Last Dinner of 2008

With friends that is...

Continuing with the busy busy month of December, I'm ending this month or this YEAR with a post-Christmas pre-New Year dinner at my place yesterday. I thought i could manage to finish preparing everything by 2pm BUT, apparently reality doesn't go as planned. One thing is the incredible huge loads of ingredients to prepare. You thought you've chopped up everything you need and when you turn around, you see a yellow post-it note that says you still have this much to slice and cube! OMG.. but on the brighter side, i was done preparing when the guests arrived.

I would say, the food turned out the way it's suppose to be on paper:) , but i think i should improve on the portion (of the food). REALLY. sorry guys for the uber diet-friendly meal:) keke~

And well, as much as i want to share pictures (well..maybe some:)) from the dinner and our gossips and how i chopped away my day with a knife, i really have to pack for my trip tonight.. HAHA! I.AM.SO.EXCITED.

안녕!

Christmas Buttons

BUSY. One simple world and yet fully describes my last month of 2008. There's the canceling of my student pass (so i'm officially not a student now), Baby shower, Eric and other December babies' birthdays and not to mention the number of pre-Christmas 'Christmas parties' which also resulted in many failed diet attempts. It's pleasant with all the warm fuzzy feeling of togetherness.. but well.. it's one hectic month. I was planning ( and let me mention again "PLANNING") to make Christmas cookies, you know the ones that are decorated with colourful royal icing, shape with Christmas themed cookie cutters and whacked with edible glitters.. but well, there's JUST. NO. TIME.

Anyways, in my effort to at least update my blog a little (the choco cake had gotten it's fair share of attention) I've made cookies. *See the Title?* btw, it's just normal cookies shaped into buttons of multiple colours (got the idea from women's weekly) and since it's made in the Christmas month, no harm adding 'Christmas' to the title right.

So, to everyone reading this message! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! WOOHoo~

p/s. to all guests coming to my place on 28th, i'm still working on the menu...it's unbelievably nerve-racking can~

Chocolate Cake SHOWDOWN!

VOTE FOR ME!!

It is the time of the year where tinsel tinged malls have erected their giant fir trees that have been put in mothballs for the past 12months and restaurants planning for dinner 'promotions' that will filch away couples' purses. It is the time where colour combinations of red, green and white IS THE à la mode. Yes. With just a little more than a month, the world will be celebrating Christmas!

Other than putting up pictures of our famous Saint Nicholas, chocolate cakes would be the definite must buy/bake/gorge during christmas. Though they usually loom in the form of log cakes, they are nevertheless made of chocolates. Btw, the best chocolate cake ever would be my first chocolate cupcake, baked by my mum, eons years ago. That was probably also the cause of my first toothache and puberty weight gain. Then again Mcdonalds' might still be the culprit (for the weight part)

Anyhow, what i want to blog about is that.. I partook in a chocolate cake bake off. I'm supposed to bake>decorate>photograph>blog>send in, easy as that. Since it's my first challenge, I really want to do a good (bake), dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's!

My Gustatory cells nearly died of happiness~

I'm not a great fan of buttercream, so i melted chocolates with (lite) sour cream instead for the filling, it's not as heavy and can pretty well used to frost the cake. For the deco I piped chocolate ganache over the cake to give a more desirable look. And for the sponge i've added ovalette to give it a smoother and softer texture.

I was actually introduced to Myers Rum by my baking tutor. i heard that the CEO of bakerzin Daniel Tay is also a great fan of that rum. It really satisfied my olfactory system, i would definitely recommend this to every baker.

