It all begins in "c".

I've always wished that dreams are not that hard to catch. well, in reality, it is. and i don't have all the luck in the world, or a pot of gold at the end of that rainbow - but all i know i can try to toughen up a little more and push, not turning back for a while and just keep moving forward.

wholemeal spelt pancakes

 

hello! well, i've missed you since the banana bread post.

today, i've made pancakes!

did i hear a "yay!"?!

alrighty. but first let me tell you about my first try in these pancakes. hahaha. it's funny because you always think that cocoa will always look attractive no matter what. but like, it taste amazeballs but on the other hand, you would think that your mind is playing tricks on ya. sure, it taste good. but......

okay, okay! i admit this is my second batch. happy?! did i tell you that i fancy pancake crispy on the sides? gives me goosebumps.

moving on, i first tried this pancake and replaced 20% unsweetened cocoa plus the spelt flour. it does taste good believe me. but as i go on cooking them, i think my eyes have switched to chinese mode. no offense, but i constantly say to myself that "this is very unattractive". i am serious, but it taste good so what the hell. and decided to stick on the plain ones. i think, i do make unattractive decisions sometimes.

it all didn't go to waste as i had them for breakfast the next morning with organic coffee (yes! i bought a plunger!)

recipe adapted from evangeline with slight alterations

wholemeal spelt pancakes

what i was trying to achieve is to make a healthier but easier pancake, so when i saw the recipe few days ago, i thought of making it; since i was also running out without having breakfast - plus, i've been really busy at TAFE and work that i have almost forgotten about trying this flour on different recipes. and i'm glad i did!

absolutely makes 5!

1 cage-free egg
140ml lactose-free milk
1 tablespoon sugar (i added a little bit more since i used lactose-free milk)
1/8 teaspoon salt
100g wholemeal spelt flour
1 tablespoon plain flour (since i didnt have any cornstarch or cake flour on hand)
1 teaspoon baking powder
coconut oil for cooking

mix all your dry ingredients and sift in a bowl. make a well in the centre and add your milk and egg. whisk or with a fork mix them together until you see no traces of flour, but not over-mixing as we want a fluffier pancake. heat yourpan with coconut oil and using 1/4 measuring cup, scoop on the pan two each and start cooking until bubble appears or if not (as what happened to mine), cook for one minute. flip and cook until done. if you noticed that the sides are a bit drying out, flip it with another spatula or flat wooden spoon.

oh i love you.

petit four class

It occurred to me just now that we are moving towards the end.

May be it's a happy ending or maybe not. But who cares?

You see, can start with something and do nothing at all or you start with nothing and came out with unexpected results. And it's amazing how some people grow unexpectedly great with things and how some people just choose to stop by and just.... stop. It saddened me when one of my close friend quit school, simply because she is, and I know she is, really good.

Now, what is another amazing thing is how my mates cannot just quit making these dainty macaroons, while I try to avoid them as much as possible, like working with chocolate which always led me to a mess. Well, but not this week. We all had a go making out own macaroon and managed to take some home of the baby ones I made. Sometimes I reflect and ask myself, why am I not as good as her. But then, reality slaps me back. We all are not made equal - because each one of us is unique. With some things in common, I won;t argue with that, but why do you think people can fall in love with only one person while there are gazillion of other people in the world? Why would you think one can stay on a job for 35 years?

Doing something you like, being somewhere you want, but not at the same time. Which becomes really complicated and then it spelled into four letters, food. (or maybe life?) They are more likely the same.

And it felt good. It felt really good to do something you really want and turned out great. (to my expection yes.)

And I had a new discovery - I love Butter S!

ultimate banana bread

Do you remember that time when you suddenly miss too much things that you have set them aside? And totally forgot that you miss it until when you try to go to sleep and think about things, THEN you think about food and now it's 3am and you have work at 7am?

Welcome to my life.

No matter how many notes I stick on my mirror, there are always things I forget. Oh yea. Especially me mates! I'm a total bummer on remembering.

I made a whole/ healthier take on this banana bread. Banana bread or what my Mama call banana cake is a whole reminder of her. She makes the best ever and even though how many times I make these, I will never make that same cake. But who cares? That's what I miss about it, her and her magical hands.

Will you look at that rustic cake-bread!

Moving on...

Second thing, this is a combined inspiration from people on the web. Sprouted Kitchen and Food Doodles. Mainly, I am exploring using different flours for different recipes. I used wholemeal spelt flour for this cake, add up some coconut oil, maple syrup and dark chocolate chips and sprinkled brown sugar just before baking. I would confidently say that this cake is high in fibre and low-fat content, as well as lactose-free and vegetarian friendly. Wait what? You can easily substitute eggs with apple sauce for a vegan take, and just omit your dark chocolate chips, and use a vegan one or just dump in walnuts. There are a lot, and I mean a lot of things you can do and change in this recipe so feel free to experiment and follow your hearts desire! I also noticed the ratio of ingredients are pretty similar so you won't have any problems. This bread is half of the original recipe which I eyed based on the measurement, well, risky and worth it! Shall I explain a dodgy scale? Need not, I reckon.

I covered mine with a hankie, that is now an official kitchen towel, as soon as I took it out the oven to keep the cake moist. Cover for at least an hour or for 8 hours if you can wait ;) Surprisingly, I waited - for the sake of a moist and indulgent cake; but sniffed once or twice and before going to bed. I felt that excitement again.

Recipe adapted from: Food Doodles and inspired from Sprouted Kitchen.
Dietary Adjustment: Lactose-free, Vegetarian, Increased Fibre, Low-fat content, Vegan

Oh note! I didn't halved the chocolate chips measurement, and who does that? You can always add chocolate on your food, but never ever ever omit!!!

short-term affair

first roll and out of 24

If you ask me, I am honestly not happy at all. But this is my first roll so I should have expected that I would suck very well. Anyhoo, with all the 24 shots, these are all my faves. Most of them, I forgot to take off the lid. Damn. Half of them are not scanned properly by the shop since in the negatives, there are no split shots. I actually paid them to do this, and yet I get this. Oh well. Well, I'll make sure next time to let them know that I will not be accepting scans like this again! HWAHHAHAHA!!

I'm heading to Melbourne next week for a four-day vacation and to see my friend, Kako. I am planning to bring only my Holga, since it's light, besides, I have my phone to take other pictures so it really doesn't bother me much. But before all that, I'd be juggling my studies since I have few deadlines to meet this last week. God, I hope I'm done with this so I could just literally not do anything at all. I am also struggling of making baked goods at home since we don't really have a proper oven :( BUT BUT BUT I will definitely not give up! ;)

all things gorgeous

We've been making heaps of interesting food the past few weeks. I've only got some photos from my phone which I feel that I owe to show you :)

But before anything else, what got me excited is making a right macaroon for the first time. I got really excited and exhausting on how tempting and dainty these things are.

Just few things from the previous classes I enjoyed doing is plating desserts - which also meant I get not to suck on it anymore! *throws confetti*

All things gorgeous.