Kitchen Herbs Box
Here's a kitchen herbs box I planted the other day which I hope will be enough to to last the whole season. In the summer I enjoy using fresh herbs for cooking, I use it for barbecue, salad, summer drinks, teas, etc. I love growing my own herbs because a lot of times I only need a little bit. So rather than getting a whole bunch of herbs from the supermarket I just cut what i need freshly from this container
The container you see in the picture is from Walmart for $12, not sure if it is sturdy but time will tell. I have four kinds of herbs - mint, basil, rosemary, italian flat leaf parsely. Herbs needs a lot of sun (at least 6 hours a day)... perfect for my deck! I also put a little mulch on top to keep the soil moist.
Hawaiian macadamia coconut cookies
I'm still here 
. Haven't post any updates for almost a month! If you recall, I went back to school part-time for my Masters degree, it's a lot of work and most of my weekends have been spent on homework, tests, papers, etc. My professor is nice enough to let us have a Thanksgiving break this week, yay! Work has been crazy too, I hardly find time to read blogs but I try to sneak in 5-10 minutes everyday just to read and comment on blogs.
When I'm not gardening, I'm either cooking or baking. I like to try new recipes and especially love to take pictures of food! Every time I come back from travelling, 40% of my pictures are food related. My favorite is discovering new restaurants and trying new cuisines. By the way, is anybody watching Top Chef this season?
I stumbled upon the Hawaiian macadamia coconut cookies from Technicolor Kitchen. By the way, check out her pictures, it's amazing. My food pictures don't even come close. Here's the recipe and some pictures, the original recipe makes 3 dozen but I've modified it to make about a dozen:
Hawaiian macadamia coconut cookies
Makes about 1 dozen – I got 18
1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup (75g) granulated sugar
2/3 cup (66g) firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 egg
1 tbsp grated orange rind
1 1/8 cups (105g) all-purpose flour
1 1/8 cups (72g) rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup (34g) sweetened desiccated coconut
3/8 cup (50g) macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped (you can substitute this with cashew nuts)
Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF; line 2 large baking sheets with baking paper.
In a large bowl, cream butter and both sugars. Add egg and beat well. Add orange rind and beat well.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, oats, baking powder and salt. Beat into creamed mixture. Stir in coconut and macadamia nuts.
Make balls with 1 tablespoon full of dough and place them on the sheet, about 5cm (2in) apart. Press down the tops with a lfork to flatten slightly. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until edges are golden – mine took 15 minutes.
Cool for 5 minutes before removing from sheet otherwise the cookie breaks apart. Cool on wire racks.
Halloween cake decorating
Went to a cake decorating class with my co-worker today! I rarely bake and if I do I usually make simple stuff like banana cake, muffins, and small pastries. I always admire people who makes those beautiful wedding cakes and they make it look so easy! So I thought why not try and see if I can do this. This was an introductory class so when we got there the cakes were baked already. We were provided with utensils, buttercream, and fondant. That's basically what you need to make a cake! Like what the instructor told us, it's not the ingredients that make the cake expensive, it's the decoration and level of difficulty that makes it expensive.
I was excited to learn that we would be making a pumpkin-shaped cake. Sounds easy, right? I love to eat and cook, so how hard can a pumpkin cake be? The instructor demonstrated each step and we all followed. I had no idea this was so tough! I was constantly trying to fix the cake and I just made it worst! But it was a really fun experience. I think I'lljust stick with baking... cake decorating is just too hard!
