Special Gift in the making

This muffler is in the making... for a very special friend. When its complete and presented, will update with more pictures. In the meantime, trying to rush this out on time to be presented.

My special pralines bitezzz

I made this on Saturday...as a snack (substitute for popcorn) while watching my Hong Kong drama D.I.E. II.

Very simple. Just break cream crackers into pieces, lined them into a baking tin, ( I lined my tin with aluminium foil so as to easy clean up after baking)...

On a saucepan, bring to boil a cup of packed brown sugar with 100g of butter. Once the mixture has come to a boil, add 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar. You may add some cashew nuts, or walnut ( I hate walnut, hence I used honey roasted cashew nuts). Stir well and remove from stove.

Pour the mixture onto the crackers. You may sprinkle some bite size milk chocolates on top of these ( I used Hersheys but didn't melt that well. Lindt would be a better choice) and bake for 10-15 mins. Remove from oven and cut into pieces. Do take note that as these are crispy, they will break into many small little pieces. But tasted as yummy.

You may cut down the amount of sugar if you do not like it too sweet.

Happy 1st Anniversary 22.11.2009

Today, we celebrate our 1st Anniversary. At this date a year ago, we exchanged our vow, to love one another, to be there for each other in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, and in joy as well as in sorrow. We promise to love one another unconditionally, to support, to honor and respect, to laugh with and cry with, and to cherish for as long as we both shall live.

We have been together for 8 years before we tie the knot last year and up till today, our love and trust for each other, stand strong. And I hope we will have more of this years to come, and along with little ones... God Bless!

We didn't have a lavish celebration, as we are not someone who likes attention and crowds. We prefer serenity in life and enjoy just having each other's company. I spent whole day watching my Hong Kong drama, D.I.E. II (Detective Investigations Extension). Funny drama. Managed to finish the whole set today and went to Compassvale Mall to have our dinner at Ajisen Ramen. Yucks!!! The standard drop drastically... tasted like shit. speechless... sigh... but anyway... after dinner we went to Ya Kun for a cup of tea, then went to Bengawan Solo to exchange for a cake from a voucher which our neighbour gave us for his baby girl's full month celebration. Saw a hand wax corner and thought it would be fun when my brother is here. We can join our hand to have the wax done and will get him to bring it home for display. Hahaha.. What a weird idea. Well, I know my brother is always up for any funny ideas whenever he comes to Spore. Hubby thinks I am crazy when I asked him to have the hand wax done with me. hahaha..

Anyway, I can't wait for them to be here. I am sure its gonna be lots of fun! But stupid brother will only arrive on the eve. He always make such short trip. Horrible him.

My new toy...

Finally... got my new toy... I have always wanted a kitchen mixture but never can decide one. From Kitchen Aid, to Kenwoods... then when I saw this at CK Tang this noon, it was a love at first sight. Got Superhubby to check it out at Courts later in the evening after our weekly swim, he likes it too, reason for him, small enough for the kicthen. The rest of the models are rather huge and we will have problem finding space to keep when not in use. You see, Superhubby is super clean freak. He doesn't like displaying too much items at home, which at the end would collect more dust for him to clean every end of the month. Hahaha.. but I love this model cos its very cute. Superhubby bought it for me as our 1st Wedding Anniversary is on this Sunday 22.11 (and advanced Xmas pressie too!) Eh.. at first I thought, very cheapo lei.. one gift for all occasions, but then again, I am happy just to have it cos I had been eyeing for one for a year. And its better than none. Contented already. Hehehe.. YAY!!!...

Brownies that doesn't taste like one

After my appt, as I was walking back to the RP mrt, I came across this stall that sells all brownies. I was taken aback by the attitude of the staff. I asked few questions about the texture of the brownies and she got agitated and she kept the brownies I asked to see before I decide which one to get and just ignored me. I wanted to just walk away, but I was very tempted to buy one and try them out of curiousity.

Tasted weird. The chocolate fudge topping was salty to taste. Didn't like it at all. The texture was rather dry and didn't taste of chocolate. Powdery and bland.

