Lazy Day Nutella Molten Lava Cake

Simple and Delicious! Lazy Day Nutella Molten Lava Cake

 There are lots of lava cake recipes out there that requires quite a bit of steps and ingredients.  It is also hard to find a recipe that does not have tons of egg yolks or butter in it.  So I did my research and made my adjustments.  Even if you over cook this cake, no big deal, it will still be the most delicious Nutella brownie you have ever tasted.  Simply cannot go wrong! Perfect for date night dessert!

Ahhh! The Simple pleasure of Nutella

Pre-heat oven at 350F or 180C. Spray cooking oil and dust with flour

Ingredients: 3 egg yolk, 1 tbs butter, 1 cup Nutella, 1 tbs flour

Mix all ingredients until smooth.  Fill ramekins 2/3 full and bake in 350F or 180C oven for about 13 mins

Remove from oven when you see a crust is formed around the rim and on top.  Let cool for 5 mins and fill in with strawberries or filling of your choice. 

Scrape the side of the cake with a knife and flip over onto a plate.  Dust with powdered sugar and serve HOT!

 YUMOLICIOUS!

Food Diary

It was the Chung Yeung long weekend and every long weekend means lots of eating involved. But I did not expect that much eating!

Sunday-Chung Yeung Festival we went to Cheung Chau Island to sweep the grave of our ancestor. We say our preys, light fire crackers and had candy and snacks. Brought over a whole crispy Roasted Pork, chicken, goose, was suppose to be hard work. So we cooked up a big meal to feed our hungry souls.

Marco, My carrot

Another check off my lists to do in 10 years! 10k run, check! Thanks to Marco today, I ran my first 10k in 1 hour and 15 mins. Enough to qualify me for the 10k for UNICEF November 28.

Running is definitely addictive. Although I will walk like a penguin for the rest of the night, I am already thinking about how I can improve my run tomorrow. My mistake today is I ate too much at lunch and I ran 2 hours after I had a bowl of rice with chicken and broccoli. After today's run I actually have a stomach ache and feel nauseated. After all this is my first 10k, I have run 7k before but the last 3k was definitely harder. Another thing is I did not have my music today...such a dry run. Thanks to Marco who keep pushing me to run on time, or else, if I was by myself, I would have given up already! Marco was my carrot and I was the fat horse behind it trying to catch up!!!

Forest Gump

Sunny and dry at Blue Mountain, Canada. I decided to go for a run. We are staying at Janet's cousin's farm house and is about 6 km from the nearest town. She suggested that I take a run downtown and she will ride along with her and catch up with me at the local farmer's market with Cayenne. "It is mostly down hill anyway." She suggested. Sound good to me, not too difficult and something to look forward to after a nice run.

Old Navy Run

Woke up this morning with another day of sun shine. First up, feed the monster. Bananas, Muffins and blueberries. Her little fingers were working hard but still most of everything went onto the floor and Haley is getting the picture that Cayenne's surrounding is a good feeding ground.

Matt, Jonathan's brother left today after a nice dinner last night. Jeanie went setup at the Pontiac fair. She has a bling business that seems to be doing better each year even thought the Michigan Economy is in the shitter.

But today, I have an agenda, I hit the pavement for about 30 minutes, had some lunch and I am ready for Old Navy. I know it is cheap stuff but I have been craving disposable clothing and some good old American shopping, meaning shopping with a extra large trolley (Cart).

Turn a page

The past month went by so quickly. Turning a new leaf in HK. Started working for Shamrock catering to be their part time sales and marketing manager there. It is so nice that I finally found a company that I can work part time with freedom. It is also a flash back of what I did in the US. I was hired to roll out their boxed lunch program in HK. This is a new concept for HK, I think there are lots of potential but it is hard to get started when there is other fish to fry in the company.

Working for a small company is nice because your opinion is valuable. Your ideas really get utilized and your effort counts. However, you also get to do everything and trouble shoot is the best job description of this job. In a day, I could be do a flyer, then create a menu for client, drive to canvas an office building, sell some lunches at a school, translate a chinese menu to English, manage a kids birthday party and cold calling clients all in one day!

This is the difference between working for a large company that you have to play by the book and work within the box. I am not sure if I can do that anymore and follow the rule book and punch in at 9am sharp. To be honest, it never worked for me. I always have to challenge authority.

I really enjoy the part where I get to make important decision and see a new project that I roll out mature and become a success. Although it is risky, it is the most rewarding thing being an employee. Talking about being an employee, wow, I am liking it. Especially after being my own boss for so long, it is so nice not to worry about much at the end of your work day and just go home and chill. It might be nice to say I am the boss, but deep down, you are really an under paid and under appreciated person that hopes to make it one day. It is never enough, it is never successful enough. You are always looking for investor, you are always looking for new avenue to improve your company. It could be fun but it could also be draining. It takes every ounce out of you having your own business.

That is why I decided to sell my business before I have Cayenne. I cannot handle the pressure and do both. I might not make as much money, but at least at the end of the day, I can relax and enjoy my baby. I never thought I would find an employer that will tolerate my feeling about work, but I am glad, this seems to be working so far. We will see!

Metro Wonderland

Had been so busy with work, baby and planning parties. The latest was our boat trips yesterday, so much fun! Hong Kong is just fantastic in that regards. Lots of avenue for lots of fun. Junk trips are on of the things that is a must have in the hot summer sea in HK. I have been to lots of trips when I was a kid but this is the first time that I planned with my friends. Nice weather, nice boat, good food, wakeboard, but the most important, good company. Everyone had such a good time and so chill and cool about everything. Having a good mix of fun and relaxed people is one of the most important element when it comes to a good party. You can only do so much to please the crowd but if they are all tight and stuck up there is nothing you can do to make them happy.

