The Quiche that said it all, and ended it all.

For all my friends who were over at my place when I first attempted to make the Quiche, you'd know what drama it was. Read: Liquid seeping down to oven base, oven-base smokes up, smoke escapes from little gaps round the oven, kitchen becomes some 80s-period-drama-with excessive-dry-ice-setting, cept it wasn't cooling at all. Merv and I were literally trying to yank up a window that refused to open while fanning the smoke out at the expense of our poor lungs and eyes. So drama drama drama. thank god the quiche tasted alright. It wasn't properly done - runny insides, but my ever encouraging entourage said it tasted great.

I decided to give the quiche one more shot back home in sg. Armed with loads of bacon, greyure and double creammm, success finally found its way to me and the quiche finally turned out good :) Yay me!

Cake Week :)

So after the crazy last two days in London spent with friends, it was time to celebrate the big 2-1 with the family. Maybe it was cause I was so excited about spending the first birthday in 2 years with the family, and maybe it was cause I was still in disbelief about getting Mr Ken. Ok, I think both. I just hope people on the plane didn't think I was some loony. Smiling to oneself is not really a reason for them to suspect otherwise.

The actual birthday itself was spent with the parents and mei. Mummy and Daddy took us to Carousel at Royal Plaza on Scotts for the buffet lunch. I actually told mummy before that I had a new fixation with oysters, so imagine my disappointment when I didn't see any oysters at the line (they only had it for dinner). BUTBUT! because of some crazy special arrangements, a plate of 12 oysters sat in front of me after I got back from getting my sushi. holy moly. imagine my sheer shock! that made everything 10x better i swear.

Best part was, when I thought daddy was getting the bill, the Carousel people came out in a cake singing 'Happy Birthday' to the tune of 'Too good to be True' (I'm pretty sure that's not the name of the song, but you get it). My jaw dropped. seriously, I was literally shocked to tears, much to the amusement of EVERYONE staring. very very embarrassing, but I was really touched. So that's the apricot cake above, that I received from the restaurant. :)

Mei and I celebrated our birthdays together on the 6th- the day I flew back, and her actual birthday. I think the cake was really the highlight of the night! Mummy ordered the cakes from Sheraton- where I did a stint of temp work in the pastry department, so I got to meet Chef Wong when we went to collect the cake. Mei got her favourite Opera, while I got a custom made cake. I'm bragging here really, but just to clear things up, it really isn't intentional. Really.

When I worked at Sheraton, I fell in love with this palm size chocolate dome. It was only available twice a week, and only in one size. But after making it once (its a tedious process), and having a taste of it, I was smitten. Yes, it does that to you. The chocolate mousse, with the orange creme brulee inside was the best thing I have ever ever tasted. So obviously, I really wanted that for the big one. :D So yup, the square cake is mei's opera, and the bottom two are front view and back view of the cake-of-the-year. yumyumyum.

So yes, that's the end of one week of birthday celebration, with the next spent in Korea, and the week after holding a birthday bash somewhere. Sonya would be so proud of me :)

Missus Wood

Bigbigbig thanks to the lover and all my friends for getting the Kenwood MX271 Patissier Mixer 4lt 400W for my birthday. I'm still trying to take in the events of the day- from getting massively drunk Day 1, to waking up sick, to going for spa treatment with the lover and to dinner at our Korean joint. Everything seemed perfect but guess what? They came over and surprised me with Mr Ken.

Yes, I've always wanted a kitchenaid, but that's way too overpriced, and the Kenwood Mixer looks equally gorgeous. Plus, its the mixer that I'm always drawn too whenever I head down to Best Denki (back home in sg). OMG. i swear my heart rate has never reached such high levels, not even when I run at gym when I saw the big box. and though there's the logistics problem of taking back home when we graduate, for now, its bake first- think later. WHOO HOO.

so, say hello to my new lover- Mr Ken. And Day 2 of the Big 2-1 ends, with me and my stand mixer.

I can't stop smiling.

Road Tripp-ed

Road tripped with the guys over the weekend all over Southwest UK. I must say that being the only girl on the trip meant being treated like a princess- from being driven around, to getting the comfy bed, to the guys helping me hold my hp/camera/wallet. So, driving around with a rough destination in mind we ended up going to Stonehench (yawn)- Amesbury (for breakfast)- Bath (for lunch)- Exeter (double yawn)- Torquay (for dinner)- St Austell (for the night)- Minarck Theatre (with its AMAZING view)- Land's End- New Quay-Bodwin- Launceston. It was a crazy amount of cities covered over 2 days, at the expense of dave and gang's 'clutch' muscles. I saw UK in a completely different light - I never thought I would ever say this, but the UK does have its pretty sights.




















We probably spent more time in the car than sightseeing but it was great fun! Having a different meal in a different city was crazy, but we did get to try really good food in both Bath and Torquay :)














Lunch at Bath was at Sally Lunn's Tea House. Having been there with the lover a few weeks back, I decided that it was probably the best place to bring the guys to. I love Sally Lunn's. While its buns are seriously not that fantastic, I love being in the teahouse. The victorian style interiors and the bustle of the salon just screams perfect. Quaint stuff- I like. All of us had the smoked salmon bun while dave tried the rare-bit (a mixture of cheese) which tasted equally yummy.

















Dinner at Torquay - the English Riveria, @ No.7. Gang did mention how the English never had anything authentic, that most of the sights were a semblance to some other famous landmark. Well, perhaps its true. But somehow, I do feel that food sets cities and countries apart. Cuisine should be revered as a landmark, dammit. Afterall, isn't it true that no two cities have their food the same way. Similarities, yes, but yet, somehow every city retains a unique-ness to their style.

Using Dave's trusty-for-the-day wireless internet, we found 'No. 7' - a Michelin rated restaurant in Torquay. The seafood was so impeccably fresh and was so well done, I swear the scallops melted in my mouth. I mean, even the bread (that came with our starter) was marvellous. And to have a table full of people gawking at how crispy yet soft the bread was - was crazy. But it happened.














And although food the next day was a Chicken-Cottage lookalike place in Launceston, the trip itself was way fun. City-hopping was great, the company was great, and yes, the food was fantastic! It made my week-long abstinence from carbs well-worth it. I can't wait for the next road-trip! Whee!