tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-170089972024-03-08T05:56:23.487+08:00Tales of a Malaysian GuiriUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger248125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-76705029183915608672011-06-23T14:52:00.003+08:002011-07-05T15:56:10.258+08:00Animals Cake Pop ClassAfter contemplating on this idea for months, I finally made it work. Thanks to support from many of my dear friends who encouraged me to do this, and thanks to SC who helped me bridge the link. <br />
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Sometime in 2009 I found out about <a href="http://www.bakerella.com/">Bakerella</a>, and experimented on my first batch of cake pops with Aunty Lyne. I didn't have the right tools, or ingredients, but with good spirits, lots of laughter and giggles, we made our Halloween cake pops.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbY6rfdFdudypAOqLj-B4bUpEVmlVN-eTEHorkGAPlLA0-wKDsu-8PEr93TyvpcmVEfMUEs2T6gE20gfwBATyzCNYXDZMmSnVVfjnLlYxPyEhsVRIATLFw4HJIyVNioRjZ8oDg/s1600/allcakepops.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbY6rfdFdudypAOqLj-B4bUpEVmlVN-eTEHorkGAPlLA0-wKDsu-8PEr93TyvpcmVEfMUEs2T6gE20gfwBATyzCNYXDZMmSnVVfjnLlYxPyEhsVRIATLFw4HJIyVNioRjZ8oDg/s320/allcakepops.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I didn't stop there. These yummy bites are addictive! Those who have embarked on a cake pop journey would agree with me :) I tried and tested various ingredients, even got my sisters to bring those lollipop sticks from Australia, had uncountable rejects, but I persisted. And then I started making my first large batch for my nephew's 1st birthday, Reindeers & <a href="http://sitheng.blogspot.com/2009/12/im-dreaming-of-white-christmas.html">snowman </a>for Christmas, <a href="http://sitheng.blogspot.com/2010/02/happy-chinese-new-year.html">Tigers </a>for Chinese New Year, <a href="http://sitheng.blogspot.com/2010/09/totoro-cake-pops.html">Totoro</a> version for Desmond's wedding, Agent Oso for my nephew's 2nd birthday, <a href="http://sitheng.blogspot.com/2010/12/spongebob-cake-pops.html">Spongebob</a> for a girl's party, and a basic one for Irene's wedding, and many more. I won't call myself an expert yet, but I've come a long way. <br />
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Friends have urged that I start a business selling cake pops, but I explained that it's not a profitable business because its too labour intensive, and people are not going to pay the price of a cupcake for something that can be eaten in just one bite. And so I thought, why not share the knowledge instead? That's when the idea of having a cake pop class was born. I spoke to the baking supplies shop nearest to my home and asked if they would be interested, and coincidentally they were doing some renovations at the moment, so they don't have any space to conduct a class. SC then told me she knows someone over at Cake Connection and would pass my contact to them. The rest is history.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEuhMQKOMJZ71Nh0NbNb8NieJZeogCksPBuxZEe-QDMMYXl9pznACZbrpBNG6JEsh5WkuhkDclTZ-eMoQo4gBtNkNzu9CdUVbYAmNj8T2mHtOpc8aREqjpwSEsfG-REP-9msaX/s1600/CPClassblog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEuhMQKOMJZ71Nh0NbNb8NieJZeogCksPBuxZEe-QDMMYXl9pznACZbrpBNG6JEsh5WkuhkDclTZ-eMoQo4gBtNkNzu9CdUVbYAmNj8T2mHtOpc8aREqjpwSEsfG-REP-9msaX/s400/CPClassblog.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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I'll be teaching my first class over @ Cake Connection, Jaya One on July 23rd, 2011. The focus will be on animal cake pops. So if you're interested to learn something new, feel free to check out <a href="http://www.cakeconnection.com.my/classdetails/AnimalCakePopsJuly2011.pdf">more info</a> over at <a href="http://www.cakeconnection.com.my/">Cake Connection's website</a>.<br />
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<strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Update July 2nd, 2011 - Class is full!</span></strong>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-51417486113413384822010-12-05T22:22:00.000+08:002010-12-05T22:22:45.938+08:00SpongeBob Cake PopsSometime in September I made <a href="http://sitheng.blogspot.com/2010/09/totoro-cake-pops.html">Totoro cake pops</a> for my friend Desmond's wedding, and one of his friend s liked it very much :) So she asked Desmond for my contact and wanted to know if I could make a batch of SpongeBob version for a birthday party in November. Unfortunately I had to turn her down because I was really busy that month, and I didn't want to turn something fun into a chore. Ann came back to me later with a new date for her daughter's party in December, and this time round I had to excuse to reject her again. Plus I had never made a SpongeBob cake pops before and it would be fun to give it a try!<br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Coincidentally SS is back for her holidays, so I have a little kitchen helper. She helped me draw these eyes on the white chocolate, allowing me to concentrate on other tasks. She was also responsible for drawing the collars, helping me speed up the candy-hardening process (<span style="font-size: x-small;">you'll have to see it for yourself to understand this part, hee hee</span>) and also helping me wrap the cake pops after QC check :D My sweet sister also helped with the washing up! Isn't she a darling? </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFZuzwt0j9YRdKfUPbksBfp_Agj_1tqgSDcXo2PikIQ6_YpIKHS9dPxgY5ixqDrNZe-f4aHmdSkbv0KRPKREiuKeyLuXK0gQgOPHTUeSyN2whhG8H-KSqqsy-Q8Aifbq91QzqX/s1600/spongebobeyes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFZuzwt0j9YRdKfUPbksBfp_Agj_1tqgSDcXo2PikIQ6_YpIKHS9dPxgY5ixqDrNZe-f4aHmdSkbv0KRPKREiuKeyLuXK0gQgOPHTUeSyN2whhG8H-KSqqsy-Q8Aifbq91QzqX/s320/spongebobeyes.jpg" width="258" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Spongebob's eyes on a baking sheet...are you hypnotised yet?</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>As SpongeBob was rectagularish, I tried a new technique at shaping them hopefully to cut down my production time. Instead of shaping them individually, I had the cake crumbs pressed onto a cake pan after mixing it with the frosting. And then dividing them equally on the cake pan after leaving it in the fridge overnight. It worked! By doing this too I was able to cut them into equal sizes (<span style="font-size: x-small;">well, almost...somehow I can't cut a straight line...LOL</span>) before coating them with candy.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy4MZ_R9C0fNpjgY1qF_Aa5x57VU2PmcHV-Qi_vpNfg-97Q_oZ-MoFNiFMSD4cfNI8SuTy7rVvk02tfNmq-IcdZNlohyphenhyphenttBIi-w3cXq7a1UiiuXx-ooMHGW20TorWH2ktzt3vy/s1600/cakesquares.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy4MZ_R9C0fNpjgY1qF_Aa5x57VU2PmcHV-Qi_vpNfg-97Q_oZ-MoFNiFMSD4cfNI8SuTy7rVvk02tfNmq-IcdZNlohyphenhyphenttBIi-w3cXq7a1UiiuXx-ooMHGW20TorWH2ktzt3vy/s320/cakesquares.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Chocolate cake, first crumbled, then mix with frosting, and compressed flat onto a baking pan</span></div><br />
Oh yeah, I also added tic tac as the nose before coating, though I think it would have looked better with pretzels as the nose. Maybe next time, if I ever get to make them again! :)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmrIEOT7rVYtmqMDUaar-SHyoGSwrT-Ck3dKwjkuPhyphenhyphendO-yTNO-uLLbPUAlBFuTpUXA1ap-SsIyGjpmuKfLaXzcOY2sv7qwhvMVnb-BcC8xKvqYmJCVGcgrBlc-5KhACjpwW3n/s1600/spongebobs2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmrIEOT7rVYtmqMDUaar-SHyoGSwrT-Ck3dKwjkuPhyphenhyphendO-yTNO-uLLbPUAlBFuTpUXA1ap-SsIyGjpmuKfLaXzcOY2sv7qwhvMVnb-BcC8xKvqYmJCVGcgrBlc-5KhACjpwW3n/s320/spongebobs2.jpg" width="245" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">SpongeBob on the back: "Peekaboo!"</span></strong></div><br />
Both of us had so much fun making all the different expressions on the SpongeBob. Just looking at them makes us happy. Also we couldn't help stare at those already in the fridge that we forgot to mind the fridge handle that was above us; my sister bang her head against those handles once (<strong>ouch</strong>!) and yet I never learnt from her mistake and a while later bumped my head on those very same handles too (<strong>double ouch</strong>!) ...LOL!<br />
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I believe it's time for me to make some Christmas cake pops soon...hehe.... I really liked those reindeer ones that I made last year :)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ6h4-WbqVKnW_uqEjpMCvYheOHxGLJnGIx7Jey0NQbcLmRaCkPePs6lmFgLbiKGkvmmbrksjkJAFqMmyZWPEs_8IOzx742-knt6Byjg6fnT3r2lrNDINvoimTNMtcRmtMtR12/s1600/Rudolph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ6h4-WbqVKnW_uqEjpMCvYheOHxGLJnGIx7Jey0NQbcLmRaCkPePs6lmFgLbiKGkvmmbrksjkJAFqMmyZWPEs_8IOzx742-knt6Byjg6fnT3r2lrNDINvoimTNMtcRmtMtR12/s320/Rudolph.jpg" width="274" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong>What do you think?</strong></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-63849521235540385172010-09-19T22:46:00.004+08:002010-10-28T13:11:47.129+08:00Totoro Cake PopsAfter making so many cake pops just because, a friend commissioned me to make some as wedding favors for his guests. In the beginning I was a bit reluctant to accept because I had another event to attend to on the day of his wedding, and I was simply worried I couldn't complete this in time. He was looking to have either <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Neighbor_Totoro">Totoro</a> cupcakes or cake, and it was my big mouth that recommended him the cake pops, LOL. So how could I refuse? He was sweet about it though, he told me I could make more of the easy ones if I was short of time. <br />
