ayonecan-cook

My son Nik and his bride Jun cutting their wedding cake. The atmosphere turned out just the way I imagined and hoped it would be. Intimate, informal, sweet and beautiful. The wedding cake was as perfect as I wanted it to be. The theme was vintage. The flower girl as cute as a cherry pie. The bride and groom gorgeous. And the weather was perfect. I couldn't have asked for more. I'm grateful. Alhamdulillah. Will update more photos once they are ready.

I have been terribly busy......with experiments as much as with actual projects. But to cut my silence and absence here are some photos of what I have been up to lately. This is a a peony I made yesterday. It took a whole day to complete because I had to wait for each row of petals to dry before i could move on tot he next. Each petal had to be painted with petal dust and then attached. I used Colette Peters peony cutters which i had bought online. It came with instructions which I did not like. They were skimpy and had an illustration of a finished flower that did not look appealing. But the cutters were great and I highly recommend them. I had also used a poppy veiner that I had bought from the Cake Connection.  Here's a great link that I referred to while making the peony....   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyXsU0TNX2k&feature=player_embedded I followed the first 3 parts to a T then deviated a little because i wanted my peony to be a little more full at the centre. And...

Wh at can I say?  i can stamp and i can blotch...and because i have just bought some new distress inks i thought it was time for more colour as well.. Blooms away ~ i always thought that using 3 different colours were max in one space..but 4 seems to work as well...so long they have the same tone ... Moonlit Blooms ? more collage than card really ..... Smile! ~ Because its a Beautiful Day ~ did the clouds with a super technique I had learnt that anyone should have thought of...gee.. Missing You ~ the effect a simple coat of PVA glue gives ... I love ephemera tags...or part ephemera tags..never lose Hope ~ Because Dreams can come true ~  That's all folks ~ I hope you have a beautiful day and may your (good) dreams come true ~ xoxo Zurina PS :  We shall pray that my next post won't be more tags. 

I have developed a penchant for tags, grungy tags. I came across an image on the internet that I think best describes me. Here it is ~ Having said that...here are more tags that I have been making in utter oblivious obsessiveness.... I Love using Tim Holtz's distress inks and am trying hard to apply new techniques each time. At the moment i have only 3 up my sleeve. Distressing the edges, blending colours and water blotching with different colours. By the way, if this all sounds like the beginnings of a craft blog rather than an ongoing food blog....you may be  right. I think its beginning to be one. I have also ditched my DSLR for my mobile phone camera. The DSLR unofficially belongs to R now. I think. Even more so for his next semester. This all started (the crafting I mean) when I bought a few paper craft tools to make favours for N & J's wedding later this year. I had stictched some linen and lace pouches and crafted some other things. I will not be posting them until...

Hi Everyone...if you're still there...remember me? Sorry for the long absence.  But I've been crafting.  For a reason.  I hum when I craft. These are some of my excuses....... A cake card ....makes me want to make a wedding cake in this colour....draped with pearls... Dried paper roses made from cardstock ~ cardstock by K & Co...love them ~ Beautiful water colour bouquet cardstocks by K & Co. LOve the doily lace edging. I made it using the doily lace Martha Stewart punch... i love punches ~ A 'letter card' .....I love old world scripted backgrounds ~ A grunge style tag ~ flowers made from pages of a vintage book...and used a bird cage stamp that is so cool and elegant ~ Now this I love....a vintage insipred Thank You tag. Flower was made from pages of a vintage book  The end ~ This requires no washing up ~ ;) PS ~ All photos were taken using my mobile phone...do excuse the poor quality..

A designer apron was just what I needed to give me  a renewed vigour to  cook something-worth-blogging-about.  Buycuteaprons.com is an online store from the UK that sells a range of designer aprons.  Kirsteen , owner of buycuteaprons.com had been kind enough to send me this elegant vintage inspired Ulster Weaver's apron which I had chosen. Although the red was less vibrant than I expected it did look very pretty once I had put it on. Very Audrey Hepburn-ish. Very vintage. Very hostess with the mostest-ish.  Buycuteaprons.com is stocked with all the top UK and American apron designs. With new styles being added regularly. Mostly feminine, some of them being vintage inspired, some retro, some sexy and some just plain cute-adorable. Designer brands include Cupcake Provocateur, Jessie Steele, Sugar Baby Aprons, Ulster Weavers and many more. They also have cute aprons for children and manly ones for men.  But what took me by surprise was that  Jessie St...

First of all I wish all my friends from blog land and the real world and my dear blog visitors who celebrate Christmas a Merry Christmas .  This cake was made for N's birthday today and as always most times I end up making a chocolate cake. This is a steamed chocolate cake that I got from  San's Blessed Moments. Chocolate has always been a favourite in this house with everyone and also because ~  " Every time I hear that dirty word exercise I wash my mouth out with chocolate."  Unknown This was a moist and chocolatey cake with the perfect amount of sweetness ...meaning not too sweet at all. I covered it with fresh whipped cream because ... I had taken out the butter from the fridge, looked at it then put it back in. Since we had only cut the cake this evening I could not take a photo of a sliced piece. I hope to take a picture tomorrow. Do take note of the word "hope" though.  The recipe... 200 gm sugar 200 ml evaporated milk 180 gm butter 2 eggs 100 gm plai...