Baking at 2am? Monkey Business Cupcakes

Orientation was gonna be on the next day, So I made some oatmeal banana cupcakes with Bailey's Creme Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting... It was an inspiration from my best baking buddy SiHaN... Hers are so out of this world that I had to try making some on my own... Sadly, they weren't as good as the ones she made, but still good enough for me! :) And I had no ideas or inspiration to decorate these little monkeys... So I had some fun with piping the cream cheese frosting onto it instead!!
The response for these were pretty good... So this is going into my to-sell list when I find time to do up my Sales site.. Haha..

St James Power Station and Jalan Kayu Prata SUCKS!

Invited Phyo (Steph's bf) over for dinner tonight.. Dave came over too.. He drove Steph and Phyo over too and I'm thankful for that sinceI need not drive.. we had alot of dishes.. And all i made was this small pathetic bowl of Tom Yam soup.. It was really good though.. except there were too many mushroms inside.. Haha.. But i dun like it.. cuz i dun like tamarinds...
After Phyo checked out my place, they proceeded home.. So I quickly dressed up and headed for Vivocity to meet Elvin and Damien... And as usual, Damien is late....poor Elvin waited 30 mins forme and an hour for Mr Chua (Damien).. So we went to St James and there were alot of pretty girls there!!! One pity thing was there was no shuai ge... :S
After this night of clubbing, I furthur conclude that clubbing is not for me cuz I dun really dance, or drink and its hard to chat...
But the company was pretty great.. Damien brought along a friend and she was really nice!

And after our short clubbing night, we headed for Jalan Kayu prata... Advice: DUN TRY ANYTHING FROM JALAN KAYU PRATA!!! IT SUCKS!!

Prata, not so crispy, ice cream too artificial and cheap, teh tarik nothing special..

After that, I made my way for Sihan's 3am arrival at the airport... Dearie Sihan returned for almost one month! Talk about time flies!

The Last Chance

After a long night of crying the night before, a shock came to me on Saturday night.. I remembered baking horrible tasting shortbread.. Well, not horrible, but it lacked something some how... Maybe too hard? Suddenly, a call came.. to my phone.. it was him.. I was happy yet lost.. He was really concerned about how I was getting along.. Well, I was doing baking for therapy.. and as usual, baking in a sucky mood indeed produces crap... And he asked me if I wanted to catch movie.. ** Yes!!!! Why would I wanna give up a chance to go out with you? It was like a chance for me to save the relationship.. A light at the end of the tunnel which I thought let to a dead end..** But... Saturday night movie=expensive? But he was really sweet.. He told me not to worry about the price.. But yet still, I knew I wun wan a treat.. I had to say yes, cuz I can't pass the chance to go out with him.. On top of that, he was coming to pick me up!!!!!!!!!! How lucky can I be?

MOvies that night had bad timing, bad prices, nothing interesting.. So we landed up walking around the night streets of orchard road.. And decided to look for live bands... And we found ourselves at Indochine Wisma.. That was a really great place to chill.. Great band.. all kinds of liqour, beer and what nots at a single price of $15.. Seating in lazy sofas...

We had a nice talk.. I found out he wasn't having as easy time as I thought.. I thought I was the only one wetting my pillows being stupid.. But the guilt and confusion was driving him crazy.. He was really troubled.. I couldn't do much.. I was the cause of all these trouble.. But all I can do now is not bear grudges and be there for him in whatever way I can.. Bearing grudges only will turn me into a bitter person and probably back to the hot and short tempered Claire I used to be..

The details of how we met up the following Sunday was kind of a blur to me.. But I do remember going to Holland V to try out the cold rock... Over priced and almost similar to Ben and Jerry's, the cold rock's only interesting point was to look at the way they mix their ice cream.. A kid's size ice cream is $4.60 and additional toppings come at $1 each...

Another night of long chat and sharing.. Things were not ready to fall in place.. But its ok... For an impatient Claire who is always screaming at people, this is one of the best opportunity to train my patience.. But doing the right thing doesn't mean making everyone happy.. He's trapped becasue of his conscience and pressure from family.. All he wants is to be alone.. Some Alone time.. no girls, no pressure.. It's not difficult.. But it may need alot of tolerance from me..

I can't admit I'm sad, but I guess getting to meet him twice on consecutive days did make me feel better I guess. So I baked something nice!! My Coconut Chiffon cake that went Poof within a day! Now that's fast!! Recipe shall be up soon... Pardon my laziness...

