JUST MY THOUGHTS

Get a chance to try luxury skincare for FREE

2011-12-02T01:19:00.003+08:00

Have you ever try SK-II skincare product? Do you want to try the widely advertise over the TV commercial SK-II Pitera Essence? Well, here's your chance to try it for FREE........

Look at this luxury skincare trial pack below:

It's very pretty and nice, isn't it?

I love it - not just the content, even the packing is attracting my attention. This trial box cost S$99.

However, if you visit Luxury Haven lastest blog post here,

then you would get a chance to try this at no cost. Follow the instruction stated clearly in the post and you would get a chance to try this luxury skincare for free. Come on, join the bandwagon.

Garnier Giveaway

2011-11-05T13:18:00.000+08:00

I hardly blog nowsaday is due to my lack of time to write and i don't want to "torture" you readers. i have not been taking care of my skin too, thus resulting in dehydrated skin and i begin to lost my "god given" fairness of my skin. Thank goodness, i'm such a loyal fan of "LUXURY HAVEN" No matter how busy i am, i'll always find time to read her post.

This time round, she's celebrating her 46th birthday (mmm........... looking at her pictures, you would probably think she couldn't be 46. But, she's really 46. She's not hidding her age just like her willingness to share all her secret weapon in life) and is giving away some goodies in celebration. She managed to get sponsor for this great giveaway. So, what's her giveaway? Look at this:

It's not just 1 item, but 3 items in a pack. All the lastest products from GARNIER and just what i needed to treat my skin. I want these, i want these. Isn't it great if you are a winner to this great giveaway? Don't worry, i'm not a selfish person, Blackswan - luxury haven's sponsor for this great giveaway have 3 sets in all to give away, therefore, i'm sharing........, hee.....hee........... but only with 2 more readers. LOL!

How to participate? Visit this link:

http://luxuryhaven.blogspot.com/2011/11/fabulous-loreal-giveaway.html

All the instructions are stated clearly there. Follow and do it step by step and who knows, you might be a winner too.

Another Great giveaway from Luxury Haven

2011-04-13T19:11:00.004+08:00

Hey, remember the supor stock pot that Luxury Haven give away? Well, i must confess, i'm the lucky winner. :D This time round, Blackswan of Luxury haven have another great giveaway. Look at these beaded bangles, aren't they lovely? Well these are all handmade by Blackswan 82 years old mother.And Blackswan is so generous and willing to share these bangles with 7 lucky readers of her blog. Care to participate? Well, here's the link : http://luxuryhaven.blogspot.com/2011/04/mothers-day-handmade-accessories.html Follow the instruction there and who knows, you could be one of the 7 lucky winners. And hopefully i could be second time lucky too. But the difficult part is - which should i choose? All these bangles are just too lovely to resist. Imagine having all the 7 and match each and everyone with a different color outfit. Oh, wonderful! *wink wink* Haha! well, i can't be too greedy, i can only choose 1 but i do have a 1st and 2nd choice. Visit luxury haven's mother's day handmade accessories, click on the comment and see what's my choice.

The "Indecent" Proposal

2011-02-14T00:29:00.003+08:00

What's the most innovative way to propose?

Well, 1st visit a supermarket or a wet market. Head for the vegetables section, buy the most beautiful bunch of CAULIFLOWER. Huh? Cauliflower? Mmm.... planning to make some delicious dishes? Nope, no, it's really cauliflower that you need.

Next, head to BURGER KING. Oh, oh, the delicious dish got burned? and you have to grap some food? Nope, no, no... you are suppose to get a packet of ONION RINGS, choose one of the best firmly fried onion ring, and discard the rest. Hey, one onion ring is not enough for 2. Hahaha! No.....no..... the Onion ring is not for eating.

Here's what you are suppose to do:

Step 1: Nicely wrap the bunch of Cauliflower - this is supposed to represent your bouquet of roses.
Step 2: Choose a nice ring box, put the Onion ring into the box.

There you go, date her out, and do your most innovative indecent proposal. LOL!

I'm just kidding. Guys out there, don't try this unless you want to send your irritable girl friend off forever, or if you are serious about your relationship. Heard this over dinner and thought this is real funny. Well, i elaborated a little.

It's Valentine today. HAPPY VALENTINE TO ALL OUT THERE. Have fun!

Great give away

2011-01-31T19:51:00.003+08:00

It has been a long time since i last blog. Well, today i found a great reason to have a new post here - the reason being the blog - luxury haven which i visit regularly, now have a great giveaway - a 24 cm supor stock pot - as Chinese new year celebration.

Well, this blog is definitely worth spending your time as beside this great give away, the blog also features travel log, shopping tips, informations of sales whereabout, great recipes the economy way, great food tasting comments, etc, etc. So much have been talk about it, so guess you would be wondering, "come on, give me the link, i can't wait to check it out" LOL, well here's the link:

http://luxuryhaven.blogspot.com/2011/01/supor-fortune-cookware-giveaway.html

I have actually like the fanpage on facebook so that i could always get update on new post by Blackswan (the owner of luxury haven), and trust me, you would never regret doing so. Beside that, i had also tag more than 10 of my facebook pals regarding this great give away as i would like them to get a chance to get this great giveaway.

Happy reading pals!

Celebration

2010-07-11T08:41:00.010+08:00

I've got 2 birthday cake from Sifu - The strawberry chocolate mousse cake which sifu said it's nicer to take picture with. And a pure chocolate cake which i requested - mmm........ yummy - the cake which we loves and talk so much about it when i initially got to know sifu. This is one of her signature cake.

Year 2010 - a year whereby i have so many birthday celebration.

My celebration started since last Thursday - hotpot steam boat at Jpot in Vivo City. Thanks to buddy - BL for giving me the treat. Didn't take any picture thou because i don't have my camera with me.

Subsequently, on friday evening, we check into Michael's Hotel in Sentosa Resort. Nice hotel, very big bathroom and lots of moving area. Here's some picture of the hotel room:

the bathroom cum toilet

The room

Large TV screen

King size bed - very cosy and comfortable bed.

After that i heard some blasting sound, and guess what i saw - fireworks.

It didn't last very long thou, probably because it's really expensive to put on firework. This really comes as a surprise. Subsequently, i heard from a friend there's some preview for the national day parade. So i guess this is just part of the national day program. Oh, by the way, i still didn't have my camera with me - so these pictures are all taken with my mobile phone.

Then, we had dinner at the Italian restaurant - Palio - in Michael's Hotel. The meal is quite costly but worth it. Pardon me for i have forgotten to take picture of the food till we are almost done except for the steak. Haha, look at the mess....

Seafood spaghetti

SteakLobster Linguine
Fresh Fruit and chocolate pizza.

In here, you will be amaze by the cook cooking right in the dinning hall in front of you. I was too shy to take picture of them at work thou as i still didn't have my camera with me.

Saturday evening, i have tom yam steam boat at sifu's place with a couples of others. Although i quite like Thai food, however, Tom yam soup have never been my under my likes. However, this one prepared by sifu was extremely delicious - it's didn't have the pungent smell of lemon grass and it isn't too spicy or too sour, just nice. And i glup down 3 bowls of soup, lolz.

It isn't over yet and the celebration continues..........

累

2010-05-23T21:15:00.000+08:00

我没有要求比人家多，也没要求比人家好，为什么却活得比人家累？

RESORT WORLD - SENTOSA

2010-02-21T20:53:00.006+08:00

Hi pals, it had been quite sometime since i last post anything here. Work had kept me very busy and also because i shifted to another part of Singapore (heehee.........as if Singapore has a very big area), therefore i had been lazy to write anything here.

More than 3 months later, i have decided to share again. Oh oh, no food production as my new place has got no convection oven yet. I need to get one real soon. Meanwhile, i still promise lots of pictures. This time i'm sharing my trip to the RESORT WORLD - SENTOSA - the much talked about integrated resort (IR) of Singapore. Although the resort is not fully completed yet, let us have a glimpse of this much talked about IR

Upon approaching SENTOSA - taken from inside my car

The simple directory showing where all the places are

The waterfront centre feature

another flower feature

Centre view of the waterfront centre

The long awaited UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

Outside Universal Studios - Singapore.

Sorry pals, no picture of the inside as i'm not able to get preview tickets which was sold within 2 days from launching.

Further up the waterfront centre where the representative figurine of Singapore - the MERLION

As this year is the year of the tiger in the lunar calendar, some steel tiger figurines have been set up beneath the Merlion (picture lower right hand corner)

A close up picture of the MERLION

Singapore 1st Casino - Entrance

Casino Entry Levy booth which is set up for collection of S$100 levy for all Singaporeans and Singapore permanent residents. (I guess this is to deter Singaporeans and PR from gambling which i doubt it's effectiveness). Sorry pals, again no picture of the inside as i don't know how to gamble and i'm definitely not going to pay S$100 to get inside for nothing for i knew that pictures taking are probably prohibited inside the casino too.

My lucky day start from here (hopefully) whereby i met the fortune god.

Haha! Those inside the picture are not related to me at all,

as i couldn't wait to snap the picture of the stand alone fortune god,

(the respond to taking picture with the fortune god is overwhelming)

therefore i just take this for whoever that is there.

Of course there's more to this Sentosa Integrated Resort since i did not fully comb the whole resort area. So long for now till i revisit this resort again.

I'm very excited

2009-11-03T22:33:00.002+08:00

I'm really very excited about tomorrow - the big day - the long awaited day is finally coming.

At 1st i was not really ethusiatic about it, not because i'm not concern but rather i have been disappointed time and again - each time i would only be inform at the very last minute that it's postpone again for no/unknown reason. This time it's for real - IT'S FINALLY COMING. (i'm still keeping my finger crossed - God, please don't do it again - i would surely collapse if it happen again)

i have start stocking up on food - it's has really been a long time since i last bought such big quantity of food. There's a lot of things i wanted to do - i want to do shrimp paste fried chicken wing, panfried pork chop, braised pork (kong bak), assam prawn, salted egg yolk prawn, mayonaise cheese prawn, bake cheesy prawn, crispy fried pork, crispy fried fish, layer cheese cake with jelly top, snow skin mooncake (yes mooncake, haha, i have got the ingredients but didn't do because lack of time and lack of people to consume), cashew nut cookies, etc. etc......
The list can go on and on........... but obviously i couldn't have done all in 1 go, and neither have i stock up on everything. I just stock up my freezer - at least the freezer is no longer empty for the longest time. Wow! i surely have lots to catch up. But for a start, i had already make my signature cashew nuts chocolate chips cookies as requested. Obviously, she have really missed these cookies. I have originally planned to do this just 1 day ahead which is today because i want to have the freshest cookies. But i make it on Sunday night instead. Luckily i did, otherwise, i think i might be over excited and it might not turn out well.

2 hours more before the date jumps - i wish for it to move faster...........

Playing with my dough

2009-10-11T08:51:00.005+08:00

I had been trying to make bread for the longest time already, but because i don't have a bread maker, neither do i have a strong power mixer, so i didn't attempt to do again because the bread i do is always only soft immediately after baking but by the next day, it would be hard already. I have been searching and searching for bread recipe that doesn't require machine, fully handmade, but in vain. Till recently, sifu wanted to teach a fully handmade bread over the radio program, so i was able to acquire the recipe 1st hand since i had been helping with the English translation of the recipe all this while.

Last tuesday, i took a day off to visit my precious girl, after visiting, as i have not make any arrangement for any other activity, i decided to give the recipe a go even before it is put up in the DJ's kitchen recipe blog. (The recipe was put up on the same Tuesday evening after the recipe was taught over the radio program).

After much kneading, swinging and banging with the dough, i finally got my bread (fully handmade). Although the bread is not super soft like those selling in bakery, basically i'm quite satisfied with the result. At least it didn't go down the rubbish chute the next day. Infact, everything was finished up by the next morning by just 2 of us. Well, and at least i enjoyed the whole process of playing with my dough and i came out with the following design:

The interior texture

Ham roll with cheese flower design bread

Ham roll with cheese "pork rib" (supposed to represent) design bread

My greatest creation, pig's head design bread.

haha! isn't this cute? But the true fact is, it's empty inside, hehe!

My Newly Acquire Mooncake Mould

2009-09-27T21:21:00.004+08:00

This is a continuation of my previous post. In my last post, i only show the exterior of the mooncake that i have make because it's not suitable for eating yet. 3 days later, i cutted the mooncake and took a quick snap of the interior before it was being wallop up. It's a pity that i brought ready make lotus paste and i found it too sweet. Perhaps, next time i should attempt to do the lotus paste myself or otherwise, should look for another supplier. According to my baking friend who bought my mooncake ingredients for me, there's another version of the lotus paste which is reduce sugar but it cost more and he's didn't get for me that since i didn't specifically said so. Reduce sugar means reduce raw material yet it cost more, why? haha, i guess that's when less is more and more is less.

This is my newly acquire cartoon character mooncake mould. There's Doraemon, Garfied, Mickey Mouse (same design as my previous post one but i measured, it's actually slightly bigger), Winnie The Pooh, 2 Hello Kitty (1 head only and another full body) which is my favourite. Some one asked me, why i like Hello Kitty, my reply - because it would not argue with me as it doesn't have a mouth. Well, so does that means i don't like Doraemon? Well not, although Doraemon only got mouth but no ears, i still like it because there will be time when you only want to listen to someone talking instead of you talking, isn't it? Basically, at my age, i shouldn't be so crazy over this sort of things, but some how or the other, when come to this, i didn't seems to grow up and i still wake up early on saturday and sunday to watch the morning cartoon and children's program showed on local channel.

Back to my newly acquired mooncake mould. This didn't come easy. Another baking friend of mine from Malaysia have specially went to Kuala Lumpur to search for it. I just happened to over heard sifu mentioning, and i immediately requested for one set. When this baking friend reach the shop, there's not much balance - only 4 sets. She herself got 1 set, sifu 1 set, another of sifu's student 1 set and so kind of sifu to have reserve the last set for me. Inorder not to create any commotion (haha, as if we would fight over it), i rushed down to sifu's house 1st thing when the mould arrived. Every body was laughing why am i in such a hurry. Haha!

In order to test out the new mould, sifu have specially prepared 2 sets of pastry for testing out. 1 set is the traditional pastry and the other set is the chocolate pastry.

The above 2 picture is the traditional pastry with chocolate lotus paste fillings.

You may have noticed, there's 2 character which is not among my set of mould. Actually it belongs to someone else and we were too eager to check out how it look, so we tested out. These 2 does not belong to the 6 in 1 mould. It's 2 standalone separate one. My ealier Mickey Mouse one is also a standalone one. Now i have 2 mickey mouse. 1 among the 6 in 1 and another standalone.

These 2 pictures is chocolate pastry with chocolate fillings. So rich that u would thought you are eating chocolate bar.

Surprisingly, it turn out that my camera captured the chocolate pastry one better than the traditional pastry one.

Originally i bought extra moooncake ingredients because i'm anticipating someone's present for this season. However........

I have not tested my new mould yet because i'm in no mood of making anything. My long awaited ........ is postpone again.

Making moon cakes

2009-09-21T12:41:00.006+08:00

These are some of the cooking that i make some time back. Because i don't have time to upload the pictures plus busy playing games in facebook, therefore i drag till now then post up and it seems quite meaningless to post now. So just a short one before i head to my main purpose of this post.

This is coconut huat kueh with pork floss stuffing. Because the huat kueh is quite small, so i can't stuff in a lot of pork floss fillings. Basically still quite nice. Something different from the original one.

This is orange peel and raisins muffins. This was make for a quick snack as i wanted to finish the orange peel and raisin left over before it expires. I began to realise that i always buy ingredients which i intended to use but after that didn't use due to laziness and busyness. I think i should really stop this bad habit. But what to do, sometimes when i visit phoon huat that sells bakery item, i couldn't help but would buy because i always thinks that i may need it. Why must phoon huat be so far away from my house? If only it is just right beside my house, i wouldn't have to do this and develop this bad habit.

