Baking Forays

Hmmm, at around the same time Elaine was making her carrot cake, I, was trying my hand out at a CHOCOLATE cheesecake. Why a CHOCOLATE cheesecake? Well, it was at the request of my sis and also due to the fact that I didn't want to be the one eating most of whatever I made. Haha, anyway, I then decided to improvise on the normal baked cheesecake recipe by the addition of a few items. I added A LOT of Van Houten cocoa powder to the whipped cream cheese (which went well enough, the batter turned the colour of MILO) and melted a whole bar of German dark chocolate with an equal mass of cream intending to pipe concentric circles around the centre of the cake creating "walls" of chocolate rings visible when the cake was cut, kind of like the gobs of chocolate you get in a slice of marbled cheesecake. Did you know that chocolate melted with an equal mass of cream is actually LESS DENSE than cheesecake batter? Well, I didn't... Needless to say (unless we want all REALLY want to discuss the ARCHIMEDES priciple *haha*), all I got were floating rings of chocolate. Now I know why marbled cheesecake is the way it is, they actually put chocolate bits in the batter. Then I found out that I had too much melted chocolate, which I eventually used to coat digestive biscuits a la Marks and Spencer's *haha*. So, yeah, that ends the baking of a CHOCOLATE cheesecake. The chocolate coated biscuits, obviously done in a rush... The coating is pure bittersweet chocolate with cream... Haha, they look ugly... The completed cake, which doesn't look remotely like a cheesecake but more like a chocolate fudge cake... Note the "artistic" spider web design on the cake which I kind of stole from Anthony Bourdain *ah ha*... Man, it looks ugly as well... Note : *ha ha* - Wei Jian's sarcastic little "haha" which is fun to use... *ah ha* - Elaine's (I'm not actually sure if its sarcastic) little "ah ha" which is also fun to use...

Today was the long awaited take-on-the-challenge-and-bake-a-carrotcake day. Too bad the my camera's still being repaired, so no photos to prove that the cake did turn out well and good. (Yes, it really did, I am NOT making this up) I was quite surprised, my normally fussy aunt said that it was 'a bit too sweet, but otherwise, good' and asked me to save another slice for her! Happy. :) The whole long afternoon spent with Jennifer running around grating, whisking, beating, and folding the ingredients, was indeed quite an experience, as for once, baking seemed more work (and more fun, with that) than just 'mix and bake'. Someone should just invent an automated grating machine because just grating carrots for a good half an hour isn't very fun at all. And neither is trying to stack two slices of cake, bottom to bottom, on top of each other with the melting, slippery cream cheese icing in between them. But oh well, the end product made up for that, and overall, it was good fun and great self-satisfaction. Yay! :)

HaIr Raising Tales..

lets start with.. . Why STARFISH prefers Iron curlers to hair dryers Once upon a time, Mr&Mrs Lee and their sweet daugther were preparing to go to a wedding dinner. As Mrs Lee did not like to rush, she reminded everyone to start bathing, getting dressed at 5.15 so that we could leave at 6, pick up a friend and head to the venue. So, StarFish took a took a bath, washed her hair, threw on some clothes and went to blow dry her hair. As she sat down to blow dry, Mrs Lee decided to be helpful and said " here, let me help you blow dry..it'll be faster anyway" The clock read 5.30. Starfish: " oh okay.. " As Mrs Lee pulled a strand of hair back, put the nozzle towards it... as she flipped over the dryer ala salon style.. .. Starfish heard a dreadfull sound as if hamsters had been sucked up a vacumm cleaner. YUp. About 5 inchs of my hair had gotten Sucked up into the back of the hair dryer.. We then tried yanking my hair out, picking my hair out, putting stuff in hopes of loosening it out.. time check: 5.45. Mr lee came out of bath room.. and tried to help. with no avail. At one point, i glance into the mirror, and couldnt help but laugh. Here we were, the 3 of us.. tryinig to pry the machine apart, trying to pull my hair out.. my mum all dressed up, dad in a towel and me..sitting helplessly watching my parents while holding the roots of my hair to the scalp. Poor mummy felt guilty. . . Sure i felt a bit angry.. but she was just trying to help ya? and being mad wouldnt help the situation at all anyway.. so just , laugh it off. I had to cut my hair in the end at 5.55. Only 2 inches of it left , but thankfully the strand of hair was somewhere in the middle, hidden, so no difference seen. As we rushed out of the house at 6.05 pm and i scappered out carrying my shoes in one hand... my mum turned to me, gave a sheepish smile and said.. " i bet you're never going to let me blow dry your hair ever again." Probably not. Tale no 2: Early morning jobs.. yeah, so im sleeping happily away one morning when: voice: " Su, wake up su!! i need you to help me!! " su: " What is it.. . " *eyes stil shut.. voice: " I need you to help me!!! *pokes su's leg* i need you to shave my head~!! " Su opens one eye and takes a peep.. Sees her brother holding a shaver with one patch of his hair already gone.. Su: *turns over " Arg... Go away la ..i want to sleeepp " Han: " Cannot laa~~ i cannot see for myselff" Su: " Go away laaa... " Han: " Fat Oke!! help me la~! i cannot do this on my own.. " *poke Poke* poke** SU: *crawls out of bedd " ah you ar.. better appreciate me ar.. ONly your sister will get out of bed and do this kind of thing for you... grumble grumble.. wake me up... . grumble grumble.. " Goes downstairs. Han: i want line line.. Su: huh? what what>>?? hahaha. . so anyway... yeah lor i shaved his head. By the way, my brother ar.. works in a bank.. BUT he is on leave till the end of this year...so he wanted botakkan. So he kept the 'line' for a couple of days..then shaved clean . Here's the pic. As you can see from my face and hair .. i really did roll out of bed la. Argh. Brothers.

