Chocolate Mug Cake – An Illustrated Recipe

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#illustration, #singapore, cake, chocolatecake, illustratedrecipe, kitchen, mugcake, nutella, polkadottedpyajamas, singaporeartist, sketchbook

If you’ve been reading this blog, you already know that I love cake. What you don’t know is that I use cake as a crutch for pretty much all my emotions. Sadness=cake. Happiness=cake. Anxiety=cake. Restlessness=cake. PMS=cake.

Sometimes I crave cake in the dead of the night when absolutely no shops are open. That is when I make mug cakes (the singular cause for all my weight issues) which combines my two great loves – cake and nutella.

Most mug cakes either come out dense or mealy, so I’ve come up with my own tried and tested recipe. Also, since you know I am lazy, you already know this cake is easy.

Take 1/4 cup of flour ( I use self-raising, you can use all purpose with some baking powder). Dump into your prettiest mug.

Now take 2 tablespoons of sugar, 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder and a pinch of salt and put that in as well. Mix.

Take 2 tablespoons of melted butter and 1/4+1 tbsp of milk and stir stir stir.

When you have a batter that’s nice and gooey but still runny, drop a spoonful of nutella. Don’t press it down or anything. Just let it drop and stay.

Then stick your mug in the microwave right in the center, for exactly 60 seconds. Take out and let it sit for ten seconds.

After that, I am guessing you would like to eat it.

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Friday Goodwill

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#illustration, artblog, artists, blackandwhite, coffee, fridayfun, monday, sharpieart, sharpiepens, sketchbook, watercolor, writing

May your coffee be strong and your Mondays be short.

Tea Snob

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#illustration, artist, blackandwhite, darjeelingtea, goldpen, goldpolkadots, sharpieart, sketchblog, sketchbook, teacups, teapot, teasnob

Thought you should know that I am an awful tea snob. I inherited this from my parents, who carry their own tea when travelling, lest they have to drink Assam or worse, Malayasian tea (oh, the horror!)

Darjeeling first or second flush, no milk and very little sugar. Water on tea, not tea in water. And yes, absolutely no boiling.

For tea with milk, the fall flush, which has a more robust, muddy flavor. And by milk, I do mean a spot, really.

Mangoes and a Generation Gap

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#mangoes #kingoffruit #pyaariaam #aam #summers #indiansummers #childhood #kidstoday #generationgaop #fun #girlfriends #humor #gettingolder #art #illustration #watercolor

A few weeks ago, I was talking to a 13 year old and she said that strawberries were her favorite fruit.
Of course, I had to ask, what about mangoes?
Mangoes are too messy, she said.

I thought, this is it. Officially now, there’s a generation gap. I was even startled when for the first time in my life, the phrase, “Oh, kids today” escaped my lips, accompanied with gentle disapproving nodding of the head.

I mean, mango is the king of fruits. I cannot think of any thing, cooked up by man or angels as delicious as a mango. When I was a kid, summers were spent in the backyard of my childhood home, with cousins or friends. We had a big tub full of ice and water where we would put in dozens of Pyaari Aam, little golden and red nuggets of heaven. We would sit with our feet in the cold water, pick out a mango and roll it between our palms to soften the pulp. Then we would tear a little hole on top and suck through it.

It was really messy, yes, and often meant we all had to take a bath afterward, but that never stopped us from loving mangoes.

I’ve never met a mango I did not love. I can’t say the same about “kids today” though.

Cocktail Recipe

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#food #drinks #party #art, #vodka #cocktail #cocktailrecipe #masalacocktails #masalavodka #absolut #sprite #chillies #indianstyle #spicycocktails #spice #illustration #illustratedrecipe

It’s time I share the most delicious vodka cocktail recipe in the world, what with today being Friday and all.

1. Take a glass
2. Pour in vodka
3. Top it up with Sprite
4. Squeeze in half a lemon or less. Depends on your taste
5. Pinch of black/rock salt. Sea salt or any kind of coarse salt will do too. Hell, even table salt tastes just fine
6.Split a green chilli down the middle and put it in.
7. Plonk in some ice cubes if you want.

