Banana Bread

serve 4-5 preparation 10 mins cooking 30-40 mins

100 g self raising flour
50 g unsalted butter - soft
75 g brown sugar
50 g sultanas
12 g walnuts
1 whole egg
225 g mashed ripe bananas


1. preheat oven to 180C. rub butter into flour until combined.


2. then stir in sugar, sultanas and walnuts. followed by the egg and mashed bananas.


3. mix together well to fully combine ingredients. place mixture into mould, then into a preheated oven for approx. 30 mins.



comment:
i would rather say banana loaf than banana bread. i expected to have a loaf of "bread"... if i know it turns out like this, i will put the mixture into a cupcake mould... i think this will match more to my expectation :) anyway, it tastes really good!

Butter Cookies

makes 2 dozen preparation 10 mins cooking 10-15 mins

175 g unsalted butter
200 g icing sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
375 g plain flour
1 egg
1 egg yolk


1. line two baking trays. combine the butter, sugar and vanilla essence in a food processor until smooth.


2. add the sifted flour, and the egg and egg yolk and process to a smooth dough. wrap in parchment and refrigerate until firm.



3. pre-heat oven to 175C. Roll out the dough either on a lightly floured work surface to 6 mm thick.


4. cut out cookies with your favourite cutters. place the cookies on the sheets and bake for 10-15 mins. cool on wire racks.

the dough is too soft to cut the alphabet,
so i change the cookie cutter to flower and star
which is much easier...

storage:
in an airtight container for 5 to 7 days.

variation:
chocolate flavoured cookie - prepare basic dough, subsituting 2 tbsp dutch process cocoa powder for 2 tbsp of the plain flour.

[500 cookies, p.166]

comment:

• easy and kids-friendly
• adjust the sweetness yourself, 200 g is too much, i reckon.
  

Finally recovered....

back to work
back to normal

though i am still blur blur, should have recovered almost 90% :)

thanks for all the colleagues.

anyway, first day went back to work, straightly got into trouble... don't know why every time get caught must be a big one...

losing US$1m for the company, what will the boss do?...

good thing no one knows, bad thing the whole world know.... once again, what a good year end!

look too awful to work

have been stayed at home for two days, so bored... and thought i was ok to go to work.

this week was my turn to be on early shift. reached office, tried very hard to smile and make myself looked ok , however, everyone had the same comment : you look so pale!

no choice, but had to accept i was unfit for work. that's also explained why the doctor wrote me an extra two days M.C. and have to take medication for 7 days.... (need so long meh? but ah E and CY said, i'd better finish all, or else i might fall sick again...)

as long as i can recover before i leave for Mel, everything is ok for me... want to attend Lianne's graduation lei~

another unproductive day...

another sick day

stomachache whole nite, went to toilet >4 times during the nite...

i confirm i am really sick...

woke up at around 08.00, cooked some congee and went to sleep again.

13.00+ Maria and her hubby came and passed me some medi, bread and biscuits. felt so bad, we were supposed to yum cha with her parent-in-law after church... now didn't go and trouble people to bring food for me...

took the medicine, KO again til 19.00. wanted to get up, but no energy... felt like dying... i finally managed to get out of the bed and tried to cook my dinner.

ah E saw me. she looked so worry. then she insisted to cook some noodles for me. i kept saying sorry to her. she suddenly said "don't you say you're my daughter?" this really touched me hardly... tears almost came out...

tomorrow take a day off, hopefully, can get back to work on Tuesday.

so s.i.c.k...... what a good year end?!

woke up in the morning, body aching... thought it was because over exercising last nite... didn't notice it was a signal of my sickness...

having my driving lesson as usual, was not a good learner (i m not that kind good at operating machine person) + today's body condition. my driving lesson was the worst ever. scolded by the instructor... nearly cry... was questioned by him "do you want to have a lesson when you woke up in the morning".... er... i really wanted but... of coz, my answer was "yes".... but if i knew i was sick... i think i would have call him to cancel the lesson... rather to waste the money... = 3=

kept ignoring the signal, went to see my uncle and have an eye test, went to pharmacy to buy the prescribed lotion for my sensitive skin, took bus to Kofan's place and bought some sushi on the way.

by the time reached her place, i was completely K.O. took some medi then had a haircut. Kofan said she left for China for 2 months she wanted me to look good when i travel to Melbourne.

very similar to the last one, but this time change the colour to purple and cover all the highlights. :)

lying on bed at home after dinner with kofan. received a phone call, so happy, even not feeling well, it was worth to stay awake to talk 3 hours until 01.00.

SSL Christmas Party 2007

working so hard for last two weeks, finally we can have some fun tonite.

the party was arranged by TP who is our top function planner in the office. last year, we had dinner at Conard Hotel. was good but not as good as the one we had tonite at Stage Door Dinner Theatre.

the show "Rock n Roll Inferno" was good, all the 50s and 60s songs. the performers have lots of experience which make the show more interesting. we followed the music and danced crazily and we all enjoyed the nite. (i believed some of them were drunk...)

my ticket, almost left in the office...

