Very pretty scene by Kup, Kup Land.

bunny booties!

Well, they look more like dog-bunnies somehow, but I like the goofy grin =) What was originally supposed to be a quick project dragged on for so long! Not through any fault of the booties of course, but because I didn't want to get started on the finishing (not my favourite part at all =p) But finally I got off my lazy bum, or rather, on my lazy bum, and got it done. Just in time too, I believe the baby's coming soon. Hopefully they'll like it =) It was fun at any rate, with colour changes (but not too many, haha), shaping, and picot edges. Quick! Find me more babies to make booties for!

Essential Brew & The Green Room Cafe

The amazing chocolate bombe surprise at Holland V's Essential Brew. The poetic menu said that the dessert was an "ingenious" mix of hazelnut icecream, vanilla icecream, etc...and then it promised a cryptic "surprise" hidden in the dessert. This immediately reminded me of that story from Ancient China, where they hid secret military messages in the mooncakes. The Chinese are clever!

The amazing thing was that, after digging into the dessert, I realised that the only word to describe it was "ingenious". The menu was spot on! And what was the elusive surprise? OOooozing, overflowing chocolate lava. I was slightly disappointed (I was really hoping for some kind of mysterious Charlie's Angels message. "I have a mission for you. Meet me behind the angsana tree at Springside Ave. 12mn sharp.")



Healthy fruit yoghurt from the Green Room Cafe at Bishan Park. A nice place with an outdoorsy, back-to-nature ambience (think wood panels, indoor trees, hammocks, smack in the middle of a sweaty national park) and modern vegetarian fare that was actually relatively yummy. Apart from the yoghurt, we had other interesting vegetarian dishes like the Avocado Sandwich, Portabello Burger, Oat Waffles...

Digging in! Happy Birthday Bern! Hope you enjoyed the little Aramsa touch we put in...haha.

Elisa and Evelyn

I have been featured on Evelyn's e-store, Elisa-and-evelyn! Haha, for posing with earrings that I didn't buy (They're evelyn's). Evelyn kept insisting that I come up with a "happy customer" post...I suggested "These earrings are AMAZING. They have completely changed my life. I feel like a new woman!" She thought I was joking, but I really wasn't :( So in the end, I had to come up with a more normal comment, yet with a bit of maddy-wit in it...so, "They're perfect for my ears!"

I look fat next to Amy.

Also, I happen to think that it's funny that the earrings are called Lulu. Does anyone remember little lulu? The one who was always in and out of trouble, but mostly always in?

random crafts

Pacman plus monsters by Cerya.
Knitted Socks-with-Sandals Booties! Goodness, fashion disaster at such a tender age. But not to worry, Mahar Drygoods also has very cool knitted ice-skating boots.
I like this one =) Most obvious reason non-withstanding of course.And Chan you'll love this, Castle Building Blocks also from Mahar Drygoods. Super cool! Build your very own castle anyway you like!

Bacon Angels by Sappy Moose Tree

And many sweet, pretty things to end off, from Quiet Hours Toys

Baraka the film

Baraka - The Film


I believe the 2nd half of the video has the potential of turning people more vegetarian. :( Poor chicks. The part from 8:45 to 9.25 is just creepy, we'll just have to ignore that. Haha.






Really makes you want to just pack up your things, buy a plane ticket and run away.


Swirling Sufis!!

lonely hearts club

A pretty surprise heart-shaped cranberry scone that chan baked for me today! The very first thing ever that her new oven has produced =D Very crumbly, the way I like it =)

bake of the day

Woke up this morning and decided to make scones. These are really yummy, crumbly, buttery and melt-in-your-mouth. Super when warm from the oven! I'm very happy with it! Definitely worth the 5 stars it got on allrecipe.com. My first attempt at scones, turned out really well I think, haha. I love rubbing in butter into the flour, getting the breadcrumby dough, so pretty and cool, and the smell of the frozen butter. And I like the rough rocky look of these scones, it was too sticky, so I didn't bother shaping them nicely. I'm very happy with these scones! Everyone, go make some now and feel happy too!

I got 11 drop scones out of this recipe. And I substituted milk for sourcream cos I didn't have any about the house. Oh yeah, add the liquids slowly and in parts, I didn't use all my liquid, only about 2/3 of it because it was wet enough. And prepare the butter beforehand if you don't want to grate it (pretty tiring, though fun and pretty). It's alright if you just chop it into small pieces then freeze it again.
Raisin Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
8 tbsp unsalted butter, frozen (~120g, half a stick of butter in s'pore)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup sour cream
1 large egg

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Grate butter into flour mixture on the large holes of a box grater; use your fingers to work in butter (mixture should resemble coarse meal), then stir in raisins.
3. In a small bowl, whisk sour cream and egg until smooth.
4. Using a fork, stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until large dough clumps form. Use your hands to press the dough against the bowl into a ball. (The dough will be sticky in places, and there may not seem to be enough liquid at first, but as you press, the dough will come together.)
5. Place on a lightly floured surface and pat into a 7- to 8-inch circle about 3/4-inch thick. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp. of sugar. Use a sharp knife to cut into 8 triangles; place on a cookie sheet (preferably lined with parchment paper), about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature.

stripes are in

By MisCia. I love her dress and matching bag, the whole feel.By mck254.

