a mouthful bite of all the three combination, I assure you it almost feel like magical. We also had apple crumble, cuppucino and the Last Polka's vanilla bean ice cream. We have high hopes for the vanilla bean ice cream but it was a tad too milky to my liking. Made from a blend of Javanese and Papuan vanilla pods, the Last Polka ice cream was famous for its 100% natural ingredients, combining creamy french style ice cream with regional Asian flavors we love, such as teh tarik, salted gula melaka, pandan kaya etc. 

Photo taken from Nana's facebook

Second thing that made me a happy girl last night was the fantastic music performance on the stage by a pair of rugged looking girl and a nerd-nerd looking guy (as described by my friend). They performed some of my favorite songs which I haven't heard for ages, Jason Mraz's, John Mayer's, Lifehouse etc. Nothing fancy nor pop-ish, just a great pair of voices accompanied by acoustic guitars.

Last but not least - friends to enjoy good food and music with. Lying on a lazy couch while chattering to each other, the feeling reminds me of a song by Jack Johnson, "Better Together":

"There is no combination of words I could put on the back of a postcard
No song that I could sing, but I can try for your heart
Our dreams, and they are made out of real things
Like a, shoebox of photographs
With sepia-toned loving
Love is the answer,
At least for most of the questions in my heart
Like why are we here? And where do we go?
And how come it's so hard?
It's not always easy and
Sometimes life can be deceiving
I'll tell you one thing, it's always better when we're together"

I know this song is about couple's love, but sometimes the feeling of friendship do reminds me the feeling of falling in love. It can be as simple as laughing together at some silly jokes, or just chattering endlessly till the night fade away, you know that its always better when friends are together. 

Baking Addiction 5: Rainbow Pancake with Natural Coloring

I've been baking for only less than a year, there is no shame in admitting that my skill are pretty much amateurish, like I still couldn't figure out why certain recipes calls for 1/2 tsp of sodium bicarbonate, and other requires 3/4 tsp; Sometimes my cakes/ cookies are cloyingly sweet although I follow the recipe exactly (my baking sifu, Hannah said that I should always half the amount of sugar in the recipes by the Westerners, apparently Caucasian have sweet tooth). I've tried many recipes but I can never predict what will eventually come out from the oven, some turns out to be great, some was thrown into rubbish bin the moment it was out because it was way below my modest quality standard.

Well, I can pretty much sum it up by saying my baking experience for past 1 year was nothing but a trial and error process. If I bake a lousy one, I'll bake again until i get it right. It's sure not a cheap hobby but hopefully I will get better and better. This post describes the toughest ever challenge in my entire (relatively short) baking history - a birthday cake for my 1 year old nephew. I mean who wants to screw up a 1 year old's birthday by baking an ugly or yucky birthday cake right. So the pressure is tremendous. So much so that i fell sick after having the 1st bake trial last Saturday. 

Initially, my sister requested for a cake which used mostly healthy and organic ingredients.  And below is the recipe which she painstakingly went and scanned from a baby cookbook and email to me.

Oh boy it was a damn challenging recipe, I never use half of the ingredients stated in the recipe for any baking before- rapeseed oil, wheat germ, apple juice concentrate.... And after 1 week of futile search (at countless baking stores and supermarket) for all the ingredients, I finally give up and suggested another cake recipe to my sister. 

Picture taken from wendyinkk@blogspot.com

I present to you the beautiful Rainbow Pancake by table for two. The 'cake' has many colorful layers which is not just a pleasant sight to see, but all the coloring are from natural food source so its healthy to eat as well. The only downside is that its a pancake recipe which utilize buttermilk (again, its something which I never use in my baking before), and heck this is my first time making a pancake! The reason why pancake is preferred is due to the fact that it requires less amount of time for baking (imagine baking 7 layer of cakes, one by once), and high heat during baking will dis colorize the natural coloring. The original recipe calls for 7 layers since I cant find the blackberries (and also because I'm lazy), so I have omitted 2 layers. I've also changed the whipped cream to cream cheese.

So here comes the recipe: 

Natural Rainbow Pancake Cake (Recipe source: Wendyinkk)

Makes a large 10 inch wide, 5 inch tall cake. Easily feeds 20.

Each layer

1 grade B egg

1 Tbsp oil

50gm buttermilk

50gm cake flour

20gm sugar

¾ tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp baking soda

Pigment sources + additions

Red layer = 50gm beetroot , raw

Yellow layer=50gm carrots, raw

Orange layer = 40gm carrots + 10gm beetroot , raw,

Green=40gm pandan juice + ¼ tsp baking power –baking soda

Purple = 20 blueberries(microwaved for 10 secs) + 2 Tbsp water+ ¼ tsp baking power -baking soda

For all layers, do them separately

1. Prepare the wet ingredients. Put oil, buttermilk and pigment sources together and blend ( I used

an immersion blender). Mix with egg.

2. Mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda and baking powder) together in a bowl.

3. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Combine until a batter is formed, do not overmix.

4. Cook on frying pan on low heat (covered with lid) until surface is cooked

5. Flip over onto cooling rack to cool off.

6. Stack pancakes, separated with non stick baking paper. Keep chilled until time of use. 

Cream cheese frosting

One 8-ounce (227 grams) cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup (240 ml) heavy whipping cream(contains 36-40% butterfat)

1. In the bowl of electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. 

2. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat in the vanilla extract. 

3. In a clean bowl, beat the whipping cream until soft peaks form. Gradually fold or beat the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.

Assembly

Spread cream and stack the layers according to sequence. Spread cream over pancake and chill for another 5 hours before serving.

Although there is alot of work but it was kinda fun to make all the different color of pancakes layers. The colors were vibrant (especially the beetroot and blueberries) and the pancakes smells great when it was slowly cooking on the pan. However, it wasn't as beautiful as I would have expected. First of all, the pandan extract which I prepared for the green layers came out as dull faint green, guess I should prepared it at least a night before so that it would be concentrated. The cream cheese was quite runny, its highly advice to add gelatin. But the killer was the pancake itself, imagine the usual McD breakfast's pancakes, but times 5 layers, its very thick and carbo-ish, I felt so full even after just 1 slice, so i guess its not so suitable for baby. The pancake itself doesn't have much taste compare to cake, most of the flavors actually came from the cream cheese. 

So I end up with big pancakes good for 20 people to eat but no idea what to bake for my nephew birthday. fret not, I will reveal what I finally bake for my nephew in my next post, stay tune.