Pull-Apart Chocolate Matcha Swirl Bread with Kit Kat Filling

This seems to be the law of progress in everything we do; it moves along a spiral rather than a perpendicular; we seem to be actually going out of the way, and yet it turns out that we were really moving upward all the time.

~Frances E. Willard

Yes, I know it's Friday. And I know this is not the scheduled French Friday with Dorie's recipe post. I'm sorry, but I'm slightly distracted. Due to my recent fascination with various forms of pull-apart bread, I've embarked on yet another breadmaking adventure this week, this time involving pull-apart buns. Filled buns...spiral-patterned buns filled with Kit Kat bits.

The Brangelina of Polvorons - Blackberry, Black Sesame, Coconut-Lavender and Raspberry. Also Giveaway!

In order to have friendship you must look past the color to the soul, because within the soul lies a rainbow of many colors

~ Lyman Frank Baum

About a month back, I introduced you to the joys of Polvoron, a crumbly shortbread widely enjoyed in Spain, Mexico, Argentina, and the Philippines. It's crafted with milk powder, butter, flour and sugar, and delicious when eaten with coffee, tea, or alone as a snack. On my last post about these delectable little sweets, I added three different ingredients as flavorings - matcha (green tea), chocolate and red dragonfruit.

This time round, I wanted to experiment a bit more with other flavors and came up with these winning 4 (or 5): blackberry, raspberry, black sesame and a combination of coconut and lavender. I'm not ashamed to make this confession - I prefer making polvorons to macarons. Like good guys vs. bad guys, the former's more reliable, no eggs need to be aged, no ovens need to be turned on, you can make them whether rain or shine and best of all, no tearing-out-hair sessions need occur when the feet don't form. Polvorons, in fact, don't have feet and always turn out the way you envisage them to be!

Pull-Apart Tomato Bread with Feta, Garlic and Herb Filling

Our Brunei Armed Forces turns 50 years old today. It is older than our independent country, which is only 27. Yes, we are a young country... I was born when we were not yet completely autonomous and free. To celebrate the military's Golden Anniversary as well as honor the selfless men and women who have served to protect and maintain peace for this country, I'm going to bake something special today.

Pull-apart bread...I've been seeing a lot of them around lately - being written about, baked and I presume, eaten. What's going on? Is there a secret that bakers are revelling in which I'm totally clueless about? Those breads that I've seen via my computer screen sure do look good. My blogger friends, Nancy (Spicie Foodie), Gina (SPCookieQueen) and Lora (Cake Duchess) have all recently made their own versions of pull-apart bread. And then there were also several others' take on it that I dare to imagine this style of bread becoming the newest rage in baking. Step aside, macaron. Go on..scoot over, cake-pop. Your time is up. Pull-apart bread's here and it's going to rip our world! Pun intended, of course.

French Fridays with Dorie - Cardamom Rice Pilaf

A memory is what is left when something happens and does not completely unhappen.
~Edward de Bono

The best rice pilaf (or pilau rice) I had ever eaten was at an Indian restaurant in Malvern. It was located down the road from my boarding school, tucked away at the base of the Malvern Hills in Worcestershire, UK. Or maybe it seemed like the best because of the memory tied to it and sometimes that's what the brain chooses to remember over everything else.

Still Hopeful - Black Sesame Macarons with Dragonfruit Cream Filling

I am sick and tired of the perfect macaronages going on around me. Can we even remember what life was like before Ladurée and Pierre Hermé Paris came along and showed us that food superstardom could be packaged as small, colorful and incredibly tasty discs? All of a sudden, I wanted in on the fun.

There has always been a wall around my mind where the thought of making macarons refuse to penetrate. It is odd, but I was intimidated... afraid to jump in and look foolish if I failed. Which is even more odd because being perceived as foolish is something that has never stopped me from living a full life, the funnest life. And I've failed at a lot of things, actually.

Crispy Matcha Apam Balik (Crispy Green Tea Crêpes) with Raspberry and Crushed Nuts

Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.
Mark Twain

Here's a lovely foodtruck idea for you. Or rather, for those of you who operate a foodtruck business, in which case I am completely envious. A blogger friend of mine recently asked my thoughts on comfort food, and while I described to her two of my favorites, I forgot to mention this slice of earthly delight - apam balik. Literally translated, it means pancake turnovers, a very Malay street fare popular in the night/food markets of Brunei and Malaysia. 

French Fridays with Dorie - Beef Bacon, Eggs and Asparagus Salad

“We are beginning to wonder whether a servant girl hasn't the best of it after all. She knows how the salad tastes without the dressing, and she knows how life's lived before it gets to the parlor door.”

Djuna Barnes

Two bacon-containing dishes two weeks in a row....sigh. What's a (non-bacon-eating) girl to do? Improvise, that's what. Although you'll be relieved to know that for this week's FFWD, I actually went with the meat part and used beef bacon. It's as fat-laden as actual bacon and was just perfect. End of fret session.