This is chocolate brownies again. I found this brownies so delicious that i couldn't help making again. Plus hubby's craving for it, therefore i make again and bring some for my colleague to try, and all said very yummy. This was also make quite sometime ago and i have stop making any stuff after this till last saturday.

Last saturday, i make traditional mooncakes in my sifu's house. Well, i do know how to make mooncake before this. It's just that it's rather inconvenient for me to get the ingredients needed and i have stopped making till saturday. Well, it's not so much of the making mooncakes that attract me but rather the atmosphere in Sifu's house, the laughters and company that makes times passed so fast that before you could realised, it's another day gone.

This is mini traditional mooncake with flower design - the mould belongs to Sifu.

This is mini Mickey Mouse Face traditional mooncakes - I got my baking friend to get the mould from Malaysia.

A close up

These are the bigger one.

These are the mini one.

All are with white lotus paste with salted egg yolk.

This 2 are the one that i like best. By the way, these mooncakes (except the bigger one with the fish design) are make with push out plastic mould type which my baking friend bought for me from Malaysia. Infact i just got a call from Sifu that this baking friend managed to get another set with 6 interchangeable design for me too. I have to wait patiently (hopefully not too long) for her to bring to sifu's house so that i can get it from her.

These are the real traditional one - make with wooden mould and black bean paste. Well actually the ingredients which my friend bought for me for this mooncake session is actually white lotus paste, salted egg yolk and roasted melon seeds. But the mooncake above is a mixed up during Sifu's other class. When conducting class, sifu use black bean paste. At the end of the session, while i was away in the supermarket getting kitchen paper towel, the large mooncakes which originally make by me was being swap accidentally and mine was being taken away by one of the 2 students there. No choice, just my luck.

As i can't eat these mooncake till tommorrow, (waiting for the pastry to be soften after 3 days - the purpose is for the oil to be return back to the pastry), so there's no cut up mooncake in this post. By time when i cut, hopefully i can remember to snap pictures.

Nothing seems to go right for me

2009-08-15T00:04:00.002+08:00

Lots of stuff happened recently. But then nothing seems to go right for me. Wanted to move to a new environment - sold my flat but didn't get a good price. Thought i could make do with a smaller flat but then the asking cash over valuation is too high and i'm like always fighting like in the stock market - the highest bid got it. Finally settle for a not so fantastic (because low level and not near MRT) same size flat because the cash over value is within my reach. Thought nevermind, at least i'm pepared with a new environment and how big is the country only, it may be a little inconvenient but at least i can have the serene of the surroundings. Thought problem solved - but then next come the housing loan problem. As i'm no longer eligible for the subsidised loan rate, i have to approach the commercial institute instead. Thought with my callibre, it shouldn't be a problem a get a loan, but then to my surprise, even though i'm going to be the sole finance of the property for all the future instalment, but because the house is under 2 names, so whichever party that has a bad credit record, it does affect the application. All the hussle is still going on. I always joke that maybe i have to move under the bridge one of these day - and now it does seems like it's going to be true. Can someone please tell me where's the widest/broadest bridge? But then i really need a permanent proper address inorder to receive someone back. Sigh! so living under the bridge is also beyond my means. And this someone, can you please "jia you"? Can you please be good so as to be able to reunite with me again? Every looking forward have always ended with disappointment. WHY DOESN'T THINGS GO THE WAY I WANT IT TO BE?

Have been pondering

2009-07-28T01:02:00.009+08:00

Have been pondering:

Is the road really brighter at the end of the tunnel?

Does hard work really always pays off?

Is it true that if you did not harm anyone and you would be safe from harm?

Does GOD/SKY really have eyes?

I think i would not be able to know the answer unless i have really reach the end of life. Sigh!

Sharing here some pictures of the recent solar eclipse which i got thru' email. It was taken by some astrophile all over the world about the longest solar eclipse of the 21st century pitched a swath of Asia into near-darkness after dawn, as millions gathered to watch the once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon today.

I manage to convert it into a slide show, but i especially like this picture:

And here's the slide show that i do with the available pictures:

As i step into.......

2009-07-11T21:26:00.000+08:00

Gosh! As i step nearer to half a decade, look back and it seems like i have not achieve anything. Except lots of regrets..........

No birthday bash, lunch at koufu foodcourt, dinner at a nearby coffee shop. Played bejewelled blitz on facebook the whole day thru'.

But i do appreciate some great friends for making my day less boring thou. Got lots of smses of birthday wishes, birthday wishes from baking/cooking group, birthday wishes from some commercial advertisement and that's about all except great appreciation to STsn for her surprise birthday gift via post. Buddy! you really make my day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MYSELF

2009-07-11T00:00:00.001+08:00

Thursday eveing - went to sifu house to pick up this.

From the box, you could clearly tell that it's a cake inside, but what type of cake is it?

It's actually dark chocolate mousse cake. This is specially hand made by sifu for my birthday.
The top layer is super yummy creme brulee, with a outer layer of super soft sponge cake, the base is also sponge cake. The center is dark chocolate mousse. Look at how well made this cake is - from outside, you could see that there's 3 layers, yellow -creme brulee, center dark brown color - dark chocolate mousse, and the lighter brown color is the sponge cake outer layer.

The interior.

Although i'm not much a fan of mousse, but this cake is super yummy.

After assembling the candle,

5.....4.....3......2......1

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MYSELF

New Family member

2009-07-04T20:05:00.002+08:00

Yesterday, my other nephew arrived. Weighing 3.2 kg and 49 cm in length. Yipee! Another new member is added to the family line. Visited my sister today at noon. She looks good and well. So happy. With my brother-in-law support, a domestic helper and a confinement lady, i'm sure she would recuperate well.

I nearly forgot

2009-06-29T23:09:00.003+08:00

What did i nearly forgot? Haha.....i nearly forgot my log-in name and password for this blog. When you don't have much interesting things to update, you tend not to blog. Or should i say the lazy bug is in me and so i didn't bother to blog. Plus, when you have so many passwords to remember - from bank accounts password, personal email password, company's email password, company's server's password, etc, etc.......... the list can go on and on. Probably some would suggest using the same password - which i did formerly - i realise that i began to forget where am i logging into. Oh dear, that just me. Mmm.......... am i suffering from early Alzheimer?
My friend did crack a joke saying that and that's why i'm recording what have i done thru' blogging. Am i or am i not?

Now, back to my event recording again. Kekeke..........

Make this yesterday - FRENCH BROWNIES. Super yummy - even hubby couldn't help but requested that i make it again some other day.

Pretty, isn't it?

This is sarawak kek lapis . A lot of work is involve in making this. A lazy bum like me would probably not attempt to do this unless if i really have so much time to spare. This was given to me by one of my friend's relative from Indonesia. Another super yummy delicacies.

What is this?

Have i gone to the beach?

Under this super hot and humid weather?

Definitely not unless if i want to get some skin problem.

So what is this actually?

Well, this is one of the very old and traditional hokkien dessert call MEE TAY

It's make from flour, shallot and pork lard.

Nowaday it's hard to come by outside, and i believe not many people have heard or eaten this before. Infact, some hokkien dialect group have not heard of this before too. It i'm not wrong, this was originated from China - Xiamen Hokkien. When i was a little child, i remember my mum used to make this for my brother. I heard that it works like a tonic that build up the inner strength of the body.

Since it's so hard to come by, of course i'm not able to purchase it. This was specially make by my sifu 2 weeks ago when i visit her. She have given me 2 container full which i pass one to my brother. I believe my brother must be enjoying it since this was once his "tonic food".

This is how it looks like after mixing with hot water.

I prefer mine this way. If you add more water, it would be more dilute and you could actually drink it like a beverage.

After a long break

2009-06-15T19:25:00.002+08:00

It had been a long time since my last posting. Some times i'm in that sort of mood whereby i don't feel like doing anything at all. I just laze around, blog hopping around, browsing aimlessly on the internet and doing nothing fruitful at all. Or if some (or is there any) may have noticed, i changed my blog layout.

Well, i play silly games on facebook too. Well, i don't understand myself too, why do i still play when i find it silly. Recently, i have been hooked on this bejewelled blitz (i can't even remember the spelling correctly, i think that's how it's spelled), i guessed that's why i call it silly.

It would had been really quite a disjudgement to myself if i had stop baking/cooking altogether since this have been my greatest hobby. Thanks to childhood friend STgt for giving me a reason to pick up from where i left out. My recent meeting up with her for our usual feast (oh, it's seoul garden korean BBQ buffet again. I hope we could be more "innovative" the next time we meet up again and hopefully not too long) had given me a reason to bake my signature chocolate chips cookies again. It has been quite some time since i last bake these cookies. These cookies are well liked by my colleagues and friends. Since i don't meet up with STgt very often, usually i try to make some thing for her. Since the arrangement to meet was a very last minute thing, i couldn't find time to do anything more except this as it's the easiest to make and keeps well too, so there's no worry that it would turn bad. But for i believed, this must have been "wallop up" in no time. **wink wink**

Making these cookies also given me an opportunity to revamp my recipe picture. This is one of the oldest recipe that i have put up for sharing. The last picture was badly taken, you could hardly see the chips and nuts in the cookies. Well, i wouldn't say this is well taken (given very little time to snap my pictures before packing my cookies for STgt), but at least you could see the chips and nuts.

Yesterday, i pull myself together to give my cooking hobby another boost. I think the lazy bug is still in me and i'm fighting hard with it.

TRADITIONAL GLUTINUOUS RICE

This is a little different from my recipe in my bon appetite blog. For this, i use every thing fresh - from chinese sausage, i switched to fresh pork strips, from chinese dried mushroom, i switched to fresh shiitake mushroom. The only thing that remained unchanged is the dried shrimp. i also added braised peanuts, spring onion and chillies as garnish and it just add more flavour to the glutinuous rice. For such yummy food, preparing just a little will not be enough for my weekly gathering at my brother's place.

As such, this is what i had make - a full 22cm tray.

Of course, this is not the only thing that i have make, i also make a all time favourite of my family - steamed pumpkin kueh. Whenever i make the above glutinuous rice, i always would make this pumpkin kueh because the ingredients that goes into the kueh is almost the same as that of glutinuous rice and it's easy for me to prepare them all at one go. My mum use to prepare the best pumpkin kueh which neighbours loves so much that they would place their order with her for their family occassions. I'm glad that i'm able to produce just equally good pumpkin kueh (my brothers and sisters said so).

Yep, it's another 20cm tray.

The "interior" of the kueh.

Learning how to make dumplings

2009-05-25T23:32:00.005+08:00

Last Saturday, i make a trip down to Sifu's house without notifying her. Haha.....actually, she did hint that she will be making new type of dumplings. Since i could find the time to go down, i thought, it would be a good experience. I have never done any dumpling wrapping myself before except back during school days, i did help my mum with the preparation for making hokkien bak chang (dumpling) and nonya dumlings.

Wow, making the nonya dumpling is really a lot of work as my mum used to fry her own coriander seeds, pound it, sieve for the powder form, pound again and sieve again. Besides that, have to dice the pork, dice the pre-soaked chinese mushrooms, dice the 冬瓜糖 (dong gua tang) which is actually the sugar preserved melon strips, then fry them all togther to make the fillings for the nonya dumplings. Till this day, i still couldn't find any nonya dumplings as good as what my mum make. Perhaps because my mum makes everything the very traditional way and it just taste fantastic. Nowsday, a lot of things are being simplified for convenience, and as such it just losses it's traditional flavour. I really missed mum.

Making the hokkien bak chang will have lesser work because there's less cutting needed. Usually the pork is cutted into large chunk, mushroom is leaves as whole, dried chestnut is soaked, washed and peel off the skin and leaves as whole too. Besides that, there's also dried shrimp which is also leaves as whole. Sometimes my dad loves to add dried oyster too which is an optional item. All these will be pre-fried with five spice powder before wrapping into the glutinuous rice. I also missed my dad, some food (example is the China style mooncake and chinese tea although i didn't like dried oyster) was only shared between the two of us as other family members couldn't appreciate them like dad and me.

If i'm not wrong, for the cantonese style, the fillings ingredient are more or less the same as hokkiedn bak chang except minus the five spice powder but a salted egg yolk will be added into the fillings.

Oh so much of my dumplings talk, now back to my learning trip in sifu's house.

This was what i got from sifu's house after my learning experience

The above were wrapped by me. I specially make a marking so that i could retrieve it after the steaming. Normally the traditional "chang" were all boiled in water. I shall explain why i say steam instead of boil here later. What do you think? Sifu said for a beginner, i have done a good job. Heehee...... Oh, probably you would be wondering why am i a beginner since my mum is such a good dumpling maker. Well, those days, my mum use to make so many hundreds of "chang" for all my uncles, aunties, grandmother and even neighbours too. So she would always say, "Don't disturb me, you are slowing my process" Haha.......... so normally we would be kick out of the kitchen after all the preparations work is done. lolz...

This is done by sifu single handedly the day before my trip. It's make of glutinuous rice still, but it's not the usual fillings like the one that i describe above. This is actually the nonya kueh - rempah udang. The traditional rempah udang is actually in the form of a cyclinder shape. Over here, sifu make it into the shape of a dumpling. The fillings is actually make of shredded coconut and dried shrimp fried with chillies and many other spices.

Now, back to the new flavour of dumplings that sifu taught. Look at the blueish and pinkish little dumplings. The skin actually make from glutinuous rice flour. It tasted some what like the "Ang Ku Kueh" - QQ and smooth. Because the skin is make of glutinuous rice flour, so there's no need to boil it. Just steaming will do. Unlike the traditional one, the outer part is half cooked glutinous rice which will take a longer period to cook. As such, the traditional one are usually boiled to speed up the process. They say these glutinous rice flour tranluscent type are the taiwanese style of dumplings. For these, we make 3 different type of fillings - the blueish one is rempah udang fillings, the pinkish one is peanut fillings. There's one more shredded coconut filling which is not inside my picture because it was mixed up in the packet that i brought back so i was not able to snap a photograph. haha.... for this, i tell a little white lie saying that i didn't snap a photo because i'm saving it for consumption at a later date. But, those who were in the picture of my trip knew what's happening. Oops! i think i have let the cat out of the bag already. lolz...

Beside bring back the taiwanese style dumpling, i also brought back the traditional hokkien bak chang which is a compliment from another baking friend from Malaysia who was also there last saturday. I called these the "smuggle bak chang" because she really run the risk of not being able to bring it over if she's being stopped at the custom. She had single handedly make these bak chang herself in the early wee hour before setting off here.

Look at the generousity of the fillings.

Every time i goes down to sifu's house, it's always a fruitful and abundance one. Not only for the food but also the laughter shared among us. LAUGHTER IS ALWAYS THE BEST THERAPY.

Make recently

2009-05-16T18:13:00.005+08:00

CRISPY BACON PRAWN ROLL

I make this crispy bacon prawn roll with the recipe from here.

I didn't use baby french bean thou as i have some aparagus in the fridge, so i decided to use aparagus instead. Ohterwise, i'm afraid my aparagus may go to waste.

As usual, for a quick meal, i top it off with some angel hair sphagetti again. Yummy!

I make a quick cake using optimal flour. As this is the 1st time i'm trying, the quantity seems too little for a 18cm cake tin. Next round, i shall test out with an increase quantity to check the result. Although the cake seems too thin, i still want to try out my skill in slicing the cake, putting fillings into it and decorating the cake to make it like a birthday cake.

Viola! my decorated cake.

The inside

Not very well done, but at least i get it started. Next time, i shall try my hand on more other topping and slicing the cake to more layer.

Steam tiapoca cake - hubby's favourite.

