i turn 21

the party was held on Saturday evening at Olive resturant contrary to the intial plan at Moonladder Bar and Bistro as stated on the invite. had to deal with the copious amounts of rain tt poured from the grey skies all afternoon, leading to the inexplicable closing of Moonladder. the party was then moved to the Olive Resturant in the last minute just a little across the park. to all my guests, sorry for the last minute movement. Caused u guys to walk quite a bit. *bleah* hey.. and of course i was a bunch of nerves from all the last min changes. I never did lyke crowds.. wat more a bdae party.. hmph...

the clock ticked slowly and night enveloped the patio... as guests slowly streamed in, the food and drinks flowed smoothly as well. With pizzas from olive resturant themselves circulating the tables and pints of erdinger(again my fav beer.. guess only one person shld knoe why.. hehe *wink* pity he cldn't be there at the party tt night) and glasses of hand-picked wines been served up. well, sad to say tt out of the 10 bottles i brought along, only a meagre 4 bottles were finished. haha. Brown brothers muscato was an excellent, sweet dessert wine tt matched the cakes and macarons perfectly. Irony on the hand was well balanced and a slight kick to it. Glad tt everyone enjoyed the drinks.. though i expected better. well at least the entire barrel of beer 30 litres were guzzled up by the aero pple in the end. Bravo!!! do pls watch the clip of Yanru vs. Tim in a beer drinking competition below! its crazy.. having aero pple ard only means one thing. noise, noise and MORE NOISE! haha.
some time in the middle of the party, Kor stood up and called for everyone's attention as he began his presentation with a slideshow of photos collated all the way from when i was born to my present age. tt was extremely touching and not to mention EMBARASSING for me. but nonetheless i want to thank Mummy and Kor for all the hardwork put in. at least the efforts and slpless nights spent scanning the photos paid off. everyone loved it! i loved it MORE!! hehe. *hugz*
some photos from the slideshow... my kor loves me!!! haha..
so after the mini programme, it was back to more photo taking sessions. aero peeps rockz! my mum in fact was shocked to see how enthusiastic u guys were when it came down to photo-taking! haha. cool bengs! and then moving on to church people! Ruth, Abigail, Junneng, Weiyi, Cheryl, Jonathan, Kor, Velda, Trevor, Gabriel! then to the scattered few plus the baking gang! hehe. Sorrie Evan for forcing u into the photo. *sticks out tongue*

xmas cookies
it just takes some cookie decorating to calm those pre-birthday party nerves. haha. Not tt i was very nervous or anything about the party. Rather i was more anxious about how the weather wld be.. i prayed tt it wldn't play me out. But in the end, i guess God had other plans for me. i i guess they worked out just as fine as well. thank you God.
i had made the batter a few days before and only had the time to bake it the day before the party. and let me tell you, cookie decorating is one of the most fun activities to do. especially with a very artistic babe around to help. hehe.. and clean up of course *gulp*.. so, we did giant snowflakes, gingerbread man and butterflies! lurve the gorgeous shapes... however, had a slight issue with the dough batter as it was a tad soft and didn't hold its shape too well. Guess i didn't follow the recipe religiously.. resulting in not so good results as well. But wat the heck, at least we both had fun despite the fatigue tt the late night lured in.

note the details btw.. the little scar on babe's right eye.. hehe.. he reallie has one and i think its cute. haha. oh well...
we were so tired when we wrapped up the entire deal. it was 4 am in the morning mind u. thinking back, i have no idea why we stayed up so late especially on the night before my party. terrible!!!its party time!

met up with Cheryl on wednesday to shop, eat dinner and after that chill at dempsey's ben and jerry's. oh gosh.. if u guys haven't been to demspey's yet. u reallie shld! culina and jones the grocer carry such exquisite stuff! worth the drive in reallie. on the whole it was a wonderful date. shld do it more often! hehe..rememeber our deal to try all flavors at the daily scoop! hehe.
meeting up with jiemin kor later to rot ard.. plus dinner and dessert at eden cafe! woots. hehe. hmph.. kinda tired though. lets just hope i can pull thru the date w/o falling asleep first. hehe. tt wldn't be too nice..
finally the bdae party is tmr. I dun ask for much actually just wish tt everyone be present have a good time there. tt wld make it the most special bdae alr. thanks kor, mummy and babe for all the help put in. u guys are the best!

