Are we always given a choice?

Last night I was torn between blogging (not to mention catching up with reading blogs), Facebook-ing (I've been infected with Scrabulous addiction since last weekend), reading my book (need to finish reading Sabriel so TLA can have the book soon as she completes her PMR) AND sleeping!

I chose sleep soon as MasterChef reminded me that it was passed midnight, I need to get rid of my panda-look.

Where did time go by the way? Work has eased a bit lately, no more crazy 6 meetings in a day schedule, in fact, the latest "victim" of my Facebook conversion project has express his envy of me having so much time for Facebook-ing during office hour - hey, this is called multi-tasking. I do have quite a lot of work to do actually, one main advantage of a desk-bound job is that you can, as I'd like to put it, multi-task which includes accessing webpages. Having said this, 6 months in this new job, I do miss my previous sales job, the advantage of sales job is can multi-task doing shopping and some urgent errands. I would say, more on the move and keep me from being bored. Not to mention more freedom, which also means more flexibility in my gym schedule - can attend earlier classes, which also allows me to go home early and eventually means more time for blogging, facebook-ing and sleeping. It's a chain effect.

Was in Master C's combat on Monday at The Curve (but skipped pump due to the cupcake project). The class was packed even with the absence of some of the usual combaters. Good and bad attending popular classes - Good: Very lively, energetic, full of gym buddies; Bad: can hardly maneuver, possible injuries (for combat, either kick or got kicked), too stuffy. The potential of a crowded class is unlimited, one of the likely arrangement was of course Master C's very own mini concert for example. I thought this if-you-don't-shout-I-will-sing-tactic was exclusively for TC since this was not executed at MML or Axis when I went last week, and he did it again this week at TC.

It was so effective, the moment Master C announced our potential "sentence" for not committing to the kiahs, the class practically went silence on the next cue to shout. (okay, except for a few "good students" giving some faint kiahs at the background). In return of the terrible singing, we the fans, unfairly, gave out roars of cheers and applause (well, not physically since we still need our hands for the punching). This proved again that when it comes to the favorite superstars, fans are always blind, I mean deaf. Not sure whether the combat master had enjoyed the singing or not, but he soon announced that he couldn't sing and revert back to leading the fans, I mean class, with the proper combat shouts. And then he added "if you don't shout you will have to sing". Guess what? There was a temporary featuring of a karaoke lounge at certain parts of the studio. We fans, erm members, are just so accommodating as always, aren't we?

Since I managed to leave work early yesterday, I made it to Master C's MML class again. The class was really jam-packed as usual until you can almost be sure that someone is prone to be kicked. It's a miracle that I was still satisfyingly drenched in sweat after the class even with such limited space and movements. The combat master's tactic was slightly modified though I thought he'd never use that same tactic for other clubs. This day, if we do not shout, the Shanghai Phoenix (as I quote Ladynina) who was team-teaching would have to sing. There was, however, no mini concert. There was just so much energy and contributors to kiahs at MML. The team-teaching new instructor (I persume she's new from what I read, and was leaving already from what I read) was full of energy and I believe everyone love especially her jam-jingga (so I quote again). With her cute accent, she did two tracks including the Girlfriend track which I think suited her better than the master. (note: I HATE the muay thai track for this new release; LUV the double kick track - still can't manage to remember the track numbers)

I recently got great companies for combat especially in MML with Steve and Stan (Having said this, missed Shen and Farid a lot for this Tuesday class!). Believe it or not, our opening greetings consist Facebook topic (which reminds me of my on-going, loosing, Scrabulous games, one particular one with me scoring 100 and opponent more than 200. Most of them are just SO terror - and YOU know who I'm referring to...). For our closing and parting, I was asked if I'll be calling a day off the next day or combating at LM (combating at LM on Wednesday seems so logic since I live so nearby and since it's a later class, ample of time to travel there); but my reply was, old people do need more rest, hence the day off from gym. Do you call this "lazy"?

Although I used to do many more classes, I thought my workout regimen now a days is actually quite acceptable. If I have a choice (this is what happen when one is fussy with instructors and is constrained by office location and working hours) I would want to arrange my gym schedule as such:

Mon: BP & stepper (Maxis) (used to want to do BS after BP, but...)

Tues: BS & BP /& BJ (LM)

Wed: Rest (I insist that older people must rest slightly more)

Thurs: BS & BP (SPK)

Fri: BS (Maxis)

Sat: BP (LM)

Sun: Squash

Whoops... would be transformed back to a BS fanatic instead of a combat enthusiast in this case. Only if I have a job in KL or have flexi working hours. (to answer to the question of why don't I find a job in KL - it doesn't work that way! We don't have choice for most of the things in our life, unfortunately)

Coffee Pecan Cupcakes with Mascarpone Cheese Filling and Coffee Butter Icing

Is the name of this cake too long? hmmm...

Got this English recipe for some time from MasterChef but didn't think of baking it because it requires quite a lot of ingredients which are not common in my "baking storage". Now that I've got half a tub of Mascarporne cheese expiring end of this month, and I happen to have some pecan nuts from the other day, I finally decided to try out this recipe.

It was originally a cake recipe and I've modified it into cupcakes. This is a very nutty cake with fluffy texture. Very suitable to be made into cupcakes. My only regret was the waste of cake which was necessary to accommodate the filling. I've learnt this filling method from Chockylit's blog (the step by step pictures are clearer in her blog if you want to know the details).





I was supposed to cut of a cone shape out of the cupcakes, flip it off and cut off the excess. But since this was a nutty cupcakes, I don't want to waste the cake and pecans, so my first batch was with the untrimmed top. Which was not advisable if you want an impressive cross section of the cake with more "defined" layer of filling. (it was also a bit difficult to "close" them up again because the fillings were threatening to overflow)







So when assemble my second batch last night, I'd cut off the access from the top and tried my best to fill up the centre with a generous helping of Mascarporne cheese filling. (I've actually added more after taking the picture below, so it was VERY generously filled). The cheese filling was delicious even when eaten alone, it's flavoured with coffee as well, giving a very latte taste. However, the filling gets "watery" quite quickly because I've reduced the amount of icing sugar. I believe a higher amount of icing sugar will be able to hold the form of the filling better, but hey, too sweet, what about eating "healthy" right? hehe...






