our new home..

over the weekend, went with dear dear to visit our new place.. though we haven gotten the keys but now finally after exams, settled rom stuff.. got some time to explore the new place.. went to find the nearest bbq pit.. went to check out our mail box.. though our unit is not the lower floor.. but the mailbox is below our eye level..

we went up to our unit.. usually the gate is closed and the door is unlocked so we can push it open too peep into the unit, however, that day, the main door is locked! I was quite surprised and then i asked dear dear if he finds the main door free of dust? i remember the last time i pushed open the door, there is this thick layer of dust on the doors! did someone come to clean our house?? hmm..

and then, our neighbours walked out and saw us standing outside our unit.. she is a nice kind old lady.. she asked if we bought the unit and we said yes.. i think she is just as excited that we will be neighbours soon and we are so so young! haha.. she is so kind.. she told us a month ago, hdb came to repaint the gate and the house.. that explains why the door is clean and free of dust and then i realise the gates are newly painted too!

hee.. which means that when we have the keys, we do not have to clean up a dusty home.. anyway, am prepared to buy a nice pink broom for the house.. have to get all the cleaning agents too..

whenever we see our house, we got the motivation to save more than we spend.. so we can have more $$ to get things for the house.. i do not need a grand affair but a comfortable home to come home to.. a nice sofa, a nice bed, happy dinnerset when we have meals, a good oven for my baking.. thanks xiang in advance for wanting to get me as a house warming gift! haha.. a good tv set, a nice balcony for relaxation, a comfortable bed with happy and welcoming bedsheets to sleep our stress away.. wow! im all getting excited!!

thanks ah yi, for wanting to design our house.. im sure will be a lovely one..

we look forward to our new home.. hmm.. what shall we name it?

all rightey, stephy, stop drifting away in dreamland.. am so excited.. i wonder how to wait patiently for bto.. no offense to my friends who bought bto but is just my little thoughts..

mre happenings from the kitchen..

over the weekend.. we hit the town! oh yes, we went to ps.. usually dear dear dun like to go orchard but we went there because got daiso and spotlight can take a look.. see mre packaging for my baking stuff.. but didnt get anything.. nothing that is nice..

then after we went to taka to look at the corelle plates.. there is a offer on the dinner sets but it is not the design that i want and it is quite "ang moh" style.. 2 soup bowls.. those very shallow for those cream soups, 4 butter plates, something like tea plates, and those squarish plates.. anyway, no harm window shopping on all these.. i love the plates.. it is truly unbreakable and very light.. very easy to handle!

these are the few designs that i like.. kendy added today that her aunt has used the plates for more than 10 years and it still looks like new! im sure its a worthy investment.. gucci aside.. i think we'll welcome corelle.. the gold premier series even had different designs on the plates with the same theme! dear dear is ok with any design which means i get to choose! haha.. i prefer something cheery so that when we eat at least we face happy things!

introducing country herbs..

here comes cool pansies..

and lush..

then we went home for dinner and i baked banana cake and sweet heart chocolate cookies.. the other time dear dear did not have a chance to try the cookies so made it on saturday night.. our only shot at ps.. hee

ta-da! my yummy banana cake is finally ready! this time, i used the electric mixer to mix all the ingredients, thereby no time to take pictures of my steps.. but a whole cake takes a longer time to bake and requires more eggs.. thereby i seldom bake a whole cakes.. packed three quarter of the cake for dear dear family to try.. coz my mum has been scolding me that i bake and bake and made them all fat by eating such sweet stuff..

dear dear family loves it! they finished half of the cake i brought! his mum said is not too sweet and taste natural.. dear dear ate i think more than 5 thick slices.. a few in the afternoon and some after dinner.. well, im glad they love it!

though there are some cracks but it taste great!

packing for his family..

the quarter that i left at home is left untouched whereas the cookies are gone! guess that's the difference.. his family prefers the cake where my family prefer the cookies.. but i find cookies are too dry..

throat has not been feeling good.. it's been a long time since we go k.. coz our voices are not totally back! it has been weeks!

this week will be baking more cinnamon rolls for his family to try since they didnt try it the last time..

p.s his mum asked me today.. you are so good in baking.. can you cook? cook chicken curry and told me to go and learn.. i was like.. i cant answer and said im a great cook.. but i can lah..
dear dun forget yr promise to tell your mum that i can cook.. not chicken curry though..

happening's from stephy's kitchen.

