Baked Cheesy Chicken (Martha Stewart) and Corelle® Frost Set Review

Can't believe it's already the last day of 2012 - as cliché as it may sound - time really flies! I went to do a quick calculation of my posts, and I found out that this is my 100th post for the year! It was a huge improvement as compared to last year (I only blogged 50 posts last year!) And out of these 100 posts, 22 (including this one) were savoury meals, 52 were sweets and desserts (which meant I bake a new dessert once a week, wow!), 20 were travel posts and 6 were miscellaneous posts. I hope I'll be able to maintain this standard for the coming year ;)

Gratin of Potatoes (Martha Stewart) and an Award

Okay, I know you can't really tell what this dish is (credit to my lousy photography skills haha), but this is actually a dish that I really like, because it contains my top favourite vegetable - potato! And the second main ingredient of the dish is cheese, which, I'm sure, many of us love the combination of potato and cheese ;)

Soy Glazed Salmon (Martha Stewart)

How's everyone Christmas? I think many of us have slaved over the stove over the past week and would probably be afraid of getting near the stove (well, that's me), so this oven recipe is a great way to stay away from the kitchen - just make the marinade, pour over the salmons, and once again, the oven does all the work - and you can have another meal just under 30 minutes!

Chocolate Log Cake with Varlhona Chocolate Mousse (A Healthier Version)

Everyone loves to celebrate Christmas with log cakes (aka yule logs), and I am no exception. Last year was my first attempt in making a log cake - a chocolate genoise with peanut butter buttercream frosting, covered with a layer of chocolate meringue buttercream, which looks like this:

Pan-Fried Chicken with Mushrooms (Martha Stewart)

I took a week of leave (starting on Monday) to get prepared for all the Christmas baking. If you've followed me on Facebook page, you'd probably have seen some photos popping up on the page, those are what I've been busy with during the week - baking macarons (4 flavours, failed 1), cookies (another 4 flavours, all taste pretty good!), cupcakes and Swiss roll (with a twist, shall post photo of that later when I've finished filling it). So if you want to see what's baking/cooking in my kitchen, do follow my Facebook page!

I was really lazy to go out and buy myself lunch, so I decided to whip up some simple one-person-meal - I planned what I wanted to eat, bought all the groceries during the weekend, and in just less than 30 minutes, I got myself a delicious and nutritious plate of lunch during the week.

Shilin Night Market and Shida Night Market, Taipei, Taiwan

Shilin Night Market (士林夜市)

On to the last part on Taipei! (Many more to come after that...) The last instalment on Taipei is about... food! You know food's my favourite, so I've definitely saved it for the last ;)

Taiwan (not just Taipei!) is popularly known for its night markets. The night markets are visited not only by the tourists, but also the locals. You can find lots of local snacks, clothes, accessories and souvenirs in night markets, but when we were there, we usually just go for the food.

Brown Sugar BBQ Chicken (Martha Stewart)

As a full-time employee, the only time that I get to bake and cook are on weekends. I cook only lunch - dinners are mostly prepared by my mom, or we will eat out. Most of the time I'll be spending more time on baking, so I'm always in search of simple and quick lunch recipes - and this is definitely one of them. I only need to make the sauce and mix it with the chicken, and the rest of the work is done by the oven.

Tamsui, Taipei, Taiwan

Sunset at Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf (淡水漁人碼頭)

Tamsui is a district located to the North of Taipei. Many tourists (both local and foreign) love to go to Tamsui to walk around and enjoy the view, especially the sunset. We didn't manage to see the sun disappear set into the sea as it was a very cloudy day - the sun was hidden behind the clouds. We were actually a little disappointed as we wouldn't be able to see the sunset. However, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise! The sky turned into a beautiful combination of blue, red, yellow, pink and purple - it was amazing!

Tuna and Lemon Spaghetti (Martha Stewart)

I made this pasta dish for the event Cook Like A Star - Cook Like A Star is a blog hop hosted by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Riceball from Riceball Eats. The even is hosted every bi-monthly and the theme will always be a celebrity chef. All we have to do is just try out the dishes cooked/baked by these celebrity chefs and post it on our blogs!

