Crochet bags for my clients

It's been busy last week, I have no time to write this blog :(

Recently I have made some crochet bags for my clients. These bags are not too difficult to make, but still it's quite time consuming :( My hands are tired but I can't stop, I really love crochet!

Anyways, the most important thing is that they are very happy when they saw the product. That makes me feel happy too and it encourages me to continue doing it!



This bag drove me crazy because it is the first time I use the natural fiber - which is stiff and not easy to handle when I did the crochet, but I'm glad that I try this material! It is durable.

This bag is my favorite one, I just love the shape and the decorations, it is already my 3rd one that I made














I will need to find more bag patterns :) I'm sure my mother will have a lot! She is so addicted in doing crochet, beading, knitting, I just follow her steps! She is amazing hehe :) I'm so proud of her!

I will have some more crochet items coming up soon, stay tune!

If you are interested in buying them, please feel free to contact me :)

Thanks!

Australian Sticky Date Pudding

I have a friend who made Australian sticky date pudding another day, at first I thought it's chocolate cake, when I tasted it, I thought it's prume cake, she said it's date cake.

Last weekend, I made it at my parents-in-law for the 1st time, it turns out for my niece's birthday cake (I didn't know that, or I will make a cake with some great decorations!!). I'm glad that she loves it :) My mother-in-law asked me the recipe to make it again right after tasting it.

Please read this carefully: 
I made it by using almond extract because we have no vanilla extract at home :( ---> Do not use it because the almond flavor was over the date flavor, do use vanilla extract to bring out the flavor of date.

Ingredients:
Cake
200g dates, seeded & chopped
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup water
60g butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups self raising flour (for 1 cup flour, add 1 teaspoon Baking Powder)

Caramel sauce

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
60g butter
300ml cream

Note: you can also use my easy recipe to make the caramel sauce that I posted before. 
This time I used the cream with 35% fat, which is super delicious & rich, I found it quite different from the one I made with 30% fat.

Instructions:

Cake

1. In saucepan, bring water to boil with dates, remove from heat, add baking soda & stand
2. Cream butter & sugar until smooth 
3. Add lightly beaten eggs slowly
4. Add vanilla, beat well
5. Fold in the flour and then date mixture
6. Bake at 160 degrees for 50 - 60mins

Caramel sauce (makes 2 cups)
1. Cook slowly, stirring now and again without letting the sauce boil until sugar dissolves
2. Simmer for 5 minutes

Enjoy!

One bowl dark chocolate cake - recipe

The first time I made this chocolate cake was because of a friend's 30th birthday, he said he likes chocolate cake.

Since I had to make a 3-layer cake for his birthday, I asked for help to make the cake as efficient as possible, to save time to decorate the cake. A friend gave me this recipe, she said it is not time consuming and tasty.

This cake is very success, the 3-layer cake is finally finished by less than 25 people!

This is how it looks, the color is very dark, it doesn't taste too sweet

If you like dark chocolate, you'll like this cake too
















Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar*

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder**

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup cooking oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

Decoration (optional): powdered sugar

* I used 3/4 cup for less sweet taste
** I used 100% cocoa powder for better taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Grease and lightly flour a 9x1-1/2-inch round or 8x8x2-inch baking pan.

2. In a large mixing bowl combine all dry ingredients. 

Then, add milk, oil, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed just until combined. 

Add egg and beat 2 minutes more. 

Pour the mixture into the pan.

3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Cool cake on a wire rack for 10 minutes and remove cake from the pan. 

Optional: To serve, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

Lemon cheese cake - recipe

Last time I made a cheese cake and it had no cheese flavor... so since then I feel scared to make it again... until I found this recipe of Donna Hay, I decided to try it again!

It is super easy :) I shared it at church, it's all gone! Now I have confidence to make it again and again :)

In the recipe, it is written that this lemon cheese cake is for 8-10 person. I served more than 10 and everyone was full.