Conclusion: I will never buy again. Besides my own brownies, I still think Mrs.Fields brownies are of standard.

Friday 20.11

Finally had my passport done today. It was such a pain process. Waste of time. First, I have to arrive as early as 8am to get queue number as they only limit to 130 numbers per day. Went to the main door but was told by the staff that I need to get a security pass before entering the premise, so I had to walk to the guard house to exchange the pass with my driving license. Thanks to Mr.Gan that he gave me all the advice on what to bring, what to copy and he even got the form for me when he went to renew his passport 2 weeks ago with his darling wife.

So, after that, (trying to recap the whole procedure, damn!)...went back to the main gate and after some security screen, I went in to the Immigration Consular... took queue number to have my pictures taken, (for the Malaysians who need to renew your passport, please do not take your pictures anywhere else as they will not be accepted). After I had my pictures taken, from the photo machine like those you find at mrt station, the officer cut them into 4 pieces and returned to me in a white little envelope. Then I proceed to a counter to glue the pic, then make sure my form has been filled up completely, as incomplete form will not be entertained.

Take queue number again to proceed with the renewal. Waited till 10am before my number was called. Then, nightmare begins. You see, collection of my passport is after 230pm, what the hell was I supposed to do for the next 4.5 hrs? Mr.Gan told me yesterday to call him once I am done and he and Michelle will meet me for "makan-ing". But I felt bad as they have just started work. Not so nice to call them out. So I walked all the way out from Jervois Rd to Valley Point mall. Walked up and down, in and out of the mall. Shit lor.. so freaking bored. Had no choice but to call Michelle, and they came to pick me up and we went to Red Hill market place for my brunch. I was so damn hungry as I only had a glass of cold fresh milk before I left the house at 730am. I had chicken there, then I followed them for their errands. Then proceed back to Suntec to pick up "Small Jan" and "Hairy Teo" for lunch. We drove to Alexandra Road for lunch at shop that serves really good braised duck.

After lunch, Mr.Gan dropped me back at the Guard House to change for another pass for the collection of my passport. Started to rain again. This time, they called by the number by the pass we have. Mine was no.18, so I didn't wait that long to have mine collected. Left the Malaysian High Comm by 245pm. Shit...!!! Raining.. though I have always love rain but I still have an errand to run at Malacca Street and I was wearing a white pants. With my sandals splattering the water to my pants... yikes!!!

Anyway, this whole procedure, I hope this will be my last, as I intend to convert my citizenship by next year. Crossing my fingers.

Happy Birthday Jac!

Jac's birthday was yesterday, Friday 20.11 but as she will be away on the actual day (she has left for the Oz yesterday for a fishing trip), we celebrated with her in advance. So we had dinner at Fish Market and Bistro at Greenwoods Ave.

Here are the bunch of people I always have fun with. Clockwise: Stanley & Jennifer, the birthday girl, Jac & Me, Superhubby, Prof Kum and Clara. We always have lots of fun and laughter as we made fun of each other. No one gets offended at no matter how bad the teasing can be. Thats where the fun is.
Food was good. We ordered everything for sharing instead of a dish each, so we can enjoy varieties of seafood. As the name says it, Fish Market, they cook good seafood.

This seafood platter, speechless.. you have the best of everything in a plate. Yes, including lobster!!!

Aglio Oglio spagetti..

Seafood spagetti

This one is the best we had tried. Seafood fettucini in cream sauce. Damn good. No word can describe how good this is. We were sharing, otherwise I would have wallop this all by myself. Wuahaha...

Can anyone guess what this is? Its splashes of balsamic vinegar with extra virgin olive oil to be dipped with the bread instead of butter. I never knew they tasted so good together. Thats it...!!! No more butter for me. I am loving this new found treasure.

Haha.. dinner will never be complete without a dessert, when you have Prof Kum at dinner. He is a dessert person as he admitted he has sweet tooth. So we ordered this Hot Chocolate Cake aka Lava cake for sharing. 3 servings, 1 for each couple, except Superhubby. He is the opposite of Kum Kum, so Jac & me shared 1.