Changi airport

There is no secret that I love Singapore. But wait, there is more. Changi Airport is just the place you want to be stranded in. Free internet kiosks (where I am currently typing this blog from), 24 hour food gallery (which only a couple of stalls were open, but I still got my wantan noodle fix), and more importantly, the TRANSIT HOTEL. Now, I didn't get a room in there (which seemed quite reasonably priced), but I did pay $8.00 for a shower! They gave me a fresh towel and a free drink (bottled water) and the bathroom was immaculate! It is amazing how the last 21 hours (13 hours in Melbourne Airport + 8 hours on the flight) can just fall away after one shower (and not to mention a 7 hour nap on the plane... yes, I can sleep anywhere)!

After my shower, I popped over to their Business Centre to do some much needed printing. (I had to print off a hotel voucher and sign it for the hotel in Hong Kong - I really don't know why I was so unorganised for this trip - it might have been because I have been so busy at work). It cost to print, but I like that I am able to! Last thing to do is finally DONE!

All by my lonesome in Changi airport...

I feel like a million dollars and ready for the next leg of my adventure! Will probably be out of reach (my phone doesn't appear to have internet roaming) for the next week or so, so no blogs from me!

Bye bye now!

xoxo

Start of the holidays!!!

Wooootttt!!! Wait, where is my phone????

So that pretty much set the tone for the day. Lack of sleep, check. Missing camera charger, check. Left my mobile in the car and Luke had to turn back to give it to me, check.

Virginblue took off on time and I slept for the whole hour. Arrived in Melbourne at 7am. Upon reaching though, got a text from jetstar informing me that my noon flight was now going to depart at 3.30pm. Great.

Then it got pushed to 5pm, then 6pm and now it's 8.35pm and I am just about to board. I am so unimpressed!

But can't complain. I am going for a holiday!

Although I am disappointed that I won't get to see my Singapore girls for dinner and a catch up.

My fb statuses:

No worries jetstar. A three and a half hour delay is just fabulous. I had nothing better to do anyway. It's not like I had dinner and a goss session with my SG girls planned or anything. I would love to sit around melbourne airport waiting. You're just awesome.

I hate jetstar.

Ok. So I have been in Melbourne airport for an epic 13 hours now. I've taken my lenses out, bought some vending machine toothpaste to clean my teeth (it even came with a toothbrush, how convenient) so now I'm ready for a snooze. CAN I PLEASE BOARD???

My wee vending machine toothpaste! I've put my pinky next to it for comparison. And before u say it, no I'm not a bumpkin, I'm just bored. And delirious from lack of sleep.

It's almost like I was going through the stages of depression, but in my case it was probably sarcasm, anger, acceptance and delirium.

I've even sent Luke a silly photo of myself with a song from himym: night night lukey, night night lukey.. Sha la la la... :)

You've got to laugh. :)

Catch u guys on the flip side! Xoxo

But here are some things...

But here is one thing I can show you.. because most of them have been sent out! This was our Save the Date cards. Luke took this beautiful photo of Rosie (which I have accidentally destroyed) and I added on the words. We wanted to include Rosie in our wedding somehow and as she could not be part of the wedding, we thought it would be nice to have her be the face of our Save the Date.

I got them printed as glossy postcards and I was quite pleased with the end results! Some of our guests even got little fridge magnets which looked exactly the same.

The back of the cards reads as follows:

This photo didn't turn out that well as it was a shot of the computer screen.

When I send the invitations out, I'll put another post up!

Hope you like them!

xoxo

A sneak peek...

Who would like to have a sneak peek of my wedding dress???

Here it is!!! :)

Gotcha!!!

Seriously, did you think that I was going to show it? Let's save SOME element of surprise for the wedding! :)

Happy Saturday! xoxo

I just couldn't resist....

Ok - so I'm just getting ready for Christmas and after the beautiful photos I got of Rose and her Easter ears, I was hankering for another holiday photo. When grocery shopping, Luke saw these antlers (so yes, Rose, you can totally blame Daddy for this one) and suggested that we get them for Rose.

A couple of things:

a) Rose is a dream to photograph. She just seems to does what I tell her to do. Although at one stage, she did seem like she was a bit upset with me for putting her in such a ridiculous get up; and
b) even though I hate animals dressed as humans (with a few exceptions), I don't put this in the same category!

So expect a Christmas card in 2012 (I wasn't organised enough this year) with Rose's face on it! A star is born! :)

xoxo

"When is Santa coming???"

Yellow for summer...

I don't know why we don't host afternoon teas more often! I think I might start high teas again! And cocktail hour! :)

Kelly D was coming over for a coffee and a catch up and I thought that I would whip up some cupcakes! I was initially going to make coffee cupcakes with coffee buttercream, but I wasn't sure if Kelly liked coffee, so I went with the vanilla cupcakes and vanilla buttercream. I have to say though that I was immensely pleased with the consistency of the buttercream.

Case and point:

Yes, I had a yellow thing going...

And in case you are wondering, it wasn't a special occasion. I just like making things pretty.

The cupcake recipe is the same with the ones I made for the engagement party if anyone wants to try it out!

End of another lovely weekend - I'm ready for a big work week now!

xoxo

Meet Pedro

My ring bear-er. Lol.

Ring pillow... Check!

X

...I'm going to buy back memories to waken some old qualities...

