Baking madeleines

Dad and mom bought 2 madeleine trays from Daiso some weeks back and I had been wanting to try baking madeleine. I initially wanted to bake them yesterday on my birthday but ended up spending the afternoon clearing office emails. I prepared the batter last night and kept in fridge for baking today. The madeleines turned out a bit too oily as I may have coatwd the moulds with too much oil. But they are still edible.

Fat Cat looking for a job?

Yesterday morning, Fat Cat's teeth and gum didn't give him too much discomfort, so he settled down quite fast in eating his breakfast. I didn't notice the newspaper placemat was from Recruit until a friend pointed it out to me :)

Waking up with Bob on weekends

I could linger on the bed longer with Bob on weekends and see how he sleeps/rests in such adorable manner. Yesterday I captured him in various poses :)

That Sneaky Cat Shop

Sister has just opened her shop on Etsy.

 It's called "That Sneaky Cat Shop" and she describes her creations as 

"Sterling silver, gold filled, brass and gemstone adornments made with love and in limited quantities. From elegantly simple vintage-inspired jewelry to whimsical pops of color for when you just want something fun.  Every piece is lovingly made by me and is a piece I would happily wear. I'm inspired by vintage jewelry, nature, architecture, sometimes a word or phrase - many, many things!" 

Check out her shop, if you are in need of pretty trinkets :)

What are important to me?

I was on a 10-day course recently and one of the interesting things that our training facilitator got 18 of us to do was to draw on a small paper cake box what are important to us individually. On top of the box, I drew my family, S and ABC. If I have more time, I would draw the community cats too :)

What do ABC do at night?

Sleeping, staring and acting cute :)

Alumni gathering at my secondary school

On 12 Apr, my old friend of 20 years and I met to attend our secondary school alumni gathering. On the way, we saw a friendly cat at the void deck of a block of flats and gave him our attention. When we reached the canteen of our school, it was packed with ex-students much younger than us, busy catching up with their friends and teachers. We bought our dinner from a stall and it cost only $1.80 and the teriyaki fish with veggie and rice tasted like a home cooked meal. Our dear friend, one of the organizers for the event, briefly chatted with us for a while, before we made our way home.

Cooking my weekend meals

On weekends I enjoy cooking meals for myself, as I can add lots of vegs and season with just enough salt and black pepper. I guess it's kind of like a hobby :) and it's nice to be able to feed myself with healthy and not yucky food. Haha

Healthy quick bread

I've been wanting to try one of the recipes using spelt to make a quick bread. Today was the day and it was fairly simple and fast to prepare. With baking soda instead of yeast, the bread muffins turn up hard and dry outside and only a little soft inside. The honey taste isn't detectable but there is a slight nutty smell from the spelt flour. They will be eaten up by me alone as my family prefers soft bread. I tried one which was quite yummy with strawberry jam :)

Baking 1234 cake again

I made cupcakes from the 1234 cake recipe in Jan. On Sat, I baked the batter in the square Pyrex dish and melted Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate bar with a little bit of butter and low-fat milk and almond. When the cake was ready, I cut it up into pieces, spread the chocolate ganache between the sandwiched pieces and on top. I like the taste better than the earlier attempt :)

Angel and thunder

Angel was wide-eyed when there was thunder in the mid-afternoon. I stroked him for a while before he slowly moved to one of the rooms.

Bob and napping

I brought Bob home at the start of the long weekend, after entrusting S to take care of him for 2 days and 3 nights. I enjoy watching Bob taking his naps in cute poses. And the past few days I caught him "in action".

Cinnamon and Sis

Cinnamon adores Sis. She likes watching sis making her jewelry. Recently she even napped next to her :)

Cooking my lunch

On Fri and Sun (yesterday), I decided to cook as I was tired of eating outside food. When cooking for myself, I can find whatever veggies in the fridge, and season with ketchup, chilli/black pepper and salt. Usually they taste quite yummy :)

Souvenirs from a good friend's solo trip to Japan

FT was back in office early last week after her week-long holiday to Tokyo, Nara and Kyoto. She shared with us a bit of her positive experiences in Japan and we were smiling and laughing. The sweet girl also gave me the maccha bean snack and a cute cloth that I could use to wrap a small lunch box. I wonder when I will visit Japan.

Portobello fries, soba, kangkong and dessert

We gathered at SP's place and while catching up, FR showed us how to make portobello fries. It was simple and SP made a few sotong (squid) version too. For carbs, we stir-fried soba with cherry tomatoes and sotong. FR and I had a lighter version of cold soba in dashi soup. The kangkong whipped up by SP added some spice to our dinner. I was busy eating the cakes and pastries that I forgot to take a photo of them :)

Chinese tea appreciation by Pekoe Imp

From 5+ to 6+pm, I had an enjoyable time, chatting and learning about 8 different Chinese teas from friendly Pekoe and Imp at their pop up store in Atomi at Mandarin Gallery. Sniffing and sipping the warm tea from a pretty cup, admiring the cute little tea pots and understanding more about teas have been an interesting experience. It is also inspiring to see the 2 ladies doing this project/business to share their love and knowledge of Chinese tea. Now that I discover the liking for light Oolong and Darjeeling, I must shop for them one day :)

"Animals & Our Community" event

This event gave me a reason to visit Toa Payoh Hub, when usually I will be home. The dogs, cats and rodents are there this weekend and hopefully they can find good owners and homes. When I was staring at the cute hamsters, I wondered if I will ever go back to keeping them. Somehow I am still very attracted to cats :)

Retreat @ Food Playground

This morning, 8 of us had a fun time learning how to make winged bean prawn salad, laksa sphaghetti and pandan creme brûlée from scratch. At Food Playground at Craig Road, we were divided in 2 teams and learnt from 2 friendly ladies steps and tips to make the 3 dishes. We had a wonderful lunch of what we whipped up, before heading back to office.

Failed attempt @ baking chips

I wanted baked crispy potato chips and sweet potato chips. On Sat, I attempted to make them, but it wasn't as easy as I thought as the potatoes are quite moist and would not dry up. The end result was more like roasted thin slices of potatoes. Haha. They were quite yummy and I stir fried some of them with veggies for lunch today :) I will just stick to buying potato chips when I have the craving.

Baking, cooking and pet therapy

After a busy work week, I needed all these to rejuvenate :)

Bob's short stay at S' place

I had to trouble S to take care of Bob for a few days the past week, as I had to work late. Bob would endure being cuddled in S' arms and have his tummy rubbed for a short while :) it was also a rare sight to have Angel visiting my room.

Chocolate sponge cake and ganache

I had not attempted baking sponge cake since secondary 2 until this afternoon. After remembering how tiring to whisk the eggs and producing charred sponge cake during my secondary 2 Home Economics test, I only started toying with the idea of baking it recently. I like the light cake and when I saw a simple recipe on Guardian online, I used a few hours this afternoon to whisk the egg yolks and whites separately until arms ached :) it was therapeutic. The chocolate ganache helps to make the cake look pretty and taste more interesting due to the turbinado sugar and fine salt I sprinkled on top.