YEs, I baked through the week. And have created another blog in which I'm not sure whether I want to keep going coz typing down recipes and adding nice photos is tough work! Nevertheless I shall persevere. Am wondering as well as to whether to use this new website as more of a recipe base type info or write about all my food experiences. Hmm, it'll be hard to decide which to use if I were traveling and trying out the food. Too many things to think about for the moment. Would rather just go out there and be more practical instead to begin with = P

Any hoo, below are the cupcakes I baked over the weekend:


I have finally mastered the way of melting marshmallows...it ain't easy as putting them in a pot. The answer is using a little bit of milk ;). Not only that, I was asked to bake a cake for a birthday, in which I've separated the experiences to my new website as it's more descriptive in a way and I've listed the recipes and methods too as well as external links for reference and picture steps...

Gosh, I should start renaming my lables too to make it look more informative rather than personal...if I bother,sigh.

Decisions decisions. Anyway, am procrastinating in bed as I type. I should get up, get a go and head out to make of this weekend!

Guess what?
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I got another blog...
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Check out: KitchenVirginTil27

And so I went to check out what this cupcake competition is about after being told by a friend while I was selling cupcakes at BrickLane. The theme this round was 'booze' and you only needed to pay 5 to get in with free tea and not forgetting tasting all the cupcake entries of course. A great value for dinner, heh. And after having them, we judge on which ones were the top 3.

I must say, the hardest bit was judging and tasting ALL the cupcakes! I really loved 6 of them and have to keep thinking bout judging them according to theme rather than taste. Haha. Met a couple of ladies who were from Japan and China and so I joined them so that I don't have to eat all the cupcakes myself. We teamed up to get all the cupcakes.


Had to leave before the prizes was given out but I was happy to meet the organiser in person and she told me next month's theme is spice. First thing on my mind is 'chai'. So yeah, I am inspired to participate the next competition :)

I walked all the way home just to get rid of all the sugar I ate and have been doing that more and more often lately before the weather gets darker by the day. It feels wonderful to enjoy the cooler breeze and familiarise the city more. And everywhere I go, I tend to see or spot nice restaurants with great deals and never knew how close they were!

In this quiet period, I thought I take the initiative to explore London. So last Saturday, after a lovely pancake and sausage breakfast, I headed to Portobello Market. Am growing fonder of the markets these days rather than the retail area because of the originality of what people produce at the market and I find them intriguing.

Initially, I was suppose to 'scout' for the next cupcake stall. So I walked the entire street. And to my suprise, there wasn't any except for a proper one called the hummingbird bakery, where it was jam packed with a long queues. So I went in to check out the cakes and the prices. I really wondered what it was that made it so popular, when I thought to myself that I can make those these days. I have to admit that their marketing, packaging and the whole brand does look very attractive. And of course I am using their ingredients too hehe.

Thought I'd share my experience so that anyone who is thinking of going to the USA Embassy to get their visa done can learn a few pointers.

So I started off by going to their website to find out how the process goes...filled the form up and printed it online.

After that, I had to call them up to pay (US$131) and made an appointment which costed £1.20 a minute.

When the day came, I was told in red that it was advised to be there half an hour before my appointment, in which it actually took a total of 2.5 hours as I did it in the morning (so there's no harm in going in earlier). So I started off arriving an hour earlier at the embassy, where I saw 3 queues. First one checked my form as well as told me that I had to take off my watch and belt. Off to the next queue. This time the guard only called when the next queue into the scan room is cleared. She checked my passport. On to the next queue heading into the scan room. And so they scanned my documents and off I went to the entrance of the embassy.

Apparently my form was smudged, so I had to re-type the whole thing, in which I was told by the reception that there are computers round the corner that does it. After 3 times of re-printing (rushing and making so many mistakes), was back at the reception to grab a number. And the waiting begins.

Well, I did some thorough observations while waiting. There was a cafeteria, a mini photo studio that takes last minute photos for £1 each and computers to re-print your forms for free. the section is divided to 2 areas. One to submit your form, and the other to carry the interview process. There were screens and announcements and numbers were not in sequence when called out. 'Nxxx, please go to counter x' or 'Ixxx,please go to counter x' There was a division somewhere in which each stall takes up to numbers in 10's or so and they jump after that. So it wasn't easy to do anything else while waiting except to be prepared.

Stalls 1-11 sorts out the forms and relevant information. When I was called to the counter, the only panic attack I had was when the person asked if I have any extra documentation to include to my form, as though as he was expecting something in which I forgot. So I told him I had none, which was so weird as all I submit was my passport. I then felt uneasy as I wasn't sure whether I should be photocopying my IC to back up my passport. He really works like a machine. So there wasn't any room for a relaxed conversation.

I had to wait for my number to be called again by stalls 12-25 who does interviews. Took another half an hour before I was called. The interview process was much more relaxed. It pays to be cheerful and to really compliment these people who does this as their job and deal with tough challenges everyday. Amazing.