After all the packing being almost down it was time to laze around.. But something nice came! Another phone call! He asked me out for dinner!! Except its at Raffles Place.. So I took the 167 which took one hour to get me to town.. It was enjoyable though.. Cuz I could watch yakitate Japan on my phone.. Town+ meeting him, I had to look pretty! I remembered the night before he had a basketball match with Junwei and friends.. But he gave it up for me.. So we met up at City Hall MRT.. And woohoo cuz I wasn't late.. Damien came along, so the three of us had dinner at HAn's Raffles place.. The set menus there are worth it though.. Main+soup+garlic tost+dessert+drink.. Dessert was a slice of watermelon though..

But around 6, he had to go for basketball cuz they din have enough players.. So my date ended with a one hour dinner.. Damien had to go Tanglin.. except he didn't noe how to go plus his ERP cashcard was low on cash, which means summon under the ERP gate.. So I followed his car to Tanglin to pick his friend.. Ho-Lan abit cuz my directions gt a little lost since I was away for so long.. Damien dropped me off at holland V after that and I tried finding my way home using my bus guide.. There was one bus to switch,but I switched twice cuz I landed myself at pandan valley thanks to taking bus in the wrong direction.. Haha...

Fridays of July with Sannin

Yes.. another outdated Entry.. Just busy catching up with everything and recovering from my constant fatigue, nothing ever seems to be done... But let's start with the 11th July:

Well, I went to the dentist for check on my widsom tooth.. Apparently I could have my wisdom tooth operation by payment via mummy's medisave..

Since my dentist was the toofdoctor in Serangoon central, I went for a hair cut to cur of my really damaged hair and its split ends.. Since its $4.80, so I went for the cut.. In the end, I landed up going for a treatment on top of cutting.. So it totalled to $50 over dollars!!After the hair cut, I met my sannin at PS.. It was a good time to meet up the people I have neglected when I was attached.. Meeting them and giving toasts to each other for bidding engineering careers good bye felt really good.. And as ususal we can't stop eating and talking.. Lol..

We went spotlight to look for iron on cover ups for hte whole on elvin's pants.. haha...
In the end, we found a hat... So we tried it on and see who looked the best..

I shall vote Koijiro Okonomiyaki, the second guy from the top as the winner! Haha...

17th July

The following Friday, the sannin met up again to go St James! It was my first itme and another one of my rare experiences to clubbing..

I could have sworn I was a really bad company to them.. Cuz I think we din really talk alot.. Hahaha...
But again, time with sannin is precious... aLthough clubbing seems to be about the struggle to talk to people.. Haha.. Expensive too..Poor damien's coupons din work.. So they ordered beer....

I thought clubbing was for people to find singles to hit on.. But apparently, there were so much more pretty girls den handsome guys.. more like no handsomes there... And we seemed to be at some aging area of the pub where everyone wore an above 30 yrs old mask...
After StJames, we went Jalan Kayu for prata.. I ordered Lychee sundae and I swore it sux!!!! Prata at Jalan Kayu sux!!! Everything soldat Jalan Kayu sux!!! Cold prata, bad ice cream... So conclusion: Don't eat prata at Jalan Kayu!!

Midori Cookies

The first thing I wanted to bake was cookies when I returned from Japan... I bought some special ingredients from Japan and I was dying to use them... Like their extra fragrant vanilla beans essence, green tea liqour, red tea liqour...
Dave got me this interesting book when he was in China and I thought it was really pretty and cute... 1 dough, 100 cookies?

The amazing thing is they could produce gooey, crunchy, party, fruity and sandwich cookies with the same basic cookie dough.. I thought that the variation of certain ingredients of cookies would affect the texture of cookie, but it didn't...

However, this recipe has been modified and recreated to suit my preference.. Especially the amount of sugar used...
Midori Cookies

Ingredients
120g butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
140g plain flour
2 tsp green tea powder
A pinch of salt
1/4 cup sultanas
1/4 cup white chocolate chips

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 190 degree celcius
2. Line baking tray with baking paper and coat with butter
3. Cream butter and sugar until well combined
4. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla extract
5. Add flour and green tea powder
6. Stir till well combined
7. Fold in the chocolate chips and sultanas
8. Drop tablespoons of the cookie dough on the baking tray
9. Bake for 12-15 minutes
10. Cool for 5-10 minutes
11. Enjoy with a cup of tea!