have not been baking.. been tired the whole week.. dun noe y.. anyway, on thursday night, finally got back my drive.. went to phoon huat to get the ingredients for cream cheese and gelatine.. i cant buy anymore ingredients!! want to save.. have been saving but 1 trip to phoon huat, there goes.. the temptation is too great! but the joy of seeing one enjoys eating my stuff makes me very very satisfied.. most of the time, i dont indulge myself in all these delightful stuff that i make.. maybe because im not a sweet tooth.. or i just enjoy doing these.. hmm..

feel like going to the courses but so expensive.. so just trial and error.. read from the internet on the more technical stuff.. the right type of butter to use, understanding what is curdling and how to prevent or troubleshoot when it happens, the temperature of the butter and eggs all does matters..

tried to make the cheesecake recipe that i found online.. quite easy to make as it does not involve baking.. it's like doing agar agar with different layers.. wait for it to harden before placing the next layer.. i did this on thursday and friday night. i left the cream cheese to harden overnight..

the different steps..

as i have just placed it in the fridge after putting the topping..
will let dear dear try tomorrow.. wonder if it's thumbs up??

mum has been nagging me that i made all these oily, sweet and unhealthy stuff to feed my family making them unhealthy too.. so wont dare ask ,]. fish to try.. hmm..

before i made the biscuit base, i tried to do the sweet hearts krispy treats.. thanks to kendy who found the recipe and recommended me.. thanks ah kendy, ingredients expensive! arghz!

did not manage to take a picture of how i stirred the rice krisps with the marshmellow as it was not easy to handle them.. too sticky!! so only managed to take the beginning and after photos.. haha..

,]. fish tasted it.. he said not bad.. brought 1 for kendy to try.. melanda and her gave a thumbs up for this! pass the rest of the 2 hearts to dear dear to try.. wonder what's his views..

all righty, it's late.. time to sleep.. am too tired to bake on a friday night..

my experience with fake eyelash..

gen was recommending me shu's eyelashes.. she said was 30 over bucks for a pair + glue etc.. was thinking of trying it but didnt hit town these few days..

have frequent jurong point on saturday night and sunday morning for mac breakfast.. went to sasa more than 2 times and keep looking at the fake eye lash.. so decided to buy after we had breakfast on sunday..

1 pair selling for 6 bucks.. 2 pairs for 8.90.. cheap.. anyway, only going to use it once so just bought to try loh..

bought 2 different pairs and tried the 2nd pair on sunday.. mum told me that the 1st pair looks very fake.. so decide to go back today to exchange same as the 2nd pair..

hee.. my beautiful eyes.. now rom can put liao loh..

it's not that difficult to put it on.. but needs abit of time.. feels abit uncomfortable though.. wonder why..

p.s: sista, i think i will forgo the hair part and the tiara.. looks too elaborate i guess..

my grandfather's birthday..

it is my grandfather's birthday celebration on sunday evening.. as usual, we went to a teochew restaurant for his birthday celebration.. may you be happy everyday and stay healthy! though he doesnt read my blog.. but i still want to wish him.. hee..

some shots of my siblings and my cousin, crystal..

random shots of me and dear dear
while waiting for the food to be served..

my happy family..
b sis, how come alfred and u sit on each sides??

some dishes that were served.. my sis wanting to be the model for the accomanying dish..
note that not all dishes are taken because my hands and mouth were busy.. hehe

the ice cream cake kindly ordered by gugu..
cookies and cream with chocolate! yummy!

my cinnamon rollies..

wanted to do somethng cinnamon because i bought a bottle of cinnmon the other day for my banana cake but only used 2 shakes.. find it quite a waste.. so wanted to use it..

i remember my parents used to buy cinnamon rolls from this cinnamon shop.. i cant remember the name of the shop but is quite expensive.. so search online for this recipe.. but hor.. have to buy yeast so as to make the dough.. but decide to experiment around loh..

so went to buy yeast which cost me only a dollar plus.. and am satisfied with the results.. unlike cookies.. the amount of butter used is lesser and for this recipe, i used brown sugar instead of the normal castor sugar thus i think is healthier than my other recipes.. so i ate one immediately after i bake it!.. hee.

dad mixed the dough for me.. because we do not have the electric mixer.. it is too heavy for me.. my arm muscles not so strong yet..

the dough rising!! i was so excited.. i waited for about 45 mins and it rose and rose! hee..
mixing the cinnamon powder with the brown sugar and butter.. cutting the cinnamon out and waiting for it to rise again..

though the looks is not there but it taste great! i had one immediately after i took out the 1st batch.. ,]. fish had 3!!!!

