I'm Sorry ...

... but I've decided to quit blogging for the time being *sad face* :0(

Sorry to disappoint you guys, but uni has once again resume ... and the studies/work are already piling on top of one another like crazy!! On some days, I have labs that runs from 10am to 5pm straight!! Talking about madness! I'm so glad that this will be my final semester(and year) for my tertiary studies .... after that, it's either the honors program or the workforce .... :0)

Thankfully, my awesome mum offered to cook (and freeze) batches of 'Cecilia-friendly food' for me ... how nice is she?!!!! I'm so glad that I'm able to eat as soon as I get home from uni ... ;0) Hehehe, in the past few days, I gave her some 'what's what' lessons - i.e.: what and where is nutritional yeast, tempeh (I found tempeh!) and etc ... I also put 'sad smiley' stickers on every cooking ingredient that are non-vegan friendly ... haha, I really wanted to take a photo of it, but my camera battery is DEAD!! *boo!*

However, rest assure that I'll still be reading all your wonderful blogs in my spare time ... (I told you, I'm hooked on them!!) Note that, I probably won't comment as much as I used to :0/

p.s.: I will not shut this blog down because I'm determined to return to blogging again once the semester is over (in November) ... so see you then!! *waves*

p.p.s: Gemma, if you're reading this please cook for me :0)

Interrupting With A Short Post

Hi all, hope you all had a great day!

Okay, as embarrassing as it might sound, Katie, Lexi, Chandra and Samantha passed on the Brillante Weblog 2008 award to me ... :0/

I can't thank you guys enough for nominating me for this award, I am truly honored to receive it (this is my first, by the way)! <333 ya!!

When I started this blog, I never expected anyone to read, let alone leaving comments on it ... every single time I see your comments - my eyes lightened up with joy ... and your comments just cheer me up all the time!! So, thank you!! Thank you, for visiting my blog!! <3333 you guys so much!!

p.s.: Thank you all for welcoming me into the wonderful, compassionate and "yummy" world of veganism - I take this transition seriously (even though my parents still thinks that it's a temporary thing) ... and just to let you know, I'm trying my best to become a full time vegan (but I'm getting close ;0D)

Okay onto the award ... here are the outlined rules that I'm supposed to follow ...

1. Put the logo on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. Nominate at least seven other blogs.
4. Add links to those blogs on your blog.
5. Leave a message for your nominee on their blogs.

Since the rules said to nominate at least seven other blogs to receive this award, I will be more than willing to award ALL of you with this award ... I seriously adore all of your blogs to bits, I'm addicted to each and everyone of your blogs (seriously, it has become part of my ritual to check for blog updates every 30 minutes) ... I never get bored of them ...

Ok, gotta go now - need to ride to the health food store to replenish my supply of "Ezekiel type" sprouted wheat bread .... yummy carbs! ;0)

Something With Jelly In Them

Before you read this ... I swear I don't eat baked goods everyday ... please trust me on this!! :0)

Yesterday was indeed a chilly day ... I was desperately looking for ways to warm myself up. I tried many many things i.e.: drinking copious amount of hot tea/water, wrapping myself up with a blanket, wearing layers upon layers of clothes ... everything! - somehow, they just don't warm me up enough :0(

Suddenly, I had one of those 'lightbulb' moments (if you watch cartoons ... you'll know what I'm talking about) - baking!! Awesome idea, I mean what gets better than having a warm kitchen and a baked treat??? Yah, nothing.

But sadly, after rummaging through the fridge and pantry ... I found no apples, bananas, chocolate chips, blueberries, cranberries ... no nothing!! Sheesh!! Frustrated, I decided to give up baking and just flipped through my copy of Veganomicon instead. Somehow, I came across Jelly Donut Cupcakes on page 253 and I knew instantly what to bake! Woot!

This time I was determined to follow the recipe to the 'T' but as usual, I failed to do so :0/ First of all, I halved the recipe after realizing that my flour supply was running low ... I replaced the cornstarch with chickpea flour, reduced the sugar and used 1/8 cup of oil (so 1/4 for full recipe) instead - I didn't replace the oil with applesauce because I didn't want the cupcake to turn out 'dense' ... which is not what I want in this case.

Oh my goodness, you should've smelt the house when these beauties came out of the oven - just heavenly!!! As soon as they were cooled to room temperature - I dusted them with confectioners' sugar and greedily dived in for a bite ...

OH.MY.GOSH!! The cupcake was sooooo delicious, they don't taste exactly like donuts but hey, I don't care!!! I recommend all of you to bake at least a batch for yourself asap!! Seriously, one bite - I was sent to (cupcake) heaven (if only the real heaven is made up of vegan cupcakes *sigh*) ... I was literally jumping up and down for joy the entire time because I could not believed 'I' whipped out something that tasted so damn good!! Thanks Isa and Terry for creating these yummy goodness by the way!! <333333

As soon as I'm finished with one ... I have to stop myself from reaching for another one (I kinda dragged myself out of the kitchen) because I don't want any of my family members to miss out on these beauties!!! As expected, when everyone in my family tasted them - they declared that they were very very good indeed!! My mum asked me what are they - I told them that they're donut cupcakes and she said "These are better than donuts!!" ... ;0)

Please do make these one day and you'll know why I'm raving about this cupcakes!!! That's all folks, have a jolly good day everyone!!!