Thnks Fr Th Mmrs

Most people would know by now that I'm single.. I hope blogging about this would help me feel better.. It really sucks to cry at least 3 times a day..

I met Dave today because he had to pass me stuff that his everloving mother took for me when I had baggage overload at the airport.. I was supposed to meet him at 4pm.. So I baked some Green Tea white chocolate and sultana cookies.. Packed nicely in a box.. Ready to give him.. I was obviously being really fat hope, hoping for a chance to revive this relationship.. Due to being held up at school, Dave changed the meeting time to 6.15pm..

I have always been someone really tardy.. Always late.. But after my Japan trip, I became a much more punctual person.. I'm glad I changed that.. I actually arrived earlier than Dave! It seems like a first time.. I have kept him waiting for most dates the past two years.. I even remember there was one occasion we had a half year anniversary dinner.. I was actually late for 2 hours.. Of course he got angry.. Who wouldn't?

So we had pepper lunch.. Since I gained 8kg from Japan, I have to lose it in Singapore.. So dinner was the shake shake sesame salad.. And ice cream.. Haha.. Talk about dieting.. But Dave treated me to dinner!!

So you can see Dave holding a nice box of green tea white chocolate sultana cookies.. Its such a long name...I shall call it Fruity Maccha White cookie! The first batch lacked the maccha flavour and it was not sweet at all.. So I shall make changes to the remaining cookie dough.. Post on this coming up!

After dinner, we walked around.. Dave was no longer interested looking at the clothes shops he used to like.. Levis, Addidas.. So we basically just walked to pass the time before the movie starts.. China must havemade him realise that branded goods are not worth that money.. Haha. Juz joking..
We watched Hancock Digital, supposedly better sound effects.. Here's the trailer..

Towards the end, I thought Hancock was gonna be another dying Hero, the way he did in I am Legend.. But thankfully he didn't.. I would give the show 5 stars!! But both Eileen and Suat Cheng found the show stupid.. SO don't take my word for it.. But I found it funny and entertaining.. My recommendation is a MUST WATCH! But den again, I find most movies nice, so maybe not..

When we exited the cinema, there is a publicity stand.. So I couldn't resist but force Dave to pose for the camera.. Haha..

Although we travelled together in Japan, this was kind of different.. It was really a date.. Something we didn't have for 6 months.. I felt so attracted to him.. I was dying inside to hold him.. So when we parted, I gave him a kiss on his cheek.. Obviously he felt nothing, but it was really brief since we were parting.. It was really abrupt of me.. But I was thinking of kissing him ever since I left home today..

(PAUSE)

Sorry.. I had problems continuing the post.. Cuz I cry so easily.. I think when you really love someone, that person would be the one who makes you cry most easily.. Second to Dave, my mum makes me cry really easily.. Other that that, I can't think of any other crying factors..

I remembered before we parted at the Singapore airport, we dreamed of meeting each other in Japan, hugging and kissing when we see each other.. Oh, dun gag.. We were going to be a 5 months separated couple.. Before the internship, we literally saw each other everyday..

But long term relationships are not easy.. People change due to environment.. Although the saying goes Absence makes the heart grow fonder.. But it did not apply to us.. We drifted... We paid attention to each other at the wrong time.. He had friends in Shanghai to hang with.. I had Choon Fei and Akiko san to hang with before I met Tat-chan.. Choon Fei had alot of Soka meetings, not much time to hang with me.. plus he loves cycling and I simply can't cycle at his speed.. So my first two months of lonely winter was spent cycling in the cold to the internet cafe at Yamada Denki to chat with Dave.. Sometimes, he was out with friends and I did not know, so wasted trips there gave me chance to catch up with other friends...

We broke up not because of anyone else... but because Dave thinks we're not compatible.. He feels he can't be what I want him to be and I can't be the girl he wants.. Dave feels that I'm too outgoing.. Well, outging is a good character trait in my point of view and I'm not going to change that.. But too outgoing can be a problem.. but i dun see how am I too outgoing.. can anyone quote me examples? I'm willing to change you see.. Some people strive to become a better person while others choose to say That's the way I am.. Which do you belong? I belong to the first group.. I know most of my friends know i'm really sensitive to comments and they dare not say many things to me.. I wanted to change, but i felt that i lacked the effort in the past.. Dave thinks its my nature and I cannot change.. As strong headed as I usually am, I am going to prove him wrong.. I will take comments less seriously.. Everyone is entitled their own opinion and I can choose not to take it.. Because I took every opinion, I'm always so worked up and sad.. So I shall just take it like a pinch of salt.. So please feel free to tell me the times I was too outgoing.. Dave says I'm too petty and hot-tempered.. I admit.. I seriously do.. I will change that.. The more he thinks its me and its impossible to change, the more I will prove it to him.. I will change at least for him, and myself..

