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.

Lunch, abalone and Bob

Today's lunch was the leftover curry and caixin veggies with the can of abalone from S. Bob must be attracted to the smell of abalone, as it was the first time he jumped onto the table when we had our meals. I quickly snapped a few photos before carrying him down :)

Butterflies and flowers in the park

This morning while feeding Shadow in the park, we were also admiring the butterflies fluttering around the pretty flowers.

3 nights of feasting

From the eve to the 1st 3 days of Chinese New Year, we had our dinners and gatherings with our aunts (mom's sisters) and their family. We do meet a few times a year and it's nice to be able to catch up with our aunts and our 2 favorite cousins during this period.

Friendship and love

I have also received gifts from S, sis (lovely ring and necklace she made) and friends, as well as souvenirs (cute lunch bag and cat calendar) from 2 friends from their recent Japan holiday and 2 cards. What is important to me is the friendship and love from these people as well as those friends who have been supportive with their words of concern and encouragement. thanks :)

Gifts, stickers and tapes

Besides the gifts from SP and FR, I also saved the stickers and tapes from their gift wrapper and pasted them onto my schedule cum diary. Pretty!

Gathering, kimchi and pizza

I decorated 6 of my cupcakes before joining the girls at SP's home yesterday afternoon. We wanted to swim initially but it started to drizzle and we had to run back to the house. After the exchange of gifts, and a board game, we made pizza and gingerbread cookies. FR also brought her yummy homemade kimchi. Great food and company!