Even in the pantheon of cocao, this is one helluva chocolate intense cake. From the sponge, filling to the fudge, i admit, it's quite a choco rich bake. All chocoholics would just find it all soooo lovely.

p/s. The winner gets a box of chocolate flown all the way from the other side of the hemisphere!

p/p/s. i'm not sure if it's goin to be a voting event. But if there is, VOTE FOR ME!! if you wanna share the chocs with me!:)

Ingredients

Sponge cake
4 eggs

105g caster sugar

110g flour

20g unsweetened cocoa powder

60g melted butter

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ovalette

1 tsp vanilla essence

45g low fat milk

Rum

Chocolate Frosting

160g 60% (bittersweet) chocolate chopped

160g milk/semi-sweet chocolate chopped

1 1/2cup lite sour cream

Chocolate ganache

80g semi-sweet chocolate chopped

100g heavy cream

Method

Chocolate sponge cake

1. Beat the eggs and milk at low speed.

2. Add the dry ingredients and ovalette, and continue beating at low speed for 1 min then swith to high speed and beat for 6 minutes

3. Add vanilla essence and melted butter to mixture and beat at medium speed until well mixed

Chocolate Frosting

1.Melt chocolate in a double boiler/heatproof bowl over barely simmering water.

2. Beat in the sour cream until well mixed.

Layer cakes to about 1cm (my preference) divide frosting accordding to the number of layers you are planning to set. e.g 3 layers, divide frosting into 4 portions. 4 layers>5 portions so on and so forth.

Dot a little rum on each songe cake layer before spreading the frosting. Use remaining to frost top and sides of the cake.

Chocolate ganache

1. Heat heavy cream to boil.

2. pour heated cream over chocolate and mix until homogeneous.

3. Let it cool a little, and pour over cake. (You can choose to cover the whole cake with the ganache. But be warned, it's goin to be very rich!)

4. Chill for about 15mins.

5. ready for devour

Stawberry Cheesecake

This is going to be the first blog after my little baby niece had come into the world.. OMG!} I'm all antsy over this little cherub's arrival, yet cautious. Did i mention that i don't dare to carry her? one simple reason > the newcomer looks so soft and fragile.. the job of cradling her and rocking her back and forth, from side to side will be left for my mum, sister-in-law and the confinement lady.

There's nothing much i can do actually.. i have no knowledge of what and what not to eat for the new mother in our family (Though I've attempted to get hold of the "Confinement for Dummies" book) Frankly speaking, i have a feeling that my status in the whole tribe seems to have dropped by a few ranks.. BUT! i'm not complaining.. me being out of everyone's way is probably a way of helping everyone out. I just can't wait for the baby to call me GuGu-auntie in chinese!(sounds old) but who cares!(actually i do..) OOOooo! Identity crisis! i'm no longer the youngest in the H!

Anyways, i thought of updating my blog since i've neglected it for quite a bit. Something simple that needs minimum TLC, yet pleasing to the eyes.. all thanks to my silicone mold (i should have gotten the rose pattern one too!) I tried to make this a little healthier by bringing all ingredients as low fat as possible, but since nobody in the family is in the mood to try out my little creation other than smooching the baby, i think the low fat part would only.. ultimately benefit MYSELF:)

Btw, my mum made pumpkin Kueh Lapis.. OoOoOoO i can imagine the taste of coconut milk melting in my mouth..

Chocolate Lemon Roulade

Last month I had a bottle of lemon peel mailed to me, i nimbly cached it in my cupboard and completely forgot about it.... It was until yesterday, in my attempt to clear my cupboard that i saw that cute bottle sitting in a corner. The bottle were dusted off and ready for use - Lemon Cake. To be exact, lemon sponge cake layers. I did a little twist for the layering, instead of the 'one above another method' I rolled the lemon sponge cake in a roulade fashion sandwiched in 2 layers of chocolate sponge. Nothing special with this cake accept for the spongeeesnesss.

Btw, the lemon peels originated from France ( in case the words on the picture were too faint) but i bought it from hong kong. This particular store in Tuen Mun sells all kinds of bakery products! I left it with my sis and she mailed it to me last month. It's really unlike those mushy/sticky peels you find at the supermart and btw, you'll only be able to find fruit peels off the shelves (in Singapore) and they are all cut up and mushy. I think the only place that you can find quality peels are from baking stores.. or.. make it yourself.. which might give you a migraine for the long cooking and threaten to burst your gas meter.