Picking the right people to party with is very important. It depends on the nature of your party and what you want to accomplish you have to pick the guest you want to attend. Easy said than done! We got lucky yesterday, everyone had the same goal, to have a good time and soak up the sun and sea. No agenda, no worries, just let go.

Why is it so hard sometimes for people to let loose and just surrender for some fun and laughter? Maybe it is my personality that I don't get it. I got a long list of things to do in life that I cannot waste my time in life. Got to have fun while you can or else, life will just past you by.

Anyway, I am talking smack now. But I want to just shout out to all the new friends that I met this weekend. Had so much fun! Stay chill and keep partying!

Art Jam wonderland

I have never heard of the concept of Art Jam until I moved back to HK. Bonart is the company that I used( highly recommended ). They bring all the things like paint, brushes, canvas, easels and all the special tools. The best part is, no clean up. So all you need to do is just to show up and paint your hearts out. The first time we had a bunch of friends at my house and I did and 7 course dinner with champagne and the second time we did it at my mom's gallery for an afternoon tea Jam session. It was truely an experience. Looking at how people paint and using different tools, people's true charactor really comes out. Family portraits, pets, daughters, smiley faces, abstract scenery, rain drops, letter Cs, favorite colors, so many different styles and thoughts. If you want to know them well, just ask them to paint with you and you will see what they care about.

I have always been scared about painting. The first time, I was really worried and scared of making the wrong moves. Is this color right, should I do this first or I should use this brush. I guess it was the unknown that caught me off guard. But then, the second time, I felt a lot more at ease. Free flow painting is always difficult, what do you really want to say, how should you say it and what people will think about it.

But with all the expression and looking at what other people painted, you really find out that art does not have a form. It is what you feel at that moment. You might not like what you painted, but others might think it is impressive. It is not like a conversation, you said something and you forget about it. When you paint on a canvas, it is perminent, unless you burn it, it will stay with you forever. It is a diary of your thoughts with colors and imaginations. Every time you paint, is different from the last, leaving you much room to desire for the next.

Painting is also risk taking. Kinda like daily lifes, should you do this first and then add this or should you jump right in to the hardest part of the painting. Do you second guess your decision? I wanted to paint flowers with long grass, but it didn't come out the way I wanted it, should I paint it all over again or how do I add something to cover up my tracks? This is all that went through my mind. Painting, is drama, is scary, is risky, is remembering, is releasing, is relaxing, is imagining, is an expression, is life!

The waiting game

Today is not a good day, I had to deal with my least favorite, the waiting game. Waiting is definitely something that I am not good at. Why is it so difficult to wait for the right moment, why do I always jump into things. I guess sometimes I think if I don't do it right away, I will loose the moment or I chicken out and got lazy. I also hate waiting to open presents. It drives me crazy at Christmas when people send me gifts and I cannot open it right away. I also cannot wait for people to open the gift that I give them. I always get so anxious when they open my gift. Is impulse good? Impulse gets me up to do things and do something different. But impulse also got me into trouble before. So when is a good time to wait and when is a good time to jump into things, I guess, I still have to learn a lot more to find out.

Out playing

July 23rd, hottest day of the year! Woke up early today but not sure what to do. I hate that feeling. So I signed myself up for some tough yoga at Yogalimbs. I had no choice but to take Vincent's class. He always end up killing me, today is no exception. 4 Chairs, 4 triangles, 4 bridge, wheel, countless intense sun salutation and abs work. That did me good! Sweating bullets, who said yoga is just relaxing. I do feel really good after that, actually feel more energized. Then I went to the slowest nail salon to get my nails done for the weekend. I usually do my own nails, but once a month I get it done so it looks and feel nicer.

What's next? I took Cayenne to the playground at Po Lum. It was a nice big new park with lots of slides and swings. Cayenne was not so sure about the swing at first but after much convincing, she was doing it by herself. Then we played with the slides, then her shoes fell off and then she got wild and start crawling every where, up and down the slides. Besides from getting black toe nails and a few mosquito bites, she had a ball! I was worn out after chasing her around. Good exercise for the both of us. I really like all these facility at TKO, we have awesome pools, playgrounds and new malls. That's something hard to find in the US. Especially in a public estate environment.

Clean Slate

The day that I found out I was pregnant with Cayenne my whole world changed. I had a successful Catering business, I had employees, I had clients, I had respect and boom! I can care less. All I can think of is how I can take care of both babies. My business was my baby. I sleep and eat with my business. Always trying to find new top clients, try to introduce new things to the menu. Always busy on the go, one Christmas after another, one party bigger and more challenging than the other. Then the idea of Cayenne comes around and all the drama and hard work seems less important. I became lazy with work, I don't care as much and to the point, I am done with it. It is like I fell out of love with Y.Lo Epicure. How is that possible, something that I have worked so hard for all of a sudden felt unimportant. I was luck enough to have sold my business to a passionate young lady. She was perfect at it, if not even better than I was.

Fast forwarding to now, me sitting in my living room writing my blog, Cayenne taking a nap in the other room, me thinking of what to do in the afternoon with Cayenne, playroom or swimming? Why not do both! haha...I would have never guessed life would be so different from a year ago. I don't think the stay at home mode will last forever, but at least for now, I am taking a break from being the career women. I think when Cayenne is in grade school, then life will be different as well. I learn to never say never, there is always a time and place to everything, so long if you give yourself a chance and live it up with no regrets.