or pehaps i never did have it..
All I Wanna Say is….
Baby I Miss You So Much!
X’mas Prelude
“Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle all the way”
Yeah! X’mas is here.. My favorite winter festival though there is no snow in Singapore.
I always had this lil wish that I can spend Christmas in a country with snow, a small house, a cosy fire place, my good old friends, food, wine and of course PRESENTS .. haha .. shall make it come true one day..
Without fail, we are having a potluck party this year at my place. No game ideas for gift exchange yet though Carole suggested using last year’s game .. shall think about it.. 🙂
Food List as below (TBC)
Appetizer:
Mixed Fruit & Prawn Salad — Jessie
Smoked Salmon & Asparagus Roll — (TBC)
Hot Items:
Spaghetti “Bolognaise” (Chicken) — Jessie
Roasted Chicken with Cranberry Sauce — Joyce
Honey/BBQ Ribs — Joyce
Whipped Potato — Stephenie
Chicken Shepherd Pie — Carole
Half Shell Oyster — (TBC)
Dessert:
Christmas Log Cake — Stephenie
Fruit Platter
Drinks:
Cocktails (if anyone knows how to mix.. “bartender” in dubai)
Red Wine
Cordial Drink
Shall update the list again..
cheers…
Photos from the Past
My parents were in Malaysia this week and they happened to find some of our old photos. The excited Dad immediately scanned and sent over to us.
Sis Jean commented that Grace looked just like me when I was four.. hubby.. what do you think?
Among the other photos were my siblings taking a group photo at ECP and some individual photos. One of them caught my eye because my beloved grandparents were in them.
Somehow looking at these photos made me want to go back to the past.. If only time machine stories are for real…
A day at the IMM Outdoor Playground
Dad and Mum had always wanted to bring lil Kyson to the IMM Playground and we finally did it today!
Never know IMM has such a wonderful playground for kids, both WET and DRY.
I applaud IMM for its innovative WET playground. I like the design of the playground. Safe yet creative and most importantly attractive to the kids and even adults like me.. 🙂 too bad I couldn’t join in the fun yet.
Took some quick snaps of my lil boy and the doting granddad…
Drenched but wanting more
Wondering what to do next...
The doting granddad who never fail to bring adventures to my son
Waxing Day for…
our car of course.. and yes.. our poor car desperately need a wax or polish! It has those white paint drops on the bonnet due to some HDB block paintings and I am just afraid it might eat into the car paint if I leave there for too long.
For the past few days, I had been sourcing up and down for a wax/polish service. Here’s what I’ve got.
1. AMK Autopoint – SONAX for $380.00 (1 time full polish and 3 times maintenance) : Tempting but considered EX for people who don’t usually maintain cars.
2. Bishan J8 HDB Carpark – Waxing & Grooming Package to be used within a year : Not possible at all. Who will wax car every twice a week? Definitely not me.
3. Toa Payoh Esso Lorong 1 – Wash, Wax, Interior Vaccum and Cleaning, Tyre Shine for just S$28.00!
Well well.. it’s obvious which option I choose.. of cos the cheap deal. Although it may not last as long but the result satisfies me completely. 🙂
Awfully Chocolately
It’s chocolate baking day today! 🙂
ok..I have to confess that i’m not a chocolate person, yet wanting to make a chocolate cake. So I have no idea how a chocolate cake should taste like. but coincidentally, my dear carole wanted to make one today. So i grabbed a few chocolate cake recipes from Happy Home Baking and off we went to phoon huat. Here’s the end result.
Frankly we thought it will turn out quite badly as there were some small hiccups and debates during the process. 😉 But it came out really yummy! High five to Carole! 🙂
Carole’s bf likes the taste.. well since he is a chocolate person, we should trust his comments. The tasting notes were.. “the texture is moist and melts in the mouth with crunchy bananas which made the overall tasting light and not too creamy. however the amount of almond powder is rather overwhelming and needs to be adjusted”. anyway, the empty plates tell all….
Really enjoyed today’s session with Carole. It’s always fun to bake with a friend, especially we can exchange cake ideas on the spot. Shall look forward for more sessions like today. And I’m so glad there’s a blog like Happy Home Baking. It certainly brings out the baking inspiration out of me. 🙂
Ingredients: (15cm Round)
75g dark chocolate, broken up
40g golden caster sugar (I used light brown sugar)
80g unsalted butter, diced
1 tablespoon runny honey
2 large eggs, separated
100g ground almonds (almond powder)
40ml milk (I used low fat fresh milk)
chocolate ganache:
75g dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
chocolate whipping cream for layering (Optional)
30g dark chocolate, chopped
75ml non-dairy whipping cream
2 bananas chopped in big chunks
Method:
- Line the base of a 15cm cake pan (with removable base) with parchment paper, grease the sides with butter and set aside.
- Separate egg yolks from whites when the eggs are still cold. Set aside to bring to room temperature.
- Place chocolate, sugar, butter, honey in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir frequently till the ingredients melted. Let cool.
- Transfer to a large bowl. With a manual whisk beat in egg yolks and ground almonds, then stir in the milk. (Just a few stir should get everything incorporated. The mixture will be rather thick at this stage.)
- In a clean, dry, grease free mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, whisk egg whites until stiff. With a spatula, Fold In the beaten egg whites in 3 separate additions, into the cake mixture. (Ensure all the whites are fully incorporate into the cake mixture after every addition.)
- Pour batter into prepared cake pan (the final batter will be less thick). Give the pan several sharp taps on a work top to bring up any air bubbles that may be trapped in the batter.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170 degC for 35-40mins, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Remove from oven, let cool in the pan for about 1omins. Run a thin-bladed knife along the sides of the pan, unmold and cool right-side up.
- Dust with cocoa powder before serving. Alternatively, if desired, spread with chocolate ganache. To make chocolate ganache: bring the heavy cream to a boil, remove from heat and add in chopped chocolate. Stir till chocolate is melted. Let cool for a few mins and spread over the cake.
Recipe source: http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.com/2008/05/chocolate-gateau.html