Have probably said it to death today, but am feeling extremely nostalgic. It started with a lovely facebook wall post from my friend Yvonne, who I went to high school with. And when I talk about Yvonne, Kok Siew and Jin Lee, I don't JUST mean people who I went to high school with. I'm talking about people who are practically my sisters. Back in 1996, I left home at the tender age of 14 to take up the ASEAN scholarship in Singapore. So did Kok Siew, Jin and Yvonne. We were on the same scholarship. In the same hostel. Yvonne and Kok Siew were even roommates. We were also in the same class. We spent nearly every waking moment with each other. And even though we had drifted apart over the years, we got talking again about a couple of years ago, and planned our ten year reunion, which was a trip to Japan. And it was like nothing had changed!!! Now we are still close and talk to each other on a weekly basis through the beauty of whatsapp.

When I got to work and put my headphones in, the iPhone played "Run" by Collective Soul. I felt like I was instantly transported back to my old room at Hua Zhong Hostel, sitting at my table, "studying". And Claudia would be in the table next to me, also "studying". And by "studying" I meant that we were singing, talking and laughing. This song was very popular in 1999, and I remember it clearly because I was studying for my O-Levels and the start of the song used to catch Claudia and I... "All these times contagious, I'VE NEVER BEEN THIS BORED BEFORE!!!" Plus, the chorus which was "Have I got a long way to run" was heard as "We've both got a long way to run" and therefore, we thought that Collective Soul was totally singing about us and our exams. :)

For all who don't know the song, here it is:

And of course, the lyrics:

Are these times contagious
I've never been this bored before
Is this the prize I've waited for
Now as the hours passing
There's nothing left here to mature
I long to find a messenger


Have I got a long way to run [x2]
Yeah, I run [x2]


Is there a cure among us
From this processed sanity
I weaken with each voice that sings
In this world of purchase
I'm going to buy back memories
To awaken some old qualities


Have I got a long way to run [x2]
Have I got a long way to run [x2]
Yeah, I run [x2]
Have I got a long way to run [x2]
Yeah, I run [x4]
Have I got a long way to run [x4]

I had a dream a few weeks ago about being back in Hua Zhong Hostel. It was weird, yet wonderful. Time had passed and we were all the age we are now, but for some reason, we were back there and were going back to high school. It was almost like being at uni and working was the "summer break" from what was acutally going on... we were going back to school. And that's not even the weird part. The weird part of that dream was that all of us knew that it was weird, and was likely a dream, but we were excited about getting to go back to hostel life and promised ourselves to savour every moment.

It is just so amazing that one song could transport you to a point in time of your life, and help you remember every detail of that particular moment. Nothing like a blast from the past to help you remember where you came from, thankful for all the wonderful memories and grateful for the beautiful present life you lead. Thanks for the timely reminder.

xoxo

Harvey Specter... what's not to love? :)

Photo source

I'm addicted to Suits - I just love it. Yes Glee, you SUCK and are a pathetic excuse for a show. PATHETIC. Take some notes from Suits.

Very productive day!

I love a productive day! Luke and I were up at the crack of dawn (well Luke was, for me it was more like 8am!) and headed into town to beat the Christmas crowds! On the agenda: Luke's suit for the wedding (and also to pick the groomsmen's outfit), wedding bands and honeymoon planning.

ALL DONE BEFORE NOON. And we would have gotten everything done sooner if we didn't stop to eat brunch!

I even managed to squeeze in some shopping! Now about to head home and I think I might make some macarons this afternoon! Gotta love the weekend! X

Photo!

And it worked! Now testing the photo function...

Testing testing...

You know what I'm like with my gadgets... If I've got one I like to maximize it's capabilities and use all it's functions.

My iPhone is no different... I found a blogger app and I had to test it out! So this is my first entry using said app.

Wow what a boring post I nearly fell asleep writing it! Happy weekend everyone! X

Cassava chips!

Yum yum yum... I love cassava. Although I never knew that it was called cassava because in Malaysia, we just refer to them as tapioca. I'm not sure whether I have ever eaten tapioca as "hot chips" before, but I definitely used to enjoy the crispy "kacang puteh" tapioca chips which were either lightly salted or covered in a deliciously sweet, spicy and sticky sauce. My mouth is just salivating thinking about it!

Photo source

When I found out that cassava and tapioca were the same thing, I was esctactic because the local Chinese grocer sold frozen cassava. I figured that it wouldn't be that hard to replicate these delicious crunchies from my childhood, but boy was I wrong. First of all, freezing the cassava completely changes its texture. I couldn't slice it as thinly as I wanted to and they broke in the middle. My guests still ate it, BUT I knew that it was a complete failure.

But I was now left with about a kilo of cassava... what was I was going to do? I remembered reading that they made excellent hot chips, so as I do, I did some research...

I stumbled upon this video here (thanks mate!) and I followed it to a tee! And the result? PERFECT tapioca/cassava chips! I fried some fish and voila! Homemade fish and chips! :) Luke and I think that we don't ever have to go out for fish and chips ever again!

Hope you guys like it too! Make a change to cassava!

x

I'M BACK! (again!)

Sorry I have been away again! Work and home have been crazy busy, but I have resolved to set some time aside every week or so to update my blog! Not that anyone is reading, but hey, I like looking back at what I've done and it's nice to be inspired considering how often I lose my cooking/creative mojo!

