♥

Tuesday, June 30, 2009 { 3:41 PM }

Memories are an important part of our lives. However sometimes it's just too painful to remember some things. Some for good reason, others for unpleasant reasons. At the moment I'm having problems coming to terms with certain memories. It was a dream while it lasted but where's my happily-ever-after ending. It's funny how the memories bring a smile and a tear at the same time but I guess it's just something I'd treasure.

Syd/tas, can't wait.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009 { 10:03 PM }

Exams time thus author's on a break. On a side note, megan fox is damn hot and the guy who played the army commander in Transformers is really cute. Transformers is just awesome! =p

Wednesday, June 17, 2009 { 11:18 PM }

I thought I'd get started on kor's birthday cake since I don't have plans to study anymore tonight, not after today's paper and I'd probably be too tired from work tomorrow but sigh... it broke into half when I attempted to turn it over to cool on the wire rack.

Anyhow, guess I'd blog about it and try another recipe tomorrow night or friday.

1 2/3 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
~~~~~~
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup water
~~~~~~
1/2 cup butter
1 3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup milk

Grease and flour pan. Preheat oven 160 degree celcius. Combine the 1st set of ingredients with wire whisk.

Melt chocolate and water in a bowl/pan over water. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar.

Add eggs one at a time.

Add vanilla and mix.

Pour chocolate a little at a time and mix. Combine completely.

Add flour mixture, alternate with milk.

Pour into prepared pan.

Bake 27-35 min until tested with toothpick and cake pulled away from side. Cool and frost.

I forgot to take photos of the final product and I certainly won't take photo of the broken into half cake because frankly I'm quite disappointed. One, I didn't grease and flour the pan enough and against my better judgment, I didn't use the baking paper. Two, I realised I only added 2 eggs instead of 3 -.-. How could I be sooooo stupid???

To serene: hopefully there's enough photos to entice you to get an oven and electric whisk so you can try the recipe =p

Off to bed, work tmr.

Go away murphy's law!

{ 4:33 PM }

note to self:

no matter how tired you are, never drink a double shot tall mallocino before exams. wait, maybe never do it at all.

here's hoping to sympathy marks.

Monday, June 15, 2009 { 8:42 PM }

Dear God,

Give me the strength, knowledge and perseverance to get thru the exams, to get past the shadows of my past, to do what's right, to love myself and change for the better.

I know I've let myself down in ways this semester and I'm willing to do what it takes to get through the exams. My dreams of HDs might be impossible, but surely it'll be possible to aim for at least 2 Ds.

Guide me along as I try my best to understand the notes and calculations. Push me when I want to give up. Show me the path to my future for I find myself at the crossroads once again.

With Love,
Amen,
-ting

{ 3:18 PM }

Dear body,

Please be kind and do not finally succumb to illness during this crucial period. Then again, do not succumb to any illness at all for plans to play have been made after the exams. Please let the cough go away asap and do not let it develop into anything else.

Dear mind,

Please do not be lazy and give up upon seeing daunting statistics questions. Keep trying and I'm sure you'd get it sooner or later. Try to understand and memorise the notes because alot is at stake this semester. Persevere.

Love,
Me

Sunday, June 14, 2009 { 10:36 PM }

well i know i'm supposed to study but the thoughts of eclairs were just way tooooo tempting =p hahaha

Choux pastry:
200ml water
120g butter
1 cup (250ml) flour
5 eggs
pinch of salt

Cream:
500 ml cream
250g sugar

Chocolate topping:
150g cooking chocolate
60g butter

Step 1: Boil water and butter
Place small pan on medium heat. Add water, butter, salt and bring to boil. Set oven to 190 degree Celsius.

Step 2: Make choux dough
Once boiling, add flour to pan of water and stir well with wooden spoon till it forms a smooth dough. Set aside to cool. (This step is important as the flour needs to be cooked for the pastry to rise later.)

Step 3: Make pastry cream
Add cream and sugar into large bowl. Whisk continuously until cream starts to form stiff peaks. (It's easier to use a electric whisk.) Cover bowl with cling wrap and refrigerate till needed.

Step 4: Add eggs to pastry
Ensure pastry has cooled down before adding in eggs one by one and thoroughly combine using wooden spoon between each eggs until dough has formed a smooth, elastic appearance. (Pastry has to be cooled or there'll be an eggy taste.)

Step 5: Transfer dough into piping bag
Put pastry dough into piping bag, pipe onto baking tray covered with greaseproof paper. Pipe into roughly 3cm wide and 15cm long, log shaped cylinders.

Step 6: Bake
Place baking tray into centre of preheated oven and bake for approximately 20 minutes. Do not open oven.

Step 7: Remove from oven
Once baked, remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Step 8: Making chocolate sauce
Place chocolate and butter in a bowl and melt over a pan of water on low heat. Allow to melt slowly.

Step 9: Fill with cream
When cooled, slice length of eclairs with sharp knife and make a slight opening. Fill eclairs with cream using spoon or piping bag.

Step 10: Decorate with chocolate
With a spoon, dribble melted chocolate lengthways over each eclair and leave to cool.

A very happy althea eating instead of helping lol.

Other random photos thru the week

Being bullied as usual lol

Bullying the poor dog lol

seafood basket!! =)

and comments please on my new hair colour =p

Friday, June 12, 2009 { 4:39 PM }

Suddenly in the mood to blog, lol, have quite a few unpublished post about my past few days but i'm too lazy to edit nor post it =p lol but as you can see from the photos below it was a blast =p

anyway quite a while back there was this conversation about staying friends once you've broken up. i guess it's not impossible but sometimes it can be quite hard. i think of all my ex i only occasionally talk to one or two. sometimes it's no fault of mine that they dont really want to communicate and i just give up finding them to say hi on msn and such.

so back to the topic, do you stay friends once you've broken off? i guess it really depends on the reason you've broken off, how it was done and probably who initiated it. sometimes it might be a good thing to just have a break, on occasions it does make you remember why you've fallen in love with the person in the first place. other times it might just be a mistake. you end up having a moment of folly and things get awkward or worse. but i guess generally with time, it's not impossible to be friends again although it does feel a little awkward when you see someone you've loved be with someone else.

personally i've always felt it's such a shame not being able to be friends after breaking up with your other half. you weathered through storms together, technically the person knows you best and you pretty much open yourself up to that person even more than anyone else. soul mates might not be the best word but i think the essence is there.

moving on, what happens to the friends you made during the relationship? More often than not you end up making friends with the other half's friends, of course the exception will be when you were all one group of friends and then feeling started developing.

for the latter i guess it does make things awkward, friends wont know if they should invite both parties out or if feelings would be hurt if one one was invited out. sides might have to be chosen, or things would be back to before if things were handled maturely.

for the former it becomes weird i guess. does breaking up with someone means breaking up with their friends? i dont necessarily think so. personally i dont feel there's anything wrong hanging out with the friends and it doesnt really matter that they met because of the other half. what's important is that they've met and that they're friends. you can meet a hundred, a thousand, a million even friends through your other half but it does not necessarily mean that you'd become friends nor even be considered as acquitances.

i think it's the same as introducing your circle of friends. just because you fell out with group A, you've to ask group B to be on your side even through group A and B have became good friends.

anyway to set records straight, i'm not bitter over the fact of the new other half thing, i'm just bitter that i made such a mistake and i nearly fell into it again and that i even tried to protect the person, it's more of how stupid i was.

fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009 { 11:48 AM }