CROCHET TOTE REVISITED

2009-05-08T22:54:00.006+08:00

One fellow blogger Agy is interested in my crochet tote and asking if i have a pattern for it. I'm so sorry to disappoint her as i'm no expert in crocheting. Usually my crochet are done by looking at real sample itself. For this tote, there's no sample, i just make use of my balance yarn from many years back when i was crocheting tissue box cover for my classmate's parents and aunties. Wow, that's really a long time ago huh? Anyway, i do this tote bag base on my own preference and crochet the pattern as i go along. Haha...... genius huh? Actually not, i'm quite lousy, but i really loves to share. Now, i tried as best as i could by sketching the pattern out and i hope it's easy to understand.

Things needed:

Yarn based on rough estimation
1 ball of 80gm 4 ply single color yarn (mine is peach)
1/4 ball 80gm 4 ply with fossils yarn dual color (mine is grey with silver)
1 4mm crochet hood
4 pieces of white large 4 holes button
Matching color Thread for sewing button
Needle for sewing button

This is the base pattern

This is the base photo.

Base:

1) 1 row - Start with 6 chain stitch, join with a slip stitch to form a loop

2) 2nd row - Make 3 chain stitch (count as 1 double stitch), make 11 double stitch, each inserting to the centre of loop above, slip stitch to join

3) 3rd row - Make 3 chain stitch (count as 1 double stitch) and 1 double stitch in the same hole, in each double stitch hole above, make 2 double stitch, repeat to complete whole row, slip stitch to join

4) 4th row - repeat row 3 pattern

5) 5th row - Make 3 chain stitch (count as 1 double stitch), in the next double stitch hole, make 1 double stitch, repeat to complete the row, slip stitch to join

6) 6th row - Make 3 chain stitch (count as 1 double stitch), in the same hole, make a double stitch, in the next double stitch hole, make 2 double stitch, repeat to complete the row, slip stitch to join

7) 7th row - Make 3 chain stitch (count as 1 double stitch), in the next double stitch hole, make 1 double stitch, repeat to complete the row, slip stitch to join

8) 8th row - Make 3 chain stitch (count as 1 double stitch), in the same hole, make a double stitch, in the next double stitch hole, make 2 double stitch, repeat to complete the row, slip stitch to join.

The base is completed.

This is the side bottom pattern

This is the side bottom photo

9) 9th row, 10th row, 11th row - make 3 chain stitch at beginning, considered as 1 double stitch, then in each double stitch hole, make 1 double stitch

10) 12th row - change color (this part i'm not good in it. i only try to join the 2 different color yarn together as close the edge as possible so that when i make the next row, it would be the other color) - make 3 chain stitch at beginning, count as 1 double stitch, then in each double stitch hole, make 1 double stitch

11) 13th row - change back to base color again, do the same as above

12) 14th and 15th row - change to the other color again, do the same

13) 16th, 17th and 18th row - change to base color, repeat above

The side bottom is completed

This is the side middle pattern

This is the side middle photo

14) 19th row - Make 3 chain stitch, count as 1 double stitch, make another chain, skip 1 double stitch space, make a double stitch, repeat to complete the row, slip stitch to join

15) 20th row - repeat above

This is the side upper pattern

This is the side upper photo

16) 21st row - Make 3 chain stitch (count as 1 double stitch), in the same hole, make 3 double stitch, skip 1 double stitch and it would bring you to the space where the chain stitch from 20th row is, make 4 double stitch, repeat to complete the row, slip stitch to join

17) 22nd row - Make 3 chain stitch (count as 1 double stitch), in the same hole, make 3 double stitch, skip 4 double stitch, make 4 double stitch, repeat to complete the row, slip stitch to join

18) 23rd to 26th row - repeat as above

This is the top pattern

This is the top photo

19) 27th row - make 1 chain stitch (count as 1 single stitch), in every double stitch hole, make 1 single stitch, repeat to complete the row, slip stitch to join

20) 28th row to 31th row - repeat as above

21) 32nd row - change color - repeat above

22) 33rd row - same color as 32nd row - repeat the pattern, at the end of the 33rd row, loop backwards to prevent stitch from dropping

The crochet bag without the handle is completed

This is the handle pattern

This is the handle photo

1) Make 7 chain stitch, then 3 chain stitch, in the space of the 7th chain, make 1 double stitch, then in each chain, make 1 double stitch to complete the row

2) Turn around, make 3 chain stitch, then in the next double stitch, make 1 double stitch, repeat to complete the row

Depending on how long you want your handle to be, keep repeating above till you get your desired length for the handle, at the end, loop backwards to prevent the stitch from giving way.

I have make 2 different color for the 2 handle to add some fun to the tote bag.

Assemble the handle onto the crochet tote, put a button on it, sew the button on together with the handle.

The completed crochet tote with handle.

There's really no fixed rule to my crochet tote. So by all means, base on your own imagination and size of the bag you want, you may just add or reduce stitches to suit your own requirement. Just bare in mind, add stitches by adding additional stitch in 1 hole, reduce stitch by skipping hole and joining in the next stitch hole. The bag will turn out whatever way you desired as long as you base on the basic steps.

Ha.... never realise that this is an extremely long post, i hope anyone reading it would not find it tiring and boring. And since i already spend a substantial amount of time doing my this lousy sketch pattern, i might as well share it on cut out + keep too.

Popcorn anyone?

2009-05-04T21:31:00.004+08:00

Whenever i passed by this movie theatre that sells freshly popped corn, i would always be attracted by the aroma of the pop corn there. Of course, whenever i do watch a movie, i would always buy a box to ease my craving before the movie starts. I don't want to keep my hands busy while watching the show neither do i want to miss the minor details, lolz. Most important of all, it would be such a nuisance to other movie goer too. Well, this habit don't come by cheap, for a small box like this, it would cost me seven sin dollars. Luckily, i'm not really a movie goer, but i am really a popcorn lover, haha....

Yesterday, i was able to experiment with my non-stick wok. I knew of this shopping mall that sells kitchen ware in their basement - there's always this promoter trying to sell his non-stick wok at hundreds of dollars. One of the demonstration that he always does is to make popcorn. According to him, he claimed that not ordinary wok can do this. Well, i was tempted to buy but on the other hand, it would really be crazy to buy a hundreds of dollars wok just to do pop corn since my family is rather small and i always make do with a smaller skillet wok which is less troublesome to wash too. Well, i do own a larger wok which i only use occassionally or for steaming large cake. Now, i'm going to do my experiment with it since this is also a non-stick wok that comes with a air-tight lid except it's so much cheaper than the one being promoted.

Well, my experiment was a success - viola! my very own CARAMEL POPCORN any time i crave for it.

Pan Grilled Rosemary Chicken Chop

2009-05-02T14:53:00.007+08:00

My simple arrangement of pan grilled rosemary chicken chop.

This chicken chop is actually seasoned with salt, black pepper and rosemary. Subsequently you just need to pan grill it in a non-stick pan without any additional oil as the chicken skin would produce enough oil for the whole process of grilling. Top it off with a gravy make from a mixture of light soya sauce, honey, lemon juice and water. I blanched some aparagus and cooked some angel hair spaghetti to go along with it. With this, it's a complete meal again. Actually life can be very simple if you don't asked for too much.

My crafts are being featured

2009-04-29T08:18:00.000+08:00

Delighted again! Haha......... surprised to see my craft work being feature in cut out + keep. Not just one, but two - my completely reversible tote bag and carry all apron.

Cut out + keep is a website which gathers all craftsters and showcase all sort of craft work. Many with instructions and how to. I think this is a good site to share my occassional crafts work and to pick up some if not many tips for crafting, not to mention it showcase some good recipe too. Definitely a site worth visiting.

Another tote bag

2009-04-28T20:34:00.002+08:00

I make another tote bag again. And yes, this is completely hand sewn again as mentioned in my earlier post - i don't have a working sewing machine at home.

This is actually recycle from the jeans leg. And yes, it's the same pair of jeans that i use to make my "carry all apron".

I managed to find this piece of nice print cloth among my old sewing which i used to do many years ago. Some how, my recent browsing on the internet have re-ignite my passions for doing craft work and sewing again.

Isn't this cute?

A closer look

Lay flat on the floor.

A closer look at my yo-yo embellishment on the tote.

Oh! did i mentioned that this tote is completely reversible. The reason why i'm doing a completely reversible one is because since i don't have a sewing machine, anything visible by hand sewing may not be as neat and i also need to keep away the frillings from the jeans.

So i have one tote but two style of carrying it.

This is the other reverse version of my same tote.

I'm actually quite please with my completed tote - something new from something old - isn't it that i'm doing my part for being eco-friendly? Two different design too, hurray!!!

My simplicity lunch

2009-04-28T08:05:00.001+08:00

Mmm......... i think some people is going to call me crazy. What so fantastic about this? Well, nothing actually - it's just one of my family favourite dish - sesame oil chicken.

I have decided to write down this recipe in my recipe cabinet. Who knows, my descedant may just want it somedays.

I did it again....

2009-04-27T23:54:00.003+08:00

Yes, i did it again. Oops! not in not working over time neither in losing those extra pound.

I did this steam cake again. But it's a such a frustration that i still couldn't get that perfect "spider web" design. I guess i still needs lots of practice to avoid that shaking hand. Oh, no use in avoiding that chicken feets which the older folks claimed may be the cause of shaking hand, hahaha........because i don't eat that dish.

Fusion Recipe

2009-04-22T18:23:00.005+08:00

Recently i have been quite lazy and i'm always thinking of cooking a meal which can be prepare in one go. As such, i tested this fusion recipe - combination of glutinuous rice with herbal chicken. So now i can have a complete meal in just i dish. Lolz.

Just incase you may wonder how does the herbs used in this recipe looks like, here's a picture which i labelled it accordingly.

And this is how i wrapped the chicken for steaming.

My completed steamed stuffed glutinuous rice herbal chicken

Recycle that old pair of Jeans

2009-04-20T23:16:00.001+08:00

Due to my job scope, every month end i have a task of auditing and ageing the inventory in two warehouses. And this is what i dread most in my job. Every month end, i wish i could turn into an octopus with multiple hands to hold all my stuff for doing this task. Well, for years, i have been making do with a silly sling pouch that doesn't even match my outfit nor serving my purpose of carrying all my stuffs. Every time, i would find myself fishing into the pouch trying to locate what i needed thus scratching my mobile phone which i always carry with me just incase anyone who would want to reach me, (but was unable to do so as the warehouses is not equip with phones at all corners).

Luck just struck me when i was browsing the internet and came across this post on converting an old pair of jeans to an apron by craftsters - betz white. Oh yeah, i found this very innovative. This would just solve my years of struggling with a silly pouch. With the idea in mind, i set myself scouting into my pile of old clothes and i found this pair of old jeans - just what i needed. However, because i don't have a sewing machine at home, whatever sewing that is needed to be done will have to be hand sewn. Therefore, i try to minimized as much sewing as possible.

First, i trimmed off the legs so that the jeans turn into a short.

As i'm trying to have more pockets, i used the back pocket of the jeans so that i don't have to sewn the pockets again. I also wanted to retain the waistband so that i don't have to sewn any tieback for the apron. I also retained the metal button and button hole of the waistband so that i can turn it around to hook behind my back and no extention is needed for tying. I also have to unpick the top of the front loop so that i can cut away the zipper front portion of the jeans. As i'm trying to minimize the sewing needed, i retained the side seam of the jeans which is aready machine seal/hemmed. This part, you have to be very careful when cutting - you have to cut as close to the edge of the seam as possible while retaining the machines hemmed portion so that there will be less frills from the cutting as time goes by.
The reverse side of the apron. Note the uncutted side seam.

This is how the front of the apron looks after cutting off the front portion of the jeans. Notice the protruding crotch area?

Therefore, i have unpicked this portion.

Allow it to overlap and lied flat

Trim further the bottom portion so that it becomes a straight line at the bottom,

Sew back the overlap flatten crotch area again

Next, i folded the bottom portion and securef it with pins before hemming the bottom with blind stitch. This is to prevent frillings from all these cuttings.

My completed apron which i think looks plain.

As such, figuring that i would need additional pocket specially for my mobile phone alone (so that i could keep all the rest of the things away from it to prevent scratching it), i decided to use left over fabric to add the additional mobile phone pocket and some emblishment to the apron to make it more interesting.

I cutted out a double folded piece of fabric enough for the size of my mobile phone. With right side facing right side, i hand sewn with back stitch round the corners, leaving a small gap so i can turn it inside out. Next, using the iron to flatten the edges, I set it onto the centre of the apron and hand sew it with applique stitch. Using the same method, i hand sewn 2 little bow and attached it to the original jeans pocket to act as emblishment.

This is how my bow looks.

My completed apron which is no longer boring.

A closer look at my stock auditing apron.

Viola! An apron that holds all my stuff.

One dish meal - Pork Ball Congee

2009-04-18T15:07:00.007+08:00

When it come to simplicity for meal, what could be more convenient than to prepare a one dish meal. What do i mean by one dish meal? Well, it simply must incoporate the food pyramid - that is it must consist of carbohydrate, protein as well as vitamins.

Today, i prepared a one dish meal - pork ball congee.

The carbohydrate is the rice, protein comes from the pork and vitamins from the carrot.

See, my pork ball congee - convenient and delicious. Recipe in my bon appetite blog.

This is how i shape my pork ball.

One of the ingredient i used is called tao tow chai - literally translate as big head vegetable. It is actuall a kind of dried preserved vegetable. This is quite salty, so when using this ingredient, one must remember to wash thoroughly to clean away the salt used to preserved it. Here's a picture of it:

I guessed, it must have got its name from the way it look - a big head. Wahaha.......

Surprise

2009-04-10T21:47:00.009+08:00

I'm really suprised today when i visited FOODbuzz, as my cashew nut slices picture was being feature under daily special today. Elated! ;P

Thanks FOODbuzz team!

Oh yes, btw, for this recipe, please refer to my bon appetite blog.

Who is more stress?

2009-04-09T23:22:00.003+08:00

WHO IS MORE STRESS?

YOU OR THE FISH?

Join my blogging train...

2009-04-06T16:23:00.003+08:00

Today i managed to embark another friend to join my blogging train wagon. So i would have another blog to visit and that is DDneo's blog. She's just started her blog today and for a start, you can find so many different style of cooking crabs -OO.....yummy. Although there's no picture to the crab recipe yet, but trust me, visit often and you may just find surprises for she's will be embarking on preparing these crabs delicacies and would probably snap the photograph to share real soon. For another thing, as her hobbies is golfing and diving, so you may also expect pictures of the underwater world. So stay tune at DDneo's blog.

New update

2009-04-05T21:51:00.007+08:00

STsn had asked me, how often do i update my blog, frankly, i never observed. I update whenever i feel like it or whenever i have something to show. I'm such a lazy bum. lolz. I guessed i needs alot of motivation to update my blog daily. Obviously, i can't make a living out of it. And that's probably the reason why i don't have any advertisement bar in my blog. Well, i should say, even if i do, not many visit my blog and i would probably died before i could even see the cheque reaching me. Lolz. Anyway, if one day, should i decide to put up the advertisement bar, please don't forget to click whenever you visit. And btw, if you do visit any other blog with advertisement bar, please CLICK CLICK CLICK as many time as possible. It's a good deed. lolz.

Make this last week. Ayam pongteh - a nonya dish. Although the picture don't look appetizing, but i could assure you that this dish is pretty tasty.

And i have been crazy over this indian bread call CHAPATTI. OO........ yummy.

You just need to pan fried it, no oil is needed for the frying. After which, you can eat it with whatever fillings you like. Or even dip it in curry. The texture is crispy yet not oily at all. I have make this as a snack a couple of time already. My filling is ham, dice tomato and cheddar cheese melt. Oops! sorry no picture because i was too busy dugging into it while it is still hot from the wok. Haha.....

