Best Ever Chewy Choco Chunk Cookie

I am forever indebted to this person whose blogpost i stumbled upon while looking up a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. She made changes to the popular new york times cookie recipe and came up with her own and you know, i'm a fan of it after trying it just ONCE! Left her a thank you comment but since she posted the recipe almost a year ago, hmm... not too sure if she'll know. But anyhow, all credit goes to her.

Check it out: http://www.tallgrasskitchen.com/chocolate-chip-cookies

I see she's a reader of The Pioneer Woman too! :D

I wish the lighting was better here but yup! Hope this entices you enough to go try it out. I halved the recipe and it still worked beautifully, just so you know.

Stuffed portobello mushrooms. These were soooo good. But i think i'll still try other ways of stuffing them (these had bacon in it). The possibilities for mushrooms and cheese is endless!

The tomato sauce turned out really delicious, but i think i picked the wrong pasta to use. The grilled chicken was okay. It was tasty, but i think i still prefer overnight marinated chicken to glazed-while-cooking chicken.
And these were the rosemary and garlic baby potatoes! I tried to make them as healthy as possible, so i put less oil and less salt. I think i will make them tastier next time by adulterating the recipe with all the other kinds of herbs and spices. Teehee.

and lastly... these AWESOME THE BOMB GO CRAZY EAT ALL STUFF YOUR FACE FINISH EVERYTHING AND MAKE AGAIN CHOCOLATE AND PEANUT BUTTER BROWNIE. Ina Garten struck gold with this one. Oh... These were soooo good. Best eaten with chocolate loving friends around the dinner table. And vanilla ice cream. But of course. :) Have never made brownies from scratch before and this is the first recipe i've tried. Excellent. I'm full of praise for Ina. Get the recipe here! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/peanut-swirl-brownies-recipe/index.html
I've made a few changes to suit my pantry's limitations and tastebuds, but you shouldn't stray too far off as well. Go try it! But i would halve the recipe, imho.

Had a prayer and catch up session with some of my church leaders and so this was a good excuse for me to cook and have people over during my Dissertation House Arrest. It was good. Food, friends, catching up and prayer. All good.

Oh, it's going to be a feast tonight. Photos later! :D

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.

Not bad. Productivity has gone up like, 5x? HAHA.

Have done and submitted Chapter 1 and 2 for vetting. Chapter 1 has been approved, Chapter 2 is in the process... A little worried about that one though. It's easy to pick out poorly written and thought out arguments. Meh.

Have done 5 out of 8 transcriptions. That is a FEAT. In the past, a 1 hour interview took 8 hours to transcribe. That's 1/3 of a whole day. Madness. But with the digital recorder i now have, it cuts down the timing to about 4-7 hours, depending on level of concentration and how long the interview was...

I hate that there's no way around this, i HAVE to do transcribing by sitting still for literally hours on end. But oh well. At least i have managed to bulldoze through half of it already. Thank you LORD!

Speaking of which. I have an awesome testimony i want to share. Will do so soon. :D

TO THE FINISH LINE!
DISSERTATION, I KILL YOU UNTIL YOU DIE!

Ok, need to enjoy the process. Ahem. Last moments of being a student.

i hereby announce house arrest for myself from today till mid march.
no casual social gatherings unless absolutely necessary, eg. friend flying off, friend in hospital.

the heat is ON to finish off this dissertation. the deadline is so near.

i have my 'game on' face.

CHIONG AH!

Jed, Gem and Jo @ Botanic Gardens 13th Feb 2011 Sunday

It took us ages to leave the house on a bright cheery sunday afternoon. But when we did, it was a gorgeous and relaxing day out with 2 of my best buds: Gem and Jed. :)

It's Jed's first time walking such a long distance, so we had to be prepared to carry him home but the power packed mini pin was a good sport all the way there and back. The only times when we had to tend to him was when we had to run across the pedestrian crossing because the tar road was too hot in the midday sun and he was hopping and kicking his feet in the air because it was scorching his uncallused paw pads (since he's at home most of the time), and when we used our ice water to cool his ears down (which cools him down).

We took a walk from home all the way to the Botanic Gardens where we sat down to take a break and recharge before heading for dinner and back home.

Jed ever so often gets mistaken as a chihuahua. Meh. But at least the commenting passersby always exclaim that he's so cute. Ah, but of course. :)

Hopefully boy and dog had a good time out. By the time we left, it was 7pm, ended dinner at close to 9pm, and got home close to 10pm. We had a Vietnam moment during dinner when we had to sit by the roadside with our tapao-ed dinner since eateries don't welcome pets on their premises. But we had a good time all in all. My polar watch also said that i burnt some good fatty calories. Yay.

muay thai?

I've been thinking about this for the longest time, to do some other sport other than running/jogging/walking/weight training. Those are good and cheap ways to exercise, and also pretty boring sometimes. I really could do with a challenge! So can my post-canada-chinese-new-year-feasting body. *burp*

but yes, have been thinking about this and i think it's about time to take some action. Some serious, literal action.

Hello, Evolve MMA...?

