Midlife Crisis? :)

I guess you can say that you're having a midlife crisis when you Google something like: "What will I do with my life?"...which is exactly what I did...in a moment of desperation to seek answers. I got into a website/blog that suggested writing 100 things you want to do in a span on 20 minutes. It could be a career you want to have, or people you'd like to meet. It could be realistic; it could be grandiose; or it could be downright impossible! It could be just about anything under the sun you want out of life. And so in a desperate way of finding comfort in knowing that there may be answers out there, I did make a list. I only got to 60, which took me longer than 20 minutes, by the way. And so here it goes: (try not to laugh!) =)

1. Get married in a church.

2. Have kids.

3. Learn how to decorate a cake.

4. Enroll in cake decorating classes.

5. Have a baking/cake business and be my own boss.

6. Live abroad.

7. Study abroad.

8. Buy a beautiful house with a nice kitchen.

9. Plant my own garden.

10. Bake birthday cakes for each of my family, every single year.

11. Make grand wedding cakes.

12. Travel around the Philippines.

13. Travel around Asia.

14. Travel across Europe.

15. Have a grand vacation with my ENTIRE family.

16. Get married by the beach! (On second thought) =)

17. Learn how to swim.

18. Learn how to surf.

19. Have my own baking supply store.

20. Take up my Master's Degree.

21. Teach in a school.

22. Be a blessing.

23. Love deeply, like there's no tomorrow.

24. Forgive often (and easily).

25. Ask forgiveness...often (no matter how hard).

26. Pray every day, even if I don't feel like it.

27. Be grateful, even under difficult circumstances.

28. Clean my room regularly. :p

29. Do my laundry more often. :D

30. Cook for my (future) husband every day.

31. Bake for my (future) kids almost every day.

32. Laugh more often.

33. Live without regrets (from now on) ;)

34. Make better decisions.

35. Save up for the rainy days.

36. Pay off all my (credit card) debts.

37. Love what I do.

38. Do what I love.

39. Eat healthy.

40. Spend wisely.

41. Exercise!

42. Lose "unnecessary" weight.

43. Stay in touch with old friends.

44. Stay in love!

45. Be a better daughter.

46. Be a better sister.

47. Eat out with my family more often.

48. Spend "quality time" with my family more often.

49. Relinquish my pride.

50. REALLY learn from my mistakes.

51. Read more novels.

52. Write more thoughts.

53. Be inspired.

54. Live out my passions.

55. Learn how to paint.

56. Be creative.

57. Learn how to ice skate.

58. Go on sky diving (at least once!) =)

59. Pamper myself more often.

60. Enjoy life! (...because I'm almost halfway there!)

=)

Where Have All Blog Posts Gone?

Has it been three months?!

I've been so busy lately I haven't visited my own blog for almost three months now...much less the other blogs I follow. If I hadn't seen my friend create his own blog, I never would've remembered I had one! (Yep, I was that busy!)

So whatever happened to the baby cookies I planned to bake and decorate? Or the Easter and summer cookies I've been excited about? Or the blueberry bagels I found at a weekend flea market? Or all the possibilities of baking with boxes of fresh ripe strawberries I bought from Baguio City?

Surely, they could've been blog posts...

But I decided to "live" and not just write. So they went by un-posted. Un-posted but definitely devoured...with my insatiable appetite for more sweetness...and more life.

Happy Thursday! And happy baking!

♥♥♥

Vegan Brownies

I'm not vegan, just to set the record straight. And I don't have any intention to be one. I tried to become a vegetarian once when I was in college, which lasted for about two days. Then I realized I don't have any other compelling reason to give up my beloved cheeseburger and fries than my desire to be attached to that label, "vegetarian",  which kinda sounds cool at that time. (Didn't we all experience the joys and miseries of labeling back when we were in school?!)  :)

So why a vegan brownie? Well, I find myself craving for a brownie yesterday, when I found out I don't have anything dairy in the pantry -- no eggs, no butter, no milk. And I've had this recipe for years so I thought I'd give it a try (in a sort of desperate measure kind of thing!). :) There were some negative reviews on the website where I got this recipe, which were holding me back a little into making this. But with my chocolate cravings, I just had to press on. I did not have high hopes for this recipe because of the negative reviews I've mentioned -- but surprisingly, they were good! Understandably, they don't taste like your usual rich and fudgy brownie made with the more "conventional" ingredients. But it did hold up as one of the best tasting brownie I've had. Even my sister who's not so fond of anything sweet loved them! I love that it was not cloyingly sweet as other recipes are. It may come out as bland for some tasters who are used to the conventional brownies, but it's just a perfect balance for me.

I halved the recipe and baked it in an 8x8 square pan. Also, the original recipe called for white sugar, but I found out I also ran out of white sugar, so used brown instead (which makes it more vegan, I think.)

To make it , you'll need:

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
scant 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line all sides of an 8x8 pan with parchment paper. (No need to grease or the brownie will be too greasy)

-Mix all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt).

-Add water, stir a bit. Then add the vegetable oil and vanilla. (It's important to add the water first so the flour can develop gluten which will help the other ingredients to bind together. Otherwise, the brownie will be too crumbly.)

-Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Wait at least 10-15 minuted before slicing into squares. Best eaten at room temperature.

You can also add nuts or chocolate chips if you want. But I suggest that the additions be minimal since there isn't any binding ingredient (such as eggs) in the recipe.

Enjoy! :)

Happy Heart's Day!

I meant to bake something today (or yesterday... or any other day of this past week). I've been excited about baking for V-day since the 1st of the month! I have sketched my cookie design ideas and bought a new tin heart cookie cutter. I even had an impulsive buy at the craft store when I saw this red wooden rose, and imagined it would be a great stencil for powdered sugar on top of a chocolate cupcake or brownie. I was psyched, alright.

But... I've been sidetracked by more important issues in my life. Surely, what could be more important than baking something sweet for the Valentine weekend?

Well, I'm getting married! My fiancé and I have been unofficially talking about it for a few months now, but this time, we finally caved in. So it has been a hectic couple of days for me, scouring the internet for ideas on thousand different topics, like venues, dresses, cakes, caterers, color motif, wedding song, you name it! And then calling and emailing potential suppliers for rates and availability...not to mention going to the church and the city office to get a head start on the legal requirements. It was a busy week, indeed! I'm pretty sure I'm off to a good start though, considering that the wedding date we're targeting is still in September. :) (Yeah, I am that excited!)

So for now, baking for V-day would have to be postponed till next year. :) But still, I'm wishing everyone had a Happy Heart's Day! And I sure hope your hearts are all as happy as mine. ♥

Gingerbread Cupcakes

I kinda miss the "tastes" of Christmas... I've been thinking a lot about a gingerbread loaf recipe I got from one of my magazines, but couldn't really make it because of some ingredients that would require a special trip to the grocery store. So when I found this recipe from my newsletter subscription, and realized that I have all the ingredients available on hand, I knew I just had to try it.

I had my hopes up...but it was a little disappointing.

For starters, it didn't turn out as I hoped it to be. The molasses was a little overpowering on the recipe. In fact, it's all I could taste it should be called "molasses cupcake"! But it's also possible that it was because I used the dark variety which has a more pronounce and robust flavor. And then there was the ginger... or in this case, the lack of it. I've been looking for that ginger overtones that I find in gingerbread cookies, but this recipe has very weak ginger flavor. It could've been overpowered by the molasses, though.

In the spirit of the upcoming Valentines, I sprinkled the cupcakes with powdered sugar using a home-made stencil. The cuteness of it almost made me forget the slightly unpalatable taste of these babies. Well...almost. :)

♥♥♥