This is my winning from an instant lucky dip when i bought some health supplement from GNC. Yes, yes this item is from OSIM. I don't know how is GNC related to OSIM. But i was given this coupon to the instant dip in OSIM. According to the sales representative, this weigher cost $99.
Not a bad win afterall.

I make this this morning for brunch. Heehee..... yes, brunch because we are heading somewhere else in the early afternoon.

Do you like this view?

Or you prefer this?

Or this?

Haha.... i like them all. Therefore a collage is done.

As i never like frozen peas, i have replaced the frozen peas normally use in fried rice with red and green pepper and carrots which is a healthier choice.

My attempt to do the egg crepe is not very successful. I know the egg is not well beaten and i have make it too thick. I guessed, i still needs lots of practices. Anyway, just to share the trick:

To make this egg wrapped fried rice, you need:

Ingredients: (good for 2 crepe)

3 eggs

Pinch of pepper

Pinch of salt

Utensils:

a shallow bowl

a non-stick frying pan (circumference must double the circumference of bowl)

Method:

Beat egg well with salt and pepper

Heat up frying pan
Pour well beaten egg into pan, twist and turn pan so that egg is spread thinly and evenly round pan.

When egg crepe is set, slide it on the shallow bowl

Put pre-fried rice into it, wrapped up

Overturn onto a plate, slit open the crepe and serve.

Oh, for my version of fried rice, please refer to my recipe cabinet - bon appetite

Recent activities

2009-03-28T22:22:00.007+08:00

Have not been updating my blog. Well, i have nothing to show off unlike luxuryhaven who have won so many awards and have so many readers. Lolz.

Anyway, just a little update on my recent activities.

I've make this little tote bag out of left over yarn from many years back.

Isn't this cute?

A close up

The base

Well, at least i have make something useful. I carry this tote bag to the supermarket whereby i put a pack of tissue paper, my house keys, my handphone and my wallet.

Make this glutinous rice and mould it into a heart shape just for presentation purpose only. Haha, anything heart shape would looks lovely, isn't it?

On the same day, i also make this yam (taro) cake.

Cut up. Look at the generous ingredients that i have added - dried shrimp, pork and mushroom.

I have top it with crispy fried shallot too. As i have forgotten to get the spring onion and chillies, so there's no garnishing. However, it still taste wonderful without the garnishing although i must admit that there's a lack of color which is my greatest mistake when come to food presentations.

Talking about food presentations, i have make this peanut dainties too. The recipe is available in my bon appetite blog. Well, as i reviewed my recipe folder slide show, i noticed that many of my food pictures are very badly done back then. As i was a lousy photographer armed with a lousy camera back then, (i'm still a lousy photographer now even though i have just bought a new camera not too long ago), many of the food pictures were badly done which is such a disservice to the many wonderful recipe shared. As i blog along, i have gained some experience on food presentations, i very much wanted to revamp the pictures which was badly taken back then. Well, today i make the 1st move by revamping my peanut dainties which melts in the mouth.

Comparatively, these pictures looks so much better than my last pictures done a couple of years back.

Mmmm......... i'm still very much into this rainbow thing. It's a pity that i missed this beautiful rainbow a couple of weeks back. I abstracted these 2 pictures from other blog and present it here for my own safe keeping. These pictures were so well taken and it's will be such a waste not to share it. Hopefully, when the next miracle like this happened, i will be able to take such professional photos too.......

RAINBOW CONNECTION

2009-03-21T14:20:00.003+08:00

What am i doing? Painting? Playing tic tac toe? Of course not. This is actually the preparation for making the Nonya Kueh Lapis - my nephew's favourite. I have done this many times but was not able to get an even multi-layer each time i make this. Till i recently saw this food recommendation on Nonya food that give me this idea of getting a proportionate same thickness layer. Of course, my sifu also gives me a tips - she said to weigh the total mixture, after that divide it into 9 portion as the Chinese name of this Nonya cake is called JIU CHEN GAO literally 9 layer cake.

Isn't this beautiful?

A close up

Doesn't this look like a rainbow?

After making this kueh, i still have some balance coconut milk. I didn't want to waste it as coconut milk can't keep long, even when leave inside the fridge. As such, i came out with my version of Steam Rainbow Marble Cake.

Athough this is a simple cake, but it taste heavenly especially when it is just fresh from the steamer.

I know my friend is a shopaholic because

2009-03-19T17:23:00.003+08:00

I know of this friend of mine who is a real shopaholic because by visiting her blog luxuryhaven, you would be wondering where the hell did she get so much information on SALES.

Another clue is that when i found this cute icon from cool buddy

and dedicate specially to her, haha.., she gladly accepted it and used it as her profile picture in her blog.

There's once when she went oversea, she saw this really cute hello kitty luggage bag, she bought it without any hesitation. Knowing that she's such a hello kitty craze, it isn't surprise that she got it but then guess what? She didn't want to come back with an empty luggage bag, therefore, again, she went on a shopping spree just to fill this newly bought hello kitty luggage.

Well, i'm writing this post because i want to win the preview screening ticket to the cinema show "CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC" so that i could compare which is more shopaholic, my friend or Isla Fisher? Otherwise i will have to wait a couple of days more before i could "Catch Confessions of a Shopaholic on 26 March!"

SIMPLE LUNCH

2009-03-14T18:06:00.003+08:00

It really had been quite some time since i last cook a complete meal. Today, i woke up pretty early, do some house work and went to the supermarket with the mind set on buying ingredients for making some stuff for my weekly family gathering at my brother's place tommorow. As i was window shopping around in the supermarket, decided maybe i could cook some stuff for lunch as i'm really tired of eating out every day already. Lolz.

So for today's lunch, we have baked white snapper. This is actually a modification of baked cheesy prawn which i recommended earlier. I do some adjustment to the recipe and come out with my recipe of baked white snapper which is available in my bon appetite blog.

Doesn't this look cheesy? But actually it is not, it is infact very juicy.

Another dish which i make is Steam Salted Egg Toufu Prawn.

This is my creation from my memory some 20 years back whereby i tasted something like that.

Arrangement before steaming

After Steam

I also make a chinese cabbage with fish dumplings soup. Didn't take any picture because i think there nothing to show off about this soup. I loves to use chinese cabbage in soup because it always make the soup very sweet and tasty after 20 minutes to half an hour boiling. No salt is needed if u just drop a chicken bullion cube to the water, the cabbage and the fish dumplings will contribute to the rest of the flavour in the soup. This is a quicky to complete the meal with vegetables.

Oh yes, btw, i just bought a 3 in 1 scanner/printer/copier and a new 10.1 mega pix digital camera from the recent IT show. One more purpose of cooking today's meal is also to test out my new camera. How do you all think about my new camera as compare to the old one?

It had better looked better, * wink wink *otherwise, you may all conclude that i'm a lousy camera man. But hey, i'm at least contributing to the economy's recovery by SHOPPING.

lolz.

Crocheting

2009-03-10T17:08:00.004+08:00

Found this crochets bag extremely beautiful. However, have problem understanding the instruction given. But i'm so lucky to find this website with the basic crochets instructions with legend, simple written instructions with abbreviation representing different stitch and even video to show different stitch step by step. Wow! Really very thankful. So i shall find time to get down to town to get my yarn and embark on this new project. Shall post my completed product if i'm successful in making one as beautiful as the above.

Sweet things elevate your mood

2009-03-09T22:22:00.003+08:00

Went to the nearby mall just now, saw my favourite strudel having a promotion store there. Couldn't resist the temptation, so i bought a small piece to eat. This is my favourite strudel store - RITZ APPLE STRUDEL & PASTRY.
There's many branches around in Singapore, but this one that i bought from is not a permanent store, it's just a food event organised by the management of the mall, i just happened to saw it there. I know, i shouldn't be eating all this but i was thinking, since i took a 10 minutes walk to the mall, and another 10 minutes walk to get back home, so i could afford to indulgence a little.

Not really a small piece huh, heehee..... but i don't really do this very often, so why not.

Today i choose mango as the fillings because i know they are always very generous with their apple fillings, so i choose mango instead. At least i would not be eating so much of the custard fillings and piled on my calories.

Also bought this at the petrol kiosk - not so much for the candies but the container - because it's Hello Kitty. Sweet stuff does lift your mood, so go ahead, indulgence in some thing sweet occasionally.

Are you affected by the recession?

2009-03-02T16:55:00.002+08:00

Recent conversation with colleagues and friends have set me thinking - i'm really lucky to be able to hold a job and keep the home going.

I have always grumble about not being treated fairly in the company which i think have set some of my colleagues to have the following conversation:

"Are any of your friends or relatives affected by the recent mass retrenchment?"

"Not that i know of"

"Mmmmm...... you know it's a good thing that our company have always been stingy in spending, otherwise, we might not be able to survive this economic crisis"

"Ya, and we are so lucky to be still employed and being paid promptly"

At that very moments, i was so pissed off that i feel all these are targeted at me. However, now i really feel that they could be right. Never mind the fact that the company is not affected by the crisis at all at the moment, but who knows when we may be hit, and i could be the next umemployed roaming the street.

I'm officially in the 21 years of service with my company, no awards, no appreciation gift, nothing, but i'm not complaining anymore. Because i feel i'm so lucky to be still employed.........

Taiwanese Porridge Buffet

2009-02-25T22:55:00.001+08:00

Yesterday as both myself and my partner did not have a proper lunch, so we decided to go for Taiwanese Porridge Buffet dinner.

This place that we visit is actually near my old house area. It's actually a cafe of a hotel which changes it's name several times due to change in management. However, i just loves the food that they serve and also the ambience. The cafe may not be posh but the food is quite good considering that it is reasonably priced as compare to some very posh restaurant.

The taiwanese porridge buffet comes with so much variety that i could hardly count how many items are there actually.

I have actually taken a picture out from their web featuring the Taiwanese Porridge varieties of item - it serves from clear soup, braised duck and pork, braised taupok, braised hard boil egg, braised beancurd stick, assam fish, mixed vegetables, porridge side dishes, mussels, curry chicken with french loaf, mutton, beef, steam egg, etc. etc.......the list can go on and on, complete with plain porridge, sweet potato porridge, plain rice, tanghoon. It also serves surprises tim sum dish, fruits, desserts like ice kachang and bread pudding (something which i don't normally eat, but yesterday one was pretty good), a wild variety of ice-cream in an ice cream bar. It's definitely a must try for people who loves variety but didn't want to pay too much like my childhood friend - STgt. (STgt, this shall be our next meeting place if you don't mind the journey) But i guess buddy STsn wouldn't like it (i guessed) because i knew she goes more for fine dinning and not much of a buffet goer.

This is the ambience that i have taken a picture of. (not very well taken thou)

My favourite soup..............err, i meant the soup bowl.

Heehee...... i loves this bowl because it's slightly tilted to the front so that u can actually see the content inside the bowl even when you take a picture from the front instead of from the top. Very good for presentation of your soup for photo shooting. Haha...... have actually been looking for this type of bowl but didn't want to pay too much thou.

This is my favourite dish among the buffet varieties - mussels with shell on cooked in spicy tomato sauce complete with onion and garlic (not sure whether if this sauce is call Neapolitan sauce). Never fail to take this every time i visit.

Some of the side dishes that we ate.

Clockwise from 6 o'clock - fried peanuts and anchovies, pork floss, preserve block bean curd, seasoned chye sim and sliver fish with black bean paste.

Yesterday surprise tim sum - pan fried gyoza serve with vinegar and shredded ginger.
Curry Chicken drumlets served with french loaf. Another dish we will never miss.
Lastly we complete our buffets with some fruits and ice kachang without the kachang. Heehee... which is my habit - ice kachang without the kachang (red bean).

As we both are not a great eater, i did not take picture of all the dishes that is being served yesterday. For eg, we have given the assam fish a miss, didn't take the picture of all the braise item like braise duck, braised hard boil egg as i knew that those food which is cook with dark sauces will not turn out well in my camera.

Oh, just in case if you want to visit, here's the address:

Quality Hotel Singapore

201 Balestier Road Singapore 329926

Tel: 6355 9988

The cost of the buffet is only $10.80 ++ per person for dinner from 6.30 pm to 10.00 pm

Isn't it value for money? For $10.80 ++, you gets variety + ambience, where to find?

I think after 10.00 pm, they called it porridge supper and it's only $8.00 ++. It's served all the way up till 1.00 am. I have not tried this thou.

Here's a map to show where it is located. Just at the corner of the junction between Balestier Road and Moulmein Road.

And if you do go there, don't forget to mention about my blog's recommendation. Maybe i could just earn a free porridge buffet dinner next time round when i visit. Haha..........lolz, just kidding!

New Random

2009-02-22T10:36:00.005+08:00

Hey, i've added new Ang Pow Collection to my Ang Pow collection slide show. Have you noticed the additional collection?

Joining contest:

Probably the only type of contest that i would join. Because it's cash prices. Wish me good luck and hopefully i could win the top price of $8,888 in cash. :)

I have been wanting to test out this recipe given in Luxuryhaven's blog - Tea Smoke Chicken.

Luxuryhaven's blog always got surprises for you. If you have the time, do visit. Very interesting. Btw, it's luxuryhaven's blackswan that thought me how to do the link to lead you to another post or blog directly. As i'm a complete "idiot" when it comes to IT gadgets. Lolz........ Tks BLACKSWAN!

Back to the tea-smoke chicken, today i managed to find time to test it out. However, instead of using the whole chicken, i used chicken wing instead. I have also rewrite the recipe for easy reference and safe keeping in my bon appetite blog.

Tea Smoke Chicken Wing

Get Fit in 5 minutes

2009-02-19T15:00:00.000+08:00

Bought a magazine yesterday and this comes in the form of like a leaflet. It's definitely too tiny to read from the picture. Therefore i'm re-typing it out for sharing and also added my comments in brackets.

If you can't spare an hour for the gym (not can't spare but not living in condominium nor do i have the spare cash to sign up for any fitness club), we've got news for you. Recent studies have shown that bouts of exercise can add up to the same benefits if you do them consistently (i think "persistently" would be even better as i usually give up after a couple of days). Here are five activities that you can squeeze into your day.

1. Before you hit the shower in the morning, get your heart rate up by jogging in place for five minutes. (My neighbour downstair would be complaining, what the heck am i doing in such early morning)

2. While you are waiting for the kettle to boil, hold a can in each hand and do bicep curls as you walk aound the house. (Haha..... don't have the habit of drinking hot drink in the morning, when am i going to set the kettle to boil, heehee......)

3. To condition your forearms, hold a tennis ball in each hand and squeeze as hard as you can for a count of eight. Release and repeat. (Tennis ball, oh no, can't find in my house)

4. When the mid-afternoon slump hits, take a brisk walk around the office or outside the building. Pump your arms to step up the pace. (Definitely not under this hot weather otherwise i'll probably get heat stroke before i could get fit)

5. Instead of taking the lift, use the stairs. Take the stairs two at a time to boost the cardio effects and give your legs a good workout. (I knew this is definitely a good exercise, but with every level stop kind of lifts around, who takes the stairs nowsaday. I'll definitely be call a weirdo if i do that and my neighbour may thought that the lift broke down??)

Errr................ i seems to heard some one scolding me and telling me to stop giving excuses........

Friends

2009-02-18T17:03:00.002+08:00

A friend send me this cartoon by email. Found it very funny, let share it.

HAIR DIY, crochet tissue box cover, bake cheesy prawn

2009-02-17T22:26:00.008+08:00

With the current economy downturn, everybody is talking about cutting cost and saving to tie over this economy suitation.

Here come my thoughts:

BEAUTIFYING YOUR HAIR

Before recession - real rich "tai tai" way - have the top celebrative hairstylist chauffeured to her house to get all your hair treatment, hair cut and hair styling done in the comfort of her own home.

