So its a lonely new year's eve for me, too lazy to go anywhere. Had a nice dinner of abalone flavoured instant noodles with egg. What's the big deal with new year anyway, its happens every year..hahah..but yet everybody makes such a big fuss of it. I was at city hall earlier and the whole place was brimming people. I was quite happy to escape to the solitude(and quietness) of home. But the thing is I don't feel like doing anything, so I am just lazing around doing nothing hoping time passes faster.

I shall devote my time to baking. I baked macademia cranberry muffins and it turned out lovely, but still a tad to hard after it cooled down. The trick to soft muffin is not to overmix is, but I have yet to master that yet. The next thing I want to try out is biscotti. I have forgotten how much I used to love Olio Dome's biscotti which came in small bite size pieces, deceptively addictive. When mum brought back a tin of biscotti that some friend of her's had given her, half of it when into my stomach unknowingly. So yes, maybe I will try that out next.

After the donut factory fiasco, I seem to have developed cravings for donuts, especially krispy kreme ones. Check out their website. They have a mind-boggling variety. Oh my gosh, I want to try all of them, but I suspect I would be quite sick after that. But oh my, don't they just beckon out to be eaten, with all that lovely glaze and filling. Here I am talking about food again. Moving right along, its the new year again.

With a new year comes new things to conquer. Frankly, I am feeling somewhat jittery at the thought of this being my last semester. The fear of treading into the next phase of my journey, out into the working world, a whole new environment. Or even finding a job in the first place, all these doubts and fears niggling at me continuosly. It's too early to think of all that now, but hey, I haven't forgotten that every semester just flies past with a snap of the finger, too fast for me to catch my breath and marvel that I am still alive. Sheesh, I am getting stressed prematurely..sigh. off to do some mindless nothings before I sleep the new year away

Traditional Japanese pancake oozing with a thick and sweet custard, available at Medi-ya at Liang court for a limited period only. Not to be missed 

My new look 

I am not a big fan of donuts, really I am not. Apart from the occasional chocolate coated donuts and the fantasy of eating the highly aclaimed Krispy Kreme. I don't even really like dunkin donuts. So today, the fact that I queued for over half and hour at the newly opened donut factory at Raffles City is quite bewildering. I blame that I was half an hour early for my class gathering at 6.30pm and saw the queue and decided to join 'em, and see what's the big deal about. I didnt know that it would take so long to reach my turn, but that's because everybody else bought boxes of the stuff, it was really madness. I wanted to walk off after about 15mins, but I figures since I had already waited so long, not way was I leaving without trying it out. So there I was, having fantasies about biting into the chocolate filled or peanut butter filled donuts. The damn thing was that when it reached my turn, all that was left was the strawberry filled one %&#@*$ because the person in front of me bought 2 boxes of it. The lovely girl at the counter could see I was quite disappointed,especially after queueing so long, so she tried to persuade the lady in front to swap one of the peanut glazed donut with the strawberry one since she had four, but she refused. Oh well, it's a fair world after all, and there are nasty people around, especially those that dare to deprive me of peanut butter donut. But its alright. The strawberry filled one was very nice. The donut was soft and fluffy and utterly and deceptively non greasy. When I bit into it, strawberry jam spurted out. It's so nice that I would definitely be back to buy, preferably during non-peak hours.

Anyway I am glad I ate the donuts to tide over my hunger cos we only started eating around 8 plus. It was so crowded everywhere. We went to Miss Clarity Cafe and waited ages for the table. But at least the food there is pretty good, but at that kind of price and portion, I have nothing much to complain about. Their soft shell crab creamy pasta is really nice, though the pasta is not al dente enough and I had to season it with some salt as it was somewhat bland. But what takes the cake is really their dessert. I had the durian indulgence and it was so deliciously creamy and rich. I wouldnt say the same of their brownie too, it was a tad too dry...

My previous post was almost all about food, I shall attempt to rectify that in this post. No, Teresa's mind does not consist thoughts about food,maybe only about 80%...just kiddding..hahah.

