Saturday, May 31, 2008

Too good to be true

Set my alarm at 8am but only woke up 2 hours later. Poor little baby was waiting patiently. But tomorrow I will have to wake up on time to give baby her bath.

Perhaps due to sufficient sleep and rest, I felt rather energetic and actually clapped when Hobbes said he wanted to do a non-stop class - circuit training according to Hobbes. Felt like I was up to the challenge. Well, I survived! But it was REALLY tough! Just because Hobbes won't be seeing us in two weeks time, or are you taking a break for the whole of June dear?

So, went through a no break BP, we did this chest track which I'd never done before, from the era of BP 30's as I was told. We worked the whole track from bottom, many many bottom halves followed by super slow. By the time I got up from the board after chest track, I felt my head spinning already. When we got to lunges, I felt my heart beating fast and hard against my chest. While doing the biceps, I could almost agree with the song that said "I'm in a bad bad mood, and it's all because of you...". Okay, I don't mean we hate you Hobbes, of course we love you so much, but it was really tough leh....

The parting advice from the instructor was since we worked so hard, don't go ruin all the hard work by eating Nasi Lemak. That was when I mouthed "Baskin Robbins" to Hobbes and immediately got the gleaming look from his face too. Haha... Ice cream is perfectly okay. Nasi Lemak, cannot!

So at 3pm, I headed towards Baskin Robbins, followed Hobbes at his heels without him noticing until we all reached BR. The queue was EXTREMELY long!!! When we checked, the then number being attended to was 107. My number was 128. I thought it was quite reasonable. So decided to wait... since I got company, I was chatting away and before I knew it, it had been 45 minutes of waiting already. Thought of giving up since it was rather late and the line was moving really slow. We found out that there were some inconsiderate customers taking their own sweet time in tasting the flavours before deciding!!! Humphh...

Finally at 4pm, Hobbes and gang decided to leave. Besides, Hobbes needed to rush for another class. So I was left to decide on waiting or leaving.

I waited because if I give up, I'd wasted one hour for nothing. The number being served at that time was 117. Okay lah. While waiting, I had nothing to do so sent a few text. And calculated the time BR used to serve its customer. The answer - 5 customers per staff per hour! So slow and I wasn't sure if that was entirely the customers' fault. So when I got my ice cream, it was 4.45pm -

Time taken - 1 hour 45 minutes
Cost savings - RM26.66
Reward - 2 quart tubs
Reaction from family (including 2 cousins, uncle, aunt, BIL, mum and MC (when she comes back)) - priceless :)

Okay lah, I'm all patient when it comes to pleasing my beloved ones. Cousin sis was already longing for me to get her BR ice cream when I mentioned the 31% BR discount for the day. My uncle was also very happy since he'd gotten into this dessert-mood recently. The other tub waiting in the freezer for MC to come back - Rum & Raisins + Jamoca Almond Fudge ^_^

After that was a major rush to TC! Fizz already called earlier to say she will be there early. But due to me waiting at BR, I only made it on the agreed dinner time. Farid and her had already spent 2 hours at Dome Cafe. Thanks for waiting patiently for me gals!

So handed cake to SSB (during which I managed to say "hi" to LadyNina) - thanks for the feedback and thanks for choosing TTB as your preferred baker - and rushed over to Dome.

Had a great gossip, or rather, story telling session and I am feeling really contented now. It's great to have my gal friends enjoying my stories, what more, agreeing that it's a good idea. And yeah, I'm occasionally quite smart too. Thanks for the compliment :) If only I can remember the brilliant lines Farid had came up with during the session. Farid, I seriously think you should blog too. Hehe...

As I quote Fizz, it's now Season 1 and story to be continued. But I sometimes feel that things are too good to be true and am loosing my judgement and instinct. I need help!

Hokey Pokey Coffee Cake


Here it is...

SSB MSN-ed for a birthday cake request. Yeah she's back in town till Monday. When I asked her what flavour, she said coffeeee... okay. I've got this coffee walnut cake recipe, and since SSB liked the name of the cake too, we've decided on it.

