Gingerbread-mania 01

Recently I have become addicted to marthastewart.com I told myself that I would not support a criminal in her operations but, in my defense, she has some really interesting holiday decorating/cooking ideas. My sisters have been asking me to make gingerbread houses with them. I decided that this year I would attempt that feat. I chose to make my own gingerbread because that store bought stuff is really cardboardy-tasting, and I used the "Gingerbread for Gingerbread House Kit" recipe from martha stewart. The cookie was so rich and delicious... my sisters loved it. They decided to make the traditional gingerbread house, while I chose to make a gingerbread sleigh. I got the house and sleigh templates from verybestkids.com. I had to make many modifications to the recipe but it wasn't difficult at all. I wanted each of my sisters to get a chance to decorate their own house, so I scaled the templates of the houses and sleigh down to make them into individual sizes. And since I didn't need so much gingerbread dough, I halved the recipe. The result... two beautiful mini gingerbread houses, one sleigh and a ton of gingerbread cookies.

Gingerbread-mania 02

Having had so much fun with the gingerbread houses and sleigh, my sisters wanted to continue decorating. So we moved on to the cookies...
As you can see, in the above photo, the cookies were pretty dull and boring to look at. But then voila!
I though that these cookies were adorable... so did my sisters. Cute eh? You would have thought that we were gingerbread cookie professionals. But no... we did make a couple "mistakes" :P some were on purpose and the other were natural. Can you tell which ones?

Whatever the case, we ended up making some really cute ones and all of the cookies (whether pretty or deformed) were equally delicious. I love Christmas don't you... Merry Christmas :)

Stained Glass Window Cookies

I really doubted that I would be able to make these cute little cookies, but they were actually fairly simple to create. I got the recipe from allrecipes.com and just decided to scale the recipe down a bit. I wasn't too sure how they would turn out, so I didn't really want to make a gigantic batch of them. Yet, when they turned out to be delicious I was disappointed that I had made only a small amount... I really should trust myself and allrecipes more! I didn't actually have that much colored, hard-candy lying around the house so I decided to just make a couple of them "stained glass" and got my sisters to decorate the rest with icing sugar.

My little sisters are really getting into baking, I'm glad. Now I won't have to do all the baking on my own, and I'll have my own little sous-chefs to aid me around the kitchen. They actually did a very good job in decorating the cookies... check out our cookies!

Aren't my sister's cookies just adorable (bottom pictures)? I didn't want to eat them... they were so cute. Don't you just love the effects of the 2 colors used for the stained glass ones (top picture)? Hehehe, I was going to make buttons for the gingerbread boy, but there wasn't enough room. It just looks like he was shot through the stomache... same with the bear, so sad :(

Yeah! It's Christmas Time

Wow, have I been waiting so long for this season to really get going. Just last week I got to miss school (... well university) thanks to a huge snow fall. I think the snow went up, past my knees -that's not saying much considering that i'm barely 5 feet- and was about 30cm deep. I was so excited to hear that I'd be missing my bio lab exam (I really needed time to study). The only thing that sucked about the snow storm was that the power went out for about 6 hrs; and during prime time too. I missed Amazing Race, Desperate Housewives and a slew of other awesome shows... but I suppose it was for the best. My family got to hang out a lot more than we usually do, and we played speed pictionary and scrabble. Yup, scrabble, you can tell that I come from a strictly educational family... hehehe :P The power outage made me realize that everyone in the world needs to just slow down and relax. Chill and spend quality time with the people you love... I mean, there's really nothing better to do. This may sound strange, but I really do hope that another power outage comes around; not for an extended period of time, but long enough to help people realize the true meaning of the season.

KFC... don't be hatin'

Okay, so being a KFC employee and all I have the heads up on some cool new promos that are coming up. And just to prove it I'll show you a picture... that's right. If I were not an employee of KFC how would I have gotten this awesomely spiffy picture of all the sauces (including the new ones)? I suppose I could just be an obsessive who is addicted to dipping sauce... but seriously I'm not. Anyways, the next promo coming out... since chicken fries have come and gone, is going to be cranberry stuffing! Ah... I know, I can't wait to try it. I think it will be addicting and once I start eating it I'll never need any other food again. But I may be jumping to conclusions... this stuffing may very well be the nastiest thing ever; I'll never know until I try it for myself. I can't wait :)
Oh, and KFC is also coming out with boxes of Christmas (or should I say Holiday, to be more P.C.) cookies... these look like so much fun.