Camembert bread that I made yesterday! The recipe originally called for Roquefort, but I decided that was a little too hardcore for my family, haha. This camembert is some liquid cheese that my uncle brought back from his office, some Japanese manufacturers gave it to him as a sample. While it was very conveniently softened already, it wasn't stinky enough for me, hahaha. Much too mild, must be the japanese thing.

But lovely lovely texture and density with this bread, I'm not sure if it's because of the creamy cheese or because I kneaded it more this time round. But it was really good! It's almost all gone. And it has a fantastic crust, crusty but not hard, because I left a pan of water in the oven with the baking bread. Okay, you can spot a lil burnt bottom, but it was just this loaf i promise, haha, the other two were fine. I got kinda engrossed in my book =p

I still prefer my cheese on top of my bread rather than mixed in, but this one tastes pretty good with olive oil. Don't know if I'll make it again though, unless it's more free cheese. Cos it seems like it'd be quite a waste of good quality cheese.
Today's baking session: Cinnamon Streusel Orange Muffins from allrecipes.com. But my streusel isn't the same colour as hers =( possibly because I forgot about the sugar till after rubbing in the butter and tried to mix it in, hahaha. But it still tastes great anyway =) The orange flavour isn't enough though, I can't really taste it at all actually. I always like my orange stuff very strong, cos it's one of my favourite flavours. Maybe add zest the next time round. But it's a so-so muffin, and it's not just the texture (i overmixed slightly). I'll give it one more go, see if the recipe's worth keeping. After all, it's very quick to make, the orange juicing being the most time consuming bit. And the streusel top makes it very satisfying because it looks pretty and tastes so good =)

dying of envy

So gorgeous! Her photos are crazy beautiful. Nordljus has many pretty photos, mostly of food and places. Her photos alone are so drool-worthy. But her desserts are out of this world!! Everything so pretty and perfect!
"Freshly baked" USB drives! How cute.
Such a pretty mural, I love the gray, ignoring the broken thing at the side. And such clever use of the wall corner! From Wee Wonderfuls. Chan, if you have a corner on your wall, you can consider doing something like this!

chiam tao loh ti

I happened to be baking today when Chan came over to collect Maddy's OC dvds, so she decided to stay and play too. Baguettes and mocha butter cookies! The mocha cookies were the same as the last time, melt-in-your-mouth crumbly texture. The Chocolate Cookie for adults, haha, not too sweet and a very deep sort of chocolatey. Baguettes were highly successful! (though slightly hard crusted for the first batch. but what the heck, it's good for a first try!) From this french book that my auntie borrowed, I forget the name now. Well, the recipe's pretty long (but simple. just much talking), so ask me for it if you're interested. Tastes good though, salt just right, crust pretty good. Long waiting time though, 3 rises, but quite worth it I think =) Super when slightly toasted and with butter!

too bloody darned hot

Haha, is it terrible that i think this is so funny. Especially their toupees. Made by MochimochilandPersonalized candy wrappers from Traylor Papers, so pretty! Many pretty things in this store, go take a look! Below: a golden carriage card, an a classic 'Lulu at the market' notes.Some of their items: a golden carriage card, and classic Lulu notes.

Cute joke I heard today: knock knock? who's there? control freak. cont- now you say 'control freak who?'
Hurhur.

Much randomness in today's post. Last bit! Mommy had been dropping little hints about, 'remember those nice bread rolls you made? maybe the next time you make them, I could take some to work for lunch, make little sandwiches out of them! Fancy that!' So, bread rolls it was, when I decided to do a little baking yesterday. They were well received like the last few times i made these. I think I'm gonna be baking a lot more bread than anything else. Seems to be the one thing that everyone seems to like, which, for about 10 people in the house, is no mean feat i tell you! Anyway, this recipe is pretty straightforward and easy. No need to worry if it looks a little lumpy at first, because you add the flour to the liquid rather than the other way round, but it works out . Oh and I skipped the egg yolk. Just don't like it.

Dried Cranberry Dinner Rolls

2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup milk, warm (105F-110F)
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
2-2 1/2 cups bread flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 egg yolk

In a large bowl, combine milk and yeast and let stand for about 5 minutes, stirring slightly to dissolve yeast.
Stir in honey, butter, salt and 2 cups of bread flour. Add remaining flour in a tablespoonful at a time, stirring until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (3-5 minutes). Place dough in a lightly greast bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let stand for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
Turn dough out onto a very lightly floured surface and flatten slightly. Knead in cranberries and let dough rest, covered, for 10 minutes.
Divide dough into eight equal portions and shape each into a ball. Place on parchment lined baking sheet, cover with a clean dish towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375F.
With a fork, beat the egg yolk with 2-3 tbsp water and brush the mixture over the rolls.
Bake for about 18-20 minutes, until rich golden brown.
Cool on a wire rack before enjoying.