A few little achievements (food wise) since I last blogged - I will list them and blog them in detail later:

a) I have successfully made macarons! Totally and completely estactic! I made a macaron cake for Nads' birthday even!
b) I have now got a fool proof recipe for onion rings... I was researching on the internet and I found a recipe, but I didn't have two of the main ingredients, so I substituted them and it worked well too! Extremely excited... will post about it when I make it next... with photos! and
c) Crunchiest and most delicious chips EVER! And they are not made of potatoes... and finally
d) SWEET AND SOUR PORK!!!! Like Mom used to make... and none of this BS thick battered, bright red, hard-as-nails Australian greasy Chinese takeaway stuff. I'm talking the real deal Sweet and Sour pork, juicy on the inside, crispy on the outside, with a beautiful tangy sauce that strikes the perfect balance of flavouring the pork without overpowering it.

Righty ho... I suppose it's bed time. Night peeps! :)

xoxo

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Food of the Gods - or at least I think so. :)

There are actually a few other things that I want to talk about, but I promised my colleague my secret chicken rice recipe, so I'm going to do that first. On another note, a big shout out to Craig! Yay!

I'm finding it particularly difficult to write this recipe though because I can't include any measurements. I watched my mother cook this heaps of times so when I cook, I just do what looks and feels right. The funny thing about this is that my Mom always said to me that she didn't know how to make the chicken (which was always delicious anyway). So I didn't learn to make the chicken from her - that I learnt from Food Safari.

Luke always seems astounded by the amount of chicken rice I consume. I eat it by the platefuls. And when he gives me that "Another plate??" look, my defence each and every time is "I'm Hainanese! It's in my BLOOD". :) Plus, it was my father's favourite meal and he could eat this every day. I would hope that if I was ever lucky enough to have children, it would be something that I could pass on to them.

Anyway, enough rambling - here we go...

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Chicken stock

There are a few ways to make the chicken stock and you can use as many or as few ingredients as you want, depending on what you have in the kitchen. Usually when Luke and I have roast chicken at home, I debone the chicken and keep the roasted chicken frame to make stock. I would just store this in the freezer and use it when I have collected two or three of them. However, sometimes I just buy some chicken frames from the supermarket. This is good because you have the added bonus of using the chicken fat on the frames.

What you will need:

a) roast chicken bones or raw chicken frames from the supermarket, or even a mixture of both
b) water
c) onions (optional)
d) spring onions (optional)
e) ginger (optional)

How to:

• Cut the excess fat off the chicken and keep aside - you will need this for the rice
• Fill a stock pot with water and pop the chicken frames (and all the other optional things if you are going to use them) in and bring to the boil. Keep boiling for approximately two hours.
• Season well with salt (I don't usually bother with pepper)
• Leave overnight for the flavours to develop (I sometimes don't bother with this step because I'm too impatient and want to eat chicken rice NOW!)

Chicken stock.... DONE.

This is liquid gold - it doesn't look like much (a bit oily and scummy) BUT, it is the BEST stock I've made so far! 

Chicken rice rice

**I think that you will need a rice cooker to make the rice, but if you don't have one, the microwave is fine too.

Ingredients:

White rice - washed and sitting in a fine colander to drip dry (obviously you don't need it perfectly dry, but this method will ensure that it is dry enough)
1 or 2 onions chopped
3 cloves of garlic chopped (less or more depending what you like)
Chicken fat
Chicken stock

In a frying pan (or wok - whichever one you prefer to use - I like the frying pan in this instance), cook the chicken fat until the fat is rendered.
Once that happens, add the onions and garlic and cook til fragrant.

Add the rice and fry for approximately 5-10 minutes. Season with salt.

Put the mixture into the rice cooker and follow the instructions for cooking the rice. The only difference would be to replace the water with the chicken stock (does that make sense?)
Let the rice cooker do the rest.

Chicken rice chicken

You would think that this was the most difficult part of the ensemble, but it isn't.

All you need is:

a) a whole chicken
b) the prepared chicken stock

Bring the chicken stock to a boil.
Once the stock is boiling, put the whole chicken in and turn off the heat (but still leave the stock pot on the same hot plate) and leave to poach for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, bring the stock to boil again and turn it off again and leave it for another half hour.

After an hour in the stock, the chicken should be perfectly poached! :)

And there you have it, chicken rice! This is usually served with a few condiments - the most popular one being the homemade chili sauce (which I don't make - sorry to disappoint! ONly because I haven't been able to get cheap chilis since learning how to make this recipe. My mother also cooks minced ginger and soy sauce to eat with poached chicken. For those who are not used to eating chicken rice, the poached chicken may seem bland but this dish is meant to celebrate the delicate clean flavours of the chicken, and if you ask me, the rice is really the star of the dish.

Now tuck in and enjoy!!!

 A few notes to wrap up:

a) please forgive any typos - I have one eye on the football, as USUAL and
b) as I explained before, I always made this recipe by FEEL, so if you are confused and want to ask any questions, just comment below or send me an email!

Alrighty then - I'm done for the night - back to this match which looks like it's shaping up to be a ripper! Happy weekend!!!

x

The Macaron Chronicles... Part 1

So the macaron scene is blowing up. Cupcakes are so yesterday.

Whatever, I always like a challenge. Apparently they are really hard to make. Challenge accepted.

Yvonne told me that she attempted it 16 times and failed 16 times. That kinda scared me from making it and I resisted for a bit. But then I promised to make Miss Anna Banana a farewell cake and it was a cake for her and Josh. And therefore, it had to be (well, should be unisex). Her words to me were "If all fails, make a pink cake".

I came across this cake, from make-fabulous-cakes.com and I thought that it was amazing! While it was pink and girly, I thought that it was elegant and fabulous enough to get me over the line. Unfortunately, that meant that I had to attempt macarons. No time like the present though!