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And so after he asked, which was only 2 weeks before his wedding, I decided to could start making some samples to see if I could really accept his order, and I got these few versions done.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicKjeokYW9h7KTNIpXIsX2yuSG6PM6oscOFnzOYrodnGxeJ79p5uHlNvNBMKzsja7TZXM-Px2LMSuBXbiQGxKVlF9B8WLS18CHXTgmmuxBKBeGr71dCV6hCQb190BImvVUNtAJ/s1600/TotoroGenerations.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicKjeokYW9h7KTNIpXIsX2yuSG6PM6oscOFnzOYrodnGxeJ79p5uHlNvNBMKzsja7TZXM-Px2LMSuBXbiQGxKVlF9B8WLS18CHXTgmmuxBKBeGr71dCV6hCQb190BImvVUNtAJ/s400/TotoroGenerations.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">When I was finally comfortable with the design and I confirmed that I have access to all the ingredients required to make the pops, I agreed. Initially I thought I had to make only about 100-120 pieces, but little did I realise that he had about 150+ guests, and I ended up making 160 cake pops (my largest batch ever!) so that all his guests would have at least one.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">And so in a span of a week, I baked 3 cakes, shaped them enough to make 180+ cake pops, and I had about 20+ rejects (due to cracks, out of shaped), and divided them into 4 different designs. My friend managed to provide me with some sytrofoam boards which I decorated to become the display stand :) They were only displayed a dozen at the time, and the rest was kept in a cooler box to keep it nice and cold. Malaysian weather is simply too hot for the chocolate coating :(</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyKQsAMBj22BoBNqLL8NDnIZdJrZ7KcXPmRTQJMLxApZGRpx4wSzWxPfAdsu5dTKyAw2a6ArrfeaqeWO-S5mj3EkHI35afAaWiqB2XR4bvZAAycM5fd1J5CGfNvDMNZ-2TMchM/s1600/TotoroCakePops.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="302" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyKQsAMBj22BoBNqLL8NDnIZdJrZ7KcXPmRTQJMLxApZGRpx4wSzWxPfAdsu5dTKyAw2a6ArrfeaqeWO-S5mj3EkHI35afAaWiqB2XR4bvZAAycM5fd1J5CGfNvDMNZ-2TMchM/s400/TotoroCakePops.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Voilà! My Totoro Cake Pops!</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Each cake pop was also completed with a tag designed by the groom. Later I found out that this whole thing was meant as a surprise for his wife! I hope she liked the surprise! ;)</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I had SOOOO much fun making them although it was tiring. Thanks to Lyne too for helping out in my first half of the cake pop making. But after this, I think I have to take a break from making cake pops for a while, LOL! </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong>*UPDATED OCT 28, 2010 - Some of you have asked how I made these Totoro cake pops. I won't be making a new batch anytime soon, so I can't explain with photos, but here are some guidelines on making your totoro :)</strong></span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><ol><li><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong>Shape the cake balls as normal, just making one end slightly pointy like oval. Sort of like roundish oval, more round than oval...hope I make sense here, LOL</strong></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong>I use almond slivers as the ears. Dip them into melted candy first and position it on the top of the cake ball </strong></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong>Dip lollipop stick into candy and insert into cake ball. </strong></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong>Dip whole cake pop into grey candy coating. Before the candy is set and hardened, add on 2 white confetti for the eyes.</strong></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong>Use a shallow dish to for the white candy coating. Just dip the front portion into the white candy coating and tap lightly with the "tummy" facing up to get even surface. </strong></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong>Put some melted milk chocolate in a piece of parchment paper that is rolled into a cone (just like what you do for your icing), cut the tip, and use it to dot the nose on the totoro.</strong></span></li>
<li><strong><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;">Use a food marker to dot the eyes, draw inverted "V"s on the tummy and the whiskers :))</span></strong></li>
</ol></div><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><strong>Hope this will help those who are interested in making your own totoro cakepops!</strong></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-72713097114709197912010-07-11T17:53:00.001+08:002010-07-11T17:54:06.190+08:00Brownies + Cookies = Brookies?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiShzCrhZKJ5P31Qz9VHTUk5PsZoZVQ71aGr_TKCSrjFpWAay__oUjInO8Z2J7Wkb-Q9GB9TJS1E_nLVpI1vzvYNASel6sRY0o2YCd6qE7cEIK8PpfAuO1KEZnTjcrewMPR_LbI/s1600/brookies+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" rw="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiShzCrhZKJ5P31Qz9VHTUk5PsZoZVQ71aGr_TKCSrjFpWAay__oUjInO8Z2J7Wkb-Q9GB9TJS1E_nLVpI1vzvYNASel6sRY0o2YCd6qE7cEIK8PpfAuO1KEZnTjcrewMPR_LbI/s320/brookies+copy.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">My youngest sis brought me some Max Brenner Dark Chocolate Chunks from Australia. I couldn't think of anything else I could do with it other than chocolate chip cookies, until I remembered about this article from <a href="http://www.bakerella.com/i-hope-you-have-chocolate-chips-handy/">Bakerella</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">And so I invited my sis over for a baking session. Told her she didn't need to worry about a thing about getting the ingredients. I should have everything we need in the house. Just when we were about to get started I realised I didn't have any eggs! Bummer. And so I rushed out to get some eggs from a nearby grocery store. And when I got home to continue I realised I didn't have enough brown sugar :S I simply didn't want to go out again and so I substituted the shortage with plain white sugar.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Since I had a nice helper, mixing all the ingredients was really quick and in no time at all it was ready to go into the pre-heated oven. The whole house smelled like heaven while it was baking...*drools*</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO9LsXXT2gmBu2fTyQuJAn8T-fIEC6ZmmU8cR8SI9fggC9s46iVYMIy_1sw4MT5hP4TPzRTpeIVnVvfA2al3GT191l4aKpojOq3yVW3M8HPgNYVpIvN4_Iuvz8Eas7MyRLtRW2/s1600/brookies-all.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" rw="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO9LsXXT2gmBu2fTyQuJAn8T-fIEC6ZmmU8cR8SI9fggC9s46iVYMIy_1sw4MT5hP4TPzRTpeIVnVvfA2al3GT191l4aKpojOq3yVW3M8HPgNYVpIvN4_Iuvz8Eas7MyRLtRW2/s320/brookies-all.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Anyway, according to Bakerella these are called Congo Bars. I don't mind what they are called actually. I love the crisp top layer and the chewy base. And having it packed with chocolate, nuts, and M&Ms are simply heavenly. I'm also looking forward to making another batch soon :)</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Here's the recipe if you'd like to try :)</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><strong><u>Congo Bars</u></strong><br />
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2 3/4 cup all purpose flour<br />
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder<br />
1/2 teaspoon salt<br />
2/3 cup butter, softened (or approx 150gms)<br />
1 lb. light brown sugar (I had 2/3 of brown sugar and the rest white)<br />
3 eggs<br />
1 teaspoon vanilla<br />
11.5 ounce package milk chocolate chips (I used 7 ounce of MB choc chunks, and filled the rest with orange flavoured M&Ms) <br />
1 cup chopped pecans (I used hazelnuts)<br />
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<strong>By hand</strong>: (apparently it has a better texture if mixed by hand)<br />
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Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside.<br />
Stir brown sugar into softened (not melted) butter in another large bowl until butter disappears. You can use the back of your spoon to help incorporate the two together.<br />
Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture and stir well after each egg.<br />
Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts. Mix well.<br />
Add dry flour mixture and stir until well combined.<br />
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Coat a 13 X 9 pan with non-stick spray and spread batter evenly into dish.<br />
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Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Make sure you don’t over bake.<br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: large;">Thanks Bakerella!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-34103984893057157192010-05-25T00:56:00.005+08:002010-05-25T22:13:15.452+08:00Raspberry Hearts<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I love raspberies, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, all sorts of berries. Except for strawberries which can be locally cultivated at Cameron Highlands, obtaining the rest can be quite difficult as it is not only imported, but also seasonal. And then when you can find them, they are usually quite expensive :(</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Just last week I saw some strawberries and raspberries at the Jusco supermarket that was newly opened at Bandar Mahkota Cheras. I couldn't resist and bought a box each. I also bought some mangoes and apples to stock up my fridge :) Gotta love them fruits! Unfortunately last weekend I had to attend a wedding in JB and completely forgotten about those berries that were in the fridge. Got home late last night but was simply too tired to check out the fridge. </div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">It was only this evening that I remembered I had some berries in the fridge and quickly took them out. About 1/3 of the raspberries were already moldy :( I quickly sorted out the ones that were still good, but its already too close to bed time to munch on them. I didn't want the rest to turn bad, and so I decided to turn them all into ice lollies.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvOdBnmDjtHlvIt3IfSrKlv9SiXrrWqlCZc-b2Dqxqdd7rYL5aSbgv7rdOFmBmPbav1qV2D6eXuCZczsD7NEhl9DTKhNtnbhlz3-YU0-NmjFYnf9FWrGSDLrbHd0adesAxkoDO/s1600/raspberyicelolly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" gu="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvOdBnmDjtHlvIt3IfSrKlv9SiXrrWqlCZc-b2Dqxqdd7rYL5aSbgv7rdOFmBmPbav1qV2D6eXuCZczsD7NEhl9DTKhNtnbhlz3-YU0-NmjFYnf9FWrGSDLrbHd0adesAxkoDO/s320/raspberyicelolly.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Raspberry, Strawberry, Mango and Lime Puree, ready to go into the freezer</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">You'd probably be wondering how I managed to get so much pulp and puree from a small box of raspberries. I actually added the strawberries and one whole mango into the whole mixture as well, with juice of one lime and some sugar to taste. I stole a taste while making them and it tasted really good!</div></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ui8kg2mXePsMGPoYU7q8QU3GeeclJGhV5DkgOX-W67E68Lbn0YphAS3-SPLxUuPHUSfmlp_qg0ymhrnkSxrzVaEFWQbAFu31hKpxtdIqroGlO-pb3H-CooGiSAdcgGXgcLUV/s1600/RaspberryHearts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" gu="true" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ui8kg2mXePsMGPoYU7q8QU3GeeclJGhV5DkgOX-W67E68Lbn0YphAS3-SPLxUuPHUSfmlp_qg0ymhrnkSxrzVaEFWQbAFu31hKpxtdIqroGlO-pb3H-CooGiSAdcgGXgcLUV/s200/RaspberryHearts.jpg" width="200" /></a>If you look at the photo you'll notice that I still have some balance in the pouring jug, but I didn't have anymore ice lolly moulds available *yikes*. I used up my other moulds last week to make some azuki bean ice lolly for mom (it's her favourite :)). And so I was frantically searching through my cabinets for an alternative to container to keep the balance and I found an Ikea ice cube tray! It was heart-shaped... JUST PERFECT! When they are frozen they would be lovely red raspberry hearts that I can pop into my mouth whenever I need a quick raspberry fix! ;) </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Oooh, I can't wait to eat them!!! *drools*</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
