Oven adventures
29 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Bring me out Darling/Dar Dar, jiak jiak 吃 吃, Love Nest @ Pungol Springs Tags: Bosch
Having an oven is so much fun!!!
Initially the salesperson was warning us that the oven will spoil if we never use it regularly. He even advised us to switch it on and heat up the oven for fun if we do not use it regularly. Haha, no need lo!! We are fully utilizing our oven!!
And with the addition of our super Kenwood kitchen mixer, nothing can stop Darling and Dar Dar from their Oven fun!
Kenwood Classic Major, Winner - Domestic Diva Awards (Singapore Women's Weekly)
We have yet to sign up for our free baking workshop at the AFC studio…haha but we are already experimenting with online recipes.
One of our very first bakes is the chicken… haha, my babarian obsession to grill my own chicken and tear the meat off it!! Grunt!
In the end, I was too lazy to marinate my own chicken, so bought a readily marinated one from Cold Storage. Lolz
Grilled herb marinated chicken
The chicken is quite big for Darling and me, lucky we got Xian’s sister to help eating and help in da-baoing a big drumstick for Bryan. We also made lasagna and brocoli to go with it. =)
The next major meal made by darling using the oven was this super Lovalicious breakfast!
Breakfast full of love
This breakfast really touched me deep deep! Darling really put a lot of effort into this. Everything is in hearts!! Truly amazing my darling. That’s how creative my Darling is!!
Our current favorite website for baking recipes is “joyofbaking.com” The website has lots of nice easy-to-follow recipes and some even comes with a video demonstration! Really easy way to learn to bake =D.
Next, Darling made these lovely muffins, using the small foil cups. Don’t just look at the pretty face of these muffins, they really pack a punch! Full of flavourful chocolate chips! And most important of all…handmade with Darling’s love
Love Muffins
More pics of the lovely chocolate chip muffins
After muffins, Darling wants to take up the cupcake challenge! She wants to try out cakecups as well as the icing decoration =) We even bought small packets of decorative sugar from Red Man =p
The cupcake batter ready to be baked
With the 3D hotair of our Bosch oven turned on, the batter soon becomes… …
Fresh cupcakes hot from the oven
And then with the whip of our kitchen mixer and under the delicate hands of my darling, they soon become… …
The finished product, Vanilla Cupcakes
This is our very first attempt making and decorating cupcakes and it’s a really fun and sweet (coz we keep eating the left-over icing) baking session!
This attmept really perked up Darling’s interest in cupcakes and very soon, there shall be a second attempt. =)
Darling bought Hershey’s chocolate powder for her next cupcake experiment and off we go to our next cupcake adventure!
Darling's Hershey Choco-Love cuppies
Up close and personal with the Choco-Love Cuppies and the improved icing!
The previous icing made for the Vanilla cupcakes was too soft and fluid so this time round, Darling added in a generous amount of icing sugar and the consistency of the icing turned out just nice.
Now is my turn to try my hand at baking something for darling. Christmas season is near so I decided to give it a shot at making Gingerbread man! Darling has never eaten a gingerbread man before, neither have I…haha
The ingredient list really got me blurred…what the hell is molasses? Well, a trip to Red Man got me all the listed ingredients. Molasses is a type of cane sugar extract which is thick and sticky, almost like honey’s consistency but black/ dark brown in colour. The smell is also different…haha
Quite exciting to really bake and create something on my own. I did not study Home Econs before and the only thing I really cooked myself is instant noodles. All the time I have my darling at my side to guide me in cooking…this time I was alone. So scared, yet excited…
I was thinking how happy and surprised Darling will be when she sees and eats my gingerbread man! Shiok!
My first attempt at making the dough failed miserably… =( The dough I made is so sticky!! It looks so so different from the joyofbaking.com video! I was so so sooo disappointed… Well, maybe I added the ingredients in the wrong order? Or maybe my measurements were not accurate? I endured the heartache and threw the failed dough away, and started my second attempt at the dough! I must succeed this time!! This second attempt, I have not enough molasses as per the recipe so I used 3/4 volume of what the recipe suggested…Viola, guess what??? The dough came out perfect!!! Hahahahahaha
I really shouted “YES, YES, YES!!” when I saw the dough changing into the consistency as shown in the video! I knew this will definitely succeed!
