Just mumbling....

It's been an age since I've written anything worth putting your hands Nigella-esque-ishly into.

And today, I feel like it.

So write I shall. For a bit. To say... a little of this and a little of that.

Buttercup's getting better. For those in the know, she's been sufferring from a very very bad case of sarcoptic mange. I'm trying everything, from medically sound injections and treatments to earth clinic certified borax baths and energized water and bracelets... and now, she's FINALLY growing some fur on her back, tuft by tuft, slowly but surely. Thank heavens!

For brekkie, had my ultimate favourite weekend brekkie of puri and potato dhall with coconut chutney with pasupal teh - sini vena besar :D. It was a weekend ritual for me and my beloved father, a ritual which I've resolutely* carried on since his passing more than a year ago. Resolutely, cause I really REALLY hate eating alone! I miss you so much Pappy!

But company's back. Sis is home. Finally! So no more dragging my mom out to weekend brekkies (Mummy is endearing in many MANY wonderful ways, but suffice to say :- she.is.NOT.a.morning.person!).

Oh! My past ran into me a couple of weeks back. And it was a pleasant run in. Bumped into someone I practically watched growing up, and found out certain somethings which left me tickled pink and flooded with a warm sense of glee... at what could have been, if not for HIS incredible shyness coupled with MY incredible blurness. (For who in their right mind would look at me then? Seriously, you guys should see the photos, and NO, none will be posted here).

But, the past shall remain in its rightful place, in the past, and shall serve to put a smile on this face when I choose to reminisce. We had a GREAT, GREAT time laughing about it :D

And...... No, I have NOT booked my car. Apparently, it's not a very wise thing to do so close to the end of the year. Something about losing a year in terms of registration and depreciation....... lost me at "Just wait till Jan 2011". So I will. Wait. Unless Mr Toyota comes up with some fantastic deal.... then I'll get Nugget sooner than later.

(I've chosen to call my car Nugget) <-- since we're being random today.

And one last thing.... ice blended dry ginger ale with a splash of dark rum is FABULOUS! I love my new blender....

And....(ok so maybe the cocktail thing wasn't the last thing...) Jesus kitchen is in the final stages of planning... YEAYY!!!! Am hoping to get it done by Dec 2010 :D

After that goes up, I guess everyone's welcome :D

Till then, see you guys on LLABBB! :D




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Chocolate Blueberry.....

Baked this morning.

Chocolate Blueberry Cake.

Which received a very uninspiring "Ok-lah".

Sigh.

And cause it's got chocolate in it, I can't even give any of it to Prince or Cup-Cup.

Cheesecake next time.

Wanna watch a movie???

8 years ago, we watched a movie.

Well not so much watch as cower behind our shawls and cardigans whacking each other repeatedly and crying :-

"I can't BELIEVE I let you talk me into watching this!!!!!"
"But YOU booked and bought the tickets! And you said it got good reviews!"
"I'm soooooo not watching any movie with you again... EVER!!!!!"
"You said YES! NOBODY forced you into this!!!!!"
"I'm never talking to you again.... EVER!!!!"

From this experience....

I've learnt to appreciate sleeping with the lights on. Did it for 3 years running after the movie.

I've learnt to avoid empty lifts. It took me awhile not to freak out when a lift opens at an unchosen floor, to an empty hallway.

I've learnt to not look too long at the roasted pork and bbq-ed meats at the local chicken rice stall.

I've learnt to respect horror movies at a level I never imagined they deserved.

So this was in 2002. The movie in question? "The Eye" by the Pang brothers.

8 years on.

She asks me again.

"Wanna watch a movie? "Child's Eye" from the same people who made "The Eye""

Of course memories of everything we went through 8 years ago, the many many months it took me to finally sleep with the lights off again came flooding back to me.

A split second later I answered :-

"Sure!"

Sigh. Humans. We never learn!





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Decisions, decisions......

It's been a long LOOOOOONG time coming this decision.

But I've pretty much decided that I WILL get a new car, I've decided on WHICH model of the car and the SPECs I'm gonna get it in.