Sushi!

A glance at the title and I thought this would be excellent education for those sick of education. A documentary on the etiquette of dining on Japanese sushi: how could anyone not find that intriguing at the very least? Without thinking, I clicked 'Play' and prepared to restart some brain cells after a month of school-free living. It turned out that I would not be able to think again for quite a while with so many dead brain cells. Cheers, everyone. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and whatnot. Enjoy a documentary on Japanese sushi while you're at it.

Xmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Jobs To Consider

It's probably appropriate to talk about careers and jobs now, since we're stuck back in this in-between phase of our lives. Consider the following (part time, or otherwise) jobs: 1. Painter I got restless halfway through 'Emma' one day, and decided to give one of the walls in my room a new coat of paint. My dad was awfully helpful and encourging ('Oh, I'm going out now, there's some leftover white paint over there, get the ladder and brushes yourself, I'll check on you when I come back'), so I was left to complete the whole wall all by myself (don't wanna be...). It is actually quite a fun thing to do (if you have plenty of time to spare); you gleefully get to paint over unremovable blue tac, double sided tape, and other unidentifiable stains on the wall. Caution: Parents did mean it when they said 'you'll regret sticking anything unto your wall'. And I sure got a full body workout at the end of it (Ready to build some biceps and triceps, Kim Ong?). Oh, and let us not forget Norah Jones in her fantasy to become one of these. "If I were a painter, I would paint my reverie, If that's the only way for you to be with me." 2. Piano Tuner I just realised that I've never ever been in when the tuner (tuna? haha) comes to tune the piano. But I happened to be at home, and free today. Mr. Tuner came with this briefcase which opened up to reveal a tool box compartmentation housing all his (weird) tools. He started off by artfully and delightfully dusting the piano keys with a paintbrush, (I suppose a feather duster would be too rough on the keys), following which he took the piano boards apart. He sat down, perched in a position looking almost like a concert pianist about to start on his performance, and began a sequence of tapping the tuning fork against his thigh, bringing it to his right ear, then adjusting the tension of the strings with his tuning level, while holding the strings down with the mute. After the A keys on the piano, he went on to do all the others in between, by comparing the pitch of the tuned A notes. The fee was RM60 for a forty minute job. I'm not complaining that we were overcharged, but I really didn't realise how much they made, just doing that. (RM60x8=RM480 a day=RM 9600 in a five-day week month) And I don't think you even need a music diploma/degree to tune pianos.

You Know You're Bored When...

You know you've heard the same song playing on your comp/radio. (Yeah, mp3s, cd's whatever) You are visiting the same websites and looking at things which you have read exactly 10 minutes ago. You start flipping through the channels on TV to see how fast you can cycle through them. (Hey only 10 seconds for normal TV and what, 30 seconds for Astro. Hah) You pick up a book to read only to put it down a minute later. (And repeat with a different book) You are actually reading this? (Ho hoo...)