Ingredients (8"/20cm - 9"/22cm round springform mould)

Biscuit base

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

100g butter, chopped 

Filling

330g cream cheese, softened

500g ricotta

5 eggs

1 1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 tbsp finely grated lemon rind

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)

1 1/2 tbsp water

Decoration

1 cup single cream, whipped

Instruction:
1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F). Place the flour, sugar and butter in a bowl and rub with your fingertips to form a rough dough

2. Using the back of a spoon, press the mixture into the base of a lightly greased mould lined with non-stick baking paper. Bake the base for 25 minutes or until golden and just cooked
Set aside

3. To make the filling, beat the cream cheese & ricotta well

Add in eggs, sugar, lemon juice and rind, and vanilla in a food processor and process until smooth

4. Place the cornflour and water in bowl and mix until smooth. Add the cornflour mixture to the cheese mixture and mix to combine

5. Pour over the cooked base, wrap the bottom part of the mould with aluminium foil - Prevent liquid leaks on the bottom of the oven during baking

Bake for 1 hour or until light golden and just set
Turn the oven off and allow to cool in the oven with the door closed for another 20mins 

6. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until cold

7. Top with the cream to serve

Enjoy!

The best hamburger in Paris

I have an American friend who recommended me the best hamburger in Paris, she is very satisfied with it each time. 

Since she is an expert of hamburger, I went there and tried - it is excellent! I love it!

What is the best hamburger?

1. Juicy steak
The steak should be thick enough, the middle part is not completely cooked and it should be juicy when you chew it

2. Thick and firm burger bread
The fast food restaurants or even restaurants provide very soft and thin burger bread, when you take it in your hands, the bread is flattened...

Not only thick bread, but also not too soft, even when you take it with your hands, it won't be squeezed and the shape is distorted

3. Cooked onion
Cooked onion is important, so that you won't have smelly breathe after eating the burger! Plus, cooked onion is tasty

=> When you start eating it, you cannot eat all the layers in one time even you open maximum your mouth, may be boys can do that, but not girls (except you have a super big mouth like Julia Roberts!)

Note: It just reminds me the advertisement of XX fast food company, they have super thick burger bread, juicy steak in the advertisement, but in real, it looks much less appetizing.

If you live in Paris and you are finding a super hamburger - here you go:
www.lecamionquifume.com

It worths to try even there is a queue.

What mistakes to avoid when we make meringue?

Today I tried to make some meringue, I do it as usual - every time is successful! 

However, when I check the oven after 45 mins, I found that my meringues are deformed.... :(

So I check on internet to see what happened... and here are the points to notice:

Egg white
- When you separate egg white & yolk, ensure the egg white consists no egg yolk => it can affect the beating up process

- Let the egg white sits at the room temperature about 30mins before beating: egg white at room temperature expands in higher volume

Sugar
Better to use icing sugar, which is easier to dissolve in the egg white

Equipment
Do not under-estimate the equipment that you use!
- Using copper/glass/metal bowl other than plastic bowl, ideal: copper 
 => help to produce the fluffy & stable foam
Note: I use stainless steel bowl and it works well

- Before using it, make sure the bowl is clean, without any grease or fat 
*Reason: in plastic bowl, the fat may be retained in the scratched mark/gap
 => use salt with vinegar/ lemon juice & rinse with water

Weather condition
Humidity can take longer time to dry the meringue and keep it in dry condition 
 => avoid making meringue in rainy days



Reference:
http://www.marthastewart.com/266449/meringue-guaranteeing-success

Caramel sauce recipe

I was making my matcha ice-cream, I don't know why suddenly I just want to eat the caramel sauce. So I just found out the recipe and did it.

This sauce is super easy to make, I saw some recipes they add the cream in the 2nd part... well, after trying this recipe, what you need to do is to mix all the ingredients and sim it, that is very simple, isn't it?

I'm planning to make the caramel ice-cream next time... looking forward...

Ingredients

3/4 cup Brown sugar

1/2 cup half-and-half => Here I use 30% cream

4 tbsp butter (about 57g butter)

Pinch salt

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Instruction

1. Mix the brown sugar, half-and-half, butter and salt in a saucepan over medium-low heat. 

2. Cook while whisking gently for 5 to 7 minutes, until it gets thicker. 

Note: I cook for 5 mins

3. Add the vanilla and cook another minute to thicken further.

4. Turn off the heat, cool slightly and pour the sauce into a jar. Refrigerate until cold.

Note: I didn't put in the fridge... but I keep it in a cool place.

Enjoy!