Started class at 2pm today. An extremely rare thing these days I think. After having to deal with my lousy internet connection yesterday, which made skyping with mum and nanny and pomelo extremely frustrating, and the tension of the two upcoming cal tests, and having lots of yeast in my pantry, making some bread was in order. I ended up deciding on making challah, which turned out quite well. It was crusty on the outside and nice and soft on the inside. Very fragrant, and a little tinge of sweetness to it. I miscalculated the time I would need for the whole process, hence starting off a little late, and having to cut the second proofing time in half. Weather was cold as well, and out of desperation, I turned on the heater and left it to rise just above it, which worked, much to my surprise. *heh heh* On high right now ^^

And just now, after wadding through two horrendous cal tests and having the same dinner again six nights in a row,

Me: I feel like chocolate.
Puppy: Do you have chocolate?... oh yes, the bunny.
Me: Let's eat it.
Puppy: Why do you want to eat something so... ok, let's eat it. *goes out to grab bunny*

Took this picture couple of days ago now. I don't know why I can't seem to get the picture satisfactory though. I'm copying the way some bloggers 'photo-shoot' their cookies, but could it be my camera? Could it be the fact I was using lousy local lighting here? It lacks that ooh quality somehow. The colours aren't vibrant enough, and the cookies themselves don't stand out enough somehow. Or do I actually need to photoshop my photos?? Why why why?

But this is just the tip of it. Everytime I read other people's blogs, just looking at the pictures give me inspiration to try out the recipe, in hopes that I would acheive that beautiful product that they have, and in hopes that I would be able to photograph it and say to myself, yes, you've got a lovely photograph there. But most times it never comes to pass as I want it to be. Either the thing doesn't come out right, or it doesn't look presentable, or my camera takes such a dismal photo I can't be bothered uploading it at all. Oddly enough though, it just makes me all the more interested in food photography.... despite my obvious lack of skills and talent.

Or could it be due to the fact that my course isn't what I had envisioned it to be. I want what's at the end, but the road is just uninteresting/ boring me to death. Perhaps I'm just comparing it to last year's course modules? Sometimes I wonder, have I taken a wrong turn somewhere? Is it too late to say no to it all and just run away screaming? Alas, in this case I know myself too well. I would never be able to turn back, not after having dumped in so much effort. Perhaps mum's saying of 'love can be developed' might work, who knows??

Watched the Untouchables today, at puppy's insistance, at Central. I thought it would be a dead boring movie (like many of those movies about AH and what not) but I was proved wrong. It's a great movie. A very rich and captivating storyline and there are quite a lot of good scenes. Even better is the soundtrack, which kept me feeling tensed and glued for more. I SWEAR, if I had an aneurysm up there, it would have haemorrhaged right there and then.

Worm's bunny. I wonder where my bunny from my kiddy-hood is now...

Table tennis this morning. I'm still no better at it and not much nearer to liking it either. No idea why I dislike it, but I just can't seem to enjoy it. At least worm and puppy did, though only after much pushing and persuading did they manage to make me take up the paddle to give it a try *grimace* In short, I still prefer doing the machines upstairs in the sweaty gym. Somehow, games doesn't give me much satisfaction as workouts on those exercise machines... but then how often do I get into the mood to go to the gym? Lol. Pitiful.

Only thing worth mentioning today is that I made chocolate cake pudding today. I got the recipe off... where? I can't remember. I think it was from the blog called baking bites. That, or allrecipes. But it was real intense... seriously chocolatey. So chocolatey, so gooey, so fudgey, so dark, so thick... almost like heaven. But still, it was a good thing that I gave half of my second slice to puppy. Had that sort of feeling one gets after having too much rich food after that 1.5 slices lol. I don't get it though, there was hardly any fat that went into making that pud. But this recipe is one for the keeping. And my craving for mud cake, is at last satisfied. *ahhh* Made another one, but split it into two, one for the girl whose eyes are still sore and another for the poor thing who is working hard thinking up music to go with tai chi *poor things*! Didn't turn out as pretty as the first, but certainly it looks like it would be of a texture that's more acceptable though. The first one that we ate was rather liquidy in the centre, and I guess that's the reason why the recipe called for a baking pan, not a bowl lol!

