That is a picture of 2 Bai Ling mushrooms.  They're ginormous!!! Each of them are resting on your typical styrofoam plate...so imagine.  My bought it as her ex-colleagues told her that it is very smooth and crunchy.  I cooked it with spaghetti...ie. spaghetti al funghi.  Tossed it with loads of garlic, butter and white wine.  Mmm....yum!  I must say that I was quite pleased with myself ;)

On to more yummy stuff...I had lunch with a couple of colleagues (my farewell lunch...more on that in another post) at Caffe Pralet, Tiong Bahru.  Their cakes are divine....you've been warned...drool...

Lychee Martini Cake

Dragonfruit cheese cake

Mirin (sweet sake) cake

They even have gingerbread boys and girls!  Above is the girl and it was sooo adorable that I couldn't resist getting it.  It costs only $2.80 anyways.

I made plum wine jelly too...tada....!! Hur hur...I posted it up on facebook to make my friends jealous. Hiak hiak hiak.

Ok...enough of food.  I'm starting to sound like a glutt. :P

During dinner at Din Tai Fung last night, 2 idiots came by and sat down next to my table.

Guy 1: I want to eat truffle dumplings.
Guy 2: Huh? Where is it? (looking through the menu)
Guy1: It's not here...I want to eat it cos I heard about it.

My ears perked up because I love truffles and was hoping that the guy would just say where this truffle dumpling was being sold.  However, there is a reason why I called them idiots in the intro.

Guy 1: Anyway, I think it'll taste weird.  Sweet and then salty...
Guy 2: Ya...very weird, sweet sweet...

-__-

Guys...truffles are mushrooms. Horribly expensive mushrooms that are harvested by pigs and dogs.  They're not chocolates you dohtz.  Chocolate truffles were named after these famed mushrooms by mimicking the creamy and velvety texture and flavour.

Some people need to read more...

I went to watch "Due Date" with Let-chan last night and the main reason I went to watch it was for Robert Downey Jr.  Gosh...he's such an amazing actor and his acting chops didn't fail in this comedy!

The chemistry between him and Zach Galifianakis is great and you can feel the tension.  It's such a funny film and there were moments when you just have to cover your mouth in case flies flew into your wide-open mouth.  Yup, there were many jaw-dropping moments that just made you laugh.

Go watch it to unwind and just laugh. :)

I am pretty tired but I just HAD to blog about this.  This is one of my many (what I dubbed as) 'taxi tales'.  Went into this cab where the driver was a 70-year old uncle.  First thing he said, other than asking me where I was going to, was "Thank you! You've saved me.  Others wanted to go to Woodlands...by the time I go there and come back, I'll waste petrol. The young ones can drive fast lah."

He then asked me which part of my area I lived, using the super old terms (eg. 11 floors etc).  I went, "Uh...I don't know." His prompt reply was, "How could you not know which side you live?" "Uh, because I'm at least 40 years your junior?" was what I mumbled under my breath.  Was holding my breath slightly as his cab smelt of pee too.  I spotted a can of air freshener in the seat pocket in front of me.  Did he already know that his taxi stinks?  Was it for me to spray?  Was so tempted to do so but I think it would be quite insulting to do that during the ride.

He was NOT kidding when he said that he can't drive fast.  Just when I thought that the speedometer would hit 60km/h, he would slow down.  He never went beyond 4th gear and the car was creaking along at 4th.  Just when the thought of "Oh, he's such a 'safe' driver" ran through my head, he started talking about Elvis Presley and Michael (Michael who?).  I thought he was talking to me but soon realised that he was on his mobile phone...without his hands-free!!!  His hands-free was hanging around his rear view mirror.  Wow...was it there for display???

Wait...there's more.  After his phone call, he stopped at the traffic light and went into a mild hacking attack.  Eeks...*cough cough*  With his furious coughing, he switched on his lights to look for his sweet/ lozenge.  He found his sweet, popped one into his mouth and continued driving without switching off his light although the light turned green AFTER he ate his sweet. -__-;

When the uncle finally realised where I was heading to, he went, "Why didn't you just say ***?  Everybody knows this place."  My answer was that some taxi drivers thought I was going to Sengkang or Punggol.  He then said, "Hmmph! Sengkang and Punggol are the worst!" in his most disgusted tone.  Ookkkaaaay....

All in all, he's quite a nice driver who complimented my estate, saying that its well built.  Haha...and he also wished me a good day.  Now...back home to the lovely smells of Baileys and my air freshener.  Hold on, the fresh air just outside the cab is good enough.

Was randomly surfing the web and look what I found!!  :)  I haven't been translating for months now but I still get a sense of pride whenever I see my work.  Hee....

Happy Diwali/ Deepavali to all Hindu friends out there!  Have fun!!

Yes!!  I finally bought myself a new camera!!!  I know that a lot of people have told me that Canon is still the best but I'm a huge Sony fan and I find that their interface is a lot easier to maneuver.  Pretty??  They didn't have this model in pink so the best is purple.  The salesguy is so helpful too.  Thanks Marcus!!  We spent a good half an hour trying out all the different cameras and since he's such a photography fan, he started telling me why he's hooked onto the W-series of Sony and although he originally wanted to recommend another camera (which was super expensive), he was nice enough to recommend this 'cheaper' one. :)

Yay....this means that I now have a new cammie to take pics of my jewellery etc!!  Now...I must rush for the Christmas sale...keep an eye out for that!

Cheerios!

Last week was a super duper busy week, which is why I haven't had the chance to blog. Anyhows, these are some miscellaneous things that I've been up to:

I made what I'd like to call, a mocha tiramisu.  Unlike the traditional tiramisu, I didn't use mascarpone cheese.  Instead, I used chocolate mousse (hence the mocha) which I made using a very simple recipe of marshmallows, good quality chocolate, a little bit of butter and whipped cream.  I baked a coffee sponge cake, doused it in Kahlua (mmm...yummy) and then topped that with my chocolate mousse.  Simply delicious!! I simply googled both recipes...hehe...

On Fri, my colleague braided my hair in this most amazing braid!! Check it out...

Nice? Nice? Nice?  Haha...the great thing about the braid is that my hair didn't fly in a mess that evening and I didn't need to care about it being limp and yucky during that evening's event.

Oh...I've got to show off this pair of earrings that I made.  It's not very well taken because I took it myself using my iphone. :P I originally made this to wear to my cousin's wedding but I changed my outift at the last minute so I didn't wear it in the end.  Do let me know if you like it!  I might consider making a variation of this for Oct 1983!

As I type this, my thighs are aching from my 10km run yesterday morning, my eyes are drooping cos I'm sleepy, my nose is semi-stuck and my stomach hurts.  As you've probably guessed, I'm on medical leave and am at home.  Will rest now...before I start on housework and whats not.

Last thing: HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAILEYS!! Today's All Saints' Day and it is also my little angel/devil (depends on his mood) birthday!! Lots of hugs and kisses to my darling poochies who turns a grand age of 7! :)