It’s been bringing out old photos again. I wonder if other food bloggers only post their latest work. I’m sure that they, first of all, carefully pick a recipe worth to be published, try it a few times until it’s successful and organise a day for cooking, set-ups and shooting.

But for me, it never works that way. I make something by my instinct, never by recipes, normally for dinner, get surprised at the unexpected outcome, make a dash for my camera, and there’s no time for lighting, settings or decorations because- what do you think? It’s my dinner, right? -I’m HUNGRY! After a few clicks it’s all down and inside my happy tummy. Then, the chance of eating the same dish twice is near ZERO, no matter how good it was.

I define my cooking as spontaneous and adventurous. I NEVER make the same dish twice. Even if I eat different food every night, I’m sure, I will be dying still regretting leaving so many boxes unticked on my must-eat-before-die list.

These muffins were made as a thankyou treat for one of my student, who brought me ‘Puff’ – popular Chinese custard cake in Sydney – after he borrowed an umbrella from me one night. I warn you to be cautious before taking a bite into a puff that has just come out of the mould. I know someone who gets his tongue burnt by the hot custard inside every time he eats it.

I’d call them naughty-all-in-one muffins because if you take one bite of it you’ll have eaten everything you’d want from dessert. Chocolate, coconut and orange… ok, not everything, but it sounds pretty naughty, doesn’t it? It’s normally either orange poppy seed or chocolate coconut combination, but the two mated and gave birth to this. This is one of very few photos that I took at daylight. Does it look any better than others taken under the dim kitchen lights? *I wonder.*

Chocolate Coconut Muffins with Orange Icing

I gave these to my student at the next meeting and he said they were ‘divine’. I couldn’t agree with him more. I thought I would be making another batch then, but that hasn’t happened until now. My next mission is ‘Chocolate Pistachio Brownies’ , which came out all burnt on my first trial. *I underestimated them and they defied me! Ha Ha :-O*