Holy Poops!

I cannot believe that it's been over a month since I've blogged something! It's not like my life has been so boring that I've had nothing to share with the world... actually it's the opposite. I've been having such a hectic week... no wait, make that month! The first few weeks of univeristy life have been amazing and eye opening. I really love being treated as a "grown-up", seems weird to say but yeah... I love it.
What I don't love so much is all the homework that comes along with university freedom. Truly we are prisoners to a paradoxical life. Actually, now that you mention it I haven't been given a butt-load of homework yet it seems like a lot because of all the reading we have to do. Again irony plays the true evil in my life. The class that I have the most reading and studying for is my 8 o'clock class. This means that I'm up late the night before class and I have to wake up early in order to get to that class on time. *FRUSTRATION*

I'm suppose to be starting my readings for tomorrow's Nursing class and I haven't even read the stuff I was suppose to read for Monday's class! I don't think I'll ever catch up, am I a horrible person? Oh yeah, I'm going into the Nursing profession SUPRISE and it really is a blast doing all the cool labs. I can't wait until I start clinical in January. I just love working with people, and I'm sure it'll be different performing techniques on client rather than our classmates.
I've heard from one of my professors that November is the month that people usually quit or drop out of something... I'm thinking to myself, "WHAT... November?!!? We've only just started October and I've got November to worry about... stink!"
Anyways I should get back to reading since I'm so far behind. I can't believe that November is almost here... and after that December (I can't wait until CHRISTMAS<-- it's my favourite holiday).

Thanksgiving is coming...

Well... I bet you'd have expected me to have made a great thanksgiving feast. Actually, I didn't have enough time to do practically anything special for thanksgiving :( I was really looking forward to making my first turkey with my Pops but I suppose that'll have to wait till next year... or, until Christmas. Sadly all I got to do was make the mashed potatoes; but not to worry I made them from scratch (none of that instant stuff- if you can even call those potatoes).
Man, university has been really tiresome. It takes so much effort and time (but I guess I would have expected that, considering that nothing comes easy in life eh?). Well, after finishing my nursing lab exam I had a bit of extra time to prepare a batch of tasty cookies. I saw this cool festive cookie idea in one of my Betty Crocker emails. Anyways I didn't use any cookie mix, I made it from scratch (my first choice always) and my sisters loved it. I also made some to bring to a friends Halloween party and they were just nibbled up so quickly. The last cookie even had 2 people fighting over it! How exciting... don't you just love it when people fight over something you've made? Maybe it's just me.

So anyways, here's a beautiful close-up picture of my awesome Candy Corn Cookies. Enjoy looking... and imagine tasting :P

Marbeled Chocolate Banana Bread

Wow it's been a while... seems like that's how I'm going to start all of my blog entries from now on. *sigh*
What have I been up to? Glad you asked. So far it's been mostly university stuff: writing papers, preparing for midterms, reading up on labs and so on.

Marbeled Chocolate Banana Bread... delicious :P
I made this a while back and just haven't gotten around to posting it. I know, I know I'm an aweful person. Anyways, the recipe I used was from http://www.aspoonfulofsugar.net/ and it's really simple. I just love the marbeling effect that was created in this recipe. I could have marbeled mine a bit more, but it still looks pretty good eh? Looks like the marbeling would take a long time, but really it's one of the simplest techniques and gives off an elegant look. Try it, and impress someone!

Hawaii Part 1 1/2 (well this one's mainly just about the food)

Wow, when you go to Hawaii you first think sandy beaches and a beautifully warm tropical breeze. Then maybe coconuts and other cliché images of the island. But Waikiki has an amazing aray of culinary delights which you have to try at least once. They really love their spam down there. Even at McDonald's they have a lunch item called saimin, which is basically mr. noodles with spicy fish stock and spam. For breakfast they have an entire menu dedicated to none other than spam. Even walking by a 7-11 my eye was caught by something I had to try... Spam musubi. Here's the one I brought back to our hotel... it may look a bit odd, but by george it was good!

