Predicaments

I baked two cakes for my birthday. But there's a story behind this. I think some people may think I'm a little crazy to bake two cakes, but I'm just a person who refuses to give up and, rather a perfectionist. I'm an Aries, and I saw this on Buzzfeed which are all freakishly correct traits of me; "When things don't go your way, you don't handle it... super well."

I'll give you a silly anecdote. A few years ago, I walked out of my piano exam and I was picked up by my second sister & dad. I was crying all the way home, because I felt like I didn't go as well as I would've wanted to. Next week I found out the result.. My result was an A. To this day, my sister still makes fun of me.

So I thought I had ruined my birthday mango cheesecake with an oreo base, because the sides of the base were a little soggy when I baked it in the waterbath. So I made another cheesecake, a Japanese cheesecake. Next morning, I cut a bit of the mango cheesecake; IT'S NOT ACTUALLY THAT BAD. And decided to go along with that cake for my birthday dinner.

Lessons learned: Double check that your spring-form pan is secure and wrapped around tightly with foil. You do not want soggy cheesecake base. And I don't think I'm going to bake my 18th birthday cake next year.

I cannot believe that I'm already 17, and a legal adult next year.. My sisters have been asking me "How did you grow up so fast?", which I can't answer to. I honestly feel like a fourteen year old... Not someone who is not far from finishing high school and entering the real adult world.

Mango cheesecake

My mango cheesecake was a semi-predicament; it didn't quite turn out the way I wanted, but it wasn't horrible. The base was a little hard to cut, and I was basically murdering the cake when I was cutting it to serve. But on the positive note, it was a hit. I really did not need to make another cheesecake...

But then I had another predicament. On Sunday night, my Samsung S2 which I've had for a year DIED. I was using it then suddenly it completely shut off itself. I can't turn it on anymore. I tried charging it, this that.. So I've been quite annoyed and it's extremely inconvenient when all of your contacts have been lost... So this calls for a new phone. But this won't be for a while :(

So I had a Japanese cheesecake to photograph. I used Diana's desserts recipe, the one I used for the cupcakes! But this time I used it for a bigger cake and it was very very delicious. As fluffy as it could be and a little spongy! One thing I would recommend is to strain your cheese mixture before adding the egg-whites, if there are any lumps. And add a tad more sugar because it's not very sweet.

Fellow bakers, what kind of baking disasters have you had?

Asides from these predicaments (small predicaments, I must say), I had a wonderful birthday surrounded by friends and family!

Japanese cheesecake
Ingredients 
140 (5 oz) sugar *I'd increase to about 160 g.
6 egg whites
6 egg yolks
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
50 g (2 oz) butter
250 g (9 oz) cream cheese
100 ml/3 oz milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
60 g (2 oz) cake flour/superfine flour *I just added more cornflour since I don't have cake flour.
20 g (1 oz) cornflour (cornstarch)
1/4 tsp salt

Instructions
1. Melt cream cheese & butter & milk over a double boiler. Cool the mixture. Fold in the flour, cornflour, egg yolks and lemon juice & mix well.
2. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Add in sugar and whisk until soft peaks form.
3. Add cheese mixture to egg white mixture and mix well. Pour into an 8 inch round cake pan (grease and line the bottom & sides of the pan with parchment paper).
4. Bake cheesecake in a water bath for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until set & golden brown at 160 degrees Celsius (325 F)

Adapted from Diana's desserts

Local eateries

Of course you can't pass the local hawker stalls in Singapore....While there are nice restaurants like in my previous post, there are also plentiful of local eateries around! 

Porridge with deep fried pig intestines

I was a little jittery when Aunty M & Uncle D said they'd be ordering some porridge with pig intestines and pig liver etc...But you know, it was not bad at all! Interesting. Also, above is one of Singapore's best fritters (yau zha gwai).

 We also had this sashimi thing.

Sweet mung bean soup with fritters

Also had these little rice cakes with some pickles on top!