I used chocolate ganache for the lemon sponge layers and butter cream between the sweet pastry, chocolate sponge and lemon roulade to 'stick' them together. And lastly, frosted the cake with the leftover buttercream:). One side note, marmalade can be used as a substitute for the buttercream to 'stick' the layers!

It'll take sometime to do the roulade effect but the product is just SO worth it.. For the report, it took me 4 hours to put together the cake.

cut cut~

When rolling the cake, the idea of 'butterfly effect' came to me.. so i scurried to the fridge, found some strawberries, and tried to knife out a butterfly... keke~

Ingredients

Lemon Sponge cake

4 eggs

105g caster sugar

110g flour

10g milk powder

60g melted butter

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ovalette

1 tsp vanilla essence

50g lemon juice

1tbsp lemon peel cut into small pieces

Chocolate Sponge cake
2 eggs
50g caster sugar
55g flour
10g unsweetened cocoa powder
30g melted butter
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ovalette
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
25g low fat milk

Chocolate ganache
80g semi-sweet chocolate chopped
75g heavy cream

Sweet Pastry
100g Butter

50g Icing sugar

1/2 Egg

220g Flour

Butter Cream

50g Water

1oog Sugar

1 tsp Lemon juice

500g butter

Method

Chocolate and lemon sponge cake
1. Beat the eggs and liquids at low speed.
2. Add the dry ingredients and ovalette, and continue beating at low speed for 1 min then swith to high speed and beat for 6 minutes
3. Add vanilla essence and melted butter to mixture and beat at medium speed until well mixed
4. Bake in a 9' cake tin for 35-40mins at 170 degrees celsius

Chocolate ganache
1. Heat heavy cream to boil.
2. pour heated cream over chocolate and mix until homogeneous.
3. Let it cool a little, and spread over lemon sponge strips.

Sweet Pastry

1. Cream the butter and and icing sugar.

2. Add the egg and continue to cream until light.

3. Add in the flour in a few batches and mix until a dough is formed

4. Bake for 10-13 mins at 190 degrees celsius

Butter Cream

1. Combine water, sugar and lemonjuice and bring it to boil. Set aside to cool.

2. Beat butter until light. Then add the liquid mixture and continue beating until light and fluffy.

Layer cake: sweet pastry>buttercream(thin layer)/marmalade>chocolate sponge>buttercream(thin layer)/marmalade>lemon roulade>buttercream(thin layer)/marmalade>chocolate sponge>frost>deco

Time Machine

Felt a sudden nostalgia for the warm hometown of mine this morning.. Ever had something when you're young and you can't seem to find them now? well i have.. A LOT. Where i came from, according to many Singaporeans, can be considered a kampong.. and there are just so many foods that i want to taste again but can never find them in Singapore! Like the agar agar made by the auntie next door or buy breads from mobile vendors that tour the neighbourhood in the evening. I craved for my mum's (and friends') lunchboxes that were prepared for me on schooldays. Though they are not fancily decorated or have gazillion kinds of eats squeezed into one metal box, i still miss them..

Malt sugar cracker sandwich

I guess it's the simplicity and the blissfulness that i was hankering for. Y

Halo! Halloween!

*slurp*

Halloween is coming and i'm preparing for it! i still don't understand why is pumpkin such a big deal during halloween.. maybe i should wiki to find out why but do u know that they are selling pumpkins the size of your fist at *cha-ching* $5.40 at cold storage?! MADNESS!. Anyways, while saving my $5.40 i've spent $5 or less on 1kg+ of pumpkins(un-cute kind) for this halloween.. and here I present Mengni's PUMPKIN Feast! Actually maybe not a feast because there's only 3 diff edibles.

