Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 10:42 AM
breaking my baking record
it hasnt been a very good start of the year for me.. in almost all aspects, although it could be worse. for now, im just letting time smoothen things. unhappy stuff aside.
saturday, i took an hour journey train ride to my mum's place. i thought there will be seats in the train cos its saturday but i was so wrong, the train is as cramped as during peak hour. i dont quite understand why are they holding back the "extra" trains they released during the peak hours. i was standing more than half the journey and i just thought to myself "let this be a practice for me". but what i couldnt stand was this auntie holding a bag and plastic bag on one hand constantly poke me in my leg, then they were 2 indian uncles who came in and stood there, disregarding the people around them. yes, im anal about strangers touching, hitting or poking me.
i finally arrived at simei. phew! i went to get some flour, sugar, butter, greaseproof paper, cream cheese and eggs which added up to 20++. im convinced my physical has worsen so much cos my hands were trembling a lil after carrying 2 bags. at ntuc, i bought ingredients for pasta, 4 pineapples, fruit juice, 7 packets of mini marshmallow for making fondant and some other stuff i cant remember and they amounted to a surprisingly 50+ moolah. heartpain! all my transport claim gone cos the day before i bought almost 20 moolah worth of flour, sugar and butter. to date, i think i spent more than 200 on my baking neccesities and ingredients, excluding the oven, but its okie cos it makes me happy.
after having our pasta, it was 4ish when we started baking. keong came by at 5pm for lunch, grace and cp came by at 6ish. after 3 hours, i was done with grating and cooking the pineapple and angela was done with her chocolate cupcakes. then we had dinner bought back by cp. grace and cp left shortly later and angela and i continued making kueh baulu and vanilla cupcakes. the kueh baulu was a total failure. =( the texture is so hard and it tasted like "ji dan gao", direct translated egg cakes. i reckon its the recipe. angela left right after the vanilla cupcakes came out from the oven, while i continue to make pineapple tarts - closed and open. i made 2 different doughs for the closed and open tarts but i still couldnt achieve the crunchy pastry, it is still powdery, the melt-in-mouth- type. after an amazing 14 hours of baking (half the night i was almost dozing off), the final products are 22 chocolate cupcakes, 18 vanilla cupcakes, 24 failed kueh baulu, 10 or 12 closed pineapple tarts, 50+ open pineapple tarts. i have to admit i was totally exhausted and my soles were painful from all the standing. im going to take a break from the baking till my energy recovers.
i slept through my entire sunday, waking up in the late evening to get dinner and watched some tv, before i went back to sleep again. tired!
pineapple tart using another kind of mould
engrossed over dinner
angela and the mess.. oops! (i still love your company =D)
coloured icing angela made
vanilla and chocolate cupcakes made and decorated by angela
loves
Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at 11:11 PM
my cuzy loves me
despite being upset, i still met up with my cuzy after work. cos she wants me to accompany her to shop, and i have already promised her that i will make it up to her any day when i couldnt meet her yesterday. we went to ck tangs to get her eyebrow trimmed at shu umera. AND she loves me so much shes buying me shu umera two-way cake foundation!!! i think its like 70++. hurray! im delighted! i realised we get along better when we dont stay together. =( we used to argue so much. oh well.. its over anyway. i was long over it and i still love her as much cos shes my one and only lovely cuzy (the rest are boys).after tangs, we went to paragon to see the the new-ly arrived colours for long champ, which includes baby pink, lime green, maroon and my personal fave - turqoise!!! she wanted to get the largest size ($200) for short holiday purpose which i think is so not worthwhile. oh by the way, the prices for longchamp bags went up. the smallest one is now $145 i think, i just remember its $15 increase. then we went to taka (AX, pull and bear, espirit, zara, guess) and wisma (fcuk, fleshimp, topshop). she was intending to get a white louis vutton bag but the boutique was closed. she was saying i bring you go see me spend money. haha. too bad. =xfor dinner, she brought me to a korea restaurant at far east plaza. we had some bbq beef with vege, 6 side dishes that come with an item (i supposed its like main course) you order and a soya bean paste soup. i dont really like soya bean paste so the soup wasnt to my liking but the cuzy enjoys it very much. for the beef, you can actually choose to cook it yourself at the hot plate in the middle of the table or let the chef cooks. but of course, it will taste better if the chef cooks it so we chose that option. overall the food was nice. the bill amounted to about $48.70 if i'm not wrong. she says next time she'll bring me to tanjong pajar for better korean food. =)
loves
Monday, January 28, 2008 at 11:28 PM
losing myself..
