What Am I Doing

Nothing.

Wow. My past blog posts has been either about food or me blabbering how I am doing nothing. This is such an interesting blog, right?

Today was my sister's birthday and I did not do anything. I feel terrible. I know I should have done something instead of lying down and lazing all day. I have just ran out of ideas.. Yup. I have finally ran out of ideas for my sister's birthday. Every year, I usually come up with something creative for her birthday and this year I didn't. I might hit Spotlight tomorrow and do something.

The year is coming to an end soon and I was looking through my past photos this year. I must say-I had a lot of fun this year. I have gotten closer to some friends and distanced myself from some as well. Who knew, a year from today-I will be where I am today? Different. But then again, that seems to be the constant factor in everyone's lives, right?

I remember that this time, a year ago, I thought I was doing the right thing by admitting my feelings but this year--I grew much stronger. It was at a price-I had to be a mean bitch but I felt that it was the right thing to do. Now, I am such a god damn diva and that's a good thing. It shows that I am a bit more confident in myself.

Thai food and Rickshaw Peddler Empathy

I ended up spending the day with my mum and sister today. It was an interesting day and I will tell you why (if you are interested to know about my life-but it's not really that exciting, why are you reading this? Are you really that bored? Well-I appreciate it--I digress, please read on)

My dad has been raving about this AMAZING Thai food at Arab Street called Koh Nangkam. They are a Southern Thai Muslim Food Restaurant. My dad kept  comparing the food standard to the Thai food we had when we were in Thailand. I guess our expectations were a tad high when we arrived. It was alright but I do not think I would go back there. I would rather go to Thai Express or pay $200 to travel to Thailand to have good Thai food. (Thai Express would be cheaper...but I guess you knew that..'ahem')

Some sort of flower drink...Hibiscus I believe

We ordered some drinks. My sister had the lemongrass drink and I ordered the Roselle..or Hibiscus drink. I must say water never tasted so good. Haha. I was just not a big fan of the ordered drinks but my mum really loved the flower drink. I guess I am just not the type of girl who likes to see flowers in her drink--perhaps in a bouquet but not in my drink or food. My sister's lemongrass was alright--it's basically like someone crushed the lemongrass and added water to it but then again, it did live up to its name.. lemongrass drink.

Phad Thai ;)

This dish arrived piping hot! We mixed it like you should with every phad thai dish. Took a bite and realised--they kind of forgot..that basic spice..what is it again..salt. I don't think they boiled the noodles with salt but we requested for lime and that made up for it.

Hatyai Chicken..ooh damn it looks good 

Oh. My. God. This was what saved the meal..a bit. A bite of these wonderful crispy, juicy chicken wings dipped with the sweet and spicy chili sauce will make you dance. Yes. Dance. These were gooood and you know it is good when a person adds more 'o's to the word 'good'.

Green Curry (Chicken)

Add Caption about this?? Well this is kangkong !
 This picture has been CAPTIONED.. booyah! God I need a life.

Okay..I didn't take photos of all the rest of the food we ordered because..well I was hungry and I could not be bothered to keep Instagramming the photos.. yes I  was that hungry. Anyways, I realised that the green curry, kangkong and thai fried rice we ordered, there is this strong turmeric taste that I felt was a tad too much. I like my kangkong with belachan which my mom absolutely hates but for the first time she loved this kangkong dish which did not use any belachan (duh why else would she like this dish...). We had also ordered the tom yum soup--which was a bit too salty. I think the Thai Express Tom Yum soup is still the best I have tasted in Singapore. I know that's a huge insult but it's true!

Mummy's Cooking :) 

I realised after reading what I just wrote I sound like some foodie..bitch. Well, I am not! I guess this place was just not fit to my palette but it might fit to yours....whoever I keep referring to in this blog. The price was not too bad. We ordered small which cost us $5-$7. Oh! In the end, I had the glutinoous rice with mango which was recommended to try. Well...don't. 

