Hello Kitty is a name that many girls and guys are familiar with. It has always been an obsession of mine since I went into secondary school. I know it seems quite late for a girl to suddenly be so infatuated with this iconic Japanese feline, but that is the sad truth. Being brought up in a family of two rowdy rugged boys, I never got in touch with my feminine side until I was a full grown teenager. That was when Hello Kitty was brought into my life, and suddenly, all the coyness just got out of my system and my love for this pinkish cat went full blown.

My obsession is something not to be toyed with: my dearest boyfriend, my beloved family and my adoring friends can all vouch for my compelling fancy towards Hello Kitty. In no time, my bed is filled with plushies of the cat in various costumes, colors and sizes. My stationaries all turned into pink, with many adorned with the head of this cat. It was quite deranged of me to do so. I know. But age is no bound to one's fascination with Hello Kitty. My poor Hubby has to tolerate my incessant ramblings about how cute Hello Kitty is, or having to be dragged against his will into a Hello Kitty franchise shop, as I squealed in the utmost delight.

I can see that he is trying his best to accept that fact that his twenty year old girlfriend is still captivated by Hello Kitty: mainly because most of the Hello Kitty plushies are gifts from him(:

However, I've been noticing that my adorations are slowly taking another turn in another direction ... And it was all because of a certain plushie my Hubby and I won at the arcade a very very long time ago. I remembered taking it along in my first trip to Nanjing with Hubby, and it was a piece which held many fond memories(: That certain plushie is called Korilakkuma!

For those who doesn't know what Korilakkuma is, she is a white bear who looks like Rilakkuma, but is a slightly smaller version than he is. The most distinct part of Korilakkuma is her red button just at the top of her torso. So you finally know what I am talking about? Hahahaha.

Anyways, since then, Hubby and I have been calling her Nova because we thought it was a cool unisex name. Yes back then, we didn't know that Korilakkuma is a girl. I guess that was the time when I started 'noticing' the whole Rilakkuma franchise. It started to appeal quite a lot to me and soon ... I found myself falling in love with this bear duel.



Lately, I have been buying a lot of Rilakkuma and Korilakkuma items: from keychains to stationaries to collectibles. And I've to say that I'm seeing my collection bear lots of fruits. Hubby, too, likes this bear duel better than Hello Kitty as their collections are not always dabbed in pink or red. Plus their main colors, brown and white are somewhat more smoothing to the eyes.

Every female be it girl, lady or woman, has their own fantasies or just simple adoration for a certain cuteness amidst their daily mundane/hectic lives. Some of them are mostly adorned in pink glitter, but some fancy a little subtlety. All in all, I feel there is no shame in an older woman proclaiming her love for Hello Kitty or other cute adorable plushies. But of course I do intend to state that my stand is only based on normal grounds in which the person is sane and does not go around wearing hot pink Hello Kitty tights or whatnot.

As for me, perhaps my love for Hello Kitty is slowly draining out of my system, but somehow I find the bear duel to be a more suitable substitute to my dearest feline. I dare say that this is part of me slowly transitioning to an adult who does not so desperately craves a certain cuteness in her life. Yay me!(:

" With dreams comes aspirations, with aspirations comes motivation, with motivation comes new actions ... "

I'm finally done with most of my vacations. After being overseas for so long, I almost forgot I had a home back in Singapore. But of course, my family is most pleased that I am going on frequent vacations as they get to pester me for souvenirs and whatnot. But I have to say, no matter how tempting it is to go overseas, I am so happy to be back home. I don't know why, but it is just implanted in me that wherever I go, if I do not return back, I will feel something missing in me. Well some of you may just scoff it off as 'homesickness', but I beg to differ though.

Anyways, the day after I touched down to Singapore from Bangkok Thailand, I found myself feeling queasy and nauseous. As I would have known: I caught a fever due to my throat infection after spending so many treacherous hot days in Bangkok without much hydration. With that, I am so late with my updates and posts on my trips. So here I am! I have not exactly updated the pictures from Bangkok from my DSLR, but I have a few random pictures taken from my phone. So yea, don't expect much though :S



This was the last picture I took before I board the flight to Bangkok! The HelloKitty woven bag was bought from Nanjing by my dearest as he thought it was one of a kind here in Singapore.



And this was the first food I ate the moment I touched down in Bangkok: Hainanese Chicken Rice. Can you believe it? Lol.



This was the name of the Hotel I was residing in: METZ. I strongly recommend this place as it is super close to Platinum Fashion Mall: Bangkok's largest place to shop for the cheapest clothing ever possible! You can't bargain in there, but hey! It is fully air-conditioned! What more can you possibly ask for? In addition, this hotel is also relatively near to another shopping mall called MBK Center. Apparently that place is only suitable for those who are interested in souvenirs, accessories and handphone covers.



This was what I bought from Bangkok Chinatown! I know you may be wondering why the hell would I want to go to Chinatown in Thailand? But rest assure, the food there is not only good, the things you buy are super cheap too! Not to mention, you can bargain there! Wheees~ BUT, be warned, Chinatown is a super HUGE place so do know where to walk as you may end up getting lost. Hubby and I literally walked where we felt was good and we ended up walking in there for 3hrs. Thank goodness for ample food and drink carts! Hahaha(:



Here is Hubby preparing breakfast at the lobby!