像两首节拍不同的歌
却又同时被爱情合奏
Breeching the Old Ages



Together with the effects of the two bottles of wine kicking in slowly yet steadily.. i was drawn into a world where harsh reality stood beyond the borders of presents thoughts. everything was sweet... i was numb. strangely, though i was aware of the onset of such a parallel universe, i embraced it and basked in its strange presence.

and must i add, the dessert platter made me smile the widest. the assortment of sweet endings ranged from the humble, warm apple crumble to the downright haughty, macarons. compliments going out to the pastry chef at c&f. *smilez* a perfect ending to a perfect dinner with the family. Perhaps tts how bdaes should be spent after all...
i enjoyed myself a lot more than i ever did in a long time...
wonderful weekend
well, if you think i reallie do have a big fetish for lips.. then u're right. haha. BUT.. in this case, lets more on to the bigger picture.
Now, with my hazelnuts on hand and my prized possesion in my keeps, i cldn't be more happy...
on a side note, Saturday was a rather enjoyable day. Relatives came over for a lovely rainy day lunch of western fare. Fish and chips and baked beans on the side. Simple and easy. and yesh, i and my brother had to add to the mess. experimenting with oven baked fish instead. Well, at least our efforts didn't go to waste. And the fish came out succulent and tender, oozing with aroma of chilli, garlic, rosemary and peppercorns. YUmz.. haha. and how cld we forgo dessert? so i woke up early in the morning to prepare my lemon tart which added a lovely finish to the whole meal. What better to cleanse the greasy palate then with a tangy dessert? ahhh... the lemon tart certainly did the trick. (didn't have time to take a photo of the entire finished tart but managed to take an uber ugly shot of the one piece of tart tt i had )
After lunch, I met up with Babe and we went down to Changi T3 for the second last day of the openhouse. I thought i cldn't miss out on it since its not everyday tt you get to walk in the departure hall and sit in the holding gallery area. haha. I knoe it sounds silly but to me, it was a trip well spent as I got to appreciate the architecture and layout of the place.

well, the place was pretty crowded with groups of people being lead around in guided tours. We opted out though due to the inconvenience. the holding gallery area was packed full of people sitting on the chairs to rest their weary legs. Babe stumbled upon something reallie farnie in the toilet and even took a shot of it to illustrate it humor.
apparently, having a picture of a fly at the base of the urinal would help improve accuracy? hmph. interesting...
moving on, we ventured into the arrival area where passengers collect their luggage. this place is beautiful! with greenery trailing down the walls and water cascading down the concrete panels, it resembled some sort of lost amazonian world amidst the concrete world. i sure would be happie to return to such a beautiful arrival hall!
finally ended off with dinner at changi point. at a place called hanamco multi taps bar restaurant. cool place to chill out at with a couple of frens over beer. And a lovely selection of imported beers too! Absolutely love the white beer I ordered. Yum... Babe loved his pear cider loads too! 
Now tts one helluva good afternoon. reallie enjoyed myself just being out there and bumming ard. Holidays are getting off to a good start... well at least it is becoz i've got you. *wink*

p.s. reminder for Sihan's 21st bdae party coming up soon! pls check your emails for invites and do rsvp as soon as possible. PLs guys.. make it easy for me.. hehe
suffocating
pls point out all my mistakes to me. been caught in the rut, my camera broke... a minute part of the whole terrible journey. my spirits are dampened. have to give in till i feel lyke i'm suffocating. choked up my rollercoaster emotions.
dinner was rounded off with a wham-bang-thank-you-ma'am! baked chocolate with vanilla gelati.. gosh.. lucious chocolate tt exploded upon the swish of a dessert fork. who wldn't be taken by this chocolate pool? awesome stuff!
photos courtesy of sparklette.net
oh yesh, must mention tt above pier eleven resturant is a reallie nice bar called the edge rooftop bar. Pretty nice ambience to chill out to.
after which, i and babe went to catch the movie The Golden Compass. bearing resemblance to one of my favourite books and movie, the narnia chronicles series. I enjoyed the movie thoroughly. Though the recent rantings about the movie being anti-christ and against the teachings of the church, i feel that its basically a whole load of crap. Cause if the church were to put it this way, all movies wld be anti-christ. Think, violence, negative potrayal of sex; gosh, vices are everywhere.

