Journal sketchbook from Kim

A year ago, my dear friend, Kim whom Pandamopi and i met in Perth sent me beautiful sketchbook by snail mail. The cover of the sketchbook was handpainted. When I received it in my mail box, I was very excited (because i love snail mail) and touched to received this from her, knowing my love and passion for sketching. Today I realised that it has been a year! Time flies..

Got a nice message from Kim in the sketchbook and the next page is my first entry. It was an attempt to bake a flourless chocolate orange cake but it was not as successful as it could be because i forgot to add in soda bicarbonate. Nevertheless, the flavour was nice.

Baking is nearly impossible in Singapore as I have only a small toaster oven here in my rented apartment and my cake always got burnt on top. Something interesting about change of emotion during baking : you got really excited on the idea of baking, feeling fun when shopping for ingredients, being careful and as accurate as you can be hoping that the cake would be successful, feeling like a pro as you mix the batter and pour into a baking tray and then there is a sense of anticipation and achievement as you send the baking tray filled with the batter into the oven. The process don't end there. The beautiful aroma of the cake would make you smile and you cant wait to share the cake as soon as it is ready. When you hear a crisp "ding" from the oven, the cake is ready. Crispy on top, moist in the inside. And as you run your knives around the cake in the tray and place on top of baking cooling rack, you felt happy and you are subconsciously beaming with smile. When the cake is cooler, once again you run the knive carefully, cutting the cake in beautiful grids and found the cake texture is what you desire. And as you taste the glorious taste, you cant help but feeling you have done something super!

So when I realised my cake could not rise because I totally forgot about soda bicarbonate, I was a bit disappointed because all my imagination did not come true. The cake was not successful and I felt sorry for wasting the ingredients but later on I acknowledge that as part of a learning process. Afterall, making mistakes is part of growing and learning.

Lesson learn when baking next time : not to rush things out. Keep calm, follow the steps and bake!