Xmas Gathering @ Kweks' 2010

Xmas Gathering @ Kweks' 2010, a set on Flickr.

A BIG THANKS to Vincent's Bro who booked the BBQ just for us whom wanted to have BBQ for very loooooooooong time when Dennis and Eunice had stopped inviting us to BBQ at their place(where we find their place is the best place for outdoor bbq, well, nevermind) ;p We did the potluck bbq as we can eat what everyone would prepare for everybody. Needless to say, if we are not preparing anything at all, Kwek's Mother will surely fill our stomach with lots of her delicacy!!!!! She would prepare food for the children and the elderly and even US! Gosh, we really admire her spirit to COOK for so many people! Aunty! You made us feel so LUCKY! ;p

Xmas party @ Tans' House!

SMAS02, originally uploaded by xterlim.

After years of celebrating Christmas at our place, it was Tan's turn to be the host for this Christmas celebration. Nothing much to prepare except crazy shopping for Christmas presents for the family members! ;) Kids played together, entertained us with their Christmas carols and dance and a very joyful food catering from though I still preferred homecook food! ;p It was a joyous evening with the families and thanks to Tans for being a wonderful host! Cheers and Merry Christmas!

My Gingerbreadbabies in Jar

My Gingerbreadbabies in Jar, originally uploaded by xterlim.

YES! It has to be FRESHLY BAKED! for this Christmas ;)

My intention for this year end was to take a break for this year Christmas bakery... I'd rejected a couple of friends' order for my signature gingerbreadbabies in jars! I felt so bad about it... more and more orders just came in eventually! This show they love my gingerbreadbabies!!! No disappointment for anybody anymore! My Christmas spirit goes up and in my mind is JUST DO IT!

And I'm happily baking in the kitchen :D

A Trip to Macua and Hong Kong with my family!

Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car, originally uploaded by xterlim.

My in laws had been bugging us to go overseas trip with them all these years! And yes, we made this trip came true! Initially, we thought we would be going somewhere tropical like Bali or Phuket for resort stay. My sis in law had planned a 4 days 3 nights stay at Macau Venetian Hotel! So it would be more like eating and shopping trip for all of us! :) We spent 3 nights at Macau stay, the hotel was beautifully built with Italy's Venice concept! Feel like in Venice when arrival! :p The room was in European style, grand and feel very cosy, in this album my niece Janice will show you around ;)

On 2nd day, we took a boat to Hong Kong which took us 2 hours to reach there! We spent 1 day for Hong Kong trip to Da Yu Shan when we took 25 minutes ride on the crystal cabin cable car! What was so great about this cable car, it was see through glass bottom! It has to be crystal cabin cable car ok! The ride was breath-taking and our hearts were pumping nervously! ;p I must say the view around us from 360 degree was AWESOME! Gosh, we had crossed over the mountains and sea! Next, We went to Ngong Ping village for a hearty lunch meal. Took our time and walk to Tian Tan, yes we were climbing up to the stairs and pay respect to Giant Buddha! The young ones climbed really fast... as the elderly took their time, rest a little while and continue climbing. For us, we were just making everybody was ok :) The sun was behind the Giant Buddha, the view was glaring, I must say the climb was kinda tough but we made it to the the top! without any doubt!! The view around the Buddha statue was breathtaking and beautiful... wind just breezed into our mind and forgot all about the tedious climb ;p I asked my nieces, have they counted the number of steps they'd climbed, none of us did the counting XD Going down the steps wasn't an easy thing to do so especially for the elderly... the steps were steep and we have to take one step at a time to climb down... Finally, we reached the ground floor and treat ourselves ice cooling ice creams! :D This trip could take us a day just to visit the Giant Buddha :)

On the 3rd day, we took a cab to Da Shan Ba where you can find famous church named the Ruins of St. Paul's. You can find famous Portuguese egg tarts and lots of freshly baked Macau almond cookies just nearby the church. Beside, we'd visited one designer shop and bought some nice souvenir nearby :) There were quite a few place we haven't covered, this website would be useful if we are going there again - http://www.macauheritage.net/en/default.aspx

Our final things to do was SHOPPING! We bought fashion, gadgets, and not forgetting Macau famous almond cookies :) www.choi-heong-yuen.com

Last but not least, we'd a great time together at Macau and Hong Kong although it was just a short trip :)

Let's go AFA!