When It's Chilly Out There ...

... you bake!! :0)

Finally, I made something from my stash of cookbooks today! ;0) What did I choose to bake? Well ... after getting tortured by (mean) fellow bloggers with drool-worthy pictures of their banana bread, I decided to end the torture and baked myself a loaf of Veganomicon's infamous Lower-Fat Banana Bread! Boy, was it a great decision!

Since I'm a rebel ... I chose not to follow the recipe to the 'T' *surprise surprise* The changes I made were that I substituted the oil with applesauce, used half wholewheat and half all purpose flour (wholewheat pastry flour is not available here), halve the amount of sugar and added a handful of chopped walnuts to the batter at the end ... oh my, am I rebellious!

The minute I opened the oven door, the smell of banana-y goodness flooded the entire house *swoon* ... and as expected, my brother came dashing to the kitchen with a grin on his face (he knew something yummy was going to end up in his stomach soon). Did I tell you, he even fanned the banana bread to speed up the cooling process?!! Oh btw, I told him that the banana bread is vegan and he replied with "So?!" ;0)

The minute the banana bread was cool enough to slice, we sliced ourselves a (a little too generous) portion and devoured the banana bread like nobody's business ... the taste of the banana bread is amazing (despite the changes I made), the bread has a nice crust to it (which is quintessential for me) and is so moist and tender!! By the way, my banana bread seems darker than the ones I saw on the internet - anyone knows why? Are there two types of molasses?

I think the banana bread would taste even more delicious if I used really riped bananas for the bread (yea, I got impatient!) ... also, I'll give the molasses a miss next time - to see how the banana bread would taste by itself ... Hehehe!! Can't wait, can't wait!! ;0)

... So what are you waiting for guys?!! Go bake yourself a loaf of banana bread now!!!

Oh wait, I forgot to mention something! I purchased this mini gingerbread man cookie cutter yesterday at Kitchen Warehouse, it was an impulsive buy .... I was thinking of these peanut butter crackers the whole time ... so it was of course, Celine's fault ;0)

In A Scrambly Mood ...

Oh yea, my copy of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World arrived in the mail yesterday ... YAY!! I'm surprise by the size of it, I thought it would be bigger, haha! :0D I flipped through the book briefly - woah, the book is indeed taking over my world! I wanted to host a (vegan) cupcake party after reading it!! FYI, I got the book from The Book Depository - that site is awesome!!!

And here's my pile of vegan cookbooks - sadly, I'm yet to make something out of them! Gah, my lazyness!! :0( Btw, am I the only one who book-wrapped all of my books?! Please say no!!! :0/

Anyway, I thought I'll show you two of my favorite stuffed animals .... yea, I'm one of those people who still sleep with stuffed animals :0/ Embarrassing? Hell yes ....

Ahh ... this one is called Pink (I know it's a lame name), it's a monkey (just in case you're wondering). I called it 'Pink' because it was pink in color when I got it - sadly, after years (8 years to be exact) of tumbling and drying, its color faded to a shade of very very pale pink :0(

You probably can't tell from the photo ... but ... Pink went through a period of 'slaughterhouse' treatment (by my evil brothers, of course!) - Pink has had its head ripped apart twice, his lips being 'ripped' off his face (hence he has no 'lips'), his nose chipped .... sad sad childhood :0(


Okay, I promise this is the last stuffed animals I have ... I called this one 'Nom Nom' - since everyone said that it needs a good feed ... ;0)

Okies, enough of the stuffed animals .... move onto the food!!! *glorious food* :0) Since I felt guilty for neglecting my stash of vegan cookbooks - I decided to push myself out of my 'lazyness' today ... weee!!!

Since I didn't want to be the last vegan on earth to make Scrambled Tofu - I decided to make that dish for myself today! I used the infamous recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance ... I followed the recipe to the 'T' as usual, deviated from the recipe a tiny bit - instead of mushrooms and carrots, I used broccoli, green bell peppers and carrots ...

Excuse the ugly photo ... I used my bro's phone for this

Hehehe, I used my piggy bank to hold down the pages whilst I was cooking. Smart move?! ;0)

So .... does the dish taste good?! Well, it's good ... but I'll reduce the amount of cumin next time - I find it overpowering + I'm not a fan my cumin myself :0(

Hrmm ... maybe I should give CCV's scrambled tofu a try next time ... yes Katie?!

By the way, Lizzy look!! This is my computer background image .... I <3 it!!

Ok better stop blabbing now ... next up ... a baked treat .... hohoho!!