Kim's bitching Part I

If there is one thing I hate it’s having a sluggish Internet connection. For goodness sake, how could this kind of connection even exist in the first place?! I can’t post pictures because it’ll be a year overdue once it’s finally uploaded and I can’t really see my friends’ faces on Friendster ‘cause the pictures just turn out to be empty boxes that say “loading”. It takes ten thousand years to load Hotmail and another gazillion trillion centuries to search for Gibson Guitar Catalogues on Google. Great! Superb! Woo-Hoo! To add salt to the wound, I’d have to bear with the constant spyware bug that has permanently glued itself to my hard drive since I left for Singapore. Casino and porno pop-ups invade my screen every other minute, dragging my modem bit-rate down to virtually zero. You know what that means? That means life sucks. Yes, with “Dail Dengan TMnet” web surfing becomes a pain in the ass. Why do I bother coming online then? Well, for starters, there is absolutely no form of entertainment whatsoever in the poverty-stricken district of Ampang. Don’t expect me to please myself by going to Ampang Yong Tau Fu everyday okaayyy…It is IMPOSSIBLE no matter what others might say. Most of my close buddies are either studying overseas or just plain lazy to meet up. (That includes me *grin*) Yes, yes I know that I bragged about my resolution to beef up my body once I get back here since I have plenty of time in my hands. Guess what? I am! I’m also patiently waiting for my cousin to come back from Singapore (*hell!) so that he can finally get me a job in the company he’s working for. He has subtly hinted to my mom over the phone that he might not even be able to do so. “Find him a replacement job for the mean time,” he advised. I don’t want a replacement job! So there you have it. Me bitching about the not-so-bright-side-of life. However, there is one thing that’s looming in the depths of my shallow mind. More of a fantasy rather than ”thing”. A week back I went to this guitar store to get my electric axe fixed. To my utter joy they had this promotion going on; that is for me to trade in my old, ugly and wrecked Yamaha for a brand new Godin guitar that just looks absolutely gorgeous. Did I mention that I had to top up RM 1,200 for that? Well, I have to top up RM 1,200 for that. I proposed the instrument “exchange” to my mom and dad who were waiting patiently in the car. Minutes later I wasn’t exactly smiling anymore. Ah*! Fantasies rule our mundane lives. I fantasise about having a lightning fast broadband connection. I fantasise about getting a job with that cousin of mine, and to add to that, his boss seeing great potential in me offers me a promotion that’ll allow me to earn big bucks without ever going into university. I dream about being able to stuff myself with steak and fries and ice cream and having perfect abs and biceps and pectorals and calves (Minus the exercise). I imagine myself holding onto that shiny new guitar, rocking like the rocker I’m born to be in my not so spacious room. Most of all I fantasise about ------------ Well, that’s for me to know and you to not find out.

chemistry

time: lunch time venue: 67 Jln BK5/8A Bandar Kinrara 47100 Puchong Selangor (transcript) my mum: Here, eat more vegetables... good for you. You know, vegetables like this that turn black after cooking contains a lot of iron minerals... me, thinking: hmmm, i know why. cause iron 2+ is oxidised to iron 3+ right...? and almost instantly i thought of posting, and i can so imagine hobbit rolling his eyes at this, while throwing his hands half into the air, followed by him saying: ZHA DAO!

Does this look better?

Elaine's first attempt at baking brownies

Brownies

I (tried to) bake brownies today. I would say they looked quite appetizing, with my friend Connie, insisting we finish using the whole 200g pack of almond slices (the only kind of nuts we could get), by mixing half of it into the brownie batter and sprinkling the other half on top it just before we put it into the oven. The brownie-cake(see picture) looked quite good, but unfortunately, the texture didn't quite come out as we wanted it to. It was quite far off from what we'd call 'moist', 'rich', and 'fudge-y'. Nevertheless, I was still quite proud of myself. So what if it wasn't chocolatey enough, and was a bit dry, and seemed more like a chocolate cake with almond toppings, instead of the 'divine chocolate brownies' that the recipe promised? So that was my first attempt at baking brownies cakes. After that, when I was bathing and slathering on some wonderful Body Shop Papaya Salt scrub, I realised that the word 'salt' came up somewhere else, earlier today. Then I realised I had missed out on the salt when mixing in the ingredients for the brownie cake . Does the salt even affect the texture, or is it just for taste? Oh well. At least I had tons of fun. So baking's going to be my new hobby for now (at least, before I start chinese painting/oil painting classes/Latin dance classes/reading up theology and economics/cleaning up my room). I'll try to make a carrot cake next. Please pray that they won't turn out to become a gigantic carrot cookie instead.