AFAX91, originally uploaded by xterlim.

Yes, I just got recovered from my terrible cough and sore throat that I even cancelled my classes for being vocal-less for days last week... I think it was the hot weather plus people were spreading the germs all around :s This time, it was Joeel's turn :s But, he managed to take enough rest for so many upcoming events!

On 13th Nov Saturday morning, I happened to have term break from work and we had a good breakfast at the Chong Pang hawker, we were chatting abt Teos during our breakfast, like maybe sometimes we should meet up once in a while for breakfast at Chong Pang as they stay at sembawang area :D And all the sudden, SL "poped" out right in front of our sight! Gosh, we were FREAKED OUT!!!!!!!!! They came here for breakfast too! Then we decided to call all our friends for AFA event! Let's go AFA!

Teos and Kweks were going to AFA with us as the rest were busy. We met Teos at their place for a warm lunch prepared by CY. Together with their children, they started to "warm up" with us as we chatted a lot during our meal time! 2yo Ning stayed awake througout the event, gosh, she didn't need a nap at all while her 4yo brother Peng was in a deep sleep and missed the exhibition! Kwek's 4yo Val dressed up! She told me she was a Ballerina! So cute! And she's one of the youngest cosplayer there!

At the end of the day, we met Lims for dinner at Changi T3! And I remembered how Ning tagged along with me whenever I go! I think she likes Aunty Esther ;p What a FULL DAY gathering with so many friends and little friends! :D

The next day morning, we had an exciting appointment with the cycling groups to PCN (Park Connector North) cycling trip! After the cycling trip, we went on to our next event AFA again! This time, it was all about cosplay photography! We were amazed by all the cosplayers who posed for us naturally whenever we approached them for photo-taking! They were indeed young and professional, you can tell most of them handmade their own costumes and accessories, not only that, the gadgets and weapons... they resembled very much from the Anime characters! It was an eye-opening event for many viewers and audiences! At the end of the day, we met CK and family for dinner at Mum's stall, Baby Avery started to eat solid food prepared by her Mum :)  My poor Joeel lost his voice... he was going to need a lot of rest after so many events... it was indeed a marathon events for both of us ;p

North PCN cycling trip

_DSC5276, originally uploaded by xterlim.

We woke up early in the morning at 6am, had our considerably heavy breakfast, got ourselves ready and dressed up for a long cycling trip planned by Joeel and arranged to meet others at Yishun stadium. We set off at 7am from our home at Woodlands, the weather was just nice and drizzling bits of rain... we took 30 minutes to reach Yishun stadium and met up with big groups of cyclists. We took groups photos and set off batch by batch because the groups were too BIG! It wasn't easy to follow too close with others as safety come first and we all knew we had to go slow. During the journey, we saw people cycled very fast, slipped and fall from the bike as the floor was too slippery :s I must say when we bypassed Macritchie Reservoir, it was a beautiful scenery with mild morning light that make ones feel so gentle breeze... We didn't stop, we continued cycling until we reached the farm area... the up slope was not too bad but when we went down slope it was so SHIOK! Until we reached the up slope from the WL Ave 12 park, it was tough... and one female jogger asked, "Can you balance??" Gosh, I think I did terrible balance on my bike! Worse, we even witnessed one of the cyclists crushed and fall into a male jogger and got a good scolding from him... Glad both were ok...Gosh, that was the toughest up slope! Finally, we reached our finishing point! Waterfront! crowded with people and events... Yes, it was an opening event for all park connector from North. Joeel told me, we had cycled 24km for 3 full hours! Gosh, I didn't know I can make it so far... Although it was pretty tough in some of the route, but the experience was fantastic! All our negativism had sweat off man!

Avery Loves Daisy Flower

Avery Loves Daisy Flower, originally uploaded by xterlim.

I carried my baby niece to my mini garden and said, "Meet my friend, orange daisy flower!" Avery grinned and smiled when she saw the bright orange flower that smiling back to her too! What a lovely greeting! :D

Halloween Party 2010

Halloween47, originally uploaded by xterlim.