<strong><em><span style="color: #351c75;">*Update 25 May 2010 - Here's how the iced raspberry heart looks like! Yums!</span></em></strong></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBZyZcoaSpLg5RmADIOLjnDt1mhA-jajh-VZjLM9Rl8kQAzZ5S6Lty2K-99gEDb0hTdsgKEbnFvPbafgy-iP3St-APsmem17pRcLb5Ygq-A146-_xps1Rm9Q9vXwiesLz1PchQ/s1600/RaspberryHearts-single.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" gu="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBZyZcoaSpLg5RmADIOLjnDt1mhA-jajh-VZjLM9Rl8kQAzZ5S6Lty2K-99gEDb0hTdsgKEbnFvPbafgy-iP3St-APsmem17pRcLb5Ygq-A146-_xps1Rm9Q9vXwiesLz1PchQ/s320/RaspberryHearts-single.jpg" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-8363347231372695802010-04-24T00:19:00.003+08:002010-04-26T14:24:09.494+08:00Rodents<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Was going through my camera's memory card and found this forgotten picture. Can't believe I hadn't uploaded it yet. Found this little "cutie" here in my backyard about 1.5 months ago. It was the second time in the same week that a dead rat/mouse was found dead in my backyard. Pixie must have given this particular one a heart attack as I can't seem to find any teeth marks to prove that she has bitten the rodent to his death. <span style="font-size: x-small;">(yeah, I did a little post-mortem on my own :P)</span></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIi4XvGX4dlsEx5n9uZaLarMXThbYj7TfUhCeK61KyQEw33VVscaFVJAjKgeXVXCTsp-rSF8lcwCDyl2pnfPa8ci2k_UB6I5CRBM3MoonlDQkxYQJa1BmU-iJ-oNZDneIWvCV_/s1600/rat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIi4XvGX4dlsEx5n9uZaLarMXThbYj7TfUhCeK61KyQEw33VVscaFVJAjKgeXVXCTsp-rSF8lcwCDyl2pnfPa8ci2k_UB6I5CRBM3MoonlDQkxYQJa1BmU-iJ-oNZDneIWvCV_/s320/rat.jpg" tt="true" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">By the size of it he was probably a young one. Frankly speaking I would say that he is actually quite cute if they weren't such a pest. Big ears, pointy nose, dark round eyes, tiny feet. He reminds me of the movie <a href="http://disney.go.com/disneyvideos/animatedfilms/ratatouille/">Ratatouille</a>. </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Once, when I was much younger, a rat actually tried to nibble or played with my toes when I was asleep. Being a deep sleeper, I didn't actually bother about it until the guy actually came up to my face (EEEUWWWW!). With my eyes still closed I simply brushed him away and only realised that it was a big black (<span style="font-size: x-small;">could have been brown, lights wasn't on so I couldn't really tell</span>) rat was on the same bed with me! I jolted out of bed (nope, no screaming) and ran to my parent's room. By the time they came to my room again it was gone. We probably caught him several days later, I'm not quite sure. And then I found that my bedroom door had been gnawed - and I didn't even realise it because I was in deep sleep :P</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">I don't have any rodent problems at the moment, but those pesky household geckos are driving me crazy. We have a good supply of mosquitos and flying insects in the backyard because we leave the lights on at night and these pests come to have a feast, then leave their droppings on the walls, ceiling and floor.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">If anyone has got a suggestion on how to get rid of them, I'd be very grateful. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-57328296053280686662010-04-23T22:59:00.003+08:002010-04-23T23:33:11.662+08:00Max Brenner!<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">This post is a little late, but I still need to thank my 3 lovely sisters who are in Brissie at the moment! Last week mom went to the Land Down Under to visit them, and look what she brought home for me! A chocolate fondue set from the <a href="http://www.maxbrenner.com/">Max Brenner</a> shop!!!</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg846VUFktO6QAi9ThBz0M7j82Yq_NcLcTu7WsPiIKPKkxqBzZ_vyITF5m_jvvJQx1STPWsW66zI1KrFNjB_KvxDZPYW4UCNq0wHK7o9TBS0PLUiR-snKo5gQYSeCrPO9mKMbX/s1600/maxbrenner_choc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg846VUFktO6QAi9ThBz0M7j82Yq_NcLcTu7WsPiIKPKkxqBzZ_vyITF5m_jvvJQx1STPWsW66zI1KrFNjB_KvxDZPYW4UCNq0wHK7o9TBS0PLUiR-snKo5gQYSeCrPO9mKMbX/s320/maxbrenner_choc.jpg" tt="true" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A packet each of dark and milk chocolate chunks and a fondue tower for 2</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">I still haven't decide when I'm gonna devour them yet. Well, I'm suppose to share it with my hubby, but I think I might just hoard it for myself and worry about that ill-fitted pair of jeans later. </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong>Thanks Sis!!!</strong></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-71750473398212367652010-04-19T14:17:00.000+08:002010-04-19T14:17:38.596+08:00The World's Worst Local Bank = HSBC<strong><span style="color: #cc0000;">Warning: One LONG whining story ahead.</span></strong><br />
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One fine day my mom was walking in a shopping complex when being approached by HSBC's credit card marketeer. She politely declined and told the person she wasn't in need of another credit card, and also that her application was declined before by HSBC and she wasn't planning to try again.<br />
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After much convincing, my mom decided to give it another try. And while filling up the forms, she wasn't allowed to fill up her latest address but to use the one that was on her IC. She was told that she could request for a change of address later. And so my mom informed the marketeer that the office address she filled may not be complete and in case her application was approved, they will have to call up and reconfirm the address before sending the card. <br />
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Approximately 2 weeks later, my mom received an SMS saying that her application has been approved and the card has been sent out. Unfortunately the bank did not call the verify the address again, and after one week she still did not receive the card. We suspected that the incomplete address may have been the cause of the delivery problems, and so we contacted HSBC to check and it was true that the original card was returned to the sender by Poslaju. They promised that they will send again to the right address this time. <br />
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Another week passed and yet no card was received. And instead, she received her first statement with RM50 Service Tax charged to her card!!! We called again to check with HSBC and was put on hold for more than 3 times with each hold lasting for eternity. They confirmed that the card has been sent out by normal post, and that's why the service tax has been credited AUTOMATICALLY by the system. My mom was like "WHAT??? How can you charge me service tax for a card that I have not even received??? Have you even any prove of acknowledgements that I have received the card???" And they calmly responded, "I'm sorry m'am, please wait for a few more days and if you still don't receive the card, call us again and we'll send a replacement".<br />
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And so my mom <calmly>waited for a few more days and called HSBC again. You know how it's like when you call this centers and they ask you to key in the credit card or IC number for faster service, and when somebody FINALLY answers the call and ask you for your card number again??? Why on earth did I key in that number for in the first place? To help me pass time so that I won't notice that I've been waiting a whole century for someone to pick up the call??? And then they so sweetly tells you that they need to ask you several questions for verification. Actually it wouldn't have been that frustrating if you hadn't been put on hold for 3 times, and transferred to 3 different operators and being ASKED for your MOTHER's name 3 times for verification during the same phone call!!! My grandma would certainly have jumped up from her grave and whined about this too if she knew! <br />
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Finally the operator apologized and told my mom what she already knew- that the card was already sent on X date by normal post, and if it still hasn't arrived by now it is probably lost. And they will send another one on the way. Again the operator reconfirmed the correct postal address and assured the new card will be sent out immediately. Another 2 weeks down the road my mom has already given up and lost all hopes of actually receiving the card. And she thought she didn't want to waste time calling them anymore until she received another statement from them. This time with an additional RM5 of compensation fee (we still haven't figured out what exactly is a compensation fee) and RM5 of late charges for not paying the service tax. <br />