Had what worm called chinese spaghetti for dinner tonight. Perhaps I should have added more salt to the sauce. Not to mention a bit more tomato paste. And bay leaves... why didn't I get some when I was at the supermarket? Should have planned for dinner earlier. That, or rosemary. Not to mention, after tonight, it's either pasta or rice that I'll ever have with it. Those fresh chinese noodles from the farmers market certainly don't go very well with it. Ah well, at least my worm is happy ^^ ...

The skate curry is finished at last. The remaining skate was pan-fried and eaten up. Turns out I'm not the only one who likes burnt bits of protein :P! I was a little apprehensive about the curry gravy though, but when I tasted it again after puppy had microwaved it up, it turned out fine. Not much of that horrid powdery feeling to it. Though puppy hadn't reckoned on the extreme heat of the curry and looked thoroughly tortured after the first couple of spoonfuls. Heh heh.

Weather was good as well today. A welcomed relief from the gloomy weather of the past few days. Too good to be wasted, so puppy, worm and I decided that a walk would be the best way to use the time in between after-lunch to about 3pm. The gardens were looking their usual. We passed the azaleas section today as well, and I was hoping it would be blooming. What am I thinking, when we are coming just heading towards winter? Lol. Dropped by the aviary as well. Lots of parrots in all shapes, sizes and colours there. Other birds as well but not as exciting. The blue and yellow parrot (the name I forget) was I think the prettiest of them all. There was a peacock, but even though it's always good fun to spot one, I think it's a bit too fancy for my taste :P There was a parrot who said hello as well, though only after we had moved on to the nextdoor cage -_-"' A couple of friendly keas came up close to the wire netting to look at us. I wonder though, as they stare at us with quizzical eyes, do they think they they are looking at us from within a cage, or do we appear as the caged ones to them? I wouldn't be very happy having to spend my days in a cage, but they don't seem to mind. Or maybe they do, I just don't see them often enough to know...

After that it was a 45 minute walk back home to get the dough for the pizza started. Would have been shorter claimed puppy, but then I lack the long legs necessary for the fast speed. Not that it mattered, since dinner was pretty much on time. I followed the recipe, and let the yeast froth a little with the sugar water first, even though common sense told me that instant yeast was called instant for a good reason. Not that it mattered, since we didn't wait for the full 15 minutes lol. The recipe yielded a rather dry dough that was certainly too hard to knead. I had to add quite a bit of water just to get it just right, and a little more than the amount of oil asked for. The amount of topping we put on it was phenomenal! A mini mountain is the only way to describe it when we chucked it into the oven. I'm surprised at the short time required to bake it, but I guess the reason is the high temperature it was baked at. Surprised and extremely happy is all that I can say about the crust today. It was just nice and crispy/ crunchy, but not hard, and could hold up the topping quite well. *ahhh* All it lacked was perhaps a bit of salt I think, and mozarella cheese. Cheddar does not work as well in terms of texture. Too bad I only had oregano flakes though, ground oregano would have been better I think. I could barely smell it after it was baked. But I'm satisfied overall, and we all agreed we beat Poppa's. Homemade is still best... in terms of satisfaction... and so much less greasy as well ^^! But oh, if only I had mozarella... mm... cheese....

p/s don't mind me blowing my own horn here... this is the mood I end up in when I am pretty happy with the results... No pics here, it was all gobbled up before the thought of a photo came to me... despite the camera being in the kitchen all the time lol!

Woke up rather early today... by worm's standards anyway for a Sunday. I woke up only slightly earlier to get the laundry going and to get the pancake batter done. I was hoping to make really thick pancakes, American style. No maple syrup in my pantry unfortunately. But then I think the batter could be slightly thicker. But then I can't make it really big either or there wouldn't be enough around. So in the end puppy and I agreed to water it down to make thinner but bigger pancakes. Should have let the batter rest actually, but I couldn't be bothered. I wake up hungry everyday :P!

