whine & dine

I made Pecan Cupcakes today, and intended to take pictures and post a mini recipe thingamajiggy complete with photographs documenting some of the steps, but ended up getting very angry with the packet of sugar (for some reason there were a whole bunch of large, wet clumps inside that I then had to sieve out and ended up spilling EVERYWHERE), so right now I’ve got a picture of butter – cut into cubes – and about 27 pecan cupcakes sitting on a wire rack in my kitchen. I will think about taking a picture of the cupcakes later on. (Edit: Picture of cupcake duly taken and you can now see it at the start of the post. Other pictures mentioned have been linked up.) They’re rather yummy, though some kind of umm blossomed a little too much. And I must make a mental note that all the cupcake recipes I try from this book are going to give me twice the estimated yield.

Sidenote: For some reason, one (quite lucky – if I may say so myself) friend of mine upon whom I regularly bestow the fruits of my oven says we can’t keep giving [her] cupcakes!! I don’t really understand that, since I did make about 31 when I intended to make 15, and of those 2 have been consumed, 2 were dished out to Steph (whom I’m going to miss terribly), and I think 12 will surreptitiously arrive in the bunny’s office and attempt to remain uneaten till the end of the day. (They usually fail and disappear by 10am.) If my math hasn’t failed me, this leaves us with 15. Strange friend, if you take 4, and pass 2 onto ITSJUSTAMICE cafe, I will still have 9 left to tide me through the week. And possibly dish out to some other friends.

Anyhoo, I’m heading back to Shermay’s to get a few more bottles of their orange and lemon and almond and coffee extract – oh! And that reminds me: I also did take a picture of the vanilla bean paste I bought yesterday, only it doesn’t really apply to this recipe since I used vanilla extract instead. Ho-hum.

The latest addition to the kitchen is going to be an ICE CREAM MAKER. I know, everyone, sing with joy! This officially means that everyone can please stop buying me ice cream whenever you guys come over to visit – we really appreciate it but now have about a week to finish all the stuff in the freezer (I’ve got 8 tubs at last count, only 2 bought by bunny or i) before the new toy comes in! Watch this space for more ways to get fat, and umm.. if anyone wants to help me clear out the freezer, buzz me! If I’m not wrong, these are the flavours we’ve got:

• Haagen Dazs – Vanilla
• Haagen Dazs – Green Tea
• Haagen Dazs – Coffee
• Haagen Dazs – Strawberry
• The Daily Scoop – Lychee Martini
• The Daily Scoop – Earl Grey Tea
• Ben & Jerry’s – Chocolate Fudge something
• Ben & Jerry’s – Chubby Hubby

I’m pretty free next week, so going to devote my time to finishing it all off (I really only like Vanilla, Coffee and Strawberry, ‘cos I’m very boring that way), and then I’ll be researching ice-cream recipes. I think I owe it to myself (and bunny) to find THE perfect Vanilla ice cream recipe (I’ll probably start in the vicinity of my favourite, tried-and-tested custard recipe), then the next one I’m really looking forward to will be a Masala Chai variation. After that – in the spirit of tea – I plan to crack the secret behind delicious matcha ice cream (and probably will bribe eyes with some of it in exchange for some of her delicious redbean paste thingiebob, then I would really, really love to a spicy chocolate one, much like those Mayan blends with cayenne pepper and what not, which is where hot chocolate really came from anyway. Maybe this way I’ll finally be able to create something chocolate that my dear anti-chocolate girlfriend will like. :)

I CANNOT WAIT.

Edit: w00t!! I don’t care if I’m just a lowly sheep following what seems to be a trend (I’ve wanted my own ice cream maker for at least 7 years now, so shall use poverty and age as my excuses for being so late to the game), I’m pretty pleased at this article about home made ice cream in SFGate.com today! -beam

Somehow, last week, I found myself sending out resumés and being approached for a couple of jobs. It’s strange, really, considering how I still don’t know what I want to do, nor do I really want to work. There are a whole bunch of things I want to try doing, but I always figured that I’d give myself a year to do the whole “finding myself” gig before I actually went out there and uh.. started looking.

Anyway, no, I still don’t actually have a job yet. I do, however, have some amazing possibilities ahead of me – one in particular being a chance to foray into the professional cooking world. Most of my friends (and I assume a good portion of those of you reading this) will know that one of my great passions lies in the kitchen, and cooking has been a part of me for the majority of my life. And while it’s all well and good for friends to tell me to set up my own restaurant/catering business, I also know that the (hard) life of a cook is very different from my self-imposed 72-hour preparation marathons when the bunny and I entertain. Fingers crossed that I don’t make a complete fool of myself when that happens!

Also, I’ve just been approached to do my first private dining gig, and I’m super duper excited about this. It’s a fairly simple affair (thank god), but I’m really looking forward to this opportunity and experience. It’s a welcome change from the preparation and “research” (read: massive amounts of deeelicious cupcake-making) happening in light of a wedding job (cupcakes for the wedding favours) that I’ve taken on for early August.

In light of this – and one of the dishes that I’ll be preparing, I’ll be doing a little how-to post on duck confit. You can expect this sometime next weekend (or the week after), and hopefully I’ll remember to use my 30D, so not all of the pictures will be crappy-ish ones off my sexay, sleek GX100.

If any of you can’t wait, here’s a teaser over on vicki’s photostream. I was jointing the ducks and having a rather good time when vicki came over to grab a couple of cupcakes from the most recent batch and her face was contorted in horror at the sound of bones crunching beneath my poultry shears. :)

Seems like a lot of work went into it – including long consultations with Thomas Keller of French Laundry fame, who cameos as the voice of a restaurant patron in the show. (via kottke)

So AfterEllen.com has come out with its own list of the 100 hottest women (chosen by women), and in the prelude to the list, there’s a quick write up on how it differs to similar lists done by Maxim and the such. I really quite agree with the list, except that there would be a few shuffles around:

My #1: Charlize Theron (#43)
I decided a few years ago that she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever set eyes upon (not that I’ve seen her up close and personal but you know what I mean), and I know it’s a rather strange choice for me, since I don’t really like the fair, blonde look all that much.. but oh well. Yes. Charlize Theron is my number 1.

My #2: Jennifer Beals (#6)
If you’ve watched Season 1 of The L Word, I doubt I’d have to explain this.

My #3: Sarah Shahi (#5)
If you’ve watched Season 3 of The L Word, you’d also understand this. However, your heart will break by Season 4.

My #4: Kate Beckinsale (#28)
Now this is the usual look I like. Haha. Oh well. Also explains my previous fixation with Saint from Sugar Rush, but nehnehmind.

My #5: Rachel Shelley (#27)
It seems like my list is TLW-dominated. Hmm. But this one also damn sexy. Wah, you should see her abs. And listen to her speak! And the killer legs. I love.

Okay, that’s all I’m giving you guys for now. Coming up soon would have been Leisha Hailey, Kate Moennig, Erin Daniels (all from TLW too, and you can read Leisha Hailey’s very cute response to being named #1 here), Olivia Wilde (only her picture there sucks) and a lot more of the first 6 or 7 pages of their list. I kept nodding my head in approval while flipping through that list. It’s a good list. With some weird ones. Oh. And Maggie Gyllenhaal should seriously have been given a better representative picture! SERIOUSLY!

EDIT: OH MY GOD THERE ARE SOME REALLY UGLY PEOPLE ON THE LIST! I finally went through the whole list with nana today. HELLO NANA MY NANA’S HOME! And seeing me type this. haha. Anyway. She wants everyone to know that she’s voting #11 – Eliza Dushku. Iknewit.