Living the baking dream

 Living the baking dream. :Baking macarons: dream, that is.

More on that later.

But yes, I've been periodically baking them again.

Tried my hand at a strawberry cream cheese ganache.

It turned out rather mushy, much to my dismay.

It barely makes the mark, but it's much better after being left in the fridge for a few hours.

I threw away my first batch of strawberry buttercream as it turned out way too runny for use.

Will keep trying till I nail the perfect strawberry flavor.

My ideal strawberry ganache is of a soft fluffy buttercream with the sweet citrusly scent of strawberries. yum.
The one thing about macaron is that there is endless possibilities,
and there are so manyyy flavours out there waiting for me to explore.
How I wish I have more time to bake.

 Did the rose pink brush stroke to differentiate the pink macarons as well.

The effect turned out pretty well, just that I have to let them air dry for a bit.
Macarons are pretty little things,
and I love how a little pattern makes the whole macaron even more brighter looking.

 The completed macaron order.

I totally adore the white macaron packaging.

But the price is too steep for me to continue using them.

I've found an alternative from Phoon Huat,

but they are kind of too long for my liking.

Oh well, the strugge of aesthetically pleasing vs good economical sense.
I guess at the end of the day,
people will toss away the packaging without a second thought,
so yea, I guess I'll go for good economical sense in this case.

 Early grey shells out of the oven
The deep bergamot scent filled up the entire kitchen.
One of my favorite flavors in the whole wide world.
Earl grey soya milk, milk tea, macarons, cupcakes..
Then again, it's not an easy taste to bring out.
I had to steep the earl grey in the whipping cream overnight for the chocolate ganache.

 Rose pink brush strokes

Had did this order for a dear colleague, and for Ainsley's family.
Glad her family enjoyed them!

Mm.. back to the point on the baking dream,
I think most people who know me will associate me with macarons.

Even my office's intern thinks so.

The top left one (the one with macarons in hand) is me.

haha. speaking of which, I think we have really talented interns!

Many of them have designed similar items for us, mostly with our unique characteristics.

I still remember my very first one was of me with my favorite hershey cushion.

I guess I grew out of hugging the soft hershey cushion after a while.

So now, I'm associated with macarons.

Can't really escape the association when I bring macarons on such a frequent basis to office. heh.

Well, that's in fact, not a bad thing.

I'm happy and proud to be able to bake, well, macarons.

And I do like to share the fruits of my labour with people around me.

That being said, when I tell people I bake,

the first reaction illicited would mostly be

"You're very free is it!?"

Such disparaging remarks do deal blows, yet I have to put up a front,

and feel obliged to explain why I have time to bake.

I'm trying not to go into a senseless rant here,

so in keeping it short, here's my thoughts:

I commit the same number of hours as any typical Singapore employee does,

and I do have a portfolio under my belt.

Just as resting is second nature to you when you reach home,

baking is second nature to me when I hit home.

Perhaps that is exaggeration to a certain point,

but I look forward to baking whenever I have some time at hand.

I take less than 2 hours to bake certain items,

and yes, I sleep at midnight as well too, in case you're wondering.

Rather than spending time surfing 9gag, facebook, videos online when I reach home,

I bake.

As simple as that.

Don't judge me simply because I choose to spend my time in a different manner.

On a lighter note, there are family, friends and colleagues who have been very encouraging :)

I guess it's easier to focus on the negative than the positive.

In the future, there will still be people who will pass insensitive remarks,

but I will just think of the people who have been encouraging and kind;

the people who matter.

Ok, enough of ranting ;)

Here's a funny photo of the doggie with me.

Dear Monkey (the doggie) doesn't like to take photos.

She's the kind that will strut away if you point a camera at her.

So here's her looking all pitiful and sad :(

 I even have to tug her back halfway when she tried to walk away. haha.

Finally a happy photo of her!

Ayt, have a lovely weekend people!