You can't just keep taking out from the emotional bank. Negativity, criticism, picking on faults. That's all you ever do. All you know. It is your legacy.

In order not to react, i cannot only shut you out mentally. I have to shut you out physically so that i will not hear anything you have to say.

My literature review draft 1 is out! Such a relief it is... so now i've got to get all my interviews done and transcribing done which is the no-brainer work just before the brain squeezing part: the analysis. But that's okay by me, qualitative study is more up my alley than quantitative.

And it's Chinese New Year this week! We'll all be getting extra long weekends... So lovely. :) Nice to have family around, though that means i probably won't be able to get much work done though but i'll try.

dinner feast we had with some relatives over. veg, salad, beef rendang, thai basil chicken, prawns, sausages and hot rice.
view of the sun setting between the two trees.

love how the wooden building stands out against the sunlit mountain.

water suspended in time.

yummy lunch of egg-mayo-onions, tomato, cheese and black pepper. i think i'm getting a little pudgey. hmm.

one of the dogs from another dogsled team. handsome guy isn't he? :) i love how he stared right into the camera.

this is Sun and Chocolate, two of the dogs from my dogsled team.

and this is Sun again. he's so adorable and in doofy way but he used to be one of the top racing dogs around in Vancouver, BC.

dog butts as we go along! they apparently love running and they thrive in subzero temperatures! like, -10degreesC and below? i think it was -25. the guide says they eat 5000 calories a day!

stopping for a break and i get a really good shot of them looking back at us. they're probably saying: c'mon guys! lets get going already!

my morning hot chocolate before the dogsled tour. it's so good on a cold, snowy, slushy morning.

a snowball for my targets. muah hahah. but had a change of heart afterwards and didn't throw it.

random shots from the day. :)

doing the snow angel thingy. it really did look quite pretty when you get up!

soiling my pretty boots. but boy, they are so comfy, and right out from the box too!
aunt says: it was meant to be. i say: amen.

cold and windy up here! we were coming out from the food court to go back to the gondola station and had to run through a bit of open space. we decided to brave the cold for some photos, so aunt, mum and i each took turns to scamper to that scenic spot.

yes, mum's idea to put reindeer branch ears on ourselves.

heehee, finally, a post NOT on macarons. yup, so i'm now in lovely and COLD Canada for my wintry family holiday. it's 11:10pm and i'm having a little personal computer time at the dining area with my cousin. am tired from the long flights and head feels a little woozy from the lack of proper sleep and maybe the plane ride. in general, trying to remain psyched for the days to come.

the streetview outside where i'm staying at. had to snap this quickly, but i like it a lot. didn't have much time to take my time to do macro shots of the lovely dried leaves on the ground because, 1) had to keep touristy behaviour to a minimum cos cousins and i were walking to the sushi shop, 2) temperature was below 0 degreesC. Eeps.

the food i've had so far has been lovely. trying to keep tabs on my eating cos the cold tends to make you overeat!

okay, going to sleep now though i would love to post pictures of the food i've had. i have been enlightened. had the biggest salmon sashimi piece ever for just $1.20 (Canadian). Man, Sg rips people off when it comes to food!

it's been birthday meals after birthday meals (treats from friends and family. love.), and then doing my research's interviews in the last week or so.

and today, i spent 14 hours in the kitchen baking macarons for parties i'm going to. it was a real macaron marathon i tell ya. started the morning off with coffee-chocolate shells (zen's great idea of making tiramisu macarons), and moved on to making green tea shells, then lastly, lemon shells. from 10:30am to 12:30am, thereabout. I really enjoy the process, i'll admit. though the repetition of steps and the worry over whether the macs will crack/will not have feet/will have lopsided feet drives me a little nuts.

and i found out 2 keys things to prevent macaron death. 1) get level trays. 2) Air-con

Spoilt biscuits, aren't they? Even i don't rest in air-con rooms. hurhur. the lengths i have to go to to make them, just because i live in singapore where the humidity is high.

can't wait to experiment with flavours! going to attempt to deviate from the usual flavoured white chocolate filling and try making a buttercream. It's lots more work though. Meh.

hopefully i'll have photos to show you tmr. :) for now, toodles, good night.