First in line is my famous (or i suppose it's famous cos everyone likes it) pumpkin soup. this recipe can be used interchangeably with the carrot soup. And i say it's my famed soup because many many many people had asked me for my recipe... HEE:) no one except Mr pumpkin head will have any problems with this zuppe.. (well there's one but i chooose not to remember his name. Hee:) Anyways, like always, it's an easy recipe = cook everything blend everything.. only this time instead of the traditional juice blender that sits solidly on the working counter, i had a hand held blender from Braun. NEW TOY! it's much less hassle for the reason that i dun need to transfer this to that and back from that to this.. i just immerse the blender>push button and VAa LAa~ warm hearty pumpkin soup for Halloween:)

I couldn't resist adding the speech bubble. I was clearing my bowl and suddenly i heard a squeak...

Btw, i dun celebrate Halloween. In fact there's no one friend that i remember celebrates Halloween. I guess it's just not in our culture:) But here at my apartment, the Caucasians and Indians are really onz man.. the kids would wrap themselves with rolls of Kleenexes (surprisingly they didn't suffocate:0 wow!)

In any event, i thought of baking a pumpkin pie but of cos i didn't in the end.. instead.. *drum rolls* brown sugar pumpkin mochi! heehee:) mochis are always fun to make, it doesn't take the whole day, it's pleasing to our taste buds and easy on out teeth! definitely the food to have for people with dentures.. hee:) *chomp chomp*

Btw, the mochis refuse to stay round... damn..

And the last would be the anti-ageing pumpkin soya bean milk/juice <- identity crisis.. Pumpkin has huge amounts of beta-carotene, Vitamin C and Vitamin E that can combat free radicals and other anti-oxidants. Soybeans are considered by many, to be a source of complete protein. Btw, a complete protein is defined as one that contains significant amounts of all the essential amino acids that must be provided to the human body because of the body's inability to synthesize them.(all thanks to wiki). So drink more, and you'll hold back your young cells. and chase away those wrinkles keke~ Happy Halloween!~

Sausage Flowerpod

Flowerpod- got the idea while chating with chris. Since i'm so free aka unemployed STILL, and have just finished watching golden bride (yes i have access to its vcds), i guess it's back to my blog:) *Points to the bread beside moi* i think it's a pretty creation.. and easy too.. maybe i can sub the sausages for fruits or chocs!

Anyway, just use any bread dough recipe for the bread(duh!) Mine isn't fixed, as in i add water slowly until it's of the consistency that i like. Some days i need more and some maybe just half a cup, i'm quite sure it's because of the weather and the 'age' of the flour that i'm using. Flour that has been opened and placed on the shelf for a long time will absorb moisture and consequently, less water is needed:)

I'm not really the expert when it comes to proofing/fermenting the dough. Firstly, i'm not a great fan of the yeasty taste, so it's pretty hard for me to add the "right" amount of dried yeast. I know that the longer you proof, the more it'll taste yeasty. So taking Singapore's hot and humid weather into consideration, i don't proof for more than 20mins.:) Therewithal, we can use yeast inhibitors like salt and sugar. As a scientist, -EXPLAINS- yeast inhibition is due to the high osmotic gradient caused by high sugar and salt concentration surrounding the yeast cells. That's why low sugar breads like the french can expand frenzily.

More recently, i've found out that vanilla essense can mask the yeasty taste! Try it! it works! Btw, after many attempts to remind myself to add the essence including tying a ribbon on my index finger, i did drip that BIG ingredient in. BUT i forgot to eggwash my bread.. DAMN! I KNOW! I'm kicking myself now..

Anyways, though my bread is not shiny or eye-blinding, it's delicious! no yeast taste! YEAH!

花好月圆

Happy Moon Gazing Festival!

I met Chris a few days ago and we were gossiping and stuff. I forgot how we got to the mooncake topic.. but here is how it goes..

Chris: Why don't you bake your own mooncake?

Me: Huh! soooo ma fan.. can buy mah.. furthermore i dun have the "tok tok" mold, how to bake?

Chirs: Go and buy lah!

Me: i dunno where to buy lor..

Chris: i think ^%$&%$ sells those "tok tok" molds

Me: eehh.. see first lah..

