Month: November 2012

Banana Bread

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Before my next crazy experiment, I thought I go regular and make some banana bread 🙂  Also to spare my husband from more torture of eating up my strange tasting baked goods.

The verdict was a much happier one 🙂  It not only smelled great, it tasted like a banana bread.  That is if you ask my husband who had tasted my other  “failed muffins”.  It’s all relative, I say!! I was quite happy with it 🙂

Happy enough to get my sister and Jenna to try a slice.  The texture was different for them non-vegan eaters.  Without butter and eggs, the bread has a slightly crumbly feel that I reckon they weren’t use to :p  It was sweet enough for them though and they could eat it if it had more banans and no nuts.

That’s what I’ll do next more bananas.  Then I’ll may be ready for the world!!

T4

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It is official, there will be a Transformers 4!!  I am a happy camper 🙂  Michael Bay is back to direct it … I’m still not quite sure how to feel about that.  I actually would like someone else’s take on it but talking robots with lots of action will do it for me every time.  Better than a confirmed Transformers sequel is the fact that Michael Bay has confirmed Mark Walberg as the lead.

I wasn’t crazy about him as a rapper, Marky Mark but as an actor he stole my heart in The Basketball Diaries, in spite of Leonardo DiCaprio being the lead :p  So I’m happy happy happy that he is the action lead man in T4.  I C.A.N.N.O.T. wait!! 27th June 2014 I have a date with Mark Walberg and Optimus Prime.  It really can’t get better than that.

Actually it can.  If Keanu was the lead … Keanu and Optimus … … a girl can dream 🙂

Breaking Dawn Part 2

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Right, I’m still a talking robots kind of girl but my sister is a vampire loving one who needed a date for the premiere so I got lucky 🙂

The quick take, New Moon is still my favourite from the Twilight Saga and I’m still Team Werewolf.  More so now than before.

Unfortunately for me, my husband is an aspiring vampire :p  Yes, he’d rather be Edward than Jacob and to throw a spanner in the works I’d rather be Renesme (what is with that name :P) than Bella O_o  All I can say is thank goodness we don’t live out our fantasies 😉

Bella though, looks GREAT as a vampire.  I’ve never been a fan of her through out the series but I have to say I liked her in this last instalment.  She was so much more interesting to watch.

Spoilers ahead so if you haven’t seen it and don’t want to know, stop reading now.

According to die hard Twilight fan aka my little sister, a lot of liberties were taken and while the heart is the same with a couple of scenes verbatim from the book, there were quite a few new ones.  I’m not sure if it worked for fans of the series but I thought the pacing worked for me.  I didn’t fall asleep, which I did a little in all the other episodes.  So I guess that means it worked 🙂

The visual effects though were pretty sad.  Don’t get me wrong there were some really nice shots but when you have a few key shots that don’t work, it leaves a bad taste in the mouths of your audience.

Then there’s a fight scene.  They really should have invested some money into hiring a Asian martial arts experts to choreograph the exceptionally long scene.  It was a mess and you couldn’t see who was where or what was going on.  The moves were hardly graceful.  To makes matters worse, it was entirely a vision.  I now understand why my teachers said never write a composition where the ending says it was all a dream or imagined.  It leaves worse taste in your mouth and your appetite unfulfilled.  Both storytelling, no nos.

All that said and done, love stories do rock and I can see why girls and women all over the world swoon over the idea of being able to be with your soulmate forever.

😉

More Lunch Time Dates

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Yes yes yes, my lunch time dates are working out nicely 🙂  Last week this time I caught up with little Miss Su.

She got a little tired at the end of lunch, which explains the picture of her bundled to her Mummy who was trying to put her down for a little nap.  She tried but rather go for a wander around the shop where she got acquainted with old school toys like a paper ball.  After all, we were after having lunch at Old School Delights.  They sell toys from days gone by and served good ‘ole goodies like Laksa, Nasi Lemak, Chicken Curry, Chicken Macaroni, Mee Siam.  So what did vegetarian me have?

The chef nicely did a vegetarian hor fun for me 🙂  For that, they get a thumbs up from me!!  It also tasted decent.  Lulu seemed to like her chicken macaroni, no eggs please with a couple of carrots from Auntie Cherry and me.  We also had the chendol that was sweetened with gula melaka so in our books it was pretty authentic.

Can’t wait till my next lunch time buddy is up for lunch again 🙂

Back on the Water

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I dare say it’s been nearly 2 months since I last got on the water and I paid dearly for it.  The morning after I woke up all aching but looking forward to my next ride 🙂  I’m not sure why but wakeboarding does that to you.  I think any activity that gets your adrenaline running does the same time.  There’s something to be said about being out on the water too, especially for me.  Though I wish it wasn’t the monsoon season.

It was cold and rainy when we left the dock and this was my view in the boat.  I felt like a team of terrorist going out to make an open sea attack :p  The rain soon calmed down and we were out on the water.  Jimbo, our instructor says we have muscle memory.  Obviously he wasn’t talking about me.  My muscles forgot how to edge and kinda had to relearn but pats on my back 🙂  I pretty much nailed a toeside edge!!  I even tried to get in position for a jump.  So maybe soon :p  Meanwhile, my sister is clearing two wakes and learning to grab her board!!

How insane is that?  I think so too 🙂  I don’t know if I’ll ever get there but I’ll live vicariously through my sister for now.