When recession set in - real rich "tai tai" will still get hair done by top hairstylist but this time at the stylist saloon in the top shopping mall.

Before recession - HDB "tai tai" will get hair treatment done in HDB style saloon by top hairstylist.

When recession set in - HDB "tai tai" will still get hair done in hair saloon but this time by budget stylist.

MY STYLE OF BEAUTIFYING MY HAIR - recession or no recession still the same.

Armed with all these gadgets,

Shampoo myself, style myself, DIY hair dyeing with over the counter hair dye (the cheapest and reasonably priced, available when i walk into the store), sometimes lucky enough to get help from family members, cut fringe myself which save me quite a bit otherwise may have to visit hair saloon every month and subject myself to being persuaded into doing other treatment due to my poor will power. Probably get a major hair cut only once a year. Oops! Bosses of hair saloon is going to protest if they happened to read this.

Then i might as well give some more tips - can DIY hair treatment with egg yolk, just remember not to wash with hot water otherwise you may get "蛋花”(egg flower) on your hair, just cold water will do (cold water also keeps away the static of your hair) - this would actually keeps your hair soft and shinning

Hair treatment with treatment wax available from personal care stores or from the counter of HDB style saloon. This is considered luxury already.

*******************************************************************************

Done this during my school days. May consider picking up the needle again.

****************************************************************************

Make this using 厨房笔记 recipe. Very easy - just clean prawn and slit back of prawn, sprinkle with black pepper and chilli powder, saute garlic in butter, pour over, cover with cheese strips and bake. Viola! Yummy cheesy prawn.

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-12T16:22:00.017+08:00

i got this some years back, since i have nothing to share about valentine's day, i might as well share this :

To My Friends Who Are...........SINGLE

Love is like a butterfly. The more you chase it, the more it eludes you. But if you just let it fly, it will come to you when you least expect it. Love can make you happy but often it hurts, but love's only special when you give it to someone who is really worth it. So take your time and choose the best.

To My Friends Who Are............NOT SO SINGLE

Love isn't about becoming somebody else's 'perfect person.' It's about finding someone who helps you become the best person you can be.

To My Friends Who Are............PLAYBOY/GIRL TYPE

Never say 'I love you' if you don't care. Never talk about feelings if they aren't there. Never touch a life if you mean to break a heart. Never look in the eye when all you do is lie. The cruelest thing a guy can do to a girl is to let her fall in love when he doesn't intend to catch her fall and it works both ways...

To My Friends Who Are............MARRIED

Love is not about 'it's your fault', but 'I'm sorry.' Not 'where are you', but 'I'm right here.' Not 'how could you', but 'I understand.' Not 'I wish you were', but 'I'm thankful you are.'

To My Friends Who Are............ENGAGED

The true measure of compatibility is not the years spent together but how good you are for each other.
To My Friends Who Are............HEARTBROKEN

Heart breaks last as long as you want and cut as deep as you allow them to go. The challenge is not how to survive heartbreaks but to learn from them.

To My Friends Who Are............NAIVE

How to be in love: Fall but don't stumble, be consistent but not too persistent, share and never be unfair, understand and try not to demand, and get hurt but never keep the pain.

To My Friends Who Are............POSSESSIVE

It breaks your heart to see the one you love happy with someone else but
it's more painful to know that the one you love is unhappy with you

To My Friends Who Are............AFRAID TO CONFESS

Love hurts when you break up with someone. It hurts even more when someone breaks up with you. But love hurts the most when the person you love has no idea how you feel.

To My Friends Who Are............STILL HOLDING ON

A sad thing about life is when you meet someone and fall in love, only to
find out in the end that it was never meant to be and that you have wasted years on someone who wasn't worth it. If he isn't worth it now he's not 'going to be worth it a year or 10 years from now Let go.....

TO ALL MY FRIENDS.......

My wish for you is a man/women whose love is honest, strong, mature,
never-changing, uplifting, protective, encouraging, rewarding and unselfish.

ANG POW PACKETS COLLECTION

2009-02-08T13:07:00.002+08:00

Have not been making any dishes or cakes, i.e have not been doing any baking or cooking. Actually my hands are itching to try something, however because of all the cookies that i have make for CNY, i can't do anything else till i finish all these CNY goodies. With all the festive feasting, i tried to restraint myself from making anything else, otherwise, how to keep to my resolution to lost some weight.

So how to keep my time occupy if i'm not making stuff. Well, i'm still very addicted to the viwawa growords game. In case you may also be interested to play or to find out why am i so addicted to this game, here's the website:

http://www.viwawa.com/

other than that, i have been trying to tidy up my stuffs a little. A few days ago, i rearrange all the paper bags that i got from buying things - there's so many of them. To throw it away is such a pity. But i can't possibably use them all up in no time as most of them are quite durable. What to do, i just have to keep them tidy in a carton.

Beside this, there's also my ang pow packets that have been lying in the cabinet for the longest time. I'm not really a ang pow packets collector, however, there's always so many given to me in the office (empty one only thou *wink wink*), as such i have so many collections of them over the years (20 years to be exact). Look at these:

This is just a portion of it only

Probably the oldest ang pow packet that i have got.

Does oldest ang pow packet consider an antique too?

Can i fetch some cash from it?

The little baby who have grown up a little this year to this:

The most complete collection, 12 zodiac altogether.

I didn't feature the zodiac here, too lazy to turn over to snap that.
These actually are DJ from FM 95.8 whom i don't know all who is who

except probably 1 or 2 of them, I didn't call in to get this,

it was given to me free in one of the shopping mall.

This is the one that i called in to get. From FM 100.3 and FM 91.3.
Many years back, i was a fan of this channel. However, this ang pow
don't look fantastic at all. Infact quite disappointed when i got it.

The GREEN PACKET - for Hari Raya Puasa, very unique and rare.

This one doesn't tear - because it's make of plastic foil.

Heehee.......... waterproof some more.

The daddy and son ang pow packet.

My favourite, cannot remember how i got it.

I did not feature everything here, please refer to my slide show on the left for my collections, not all thou, becos there are some which i did not take any picture of it. Well subsequently if i got more, i can just add on to the slide show.

It's a pity that i could not convert these to money. One full box of it - the box for putting 5 ream of A4 paper. Oops! possibably can if i sell it to the kara guni man - would they take it???

Now can some body tell me what can i do with all these ang pow packets. Any suggestion?

HAPPY "NIU" YEAR!

2009-01-24T19:09:00.001+08:00

I had been busy with work as well as baking CNY cookies. This year, i make Peanuts Dainties (Recipe from my bon appetite blog), Cashew nuts cookies, Kueh bangkits, Kueh Mamur, Cornflakes cookies (Recipe all available at 厨房笔记).

I have make a slide show to show my bakes, very convenient, just upload the pictures, select theme, layout, style, etc.

Viola! You will have a beautiful slide show.

Heehee..... normally i don't do much of house visiting during CNY, especially not last year as well as this year. So, it's quite boring to stay at home doing nothing during the public holiday, so normally, i will spend my time baking again. Haha.....crazy right? But beside this, i really don't know what else i can do. Mmmmm..... perhaps i can play viwawa again. Well, i haven't decided, just will depend on my mood these 2 days.

So friend, perhaps you may come back to check if i have more bakes from the slide show...........

Good News/Bad News

2009-01-19T23:20:00.020+08:00

Good new - I'll soon be having another nephew/niece. So delighted, after years of nagging from me, my brother-in-law and sister finally decided to add a new family member to the household. I'm really really happy. When i noticed the little "hump" of my sister's tummy yesterday just before our early reunion dinner. I thought, "Goodness, not another weight gaining again". To my surprise, my sister told me she's expecting. Originally she only wanted to break the news during CNY angpow giving session by saying, "Next year, I'll be collecting back already huh". Hehehe..... but i discovered first. Yippee!

The bad news - with the economy downturn, my 2nd brother may lost his job anytime. His situation now is like 三天打鱼，四天晒网。Yet, he can't look for another job at the moment as he's still hoping to get some compensation should he really be retrench. Sigh......

Nowsaday, it's so lucky to be still holding a job. Maybe, that what people said must "感恩“. Just read some where:

I'm so glad............

for all little gestures done which is not a big deal in the past, however, when you thought of it positively, when you know how to 感恩，then you would be happier.

Maybe i'm really so glad that i'm still able to blog here.........

CNY Mandarin Orange Deco DIY

2009-01-12T00:23:00.000+08:00

Hi, i'm back. Least some people might thought that i'm back to working overtime again, sorry to disappoint you, i haven't, lolz.

Actually i'm busy doing some stuff -

1) I fried some tapioca flour for making kueh bangkits, sorry, no finished product yet because i haven't make. The recipe asked for the flour to be pre-fried before hand - preferably 3 days to 1 week in advance, so therefore, haven't do yet as i only fried yesterday.

2) I make a pandan butter cake today. Mmm.... the finished product didn't look presentable, however, the cake is pretty soft - so soft like chiffon cake yet you can get the fullness after eating it, unlike chiffon cake as if you are eating air, never seems to get full.

Straight from the oven

Removed from the mould

Sliced up

3) Ta da...... here's my biggest project. I attempted to do a self filming video of me making the CNY deco - mandarin orange DIY.

Well, as you can see, the video is horrible. (Uploading this video is already taking me "dino years" to complete it) Therefore, i make a slide show instead.

All these needs time to do it. I'm not so good in taking pictures, therefore, this is the best i could produce for now. At least you can more or less know how to DIY CNY mandarin orange deco. Hopefully, i would be able to do a proper video in future or at least be able to take better pictures for doing my slide show. For now, please bear with it hah, lolz.

Yeah! i did it

2009-01-06T20:23:00.001+08:00

Today, i managed to leave the office punctually again. Took my dinner at a food court near my house, went to the supermarket to buy some stuff and i also bought sweet potato. (of course, i must credit my partner, otherwise i wouldn't be able to do all this). Came back and make this dessert. Dada.......... here comes my sweet potato soup dessert - simple and easy but my partner loves.

Not bad huh, i did it again - no OT. Haha...... that's how AH Q i am. :)

And now i'm going to watch my TV program which i don't usually does previously. ;P

New Year Resolution

2009-01-05T18:38:00.002+08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Haha..... to all my friends who are reading my blog and to the unknown body who are reading my blog. eer.............sound eerie, heehee....

Whenever a new year comes, or an old year passed, you would heard people talking about NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS. However, usually at the end of it, you may discovered that you old year resolution is not met and then you are talking about new year's resolutions. For me, i never bother to set any new year resolutions because i never seems to be able to keep to it. Sometimes because i have no will power, sometimes some unforeseen circumstances cropped up and you are force to abandon your resolutions.

I was jokingly telling my salemen that my new year's resolutions is to be a bad hearted person, i told them that i would stop pampering them and they have to learn to do stuff themselves. Well in a way, it's for their own good - who knows, one of these days, the company may decide that they don't need my service anymore. So it's really for their own benefits that they learn to do it themselve rather then always relying on me. This would in term lightened my workload too. So it's a win win arrangement, hopefully they would help me to fullfill this resolutions. Hahaha..... but looks like i'm day dreaming.

This year, i have set myself some new year resolutions and hopefully i would be able to keep to it.

1) FIRST, I WOULD STOP WORKING LATE IN THE OFFICE.

I'm already going into the office earlier than anybody else, so i think i should stop the habit of being the 1st to open the office door and the last to close the office door. Whatever needs to be done, it could be done the next day. Although there's a saying “今日事今日毕”，but there's also a saying “工作是永远做不完的”. So no more OT - no more overtime.

X'mas eve - supposed to be working half day, in the end, i work till 8 pm.

New Year's eve - actually half day again, but again i finished at 7 pm.

But this are all last year 2008's happening, 2009 - no more such thing.

2) SECONDLY, I MUST LOOSE SOME WEIGHT - SAY 3 TO 5 KGS.

Heehee..... don't tell me i'm dreaming la, PLEASE. I think age is really catching up with me - poor eyesight - needs reading glasses liao, metabolism slow down also - eats little but yet still puts on weight. So can someone please tell me how to keep this resolution? eat less, exercise more, eat less, exercise more............. can repeating these words helps???

3) THIRDLY, I WANT TO LIVE A HAPPIER PERSON

I think inorder to achieve this, i need to learn to let go. No point pondering over things that i can't solve on my own. No use - let nature takes it's own course. Things that haven't happen may not happen at all, so why worry. It's "Let it go let it go" not "let it snow let it snow"

Today, i manage to accomplish my 1st resolutions - i left my office punctually - finished my dinner and here i am blogging. ds, keep it going.....

My lastest recipe testing

2008-12-27T20:30:00.001+08:00

It has been a long time since i last put up a tested recipe in my bon appetite blog for sharing. Heehee....... i didn't attempted anything new except those in DJ Violet's 厨房笔记。Today, i suddenly feel the urge to do so. Tata..... here come my RAISINS SCONES RECIPE. It's already put up in my other recipe cabinet blog.

Overall, i put together a few recipe i found in the internet and come out with my own version. This scones is very tasty - whether eat alone, with jam, butter or honey. Basically the scone itself is not sweet at all, it tasted some what like bread yet crispy like muffin. Mmm....... how to describe lei, er...... i ate 3 pieces at one go - with jam, with butter and with honey. LOLz, luckily there's very little oil and no sugar in the recipe, otherwise, can you imagine how much weight i'm going to gain from there.

I also attempted different shots of the end products. So kiasu, right? Well, what to do, i'm still using my old camera, plus my lousy skills, here come the end results.

Plain on it's own

With apricot jam, and with butter

With blueberry jam

All in - jam, butter and honey

And oh yes, this sort of rekindle my secondary school days whereby i always go to a fast food restaurant together with childhood friend STgt.

We never fail to order this scones, back then we don't even know it's call scones but we always ate it with fried chicken - umph.........yummy!

Happiness=less desire

2008-12-22T22:22:00.002+08:00

Read this sentence some where:

"THE RICHEST PERSON IS NOT ONE WHO HAVE THE MOST THINGS BUT ONE WHO NEEDS THE LEAST THINGS"

Mmm...... how true this is. Whenever i see a toddler playing or how a parent pacify a 7 to 8 months old baby with foods, (just a few pieces of honey star could make them shake their legs and hands, and grin from ear to ear), I always wonder how could they be so easily satisfied. Well, i guess it just reflect the above:

When you required less things, you would feel happier
When you have less desired, you would feel happier too.

As one grows older, you want more and you feel less happiness when your desired is not attained. No wonder, babies are always the happiest.

Random Update

2008-12-14T14:45:00.001+08:00

Taken at Changi Airport terminal 3 - kids are not related to me. Haha.... hope i would not be call a paparazi should these kids becomes a star one day.

Taken in Thomson Plaza. Have been following my colleague there to run some errants for the past few days. This tree is very tall - about 3 storey high. Couldn't snap a full length one initially as i want to get a good picture of the decorations on the tree. So i snap the upper portion then the lower portion. Wonder which is taller, the one inside takashimaya or this one. Mmmm...... did not go Orchard to roam lately except passing by a couple of times - so still knew that this year the theme is candies and lollipop, so sweet.........

Now this is a full length snap shot.

Taken in HDB block of flats - at telok blangah drive. Nowsaday you could hardly see this type of elaborated decoration in housing estate except for shopping mall near housing estate. Wonder who bare the cost of these lightings. Mmm..... pass on to the residents??

Met up with childhood friend S recently. These was specially make for her and her family - cranberry cupcakes with colorful chocolate rice as decoration on top. Didn't give her all thou, as i also make my signature chocolate chips cookies for her too. Beside also give little gift for her and her daughter.

These cupcakes is moist and tasty.

Make this today.

Gingerbread Man

My terrible piping skills. Look how yucky these gingermen look after my horrible piping.