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This was really absurd. My mom had already had enough, and called HSBC again and told them to forget about sending her the card (definitely not nicely I can assure you), and to reverse all the charges on the statement. The operator was stunned but apologized profusely for the inconvenience, and said that she will do the necessary cancellation of the card and charges.<br />
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And guess what? This month my mom promptly received another statement from the bank. Both the service tax and compensation fees have been reversed by the late/finance charges remains standing. Which means my mom still owes HSBC a RM5 after all the unnecessary waiting on the phone and call charges to them trying to track the GHOST card. No doubt they got another lashing, and this time the operator assured that she will not receive anymore statements from them and that the RM5 charges will also be reversed.<br />
<br />
That's our World's Local Bank!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-91252813802027984002010-04-14T00:03:00.003+08:002010-04-14T00:08:16.897+08:00A Break InMy neighbour's house was broken into today. Thankfully, nobody was at home (they were away for holidays), so nobody was hurt. The burglar was quite daring to break in around noon time, when most of the people would either be at work or at school. My neighbour's house was in the corner, and the burglar came in from the side door, where he would be least visible. Another neighbour claimed that they heard the alarm sound and came out to check, but saw nothing suspicious. Also it was not unusual to have a false alarm, even my own house alarm tend to get triggerred unnecessarily, so they paid no attention. <br />
<br />
In the late afternoon, my neighbour's relative came over to water the plants and feed the rabbits, and noticed something was amiss. The curtains on the side door was parted slightly, and the padlock was missing from the grills and it wasn't locked. As soon as she stepped into the house, she was shocked to find a mess and all the drawers and cabinets ransacked. Frightened that the burglar may still be in the house, she quickly left and called the police. Since the owner was not around, they could not confirm what else was missing from the house, except the rabbit (the burglar must either have a soft spot for furry animals or is considering the bunny as his lunch).<br />
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Both my husband and I have contrasting reactions to this incident. The first thing that came to my mind was I'm glad that we were not affected and Pixie did not become a victim of cruel acts. I could still recall 2 of <a href="http://sitheng.blogspot.com/2007/07/living-in-fear.html">our dogs being poisoned</a> 3 years ago, probably done by someone with evil plans. On the other hand my husband was worried about his things being stolen if the burglar was to break into our house, and went paranoia about putting every single thing in the safe. <br />
<br />
I remember when we first moved in, he was overly paranoid about keeping the house safe from thieves and burglars that he put locks and double locks on every single door of the house. I told him that if a burglar had any intention of coming in, we would have to lose even more money repairing doors that the burglar breaks. I also told him that if ever there was a fire, I would be burnt alive inside the house because it takes me just too long to unlock the padlocks and grills and doors to escape. And so in the end I told him off because I refused to become a prisoner of my own home, and we finally compromised on a fewer locks which were only absolutely necessary. <br />
<br />
Are materials really so important in our lives? To me, nothing is more important than our lives and memories. I would probably be sad if somebody stole my notebook, but I could easily look on the other side and think, "Hey, it's a chance for me to buy a new one!". At least, I'm alive and still able and it won't take me long to earn enough to get a replacement. But it would completely break my heard if the notebook that was stolen contains all my work and photos that I so dearly treasure. That's certainly not something I can rewind and have another second go, can I??<br />
<br />
I'd better go check on my backup to make sure it's up to date. If ever I'm so unfortunate to have the burglar interested in my notebook, I'd still have my backups with me.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-1294134881494559772010-03-29T16:38:00.000+08:002010-03-29T16:38:48.345+08:00Moves & SortsSometime early this year, I was invited to perform with Nanci and Nikki in Moves & Sorts @ the new Actor's Studio in Lot 10. It was a complete new eye opening experience for me, as it has been quite a while since I performed on a stage (the last was during my school days, 15 yrs ago *gasp* - does that count?). <br />
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I was quite reluctant, not only did I have stage fright, I didn't think I was actually qualified to perform after only about 6 mths of weekly classes with Nanci. However, Nanci thought otherwise. She asked several of us, whom she thought would be able to handle improvisation and in the end, only Nikki and I agreed. A DJ friend of ours, Mathieu, also agreed to mix the music live for us on stage. <br />
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I must say I didn't regret doing this a bit. Yes, I had the butterflies in stomach moments, worried sick that I'd drop the basket, or trip and fall flat on my face (the 3 scars under my chin are proofs of my history of clumsiness), but in the end, all was well. We had so much fun in the dressing room, and improvising to Matt's music on stage. Nikki and myself were especially self-conscious, and we were overly anxious about mistakes that we made while we were live on stage - but all that was put to rest the moment we saw the video my hubby took of us from the first of of audience. Frankly we didn't look too bad after all!<br />
<br />
Anyway, that's just another entry to my life chapters. Just thought I'd share it with the world :)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUtcEEyU2k96aGEKhbJXUU7WB9ZlkOrGswwbaAs9cZ8Lvsw16vp1Uz6gUBZYzBsj9LjwSt6k32hTbuPpFhxE1A_gKt7nc72Hxbq0C0vv3oDy6OzgNbyuz1Vhdb4aXVswwjIy1H/s1600/ATS2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" nt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUtcEEyU2k96aGEKhbJXUU7WB9ZlkOrGswwbaAs9cZ8Lvsw16vp1Uz6gUBZYzBsj9LjwSt6k32hTbuPpFhxE1A_gKt7nc72Hxbq0C0vv3oDy6OzgNbyuz1Vhdb4aXVswwjIy1H/s320/ATS2.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Nikki, Nanci and myself at Actor's Studio performing in one of the slots of Moves & Sorts in Jan 2010</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>courtesy of Antradika Hamza</em></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZbtq1gchzEAxN7b3qDAHNHIowaYqd6YXyA7Qgk_yXGhDrMjR_lDs87pBeJ8MMJg5aHOsE2FDuWp0wrazIrz7WoqjViCDYMktz4pkzUHh3B1gTpu1a1H5h9rBvEw8sdjovdJGC/s1600/ATS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" nt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZbtq1gchzEAxN7b3qDAHNHIowaYqd6YXyA7Qgk_yXGhDrMjR_lDs87pBeJ8MMJg5aHOsE2FDuWp0wrazIrz7WoqjViCDYMktz4pkzUHh3B1gTpu1a1H5h9rBvEw8sdjovdJGC/s320/ATS.jpg" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">One of my favourite photos</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>courtesy of Antradika Hamza</em></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-19480249100755758162010-03-18T15:05:00.004+08:002010-03-29T14:53:43.551+08:00Book ShoppingPopular is having sales up to 90% at the foyer of Summit shopping complex till 21st March 2010. And guess what, I felt that it was time for me to splurge too..*grin* Somehow I don't feel so guilty this time because for the past 2 months I managed to finish reading if not all, at least 90% of what I spent on last year! Yay and double yay! <br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYexGzTlYr8By356fi7czm5Nqs0DHMRVzGJMp7XU0tgWcI17Wem_M6r6cvw_N92xHiclSHxCWgo05I0kuO_CEE56ZVPA8C29hhzH_UlovcmPtFGL-RBCwG5h1ow9gF9NzD4CsZ/s1600-h/2010bookshopping.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYexGzTlYr8By356fi7czm5Nqs0DHMRVzGJMp7XU0tgWcI17Wem_M6r6cvw_N92xHiclSHxCWgo05I0kuO_CEE56ZVPA8C29hhzH_UlovcmPtFGL-RBCwG5h1ow9gF9NzD4CsZ/s400/2010bookshopping.jpg" vt="true" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">22 books for less than RM190.00!</span></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">I managed to get at least 5-6 books at 90% discount (which means I paid as low as 59cents per book!), and the rest was between 20%-70% discount. It was definitely a real bargain. And I get to keep myself busy for the rest of 2010...though I can't be sure I'd stop buying if there are new sales coming up! :P</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">*update 29/03/2010 - thanks to Ellis, I got over to </span><a href="http://www.bookxcess.com/"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">BookXcess</span></a><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> last weekend and got myself another 10 books :P And I finished one of them in slightly less than an hour... it was afterall a young adult category book... hehehe...</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-70713174811826088702010-02-25T23:36:00.002+08:002010-02-26T13:32:07.605+08:00Happy Chinese New Year!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd6mKTU3_ZSHC7vsGbifJOC-9F72_qgW5ahEgLUi5L6_5cnwP3mQEHcLMGf1-BO8Xn38ez7ACvTn93p8M4i_j2-xN65mXOhYgRNgw05vMz7iDw365vW_JIlv-HS9iusFVIgoyU/s1600-h/cnycakepop-blog.jpg" imageanchor="0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx3x4KLgSR-Fon6oa7OBgd5e4cS0wTNMlF1qcouQzWD0x53OMi48hrymhyOjHTOdIy7fxFt1AfJFn8hxKsep9IHL-Nxcswz2QUqLttNbX1CKrDSuITc-Yff3xdCnRm8a3dQA_P/s1600-h/cnycakepop-blog2.jpg" imageanchor="0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" kt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx3x4KLgSR-Fon6oa7OBgd5e4cS0wTNMlF1qcouQzWD0x53OMi48hrymhyOjHTOdIy7fxFt1AfJFn8hxKsep9IHL-Nxcswz2QUqLttNbX1CKrDSuITc-Yff3xdCnRm8a3dQA_P/s320/cnycakepop-blog2.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Chinese New Year Cake Pops</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-80388241429793610902010-02-04T00:55:00.001+08:002010-02-04T00:57:20.027+08:00If Only...Somehow that seems to be a favourite word that hangs on everyone's lips these days. <br />
<br />
