Thursday 31 January 2008

HOUSE TURNED INTO FACTORY.

Past few days I've been baking and baking and baking with Mummy. I won't blog about my day out with Sherry Love till I get the pictures! Yep! Haha. Mummy and I baked on Wednesday and Thursday (today). Baked so much!

Yes, that's oil you're looking at.

CHECK OUT MUMMY'S HAND! Haha ok. I was just playing with my 400D's shutter speed. Heh.

Peanut cookies and suzie cookies. They are very similar in texture but very different in taste.

Both need some egg coatings!

What they tray looked like after I removed the cookies. Thought it looked interesting. =D


At the current situation, the number of bottles and tins of cookies in the store room is more than twice the number of bottles you see here. It's called. C-r-a-z-y.



signing off~DE XIN

Monday 28 January 2008

GONE IS ANOTHER WEEKEND!

Don't know if I made sense or if I was grammatically correct or I used the phrase correctly but nevermind! Guess what! I'm blogging about my weekend again! And I'm starting with Saturday again!

My Saturday started pretty early (for me). Was supposed to meet Audrey at Bedok's NTUC at 9.30am but both of us were late (haha!) so I think it was already about 9.45am. We spend like one whole hour, maybe more, at NTUC buying the stuff we need. I also went over to Sheng Siong to get some stuf I didn't manage to get at NTUC. I tell you ok. Next time I cook/bake I'm so not getting my stuff from NTUC again. NEVER! Or at least I'll try not to.

So when we got our things we waited for Mel behind the library (many thanks to Audrey for pushing the trolley everywhere) where I took my baby 400D out for the first time in public!Nice right! Haha Mel came to meet us and we walked over to her house. The things were sooo heavy!!!!! =(

We started cooking once we reached her house at around 11.30-11.45am. Maybe noon. Or maybe later. Lol I dunno! But ya.We made the beef stew first. When I added the salt and pepper, I didn't use any spoon so one whole LUMP of salt fell into the pot of stew. Die.

Another problem was we bought the wrong tomatoes and the wrong kidney beans for the chilli con carne and the whole thing was almost a disaster! Not to forget the beef stew didn't look like stew! It looked like beef SOUP. When Audrey and Mel left for church for words, I sat down in the kitchen thinking those two dishes were definitely gonna fail. Then I suddenly remembered about my baby 400D!Oooooh I loved the second shot! I've always wanted to take pictures of clothes hung out of HDB flats. Fourth shot was flowers Mel bought.

Then they came back and we continued.Audrey reading The BFG.

Look at the amount of oil we saved the people from! All from the beef stew!

The chilli con carne. Mel saved my day. She came up with so much suggestions my chilli con carne was saved. And so was the beef stew! Thank you, Mel!

Mel also took my camera for a round of fun.Haha. Nice!

My turn!Audrey helping me chop some stuff!

The living room before the people came. I so do not know where the reflection came from.

Never seen so many people at the stove before. Seriously.

"Kevin! What happened to you!" Quoted (roughly) by Kezia. I think. Heh.

I don't know who took this shot but I thought it looked cool haha!

*flash*flash*flash*

Disaster saved!

Foooood. Looked damn little so they ordered pizzas. In the end Mummy's agar agar and my nachos with chilli con carne weren't finished although the first plate of nachos were gone quite fast.

Anyways, some pictures!I LOVE THIS PICTURE! I believe Kezia took it haha.

Everyone chilling around before games started!

1. Diana explaining the game.
2. & 3. First round in process.
4. Everyone else looking.

My group lost for first round but don't know what happened to second round 'cos that was when I went to prepare the nachos.

One of Celeste's favourite picture haha.

When Diana's game ended, Joe played with us the killer-medic-victim game.I TELL YOU AR. Either I get killed by the killer within the first kills, or EVERYONE thinks I'm the killer and I'm dead. Happened like 3 or 4 times! THANKS AR! But it was fun. Seeing people guess the killer. Haha! Exciting!

Then Joe, Shi Rong and Jerome left.HAHA omgosh look at Shirong.

But we continued playing the same game for another few rounds before we got quite sick of it and started chilling around again.What's that pointing for!

Diana trying to force the guys to eat the remaining pizzas 'cos we were cleaning up already. We as in. The girls. Lol! Maeyan sent me home after the thing ended. I hope we didn't leave a mess in Mel's place. OH! Forgot to put the furnitures back into their original places! OMGOSH sorry Mel!!!!!

Anyways, some of them got me a rose. Maeyan, Diana and...and...Kevin is it? Hur.Pretty right! Hehe thanks thanks!!!



Sunday was church service in the morning as usual. Esther preached. Had lunch with Chong Wei, Audrey and Nelson. YONG TAU FU! The noodles was SUPERB. But I took too many items off the shelf I couldn't finish my yong tau fu and noodles =(. Wasted.

Chong Wei left after lunch and Audrey, Nelson and I moved to Coffee Club for coffee. Nelson had milkshake, Audrey had dessert, I had toffee coffee.1. Audrey's dessert. Pretty right!
2. & 3. My coffee. The hazelnut bits were daaaaamn shiok! Can tell the quality of the pictures not as good as my baby 400D. Haha. But I still love my ixus50's portability. It's damn good for a basic camera as well.

Anyways after coffee we all went home. Nelson walked me all the way back to my place again. I hope he was really saying the truth when he said he needed some moving around after the heavy meal lol.