However, SSB asked for a smaller cake. Okay, instead of making the recipe into half (lazy to calculate the measurement), I made the full recipe, and make the remaining into cupcakes. Though, I had to admit, the "little" cake is taller than it should be, take it as a special treat and not the permanent specification of this cake :p.

The cake was baked at a relatively lower temperature, so as I thought, we got a rather moist cake, which I think should be nice - SSB let me know. The cake is reduced sugar as usual, moreover, the icing is butter icing, so will be a bit sweet if the cake is also very sweet.

Baked the cakes in two separate container, it would be advisable to do so especially with cake that's got nuts or fruits, because cutting the cake into half will be messy.

Sandwich the two parts with some butter icing.


Sprinkle with the chopped walnut pralines.


Stack the two parts together and thinly cover the cake with icing first. This will stick the cake crumbs together. If not, when you do the final layer of icing, you will see cake crumbs contaminating the icing, and if like me, the piped icing will fall off the cake.

Did the side with star shape nozzle, quite tedious, next time I will just weave the sides too. But last night I thought of reserving the weave for the top.


My "signature" weave for the surface.

Silver balls to add to the 3D effect.


Whole walnuts, birthday tag and some colour to decorate. Happy birthday uncle!!!


And the remaining for the cupcakes.

Friday, May 30, 2008

The Baker indulging (gone crazy) in shopping

It must have been like two months since I went to a "proper" baking supply shopping, as in major replenishment of supply. Mainly because the bakery supply shops only open weekday (maybe Saturday) and during working hours. So the most suitable time to go (for me lah) is actually lunch time. But it had been really busy at work lately and I had not been able to spare any lunch time for shopping.

So... gone a bit crazy today at the bakery supply shop. Too bad (luckily) I only had about an hour or less, otherwise, I could have been more "detailed" in my shopping. :p

I discovered a few new items which I had to say, is such a good idea!!! I'll take a picture of them later when I get home and will show you... And most of the stuff were seen to be more expensive, however, there were a few items which are now packaged differently (in smaller quantity) and naturally are priced slightly lower (though unit cost might still be the same or higher).

My shopping list at Bake With Yan:-

Perishable items
1) Walnut 500g
2) Pecan 250gm
3) Almond (whole) 500gm
4) Chocolate chips 1kg
5) Raisins 1kg

Packaging/ decorative items
6) Cookie bags
7) Brown paper bags
8) Piping bags 10pcs x 5
9) Cake boxes
single x 10
double x 10
quad x 10
9" (cupcake) x 10
7" (cake) x 4
10" (cake) x 2
11" (cake) x 4

10) Cake boards
7" (round) x 2
7" (square) x 2
10" (round) x 2
11" (round) x 2
11" (square) x 2

11) Mini cake trays (love this!)
12) Gift paper bags (about time it's being sold!)
13) Disposable glove (very hygienic you know...)
14) Paper cups
3 1/2" (loose - green) x 1
3 1/2" (loose - red) x 1
muffin (100s) x 2 (one is for Carebear!)

15) Paper doily
16) Colour (lining) paper (100s)
17) Baking tin (6" round)

The bill came up to RM167 ish. Not bad right? I'm sure my supply will last for at least 3 months or more.

Then I went over to Chang Tung to get some essence and the bill was RM13.00.

Time to get back to office then. And I better continue with work. :p

I'm now a very happy baker. ^_^

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Symbols of regular pumping

The skin areas on my knees and elbows are spotted with darker colours and they are rather dry and peeling. I am suspecting that it is due to regular pumping - need to kneel down and use the elbows to support very often in pump classes.

I find Thursday pump getting more boring. Still I went diligently for the sake of my waistline. But, I felt really bored and extremely sleepy and fatigue. Not sure if those were physical or mental. I was feeling okay when I arrived at gym, a bit hungry, but otherwise okay.

I was already sweating a lot even though my warm up on stepper was only 10 minutes. Little Bro was also puzzled with the reason of me drenched in sweat when I saw him at the gym just now. He was in his casual wear which I seldom see him in, and I told him the pants he was wearing accentuate the nice shape of his buttock. :p

I only notice the name of the replacement instructor just before entering the class. I was thinking, if I don't enter the class, what do I want to do? Free weights? It's going to be equally boring. Besides, the free weights area, even extended to the cardio machine, was smelling very heavy of sweat and the air was really stale there. Wouldn't really want to be enveloped in that kind of environment. So, class it was.

Wasn't sure which one was the instructor until he busied himself setting up at the front of the studio. He looked familiar, by the time I recall, I happened to passed by him and I acknowledged him with a smile. He was the guy who TT-ed with FI in his last class just before he left for his Dubai trip. Hmm... so long ago, and which reminded me, I haven't been attending FI's class for a long long time.

Boredom caught up with me as soon as I picked up my bar for the warm up. Followed by great weariness and total dull facial expression. I must have looked like I was in a foul mood and I own the gym type of look. I didn't feel like pushing myself and almost wanted to use only 5kg for the chest track. But decided against it lah. Waistline!

Okay... but half way through the chest track, I had a cramp on my right calf. Geezz... how to "cure" my calf while lying down on the bench? So didn't seem to be able to manage my bottom halves. The cramp got bad during lunges which didn't help at all adding to my declining mood and energy.

In short, I managed badly in class. Lucky the instructor didn't have funny accent or bad spoken English. Cueing wise, not perfect, but no major mess-up. But still, I was feeling really lifeless.

On the happy note. I got a present from my favorite guy today. :) Will miss him while he's away for a few days though.

Meanwhile, there's a birthday cake baking tomorrow for delivery on Saturday. Told SSB that I'll do the hokey pokey for her dad. And I'm really looking forward to catching up on a good gossip session with the gals on Sunday.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Growing The Feelings

Have you ever grew a plant? I remember growing something for experiments at school - red beans scattered on wet cottons placed inside a box with an opening - to prove that sunlight determines the direction of growth for the leaves...

Logically, a seed cannot grow into trees unless it's in good soil, along with water, fertilizer and warmth. Maybe same goes to the seed of love - the feelings can only grow with conditions of the right environment, along with the right amount of tender loving care.

But then again, we often "discover" growing feelings in the soil of our hearts, which seeds we might not have planted ourselves intentionally. It might not even be the right time, or right place, or right person. Perhaps the seeds had settled in softly without us knowing, just like the Dandelion seeds carried by the wind. The feelings might be able to grow without us paying much attention to it during the beginning. Maybe the special feelings will blossom into a full grown relationship. Maybe it won't.

So naturally, feelings, especially those which have not grown into a strong big tree will, I suppose, tend to die after a while if it's not nourished enough. We also often find our feelings diminished after a while of no response or single sided effort.

But perhaps the more worrying issue is when the feelings grew strong like stubborn roots to the soil. Because, how do we uproot a feeling that is not supposed to be growing in our hearts?

Perhaps only time is able to help.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

I realize...

It's June soon and I would be blogging for one year already. This is like how I used to write diary diligently, pouring all my secrets out to my non-existence reader, of course now I've got "real" readers. Not only that, I suppose I've got perhaps some silent readers (as suggested) as well, and a few anonymous (with or without nickname) readers.

I'm also a "heavy" blog reader myself. This is a fantastic way to keep up with my friends' life and feelings; and also a great way to be nosy about those whom I may not know in person. I think most of us when we read our friends' blogs, we will try to also check out the links provided. They are all related to my friends, aren't they? Hehe...

Sometimes I wonder if I should acknowledge the person whom I "know" when I pass by them. When I said "know" is because I only "know" them because I read their blogs, but they don't know me, kind of. Or maybe they do too. Would it be weird if I suddenly smile with you?

I wonder if my posts are sometimes too boring. I mean for instance, if I were to be blogging about last night, it would be my routine Monday pump with Carebear. Since I don't know, and can't remember song list, I would just be repeatedly telling you that the class was tough. How can Carebear's class be not tough? And occasionally, I can perhaps tell you that my favorite tracks had been selected! Like last night, though I hate biceps track, I love Pump It! I guess is because of the up beating music and although fast and furious, the track is relatively short. So feels like the torturing is shorter. Haha...

