Cream puffs

made some cream puffs yesterday, as I feel this is one of the things that use the least preparation time and ingredients.

Plus, it was a chance to use my new Kitchenaid!

This attempt at cream puffs is definitely better in terms of aesthetics, as compared to my previous attempt. Taste wise, it's the same, because it's the same recipe.

My Very Own Kitchenaid!

I got my Kitchenaid mixer!!!!!

Have been drooling and hoping to get one but it's expensive here! Usually costs about SGD899 or SGD 750+ if they have a promotion.

2 days back, I saw a newspaper ad, that the distributor is having a factory sale. They sell many other stuff like hobs and hoods, ovens, refrigerators etc, but I was not interested. I rushed there during lunch time to see if they had any sale for Kitchenaid...and there were a few display sets for sale! They were on display in showrooms before or used for demos previously, hence the cheaper price they are selling now. Comes with 6 months warranty instead of 1 year for a brand new one.

There were only 4 sets - 1 red one, 2 cobalt blue ones and a white one. The blue and red ones were nice but they had much more scratches and deeper dents than the white one I chose. The one I chose has a small dent at the bottom but I feel that is fine with me. They were all selling at SGD559. There was a bigger one, which usually sells for SGD1088 and was there for SGD779. I am tremendously happy. White would be a colour I would choose if I were to buy a brand new one. I like Pistachio, blue, yellow, red and grey too.

Was a little worried about my husband's reaction after my purchase because now that we will be having our own place soon, our priority is to get necessary items for our house first. Nevertheless, this was just a chance that I don't wanna miss, and fortunately, he understands how much I like it. :D

MeMe!

I got a note from Maria (The Goddess Kitchen) that she has tagged me for a MeMe! It made me feel so good for a moment. I suddenly felt like "hey! I have friends from across the globe whom I have not met before!". The excitement lasted half a minute and then I asked my husband "what is a MeMe?" :p

I am a fan of the net and I spend as much time on it as I sleep each day, but how come I do not know what is a MeMe. Good thing Google exists, and I was also glad to find some instructions from Pixie's blog. It was Pixie who tagged Maria for the MeMe, and Maria tagged me in turn. It made me so thankful there is the existence of the foodie blogroll! I was anxious to answer the questions, but I hesitated for a moment again..."I dun think I know of 5 people to tag". I mean some of my friends have blogs but they are personal and the last thing I want, is to have many people flocking to their personal spaces. Anyway, I shall answer the questions in the meantime and think about it later.

What were you doing 10 years ago?

I was 19 and still in school! I was starting my second year in university. Would most probably be making daily trips to Uni, trying to understand lecture classes, sleeping in the library, or working hard to finish my tutorial homework at the last minute.....and occasionally dreaming that I could meet the right guy and get married at 25, have a 1st kid at 27, 2nd kid at 29...which, by the way, did not turn out exactly as dreamt. But I sure am thankful to be happily married though! And if nothing goes wrong, my husband and I will be having our own lovenest pretty soon!

What were you doing 1 year ago?

1 year ago, on this day, I was beginning to clear my annual leave and looking forward to my last day at work in my previous company. I turned down a promotion and decided to leave for greater exposures (or so I thought...)

Five snacks you enjoy:

Hmm...I don't really snack that much...I'm pretty disciplined in this aspect!

1) Dark chocolate and chocolates with liquor, lots of liquor!

2) Nachos with lots and lots of melted cheese

3) Strong mint flavoured candy

4) Marshmallow (especially when roasted over the bbq flames)...maybe not considered as snack but really very enjoyable

5) Ice-cream (Rum & Raisin, and Chocolatey flavours are my favs!)

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:

In Singapore, tonight happens to be the annual big-amount lottery which offers 10 million dollars top prize!! The great news (to my manager) is that I did not strike and I will still be turning up for work tomorrow... :(

1) Redo the whole place for my upcoming lovenest. At present, we are buying second-hand, and intending to keep most of the furnishings done by the previous owner.