When I reached home, my parents were about to leave home for Tampinese so I quickly washed up a bit and left with them. We went Tampinese to get some CNY stuff. Didn't go Tampinese Mall but rather the HDB areas with shops. After getting some melon seeds, we left that place. Daddy went for karaoke, Mummy and I for Bishan Junction 8!

The moment we stepped into Bishan Junction 8 the first thing that came into our minds were DRINKS. I wanted bubble tea, Mummy wanted coffee. I'm still a big fan of bubble tea (since primary 6!) surprisingly lol. I had honey red tea while Mummy had Ya Kun coffee and toast. Ya Kun's coffee is strong enough la haha and the good thing is it's not too sweet. But still. Uncle Lim's in KL is much better.

You know how some Singaporeans seem so proud of Singapore's food? Well, shame on them. Totally. Seriously.

While we were enjoying our air con and beverages, we saw Aunt Siew Luan and her hubby! I ran out to call them haha. There were no seats for them so we decided to meet in NTUC once Mummy's done. And so we did. Ended buying some green tea pretz sticks and a chinese recipe magazine (with english translation of course!).

Dinner at Grandma's place was as usual. Food damn good, company damn good, everything damn good. Oh and let me tell you something. NEVER drink, as in alcohol, when you're dead tired. I did at Grandma's and I knocked out within 15 minutes! Not drunk la but I just fell asleep like that on Grandma's couch. Daaamn scary. I DID think I was drunk. Good thing I wasn't.

After dinner at Grandma's place, my parnets and I decided to go over to chinatown again. To be honest, I wasn't too keen on going but aiya. Haven't went chinatown for years already so it's ok to go for the third time this year ^^. I managed to take more pictures and we also bought some stuff.

Here's a tip for people with parents who buy lotsa stuff. Carry a BIG camera with you and they won't ask you to help carry the things they buy. Or at least my parents didn't. Wahaha. OK LA I did ask if they needed help and I did want to help but they either said no or hold the things damn far from my reach. Thanks. Lol.

Went home at around 10pm. I was damn excited because the next day...I was gonna bake with Mummy!!!!!



Monday. So I was supposed to wake up at 7.30am but I asked Mummy to wake me up at 8.30am but somehow she only woke me up at 9.30am. Either I didn't hear her at 8.30am OR she just didn't wake me up till 9.30am. Haha.

My green tea pretz sticks! I ate one (out of four) packets for my breakfast before we started getting into BEEZ-NUZZ!

Get the things you need ready!

Measure the ingredients!

Mix the things together!

Press the cookie dough with the cookie press!

Add chopped glaced cherries onto the cookies!

Queue the trays of cookies up for baking!

Cool the cookies! (Damn important ok!)


STORE THEM! Yyyeeeaaahhh!!!!!!!!! We made two batches! Each batch was dunno how many times the original recipe but ya. Damn a lot. Not to forget we're making suzie cookies and peanut cookies on Wednesday! I CAN'T WAIT! Baking made me damn happy during the rest of the day!



Put some love in the food you make and they'll taste different. =)



--Critics--

Restaurant: Fu Lin Yong Tau Fu (I think)
Location: Near Siglap Centre, along East Coast Road, near the coffee shop I went a week ago.
Beverages: Limited. Soft drinks and home made drinks like lime juice and barley. Maybe coffee?
Appetizers:
Entree: Only yong tau fu and their choices were quite limited. Everything deep fried, not very healthy. Noodles were damn good, though!
Dessert: Was there?
Other:
Atmosphere:
Quite comfortable. Not air-conditioned but cleaner than coffeeshops.
Service: You don't get much service 'cos you don't really need it since you choose your yong tau fu pieces yourself.
Notes:
Overall Rating:
5.5/10. The deep fried stuff brought the rating down by half a point.


Restaurant: Coffee Club
Location: Siglap area, along East Coast Road, right beside Cafe Cartel. Many more throughout Singapore.
Beverages: WIDE VARIETY! The usual coffees (black, latte and so on), hot, iced and ice blended. Milkshakes and smoothies. Sodas. And so on! MUST try their apple and mojito mint soda. BAGUS!
Appetizers: I'm not too sure but I'm guessing they're the usuals like chicken wings and such.
Entree: Sandwiches, pastas, baked stuff. Wide variety! Mainly western.
Dessert: Quite a lot of stuff too! You know how their mud pie's like a super big thing? I heard it's just two different Wall's ice cream layered on top of each other, on top of a thin layer of cookie crust. Still mad about it?
Other:
Atmosphere:
Nice and comfortable! Sofa seats' tables are probably a bit too low but I'm ok with it. "It gets a bit too bright at night" (quoted by Audrey).
Service: Depends but the one I went to at Siglap has not bad service. Maybe...more smiles?
Notes:
Overall Rating:
8.5/10. I prefer this to TCC. Personal preferance.


Restaurant: Ya Kun Kaya Toast.
Location: Bishan Junction 8 basement. More throughout Singapore.
Beverages: Mainly coffee. That's their signature drink.
Appetizers: Kaya and butter toasts! I thought the toasts themselves were a bit thin. AND the butter needs to evenly spread. Not one whole lump in the middle OKAY! But the crispiness of the toast is just nice, no doubt.
Entree: I suppose their sets can be served as entree but I don't know the quality.
Dessert: Didn't check.
Service: Depends as well. I'm not too sure actually, have to ask Mummy. But they looked ok.
Notes:
Overall Rating:
6.5/10. Toasts need to be improved in the areas I mentioned. Worth the try.



signing off~DE XIN