+ 4 more after the cut!

My dog Pocky gave birth to two puppies on November 19th 2009. They’re crazy adorable and fuzzy and all sorts of things that’ll make you want to squish them to death.

Thank god it was only two because I don’t think I would have been able to deal with 7 puppies running up to me every morning and yapping.

more photos below the cut!

Probably the most expensive dog bed one can buy!

I’ve always loved the green tea pastries/bubble tea/treats that you can only find in asian supermarkets or in Chinatown. One day I found a bag of green tea powder and I decided to give it a try. I made some green tea cupcakes with it! I guess it’s technically a muffin due to its size and lack of icing. I also should have used wax paper. As you’ll see in the cut, the muffins/cupcakes got stuck and the top would rip off when I’d attempt to remove it.

I used another recipe that I found online and did some slight variations to it. I just substituted the cocoa powder for green tea powder and replaced the food coloring with green.

* 1/2 cup butter
* 1 1/2 cups white sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 cup buttermilk
* 1 fluid ounce red green food coloring
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder Green Tea Powder
* 1 teaspoon salt

Please note: 1/3 cup of green tea powder is a bit TOO MUCH. I would suggest putting only 2 teaspoons and add more according to taste to your batter. I used 1/3 cup of green tea powder and it ended up being VERY strong. I’m generally used to having my green tea extremely dark and murky, but most people wouldn’t be able to stomach its strong bitter taste.

If you’d like to know where to get green tea powder in Montreal, I got mine in Marche Hawaii in St-Laurent, located beside Sushi Palace/Maxi & Cie/Bombardier. Many people would go all over that I should be using matcha powder because it’s higher quality, but this should suffice for now. If you do know where to get matcha powder in Montreal, please tell me

This is actually my first time using buttermilk and vinegar when baking and it made a HUGE difference. The texture was more cakey and soft compared to my past bakes.

To counteract the bitterness of the cupcake, I put some lemon icing on it (poorly). I’m no cake decorator! I also thought the cake would be green inside, as the batter was also green and thought that the powder itself would provide the color, but it was all brown. Maybe I should have put more green food coloring? I’m all up for suggestions on how I could improve the recipe.

More photos to be found after the cut.

Levon petting Whiskey!

Everything turned out great, except one thing – it lacked carrot.

I used an extractor to juice the carrots and use the shavings for the cake and have some carrot juice on the side. Unfortunately, this ended up making the cake taste less carrot-ty and more cinnamon-ny. It wasn’t so bad in the end though. You can really taste the carrot when you dip it in milk and it goes great with cream cheese (I’m not a big fan of cream cheese frosting).

Peeling carrots to prepare for the extractor/juicer.

The juicing!

Throwing together all the prepped ingredients.

The leftover shavings.

Liquidsss.

Mixing!

Poured into the pans.

Just another photo for the heck of it.

Mmm. Carrot juice.

Muahahaha.

Whoo! It turned out awesome.

With cream cheese

Originally, I wanted to have this site as a place to showcase some of my work whether it was photography, music or writing…somewhere where I could consistently keep posting content on, stay on my toes. Unfortunately, school took much of my time, along with other things in life. It has been more than four years since high school that I have picked up a camera and took pictures that I was proud of or composed a song or performed with a band. I’ve been completely out of the loop with my techniques, which have gone to rust due to lack of practice and application, along with my drive to continue creating art.

However, there’s still that part of me that longs to continue taking concert photos, improve my writing skills and shredding guitar riffs, despite the hectic distractions in every day life that keep me occupied. It’s what defines me. My purpose. It’s what I’m here for, and this is the only life I have where I’ll be able to express myself creatively.

It’s never too late to start over. I want to give it another shot again and hopefully, I’ll keep a consistent flow to this journal, no matter how good or bad the content is. It’d be interesting to watch to see an evolution of my work and use it this journal as a personal tool to analyze my techniques as a way for improvement and motivation to continue what I love.

At same time, there is no point to art if it is hidden and never shown to the public, which is why you’re able to read this. If I can cause any sort of reaction from you, that’s good enough for me. If not, I’ll keep trying. I appreciate all feedback and criticisms.

Enjoy your stay!