This is a picture of my little furry angel, Jed. You don't see much of him here because he's so black, just maybe the outline of his black pointy ears. It amazes me how perceptive he can be. To most people, he's just a yappy, crazy inconsiderate dog, but to me, he's my precious 4-legged family who can be extremely human sometimes.

There's a story behind this photo of course. I had apparently eaten something wrong at lunch time on monday and got food poisoning. So i spent pretty much the whole of monday and tuesday in bed.

And true to being man's best friend, he kept me company. He would hop onto my bed every chance he got when he found me lying there, find a nice tight corner beside me and cuddle right in. All day while i was in bed and all night, for the 2 whole days/nights. On other nights, he might wander from room to room, but this time he was constantly by my side.

Somehow, he could sense that i needed some extra love, some extra comfort and quiet company. And his loyal K9 heart didn't fail to deliver.

I'm (already) dreaming of a white Christmas...

And all the food I want to cook.

In actuality, i've not exactly perfected any one dish yet. It's just that i've experimented and tried out different recipes... but it doesn't mean that what i want to cook again will turn out the same way.

The only dishes that i know reasonably well that will turn out well (but not always the same way) is my potato gratin and carrot cake and butter cake. Stuff to put onto bread is also relatively safe. (Eg. prawn and avocado or the egg, red pepper and basil filling). I think my button mushroom burgers are pretty good too. :)

Anyway...

Christmas is coming. And i CANNOT wait!

This is Jed licking his lips. Just like the way i am now too.


OH. and HELLLLOOO CANADA!!!!

***

My mum was real sweet, she came home after work a few days ago and put this magazine on the kitchen table saying, "Nah, i got this for you."

It was a copy of what looked like a new women's magazine called "beautymap". Mummy knows daughter loves make up and beauty products. :D

And so i spent a short while on sunday morning relishing the articles inside and came across a short tutorial on how to put on eye liner. And i can say that FINALLY, FINALLY a women's magazine has SUCCESFULLY taught me how to put on eyeliner the way i like it without confusing me to the point of just giving up.

I'm so happy with my discovery that i foresee myself wearing thicker eye liner now. Hohoho.

I really enjoyed that really rare just-me-alone-time, sitting in the living room with the morning sun coming in and fiddling about with make-up, making a mess of myself and laughing at how ridiculous i look or going ah so des at how i've discovered how to do something new.

recalling some recent cooking exploits

Jie made these rockin' cinnamon and brown sugar coated grilled pineapples. Sprinkle with mint leaves and lime juice if desired. To enjoy, you gotta love your sweets.
My tuna, button mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, onions, garlic, and feta cheese (had chopped basil, thyme, rosemary and parsley) pasta salad.
Ingredients for one of Pioneer Woman's recipes... Tweaked a little though.
Just to help me remember that i buanged in fresh chopped basil.

And some lemon juice.

End result.

With mozzarella cheese and smoked cheddar cheese on top, with coarse black pepper.

Another pasta salad for one of our dinners.

Jie and my shopping, cooking and eating adventures!

At this Hong Kong Cafe at IMM. Her yin yang ice and my HK milk tea.
The "pork bun", as written on the menu. It's a BURGER man.

Half for me. Hee.
My wanton noodles with chilli.

Mountain of carrots. I love Giant for its mountain of stuff, fit for Giants! But i think i might be more stoked shopping in Canada where helpings are WAY BIGGER!

Home and soaking the salad leaves. We got these at 80cents a pack when its original price was $4+. The price was decreased a great deal because the leaves aren't as fresh as the newer stock.

Baby potatoes for the mashed potato that my sister made. She's a natural chef man, i tell ya! It was so good. Olive oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, chopped fresh basil.

