Odd October

A month has passed and I have somehow patched things up with my wife over what she did.  We went out as usual going about our routines and all.  But deep down I still find it very difficult to trust her again.  A part of me still questions, how far would she have gone with the other guy had I not caught on to what they were doing.  And most of all I don't understand why she would even give this guy a chance to talk to her so intimately even after knowing he likes her.  I mean, if she had respected our relationship, she shouldn't even allow someone with such intentions to get close to her.  I always believe that when you play with fire, you'll eventually get burned too.  At times I feel like I have failed at both my marriage and work lives, I really don't know what have I done wrong.  I love this woman with all my heart and still, I can't believe how she could have constantly given a chance to a man who likes her to get so close to her.  I feel so tired both physically and mentally, it's as if I need a factory reset.    

Dinner in Batam - Galaxy S23+

Jaded July

July has mostly been.....  Well I don't really know how to put it.  A mixed bag of sorts...   I started the month by accompanying my staff from Batam for a fair in Jurong Point.  It's been ages since I last visited Jurong Point for sure.  It didn't really bring back memories since the new Jurong Point is an almost completely different maze from the one I remembered during my NTU days. 

A Remarkedly Different Jurong Point - Galaxy S23+

Yuzu Chiffon Cake

So the baking bug bit me again this month.  I decided to try a new flavour and went on to bake a Yuzu flavoured chiffon cake.  Ingredients are quite straightforward for my 23 cm tube pan.  

All Ingredients Laid Out - Galaxy Note 9

Pandan Almond Cheese Chiffon Cake

I had a quick bake yesterday.  As I really missed pandan, I decided to bake a pandan almond Cheese chiffon cake to break away from the monotony.  

This time instead of using the slow juicer, I decided to go old school by the good old blender followed by straining.  I added some water to start the blender.  After there were some liquid formed, I added in the coconut cream milk - next time I should try adding coconut oil instead, I wonder how it will turn out.  Pandan leaves absorb water like sponge absorbs water so don't be surprised if 100 gr of pandan leaves yield very tiny amount of pandan juice.  

Blending Pandan & Water - Galaxy Note 9

Chocolate Banana Chiffon Cake

The missus lamented that I've always baked the same thing over and over again.  So this time I tried a different flavour yet again for my next chiffon cake bake.  I've always thought that chocolate and banana makes a good flavour combination and so that's what I baked this time around - chocolate banana chiffon cake. As usual, I went to check Diana's blog once again for reference.

Prior to this bake I had made a trip to Kenwood's service centre all the way in Jalan Pemimpin to acquire an extra set of beaters for my Chefette standing hand mixer, and man... those extra set of beaters are really worth the trouble.  They get the job done in a short time with great results.

So as usual, I prepared all ingredients first after carefully measuring them, separating the eggs, etc.  

All Ingredients Laid Out - Galaxy Note 9

Pandan Chiffon Cake

Okay, this is the last one on pandan.  I've basically ran out of pandan & coconut oil after this bake.  

Fresh From The Oven - Galaxy Note 9

Gula Melaka Chiffon Cake

I can say without any doubt that the combination of pandan and coconut results in the most heavenly flavour ever, whether sweet or savoury.  You can find pandan and coconut in Nasi Lemak or Nasi Uduk - that's savoury - or in deserts such as chendol and cake - that's sweet.  I had previously baked pandan chiffon cake but this time I thought I should try making a gula melaka version which puts more emphasis on the coconut.  I adapted my recipe for this gula melaka chiffon cake from the amazing Domestic Goddess Wannabe, Diana Gale.

My Take of The Gula Melaka Chiffon Cake - Galaxy Note 9

Marvellous Meringue May

This is my 1^st entry for May.  It’s been a rather busy month with Lincoln’s exams which took place on 2^nd & 3^rd week of the month.  He didn’t do to well this time around, which I found rather frustrating since I’d been accompanying him each night, studying for his exams.  I know he can do the problems, but he just can’t focus long enough to do them during exams.  I’ll find out more about his issues from his teachers next week during the parent teacher meeting. 

I also had time to bake more than usual, although these were more out of curiosity rather than consuming the baked goods fast.  So far I have baked muffins, pies, chiffon cake & cheesecake, so this time I tried my hands at baking butter cake.

In total, I made 3 failed attempts.  Each time I ended up with a cake that was dense instead of fluffy.  I was rather pissed off to be defeated by a recipe on my first attempt and tried again twice.  However, both efforts yielded the same results.  In the end I figured that I haven’t mastered the technique of creaming butter & sugar yet… my egg beating technique is quite sound as demonstrated by my successful attempt at baking a chocolate chiffon cake.  I guess I will need to find more reliable information regarding creaming butter.  

The butter cake I was trying to make was a marble cake, in particular.  So called due to the chocolate swirls emulating the patterns found on a marble slab.  I followed the recipe from a youtuber by the handle Gracious Treatz.  She's a very talented baker with good tutorial videos. 

The ingredients for a marble cake are quite basic: butter, sugar, flour, eggs, milk, melted chocolate and the usual baking powder & baking soda.  

Ingredients For Marble Cake - Galaxy Note 9