As expected, i didn't buy any mooncake molds.. First reason: it's bulky and i don't have any space for it. Second being plain laziness.. my lazy worms are multiplying like crazy.. but as you have already expected (if not why would i be blogging right?), me being me, i tried baking mooncakes, not the traditional ones, certainly not the snowskin and with no one crumb or trace of lotus seed paste. drumrolls please....

Meng ni's half yolk-yam paste-moonpuff.

Let me describe how i came up with the name.... drum rolls again please....

Half yolk: salted egg yolks are high in cholesterol and thus doesn't make it a very healthy makanan... and if i were to put a whole yolk in my moonpuff, it will no longer be the cute bite size festive food.. it'll be a cholesterol overloaded, humongous diet wrecker.

Yam paste: cold storage has ran out of lotus seed paste. but i guess it's a blessing in disguise, my home made yam paste is fat-free (well, not really but definitely healthier) and i can control the sweetness!

Moonpuff: i dun have the "tok tok" mold, so puff would be my answer.

Yeah! and so the half yolk-yam paste-moonpuff was born:) I think it's passable as a first attempt. Not so sweet, halal and diet friendly:) i should put a price tag to it man...


p/s. it's halal because instead of lard, i used vege shortening

p/p/s. i suggest buying salted eggs from the wet market, they seem to have a better (bright orange) colour than the ones u find in supermarkets. Mine was from the supermarkets, so some of them actually turned out yellow.. eeee.. no QC

Say "Apple Cheese"!

Another bake before i leave for Bali. This is quite a peculiar recipe to me at first- Apple Cheese Pie. As much as i wanted to try to bake that cheesy pie, I was worried that instead of a yummy old cottage style, it would turn out to be a RUINED apple pie. So when in doubt, search Wiki! Yes, i totally dig that website, it brings forth everything you need to know! who needs an encyclopedia? But a friend of mine, i forgot who, told me that the website has some false information regarding I-can't-remember. Hee:)

Anyways, a click on Wikipedia, shows that cheesy pie is actually a very very old recipe! And Apple Cheese Pie a has a proper name-Yorkshire Apple Pie (just Like apple pie with ice-cream is called apple pie ala mode.) Cool! So even if i didn't like the weird cheese with apple combination, i know, somewhere in the world, the English, would like those pies! Heehee! so excited (btw, i'm blogging while my pie is burning in the oven. good use of waiting time i would say)

Digressing. I tried baking chiffon cake yesterday. But it didn't turn out the way i expected.. it's short and stout. and it's so densed that i thought i'm eating sponge cake rather than chiffon.. Any tips?! Maybe i should try again when i'm back. NEVER SAY DIE!

And finally, (drumrolls please..)

The pie turns out quite flavourful. It certainly doesn't taste like the traditional apple pie.. it's good! This recipe is worth a try. It's tedious and simple at the same time.. it requires a couple of bakes(blind-baking, bake with filling, final crust bake) that's the tedious part. Other than that, the ingredients are easy to find and prepare! just make the dough and lay the flan a day before and everything will be done in an hour the next day. :) Bali! Saya akan datang!

Heartiest of Appetites-Minestrone

Invasion of the veges!

Minestrone was traditionally known to be a very humble dish -- a dish for the poor in medieval ITALY. It fills the stomach and the ingredients could be anything from fresh legumes of the season to leftovers in your fridge. That's why there's no such a thing as a fixed minestrone recipe. It's simply a rojak of vege, pastas and sometimes meat cooked together in a tomato based liquid. While some likes their minestrone brothy and some prefers a heavier consistency. I like my minestrone somewhere in between the two.

I cut all this, Because my maid was hiding somewhere and i couldn't find her! arghhh~

Meat-based broth such as chicken/beef stock can be used to prepare Minestrone zuppe. But i'm using vege stock (or rather vege stock cubes) for this receipe. And these are not any stock cubes that u can find in any mamashops/supermarkets... It was flown all the way from FRANCE OKAY!(or i assume, since it has french written all over it) hehe:) Lovely Huifang got it for me from Europe! Although she went to Germany first, i theorize it's from France lah huh.. makes no sense to sell something in french in Germany when they don't speak or understands french right...or do they?

