GOOOOOD DAY BAKERS!

I made a dessert using the recipe I bookmarked very recently, Blueberry Crumb Cake, at FoodNetwork.com! I was simply craving for something sweet and fruity but I didn't want to play with strawberries because the supermarket does not have the reddest and prettiest strawberries at this time of the year. I will be waiting for summer to arrive in the North patiently :)

Anyhow, the Blueberry Crumb Cake I baked today was really fantastic. Soft, tender cake topped with browned crumbly streusel. Exactly what I was looking for in a g-r-e-a-t crumb cake! It is so delicious, I'm sure I have to make this again :)

Now, watch me make the most satisfying Blueberry Crumb Cake, step-by-step!!

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ICECREAM CANNOLI. LOL! Haven't you heard of that?? Of course it's possible, it's FABULOUS! :D

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

Cannoli are known as Italian-American pastries, although the origin of cannoli dates back to Sicily, specifically Palermo, where it was prepared during Carnevale season, and according to lore, as a symbol of fertility. The cannoli is a fried, tube-shaped pastry shell (usually containing wine) filled with a creamy amalgamation of sweetened ricotta cheese, chocolate, candied fruit or zest, and sometimes nuts. Although not traditional, mascarpone cheese is also widely used, and in fact, makes for an even creamier filling when substituted for part of the ricotta, or by itself.

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me "I have an announcement to make. Don't put my hello kitty on the floor anymore. It will sleep with you from now onwards. Hug her because she's cold."

brother "LOL"

10minutes later, I saw my brother talking to my hello kitty,

"You see that ironing board there? That's your bed. This bed is mine. Okay, I'm bringing you over there now............. Sleep well, good night!"

HAHAHA, my brother is 19 by the way. He really played along well with me. We're pretty close... Even at our age now we can march through the parks! I mean MARCHING with out arms swing above our heads. LOL. Silly, yeah?

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Yesterday was my first attempt at tarts! I like the colour presentation, but one note to self and first-timers is that my tart dough would thicken in the oven!! Initially, I thought that I'd already made them really thin, but the result proved that my tart is really quite thick. The mango tarts are then filled w mango mousse and topped w mini diced mangoes. As you can see they are rather untidy because I hadn't set them, and well, I reckon that it'd look prettier if I had piped the mousse into the tarts instead.

Yup. Also, although the recipe included the ingredient, gelatin, I did not use them. The texture and taste was still great, so you could probably miss that out too =) My mum especially likes how fragrant the cookie tart is as it contains coconut flakes! In any case, I'm glad to have learnt something from this!^^  

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