Weekend Baking - French Macarons (1st & 2nd Attempt)

Last Saturday, I attempted to bake one of my most craved food that is not available in our town -  French Macarons!  I can only buy this delicate confection in Manila which is 2 - 3 hours away from our home.  Since it is pretty much hard to get, I decided to try to make my own at home.

I followed the instructions of Bakerella for the macaron shells.  Then I made my own recipe for a yema filling instead of ganache or buttercream.

Unfortunately, my 1st attempt failed.  Cause of failure = short baking time.  I followed the 18 minutes instruction from Bakerella because I was afraid I might overcook the shells.  But I was sooo wrong.  I should have baked the batch for 25 minutes.  Some shells from the 1st batch had feet and smooth top shells but they break when i try to peel away the baking sheets.  Sad.

But my Quality Control Team (my cousins and my aunt and my mom and my sister and my DH) enjoyed the yema filling.  They paired it with my sister's pan de sal. Happy.  

While taste testing my yema filling, I prepared my 2nd batch, this time I colored it pastel green. 

Can you see the feet of some shells? However, the top shells were cracked and most didn't have feet.  I think I underfold the mixture and I raised the oven temperature a bit higher to cook the batch faster.  But again, I was soooo wrong.  My QCT enjoyed them nonetheless.  And they encouraged me to practice some more and to remember to invite them over again for quality control. Hahaha That's why I love them s much!  

Ohhh this is a start of something beautiful. I know.

On the other news,  I find it hard to do paper and needle crafts these days.  Our kind university nurse advised me to visit an ophthalmologist to have my eyes tested.  I'm starting to have an impaired vision so I might be needing a pair of eyeglasses. Sad.  But I'm looking forward to finding the cutest pair of glasses for mah eyes!

Thankful and Happy

We spent last weekend at home so I had a lot of time appreciating the life I have right now.  We do not have much but we do our best to look at and CREATE the bright side of things.  2012 left us with a broken Nikon D90, but we gained the Samsung S3 to take really nice snapshots of our lives.  We sold the Civic and made a loan to purchase the City to save on gas and maintenance.  It taught us how to prioritize and to say 'No' sometimes. 

We are still living in our little square house beside my parents' but we are glad that we are near them so they could check on our little man while we are at work on weekdays.  We have changed the layout of our little home and we tried to find the right furniture for it last weekend.  We only found a nice kitchen table last Saturday where we can put the stove on.  I wanted an oven but it's not in our priorities right now so I'l just bake in mom's oven if the baking bug bites me again on weekends. :D

The little man is into doodling and coloring already and I find the mess he created beautiful.  The paints on the tiles are easy to clean and the pencil doodles our walls can also be erased.  But for now, the Mister and I are loving every print the little man is leaving on our walls. And the little's 'paintings' are also on display in our home.

I tried to roast pumpkin bites last Sunday but it didn't turn out to be a delight.  Preparing healthier and delicious food for my family is one of my priorities and a daily goal starting 2013.  I hope and pray I can find the best routine to keep up with this goal.

yes, he can Gangnam :D 

So how did your weekend go?  I hope you had a good one.  And if not, at least try to think and list down the blessings that you are currently enjoying right now. :D  It will keep you in a good and creative mood. Have a lovely productive week ahead!

2013 Handmade Planner/Journal

Finally, I am done with my 2013 Planner/Journal's cover.  I chose a burnt orange textile for my cover.  I still can't get over that color for some unknown reason. :)

Tomorrow, I will be nesting.  The Mister and I will be searching for a used but in good condition dining table for 2. We have vey little space for additional furniture  but this is a necessity.  I hope we can find the right one tomorrow.  I will also be sewing some more wall/door decors (↓) this weekend while watching some old and new films with the Mister.

What projects are you going to do this weekend?

Happy crafting! :-)

Paalam 2012! Mabuhay 2013!

I have been busy with lots of things in the past 6 months.  Some of the stuff I did are worthy to be shared  with my dear blog readers and friends,  but I was just tooo lazy to post.  Expressing my thoughts with words has always been a difficult task for me to do so I became more active in Instagram instead.  

However, the desire for me to develop my communication skills is still alive.  I want that flame to burn brighter and hotter so one of my goals for 2013 is to be active again in blogging.  I'll start that by wrapping some things up from the previous year.

The pictures below are some of my creative works / endeavors last December 2012.  I was able to create a 2013 planner as gifts for my sisters and girlfriends.  I am currently finishing the cover of my own planner so it's not in these pictures yet. Every step of the planner creation was fun! The planner layouting, the digital scrapbooking, crocheting, sewing, cover designing, etc. were all done slowly and meticulously and with lots of love and fun!  I also made some cash envelopes for my Christmas cash gifts using my new embossing tool that my dear friend Janice gave me. 

Oh and one of the best things that happened to me last year was joining the BETP Exporter's Fair.  It was my first time ever to join a fair and I really learned a lot from that wonderful experience.  I want to join another one (or maybe more) this year! 

That's it! I think I'm ready to start this year right.  :D  Signing off to make some plans for this blog...