Lazy sunday

Today was Team Together at church where as a church we pledge to give a one off or monthly contribution towards the church fund. I am always in tears when we have team together because of the atmosphere and presence of God and how much the church has grown over the 16 and a half years. Imagine if Pastor Paul & Maree did not obey God to come to NZ from Aussie, without stepping out in faith to come and start a church here. Now look at the growth and yet still so much to come!!!

Watching the DVD at church about all the initiatives our church is doing, I stand in awe of how BIG our God is.

Team Together has continually taught me to think of the future generations, that what we sow now will be reaped in the future. We need to live with the seeds that we have now and how much we can contribute so that the future generations can continue it.

Back at home after lunch I over indulged in salted peanuts while watching this Cantonese drama series which I think made me over snacked till I felt sick to the core. Decided to bake to get myself out of the sofa and finish using the carton of sour cream that is about to expire and some bananas I took from mum's otherwise it will rot and thrown away.

Time to gather ingredients

2/3 c butter
1-1/3 c sugar
2 eggs
1-1/2 c. mashed banana
2-1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. sour cream

Preheat over to 180 degrees c.
Cream butter and sugar together;

add eggs and bananas, beat until smooth.

In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking

powder, baking soda and salt

together. Add dry mixture alternately

with sour cream to banana mix, blend well.

So here it is...the finished product -

At last green tea!

Today I felt like trying to bake using two of my fav food - red bean and green tea hence I decided simply red bean green tea cake??? I couldnt find any green tea powder in the normal super markets but thanks to my Korean friend she gave me a pack hence I can bake

There were so many recipies but I just wanted a simple one using what I have at home.

Matcha (Green Tea) cake
• 1 ¼ cups flour (run through a sifter 2x to make it lighter - I used cake flour)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon matcha
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup canola or vegetable oil (I used rice bran oil)
• 2 egg yolks, room temperature
• ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons cold water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 egg whites
• ¼ cup sugar
Red bean paste (from chinese super market)

Preheat the oven to 180 Degrees C. Line a bread loaf tin or muffin tray

Sift together the cake flour, matcha (tea) powder, baking powder and salt. Mix with the sugar.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, egg yolks, water and vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until well incorporated.

Place the egg whites in a clean, dry bowl and whip using a handheld or standing
electric mixer on low speed until they begin to froth.

Once the whites become foamy, begin gradually adding the sugar one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is incorporated.

Continue beating, gradually increasing the mixer speed, until stiff peaks form.
Fold the meringue into the mixture in three additions.

Pour the 1/3 of the batter into prepared tin then spread a layer of red bean paste followed by another layer of thin batter to cover it and repeat it again with the red bean paste covered with the batter to finish

And here it is...It is my first attempt, tasted good but I put too much green tea powder so the green tea was very strong but I love the smell of it!

Paint

Not working for the past few days has made me think hmmm what else can i try doing before I get real busy...not like I ever will so I thought hmm I'm so bad at art so why not do some simple paintings to put around the house? he he

The painting is simply a heart which to me was the love of God and the verse of Pro 3:5-6 Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall make straight your path.

The cross reflects Calvary and what Jesus did on the cross showing us his LOVE (hence the hearts)for us.

It's pretty basic paintings and because of my impatience I just did a really simple one.



Painting is pretty fun and it doesn't have to be complicated. In fact I love the simple ones better. Even if I wanted to paint some scenery I am sure it will look like a mess haha.

Yum my "date" scone

Had a good morning breakfast with mum at Kenzie's just down the road from where I live...I've been there so often now that I'm not working the cafe staff all know me...sigh not a good thing is it!! The staff are all friendly but the place is a little small so when the coffee is being made it can get pretty noisy!

BUT I love their date scone there because of how different it is as shown in the picture. The dates is in between a layer of dough (cooked dough) and drinking it with mocha is just divine!




Mum had eggs benedicts it was yum too! Sigh have to stop going to cafes!!!


Main thing was the fact that I finally caught up with mum and got her to come out to have breakfast with me!!!

Location:
Kenzie cafe 557 Manukau Road, Royal Oak

So overall rating:

8.5/10 Food
7/10 Service
7/10 Atmosphere as it is a little small and can be rather noisy when coffee is being made

Korean BBQ

I am starting to fall in love with Korean food! Had an amazing time at Sarah and Cassie's place having Korean BBQ!!
We started off with the yummiest dessert wine that one bottle between the 5 of us was not enough!



The preparation was pretty simple but it was interesting how they put a bit of everything (onions, rice, sauce,pork, kimchi etc) in a big mint leave or lettuce leave and wrap it up and eat it. It's abit like peking duck where we put the sauce, cucumber and skin wrapping it up with a thin piece of pancake.


The mushrooms were placed upside down without the stalk and we waited for the juice to come up to eat it. We kept eating and eating for 2 hours it was crazy. I think it's such a nice dinner to have with a few girls catching up with each other. The layout of how the food was placed was so cute and we just kept filling the hot plate up.