Photo credit

So first, as with most things, I did my research. I watched some "How to make macarons" videos on youtube, and went looking for a recipe. I finally found some for some chocolate macarons (I decided to make a pink cake with chocolate macarons as I didn't have any pink food colouring) and I found this recipe from David Lebowitz's website. The taste of the batter was delicious! And the end taste was delicious as well. Unfortunately, the macarons failed because:

a) I could not follow a simple instruction; and
b) I adopted the Australian "She'll be right" approach.

The result was an epic fail. They were starting to show some feet though - so I must try again.

Cracks and the tiniest sign of feet - hmmmm....

So why does my macaron have this shape? It was because I only had the swirly nozzle, so I thought that it would be fine to use. As you can see from the photo, it was NOT.

I liked the taste though.

My second attempt was thwarted by a rogue oven, who refused to work (but if I wanted to tell the truth, I stuffed up the timer). All I got were rock hard chocolate buttons and I nearly took out a tooth tasting it!

Hard. As. Rocks.

So is third time the charm? Sort of. Once again, the stupid nozzle got the better of me. I had the tiniest nozzle and I had massive problems trying to squeeze the batter out (which could be an indication of crap batter, but this was the same recipe as the first one - and it was delicious!). So my patience got the better of me, so I ditched the piping bag and grabbed a couple of spoons ( I don't actually know why I think that my method would be better than proven tried and tested methods!!!) and plonked them on the baking tray. And behold. They failed too.

Although two of them (which I piped with great difficulty through a stupid tiny nozzle) grew feet! Looks like I have to attempt it one more time!!!

Photographic evidence:

Feet! They have feet!!!

It better work on my fourth try.

Oh, and in case you guys are wondering - this was the farewell cake I ended up making (sorry Josh, but I did put a blue ribbon for you!)





Meatball sub!

Joey: This place makes the best sandwich in the world.

Gary: Hey, Joey, does it have meatballs on it?

Joey: Oh yeah.

Gary: Does it have melted cheese and marinara sauce?

Joey: Yep.

Gary: Yeah. You can't eat that in my car.

Joey: Yeah, okay. Even though my tax dollars paid for this car.

Chandler: Your tax dollars?

Ever since I watched this episode, I wanted to eat a meatball sub. I imagined that it would be THE (as Joey so aptly put it) best sandwich in the world! When I tried the meatball sub AT Subway (yes, that was the first place that I found that sold meatball subs, so don't judge me) I was somewhat disappointed.

Cut to today - I woke up with  5 hours of sleep ( I was up attempting macarons, but that's another story altogether - and also attempting to make a farewell cake for Anna Banana) and staggered to the supermarket to get some more butter and chocolate for the fudge mixture. While I was there I thought that I would grab some stuff for lunch. I have never been so uninspired at the supermarket before. It could be because I was groggy and still had sleep in my eyes, or my lack of sleep (which for me always equals to lack of appetite) but I had to get something for lunch. My first thought was to get some minute steaks and make cheese steak sandwiches. WTF. They didn't carry minute steaks. Then, inspiration hit me as a stray ray of white light shone on the meatball offer - buy two packets of pre-made meatballs for $ 10. Done. I was going to get some mince and make meatballs from scratch, so so CBF right now. Luke and I have had these meatballs before and they are delish, so it's not a problem. Even the baguette and the tomato puree was on sale. Sold and sold.

First thing I thought I would tackle would be the marinara sauce. I was going to google and find a great marinara sauce recipe, but I remembered that I had the barbeque sauce leftover from the night before (when I made those ribs again) and I didn't want to waste it. So this time, I think I'll make my version of a marinara sauce.

The end product was delicious. It was a massive sandwich though, I managed half of mine and I was DONE. But very satisfying - take that Subway!

NESSIE'S MEATBALL SUB

 Ingredients

• fresh baguette
• meatballs - homemade or storebought - which ever takes your fancy. This time I just bought it from the supermarket - the Woolies brand meatballs are delish!
• processed cheese (yes, plastic cheese - but that's how it's done in the States, I'm given to understand!)

For the marinara sauce:

• leftover BBQ sauce (from my ribs recipe here)
• 1 can of tomato puree
• half a can of red wine
• dried oregano

Method:

• Heat up the frying pan and put all the ingredients for the marinara sauce into another pot. Heat up the ingredients and try to reduce the sauce (not too much - the sauce should be nice and thick anyway).
• In the frying pan, cook the meatballs - just brown the outside, no need to cook it right through.
• Once the meatballs are sufficiently browned, pop the meatballs into the sauce and heat through.

Sorry for the messy pot - it was bubbling!

• In the mean time, cut the baguette in half and hollow out the insides (I do it because it would be easier to fill with meatballs and eat with no mess, but at the same time, the pictures are not as pretty)

See how pretty its sitting - no mess! Even though there was heaps of sauce!!!

• Once the meatballs are cooked through, fill the baguette with the meatballs, and layer the cheese over it. The heat of the meatballs will heat up the cheese - don't you worry!

• Tuck in an ENJOY!

Definitely going to photograph without hollowing out the inside next time- and probably won't use the poppy seed bun either!

I definitely did and I think Luke did too, which is great. I don't even think that I'm going to bother learning the recipe for the marinara sauce - this one works. :)

Time to run some errands....

When you are running errands, you want to be comfortable but at the same time, don't want to look completely housewife frumpy. It wasn't a very hot day, so a tank and a light jacket were appropriate, and the scarf added another layer of warmth when the sun hid behind some clouds and the temperature dropped! This was also a very comfortable outfit to wear while watching my team win themselves a place in the top eight! :) Go Dees! x

Dammit...

