"I can still recognise you"

I met up with Felicia this evening for dinner.
For the 2nd time in my entire 36 years of age.
Who is Felicia ? I have been cracking my head to remember who this lady is.

How did we meet ? We "met" 2 years ago in Clementi. I can still remember I was so engrossed doing some CNY shopping when a lady approached me and asked me if I remembered her ? NO ... not at all, not even the slightest. She said the moment she spotted me, she knew it was me ! I never changed at all ! This was pretty true because another old neighbour spotted me at Koh Dental last year too.

She started to ask me I ever lived in Zender Road and I said yes, almost cautiously. At that instant, I was quite wary. Who was this lady ? How did she knew where I stayed previously? Where was this conversation leading to ? I was anxious to leave as she was beginning to sound like a con-lady to me.

However, she knew quite a lot about my parents,especially my dad. Apparently, she was an old neighbour's daughter who was 2 years older than I was. I began to feel more relief. I faintly remember that this family has some kids and she must be one of them. That's all I can remember ... I was a young kiddo then.

Somehow, we exchanged telephone numbers on that fateful day.

It was kinda strange "catching" up with old times when there was no recollections at all with Felicia. I just treated her as another friend I knew, all afresh.

Chewy Cheng's Tiramisu

This is the tiramisu recipe I got from my friend, Cheng Cheng :) Thanks for sharing.

Tiramisu

Sponge Fingers: (can buy ready-ones from supemarket)

4 egg yolks
40 gm. Sugar
3 egg white
80 gm. sugar
120 gm. plain flour

Tiramisu:

2 egg yolks
1 egg
60 gm. sugar
10 gm. gelatine powder or gelatine leaves (soak in cold water)
2 Tbsp. Water (omit water if using gelatine leaves)
250 gm. Mascarpone cheese
200 gm. Whipped Cream
2 Tbsp. Kahlua

coffee syrup:

15 gm. Instant coffee powder (Nescafe)
200 gm. Warm water
2 Tbsp. Kahlua

Method:

(1) For sponge finger: Whisk egg yolks with sugar till fluffy.
(2) Whisk egg white with 80 gm. sugar till stiff. Then fold in egg yolk mixture and flour.
(3) Fill the batter into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle. Pipe fingers onto tray and bake at 175C for about 10 mins. or till golden brown.
(4) For tiramisu: Beat egg yolk, egg and sugar over a pot of simmering water. Make sure that pot is not sitting directly onto the water. Use a small pot, the mixing bowl slightly bigger and then sit on the rim of the pot. Whisk till egg yolk is lemoney in colour. Cool to room temperature.
(5) Add in mascarpone cheese and mix lightly. Don't overmix otherwise the cheese will be coarse.
(6) Soak gelatine powder with water and then microwave for about 20- 25 secs.
(7) Fold in whipped cream and kahlua and gelatine mixture.
(8) To assemble: Use a 7" sq. tray. Soak sponge fingers into the coffee syrup, lay a layer into the tray and then top up with some tiramisu filling. Continue the same process till all the sponge fingers and tiramisu are used up. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours for the gelatine to set.
(9) Sieve cocoa powder on top of the cake and decorate as desired.
(10) Serve chilled.

Muffins Happy Day !

It had been quite sometime that Nicolas came over our house. Suddenly, there was an idea to make muffins to while away the day. Nicolas was excited when I put forth the idea to him.


Nicolas busy at work. He enjoyed putting the toppings more .. and yes, more chocolate chips !


Before the muffins went into the oven !


The first batch of muffins were baked. Nicolas was holding a bigger sized muffins with colourful rice toppings and m&ms as topping!


Our final products ... so colourful and dream-like ... we were happy.


Another shoot of the muffins


Nic cannot wait to eat them !


Jojo was put on this weighing scale by daddy to see how heavy he weighs !


Our dinner at Bukit Panjang Plaza. Japanese Eatery strongly recommended by Nicolas. Verdict: Nice food and service.

Bishamon Japanese Restaurant tucked at a cozy corner


Cute presentation for kid's meal. The curry tasted nice. Nicolas told me he has eaten in this restaurant twice ! The previous time he came, they served free ice-cream as dessert. The promotion was over so no ice-cream this time. However, he was still very happy with the orange car serving plate


My Katsudon ..


CK's spicy ramen which tasted really nice.

BC's birthday

BC, Happy Birthday to you ! May you be happy, always !


One of BC's favourite restaurant at Paramount Hotel


Happy family of four


Beautiful and unique orange shaped cake ... nice to eat too !
Kyo cakes website --> http://www.kyo.com.sg/


Ala-cart chinese buffet

Beautiful 1st month cakes

It was Kate Lynn's 1st month and I received a pretty full month cakes in a sweet pinky box !


I am keeping the pretty box !


The cupcakes were delicious. In fact, the selections were all nice. This is one of the nicest and beautiful full month cakes I ever received. Thanks to Amy ...

You can check out "Sweetest moments" website ...
http://www.sweetestmoments.com.sg/

Staff Retreat @ Pulai Springs (8-9 Oct 09)

Once again, we had our annual Staff Retreat during school holidays before the craze started especially for our academic staff.

We went to Pulai Springs in JB. The compound is so much bigger than I thought ! They even have a medium size movie screening theater within the resort ! This resort is a golf paradise for golfers and holiday makers. (The first photo was taken during a stop-over)

Some series of photos taken:
Day 1















The trainers at Pulai Springs arranged for a rather hectic and physical challenges for half a day ! It was much like "Amazing Race" which required all teams to go to each designated location to look for their coloured flag plus a challenge.I could tell that everyone was drained of their energy and strength ! Even though, I did not participated in the game, but arming with a heavy camera and rushing to different locations was tiring too. So I could imagine that my fellow colleagues must be dead-tired !


























































































































Day 2: More serious boardroom discussion and a surprise birthday cake for Ana, our new International fellow celebrating her 22 year old of age !



Some of the better rooms allocated by the hotel. Yes, I was one of the lucky ones to stay in a more superior room. Frankly, not much time to loiter in the room except to bath & sleep !

































We stopped by Bukit Indah for some shopping. Bought these attractive and yummy cheesecake tarts.