The only one which i think is still acceptable because, some how or the other, the eyes looks like heart shape - heehee........ not my intended creation thou, haha........

累

2008-12-07T23:34:00.001+08:00

Believe it or not, there are times when you feel not only so physically tired but also mentally tired. This is the time whereby you don't even wish to do anything or even talk to anyone. So how do youu get by these days? Well, for my case, i look out for inspirational stories to read and encourage myself thru' them, i look at other people who are less fortunate than myself and remind myself that i'm not the worst yet. Afterall, life still have to go on no matter how tired you are both physically and mentally. I tell myself there are others who need me.

生活还是一样要过，不管有多累，因为幸运没跟我做朋友。

It's beginning to look like Christmas.......

2008-11-30T23:38:00.008+08:00

Seeing a lot of friends making Christmas goodies, i'm beginning to feel the Christmas spirits rounding in me. As i have no confidence in making Christmas log cake, neither do i know how to make ginger bread man or ginger bread house, but the itch to make something to complement the Christmas spirits is "killing" me (heehee.....), as such i attempted this brownies which was taught in 厨房笔记. All i need to do is complete it with some Christmas decorations, viola! Here comes my Christmas Brownies:

Taken with my handphone

(Not very sharp thou)

The rest are taken with my lousy digital camera.

i'm dreaming of a white christmas
just like the ones i used to know.
where the treetops glisten,
and children listen
to hear sleigh bells in the snow.
i'm dreaming of a white christmas
with every christmas card i write.
may your days be merry and bright.
and may all your christmases be white.
i'm dreaming of a white christmas
just like the ones i used to know.
where the treetops glisten,
and children listen
to hear sleigh bells in the snow.
i'm dreaming of a white christmas
with every christmas card i write.
may your days be merry and bright.
and may all your christmases be white.

It's beginning to look like Christmas..........

Png Kueh

2008-11-16T23:42:00.002+08:00

It had been a long time since i last post my cooking. Since i wake up early today, i was planning to do something 1st before i head off to Suntec City book fair. Since i saw so many of my bakery friends making this PNG KUEH, i decided to give it a try.

See how i transform the above glutinuous rice to this PNG KUEH below:

A close upAlthough the PNG KUEH is soft and tasty enough to be eaten on its own, my family still likes to refry it again till crispy and add sweet sauce and chilli before eating.

Making this kueh can be quite tedious especially when kneading the dough. I had actually converted my kitchen into a war zone after effect. Haha.... wanted to snap a picture of it, however, my hand is full with flour from the dough, therefore abandon the idea. Anyway, friends may think i'm crazy to take a picture of such unsightly kitchen, heehee........Ok, back to the kueh again. Like what i said, it's quite tedious. It's not the making of the kueh, but the cleaning up after it is such a chore. Actually making this kueh can be quite fun. Molding it is so enjoying. It's especially enjoying when i see my family wallop all the kueh in 1 evening. ;) *wink wink*

Indulgence

2008-11-04T00:05:00.003+08:00

2 weeks back while window shopping, there's this beauty facial road show going on. Some how or the other, being persuaded to test out the product on the spot. Quite satisfied with the beautician service. After that, was being persuaded to buy this voucher for a full facial trial in the beauty saloon. Normally, i'm not easily persuaded into buying this type of things, well, probably because i don't really earn enough for me to indulge in this type of luxury. However, i was really happy with the beautician and i thought, it really have been a long time since i last give myself this type of treat, and it's really worth it as it is very much more cheaper than any other well know salon's offer, so why not give myself a "spring cleaning". haha......

Before setting off, there's this wet blanket that really puts me off. 1st warn me against signing any package deal, next warn me that the locker provided for me could be break open, so on and so for....... Hello, as if i'm spending your money. Hello, i didn't ok. What i'm spending is my own money and not forgetting i'm also financing your expenses too, from house, car to food. Which single cent isn't coming from my pocket? What right have you got to stop me from spoiling myself once in a while. Do you mean that i must thrift so as to support your gambling habit? Get off my back and stop bugging me, i hate it.

Well, i didn't want to tell you off right in your face anymore. Not after what happened a few weeks back when i told you off. Not that i'm afraid. Just that i'm controlling .........

I still didn't sign any thing afterall. Sigh.........

Make recently

2008-10-19T13:30:00.003+08:00

彩虹世界

2008-10-11T13:28:00.002+08:00

彩虹世界=STEAM KUEH LAPIS

May all the things happening around me

be smooth like this lapis - full with vibrant colour.

Every things be smooth sailing and beautiful like rainbow

心情很黑的日子

2008-10-10T12:39:00.002+08:00

从昨天到现在，心情一直不好，因为心很痛。

本来就是一个容易哭的人。看到别人伤心，我会哭。看到天灾人祸，我会哭。看到感动的故事情节，不管是电视也好，真实的也好，故事书也罢，我也会哭。为什么会这样？我不知道。。。。

我不敢说我做每一件事都做得很好，但是我能肯定的是，我都用心去做。但今天我不禁要问：“老天爷可不可以对我公平一点？对我身边的每一个人，每一件事宽容一点？”

Random

2008-09-28T18:13:00.010+08:00

Went to bugis a few days back. saw this basker - whole body applied gold powder and standing under the hot sun like a statue. Occassionally there may be some donor, quite poor thing. Snap these photograph as form of support. Well, these types of baskers seems quite common here nowsaday so there's no 新鲜感。I guessed, inorder to get more donations, basker must come up with something more fresh and new.

Bought these split beans quite sometime ago but waited till now then i make these - Tau Sar Piah and Tau Suan.

To make tau suan is quite simple but to make tau sar piah - yoohoo! no joke, takes me from 7 am to 2.30 pm (just in time for my meditation class) to complete the whole process - from soaking the split beans, steaming it, mashing it, cutting the shallots, frying the shallots, dished out, fry the mashed split beans, weighing the fried split beans and roll it to balls of equal size, preparing the skin (oil skin and water skin), wrapping with the pre-rolled split beans fillings, brushing with egg yolk, sprinkling with sesame (pre-roasted too) then to the oven. Wow, long process but i loves these tau sar piah - simply delicious. Well, it's a good time spent rather then glueing myself to the computer or TV screen. Heeheehee...........

Tau suan before sprinkling the yew jia kueh and

after sprinkling the yew jia kueh.

Lucky i didn't make the yew jia kueh myself. Hahaha.... Tau Sar Piah

The split beans after frying and rolled into balls

Tau sar piah before bake and fresh from the oven

A close up - not so clear thou, because of my lousy camera.

I did it again

2008-09-12T17:44:00.009+08:00

Yes, i did this steam cake again. Why? This time i'm bringing it to share with my meditation classmates. Last weeks topic is "Sharing is Great" and i really want to share.

i have always loves to share, be it food or knowledge. I loves my meditation class - it's so peaceful when all meditate at the same time. Well, i wouldn't say that i have accomplished true meditation effects but surely i gained something from all the topics that the Sifu shared with us.

Can you imagine - water have ears and eyes too.

When pure natural water is being exposed to good wordings by sticking paper with wordings and exposing water to hear good words, it actually helps the water to form nice crystals when put under the microscope. When expose to bad words, ugly crystals may form. Since our body is make up of 75% of water, it's goods to expose it to good words so that we will have nice crystals forming in the body thus achieving good health.

Well, i didn't say all this because my meditation Sifu said so. Well there's actually a real research done by Dr Emoto. Here's the website that you may go to read up further on what i said above.

http://www.life-enthusiast.com/twilight/research_emoto.htm

Somehow or the other, i just loves this cake - not only for the taste but also for the time that i missed during that period of time.

婚姻幸福之路

2008-09-02T20:24:00.003+08:00

Got this passage via email - quite meanful, therefore sharing and recording here:

給所有未婚，將要結婚，和已婚的朋友!!

我的母親是個非常好的人，自小，我就看到她努力地維持一個家。她總是在清晨五時起床，煮一鍋熱騰騰的稀飯給父親吃，因为父親胃不好，早餐只能吃稀飯。然後，還要煮一鍋乾飯給孩子吃，因为孩子正在發育，需要吃乾饭，上學一天才不會餓。

每個星期，母親會把榻榻米搬出去曬，曬出暖暖的太陽香。每天下午，母親總是彎著腰，刷著鍋子，我們家的鍋子每一個都可以當鏡子用，完全沒有一點污垢。晚上，她努力蹲在地上擦地板，一寸一寸仔細地擦拭，家裡的地板比別人家的床頭還乾淨，打著赤脚也找不到一絲灰塵。

我母親是個認真辛勞的好女人。然而，在我父親的眼中，她卻不是一個好伴侶。我成長過程中，父親不只一次地表示他在婚姻中的孤單，不被瞭解。

我的父親是個負責的男人。他不抽煙、不喝酒，工作認真，每天準時上下班，暑假還安排功課表，安排孩子們的作息，他是個盡責的父親，督促孩子在功課上有没有问题。他喜歡下棋、寫書法，沉浸在古書的世界。

我的父親是個好男人，在孩子們眼中，他就像天一樣大，保護我們、教育我們。只是，在我母親的眼中，他也不是一個好伴侶，我成長的過程中，我經常看到母親在院子的角落中，暗暗無聲地掉淚。

父親用語言，母親用行動，表達了他們在婚姻中所面對的痛苦。成長的過程中，我看到、也聽到父親與母親在婚姻中的無奈，也看到、感受到他們是如此好的男人與女人，他們值得一椿好婚姻。可惜的是，父親在世的歲月中，他們彼此的婚姻生活都在挫折中度過，

而我，也一直在困惑中成長，我問自己：「兩個好人为什麼沒有好的婚姻？」

自以为是的付出我長大後，進入婚姻，漸漸了解這個問題的答案。

在婚姻的初期，我就像母親一樣，努力持家，努力地刷鍋子、擦地板，認真地为自己的婚姻而努力。奇怪的是，我不快樂；看看我的先生，似乎他也不快樂。

我心中想，大概是地板不夠乾淨，飯菜燒得不夠好，於是，我更努力擦地板，用心做飯。似乎，我們兩個人還是不快樂。

直到有一天，当我正在擦地板時，先生說：「老婆，來陪我聽一下音樂。」我不悅地說：「沒看到還有一大半的地方沒有擦！」這句話一說出口，我呆住了，好熟悉的一句話，在我父親母親的婚姻中，母親也經常這樣對父親說。

我正在重演父母親的婚姻，也重複他們在婚姻中的不快樂。有一些領悟出現在我的心中。[你要的是？] 我停下手邊的工作，看著先生，想到我父親 .....他一直在婚姻中得不到他要的陪伴，母親刷鍋子的時間都比陪他的時間長。不斷地做家事，是母親維持婚姻的方法，她給父親一個乾淨的家，卻從未陪伴他，她忙著做家事，她用她的方法在愛父親，這個方法是「做家事」。而我，我也用我的方法在愛著我的先生。我的方法也是母親的方法，我的婚姻好像也在走向同一個故事。兩個好人卻沒有好婚姻。

我的領悟使我做了不一樣的選擇。我停下手邊的工作，坐到先生的身邊，陪他聽音樂，遠遠地看著地上擦地板的抹布，像是看著母親的命運。我問先生：「你需要什麼？」[我需要妳陪我聽聽音樂，家裡髒一點沒關係呀，以後幫妳請個傭人，妳就可以陪我了！]

先生說。[我以为你需要家裡乾淨，有人煮飯給你吃，有人为你洗衣服 .....]我一口氣說了一串應該是他需要的事。[那些都是次要的呀!]先生說。「我最希望妳陪陪我。」原來我作了許多白工，這個結果實在令我大吃一驚。我們繼續分享彼此的需要，~發現他也做了不少白工，

我們都用自己的方式在愛對方，而不是對方需要的方式。

幸福的路

自此以後，我列了一張先生的需要表，把它放在書桌前，他也列了一張我的需求表，放在他的書桌前。洋洋灑灑十幾項的需求，像是有空陪對方聽音樂、有機會抱抱對方、每天早上 kiss 拜拜。有些項目比較容易做到，有些項目比較難，像是「聽我說話，不要給建議。」這是先生的需要。如果我給他建議，他說他會覺得自己像笨蛋。我想，這真是男人的面子問題。我也學著不給建議，除非他問我，否則我就只是傾聽，順服到底，連走錯路時也一樣。這對我實在是一條不容易學習的路，不過，比擦地板要輕鬆多了，

而我們在需要的滿足中，婚姻也愈來愈有活力。在我累的時候，我就選擇一些容易的項目做，像是「放一首放鬆音樂」，自己有力氣的時候就規劃「一次外地旅遊」這樣的事情。有趣的是，「到植物園散步」是我們的共同項目、共同需求，每次婚姻有爭吵，去到植物園，總能安慰彼此的心靈。其實，這也可想而知，原本我們就是因为對植物園的喜愛而相知相惜，一起走入婚姻，回到園子就會回到多年前彼此相愛的心情。

問對方：「你要什麼？」這句話開启了婚姻另一個幸福之路。兩個好人終於走上幸福之路。現在，我也知道父母親的婚姻为何無法幸福，他用自己的方法愛對方，而不是用「對方」的方式愛另一半。自己累得半死，對方還感受不到，最後面對婚姻的期待，也就灰心而死了。

既然上帝創造婚姻，我想，每個人都值得擁有一個好婚姻，只要方法用對，做「對方要的」而非自己「想給的」。好婚姻，絕對是可預期的。

一段適合自己的愛情真的得來不易。如果不好好把握不就太對不起自己了嗎??!!

Early Moon Cakes Festival

2008-08-26T20:49:00.004+08:00

It's been quite some time since i last update my blog. Well, have been busy with work. Ok, ok, i confessed, not really busy with work la but lazy. The fact that no one is interested in my life, puts me on hold with updating. Er......... but i said before, who cares whether anyone bothers or not. *wink wink* Haha..... ok, ok, the real confession - actually i was busy playing online silly games and i was really lazy with baking any new stuff, so there's really nothing for me to update.

Well, now here comes the opportunity. All thanks to KD and his mum for giving me a reason to update this post.

It'll be another 2 over weeks before mooncake festival but it's so kind of KD to bypass my office to pass me these delicious mooncakes that KD's mum make. #yum yum# I have these also last year but as it was so delicious that before i could get a good photography done, it's all in hubby tummy. Heehee....... this year, no matter what, i also must grab every possible angle of these delicious moon cakes.

Looks very good and delicious right? The color is so even too. As good as those selling outside, infact better and more tasty too.

Different angles taken.

A close up of the cutted mooncake.

Well, i really enjoyed my early mooncake festival. ^-.-^

Purpose of blog

2008-08-12T22:27:00.010+08:00

Beginning to ponder over the purpose of blogging. When i 1st started to create a blog, it's to vent my frustrations over some matters. It's all just my personal thoughts. However, some how when there is some viewers, the blog doesn't seems to be personal anymore. It looks more like whatever your thoughts are, you are subjected to criticism - be it 善意or恶意. Really admired those people who blog as a living. They are the so call celebrative bloggers. Haha :( Sigh.... i think i would never be able to achieve such bravery to subject myself to such criticism (perhaps hurts). Guess i really minds what others thinks about me although i always tell myself "WHO CARES". Even when i see my love one's being threaten or humilated, i'll feel hurts too. But really, i blog just to register my thoughts at that very moments.

Read this:
**************************************************
Subject: You see------&-----I see

You think it is a frog and I think it is a horse!

Turn the picture around

Moral : WE HAVE TO RESPECT EACH OTHER'S OPINION; you can see it clearly in the above Picture. We just need to wait and listen actively to others' point of view.

***************************************************
So why am i subjecting myself to such hurts? I really wonder too..........

This really best proved that "IGNORANCE IS BLISS". By not knowing it, i'll not subject myself to more heartache................ i tell myself, don't read anymore already..........will this works????

