Author: amanda

Posted on

2nd try: Japanese Cheesecake

Pls remember my cheesecake as on the pic above – delete all other pics you are gonna see later in this post. ok? haha..

So BH encouraged me to try the cheesecake again.. and we followed a different recipe. We used this recipe instead. This recipe is super easy to follow and it DOES NOT need flour or butter!! I was shocked but decided to try it out. If you are wondering whether corn starch = corn flour, I think it’s the same as I used corn starch. ( Can’t find corn flour here)

Everything went on smoothly this time round as we learnt from our previous experience.

I only have 1 mixing bowl for my mixer.. so we modified the recipe abit – like I sequence the beating of egg whites 1st then beat the cream cheese. ( Keeping my fingers crossed that it will not affect the end product)

Things to note, I did not add lemon juice as indicated in the recipe as we don’t like the ‘sour’ taste in our cake ( and i forgot to buy lemon!!!).

with the help of ………..

which was operated by ……..

once egg whites becomes foamy and soft peaks, we washed the bowl and began

I was very anxious to know the outcome. I knew it was gonna be a sucess when I saw the end result (1st pic) yay!! Happy! 

Story: We wee rushing out so I switch off the oven and left the cake in the oven, thinking that It shld be alright in there… HOWEVER……..

 

yeah right… high five for we did a “failed” cheesecake again? 🙁 geeez… though it taste great!

Cheesecake is soooooooo sensitive.. Upon reflection and some research, I believe these are some of the reasons my cheesecake sank ( after rising):

1) Folding egg hwite technique was not good – we could have folded too much, or not gently enough. Some of the air escaped.

2) Not folding into the batter right after the egg whites reached soft peaks as I needed to mix the batter. ( some air could have escaped) I need TO GET ANOTHER BOWL FOR MY MIXER

3) The temperature in the oven is toooo high. Will reduce to 300F instead of 350F

4) Need to bake longer – top of my cake is not completely brown

5) I need to use boiling water for the water bake. I used hot water ( not boiling hot)

Will sure try this again! Wish us luck!

Posted on

back to school!

The weather in Seattle is fantastic today… it’s sunny.. skies are blue.. you can see the mountains.. the temperature still abit low.. it’s chilly.. SPRING’S here! In my opinion, it’s the most beautiful season of the year! 🙂 well, I won’t be able to enjoy spring if I didn’t come here.. ah… can this be forever?

Since we I had to go to University Village to run some errands, we decided to drop by UW ( University of Washington aka U-dub)

The environment brought a continuous ‘WOoooooW!’ to our mouths *do u have a mental image of this??!! haha…* Anyhow, the campus is huge! I personally thought that the ‘old’ feel of the whole place is like NUS? haha… but then again.. the architecture is totally diff from what we see in SG… somehow, both of us were like ” Our offsprings is gonna study here..” heh… well, so weird to say ‘offsprings’ right? haha… we were inspired by the season ‘Spring’ ! 😀

Overall view – the cherry blossoms are so pretty!! erm.. they are nt really pink though..

The flowers on this tree are ‘worshiping the sun’

More Cherry Blossoms !

haha.. a pic of me! just for in case, you miss me?? heh… we haven’t met for sooooooooo long!

Shoes from Gmarket which i bought last year 🙂

Note: DSLR are sooooooooo ‘IN’? Out of 10 pple today, 7 pple are holding onto DSLR.. and that includes the wannabe who took the pics above.

Posted on

Gmarket shopping: How to use cash balance?

Yay!! Rem I declared that BH and I can only buy clothes 4X a year? ( once every season.) heh.. it’s March!! The time of the year again! I can smell spring.. and oh.. I so love spring coz I can see the pretty pink cherry blossoms along the streets 🙂 It’s a pretty sight – somehow beautiful things always bring tears to the corner of my eyes as I don’t know how long it will last..

Oh well, put my emotions aside.. today, I am blogging about Gmarket again!! yayness!

If you are like me, you have alot of cash balance left in your Gmarket a/c and you wonder how you are gonna use it. Then read on!

Let’s start with the same mentality. Set this straight. Repeat after me ” It’s impossible to fully utilise every single penny in my Cash Balance”

[Background info. on Cash Balance]

1) It is not the same as Gcash.

2) Cash balance is the money which is credited to your Gmarket a/c because u paid too much shipping for your previous gmarket shopping

3) Cash balance also comes from gift certificates. For example, you were a Gmarket Top Blogger for a certain mth. You will be given a gift certificate which you confirm receipt and deposit into the cash balance.

[Ways to use Cash balance]

1) Accumulate until you have a HUGE sum then use it in 1 go in a single transaction (1 BIG order)

2) Use it in 2 transactions. Eg: 1 BIG order ( pay with Credit Card or Paypal) & 1 small order ( pay with cash balance) then combine international shipping ( under the ‘request’ section)

————

I went ahead to use Method 2 so that I can maximise my Cash Balance ( cum use my gift certifcate from Jan)  🙂

Misconception: I had 9 items in my cart. I thought I could pay partially using Credit card and cash balance. However, it doesn’t work this way.

