Berry Vanilla Granola

It's November, again. It should be a happy month for me technically, for it's the birthday month. But somehow, with all the stuff happening around me lately, I'm not sure if there's anything worth a good cheer or so.

Am currently busy with work (rare in the quieter last quarter of the year), and there's this persistent lip rash that has been going on/off for the past few weeks or so (before I went for my Korea trip), and then, there's the health report I just received in the mail...dang. Or should I say - *whoops*.

Oh well, I can only hope that my birthday week fare much better than the first week of November. Tough, cos it's just the coming week. And I'll be pretty busy with an upcoming work event. Ha.

Anyway. Back to the main topic of the post. Granola.

 Berry Vanilla Granola

Earl Grey Custard Berries Tart

It's the prettiest thing I've made so far. Then again, with the abundance of berries in it, it is no wonder why I termed it as so isn't it?

 Earl Grey Custard Berries Tart

Triple berries oatmeal crumble bars

It was blueberries season again...

Triple berries oatmeal crumble bars

Berries galettes

I love the seasonal changes. That means I get to enjoy my favourite seasonal fruits at dirt cheap prices and at their best - juicy and sweet. Blueberries were in season some time starting a month ago, and I happily went on a crazy buying spree. When the first punnets of the season started appearing on the fruit aisles, I grabbed like four or five punnets without hesitation. I froze three punnets and happily enjoyed the other two punnets with my morning yogurt and homemade granola. And for the past month or so, every single time I go to the supermart, I inevitably leave the place with at least one punnet of blueberries. I simply can't resist them. I regret now not waiting a while more as the prices continue to fall cos I had bought most of my first batch (happy in the freezer now) when the season was just starting. No worries though. I've been adding to the freezer stash on occasion with a few more punnets for later uses when blueberries season is over. (: Hmmmm, I wonder if anyone else hoards fruits like me. Haha.

Blackberries and blueberries galettes

Movies and muffins

There's been plenty of good movies lately. Not that I'm complaining.

I've watched three movies in two weeks, two of which were watched on consequent days at one shot. I caught the Swedish film, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which was awesome kickass. I heard Hollywood's gonna remake the show? I don't think I'll watch the remake. Like the original is always so much better. Like I mean, look at Hollywood's remake of other foreign films such as the Japanese "The Ring" or the Korean "Il Mare" *coughs*). And also, the American actress they've chosen to play the lead character, Lisbeth, just looks so tame in comparison to the Swedish actress, Noomi Rapace, who was totally totally right for the character. She got herself immersed in the role completely. From a non-smoker, she started smoking ciggies like nobody's business, and those piercings? Real. She is like super unrecognisable from her pre-movie photos. Like I said, kickass. The movie is based on a set of trilogy books, so I can't wait to watch the other two movies when they show. Hmmm. Still thinking if I should read the books...

Superb performance by lead actress, Noomi Rapace

Berry ice cream and cinnamon walnut palmiers

I had leftover puff pastry in my freezer for god knows how long. And I don't think anyone in the family, aside from me is a huge fan of puff pastry.

I was going to use up the leftovers to make palmier cookies. The pretty ice cream sandwich cookies seen here made me want to make my own too. I had leftover cream from making the chocolate mango mousse cake, and Sis was leaving for her America trip, I wanted to finish the cream quickly to make an ice cream for her to try before she left. The cookies will be made only after she's gone, cos she's not a puff pastry lover anyway.

The below ice cream sandwiches? For me and me alone... 

 

Berry ice cream and cinnamon walnut palmiers

Baking frenzy.

It was a baking week this week. Eclairs and macarons. The fridge is full of sweet goods - my baked goods, cakes and petit fours (Sister's birthday was just over, and she received quite a few of these) and tubs of ice-cream. It gives me a sugar rush just thinking about the amount of stuff in the refrigerator. Hoho!

I decided on trying out new flavours for the eclairs - earl grey and matcha. Earl Grey cos I know my sister likes earl grey, and matcha for Mua. (:

I didn't really like the earl grey flavour in the end as I felt the overall taste was just weird. Maybe the quality of the earl grey used wasn't good enough (I thought we had Twinings at home, but apparantly not.). My sister also said the earl grey flavour wasn't strong enough and she preferred the matcha ones comparatively.

I made enough to pack some for Mua and Siew and dropped them off at their place that night. Unfortunately for Mua, the box apparantly went "missing" when she reached home and she didn't get to taste any. Awww. Never mind, I'll do some other green tea goodie for you next time dear!

My first attempt at french macarons on 9/12/08. The main motive was to use up the egg whites left over from the pastry cream I made for the eclairs above.

I still had some egg whites lying around, and lots of leftover ganache I made yesterday for the macarons. What should I do? More macarons. ;)

The macarons I made yesterday were pretty pale in colour, I wanted vibrant hues so I added more colouring/powder to the macarons mixture I made today.

I sifted some cocoa powder on the second batch of chocolate macarons, hoping that there would be a nice speckle effect. But alas, I added too much cocoa powder into the macaron mixture itself, so the macarons turned out really dark, and the sprinkling effect was not really obvious.

A few more drops of red colouring turned the macarons into a richer pink hue. Can you spot a vague letter 'M' on the upturned macaron on the right image? I find it so cool - M for Michelle! Haha.

These are actually really really tiny macarons. About the size of a ten-cent coin perhaps. I piped different sizes macarons - mostly tiny/medium ones and a few big ones. I heard that macarons are really sweet bites, so I made them bite-sized so sampling all the different flavours won't leave anyone feeling as though they overindulged in sugar.