Bali last week

I was in Bali early last week for a short meeting. It was super hot and I didn't have time to explore much other than an hour walk after dinner and a 20 minute walk after lunch. The shops were selling pretty much the same stuff and it's amazing that the tourists could enjoy the scorching heat and sun tan.

Gathering @ the park in the rain

Last Sat evening, we had the park to ourselves due to the rain. But everywhere was wet and we had to dry Shadow's fur with a piece of cloth. Mom and I stayed longer to keep them company and warm.

Streaks in the sky

Sis noticed this when we were out feeding the community cats this sunny morning.

Scones

Yesterday was my first time making scones, as I always thought it would be difficult doing the rubbing in method for the butter into the flour. After trying it, it wasn't that tough, but it did take some time with a soup spoon in one hand and a knife in the other to coat the chilled butter with the dry mixture and cut into smaller pieces. I thought the scones taste quite nice, but my family don't think they are great.

Pasta feast this weekend

Thanks to S, I cooked penne with his yummy bolognese sauce for lunch yesterday and dinner today. He also made pasta salad with fresh veggies and lovely Italian dressing today and that was my lunch.

Dad's little helper

Cinnamon was very curious and sat near Dad and next to the wooden plank this morning, when Dad was fixing up a new cabinet.

Sunflower sprouts

It was my second time buying this box of sunflower sprouts. I've tried eating it with my noodle soup but I think it's best eaten raw with some savoury food, like my cheese muffin or a slice of sweet bread :)

Cheese yogurt muffin

Since I made a batch of Greek yogurt recently, I surfed for a recipe which uses yogurt, shredded cheese (a packet expiring in oct) and lemon (I like lemon zest). I found one that requires the 1st 2 items, so I just added lemon zest and chocolate chips as a variation. I like the end product, but family isn't too keen on the hint of yogurt. Oh well, I'll finish most of the muffins myself with some help from S :)

Indian food, movie and walk

S and I shared prata and briyani before we watched "To Rome with Love" in the late afternoon. I like "Midnight in Paris" and when I learnt that Woody Allen has a new movie, I was keeping a lookout for it. I watched the first half of "To Rome with Love" during the flight home from Bangkok, but nothing beats watching on the big screen with S and a nice 45 minutes' walk home :)

Sleepy Saturday with Bob

Bob was boarded at Lingcat's place while I was away in Bangkok. Dad and I picked him up after lunch and I spent about an hour napping with Bob before dinner. Last night I had fun taking photos of Bob sleeping on the new bedsheets I got from Aussino. He looked like he was flying :)

Shopping and lunch with parents

Yesterday late morning, I drove to an estate in Ang Mo Kio with parents, as mom has been telling me that a stall at the food centre sells cheap and nice shoes and I thought I should visit it soon. I like a few designs and bought 2 pairs :) Lunch was roast chicken and iced cheng teng at the food centre.

Dense chocolate cake

On the spur of moment, on Fri night, I wanted to bake something and I decided on Nigella Lawson's dense chocolate cake. If you were to goggle, there are a number of blogs and links on her recipe. I made 2 mistakes when starting out to make the cake. I used the microwave to soften the hard butter and ended up melting it. Again with the microwave, I burnt the mini choc chip (supposed to melt them) and caused smoke emitting from the back of the microwave :) Luckily after melting another batch of choc chips over a water bath in the saucepan, the rest of the steps went smoothly. My family and S like the cake. But there is room for improvement, so next time, I will soften the butter by leaving it out of the fridge earlier and I will use a good chocolate bar :)

Work trip in Bangkok

From Mon till Thurs, I was in Bangkok with my colleagues for a meeting. I didn't explore the city much as I was in the hotel most of the time or in my room at night. The room was comfortable, the meals at the hotel were quite yummy and the Thai people organising the meeting were nice and hospitable. Like my previous trips, I always missed home, my family, cats and S.

My "new" bag

I bought this bag from a shop in Harajuku, Tokyo some years back. I like its chirpy colours and have been carrying it occasionally on weekends. Recently I was sad to discover that its sling was flaking. I decided to be creative by replace the flaky sling with an unused old belt. Bob, my model, was more interested in chewing the sling :)

Soft buns at last!

This afternoon I tried my hands again at kneading and baking bread using the "Tangzhong" method. The recipe says to knead for about 10mins depending on how fast and hard one kneads. I took more than 30mins and the dough was still quite sticky but I could see a round hole forming when I stretched a piece of dough. So I just left the sticky dough to double before putting in fillings like cheese, choc chips and cranberries. I was happy with the taste of the cheese bun I shared with Sis. Subtly sweet and soft. I declare the bun to be nicer than the SQ flight bun and sis declared that it is nicer than most of the other stuff I have baked :)

white clouds and blue sky

Aren't they lovely? This was captured when I was on the way to the plane that will bring us back to Singapore.

Angkor Wat again

We visited Angkor Wat on our last day in Siem Reap, but at a later time between 9+ to 10+, before heading to the airport.