So it’s sweet, sour and then when you swallow, a spice kick to the back of your throat. What more can you ask for in a cocktail? If you try it over the weekend, let me know!

PS: Refer to illustration for helpful hints.

Jasmine Green Tea

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#tea #greentea #fitness #health #teatime #jasminetea #twinings #heavenandearth #singapore #icedtea #illustration #art

The biggest discovery of 2013, apart from the poetry of Faiz, has been Jasmine Tea.

Last year if someone offered me Jasmine Tea, I would decline. But having discovered the Heaven and Earth Jasmine Tea by accident, I now don’t know how I survived without it all these years.

Hot or cold, it is THE most cooling and refreshing beverage ever. Like a salve for your innards. Needless to say, I have been guzzling the stuff like a maniac, occasionally letting out fragrant burps.

#Epic Fail

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#diet #fitspiration #epicfail #nutella #jar #food #chocolate #cabbagesoupdiet #cabbagesoup #illustration #watercolor #humor #sketchbook

If spooning Nutella directly from the jar into my mouth at night is not counter-active to the cabbage soup diet, I don’t know what is. Hashtag Epic fail.

Guilty Pleasures

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#bodyshaming #women #cupcakes #chocolate #guiltypleasures #pleasure #sex #meaninglesssex #feminism #writing #illustration #typography #blackandwhite #art #food #rant

I will never understand why women always shame or guilt themselves, especially with food. Like the whole world wasn’t enough, we also have to do this to ourselves.
I have overheard so many women, biting into a piece of chocolate or a beautiful cupcake, talking about how this is their one guilty pleasure, how they so rarely reward themselves with this treat, body shaming themselves while they are at it, for good measure.
The other night at Robertson Quay, I heard two women discussing sex with men who they don’t really like and how they always feel a bit guilty about it.
What does guilty pleasure even mean? Who came up with it?
Why should there be any guilt in what gives you pleasure?

Spreading Out

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#bodyimage #fat #fatacceptance #beauty #yoga #illustration #art #bikramyoga

Lately, I have been feeling like no matter what I do, I can’t stop spreading out like a giant japanese fan taking over the world.
So, as a last resort, I have joined Bikram Yoga classes, which is where I am headed right now.
If doing power yoga inside a steam room doesn’t work, then I swear to you, I will stop complaining about my fat and accept the fact that I will, perhaps, always be slightly overweight.

Ice Ice Baby

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#posicle #recipe #strawberry #icelolly #icecream #food #art #illustration #expat #expatliving #blogging #blitzer

I have been craving a certain ice lolly I used to eat in India. They are called Joosticks and are made by the awesomest ice-cream company ever, Cream Bell. I don’t know why I haven’t found Cream Bell in Singa. They are SO GOOD!

Anyway, so I took matters into my own hand and here’s what I did:

Took a bunch of really really ripe stawberries, about 20.

Added 3 tbspoons of sugar, 2 tbspoons of lemon juice and the zest of half a lemon. Then I added a teeny weeny pinch of black rock salt (you can skip this step if you want).

After this, you just blitz blitz blitz till what you have is a silky bright pink mixture.

Pour this into popsicle molds and freeze and you’re done!

Please share your favorite popsicle recipes if you have any  😀

Japanese Cheesecake

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#eastiseast #cheesecake #japanese #japan #spongecake #vanilla #breadtalk #fairprice #singapore #expatliving

Singapore was hiding this cheesecake from me and as it turns out, a lot of other people. People who have been living here for years never bought this poor-looking rich cake because it looks exactly like a vanilla sponge.

The Japanese cheesecake is a cloud of cottony, light burst of deliciousness in your mouth. Slicing this cake, you can hear the knife going through the air bubbles. It’s flour-less and has very little sugar and is a calorie monster. But it’s disguised as something so delicate and light that you might forget that every spoonful is the caloric equivalent of one entire meal.

In fact, this cheesecake has changed my life. I now eat massive portions of this cheesecake without the slightest guilt that I would feel when eating the western kind. This solidifies my belief that the orient makes everything a bit better.

You can learn how to make it at home, here.

Or you can just buy a box at all Breadtalk, Icing Room, or Fair Price outlets for 8-12 Singapore dollars.