Like I said earlier, Christmas just came and went..poof,just like that. It does not make it any less meaningful though. I love Christmas..as do I am sure many other people. But sometimes I am guilty of loving it for the wrong reasons. Such as the presents, the mood and the nostalgia of the whole festival. I didn't get alot of presents la, neither did I give many come to think of it, I couldnt really be bothered to squeeze in with thousands of other people trying to get their last minute christmas shopping done. My favourite present is from MB, a cookbook by Nigella Lawson How to be a Domestic Goddess, a box of very melt in the mouth Royce chocolates from aunt aubrey, a few knick-knacks here and there. And oh yah, my mum sponsored my haircut. I chopped off my hair finally and decided not to perm it again. I feel so much more light-headed now, literally.

But presents aside, Christmas is really about celebrating Jesus's birthday, the day he came down to earth to die for us. We are the reason that he made this sacrifice, that today, we might have what we have. What I said about finding my identity. It's really about being secure in Him and his love instead of worrying how other people see me. I used to be really insecure and have somewhat of an inferiority complex. But now, I know who I am and I am secure in that love He has for us. I am so glad we have a reason to celebrate christmas..

Risotto

For the first time in my life, I made risotto, and MB was my able helper, and together , we cooked an awesome dinner..seriously. I didn't follow any particular recipe and just went with the flow. For those who doesn't know what risotto is, it's a traditional italian dish made with arborio rice(or a variety of other rice) and then hot broth is slowly added to it until it is done, after which you can add whatever stuff you want.

We made a salmon and mushroom risotto which I absoutely loved, but it was a tad salty. We also added corns and peas to up the health factor, plus grated parmesan cheese to make it more creamy...yummm
I have also posted up pictures of my latest baking creations to tandalize you readers...heh..enjoy.

Risotto plus garlic toast plus clam chowder soup 

The chocolate cake I baked for my christmas party. A vast improvement over Mb's birthday cake...no? I made a chocolate glaze with valronha chocolate and topped it with chocolate shavins and silver beads, with toasted almonds 

Almond roca. It tastes like the real deal, but better. Need I say more? 

One day's lunch..dun be fooled by its simple appearance..its tastes awesome...with cheese and leftover christmas ham inside 

If you love popcorn, and you love cashew, you absolutely have to try this...ahh..its yummilicious 

Today is such a happy happy day that I don't know where to start. It's been quite a great weekend with plenty of good food to keep me happy. I had dinner with Dad and Aunt Aubrey at Fish and Co on Saturday. I missed the fish and chips so much and also their garlic rice. And on Sun, we went to Buckaroo yet again to celebrate Stephen's birthday with his 'brothers', and it was great fun with great food and great company. Their buffalo wings are really 'lick-everything-up-plus-skin-and-all-good'. Normally when I eat chicken wings, I will be quite fussy about the skin and the layer of fats beneath it. But this time, nothing was left but for pile of bones.

Today, I literally went on a food trail. First up, Stephen and I went to Chinatown to choose a new pair of specs for me. Before I met him, I went to Maxwell market for a walk, and got some deep fried sweet potato dumplings which were hot, crunchy and very very good. I wondered over to Tong Heng to get some egg tarts. I do proclaim that their egg tarts are one of the best. Their crust is thin and the egg custard ever so soft and wobbly and melt in the mouth..Ahhh. That was not all, then I got some 'shao bao' from 'Pau dian' where the filling is tasty and salty and oh-so-nice, also one of the better ones around.

I got a pair of specs with orange frames which I loved because of its funkiness. I will probably be more likely to wear that out than my 'lao pok pok' pair of present specs. After we got my specs, we decided to go to Singtel shop as Stephen wanted to change phone. As we walked to the bus stop, somehow we ended up at Robertson Walk. And when you are at Robertson Walk, what must a dessert lover do? Go look for Canele Patisserie Chocolaterie of course, after hearing so many good things about it. Looking at the mind-boggling display of cakes and pastries there, I chose the Gateaux Chocolat. It was delicious(duh!!). I chose it because I thought it was no-frills, but yet would showcase a chocolate's taste perfectly, and I wasn't disappointed at all. The thin layers of chocolate sponge with the thick chocolate fudge just melted in my mouth and went straight to my heart. I would be back again, to try the other cakes.

So after the distraction, we went to Singtel shop at Killiney Road. While waiting for our turn, we headed to Killiney Koptiam for a drink. We ordered a teh-c, kopi-c and a slice of kaya toast. The coffee was full-bodied and flavourful without being too sweet and leaving a bitter after-taste. Between that and Ya Kun, it's hard to say which I prefer more. Their toast was soft unlike that of Yakun,filled generously with kaya with the thick slab of butter. Yumm. And Stephen got a new Samsung D830, lucky him...hahh. The handphone buying phenomenon is crazy, we wanted to get N73 at first, but the salesperson informed us that it was already sold-out, with around hundred of people on the waiting list, just because the price dropped over the weekends.

