help!

There are several things in life that I can’t live without. Okay, I exaggerate. There are several things in life that I can’t perfectly live the days without. I remember the time when I arrived late for a lecture, and realised that I had left the handphone at home, still asleep in the comforts of my cozy bed. The hours that ensued proved to be the most trying of times, with me constantly asking next-table neighbours for the time (my handphone doubled up as a watch) and praying the hardest that there would not be last-minute changes to meeting plans after school. It didn’t help that I couldn’t even give a call to my friend, since I never purchased one of those public phonecards, and even if I wanted to, technological convenience has it such that memorising of the phone number had been handed over to the handphone’s ultra-trusty SIM card, and not the labyrinths of my own memory.

And then there were the times when the former laptop (may he rest in peace) would be recuperating in hospital, and let’s just say that life without the sweet rat-a-tat sounds of the keyboard and the ease of web connection does not go down well with me at all.

Chocolate is yet another one of my necessities in life, particularly when it comes to baking. Even though I do venture with non-chocolate bakes now and then, I guess it is always comforting to know that there is a packet of dark couverture chocolate blocks stashed away in the cupboard, awaiting for a lil pinch here and there whenever I need it. In one way or another, it gives me the motivation to bake. 

So, what’s a girl to do without her comfort baking essential (and of all times, it just had to be the 2nd anniversary!)?

listen to your stomach

There really isn’t a good excuse for this. I would say that I was hungry and my gastric-stricken stomach craved for the best medicine to put a stop to the washroom visits (I’ve no idea how or why, but apparently it worked!). I would say that I had half a packet of marshmallows lying on the counter-top fighting for attention amidst the pile of snacks and munchies, and I felt the need to answer a pro-marshmallow calling of sorts.

I have a weakness for dessert. And there are plenty of times when my dessert jumps right across the menu and mingle amongst the members of the main course [sometimes displacing them, I must accede with guilt]. At the rate I’m going, I need to get myself a new wardrobe, seriously. Oh well, perhaps this is just one of those days which are better left unsaid.

Bottomline is, this is what you turn to when you badly have a sweet tooth to fix (and no, I’m not talking about visiting the dentist), and of course, when you have marshmallows to spare. Just use any of your favourite brownie recipe that you have at hand, and toss the marshmallows after you’re done, baking for an extra 5mins or so, until the marshmallows puff up and become really soft, and voila, your very own rocky road brownie.

p/s: I just love the chewing-gum effect of melted marshmallows, don’t you?

fresh from the oven

The thing with bananas in this household is that it is almost always difficult to land yourself over-riped bananas in need of rescue. While it is usually the case of us loving this fruit so much that we leave none to the harsh weathers, sometimes it is because the higher authorities i.e. the people who actually cook (the mom & sis) would have greater plans of frying them in the evening itself, and since I only bake in the day, there are several occasions of surprised foiled baking plans the next morn.

And so I was pleasantly surprised when there were still over-riped bananas left for me to play around with this morn, albeit they were down to two. It’s been a long time since I had a slice of banana cake, and so after a quick search at one of my favourite cake recipe sources, I found myself downing the softest and moistest banana cupcake I had ever tasted.