other than the shortbread recipe that dear dear gave me, i will bake this cinnamon roll again.. because i love it!!

p.s just sms kendy to tell her about my cinnamon rolls.. she is making banana muffins now! hee..

p.p.s my dad and dear dear think too highly of me.. they tell me to do more so that i can sell it!! haha.. i told them im happy to bake and they eat.. dont need to sell them.. hee..

my butter cookies

tried to bake butter cookies today.. everyone's home today.. so i had 'free' help from my dad and b sis.. hee.. my dad helped me cream the butter and sugar.. hee..

dad creaming the butter and sugar..

dad creaming the butter with my sister.. hee..

the batter..

squeezing the butter out to form a nice shape..

my nice nice butter cookies..
stored in cookie jar.. hee.. in nescafe jars hee..
1 jar for home.. another jar for dear dear..

wonder if my colleagues after their choco cake bad experience?? pass some to gen also.. wonder if she likes the cookies and the cake..

time for bed after another day of work and baking.. tired!!

nitey nites nites!!

my chocolate cake!

baked choco cake on sunday nite.. ,]. fish ate it on sunday nite.. he said the choco chips part is very nice.. because he loves chocolate!

brought to office today but i guess the fridge made the top part quite hard.. my colleague said it is quite rubbery from the top part.. unsuccessful afterall.. sighz.. but nevertheless, is my 1st attempt..

my choco cake!

cutting a slice for ,]. fish to sample..

packing the cake neatly..

my log cake..

oh yes.. from my previous entry.. today i did a sample of my make up.. not bad lah.. though i didnt take a photo.. b sis and dear dear both said was ok.. hee.. sista, saw yr entry.. need so much advance meh??

anyways, was supposed to go marina bay to play arcade had lunch then to get my fake eyelashes.. however, when we reached marina bay, we realised the whole place has been closed down! the intergrated resort is making entry.. very disappointed.. we headed to maxwell to have lunch instead..

after lunch, we went bugis to go shu to try hunt for eyelashes.. but when i reached bhg, wow! i was overwhelmed by the crowd.. had a headache immediately! got so sick that we did not spend more than a minute there! dear dear suggested to take a bus back to je then head home.. good suggestion!! je is where poon huat is located and is one of the bigger outlet! hee.. so instead of my eyelashes, i bought more more baking stuff!

realised the plain flour is the cheapest there and got 1 more packet.. dear dear insisted that i buy the oven mitten.. finally bought the emulsifier for the cake.. bought coco powder.. whipping cream.. more choco chips because i realise it is so cheap compared to my carrefour buy..

see my spongy log cake?? hee.. taste good also!

this time, i really trained my arm muscles man.. i whip and whip!
not too bad lah for 1st timer.. hee..

after making log cakes, i went on to make shortbread
so i can put in my new choco chips! hee..

all ritey.. its twelve now.. have to go to bed.. so tired after a nite of baking.. hee..

nitey nites nites!

end of day thoughts..

finally get to see yq's wedding dinner photos from jasline and kelly's uploaded pics.. they were all so beautiful that day.. hmm.. i could picture myself in it.. dear dear and i will make a great couple in the pics too! ... but anyway, its already sad enough that you don't attend your good friend's wedding.. why all the taboo?? if only im not aware... why did grandma and granddad keep telling me.. and my dad had to keep reminding me.. sighz..

well well well.. its time to stop all my baking craze for a while.. bought 2 more packs of butter and hersheys semi sweet chocolate chips for baking tmr.. hee.. to give some thoughts to my rom.. hah.. just realised we haven met the solemniser on the signing of the documents and my dad haven gave me a copy of his ic.. aiyo.. how many times must i remind him..?? haven confirm the table and menu with the restaurant.. though have decided long time ago.. opps! ;p

haven thought of what to do to my hair on that day.. rejected all the sponsorships.. haha.. it's time to start thinking stephy!! okokok.. hmm.. have to remove the idea of wearing a mini tiara.. coz have to go and buy a suitable one.. so many patterns.. which one to buy?? buy liao.. how to put?? haha.. at this instant, a silly idea came to my mind.. just invite sista to come to my house 3 hours before the rom and she can maybe fix my hair trouble for me?? haha..

make up should not be a problem to me though.. started make up since 14 years old.. should know most of the basis for a simple make up.. not stage one lah.. will try out tmr when i go out with dear dear the sample make up! to see if ok anot.. haha.. but who cares anyway, coz my clever aunt will photoshop all my blemishes for me.. thanks yi in advance! haha.. darn! my blog becomes an informal invitations to all of my close ones on their job roles!! haha.. okok.. better stop all my nonsense and go get my beauty sleep..