The root of all evil.

Money. The thing everyone’s chasing! Because with money, we can chase other things that satisfy our desires. It’s horrible, really. I don’t know ‘bout the rest of the scholars, but ever since getting back here I can’t help but feel a lost of financial freedom. What a powerful word--financial freedom! But it sounds chim and high class so deal with it. I miss the days where I can just drop by Coronation Plaza, (undeniably the most happening place in the Asian Pacific region), to have a quick cash withdrawl from the POSBank ATM. I miss the days where I can NETs my way out of an empty wallet. I miss the days I lived in denial; thinking I’m a bloody millionaire bachelor with all the financial freedom a prince could only dream of. Princes around the globe do not usually have a 200 dollar monthly budget but that’s another issue. I miss Casa Roma, I miss The Cellar Door Honey Fig Ice Cream, I miss Topman and Esprit. But, oh, worst of all, I miss Red Wine, Champagne, Tequila Shots, Chocolate Whisky, Absolut Vodka, Long Island Tea, Kami Kaze, Bloody Mary (*yuck), Splitzer, …..Oh God help me! But in KL, ah, in KL I’d have to stoop down to lower levels. “Ma, can give me some money pleaseeee?” “Go work lah.” Ah, shit. The loss of that freedom hit me like a truck today. After jogging with my parents, we stopped over the local market for some food. I dug deep into my pockets, grasping my leather wallet and peered inside. I gasped so forcefully my mother thought I was choking on the jerebu around Ampang. Well, it wasn’t the haze mom. Trust me, having one red portrait of a friggin’ Sultan staring blankly at you will whip the ass off any jerebu, and I can bet ya my money on it. One RM10 note will make you feel so insecure you’ll shiver. Let’s not even think about the fact that the probability of being mugged by a biker on the streets is like 9999.99 to 10000. If that happens then well you’re just plain unlucky to be left with a mouldy 10 cents coin. Hey, at least it has a nice engraving of an ancient Malay artefact. Die la die la. The absence of the NETs system in Malaysia will deprive me of the fantasy world of being a rich kid! What in the world could be worse?! I need to get more cash and I need it soon! I just busted 150 Ringgit buying the Lost, Desperate Housewives and a couple of brainless computer games. All of them are pirated, no less. Beli yang Ori, bang! Hah! Let us consider my options. I could apply for a subsidiary Credit Card with my mom or dad, oh YEAH RIGHT! I could leech of my working sister. YEAH SURE~! I could withdraw from my own account….TAK NAK! Ah shit. “Go work lah.”

A BIG BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR DEAREST POPO, YAP SUE LI! :)

Random updates from Elaine

I just came back from a 2 day 1 night trip to the Beach Resort at Damai with my secondary school friends. I had tons of fun swimming and catching up with them, but I still miss you all a lot. I asked my old art tuition teacher about oil painting, and yes, he does offer classes! And also Chinese Painting! (RM60 for a 2 times per week class, Su Yee!) I want to do both. So I still can't decide. My room is in an absolute mess, even more so after I dumped all my still-unpacked luggages in there. I can't stand it! I must clear it up soon. My dad will be on leave for the last two weeks of December, and that'd be when we will paint/clean/redecorate the house together. I can't wait! My room will be repainted bright, neon pink. NOT. And we'd be going jogging every morning before breakfast together. Or that's what we plan to do. I'll be watching Narnia on Wednesday with Charmaine, and will get the 'Perhaps Love' dvd soon, so I can watch it over and over again. Oh yea, here's what my dad said about the blue stripped shirt I got him from Mustafa's (which is the same one Carynl got for her dad)- "I think the horinzontal stripes will make me look fat and short." Following my surprised look (duh, do 50 year old dads really care about all that still?), he said: "I mean, didn't you already know that?".

when no one was looking

hi, we are friends. honest! hi, i am not acting gay. hi, i love oranges.

Oops i dropped the family album! =P

Balik Kampung

As the title suggests, I'm on my way back to KL. I'm typing this from my sister's room. This will be my last post from Singapore. Haha, how mushy. Anyway, I'd like to thank every single one of you for being there for me when I really needed someone. I have two last requests from you guys. 1. Visit my blog - a=9.81 at www.ev3rfree.blogspot.com 2. Forgive me for all the wrong I've done throughout this 2 years. I didn't mean to hurt any of you cause I don't enjoy hurting my family. I've learnt alot, no doubt. Gottago. bye guys. I love all my friends.