The japanese play a big role in influencing Hawaiin cuisine... I was walking through the Ala Moana shopping center with my sister when we spotted a japanese rice treat stand. They were selling sakura mochi! I had to buy that too (oh, and let me give you a heads up... if you ask them "Do you have mall discount?" you'll get 10% off, even if you don't work there. Try it!) Anyways here's the pic. Along with a picture of Hawaiin Andugi, kinda like the malay deep fried sweet potato ball... and just as tasty. Sad to say I did not eat the Mcdonald spam breakfast platter, but I did end up

going to a great sushi restaurant, Genki Sushi. It was the first time I had been to one of those sushi places where you could pick your sushi dish from the conveyer belt... and I must say that it was pretty cool. I expected more flavor from the sushi, but I guess I was more impressed with the conveyer belt than the food itself... and while we sat down to lunch you could see the machines making the sushi. Yup, sushi's no longer made by hand my friends...

well, that's all the photos of food I took guys. But there's tons more variety there in Waikiki... to really get the feel for Hawaiin cuisine, you'd have to take a trip down to the island yourself. Happy Travels!

Hawaii Part 1

As mentioned in previous posts, I have just returned from Hawaii... Waikiki, Oahu to be exact. Wow I loved it down there.

Sidebar: I haven't been on an airplane in some time and I was really looking forward to flying down to Hawaii. I was so glad to hear that we would be served a hot meal on the flight. I remember the last time I flew, I think it was on west jet or something and the meal sucked. All the passengers were suppose to grab a bag lunch (which was a sandwich and chips), a drink and a cookie... quite sad. But our flight to the Big Island was far from cold-cuts and greasy potatoes.

Our first meal was hashbrown, scrambeled eggs, yogurt and OJ with a whole wheat roll (much better than Tim Horton's too... I know, crazy!) The meal even came with an adorable airplane shaped salt/pepper shaker. After a couple more hours we arrived in the Hawaiin airport.

The heat was actually bearable as opposed to the weather here in Canada. It was a dry heat, so you don't end up sweating all over yourself... not that I do anyways but the humid weather here is just disgusting. I enjoyed walking along the beach, Kuhio and Kalakalua Rd. The atmosphere there is just so inviting. My family and I also ventured to some really interesting market places. We visited the flea market... where everything was so much cheaper than the ABC stores (which are infesting Hawaii). Shopping was a blast, I bought so many outfits while I was down there... I often wondered what it's like to go on a shopping spree (being asian I never spend more than about $50 at a time when going to the mall... I know shocking).

We found some great deals on tons of cool stuff while searching through the market place. I just love the culture there and the surroundings are amazing. The palm trees make you feel like your in some tropical getaway... but then you spot a car and realize that you're still in touch with the busy western world.

Oh... and today is my first day of University, I can't believe that summer is finally over. After returning from Hawaii I only feel like lounging about all day and/or baking :) I hope I don't loose my orientation group and end up wandering around aimlessly trying to find my way out... what a nightmare. I will continue to post on Hawaii... but it may take a while because of work and school. For now I shall say toodles to my blog... but not forever.

Tangyuan

As I said before, and I never go back on my word, I am now posting about my Tangyuan adventures. I got the recipe from chowtimes.com and only made a few adjustments. Since I did not have any instant black sesame powder I decided to use unsalted, crushed peanuts... worked great. I also used a few more nobs of ginger (I love the intense taste) and added some longan to the mix.

Here's a picture of the filling, sitting next to it's glutinous rice flour covered sibling. Look at the size difference! I probably dipped the filling in the water and glutinous rice about 10 times to get to become doubled in size... exhaustive work I tell you.

The almost finished product... 7 beautifully round tangyuan balls that are ready to be boiled and eaten. Oh, I can hardly wait!

Next I made ready the ginger syrup, it's basically just water, sugar and ginger... simple eh? Drop in a few longan and add the boiled tangyuan and you are ready to settle down and enjoy this deliciously warm and spicy dessert. My parents really enjoyed it... sadly my sister couldn't eat it as she is allergic to nuts... but she was appreciative of the dishes beauty. And enjoyed chowing down on the mochi that I had made (mainly just for her).

