lately i've got this obsession with breakfast food. pancakes, poached or scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, mushrooms sauteed with garlic & butter, english muffins etc. and i was rather pleased with my rendition of my breakfast items, especially the hollandaise sauce. making granola is also on my to-do list coz they're really good eaten on their own, with milk or yoghurt. i usually have alot of nuts at home, especially the expensive ones like hazelnuts, pistachios & walnuts for baking plus leftover iranian dates from ramadan few months back so granola is the way to go.

frankly, my previous failed attempt on pancakes left me feeling embarrassed much more than anything else. for someone who's got almost 4 years of experience in baking and has dabbled with countless of complicated bakes, there was no reason why i could fail in such simple stuff like pancakes (yes i know i've said that before). i was really determined to get it right and i'm glad i didn't have to wait long. i got it right on the next attempt, all thanks to this video on youtube :D i reckon nothing beats watching a video coz it lets u see exactly how its being done, consistency everything. watching beats studying & reading combined and i'm so glad i decided to go on youtube instead.

all it took was one sentence from a friend - "i'm eating island creamery's pulut hitam ice cream" over MSN one day that got me into making this ice cream. island creamery's rendition is really good. smooth, coconutty, fragrant and easily one of my favorite flavors. though i didn't have a recipe to begin with, common sense tells me the easiest way to put this together is simply to find a coconut ice cream recipe and add in cooked glutinous rice that has been presoaked and boiled to a mush. and while a vanilla bean ice cream recipe will require you to place the vanilla bean pod together with the cream while bringing it to a boil, i added pandan leaves to the coconut milk. end result was a really rich and fragrant ice cream, better than i expected but a tad too cloying. might consider replacing some of the cream with milk if i'm ever gonna make this again.

i think most people would know by now that i really am a macha fanatic. i've pledged my undying love for it a million times and i just can't live without my daily strong dose of homemade macha latte, made possible with the immersion handheld blender. and while i love complex french/japanese gateaux and entremets, i adore simple french tea cakes like madeleines, financiers and caneles as well. at times when i just wanna make something simple, i usually go for madeleines and financiers instead of pound cakes, muffins or brownies. plus, my sweet friend claire gave me a really big pack of macha powder, so i just wanted to try it out :)