FINALLY SOME BAKING

31/3/2014

Hi  folks... I know I have been missing in action.... thanks to new project at the work I am finally busy from morning till time to get home....hahahah.

Finally I  was glad to do  some baking last weekend.... just in time for the Ching Ming rituals the previous Sunday.  I decided to bake some Marbled Butter cakes as my contribution towards the foods offered.

I recall that when we were small, my mother could buy this cake for us every Chinese New Year.  Back then I think it was made with Planta margarine then but it tasted glorious to us.   Later when  she scrimped enough money and finally bought us a Butterfly brand round tabletop oven, we learnt to bake this cake ourselves for the Chinese New Year. This cake has been our family favourite.

I used 2 different recipes:

As you can see from the photo... the top cake used cocoa powder mixed with boiling water to a paste before added to the cake.. very intense colour and flavour!  I used melted dark chocolate (70%) which was added to the cake batter for the bottom cakes..... equally delicious.  Totally satisfied with both the recipes.

Once I started baking,  I wanted to bake more.. 

 how about bananas with salted caramel sauce

Using the butter cake recipe...the bananas and the caramel sauce were sandwiched between the cake batter and baked

wonderful, tantalising aroma and soft moist buttery cake....yummilicious!

Bright sunny day for Ching Ming.... our ancestors must be smiling! 

I WAS DOWN BUT NOT OUT YET

20/3/2014

Missing me?

I was down..... with a bad cold and cough ... thanks to the hazy weather and the stress of water rationing probably...

But I am not out .... of this blog yet.... I will be back .... soon

Have been pretty busy ..... my sister May came back on transit from her trip to Bangalore (India)... charity heart surgery with her group of doctors and nurses.... did some wonderful surgeries and heart warming tales as well.  God bless you all.

Back to work ... and because my boss says I am smart and can do work fast.... so I am being loaded with a new project ..... which started as being "help to type" to now  handle "A to Z"!

Thank You for your compliments but I prefer rewards in cash please.... hahaha.

Well........ nothing is impossible with God and I can do all things through God who strengthen me.

Till  then... have a nice weekend...

SENTOSA ISLAND

9/3/2014

Here are more photos from the Gardens...for me its truly a wonderful place to enjoy....

Imitating the professionals..... only using handphone though!

a last lingering view of Marina Sands..

Dinner was not included in the trip and the guide took us the Chinatown Park complex for our meals. 

the Tourist Information Center 

The Buddhist Temple in the Chinatown featuring the architectural style of the Tang  Dynasty. We were unable to visit as it was already closed.  

This stall displayed a Certificate and the queue was very long here.  Guess the  food must be good- fried meehoon, chee cheong fun, yam Cake and porridge and also the dumplings!  I bought some dumpling back and they are very good indeed especially the green beans dumpling!  

After dinner we were taken to the Hotel Fragrance to check in and hence ended Day 1.

Hotel was a budget hotel, very basic amenities but clean.  

Thanks to my friend we had a good night sleep..... she is a frequent traveller and had her own set of rules when entering a hotel room to ensure a good night sleep....LOL! A good tip she gave me... always bring along some kaffir lime leaves and the lime itself. Anyway this aromatic herb did perfumed the room and helped to relax us.    

Next morning, breakfast was also on our own expenses and the bus took us to the Bugis Junction Food Court.    

Walked around by the Guanyin Temple. 

 

Next stop - Sentosa Island- Resort World Casino.

  

We were given 2 hours to either gamble, shop or visit the Universal Studio (is it possible?) around here as we were to leave for KL after this. 

As I have been to the Universal Studio before, I just walked around.

Then I decided to take the Monorail over to the Vivo Shopping complex..

View along the ride.

And I bought this home from Tang's.....

Happy Call Pan.... have seen some posts on this pan and can't wait to try it out soon. 

Took the monorail back and met up with the rest of the company.  