After the filling, the cupcakes were covered with their respective "tops" again. (must make sure you put the respective tops side by side with their "body" otherwise you will have a hard time finding a fitting top, well, that's unless you are a terror jigsaw puzzle guru, you might find it enjoyable matching the tops and bodies.)





Finally the icing. I wanted to try out a new look for the finishing of my cupcakes. So used the sort of old fashion way of just spreading the coffee icing. But, I think it looked a bit erm, "plain". The icing was my usual butter icing flavoured with espresso.



So my second batch of cupcakes were back with my usual weaving, perhaps I should make this my "signature" cupcake look. Lastly, decorated with roasted walnut.

A box of these will go to my ex-boss. Samples for SSB, Little Bro (if he replies my sms) and Hobbes. I wish I can take a new cross section of the second batch cake to see if the fillings look more impressive, but I don't' have spare cupcakes for photo shooting, it's a very small batch of cakes.

Pump made possible by SSB

My original blog title was "Be careful what you wish for... because they might come true"

But the most significant wish came true was the pump class made possible by SuperSpicyBabe, hence the change of title to commemorate the event...

Once in a while, I go through this all-my-wishes-coming-true-phase (I'd shared loads of my wishes coming true stories with PiC previously). Meaning, it's a period of time when the things I wished for will simpy come true. No. I cannot wish for stuff like a bungalow or becoming the queen. If I wish for such nonsense then I will not go through the AMWCT-Phase. Realistic ones. For example...

I had not have enough sleep the whole of last week, and so I wished that I can get slightly more sleep. Then. I overslept on Friday! (haha... that's what I meant when I said "be careful" of what you wish for)

I have no idea how the alarm can be turned off (I have the type which I just turn on and it will just go off at the same time everyday, no need to switch off). I was awaken by my sister's sms asking if I was awake because she didn't see lights from my room when she left the house. (You might wonder why she just can't come into my room and wake me. No. She must use sms humphhhh....). Naturally, I wished that I won't be late to work. Then. There was no bad traffic, I arrived office 10 minutes before 9am.

OK, maybe smooth traffic is a coincident. True. I'm not saying that my wishes came true in a magical way, they just came true in the form of many coincidence.

I've been a bit tired of having lunch with my bosses... there are some routines which are hard to break. So, I was just thinking "how I wish I don't have to go lunch with boss today". I was just so lazy that day. Then. I heard my bosses leaving the office during lunch time. They were gone! Yay! I had lunch time all to myself.

As per my plan, I've got pump class to rush for right after a private yoga class in the office. The session was supposed to be from 5.30pm to 6.30pm, ample time to make it to the 7.25pm class at The Curve (my office is only 15 minutes away plus parking time with good traffic - there is hardly any bad traffic on that route I travel). But the yoga only ended at 7pm. Gosh... what a rush!

The yoga teacher left my office before me but was still at the lift landing when I'd finished packing my stuff to leave the office. The lift then miraculously arrived the second I reached the lift landing (Erm... No, I didn't wish for the lift, it's part of my wish of getting to pump class haha).

Felt like giving up pump class the moment my car left the basement parking, because it was already 7.10pm. Furthermore, it was Kylie Gate's class I was trying to rush to, slim chance of an empty class, so didn't even bother wishing for that. Nevertheless, I can't help it, I kept wishing for all sorts of things which include "how I wish I had a gym buddy for that class, so he/she can help me get a place in the class and set up for me." "I hope (synonyms of wish)I can reach the gym on time!"

I practically flew to the gym, but still, I was really late, the class had started already. The moment I reached the landing and spotted Kylie on the stage with most of the members ready, I gave up in joining the class. Perhaps I'll just go shower and go home. Then. (haha) I saw Little Bro and SSBabe, drenched in sweat (looked like drenched in sweat, I didn't have time to analyse remember? I was rushing) and they were equally surprised to see me materialize at that moment. On my verge of total lost of hope, I heard Little Bro urging me to hurry on into the class, with SSB not only pointing out a space for me to squeeze in (yes! there was an empty space! And if I remember clearly, that was the ONLY space left) but also helped me with setting up my board and plates. (side track: Babe, thanks again a million! Cannot thank you enough, felt so privileged to have you setting up for me!)

The class was great! Kylie was great. Oh yes, Kylie threw me a puzzled look when she spotted me later on in the class, she must have thought that SSB was joining the class. She said something which I couldn't quite make out and I got more curious looks from the surrounding members. I'd managed that sudden attention by plastering a wide grin on my face.

I was beyond glad that I could make it to the class. It's not only about making it to the class, it's about having god sent friends and about my wishes coming true again as well!

Have been wanting (wish) to join FI's class and I did on Saturday. Missed someone so so much ("I wish I can see you") and I saw him yesterday.

Hoping that there will be zero joining fee offer from FF so MasterChef can join the gym. They are offering one now!!! (Ok, even though MC had to delay that plan, but still right?)

I was also wishing for something bigger, a change perhaps, and it seemed that there was (is) an offer... will see.

Still combating today...

I think I've been over-planning my gym timetable...

1st I thought of doing this:

Mon - Curve - BC & BP - Done!
Tues - MML - BC - Done!
Wed - Rest - Done...
Thurs - Rest
Fri - Rest (rest from gym, having a private yoga class)
Sat - LM - BP

Then, I change my mind after weighing myself this morning, goshhhh.... 1.5kg heavier! NOT. GOOD.

and so...

Mon - Curve - BC & BP - Done!
Tues - MML - BC - Done!
Wed - Rest - Done...
Thurs - Axis - BC - Done!
Fri - Yoga
Sat - LM - BP + Stepper

But by end of the day, due to some potential family activity, change again... so that I can be at home early on Saturday. Also, I've not done the new BS release, and I've not joint FI's class for a long time.