2) Go for a month-long honeymoon! Ok, I said I am married, but in Singapore, it is slightly different. I am legally married but I still have to go through some customary rites later on, plus a wedding celebration, and the honeymoon only comes after that. Most older generation folks view the customary rites as more important than the legal marriage contract.

3) Give part of the money to my parents, sister and charity.

4) While still keeping my present car, buy another one - my favourite brand of car - BMW. A 6 series would be nice!

5) Invest! Make my money grow some more and have a comfortable retirement plan

Five bad habits:

1) Cursing at others when driving, especially slow drivers who refuse to move out of my way

2) Losing my patience and temper with loved ones

3) Interrupting. Especially when talking with friends or family, and even more so when I am excited. It's unconscious..though I am beginning to change that now.

4) Not keeping my bakewares as soon as they are dry, and leave them on the table until my mum starts to nag

5) Nagging...yes my husband says I do, although I feel I am only "reminding"....maybe he's got a low threshold :p

Five things you like doing:

1) Taking walks with my husband and just sitting down to chat

2) Hanging out with my close friends and talk nonsense

3) Baking and cooking (and imagining that I am the greatest cook!)

4) Shopping (especially hanging out at household sections and looking at the same thing over and over again)

5) Playing games related to cooking e.g. Diner Dash, Turbo Subs

Five things you would never wear again:

1) High waisted skirts or pants.

2) Baggy pants. I wonder why I used to like them, made me look so fat!

3) Socks which are rolled down the ankles...not sure who came up with the idea to roll down the socks. it sure was much faster than folding down your socks, and everyone in my primary school did it.

4) My secondary school uniform. It's a renown school, but I've got someone asking if I was from the Red Cross..

5) Granny underwear

Five favorite toys:

1) my computer

2) my car (if it counts as my toy?)

3) I wish I could add a Kitchenaid to this list, but for now, it's my hand mixer

4) a Dinosaur soft toy given by my husband

5) my husband..haha

Whew! I had no idea answering these few questions took me an hour! It's amazing how much it made me think! Now comes the difficult part, who to send to.

I will send to these few people, who came up with wonderful blogs which I enjoy very much.

Su Yin - The Journal of a Girl who Loves To Cook

Aunty Yochana - Yochana's Cake Delight

Happy Home Baker - Happy Home Baking

Shiyan - Just me and my baking fantasies

Sandy - happy gal 88

warm and comforting..

the past days have been stressful, mentally and physically, not only for me, but for the Significant Other as well. what can be a better comfort than home-baked stuff? besides, don't they always say the way through a man's heart is through his stomach? think this statement is not exactly right...it should be "the way through anyone's heart is through his/her stomach".

on friday, i came home after work to have a quick dinner of instant noodles, and then baked a banana and chocolate cake. it's not exactly those creamy cake...it's the crumbly type of cake. bananas are my favourite!

I haven't baked for some time and I laughed at myself at some points when I felt like I was starting to get disorganised. it was as if i had not been doing it for years. some things really din go that well.

firstly, i thought i had walnuts. well, i had. but they were mouldy. so, into the garbage bin they went. i added the remaining of my raisins, which were not exactly substitutes for the walnuts, but i added them in anyway.

secondly, i did not add as much chocolate chips as i did the previous time i made this. somehow, Uncle Scrooge kept appearing in my head, and instead of using 100% Hershey's choc chips, i used 75% Hersheys and 25% choc chips from a local store. Result is of course, the chocolate smell is not as fragrant as before.

thirdly, i did not have my camera with me. i used my handphone to take a few pictures and they turn out blur and lousy. Ok, it's an excuse, even if i had my camera with me, my lack of photography skills may only yield slightly better looking pics.

in any case, when i took the cake out of the oven, i took a bite about 10min later, and it was just so comforting to eat some warm, freshly baked stuff! i took some over to the Significant Other's place. He was so happy that i baked something, and even though the result this time is really not as good as the previous time i made this, he still had praises for it and ate it as if it was the best food in the world...and that melted some of the tension that had built up within the past week. phew!

i doubt you can see much from the pic, but here's it anyway!