Dog checking out whatever that just came out from the magic cupboard, a.k.a. the fridge.

My beef stew's ingredients, which includes cocoa powder. No kidding. :) The recipe's taken from Chef at Home, featuring Michael Smith. I LOVE his programme. Its so homey, unpretentious, inventive, and friendly to watch.

Onions, celery, carrots and garlic. To go into the stew.

Had finished browning my beef for the flavour (so says Chef Smith), and Jed looks on. This is a decidedly cute picture. :)

This was how it looked like when everything was tossed in to boil. But it looks very different after being thoroughly cooked through. Pictures later. :) The beef stew's for tomorrow's dinner.
You can see that the colour is a lot darker now. Lots of red wine, like, 1/3 a bottle. Was trying to finish up the leftover wine in the fridge.
My sister's finished dish. Delicious grilled beef with hot sauce made from scratch, on a bed of salad and mashed potato on the side.

Ah heh... After dinner, i enthusiastically volunteered myself to help out with making our tiramisu. Last week i was having a craving for tiramisu which went unsatisfied. My kind sister asked me if the craving has been met and i responded with a resounding "NO!". So here we are... Pictures of the finished product coming up! :DD
What you see here is the final layer of cream cheese being slopped over two layers of biscuit fingers soaked in coffee and baileys, chocolate shavings... OH. YUM. AGH.

(Older) Sister: Oooo! The peaches are so pretty!
Jo: Cos they are Snow Beauty Peaches...
Jo: (in my best Disney chirpy show host impersonation) Hi! What's your name? *points to a peach*
Sister: (in high pitched child voice) Ariel! (y'know, from The Little Mermaid movie...)
Jo: And what's yours?
Sister: Cinderella!
Jo: Snow White!

We are such retards. In our late 20s. :) I like!

In recent snaps... (part 1)

Lunch at Tony Romas with family and friends. :) With a (heavensent) $100 voucher. Happiness.

My french onion soup, the MUST ORDER for me since i was a kid. Sadly, the standard of the soup has dropped DRASTICALLY since the heydays when Tony Romas first opened. The soup bowl used to be filled to the max with soup, and there would be huge chunk of bread immersed and soaked with soup just below like a mountain of chewy cheese that would engulf the whole of the top of the bowl, with cheese sliding down the sides. Now? Erk. I really don't know HOW it got to this level and why no one in the management seems to be keeping tabs on the quality. But still, it's the only place i know that serves french onion soup this way (soup with bread and cheese). Let me know if you've tried better! Mountain of fried onions with a special sauce (cos i cannot remember the name, only remember it being nice), and the standard potato skins with sour cream. Lovely. More pictures below.
Did i mention that i've attempted to make potato skins? In my opinion, they turned out awesome. ;) i think u might be able to find photos of it on this blog, somewhere.
Fried onions: Quite a tasty dish as you chew slowly to get the taste of onions and the batter out, not too salty, unexpectedly huge. Goes well with the sauce, but oily of course.
Ah hah! And the baby back ribs.
Salad. By the way, i had an AWESOME moroccan salad at California Pizza Kitchen some sundays ago (also had a voucher, thank God). Mm... Yum. But no pictures of it, oh well.
The End
***
My attempt to create hot foam on top of my sunday earl grey tea.
After having tea with hot foam on top at a cafeteria, i was hankering after tea with foam one sunday morning. Having no machine, i sought the all knowing Google to help me find people crazy enough to think up of ways to do this without a machine. So i did! One person suggested that you take a glass bottle with a cap, fill it with the desired amount of COLD milk (skim or full cream does make a difference to the outcome, apparently). Cover the bottle and shake madly for 45 seconds. After which, buang it into the microwave for a few seconds to warm the milk just enough such that the glass is not too hot to handle. Pour milk into your cup of tea. Well. This was the outcome. Pass or fail, i dunno. But i was happy to have some semblance of foam la. Hur.