This month's theme is Martha Stewart - I've never really watched her show though I know many love her recipes. While browsing for a quick and easy lunch idea on her website, I found this easy pasta dish that I whipped up in less than 30 minutes!

Éclairs and an Award

Éclairs!

I've missed several Bake Alongs and I've decided not  to miss any more this time! (Okay, partly also because I'm dying to bake some choux as I love cream puffs and éclairs very much, so this Bake Along came just in time to satisfy my choux cravings!)

In case you're wondering, Bake Along is an event hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids. They will decide on a theme (can be a general theme like éclairs or a specific recipe from a cookbook) and we'll bake them and blog about it on the stipulated date. It's a great avenue to try out recipes that you've always wanted to try, but didn't have the motivation to do so!

Rainbow Bridge, Core Pacific City, Taipei Expo Park at Taipei, Taiwan

Core Pacific City (京華城)

I'm back to update another post on my Taiwan trip! We scheduled to stay in Taipei for 6 days - 3 days at the start and 3 days at the end (the other 16 days are spent in other counties). I've decided to combine all the places I've been to in Taipei first before moving on to another county.

Taiwan is probably not very popularly known for its architecture, as most of them do not have long historical background and were not built in times when there was no modern technology. However, there are still some modern architecture that are relatively pretty, and one of them is the Core Pacific City.

Christmas Round-Up

Hello! Pardon for the lack of updates here... I'm swarmed with work these days, so I haven't really got the chance to update the blog with new recipes and travelogues. So instead of posting a new recipe / travelogue, I've decided to do a quick update on a Christmas special!

December is probably one of my favourite and most terrified months of the year. Favourite because Christmas is finally here and everyone will be in such festive and happy mood; not to mention the tons of sinfully delicious food that we get to eat during this period! On the other hand, the reason for my fear for December is also because it is such a disastrous month for my waistline... I can never get past December without gaining weight!

So to start of this delicious and fattening month, I've selected a few of my favourite food that deserved to be baked/cooked for Christmas:

Appetisers and Mains

Baked Button Mushrooms	Potato-Carrot Mash
Small button mushrooms stuffed with a bacon-onion filling, with a soft, gooey piece of cheese on top. I can’t stop popping them into my mouth!	Everyone loves a good mashed potatoes, why not add in some carrot for some colour and additional nutrients? (Takes off some guilt from all the feasting!)
Baked Cola Chicken	Baked Rice
These sticky and sweet chicken wings are definitely a great way to start a sweet Christmas party. The best thing about them is they can be prepared way ahead as they need some time to bake in the oven!	This bowl of baked rice doesn’t use any instant cream of chicken/mushroom soup. It is a hearty meal – creamy interior with a crispy and cheesy crust – that leaves people coming back for more.
Chicken Pie	Bolognese
You can make individual pots of chicken pie, or just one huge serving in a large dish. Either way, it’ll still be incredibly delicious.	If you’re not a rice or pie person, bolognese sauce will definitely be the next best option to serve a huge crowd. This sauce is the perfect marriage between tomatoes and beef - yum!

Desserts

Macarons	Cream puffs
If you’ve not tried making macarons, this might be the time to bake some! They are guaranteed crowd-pleasers and there are so many possibilities. I’ve baked chocolate and lemon flavoured ones before, hoping to try some more during this month!	Cream puffs are always crowd-pleasers. Everyone loves to eat them and many of them have the wrong perception that they’re really hard to make, but it’s not true at all!
No-Bake Baileys Cheesecake	Baileys Chocolate Cake
Creamy, rich, boozy and no baking needed, this cheesecake can be made ahead and served when you’re ready!	This easy and delicious chocolate cake does not require the use of any mixer, which makes cleaning up much easier!
Red Vevlet Cupcakes	Varlhona Chocolate Cake
Red cupcakes with a fluffy white cream cheese frosting will definitely brighten up everyone’s Christmas!	Varlhona chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter filling and chocolate ganache frosting, sinful, but worth every single bite!

This list is definitely not exhaustive, but this are some of my favourites this month! What are you planning to bake/cook for Christmas this year?