Anyways.. it's none of my business..

On the right: vege stock cubes Hf got me. On the left: smart tomato paste packaging from cold storage.

Like I've mentioned earlier, the box has french written all over it. I took it out when i reached home after blowing a goodbye kiss to Huifang. I was studying the box for a whole minute and then.... I looked down on it with an air of smug self-satisfaction. Muhahaha! I understand 90% of those font size 10 words! Muahaha~ a year of french studying followed by 3 years of rusting hasn't left me to be a french illiterate! I'm ecstatic!

It's no way i'm going to let it sit in my cupboard since it made me flushed with excitement! I'm goin cook it! Or snack on it if i could. keke.. Thanks Huifang! You've made Mengni a very happy girl! Btw, I found this box of tomato paste packed in sachets of about 50g/2tbsp each.. so cool lor.. i won't have to worry about wasting ingredients this way.

Ingredients

80g macaroni
1tbsp olive oil
1 leek, cubed
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 carrot, cubed
2 potatoes, cubed
1 courgette, cubed
2 celery stalks, cubed
100g green beans, cut into short lengths
400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 litres vegetable stock
2 tablespoons tomato paste
400g tin cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
shaved Parmesan cheese, to serve

Method

1. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, add macaroni and cook for 10-12 minutes, or until tender. Drain. Sink into ice water for a few seconds. Drain again.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large heavy-based saucepan, add the leek and garlic and cook over medium heat ofr 3-4 minutes.
3. Add the carrot, potato, courgette, celery, green beans, tomato, stock and tomato paste. Bring to boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.
4.Stir in the cooked pasta and cannellini beans and heat through. Spoon into warmed serving bowls and garnish with parsley and shaved Parmesan.

Deb's Cookhouse ♨

♨ Deborah(newly known as bobo) texts to invite all of us to her ۩ cos she's cooking!!!

♨10/08/2008: All of us charged to bobo's cookhouse...heehee...

Guess who is driving us there *why so serious?*

i've always remembered deb's house to be one of the corner houses.. so right after i came out of the lift, i turned, dashed all the way to the end while crying out "YOKE! YOKE! BOBO!" at the same time... There i see a maid innocently sweeping the floor, while i continue to call out for bobo and peiyoke. I think the maid was terrified lah, and roy/eric mentioned that that may not be the right house because there's no shoes outside.. before i could calm down and asked if that was deb's house, I was greeted by this half naked man.. SAI LAH! definitely not deb's house! i wanted to just disappear, but since i'm not Hancock.. i couldn't.. i could only apologize and hope that i will never again see those nipples.. damn! If only peiyoke told me the floor level AND to turn to the other direction.. i wouldn't be so paiseh liao.. PEIYOKE! ALL YOUR FAULT!

anyways.. back to deb's food.. it's very nice lor.. but jeannie and peiyoke say i'm very fake... sai! what fake? fake is not in my dictionary! i put the food in my mouth, taste, chew liao then say nice what.. not like those makan shows.. food only stayed in their mouth for 0.00001s then they say "it's soooooo goooood!" <-- that is fake lor.. so... deborah.. with my deepest and beguiling tone ♪♫ your cooking is first-class! mine is second-lower.. i had NUS to print it on a piece of paper and the dean to sign it..

pictures of deb's table.. my motto is " zoom in! the food will look nice that way"

hehehe.. i liked it a lot.. roy says he'll be next.. and maybe i'll do a house warming soon too.. but let's pray hard that i get a job first.. ٭prays٭

Mediterranean Fish Soup

As requested by dear eric, this entry will be on SOUP! *He thinks he's in a restaurant and started ordering different kinds of soups* <-- SIAO! so we settled with Mediterranean fish soup (MFS) first. No butter/cream/milk was used in MFS, so i guess it's kinda healthy. Went to check online and yes.. a regular serving is less that 300kcal~ can act as a meal for me since i'm on a serious diet.