The only thing I have left to decide is.....

BLACK or WHITE!??!??!!??!!!!

Arrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't help myself......

These are chocolate (with whole almonds dropped into the batter for good measure, almonds are white (kinda) hence, NO CALORIES! with a kahlua chocolate cream cheese frosting.

And there are 14 of these babies sitting in my fridge now.

This is so bad for my diet. This failed diet will be epic.... cause I'm already thinking of Hummingbird cupcakes next!



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Shhh..... a Confession.

I have a confession to make.

There was no one around, and all the shutters were drawn.

He was there, all alone and miserable.

Stuck perpetually to a cruel chain but 3 feet long, he lived over a drain with the space of a 2ft by 2ft built in garbage disposal area for shade and shelter.

He's left alone, chained up, with no water or food during public holidays and days where the shop closes.

His life, stuck to the 3ft chain, was to be a subject of amusement to the workers of that car repair joint.

I took pity on him.

So, that fateful public holiday, when all the shutters were drawn, I drove up to him, got out of my car. Seeing me approach, he sat up straight, looking at me with trusting eyes. I took one last glance around, reached for his chain and released him.

The dog isn't mine.

But nothing should live a life like that.


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Lime Yoghurt Cake

It's a long weekend.

I was bored.

I had limes, and low fat yoghurt. Then I remembered Rachel Allen baked this the other day on tv....

This was the result. Mum had some friends over, so I forced a few slices on them. Hope they like it :D




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Happiness is.... Part 2

Yes, it's another blog entry about baking.

But this time, with PICTURES!!!!!

I finally figured out what that little landscape thumbnail thinggy is for!

Baked a batch of Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes last Saturday. These were intended for my Mandarin class Lao Shi who's a dear dear friend whom we consider family. No, I'm not trying to be teacher's pet or anything, but these days, ANYTHING's an excuse to whip up a batch of cupcakes and the best part... to FROST them :D and these babies were frosted with Amaretto Cream Cheese frosting.

(...20 mins later, and I'm still trying to upload the picture.....)

So maybe there's something ELSE you need to click to upload pictures... Ok, keeping fingers crossed that the correct pictures have been uploaded cause all I see is a bunch of html gibberish.

:D

Happy Birthday No.2!

He doesn't read my blog I'm sure, but it's #2's birthday, so :-

HAPPY BIRTHDAY #2!!!

Love you loads eventhough you take it for granted that I was born to feed your dog when you're away and EVENTHOUGH you refuse to buy me a new car!!!!

Made him some lemon frosted lemon lavender cupcakes! Not the macho-est of flavours but I had lemons in the fridge and I LOVED this recipe so.... too bad!!!!!!!

Maybe if he'd gotten me a car I'd put a bit more thought into baking him some seriously butch cupcakes :D

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Love,

#4

Great Expectations........Part 1

Great expectations I once had,
And that I think has me sad;
For not once or twice but many a time
Great disappointment was my payment in kind.

Great disappointment was my payment in kind
A solution to this I've yet to find
To lower thresholds and turn an eye blind
Or keep true to myself in soul and mind?

To keep true to myself in soul and mind
Great strength I somehow need to find
To grapple with the shock I feel
Everytime someone breaks a deal

Everytime someone breaks a deal
In pain and doubt I toss and keel
For my great expectations that seemed to soar
Were really what I'd give to them and more.



Note : End of part 1. Sigh. I better lay off the classics after I finish Wuthering Heights.

Happiness is....

....Finding that PERFECT recipe for the lightest, loveliest, lemony-est, lavendery-est cupcakes EVER!!!!!!! (Thanks Phi for finding me lavender - oh, Happy Birthday!).

They came out smelling heavenly, and they taste so good, I wanted to name each and every cupcake and keep them all!

Almost didn't wanna put any frosting on them in case it overpowers the delicate flavours of the cake, but I'll think of something feather light to prettify them with.

Ahhhh.......... the joys of baking!

Jesus Kitchen...

He came today.

Late, but he came nonetheless.