PS: my therapathic bake : MUNCHY OATMEAL RAISINS COOKIES - recipe available in my bon appetite blog.

Random

2008-08-03T22:53:00.005+08:00

Attended a Malay wedding this afternoon. The bride is my colleague's niece. Haha....... everyone asking what has his niece's wedding got to do with his colleagues. Well, i can only say since i'm being invited and since i have the time, no harm in attending even though it's really costly to give a big ang pow for 2 plate of nasi bryani. Actually, my thoughts is that Malay loves crowd（爱热闹）, that why they would invite anybody whom they are associate with。

As i really don't know the bride/bridegroom or their parents at all, i feel shy to wipe out my camera to take photos. As such, i only snap 1 photo and that's the stage layout before the bride arrived.

My saturday noon's snack - bake potato chips skewer chicken.

For recipe - refer to my bon appetite blog.

SUSPICION

2008-08-01T21:14:00.002+08:00

A lot of things happened because of suspicion. Because you suspect but you don't ask or clarify, and that's how you began to suspect, and the more suspicion you are, the more trouble could be created.

Just like when you visit a friend whom you have stopped visiting for donkey years because that friend called and asked you to and had actually said wanted to do something specially for you. However, when the visit is done and that friend have clean forgotten about what you were told earlier, do you ask or do you keep quiet? If you ask, it's like you are demanding. If you don't ask, that friend turn around and suspect your motive, what do you do? Sad to say, i personally don't know what to do. To stop all the visits altogether or to carry on visiting and start building the friendship again??? Puzzled, sigh.........

Art Festival & National Museum

2008-07-22T21:26:00.009+08:00

Last week met up with buddy STny (to pick up some stuff from her) and another friend. As ny wanted to watch the art festival performance outside the national museum, so we decided to have dinner some where nearby which is the nasi padang at hotel rendezvous. After dinner, we walk down to the national museum, as we were pretty earlier, so decided to take a walk round the museum. It has been ages since i last visit the national museum, infact, not in this new location.
AT THE ENTRANCE - A LARGE BATIK WRAP STATUE
(taken on the ground floor)

A closer look at the statue on the 2nd floor

At the wayang and cinema hall

A traditional head dress used during the olden days' wedding

A very tradition record player

At the food exhibit hall

As not all the hall are open to public FOC, plus because it's already closed at that hour, we did not managed to walk round all the hall. I have also taken very few photos as it was pretty dark inside the hall, and i doubt my camera would give me good effect.

After that, as it was pretty near to the performance hour already, we decide to leave. Thought we would be able to catch a good spot for watching the performance by some Italian group dancer entitled "The dancing Sky", however, i was so surprised to see the whole area is already packed with many audience. This is the 1st time that i'm watching such a performance, therefore, i'm really surprised by the crowd.

As the organiser is a bit disorganise, we were forced to move a couple of times from one spot to another. At the end of the day, we couldn't get a good spot and we are so far away from the performance area. As such, with my lousy camera, i couldn't catch any photo of the performance. But, well, we could still steal a glimpse of the performance. The music is pretty good and the dancer are fantastic. Imagine being suspended in the air, they could still do very artistic stunt. Wow, i wished i was in the front row, then i could get a better look and would be able to take some photos.

Didn't finish watching the whole performance, left half way thru to catch a movie instead.

Short Memory

2008-07-17T15:38:00.006+08:00

Suddenly discovered recently that, "OH Dear! I've such short memory."

My aunty in her 70s recently passed away in her sleep (People said this is call good death - no suffering, although it could be such a shock to dear ones). While attending her funeral for a couple of nights, i met my group of cousins which we hardly ever catch up with nowsaday. Most of them are already in their 50s to 60s already (but never look like one, which leaves me wondering how could they keep up with themselves and maintained so well). The funny thing is, they all could remember me and could even call out my name. However, i have no memory of which is which. Only upon mentioning by my brothers and sisters that i could vaguely remember them but i really couldn't recall those old memories that they were talking about. Never knew that i have such fun childhood with them all. :)

Ok, now, the more i think i should record some of my memories here.

Muruku from colleague SK.
Birthday card from buddy - STsn. Also a sexy gift from her which is not convenient to post here. haha.....:)

爱心早餐 from 阿嬷。Not all on the same day of course. But i have always been receiving regularly this kind gestures from friend's mother.

Pork dumpling

Teochew png kueh

And not forgetting birthday well wishes via SMS from buddy - BL, car agent - ACC, Colleague SD, Sifu - IT, etc. etc. Thank you very much.

ERP=Every road pay=Everyday rob people

2008-07-08T14:24:00.006+08:00

Got this on email. It's so funny, but it may really happen one of these days.

It's really getting more and more expensive to drive in Singapore already. Imagine, you can easily choke up near to 2k of car maintenance cost (including road tax, parking, petrol, insurance, ERP, etc. etc. ) if you are not careful enough. But imagine, if one day, even taking the lift will need to pay, wow.............

Take the steps la, some would say - healthier also. But........ imagine if you stays on the 20th floor.......... yoohoo........... probably may take half an hour to reach home from ground level to your home. Haha....... currently the prices of flats is such that the higher you go, the more you pay, when the lift ERP is being introduced.............. oh no, the lower you go, the more you pay, eh...... no leh, better for me....... because i don't stay high floor, heehee........

Oops! I'm talking rocks here. Urgh.............. i can't think so far away, already dying from the escalating cost of living here already............. how am i going to fulfill my WANTS list.

Hardwork doesn't always pays off

2008-06-30T23:07:00.003+08:00

Finally, the war zone in the office is over.......

With the recent changes in the top management, i'm lucky to be still surviving in the office. The accountant will be converting to working 3 days a week. A lot of his work would be pass out to the whoever..... which many of us believe once the trade is learnt, the take over would be complete - meaning, once the whoever is comfortable with the work, the accountant service would no longer be needed. Sigh............

Well, lots of speculation as to whether the office is closing for good have reach an end - office will continue to operate under the new head, everything else remains the same (as far as my work is concerned). Sad to say - today's meeting shows that my MD doesn't even know what is my work scope. And no wonder, whatever opportunity for advancement have been pass off me. Ha... after almost 20 years, that's the treatment i got in return. Sigh........... To think that when i initially joined the company, the MD's treatment towards me is so different from now (perhaps i've become tranparent already). Remember there's once when i wanted to take 2 days off continuously (which i have never done before in my years of service), the MD asked if the office is going to function without me. What a joke, if i'm that important, i wouldn't be where i'm standing right now.

I could only conclude - hardwork doesn't always pays off! Must work hard and work smart. Well, i work hard no doubt, however, i have forgotten about working smart...........

Even my baking is playing tricks with me recently too. Nothing seems to be done well, my steam pandan bolu failed (it rise while steaming but sank when the steamer is switch off - this never happen before for this recipe which i tried numerous time). Chocolate cake centre is uncooked. Even today's coffee chiffon cake is a complete disaster. All this failed attempts really puts me off from any further baking let alone taking photos of my disastrous product. Baking - goodbye for now till i regains my confidence to try again.

Catching up with childhood buddy

2008-06-21T08:48:00.009+08:00

It has been a long time since i last catch up with childhood buddy - S. Although we hardly ever see each other (probably only 4 to 5 times in a year), but we never run out of topic to chat about. (Buddy ST said childhood friends are the best). S is currently taking a course in nusery teaching and it really sounds interesting. I have always dreamt of going into nusery teaching when i have earn sufficient to last my life time with my family. Making cookies together with kids sound interesting isn't it? Sigh........ think this is never ever going to happen with the current escalating cost of living.

Actually, S wanted to have durian buffet at our usual hang out place which we both thought it's quite costly - $45+++. That would work out to a lot of money. At the end, i suggested why not try something different. I remembered buddy D ever mentioned to me this Korean BBQ buffet which is nice and economical (half the price of our usual hang out). Have been dying to try it out but then buddy D couldn't make it and we have been postponing it like forever. Haha.... therefore yesterday, just the right chance to give it a try. It's indeed cheap and good.....

This is the start up steam boat. The steam boat have a centre dome shape fixture which is meant for grilling meat like pork, chicken, prawn and also beef (which i don't eat, so it's not included here) and the side is like a drain where the soup is. You can cook anything from vegetables, mushroom, noodle to anything you can think of.

And here's the appetiser which consist of kimchi, spicy hotdog, light soya sauce
beancurd, ikan bilis, shredded vegetable which i'm not sure what vegetable and some very healthy blanch green vegetable.

The pictures about looks good isn't it? Haha..... to tell the truth, i have totally forgotten about taking photograph till i saw the table next to us whip out their camera and start snapping away. So, the above start up and appetiser photo is from the table next to us. Hee.......... i didn't steal to take those photograph hor, i asked for their permission, haha.......

This is the real one from our own table:

Shit! Hand shake again, so the picture is blur.
This is ours half way thru' our attack.

As usual, i brought some cookies for S - Almond biscotti and my signature cashew nuts chocolate chips cookies.

And this is my advance birthday gift from S.

A visit to the library

2008-06-19T13:40:00.005+08:00

Yesterday, after dinner, passed by a library. It has been decade since i last visit a library, haha......

Borrowed these 2 books that looked interesting to me:

The content is some thing like 散文。 Remember during my Pre-U life, read a lot of these types of books especially those written by the author - 三毛。Loves the way she described her environment and the way she lead her life. It's a pity that she committed sucide. But her books is definitely a good read.

I'm currently reading the book entitled 心灵的魔法。Just a few pages, it really teaches you how to take life on the lighter side and how you can make yourself feel more relax. Shall continue. If i come across a page which i think is worth sharing, then i shall re-copy it here.

Inflation erodes real gains in wages

2008-06-17T16:16:00.002+08:00

A read into today STRAITS TIMES - front page headlines read:

» Prime News
Inflation erodes real gains in wages
WAGES here have risen by close to 11 per cent, the highest in almost a decade. But the impact of soaring food and fuel prices meant that for employees in manufacturing, transport and administrative jobs, their real wages - pay minus the effect of inflation - actually fell.

Aiyo! my pay rise is not even anything close to the average as claimed by the papers. (Leave me wondering how reliable is the source? Or are they "inflating" the figures? haha....) But no doubt the inflation is really escalating. (This needs not be reported at all, just a visit to the hawker centre will shows you the facts) Hubby always grumble that the real percentage of increase in fuel doesn't match the percentage increase of the food. What he's referring to is that fuel may increase 10% but hawker increase is abt 20% and so on....... Never really do the calculation, but i told him well, there's more than 1 item that goes into the food item and since everything is increasing, when adding all the increase, it does justify the hawker's increase. I should say the ultimate person to suffer is the end consumers..... and especially consumers like me ......... who doesn't enjoyed a high percentage of pay rise but still needs to suffer the same effect of inflation.

Euro Cup Jersey collection & kitty pouch

2008-06-14T14:33:00.004+08:00

Euro cup football jersey - in handphone strip form. Suppose to be 16 countries only, however, there's one extra one - which is the sponsor product brand name.

Hello kitty pouch - 2 bucks only. Don't think it's original, but who cares.

Random

2008-06-11T21:40:00.007+08:00

Have you ever wonder how a flower hot dog bun is being make? The picture below show it step by step. Well, i'm not the one who did it - i copied it from another website - putting it here for safe keeping, till i'm able to make it.

Can't do bread to the softness like breadtalk because i don't have the correct equipment to knead the dough till it is elastic enough for the bread to last till the next day yet still remains soft. Although those bread i make earlier is soft right after baking, but the softness didn't last till the next day. The equipment needed for making bread is either a bread making machine or a heavy duty mixer (about 800 watts and above) with dough hook. A check in the mall shows that such a machine would cost between S$800 to S$1,200 depending on the model and attachment. Have been hesitating on getting one even though loves to bake a lot but as i don't make it for sale, so such an expensive investment will have to be thought over carefully. Unless i have a sudden windfall :) which is very unlikely as hardly ever buy 4D or participate in any cash prize contest.

Well, there's actually of a lot of to buy list in my mind so........ everything KIV.

And here's some of my recipe collection - look! it's only some because didn't take pictures of all.

In actual fact, never follows any recipe to the exact. I always like to modify the recipe to my own likings and convenience. These recipes book just give me an idea of how certain thing is being done. For example, found the tactics of making the spider web design on cake from the recipe book - chocolate temptation. Also by looking at recipe book, it also gives me an idea of food presentation inorder to get an appetizing look. Then also, a good camera is also needed to get a sharper picture. Recently also found out that there's something like a photo shooting tent. At first was wondering what it that. Then chance upon one - it's actually something like a cubicle with spot light sort of things so as to achieve professional photo shoot effect.

Example of a photo shooting tent:

And here's my baking - pandan siffon cake. Quite disapointing though because the top crack before the cake is fully bake. Then when dis-mould, the cake skin didn't come out probably too. Perhaps not enough oil. One thing though - the cake top did not curve to be like a tyre which sifu said is not correct. Also the cake is soft and spongy. Have to check with sifu the actual combination of the ingredient.

Random

2008-06-10T16:48:00.009+08:00

Nice pictures.

Found above cute dollz picture - considering changing my profile picture.

With GSS in town, above is especially delicated to my BUDDY - ST.
Hahaha........

*************************************************************

Found these naughty phrases on the web.

Happy Dumpling Festival

2008-06-08T13:05:00.004+08:00

These 2 pictures i found on the web, but i did some minor alteration to the original pictures so i would not be like copying as it is. Hahaha...... the 1st picture - i remove the web name that is included in the bottom of the picture. The 2nd picture - i changed the dumling picture (this dumpling pictures comes from the blog of baking friends but i crop it), i also changed the cartoon dumpling picture at the corner, can you tell???

Random

2008-06-07T09:03:00.006+08:00

My last bake - Banana Cake.

***************************************************************

This come from Sifu last week when i visited her.

Yummy Yummy 莲蓉碱水粽!

******************************************************************

Here's the souvenir from colleague L.

Colleague L left yesterday.

SHOCK NO. 2

2008-06-03T22:17:00.003+08:00

Yesterday, while i'm eating my lunch in the office, colleague S came to tell me a shocking news. Wow! Senior D is being given the "big envelope" last Friday! It's so shocking to me and i almost choke on my noodle.

Oh what's happening??? All this while i thought Senior D would never ever get this envelope. However, colleague L confirmed it. Colleague L told me that Senior D said so to her personally.

Senior D have been working in the company for as long as i am. I also heard that Senior D even asked to extend for another 3 months so that work could be hand over smoothly. See, how kind hearted and yet that's how the company is "rewarding" in returned. Although Senior D was with the company for as long as i am, however, we are not under the same payroll - belongs to the other session as colleague L. Nevertheless, Senior D handles work of my session too. When colleague L was given the "big envelope", i was told that colleague D would stay put and transfer to my session. And now........... sigh.......... really wonder would i get mine soon too???

Now i'm like 惊弓之鸟。And i'm feeling very stress because i don't know what is happening.............

And the best way to release stress is to do something that i enjoy.

So here's my bake for today - APPLE PIE.

Just a small portion - about 6 pieces altogether to test out the recipe. Once i feel it's good enough, i shall put it up in my Bon Appetite Blog.

Killing 2 birds with 1 stone

2008-05-27T00:17:00.001+08:00

Have been wanting to practice my piping skill as mentioned in my previous post, however couldn't find a suitable recipe whereby i can really practice my skill till i accidentally chance upon the recipe for VIENNESE BISCUITS. The ingredient needed for this recipe is rather simple - just butter, sugar, plain four and chocolate for melting. This recipe call for piping the batter into 5 cm length using a piping bag with a star nozzle.