Just as well we lacked an ID card for worm then, since I certainly wasn't in the mood for ping pong. We ended up strolling around the clearance shop and that craft shop (?) next to it, both of which were having closing down sales. I saw this lovely carving of a cockerel. I'm thinking and thinking still. Would my 20 be justified? I'll continue pondering meanwhile and I hope no one snaps it up lol (or do I??). The $2 shop got a visit from us three as well, though there wasn't really anything there to buy. Unless one counts the cute porcelain bowls. But then our flat has more than enough dishes and bowls than we need :( so the cute porcelain bowls in the shop will stay.

And thanks to puppy for the pizzas at Poppa's. Worm took the short cut out and choose an option that would let her have everything minus seafood. And puppy ended up getting the seafood option lol. Both were quite nice. Though I must say I'm still no lover of shellfish. The taste may be masked by other toppings, but the smell and texture is still there. Just as well my parents are not in the seafood industry then ^^ After that a short trip to the chip shop down the road. I couldn't remember how big the 2 dollar bag was anymore. Goes to show how often I get that when I eat out (I'll say it's a good thing then haha!). Even more scary then the greasy smell lingering in the air threatening to make me smell icky is the size of the bag of chips a boy walked out the shop with. It was big, no, humongous... I lie... it was of gargantuan proportions. Upon asking, it turned out that was a five dollar order he had placed. I guess that must be part of the family's lunch then. I can't imagine any kid finishing that alone. The heck, I can barely finish the two dollar bag on some days!

Afterwards, we trotted over to the museum for a look at their Big Ice exhibition. It was fairly interesting, but that is partly due to my lack of interest in antartic exploration. The most interesting thing I thought were the stuffed animal exhibits that formed part of the showcase. Not to forget the cute little whale embryo as well. How the hell that got that I'll never know. The hello dolly exhibit was much better. Worm still thinks that those dolls are creepy, but the point of these dolls IS to appear life-like. Goodness, the basic ones along G-street retail for about 300 bucks normally, which I thought was already rather dear (but understandable of course), but I'm certainly grossly uninformed. There was a clip as well of a collectible doll auction in Ackld where some dolls went for 7000+ :O! But they are really oh so pretty, with their well formed eyebrows and dainty painted eyes, and oh my gawd, are those creases painted along on their crimson lips as well that I see?! So detailed, so exquisite! Right, I should stop my rambling on those dolls here.

The museum also hosts some curiosities that set worm laughing... laughter that later infected the rest of us as well. Greek statues are interesting *nods head* lol. And the statue of Aphrodite was beautiful, but are arms not beautiful enough to be included in the sculpture? I thought arms were one of the parts of human anatomy that were most intriguing and beautiful...

Shopping for pizza stuff afterwards as well. Mood wasn't so good, what with my heel starting to act up again, and worm not paying attention and making the process all the more painful. But then the promise of fun tomorrow more than makes up for it. And making me happier still was the fact that the skate wings are salvageable! Pan-frying them made them so much better, to the point of being yummy. Worm wouldn't touch them still, for fear of a repeat of tummy upset. Her loss then ^^ I guess I'll just chuck out the stupid sauce and pan-fry the remains tomorrow. Muahahahaha!

Played badmindton this morning, the first time since... primary six?? And that's like almost a decade ago now. I can still remember playing out in our garden back home in Kuching, without a net. A shuttlecock and our little racquets that grew more and more worn out with use was all we used. There wasn't even a set size to our little 'cour't. Always in the cool of the evening, without heed of the roar of the cars passing by the street outside, never caring about keeping score. All that mattered was to get the shuttlecock and making sure it kept clear of the big muddy ditch outside. How annoyed we would get when one of us sent it plunging to the bottom of the ditch, and how would have to net it out and then with much grimacing and wincing, wash it white again. It was either Sh's or worm's idea to do it this morning, and so an early start to the day it was, even before it was properly light outside. A surprise visit from puppy, a short walk down to pick up Sh, and a 20 minute walk to unipol saw us waiting outside unipol for a good ten minutes at least.

