MollyMia Aspire to Inspire before we Expire

Tuesday 23 May 2017

Focus Hairdressing: Mucota Omega & Free Scena+ Home Treatment

 In case you missed my previous hair post, I've gotten some pretty C-Curls while having Mucota Omega rebonding done at Focus Hairdressing (read about my experience HERE)


Loves how this volume rebonding gave... well, volume (duh!) to an otherwise-will-be-very-flat rebonded hair and also added some pretty loose curls at the ends. 
But taking care of the curls do need some work (and skills).


But thank goodness I have my #sponsoredbythebf Dyson Supersonic, which comes with a diffuser attachment that made blowing out the curls a breeze.


But of course, as I was seriously lacking in skills, I never managed to get back those pretty, fancy looking curls Ken blew out for me back at the salon. But having some curls in my dead-straight-for-more-than-ten-years hair was definitely a great change and I've been getting compliments on my new hairdo every now and then. 



But, oh well, all good things must come to an end. 
About 5 to 6 months after getting the curls done, they were pretty much reduced into a tiny flick at the end, which honestly speaking, looked kind of messy in my opinion, for they always choose to flick in all different directions. 
But I reckon it was mostly because of my serious lack of skills in blow-drying and eventually also gave up/got too lazy to continue with it (I just left my hair to air dry and didn't even bother to do all the twisty-curly motions).

And so, I decided. Goodbye, curls. It was good while it lasted. 

Returned to Focus Hairdressing again, this time to regain the smooth and straight hair via Mucota Omega Oil Therapy again. 


Hello again, soft & smooth straight hair. :)

If you want to know more about my Mucota Omega rebonding experience with Focus Hairdressing, you can read about it HERE, where an absolute miracle happened to my badly damaged, bleached hair. 


You'll be glad to know that Focus Hairdressing (Chinatown) is now having a new promotion on Mucota Omega Oil Therapy. Every Mucota Omega customers will get to bring home two weeks's worth of Mucota Scena+ (new, upgraded version of Mucota Scena) home treatment pack FREE!


Focus Hairdressing (Chinatown Point) is located at
133 New Bridge Road, #02-03, Chinatown Point
Contact: 6538 3162

For more information, check out Focus Hairdressing Chinatown Point's FB HERE. And while you're at it, do give their IG page @focushairdressing_chinatown some love too! :)

Till then,
Mia Foo




Wednesday 3 May 2017

Mia Bakes: Marbled Butter Sponge Cake (Roux Method)

Well, because my mum loves butter cake to bits and kept asking me to bake one for her....

 However, my 1st try wasn't a very pretty one. T.T


Using a recipe with high butter & flour content, I got myself a loaf of extremely buttery, dense and soft butter sponge cake. 
But a quick calculation of the calorie content made me not want to eat anymore than just that tiny square I cut for myself as a taste-test. 

So I googled somemore and stumbled upon KitchenTigress's tang mian recipe. A few minor tweaks here and there and I'm good to go!

For 1 loaf (serves 10) of marbled butter sponge cake, you'll need:

60g salted butter
(if using unsalted, add a pinch of salt)
45g AP flour
30g skimmed milk (cold)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs 
(yolks and white separated)
1 tsp unsweeten cocoa powder

First up, to prepare the roux dough, heat the butter in a pot over the hob until it starts to simmer. Off the hob and stir in your flour until until everything is well combined. Then, add in cold milk and stir well before transferring into a clean bowl (unless your pot is huge enough). Leave the mixture to cool down (to a temperature that wouldn't cook your eggs) before adding in 1 tablespoon of egg whites (from the 3 eggs) and vanilla extract. Mix well before adding in the yolks one at a time, beating well between each addition. Set the yolk mixture aside to prepare the meringue. 

In a clean bowl (no traces of oil), beat your egg whites using an electric mixer until it turns frothy. Then, add in your sugar in 3 additions, beating on high in between each addition until it turns glossy and about to achieve stiff peaks. 

It takes a lot more skills to mix the meringue and yolk mixture together well without deflating the meringue when you beat them to stiff peaks. So if you've been failing with your chiffon cakes or any recipes that calls for mixing meringue with another batter, you may want to try NOT beating till stiff peaks achieved. 

Add in 1/3 of the meringue into the yolk mixture and mix it in well using a balloon whisk. I personally find it easier to mix (fold) using a whisk as compared to a spatula, but if you'll prefer folding using a spatula, by all means go ahead. 
Add in the remaining 2/3 of the meringue and fold until just combined. DO NOT overmix your batter!

Scoop out 20g of the batter into a small bowl and mix in 1 tsp of unsweeten cocoa powder until well combined. 

My loaf tin is non-stick so I didn't need to line or oil my tin. But if yours do stick, you may lightly butter the tin and just line the bottom of your tin with some baking paper. 
Pour about 1/3 of the batter into the tin before dropping a few dollops of the cocoa batter onto the surface. Using a toothpick, make a few quick swirls around the tin to create some marble patterns. 
Repeat (2x) with the remaining batter before tapping it on the counter to release the trapped air bubbles within. 

Bake at 160 degree Celsius for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

TADAA~


As compared to my 1st bake, this loaf using the roux method (with less butter and flour) has given must softer and melt-in-your-mouth texture. Though the buttery fragrance is comparatively less strong, I felt a lot less guilty know that 1 serving of the cake will only set my daily limit back by about 110 kcals. 
Heh! :)

Till then,
Mia Foo