Friday Feature: Mayhem, madness, 'mazing macaroons

It's time to fight Friday blues

I miss my Friday Features, in fact I miss my structured blog entries but I refrained from doing them (all the time) as they seemed to constrict my writing. That said, I'm enjoying the fact that it's Friday and while browsing a blog I felt the need to blog about it and realized I could. Under my Friday Features!

Macaroons...macarons, however you want to spell them, I prefer the former as there's something more appealing about the way it looks and fits the actual devilish delight. Would you believe, I actually have yet to have a proper macaroon! And yet I am so in love with them.

It all began with that episode of Masterchef Australia when Adriano Zumbo unveiled his macaroon tower for the elimination round to kill them all...

It was official: I was in love. The macaroon recipe was what did me in. I had conquered the apparently "difficult" red velvet cake and did it all by hand too (although I highly recommend investing on an electric mixer, doing it by hand is primitive and painful. I only did it because it was for Scott's birthday!) and needed a new challenge. So what better challenge than to try out macaroons? Pfui, I'll conquer them too!

Unfortunately it will be a long time until I can make my own deletable delights (alas, living in a residential college curbs your cooking inspiration, I await the day I move out eagerly!) but until then I waste no time in perusing anyone and everyone's accounts of macaroon madness!

From Masterchef Australia runner-up (and University of Adelaide student, yay for pride!) Callum Hann's recipe for Violet Macaroons with raspberries and butter cream which looks phenomenally hard to a more simple version of Violet's (haha, the irony...) Chocolate Macaroons (I highly suggest reading Violet's blog by the way, she's a cutie!) there is an abundance of recipes out there all with horror stories too.

Has anyone tried making these sugary treats? If so, any suggestions?

Friday Feature: Oreo Cheesecakes

It's time to fight Friday blues

(Picture taken from lillyella's blog)

The holidays are coming up, a short and very busy one albeit but after that I'll be on summer break and back home in Sri Lanka which I'm looking forward to. For one thing, I'm looking forward to trying out a whole bunch of recipes I've been accumulating and drooling after this entire year! Now, if you know me pretty well you'll know that one of my favorite desserts in the entire world is a classic cheesecake. If you're Blaire Sigson then you'll know that frozen oreo pudding is an amazing treat after midnight and we can demolish an entire one between ourselves and still want more. So when I found this recipe for Oreo Cheesecakes on lillyella's blog I definitely fell in love!

So who else is with me on this superb combination? Really, how can anyone resist?!

Friday Feature: Fighting The Blues Today

It's time to fight Friday blues

It's coming to the end of the week and considering I was traveling for about a day plus some earlier this week, returned to Adelaide only to tackle three lectures and unpacking and then dealing with work and catching up with other work etc. it's gotten me pretty darn exhausted and just a little drained...make that really really really drained!

So what I did for my Friday Feature was to investigate ways of cheering yourself up. I googled it (because I'm a big google-r and I will just about google anything!) and found some websites that suggested ways of cheering yourself up! How neat is that?

Here are some of my favorites:

Drink two glasses of water. Many times, what I thought was sadness was really just dehydration. Sounds simple, but it's true.
I haven't exactly tried this out but I might just do so the next time I have a bad day! As it turns out, this might be why I'm so grumpy all the time because I tend to neglect food and water a lot, uh oh!

Eat something healthy and fresh. You could be feeling blue because your blood sugar has taken a dip. Eat a bowl of fresh fruits or vegetables.
Something else to take into consideration! I know a lot of the times my mood will turn sour if I'm hungry or if I don't have enough sugar/proper food in me.

Blow bubbles for a child.
I prefer doing this with my cat because the way he chases the bubbles is just too cute! (: I love making my own bubble mixture - I mix a bunch of shampoos together with not too much water so the bubbles last longer. I also use a straw to blow my bubbles, definitely more fun.

Make something. Use your creative mind, and create something with your own two hands, whether it is a piece of jewelry, a scrapbook page, a pretty floral arrangement or a batch of cookies.
Keeping yourself occupied with something else is a great way of forgetting why you were moody to begin with especially if it's something intricate like crochet or making jewelry. I love creative projects (:

Read, read, read.
Usually this is the remedy I turn to and I find getting lost in a fantasy novel is the best way to go because the author takes you to an entirely different world so you really do feel like you've "gone away" for a while!

Try a new approach to your problem, or a new approach to whatever your facing.
Always see the best in every situation! For example, I hate wet hair but I know that at least it means I don't have to wash it again. Okay, so maybe not the best example but you get what I mean I hope!

Mark Twain said, "The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up." He's right, and it doesn't have to mean a big time investment. Just do something thoughtful for someone, right now.
This is so true and so self explanatory - hurray for selflessness!

Choose your thoughts with care; they can really have an impact.
Gosh this is SO true for me! Most of the time my mind will go crazy making up possible scenarios to the original problem that I'll end up with a script fit for a soap drama! Positive thoughts are the way to go even if you're kidding yourself in the end.

Play with a kitten or a puppy.
Because they are too cute to resist and you always end up smiling!

Shout at an inanimate object. Computers. Cars. Chairs. Whatever. Then spend the rest of the day ignoring it.
I thought this one was really funny! I can't imagine doing this but I might just try...

You can read all the ways on the following websites:

Cheer Yourself Up: 25 Instant Mood Lifters

101 Ways To Cheer Yourself Up

Pomgirl: 5 Ways To Cheer Yourself Up

Friday Feature: Red Velvet Cupcakes

It's time to fight Friday blues

I first heard of red velvet cake about six years ago but I never pursued the recipe nor was I particularly interested in finding out what the big deal was surrounding this cake. Sometime last year though, Mummy and I were shopping for goodies and I happened to spot a red velvet cake. Not wanting to miss the chance, I got the cake and boy oh boy did it really turn my house upside down! I definitely see why this is a favorite with a lot of people.

I've managed to make this cake successfully for Scott's birthday earlier this year (with no electric mixer too! And boy oh boy is hand mixing a chore!) and it came out rather well making me confident that it'll be one of my signature recipes in no time. However I think making smaller versions of it will be quite challenging and look forward to making these cupcakes someday soon (along with Red Velvet cookies!).

For now, if you want to try it yourself then this is the recipe I'm using: Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting by Paula Deen

Best of luck if you decide to tackle it too - let me know how yours turn out!