I don't remember ever being good at starting off the game, but frustratingly, I couldn't get the shuttlecock airborne properly even this morning, not until a few dozen tries. Can I still call myself Malaysian I wonder?? Even more interestingly was the fact that I wasn't the only one remember the good smash in the face with a racquet by worm, she did as well. Never had she mentioned it, that's is, up till now, that I thought everyone had forgotten. Lol. Hmm... can I put the blame on her now that my nose isn't as high as I want it to be? *naughty grin*

Afterwards was a trip with worm to the farmers market. Got more noodles and tofu. Turns out 'pa mien' in Heng hua actually means fresh noodles (a little wisdom shared by Sh). I guess that's why when grandma told me that could make that and described the process to me, I had thought it sounded just too simple. Shouldn't somthing with an exotic name be hard to be make and be all complicated??! Mmmm... should I try and have a go making it I wonder?

Baking session turned out well for Cl. Her brownie tasted great and very cake-like, though I'm not sure why the brownie wasn't brown or chocolatey at all. But then I'm not complaining, peanut butter beats chocolate for me anytime anyways. Hehe... she's making the cake for me?? :P And why, oh why didn't my souffle turn out right? *cries**weeps**moans* I followed the recipe exactly! Everything I make which usually needs rising usually just flops back down after they exit the oven door... excepting breads which usually stay up. Darn. Shall try again one day... when I have the courage to face the possibility of another failure. *sniffles*

Dinner was fun, even though the meat dish was waay too salty for my liking. Though I must devise better torture methods in future for interrogation. Interesting new concept. Torture over dinner. Some poison that brings agonising pain with an antidote that only I have? Then perhaps more secrets can be obtained...

Weather is looking rather miserable today, and to add to that, the thought that I nearly killed my worm with bouts of vomitting and diarhoea yesterday night. I guess I underestimated the punch that my powdered chilli is capable of delivering and dropped in waaay too much into the curry I was trying to make. I didn't really find it good [I wonder if it makes it to so-so level even :( ] and poor Sh and worm still managed to down quite a bit (*thanks guys!*). The diarrhoea part I was kinda expecting it, but not to the extent of vomitting. I've better moderate my chilli use in future :( before I actually start killing people.

I wonder how one goes about restricting access to certain posts but not the whole blog? Can't seem to find the control button for it anywhere under settings or posting at all somehow. So how do people do it??

Watched 300 today. Plenty of gushing/ oozing blood and fierce battle cries throughout to keep both puppy and worm happy. Storyline was good, with its theme of honour and pride and of love for family and country. Did make me wonder as well. Was the queen justified trading 'herself'', and in doing so, go against the one or more of the important codes that make up the foundations of her country and people, in hopes to not just save her husband, but also her country? Best part I think was the filming though. Slowed down in the right parts to make it all the more intense, the captivating voice and storytelling of the narrator, and the colour as well. Now... if only I could get my camera to do that, I'd quit m-school right now, hah to those big shots. I'm dreaming. If only remains as if only's.

After that it was lunch at Korea House. Q and Cl couldn't make it for that either, so it was still puppy, worm, Sh and I. Turns out that the jelly tofu soup isn't too spicy for Sh, but poor puppy was finding the heat of the bbq pork he ordered a little too much :P! After yesterday, worm took the safe route but I doubt if it was anything really Korean though. At least she saw what I meant when I said jelly tofu soup is lovely. Though it probably goes to show how lousy I am at cooking then *waah*

From there, it was a non-stop play time of uno, go-stop, poker, and scum. And loads and loads of junk food. I don't want to think what went down me. This holiday is turning out to be really unhealthy so far. I'm going to turn into a real moon soon. Help! Should I even insult worm by wishing it was my turn to be sick now?? :P

If We Hold On Together

Don't lose your way
With each passing day
You've come so far
Don't throw it away
Live believing
Dreams are for weaving
Wonders are waiting to start
Live your story
Faith, hope & glory
Hold to the truth in your heart

If we hold on together
I know our dreams will never die
Dreams see us through to forever
Where clouds roll by
For you and I

