Banana Chocolate Walnut Loaf Cake

I try to be health conscious ... honest, I do!  But many times ... ok, virtually all the time, I don't succeed.  When I found out that overripe bananas are supposed to be really good for us, a light bulb went off in my head and I started to search for a really good banana cake recipe.  I figured bananas (good for our health) + cake (I love cake) = a healthy food I'll love :)  (Although, at the back of my mind, I did kinda realise that I may just be disguising a fruit as a cake ... which may not actually be as healthy as I hoped it would be ...)

So, where to start when searching for such a recipe?  Especially since there are soooooo many recipes for banana cakes and banana bread floating around on the internet?  As I've had some good experiences with tried and tested recipes by bloggers I follow, I thought why not check out them out?  Some of my favorite food blogs for such home baking are on the blogroll for the Daring Bakers and TWD (Tuesdays With Dorie).  I ended up trying out this recipe, and now it's on my keeper list of fantastic recipes!  In fact, I shared some with my mom's friend, who told me that her granddaughter, who dislikes banana cake, actually ate up an entire slice of the cake!  Quite an endorsement of this recipe, I think! :)

The recipe was for a pretty huge bundt cake, so I split the batter into half and baked 2 loaf cakes.  Wrapped one up in this ever-so-pretty serviettes fm Ikea (and I was wondering what to do with such pretty paper when I impulsively bought it!  Heh heh heh ...) ...

I did add chocolate chips and walnuts to the banana cake ...

Dee-Li-Cious!!!!!

Earl Grey Tea Cookies

Continuing on with my baking spree, while I was baking up a storm with the pies & tarts & blueberry cake, a friend was baking some earl grey tea cookies.  She highly recommended it, so once I was done using up all my baking byproducts, I quickly whipped up a batch of these Earl Grey Tea cookies.  They were indeed as good as she said they were!  I later gave some to some other friends and they all loved it too!  This recipe sure is a keeper!

Blueberry Lemon Loaf Cake

Ok... so what does one do with lemon curd?  Perhaps have it with some blueberry cake?  And that's how I went on to baking up a Blueberry Lemon Loaf Cake (adapted fm this recipe) ...

Lemon Tart

After the fig tart, I had some more dough for the tart shell ... and I had some lemons in the fridge which I'd bought, thinking to make some lemon tarts, so off I went ... baking up some lemon tarts ...

Extra Lemon Curd ...

Fig Tart

And so began my tart craze ... it all started with the delicious Banana Cream Pie, which resulted in some extra oreo cookies.  I used that to make another oreo crust for a round banana cream tart.  Then I had to make more custard for that small tart.  In the end, I was left with lots of custard.  So, I started thinking of how I could use it up.  Talk about a vicious cycle! :)

As it happened, figs were in season.  Since they are one of my favorite fruits, I simply had to make a fig tart .... and it turned out really well :)

Banana Cream Pie

After reading cupcakesandcashmere's post on her favorite banana cream pie recipe, I couldn't resist trying my hand at this...  

I have to say that I agree wholeheartedly with Emily Schuman's endorsement of the recipe.  The combination of the oreo crust, sliced bananas, lusciousness of the custard, with the sweetness toned down by the rum-laced whipped cream, and topped with chocolate shavings ... was sooooooo good!

Green Tea, Hangzhou

Our driver (a local in Hangzhou) recommended this restaurant, Green Tea.  We learnt that Green Tea is one of the most popular restaurants in Hangzhou and to queue for an hour to have a meal here was a common thing.  They have several branches within the province, but this one was in one of the more charming locations ...

As it was a hot day, we ordered some refreshing citrus drinks ... lemon yuzu juice ...

Kumquat green tea ...

One of their signature dishes ... cabbage (wa-wa chye) with black beans in a chili vinegar sauce ... delish!!!

Beancurd in a claypot ... also delish!

Chicken with soya sauce ...

Their signature Green Tea Biscuit ... this was really yummy!  It was crispy on the outside with toasted sesame seeds and a creamy yam/taro filling inside ... Yum! Yum! Yum!

We tried Grandma's Kitchen which was supposed to be pretty famous too, but ultimately we still went back to Green Tea as their food was much better and their quality consistent regardless of branch location.

Hof, Shanghai

I was really excited to take four of our Taiwanese friends to Hof for dessert, cos the more the merrier ... in terms of company and the number of desserts we could order :)

A chocolate drink .... 

As Hof is also a wine bar, they recommended this wine that goes well with their chocolate desserts ...

Death by Chocolate ...

Brownie ...

Yumm - Meee!!!!

Wagas, Shanghai

Gosh, has it really been two whole months since I last updated my blog?  Hmmm ... my only excuse is that Shanghai is a really popular place and I've been busy entertaining visitor after visitor.  In addition, I've been trying to settle down and getting my rental apartment furnished ... it's still ongoing ...

But I'm back now, and it's time to start catching up on all the entries I've been intending to post since May!  To start it off, here are some pics of one of my favorite eateries in Shanghai - Wagas!

A lovely sandwich on a deliciously nutty bread ...

Chicken curry with rice ... hmmm ... I think I prefer the more western cuisine at Wagas ...

My must-have dessert at Wagas - the orange polenta cake!  DELISH!

An interesting ginger ale and iced tea concoction ...