What I found most interesting about the movie was the idea of daemons, in the world where Lyra lives, the human spirit lives outside the body, in the form of a animal spirit known as a daemon. this creature accompanies the human till death. and through childhood, the daemon constantly changes form, assuming the changing potentials and aspirations of the child as he develops. It is not only until older when the daemon settles its form according to the character and nature of the person.
Sounds interesting aye... hehe. if interested to find out what daemon do u possess, go to here. and do a questionaire of 20 qns by which ur daemon will be determined upon by your answers. Try it. i'm a freaking rat. haha.
Overall, a wonderful and entertaining movie. definitely a must watch for all fantasy story buffs like me! (plus... i absolutely loved the scene where the bear's jaw got ripped out from the blow.. OHHH.. tt must have hurt. haha)
Updated my bake book collection at Harris today. Gosh.. can't seem to get enough. i just get so fired up by the sight of these books. Gimme more!!! haha. but this pursuit of mine is seriously burning a huge hole in my pocket tts for sure. *gulp* someone bring me on a book shopping spree pls?
okie.. its calling it a night already. Reminder to babe: remember to watch james bond with me! hehe.
another rainy day
Bananas to me are somewhat of a forbidden fruit. One that i would prefer not to eat fresh out of its skin. which brings back memories of the huge pile of banana skins i saw chucked on the floor during the marathon. being a quick source of energy, organisers provided combs and combs of this lovely yellow fruit to exhausted runners in search of a quick boost. I hoped it work, i wld never knoe. coz no way i'm putting tt banana in my mouth. even when strewned all over the ground, i found the fruit very intimidating. Perhaps becoz they wld prove to be fatal shoul i slip on one of them... heh. but tts another point altogether. truth is i had never enjoyed banana in its natural form, raw. However, i had a great affinity for other products of bananas. Take banana chips (vietnam guys will know how much i adore munching on these), banana ice-cream and of course banana cake! strange but true. i can't take my hands of bananas in its alter-ego form!
Hence with the grey skies forging ahead, i took a lovely stroll in the rain to cold storage to get my hands on some core ingredients before settling on baking. decided to use my mini crown silicon tray as i thought the shapes of the cakes wld be sufficient enough to provided the finishing touches on the lovely moist cake; sans frosting of any sort. Light and yet comforting enough for a rainy day such as this one. 
After the serious aroma therapy session during the 25 mins of bake time. the little ones popped easily out of their pans and with just a layer of apricot jam brushed on their surface, these were ready to go... and how cld i forget about the little festive touch. Reminder: its gonna be Christmas very very soon! hehe. pity i won't be ard to celebrate it here in Singapore

the beautiful home of peabody... *swoons*
Recipe for Mini Banana Cakes
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 cups sour cream
1 1/3 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 large)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Steps
- Preheat the oven to 180 degree celsius
- In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt
- Using the mixer, beat the butter and sugar till light and fluffy
- Add eggs in and beat till incorporated
- Mix in sour cream, bananas and lemon juice
- Fold in the flour and blend.
- Pour into silicon moulds and bake for about 30mins
- Cool on rack for 10mins and turn the little cakes out
- Serve plain or with cream cheese frosting and a sprinkling of almonds
recipe adapted from epicurious
major-headache
The new ingredient for this upcoming round of Cupcake Hero is mint!! wow. kk, i'll make this a dedication to Lihui then since she loves mint ever so much. I think i might just have the perfect condiments for this little experiment. Can't wait to get started! to Claire: join this event!


kk, typed this entry halfway and had to stop to help my fren register her subjects. haha. Seemed to have lost my chain of thought. So its a wrap i guess. Gonna watch Beowulf with weiquany and babe later .*=)*
gosh.. it never fails to hit me. the craving for a square of dark chocolate. I creep towards the tib-bit basket.. oh no.. *groanz*
marathon
woke up for the standard chartered marathon today. With a daunting distance of 42.2km ahead, i showed the least enthusiasm towards the whole affair. Whats more, i had less than apt preparation for the event. With the longest distance of 8km per session throughout the entire exam period.
Mishaps came in dozens. Lost babe. ran with a bloody foot the entire way, the pain cutting thru my toes. finally stopping after 22km mark at a medical station to dress the wound. took out my shoe to reveal a blood soaked soak, only to realise tt my last two toes had abraded against each other so badly tt the skin had all rubbed off, leaving only raw flesh exposed. The pain was unbearable, then the cramps came. Knee locks... i'm sure many who did the marathon had similar experiences to tell. Pain is all in the mind anywaz.
To babe, i'm sorrie tt i ran off first (though i reallie looked ard for u and waited for u). I'm sorrie.
Another bad day...
first bakes




