Banana Cake

This banana cake is one of my best received cake. I baked it once for a MJ session and after Su tried it, she has been bugging me to baked the banana cake whenever we have gatherings. In fact she loved the cake so much that this is the first cake she baked after she got an oven. The cake is crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. Very nice. :)

Recipe taken from bakingmum.

Ingredients:
180 gm. Butter
180 gm. Fine sugar (I cut down to 150 gm)
2 nos. Extra large Eggs - beaten lightly
250 gm. Cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. Bicarbonate of Soda
220 gm. Bananas - mashed
50 gm. Dairy whip cream (I use evaporated milk)
1/2 tsp. Banana essence (I replace with 1 tsp vanila essence)
2 bananas - slice



Method:

Cream butter and sugar till light and creamy.
(Note: Always thaw your butter before using. If your butter is not thawed fully (soften) and you do not have the luxury of time to wait, then cut the butter to small pieces, like this:

Pour in eggs gradually and beat till creamy.

Add in whip cream, mashed bananas and banana essence and mix well.
(Note: for sweeter taste, use very riped bananas. They are easier to smashed as well.)


Add in cake flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and beat for a while only.

(Note: the end texture of the batter will be very thick and sticky. So don't worry if your batter turns out like creamy form)
Pour into an 8" round tray, and arrange sliced bananas on top.

Bake at 175C for about 50 to 60 mins. or until cooked.

And you get a tasty banana cake. I didn't add sliced bananas at the top but I added chopped walnuts to make it a banana walnut cake. The end results of the cake should be crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. This photo doesn't do much justice cos this pic was the 1st banana cake that I baked. I've since then improved but I didn't take any new pics.

Surprise Surprise

I think everyone loves surprises. Usually women (who are the more romantic creatures) are better in surprises than men. In me and hub's case, we are the opposite. I think I am very lucky that hub is more romantic than me and he likes to give me pleasent surprises.

Anyway, for all the surprise loving women out there, here's some tips on how to get ur partner to give you more surprises.

1. If you have discovered the surprise, always act dumb. Pretend you don't know a thing. Sure it might give u a sense of "see I know you so well, I know what you will do" truimph feeling, but by being a smartass and exposing the surprise, your man will feel dejected and useless. After some time, they will stop planning surprises for you (since you are so smart, so what for I take the effort to plan. Its going be found out anyway).

2. Always appear happy. Even if the surprise bore you, pretend to be happy. Even if you already know about it, pretend to be shocked and happy.

3. Always thank your man (on the spot) and plant him with hugs and kisses.

4. Tell your friends about it. Post it on FB, msn, blog. And if any of ur friends express envy or any good comments, let them know. This will be a boast to their ego. All men like to look good in front of your friends.

5. Lastly, and also most importantly, give ur man a good love making. Then he will be encouraged to give u more surprises. :)

Merry Xmas

Im sorry people, for not updating my blog for such a loooooooooong time. I was busy planning for my winter holidays. This time we were going so many places and I so much research that I felt like I was studying for an exam. Haven't doe so much reading in a long time. Anyway I finally finished the itenary for my trip this morning at 6am... And we will be leaving tomorrow later today in the morning. We won't be back till 2nd Jan 2010 so here's wishing everybody a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year in advance. Keep warm, go easy on the log cakes and spread the love.  Do pray for me that I won't freeze to death for the next 2 weeks!! :)

Dec Drama recommendations

A taitai usually has alot of time on her hands so what better way to kill time other than watching drama?? Back in Sg, I don't watch more than 5 episodes of drama in a whole year and yet when Im here, I can watch 5 dramas in a month. Hence taitai recommendations will never go wrong. :p

I usually prefer dramas that are:
funny
fast paced
not too long (anything more than 20 ep is considered long for me)
have pretty leading actresses and most importantly
have handsome/cute leading actors

And recommended drama for Dec meets all of the above!! Its funny, fast paced, 16 eps only, the leading actress not really chio in my opinion but the leading actor is very CUTE!!

Go check out this K-drama : You're Beautiful/Handsome. Chinese title: 是美男阿

The beautiful casts of You're Beautiful

The story is tell the adventures and misadventures of this nun to be lady who joined a Korea's most popular pop band, A.N Jell in her twin brother's place. Though the plot is nothing exciting, but the drama is damn funny and there were lots of paradys in the show. And of cos, the casts. The OST is damn nice too. I had the songs playing on my itunes for days.

I wasn't even this into BOF (Boys Before Flowers)/Gu Jun Pyo when I was watching that. So if you are looking for a drama to watch, do watch You're Beautiful. You won't regret it. :)

UEFA Champions League Live: Bordeaux Vs Juventus

Among the 3 teams (Marcabi, Bayern Munich & Juventus) that were competiting with Bordeaux for the 1st round, this is the game that I was looking forward to most. For the following reasons:

1. Juventus is the only club I knew
2. It is an Italian club and I love everything Italian (eg. pasta, Lumborghini, Ducati, Totti etc)
3. My favorite goalkeeper, Buffon is in Juventus

As we were sitting behind the goalpost, I kept snapping photos of Buffon but I don't dare to do it too obviously because we were sitting at the Bordeaux fansclub area.

can catch a glimsp of his face...










And hence, though I was sitting at the Bordeaux fans area, I was actually secretly rooting for Juventus. Bordeaux is already qualified for 2nd round anyway.

Dissapointingly, this match wasn't as exciting as the Bayern match. I guess because they were already qualified for 2nd round, Bordeaux didn't send their star player Gourcuff (the most handsome player) to the field. Juventus, who was 1 point away from qualifying didn't seem to be playing to win. In fact, the whole 1st half of the game feels like a friendly match.




See Buffon in action... keke...

The match only got more heated up when Bordeaux scored their 1st goal. Juventus seems to have woken up from their idea and attacked more but still the attempts were half hearted. So I guess they desserved it when Bordeaux scored a 2nd goal just before the end of the game. And Juventus lost 2-0.

But the atmosphere this time round was really high. The Bordeaux fans were damn damn damn happy and high when they scored the goals. They cheered louder than the previous games and when the 2nd goal was scored, everyone stood on the seats and jumped in joy. They seems to have a personal vendetta against the Italians because eventhough the Juventus fans didn't do anything to offend them, after Bordeaux won, they all faced the Juventus fans, booed them and showed them their middle fingers. I think they are still sore about losing to Italy in the last world cup. :p



this is how high the fans were... the whole stadium singing away...

Anyway, I am happy that Bordeaux got into the 2nd round cos that will means I will have more matches to watch. Hubby is praying that they will play against Man U in the next round. I am praying it will be a club I know (I only know a few clubs).