Teddy Cookies

These chocolate chips cookies in teddy bear forms were made last last Saturday for my Saturday school kids. Thought they looked kinda dull so I decorated with some smarties and decoratives to make them look more ‘attractive’.

Previous Goodies

It has been a long long time since i really write. Was very very busy nowadays, not only with work, but baking and personal stuff. Tons of order were met the previous week, and think i spent like more than three days waking up at 2-3am just to finish baking the tarts and cakes. Just came back from Tenom yesterday and am going to Sipitang again tomorrow to spend the night there and return on Friday. I have another big birthday cake order to meet on Sunday, it's for my cousin's 21st...and aunt ordered a 2kg baked avocado cheesecake. I got to help her make some jellies and tarts as desserts for her guests as well..so i guess i'll be pretty tied up again this weekend. Can't even find a suitable time to cut my hair or go for facial...my face looks like an old lady..hehe. Not forgetting i have my personal matters to deal with also..so 24 hours is definitely not enough for me!

Here are some pics i just uploaded...they were cakes, tarts and cookies i baked weeks ago, but only managed to upload them.

1) Coconut tarts, my mom's favourite...

2) Blueberry tarts

3) Hazelnut chocolate tartlets

4) Chocolate cupcakes with marshmallows, was supposed to be for little cousins but mom forgot to bring to grandma's house so sisters ate up.

5) 2kg Orange cake; ordered by the church.

6) Muffins of flavour chocolate chip, blueberry almond and smarties..

7) Smarties muffins...i love the colourful look!

8) Double choco chip muffins with peanut butter filling


9) Last but not least....Bluberry almond muffins

Prayer

Lord,
I surrender today unto Your hands. I come before and just trust in Your gracious Name. Thank You Lord for Your never-ending mercy and grace and Your unfailing love to me.
Amen

Can't focus!

I can’t focus at all in work now. Had been having a hard time on this one particular project since morning, so decided to take a break and update my blog since I haven’t been writing anything for a week di. Was supposed to be busy coz so many things came up. The pulp mill report needs revision and I need to submit addendum on this other project. Have to go outstation next week and stuff. Mr PA is right, and I decided to leave the pulp mill project alone for these two days so that I can work on it more efficiently next week.

Guess what, I just found out that the blueberry muffins from Southern are quite good. Bought two when I dropped by to check if the photo shop is still opened yesterday evening. Not only they smelled pretty good, they tasted nearly similar to mine too…a bit expensive though for a small muffin. I love them so much I bought two again today during lunch..hehehe.
Am going out for dinner tonight, though not sure to where yet. Have another order to meet tonight actually, only 15 cheese tarts, so hope they will not take as long as the previous one.

Tartie night

Finally finished all my tart orders last night...spent nearly the whole night just making them. :-S, no feeling at first, but was totally worn out once i had completed everything including clean up.

Have been trying to keep myself awake the whole morning, wanted to sleep so badly just now, but once the clock striked 12.30pm..no feeling di. Can't even sleep now. :-(

Another order

My assistant gave me two pen drives consisting movies she downloaded so that i can watch over the weekends, a special swan she folded herself and some password/username to a link where i can search for lots of info coz she knows i need to search for info in my work. Hmm....this is a pretty weird morning, bad of me, but she's so nice! Maybe i should treat her a big lunch next time.

I have another order to meet tonight..25 coconut tarts, which i will bake after work. I have no problem over this, coz i love making tarts than cakes, and they are much much simpler than decorating a big and proper cake!

I'm still searching for the durian tart recipe....hmm..can't seem to find it... :-S

Blackout

No electricity the whole morning today. The office was so dark and hot when I logged into work this morning. Thank God I didn’t arrive early as I normally do. The power didn’t return until it was after lunch, at about 1sth..so we missed half day of work.
Managed to finish up some cost estimation for solid waste facilities and was busy preparing the way for the final reports to come out. Called some officers at the headquarter to find out properly the total number of reports to be submitted, and what sort of reports to avoid mistakes. That were the only stuff I had been doing today.
Am looking for some durian tart recipes but seems like it’s pretty hard to locate these recipes…will try further.
My orange cake was ok last night..will pose the pics I took tomorrow.

Back Already??!!

