Even if it’s temporary… is necessary. Moments of inertia creeping in. It’s time.

I wonder when I’ll get to use this wig again?

Time to get myself back into shape!

Have been approached by a fitness club to partake in a bloggers fitness challenge. Will be updating you on my progress after my first session.

Before I went to HK, I trundled down to Trixilli Millenia Walk to check out some of EeLyn’s dresses, am on the lookout for some cocktail dresses and evening wear and was floored at how far she has come. I remember modelling her first collection, and it’s just amazing to see her talent grow with every collection!

Here are three dresses to give you a taste of what she has in store:

1) The peach toga was my favourite. Part of the newest collection which was showcased at her recent trunk show, this piece’s highlight is definitely the turquoise accent poof on he left shoulder strap. And peach is definitely a wonderful spring colour
Dress: roman holiday
Retails: S$369

2) The red short dress would be great as a casual day outfit. I can just imagine myself wearing this in Australia in flats and a sun hat!
Dress: Lucy
Retails: S$299

3) In a similar style but longer version is this vintage inspired dress. Am absolutely in love with the deep cobalt blue and white trimmings.
Dress: Sally
Retails: $399

If you’re looking for unique girly cocktail dresses, Yu is the definitely the label to look for, especially if you don’t want mass produced dresses i.e. Daniel Yam (sorry but that’s the best local example I could think of).

I went for another fitting recently, will show you what I decided on soon!

We have this beautiful bougainvillea which climbs up the side of the wall up to my window. Mum told me a few weeks ago that we had bee-hive growing amongst the branches.

We live pretty much in peace with nature here at home. Especially with things such as bird’s nests, we’d let nature run its course and leave it alone. But in this case, a growing beehive was not safe, especially with Jules over for baby sitting sometimes.

The gardeners say they’ve done this before and volunteered to smoke the bees and clear the hive. So here’s the pictorial sequence on events taken from inside the house.

Menu
First course
Smoked Duck Breast with Tomato Mushroom Salad Crisp Bacon & Romaine Lettuce

Second course
Roasted Butternut Pumpkin Soup with Crab Meat Pumpkin Seeds Oil

Third course
Grilled Tenderloin of Beef with Red Wine Jus served with Baby Potatoes with Herbs, Sauteed Root Vegetables & Asparagus

OR

Pan Fried Seabass Fillet with Spicy Tomato Salsa served with Mashed Potato, Sauteed Vegetables & Asparagus

Dessert
Macadamia Pavlova with Honey Lime Marinated Strawberries Lime Mascarpone Cream

Bear with me, am editing 10 days worth of photos to upload from 3 cameras

One of the best wedding’s I’ve ever attended for many reasons:
- It was small and intimate
- absolutely brilliant speeches
- a sporting groom singing to his bride
- great food overall
- wedding guests were fun

And I also got to spend time with current and ex-ICONites.

Congratulations Nathan and Gwen!

Auntie Angela spending some quality time with baby Jules.

is the……

I’ve always been a big Martha Stewart fan. I’d watch her podcast religiously on transit to work, and browse through her extensive website when I have that itch to craft, cook or bake. Two weeks back, I was in need of some ‘Me Time’. So I chanced upon her cupcake recipes and thought I’d give it a go.

Here’s a really simple cupcake and frosting recipe which takes less than an hour to prepare and bake. Based on preliminary guinea-pig reviews, the cupcakes were a great success! Everyone loved it. I’d like to share that recipe with you, give it a go and let me know how it turned out. Tell me what YOUR guinea pigs had to say about it. I promise you, you’ll hear endless praises for such a simple to-do recipe.

Cupcakes (Makes 12)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of all-purposes flour (spooned and levelled)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees celcius. Line the cups of a standard (12-cup) muffin tin with paper or foil liners.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a liquid measuring cup, mix milk and vanilla; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, neat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. With mixer on low speed, add half of dry ingredients, followed by milk-vanilla mixture, then remaining dry ingredients. Do not overmix.
5. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups (a 1/4 cup measuring cup or ice-cream scoop is good for this).
6. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, approx 20 to 25 minutes. Cool cupcakes 5 minutes in tin, then remove and cool completely on a rack before frosting.

Frosting

Ingredients
(Note: I’d recommend you halve the below measurements, because the below quantities makes too much frosting, I only ended up using half of it. Trust me)
1 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon honey
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions
(Note: For our warmer climate, wait for the cupcakes to cool COMPLETELY, or else the frosting starts to melt. And once you’re done frosting, quickly put them in the fridge to set)

1. In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat confectioner’s sugar, unsalted butter, honey and ground cinnamon until smooth, 4 to 5 minutes.
2. Frost cupcakes; decorate with sprinkles before frosting dries to ensure they stick

Will blog about the strawberry cupcakes next…

Had my first taste of mountain biking at night late 2007 during the togoparts 11 race, where I had to ride the last lap at sundown. But I title this post my “First night ride” because my recent voyage into the darkness on two wheels was a totally different experience all together. For most of it, I wasn’t familiar with the route, so I had no idea what to expect. All I could do was depend on Wayne’s guidance from behind on where the gnarly sections where.

It was just Wayne, Leon, Nik and I that week, but I’m sure there will be more of us next time.

The experience was out of this world! It brought a whole new dimension to mountain biking. The way you tackle obstacles and drops are waaayy different in the night. And when I did come across areas I was familiar with in the day, scratch that, you won’t recognize the place AT ALL. I think it was the company, fear of the unknown and the adrenaline rush, which made it one of the best rides ever. I HAD SO MUCH FUN!

On a side note, I think my adidas cycling shoes days are limited. It has served me well. Time to order in a new pair.

It’s bad enough that crocs have invaded our lives and torn off the skin of kids feet, but it’s just plain ridiculous to see them worn with socks! Worse, by a man!?!

No no no no NO! Uncle…. cannot!

Just a picture post of Jules & Georgie! No I don’t call my sister by her first name, but it has a nice ring to it for those of you who do.

There’s this fantastic group on flickr called My Day, Yesterday, where people upload a video summary of their day in 90s or less.

A friend brought this my attention, the fact that no matter where you are in the world, our lives really aren’t that different. Above is my first attempt of yesterday today, not exactly taken yesterday, was in fact taken in last October but I just hadn’t got round to posting it. And below was my second attempt taken last month.

I’d highly recommend you try this little project. And when you do, PLEASE link me up, I would love to watch it!

In a quiet little alley of the once bustling Mohamed Sultan Road, hides a quaint little French-Vietnamese shop-house restaurant, Le Tonkin.

The hybrid menu of French and Vietnamese cuisine may be puzzling, but in fact is an expected pairing seeing that the French had a huge influence in Vietnam during World War 2 and Vietnam War.

Ambience was peaceful and subdued, with just two other tables being served at the outdoor dining area. Lit by candlelight, it’s great for romantic dinners because the lighting is flattering and you’re not talking over the clatter of utensils like in a Chinese restaurant.

I found it quite amusing that you could have a choice of Vietnamese spring rolls or cheese soufflé as a starter, it’s as diverse as you can get.

The night started off with a soft crab and cheese wanton amuse-bouche dipped in a cranberry sauce, easily mistaken as sweet chilli.

For starters, we ordered the Vietnamese spring rolls and a cheese soufflé. I ordered the soufflé based on an online review, but it left me quite disappointed. The cheese was overpowering, and by the third spoon, I felt cheesed out or as we’d say it here “gelat”. You can’t go too wrong with deep friend spring rolls, so that was the starter’s saving grace. But I think they could go without the cheesy candle on the pineapple. It’s enough to have six spring rolls sticking out of a pineapple, the tealight just gives it the unnecessary attention.

For mains, we had a roast lamb and grilled salmon. My salmon was placed on a bed of mash. If I remember correctly, it’s a butternut squash mash or a potato mash with just a butternut squash sauce. I can’t remember what was with the Frenched lamb chops, but it looks like aubergine, sundried tomato with thyme.

Both mains were good, and thankfully portion size was definitely not French.

Service was immaculate, with staff attentive to every emptying glass. We left out dessert to explore a new haunt at Robertson Walk.

If you’d like to try this place out, here are their details:

Address: 18 Mohamed Sultan Road
Tel: 6235 6006
Opening hours: 6pm – 12am
Cuisine: Vietnamese, French
Average price: approx. S$ 65 – 75/person

This review is purely based on this one experience and my subjective little taste buds. To form your opinion, go try the food sometime and let me know what you think.

Took this quick capture on my blackberry of Julian either trying to say Mama? or Mum mum? Judging from his appetite, I’m guessing the latter.

Awhile back, Janice and Andrew invited Ran, Mel, Jo, Chris and myself over for a Raclette & Ravin Rabbids night at the West Wing.

I’ve seen raclette cheese at the supermarket, but I never knew there was a method to eat it! Raclette is a type of cheese from Switzerland that is prepared with vegetables on a special raclette grill. The word raclette is derived from the French word racler which means to scrape.

So for those who aren’t sure what it is, here’s a short gourmet lesson on raclette.

History
This warm cheese dish originated in the Valais canton of Switzerland where farmers and herdsman would make a meal of cheese melted by camp-fire or hearth, potatoes and pickles. Historians conjecture that at some point the cheese got too close to the fire and the melted cheese dish was born. The cheese and the dish have been documented back as far as the year 1291 and at that time was called Bratchäs.

Today besides the requisite potatoes and pickles any number of foods are eaten with the cheese including fish, poultry, vegetables and sometimes even wild game.

The Cheese
Raclette cheeses are typically round weighing 13 to 17 lbs and are about 11″ in diameter and 3″ thick. The cheeses are all cow’s milk have in common a creamy consistency which easily melts but does not get too runny. The semi-firm cheese is normally aged about 3 or 4 months.

The different cheeses are named after the villages from which they are produced. The three premier villages are Gomser, Conches, Bagnes, and Orsieres on Raclette.

Selecting Cheese
The cheese should have a dark beige rind with no cracks or reddening. The texture should be creamy and dry or granular.

The Swiss Tradition
In the Swiss tradition raclette cheese is melted over an open fire and melted slowly. As the cheese melts it is scraped off the wheel and served with boiled potatoes, bread, cornishons (pickles) and other pickled vegetables.

The Raclette Grill
The raclette grill has overtaken popularity of the traditional raclette equipment. The new grills allow you to melt cheese in individual serving trays while grilling meats, fish, poultry and vegetables on the upper grill level. Some units feature reversible grills with a smooth side with a raised grill on the reverse side. Stone grill tops may be available as well.

Courtesy of Gourmet Sleuth

After filling our tummy’s with loads of diary, we attempted to burn it off with ravin rabbids on the Wii. Another first for me, I thought it was one of the best console games I’ve ever played! Now I’m thinking if it’s a worthwhile investment to buy one for the household, it makes a great party game for young and old. Would be great to see my parents getting into the action.

Thanks Jan and Andrew for hosting the pre-Vday get together!