Mon - Curve - BC & BP - Done!
Tues - MML - BC - Done!
Wed - Rest - Done...
Thurs - Axis - BC - Done!
Fri - Yoga + Curve - BP
Sat - Maxis - BS

Today I arrived at Axis, so early because the traffic was smooth perhaps due to fasting month and everyone needed to rush to their buka puasa destination. Diha was there. Salute. Can actually manage class during fasting.

The usual Thursday crowd wasn't there. No queue and no need to squeeze and fight for space in class. Honestly I've never seen this class so empty (well, not empty, empty, but for Master C's class this is pretty empty, you know what I mean?) until we actually had "enough" space to perform our ES-kicks. Class also a bit quiet. I was so inspired by this track erm... what number again? Track 6 is it? I can't seem to be able to describe track with track numbers. People will say Oh I like T6 and I will say, izit? I like the one with the double back kick. Haha... same track izit? Anyways, I was originally very inspired by this double-back-kick-track to do some serious shouting, but after a while, I sort of got demotivated to shout... crowd a bit boring tonight, or was it me who was bored for no reason. Combat class no good when there's not enough shouting... humphhh...

I had this kid beside me again today, as though we've planned to be each other's gym buddy for the week. I'd had to say, it's good to have young people around me in the class sometimes so that I feel more invigorated, makes me feel younger as well, haha... Anyways, I'm not going to do combat tomorrow, too much combat and the instructor in question will kill the joy of combat in no time. Lets see if I get myself any gym buddy tomorrow. Anyone doing BS on Saturday at Maxis?

Came back had a light dinner and wanted to get rid of my double cream which had been probing my mind (I've bought the cream for some time and it was a 1liter pack which I've only used 200ml) by making it into pana cotta. BUT. It turned sour as I've been worrying about. What a waste!!! So, no dessert for TLA when she comes over this weekend.

Got a cupcake order. Thanks Babe for being a loyal customer. It's going to be a cupcake weekend, will also be baking a new version of cupcake which MasterChef said BIL will like.

I seriously need more sleep, looking very much like a Panda, minus the cuddly.

*There is something wrong with my sentences today (or has it been wrong all the time?). Most of my sentences have grammatical problem... too sleepy already?

The effect of over-combating...

I'm supposed to sleep but the consequences of being a story telling addict and Facebook addict kept me up till now. I've been in front of the computer screen for an hour now, busy sending hatching gift, poking people and buying people rounds of drinks. This sounds so like childhood games but the adults are the ones being addicted to these games... looks like more to come since Facebook is backed by a bunch of extremely creative programme engineers.

Anyways, what's it about over-combating? And I mean only over-combating for 2 days... This morning I woke up with a familiar tone and "you are my, you are my fantasy...." ringing in my head. What the...? Then I recall that being as one of the combat songs!!! Once I got less dreamy, the combat scene of the night before sort of started to slip back into my head...

The combat master was really coaxing for shouts last night. I know it's a norm for combat classes, but it seemed to me that his tactics had leveled-up. Not just the normal encouraging lines like "kick and give me a kiah" but it's "if you don't shout (the team-teaching instructor) will do push up" or "if you don't then we will start the track all over again". Now the ultimate I've come across so far had to be

"if you don't shout I will sing"

Hmmm... do we choose "shout" or "mini concert"? Tough choice eh?

Well, I guess we didn't mind some extra entertainment. Since the combat master can potentially do jam moves (I thought his hip hop moves were quite pro!), perhaps he's also a Malaysian Idol in making? How wrong were we?

The mini concert look and feel were passable and believable with us "fans" screaming and cheering for the "superstar" but the singing... well, it's going to be subjective when we start being critics on pitching and originality. I'd to say, the objective of making the class noisier and more lively was definately achieved, just not with the planned fierce combat kiahs but with hysterical laughter and great amount of cheering. The side effect for me, got corrupted by that song.

The combination of combat and pump conditioning tracks this release is extremely torturing (I mean effective). Notice that we had to do loads of oblique crunching, and lots of strength building for hip flexor since we had to hold our legs up for quite a long time. Wahhh... can feel side and lower abs aching!

Did combat again today by leaving the office early, leaving all work behind (lately had been VERY tired from being a workaholic!)... I so happened to have the same combat partner for last night (The Curve) and today (MML). A kid whom I'd to refer to Farid for a name. We might have appeared to be like the lastest combat buddy, Ha... Today's class were so so packed but enjoyable. I realize that this particular class will be double entertaining if we are following Master C's dad's gym blog series.

I'm missing my combat buddies. The gals are away from gym for the fasting month...

My Garden Series Cupcakes

My auntie ordered some cupcakes (large); my sis requested some to bring to her office for her colleagues (mini); SpicyBabe made a prior request (regular)... So, I baked all 3 sizes.

Auntie (her boss ordered actually) wanted the cupcakes with raisins and loads of icing. (Offered this to Carebear too, but too sweet for her - Carebear is therefore being rated low sweetness tolerant. Hee...)



My sis wanted mini ones so it's cute and can be easily distributed among a huge office crowd. To make sure the minis were not too sweet, I normally try to only cover the cupcakes partially. Hence the "garden series", cute or not?


There... packed into box for sis...

Happy Birthday Hobbes

Cheese + blueberry lover = the return of the sticky chocolate blueberry cheesecake.

Actually, have been planning with Little Bro aka Manjakid, for a surprise birthday do for Hobbes... originally, we wanted to do the "birthday cake scare" - appearing with the cake outside the studio after Hobbes' Saturday BBalance at The Curve... Then I cancelled that plan. Because, it's fasting month and the gals, my usual surprise party squad will not be able to participate. So, discussed with Farid and we thought it was best to arrange for a buka puasa dinner which comes with a belated birthday celebration then.

Later I found out that Hobbes was teaching pump last night (Friday) and thought perhaps I could whip up a cake for a little surprise for him on Friday night. But bro said they had a dinner arrangement. Besides, it was quite tiring baking a cake after work, late after work. So I told bro that I'll think of something but most probably belated then.

THEN, I thought, since I was suppose to go to The Curve today (Saturday) why don't I just drop a birthday present for Hobbes? After considering hard and long, I couldn't think of anything perfect to get him. So, at the end, I'd revived the original little birthday surprise do at gym, but slight amendment to executing it before Hobbes' class, and imported my personal surprise party squad - my sis, cousin sis and bro in law. And of course the Manjakid as the very insider and head of birthday song choir.

The cake was trimmed this time, so the layers were more visible. Compared with the last one I made.

But it's too plain for a birthday cake right. So Hippo (courtesy of my little cousin) was on duty again. Still quite plain. So I added the birthday tag, which gave more colour to the cake, and might as well add a matching ribbon.

Cake was then placed in a present box instead of the usual cake box, finished with a gold bow, didn't look like a cake at all, but forgot to take a picture of that. Did it this way slso, just in case if Hobbes was late, then I can still pass him the present quickly, without the celebration.

So, there we were at gym, the reception kindly let the rest of the non-gym members in with me and we waited at the reception area. The "present" was placed on the table for the birthday-boy-to-be (actual day 18 Sept k guys) to unveil the "surprise". Well, Hobbes were somehow surprise when I told him to come and "meet" his present (told him the night before that I wanted to pass him something, didn't suspect me at all meh?). Bet he was really wondering what present I've gotten him (erm... what else can a baker offer ah?) and was (I hope) pleasantly surprise to see the cake. If my record is right, blueberry and cheese should be his favorites.

Once Hobbes had settled down with the cake, and I'd lit up the candle, Manjakid had happily gathered a birthday song choir. Plus my personal squad, we made an impressively loud birthday song presentation, or was it loud enough? We wanted to do a second take for better effect, but I supposed we were hushed by the very shy birthday boy.

Hobbes had certainly made the cake look delicious, quite a perfect model if I need someone to advertise for my cakes. Aren't you convinced that the cake was delicious with this kind of face expressions? This also gives the "indulge in the cake but would not get fat" message. Mwah hahaha...

I remembering saying that the baking of the cake was not messy as described by the founder of this recipe, but apparently she meant the eating part being messy not the baking. Well, it was indeed quite messy since the centre of the cake was self-saucing type. Better to do this with plates and spoons - oppss... sorry, didn't think of organizing these. And of course the cake will be more "manageable" if it was straight out from the fridge. Nevertheless, since self-saucing chocolate puddings are normally being served immediately from the over, I find this the best arrangement for serving self-saucing chocolate dessert at places far from the oven.

I had a great time indulging myself in the scene of happy faces and contented look of savouring the cake. I think indulging my friends is the best way to indulge myself also.

Happy birthday darling, and here are the pictures of the hippo...

Sticky Chocolate Blueberry Cheesecake

It's my younger auntie's birthday (my younger cousin sis, TLA's mum) and we've decided to throw her a surprise birthday do. We were suppose to send TLA home on Sunday night, my sis, MasterChef was appointed the cake presenter, along with Alan, BIL to shield her from my auntie's view when we approach the house. OF COURSE my aunt was surprised, and very touched too (and I'm almost running out of ideas on surprise party...)

I've got this recipe from my sis' friend in UK. It's a hybrid of a fudge like chocolate cake and a baked cream cheesecake with blueberries. So the cross section with show a layer of thick pudding like chocolate cake with a layer of cream cheese and bits of blueberries.

Cross-section of the cake

What I should have done was to trim the edges of the cake in order to reveal the layers better, and also to get rid of the "cakey" part of the cake - the centre of the cake was almost like the effect of a self-saucing chocolate pudding! Simply heaven if you ask me.

The centre part of the cake with extremely sticky chocolate

The making of the cake was not that messy as described by the founder of this recipe (So I heard through my sis, by the way thanks a lot Kirtsy for the recipe! - sorry I've change the name of the cake though...) The chocolate cake base was easy to make since did not require using electric mixer, well, it's actually brownies type cake. With that very very thick chocolate layer, it's easy to "float" the cream cheese mixture on top. I was supposed to give it some marble effect, like you see, but not overdo it... the cross-section pictures I took didn't really show that effect. But the top of the cake did show the that. Lastly, sprinkle the cake with blueberries - should put more blueberries the next time.

The making

The un-trimmed side

I thought about the decoration of the cake... at first I was planning to have dark chocolate cream topping but MasterChef said that would be too much since the cake was very rich (she'd tried this cake before but I haven't). Then I thought perhaps whipping cream? It was agreed, but at the end due to laziness (only a very small fraction) and also it would be a waste to cover the effect of the top layer, I've decided to go minimalist style.

Had this really delicious and cute looking Hippo chocolate bars from London, so I'd just simply lie on on the cake, put on some piped leaf icing (Don't ask, I don't know why hippo and leaves...) and voila... the effect was like hippo swimming across a cheesy blueberry swamp with a Happy Birthday sign tailing it.

Double Chocolate Brownies - Experimenting with internet recipe

I was browsing through some recipes from the internet and had decided to make some with the internet recipe instead of the one I got from my books. The last time I made brownies was a failure even though it was using ready mix pack. I bet Shen must have found it hard to belive since she had made numerous packs and were a hit among her family and office mates.

So I had put baking brownies aside. But, brownies are easy to make and I want to own a good brownies recipe. (easy to make because no need to use electric mixer :D). Hence some more experiment, also thinking some of my food tasters will help me out with both tasting, obviously, and also getting rid of the item in question.

I don't know what to say about the brownies... the ones at the sides were not so nice, too "cake-ky" but the ones in the centre sort of tasted better in terms of texture. I had changed the chocolate chips to dark chocolate chunks because my chocolate chips were expired. Added both pecan and almond, and I did increase the amount of the nuts.

Here is the original recipe.

English Scones

My ex-ex-boss just had his angioplasty, again. I had been thinking of him a lot lately. Told him that during my telephone conversation with him last Friday and he said no wonder he felt warmth.

He is my number one scones supporter. He said (out of being very kind I'm sure, and now suffer the consequences because I kept sending him scones from time to time.) that they are one of the best he had. The other day when he called, he told me his little "in search for scones" episode. He got this sudden crave for scones but were not able to get any after going to Dome Cafe, Starbucks and a few cafes. Some were some selling, others sold out.

So finally I decided to make him some. Assembled a scone gift pack together with some mini jam from Whittard, UK

Scones are very easy to make, electric mixer not required and baking time is only 15 minutes. Made some plain ones and some with raisins. They are best eaten warm with butter and jam. I tried it with honey and I liked that. S-Buddy likes it with peanut butter jam - weird taste but at least he had approved the scones recipe.

Sent off the scones to eeBoss' house before going to SPK for the combat launch. Gave some to Farid, Little Bro and Hobbes.

Nearly didn't turn up...

Had supper last night and had supper just now. VERY bad. I wonder whether my one combat class today is able to contra the fat produced...

Planned to bring MasterChef and TLA to the new launch at Axis today. (yesterday since this is already after midnight). Farid has gotten them the free passes to the classes since she was at Axis on Thursday night. TLA and I was all ready for the body jam, TLA being the body jam addict in making was looking forward to that. (though she really hesitated whether to go gym at all since she needed to study for her exam on Monday, and her PMR in 3 weeks' time).

MasterChef was at uni today (ya, still working 5 and half day week), planned to just sign in and head home. However, she had a last minute meeting and didn't make it back on time for us to leave house for the gym, for body jam. Meanwhile, I told TLA that we can always go for the later class, body combat. But after some "reasoning" with me, apparently she didn't want to do combat. Fine. I thought, lets all not go anywhere then. I was really cranky by then, but thought better of loosing my temper for such small matter. Anyways, I did, at the end, being "forced" to leave the house for combat. Also, I thought it would be easier for me to explain the no-show of our guests. (Farid, if you are reading this, I'm so sorry for all the trouble and at the end tak jadi. Some more got you distracted from class trying to look out for us, so sorry!)

I arrived quite early since the traffic was smooth. Some of the regular combaters were already gathering around waiting for the class, some were in the class as jammers then. Particularly spotted Farid, Diha and PiC enjoying themselves immensely in this really hyper track. Then little bro suddenly materialized as well beside me, we chatted for a while and he was then behind the class registration counter.

I had a mixture of hate and love towards this new combat release. As I felt earlier, during the sort of "preview" by Renee some time before this launch, I like especially the so called recovery track with the double back kick. Fast and furious. Everyone got into a really cheery mood when the Girlfriend song were blasted through the sound system, a song I got dedicated through Facebook from Ladynina the other day. Quite a fun track, but the jumping part, I felt, did not do good to my knees.

My memoir of the class is slipping away, I couldn't recall much about how I felt towards the other tracks... Erm... I remember being tightly squeezed and forced to the back and in between members during the evasive side kicks. I gave up half of my side kicks so I don't "injure" Farid who's just beside me, while tried hard also to avoid being "injured" by the girl closely in front of me. One of the tracks were especially difficult to figure the beats out, you either do perfectly if you can catch the rhythm or loose it all if you miss.

The tricep press combo reminded me of Trainer's classes when I first join gym. I remember getting confused when he first demonstrated that tricep combo in one of my first combat classes with him. I really missed Trainer's combat class, too bad he doesn't plan to teach again no matter how we tried to persuade him. Anyways, love the conditioning track but find the cool down track not "dramatic" enough, not much, or was there any, kata to end the combat class "in style".

The instructors launching the class was an explosive pair, loads of humorous episodes and impressive moves demos which sent the class soaring with cheers. Master C was adorned in, I thought, a very "hip" look today with a sleeveless hooded top, very apt with all his groovy hip hop moves (yes we were in combat and not jam, we were also NOT doing balance). Hmmm... I kind of agreed with Master C when he said he can actually dance... well, through that few moves he demonstrated, he did seem very capable in hip hop track at least.

Together with Master C was Crystal, oh, another Master C. I've not seen Crystal for such a long time, the last time I saw her was when she was still GXC at SPK, we had so much fun times there, I was really impressed then with her up-to-date internet timetable. She looked so different now with such long hair, she looked so ladylike and suave but still had the don't-mess-with-me look during combat. Later she told me that she was no longer full time with FF and is only teaching classes freelance. I like her classes but never really able to fit her classes into my gym regimen. I remember doing her pump classes as well when I first joint gym. She being so tough, her classes were really motivating.

Came back after gym and contented myself with some baking. My number one task was my aunty's birthday cake for tomorrow night's surprise do. Baked a Sticky Chocolate Blueberry Cheesecake, posting it tomorrow. After that were to bake some scones for my ex-ex-boss, one of my favorite bosses and my number 1 scones fan, sending the scones to his house before gym tomorrow. Then was to bake some brownies, I have been wanting to try out some internet recipes. Choose a Double Chocolate Brownie with Pecan and Almond. Not sure how it taste, haven't even cut it yet, I thought of bringing some to gym IF it taste OK when I try tomorrow. Not sure who will be there and whether enough or not, don't have time to bake more, was already midnight. I've originally planned to have the brownies as a gift to me ex-CEO, but decided not to because brownies can't really give the "extravagant look" that I want for an important gift. Will bake my choc cake next week for this purpose.

... and so that's why we had supper just now, the scones were really at their best when they just left the oven. Scones are best eaten warm so that the butter we apply will melt away, add jam for more flavour, we also tried them with honey just now and it was very enjoyable as well.

I need to loose more calories tomorrow!!!

Picking up cupcakes

Made some marble cupcakes with vanilla (brandy) and chocolate icing last weekend. It was for the office and being mindful of Super Spicy Babe, my #1 cupcake supporter.


My GrMD said the cupcake were very dry (hmmm? my boss said it tasted the same like the previous ones). Other colleagues said the cupcakes were really pretty and so on so on... BUT at the end of the day, after I gather all the feedbacks, my note under colleagues shall be (also) "chocolate related desserts only".


Knowing that SSBabe will normally pass this way (my office area) on Thursdays, I've asked if she mind dropping by to pick up the cupcakes. Glad she didn't mind and she picked up the cupcakes just now before she headed for The Curve. And it was extremely comical when I bumped into SSBabe at gym later - why can't I just pass the cakes to her at gym instead of having her drive all the way? (well, not actually all the way right from Uptown to Curve via Taman Tun?) Anyways, as I was saying, she purposely dropped by my office to pick the cupcakes off me because my original plan was pump at MML after my office weekly ritual (the walk. By the way, we want to change that to yoga, in search of yoga instructor now. Originally my boss was hoping to get Master C to teach us combat, but as I've guessed, supported by my inquiry, he can't teach outside gym) hence won't be able to meet SSBabe up at The Curve. But I changed my plan because...


One
Felt pangs of pain on my shoulder when changing into the walking attire (you know when you had to turn your arms/ hands at some angle to take off your top etc), so I wanted to give my shoulder another day off. Devastated to miss pump of course!


Two
My girl friend texted to say she can't meet up this weekend (wanted to celebrate her birthday) so asked if supper tomorrow (Friday) night is OK. I said yes to that plan and hence need to move some of my Friday activities to today - shopping for baking ingredients (I need to bake my auntie's birthday cake)


Three
Last minute plan to join launch on Saturday (because only the day before FI asked if I'm going to the launching. After knowing that he's not launching anything - he said they told him he's not required - I thought of not going, but at the end got coaxed by FI. So since Saturday gyming, today can declare off day from gym (Hey, I went for a taxing walk right)


Four
Got persuaded by Farid that joining the combat launch at SPK on Sunday is an extremely good idea! So, even more reason to declare today off day from gym then.


So... there I was at The Curve after my walk, just to shower :p before my shopping. And I bumped into SSBabe (So I heard someone calling my name at the background while ascending the steps).


So I gestured to her by pointing a finger with a pair of raised eye brows.


She then gestured bicep lift + cut throat + superman flying pose + wave wave


I then did wriggling and descending fingers above my head + side ways circular motion with index finger + walking with two fingers + wave wave.



The deciphered version:


Me pointing a finger with a pair of raised eye brows (Eh? You are here one?)

SSBabe gestured bicep lift (pump class) + cut throat (finished already) + superman flying pose (leaving and going back already) + wave wave (Bye-bye)

Me wriggling and descending fingers above my head (going to take shower)+ side ways circular motion with index finger (after that) + walking with two fingers (going jalan-jalan i.e. shopping) + wave wave (bye-bye).


So these were what SSBabe came all the way for instead of me conveniently passing to her at gym :p



As though I possess psychic power to have the foresight of the need to give out a celebratory gift on some one's promotion.

Temptation

I'm quite tempted to try out an RPM class, the so called "buddy ride" as I quote MB. Now that SpicyBabe had expressed her interest to ride along... where and when?

Facebook Attack

I was spending quite sometime facebook-ing yesterday, during office hour! ("Illegally" of course).

Joint Facebook through invitation from FI. Didn't sign up immediately, quite lazy since the previous WYAN thingy was not exactly interesting for me. But later MasterChef told me this is an "in" thing and is a must join network, so then I joint.

What is Facebook ah? It's for friend networking with loads of applications to entertain ourselves. I realize that I've got to know a lot of people and especially effective to finally "put a name to the face".

One big difference between Facebook and blogging is the identities - we are all with real names in Facebook. If I were being asked to enter a "Facebook name" I wouldn't have used my full name. The name was given thinking it was just for signing up, but later found out that, that's going to be the name appearing in Facebook. Well, we would have to actually, otherwise when our friends try to search for us in the Facebook network, they won't be able to find us because they will never know what sort of nickname we use.

Anyways, join if you haven't and if you have a desk-bound job like mine, try not to get distracted with all the notification from Facebook.

Congrats!

Congrats babe!

Durian Pudding - Trial and Error

Had quite a lot of durian in proportion to the tart shell from my durian tart making last weekend. So I've decided to attempt the durian pudding (also the lazy option, as opposed to say, durian cake).

I used my existing mango pudding recipe. One problem - the recipe said one mango... hmmm... 1 mango = ?? durian?

So trial and error lah... the result was pudding bit too hard. Perhaps it's very subjective, depends how you would like your pudding to be. TLA and I just went to Ah Yat Abalone for Dim Sum the other day and the mango pudding over there were superb! Soft and creamy... so benchmarking against that, my durian pudding is really very far off. I've jotted down to reduce the amount of gelatin should I make this again.

Luckily TLA tasted a tub right after it's set, because when we had it for our dessert after dinner the following night, the pudding had turned sour. We'd thrown them all away.

Also remembering I'd actually given S-Buddy some pudding to try as well besides the durian tarts. So sms-ed to check how he'd like the tart and warn him that the pudding had potentially turned bad.

His reply on the review was: "yummy".

And he tried the pudding too, the above "yummy" was multi-purposed acting as his comments towards the pudding too. No report of his pudding getting sour so far. Why ah did my pudding turned sour? MasterChef and BIL had a few theory: 1) I kept pudding in fridge when it was not cool down enough; 2) Other ingredient had turned bad (because my durian cream made from the same durian was still alright) 3) Sudden change of temperature in fridge when I move them around... hmmm... I don't think so lah... so I've still not figure out why...

Any advice?

... in pain - part 2

Actually...

Still nursing my shoulder pain, perhaps gym classes last night didn't help with the situation, but then again, didn't mean that it was the cause of my painful recovery right? Injuries take days to recover don't they?