As you recall me saying, I had ended up with 7 tangyuan balls, and to be fair in serving the dessert I gave each of the three bowls 2 longan and 2 tangyuan balls... meaning that I had one left over. I decided to not let it go to waste; so I boiled it and rolled it in dessicated coconut. I left it on the table for the rest of the family to fight over... but they were all so nice that they decided since I went to the trouble of preparing dessert, I would be the one to enjoy the special coconut ball... they're so sweet :P

Being more Asian

As I have said many times before... I feel that I am not living up to my Asian potential. I am very white washed, I know it's sad but true. I do however enjoy making many chinese/japanese recipes; so I hope that that makes up for at least 50% of my disgraceful nature.

Anywho... I completely went overboard the other day, I made the mochi which you can see to your left. And since my sister doesn't particularly enjoy "anko" I had to replace the filling with a sweet, sugary coconut mixture... turned out nice. I did make myself a special one though... filled with peanuts and coconut :P

I had a whole half a bag of glutinous rice flour left to play around with, so I decided to make some tangyuan in ginger syrup. I found an awesome recipe on chowtimes.com (a site I highly recommend you view if you enjoy oriental baking/cooking). I'll post pictures in my next blog.

I also decided on making some kushi-dango... my youngest sister, the one who usually refuses to eat anything that I bake (goodness knows why?) actually really enjoyed this recipe. She also enjoyed my recipe for Hanami-dango... go figure. For some reason the Hanami-dango turned out a little ovalish, rather than perfectly round... but whatever, they tasted awesome.

Lemony Cumin Salmon

Wow... it seems like it's been forever since I last blogged on here. I just spent the last week in OAHU and it was amazing (more details about the trip to come). I forgot that I was trying to catch up and finish all my blogging before I start university... oh man it seems like the summer only just began and I had finished High School for good. No more teachers or stuck up snobs... now moving onto professeurs and the artsy farsty intellectuals.

I forgot to blog this a while back. I actually cooked up this recipe 1 week before I left for Hawaii. Anyways here goes:

Lemony Cumin Salmon

Ingredients:
1 Whole Fresh Salmon
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp plain yogurt (I used sour cream)
2 tsp mustard seeds
Pinch of cayenne
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill (more or less to taste)
1/4 large onion, diced
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon juice

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Scale the salmon and remove any unwanted entrails. Split salmon in half down the spine. Place fish on a large foil covered cookie sheet that has been sprayed with non-stick spray, make sure you lay the salmon skin down.

2. Combine mayonnaise, yogurt, mustard seeds, cayenne, cumin, dill, salt and lemon juice in a large bowl. (Can be made several hours in advance, covered and reserved in refrigerator.) Just before spreading mixture onto fish add the diced onion.

3. Spread the mayonnaise mixture onto the pink flesh of the salmon, making sure to cover all the fish evenly.

4. Bake fish for 40 minutes or until flesh is flaky and tender.

Lovely Pumpkin Bars

... As I was saying, I had to find a way to finish up the last 8 oz. of pumpkin puré and what better way than by making some lovely spiced pumpkin bars (with a special frosting to go with them. YUMMY!)

This recipe was adapted from the Pillsbury Ultimate Baking Cookbook (I really love that book... maybe I should just go out and buy instead of continually borrowing it from the library. It practically lives in my house anyways). I modified some ingredients and also halved the recipe because I only had 1 cup of pumpkin puré left over (again I am lacking ingredients... how sad). But the recipe turned out well and when halving it, you should use a 12x9x1- inch pan.

Light and Spicy Pumpkin Bars: 1/2 Recipe (Yields 24 bars- Original recipe yields 48)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon (or more to taste)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup applesauce (original recipe calls for oil)
1/4 cup apple juice
1 cup pure pumpkin
1 egg

Frosting:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp pumpkin butter (original recip calls for butter/margarine)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 to 1.5 tbsp sour cream (original recipe calls for plain yogurt)

Method:
1. Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour 12x9x1- inch rectangular baking pan. (Originally 15x10x1- inch)

2. In large bowl, beat all bar ingredients at low speed until moistened. Then continue to beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Spread in greased and floured pan.

3. Bake at 350ºF for 20 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely.

4. In medium bowl, combine the vanilla, pumpkin butter and sour cream, adding enough powdered sugar to reach the desired spreading consistency; beat until smooth.

5. Frost cooled bars; sprinkle with nutmeg, if desired. Refrigerate to set frosting. Cut into bars.

Nutrition Per Serving:
Calories 90; Protein 1g; Carbohydrate 15g; Fat 3g; Sodium 60mg.

The bars I made may look a little more moist than a cake but that's only because while I was making the bars I halved all the ingredients except for the apple juice. So they turned out very moist and didn't rise as much as I would have liked. The taste was still great but the texture left much to be desired... it kind of resulted in a kueh-like texture once again. But remember my sister who hates all things kueh? Surprisingly the taste of these bars was so impressive that her distaste for kueh was over-riden... that sure says something.

Pumpkins

I know that it's still summer and that Autumn has yet to arrive but I still can't get enough of the wonderful orange vegetable (or is it a fruit... oh well, whatever it is it's delicious and versatile).

After making that big family dinner which consisted of a great pumpkin soup, I still had 16 oz. of pumpkin that needed to be used up. I find that I always either have an excess amount or am lacking the ingredients I need... why can't I ever have just the right amount :( So I decided that that since my jam making skills were proven when I helped the family make cherry jam that I would make my own pumpkin butter. But wary of how this recipe would turn out I decided to half it, just in case no one else in my family shared the same love for pumpkins that I do.

Pumpkin Butter (1/2 recipe) (Yields 1 cup)

Ingredients:

1 cup(8 oz.) Pure Pumpkin
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/8 cup honey
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/16 teaspoon ground cloves

Method:

Combine pumpkin, sugar, honey, lemon juice, cinnamon and cloves in medium heavy-duty saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat to low. Cook, stirring frequently, for 20 to 25 minutes or until thickened. Serve with biscuits, breads and corn muffins. Store in airtight container in refrigerator for up to 2 months.

Nutritional Information (For 1 tablespoon): 30 calories; Total Fat 0g; Cholesterol 0g; Carbs 8g; Sugars 7g; Sodium 0mg; Protein og.


This Pumpkin Butter recipe worked out really well and I had no choice but to try it out right away after making it. Store it for 2 months... yeah right! I think it'll be eaten up by the end of its 2nd week. I spread some on a piece of nutritious 100% whole wheat toast and it transformed into a delicious slice of pumpkin pie tasting toast. Now to use up the last remaining 8 oz. of pumpkin…

Dinner #3

Making my family dinners is becoming much of a tradition for me. The other day, my mother asked me what I was planning to make for my next big meal... I thought to myself, "What! You actually want me to cook for the family again!" I'm glad that she likes my dinners (even though they are all mostly the same style... old fashioned, southern foods.)

This time she wanted me to make the pumpkin soup that I had prepared once before. I was glad that she made a request; at least I now had a dish to base the rest of my meal around. This pumpkin soup recipe can be found at hungry-girl.com and it really is simple, healthy and delicious. This soup turns out to be more like a chili and with the cumin and salsa added it has a really great kick.

I then decided on a quick and easy chicken recipe from kraftcanada.com (pictured above) and a recipe for twice-baked potatoes from kraftfoods.com another one of my favorite recipe websites. I got one of my sisters to give me a hand with this big meal. She enjoyed mashing the potatoes and spooning the filling back into the potato skin shells. With the topping of melted cheese, the potatoes turned out nicely... in fact both dishes turned out really well and my family was all asking for seconds.

I also chose to accompany the meal with a wonderful cornbread recipe that I spotted while on my routine search for interesting recipes from allrecipes.com Although the cornbread was good, I still preferred the carrot and herb (cornmeal) biscuits that I had made in my previously prepared dinner.

Low Fat Applesauce Carrot Muffins

I just love muffins, but whenever you buy them from the stores or coffee shops you never know exactly what they put in them. And all of the muffins that I ever see have a whopping caloric value. Have you eaten one of Mcdonald's Blueberry muffins? I use to love them... that was, until I discovered that they contain 500 someodd calories! How can so many calories be packed into such an innocent looking muffin... for that calorie count, I'd rather eat a hamburger.

This is a great recipe for no fat, low calorie muffins. They taste great and you can feel great eating them one or two at a time.

Low Fat Applesauce Carrot Muffins (Yields 8 muffins)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 all-purpose flour (I use half all-purpose and half whole wheat)
1 1/2 tablespoons SugarTwin
100 mL egg beaters
1 teaspoon each of baking powder and baking soda
1/4 teaspoon each of cinnamon and salt
1 cup grated carrots
2/3 cup applesauce
1/4 cup apple juice
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:
1. Set oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix all ingredients together in order of appearance.
3. Line a muffin tin with cupcake cups.
4. Fill cups two-thirds full with muffin batter.
5. Bake for 15 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

The recipe is really quite simple and the muffins turn out great, especially without those extra calories.

Steamed Pandan Cupcakes

I know that I'm doing a lot of blogging in one day... but I must make up for lost time and I also have to get all this stuff in before I leave for HAWAII :P

It's been a while since I made something using pandan, and I wasn't quite sure how long you can keep pandan leaves for before they go bad so I decided to use up the last of them and make some steamed pandan cupcakes. I got the recipe from youngnutrition.net and although geared towards mothers and their growing youngsters I have found many a great recipe on their website. It calls for very few ingredients and no fattening butter/margarine or shortening Hooray!

I couldn't find any self rising flour in the house (well at least not until after I had made the batter for the cakes... and by then it was too late) so I tried to make so by adding some baking powder and baking soda. I do not recommend this. When a recipe calls for self-rising flour you are best off using self-rising flour. Otherwise you will end up with what I got... a cake that's more kueh-like than you would have hoped for. While I was steaming the cakes they looked beautiful, but once the steaming was complete and I lifted the lid... they just collapsed into little green kueh-like lumps :(

They still tasted delicious, but one of my sisters cannot stand kueh (not sure why, maybe it's the texture) so she didn't touch them. My other sister loved them though and it was pretty much just her and I finishing up all of the pandan treats.

Summer Fruits

As mentioned many times before, this year has been a scorcher in terms of ... well what else... heat. I have been literally sweating while writting many of my blogs (but you probably didn't need to know that... oh well.) I just love the summer though; going to the beach, picnicing, vacations, strolling along a lake side, camping... all that fun stuff. And summer is also the best time to eat all those yummy summer fruits (well duh)!

So I decided to make some parfaits that my family could enjoy, at least it would help them cool down in the summer swelter. I used some of the cherries that my family picked from out new found cherry tree, honeydew, grapes, cantaloupe, oranges, pineapples and the ever-loved apple; topping it off with the perfect accompaniment of yogurt and crunchy granola clusters. Simple and delicious... my favorite combination :)

More Hot Dog Adventures

Left with 7 hot dog buns to devour, before the devilish sun and cruel humidity cause all of them to mold, our hero decides that sandwiches must be made!

My sisters, like most young kids, love the creaminess of good old fashioned grilled cheese sandwiches as well as mexican quesadillas. So I decided that since we were out of bread loaves and had no tortillas to play around with that I would grill up some cheesy chicken paninis and use up 3 more hot dog buns!!! hooray!

My dad bought a george foreman grill, and if you don't have one... man you're missing out. It saves so much time and you don't have to be constantly watching your burgers/chicken fillets/veggies or paninis to make sure they don't burn. I love it and everyone should be forced to own one (although it is kind of a pain to clean up). Anyways... to make the paninis, I just set the grill to low (level 1 or 2) sliced some marble cheese, shredded some KFC chicken (oh yeah... did I mention that I work at KFC... hehehe) you can use any type of chicken here. I then layered my cheese and chicken onto the hot dog buns, which I spread with Hellman's mayonnaise and grilled them for around 1 1/2 minutes or until the cheese was goey and melty.

They flattened out really well and my sisters loved them.

My sisters and I also love the novelty of ICE CREAM SANDWICHES... being that it's been a scorching summer and the heat is simply unbearable I decided to use up the next 3 buns to make some wonderful I.C.S.s and my sister had no complaints. The heat was so intense that they started melting right away so we had to scarf them down as quickly as possible before we were left with a disasterous mess to clean up. But here's a pick of what it would have looked like (I got it from Appon's Thai Food Recipes website). Of course our sandwiches looked a little less majestic... but you get the picture.

Now if you're a math genius... or at least have completed math at a grade 2 level you will have noticed that 7 buns minus 3 minus 3 equals 1... Bravo. I still have one lowly bun that is all alone... what to do?