Haha....... beside, it also give with a chance to TEMPER CHOCOLATE. According to some write up on tempering of chocolates (the process of melting chocolates), will actually gives you a smooth and shinning texture of chocolate, and most important of all, if the chocolates is tempered correctly, it would set in room temperature and when moulded, a light knock on the table will actually pop out the chocolate from it's repective mould and it would not melt (by keeping in air-tight container) till it comes in touch with heat again.

However, my attempt to kill 2 bird with 1 stone has failed.

The pictures above shows that it seems perfectly alright, isn't it? Well, it does seems so. However, a closer look will actually tells that my piping skill is lousy. Infact, i find it so difficult to control the piping bag. As such, 5 cm is no longer
5 cm, there are some fat and short one, some really slim one, and some that curls up at the edge. Luckily, i'm not piping some wordings on a cake, otherwise, an "I" might become a "L" or "J". Perhaps a "C" may become a "S". I really couldn't imagine myself piping decoration for a cake. :(

Here's a closer look of what i'm descriping :

If this is not clear enough [my camera could only produce this type of quality, heehee ;P - perhaps my photo taking skills also got problem ;) ] Here's an enlarge version.

So, what's wrong with the melting of the chocolate? Well, from the picture, you can't tell. But i know my attempt failed because the chocolate doesn't set at all, even after several hours of waiting. And the waiting time in an open space have actually makes the biscuits turned soft.

An extract from what i read about tempering chocolates follows:

Tempering Chocolate
By: Allrecipes Staff

Whether you're dipping confections in chocolate, coating truffles, or making chocolates in a candy mold, you need to know how to temper chocolate.
Tempering allows the crystals in chocolate to be distributed and suspended evenly throughout the final product. Correctly tempered chocolate will yield a bright, crisp, and shiny chocolate, while incorrectly tempered chocolate will produce results that are streaky and dull.

1. To melt and temper chocolate, you need chocolate couverture: the kind with real cocoa butter. Start with 12 ounces or more: a large amount is easier to work with, especially for beginning chocolatiers. You'll need a pot of water, a clean, completely dry stainless steel bowl to act as a double boiler, and a rubber spatula for stirring. Any moisture in the bowl will interrupt and ruin the tempering process. Place the pot of water on the stove and bring the water to a slow boil.

2. Chocolate chips or coins (available from some specialty purveyors) are ideal for tempering, as they are all the same size and will therefore melt evenly. If you're using a block of chocolate, a serrated knife works well for chopping; you can also use a dough cutter (bench scraper) or other knife. Chop chocolate into even pieces that are no larger than half an inch square.

3. Use the dough cutter, bench scraper, or your hands to transport the chocolate to the dry bowl. If you use your hands, move quickly: the chocolate will melt in your hands. Keep a dry kitchen towel handy for wiping hands and surfaces free of chocolate crumbs and drips.

4. Place the bowl on top of the pot of hot water and gently stir the chocolate with a rubber spatula until it has melted completely and looks smooth. You can keep the water at a simmer while the chocolate melts, or you can turn the heat off entirely. For small amounts of chocolate, it is appropriate to turn off all heat: steam can introduce moisture to the chocolate, causing it to seize up or curdle. In addition, some chocolate has a very high cocoa butter content, which if heated too quickly will cause the chocolate to break and crystallize. White chocolate, in particular, needs very gentle handling.

5. Test the temperature of the chocolate. You need to melt the chocolate to a target temperature of about 110 degrees F (45 degrees C). Be cautious not to go over the target temperature to avoid scorching. As soon as the chocolate reaches the proper temperature, remove the bowl from the heat, dry the bottom of the bowl, and begin the process of cooling and agitation that is essential in tempering. One way of cooling the melted chocolate is to add chopped, un-melted couverture to the bowl. (Add about a third of the amount of chocolate you started with: if you melted 12 ounces, add an additional 4 ounces of finely chopped chocolate.) Stir vigorously until chocolate is melted. This process, called "seeding," allows the crystals in the unmelted chocolate to dictate the shape in the melted chocolate, giving you the desired smooth, glossy result.

6. Now, if your chocolate is too cool to work with, you must bring the chocolate's temperature back up to approximately 90 degrees F (32 degrees C) to use it for coating or molding. Pastry chefs use a method called "tabling" to temper chocolate, a cooling-and-agitation method which involves pouring two-thirds of the melted chocolate onto a marble slab. The chocolatier quickly spreads it thin with a metal spatula, scrapes it back into a pile with a putty knife, and spreads it thin again, repeating until the right sludgy consistency is reached. This cooled chocolate is stirred into the bowl of reserved warm chocolate.

7. Test the temper by dipping a knife tip into the chocolate and letting it sit for two to three minutes. Is it still sticky? It's not in temper. Properly tempered chocolate should be firm to the touch after a few minutes.

I have read the above several time for several days before my attempt. However, MY ATTEMPT TO KILL 2 BIRDS WITH 1 STONE FAILED COMPLETELY.

Goodbye for now - Viennese Biscuits, till we next meet again.

Spider Web Cake

2008-05-07T00:27:00.006+08:00

Oops, spider web cake, haha......... sound scary right? Actually, i was refering to the spider web design on the cake.

Talking about this spider web cake, sometime last year, so many of us is crazy over this cake. The cake is really delicious. I still remember the 1st time when i attempted to do this cake, i was such an "idiot". One of the ingredient involve in this cake requires to be crushed. Guess what i did? Haha..... i actually do it the very traditional way - I POUND IT. To think that i actually have a blender/miller at home, yet i didn't use it......... so stupid right? At that time, i still “死要面子”，i said i enjoyed crushing it by pounding it as i enjoyed watching it being crushed under my hand. Haha......... "You are a sadist" - my friend commented, and of course it's meant to be a joke.

So much of last time, back to the main purpose of this post. I have been wondering how to draw a nice spider web till i saw the picture demonstration in one of these recipe book. Here's how it is being done:
1st, you mixed some coco powder with hot water (thick but runny enough to be pipe), place it in a piping bag, and pipe a swirl (circular form) on top of the cake (before cooking) as show above.

Then you use a satay stick to pull out straight line from the centre of the swirl as shown in the picture on the right.

The completed design before cooking will look like the picture below.

Dada............. the cake after cooking is like the picture above.

Well, i still needs lots of practice on my piping skills as you would have notice the thickness of the swirl is not very even. Heehee.......... that's how a real spider web should looks like isn't it? I believed no real spider web will be even in their "cottonly thread". ME AND MY "AH Q" 精神！ :p

Retrenchment?!

2008-05-05T16:13:00.004+08:00

Tdy, colleague L cried in the office. L's so called being retrench......... but without official notice and the last day would probably be June 2.

So sad for L. After spending 8 over years with the company, now that the section is closing and L is expected to leave on L's "own accord" - without any retrenchment compensation or any notification about the decision. It's only after much pestering with L's boss that L realised the company is letting L go just like that. Actually L more or less expected it but never expect them to not even inform at all. Sigh.............

A few year back, the "sister" company also retrench some one who works abt 17 to 18 years with the company already. The reason is just becos - times up - 55 already. Alamak, being retrench at 55, how to get another job else where.

L is not even anything near that but then for L's age (even though L is still younger than me), it's still difficult. L told me that while browsing around, L is being told that they are not looking for "matured" one. What a "good" word this professional job placement company uses.

I'm already in my 20th year of service, i wonder when it would be my turn.........

PEACE OF MIND

2008-04-07T18:48:00.005+08:00

Read this in someone else's blog, found it quite true. Hence, recording it here:

PEACE OF MIND

If you were to ask your neighbor,
"What would give you peace of mind?"
he might tell you, "A vacation in Bermuda!" or
"An extra hundred grand would give me peace!", or
"A new Ferrari would make me content!"

But going places – and getting stuff – is usually a temporary solution ...
Peace of mind rarely comes from getting more stuff.
Getting more stuff usually leads to wanting even more stuff!
Peace of mind starts with being grateful for what we have right now.

GRATITUDE IS POWER

When we are thankful for what we have -
for the friends we have,
and for the things we've got,
we attract more good people and good things!
People who always complain about what they DON'T HAVE, stay stuck. Complainers attract more things to complain about!
It is a law of life.
It's hard to explain, but you can observe it around you.
We get more of what we dwell upon.
That's why all the spiritual masters have taught the same lesson ...

"Start by being thankful. Be happy with what you have now, and more will come your way."

It's practical advice.

Every time you say a silent "thank you",
you become more peaceful – and more power.

TRADITIONAL STEAM SPONGE CAKE

2008-03-29T14:41:00.004+08:00

Tested this recipe tdy. Just happened to have all the ingredients needed, so tried it out. Wow! yummy yummy - so soft. It's not 很扎，it's very fluffy, taste very good - so i eat and eat. Oh no............... going to put on more weight already.

PS: must use high flame (大火）to steam - otherwise, 发得不美。

OLD syndrome

2008-03-25T17:28:00.006+08:00

Recently have been having problem reading the fine prints. Perhaps i may have to resort to something similar like the cartoon on the left. Haha....... everytime asking for BIGGER LETTERS.

Well, beside problem reading fine print, below is also a scenarios of getting old...........

This is how it manifests:

I decide to water my garden.

As I turn on the hose, I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.

As I start toward the garage, I notice mail on the table that I collected from the letter box earlier.

I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car. I lay my car keys on the table, put the junk mail in the rubbish bin under the table, and notice that it is full.

So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the rubbish first.

But then I think, since I'm going to be near the post-box when I take out the rubbish anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my cheque book off the table, and see that there is only 1 cheque left. My extra cheques are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke I'd been drinking.

I'm going to look for my cheques, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over.

The Coke is getting warm, and I decide to put it in the fridge to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the worktop catches my eye - they need water.

I put the Coke on the worktop and discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.

I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the worktop, fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote control. Someone left it on the kitchen table.

I realise that tonight when we watch TV, I'll be looking for the remote control, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the front room where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.

I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor. So, I set the remote control back on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.

Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:

- the car isn't washed

- the bills aren't paid

- there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the worktop

- the flowers don't have enough water

- there is still only 1 cheque in my cheque book

- I can't find the remote control

- I can't find my glasses

- and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.

Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day, and I'm really tired. I realise this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail. Do me a favour. Forward this message to everyone you know, because I don't remember who I've sent it to. Don't laugh - if this isn't you yet, your day is coming!!

Same Name?????

2008-03-23T19:41:00.002+08:00

Visited DJ Violet's kitchen recipe blog yesterday after receiving a sms from someone whom i have always respected. Har....... guess wat i saw? Someone having exactly the same name as me left some very unpolite comments. Ridiculous........ use a sentence always spoken in Korean drama "难道我疯了吗？”how could i have use my own name to leave such a provocative comments. Want to invite trouble meh? To tell the truth, i have not been reading comments left in the blog for quite some time already till yesterday. Well, i still do visit this blog occasionally to try some recipe and visit some of the tag along members blog; but only to look at pictures. Honestly, i have not even been listening to the radio let alone leaving comments. Well, partly becos i'm busy at work and partly becos i don't want to give myself any chance to be KPO again. I just have too much of my own life to bother about, so I would not “吃饱了，趁着，没事找事。”(korean drama phase again).

I don't believe there's such a coincedence - really got someone having exactly the same name as me meh? No wonder i'm being suspected for finding quarrel. Even i myself found it so unbelieveable...............

Jewel Quest

2008-03-23T09:55:00.003+08:00

Have been crazy over this game "JEWEL QUEST" for some time. There's about 5 x 10 stages all together. Didn't purchase the game, but some how or the other, managed to download the game for free unlimited trial (with advertisement in between stages of the game). This surely is a good game for passing time.

About 2 to 3 weeks ago, i managed to finished the final stage. And this is exactly how i feef after achieving the final stage - no glory or wealth but self satisfaction beyond measure till the itch to quest surface again.

Which TAROT card are you?

2008-03-17T23:57:00.002+08:00

Came across this in other blogger's blog. Just for fun, i did it. And here's my result:

You are The Empress

Beauty, happiness, pleasure, success, luxury, dissipation.

The Empress is associated with Venus, the feminine planet, so it represents,
beauty, charm, pleasure, luxury, and delight. You may be good at home
decorating, art or anything to do with making things beautiful.

The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, yet at the same time, she can, in anger withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped. In fury and grief, she kept the Earth barren till her child was returned to her.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

My lastest indulgence

2008-02-24T12:32:00.004+08:00

Yes, this is my latest indulgence - Korean drama.

And yes, i seems crazy. The show "My girl" is currently showing during the weekends over the TV. Well, the reason why i still bought it is becos of the time slot that it is showing can't fit into mine. Usually when it is showing on TV, i either missed the first half becos i'm having dinner outside or i would be on the road going home. Therefore decided to purchase it and watch in my own timing.

My 1st show of korean drama was "Stairsway to heaven". Nice show. Subsequently watch many other like "Full house", "My name is Samsoon" (my favourite - probably becos of the baking in the show which is another of my passion), "Lover in Paris", "Jewel Palace", etc, etc. - all borrowed from my colleague. Well, now is the time for me to contribute my part. Korean Drama, here i come.

Wise Words

2008-02-22T16:54:00.004+08:00

Have not been updating any thing in this blog for quite sometime already. Since i have some spare time today, decided to browse thru' some of my old email. Found these wise word shared by a friend. Found the words are really wise and would like to keep it for future reading. Therefore, here i am, putting it in my "filing cabinet".

World Cup Jersey Collection

2007-12-13T14:04:00.001+08:00

Mmmm........ not really jersey actually.......... just miniatures Jersey handphone strips. hahaha........ but it's still a collection.

Not really a football fan, but understood that there should be 32 countries in all.......... but then there's only 30 here. ......... becos, the collectibles only printed 30 countries. Probably becos of copyright ba..........

My Office X'mas Tree

2007-11-20T16:36:00.000+08:00

The tree is sponsor by me. Some of the deco also sponsor by me. Although not a Christian, but loves X'mas very much especially the whole jolly spirit that is rounding during this period. But this tree definitely needs more deco........

SHADOW PUPPET SHOW

2007-11-11T22:38:00.000+08:00

A very interesting video forwarded to me by a friend. Sharing it here. ENJOY!

被宠爱

2007-10-23T23:03:00.000+08:00

十多年了，我有一位好同事的妈妈，总是以她的方式宠爱着我。

记得十多年前，我生产过后会去上班，因为公司变动，我必须到这位当时还不是同事的家庭办事处工作。因为是家庭式的生意，所以连妈妈也在办事处里闲晃。但这位我们称为“阿嘛”的妈妈可重没闲下来，她总是煮煮炒炒的，做一些吃的喝的让我们品尝。因为生产后的我缺于照顾，所以当时很瘦，脸色又难看，“阿嘛”看了都觉得可怜，就对我说：“你就别在外面吃没营养的了，就随便在我这吃好了。”所谓的“随便”可真不随便，每餐都大鱼大肉，而“阿嘛”的烹饪技巧可是一流的哦！吃得我好开心哟！

后来他们的公司结束营业，而我的公司就娉请了这位好同事的丈夫，再后来，连好同事也雇用了。而我也因此又有口福了。“阿嘛”总喜欢起早摸黑的，煮一些吃的，要好同事带来给我吃。

这是南瓜糕。

这只不过是其中一道食物罢了。还有很多很多，我没拍下来。

可惜的是，“阿嘛”重不量用料，否则就可以写下食谱分享了。

谢谢您，“阿嘛”！谢谢您总是用着您的方式宠爱着我。

Chocolate chips almond cake

2007-10-23T22:42:00.001+08:00

Make this cake quite some time ago. Didn't have the time to download the photo, so keep delaying till today. Recipe is from FM 97.2 DJ Violet's blog. Recently, have been too busy and did not read or follow any more recipe from there. This cake is quite soft and nice. However, it's quite messy to cut as the almond (original recipe is chopped walnuts) is always getting in the way. So even though delicious, it is not very presentable for giving away unless u give as a whole cake.