The freshly baked Gingerbread man
My babies came out of the oven in 4 batches. The first batch were too crispy as I made them too thin…so I made some adjustments to the subsequent batches and they really looked more like the gingerbread man I knew. Next mission… the decoration… So what do you think of my art-work??
Batch 1 decorated by me.
Decorating them is so much fun!! I was smiling to myself while decorating them coz I knew Darling will be so happy to see these cute babies!! Haha.
She was indeed surprised and happy and excited to see these gingerbread man! Mission accomplished!!
So we went back to our Punggol love nest in order to continue the decoration of the rest of the gingerbread man…but there was a big twist of event…I was too rushed to finish decorating the first batch of gingerbread man so I did not have time to clear up my mess before I left the house. Darling was so so angry and disgusted to see the whole kitchen in a mess…sigh…all my fault. I have successfully turned an happy event into an unhappy event single-handedly again…
Well, I cleaned up the mess and mopped the house floor to atone for my sins and lucky darling forgived me in the end…and we ended up finishing the decoration for the remaining gingerbread man!! Yay!!! Mission finally accomplished and all’s well that ends well!!
Darling and Dar Dar's combined efforts. Can you guess who decorated which ones?
The latest additon to our oven adventure has to be the chicken pies =)
Darling has always been famous for her chicken pies at home. Even her picky brother likes her chicken pies and her sisters are eagerly looking forward to them too. This time round, darling is making chicken pies for me!! Haha YEAH!
The "I love U" chicken pies
I showed my colleague KJ this picture and she was like “So pretty!!!” Hahaha
When I finished work that day, I rushed home and enjoyed the best chicken pie I have tasted so far!! Darling’s version of the chicken pie =x
The pastry was light and fluffy and the fillings were not too watery. And it’s not excessively oily too. Healthy chicken pies by darling!
The finished chicken pies
I gobbled up 4 STAT! Haha, really good stuff. Today I brought some for my colleagues KJ, Chris, Vincent and they all have praises for the pies! For the rest who have no chance to savour these pies…there will be chances…wait for them. Haha
I am looking forward to our next project! The countdown cupcakes. They will be chocolate cupcakes with Hershey’s chocolate frosting! Can’t wait…
Happy 2011 birthday Darling!
06 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Birthday, Grand Shanghai, Love Nest @ Pungol Springs Tags: grand shanghai, hairy crabs
Time flies and it’s that part of the year again, drum roll….Darling’s Birthday!!
I Initally planned on giving a surprise to darling but she found out about it anyway…darling is too smart!
Darling sensed that the arrangement of the pillows on our bed has changed so she started to explore before she found the flowers!
Simple "Lego-style" Birthday greetings and fresh flowers
Opps, showed darling's age unknowingly
So flowers I gave to darling, what about the present? Haha, had it all preapred!!
What's a birthday without the present?
What did Dar Dar buy for Darling???
Au Revoir
So what did Dar Dar write inside that small small card, that resulted in Darling reading it with so much interest?? Well, you can only ask Xian to be sure.
Hmm...what sweet stuff did Dar Dar write??
Judging from the smile on Darling’s face, I think Darling likes the tiny surprise I had for her!! Yay!
Happy Happy girl
Next up is Darling’s Birthday treat =)
She had this strong desire to eat hairy crabs so she requested that as her birthday treat. Hmm…I initially had another place in mind which can offer great views and good ambience but since darling is the birthday girl, she gets the final say!
The dinner venue is the same as our AD dinner venue…which is…
Grand Shanghai
Taking a pic with what we are going to eat later..hahaha
We are always amazed by the setting of Grand Shanghai…the charm it exudes, the beauty it holds…
The interior of Grang Shanghai
Here comes the menu proper =)
The Menu
The hairy crab menu
We chose the set whereby we will have 2 hairy crabs each! Haha, it is our first time eating hairy crabs and since it is a seasonal delicacy, we must truly savour this creature by eating 2!