If only you had started dancing 10 years earlier - that was the exact words that my dance instructor said today. Well, he's actually said it many times before, I just never thought about it seriously. So what if I had started dancing earlier? Would my life have been any different?<br />
<br />
He is normally full of praises for me; well, when you are being compared to a group who are at least 2 to 3 decades older than you, you'll stand out, no doubt about that. He thinks that I have a natural talent for ballroom dancing, except that I'm lack of the energy compared to those who are a decade younger than me. Of course not forgetting to mention that I'm a married woman, and I won't be able to commit myself to a competitive level unlike those who are still a free spirit, or has a partner who dances professionally too. <br />
<br />
Sets me off pondering, if I did start 10 years earlier, would I have pursued dancing on a competitive level? I doubt it. Firstly, I was very very shy before, and I cannot imagine myself dancing to close proximity with another person. Secondly, I'm simply too jittery. Anything that requires me to be under the observation and scrutiny of another being will simply turn my legs to jelly. And most importantly, that my parents would never have approved of me being a dancer, at least not 10 years ago, when people's perception of a dancer was rarely positive. <br />
<br />
Frankly I'm happy with the level that I'm at now - as much as I wished for that extra energy that would have boosted my dancing, I'm simply glad that what I'm doing is in the right technique, and I don't feel the need to be competitive.<br />
<br />
What's important is that I look good and feel good doing it. I'll dance as long as my feet can take it :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-76717705475168024732009-12-24T16:04:00.009+08:002009-12-24T16:45:58.160+08:00I Love Holiday Season<div>No, frankly I think I should hate holiday season. It's always time where I stuff my face silly, and skip my dance classes. Which of course translates to extra pounds in unwanted areas because I'm simply adding on calories to my body without burning them off properly. Wait. I do burn them off, all this laughter with family and friends are good cardio exercises! ;) Hey, I just found a reason to eat more!!! *grin* </div><div><br /></div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfvW8NmcGIt6eY07YHy3v-KFIDc-r-w4u9JNyhL-hNqoCZbOdXTJRDfEdziDhjcDqKUlEBSo3zIPWv-YiVSGXou4jVsB11KpDLZQghR_Rx0q9DVmJitCtinJYhZppmFcAk5Zsw/s1600-h/looklookcar.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418714776011302530" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfvW8NmcGIt6eY07YHy3v-KFIDc-r-w4u9JNyhL-hNqoCZbOdXTJRDfEdziDhjcDqKUlEBSo3zIPWv-YiVSGXou4jVsB11KpDLZQghR_Rx0q9DVmJitCtinJYhZppmFcAk5Zsw/s320/looklookcar.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Fat One BBQ Steamboat Truck</span></p><div>Well, yesterday we had a nice family get together (well, YS invited some of her friends too, since she hasn't seen them for a long time). Ophie also invited her family to join us and unfortunately, TW's family couldn't come because of other commitments. In all we had about 30 ppl and thought it was a good idea to bring in a steamboat truck *drools* For days we pondered on what should be on the list of food in the steamboat session, and knowing the glutton among us *ehem* we almost ordered enough food to serve 70 ppl!!! Thanks to the good advice of Fat One steamboat, we reduced our order to quite a reasonable amount (approx. 400 sticks of seafood/meat/vege).</div><div><br /></div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoRLjuEVdsH9UElJIoUQ9JNlQEW37pFBsGQCY1g3FE7CLcI9W0_RwFpGzm1TIxEzb-cM79II5PsyuvS4_CM0DtLd16mo8JbozPdNXfcrmDd8_Qx1W_4wi6dF1zSPeqF9p-TVi0/s1600-h/sidedish.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418715399488452946" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoRLjuEVdsH9UElJIoUQ9JNlQEW37pFBsGQCY1g3FE7CLcI9W0_RwFpGzm1TIxEzb-cM79II5PsyuvS4_CM0DtLd16mo8JbozPdNXfcrmDd8_Qx1W_4wi6dF1zSPeqF9p-TVi0/s320/sidedish.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Extra orders for those not into steamboat and for the x-tra hungry ones</span></p><div>Mom was still worried that we won't have enough to eat, and decided to order some fried mee hoon and fried rice too. At first it still didn't seem enough, but by the end of the day, we were shocked to see how much we have overestimated our ability to chuck in food. We only managed to clear about 50% of the food on the steamboat truck and probably another 30% of the extra orders.<br /></div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWIMxSYM78L4WgcJI0lBRbK_RUIWvrW2tSn1lvTpoDul0Tjd3iCzbcOVWcx6CHWw2WF-HqusUAwODfqoWYHdC0HSpcRPZ3caB7cZoUvhxl6bbo-vOcWfh2rJQ-4Q50dPZLN7Ve/s1600-h/looklookfood.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 240px; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418716104927800834" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWIMxSYM78L4WgcJI0lBRbK_RUIWvrW2tSn1lvTpoDul0Tjd3iCzbcOVWcx6CHWw2WF-HqusUAwODfqoWYHdC0HSpcRPZ3caB7cZoUvhxl6bbo-vOcWfh2rJQ-4Q50dPZLN7Ve/s320/looklookfood.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Just like the stuffs you see in <em>pasar malam</em> - only difference is<br />we get to choose what goes on the truck</span></p><div>It was nice too that they have some bbq sausages and meat to go with the steamboat, and also a pot of boiling tomyam soup to go with our favourite fried <em>fu chuk </em>and oyster mushrooms. Just thinking about it makes me hungry again. Fret not, we still have leftovers from yesterday's feast in the fridge to clear! These nice folks from Fat One Steamboat helped us packed all the left overs nicely, together with all the extra peanut sauce, sweet sauce, chilli and even the tomyam soup! </div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUy9h6kHNSAmbbkbxoUskgR0S61tvWYEDJsjpykhHZ2yHQvYXHvQwl1KrCAvEuxhIumNArRerf0cLerwjrN6PqvtRJYtcnOcn_keLdPOFDODB1g5_AXoUtRl6yuIiEkFK4zClC/s1600-h/cupcakes.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418720218558749538" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUy9h6kHNSAmbbkbxoUskgR0S61tvWYEDJsjpykhHZ2yHQvYXHvQwl1KrCAvEuxhIumNArRerf0cLerwjrN6PqvtRJYtcnOcn_keLdPOFDODB1g5_AXoUtRl6yuIiEkFK4zClC/s320/cupcakes.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Birthday cuppies for my cuz complete with yoga poses :)</span></p><div>Also coincidentally my cousin's birthday falls on the Xmas eve, so we decided to surprise him with some cupcakes, made by yours truly and assisted by my 2 beautiful assistants YS and SS, along with our guest decorators Mr. Goo and Joseph... hehe...</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div>We had a splendid evening, with our family members and friends, complete with scrumptious food and lots of laughter. Lovely :)<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-67170109164520163052009-12-06T22:35:00.002+08:002010-02-26T23:12:55.672+08:00I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...It's beginning to look like a blog dedicated to cake pops... <p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT4y3khJU1wscqBNC8SpKp9PRlBQOc2ZS00gB8mdxB5rxne69GsbNqapQ-kz3YZ_csolZ2R032AWlXIOXPS61npjrWdARN0_mIwJzdjd-4aqGSKNiNpjHKgF_9OPOJ_3KozPSW/s1600-h/frostypop.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412132178012344738" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT4y3khJU1wscqBNC8SpKp9PRlBQOc2ZS00gB8mdxB5rxne69GsbNqapQ-kz3YZ_csolZ2R032AWlXIOXPS61npjrWdARN0_mIwJzdjd-4aqGSKNiNpjHKgF_9OPOJ_3KozPSW/s400/frostypop.jpg" /></a></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-91363293703690872152009-12-02T23:47:00.003+08:002010-02-25T23:41:55.333+08:00Hickory Dickory Dock<div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjlsAVc9QncUmdfzYyxJjBKYZYOi-rcG0jhH4zwgrrOG7jbANBig94INQAP3CLxnxTCwN8wxQIEQFrnMD3rwtoTu1Pr3lp6oQsyjQy5QglgwdJBuHJwCGwTEjaw6w5doWKGtMS/s1600-h/hickorydickory.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410666303431551074" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjlsAVc9QncUmdfzYyxJjBKYZYOi-rcG0jhH4zwgrrOG7jbANBig94INQAP3CLxnxTCwN8wxQIEQFrnMD3rwtoTu1Pr3lp6oQsyjQy5QglgwdJBuHJwCGwTEjaw6w5doWKGtMS/s400/hickorydickory.jpg" style="cursor: hand; height: 400px; width: 300px;" /></a><br />
The mouse became a pop! </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-9351833514829400512009-12-01T00:39:00.004+08:002009-12-01T00:43:16.928+08:00Look What I Found!<p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAcue0wtG2ujjhvLk7QxL-SOZE3G8DMCwvZFJxn1rmfA1HxcSus3Y2Hqkpq9aT-Nqy4r9ITUBbbWme6BkHVCM63t8dqAg7wtB6Qh-A-459gCpFe-SxrGgJxtPEdqlZn_ZOQkaz/s1600/09XmasTreats_9_5_1.JPG"></a></p><p>I went to Giant supermarket today to do some grocery shopping... and couldn't resist myself when I saw these!</p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAcue0wtG2ujjhvLk7QxL-SOZE3G8DMCwvZFJxn1rmfA1HxcSus3Y2Hqkpq9aT-Nqy4r9ITUBbbWme6BkHVCM63t8dqAg7wtB6Qh-A-459gCpFe-SxrGgJxtPEdqlZn_ZOQkaz/s1600/09XmasTreats_9_5_1.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 300px; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409937596508222050" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAcue0wtG2ujjhvLk7QxL-SOZE3G8DMCwvZFJxn1rmfA1HxcSus3Y2Hqkpq9aT-Nqy4r9ITUBbbWme6BkHVCM63t8dqAg7wtB6Qh-A-459gCpFe-SxrGgJxtPEdqlZn_ZOQkaz/s400/09XmasTreats_9_5_1.JPG" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">M&Ms Christmas Mix and Orange Flavoured M&Ms</span></p><p align="left">Arrggghhh! How could you not get them?? I can already imagine those yummy christmassy cake pops in my mind! *grin*</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-90814691265200147602009-11-19T13:36:00.009+08:002009-11-19T13:55:24.696+08:00Gifts from Australia2 of my sis arrived from Brissie yesterday... and look what they brought me!!!<br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMkSP3hR2R-SyiQSZAPtqz5oebOEX1C2aucX_ZlTLeE8lPzmFrzd40nHfzNwn8jR-L3jRiq9W6m1HP5rmufM5gRy9H6U-s5POm1PM0wA1s3-H0G7dyuB29LXR2rnKd5dASn3_5/s1600/guess4.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405684991752519170" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMkSP3hR2R-SyiQSZAPtqz5oebOEX1C2aucX_ZlTLeE8lPzmFrzd40nHfzNwn8jR-L3jRiq9W6m1HP5rmufM5gRy9H6U-s5POm1PM0wA1s3-H0G7dyuB29LXR2rnKd5dASn3_5/s320/guess4.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Can you guess what this is?</span><br /></p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHRd9pj_rObSWVU7qO2vt2Utsxivcu4ftnPXozmnqvCf5npL5SR3zQKL9EcXZkmnOWB-x0Nghc0seIHP1bfW0YEk-0atwJVTxcLeP_Z5LxvawB59HXAbP_uwnYC63B0FfRdvj3/s1600/guess3.