The perfect bath still eludes me- today it was way too hot and I came out with a headache. Wtf.

But on an happier note, Melbourne are in the Top 8! Wooooottt!!! :)

X
Sent via BlackBerry® from Vodafone

Three cakes in three days....

Wow, I can't believe that I didn't blog about the time I made/decorate three cakes in three days. Or was it two? I can't remember. I was pulling 7am starts at workm and in addition to that, I made a commitment to make all these cakes!!!!

One was Nicole's hen's night cake:

Then there was Luz's cake:



And finally a cake I made for a colleague, Erin. She was celebrating her birthday with her Dad, so what the hell, I included him as well:

All of the cakes were chocolate dump it cakes with chocolate Bailey's buttercream.

I was particularly proud of these little sugar paste figures I made, little chickadee whose shell I made from moulding on an actual egg:

To the two frogs who Nicole used to kiss before she met Danial. And yes, I know that they are sad - they are sad because they lost their chance with Nicole! Actually, someone said to me "Um, did you know that your frogs are sad" and I'm like "I freaking made them, of course I know!" :)

Sooooooo not cut out to be a professional cake maker!!!!

xoxo

I call this one Henry...

Family photo...

Proof that two cakes were due the same day!!!



Melbourne Demons cake... I always wanted to make one!

My latest cake was this one which I made for my friend Jill's birthday. Jill is a massive Melbourne fan just like myself - and so is her whole family. So when I was invited to her family's dinner to celebrate her birthday at the local delicious Greek restaurant, Mezethes - I could not resist baking this cake!

The funny story behind it was that Luke, bless his heart dropped the figurine and broke its right arm, its right foot and its right HORN. I swear, everytime I use store bought figurines, someone will inevitably break it. First it was Jody breaking Nicole's Marily Monroe figurine for her Hen's night cake, then an unknown James Squire staff breaking a bit of James Bond's head and now this. Seriously.

Needless to say, I wasn't impressed. But I think I held it together alright - what do you think Luke?

I am particularly impressed with this cake because I started making it at 5pm and was done by 9.30pm. Yes, from making the cake from scratch, to the buttercream to the fondant to the decoration. So I was quite happy with that. It's not often that that happens. And furthermore, I also ate dinner and watched a spot of How I Met Your Mother in between.

And for the record, I made yet another chocolate cake because I noted that Jill liked chocolate cake - and EVEN THOUGH I didn't like making it (only because I didn't want everyone to think I'm a one trick pony) I did.

I should also say that Luke made amends by buying another figurine, so I put the second Demon where the three red candles are and moved the red candles to the bottom of the cake. I was quite happy with the end result. I can't believe I haven't got a photo of it though. I know that Jill's mom took a photo, so I might see whether I can get it off her and add it at a later stage.

Friday night footy...

End of another long week - TGIF! (I know I've already said that in my earlier post). I'm totally looking forward to Friday night footy. Tonight, it's a win win situation for me really - Melbourne needs the Bombers to lose to even have a shot at the top eight, but boy oh boy, wouldn't I love to see Hawthorn lose another one. I just CAN'T bring myself to go for them - the ONLY player I like on that team is Luke Hodge. He is a champion.

Anyway, for Friday night footy, I decided to make footy. Food that you need to eat with your fingers - wings, ribs, chips. My choice for this evening: RIBS and to be healthy - the reliable, and DELICIOUS sweet potato chips!

I used a combination of the slow cooker and the BBQ - (well, Luke worked the BBQ because I'm useless at it and he is awesome).

On hindsight, the only thing that I would have done differently would be to cook the ribs after they have been defrosted. I forgot to defrost the meat last night (and this morning) so when I came home at lunch, I just dumped all the FROZEN meat with the sauce and set it on auto. It cooked for seven hours, and it was quite tender, but not enough (well, the baby back ribs were - the spare ribs, not so much).

Yes, you picked it - I also used a combination of baby back and spare ribs. Only because it was the first time Luke and I were eating baby back ribs and I was unsure whether it would be enough for dinner (yes, we love our meat!)

SO - who wants the recipe? I didn't measure anything - so just use your instincts!!!

NESSIE'S MESSY RIBS

Ingredients

Ribs - as mentioned earlier, baby back ribs and spare ribs were used in this recipe
Tomato ketchup
Barbeque sauce
Worstershire sauce
Chili Sauce (I think I bought blended chilis or something - they are pretty spicy! If no blended chilis, I would just use some tobasco sauce or some chili flakes)
Tobasco sauce (I used it anyway, in addition to the chili)
3 tablespoons of brown sugar (this one I did measure - but not intentionally)
1 can of beer (I used Cascades Pale Ale cuz that's what we had in the fridge - leftover from the engagement party!!)

If it helps, the rule that I go by is one part ketchup to two parts BBQ sauce or vice versa. In this case, I didn't have much BBQ sauce, so I just used one part BBQ sauce to two parts ketchup.

I chucked eveything into the slow cooker and let it cook on Auto for about 7 hours.

Remove the cooked meat from the slow cooker and in a separate container, dissolve some cornflour with cold water and add to the sauce. Keep doing so until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

In the meantime, start the BBQ and sear the meat. Then baste the meat with the sauce and sear both sides.

Finally, put the meat into a large bowl and pour the remaining sauce over the meat.

Make sure there's lots of paper napkins and ENJOY!!!

Happy weekend!

xoxo

Special thanks to my lovely Luke for BBQ-ing! :) xoxo

Casual Friday

TGIF peeps!! This week has just FLOWN by but hey, it’s Friday and I’m definitely not complaining!