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.

i've noticed that every time i log onto blogger of late, i see a new "follower" being added every now and then. i've never actually had blogger followers, just my regular friends who drop by to read.

this is quite new to me, so i'd like to just say, hi? :) and are you really reading this space? i'm just realllllyyy curious. :D

i wonder if this is what they call "post holiday depression". did i enjoy myself too much? or fell in love with Vancouver? or fell in love with being free? i need to work around my mental representations of what life is, or i'm going to be living in a dissatisfied daze.

i don't know why. i'm beginning this year with very strange negative vibes and feelings. it's as if, i'm angry at something, angry with a group of people, just plain angry at everything. it's making me just want to retreat to a very faraway place, to just communicate at the minimum level with people. although i know that that would make me feel lonely after a while. but still.

i also get this feeling of intense dissatisfaction. i don't know if this is because i've been away and i've seen another side to life. i wonder if other travellers feel the same way too.

it's feelings that come from knowing that there is so much more to life out there than here in Sg. The market here is so small, our daily occurrences are so small in comparison to what's happening out there. Basically, perspectives are so limited here.

You have to FIGHT for what you want to do. It seems like such a tough and unforgiving kind of society. Or, seems so. Life here seems to be about neverending striving, pace of life keeps you stressed and wanting to keep up to par with everyone and with expectations of society, of yourself and others. It's all about the doing, doing, doing, doing.

I know how Jonah from the bible feels. Knowing God's calling but wanting to run away from it. Running in the opposite direction, far far away. While Jonah knew God was calling, I have simply forgotten. I find myself wondering: did God really call me into this field of work? I can't remember.

Where has my heart gone, Lord? I feel it hiding underneath so much disappointment, angst and dissatisfaction. Can you revive it Lord, like, genuinely revive my heart? I feel so dead.

we never seem to be able to have a normal time. there's always a current of tension beneath what we've got and at any time, at any trigger, either one of us blows up.

it's amazing and beyond my understanding how you can totally and utterly fail to see how you push people away. you complain about how others run away, and when it is explained to you why, you sniff at the explanation and deny that anything is wrong with you. such is blindness brought about by pure and unbridled pride or pure density, or the sheer inability to self reflect.

like you said, it's a love-hate relationship. and i'm so sorry to hear that, in all honesty. i don't see why it has to be that way. i don't think God meant relationships to be that way.

i never want to be like you.

my snow angel. :) the snow wasn't very thick so it didn't come out distinctly. had to give it a hand by drawing some lines.

all bundled up standing on the lake (now frozen) beside our hotel. standing directly on flat ice is really an experience! it's like standing on a huge ice cube. it's slippery, and there's hardly any grip when you walk. and yes, that's an ice sculpture behind me.

meet Marcus, or Mark, the guy in charge of "Pet Relations" at the Fairmont hotel. haha. You'll never see dogs lying around in a Singapore hotel! we all thought that he was an old, lethargic but friendly K9 employee, but turns out that he's only TWO YEARS OLD. Goodness, the poor thing's obese, i tell you.

Anyway, i'm back home and i'm glad that the weather has been chilly. Helps us to readjust back to tropical, summer weather all year round. Spent 3 days clearing up the luggage stuff and running errands, so i'm going to have to go full speed into my dissertation. Jetlag has served me well this time around, helping me to sleep and wake up early, which i quite like. I'm really hoping to keep this up.

I'm missing Canda a lot, wishing that it was easier to get there and not have to sit through the 15-16 hours (with a transit in between) on the plane in a cramped position and unable to sleep properly.

I'm hoping to start work soon and earn some dough to go on a trip to Australia. Or some really nice island getaway. Somehow. Somehow.

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!

L to R: Green tea, Peppermint, Lemon and Tiramisu

The fruit of many hours in the kitchen. Credits to Weizhen for giving me the idea of doing a tiramisu version... V (close friend) really liked it even though she isn't even a macaron person. One of Gem's friends also enjoyed the tiramisu one. Whoopee! :D

Thinking that i would be leaving on sunday for my Canadian adventure, i thought i had time to do up the literature review of my dissertation. But instead, i discovered that the 31st is THIS friday. Good job, Jo. So now i'm rushing out my literature review and am guessing that i'm making more headway in these few hours than in the last 7 months.

Just thought of sharing this photo with you, as part of my macaron madness journey. :)

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.

Counsellors and people who have done transcribing before will know this.

1hour of recorded conversation takes about 8 hours to transcribe. Recently did an interview that lasted 1hr 25 minutes or so. And i have 5 more interviews to do.

Jesus, I need your divine speed...

***

Opened the fridge to find little brown-yellow bits on the shelves. Thinking they were broken pieces of fried noodles, i nudged one of them with my finger to swipe it off the shelf. I noticed it was soft but thought, maybe it was the, i don't know, the cool air and liquids that softened the noodle.

Then it hit me. Each piece of "broken noodle" was the same length. One had a tiny black dot on it, conveniently looking like the noodle had an eye.

Then i thought: Worm? Maybe. But they aren't moving. Maybe they are dead.

Took a piece of tissue and picked one up and did a double take when i found that my noodle MOVED. IT WIGGLED. @#$$%$^%&*&!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you know me well enough, you will know that worms are my greatest nemesis. Next to snails.

I was shrieking bloody murder inside but managed to clear off all my "broken noodles" from the fridge shelves with enough tissue so that my fingers wouldn't be able to feel their soft bodies.

I called mum in her office (yes, i was that desperate to find out where in the world the critters came from) and i was told they came from one of the mangoes.

Now i jump at the slightest sensation of anything wriggly or ticklish on my skin. Ugh.