After having such a huge meal, we decided to head down to East Coast Park to do some cycling. My mum had packed some food for us to eat there which is pretty awesome! The picture may not be appetising but trust me it was good. 

We headed to get a cycle and along the way we saw a new type of bikes called 'Family Bike'. There are like 3-6 people on this bike peddling and looking all so happy and fun. So we decided to take one for the three of us. It cost us $30 for an hour and twenty minutes. My mum really wanted to cycle and since she did not know how to cycle with just two wheels.

We started to laugh our ass off. 

While everyone was on their cycles and roller blades, here we are laughing and peddling to save our lives. It was not easy. I do not know how the other families made it look so simple but we were struggling. My mom gave up and she sat like a queen between my sister and I. I am quite a lazy person so my sister ended up doing most of the peddling. Eventually, we all took turns, including my mother. I must say-I was the laziest of them all. I really salute all of the rickshaw peddlers--it is hard to carry two people. I cannot imagine the amount of effort all the rickshaw peddlers have to put in to bring so many people around in a day just by...well peddling! It's crazy!!!

At the end of the day, we had a lot of fun. However, my foot got caught between the peddles when my sister was moving us and well..long story short---my foot hurts like hell and there will definitely be a bruise on it tomorrow. 

East Coast Park View

Overall, I had an amazing day out with my lovely mom and sister. 

I am tired for now. Hope you guys had an awesome weekend :) ( again, who am I referring to..and why do I keep doing it .. )

Good Night. 

Checkerboard Cookies Failed Attempt

Ugh. I hate Martha Stewart--I don't think she gave away all her secrets away ! If you guys want to check it out : http://www.marthastewart.com/314590/checkerboard-cookies?center=0&gallery=275013&slide=282687

It needed more than 1/2 cup of sugar. Common sense did not kick in for me--2 3/4 cups of flour.. 1/2 cup of sugar?? for cookies??? Obviously it needed more!

Well, I know it's not Martha Stewart's fault in the way it looks. I kept rolling the dough over and over again to be able to layer the chocolate and vanilla dough.

 I guess one thing I am proud of is I learnt how to knead the dough well. After dividing the dough, you need to add the cocoa powder and knead..and knead.. till all the cocoa powder is incorporated.

Kneading the dough with cocoa powder

Then I tried to layer the dough. Holy Crap. It was hard to get them to the right size and the dough kept tearing. Gahhh... I hated it. After placing them layer by layer, and slicing them and wanting to make it to a nice cookie dough, I put it into the fridge. Then, sliced the cookie dough. The poor result is below: 

These look okay after I got fed up and played with the dough.

With the remaining dough, I just rolled them and made it into another cookie. It really didn't matter what I did with the dough because it was pretty bad. Really really bad. 

Pressed Hundreds & Thousands into the dough

I feel like crap now. I thought that I would be able to bake this and feel a bit better...but it blew up in my face. Sigh. 

Well, I am watching Marie Antoinette now.. I see macarons and tea. 

Argh. 

Good Night.

 

Love? Yuck!

I just finished watching the mid-finale of HIMYM. If you have yet to watch it-I suggest you stop reading here.



You haven't right?

Who the hell am I talking to?

As I was saying, the ending was just sweet. So sweet. Where can you find a guy who will put in so much thought into such a proposal? That's right kids, only in cinema and television. Before I get cynical, I need to unleash my girly screams.

Oh my god-Barney is so freaking sweet!! The proposal was the sweetest thing ever!!! And Ted is such an awesome guy for telling Robin!! And Robin accepted Barney's proposal!! Yay!!

Alright. I'm done.

Well, the ending was pretty awesome and quite appropriate for television but in reality? Does it ever happen? 'It' referring to love and crap. I have seen touching videos of guys proposing to their girlfriends but it's always a moment and after that what happens? Could love just be a gush of feelings that we feel at that moment? I think television has corrupted our minds to have expectations as to what love is and should be. This is just one of it. Ah cynical bitchy me...I think I am done with that.