Just came back from my trip. Phew, time really flies, thought I just dropped in to say that I’m leaving for a field trip yesterday morning, and here I am, back already! The trip was really fruitful this time, bought three durians, some langsats and rambutans.
Just checked my email and saw the review from the client. Efficient and fast, despite that they only received the reports last Friday. Going to look through them and made the necessary changes. Honestly I do not think this Project will be finalized by the time I leave the company, nevertheless, and though I’m not getting anything from it, I’ll still do my best so that whoever’s taking over can have a smooth transition and good results.
I have a cake order to meet tonight, orange cake…so will have to work some overtime….

P/s: Don’t know why I feel a bit drowsy now…like the world is turning round and round :-S

Field Trip

Am going outstation today and will back tomorrow evening. Had a good rest during the weekend, so am quite set and fit to go out today. Will be doing some site surveys and water sampling along the main road and highway from S to T and then spend the night at a hotel in T. Tomorrow may go through the same route from T to S doing the same thing.

I have a cake order to meet on Wedsnesday. It's the church for a pastoral event..a 2kg cake of any kind. Since i have so much oranges left over from previous orders, i'm going to bake an orange cake tomorrow night after i return from the trip. Just a simple cake and will not take more than 2 hours.

I feel pretty bad today, don't know why. Was pretty sarcastic to my colleague who asked oh..you're going outstation today, when she should have known??!! Bad of me actually..

Positive Attitude

I'm managing well so far, and it's really enjoyable to be happy and look at things positively. For instance, though i am not able to get the incentives i should for the project, it's ok coz the rewards i would get eventually will be even MORE attractive. :-)

Be true to myself and others is also another character that i need to develop. I need to be open to others on my thoughts, and feelings and tell them directly what i really think, feel and want. Yes, no more hiding, no more telling lies to please others and no more hypocrisy.

11th July, the day the New me is born!

Good morning, just a simple morning but i thank God i have another day to look forward to! The sun was up before 6 am, woke up and got ready as usual to work. Though the days are the same, today will not be the same for me anymore, because i'm going to transform myself! I want to smile at every colleague and tell them that they look good today, and tell myself that no more lieing, negligence or ignorance attitudes. I am beautiful (though covered with some red spots), capable and joyful because my name is related to joy!!

Building relationships with people is important, especially with the ones whom I love. I know i have wasted 24 years of my life being such a fool but it's not too late to recover everything from today onwards. This is because i will have perhaps another 76 years to live...and i will make full good use of the 76 years to love (by actions) and respect and cherish people around me. God is my strength, my hope and my joy..so i'm not afraid that i'll fail. I'm so sorry Daddy God for not trusting you or abandoning for quite a while...that i fail as a human being for the past few years.

With God in me, everything will be possible. Everybody has a purpose in life to live, and i know my ultimate purpose. Nothing is the source of my joy but God, as long as i have Him, i don't have to worry anything.

Yup, it's a beautiful day today. And i'm going to have my blueberry yogurt. I love you everyday!

A Simple Praise but Encouraging

Today i feel reckless and very very tired. No mood for everything, no passion for the things i was doing...but i was a bit chatty today, spent most of my time chatting around. Had this colleague whom i think is very sweet, i really wish most people and myself are like her..so friendly and appreciative to everything around her. She came up to me today and complimented that i looked very nice yesterday, the blouse i was wearing and stuff made me looked good. She apologized for giving her compliments late as she didn't want to disturb me coz i was busy yesterday. She even praised my tarts...they looked very pretty, according to her, but she couldn't consume them coz they weren't halal. Isn't that sweet? How i really wish i'm like her...always filled with praises and encouragements. A small praise like that can actually make one's day!

Here are more pics of my egg tarts, since i made quite a number of them already...

Piggie family

This family is currently being separated but will soon be united and live happily ever after.

There are the father, the mother and four little cute piglets.....:-)

Previous Muffins and Tarts

Managed to upload the photos last night (finally) coz was siting in front of the computer all night ...Here they are in order:
1. The blueberry muffins

2. The coconut tarts

3. The almond blueberry tart

4. The hazelnut tart

5. The egg tarts..which are like pregnant ladies who have just given birth.

6. Apple cheese tart and strawberry swirl cheese tarts

Too thick is a problem?

