chocolate chip, blueberry, banana

the frames for the platoon...
sometimes i wish that i could to freeze the picture, and save it from the funny tricks of time.

made nigella's johnnycakes on last sunday. these are pancakes with cornmeal added, so there's a grainy texture.
the pancake batter could be made quite quickly. the slowest part is the actual cooking. because i only had one frying pan, it took me almost 45 minutes to finish cooking all the batter.
my first time making pancakes; i think they turned out quite well. it's cute how the batter spreads viscously onto the pan, and then firms up enough for you to flip it.
keeping the johnnycakes warm in the oven. like i said, the cooking took very long, so it was neccesary to keep the cooked ones warm until serving. besides, once cold, the johnnycakes lose their grainy texture and become tough.
piled up high, drenched with strawberry coulis, and then topped with some (finishing) golden peach jam.

i also made some cakes for the bunk steamboat last sunday.
this is simply the madeira cake from nigella's mother-in-law, which was the second recipe of how to be a domestic goddess that i tested. this time, however, i chose not to take out the big mixer, and used my handheld mixer. (it was completely messy.)
made some royal icing, recipe from the american book. this is quite like a meringue, just that it uses icing sugar. i used lemon juice to turn it a bit fluid for flooding.
it's pretty, isn't it. i love how it flows slowly down the sides, and how it dries into a lustrous shell.

brought the cakes to the steamboat dinner in bunk. ate so much and felt so full. so yes, this week i've begun full-time admin work. some days, it kills, but i think i'm getting better. it's been rainy the past week, and i brought my violin and viola to kill the spare time i had. sunshine was trying to play twinkle twinkle little star and it was so funny! oh and i got my first taste of macaroons on thursday, thanks to weiyang. yesterday i was doing guard duty and i saw a rainbow; it was fiercely ephemeral.

a nameless kid told me that if you just stare at a night sky, you’ll see meteors. last night i didn’t see any; i saw blue stars. don't disappear!