My dear granny saw how I murdered the previous store bought chilli plant and decided to help me out. I just thought that I should post about it, and reflect on it's little progress.

Day #1



Day #2:



A month later....



At 2 months old....



6 months later!!

WTF why no flowers?? No chilli too :( I've been nursing this thing for half a year!! Oh my, how time flies.



P.s.: Please pardon the shots which are of different lighting and quality. All taken over a span of 6 months ma!

I'm going swimming this weekend with the girls so what better reason for me to make a pie than today and then feed it to them!! So apple pie it is.

Well, I cheated this week. It was mad easy to make an apple pie when you cheat. First of all, the pie crust receipe is here. Just the same recipe as the Canned Peach Pie I made the last time. But this time around, I had a new mixing bowl and a new rolling pin - MADE all the difference I tell you. A good rolling pin will make your pie so much better! See here! How neat it looks right!



I also parbaked the bottom crust so that it won't be so soggy when it comes out of the oven.

As for the Apple Pie Filling, cold storage sells this canned apple pie filling and it was on offer so I bought it and used it. So simple and so convenient! The brand is called Wilderness.



I think next time, I shall attempt a savoury pie? :D Who knows!

Do you remember the days of Friendster? Back when I was in secondary school, Friendster was all the rage.

The point of it was, I decided to go take a look at my old account and found some interesting memories.

There was this "testimonials" section where people pop by and shout about how much they love or hate you. I found two old testimonials by my 2 best friends, Angeline and Wei Shan written back in 2004. OMG, 7 years ago! So precious!

I had a great time at the VICHY Bi-White Reveal Blogger Workshop yesterday at Maxwell Chambers' Once Upon A MilkShake.

1) On the Educational Talk we had

We had Dr Jonathan Lee from Aesthetic Studios giving us a talk on all about pigmentation and the various options for skin problems. You could check out his website for heaps of information on solving your facial woes.

I was reading the brochure he gave me and I'm thinking I need something for minimizing facial pores. Check out this treatment called Spectra Laser Rejuvenation - anyone heard of this before?

Anyhoo, see this video!! So amazing...!

Dear theasianparent.com,

I think, I had about enough. Why did you start sending me so many "irrelevant" edm contents to me recently?

Is it because you think I am old and I need to be already married and having kids already?!!??!!?!? *Unreasonable rant*

I insist it's irrelevant because I'm not married nor do I have kids so why are you sending me so much information on parenting?

I don't know how you got my email. But even if you did get my email address because I gave it to you (for god knows why), it must have been awhile ago and you started sending me all these only since this year, when I'm 27... (actually 26 going on 27).........!!

I may be too sensitive but, seriously, 27 and I'm supposed to have kids already?

Breastfeeding, recently gave birth, meet other mums, dads welcomed.... Oh My God. What's going on here?!

I will be a parent and have my own kids in time but this, this email is too soon and too... disturbing. So pressurizing!!

So while I appreciate all that information, I'm going to unsubscribe and hope I will not hear from you again. Till your content becomes relevant (omg, it will be relevant one day soon right?!).

Yours Sincerely,

Me.

Edited 18th March, 10.30am



SERIOUSLY?

P.s.: For those who don't know, this is just a post that's meant to poke a little fun at myself, so don't take it so seriously! I have nothing against theasianparent.com.

So I got a little bit more adventurous after my encouraging attempts the previous weekends on the tarts and pies and thought I could attempt Croissants.

Boy, was I wrong.

Croissants are such a pain in the a** to make!! They take forever and I make them look ugly!! Gosh... No recipe to share here. Just sharing how my... er... "Croissants" turned out. Fats are always meant to be shared so I gave some to my sister and she commented that the taste was buttery and quite good but I should just rename my creation and call it "Breadrolls".

And yea she's right cos what the hell, Croissants are supposed to be light, fluffly and soft. Mine is none of that. Guess the right machine and the right experience and skillset is required for creating the $1.20 Croissants that we see in bakeries and gobble down in a heartbeat.

If you ask me, I'll prolly never attempt Croissants again and will spend more time appreciating those that I see out at stores.

P.s.: This whole Croissant making process took me.... 3-4 hours. To roll, to wait for dough to rise, etc etc etc

P.s.s.: Yea, I'm not exactly patient which is why I'm not a full-time baker.

In the past 3 months, it seems like I let go of a different lifetime that I lived in and then stumbled onto a new life in which I find happiness and... contentment.

Been told that I will definitely see heaps of turtles! Especially the green and hawksbill sea turtles which mate and nest there! :)

Here's a video of what to expect when diving at Sipadan!

Peach Pies are yummy. Cos, pie is yummy and so are peaches! LOL ok fine, that was lame.

Anyhoo, I'm on this baking rage. Last week was the Fruit Galette and this week, Peach Pie!!

Okay, here's the recipe I used. I customised this from various websites:

Basic Pie Pastry Ingredients

For a 9 inch (23 cm) double-crust pie:
2 ¼ cups (280g) all purpose (plain) flour
¾ tsp salt

1 tsp sugar
¾ cup (180g) cold butter or shortening
6-7 tbsp cold water, more or less

Combine flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Cut cold butter into cubes and toss it into the flour. With your fingertips, two knives or a pastry blender, blend the ingredients together, working quickly until you have a mixture of tiny, irregular flakes and bits about the size of coarse bread crumbs. Sprinkle on the water 1 tbsp at a time, stirring gently with a fork after each addition. Add just enough water for the dough to form a rough mass.

With floured hands pat the dough into two small balls, one larger than the other. Roll dough out large enough to cover the pie tin, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate while you prepare the Peach Filling.

*I found the recipe for this pie pastry lacking of sweetness, so I would add 1 tablespoon of sugar to this mixture.

I thought this guy's video on how to make basic pie pastry is quite easy to follow.

Peach Filling Ingredients

1 Can of Peaches

2 Tablespoons of Cornstarch

1/8 Tablespoons of Nutmeg (I couldn't find nutmeg so I didn't add this)

1/8 stick of butter

Drain peaches of the juice. Add in cornstarch, butter and nutmeg to the juice. Mix it and then add the peaches back in.

Fill the pie pastry up with the peach filling and dot the 2 tbsp butter randomly on the filling. Roll out the small dough to cover the pie. Cut a few slashes on the top to let steam escape while baking.

Pre-heat oven to 220 degrees and bake for 15-20 mins till the crust is brown.

And you're done!