Happy Holidays!

Time flies when you are in a hurry. Since coming back from Europe, I've hit the ground running, getting back into the frantic pace that comes with having 3 children. Buying new uniforms, shoes, school bags, books, stationery, attending orientations ... the works!

As if that wasn't enough, I also received a mailer from my son's school, inviting me to sign up for a 2-day seminar entitled, "Parents, Ready, Get Set, Go!" And he's only starting Primary 1 next year. I promptly trashed it. It's bad enough that schools are pushing the students so hard, now they are pushing the parents too. Thanks, but no thanks.

And then, there was re-stocking of my larder, banking, catching up with friends, unpacking, fainting at the credit card bills, spring cleaning ... the works again!

Amazingly, I managed to sneak some time into my kitchen. My neglected oven and I had an emotional, tearful reunion a few days ago. Can you believe it has been almost 3 months since I touched that oven? Naturally, I was apprehensive about baking again.

True enough, I fumbled like a clueless newbie, knocking over ingredients and spilling batter. There were even a few occasions I actually threw my hands up in the air in disbelief! It was that bad.

So, what did I bake? Something French, of course! Since I couldn't be in France (*sniff*), I had to create my own piece of France here in Singapore.



First, I made some Lemon Almond Madeleines. These poor babies went through a lot just to be baked. My friend had given me a new madeleine pan recently, and in my excitement to use it, I completely forgot that it was too big for my tiny oven. When it was time to bake, I realised, horror of horrors, it was a good 2 inches wider than my oven door!

I put a clingwrap over the batter and sprinted over to my mum's. We tried her oven, and noooooooooooo, it was still too big! Desperate, we hopped over to her neighbour's, who immediately offered her oven. The pan went in with only a hair's breadth to spare! Talk about a baking emergency ... it was so, so close. I didn't even care if the madeleines developed those requisite knobbly humps. I just wanted to see them baked!

As you can see, the humps did appear. I consider that nothing short of a miracle, considering all the chilling and thawing and fiddling in the oven. Sometimes, we just get lucky. :)

And then I also made some Mont Blanc-inspired trifles. I had leftover chestnut puree but was just too lazy to make the actual Mont Blanc. So I took the short cut and did a "deconstructed" version of it. It's the cheat's way of making this lovely French treat, and taste-wise, there's no difference. If you are short of time, trifle's the way to go. Just layer everything and voila, ready to eat.



Well, that's the gist of what's been happening on my end. I will post the recipe of the Lemon Almond Madeleines another day, so watch this space.

I just did this pointless post because all I really wanted to say was:
"Happy Holidays, everyone! May all your dreams come true in 2012!"

And THANK YOU for being part of my journey here at The Little Teochew. XOXO