 Making siew yoke...

This 'local eatery' was at my uncle and aunt's place. Uncle D is the master of roast pork... Roast pork belly has that traditional crackly, crispy skin. It was amazing. I learnt from the best! Now my family is awaiting for a replica. 

 Baked crab

The crab was amazing! We had black pepper baked crab and salt baked crab. Obviously if you want the au natural, then go with the salt baked. But I really fancied the black pepper because I'm crazy about black pepper.

Had some laksa..

 Tutu kuih. 

Interesting type of kuih, soft, and spongy with a nice filling! Very nice to eat when it's warm.

Cedele 

Cedele would be more fitting for the cafes post, but I simply had too many pictures! This was at a suburban mall, and I'm pretty sure there are a few branches. It claims that it has no transfat, and to be healthy.  I thought the cakes were nice (especially if it claims to be healthy), I shared a salted caramel cheesecake & carrot cake with my aunty (on my mum's side, not Aunty M).I think the cheesecake needed a little bit more salt though, but the carrot cake was very nice. Thank you to Aunty J for taking me out!

So 'Local eateries' is my last post of my Singapore trip. Singapore was a fantastic trip! Just when you think five days is sufficient, it really isn't. There are lots of things to do in Singapore, more importantly, there is so much food to eat. Had such a lovely trip staying & spending time with my relatives, and so far it's been one of my highlights of 2014 (even though 2014 just started).  

Outings in Singapore

I'm a Malaysian, yet ironically I've never visited Singapore until now, at sixteen. I flew up to the tiny country (barely a dot on a world map) for five days visiting Aunty M & Uncle D. They were the ones that took my parents and I around in Beijing (and also their family went with our family to California), while they were living as expats. They are so much fun to be with, and they took extremely good care of me :) It was my first time flying by myself. Though it was only an hour flight from KL...

To my surprise, although Singapore is a small place, (going from the east to the west of the island so easily), there is a plethora of activities & sights and eateries to do. The food is great,  from your local hawker stalls to restaurants of all kinds of cuisines. Singapore is cosmopolitan.

Singapore trip will come in THREE parts; outings, eateries in restaurants and local eateries.

So things I did in Singapore....

1) I went to the Singapore zoo and also did the night & river safari. The Singapore zoo itself is huge, you can walk (real workout) or take the tram around. My favourite animal was the leopard and also seeing the splash zone show with the sea lion.  I really liked the Night safari, and also the shows. River safari: my uncle and I would not recommend. Waste of money just to go on a five minute boat ride,and some of the animals were hiding. Though, we saw the Red panda and the giant panda which was cute.

2) Shopping on Orchard Street. Of course you gotta have some shopping therapy! I had so much fun with my aunty shopping along there! I'm regretting not buying more though...

3) Gardens by the bay. The enclosures are extremely nice, obviously the project costed a lot of money but it's impressive. We went to the Cloud forest and the flower dome. I also really liked the cool temp inside, unlike the heat during midday in Singapore.

4) Take pictures with the lion and Marina bay sands hotel. I have yet to visit the actual hotel!!

5) My uncle and I went to Adventure Cove in Sentosa. According to my older cousin, Universal studios isn't really worth the money, and initially I thought so too. So even though I didn't go there, I personally think Adventure Cove would be better. It’s a nice place to spend the day. Our favourite ride was the Riptide Rocket, we rode on it about four times! You can also snorkel at Rainbow reef, which was pretty cool considering I've never gone snorkeling but the water left a nasty salt taste afterwards. My uncle says we could easily spend three days in Sentosa, however my trip was quite short. So next time, there will be more.

6) We went to the Jurong bird park and took the tram around the park to tour. The park isn't very big, so I don’t think you'd need to spend a lot of time. I do recommend seeing Kings of the skies show. I saw some owls, eagles and vultures.

I did quite a fair bit of activities within five days, thanks to my relatives’ planning!