Souls in the wind
Must learn how to bend
Seek out a star
Hold on to the end
Valley, mountain
There is a fountain
Washes our tears all away
Words are swaying
Someone is praying
Please let us come home to stay

If we hold on together
I know our dreams will never die
Dreams see us through to forever
Where clouds roll by
For you and I

When we are out there in the dark
We'll dream about the sun
In the dark we'll feel the light
Warm our hearts, everyone

If we hold on together
I know our dreams will never die
Dreams see us through to forever
As high as souls can fly
The clouds roll by
For you and I

Burj al-Arab, Jumeirah beach

Just as well we had our little trip yesterday. True to the weather forecast, it rained buckets throughout late morning to afternoon. Perfect day for sleeping it all through, but unfortunately I'm not the sort who can sleep till afternoon. I tried this morning, but got up in the end because I was getting rather bored. Had some more of the (unsweetened) muesli this morning. Should I ever be bothered doing it again, I'm making sure cinnamon is part of the mix. LOL. I wonder where do people get dried apple bits here? Without it being coated with more sugar and being overly expensive? Hmm... Hm...

Despite the weather being determined wet, wormy and I decided that kachama would be the worth in the walk in the rain (one umbrella between us LOL!) to Countdown and NW for the ingredients. Ginger from countdown of course (puppy alerted me to their having restocked on it at last. I found out later it can be gotten slightly cheaper at NW but in rather large quantities... it'd probably mould over before I finished yikes!), and garlic from NW, and some others. One mighty heavy-laden walk back in the rain it was. Wormy is convinced my thighs must be made of muscles. She didn't take up my offer of proding it to prove it otherwise though. *grin* At least there's something to look forwards to tonight despite the miserable weather. Food is always good for cheering up people/ situations... though sometimes I'm not sure if it's all that good a way to ward depression. *laughs*

Hum Hum Hum *hugs* Love ya all!

Tiny pine cone from my walk at the botanical gardens with puppy on monday afternoon. Just love their 'petalled' look ^^ There were still some as well stuck on the trees that look just like the dried ones, except for the fact that were still ... soft and squishy :P Passed by some toadstools. For some reason or other we started talking about the reason behind their name, and I was saying they could be stools for toads, and then puppy said (what I thought he said at least) yeah, they're toad's stools, where stools meant seats, which was practically the same as what I said. It took me some time before I realised he was talking about stools as in poo -_-"' Lol. Gardens was still pretty with some flowers still out, and saw lots of aloe species in the african themed part of the garden. The cherry tree walk still had it's beautiful grassy green patch in the middle. The cherry trees are looking rather sad, leaves wilting making them looking rather stunted and forlorn. Not very impressive despite the explanatory sign saying that every year the cherry (why do I keep on typing it as cheery?!) trees grow bigger and more impressive... hmm...

Purple lantern flowers from the little plant at the side of the path to my house. Photo might be a little overexposed, since the purpley bits are supposed to be of a richer deeper hue and bright cheery pink for the outer petals, instead of this pale shy looking pink. Love how I managed to get teh background a little blur ^^!

Toadstool, not from the botanical gardens, but one we found along the path while walking back from the signal hill lookout. Went there for the family expedition today, instead of having it on wednesday as planned before (forecast was for rain in the afternoon... so it better rain tomorrow afternoon!). Problem was wormy said she wouldn't arrive until late morning, about eleven. So the planned meet-up at the link was set for half-past. Only that she failed to arrive at that time, no thanks to unplanned for hp calls and meetings by the driver, but at least he sent her straight to the house safe and sound, and she was welcomed warmly by Chyikee. Lol, she arrived just as puppy and I got to the link, so it was a mad dash back to get her.