nitey nites nites!!

my banana cake..

have been wanting to try making cakes with my success in cupcakes.. but have been sick since sunday.. been down with high fever and now cough.. slowly recovering..

this week at office, been so distracted by different recipes online.. on tuesday, mum brought home a bunch of bananas and it occured to me to want to bake banana cupcake.. however, dear dear said always cupcake.. eat also sianz.. so i went online to search for banana cake recipes..

went ntuc with dear dear just now to buy a spatula and cinnamon powder.. the other day i bought another packet of flour.. this time, i bought the cheapest plain flour instead of the normal self raising flour.. i tink my house is filled with more and more baking necessities.. and im simply loving it!

today kendy went to find logcake recipe.. it also struck me to want to make log cake.. hee.. so we printed out more and more recipes! and oh yes, kendy made beautiful maple cupcakes topped with cinnamon icing. v.nice!

i tried using the electic mixer to cream the butter and the sugar
but i still prefer my sleek whisk.. back to traditional methods.. haha

me so proud with my batter!! pardon the messy hair..

putting the batter into the baking tin..

taking a shot of how it looks like in the oven..
it is rising and rising and rising and rising...
because the ks me used self raising flour and added baking powder ;p
in case it doesnt rise. haha

so finally the top part became "chao ta"!
dear dear "da bao" 3 slices home, while xiang ate 1 slice,
my cousin,clement who is here, ate another slice..
and of course, always my brother ate 1 slice of my freshly baked banana cake..

for this recipe, i used 3 bananas as that was what was left.. i used 20 gms less sugar so as to make it healthier.. hee..

well, i think my blog will slowly change to a baking blog. haha. my next challenge will be.. haha. not too sure.. there's so many i want to try but so little time..

1) mini christmas log cake
2) fruit tart
3) apple pie
4) pineapple cookies can try baking now so can test if i cam make it during cny.. haa
5) lemon cookies
6) butter cookies

just realise that the recipes that im intending to make are all chocolate-free, mayb because im not a choco fan myself.. that explains hee

all rightey, gota hit my recipe books.. hee..

O yes, comments for my cake is that it is not sweet enough, not enough banana smell.. which means i have to include more bananas.. as banana itself is high in sugar content, by adding a few more bananas, i will not need to add in more sugar.. hee

p.s: thanks sista, for wanting to help me become more beautiful on my rom day.. appreciate that.. but keep the manicure for yourself k? love ya.. my sister also offered but i turned her down.. because manicure is not the most important thing to me..

my pink cuppies!

friday was my japan holiday! finally.. slept late and went grocery shopping for baking my vanilla cuppies.. this time i wanted to experiment with icing.. bought red icing because i wanted pink cuppies..

i must say i got so addicted into baking.. it really makes me so happy..

I bought a new whisk! so sleek!
mixing all of them together..taking the oven process..my pink cuppies! with initials for dear dear, my bro, my maid, b sis and alfred kor. my yummy cuppies!
one of my fave designs..

personally, im nt sweet toothed.. i prefer to eat the undecorated cuppies.. my cousins and dear dear family loves it!

p.s: thanks bro, for trying the icing cuppies!

dear just gave me a recipe for shortbread.. going to try baking it later.. hee.. i think im addicted to baking!! but its good addiction, i say. hee..

my wedding bands..

our wedding bands are ready for collection, after trying the size and sending it for engraving..

dear dear and i went to collect and this time, i got them to show me how to tie the wedding bands onto the ring pillow.. it looks really nice to have the rings on the pillow..

anyway, i know how to tie so that it can be removed easily on the day of the rom.. hee..

cant help but advertise for soo kee. i like the packaging..
the paper bag and the ring box..
this is how it looks like.. everyone has been asking me.. hee.

i tied the wedding bands to the ring pillow myself.. not too bad.. the rings was made for the pillow.. haha.. i mean, see how well they compliment each other?? its a lovely sight..

the auntie in me took the receipt of the wedding band to exchange for lucky draws from imm.. they were having christmas promotions.. we didnt know what are the gifts and etc.. we just went to check it out.. when we reached the counter, we got a few chances for the lucky draw, a pair of movie tickets for Fred Claus and to participate in an instant draw..

oh my, it was quite embarrassing as we had to stand in front of a screen and using motions to catch something to see what we have.. dear dear and i had 20 chances.. we had our fair share of fun. hee..

this was what we got: