Hi, I'm Veronica and together with my partner Patrick (hence the name ViP) we spend whatever spare time we have baking cakes and cookies and even creating our best seller chocolate rocher.
At the same time, we love travelling all over and we shall also be sharing our travel experiences.
If you have any questions or comments, do feel free to post them and will try to answer them as best as possible.
Thank you for visiting.
Festival Mooncake, also known as Mid-Autumn Festival (Chung Chiu) or Lantern Festival or Moon Festival is the third major festival of the Chinese calendar.It is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month and is one of the three most important festivals.The Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is one of the most celebrated Chinese holidays where Chinese families celebrate the end of the harvest season with a big feast.
This year, the Chinese mooncake festival falls on October 3rd, 2009.On this day, the moon is full and round and this is when the Chinese people gather to view the moon.The round shape signifies family reunion.Sons and daughters will bring their family members back to their parents' house for a reunion. Sometimes people who have already settled overseas will come back to visit their parents on that day.Where possible, all the family members will get together.
For the Moon Festival, mooncake foods are prevalent.Mooncakes are a kind of Chinese delicacy which friends and relatives send to each other as a way of giving thanks.A relatively thin crust with heavy and dense filling that is usually made from lotus seed paste, these mooncakes come in various varieties.Some may contain yolks from salted duck eggs, others may boast of nuts, yet others may have ham.The range is endless due to the popularity of mooncakes and the creativity of the manufacturers.
The sinful high cholesterol mooncakes are usually eaten in small wedges and accompanies by Chinese tea.Today there are the traditional baked mooncakes, the snowskin mooncakes, the mooncakes with crispy pastry and so on.
Every year, on the mid-autumn festival, children light lanterns and carry them around.
Lanterns
And more lanterns
Here are some pictures of mooncakes and you can see the great varieties as well as each high end establishment coming up with various ways of packing these mooncakes.
Since mother loves going on board the holiday cruise ship, Star Cruise Virgo, we decided to make a birthday cake in the form of a cruise ship just for her.
Food Galore...
Birthday celebration was held at home as mother just suffered a fall & had to be hospitalized. Reservations at the restaurant had to be cancelled as we were not sure if mother would be discharged in time to celebrate her birthday. Fortunately, God willing, we held her 82nd birthday celebration at home...
Happy 82nd Birthday
Surrounded by immediate family members
including children, grand children & great grand children
Assemble cake pieces on the cake board to form your cruise ship. Trim the front of the Deck 1 cruise ship cake at angles to make bow.
Double boil the sour cream and semi sweet chocolate till the chocolate is all melted. Spread around the sides of Deck 1.
Whip the cream till stiff. Spread some over the top of Deck 1.
For Deck 2, arrange the 2 pieces on top of Deck 1 as shown in the picture. Round off the front portion. Set aside some whipped cream and tint it green. Use the green whipped cream to spread on the sides of Deck 2.
Spread some white whipped cream over the top of Deck 2.
For Deck 3, arrange it over Deck 2. Round off the front portion. Set aside some whipped cream and tint it pink. Use the pink whipped cream to spread on the sides of Deck 3.
Spread some white whipped cream over the top of Deck 3.
The fun is in the decorating. Use your imagination and creativity to come up with your creation. Here, I have used some polo mints and heart shaped gummies for the portholes. Chocolate fingers are used for the top of the ship cake as the exhaust.
Colour some of the whipped cream blue and spread on the cake board to resemble the sea. I have added in some gummy sharks in the water and some crystallized blue sugar to create the glint in the water.
On Deck 2, you can also add some crystallized blue sugar for the swimming pool. On Deck 3, I have added some coloured sprinkles for the walkway.
There are a variety of ship cakes that can be easily made such as a pirate ship, a rocket ship cake and of course the cruise ship cake.
Here are more recipes for smoothies that I have researched on the internet. These make a good and refreshing drink. Here are mainly peanut butter smoothie recipes.
Here are a chocolate smoothie recipe that I have found on the web. There are thousands of these free smoothie recipes available and you can try some of these exciting and refreshing smoothies out. ; )
Mix all of the ingredients in a blender, then sprinkle the chocolate shavings on top for decoration.
Optional:- You can add some whipped cream on top as decoration.
The above chocolate smoothie recipe was extracted from www.flowercarole.com
Chocolate Mint Smoothie Recipe
(serves 2)
Ingredients:
4 scoops peppermint chocolate chip ice cream
1 1/2 cup milk
2 drops peppermint extract
Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix.
The above chocolate mint smoothie recipe was extracted from www.cdkitchen.com
Raspberry Chocolate Smoothie Recipe
(serves 2)
Ingredients:
3/4 cup chocolate flavored soy milk
3/4 cup chocolate sorbet
1 1/4 cups frozen unsweetened raspberries
1/2 banana, peeled and sliced
1 leaf fresh mint, chopped
In a blender, blend the soy milk, sorbet, raspberries, and banana until smooth. Garnish with mint to serve. The above raspberry chocolate smoothie recipe was extracted from www.allrecipes.com
Smoothies are really easy to make and there should be no reason for you not to be able to enjoy the any of the wonderfully refreshing free smoothie recipes that can be found in abundance.
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