'Good morning, how are you today?'
'I'm fine what about you?'
'I'm good good, thanks. I see you work at Paternoster Row, very nice area'
'Yeah, it is'
'What are you working as?'
'An engineer'
'And what company is CB Richard Ellis?'
'It's a property leasing company'
'So you're going to Florida for holiday?'
'Yes! Can't wait'
'Very nice'
he typed frantically
'Wow, you're a machine! How in the world do you type that fast'
He laughs
'Thanks.....and he mention something about my visa is approved and that to enjoy my travels'

To my utter surprise, that only took 2 minutes! :D. Off I went to the courier service (another extra £14.20) to pay for my documents to be sent to me and off to the work after.

It did feel as though I was under close surveillance all the time and even the slightest mistake on the form could make me go behind the queue and wait for another hour or send me home. The thing is I felt good, I felt that things will all go through despite the nervousness and anticipation (seeing that this was the first time doing it).

America, here I come!

And so I put my hand up to help out with a friend selling cupcakes at the market for the first time of my life. She didn't want to do it alone and I was keen to take on this challenge. And what an adventure last week was! It wasn't just that that took up my time but workload has somehow slammed me too as well as my baby was leaving me too! I'm glad I pulled through.

Anyway, it all started with us setting up our stall at the Pop-up market held at the Truman Brewery on Bricklane Road, one of the famous streets known for indian restaurants. This market is held once every month with a different theme, being this weekend to be Vintage. So we had to come up with some vintage decorations...with pastel colours. And so this is how the week started...

Monday - Bought stationary for the displays, and some ingredients from Sainsbury
Tuesday - Started doing up the poster, getting more ingredients from Sainsbury
Wednesday - bought bananas, made first banana and victorian spongecake
Thursday - Bake another banana and Victorian spongecake, place the earlier cakes into the fridge
Friday - All on cupcakes and icing......with chocolate ganache (liquid chocolate)
Saturday - cupcakes didn't sell, made chocolate fudge brownies instead and ice the 2nd batch of cakes

The real challenging part was storing and organising things in my small little kitchen. Oh and not forgetting that I did most mixing with just a hand mixer and muscles and bones haha.

Anyway, here are some clips of the weekend. More on my album :)


Check out more photos here

Yes another Friday spent in the kitchen...this time, I attempted to make a simple chocolate cake in which I wasn't too happy because it didn't turn out as nice as my brownies. Nevertheless, it's all part of learning (in which I spend every night researching on the types of chocolate cakes and what makes each recipe yummier or tastier)

The secret ingredients were sour cream and oil =)

Anyway, I wanted to practice my icing skills...in which the most frustrating bit was making the icing to what I want!

Anyhoo, I spent Thursday making the chocolate cake so that I have time to make pandan swiss roll again for the host. Yes, every thing I bake is for an occassion and this one is for a friend who's leaving the country.

To avoid wasting the weekend...I pushed to finish everything on Friday. So on Friday, I made my swiss roll and made the icing decoration for my cake. Decorating was half done, so I finished on Saturday morning.

I headed out in the morning after that to meet up with friends. Have just given myself a small project to help out sell cupcakes at a market next weekend. So we discussed and I then tag along and randomly head to check out Broadway market at Bethnal Green. Very lovely as it was pretty much like Borough Market but directed to the locals as it was quite far from central and away from the tourists. Lots of yummy food, pastries and a few shops selling clothes and accesories plus one vietnamese shop that sells good coffee. We were scouting and analysing the cupcakes and cakes sold in this area as well as tried the food of course.


And since we saw a vietnamese stall, one of our friend asked a question and apparently if we walked through the London field park which is next to this market,we'll find a street full of vietnamese shops and restaurants. So off we head for an adventure since the sun was out. We bumped into Hackney Borough, and pop by the museum to the free toilets and read abit about the city's history.

3 things that I found interesting:

1. Hackney used to be an area where madhouses and asylums were built. One of the famous one was Dr.Parkinson's and so came along Parkinson's disease :)
2. Hackney was famous for Eel pies o.O
3. Asian settlers boomed in this area as it was near a port, as they were boat drivers in one part of the much later history. Hence a street of vietnamese shops.

After that, we went off to check out the stall where we'll be selling our cupcakes. And then I headed home to rest up and brought my surprise to a friend's dinner do. Gosh, she cooked the same amount of dishes on the same amount of people that came!! I overate until I could barely move...
Starters - tomatoes, home made guacaomle, crackers, cucumber and carrot sticks


Dessert - my cake and mango pudding

There was home made brewed green and flower petal tea too! Amazing. So amazing. Wish I didn't eat to the point of discomfort.

Oh yeah...and this is how my cake was made ;)


We checked out a new grocery shopping place called Morrisons and found a closer bus stop that took as to Camden Lock which was quite handy since it was frequent and had yummy indian for dinner. And of course I spent the whole day researching on types of icing I want to make for the market weekend. I have decided to make marshmallow cupcakes, banana cake and a victorian sponge cake. Wish me luck as I will be pretty much baking all of this the night before the market!