MY NEW ELECTRIC KETTLE – AN ADVANCED XMAS GIFT!

The hubby was out for most of the day today to do some Christmas shopping for the office cooperative (to give to its members during their Christmas party). Every year, they decide on one generic item to give – one year it was electric fans, sometime ago they gave out towels, still another year they had umbrellas. It depends really on the budget surplus that the organization has... and this year, they decided to give out a multi-purpose cooker. But the hubby decided he did not really need one and so he chose a different item to buy for himself but which still costs almost the same as the cooker and he gave it as an advance Christmas gift for me – well I guess he knew how much of a coffee addict I am so this is what he bought for our household. I already have the traditional whistling kettle, a coffee press from my sister, a single cup coffee-maker but hey I would still welcome an electric kettle anytime...

CUPCAKE SECRET

Here’s another belated gift to myself – and it arrived in the mail today – yippee! My very own Cupcake Secret silicone muffin pans! What is it really? Well, it is just like your regular muffin pans but it has a secret… it has pins at the center of the cake and removable bottoms so you can place anything – marshmallows, a chocolate, even a fruit at the center of the cupcake! Or you may opt to use the small thimble-like container, if you want anything liquid naman at the cupcake centers – like maybe some melted cheese or dulce de leche or even dark chocolate! There are endless possibilities – all I need now is to find some very promising recipes, buy the needed ingredients, and have THE TIME to finally do some baking! I am just SO EXCITED!!!

FAILED JUICER!

About a week ago, an officemate of ours offered us a Philips juicer and it was quite huge, but relatively cheap at PhP1500.00 considering it was only slightly used. So the hubby decided to take it coz he knows we all have a penchant for having blended juices anyway…but when I got home and decided to try it out using cucumbers, it was an epic failure! The juicer did not reduce all of the cucumber into juice; in fact, I had to return the still-whole pieces of cucumber into the chamber to make sure that it gets juiced all over again (see the left side of the juicer in the pic). And what’s even worse is that there is a whole lot of mess to clean up afterwards…oh no…I don’t think I will ever get the hang of this thing, I guess I would just have to return it and stick to my old reliable blender. Good thing, it wasn’t brand new otherwise, I would not be able to return it…and get stuck with a gadget I would not even be able to use…