im not feeling too good, not physically this time.. things seem to be going downslope for me and i feel im losing myself again. i questioned myself, many times. if im doing things right? if im doing things wrong? is this the right choice? am i expecting too much? have i done my best? i dont like feeling this way, i dont like fearing. i want to be strong, i want to be myself.
loves
Sunday, January 27, 2008 at 11:07 PM
appreciations
i learnt 2 things lately..one. people get upset/mad when- they think they have been most understanding and giving to another, be it siblings, friends, partners..things get worse when both thinks the same way but sometimes, it may not be what it is, if we really think hard about it.two. when 2 persons get very close and expect each other to know how they feel- the nice, sweet things and appreciations get lesserthe simplest example : a husband tells his wife "you look beautiful today."maybe she knows he will never look at another woman but when he says it, it makes her day.make someone's day today! your family members, friends or partners.
loves
Friday, January 25, 2008 at 2:00 PM
cny shopping and baking..
the week has zoomed past so fast, i didnt even realised its already friday!
my week has been pretty occupied.
i met vincent on monday to sign some documents. later, i met my bestie and cp in town for dinner and some shopping. i cant tell you how awful the food at emerald orchard is and my bestie said that i complain alot alot about the yong tau foo, but its really that bad lo. i didnt even finished half of it, even without the noodles. there was this person, i think who took 2 bites and left the place, must be very unsatisfied with the yong tau foo too.
tuesday evening, i met reys and eu in town for cny shopping and surprisingly, i managed to get 2 dresses at far east plaza (i just went there last week). but im actually not very pleased with my loot cos they are so not cny-ish. one more dress or top and im done with my shopping. not getting any accessories, bags or heels/shoes this year cos im broke. or maybe i'll get just one pair heels/shoes cos my shoes are already wearing out. =x
thursday, i applied for half- day leave cos i had an interview in the afternoon. the interview was rather disastrous but im glad i still pass through. now, im just waiting for the letter. plans for studying will have to be postponed till next year. =( but like what grace has said, its better for my self-development and finance situation as of now. i crossed my fingers and pray hard that this is the right choice. i really need the guidance. after the interview, the bf and i made a trip to sun lik to get my kueh baulu mould and some other stuff, sponsored by the bf. yay!! then, we went to jimei florist to get some cny potted plants for my aunts and granny, afterwhich we went to deliver the plants. we were lucky granny prepared steamboat cos i forgot to inform her we are going over for dinner. following, a couple of unhappy and unexpected incidents took place and by the time we got home, it was almost midnight. - i hope he'll grow up one day -
to the bf: thanks for ironing my clothes, for giving me support and "your luck", for driving me to work and for the interview, buying me my baking neccessities (78.90 to go) and for being there whenever something arises. =)
the plan for the weekend - more baking!!! =) im going to bake pineapple tarts, kueh baulu and cupcakes. i hope i have the time to make fondant too although i doubt so.
jimei florist (the largest coldroom in singapore)
loves
Tuesday, January 22, 2008 at 10:01 AM
Facebook: What Kind Of Eyes Do You Have?