Okay, I did ask for professional advice yesterday on whether I should be doing any gym class.

xxx

From: The Baker
To: Trainer
Time: erm about 5pm ish (due to last minute doubts about doing pump)

Ouch! :( My shoulder is "injured", played squash ytd and must b due to the improper swinging. Now I'm soundin like my trainer haha... think I can still do pump?

From: Trainer
To: The Baker
Time: right after my sms

U mus hav pulled yr shoulder muscle. Give yr shoulder a rest. Do stretching n rotatory exercise. It helps

From: The Baker
To: Trainer
Time: right after his sms

Err... ok, supposed I won b able t manage shoulder track. Can do combat or not?

xxx

No reply... (yet) and I was already at the gym wondering does "give your shoulder a rest" = "no class"? You would have to agree with me that it's quite unclear right?

So there I was as you've seen me last night. Actually, after warming up in combat, the shoulder seemed to have loosen a lot. As I've guessed, couldn't do a "powerful" right hook. Other than that, it was ok, there weren't so many push ups last night (because I didn't do, haha) so, I'd managed combat. I was glad I went to class actually, the class last night was far more happening than the week before. Farid was there to "lead" the orchestra of combat shouting and there were far more professional combaters in class last night contributing to the explosive effect. Even spotted my new blog reader ;)

Pump... huh!!! Surprisingly, I survived chest track alright, I've reduced the weights to 5kg though. What surprised me was my wrong guesses on the tracks that I should be ok, but not -

Squat: It's apparently very painful for the shoulder to balance 20kgs, while the hand remained at an angle. It was extremely painful while lifting the bar over the shoulder!!! OUCH!

Tricep: Killed me... some more got dips and pull-over. I gave up the dips totally. Even the extensions were killing me leave alone the presses.


Combat ended early so pump sort of started on the dot. As a result (perhaps) a first timer to pump (maybe) failed to identify herself as first-time-doing-pump. The scene was really unbearable, and some how distracting, and awkward - because I wasn't even sure if she needed any "reference" from me, or whether I should even be "advising" her anything, hey, I'm not a professional! Finally, after back track, I've fought down my laziness and ignorant (tried to ignore - we don't want to be bothered or bother about other members in class do we?) and went to make a little "report" to Carebear that this particular soul was lost (really lost). BUT THEN. Just when Carebear was trying to give useful and important instructions for the tricep track, she (this newbie) busied herself setting up her bench and bar... It looked to me that she'd completely ignored all the instructions. humpphhh... Anyways, none of my business supposedly.

Left the class after lunges, for sure won't be able to do shoulder track, and I had "give yr shoulder a rest" floating across my head all the time.

xxx

From: Trainer
To: Baker
Time: 7.50pm (but only read at 9.30pm after pump)

I said rest lo. Or if really wanna do jus do it less intense n not al out.

(Whoopsssss... "rest" = "no class" izit?)

From: The Baker
To: Trainer
Time: after much consideration and careful construction of my reply

Opss... joint pump but din do shoulder track! ok will give it a rest tmr :) nite.

Guys... Alwayzzzz listen to your trainer okay, it's important that we don't hurt ourselves during the course of working out ... (Trainer doesn't have to know that I planned to join combat today, does he :p)

aaaaaOUCHhhh!!!

OUCHHH!!!

I woke up with a very sore shoulder this morning... so there's where the "injuries" were. Was not correct for me to say I injured my "arm" yesterday.

Wonder if I can still do combat and pump - experimented with a few moves and I suppose:

Combat - can still do the kicks (of course lah, injured upper body haha), can do punches, upper cuts... I think the move which I couldn't manage would most probably be the hooks. Might not be able to do chest push ups...

Pump - Perhaps can't do shoulder track, but most of all it hurts when I tried to expand my chest by opening my arms and I got this horrible pank of pain - looks like can't do the chest track as well, erm... I mean, perhaps do light weights. Eeewww... push ups are going to be torturing.

Ouch ouchhhhhh...

Merdeka Day Holiday Fun

How's your celebration of the country's 50 years of independence?

On Merdeka Day eve, my boss told me that I had to be in the office early on Monday for a meeting that starts at 8.30am, and as an "exchange", I could go back early then... hummph... it was already 6pm, that was our "legal" time to go back anyways. But since I still wanted to go for my weekly pump regime at MML, I stayed back a while. While checking through the holiday timetable, I saw Hobbes' name under the pump class in question, and after some sms confirmation (because I was confused and puzzled to see that his name was also under Maxis at almost the same time, got 2 Hobbes ah?) well, yay, he was teaching. And I finally remember to tell him that my BBQ (last Saturday) guests said (exclaimed) that he was (is) soooo good looking. Though, I've forgotten to tell little bro that my sis thought he was (look) 22 years old.

The class was quite empty, perhaps everyone has gone for the countdown celebration; or perhaps they have gone home to avoid the traffic (like what MB told me she planned to do - give gym a miss and be home early).

Hobbes was doing extreme heavy weights in class... I was wondering during the back track if he had always used 11kg. Me was with my usual weights, well, actually, I've reduced 1kg for squat, only using 10kg. I thought since I'll be doing 2 cardio classes the next day, perhaps I can give myself a break :p.

Opss... yes my blog title is Merdeka Day fun and I'm still at Merdeka eve...

On Merdeka day I woke up late, waaa... great to catch up with my beauty sleep, my dark eye circle and eye bag were getting really horrendous! Beyond remedy!

I'd called FF LM the day before to book all three - my younger sis the Master Chef; Brother in Law aka BIL and my little cousin sister aka The Little Apprentice (TLA), for a session of gym. I'd planned to join FI's body step (really really missed his BS, have not done a single FI's BS since he came back from Dubai, I used to do like 4 BS a week when I had my older version of gym schedule) and TLA is particularly fond of Body Jam, so I thought of getting her to join FI's Jam, which I'm sure TLA would really enjoy.

