We had a little party last Sunday, not to say we celebrate Xmas, but just an excuse to have a get together and a chance to have fiesta again.
We started with baking a Christmas fruit cake
Then slowly the dishes get served one by one
All home made, except the “Paper Wrapped Chicken”. Well I have to be honest, the pork belly is ready made which I got from Euro Deli, I only roast it and made the apricot onion sauce.
And finally, the happy family…
For more photos, view here… (Photo edited with PhotoScape using the AGFA film effect)
It is the time to heat up your oven and start baking gingerbread man again.
This is my first time baking it. I couldn’t even remember when is my last time of baking cookies. Anyway, I was confident enough to (again) modify the recipe due to the complexity of the ingredients.
Honey Gingerbread Cookies
- ~3 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- ~1/2 cup (1 sticks) butter (I used the normal butter as I don’t have unsalted butter)
- ~1/2 cup sugar (Soft brown sugar)
- 3 teaspoons five spice powder (Hehe, added chinese influence here. This is to replace the original version of ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground cloves and ground nutmeg)
- 1 large eggs
- ~3/4 cup honey (I used pure natural honey here)
In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and 5 spice powder. Set aside.
In the electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well, about one minute. Add honey and mix on low-speed, just to combine.
Add flour mixture and mix until all the flour is incorporated. Divide the batter in two and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least one hour. [The batter is not too hard, but thick enough to hold itself when you use a spade to spoon it up]
Preheat oven to 180°C/ 350°F. On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick, and cut out using cookie cutters Transfer the cookies to a parchment-lined baking sheet, and freeze for 15 minutes. [For my cookies, I baked it around 20 minutes]
Bake until firm but not darkened (the time will depend on the cookie sizes). Transfer to a wire rack to cool before decorating.
To view original recipe, click here……
How does it turn out? Well judge it yourself from the photos. It doesn’t look as nice [because I cut out the ginger man using a knife instead of a cutter], but it does taste alright. The occasionally of 5 spice taste is naturalized by the honey. A definite yummy to go with a nicely brewed black coffee.
GINGERBREAD COOKIES, ANYONE?
忘了那个星期天的周刊，读了这么一个专栏。专栏的作者说，很多时候我们都不懂的说不。比如她本身明明有洁癖，但是偶尔有陌生人（修电器工人、送货的人此类人号）在她家要借个厕所用，她虽然心里既不情愿，但是碍于不懂说不，所以把厕所让他们用，可是过后自己却要拼命洗刷厕所和消毒。
我自己也算有洁癖，但是却不认同作者这般想法。所谓日行一善，不是要你等到有什么四川大地震，印尼大海啸才慷慨解囊，捐个一百、一千，而是时时刻刻都在自己能力范围里，给别人一个生活上的方便，不要如此斤斤计较。
日行一善，今天你做了吗？
Yesterday, I accidentally discover more functions on the PhotoScape. One of the most impressive tool is the Coloured Pencil function.
You may access to this by selecting “Filter -> Pictorialization -> Coloured Pencil”
It is most suitable with photos with rich colour and pattern in a light background. See examples below:
The details of the rich pattern is not lost in this “pictorialize” photo
In this case, the Coloured Pencil function brings in the effect of cartooning to the photo
For photo with dark colour, the coloured pencil portion may appears too intense.
Try it out yourself with different photos. Have fun PhotoScaping!
话说，上星期是君表哥及柠檬的生日。所以君表哥可以说是有幸及不幸的成了妹丁实验蛋糕的对象。
蛋糕由一层巧克力层铺盖，因为放在雪柜多过一天，所以表层太硬，以致蜡烛插不进。
左：君表哥受到这蛋糕是惊喜还是惊吓？ 右：巧克力层太硬，塑胶刀切不下。呵呵
瞧，巧克力层硬的可以撑起铁茶匙。
不过，可不要小看妹丁，经过这次“不是很成功”的经验。第二天做柠檬的蛋糕竟然可以是这个样。
嘻嘻，不逊于蛋糕店卖的吧。只能说君表哥与柠檬同月份生不同命咯。