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405684990250505362" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHRd9pj_rObSWVU7qO2vt2Utsxivcu4ftnPXozmnqvCf5npL5SR3zQKL9EcXZkmnOWB-x0Nghc0seIHP1bfW0YEk-0atwJVTxcLeP_Z5LxvawB59HXAbP_uwnYC63B0FfRdvj3/s320/guess3.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">And this? </span><br /></p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRJDpW1He0PGmYbre0X2uhoKKLM4UZ8CiDAR9lgLrYpdx4TGbbkE-NH1QJgzMaWF7CBG346Gxwc6i-CHxTbaoSW3u9aaxcHo-E9EJ6RrI11szTid-nNxEfvvh9MV99SnZrHiSK/s1600/guess2.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405684985337547362" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRJDpW1He0PGmYbre0X2uhoKKLM4UZ8CiDAR9lgLrYpdx4TGbbkE-NH1QJgzMaWF7CBG346Gxwc6i-CHxTbaoSW3u9aaxcHo-E9EJ6RrI11szTid-nNxEfvvh9MV99SnZrHiSK/s320/guess2.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">and thisss??</span><br /></p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg35Piq3_eUZL-qYNa4Nm8X8p3UcDU5zQ6TFT-qy__lnXd3Ws_6km3QTiJjw6CCjpWJY3MFS05li7o-UfVZg7Yp4OFBXY_0lz3qrcsbUJiYRpWOlfbJlLARSVgHTa5MhHYvKol1/s1600/guess1.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405684979461317602" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg35Piq3_eUZL-qYNa4Nm8X8p3UcDU5zQ6TFT-qy__lnXd3Ws_6km3QTiJjw6CCjpWJY3MFS05li7o-UfVZg7Yp4OFBXY_0lz3qrcsbUJiYRpWOlfbJlLARSVgHTa5MhHYvKol1/s320/guess1.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">and..and..and thisssss???</span><br /></p><br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfd-7KQoQkqDOgixJAckJtnybq4V698GKvweI5WchTrhLitiFCwp4Ltl4KUtL69HUpF_L5F_DSBiSOos8DzDFyjcLle_-g1WeqaUU3P14yM6WHqNNII3nFGUqbpWxZxEhr6ztH/s1600/candystuff.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405686045074872530" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfd-7KQoQkqDOgixJAckJtnybq4V698GKvweI5WchTrhLitiFCwp4Ltl4KUtL69HUpF_L5F_DSBiSOos8DzDFyjcLle_-g1WeqaUU3P14yM6WHqNNII3nFGUqbpWxZxEhr6ztH/s400/candystuff.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">All those candy making stuff that I have problem sourcing locally!<br /></span>(<span style="font-size:78%;"><em>food markers, candy colouring, candy melts & lollipop sticks!</em></span>)</p><p align="center"></p><p align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>THANKS A MILLION SIS!!!<br /></strong></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-48236032722735726902009-11-18T14:18:00.001+08:002010-02-25T23:42:32.422+08:00SDI Exam Day<p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY-DXMM8n9Kqj4hIhBI2lhBmm-vELvUHP2iBmWnVPf9yFRogxjCS6jr13k-MIR1hedk59R7cQUY-Zaqr5IvLpa_KlMP5KtUWI9UIs0p5XbSBvP76537EJYM2hipt373MXOoNLy/s1600/goodluckpops.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 240px; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405325510633597714" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY-DXMM8n9Kqj4hIhBI2lhBmm-vELvUHP2iBmWnVPf9yFRogxjCS6jr13k-MIR1hedk59R7cQUY-Zaqr5IvLpa_KlMP5KtUWI9UIs0p5XbSBvP76537EJYM2hipt373MXOoNLy/s320/goodluckpops.jpg" /></a><br />Good luck to all!</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-19382874220908632152009-11-15T15:41:00.013+08:002010-02-25T23:42:49.995+08:00Old Macdonald Has a Farm... E.I.E.I.O<div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;">Well Old Macdonald has a farm<br /><strong>E I E I O<br /></strong>And on his farm he has a pig<br /><strong>E I E I O<br /></strong><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_DKTWkt-5hHw/Sv_B5JnqeNI/AAAAAAAAAmc/5iB6V5SqN6k/s1600-h/oink.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC7wwCvsFRYokylhGuFfllpA-W3_Qvr7o8rMsw0GdlkFl7ZCxl9mAdG28ntsoz7xIebVPDEocumEMg6m_GOzBaSt85INHi-DMmsZkpz8jsHaU6D7iFwapooZ-Px-4Hxl8Pe876/s1600-h/oink.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 317px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404251846306792098" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC7wwCvsFRYokylhGuFfllpA-W3_Qvr7o8rMsw0GdlkFl7ZCxl9mAdG28ntsoz7xIebVPDEocumEMg6m_GOzBaSt85INHi-DMmsZkpz8jsHaU6D7iFwapooZ-Px-4Hxl8Pe876/s320/oink.jpg" /></a><br />Old Macdonald has a farm<br /><strong>E I E I O </strong></span></div><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><div align="center"><br /></strong><span style="font-family:courier new;">***<br /></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-family:courier new;"></div></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;">Old Macdonald has a farm<br /><strong>E I E I O<br /></strong>And on his farm he has a cow<br /><strong>E I E I O<br /></strong></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw-XYXEJeDBIW8PTWiaNHDBBqxquO-1_vZ7iVhEgEPLY7EKMVGRQKqTNCOQWhjyor72bpV__WrnLaj3GIg6CxOXDszd6Xey18IFZvpNGiLvlZ04PxOaMEH5XaAV1SDlIvvMDjo/s1600-h/moo.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 317px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404248216475978194" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw-XYXEJeDBIW8PTWiaNHDBBqxquO-1_vZ7iVhEgEPLY7EKMVGRQKqTNCOQWhjyor72bpV__WrnLaj3GIg6CxOXDszd6Xey18IFZvpNGiLvlZ04PxOaMEH5XaAV1SDlIvvMDjo/s320/moo.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Old Macdonald has a farm<br /></span><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">E I E I O</span><br /></strong><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">***</span></div><span style="font-family:courier new;"><div align="center"><br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;">Old Macdonald has a farm<br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>E I E I O<br /></strong>And on his farm he has a dog<br /></span><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">E I E I O<br /></span></strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRlQUmeGLrvQtjd_QHXr30OzukPxzecqFZrg6Nvlt-sH7YHdLa5nbexYFAgKtT3UgH2j-HMCZbjh-0QWTBKk_n57z1VZcl6g-k0VphGqiQW3ica_oH13muiz2tVRRIoFeehO7z/s1600-h/woof.jpg"><span style="font-size:130%;"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 289px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404259682798993362" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRlQUmeGLrvQtjd_QHXr30OzukPxzecqFZrg6Nvlt-sH7YHdLa5nbexYFAgKtT3UgH2j-HMCZbjh-0QWTBKk_n57z1VZcl6g-k0VphGqiQW3ica_oH13muiz2tVRRIoFeehO7z/s320/woof.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />Old Macdonald has a farm<br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>E I E I O<br /></strong><br />***</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />Old Macdonald has a farm<br /><strong>E I E I O<br /></strong>And on his farm he has a horse<br /><strong>E I E I O<br /></strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8kzO0yE2LLQEDUpeqVCRltfKLII5jUdpMktaoSRKnqZdQLEWZgSMdBn2LILCflnFWy4YrMGhunboyQEeH_FPnW-vG4X66lODYJ33YkgrU1e5z0nsJ0Zon7DyFmUi0foNdv6G3/s1600-h/neigh.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 289px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404263576526400482" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8kzO0yE2LLQEDUpeqVCRltfKLII5jUdpMktaoSRKnqZdQLEWZgSMdBn2LILCflnFWy4YrMGhunboyQEeH_FPnW-vG4X66lODYJ33YkgrU1e5z0nsJ0Zon7DyFmUi0foNdv6G3/s320/neigh.jpg" /></a><br />Old Macdonald has a farm<br /><strong>E I E I O<br /></div></strong></span><br />Thanks to <a href="http://www.bakerella.com/">Bakerella</a> and <a href="http://cakepopsgalore.blogspot.com/2009/06/old-macdondald-had-farm-cake-pops.html">Cake Pops Galore</a> for the inspiration!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-46678498654679597652009-10-21T17:01:00.005+08:002010-02-25T23:42:49.996+08:00I *Heart* Cupcake Pops<p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhRiWGraugnChfNgR4lgninvfAMhyphenhyphenvA6DWA6ALCPhgCwQypXFyZJb-JPX4p-3aCU3jzYeIcwcW34XvK_UexR0XA5_P7IUkou4eeDZOensw4s5Ir_cGFMTBj9xxHBNG625v-D8G/s1600-h/Cupcakepopsb.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 298px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394976878010951458" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhRiWGraugnChfNgR4lgninvfAMhyphenhyphenvA6DWA6ALCPhgCwQypXFyZJb-JPX4p-3aCU3jzYeIcwcW34XvK_UexR0XA5_P7IUkou4eeDZOensw4s5Ir_cGFMTBj9xxHBNG625v-D8G/s400/Cupcakepopsb.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Once you start you can't stop - I meant the process of course ;)</span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;">Thanks <a href="http://www.bakerella.com/category/pops-bites/cupcake-pops/">Bakerella</a>!</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-90682585356261101202009-10-17T23:27:00.007+08:002010-02-25T23:42:49.997+08:00Bakin' with Aunty LyneLyne came over to my place today to make cake pops! Thank's to <a href="http://www.bakerella.com/">Bakerella </a>for her inspirations, we were quite successful in our pursuit this afternoon :)<br /><br />Before Lyne arrived, I managed to put the chocolate cake batter in the oven. Decided that it was best that I use a ready cake mix I bought from the supermarket to save the hassle. After all, it's the decorating part that was more fun *grin* While waiting for the cake to bake and cool down, Lyne searched the internet for ideas of cake pops that we could make, while I prepared lunch. And it wasn't long before our cake was ready:<br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6lOlFyTrYpSdd-niHJxwGwJJqIdYm5Sgx6caRGGM7ZBbKWVkKw8Tv2IHsljQLi0ibYmB_8VeKyGVAQQHS3hXm66Y029SlYG5OJAt7yR7cpX0s4Bej7LAwxjyTKPWA0niSO4Xz/s1600-h/choccake.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393599192574409906" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6lOlFyTrYpSdd-niHJxwGwJJqIdYm5Sgx6caRGGM7ZBbKWVkKw8Tv2IHsljQLi0ibYmB_8VeKyGVAQQHS3hXm66Y029SlYG5OJAt7yR7cpX0s4Bej7LAwxjyTKPWA0niSO4Xz/s320/choccake.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Fresh from the oven, smells good!</span></p><p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4BNdFxSvFYkmoIWJ0iEyc6tq0YvigiBya1fq3o4S8frEkEVUyQvbB7U-jjn9jbso8pbuWUum0AVUdkYJF9VJywMS4SUyAJw4GYWFl6IDJqvG8XrmecLjYUnJAA4xA_EWBbVqk/s1600-h/cakecrumbs.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393600240295770098" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4BNdFxSvFYkmoIWJ0iEyc6tq0YvigiBya1fq3o4S8frEkEVUyQvbB7U-jjn9jbso8pbuWUum0AVUdkYJF9VJywMS4SUyAJw4GYWFl6IDJqvG8XrmecLjYUnJAA4xA_EWBbVqk/s320/cakecrumbs.jpg" /></a><br />Dry cake crumbles</span></p><div>After crumbling the cake (it was really dry by the way - wonder why it was called super moist cake on the box), it was time to add in the butter cream cheese frosting (I'll put the recipe at the end of this post). I put in a little at a time, careful not to overdo it, and stop the moment it was possible to shape and mould the cakes into the shapes that we want.