Ladies and gentlement, Christ was in my home this morning.

Capenter that he is, he came, he measured, he tapped, he measured some more, and all this, while Buttercup sniffed him out and made eyes at him. LOL!

I'm expecting a quotation next week, with pretty 3-D pictures in whatever colour I may fancy. His colour pallette pretty much covers ANY colour I see driving around on the road. Yup, they use the same paint as them car paints.

So imagine a Betsy Blue with a Bookermobile maroon! (Ewwww........eating!).

But you get the picture.

Right now, I'm imagining the kitchen in a super glossy metalic red and a super glossy silver speckled black. Then I'll paint one of the kitchen walls a chilli red and shock the shock (of her now non-existing pleasantly white kitchen) out of my Mummy. Muahahahhahahahahaha!

But, I also asked him to show me the kitchen in the traditional wood grain variants, just to keep Mummy dearest happy (I'm NOT as evil as I look).

Also in a fit of wishful thinking and idealistic dreams, I've asked Christ to draw me up a bar and a tv panel, with in-built soft lighting and some wood grain dividers to separate the split level space.... And when I get the bill for this, I'll go to my RED RED kitchen and shock the shock (of my now non-existing bank account) out of my system.

And now, let us pray.......

The First Time...

They say there's a first time for everything.

It all started with me purchasing my first copy of Motor Trader earlier this week, which got that heaving chest of his bursting with pride. That Nut can be quite persuasive.

And then, before I could sink my teeth into that magazine, he calls, sounding very excited.

Honda Civic. 2.0. Mint Condition. Cheap.

And it was from a friend. His father's car. Sounded good. Reluctantly I agreed to see the car over the weekend.

But then he calls again. This time frantic. 6 people with ready and willing offers are lined up this weekend. To get my grubby hands on this sexy piece of steel, I've gotta be quick. Are you doing anything tomorrow evening?

So trepidatiously, I went for my first car-see and met up with said friend and father of said friend. As a source of superior technical car knowledge and cashmere comfort, the Nut came too (thank you!).

We chit and we chatted. If I was nervous at all before, I wasn't anymore. Father and son couldn't have been lovelier. We laughed through light hearted car banter and I tried, I really, REALLY tried not to sound dumb about car thinggies.

We test drove, and everything went well. Car was lovely.

And then it was time to talk numbers. As a first time buyer, I guess anything they ask for is automatically, too high.

But they were SUCH NICE PEOPLE I didn't want to insult them by making an offer too low. (Almost made an unreasonable offer just so I could be friends with said father and son) but the Nut checked me on that (apparently, that's NOT how you buy 2nd hand cars).

So with a pained expression on my face (it was a look of half constipation and half toothache), I, as politely as I could deferred, and then earlier today, declined.

The car was beautiful. All civics are.

It drove beautifully. In pale blue too. So pretty!

But I guess I chickened out of this one.

So I didn't get the car. But there you have it. My first time! And thank goodness the sellers were lovely people, and as always, thank goodness that comforting and supporting heaving chest was there. Thanks again Nut :D

Open season has just been declared. Let the hunt begin!

Hokey Pokey...

Nigella looked really Goddess like making it.

It looked SO SIMPLE.

Just 4 simple ingredients.

But..... sigh.

Maybe I wasn't watching the fire closely enough.

Maybe I didn't measure the sugar properly.

Or maybe I should have replaced that busted light over the stove. Checking boiling sugar for that perfect caramel colour using the light from my handphone MIGHT have caused it.

It.

"It" being the bitter, black horrible smoky burnt oil-slick like sticky mass that was left in the pot! My favourite pot no less! Thank goodness I didn't ruin said favourite pot!

Sigh.

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It's a SIGN!

Subtle, I know. Cause not many people would take a leaky engine oil tank as a sign to replace their car, but I see it as such.

A sign that maybe, just MAAAAAAAAYBE, I should START thinking of getting a new car.

Nevermind that my friends have been YELLING it into my ear, and the Nut reminds me pretty much on a daily basis, and heck, EVERYONE I know's been asking me to get a new car. From the gentle hints to the club-me-over-the-head approach, "new car" has been mentioned muchly lately.