Well guess what I did today, if you are interested to know--nothing! I stayed home and watched movies and got sick of it so I went to walk. I walked till Punggol which is like around 6-7 km away. The whole time, apart from my random outbursts of dancing and lip-syncing to the songs on my iPhone, I kept thinking about my life and love and how they have not met each other yet. (Laughs to self) Well, I may not have found the "one" but I still have love from my friends and family who are always there for me when I need them and that will do for me :)

Aww. I am getting so mushy and gross--ew. I shall stop here. Alright. I need to start thinking of my sister's birthday present.

Good Night.

Consequences of Boredom

It was another boring day. I do have things to do like looking for an internship, read up on my fyp materials and other things but how often do you get to do nothing? So I guess I shouldn't complain when I actually chose to be bored. 

BUT STILL-I did some stuff today. I just came back from my evening walk to the library at Hougang Mall. It was good to get out of the house and breathe in the crisp, fresh air (although most of the time I was walking along the traffic and breathing in pollution--ahh but nothing like a little carbon monoxide now and then I suppose). I love being surrounded with books. It's like my escape from home. Yes I am a bit of nerd I suppose but I do not read as often as I used to. I blame TV. 

After borrowing some books, I headed back home via bus and started to think. I must say-when one is bored, one can really think A LOT. I started to think who, why, what, how, when and where for the most simplest issues. Currently, they are still in my head and digging for answers. Oh well. I try to kick them out but in some odd sub conscious way- I guess I want them to stay because.. well.. I am bored. 

Yes. I know. It was my choice- so I am facing the consequences of it. 

My mother is calling me to poison/cook for her now. If only pots and pans can dance to my tune like they do in Disney cartoons, perhaps cooking would be easier. Ah well. 

Good Night. 

M.A.P

Oh man. I am so tired right now.

I just finished baking 8 mini apple pies..

EIGHT.

It took me two hours to prepare the crust and the filling. Unfortunately, I overcooked the apple filling. My mother kept asking me to use her recipe--I should have listened but it was her idea to cook the filling--which was a good call. Still-it was a lot of work!

After watching many videos on YouTube and allrecipes, I tried to do the lattice crust. Let me rephrase-I weaved the crust! If you notice-it isn't just placing one strip on the other, there has to be some sort of a pattern! 

I do not know why I love doing "mini" desserts like mini cheesecakes, mini pies, mini cakes (...aka..um..cupcakes)--I guess it is always interesting to do mini version of dishes we assume that has to be big and besides everyone will have their own portion too.

On the other hand, it is tedious. Small things always require patience-including children.

I didn't follow the recipe exactly except for the dough (I used 2 cups flour instead for 5 green apples). High quality butter makes a difference!! I used SCS butter and the smell is just gorgeous. I do not know how a smell can be gorgeous but this was.

As for the filling, it is really up to you as to whether you want to cook the apples. It has to do with your preference of texture. I have tried both before and not cooking the apples give you a more of a bit crunchy yet tender apples and a lot more juice but cooking the apples gives you soft apples which goes well with the hard pie crust. Honestly, it is about one's personal preference. My mother freaked me out about the not cooking the apples, so I went to find out about how to cook the apples. I added a bit corn starch, lemon juice, cinnamon powder, dash of salt, brown sugar and white sugar and cooked the apples. Keep tasting to make sure you reach your desired "tartness" of the filling. 

I am really tired now. Before I go, another picture: 

It was good. 

Really good.

I am happy!! :) 

Good Night. 

Outlet

I think I need this.

I usually carry a diary around but this would be more convenient. It would improve alot of other things too. I am hoping my sanity but then again-that went out the door long time ago.

So I am just going to start this to vent. It would be good! Well, adios for now.. to whoever is reading this..