Joeel and I were having a great horror fun at Clarke Quay Atrium on last Sat night! We were there to do our creative face paint work at the Bacardi Halloween Event! The crowd was CRAZY! Everywhere was queuing with people at the clubs/pubs and vehicles at the carpark/traffic, jammed packed even in the middle of the night! We didn't know Singapore celebrated Halloween and had became one of the MUST HAVE Festival/events for everybody! We saw people in different horror costumes and masks and even makeup! Not only that some even dress up in their cos play costumes! which made this Halloween so INTERESTING!

Earl Grey Tea Cake

Earl Grey Tea Cake, originally uploaded by xterlim.

I have no idea, my bakery mood is back AGAIN! Maybe, I have not worked in the kitchen for a long time ;p I think all my equipments are calling for me... and all the waiting lists of things I want to do getting more and more... Joeel is smiling after he'd a bite from this cakes ;p And yes, I would like to share this with my love ones too ;)

Vegetarian Style Pizza

Pizza Veg01, originally uploaded by xterlim.

It was actually mixed mushrooms pizza with fresh salad toppings! It's a treat for ourselves after so many non-stop weekends work! Phew, finally we got to relax and had our comfort food ;p Yumyum...

Too bad, CK & JY had sore throat, else it will be a "bonus" dinner for them ;p Gosh, I'm beginning to miss Baby Avery!!!!!!!! Avery, Gugu misses YOU!!!!! ;p

GuessWho16

GuessWho16, originally uploaded by xterlim.

Mdm Kwa Geok Choo, a person to remember in our heart who had been a supportive wife of the Singapore Leader Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Mother of Prime Minister Lee Hisen Loong.

Full Bloom

Full Bloom, originally uploaded by xterlim.

More and more buds growing on the way! They make my days! All I need is to give them enough water and sunshine! :D

Crispy Fried Ebi

Crispy Fried Ebi, originally uploaded by xterlim.

All you need is fresh medium size prawns! Shelled the prawns' body, leave the head and the tail, so when you fried them they still look like prawns in finished product ;) Score the prawns' bottom about one finger away(3 scores in total), press down gently to make it straighten on the tray, lay them in a row, dab dry with kitchen paper and season with some salt.

Heat up the cooking pot with oil ( I used vegetable oil for deep frying)

Prepare a tray with 3 sections which I bought it from Daiso $2 shop.

1st Section: Flour
You can use potato starch, corn flour or plain flour for the first dip.
Tips: I added some cracked black pepper, garlic powder and parsley flakes to the flour. You can use seaweed flakes too or try other spices like curry, cumin or chilli for spicy taste ;p

2nd Section: Egg
After the first coat, dip the prawns to the beaten egg.

3rd Section: Bread crumbs
Transfer the bath egg prawn to the breadcrumbs, coat them nicely in speed then fried it in the hot oil.

Turn the heat to medium flame.

Continue coating the prawns in 123 sections and one by one, fry them about 4 to 5 pieces in a pot, do not overcrowd the pot or else the prawns has no place to "swim" in the oil, allow space to cook them evenly. Fried until golden brown in colour, put them on the soaking oil kitchen paper.

Transfer to serving plate and serve with your favourite dipping sauce.

Enjoy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VALENE & VALENCIA!

VSB07, originally uploaded by xterlim.

It was a long weekend and I suggested to bake birthday cakes for the Kwek's twins as one of their birthday presents, they even cancelled their cake order to accept my home bake cakes just for their twins... gosh, I was so touch, not only that, my expectation to bake them a cake each is even higher... and I thought it was even more challenging comparing to fun! And eventually, my Joeel joined the fun too XD
Their parents requested for something bright for the children party and they think of the sesame street characters that resemble their twins, Cookie Monster and Almo Monster... Haha, there are my fav characters too! There, I baked cookies and a chocolate cake for Cookie Monster for Valene, strawberry cake for Almo Character for Valencia!

Happy Birthday Twins!

Devil's Curry Chicken

Devil's Curry Chicken, originally uploaded by xterlim.

It's yogurt and milk base curry replaced from coconut milk and asam ;)
Totally LOW in fat and appetising :) This recipe is shared by a friend Chunying :)
And I'm cooking my version by adding lemon grass with the chicken when cooking with the curry/chilli paste, not forgetting to add cherry tomatoes and quail eggs to add fun to this curry :) Love love its devilish hot and spicy taste and the sourness come from the yogurt! ;p

Baked Eggy Bread

Baked Eggy Bread, originally uploaded by xterlim.