And do readers want to know like why I was rushing off but stayed at the juice bar clutching onto my handphone? (okay, I was talking to MC, before she flew off to Amsterdam last night).

Or, would readers actually skip this part about my ranting? - Last night I was leaving gym in a hurry because it was later than my usual time. Besides, need to get dinner (to munch while driving back). Of all the time and places, it had to be such coincidence that I bumped into Handphone Guy. Okay, didn't "bumped into" but I walked pass some guy and he waved me down, then I realized it was him. Humphh... and...

HG: Hey!
TTB: Oh (disappointed and tired Oh)
HG: Leaving?
TTB: Yes!
HG: You tired?
TTB: YES! (What? Am I even going to say "no, why?"?) Of course I am, try working out like me and you will know.
HG: Okay, I'll call you!
TTB: (PLEASE DON'T!!! - said this silently of course)

Sigh... please don't call. please don't call. please don't call.

I realize that some song lyrics is currently stuck in my head. For example, "Love changes, changes everything..." and "... I just wanna make you mine, oh, mine...".

I also realize that the person who used to make my heart skip a beat, is no longer making me feel so. I even realize that my favorite guy now is a different person.

By the way, I was late to step class today. Mainly because the traffic police was not directing the traffic that efficiently!! So I arrived at the studio like 15 minutes after the class started. I did consider giving up the class when I was still stuck in the jam. But, I thought, perhaps I should just stick to my plan even though it looked impossible. And so I interrupted the class. To my surprise, about 4 guys busied themselves adjusting their step board, with one of them helping me get a board, so that I could join in. How touching. Although only 45 minutes of workout, it was good enough workout. Thanks to the guys!

I realize that workout made easy when there are buddies around, someone that encourages you to be there for classes. :)

Sunday, May 25, 2008

A satisfying weekend

This morning before my alarm went off, I thought I heard a tingling sound from my phone. Or perhaps it was my imagination, I thought. I told myself: It's weekend and you don't have to work, calm down and go back to sleep.

Okay, there was a tingling sound from my phone at about 8.30am, it was an sms from LadyNina:

"Mornin' babe. TD asked me to bring u to rpm today @ curve. :D"

My reply at 9.30am was:

"Hi hi... I jus woke up. Tdy?! Cant la. Need to help paint my aunt's new hse. U hav fun rpm-ing!"

Well, that reminded me, I did have to get up and quickly give my baby a bath so I could be over to my aunt's to help out. Sorry TD! Don't think I can make it to RPM quite soon. Next Sunday would most probably have tea to catch up with the gals (hopefully!). And LadyN, I sure look forward to an RPM session with you soon!

I wasn't sure how long I'd helped with the painting. Didn't feel like long. Actually, there were enough hands on the job - My uncle has always been painting their own house and he's very swift and is an expert. Together with auntie, the pair of children plus the boy's girl-friend, I almost felt like I was fighting for the painting brush. So, lets be useful and go get lunch. Besides, BIL was there also as a really big help.

MC and I went out to ta-pao for everyone. After lunch, I went over to make sure my "service" was not required, then came back to shower and prepare for baking.

Wanted to bake something chocolate-base, hence the sticky chocolate brownies. Based on the ingredients, the brownie should not yield a big serving, so chose another item to bake. Picked up the tea-time cake and biscuit recipe book (last year's birthday present from Shen), and decided to bake this butter-base cake with raisins. Raisin is my auntie's favorite, so it can't really go wrong right?

Everything was baked just in time for dinner. It was great having such a big crowd for dinner once a while. Everyone was so hungry after a day's hard work. MC who was already suffering from the muscle ache from Saturday pump is now really tired. Besides, she needs to leave for Amsterdam tomorrow, 12 hours flight. Geezz... I feel tired by just imagining all her travelling. Hope time will fly during the next one week and she will be back in no time.

Had dessert in the living room while everyone unwind and relax. Everyone loves today's bake and I'm a very happy baker. :)