mini crepe cake share

i tried to make pastry creme this morning. it didn't turn out too wonderfully.

well. let's rewind. two days ago, i made crepe batter and made a few crepes for breakfast with two girls, but well. still ended up with a lot of batter. at first i wasn't too concerned because i was having friends over for dinner too and thought i'd make crepes for them. but two of the three girls who came over brought cookies, so we had cookies for dessert instead.

so yesterday, i was worried about the crepe batter going bad so i made the rest of the batter into mini crepes. (used a 6" instead of my 9") I have about nine mini crepes (would have had 12 but i ate three :P) and thought i'd make a crepe cake. so after looking up some recipes, i decided to try making the filling this morning.

man. it was kinda hard. i think i didn't add enough milk the first time around (i hate washing measuring instruments so i just pretend to eye it... heh) and so it sorta seized up really quickly while it was supposed to "boil" and it was hecka lumpy. super lumpy. sigh. i was going to leave it as it was, but decided to look up some more specific "how to"s instead of just relying on the recipe directions. dude. there is a youtube video of a pastry chef teacher doing everything that took me an hour to do in just 8 minutes. sigh.

then i tasted it, and phew. it was disgusting. it tasted like raw flour with milk. so i figured i had to cook it some more. i added more milk and took out my whisk and beat the crap out of it while heating it. i furiously stirred it for seriously 20 minutes straight. so this time, it wasn't lumpy. but seriously. still tastes funny. although there is less of the raw flour-ness. it's sitting in my fridge now waiting to cool. i think i'll slice up some bananas and incorporate it into the crepe cake when i assemble it.

anyway. the bright moment of the morning was that I didn't want to make the whole batch of pastry creme because well.. i only have 9 mini crepes to coat, so i made just half the batter. and so i was left with half an egg. heh. so i made french toast sticks with it! woot! just added some milk and cinnamon and sugar.

t'was yummy!



i'm going to spend the weekend at greg's place so i can play with their new dog. i think i'll bring the mini crepe cake to share with them since i can't eat it all.

delicious giant golden mushrooms

made oatmeal pancakes with chocolate chips for brunch today with chang and jenny. too bad they weren't in the picture with me. the oatmeal pancakes were pretty tasty though. used smitten kitchen's recipe.

(please note the overripe banana begging to be used in something...)

Visited the lakeside with Greg this last weekend. We look pretty happy, too bad I'm sporting a double chin. eh. oh well. we had fun playing the ukulele there. OH! Greg bought me a ukulele, it's pretty cute and petite and really easy to play (lots easier than guitar because the strings are easier on your fingers than the guitar metal strings). i can play all the four chord songs. :P and i know the first three chords to "a whole new world" too bad you need like... at least six more chords to play the whole song right... my repertoire of songs is pretty limited, just "i'm yours", the song from music and lyrics and i'm trying to perfect the four chords for "hey soul sister" which actually are the same chords as the ones for "don't stop believing". ukulele + greg + lake side + camera = fun + tired fingers + too many pictures...




Also made some rum cake with Jenny. They tasted so much like alcohol though! lots more than I had expected, and I definitely let the rum boil for a long time to try to take away the alcoholic-ness of the syrup. Anyway, ended up not using all the syrup and just eating the cake as it was. It was pretty tasty. Used the mini bundt pans that Greg got me a long time ago. I didn't expect the cake to rise this much (for some strange reason) and well they look like giant mushrooms. Delicious giant golden mushrooms.

spend some

hah. it's been a while. but i've been browsing online sites. and i want to get a swimsuit!

i <3 anthropologie. i wish i was making money so i could actually spend some. :P

good to go.

3 As and 1 A-.

i am finally good to go.

for you i would change the world

... but i cannot change myself.

haha. i love this. hilariously dramatic. by yours truly.

as much as you thought you did

i was thinking last quarter, while i was chatting with my sister, that there is a friend i have whom i am fond of, but i realize that i am friends with her because she thinks like my mother, really traditionally, family-oriented. and somehow i feel that i might gain something from talking to her so i can convince her that not everything should be forced into that traditional view, because that traditional view isn't the only "right" option out there.

but then it makes me realize how much i don't like her.

sad huh? when you realize you actually don't like your best friend as much as you thought you did.

(i have to update this thing. i haven't been penned up all my life this last quarter. just some of it. and the rest of the time. i got out pretty good.)

lop off

yay! my hell weeks are finally over. two midterms, two presentations, then two more midterms are now over! and the good news? i don't think i did too shabbily. first midterm i got 90, second midterm i got 98. and according to my ta from endo, i'm not doing too bad with the first half of grading!

anyway. after endo, john and i endeavored to make the most ultimate cheesecake. okay maybe not most ultimate. but pretty ultimate. :P cappuccino fudge cheesecake. recipe is here.

we actually split it into three. because john didn't want to use a spring form, and i ended up really liking the idea of putting it into three 1 inch cake pans (HAHA! I got to take one home! woot!) however, i'd really like to go out and buy a springform and try it out! i don't think the cheesecake layer came out thick enough, although the ganache layer was definitely thick. :P i wish i knew how to reduce the sour cream layer better, it seems so... drippy. i really liked it thick the one time i had it.



Anyway. I also got bored and decided to braid a giant headband braid starting upside down from my left ear. the first two and half inches don't look too great because my hair doesn't like bending that way. oh well. i'm not going out with this anyway. just testing. but the rest of the braid looked nice! and then i just pinned it right above my left ear right where i started and tucked the end under the braid. i did half a french braid, half real braid, so it was easy to tuck in..


I guess you still sorta see it there, but oh well. from the front it looks fine. heh. i really have to figure out a way to hide the pins a bit better. fortunately, my hair is JUST the right length for this to work. it's going to be sad when i chop it all off again.. i think i'll do that over spring break or at the beginning of spring quarter. it's not quite long enough for me to lop off to donate again...