A happy and filling breakfast to be served just this morning and we just love it!

It's easy to make.

I used leftover bread that I baked at home.

3 main ingredients I used are bread, tomatoes and eggs!

For 2s
Preheat the oven 200C/225C

Grease the bowls with butter/olive oil
1 slice of bread (half on each bowl), tear it into pieces.
Place 3 cherry tomatoes (6 in total) (cut in quaters) onto the crumple breads.
Add a slice of cheese (2 slices in total) (tear it into pieces) layer onto the cherry tomatoes.
Spread a tablespoon of ready made paste sauce (I used campbell traditional pasta sauce).
Sprinkle some salt and pepper.
Drizzle some olive oil.
Make a little well, crack an egg, drizzle some olive oil again and bake in the oven for 15-20min

Serve HOT in the morning!

You'll love it!

Grilled Chicken Thigh with Tomatoes Pasta Sauce Spagetti

Grilled Chicken Thigh with Tomatoes Pasta Sauce Spagetti, originally uploaded by xterlim.

I haven't been cooking for a long time!! as I was too tight up with work and find no chance to have really a gooooooood meal at home... But in my mind, I always crave to cook something nice for my Joeel! Yes, he missed the tomato traditional sauce pasta, to have extra "bonus" for his non stop hard work from his job, grilled chicken must have to be added on this dish... there, a wonderful dinner to cheer ourselves up on a lovely Sunday evening :) Bon appetit!

2 Chicken Thighs (marinated with soy sauce, pepper, white wine, garlic powder & olive oil for 30min) Grilled the thighs on the press iron grill for 10-15min, I used philip brand ;) For oven, preheat the oven (225C) before marinate the meat, grill them on the metal grill on the top shelf and cook for 10-15min.

Boil 2 portion of spagetti in a pan with some salt & olive oil (10min)
Drain the spagetti and season with some olive oil.

1 can of campbell traditional pasta sauce with fried chopped onions in the hot frying pan, add 1 cup of small prawns and cook together.

Serve HOT together on a plate as one dish meal, pour the hot cooked pasta sauce onto the spagetti, add some green ( I used lettuces for some crunches)

ENJOY!

My Makeup Pouch: False Eyelashes

Hi All,

My Sis in law shares her expertise in make up! She's also doing freelance make up in Bridal, if you are interested, you can contact her and follow up her blog!

Here's her latest make up tips!

My Makeup Pouch: False Eyelashes: "The use of false eyelashes has been increasingly popular and I can see many ladies (even the younger ones) putting on false eyelashes to get..."

Picnic At Marina Barrage

PB31, originally uploaded by xterlim.

We'd a wonderful time together at Marina Barrage with my good old friends and their children! It was not easy to get everybody together at the same time! As some couldn't make it to join us in last minutes! But one thing we know is... We'd a GREAT time!

Princess Avery

Princess Avery, originally uploaded by xterlim.

Finally, we have time together and made this just for Baby Avery!

Baby Avery's 1st full month is coming around the corner this Saturday.
This is going to be her 1st month present from 姑姑 and 姑丈!

The making: We mixed and match the decoration, some pinks and different shades of greens to blend with the overall look of the scrapbook. Very well planned and smoothly done made this scrapbook a fun one to make!

Baby Avery is Daddy and Mummy's beautiful princess :)

Happy First Month Baby Avery!

Chocolate Chip Macadamia Cookies

Chocolate Chip Macadamia Cookies, originally uploaded by xterlim.

Geraldine Sis came and visit us for some foto shoot and Jeanne came along! "Jiumu, I wana bake!" Ok, let me see what do I have in my kitchen... here we baked chocolate chips macadamia cookies! Easy and fast to bake and also yummy too ;p

Jeanne is a happy baker today!

My Niece Avery

A11, originally uploaded by xterlim.

My niece Avery was born on 30th April 2010. She's the niece I love to see her "AVERY"(Every) day! Grow beautifully my dear niece!

Freeze the nature

Flower Frosted02, originally uploaded by xterlim.

Here's the intro, a photography to allow us to go into deeper thought and art form... a visual to explore photography art in different formation... there... we experiment...

Homemade Lemonade

Homemade Lemonade, originally uploaded by xterlim.

