A touch of Claire- baking, cooking& life

I do bake a lot of cookies, cakes and pastries; I found them extremely useful when I go to parties or simply want to please my foodie friends.   Indeed, I can always find myself a justified excuse to bake. (Once I started to make the first birthday cake for my friend in lab, I unconsciously have set myself into this situation. So, I felt really relieved that I don't need to bake for the next coming birthday- that is my own lol.) But I don't 'consume' many of the sweet stuffs I bake; baking makes me more aware of how good 'calories' taste, so I actually lost some pounds since I started baking XP.  What I do bake for myself all the time are sourdough artisan breads! They have even replaced rice totally to become my staple now. I just enjoy the aroma of grains so much and cannot have enough of those bread! I like to try different recipes of artisan bread, mostly changing the grains and nuts I put into the dough. It's amazing that combination of different g

Happy Chinese New Year!!! Actually the past week was not easy at all for me; I got my first challenge for graduate school- qualify exam lol I've been working in front of my laptop all day long for days (maybe not that productive I have to say...), and it is stressful indeed. But, come on, the Lunar New Year is the most important day of the year! So even if I don't have time to make dumplings by myself, stealing dumplings from my friends' party is definitely a good idea XP  Well, not truly stealing, I also brought something- my lemon tart! The dough was made and frozen beforehand, so it didn't take me much time. Besides, I surely need some chill during the stressful time, right? Baking is just my perfect way of relax~ I like the recipe really much- the filling is made of 9 eggs (crazy!), 1 yolk, heavy cream, and lots of fresh lemon juice with zest, giving it perfect flavor and texture. I also tried to make a caramel crust, but I didn't have a torch (Santa, ple