What I did?
I spilt up my orders. With abt 60,000 won in my cash balance, I can only buy 2 items + shipping.

Here’s a sceenshot:

*IMPORTANT* Pls make sure that the amt of Cash balance you have covers the payment. In other words, Cash Balance have to be MORE than the Payment

Yes, so I did a bit of maths to count which items should I buy in order to maximise my Cash balance 🙂

Last but not least, Gmarket will prompt you to confirm your payment using Cash Balance. (payment value diff from printscreen above.. heh.. I changed my items)

[Can I still buy when my Cash balance is LESS than my payment?]

Yes! You certainly can! However, take note of what I highlighted in the red box. You will need to deposit $ in your cash balance before the payment due date ( not sure how many days as I have not tried it)

[How can I deposit $ in cash balance?]

You need a korean bank a/c or get someone to buy you a gift certificate so that you can deposit into your cash balance.

[ Can I buy a gift certificate myself and deposit into my cash balance?]

Great minds think alike! I wondered about that too! heh.. I don’t have a Korea bank a/c so I can’t even buy myself a gift certificate!

————

Yups.. so I hope this entry helps you on how to use your Cash Balance 🙂 Pls feel free to share your thoughts by dropping me a comment!

Posted on

Gmarket: Researching on what to buy

I spend at least 5 hours researching on what to buy on Gmarket before purchasing.. heh..

so this is what happens..

I will ususally practise my Korean handwritting, jotting down and saving pics of what I like..

After looking at so many Korean models…

I am so convinced that since I can’t get the REAL thing for now… I shall settle for this …

BH was horrified ” ARE YOU SURE YOU WILL BRING IT OUT? ” I was like “Why not??” haha.. we’ll see how.. anyway, I bought it with my gift certificate 🙂

Then I short listed all these things to buy… haha

1) I love this look. The blazer jacket is soooooooo IN now! haha..

2) Love this lace collar!

3) This dress is soooooo cute! BH was like ” u are no longer a little girl!” BUT i like!!!

4) Love the sleeves!!

5) this dress has pockets!! I love dresses with pockets!!

6) the collar is soooooooooo unique!!

keke.. that’s all.. NOW…what should I not buy??? :p

Pictures from Gmarkets Shops I love:

1)http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=152235630

2)http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=173330122

3)http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=179375133

Posted on

Random

Have you ever had this feeling?

Like u feel very strongly for someone ( positive feeling) but you are afraid to admit it because you are not sure if he feels the same way as u?

Something I must learn.. to love wholeheartedly – regardless of how the other party feel about me? did i get this right?

u get what I mean right? 

It has been soooooooo long and I still have this feeling.. weird isn’t it?

Posted on

busy

well.. I didn’t blog for some time coz I was busy with you know what.. It’s tiring.. but i sure enjoy what I’m doing… 100000000000000X better than the noble profession! I really wanna go into retail one day.. be a store manager or sales associate? I really dunno if i have what it takes.. but I like what i’m doing now really 🙂 I don’t need to be someone who can change the world or mould the future… I just wanna be happy! Is it so difficult??? 

The past week had been miserable for me.. I thank all my friends who had shown me lots of love, suggestion and concern.. I think I had sorted things out

I believe the ultimate decision is still up to me.. I wanna do something for myself.. 

Guess what happened the last time I made a major decision using my HEAD instead of my HEART?  I made a BIG mistake. I sold my soul, life and youth away… This time, I AM NOT GOING WITH MY HEAD. I shall go with my heart – I pray and trust that I will be mking the right choice.

That’s all for now.

Posted on

Failed japanese cotton cheese cake

Does how you feel affect the result of the cake? My FIRST failed attempt in Seattle 🙁

1) Preparing

2) Double boiling – cream cheese, milk and butter

3) Whisking egg whites by hand is tiring. DO NOT TRY

4) Used the mixer. Soft peaks are formed in 15 mins

5) Batter before puting in oven

6) Cake did not rise after 1 hr in the oven

Failed attempt – the trash bin had a treat

Posted on

It stopped

working..

The man outside SAM ( Seattle’s Art Museum) – His arm was taken down for repairs

Just like him..my broken heart needs repairs too 🙁

Posted on

The ugly truth

I know the truth.. I know the best way out BUT when i hear the truth from someone else, someone dear to me.. I can’t accept it.

If it’s the decision I made and finalised myself, it won’t have felt this bad. Hearing it from him, just made me feel ‘unwanted’, ‘unappreciated’ – Did I do something wrong? Is my food so bad tt he wanna eat microwave food? If it’s gonna end up like this, why did we try so hard to come here together?

I am not angry.. I just need to blame myself for what I am now. The 1 thing which changed the rest of my life 🙁

I feel lousy – what I have done is not worthy or/and good enough to mk him think abt me ( i’m only at the back of his mind?) .

Swallow my pride ..it’s just 9 more mths