Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

As my mom was away during the holiday and the maid went back to her hometown to celebrate Idul Fitri, I was left in charge of the house -meaning, I was forced to stay at home to 'guard' it. I'd go out and about all day, and went back home at night.. to an empty house.

Thus began the midnight baking session(s) which were meant to kill time.

The Domestic Goddes (Wannabe) Strikes Again

It's been a long long while since I last stepped in to the kitchen to whip up some magical stuffs (well, they're hardly magical, but I just like to think of it that way).

I stopped experimenting when I started working full time and moved out of my parents' house to live in a small rented space (called kos room) -which is similar to a dorm room and is not equipped with proper kitchen whatsoever.

That was around 3 years ago.

In Search of The Perfect...

Ever since I've stumbled upon Ms. Joycelyn's amazingly beautiful (and scrumptious) foodblog, Kuidaore, just a few days ago, I found myself to be immensely absorbed in her impeccable writings and highly art-directed tantalizing pictures. I also found out later that she's not just good with desserts but also very good with other meals too (like hosting a multi-course dinner party) -- she's an object of admiration and jealousy to me.

I kept on reading and every post seemed to be very inspiring if not encouraging me to pursue my now-forgotten passion for cooking and (especially) baking.

After too much ohh-ing and ahh-ing over her over the top cooking (and art) skills -- if you look at her creations, such as like these christmas joys, these snowflake cookies, these Marie Antoinette-sque cakes, and these super girlie sweets, I believe you'll react the same (and to think that she's entirely self-taught makes me even giddier) -- I stumbled upon one post last night that made me have a sudden huge craving.

A craving for that sweet fluffy French bread called brioche.

Macarons Dream

I'm curently wondering..

What Pierre Hermé's macarons taste like.

I'm never a macaron girl. I dislike meringues (which are basically made from the same main ingredients: egg whites and lots of sugar) and I've tasted macarons here from Bakerzin -and hated it because they were overly sweet, sticky, and yucky. But I've heard some people say that yes, the ones from Bakerzin are awful. You don't compare them with the real macarons such as the ones from Pierre Hermé or Ladurée.

Perhaps it's like comparing McDonald's beef burger to, say, Social House's wagyu burger (okay, that's probably a lame comparison -but you get the point).