What Kind Of Eyes Do You Have? Your Quiz Result
***Brown eyes*** People with brown eyes are very attractive, adorable, love to make new friends. Will do anything for that special person. Kind and polite Can make anyone laugh or cheer them up. They love to please the one they care or love for, and are the greatest kissers of all. You care deeply for family and are affectionate with a tendency towards seriousness.Haha!
loves
Sunday, January 20, 2008 at 11:34 PM
the bf's first driving trip to jb
we woke up at 8am and set off for woodlands custom at around 9am. we had bak kut teh at this eating place. it isnt as wonderful as i had it the last time. for 4 pax, we paid 50rm for it, which is considered ex, according to his god-daddy. they ripped "non-locals" off.after lunch, we went to this pretty deserted shopping place, i dont know whats the name. many shops were not open yet. we went to "the store" departmental store cos the bf's mummy wanted to make an exchange for an item she bought the last time. after all was done, we went to the popular holiday plaza but i didnt manage to get any piece of clothing. next up was carrefour. we were intending to leave for singapore at 5-ish but we lost our way, thanks to following the malaysia cars. we thought it will be right to just follow the cars in front. the bf made many wrong turns before we arrived at a road that leads to johor jaya. the bf's mummy knows the way back to custom from johor jaya so we went there. since we were there, the mummy suggested making a few rounds to see if there are any shops that sells spoiler. then we had some noodles before we head back to singapore. the ban mian was good, i like the noodle very much. the texture of the noodle is very good, not like in sinagpore. sometimes when you bite into the noodle, you see the uncooked flour in the middle. and i always take mee hoon kueh so it sticks to the teeth. for 4 bowls of noodles, 1 bowl of meat balls, 1 bowl of dumpling and another packet of take-away noodles, it costs only 30+rm. unbelievable!from 6pm, we were caught in the jam till almost 8pm. sunday madness jam! it was quite a pity we didnt get to have seafood cos the mummy cant take seafood so the next time im going to jb, i want to go to city square and have a seafood feast. any takers?
loves
Saturday, January 19, 2008 at 11:27 PM
baking project
yes! my lastest baking project - pineapple tarts. i managed to find a recipe online from http://www.manic.com.sg. theres also a video blog http://www.manic.com.sg which shows you the steps to making pineapple tarts and some other pastries.after the bf had his beauty sleep (worked night shift the day before), it was already evening time. we had our first meal of the day before we set off to get the necessary ingredients. i decided to make our own pineapple jam cos its seems most of the jams that are sold are not yummy. the bf chose honey pineapple to the normal ones.the bf grated the pineapple before he cooked it. grating the pineapple gives the jam more texture as compared to blending it with a food processor, unless you like smooth jam. when the jam was almost drying, we added the rock sugar, then i had to continously stir the jam so it doesnt get burnt.when the jam was done, we started to make the pastry. we made 2 batches of 20. the toughest part for me was definitely cutting out the shape of the tart from the dough - the dough is so soft, it sticks to the cutter. even with some flour, it didnt helped abit. the shape of the cutter wasnt very ideal too. i actually bought a bigger mould but it couldnt fit to the cutter. thanks to the woman at the counter who cheated me. hmph! im so going to go back and tell her off.the first batch turned out fine, just a lil messy cos we had a hard time trying to brush the egg yolk on the small tarts. the second batch was much better but a lil burnt cos the bf didnt watch over it when i was in the room. but overall, its good enough, considering its out first time. =) i might try to make closed pineapple tarts, cos the bf prefers that. but before that, my next baking project will be kueh balu/baulu/bolu, probably sometime during the next weekend. loves
Wednesday, January 16, 2008 at 10:21 PM
stomachache
once again, i'm down with old ailment - stomach problems. doctor says might be food poisoning or indigestion. the medicine i took made me drowsy the entire day. i could do nothing but sleep.the bf says i'm having this problem occuring 3 times in 2 months. but i only recall twice. but whatever! more importantly, this is my 17th medical leave for the financial year. im feeling so bad about it but my stomach never used to be this bad. so i concluded that it might be the feng shui, if you believe in it. i need to build up my health so badly. i dont want to fall sick all the time. =(
loves
Monday, January 14, 2008 at 1:31 PM
loving cupcakes!
