stormy weekend

right smack in the middle of summer and we have a storm. yup, that is boston for you. summer started like a month ago, and it's coming to an end as fall approaches. so much for summer.

the storm ruin my plans for blading and everything else. so the boy came up with a better plan for us - clean n pack the house. good lord. when he said that, i groaned as loud as the storm. i dun understand how someone can like cleaning and packing so much. after 15 mins of clearing the closet, i watched him pack his clothes neatly while lying in bed. HAHAHAHAHAHA!

and then i got bored and decided to poke fun at my stuff animal, oggie. looks like a face eh???!!! hahahahaha!

it's this new thing from hollywood, pple like putting their sunnies on their dogs' backsides. i dun have a dog but i do have a tail in the house, so this is as close as i can get. hur hur hur!!!

baby-less

the boy is gone for 2 nights. he just left for denver and will only be back on tues night! :o( it'll be our first night apart since we moved here almost 7 months ago. i dunno what i'm more concern with - being without him or being alone in the apt by myself. yessssss, i'm a scaredy cat.

i hope i dun turn the house into a mess and break or spoil anything when he is away (i say this becos i am always the one who's not packing and breaking things or choking toilet bowls, etc).

baby-less for 2 nights!!!!! :o(

teachings from the yogi

i know this might sound like BS to those who dun practice yoga or dun enjoy it or dun believe in it. i know you will say "believe in it? believe in wat?" i've come to see yoga as more of a form of exercise. in many ways, and sometimes even i find it odd, that it calms me down, it makes me more focused and centered and it actually makes me feel more optimistic about my body and my day.

after taking 2 core fusion lessons this week i was starting to miss my yoga classes, so i went back to yoga on friday evening with my fav yogi. i was feeling a lil sleepy due to the rain and a lil impatient cos the class ends at 730pm and god knows i can only think of dinner at that time.

in the midst of a challenging pose for my body, she said, "remember that every moment in life and in yoga is very short. the pain or the ache you feel now will pass, just like every moment in life that is difficult or upsets you - it will pass. same with joy, joy does not lasts forever and you cant hold onto it, hence it is so important to be present in every joyous moment, before it passes."

i cant explain to you how that hit me at the right time, in yoga and in life, but it did.

new cake and new blog!

i baked a new recipe today and with that i have started another blog (shewhobakes.blogspot.com) - one that is dedicated to baking and all things baked. i share recipes and step by step photos too so anyone can bake whatever i have baked!!!

today i made the blueberry coffee cake. it's super yummy and i'm giving away many slices to pple who work with the boy (but i am evily wondering if i should, i want them all!)

so free that i have 2 blogs now *rolls eyes* hahahahaha!

i cant seem to touch my toes!

after 2 months of yoga i have come to be a lil embarrass about something. i can do some of the slightly more complicated poses with no issues - i can get into the pose and hold that position for over a min. like these poses...

however, bending forward to reach my toes or the floor kills me. i just cannot touch my toes! and my finger tips touch the floor but nothing more than that! i feel like some short dwarf who cannot bend over to touch her toes in class. :o(

BUT yoga teachers say to be patient with your own body and not to get frustrated...hmmm. i just thank god i always chope the back of the class so no one can see me reach my toes as if i am reaching for my dear life.

no new recipes for a while

since we're on a salad diet prior to the new york trip, there will be nothing new from the wok for awhile. so, i have to share 2 new recipes from last week.

char siew and prawns fried rice: love char siew...miss char siew. the char siew sauce definitely made the fried rice tasty tasty!

spicy beef: from a new recipe book that i bought a while back. and once this diet is over, i am trying more recipes from that book cos this spicy beef was yummy!

am putting the wok to a rest for awhile... :o(

wanna see my list?

my list of places to eat in new york!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the boy and i are gonna take our virgin trip to new york next weekend for 5 days and 4 nights. 4 hours bus ride away - feels like it's KL, hahahahahaha!

so i have made a list of over 30 places that i'm keen to visit for food, but these few are on the top of my list:

1. Otto (cheap and good italian food)
2. Arirang (Korean)
3. Katsuhama (Jap katsu curry)
4. L'arte Del Gelato (yummy gelato)
5. Cafe Zaiya (famous for their fried fish burger)
6. Shake Shack (you have to queue for an hour for NY's famous burger)
7. Locanda Verde (yummy bakery)
8. Hundred Acres (famous brunch)
9. Cafe Habana (cuban!)
10. Ippudo (ramen....i miss ramen)
11. Decibel (Sake bar, this is more for the boy who's crazy over sake)
12. Chikalicious (new york's number 1 cupcakes)

I don't even have a list of places to shop and sight-see, I'm gonna leave that to the boy. I'm busy hunting down places to eat. hahahahahaha!

I hope i get to eat everything above, I can forgo the others but i so wanna have everything here. I promise I will snap everything I eat and share it here.

