Plus if that something I love happen to be baking, then you and I should be very good friends indeed.
Well the extra enthusiasm was aided by the fact that I was feeling akin to a caged bird with the door to its cage unlatched temporarily.
Halfway through the papers and just a little less than half to go. I needed a day off to do absolutely anything I wanted.
Baking wasn't really on the top of my list, because that required planning, and I had quite enough of planning for awhile (revision notes included)
I just wanted to bum, sleep and watch some movies on the laptop. Just stepping out of the house was a slight chore in itself.
Yes hand written instructions in red, printed in red as well, because my black ran out eeeep. Plus I see eggs rolling around(; before the madness begins.
But then again the thought of having totally nothing to do, nowhere to be, nothing to think about and keep me occupied was a little un-nerving. Because that would leave me ample time to whirl back to the completed papers and gripe about them all over again as though re-doing them virtually in my head. When in fact there's nothing that I can do about them.
Yes I'm crazy and illogical and somewhat paranoid like that.
Well, okay a little about this mini fundraiser that I'm doing for a good friend(:
Also the same said friend that bugs me to update this space and go around eating weird food with me. BUT SAID FRIEND, HUEY IS GOING AWAY FOR SIX MONTHS!):!
Actually I should'nt help her fundraise, then she would be grounded for another +5weeks heehee. Trapped in this tiny, hot, humid, ridiculously boring place that fills you with wanderlust for the rest of the world. Yes, home.
Things sacrificed: +3 hours sleep, +1 good friend for 5 weeks (+++) up to and including 6 mths
But what can I say, the entire day was ultimately enjoyable, heightened by the fact that it was an incentive of sorts for myself for completing and surviving the
2 paper crazy day. The sweet taste of (temporary) freedom, YUM!
Stars of the show
From ntuc shopping for baking essentials because I had a few things lacking to finding out that my favorite go-to place for baking stuff has closed down! (that wasnt so fun) to sweating like pigs eating kway chap despite the ultimately blazing hot day and of course, above all, the whole process of mixing flour butter eggs and sugar altogether in the pretty awesome madness which I love so much.
&the rest of the cast, used proportionately
There was the prior inability the night before to come to a decision of any sort as to what to bake for the fundraiser/bakesale. And being the very stubborn person that I am, I refuse to bake chocolate chip cookies.
#1. They are soooooo boring!
#2. People always bake chocolate chip cookies for fundraisers! So un-fun and un-original!
#3. They are still so boring!!
Yes I know cos its the easiest to generate profits because the only limiting factor is the price of chocolate chips, which are like $4.50 Hersheys? Pretty reasonable compared to say pecan nuts, macadamia nuts, cream cheese, white chocolate and the likes. But honestly, bake sale = chocolate chip cookies is so so predictable, and I'd go to subway for my CCC fix anyday, serious!
But no, because I'm stubborn and weird like that okay(:
Brown sugar for the win, always!(:
Plus I want to try new stuff and experiment in the hope of discovering something more awesome that chocolate chippies for bakesales. And yes the mandatory peruse of
Joy the Baker's site was in order. Its my go to place to look for cool and yummy stuff to experiment with.
Don't blame me if you suddenly feel super hungry and crave the need for sweets and cookies after heh.
It came down to Lemon whoopie pies, Chocolate chip tea truffles and Cookie dough brownies.
Whoopie pies are a sort of combination between cookie and cake. And sandwiched in between is icing/filling of some sort, prefably creamy.
The chocolate chip tea truffles got thrown out later due to time constraint and the fact that we were quite very tired from all the baking, standing and running around the entire day.
There's always time for Round II yes((:
Cookie dough in the making, spectators need to be quiet(:
The entire process from laying out the ingredients, or basically dumping them on the table as do I, most of the time, this time, it involved a little more organisation and um, arrangement to allow for these photos. Normally I don't get to see process pictures, they just play out in my head when I look at the photos or read past posts. Its just too much of a chore to put down whatever you're doing at every stage (combining, mixing, whisking till light and fluffy!, more mixing, chilling, dropping batter, accidentally spilling sugar on the table, yes that's a legit step in the all baking endavours), washing your hands (MUST! flour in lens! nooo), picking up the camera and taking multiple shots, all because I have not attained 'one shot one frame' photo genius.