</div><div></div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoxnOQxE7wZXz_3VDvLdMxRI92gOXzWHcyYAB6FzHGFpYZVOH0DsWtwEdSmpK6fbV_vecNSb_imJW7mO4s-rBKuJb9UO8WZiK7nDE16eot9an5xmYBrDe8o2YARcIeUsnfuf3O/s1600-h/creamcheese.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 240px; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393599941030100130" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoxnOQxE7wZXz_3VDvLdMxRI92gOXzWHcyYAB6FzHGFpYZVOH0DsWtwEdSmpK6fbV_vecNSb_imJW7mO4s-rBKuJb9UO8WZiK7nDE16eot9an5xmYBrDe8o2YARcIeUsnfuf3O/s320/creamcheese.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Adding butter cream cheese frosting, a little at a time</span></p><div>We started by churning out golf ball sizes, and then various other shapes, such as pumpkin, bells, cubes and egg shapes, trying to keep them as even sized as possible.<br /></div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgTZbWLl6A38HCGwz5H8VDCxZkBloArvue16Y5OBjU7pQVgFjU6Ks5jlzKT2-N4jZSH8swT3Ur8y1mM3rkeFqlRzVx9ydeBwHTiurWdCtQnBelkdCW4Xbs7CD6_ftU6rBpRdeg/s1600-h/cakeballs.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393599201941356322" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgTZbWLl6A38HCGwz5H8VDCxZkBloArvue16Y5OBjU7pQVgFjU6Ks5jlzKT2-N4jZSH8swT3Ur8y1mM3rkeFqlRzVx9ydeBwHTiurWdCtQnBelkdCW4Xbs7CD6_ftU6rBpRdeg/s320/cakeballs.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Ready to go into the fridge</span></p><div>We only managed to get about 27 mini cakes out of the crumbled cake, we probably could get even more if we make them a little smaller. But the lollipop sticks I bought from ICCA was quite long (6") so it may look a little imbalance if the cakes were small. The size that we made were just perfect for the sticks. </div><div><div><div><div><div></div><div><br /></div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdrtKz13G4FBZ5mjjb4FVNDRKA29P4pRAeQKGYnoqgVUb9exAWx3GBJ0jAMDTc5IB8e3WYlMz3OG6ETCHnjamkDVfRW9vLT_MD2GiIu8LenqZqe_KNJ-lGqq8eyT8CXzWO1KmY/s1600-h/ghosts.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 240px; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393599182422015154" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdrtKz13G4FBZ5mjjb4FVNDRKA29P4pRAeQKGYnoqgVUb9exAWx3GBJ0jAMDTc5IB8e3WYlMz3OG6ETCHnjamkDVfRW9vLT_MD2GiIu8LenqZqe_KNJ-lGqq8eyT8CXzWO1KmY/s320/ghosts.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">White chocolate coated ghost cake pops</span></p><div>We just couldn't wait to dip those balls into the chocolate coating! As soon as we finished lunch we took out several bowls and melted some white chocolate in the microwave. I also tried to use Candy Melts by Wilton, but it was just too thick to coat the cakes evenly. I had to add some vegetable shortening to thin it a little, but then I realised that it took a longer time to harden if shortening was added. Still found that white baking chocolate was best in this case. I also used some gel food colouring (you'll need oil based food colouring to colour your chocolates).</div><div></div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ZuI0QMBFRU9mmyN9uKIeR7KtYxFc_okFY_OiXiiE-Hjxd4zHiSJFMlENUyPeIQKhLBb1l2P403Kz_Y9_aoLIFknhVP4-lYJsPesEX61FB9Yo7Z36iuJ3meH-gkj9HzYU84tg/s1600-h/allcakepops.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393600249410892530" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ZuI0QMBFRU9mmyN9uKIeR7KtYxFc_okFY_OiXiiE-Hjxd4zHiSJFMlENUyPeIQKhLBb1l2P403Kz_Y9_aoLIFknhVP4-lYJsPesEX61FB9Yo7Z36iuJ3meH-gkj9HzYU84tg/s320/allcakepops.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Our first attempt at cake pops - successful!</span></p><div>Seriously we were both laughing so much and squealing with excitement each time the cake pop turn out just right! At first we tried to use some food markers to draw faces on them, but it was hopeless. In the end we just used some dark chocolate as a replacement. Works out great!</div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqtmmXZZE2E2A1bmsJj0Wmjg70bTGHn6Vo2LMRPCwrjjdkobtLDUQO8JOp5-_jRIGdCKUVPmPDEK2ER6i4HOovMs8iDBt32jtZoPc6P4jdW3oiyHU15g51X69YNYXWk5Jv0-27/s1600-h/lynestakeaway.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393599945620012274" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqtmmXZZE2E2A1bmsJj0Wmjg70bTGHn6Vo2LMRPCwrjjdkobtLDUQO8JOp5-_jRIGdCKUVPmPDEK2ER6i4HOovMs8iDBt32jtZoPc6P4jdW3oiyHU15g51X69YNYXWk5Jv0-27/s320/lynestakeaway.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Cake pops for Lyne to bring home</span></p><p align="left">I think we spent close to 5 hours (including waiting & lunch time) to complete about 14 cake pops. Yes, I know its pretty slow, but this was an experimental session, and so we made a lot of mistakes and that took up some of our time. But we learnt a lot of valuable techniques, definitely. The next time it won't take so long!</p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9UGHplb6HG_-pVo0_FWW0zw6MhhQO4VBQeINss7sMsehAgcaAx-vcIXDMmQ1mI_2FwT3id_QA2XqI5PaEtYc9qBczJRktpnpllELHawMTv4IK50A-H04vkJ6l-fpx93ncrE9E/s1600-h/bitepop.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 240px; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393599181272873330" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9UGHplb6HG_-pVo0_FWW0zw6MhhQO4VBQeINss7sMsehAgcaAx-vcIXDMmQ1mI_2FwT3id_QA2XqI5PaEtYc9qBczJRktpnpllELHawMTv4IK50A-H04vkJ6l-fpx93ncrE9E/s320/bitepop.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">What do you do with a mummy so cute? Eat it of course!</span></p><p align="left">Lyne didn't want to take too many home, and it was impossible for me to eat 10 of them! Plus I didn't know how long these babies would last. So I gave them all to my neighbour's kids who were just two doors away and happened to be playing outside at that moment :) </p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0VxNDk_b6xb1eQPCLbGGke2an6Ikwwpn8DayrJOvN4lmBFgQWoSW9zDVlSbaKEXOxOBx85LKw5LCer3U_00Fj8xMid6A2V8XxGGrBRxb0BsAJo-rMDHZuDkPwmnanzTFnw5w7/s1600-h/frankenchick.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393599202987446498" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0VxNDk_b6xb1eQPCLbGGke2an6Ikwwpn8DayrJOvN4lmBFgQWoSW9zDVlSbaKEXOxOBx85LKw5LCer3U_00Fj8xMid6A2V8XxGGrBRxb0BsAJo-rMDHZuDkPwmnanzTFnw5w7/s320/frankenchick.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">The last 2 cake pops - for my breakfast tomorrow! </span></p><p align="left">I still have some cakes in the fridge, waiting for me to decorate them. I'll try to mix some orange colour tomorrow and see if I could make pumpkins out of them. Here's the recipe to the butter cream cheese frosting:</p><p align="left"><br /><u>Ingredients</u></p><div>200 gms icing sugar</div><div>100 gms butter</div><div>200 gms cream cheese</div><div>1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract<br /></div><div></div><div><strong></strong> </div><div><strong>BEAT</strong> the softened cream cheese and butter together and slowly add in the icing sugar and mix until light and fluffy. I only used about 1/2 of this portion in my cake crumbs, you may need more or less depending on your cake size. The original recipe in <a href="http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/cream-cheese-buttercream-frosting">Martha Stewart's</a> website calls for more sugar, but I didn't have that much left in my pantry (thank goodness), and still it came out just nice and not too sweet. Adjust the recipe to your liking.<br /><br />As for the coating, I simply used white chocolate with some oil based food colouring. Becareful not to accidentally mix water into your chocolate (especially if you are using a baine marie). Other materials I used include mini M&Ms, pretzel sticks, chocolate chips and coloured sprinkles. You are free to use whatever you need, you are only limited by your imagination!</div><div></div><div></div><div></div></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-42699368061083930262009-10-12T13:31:00.007+08:002009-10-12T14:07:56.685+08:00Too Early for Halloween?Couldn't make up my mind if I should post this in <a href="http://crafteeguiri.blogspot.com/">craftee guiri </a>or here... but I thought its better to put it here since this poor bloggie has been quite lonely ever since bloggie no. 2 was out.<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh98xg2txj6D7riLyOBFEarfPUwedtJGFsyqT7Fvbo2SswHA8M7Dc9HJl8lcD85JsUGLEKX2sL4kksgNVw7r4y9k9s4rBqspbvE5feCYXQ3UoikGTKL0ed3O5RdA1dwmo0Xr-VU/s1600-h/09TasselsHalloween.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 240px; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391583194497602290" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh98xg2txj6D7riLyOBFEarfPUwedtJGFsyqT7Fvbo2SswHA8M7Dc9HJl8lcD85JsUGLEKX2sL4kksgNVw7r4y9k9s4rBqspbvE5feCYXQ3UoikGTKL0ed3O5RdA1dwmo0Xr-VU/s320/09TasselsHalloween.jpg" /></a><br /><strong><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">Boo!</span></strong></p>Last Saturday Nanci organized a small gathering at her place with a few members from the belly dance tribe and 2 from the yoga tribe :) It took me almost an hour to find her apartment - I'm completely hopeless when it comes to looking for places other than in Cheras :P<br /><br />When I arrived, several of them were already busy in the kitchen preparing some ayurvedic food for all of us to munch on before we work on our belts and tassels. And I did help too! To eat of course! :P The yoghurt mushroom was a favourite among all of us...mmm.. I'm drooling just talking about it.<br /><br />As soon as our tummies were satisfied, we took out the belts and yarns and embellishments and we discusses on ways that we could decorate our belts. While we were busy spinning our yarns on the DVD boxes, Nanci demonstrated to Deda how to make her very own tassel, which she in turn help the rest to make theirs :) <p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEl_52tdI8Vv60EeTmp6nyeiiLc1XQSbvZAhqms4iB4CwE2nr9xudlIHWZ4NOEexLaVqc_4JbEE4pL9Y4uXvADmtLHHgYDq7RE9PVb7qnQANmNuiYJi_r2iAOmKI3rEDVb9rdW/s1600-h/09TasselsHalloween_3_1_1.