Yup, so that about summed up my day. But my happiness came after dinner. I was feeling somewhat down this couple of days, what with mum nagging me about the specs and a job. And I felt at HATC, I was somewhat inferior to other people because I am quite quiet and reserved and all. So when I saw mum, I told her that I had already gotten a pair of specs, and she scolded me for not telling her because she was planning to go with me to another shop to buy. And then she gave me back the money that I paid for the spectacles and I was just so flabbergasted because I was also worrying about the cashflow for this holiday, with the presents to buy, dinners out with friends, camp fees and all that.

And then when I checked my email, I was informed that I would be included for training together with the other associate trainers( I am just a associate facilitator who trained a couple of times). I felt so encouraged by that. It means more training opportunities next year. And I was so happy that I was jumping for joy. Then somehow, I remembered something, that when I never fail to believe in God, he will always make things straight again. So when things went wrong, or fail or did not come to pass, I did not just focus on them, but continued trusting, knowing that somehow, good will come out of them and it did. So it just made everything so much sweeter, and I know that I am not alone

Mb and I found ourselves at Vivocity once again after our plans to go Labrador Park was screwed because we discovered that the only bus which goes there only operates on Sat and Sun when we were waiting at Harbour Front interchange.

So we headed there and did some working around. He got a work jacket from G2000, and I got chocolates from Chocolat Factory which is this amazing chocolate shop from Spain, selling all kinds of stuff imaginable, but the prices were super steep as well. So mb bought 100g of the dark chocolate coverage for me, which is like chocolate buttons for use in hot chocolate. At $9 for 100g, it was still very steep, but it was probably one of the cheaper things over there..oh well. I thought it would be perfect for using with my suckao(and when I did at night, it almost blew me away with the intensity and flavour of chocolate.ahh..the sweetness, but I digress).

After that ,we decided to head to Superdog for dinner. And when we only realized when we were there that we were short of cash. So we had to go look for ATM. And we couldnt find a single UOB ATM in the huge shopping mall and we were so frustrated that we ended up at Harbourfront Centre. So by the time we headed back, our legs were tired from all that walking and we had already worked up an appetite.

While there, I dithered for a very long time between burgers and hotdogs until mb got quite impatient. It was a very hard choice, but I chose the dogs in the end, and did not regret it. He ordered a Superdog($7.50) while I ordered a German Bratwurst($5.80). Mine came in a crusty baguette loaf, with grilled onions and Sauerkraut and the yummiest and juciest sausage drizzled generously with mustard. I loved it, though it was quite hard to bite into it while being lady-like. The superdog was just as nice, with added bacon and their special chilli. And their fries..ahh..it was golden and crispy and thicker than the normal fries, definitely not the normal fries. They definitely could "stand up to the competition", as their ad proclaimed. All in all, it was a very good meal and it was a good thing we did not stuff ourselves as we had done so had Carl's junior. I would definitely be back again for more.

After dinner, we just sat outside Vivocity, at the seats overlooking Sentosa, with a lovely breeze and lovely view and just sat there for the longest time..What a day, and what a way to spend the day..

German Bratwurst 

Superdog 

Smoked honey ham sandwich from Olio Dome. One of my favourite sandwich, packed with mozarella and pineapple bits which provided a delightfully sweet contrast 

The best cafe latte with biscotti 

Traditional wood-fired smoked salmon pizza with capers and onion..yuuummmy 

Tiramisu 

Primavera Risotto..delightfully creamy and flavour filled 

Once again, my mother has managed to put a blight on this bright, beautiful and sunny day. I really hate her sometimes, she is the only one that ever manages to put me in such a simmering rage. The things she can say are beyond comprehension. Why did she have to spoil this day. She would always have criticisms in whatever I do, when would she ever be satisfied. This holiday, I am not working, she keeps nagging at me to do work. Hello woman, can't you see my mind is made up? And she even says I can go be a waitress just for the sake of working. Last holiday, I was a waitress for 3 months. She was on my back for the entire 3 months to go get a proper job aka a 9 to 5 job. The previous holiday, I had a 9 to 5 job that paid $5 an hour, she kept complaining that the pay was too low. And is waking up at 8.30am considered late??? If she wants to wake up at 7am, be my guest. She complains that I do nothing but read newspapers and the computer the whole day. How come she never sees the other things I do? I think its time I got out of this house..