So I guess it's time to break the bank.

No more stalling.

Bookermobile's gotta go.

Sigh.





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Yet another wet, wet Wednesday...

It's yet another wet Wednesday.

And I'm in the office. Typing away, looking very much like the busy and occupied worker.

But in reality, I'm thinking of what I'd rather be doing right this instant, as I look out at the grey landscape outside my window, splockled with raindrops...

1. Sleep.

Curtains drawn, curled up in bed, reading light on, while I finish the last few delicious chapters of my all-time favourite book "The Egg & I";

2. Eat.

If calories didn't matter, I'd be having scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam, creme brulee washed down with some cheese, crackers and white wine.

3. Bake.

Days like these my head's filled with recipes! The latest one that's been zinging in there's a big bad dark chocolate cake with bananas and hokey pokey honeycomb drowned in caramel sauce....

4. Draw.

It's been a while. But a friend showed me his debut collection of pastels and I must say, I am inspired.

5. Yoga.

There's just something about the soothing music they play and it's just you and your body. No machines, no gadgets. Over the rain, the traffic's silenced and everything's very zen..... (okay, it helps that the instructor's so cute it's almost illegal!).

But it's a couple of hours yet till my time becomes my own. For now, I'll just sit back, sip on green tea and dream a little.....

Ahhh....

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Holiday dresses

After the month that was May, I need a holiday.

Nut, if you're reading this..... I NEED A HOLIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok then, back to normal stuff.

Just spent a bomb (think Hiroshima) on clothes. From France. Which got shipped to UK, and will be coming home to me next week! Yeayyy!

Dresses that are made for women with boobs! Holiday-y summer-y ones! Yeayyy! And I got pants too! Which are long enough!!! And... IN MY SIZE!!!!!! *twirly dance of joy*.

Seriously, I love Malaysia and everything, but this country makes and sells women's clothes for tiny petite little things. Anything "free size" would most definitely, 100% guaranteed not fit, and those "proudly Malaysian" labels... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... I don't even bother.

To be honest, the only thing that kinda fits are stuff made for (sadly) plus sized <-- no problems with that cause some of these pieces are rather pretty, but I'm curvy (aka fat - I'm not delusional... let's call a spade a spade) all around, and not just at my tummy or butt, and these plus sized clothes hang at the wrong places on me.

And for those of you who are gym buffs, (who are thinking I really shouldn't be whining but sweating my butt off on them machines) honey, I'm on the wrong side of 30, and ALL dreams of losing weight and looking like Angelina Jolie has flown out the window, died a thousand deaths and been buried.

I've come to accept that I look the way I do.

I will never be skinny, svelte or waif-like, no matter HOW many laps I swim, or how much I try getting into that (*&%#$&#^$) yoga position.

I am curvy. I am wobbly.

And I'll NEVER be able to wear skinny jeans.

But you know what? I actually LIKE me this way!!!!!

Quite a lot :D

Giant feet and all (but that's another blog, for another boring Wednesday).

Ok... Nut, the holiday, and yes, it is for the sole purpose of me having reason to wear them pretty dresses!

What better reason to go for a holiday rite?

:D:D:D

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I'm back!

Went to visit my sister in London for a couple of weeks.

It was a pretty last minute decision, based on MAS suddenly lowering their airfares for the Easter season. So barely 10 days before the flight, I booked my tickets, and with narry a plan, I was off!

Arriving in London smack at the start of their Easter break with NOTHING planned was FUN but stupid. FUN cause it meant that my sister and London based friends had time to spare and took me around and fed me. STUPID cause everything was fully booked!

So hung around London a lot this trip, which I am not complaining about. I love the museums and galleries there..... It still astounds me that the original works by michaelangelo, raphael and leonardo (no, not the ninja turtles) are there, on display at their museums, and I get to oggle at these masterpieces for as long as i want... for FREE!

Made several really really enjoyable day trips to Brighton, Windsor, Kent and an unbelievable day trip to Paris too.