over the weekend, quite a number of unhappy events took place. from all that has happened, i learned something through it. learning through other's mistakes. how true is that? i just pray and hope everything will be alright soon.
saturday, the bf and i went to my mum's place to bake more cupcakes. this time round, its not for fun, its serious baking here cos i planned to give them to dan for her birthday. we went to redman and bought alot more stuff like icing sugar, bowl, spatula, chocolate chips, unsalted butter, muffin tin, nutmeg powder, red colour essence, silver balls.. .. in just two occasions, i already spent 80++ on all my baking utensils and necessities but im happy about it. cos for 80+ bucks, i bought so many items. the next on list will be a mixer/electric beater. but not anytime soon cos a good one will costs like 700+ and i so need to start saving. for now, the bf is doing a very good job with the whisking. =D thank you darl!
the recipe from my cupcake/muffin book (bought by the bf) turned out perfect. the cupcakes were not too sweet and the texture was just right. its easier to make them than you ever imagine. after the first batch of cupcakes were ready, i started on the icing, mixing the different colours. with 3 colour essenses, i came up with 6 different colours. *delighted. together, the bf and i decorated the cupcakes. im pretty happy with the outcome, other than the chocolate mud cupcakes. oh.. i actually wanted to try three cupcake recipes; vanilla cupcakes with raisin and choc chips, chocolate mud cupcakes and banana cupcakes. but i forgot to buy the bananas. haha. sotong as usual. the chocolate mud cupcakes didnt turned out the way it should but it still tasted good, perfect with ice cream i thought.
i think i might be addicted to baking cupcakes. im so tempted to buy more cupcake recipes and decoration books!!! maybe after i clear my credit card bills. credit cards are devils! fortunately, im already realising it and im cutting down so much on credit card spending. not recommended. *daydreaming. soon, after i perfect my cupcake baking and decorating skills, i shall move on to cakes and cookies!!!
shall upload the picture of dan's birthday cupcakes soon.
sunday was spent at mummy's place, helping out with the painting. i took like ages to paint a wall white, which 7/8 of it would be hidden behind a huge tv cabinet. its not about whether it will be seen anot but i always think, if you want to do it, do it well. im a perfectionist to a certain extent, so as long as its within my limits. after sweating it out, i get to enjoy homecooked thai tom yam soup, vege and prawns. =)
pleasant weekend spent in a simple way.
peace be with you!
the cupcakes cake, as promised. =)
loves
Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 12:05 PM
Which Disney Princess Are You?
Which Disney Princess Are You?
I'm Belle. You are the people princess, able to identify with all those around you. You are brave, independent and harbor no ill will towards any human beings or inanimate objects. You level of compassion for others allows you to see beyond their physical exterior to the inner beauty within. Your true love prince, albeit hunky, will only reveal himself in due time. You're Belle!
loves
Wednesday, January 02, 2008 at 9:57 AM
happiness is a choice
negativity killshaving a positive mindsetim unable to tolerate too much of negativityi find it tiringtrying to explain things that you mean wellmaybe im not good at expressingbut people close to me knows it bestsomehow, i always thinkhaving a good start is like winning half the battleso i always like to smile and be cheery in the morningsbecause i think it will make me and others feel good (and fresh!)i mean can you imagine seeing grumpy people in the morningit spoils your positivity, your mood and your dayand there's the saying that goes"you never knowing who is falling in love with your smile/laughter"the nezt time you feel unhappy, smile!it will make you feel a lil better instanteouslysmiling and laughing is good for you,so smile more and laugh more!!!
loves
yes! my lastest baking project - pineapple tarts. i managed to find a recipe online from http://www.manic.com.sg. theres also a video blog http://www.manic.com.sg which shows you the steps to making pineapple tarts and some other pastries.