Our dish to share, the crispy eel
Our crispy eel does not taste like eel at all leh, but it does have a certain shiokness to it. Munching it while listening to oldies and sipping tea…quite a nice combi.
Black Fungus Salad
First up is the black fungus salad. The black fungus are big big pieces and really crunchy. The dressing is mild spicy yet slight sourish, really good appetizer.
Xiao Long Bao
The Xiao Long Bao is a nice size, full of savoury juices inside. The meat is tender and when taken together with the ginger and vinegar, is simply heavenly.
Next up is the nightmare of some support groups out there…but it’s a heavenly dish for me!!
Double boiled Shark's bone with Superior Shark's Fin
The soup is full of flavour, and the shark’s fin are really big pieces! Full of Shark’s fin in every mouth! This dish we must have in our dinner banquet menu! =p
Now the main highight of the night.. …The creature that is renowed over the world…all the way from China…these hairy things that are only available a few months a year…大闸蟹!
The cute little hairy yummy thing
If you are wondering how to start tasting these little hairy creatures, heehee, there is nothing to worry about coz the waitress will help us prepare the delicacy =)
The waitress is making bite sizes of the crab in the background. The sauce for dipping is in the foreground.
All ready to go into our tummy. Look at all those yummy roe!!
The roe is the main highlight of hairy crabs and the roe is really smooth and yummy. There is also this sticky stuff around the roe area and the waitress says they are all fats… (-.-”
They have these crab meat eating tool provided so it’s really easy to finish eating the whole crab with minimal meat left behind. There is not much meat in this tiny thing but the meat is quite firm and have a good texture. Lucky we ordered 2!!
Darling using the tool to extract leg meat
After the main dish, we are going to have some fibre to help in the digestion =D
Braised Abalone with Sea Cucumber and Spinach
The sea cucumber is nice and squashy, I like!! The spinach portion is big too.
Next up is something light, also made partly with the yummy hairy crab roe.
Steamed Dumplings with Crab Roe
The dumplings itself is quite nice but I really cannot taste any crab roe. I supposed they used it to make the skin of the dumplings since the colour is yellow too.
At this point we are quite full already so it’s about time we have dessert =)
Chilled 胖大海 with Lily Bulb
We have no idea what 胖大海 is but it does taste nice and chilled…haha. A refreshing dessert.
That ends Darling’s birthday dinner! Full and satisfied!
Hmm…are we missing something here? It’s a birthday right??
YES!! The birthday cake!! it’s at our Punggol Springs love nest =x
Darling's birthday cake during the combined birthday celebration with Darling's mummy
Darling's very own birthday cake from Awfully Chocolate
Make a wish darling, and may all your wishes come true!
Happy Birthday my darling! Hope you enjoyed your birthday and your gift. May all your wishes come true!!
I love you!
Photo Selection Day
05 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Actual Day wedding, Bring me out Darling/Dar Dar, Grand Shanghai, Sentosa, Universal Studios, Wedding photography, Z Wedding D'sign
Today is really a day of headache and heartache! Haha. Supposed to choose photos today!! We are both really excited about this…at the same time, we are also worried that the photos may turn out too nice for us to reject!
We only have 24 photos included as part of the package…with each photo priced at S$115, it’s no joke if we are unable to “throw away” photos.
Well, if we have to spend, we must make sure it is worth spending on…
We saw the photos…die liao…the photos are ALL DAMN BEAUTIFUL! 真的是美到。。。。。The indoor shots are all taken beautifully, darling looks great in the white wedding gown!!
The outdoor shots are equally nice. The only disappointment is that the rope swing series did not turn out as nice as we expected…sigh…The big pink balloon also did not seem to make much impact.
Our USS series 众望所归 contains the best photos of the day! We are both quite natural when doing candid shots…haha, really not cut out to be models.
I shall upload a few photos to wet your appetite…hiak hiak hiak…
The white Room
Darling in her Cheongsam, damn seductive
The Happy Universal Studio Couple
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