Me still very excited. My colleagues were surrounding the table looking at the thick reports, and their expressions were like….sooo thick, how can you write so thick?? I didn’t realise that also, until it was printed out. They claimed this is the thickest report so far in the history. Too many junks I guess :-P. My colleague measured the thickness, think it’s about 4.5” (as shown in the below photos, and…it’s not really complete yet, the final I presume would reach up to nearly 7”. Wondering now how to courier the 55 copies to KL……Sigh** Sweat Sweat**… need at least 27 boxes to store all reports.

Draft is finally out!

HURRAY!! Finally done and it was so super thick that we had to bind them in three separate volumes! The appendices were twice the thickness of the main text itself, and the main text only was about 2" thick..so you can imagine how thick the whole report is if they were binded together.

Oh well, that was only the Draft Final Report...2 copies to the client for his review before we send out the Final copies (55 copies!!) to the Department of Environment in Kl for endorsement followed by, public review which includes advertisements in 2 english Local Newspaper, 1 malay and 1 Chinese (if i'm not wrong lar) for about three weeks (??) and this is when we get all the feedbacks, protests, comments, etc. etc. from the people, NGOs, etc. etc.

I'm so glad that the result is finally here. After 9 months of studies, surveys etc etc..finally i could see my own hardwork being joint together and displayed in this thick report. Double joy today after my blueberry muffins..hehehe.

I'm starting to think whether i should really work towards being a full time baker instead of an engineer. A pastor once prophesized that i will have multiple businesses of different natures in a foreign country. He didn't know me at all, he just looked and pointed at me suddenly and released the prophesy. All i have to do is just submit to God and pray hard. The reason why i had this thought of becoming a full time baker was associated with the many compliments (ai-seh) from people who have eaten my pastries and cakes. It's amazing...sometimes i wonder why i love baking so much that i can do nothing the whole day but bake. It wasn't something which i call as 'tiring or tedious or xing-ku as many people claimed, but something which i find relaxing and stress-less, unlike my job which requires me to use my brain dilligently.

Nevertheless, i'm still sticking to my goal towards being chartered for one reason: my pay will be almost 10 times my current salary?? Hehehe :-P, am not sure if baking alone can earn me that much!

Owez my fave blueberry muffins..

I forgot the photos again hehehe...so typical of Miss Forgetful. Am so happie today coz i managed to bake my fave blueberry muffins last night, and not only that, they popped and cracked so beautifully like how muffins should. Am so proud of it! Had this craving for blueberry muffins for a while di, but couldn't find blueberry filling anywhere in KK for the past weeks, so was very excited when i saw it in Bake with Me. Will sure post all the photos tomorrow. I have tried nearly all tarts now, from egg to almond blueberry to hazelnut to coconut to cheese. Suddenly remembered i have this bakewell tart recipe so thought of trying maybe end of this week. Have been trying to find lotsa time to make portugese egg tarts, but the procedures and stuff are too troublesome and time consuming. Will do it perhaps when Mr PA is around, coz then i have someone to roll, shape and wash up...hehe (:-P)

Back to work again, today my draft report will go out to the client!!! Finally ....

Morning rush

I think my face looks horrible and red today? I’m not sure, but I know the zits are gone, just red marks and scars. Maybe coz I was facing the oven this morning, and it was convectionally hot, ya probably that was the reason my face looks a bit doggy today. Couldn’t be really bothered already, coz I’m not meeting any clients nor is there anyone particular whom I want to impress. Woke up at nearly 5am and baked some hazelnut tarts. Eight of them but no idea if they taste good. I didn’t really monitor the baking process in the oven so they kinda cracked a little due to too long in the oven. Managed to cover the cracks with some chocolate chips though. I was really happy being able to bake and create these tarts which people gave good compliments about, but I lost a skirt to the stupid iron this morning! Out of nowhere, me being so stupid, didn’t realize that the iron was too hot for my skirt’s material, and eventually left a big mark in the middle. Sigh…there goes my blue skirt..one of favourites…:’-(. Because of that I couldn’t find any particular nice work attire to wear this morning, despite that I was in a rush. Learnt a lesson..shouldn’t bake in the morning if you want to leave the house early and in proper dressing code for work.

I forgot the photos again, will remember tomorrow.