We left for KL  and on the way back, we stopped at Yong Peng - to YoYo Biscuit Factory and some of the ladies also went for  some fishball soup.   We finally reached KL around 8.00pm.  

This trip has been interesting (at the casinos);  relaxing (by the Gardens)  and fun (with the ladies in the bus)!

Have a great weekend .

LADIES' DAY OUT ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

8/3/2014
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY.

I had a marvellous weekend in the "world's most expensive city" (The Star 8/3/2014) to celebrate the 103rd International Women's Day!

I joined my friend and a group of wonderful ladies (plus a handful of men) for a 2D/1N trip to Singapore. This is a typical "get rich" trip to the casinos with a visit to the Gardens by the Bay throw in.... which I was more interested in.  Since I missed the Gardens the previous visit,  I grab the opportunity this time.

We departed from Kuala Lumpur around 9 a.m. Stopover at Skudai for a 8-course lunch at a Chinese Restaurant (forgot to note the name) and by 2pm we crossed the Singapore border.

By now I guess  most of the passengers must be experiencing the "itchy hands syndrome":D!.... so our first stop was to the Marina Sands Casino.  Since this is my first visit to the casino, I joined my friend at the Roulette table ....the one with a  minimum bet S$5.00 of course.  Lady Luck was with us that day.

After S$50 bet, I won S$80! So with the S$30 win, I decided to quit and went out to take some photos as well as paid a visit to the Skypark.  

Entrance to the Skypark.... the entry fee is S$23.00. However this does not include the Infinity Pool - which was only opened for hotel guests only. I was disappointed as I was looking forward to see this.

Up and away to the Level 56 - Sands Skypark-

The observation deck with its panaroma view - the Gardens by the Bay on the right  and the "Durian" on the left - which is  the Esplanade building along the waterfront which is the venue for performing arts. 

On the opposite side is the Singapore Flyer 

The ArtScience Museum which is beside the Marina Sands 

View of the river.. actually it is not hazy at all.. infact it was  so hot that I just snapped without focus!

 So just walked round the observation deck only ... and then descended down.

 Finally, this is the best photo that I can get from my handphone......

I must  say that most of these ladies were very punctual... on the dot, everyone converged in front of the casino and we were taken for a breath of fresh air next!  

The Flower Dome -spanning 101 hectares with over 380 thousand plants! It is the world's largest columnless greenhouse- the conservatories glass sits on a steel grid shaped like an eggshell.

Up close with the knight in the shining armour on his "wooden" steed!

There are changing floral displays year round and the present theme is "War of the Roses" ie  the feudal war in the 15th century between the Royal Houses of Lancaster and York and featuring over 60 varieties of roses!

 This is a great place for photography buffs!

various sculptures among the plants 

a very very old tree-

"not so old aunty"

 

My friend sitting among the roses..

By the way do you know that there is no black rose  .... they are actually very dark red roses!

From here we strolled over to the Cloud Forest...

I felt instantly refreshed.... looking at this and getting sprayed with the falling mist!
This indoor waterfall is 35 metre tall!

It is covered with lush plants from various nations.

a miniature train station display.

fancy driving this "green" car?

From the ground floor, we took the lift up to level 6 and started our descend via the walkways..which encircle the mountain and the waterfall... 

The cloud walk started from this mystical lake....

and we stepped out onto the aerial walkway ..

sticking as close to the mountain as possible......

You are so high above.....

the mist provide a ethereal and cooling walk and  imagine yourself  walking on the clouds.... unless you are scare of heights..... hahaha!

We completed the cloud walk and went down the escalator to the next level -- the tree top walk. Here you can see and admire  the vertical wall of the plants. 

Soon we reached the ground floor again 

a miniature model of the whole Gardens

enter.. if you dare.....

into the lions lair!

The Supertrees with the OCBC skywalk.  We were not able to see the lighting of these as it was time to leave for our dinner and to check into our hotel.
Hence ended a wonderful and happy day!