Am extremely excited about this outfit today ONLY because I found my black knit vest on my bedroom floor this morning (ask Luke about the dance of joy I did!) which I have been looking for ages. I think this black knit vest might have been one of my best investments EVER. It goes with pretty much everything. Dress it up, dress it down, the possibilities are endless! Today, I have paired it with a skinny black belt (which apparently is one of THE must-have fall accessories) make the whole look a bit more tailored and corporate. Just because it’s casual Friday, it does NOT mean that we have to look like slobs people!

Having said that though, I do feel like my outfit is not quite complete because I have failed to accessorize. I was in such a hurry this morning (it is true what they say, the closer you are, the later you are) that I forgot to wear some earrings, or even a scarf or drop necklace to tie the whole look together.

What are we all wearing today?

Happy weekend. J

xoxo

Hong Kong - here I come!!!

HONG KONG BABY!!!!

I'm so excited. Today I booked my tickets to Hong Kong. My mother is hitting a milestone next year (I'm not sure that she would want me to broadcast it) and so I have decided to take her for a very well-deserved holiday! We were tossing up a few ideas - Phuket, Chiang Mai, but the circumstances pointed us towards Hong Kong. So HONG KONG here we come!!

I booked and paid for my tickets today. Now I'm just waiting for my mother to tell me her preferred time and I will book her tickets!!!

I'm so excited - does anyone have any tips? Food, accommodation, things to see and do??

All suggestions welcome.

:)

Yay! Suppose it's time to update my travel blog huh!!!

xoxo

What to do with a shrunken vest...

So this morning Luke put on his grey Merino wool vest and found that as he had accidentally washed it in the washing machine, it had shrunk. He could still fit in it, and looked great, BUT, he wasn't comfortable in it, so I pounced! I offered to wear the vest for the day! (Yes, that is my good deed!)

But the upshot of that is that I got a new outfit for the day! And of course, I had to share. Thanks Lukey bear!

Hope you guys like my outfit today! xoxo

Great expectations...

Behold ...

My Sunday night bath. I had everything from the candles, to the bubbles, to the rubber ducky, my bath pillow and EVEN water with slices of orange in it...

I tried to set up the computer to play the Real Housewives of New York while I was in the bath (ok, don't judge me!) and it didn't work. So after stuffing around for a while, I got in and the water was COLD. But I still sat in there - I ran the bath, I am going to sit in there for a bit dammit.

Nope, after 15 minutes I had to get out. It was freezing. But no worries, I'll just have a hot shower.

THERE WAS NO HOT WATER LEFT!!!!!

So needless to say, my Sunday night bath was an epic FAIL. I'll try again on Saturday. But can I just say? HUMPH.

x

Double carbs night...

Ok - so double carbs. Super naughty, but hey, it was a quick and easy dinner and definitely a crowd pleaser. The thing that will take the longest to cook would be the pasta! Nom nom nom... :)

Luke's DELICIOUS garlic bread as a side! Not that we needed any sides...

PASTA CARBONARA

Ingredients

125g bacon. thinly sliced

4 egg yolks

2 tbsp crea,

2 tbsp parmasen cheese (grated)

Salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp chopped parsley ( I just used dried parsley cuz that was all I had)

400g pasta (in this case, I used tagliatelle)

Method

Cook the pasta until al dente.

Heat a frying pan over a medium heat and cook bacon until crispy.

Beat egg yolks, cream, cheese, salt and pepper together.

Drain the pasta and toss with egg mix, bacon and parsley and serve.

Serves 4.

Enjoy. :)

Remember, this dish is VERY rich (plus, it's double carbs) so don't eat it every night.

x

Ok - I totally had to add another photo! :)

Zzzzzz.....

Ok, so I have a confession to make. I was totally going to blog from my Blackberry last night in bed. Just some final thoughts on the day, etc (not that I can remember what they were now!). I tucked myself into bed and had my doona over my head to keep warm and started typing. After about ten words, I conceded that my hands were too cold and that I should warm up before continuing. So I put my phone down, and snuggled into the pillows to watch some Big Bang Theory.

I totally fell asleep.

And that wasn't the worst part. Apparently sometime during the night, I had rolled over my phone and it called Luke. And left a voicemail. Or should I say snoremail. Yup, I snored into the phone and it was recorded on voicemail for my fiance to hear. Not once, but TWICE.

So it was kinda funny when he told me, but embarassing at the same time! Me and sleep, I tell ya!

xoxo

I'm walkin' on sunshine...

A win is a win is a win. :) That is all I can say. Whatever was said during the week, the ugly comments and the cheap shots.. it all doesn't matter! A win against a side that might be sliding? ( I don't think Essendon are sliding, but that's what people are going to say during the week). So freaking what. As I said, a win is a win is win. So proud of my boys!!!

