Mandarins

Saw these australia mandarins while shopping for groceries in the nearby supermarket and added them to the basket. I like to call them little balls of sunshine. Just as you've guessed, I love to use their skins in pastry!

Jamming Session

My first attempt at making strawberry jam.

The jam's colour is of deep ruby red and the taste of strawberries is so intense. It's thick but spreadable straight out of the fridge. I don't think I'll return to the store bought ones after tasting this.

If you're interested to make some of your own, I have modified a recipe from this blog by increasing the sugar to 75% of the strawberries' weight and added in 2 tablespoon of raspberry vodka. Try it, you'll love it!

Lemon Biscotti

Decided to bake some biscotti since I'm meeting my godson's mum for tea tomorrow. Yay! We're going to the Tea Cafe at Seah Street. Too bad the little fellow will be in school. Hopefully my lemon biscotti and chocolate cupcakes can be some form of compensation for him.

I can't say I've fully perfected the art of baking biscotti as yet but it's the one that all my friends would request. To date, I've managed to add lemon, orange and lavender flavoured biscotti to my repertoire. Freshly baked biscotti and chai latte....sounds heavenly!

Pucker Up

If there's a fruit you'll always find in my refrigerator, it'll be the lemon. I simply adore lemon. A wedge of it to liven up the fish and chips, slices of it in ice teas during hot days and cups of hot lemon and honey when I'm down with the flu. It's bright yellow colour never fails to lift my spirit.

Here's the first batch of lemon curd I've made. Before this, I've never tasted lemon curd, let alone homemade ones. The verdict: I love its citrusy, light buttery texture and milky yellow hue. As I've passed the end product through a sieve, the texture is much more velvety than the regular kaya. Even my citrus fruit hater of a Dad is so in love with it. Nothing beats lemon curd and scones for breakfast :)