A touch of Claire- baking, cooking& life

Is it officially the end of summer time in NYC??? Everyone is starting the conversation with "It is so cold!!" "Yeah, I know! I even woke up last time coz the chilled weather!" Alas, it is only early September, not fully enjoyed summer sun shine, not even one serious beach tan, not (NEVER) enough ice cream!  And when I looked for some warm clothes in my closet, I realized some of my summer dresses were not even wore for once this summer, neither were my once-favorite red sandals. (sigh...) Never need to mention "How time flies" now. It is my 3rd summer in NYC, but never dare say that I managed to enjoy the great time to the fullest. So this is how I ended up saying good bye to the 2014 summer time- wearing my new chiffon skirt, my favorite red high-heeled sandals and visiting my best friends :D I went to a most casual dinner at one friend's place, but you can always find an excuse to dress up~~ I also went to my last summer BBQ on Saturd

Here comes my yearly tradition: making my own moon cakes! You know, it is Chinese tradition that everyone should make moon cakes on Mid-autumn Festival (Moon cake Festival)- just KIDDING... But we do eat those sweet& delicate cakes on that day every year, and you can always find them in Chinatown if you're ever curious how they taste. Since I moved to US, I've more&more realized that I never really appreciated things I easily reached to enough, such as moon cakes. I used to have tons of well-packaged moon cakes at home, fancy-looking and of so many different flavors. And I used to complain quite a lot about having to consume them while they're always too sweet for me. I NEVER imagined it is so complicated to make good, authentic moon cakes. Basically, to make your own mooncakes from scratch, you need to make some special caramel syrup for the dough, slowly saute bean paste to dehydrate them and render the filling, and last but not least to use extrem