However, prior to this trip, the boy and I are on a diet. strict diet of homemade salad every night until we leave for new york. :o(

more ribs!

the boy made noodle soup with ribs, chinese mushrooms, seaweed, peanuts and carrots on sunday night! it's got a homely feel to it, maybe cos i havent had noodles in soup for almost 7 months now. :o)

from the lion: spare ribs are GOOOOOD!

yes, me the lion, me who loves meat loads loads. heh heh!

oddly enuf, though i love meat, i never had a thing for spare ribs. maybe cos i think there's not much meat on that bone. hahahahaha! but since i got here, i've had really good spare ribs at restaurants n that inspired us to buy some and make our own.

so last week i made sweet and sour spare ribs and the last sunday, the boy did his own marinade and pan fried the ribs. yummy yummy!!!! this was paired with a simple veggie and pork dish. i duno how he did both dishes, he goes by intuition. :op

anyone with spare ribs recipes, send them to zee lion!!!!!

yellow butter cake

that is the official name here but i believe the right name for it should be chocolate yellow butter cake. it is super yummy!!!! butter cake with a layer of chocolate in between and in top and on the sides. my first real official cake and it turned out really well! i'll let the photos do the talking. :o)

i really like baking....it makes me happy once everything is done - even though it leaves me with a messy kitchen with chocolate fingerprints everywhere. *grins*

jazzzzzzzz

with a few others we visited a newly opened jazz bar - The Stork Club. the only thing i enjoyed abt that place was the burger that the boy ordered. i ate half of it. leaving him with my steak that was not very nice. hahahahaha!

and the many things i didnt enjoy abt the place...

i think the place is a lil too small for the sound system. i'm sure the jazz band is good, but when it's pounding in your ear it gets annoying. and also, when you are dining, it's disturbing when u have to yell through your table conversations.

becos the place is small and they try to sit as many tables as possible, they decide to have tiny tables. tiny tables for 5 pple to dine is crazy. firstly, ang mos are not the smallest pple on earth, and plating of dinners do not come on small plates. and our waitress decides to serve starters and mains together, making the table feel smaller than it already is.

and the shocker of the night was when they say they are new, so they dun serve dessert. oh good lord. enuf said.

however, cos it's a new bar/restaurant, that night was packed with pple esp at the bar (which was 2cm away from dining tables). and the other thing that i did like abt the place is the decor, gave it a very old feeling...like old jazz bars.

i will go back for the food again but maybe with just the boy, when we can just eat and not bother abt talking, i mean yelling.

new dishes!

3 more new dishes from last week!!!

pork lo mein: this was super yummy....we finished everything on our plates even though it was a huge serving. and it doesnt leave you feeling super full, it's just right!

sweet and sour chicken: slightly different from the sweet and sour sauce from last week. i prefer last week's one...i need pineapples and tomatoes next time!

gong bau chicken: hmmm...this is like my fav dish. i love gong bau chicken. somehow, no where here has done it right. n i think the recipe aint right too. it's spicy but the sweet side of the dish is missing. so i guess this is just spicy chicken.

bouncing cakes

this conversation last thursday made me, my baked goods and my pastry chef ambitions/dreams very very happy.

the boy and i had drinks and a burger at The Good Life bar with a couple of his coworkers last thursday evening. one of them mentioned that he browsed thru the boy's FB photos awhile back and saw photos of my food and baked goods. he claimed the photos took him "on a journey of lovely cakes". that line already made my pastry heart melt.

then my dear boy had to say he wants to open a bakery with me and name it "ugly cakes" cos everything is homemade and hence there isnt a factory-consistent look. to the boy, the "ugliness" and inconsistency is endearing cos he likes homemade stuff.

however, the coworker who heard him call my cakes ugly flew to my baked goods defense and said (and this i quote unquote), "NO! her cakes arent ugly! her cakes look so soft and fluffy that they look like if you drop them on the floor they would bounce back to your plate!"

oh good lord. he gave my pastry heart a sugar rush.

and from that, he is now my unofficial guinea pig. he wants a slice of everything i bake from now on. this made the boy a lil relieved cos there's someone to share my baked goods with, this means a lil less calories for him.

so now the boy and i are debating - if i EVER do have a bakery, should we call it "Ugly Cakes" or "Bouncing Cakes"?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

it's my lil precious' birthday!!!! time flies.....he's all big and 3 now! when i see him next, we'll be having a real lengthy conversation, and he'll be blinded by bright lights from my camera. i'm sooooo gonna snap 1001 photos of him.

all my love for my nephew lukkie! *SMOOOOOOOOCH*

i love sundays....

becos it's the one day that i do not touch housework. hur hur hur! the boy will cook and clean and all i do is laze around.

the boy made a simple and light dinner with fish, pork and veggie.

after dinner we had a drink at the roof deck, and this time round, someone came along with us! (only my younger sis will be keen in these photos...oggie good life)

and it was back to lazing in front of the tv until it's time for bed....see, tt's why i love sundays.

restaurant week: Burton's Grill

it's restaurant week for the next 2 weeks in boston! restaurant week means, selected restaurants here will participate and offer set dinners at 33 bucks. this covers you a starter, a main and a dessert. you can select this from their usual menu but drinks are not included. needless to say, you should attack the high end places to make your money's worth.

on saturday, we chanced upon Burton's Grill when looking for dinner before the movie.

and here is what we had for our fixed dinners...

Crunchy Oysters

Gazpacho

Grilled Chicken

Herb Pork Tenderloin

Cheesecake with Chocolate

Summer Blast Sundae

everything was very good, especially the Gazpacho and Pork tenderloin (both of which were mine...hur hur hur!). but the dessert was disappointing. well, the boy says his cheesecake was good, i trust him since i have nothing for cheese in desserts but my sundae was just ice cream. normal flava ice cream. not impressed.

to top it off, we caught Julie & Julia after. more food food food!!!!!

gimme gimme!

if i cant be in heels i must have bloody cool flats. like this one....if only it goes on sale soon. *evil giggles*