Thinking innocently that it would take us 40 minutes to get to the signal hill lookout (since puppy's flatmates did it in that time), we set out happily towards the north. Only problem was we didn't factor in the fact that his flatmates were loads fitter than us, and we reached our destination at past two. What was supposedly a 40 minute walk took us two hours I think? Weather was really warm today, which in itself was a good thing, except that after walking for ages, us five girls were certainly starting to wilt. Just as well the thought that we had walked so far already just made us go on. No point abandoning it halfway when we had been through so much... *ahem* torture?? Haha. We did ask for it after all. And so we climbed... up and up and up... and up... and up... some more. Puppy went on ahead to see how much farther it was and probably spent a good deal of time waiting for the rest of us to slowly arrive lol. And this is the view from signal hill. Too bad it was cloudy when I took the picture. Blue skies would make this scene worthy of any gallery... and I was there to see it ^^

The picnic lunch we shared was well worth the pain and sweat though. The food was nice, but the peaceful surroundings, the knowledge that we had 'earned' our lunch, the feeling of togetherness made it all the better. We probably brought along too much food but surprisingly we finished most of it in the end, so it was a whole bunch of bloated kiddies sitting out on the field at the top of signal hill today. Ooh, and we saw a little brown rabbit there too! ... which probably explains the pellets scattered around the field lol! And it was games afterwards. Without our cards, we had to think up games. So it was mafia (no idea what the actual name is, some killing by winking game it was), a number game, and Q's 'pabo' game. It's been a long time we've all laughed ourselves windless I think *grin* Some picture taking afterwards as a group as well... *double grins* And took this picture on the way down (we took the bus back down to town as it was getting late and our feet were really sore). See the cow/ bull at the bottom corner at the left!

The easter bunny is from Cl's for 'my room decorative piece' and I. Lol. What a mouthful that title is! Cl was asking me if it was chomped on already but can one do that? Not when it has that cheerful face and innocent bunny look! It was during a small gathering last Friday for dinner that she passed it to me. What started out as plans for a trip out to the beach in the evening turned into an indoor dinner thing with games after. I'm not sure if I just happen to be suggestible, but after all that ... *loss for words*... about feng shui, I'm starting to wonder if it actually works and what it actually is. Can an arrow just change how things work out? Or is it all just in the mind?? What about luck and chance? I'm pretty sure skill alone cannot account for getting 5 'guangs' in a go-stop game! Nor can I think of anything that can explain beating puppy at poker and go-stop this morning, especially not when I know practically nuts about poker compared to him! Hmm... Hmm...

Couldn't get up this morning either to join Sh for her morning walk. And the verdict for the weather this morning from puppy and Sh are so very different. Frigid said one, just nice said the other. I shall judge myself tomorrow morning then when I go out with Sh again at 7.30 tomorrow morning. We'll see if someone really had padding problems or was it just very high brown fat content on another's part.

Walked two hours today too. Was intending to walk out to pak 'n' save today actually, simply because I hadn't been there in a long while *wonder when they have their specials on bananas... hum*. We ended up walking waaay past it and all the way to KFC where true to Sh's word (rather than his own) puppy ended up feeding us some LOL. Not sure if the walk would undo the chocolate that went down me though.

Keeping fingers crossed that the weather will be fabulous come Wednesday. That would make torturing our little visiting worm very easy.

Had kimbap today, courtesy of omani. Yummy. I could have this everyday, for every meal I think. This is the only type of 'sushi'-like seaweed roll that I like. At last I've found someone who thinks alike as well. Like Doh (his name really is Doh!), I do think the Jap version is rather bland, and having it with soy sauce and wasabi just to make it tasty is like cheating somewhat. Not to mention wasabi tastes like crap to me. But kimbap. It's like a 180 degree turn. It has a more intense flavour from the sweet and salty meat and pickles in it. Smells nicer somehow as well. Not that one can say otherwise, omani is the demi-god of cooking. Mmmm.... I want some for breakfast... *drools*

She never thought that lighting could make a big difference. Never again does she want to appear in bright white light, but deep down she knows she's just deceiving herself. Perhaps now she knows how the beast of her childhood felt like, knowing why it chose to stay in seclusion. Her heart bleeds but amongst the blood and tears, there's always hope. An active hope. That one day she may emerge from this dark memory of pain laughing triumphantly. With the love and encouragement from the people around her, she knows she will.