IMPT! I just found out that Ceasar salad is not as "low fat" as i think. Besides, i splash lots of dressing to my salads because it's impossible for me to choke down dry mélange... so, i'll order less of ceasar now~

Back to my soup, it's mediterranean.. duh!, so definitely not something my dad will like (he likes local stuff like wanton mee, bak kut teh, ..., ..., ...) but he still tried the soup

Dad: Good! very nice! will taste better with chilli! (it's a tomato based soup)

Me: *Runs to get sambal*

Dad:*Adds sambal* get me some limes

Me:*Runs to cut limes*

Dad:*Adds lime* wah! very nice! taste like thai soup!

Me:*faints*

Anyway.. taste good then okay lah.. be it mediterranean or thai~ nice can liao. hee:)

i can't wait for Beijing Olympics Open Ceremony to START!!

Hong Kong GO!GO!GO! - Ananas comosus.. what?

Yes.. I'm messy most of the time, but it's sparkling clean now!:D

More commonly known as PINEAPPLE (ananas comosus is it's binomial name). This fruit has more benefits than what the humbler potions of society (like me) knows. I had the most pineapple during my final year, all thanks to Huifang. "Pineapples can help to loose weight!" as i quote. What happens next is totally predictable. We had pineapples practically everyday during lunch, and they are all honey pineapples, the way the pineapple guru prefers!

And that's not all.. my second pineapple guru says that pineapple helps to ease cramps during girls' MC. She mentioned other "perks" but my brain retains information selectively. So if anyone is interested, go to christine.. she did a project on it. (the 2nd pineapple guru)

So much on pineapple but it wasn't brought into play today. HAHA! Perhaps the name? Polo bao otherwise known as pineapple buns don't seem to incorporate pineapple in its recipe in anyway. Conceivably it's called that way because it has the pattern of the pineapple peel? hmmm.. sounds convincing yah?

It doesn't look very nice yah? i should try harder next time!

If you haven't known, meng ni is back from hong kong! and brought back a few of the local cakes/desserts/dim sum recipe! And polo bao is the 1st. I'm not a big fan of polo bao until i tried the ones in sai kung! it's simply delicious!!!! The first bite is the crucial moment in time, your teeth will first break the crusty crust and starts sinking in to the fluffly bread.. and then u can just gobble everything down.. goes really well with their milk tea by the way.. HAHA! i didn't take any picture of the bakery, because i was busy queing for the bun obviously. Anyways, you won't miss it if you go to sai kung, it's the only bakery that has a que! there are 2 directions to sai kung. you can either take the mtr to caihong (rainbow station) and then take a minibus that has the saikung name on it to saikung. Or for my case, i took the minibus from mongkok near fife street, same thing, the minibus will have saikung on it so please use your eyeballs at all times and ask ard if you need to. *end*

Anyways, am back to Singapore and i have this long list of 'things to do'. Galdly, one of it is 25% done. it's always hard to plan a trip with Deuterated Tungsten and Tungphorus (a tungsten and phosphorus alloy that i made up).. names were kept secret to avoid conflicts hehehe.. anyways, it always start with everyone excited about the trip.. then somehow something happens, and the trip will look 90% dead. At this point, tocopherol and ascotrium (a drug that has L-ascorbate and Yttrium that i made up again) will jump in and do CPR to the 90% dead trip and make it breathing again! YAY! Meng ni is goin on a trip again!! ♪♫

Yah i know it doesn't make any sense, i'm bored and feeling lame...haha~ Ciao!

p/s: i just realized i left something with christine, something i hold very dear to me, something that is close to my heart...eeeee.. sounds lesbiany.. eh! give me back leh!

p/p/s: ONG LAI! may the polo bao bless my mj games to come.. pls pls pls pls pls