Go dees! :)

xoxo

I'm back baby dolls... :)

Ok - sorry I have been MIA from this blog. It has been a busy few weeks! First of all, I finished up at RBF, and that was a crazy last week of work, just trying to get everything done, so I was up at the crack of dawn (and I don't mean 9am, but rather 4am!) trying to get it done, but at the end of the day, I can only do what I can do! And let's not forget that Penny arrived - she is AMAZING! For those of you who don't know, Penny is my new Blackberry Playbook and she is everything I hoped she would be! All those BB haters out there - shame on you! I LOVE my Playbook. Sure it's got it's limitations, but it's a tablet, what do you expect. Her first photoshoot and review should be coming up soon - when I get around to it... seems like the theme of this month! :)

Then I had a week off before I started my new job, where I did nothing at all. Seriously. Nothing. I have never been so lazy in my whole entire life! The week flew by and very soon, I had to start my new job! It's pretty cool, it's nice to be in an office again, although I have to share, but eh, can't complain! At least I'm no longer in a cubicle! Although I have to say that I didn't mind so much being in a cubicle in my old workplace, because the building was nice. This one is NOT. So an office is a bonus really. I have one window where I am overlooking the warehouse. FANCY. :)

But I get to park at work and drive home during lunch, so that is a bit of a bonus. The people seem nice, but I do miss my old colleagues! Especially chatting with Miss Anna Banana about her latest purchases (have you guys checked out her blog?), catching up with Miss Honor about her weekend shenanigans (the weirdest still being when she flew to Melbourne randomly for a weekend to deliver a passport!) and of course the emails from Miss Jules who would keep me in stitches! But I suppose these bonds take time to develop...

And I also started my training to run 10K. Yup, you read it right. I started counting calories and started training for 10K, 100 push ups and also 200 sit ups. But alas, after week one and feeling extremely proud of myself, I was struck down with the flu. You betcha. I feel like history has repeated itself! Last year when I first started my job, I got a terrible flu the second week I was there. I had to take a day off. This time, new job, week 2... BANG. The flu. AGAIN. Ridunk.

So training will have to wait a week. But I will get back on it and I hope that at the end of 13 weeks, I will be able to run 10K.

Latest obsessions? I am officially a reality TV junkie AND Real Housewives tragic. I now watch all the Real Housewives series, you name it. Orange County, New York (one of my faves), DC, Beverly Hills (love), New Jersey (LOVE LOVE), Atlanta (meh - but I like the way they talk) and also Miami (which is a bit meh as well, but hell, I will watch it anyway!).

Oh, and turns out Audrina has got a show too. Luke stumbled upon it when he was watching some of his shows online, so I jumped on to check it out. First of all, I did watched the clip with Audrina's mom having a go at Lauren Conrad after Audrina got kicked out of Dancing with the Stars. What a crazy bitch.

If you haven't seen it, here's the video:

After reading the reviews, I thought that it would be a bit boring. It has been called the poor person's "Keeping Up with the Kardashians", but I got into it a bit. But then again, who are we kidding - I just admitted that I'm a reality tv junkie! Lynn Patridge does shit my up the wall though - she is sooo mean to Casey, and a mother should NOT be allowed to speak to her daughter like that!

So after I watched all of Audrina, I looked around to see what else was new, and thought that I should check out Mob Wives. And OMFG - this is AWESOME. I love all of them - they are so cool, and SO WEIRD. I mean, who talks like that? And do these girls (well, in all fairness two of them) really think that they are mafia princesses? BUT, I still like them. I don't think I could even pick a favourite, but I would probably say that I like Carla the least. She's more mellow and a bit boring compared to the other three. But I like them all!

Check it:

Anyway, enough about TV ranting - I need to write another post on the footy!

xoxo

Penny's travels...

OK, so I bit the bullet and purchased a BB Playbook. Yes, the one I have been raving about and complaining about. I decided to get it. I figured that if I was going to get a tablet, it would have to be the BB Playbook even if it is shite.

Anyway, I bought it on Saturday from an American seller. I only thought to do that because there were no Australian sellers and true to Murphy's law (and the saying that patience is a virtue), an Australian seller appeared some two days later. So should have bought from them.

I decided to name my new addition to my geeky techy family Penny. I thought Penny the Playbook had a nice ring to it. Apparently too nice - someone told me it sounded like a porno name. Whatevs.

So the seller told me on TUESDAY that he had sent Penny to me. TUESDAY the 3rd of May 2011. on Wednesday, I could see, through the wonders of the tracking number that the item had left the States. That is an outright and BS lie because on FRIDAY, when I telephoned AUSPOST to find out why the tracking number did not show that the item had arrived in Australia when it allegedly left the States on Wednesday, I was informed that it was because Penny was not in the country yet. AND that Penny only left the States the night before (which would make it Thursday). So the USPS website telling me that Penny left the States on WEDNESDAY was an outright lie. WTF.

So Penny has gone on some grand tour of the States no doubt.

AND the seller told me that the post office told him that it should arrive on the 9th. BULLSHIT.

It is now 10.28pm on the 11th and I am still waiting for Penny to arrive. Apparently, it now appears that Penny is on a grand tour of Australia. Either that, or she's propping up a three legged table somewhere in the middle of woop woop. They have confirmed of her arrival in the country, but the tracking site says that she is in customs. I telephoned again (ok, what do you want from me - it's an expensive thing!) and it turns out that she has cleared the customs and is en route to Hobart. Via Melbourne. And she flew into the middle of the desert somewhere near Alice Springs. Seriously, this is getting ridiculous.

So a big shout out to USPS - when you say express mail and delivery between 3-5 days, I say BS, don't lie!

And of course, I predict that it will arrive tomorrow and I will not be able to pick it up til Friday because of course, I have a meeting til 4.30pm and will not be home until after 5.

Patience is so not my middle name!!!

xoxo

Simple in Virtue, Steadfast in Duty

You know how songs get stuck in your head? Well, this morning, it was the Selangor anthem. I know. Pretty random. And I was mildly impressed that I could remember all the words.

