Pandan Cake

Have you ever had these green Vietnamese waffles? They are sooo good, especially when piping hot with a crispy outside and soft, steamy center...Mmm.

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Only recently did I learn why they are green though. :P It's this plant, pandan!

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Well, sometimes not the plant itself. Sometimes it's the plant extract and some green food coloring. :P I bought some from Ranch 99. :)

It smells terrible.  There's alcohol in it, to keep it fresh I guess? Don't do a direct sniff. Waft like a high school chem student!

Unfortunately I do not have a waffle maker, so I thought I'd make a pandan cake instead.  I used this recipe from My Food Trail,  though I definitely whacked my way through it.  I used regular sugar in place of caster sugar, coconut cream and cow milk in place of coconut milk, and a square pan instead of a ring pan. Oh, and I also converted all the gram measurements to tablespoons and such.  A little rounding involved..

I've never made a chiffon type cake before, and I don't think my whipped eggs were quite up to muster.

They were okay, but not fluffy mountains or anything.

The one thing I was really bummed about though was the lack of greenness!

No green. :(

Apparently, my pandan essence didn't have enough food coloring in it. I should have added my own.

The taste, however, was pretty delicious! It was kinda like a fluffy spongecake (though probably not as fluffy as it could have been), and the coconut/pandan flavor came out nicely.

Still-frozen cool hwip on top.

I still prefer waffles, but this cake wasn't so bad! Definitely needs to be green next time though.

Have you had pandan flavored food before? Was it greeeeeen?

DIY Zelda Kikwi Felty

So... *grin grin grin*

Praise the Lord (quite literally), I passed the PE exam!! As soon as I get my license in the mail I'll be able to add those two precious little letters after my name, yaay!

To celebrate, my family came over for a night of North Beach Pizza and beer. And then, because I don't drink beer too often, I was feeling manly, so I convinced my sister to turn off Portal 2 in favor of a rousing game of Shoot Many Robots, a PS3/compy downloadable game that does exactly what the title says. Get gun. Shoot robot. It's a fun co-op game, manlier than my usual fare, but a girl's got to diversify every so often, yeah? And since Alvina's husband was one of the game developers, I think you or your game-playing other should check it out. ;)

Anyway, in other news, Friend E let me borrow Zelda Skyward Sword.  I'm not too far along just yet, but already I'm really liking it. I love Groose's gangsta face and Ghirahim's fabulousness.

There's also cute little Pokemon-esque creatures in it called Kikwi, they have shrubs on their backs and make squealy little noises.

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Couldn't resist making a felty of one :)

For eyes, I thought it'd be easier to make them with white thread rather than try to cut small holes out of the black "mask" area.

Coaster time!

I didn't bother with his feet or hands because I got lazy. Or I was going for a minimalist approach.  That sounds better, right?  I think I will stick him in the game case for Friend E when I ever finish his game and give it back. Haha.

Kyuu!

DIY Soda Tab Lei

The lei strikes again! This time - made with soda tabs!

Penga-Mom handed over a gallon sized milk container full of soda tabs she'd collected over the last bajillion years. Off to work we go! You'll need about 140 soda tabs and six feet each of two ribbons.

First, the soda tabs had a sharp edge where they were torn off from the can.  It was too hard for us to cut them off, so instead Sak bent it back flat.

First, place some tape sticky side up.

Place a row of tabs, all facing the same way, on the sticky tape, leaving the top holes off the tape.

Add a second row of tabs (wrong sides facing each other) in an offset "bricklaying" pattern.

Then lay another piece of tap on top, sticky side down.

Now, weave one of your ribbons through the holes. Tweezers might help. Pull it most of the way through so that the long end is on the right and about 6 inches remain on the left.

Now cover the top row with another piece of tape.

Carefully remove the bottom row tape, and weave your second ribbon through the loops the same way as the top was done. Remember to pull most of the ribbon through so that the long end is on the right, and about 6 inches remain on the left.

Now, remove all the tape and knot the left end of your ribbon!

A successful start!

To continue the chain, first line up another tab. Pull both ribbons down through the holes created by the overlapped tabs.

Now flip the entire shebang over on it's back and do the same thing - line up a tab and pull the ribbons down through the overlap!

Continue on and on and on until you have a nice sized lei!

This one uses 120 tabs, a wee bit short. The next one will be longer!

Fun! Save all your soda tabs!  You could make a funky bracelet or garland or bandoleer or something with this weave even if you don't want a lei. I'm glad my mom had all the tabs though - we don't definitely don't drink enough soda on our own :P

Have you done any soda tab crafts? I remember painting them with nail polish and making bookmarks from them in junior high!

(Want to make other ribbon leis? Check out the DIY Project tab for more!)