Makes 8 rolls.

Honouring the TATA Box

I just came across this online store called Neuromart.com.

The bio-geek in me has emerged once again as memories of the TATA Box, Okazaki fragments, Anti-sense strands, DNA Polymerase and what not come flooding back. And who could forget the lovely Dorsal Root Ganglion :D and axon hillocks, voltage-gated calcium channels, Nodes of Ranvier, Nissl Granules, Kuppfer Cells...MALPIGHIAN CORPUSCLE!!

The word Purkenje Fibres just popped into my head. Also, collenchyma, parenchyma...Casparian Strip!!

...I'm actually getting high reciting all these useless bio terms. Grrrreat.

I need to get these earrings (or any other cheaper alternative) as a tribute to the time (in my *ancient* past) where Biology was completely intriguing and I actually considered becoming a neuroscientist. That was until the subject became exceedingly dry and repetitive, and I realised I was no longer thinking. Then it kinda lost its magic.

I swear I'm the only person who gets so emotional over bio terms. I used to be the same way with geog terms :p Was there something called a Bird's Foot Delta? Or something to that effect? Haha. I'm getting flashbacks of rocks bouncing across riverbeds, pebbles swirling in eddies, alternate layers of ash and lava settling and forming volcanoes, tectonic plates rubbing against each other at different speeds, Monsoon winds - Easterlies and Westerlies swirling around each other, 5 layers of the tropical rainforest, pathetic secondary forests trying to grow in deforested land...I could go on and on.

I think it's something about the whole "order out of chaos" aspect of nature that fascinates me. How the the land, the sea and the winds interact perfectly to create everchanging landforms. How our body functions like perfect clockwork, and every cell, every organ has its special role to play in the whole big scheme of things (apart from the useless Appendix) It's pretty jawdropping if you think about it...the different aspects working together harmoniously to create this world. Every grain of sand, or every red blood cell (was it called an erythrocyte? can't remember) has its role to play. Nothing is really out of place.

I crave orange cranberry something

Despite today's title, I made nutella frosted cupcakes this morning due to the lack of cranberries about the house. The original plan was to have them for breakfast, but I didn't wake up quite early enough. It's hard to really incorporate the nutella into the entire cupcake though, it's awfully sticky and thick, so we'll just call it frosted. Maybe next time I'll fill the tin halfway with batter, add a teaspoon of nutella, then cover with more batter and then add the topping and swirl. But that said, the combination of crispy baked nutella and creamy soft nutella is really good! And once you get the hang of it, you can get quite pretty swirls! This cake is good for those who don't like things too sweet (alas, not me). Also, it's a good one for picnics, no messy sticky frostings since the nutella's been baked in. Give it a go if you have time, an easy recipe that you can't go wrong with.

Oh, but you might want to cut down a little bit on the flour, I found the cake slightly dry. The batter itself was stiffer than usual too, had a mini moment of panic as I wondered if she meant one and 3/4 cups flour, or one 3/4 cup flour.

Nutella Frosted Cupcakes
10 tbsp(140 grams) butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups (200 grams) sifted all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
Nutella, approx. 1/3 cup

Preheat oven to 325F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.
Cream together butter and sugar until light, 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Don’t worry if the batter doesn’t look smooth. Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until batter is uniform and no flour remains.
Using an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin liner with batter. They should be 3/4 full, if you’re not using a scoop. Top each cake with 1 1/2 tsp Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the nutella.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 12.

Blackout

Oh man!!! The guitar bit after 2:28 is completely O_O Mindblowing. Can you imagine watching this live?!

I need to marry a rockstar. I'm serious.

Flubug :(

First Daddy, then Mommy, and now I'm down with the flu. So what do you do when your nose is clogged, your ears are blocked and your throat hurts from all the sneezing and coughing? You sleep, watch old episodes of Oprah, clean your room, and surf Youtube for music videos.



Matthew Bellamy morphs into Gwen Stefani!




I particularly liked this video. I think it's a combination of Bellamy's voice, his orgasmic facial expression and the synchronised dancing of uniformed men.




Janis Joplin's Maybe. I swear she looks like a man.




Check out the lyrics to Tool's Lateralus. They're in the Fibonacci Sequence! Fking Fibonacci man! I love that guy! And apparently, the drum beats are in the fibonacci sequence too, but my ears are not sensitive enough to pick the drumming pattern out. I'll have to listen to the song more closely...

black [1]

then [1]

white are [2]

all I see [3]

in my infancy [5]

red and yellow then came to be [8]

reaching out to me [5]

lets me see [3]

there is [2]

so [1]

much [1]

more and [2]

beckons me [3]

to look through to these [5]

infinite possibilities [8]

as below so above and beyond I imagine [13]

drawn outside the lines of reason [8]

push the envelope [5]

watch it bend [3]