Muffin Take 2

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We all know what happened the last time I tried to bake with no sweetener.  So I made sure I had ample amounts of maple syrup before I started doing anything this time 🙂  Then I got bee in my bonnet and decided to be adventurous :p  My husband was trying a wheat free diet and I recently found out a friend was allergic to wheat so I decided to make gluten free muffins this time!!

They looked fine, smelled great again, thankfully this time the taste was not bad but the texture seemed a little off.  Vegan gluten free muffins is going to take A LOT of practice.  The combination of quinoa, potato, brown rice and soya flour needs more work.  I think quinoa has a taste that I’m not use to and maybe I have to learn to hide it … I’m thinking I’ll try carob vegan gluten free muffins next.

The world will be happy to know, other than my poor husband, no one else has been punished with eating my muffins :p  I just may be nice to him and make a regular banana bread before my next crazy experiment.  For the rest of you, fear not, I’m not planning to open a bakery any time soon so on one else will be subjected to my baking adventures 😀

Lunch Time Babies

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I think I’m going to do this more often, make lunch dates with little young’uns.  It breaks the day up and gives me a reason to smile 🙂

Carlene’s blog world, please meet little Mirabelle.  Niece and goddaughter to my dear angel friend, Gen.  The last time I saw Mirabelle, she was a tiny baby.  At nearly 20 months, she definitely has her family wrapped around her little finger.  She’s a cutie with a great laugh!! Godma Gen is no different from me though :p  It’s boot camp mentality or it’s back home.  Actually Gen and I have more in common than we realise.

Lunch was at Food For Thought Botanic Gardens, which has a branch just opposite my office so I’m well acquainted with their menu.  It’s veggie and kid friendly.  The Botanic Garden branch is a much better location.  Wider spaces and much better parking but the food is better at the Queen’s Street branch.  I’ll definitely be coming back more for my family oriented outings where the kids can run free with a playground to boot.  Mirabelle, her Godma and I had a whale of a time and I suspect we’ll be doing lunch again.

Meanwhile, I’m thinking about my next lunch time date buddy 🙂

Daylight Savings

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There was a time, I use to always be in LA every year when the clocks shift back to standard time, a couple of days before and a couple of days after.  I did not like it one bit.  It was confusing and by the time everyone was settled into the hour change, it was time for me to go home.  Made me more grateful to live one degree north of the equator.

Being part of a global startup means daylight savings become a normal part of the year and I’m learning to be more grateful for it :p  From now to March next year, with no change in my part of the world, I get to sleep in a little more!!  You know what though, my body clock still wakes up at 7am … and I bet by the time it’s gotten use to waking up at 8am, it’ll be time for daylight savings to kick back in and I have to be up at 7am again.

I did already say I don’t like daylight savings.

Convent Girls

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I think girls who go to convent schools all over the world have a certain kind of reputation.  Some good.  Some bad.  Some totally ridiculous and some are just all perceptions.  I went to a convent school and loved loved loved it.  Made some really good friends.  I remember making a few enemies as well.  It is after all an ALL girls school 🙂  All in all, I wouldn’t have traded the experience for anything else.

However, I always thought if I ever had my own daughter, she’d never go to a convent school.  Why?

Well, because I didn’t realise how small our convent girl world was till I left the schools.  My friends in school were similar to the Catholic family friends I grew up with, which was pretty similar to the family I was brought up in.  Nothing bad about that … except it was a little Stepford Wife-ish for me.  Although, most convent girls are anything but Stepford wives :p

As a Mum I reckon, that my job will be to afford opportunities and experiences to my children where I didn’t have.  Most of my dearest and nearest, even those I didn’t meet in convent school and made later in life, are of the convent school mould.  In that case my children, if I ever have any, would already have exposure to that lifestyle, their values and perspectives.  All pretty similar to mine.  My argument then is that the school they go to should expose them to other equally positive lifestyles, value systems and perspectives.  Hence, the no convent school route for my daughter.

Until now.

Next year when my niece starts primary 1, she’ll be going to a convent school just like her aunts 🙂  There’s something to be had about tradition and seeing her in the same uniform I once don, my heart melted and knew that she’d fit right in, have a whale of a time and be a better woman for it 🙂

So I’m not so sure anymore that I won’t send my daughter to a convent school.  Right now though, I’m just grateful that I don’t need to deal with the dilemma of picking a school for my yet-to-exist daughter.  When I do, I’ll reread this post and like every other conundrum  in life, pray for guidance 😉

Apple Banana Cashew Muffin

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It’s been a while since I baked.  Now that I have what I’m calling, My Little Oven that Could, I’m baking again 🙂  All thanks to my dear cousin-in-law, Michelle.  So on a whim one night when I saw overripe bananas, apples and cashews in my fridge, I decided to whip up a batch of muffins.  I usually have some kind of flour to bake with in the freezer and I was planning to keep it all simple without any fancy ingredients.

So I chopped up the nuts and apples, mashed up the bananas and stirred in the spelt flour, baking power and realised I didn’t have enough maple syrup as a sweetener.  I thought with bananas and apples, it’d be sweet enough but nope, it isn’t.

The muffins came out TASTELESS :p  The consistency was fine and it smelled great but it had no taste what so ever.  I had to spread jam on it or else it was like bread :p  Once I get maple syrup, I’m going to try this easy recipe again.