A Tiramisu Affair

Morning ppl, i spent the whole night thinking whether we shd go on a Sydney trip. Not that i dun want to, but for some reasons, i have this conscience deep inside that keeps refraining me from buying tickets, n planning for this trip. We have a tight budget, i do admit that, with a new place in Feb,n lotsa furnitures/electrical appliances to be bought, gosh, i am just wondering if it's rightful to let hub works so hard only for me to spend it off on a holiday. I know he doesn't mind, n yes, i sure can spend however i like, but is that the right thing to do? So sorry ppl, i shouldn't hv mentioned it. i shouldn't hv done so much only to backout last min. I think it's time for me to grow up to my senses, n manage the hard earned resources properly. It's time for us to earn n spend the $$ to build this little family.



It's definitely not easy to start off in a new place. To be honest, i am still seeking the purpose for my existence in this city. i dislike cold, yet here am i in this part of Oz that is colder than the rest. LOL. with weather that changes so swiftly, and so inconsistent. Nearly a mth since i arrived, n i'm struggling to adapt.

Anyways, God is gracious like He always is. I have no one n nothing else to trust but Him only. and i'm glad He is bigger than all my circumstances. :-D I'm leaving you with a tiramisu affair. Y so, because tiramisu has resembled in a way that like life, it consists of several layers, where some are bitter n some are sweet. Life goes the same way, there are ups n downs. But wat matters most is the overall effect, r we enjoying that whole piece of several layers of tiramisu that tastes bitter sweet?

The week before Christmas

It's a norm that every year during this season, i'm as busy as the ants stocking up their food for the upcoming winter. Dun get me wrong, although most of the time it's about preparing gifts, and baking marathons, i'm still not particularly keen in getting ready that long list of food for Christmas so tat the hot roasting turkey sits on the table on Christmas eve, or dinner would be exquisite because it's tat season. I know some aunties or people who do, and who would make sure they have ordered every Christmas treat few weeks before, or otherwise Christmas wouldn't be Christmas. And talking about gifts, some even planned out what to buy the year before!

So ya, i used to bake and bake non stop when comes to this festive season. Infact, it's a yearly routine for me to pre-soak my dried fruits and bake fruit cakes three months beforehand, so tat they will be rich and 'rum-my' when consumed on Christmas day. But this year, i haven't been that keen or rather, the primary reason, i'm still settling myself in this foreign country. Again, dun misintepret, not tat i didn't bake anything for Christmas at all, just a bit different this year.

SO the week before Christmas, which is last week, i have been busying myself playing with Chocolates. Most of the items involved Chocolates, which i will explain a bit later after i've found my extra 24 hours (HAHA). I was trying out my new phone, but it turned out tat although it has a 5MP built-in camera, the pictures were still a bit blur..or should i blame my own skill?

My week? First, i started with jellies. All of a sudden, i had this craving for coconut pudding (i really miss the ones in Salut!), and decided to walk out to the shop one fine morning to buy some agar agar, pandan leaves and fresh coconut milk. Not bad, .... but i still think outside is better than my own homemade.

Then back to chocolate. If you have been to SG, you will notice that in every major supermarkets, this Hershey's cocoa powder is something common on shelves labelled 'baking ingredients'. I saw it from the first day, and ever since had always wanted to get and try it out, but never did, becoz the Varlhona is still sitting on my shelf. (Now i decided to save it to bake something for my sistas for the CNY!)

I got it finally...for nearly $7, per 226g. (It better gives me rewarding results!)

With this cocoa powder, i made my famous chocolate chip cookies as gifts for Christmas.

AS for Hub, he's busy as well. While i bake, he cooks! We had this super yummy prawn and spare ribs noodle soup for our dinner last Sunday and i'm still drooling over it until today. I just love his soups...yum! Then again..i love every soup, haha!

My cousin came down from KL over the weekend, and we had a lovely time chatting while enjoying our fondues (cheese and chocolate) at Clarke Quay. Beautiful place, my first time there (HAHA) and they have these bungee jumps tat look almost like the most ideal suicidal attempt.

This chocolate fondue was the best for me. I couldn't stop licking the leftover chocolates, until Hub gave me his 'parenthood' stare which indicates "Enough". And did i mention, they came with Ben & Jerry ice cream??

So tat was my week before Christmas. I need to go back to my designs and baking now.

Yesterday was over, A Shared Mission today

Finally, Hubby finished his last paper after nearly 2 years of hardwork. Am so glad he walked out of the examination building with a big smile on his face yesterday evening, a good sign that he has done pretty well and pass is 100% a guarantee.

No more Ps now. Only certification, chartered, or professional in our dictionary. Yup, the both of us will work hard and look forward to our chartered status in our own professions in three years time. So Gambate! An A plus E equals to AE or EA. Sounds so promising haha.

To celebrate Hubby's independence day, we invited some guests over for dinner tonight. My in laws' good friends, who had seen Hubby since he was a little boy. Would be a tight day ahead: Visit to market, visit to baking shop, souvenirs shopping (if time allows) and packing (flying home tomorrow!!!!Hurray!!) before helping out mom in law and Ah Yee with the dinner. Having predicted all these, i had actually finished my remaining baking business yesterday to save more time for the shopping today. Seems like i have a number of items to get for my VIPs back home, hopefully time is sufficient and there are exquisite things on display.

Here are two more items i made for today's occasion:

Same old cheesecake. Yes, you are right, i always serve baked feather cheesecake to any guests who come, simply because more people love cheesecakes than the number who hates, it's delicious and posh, and the baking process is too easy and time-saving. Moreover, cakes like this would do great as desserts, taken after a superfilicious meal and not too rich to cause ingestion or an over-eating kinda feeling. The texture is 'feathery and fine', very different from rich cheesecakes that would bring a 'too much cheesy' feeling' after 5 spoons.

The angel and devil (black oreo) in the middle.

My second dessert is more like a snack. Daifuku Mochis, my first attempt! (i actually messed up the whole kitchen with flour every where) Strawberries wrapped in tausa filling and glu dough. Not a very 'digestible' dessert, but i got to finish up the strawberries and wanted so badly to do something more 'Asian'.

My pretty ugly mochis