Chocolate Banana Muffins

After 4 tries, this batch of muffins is the best so far.

They have a nice dome shape and I could taste both the chocolate and banana amidst the soft texture.

I'll try my hand on orange cake next, but let me finish my CNY goodies first.

He left

He just disappeared!

Finally, I was expecting this but when it finally happened today, it still took me by surprised.

I know that he won't be visiting anytime soon. It will be a many more months before he will visit again.

In his absence, Mr. Windchime is unusually quiet. I believe the plants will be happy as well as they are safe now from his deadly forces that just dehydrate them to their death.

As I'm typing this, he did make his brief appearance again, perhaps to bid farewell.

I just wanna tell him, thanks so much for providing the cooling days and nights. I'll miss you greatly.

See you at year end, Wind. 

Morning exercise

This morning, I went to Bukit Timah Hill, singapore tallest hill, for my morning exercise. Just wanna try something new. The first one third of the climb was really steep and it took quite an effort to complete it. Once it was cleared, the rest of the journey was rather easy.

I totally enjoyed this morning's climb. The weather was really cooling and I honestly didn't feel that I was in Singapore, more like Genting. Hope I'll get to do this more often.

Baking muffins

Kat gave me a recipe for muffin. I tried it and I love the taste. The muffins were rich in banana and just nice for sweetness. I quite happy with them till Derrick said they were too hard. So in order to have a source of comparison, I google for the best muffins in Singapore and "Chocolat N Spice" was featured in the net.

In order to benchmarked with the best, I went down to Tanjong Pagar Plaza and bought seven of their most popular muffins.

In comparison, my muffins were like lilliputians. So much smaller. Chocolat N Spice muffins rose very high. Their muffins also were very soft and fluffy, very nice texture. The only thing I dislike was the taste. Their muffins were all to sweet. Really really sweet.

Thus I just have to work on my technique to make my muffins soft and fluffy as the taste was good.

Will definitely experiment till I get it right!

Banana muffins

I didn't know that muffins are so easy and fast to make. You don't even need a mixer.

My first attempt on banana muffins without a electronic scale.

Taste wise it's not bad but I think I need to improve on the texture.

2014

2014!

It just come as scheduled.

And in no time, it will leave as scheduled too.

This keep happening, year after year, relentlessly. Not waiting for you.

2014!

It has to be purposeful responsible living.

Feed the mind, the soul, the body and the relationships. Be responsible for the work and finances. These will be my focus for 2014. Not really resolutions but something to keep me in focus so that I'll lead a life worth living.

My First pay cheque

Yippee!

My first pay cheque from the sale of my hand sewn bags. Really looking forward to sewing more creations.

SB Bday Celebration

After the bday dinner at 亮记 which is an average Teochew feast. Cake cutting is at Meier Suites. We had wine, tea, chips and of course the bday cake.

Love this picture very much as everyone in the photo had big smile on their face.

Sunday Afternoon Kopi

Joshua brought a box of Heng Heang 马蹄酥, and I must say it's the best I've tasted. 

The shape is very symmetrically done. The crust is thin and very 酥 and within it is a thin layer of sweeten paste, just sweet enough for my liking.

And I must say it goes so well with a cup of unsweetened coffee.

Repotting

Finally got my hands dirty by doing some gardening. I repotted some plants today including this pot of money plant and this hole-ly plant (I dunno wats the name of the plant but it has holes on the leaves).

They took over the pots of plants that didn't survive. I hope they outlast their predecessors.

Shopping

Today I went to Vivo Tangs to shop for SB's birthday gift. Not only did I managed to buy the gift, I also bought myself a Porter bag. I tried the brown and the black but finally settled for the red.

I'm fortunate that there is a 20% discount with and additional 12% rebate. That probably induced me to buy the bag.