Yummy Pandan Layer Cake

 

My dessert for tonight - Pandan Layer Cake which I got from the market this morning.  It's soft and not too sweet - just right for my sweet tooth!

Pre-Christmas Treat

 

I pampered myself today with a slice of "Thai Milk Tea Cake" by Secret Recipe.  It came on a plate with a "Smile" and a paper napkin which said "Sweet Moments Begin Here".   The cake was recently introduced and is a rich blend of Thai milk tea, vanilla, creamy Chantilly, Thai tea mascarpone cream and Thai Tea spread, coated with silky Thai tea glaze (description taken from their flyer).  It was good and just nice for a snack after a morning's shopping!  The festive season is always an excuse to indulge in all things sweet and why not?  After all, Christmas comes but once a year!

Two for Tea

 

Two scrumptious cream puffs for tea today bought from a wellknown patisserie in town.  They were oozing with fresh cream and each bite was heavenly!  

Here's what I found from the net about the origins of cream puffs:

Legend has it that cream puffs were invented by a French chef named Pantanelli during the 16th century reign of King Henry II. The story goes that Pantanelli was working in the kitchen of Catherine de’ Medici, the queen consort of France, when he accidentally created the first cream puff by adding too much flour to a pastry dough. Rather than discarding the dough, he baked it anyway and filled the resulting puff with a mixture of whipped cream and pastry cream. The cream puff was an instant hit, and it quickly became a popular dessert in France and beyond.

Alas, too much of a good thing is not good, so they say, so I shall have to be careful and watch what I eat in the future!

Meantime, viva la chou ala creme!

More for the Sweet Tooth

Continuing my saga to beat stress by indulging in desserts!  I came across a stall selling these cute, petite jellies and of course I couldn't resist buying a few.  There was quite a selection and I chose dragon fruit and pandan with santan topping.  Now my fridge is cramped with these goodies, enough for me to relax and savour each bite!  Goodbye stress and thank you God for this treat, my sweet tooth really appreciates it!

Roll It!

 

A friend recently told me that "stressed" spelt backwards is "desserts"!  So for all of us under stress, there's every reason to indulge in all those goodies in the cake shop without feeling guilty!  My latest acquisition is a black sesame Swiss roll.  They actually have three flavours - coffee, chocolate and black sesame - and I chose the last as I had never tried it before.  It was good and black sesame has many nutritional benefits.  So enjoy your dessert, folks and beat the stress!

When a Swiss roll is NOT a Swiss roll ...

 

Time to pamper myself again!  I bought this vanilla Swiss roll from a nearby cake shop.  It was lovely though I would have preferred it without the raisins.  It also comes in chocolate and coffee flavours.  I have often wondered why a Swiss roll is called a Swiss roll.  A quick check with Wikipedia told me that the origins of the term are unclear and the cake is believed to have originated elsewhere in Central Europe, possibly Austria or Slovenia - and not Switzerland.  So now I know.

Three for Tea

 

Here's one of the little treats which I gave myself  - three scrumptious Hokkaido cup cakes bought from a nearby bakery.  They were very light and fluffy and oozing with cream.  Definitely not for weight watchers!  

Nonya Tea

 

Something to cheer myself up in these dreadful times.  It's red bean soup with a few of my favourite Nonya kueh for tea.  Thank you, God for this little treat.

Three for Tea

Three pieces of pastry from a friend for tea!  What a lovely surprise!  I was in fact thinking of going down to the pastry shop to treat myself to some cake and pastry - and she must have read my thoughts!  Thanks, pal, you're an angel!

Two for Tea

After having been cooped up at home for so long, I had a sudden craving for steaming, hot pau.  Thanks to a good Samaritan, I had two lovely pau's delivered to my doorstep today.  One had leng yong (lotus seed paste) filling and the other tau sar (red bean paste) filling.  Yummy! Can't wait to get started on them!  (Can you guess which is which?)