Fruitful

Fruitful weekend in terms of tarts...Made egg tarts (new recipe), apple cheese tarts, strawberry swirl cheese tarts and almond blueberry tarts. Took some photos but forgot to upload them in the computer, so didn't manage to post today. Am so glad that i finally mastered the skill of making tarts...not only the looks but also the taste. They came off very easily from the moulds now too. Sis, parents and friends complimented that they tasted good however, i will continue to improve to present the best (in terms of smell, look and taste) to my dear Mr PA.

Speaking of my dear PA, today's his official work at PWC. He sent me an email from his work account.... sooo sweet hehehe. I pray that everything is well with him.

Detox

Haven't been baking for almost a week now. It's Friday already, time really flies! Decided to go on a detox diet today, but the plan is backfired coz i didn't have the necessary detox food. So, here i am eating my bao, and will start on Monday after some grocery shopping!! hehe...:-P..Also I have a meeting on Sunday, so it's not very nice to let the aunties know i'm on this kinda diet otherwise they'll scream and say i'm crazy (which I AM NOT).

The reason for the detox diet is to cleanse my system for a clearer skin and healthier body, and definitely not for the sake of losing more weight. People claimed that i'm too thin, Mr PA said so, my parents and sis said so, my colleagues think so also...but there are still some people who think i'm just ok. Hehe, as for me, i don't mind losing some baby fats on my face and thigh! Just that it's not my first intention for the detox diet.

Will figure out my diet plan on the internet and see how i can fit into it. Coffee and tea is definitely a no-no. This would be the first thing on my agenda to overcome, a coffee addict like me has this habit of dreaming for a nice cup of hot brewing coffee every morning. Now that i can't even think of it, hai.........just wish me all the best!

Next thing is lots of fruits and vege. People on detox diet normally eat raw fruits and vegetables and nothing else. They drink special teas that invite them to the toilet frequently. They drink lots of water to flush the toxins out. I have no problem with this, coz i'm pretty used to eating fruits and vege only during the day, but dinner time would be another problem. I'll be starving at night!

Be thankful

My face looks even worse today than the days before. No matter what i do, simple stuff e.g. drinking more than 2L of water per day and sleeping as early as 9pm, it looks more and more horrible each day.

I miss somebody so much last night. Though we are blessed with more advantages than other living creatures, i have to admit that we human beings are restricted in many many ways. Just take for example, my face. I cannot control the stupid red izzy bitzy from coming out, i can only minimize, not knowing the results in the end.

Life is so unpredictable. One minute it's this and another it's a totally different thing. Someone can be alive today and dead tomorrow. That's why, we have to enjoy and be thankful with what we have now. Otherwise, it'll be too late and regretting will be pointless.

Back to work again, i'm bored, but it only takes 2-3months before i say my last goodbye.

Wedding dinner

The wedding dinner was ok last night. The dishes were ok...not very nice, but i do love the fish and prawn salad hehehe. Ate quite a lot, coz my skirt seemed to tighten a bit after a few dishes. Have you ever wondered why they serve one dish after one at a time in wedding banquets? I do know they serve the rice last, coz they believe that if you serve the rice first, your guests will get full faster thus will not be able to enjoy the rest of the course. But why can't they serve all together in one go like a typical Chinese meal? Hmmm..

Today will be another busy day i believe, as i'll be switching to another Project. Only need to do some adjustments and the reports should be out on Friday, if everything goes according to plan...

Busssiieee day

Today Mr PA sent me photos, so sweet..hehe.

Didn’t really have the time to write my blog today. Wanted to make payment to my loan and credit card today but didn’t manage to also. Today is my dear PA’s first training day at PWC. Woke him up at 6.30am so that he could arrive early to get a good parking. Don’t know whether he did or not, only knew that it was far, and poor him has to walk back to his car in the rain. I know my capable PA would perform very well in his training and work.

Went to a meeting in the morning which lasted way past lunch hour till 2pm. Nothing much related to me, but I did learn a lot about dam sites, environmental release, reservoirs etc etc. My portion is only the transmission lines but need to attend just to make sure I do my part properly.

Finally couriered over the mill report to boss for his review. He called and sighed a bit, after knowing that it was as thick as a normal report (nearly 1000 pages) but without appendices and drawings. His remark was “chan le wo”. With appendices and figures it could reach up to nearly 2000 pages.

Decided to attend the wedding. Will go off early at 5.30pm coz need to pick Sandra on the way to the restaurant. Have a good night! :-)