Entry #4 Lvl: Difficult

One challenge I am facing, as of now, is that I can't find the right recipes to use to replicate the dishes exactly. I have accepted the fact that I cannot make every little detail the same; however, I learned that if I couldn't recreate it exactly, I could try to make my own, better version of the dish. But the main issue is that I am never completely satisfied with whatever I make.

 

 Michelle Phan. "The Sweetest Thing." YouTube. YouTube, 02 Feb. 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.

Kind of like her, I see something at the bakery that I'm really excited to make, and I love the process of actually baking and cooking. But, after all is said and done, I just find it 'meh'. It's like you want something you can't have, and once you have it, you get bored and don't want it anymore. I was craving brownies this week and thought it was a great opportunity to kill two birds with one stone to make the vegan ones they sell in the shop. And while I was measuring and mixing, I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into the dense chocolate confection with some cold milk. And when they came out of the oven, my craving went away -poof-, along with my excitement. I think that I crave making it more than consuming the actual food itself, and that is something that could get in the way, but I refuse to let my perfectionist personality get in the way.

The Road So Far...

Since the last time on this blog, my project has been accepted and I have kept busy with experimenting with trending treats from the culinary world.
Things I have made this week...
1. Dark chocolate macarons with ganache filling and Lavender macarons with honey buttercream

I have seen and eaten these petite French cookies from my local patisserie for my mother's birthday. I have made these as holiday treats for my schoolmates and have recreated them again for the purpose of this project. The only tweak I made to the original store bought, plain lavender macaron, was the filling, as I thought that the honey would suit the floral lavender flavor better. I was concerned for the dark chocolate cookies because out of the oven, they were way way waaay too brittle, but a simple overnight rest with the moist filling "ripened" (I believe that that is the correct term for it) the macaron to a delectable, chewy texture.
2. Breads
While I did manage to snap a picture of my flour encrusted sweater after kneading the dough,

I didn't get the chance to take a picture of the actual bread because of my very famished family. They ate my bread with their ramen noodles! So, that'll be another blog post.
3. Apparently the ultimate vanilla cupcake

                                                                    my "blue print"

This was inspired by the beautiful cupcakes at the local bakery. I definitely saw flecks of vanilla beans, despite the glass window in the way, adorned with a pretty "rose" frosted top. This was a basic cupcake recipe, using butter instead of oil, and vanilla beans instead of extract. It was nice, very vanilla-y, but I think cupcakes simply aren't my forte, even if it's quite simple.

P.S
I learned that notes aren't very helpful to me when it comes to the kitchen, but pandora does :)