So I'd lazily woke up just before noon, had my brunch and headed to LM, allowing extra time to shop prior to gym. Also the parking condition there could be unbelievably difficult, so earlier, better.

Gym was not so crowded, perhaps people had gone travelling out of town. But, surprisingly, body step was packed. Even the membership consultant who had arranged for my guests to enter, was in the class. Right before the class started, FI announced that there will be prize, supposedly for one who had dressed to Merdeka theme (i.e. the Malaysian flag), since then for the one (two actually, two prizes) who performed the best, by FI's standard. While FI was on that note, there were a familiar face up at front of the stage snapping picture of FI. I later saw Shanti (I think that's her name, saw her at Curve, Combat on most Mondays) in the class, and the guy who took the picture... whoops... I don't remember his name.

The class was great, all old tracks which I like partly because I'd missed all the new releases and would definitely look like a clumsy beginner trying to follow through, and most of the old tracks were, well, simply better. One of my all time favorite, which FI said was his, was the Ballroom Blitz (speed track); and I was sort of dragging for that to end and for the last track to unveil because I had a feeling that it might be Final Countdown for FI to complete the torturing "package". Well, it was not, but some equally bad track, with loads of single jump (skiing) to end the track when we were about to faint lacking breathe and energy.

Skipped the conditioning track, which I wish now that I had stayed for, to change into my Jam outfit (ya ya... like I told MB, me and my vain reasons...) and to get into the queue with sis/MC and TLA. Erm... there was no line, but the class was quite filled nevertheless, where did everyone come from? The class was superb fun! Mixture of familiar old tracks and new (well, not new release, just new for me since I've not done them before), short individual tracks instead of those performance tracks. I think I must have looked quite groove for some tracks and suddenly looked clumsy for certain. In one of the tracks, as a result of standing too near to each other, I kept clashing into TLA... haha... but TLA with her higher confidence (since that was her 3rd Jam class) got some approving nods from FI in the class... MC who didn't like Jam much enjoyed herself immensely as well.

After more coke/ ice lemon tea/ 100 plus, we headed to the steam bath before getting ourselves cleaned to go home. BIL was ready long before us since he didn't join the class, but worked himself out using every single machine in the gym (yes, he said every single one).

I felt so worked out myself having done 2 hours of cardio. It was especially great to catch up with FI's classes, I nearly forget how entertaining and motivating his classes were.

All in all, my week's of workout was not bad, 4 days of gym and I went for squash with the same suspects plus my uncle. But ouch! I've "injured" my right arm, I've swung my racket too hard aiming for "killer" smash each time while playing with uncle, so due to the speedy repetitive and odd angle (trying to "save the ball") of swingings, I nearly got a disjoint arm after one especially furious one. Luckily my arm is still intact, but I'm not very sure whether my condition will get better or worse tomorrow, hopefully I can still do pump tomorrow!

Durian Tart - 2nd Attempt

My recent entries made it look as though I'm a big fan of the king of fruits...

The only reason I'm making the tart again is, I've got an sms from SMS-Buddy, "I wan d durian tart, that night potong steam din get to eat it"

Well ok, it was my fault that he didn't get to eat it, erm partially my fault. Since I didn't keep it in the fridge while waiting for him to pick up the tarts, they went bad. But if he were to come earlier, the tart might still stay good. :p (OF COURSE he said it was not my fault... heh)

Anyways, I also have a new tart pastry recipe, which MasterChef said tasted better, so tried making that. The portion of this pastry dough was smaller, so I didn't make enough to try it myself. My two food tasters so far was MC and TheLittleApprentice. They said indeed this was nicer than the last tart pastry I made. Alright, so change of tart recipe then.

The filling... got some durian from Jaya Jusco on Friday. Was lazy to go "shop" at the durian stalls by the road. Decided to get the more "whitish" looking ones because I found the yellowish ones more difficult to puree. It was 3 packets for RM25, due to limited choice, had to get a mixture of D24, D99 (Don't ask me, I don't know much about the categories) and Durian Susu (?). After mum's sampling of the durians, she said D24 was still the best. (ooookaaay...)

The last time I made the durian cream filling, I had a hard time piping it because the nozzle kept being block by the durian which I didn't really puree fine enough. I still find it hard to puree the durian. MC said put them through a sieve (does it look like I'm that patient to put the flesh of perhaps 20 durians through a tiny-hole sieve???). So, blender it was. Still, hard to make it real fine unless I made the durian more liquid for the blender, which means what, add more milk? (I did add milk to blend the durian because since I was using milk to cook the cream anyways. But I didn't really turn the durian into durian milk shake type to blend). The result was, still blocked nozzle but manageable.

There were two parts of the filling, the custard, which was supposed to be used to dazzle on top of the cream, but I made some adjustment and have them fill the base of the tart pastry instead; and the durian cream - which I've modified too and hence couldn't achieve the nice consistency like the recipe book, which gave a really defined and neat piped cream.

The durian cream was a mixture of this durian custard and whipped cream. Due to laziness (big mistake) I didn't whip up another batch of whipped cream (over whipped the first batch a little bit) and used the slightly liquidized whipped cream, plus instead of using the (non-UHT) whip topping, I used UHT whipping cream (because I only need 200ml and the whip topping cream comes in 1liter, would be a waste. If I get the UHT cream instead, I can use the remaining later for pana cotta, oh, yum...). Oppss... side track...

So, the result was still a very "lame" looking durian cream. Ok, the other reason for the cream to fail to form nice peak was because I've added much more durian puree than the supposed recipe, so those amount of whipped cream couldn't have held up the durian puree.

But taste wise... I supposed it was ok... still waiting for feedback from SB. Met up with SB lunch time at KLCC, so that I can pass him the durian tarts while they were still fresh, no chance of them turning bad (hopefully they don't turn watery!). Also gave him 2 small tubs of durian pudding to sample. If he said it's ok, then it's ok on my record since SB is my final judge for my recipes (especially on the SB-inspired series)

Made one specially for MC which is only durian custard, she said it's nicer without the cream part.