Then setting down the camera on a safe ledge (no not around my neck, that is not safe) and continuing with the next step, only to repeat about x10 in the course of say 1-3 hours depending on what was bakin'(:
Don't you feel tired just reading all that. Because I kinda do.
Straight up yummy, eat anymore and there really won't be enough for the brownieeees!
Now with extra help in the form of entertainment, company and someone who can make pancakes rubbery, but takes pretty awesome photos in exchange, things were definitely shaping up to look pretty interesting.
But of course extra help couldn't just be sitting there and taking pictures and laughing at me, after all baking is about joining in the fun and flouring each other at random non-descript places like elbows and stealing batter for 'taste-testing'.
Lemon cream cheese filling looking pretty good
Made the cookie dough and lemon creme filling she did. After reading the instructions x1000 times and measuring, pouring back, remeasuring sugar like its never been measured before. And finishing sentences every 5 minutes with claims of..
'Xin, It's Not Enough!!!!!!'
only to be met with rather calm albeit amused replies of 'I promise you, it is' and slowly evolved and shortened to snaps of 'It is!'
(& that continued throughout a large part of the entire baking proceedings, this I kid you not)
:D
My table is messssy!
Made up the brownie batter without much trouble and it was mostly almost instinctive especially with normal cookie batter and brownie consistency. The lemon whoopie pies were more intriguing because well, of the cake cookie consistency. But those turned out more awesome that I expected, or ever expected from any cookie.
Didnt really eat one the night it baked because well, I have no idea!
Probably tired out from all the intense washing up I had to do. I realllllllyyyy dont like washing up all the buttered up pans, mixing bowls, spatulas and trays.
But they were freaking-fantastically awesome.
And we might or might not have spilt a pile of sugar, and then made sugar art. teehee
Personal opinion but lemon whoopie pies over cookie dough brownies ANYDAY!
They taste, well, both cakey and cookie-ish at the same time and with the lemon cream cheese filling. I don't usually go crazy on the praise for my own baking cos there're so many people out there better than yours truly, but these were honestly, ohmyquitedivineeee!!
Almost there now.
After that it was almost game over for me. Little sleep, much excitement, an entire day of standing, laughing, talking.
I need to sit down, thanks. Eat some (proper)food, and watch some tv,
continue washing part II later and get the kitchen and everything else in order before the parents get back and I get to hear about how I always mess up the house (again).
Baking, I can do, but washing, sigh, hello wrinkly fingers and mixing bowls that refuse to de-butter themselves. ):
Chillin' together on the cooling rack.
Packed up the brownies and lemon cookies and was very thankful I didnt have to wrap individually and sent them off to be bake-saled at church the next day.
Notice how there aren't any photos of the final cookie dough brownie? Well that's because my smart friend here forgot to take any. Just imagine the cookie dough you saw above, spread atop moist chocolately brownies. Pictured? Ok!
(Now insert that picture in the space here) heehee
And to all who ate either one or the other or are lucky enough to try both, I really hope it was yummmyy because we totally had a blast making them, and yes, show some love, donate some money, support OM missions (basically going out into the mission-field for the people of South africa to teach them basic english, build basic necessities for them that we currently often and always take for granted)
Send huey off to the land of lions, elephants and endless safari prairies for 5 weeks!
Raawwrrhh.*photo credits to whoever for these 2, took them off the www(:
Bake sale part II coming up probably soon, when I officially end my papers, so yep eat some non-chocolate chip cookies for a good cause ya(: Because this is the non-chocolate chip cookie bakesale. Yay.
Now, what to bake for part II? That's a very good question. Hmm?
Cookie pileee
And yes, cheers to you too(;
Excuse the weird hand...
Another Lemon whoopie pie for you?(:
Munch.
Munch munch.
My favourite picture of the lot(:
Munch munch munch.
*All photo credits to huey!