Sheer Happiness

Cinnamon roll for tea .... big, fluffy, soft ... and home delivered too!  Sheer happiness after being grounded for over a month!

Tea for Two

It's not the Mid-Autumn Festival yet but the shops are already selling these lovely Mooncake Biscuits!  They were a great childhood favourite with me and still are!  Taken with a cup of coffee (or tea as you prefer), they make a lovely item for tea!

Yummy Apple Crumble

Thanks to Grab, I had enough points to buy a piece of yummy Apple Crumble at a discount at the Coffee Bean!  Oh there were so many delicious cakes and pastries that it was so, so hard to decide what I wanted.  But apple pie and apple crumble have always been my favourite, so I closed an eye to the other tempting delights with the promise that I would come back again for something else in the near future.  I took my a.c. back home to enjoy in the solitude of my kitchen and every bite was heavenly!  I can't wait to go back there again....

A Healthy Breakfast

This is my breakfast most days - cooked oats topped with a sprinkling of raisins and chia seeds, sometimes honey too.  All washed down with milk.  For some, especially those who like hawker food, this kind of breakfast is pretty boring.  Well, sometimes I deviate a little, like having some instant mee and fried beehoon, but still I prefer oats any time!

Anyone for a Massage?

 It had been a long time since I pampered myself and on an impulse, I signed up for a series of Thai body massages at a local beauty salon. Frankly I don't enjoy massages because I'm terrified of some part of my body being broken by the masseuse through all that pressing and pushing.  But the aches and pains in my body insisted that I should have a go at the beauty salon and so I went.  I survived my first massage that morning after one and a half hours of agony and I just couldn't wait for the lady to finish.  At the end, she asked me whether I felt as light as a feather after all her hard work.  W-e-e-l-l, and it certainly took me a long time to answer, but seeing her anxious face, I took pity on her and said that she did a good job.  Her face broke into a wide smile and she left me, satisfied.  Now I have five more sessions to go .... anyone want a massage with my compliments?

Fruit Paradise

I had this scrumptious cake for dessert today.  Called "Fruit Paradise", it comes with bits of fruit on top (orange, kiwi, pineapple and strawberry) with layers of cream on top and inbetween. Very fattening, I know but one needs to be pampered once in a while.  So who cares?  Yummy!

A Hearty Breakfast

After a brief ramble in the botanical gardens, there's nothing like settling down to a good, hearty breakfast!  This time we chose Onion Thosai, Vade and Nasi Lemak - a fusion of South Indian and local breakfast snacks. Although I was disappointed that there was very little onions in the Thosai,  it was nevertheless a very good meal!

Tea for Two

It was probably the wrong choice but I just couldn't resist picking the Opera Cake. It was oozing with cream and begging to be eaten .... and it was delicious!  I washed it down with  fragrant jasmine tea which came in a big teapot, too much for one person really.  My companion wisely chose a chicken pie, rather ordinary but he got away without adding any extra weight to his carefully kept lean frame!  Wonder how he always never succumbs to temptation ....

Afternoon Tea

Afternoon tea for two at a posh hotel - it was too irresistible to forego, even for my friend who's trying to lose weight.  So there we were that afternoon, gulping down Silver Moon Tea and sandwiches, scones, tarts, cakes, jelly...! Even though we both cut down on our lunch so that we could eat our fill, we still couldn't finish everything!  The steward was kind enough to "tar pow" for us to take back and I must say it was quite embarrassing walking out with two plastic boxes of leftovers!  All the same, we had a great time, though sadly we're not going to fit into our dresses for some time!

Pampering Myself

I was out shopping again the other day and stopped for tea.  This time I tried the Taiwanese DanBing Roll and homemade soya bean milk.  The Roll was warm and nice, had an egg and chicken ham filling and came with a sweet sauce, but the soya bean milk was a little too cold for my liking and would have tasted better if it had been heated up.  Nevertheless it was a light refreshing snack for tea!