ENTREE

Brie Cheese Wedges, Bread Crumbed and Deep Fried with Cranberry Sauce
Crumbed Calamari Rings on Fresh Salad Greens and an Aioli Dressing
Chicken Caesar Salad with Roast Chicken Meat, Bacon, Crispy Croutons and Parmesan Flake

MAIN
Chicken Mignon in a Creamy Mushroom Sauce, Roast Potato and Vegetables
Traditional Pork and Ham served with Roast Potato, Apple Sauce, Vegetables and Gravy
Crumbed Whiting Fillets with a Creamy Tartare Sauce served with Beer Battered Fries and a Fresh Garden Salad
(to make it short: fish n chips...)

DESSERTS

Tiramisu Torte. Two Layers of Delicate Sponge sandwiching Coffee Flavoured Cream

Black Forest Parfait. Chocolate Sponge and Dark Cherries surrounded by Cream Mousse

Strawberry Cheesecake Slice on a Biscuit Crumbed Base smothered in Strawberry Topping

traditional japanese post
left: Steven, me, Melissa

me & Rima

group of our table
this foto is a bit expensive, it costs us 10 bucks... so we jus bought one and scan for everyone hehe :)

for more information for the restaurant, please go to www.stagedoordinnertheatre.com.au

>> click here to see more pictures of the night.

why money is always an issue?

people with money will never know how those with no money feel.
they will never understand how hard for those with no money to cope with their life.

people with no money will never know how those with money feel.
they will never understand how easy for those with money to get what they want.

if i were you, i will jus let them choose whatever the best for their situation, as at the end of the day, i m not the one who is wearing the shoes.

movie: The Lake House

back home after the birthday party of Dallas (hopefully, i didn't spell wrong), was tired, but didn't wanna to have a nap, continued the movie that i hadn't finished the other nite.

an unrealistic but romantic movie.

wait patiently. if you jus be patient and wait for jus a little while, your life might jus change totally.

i used to believe if i could wait patiently, i could have got somethings that i long for. however, i think it doesn't seem to apply to me. has been waiting for three years (i think it's long enuff), but i can't see the future, not even tomorrow. so, what i am waiting for?

anyway, it's a good movie, but not a must-watch one. if you have time, it's very relaxing to watch a movie like this ;)

http://thelakehousemovie.warnerbros.com/

exhausted >_<..... but happy

woke up @06.00, soooooo tired, only had three hours sleep... tried so hard to close my eyes but still can't sleep again...

stayed in bed till 09.00, washed up and got ready to go to office today...

my eyes were so dried that can hardly open... Melissa helped me to buy a Vdrink to save my life... worked from 11.00-18.00... i am super crazy... and i do believe the Vdrink do work good on me.

thought i would have died after such a long day, surprisingly i still had energy and mood to have dinner with Maria, Henry and Eric at Ginga, South Bank... was a happy and yummy dinner. at least we found someone for Eric before he leaving for Hong Kong~~ hehe~

entree

gyoza

grilled squid

our mains

torikatsu set

ginger pork set

sukiyaki set with raw egg

the moon was so big and bright tonite. suggested to stay for a while and chatted. enjoying time with frens under the moon light. :)

my birthday :)

super busy today (actually this whole and the following week), well but still have to cut my birthday cake :)

i finally chose to have the black forest from my company. hehe not bad lah~

though was a busy day and i still got heaps of work hadn't finished, invited by Maria's PIL, to go over to have steam boat tonite, i jus worked overtime for half an hour (as the system was down) and took bus with Maria. was a very good dinner! Thanks for the Wongs family. :)

well tomorrow another long day... :(

Vegetable and Pork Bun

plain flour
yeast
water
vegie (whateva vegie you like)
mince pork

this is what ah E made (before steam)

this is what i made... (before steam)

this is what i made (after steam)..... :( will try again next time)

Pre-celebrating my birthday

though no need to have the driving lesson, still got up at 6.15 as i needed to make my cake :) hehe the weather was very bad, rained heavily... wondering why it had to be today...

planned to have the bbq at Southbank two weeks ago and i was so looking forward to it... lucky, Melissa sms'd me and asked if i would like to change the venue to her place. it's really kind of her and Takashi. waited until 9.30, the weather was still bad... so confirmed to go to Melissa's home and needed to contact everybody... i felt so sorry to Steven, as he lives so far away to the new venue... (originally, he is the closest one...)

here really thank everyone for coming the party, i feel so happy that i have so many good friends around me :) and this party was so successful, coz of you guyz... hehe im really really lucky! Thanks to the Sawkins, Inookas, Wongs, Caos, Steven, Kofan + Simon + Shantel for sparing your time to celebrate my birthday :)


>> click here to see more pictures