I don't know why she finds a need to be so controlling or irritating, I am 21 for crying out loud, old enough to know what I want and what I DO not want. What a bloody hypocrite she is. Why doesn't she go get a job herself. Talk about lazing around the house. At least mine is only for 1 month, and I fully deserve it, considering the extremely hectic previous semester, so why can't she understand? I am so freaking pissed with her now.

I shall go Provence and relax. later on I have a date with MB, I shall be happy by then. I am so not going to let her ruin my day.'

I want out!

Soon

The semester is finally over. It feels surreal to have nothing to do and be able to slack the whole day, though for obvious reasons, I cannot do that. My mother has already been nagging me to go and look for a holiday job which I absolutely refused. Come on, this is my last holiday, just give me a break. Besides, I have to go for Church camp from 18 to 21 December, so if I work, it would only be for 2 weeks, and who would want to employ people for 2 weeks. Anyway I plan to use this holiday to pick up some useful skills like photoshop and to play around with Excel, which is an incredibly useful tool, but has not been fully explored yet.

I had my last paper yesterday. Already, it feels like it was ages ago. I was so happy that the semester in over that I was all but jumping around in joy. Stephen, wendy and I went to Holland village for lunch. Wendy and I bought bread from Provence of course. I missed the Ogura Whip bun( with all that sinful whipped cream) and the walnut raisin bread so much. And I still miss it even while typing this entry. I think I am an incurable Provence addict. After lunch, Stephen and I headed down to Vivocity to check out the shopping mall that is the talk-of-the town.

It was huge and I felt like I would get lost in there. There were also alot of people around. Surprisingly since it was a Monday afternoon. Don't people have to work? Anyway, apart from the crowd, I kind of liked it. It's like a shopping paradise, though I am proud to say I didn't buy anything. I do need new clothes though. Hmm. Anyway we watched Happy Feet at the GV cinema there. And the screen was super huge, the seats were spacious and comfy and there was ample leg space to stretch my legs. I liked the movie alot, especially the cute baby penguins and the dance moves.

After the movie, after working around for a bit, we started looking for food. There were so many restaurants there, so it was quite a tough choice. We settled on Modesto's in the end as they had a 1 for 1 dining deal for UOB credit card holders, so it was quite a steal. We ordered a Primavera Risotto and a smoked salmon pizza. The food was really awesome. I loved the risotto which was so creamy and tasty, flavoured with saffron. The traditional wood-fired pizza was nice as well, with a super thin crust. And for dessert, we had tiramisu, which was alright only. I felt the sponge part was somewhat too dry, but the presentation of it was very nice.

I was reading my diary which I kepy from Secondary three to JC today and I crinched and crinched at almost all the entries. They were all about dieting, me being fat, my bad relationship with my mum, my grades and my crushes. Oh, the things I wrote. It just gives you goose bumps when you read back, and wonders why on earth would I ever have writen those nonsense. Think I should just throw it away in case anyone finds it. I would die of embarassment if anyone reads it. I was so incredibly boy-crazy and thick-skinned back then. I wonder how my friends could stand me....hahahah

I really hate it when I am in the middle of cross fire between my parents, though I have lived with it for almost all my life, it does not make it any easier. Recently, my mum has been urging me to get my dad to buy a new pair of spectacles for me as mine is very old. I just nodded my head to humour her, knowing full well that my Dad will only ask me to get it from my mum. And anyway I had no intention of changing it anyway, not at least until I start work and have enough money to buy it myself.

Yesterday, she mentioned it again,and sounded more forceful. And she went on and on about how mum Dad doesn't pay for anything blah blah blah. And I know that if I asked my dad for the pair of specs, he would say my mum doesn't pay for anything as well. I told my mum that it was no big deal about my specs and I was not asking for a new one anyway. And she accused me of wanting everything from her instead of my dad.