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391587697036841346" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEl_52tdI8Vv60EeTmp6nyeiiLc1XQSbvZAhqms4iB4CwE2nr9xudlIHWZ4NOEexLaVqc_4JbEE4pL9Y4uXvADmtLHHgYDq7RE9PVb7qnQANmNuiYJi_r2iAOmKI3rEDVb9rdW/s320/09TasselsHalloween_3_1_1.JPG" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Deda helping Nikki to make her tassel</span></p><div>We spent several hours just making tassels, and eating and chatting. Some of us even attempted to pat Kitty, Nanci's very shy cat. And I only managed to complete about 4 tassels, all ended up at different thickness (that shows how much woman's instincts I have). I took them home that night to make some adjustments, and then I realised that one of them was of a different shade of red. And so what did I do with that odd red? Googly eyes and hat, and voila! *grin*</div><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqVQoDBTK8YjGcen71C-8WqfDKpUjhy8iVynxH8cbaruuonP7hRxzpweOjrDum-ymqA6lGXYlSp00HUePMO-eF4QrA7DQW_8AKrWuQjuaaKdvncmLyZ6ubLpELE-Okd0lL8Qk8/s1600-h/09TasselsHalloween_4_2_1.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391587704763461314" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqVQoDBTK8YjGcen71C-8WqfDKpUjhy8iVynxH8cbaruuonP7hRxzpweOjrDum-ymqA6lGXYlSp00HUePMO-eF4QrA7DQW_8AKrWuQjuaaKdvncmLyZ6ubLpELE-Okd0lL8Qk8/s320/09TasselsHalloween_4_2_1.JPG" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Our very first tassel! (Mine's not trimmed yet)</span></p><div>I probably have to finish up my belt at home on my own. But first I'll have to clean off that dust on my mom's sewing machine... and trying to figure out how to use it properly. I'll post the finished belt in <a href="http://crafteeguiri.blogspot.com/">craftee guiri</a>! Stay tuned!</div><div></div><div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-1404202449165716162009-09-08T00:33:00.008+08:002009-09-08T13:33:19.153+08:00What have I been up to?Just the other day my sis said that I've been very quiet with my blog lately. I must admit she's right. I could only blame laziness, procrastination and lack of inspiration for the silence. Somehow I wasn't in quite a mood to update anything. Why? Is it because I've nothing interesting to write about? Not really. Well, here's a quick summary:<br /><br />1) A friend of Joyce's who owns Indulgence @ Tropicana City Mall asked if she could get her students to perform at their opening ceremony. Initially I thought it falls exactly on my mom's birthday, so I didn't agree to go. And I was roped in just the day before after realising the miscommunication! I simply didn't know any of the steps except for the <em>primera copla</em> of the <em>Sevillana</em>, but I participated anyway. Just hid myself in between the rest who were more well-versed with the steps but it's tough since I'm quite tall! :P Made quite a lot of mistakes throughout, but who cares? We had a great time! :)<br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwHgZk_ZgnjqK9-XdB_yeCISFzOlAihDVGF2aFydljr8W65H0deeRZtlUEY8ua113CI1QjY3MszJv-Wr98OpaRwHUjeJuMSx6zYK6g_a0KKwWKFqMXJC29aSULs7wT_uSx_aw7/s1600-h/arteflamenco.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378961451227145074" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwHgZk_ZgnjqK9-XdB_yeCISFzOlAihDVGF2aFydljr8W65H0deeRZtlUEY8ua113CI1QjY3MszJv-Wr98OpaRwHUjeJuMSx6zYK6g_a0KKwWKFqMXJC29aSULs7wT_uSx_aw7/s320/arteflamenco.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Arte Flamenco students @ Indulgence, Tropicana City Mall</span></p>2) I took up swing dance classes with Ming from <a href="http://www.klswing.com/">KLSwing</a>. And coincidentally, just after 4 classes, Matt Bedell from NY happened to be in town and KLSwing organized a welcome party - the Matt Hatter's Tea Party @ <a href="http://attickl.blogspot.com/">Urban Attic</a>. It was a blast! Both TW and I went as poker cards, while we also had Alice, sexy cats, cute bunnies and queens who could schwinggg! Check out their photos <a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo_search.php?oid=39859661648&view=all">here</a>!<br /><br />3) While SS was back in KL sometime in July, we went for a cake decorating class at <a href="http://www.2decoratecakes.com/">ICCA</a>. It was supposed to be a 3 hours session but we end up spending close to 5 hours at the center! Both of us brought home 4 cakes each decorated with fondant. Haha... when we asked the rest of the family members to guess who decorated what... they immediately pointed out the correct ones! Wanna know why? :P<br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVRge56hdDATIwD-wuoU0eHOl45_oPF4ocT5bi4Za_Rs3z3nDFyQJUzwKDaYHKhz7lCqMPWBNohCkr05_ArXfSMuP2oKgtCVn__JGLnK40U6Ks9A_ns2jA8Dx4euO5bkDtBJMB/s1600-h/miniwedcakes_46_1_1.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378955171618065090" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVRge56hdDATIwD-wuoU0eHOl45_oPF4ocT5bi4Za_Rs3z3nDFyQJUzwKDaYHKhz7lCqMPWBNohCkr05_ArXfSMuP2oKgtCVn__JGLnK40U6Ks9A_ns2jA8Dx4euO5bkDtBJMB/s320/miniwedcakes_46_1_1.JPG" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />Mini wedding cake decorating class @ ICCA</span></p>4) Salsa Party @ Urban Attic was just last Friday. Organized by Niels and DJ Vicente from a Cuban band named Habana Revolution, it was a hot latin night. Lucky for me I managed to get TW to do a few merengues and simple salsa with me too. Thanks to the all supporting & encouraging friends out there :)<br /><br />5) And since I'm so obsessed with dancing, I took up belly dance too *grin*! Nanci Traynor, who also teaches yoga is now conducting <a href="http://www.klpac.com/Welcome.asp?c=eduacademyview&academyID=89&academycatID=2">Tribal Belly Dance</a> class at KLPAC. I really enjoy attending her class, and so eventhough I live miles and miles away from the studio, I didn't mind travelling there every Saturday during the busiest time of the day. It's a good thing that she always start the class with a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savasana">Savasana</a> pose first :D<br /><br />6) I finally found the heart to throw away my collection of miniature bottles. They are at least 15-20 years old, probably even more, and some of the contents have already turned into a different colour, leaked out or simply deteriorated. Instead of continuing to keep them and add to my already unbelievable amount of collector's trash, I've decided to just keep photos of them instead.<br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSnL1HUMXNXtNyj7IFHSBDhb-eA0W8TOKnauNIzWlcLhDbo4B5dqO2MS8LAmnGJaDKiI1dgpEf0khZ23G9OinujuEC4JrQ_nb_-i-bcm9S5u6xB3NLPzpWxL7hrjwufnW2ohQK/s1600-h/miniatures.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 192px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378958541175798898" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSnL1HUMXNXtNyj7IFHSBDhb-eA0W8TOKnauNIzWlcLhDbo4B5dqO2MS8LAmnGJaDKiI1dgpEf0khZ23G9OinujuEC4JrQ_nb_-i-bcm9S5u6xB3NLPzpWxL7hrjwufnW2ohQK/s320/miniatures.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">A small sampling of my miniature bottles/samples collections</span></p>6) I completed my very first oil painting(s)! Hehe.. nothing complex... in fact I believe a 10 year old could come up with something better. Still, I'm proud of myself :) Details <a href="http://crafteeguiri.blogspot.com/2009/08/peek-boo.html">here</a>.<br /><br />7) My new blog, <a href="http://crafteeguiri.blogspot.com/">craftee guiri</a> was launched sometime last month. It's dedicated to all my crafty moments and my passion for DIY gifts. I thought it was best to have a focused craft blog rather than cramping everything in here. Now you know why I've been so quiet :P I can't split myself into 2~!<br /><br />OH dear...and I still haven't updated anything about my last Europe trip yet. Bummer.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17008997.post-2953739212373888402009-08-18T00:52:00.005+08:002009-08-18T01:20:50.153+08:00Mango Lime SorbetSome time ago I received a comment wanting to know how to make that Mango Lime Sorbet. Coincidentally I made another batch last week and managed to snap some photos. Here's the recipe that I got from <a href="http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/005119lime_mango_sorbet.php">SimplyRecipes</a>!<br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4AAP0KnSTV5c5qBOklVX4zMwb3C1PE1ILiVmC6ikM5ed0yyq1veOnAHEwETE9oG1DwtsSu2L3C5ij6djiuC7MI-sVtxsgdGusAZ7AUH7wzRO0U3IelXbZyp8tuJ5D9ATaK9bg/s1600-h/mango-limesorbet.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 300px; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370977020244043282" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4AAP0KnSTV5c5qBOklVX4zMwb3C1PE1ILiVmC6ikM5ed0yyq1veOnAHEwETE9oG1DwtsSu2L3C5ij6djiuC7MI-sVtxsgdGusAZ7AUH7wzRO0U3IelXbZyp8tuJ5D9ATaK9bg/s400/mango-limesorbet.jpg" /></a></p><strong>Ingredients (makes slightly more than 1 pint)</strong><br /><br />1 large mango (about 1.5 pounds)<br />A pinch of salt<br />Juice of 3 limes<br />1 tablespoon of tequila (or Choya plum wine)<br />1/3 cup sugar<br />1/3 cup water<br />Lime zest (a little would do)<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">*Note: Adjust the ingredients to match the size of the mango you use</span><br /><br />HEAT sugar, water and lime zest in a small saucepan until the sugar is completely dissolved. Set aside to cool.<br /><br />CUT the flesh out from a mango. Here's a great guide on how to do it properly - <a href="http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/002078how_to_cut_a_mango.php">How to cut a mango</a>.<br /><br />PUT the mango pieces, syrup, salt, and lime juice into a blender. Blend until completely smooth. The last time I tried this recipe I had to use a strainer to get rid of some fibrous pieces, but this time the mango I used was really nice and and smooth, so it wasn't necessary. Pour the puree into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and chill it overnight in the refridgerator.<br /><br />ONCE chilled, pour it into an ice cream maker and add in the tequila. Process the mixture according to the manufacturer's instructions. The alcohol helps prevent the sorbet from being too icy. Transfer the almost frozen mixture into a container and freeze in your freezer for at least 6 hours (or until firm) before serving.<br /><br /><em>Another note</em>: Although the amount of sugar syrup to put in is not meant to be to taste, do check before you pour it all in. At times you may get mangoes that are already sweet, and you may risk having your sorbet too sweet. Also be aware that if you do use less sugar, the texture of the sorbet will tend to be a little icy too. Just experiment and see what fits you best :)<br /><br />Good luck!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0