Oh, and a long and lazy weekend in Scotland! That was lovely :D


Extended my stay a bit cause I HAD to. Icelandic volcanic ash over the airways closed all UK airports for 6 days, and my flight home was at the very days of airport closure. Flight got cancelled twice. But that simply means more musuems, more days in the park, and more musicals :D

So, museums, musicals, pub food, puddings and many kgs added on later, I am home.

And as much as I loved my trip to London, I must say, it's good to be home :D




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Oh Nigella!

So I had some leftover egg yolks from the cranberry-orange and almond cake I made recently.

And mucking about the fridge, I found a zested orange sitting forlornly in one sad corner. Also found a couple of lemons I'd forgotten about lurking in the crisper of said fridge.

So what do I do?

LEMON-ORANGE CURD!!!!

Yummy!

Did my bestest Nigella Lawson impersonation this morning, complete with British accent (in my head) and her signature - finger dipping in the luscious, lemony curd and licking my fingers, smacking my lips after, while making eyes at..... my kitchen wall.

Oh well..... waste not, want not! :D



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Me bake?

I've always enjoyed baking.

Whether others enjoyed my baking.... now, that's another story.

I remember when I was younger, whenever I wanted to bake, my Mom would say "Please don't, don't waste flour". Sigh.

And when I DID bake, it always turned out as unrisen, hard doughey things. Which would sit on the kitchen table till it smelled funny, and ultimately end up in the bin. (even the dogs wouldn't have a go at them).

But lately, I've picked up baking again.

And this time, I bought MY OWN FLOUR!

And boy have I been baking!

I've done several! Red velvet, pink velvet, velvet baileys, key lime coconut, banana butterscotch walnut, pandan chiffon, passion fruit meringue, lemon meringue, pavlova (which didn't turn out so well) and strawberry shortcake!

I enjoy scouring the internet for recipes and tweaking them to suit whatever's in my baking stash. No heavy cream? No problems, I've got baileys.... what? They're both creamy-ish....

No lemon essence? No issues, absolut citron/bacardi limon should do the trick ;)

No orange flower water (whatever that is!!!) ? Hello cointreau! :D

Stick with things you know I say. And thank the heavens, them cakes have turned out.... passable.

So far no one's hurled either the cake, obscenities, rotten eggs, tomatoes or fruit, or simply hurled at me whenever I give them cake, so I take it as a good, and promising sign.

Well, it's no where close to them professional bakery cakes, but I'm having a great time baking! For one MUST sample the ingredients that go in (which reminds me, I'm running low on Bailey's and rum (for all them rum soaked raisins.... ahh....yummmm) and one must also sample the finished product (damn my jeans are super tight now... I wonder why....).

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He's four....

He’s four. And he was having a tummy ache.

Complaining to his mummy, he asked why his tummy ached so.

His mummy replied that it happens because it’s his body’s way of communicating.

His tummy makes a phone call to his brain, and his brain will tell him to ask mummy for some medicine.

Placated, the little one took his medicine and settled down.

An hour later, when he felt better, he looked at his mummy square in the face and asked “So what’s my brain’s phone number?”

He’s four. Stunners like that can only come from someone who’s four.

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Close call....

Thank goodness for Phi.

I was driving. Phi sat in the front passager seat, CP behind us.

We came to a junction. To my right, waiting to cross the road, a mother in BRIGHT RED was with her two little girls, holding on to their hands in each of her own.

The mother saw me, and stopped.

I stopped, acknowledged her, and looked to the the left to check for oncoming traffic.

The road was clear.

I started to move.

"JOYCE! JOYCE! JOYCE! Stop!!!!!!!"

I saw nothing. Only Phi's cries asking me to stop registered. Unquestioningly I stopped. And thank goodness I did.

One of the little girls had let go of her mother's hand, and had started to cross the road, barely inches from my bonnet. She was so tiny, I did NOT see her.

If Phi had not called out, I would have run her over for sure.

And that thought still shakes me up.

Thank goodness for Phi.





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