And today, again. She asked me if I had asked from my dad which obviously I haven't. And she just went on and on about it and made it sound like I was asking her for it when honestly I can't really be bothered. I mean, I would like a new specs and all but I can defnitely live without it. At this point in time I was getting very exasperated, not being in the best of mood already, made worse by her. I never ask for anything from her at all, and yet she makes it sound like I always want this and that. I can't help it if Hp is generous and Dad is to put it not very nicely, stingy.

I really hate being in my position. Tell me what to do??

Is exam really that important that it overules every other things in your life and brings out the worst in some people. Does our life really have to revolve around some stupid piece of paper and grades? I choose to believe there is life beyond exams..

I am feelings so very very sian now. I've nothing to do, at least nothing that I want to do( though I am supposed to prepare for my exam on Monday). I can't sleep, and I keep losing my live while playing super mario. I can't even muster up the energy to go to Great World City..and worst of all, I can't eat anything..sigh

Finally I can heave a sigh of relieve, for tonight at least. I've sat for 3 papers in these past two days with one more paper to go on Monday. It has not been the easiest of days to say the least. On Tuesday, I came down with stomache ache which I suspect the root cause of it to be my consumption of junk food. When I went home, I had high fever and felt so tired and dazed and incredibly sorry for myself. To top it off, I was suffering from cramps too. So I just went off to bed early to sleep it off.

On Wednesday, the fever came down and I was able to take my paper without any major discomfort. And for today's two papers as well. Though for the past two days, I have not been able to eat properly(as in my normal intake) because everytime I eat too much, I would have stomach discomfort again. It's kind of like a gnawing pain, and I would feel quite bloated as well. In retrospect, this is good as it can make me stop eating all the junk food. All the same, I wonder when I can start eating normal again. I miss provence.

I can't wait for Monday to come. Yet the thought of holidays without anything to do kind of makes me dread it. After all, lazing around too much would make me lethargic, and there are only so many books to read and so many places to go.. sigh..guess I am kind of in a morose mood. When can I stop letting people's mood affect me too...

Today, I suffered from two minor( but major to me) injuries. The first was when I was rushing out of the house in the morning, and somehow the sharp edge of the door made a deep and bloody and long gash on my finger, resulting in a stinging pain the whole day.

The second incident was me and stephen were at the coop going to buy the daily provisions( meaning snacks). As we were entering the coop, I was right behind him and somehow my mouth was unceremoniously banged by the door when he pulled it. It was so painful that I teared a little. It resulted in a swollen mouth which thankfully resided quite fast and a small bruise, no broken teeth thankfully. Poor Stephen looked so sorry and aplologetic that I didn't have the heart to be angry. Though it kind of disturbed my studying mood for the rest of the afternoon..hah

But the incident at the coop resulted in me seeing how much love and concern was showered on me. I just feel so blessed and loved. Somehow, it just took the pain away

Me thinks its time to go on a diet soon. I feel the flab coming and I really hate it. It doesn't help that I am going to the gym only once a week and my eating portion is still as masssive as ever. But this is the exam period and it just seems so natural to reach out to that snack or comfort food to make everything seem better. Here is a list of food I should be avoiding(but haven't been).

1. Synder's Pretezel pieces - Jalapeno or honey mustard and onion. I have been buying in almost everyday as a snack. They are delicious but unfortunately very calorific.

2. Japanese food. After the closure of the deck, they have made a reappearance at Eusoff Hall. I just love the kani-tamago set with lots of scrambled egg.

3. Chocolates- No day is complete without a serving of good quality chocolate. 'Nuff said.

4. Provence- This little bakery at Holland village would be the death of me and my figure as well as my wallet. I think they must have earned a neat little sum from me now since I patronize at least 3 times a week. My top 3 favourite. The raisin and walnut bread that is the softest and yummiest bread ever. The cream cheese bread with blueberry jam inside. And lastly the Ogura whip. Just look at the amount of whipped cream, its enough to send anyone salivating. Thats not all, there is red-bean paste in the bread as well. Everybite is so delighful and decadent









5. Bread with lavish amount of peanut butter. This is staple food for my breakfast as well as midnight snack when I am hungry. I kid myself that it is somewhat healthy because of the wholemeal bread and peanut butter is supposed to be healthy right?

6. Kopi C from Holland village food centre. A little stall right at the end at the corner. They serve the thickest and most aromatic coffee, nicer than Ya kun. But don't ever think that its healthy. Because I saw the amount of sugar, condensed milk as well as evaporated milk that went in. But I am lovin' it. It helps to keep me awake too.