Perhaps I'm going true a really tough period now, but I'm going to face this strong.. I may cry, I may weep, but I will walk true this.. (Think i watch too much Ma Xiao Ling.. Trying to be like her.. Hahahaha)

Dave thinks he is not suited for me becasue I need a Japanese who is appreciative of the things I do and he can't do that.. Being appreciative is a good character trait which I hope he can have.. But we're Singaporeans.. We take things for granted and all we do is complain.. We never appreciated enough what the government has done for us.. So in the past, i often got angry for his lack of appreciation.. Guess I like to feel appreciated and wanted that's why.. So that's my flaw.. I will change it.. I'm in Singapore.. not in Japan.. People are not going to care about the things I do for them, but the wrong I did to them.. But I shall keep on spreading the love and care because I am Claire..

This song expresses my words to Dave.. I know people dun bother reading lyrics.. But I hope HE does..

"Thnks Fr Th Mmrs"

I'm gonna make you bend and break
(It sends you to me without wait)
Say a prayer but let the good times roll
In case God doesn't show
(Let the good times roll, let the good times roll)
And I want these words to make things right
But it's the wrongs that make the words come to life
"Who does he think he is?"
If that's the worst you got
Better put your fingers back to the keys

One night and one more time
Thanks for the memories
even though they weren't so great
"He tastes like you only sweeter"
One night, yeah, and one more time
Thanks for the memories, thanks for the memories
"He, he tastes like you only sweeter"

Been looking forward to the future
But my eyesight is going bad
And this crystal ballI
t's always cloudy except for
When you look into the past
(look into the past)
One night stand (one night stand off)
One night and one more time
Thanks for the memorieseven though they weren't so great
"He tastes like you only sweeter"
One night, yeah, and one more time
Thanks for the memories, thanks for the memories
"He, he tastes like you only sweeter"

Catch Up session

I met up with Yuanman in school today.. She was sharing tips with me about FYP... Really nice.. :) Besides, Dinner with Dave the night before ended in tears, so it was nice to meet up with people... (Note this is an Entry for last last monday, 7th July) No wonder Yuanman was asking why I look so haggard and shagged.. Took me some time to remember I cried alot the night before... Haha.. But it was really babish of me.. I cry until I was tired and i slept.. And here is the canteen!!!!!! The new canteen!! New chairs and tables! New stalls!!! New and clean!!!! And expensive too!

This is a new building below our beautiful canteen.. Dunno what it is.. haha... maybe for MAE? Went home after that to nua... Den I took 169 to AMK central.. good thing is 169 comes more frequent than that 138 in the old home and I have more buses.. So its good.. Bad thing is the long walk to the bus stop... Oh well..
I met up with Eileen and Suat Cheng.. The funny thing is their dressing actually matched.. without plans to do so.. Cool right? Haha....

AND THEY GAVE ME BELATED BIRTHDAY PRESENTS!!!!!

Thanks to Suat Cheng for the Silicon Baking sheet... ITs so nice to use!!! And Thanks to Eileen for the shaking head tiger... It seats in my toilet, capturing energy from the sun to shake its head.. Haha..
Dinner was pepper lunch.. AGAIN!!! Always eating pepper lunch.. But thankfully, they had a new menu.... SUKIYAKI!!!! I love Sukiyaki in Japan... But the Sukiyaki in Pepper lunch lack authenticity.... They gave Udon instead of Konnyaku... And There was no raw egg to dip in...
Conclusion about food in AMK HUB: Nothing nice to eat... other than Pepper lunch and NEw York New York...

After our dinner, we had yogurt!!! At yogurt place... They had so much flavours of yogurt... The yogurt is actually really simple... Its the topppings they give that makes it special.... Second level of AMK hub... My opinion: Over priced... But wholesome good!!! NOT super duper good, but nice..
And look at the Claire who gained 8kg!!! SO FAT!!!!!!!!!!