Then me being me, I proceeded to try to remember the words to all the songs that they made me sing throughout primary school and high school. I went through Negaraku, Duli Yang Maha Mulia, SRK Taman Melawati School Song, then the CHIJ School Song and even the Singapore National Pledge. I remembered everything - all the words, all the tunes. EXCEPT THE SINGAPORE NATIONAL ANTHEM. How the hell did that happen?

Anyway, being a complete Google geek - I typed in my old high school motto: Simple in Virtue, Steadfast in Duty. And found this. I also went to the school's website and found out that there was an IJ iPhone (or iTouch) application - WTF? I'm so checking that out when I go home.

So that was my reminiscing for the morning. Time to keep my head down and get some work done. Only two more days until I finish up at my job! Eek!

3.30pm rocks up and I am desperately trying to gain some momentum on this complaint which I have been trying to write up for days. I was getting frustrated because all day, people have been interrupting me and preventing me from getting work done. When I assessed my status report last week, I thought that I was able to finish my work before I leave. I don't think that this is the case now.

So 3.30pm - half an hour before I leave work (and before you judge me on that, please note that I have been at work since 7am) and this woman walks up to me and starts asking me where to get good Chinese food. Come on. Define good. And define Chinese. And... who are you?

She starts telling me about how she was Singaporean and that she loves Chinese food and the Chinese food in Hobart will never be able to replicate the delicious food in Singapore, etc. She then proceeds to ask me where I'm from. I inform her that I'm from Malaysia, but I studied in Singapore for four years. She asked which school and I say IJ (Toa Payoh). She didn't say anything. But then further into the conversation she tells (quite proudly) that she was the CONVENT OF THE HOLY INFANT JESUS. And the one in Victoria Street too. To which I say "That's the same school I went to!". Turns out it didn't quite register when I said IJ (Toa Payoh) and also she informed me that they always called it the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus, or CHIJ at the very least. I think she was even quite distressed that we shortened the name that much. She had graduated in 1962 and from what I can tell, it was a very different school back then. But one thing doesn't appear to have changed - the pride we felt for the school when we talked about it.

I never thought that I would like IJ, let alone love it. I was receipt of the ASEAN Secondary Scholarship, picked by the Ministry of Education in Singapore and left home for the first time when I was 14. Went to live in this hostel and was placed in a single-sex school. Life was vastly different from what I was used to. Attending my first day of school, I remember thinking: I have never seen so many girls in one place before.

And I was convinced I was going to hate it.

But far from it. I loved every minute of it, the friends I made, the laughter we shared and the memories which would last forever. I am extremely proud to be an IJ girl.

So back to my story with Rosemary. It's funny, once the IJ bond was established, it didn't matter that we were years apart and only knew each other for al of five minutes. We exchanged numbers and promised to keep in touch. It is funny that after working at RBF for a year, I meet a fellow IJ girl (woman) in my final week there, on the same day I was reminiscing about my younger days!

So calling out to any old IJ friends out there - if any of you are reading this, leave a comment and tell me your favourite IJ memory!

The IJ Spirit's living on,
It's stretching far and far beyond,
It's never gonna die it's gonna live in each of us.
And we will keep it burning burning strong,
The flame of zest lies in us all along,
Always inspiring us, to go on.

Gossip Girl, Season 4, Episode 19

Just when I thought that the return of Louis (or Louie?) the Prince was a bit of a "so what?" It was far from it. I was intending on watching Gossip Girl while culling my wardrobe and clearing my bedroom, but it kept my interested that I just sat there and did nothing but watch the episode.

So Louis is back from Paris, bearing the shoe that Blair left him when she left Paris to come home to Chuck. She had just rejected Chuck for the upteenth time (this is turning out to be a saga, but quite a good one) and turns out that the kiss with Humprhey meant nothing to her, and she realised that all she wanted was to be friends. Unfortunately, Dan has fallen for her - even he can't believe it.

Enters a new character, Charlie, Serena's long lost cousin, who, for some reason (I don't know, she just wanted to fit into the Upper East Side elite or something) does everything a Nosey Parker can do to spy on Dan and Blair. It screws up Dan and Serena's friendship, Serena and Blair's friendship, Dan and Vanessa's friendship and possibly Dan and Blair's friendship. I hope you're happy Charlie! How many bodies do you want to leave in your wake? RUDE!

I hate when Serena and Blair fight. And looks like this one is going to be war.

Which reminds me - what happened to Ben? He was no where to be seen and I can't remember whether he and Serena broke up (CW network, this is why you need to stop taking these massive long breaks in the middle of a season!!!)

Chuck Bass is desperately trying to figure out if Russel Thorpe is lying to him about his father. And even though I was a little annoyed at Chuck Bass last week, he's still got the Bass appeal! Love him.

Nate is being boring and in a love bubble.

Photo credit

But let's talk about the dresses! There were a plethora of beautiful pink dresses on display as Manhattan's who's who (including some women who were absolute bitches!) attended Lily Bass' Pink Party. I personally love everything that Blair wears anyway, and once again she was perfectly stunning in her Oscar de la Renta gown. However, I thought in this particular episode, Serena and Lily might have outshone her!

Serena's dress was a tight, short little number. And while I don't usually like dresses like that, they definitely suit her as they accentuate her long legs and trim figure! No wonder all the top designers want to dress her. BUT, what I really liked about this dress is the detail on the back. The open back dress with suede applique and a mini bustle was absolutely stunning. Loved it!

Photo credit

As for Lily, my research tells me that the stunning one shouldered chiffon gown she wore was a Charles Chang-Lima number from Bergdorf Goodman. Stunning!

Photo credit

Bring on episode 20!

xoxo