7. Cedele - I am hooked on their carrot cake with that thick cream cheese frosting as well as their blueberry maple cake as well as their blueberry hazelnut cheesecake cake as well as their muffins. I can go on and on and on

8. Home-made milo - made super thick with extra serving of milo powder on top. Milo is good cos it gives me energy to mug through the night. Unfortunately these days I hit my bed when the clock strikes 12.

Thats about it I guess..sigh, damage is done already though..There is something seriously wron with me. There must be a worm in my stomach or something. I want to be thin, yet I love eating as well. I am already thinking of the list of places I absolutely must check out.

1. Marmalade pantry
2. Chocolate Factory
3. Canele

Heidi giving me the "oops I am sorry I know i was not supposed to be on this bed" look 

So here's part 2 of stephen's birthday surprise. I baked another cake for him, this time using baking soda instead of baking powder, and it yielded a nice, puffy chocolate cake as it should. However, IT BROKE AGAIN when I tried to take it out of the pan. As usual, I was too impatient. So I salvaged the cake with a vanilla frosting, using melted chocolate to pipe words over it, and decorated it with some strawberries and rainbow sprinkles. Aesthetically, the cake was displeasing to the sight. I felt the words and the frostings were ugly. Taste-wise, it was amazingly yummy. Its the first birthday cake I have ever attempted to make and decorate, it would definitely get better with practise.

I brough the cake to church on Sunday, and hid it in a perfume box that I had. After service, we went down to the kopitian at Suntec to celebrate and everyone else was in on the secret except Stephen who was in the dark. He asked me innocently what was in the bag I was carrying and I simply fobbed him off with some white lies..heh

Anyway, we took out the cake while he was off buying drinks and did he have the shock of his life when he came back. Heh. Anyway, everybody loved the cake, and most importantly the birthday boy. I loved the cake too, it was amazingly light and moist and yet chocolatey and soft...yumm. The recipe is definitely a keeper, but next time I will top it off with chocolate ganache instead of frosting which was too sweet.

Part 3 of the celebration was on Monday, I borrowed the car and drove him all the way to Buckaroo in Sembawang. I was so proud of myself for not getting lost cos its like foreign territory to me. Anyway, the food was great and as usual we over ordered. A side of cream of mushroom in bread bowl, deep fried mushrooms, onion rings, buffalo wings( level 2 of spiciness which was already very spicy) and a main course of beef. Everything was so yummy. I really love the ambience of the place, so laid-back and good for chilling out, replete with good food. There was even a complementary chocolate cake which unfortunately tasted quite dry, so we just dumped my cake into the bowl and ate it up. And both of us were stuffed full after that, though not as bad as the steam boat experience where I puked after eating too much...hahahThe magharita is delicious too, and comes in a mind-boggling variety of fruit flavours.

Its been a good past few days of studying. Casino Royale was fantastic, not so much about the gimmicks and high tech stuff, but more about the plot and the acting which incidentally is very good. Eva Green is gorgeous, all smothering and hot stuff. I have been slacking quite abit too, playing computer games, reading novels. But I have decided I shall just chill for this exam, not point getting stressed out every semester right? Haha, but my intake of tidbits as increased too. There is just this tendency to head to the coop to get snacks after lunch which isn't good for the figure at all.

Right, enough slacking already, back to books before I close shop for the night ;)

Stephen's surprised(or pretending to be surprised face) 

The original cake minus the frosting which already looked dangerously like it was going to break..sigh 

Its time for an update again. So many things have happened since I last updated. Its the end of school and the start of exams next week. I think I should be very worried since I haven't started studying...at all. But I am not..hah. Instead, I don't feel like studying at all. I am so looking forward to the holidays, its going to be my last holiday, so I am not going to work at all, despite my mum's disapproving look.