Prepare this lemonade in the morning or previous night before your good night sleep ;)

2 lemons, wiped and slice
60g brown sugar
1 litre water

Mix the lemons with the water and sugar. Leave to macerate for 12hours in the refrigerator, stiring intermittently to dissolve the sugar, and best to serve and drink cold! ;p

Best to serve it with ice, drink it COLD on the super HOT Day! It helps to cool down the body! ;)

Love note from the LEMON: "I'm a natural disinfectant! I'm rich in Vitamin C and Citrus flavonoids that have a powerful antioxidant function. I will strengthen your immune system and prevent infection and disease! I'm your super hero!"

Hair Makeover

Hair Makeover, originally uploaded by xterlim.

My new hair cut by Tony Yeo from Cheour Hair Salon!
He's good and very detail in every cuts and slices for new dimensions for my hair! Well done Tony! I feel new and refreshing everyday!

Joeel love my new hairdo too and even take foto of my new look! ;p

Blueberry Vinegar 26.04.10

Blueberry Vinegar 26.04.10, originally uploaded by xterlim.

I still have this big bottle of Sakamoto black vinegar waiting for us to consume... We'd finished the apple flavor one and we love the zipper scents! Joeel doesn't like strong vinegar smell, what should I do for this one cos it's just pure black vinegar?? Hey! Let's try blueberry flavor vinegar!!! I just bought a book called FOOD IS MEDICINE from kinokuniya and happen to flip this page! Let me share this recipe with all of you ;p

300g blueberries
700ml white wine vinegar or cider vinegar (I used Sakamoto Black Vinegar)

Put the blueberries in a hermetically-sealable pickling jar. Pour over the vinegar and seal the jar tightly. Leave to macerate in a cool, dark place for 2 weeks. Strain and bottle the vinegar.

Who will be my guests in 2 weeks time ;p Hehe...

Shitaki Mushroom Pizza Toast

Shitaki Mushroom Pizza Toast, originally uploaded by xterlim.

A good treat for ourselves for the beginning of the day... we had been painting for last 2 days non stop under the hot sun with the windy cloudy day!

I happened to find there're 2 more slice of wholemeal bread left in the fridge, a cheese sausage in the freeze and shitaki mushroom! There, we had this pizza toast to give ourselves a BIG TOAST for completing the post box painting! CHEERS!

Stamp02: Bad day to start painting

Stamp02 photo04, originally uploaded by xterlim.

It was a bad day for us...

It rained the whole day and we couldn't even start our work on the spot... we were waiting for our IC Ella to bring the giant umbrella to shelter the wet postbox... Waited for 2 hours...Ella arrived with umbrella which didn't work at all, ... it was still raining though... Happily, we started to lay all the things under our own small umbrellas, clean and dry the postbox under the giant umbrella, there, we painted the base colour first. Happiness turned to Sadness, even we have the umbrella, the rain "spill and splash" washed the paint away accompanied with the strong wind blowing :s Standing aimlessly and hopelessly under the giant umbrella, the paint was still wet under the wet wet wet weather...

Eventually, the event photographer and videographers came and witnessed the weather...

Hopelessly, we made a final decision and decided to stop painting and come back on the next day!

Let us hope for a better day to start our postbox painting ;)

STAMP 02

(Click the title to see the top 40 gallery)
YES! We'd made it to the TOP 4o for painting the postbox painting competition!

Wish us best of luck!
Let us pray for good weather for tomorrow Saturday and next day Sunday for our painting days!!!

I'M BACK!

Hi again! Gosh, I really MISSED my own blog so so much....

I missed blogging what I used to do when my friends who started encouraging me to...After some unhappiness and negativity going on around me had indeed been affecting my mood on blogging and updating the happy moments I had with Joeel, family, friends and my students... Yes, I'd stopped blogging for a while... I hate to do this... my blogger friends kept bugging me to blog again! Even Joeel said I shouldn't stop... they encouraged me... and here I am... I'M BACK! :D

Singapore Sentosa Lights of Spring 2010

Singapore Sentosa Lights of Spring 2010, a set on Flickr.

Our DSLR regulars would not miss any CNY flower events at Sentosa! Our photography kakis David & Vincent will never say no when we asked them along!

Singapore Sentosa Lights of Spring was certainly a beauty in the night... For those who missed it, it could be a pity ;p