Anyway, it was Stephen's birthday on friday. I baked a chocolate cake for him on thurs night. The recipe said moist chocolate cake, and it looked pretty simple and foolproof. And it was, I finished everything in half and hour and popped it into the oven. Then I waited for it to be done. And then it struck me that I had used baking powder instead of baking soda which is to react with the buttermlk in the recipe to make it rise. And there I was, cursing and swearing and praying that my cake would turn out alright. 40mins later, a rather flat chocolate cake greeted me. I couldn't wait for it to cool before I cut a small slice to eat. It turned out ok, rather salty and way to flat. I was hoping for a nice, moist and fluffy chocolate cake. Not a brownie like cake. Oh, and the worst thing was, when I was taking the cake out from the pan, it was so tender that it broke, thus I had a broken cake on my hands, and I was way way way distraught. But since it wasnt going to be a birthday cake, but rather for his family as I was having dinner at his place, so I put a nice frosting on the cake and cut it up into small pieces and arranged it in a container.

The next day, I got rave reviews for the cake. Most people liked it because it was very chocolatey, very rich and fudgey. So I heaved a sigh of relief. And thankfully, his family and him liked it too. But then he has always been the greatest supporter for my baking creations..heh.I had thunder tea rice at his place. And it was super delicious, it was so nice that I went for a second helping and ended up being super full.

Today, I cooked lunch for him. It was a super delicious lunch of scrambled eggs and ham,bacon and cheese sandwich. The scrambled eggs were decadent and rich becaus I added cream instead of the normal milk. And I pan-fried the bread till it was brown and crispy. And we had clam-chowder soup too. I think that's about the only things I can cook now..hah..my repertoire is quite limited. But lunch was really great, now I am hooked on grilled cheese sandwich.

And there is a special programme on Monday too, watch Casino Royale and a surprise dinner at a surprise place. Wait for more updates..

I want to go to the Marmalade Pantry soon. After hearing so many good things about it, and reading so blogs raving about it. I wanna go too. If only for their much-talked-about sticky date pudding, or their cupcakes or the sunday brunch. I love things like eggs benedict or scrambled eggs or french toast.. Check out the extensive menu here.

One day...soon..

I had a total rest today, no work at all. Reading books almost the whole day, life never felt so good to just chill out and not worry about deadline. I have been living my life on the edge for as long as I remember. Can't even remember the last time I went out. And I baked the muffins again, this time I used the same recipe but different fillings. For one batch, I put chocolate chips and banana. For the other batch, I put raisins. Both turned out delicious and smelling lovely. This recipe is definitely a keeper, low fat and yummy muffins. The crunchy streusel topping is really addictive.

I went to Cedele to chill out in the afternoon, and I ordered a blueberry crumble muffin. I have been sort of craving for it after mum bought it for breakfast one day. I think its really good. Moist, and yet not too sweet, with the tangy blueberries, and most importantly, generourous heaping of the streusel topping I so love. And it didn't feel oily at all, so I suppose it must be quite healthy. I really love it. I wonder how the exterior can be so nicely browned yet its so soft and moist. The mufins I make are always somewhat anaemic looking because I am so afraid I would over bake it.

Then I saw the carrot cake beckoning out to me, and I couldn't resist ordering that too. I really love it. Moist, studded with walnuts and the delicious cream cheese icing. Now that I have mastered muffins, I think I might move on to carrot cake too. I guess it's an acquired taste. I used to only like to eat chocolate cakes, but somehow nowadays, I eat chocolate, but I tend to eat other kind of cakes.

Ah, it was really bliss. To eat my cake and read a book...

I have finally complete my 2000word essay and my other two assignments over the weekend. After two days of sitting at the desk, trying to get my work now. I just want to do nothing but rest now. So tired..

I have succumbed to temptation and baked again. This time it was muffins, and one of the best batch of muffins I have baked thus far I must say. It was a new recipe, relatively low-fat and very tasty - Cranberry buttermilk muffins. The buttermilk gave it a moist texture and the streusel topping(walnut, butter and sugar) made it delectable and sweet. I can't tell you how many went into my mouth after it came out of the oven, piping hot and yummy.

I feel rather zombie-fied today. Other than baking, I have been stuck at my desk, trying to complete my never-ending load of work. At least one essay down for now and almost finished compilation of a report which is quite a headache, given all the grammatical errors and what nots I have to correct. I finally understand the headaches of editors. My plans to go to the gym were spoilt because I did not finish my essay by my scheduled time and I did not want to spoil the flow. I so did want to get the blood flowing and break out of this lethargy. At least dinner was healthy- a simple chicken macaroni soup, just nice for the weather.

Have to go pick mum up at the airport later


(Teatime: the cinnamon cake I baked yesterday and the muffin amidst all the mess on my table)