Oh right, they gave us complimentary breakfasts for our stay there and even though the portions are slightly small, the eggs there are fantastic! Plus you get free flow of bread, rice, and pasta at the counter! So it was good!





This was how much I shopped. Granted it is not much, but after shopping a lot in Nanjing, I tell you I've got not much juice in me. And frankly speaking, the clothing is somewhat the same in both Nanjing and Bangkok. But the best thing about shopping in Nanjing is that Hubby is a local there, so the people there do not exactly 'cheat' with the prices, and he can bargain as fluent as he breathes. However here in Bangkok, we learned that if we are not locals, they do not give us the best price, instead they jacked up their prices to twice of what they would sell to the locals. So that was why we could not bargain at all. So in the end, even though many people would think Bangkok is a good place to spree, I will still prefer Nanjing as I have Hubby there to help with the bargaining and in the end the prices would be around the same if you switched it back to Singapore dollars.

After talking so much about shopping, I'm crying inside because I've too many clothes back at home for me to pack. I have not even finished packing my new clothes I bought in Nanjing, and it is already divided to three mountains on my bed. Plus this shopping in Bangkok, I have a total of five freaking mountains to pack.

In addition, my wardrobe is already bursting as it is, because before heading to Nanjing and Bangkok, I did a major shopping spree at Singapore which was a bad judgment on my part. Ahhhh, this is the burden all shopaholics have to carry D: Hubby also did tell me that he is probably not going to accompany me shopping for the next three months or so as he is so exhausted from all the walking we did in Bangkok. That is a funny story because Hubby and I did not bring much money with us after exhausting ourselves in Nanjing. So to save up, we actually walked to and fro for most of our trips here and there in Bangkok. Oh it was quite agonizing but thanks to that, we did not put on weight at all in Bangkok even though we ate a lot of snacks and tidbits there! Hahaha lucky us!(:

Anyways, that is all I have for my current Bangkok post due to insufficient pictures. Lol, but I will update as soon as I have the pictures uploaded from the DSLR. Toodles~!

" Every girl wishes to hold a bouquet in one hand, a ring in one finger, a knot in one's heart, forever tied to the man they so truly love ... "

I've been attended many weddings in Singapore, and all of them are mixed with Western and Eastern culture. However, the one I attended in China with Hubby, was the most traditional ones I've ever been to. It was purely set in Chinese culture. First of all, they had the tradition of the groom making his way with a long train of cars to the bride's house. The cars were meant to fetch the bride's family, relatives and friends to the groom's house. But of course, they had their own tea ceremony performed in both households. I actually went along with Hubby throughout the whole charades as he was the groom's best man and I sort of wanted to see how a traditional Chinese wedding was carried out.

I've got a few compliments from a few of Hubby's friends as well, as the previous time they saw me they said I looked like a cute little girl and kept teasing Hubby to be some pedophile. I did tell them about my age but they did not believe as I looked really young. I guessed that is a good thing? Lol. So after seeing me in a pair of killer(literally!) black stilettos, my most favourite black lacey dress, and make-up, they said I looked much prettier and all grown up. Haha thanks!(:

Anyways, back to the wedding~!









The tradition calls upon for the bride to not set foot on the floor throughout until reaching the place where the bride and groom exchanges their vows. So here, Liling(bride) is being carried by her brother, which was a pretty easy job considering that she is super light. And we can see Xiaohu(groom) posing off victory signs after much effort of getting into the house.





Here is the exterior of their outdoor wedding setting. It is so beautiful I tell you.

And here is the main gate where family, relatives and friends enter.



Here is the full view of the wedding setting: I love the concept of an outdoor wedding as it seems more closer to nature and I love how they had a pond of swans beside it.









And here is my darling Hubby after an exhausting day of being an amazing best man, attending to the groom's beck and call.

Here am I, taking a picture with my Hubby's mother(: She has been a great host to me once again during my visits to Nanjing. The funny thing is that after witnessing her son's best friend's wedding, she kept asking Hubby when it was his turn. Perhaps it was the added pressure from his other peers that made her did as such.




So anyways, after the wedding, I had a lot to think about. I saw the bride with tears of joy as she walked along the aisle and I have to say that it was indeed every girl's dream to be married to the man of her dreams. The groom, too, was filled with much emotion as he held his bride's hands tightly. Even though I was just an outsider to this whole ceremony, I still shared in their heartfelt emotions. Somehow it felt different from the other weddings I had attended, maybe because I got to experience the 'backstage' of it all. But of course, I do not think that I would have my wedding in a traditional Chinese setting as my family is not entirely Chinese, and I can't exactly force my mother to partake in something she does not see fit in.

" Both shed tears of joy as they know that within their vows, hold a deeper commitment to each other, that they embark on a new adventure of themselves, building their own legacy with their names engraved in their promises ... "

Hello everybody! Sorry it took so long for me to conjure another post for my dying blog :P Well, I'm finally back in Singapore after an eventful few weeks at Nanjing and Qingdao. I shall post a more detailed post after my trip to Thailand which commences on the 23rd of May! Wooos.

So anyways, when I came back from my trip, it was to my pleasant surprise that all three Universities had accepted me: SMU Business, NTU Psychology and NUS Real Estate. And then came my next most worry ... which University to choose?! After much discussion with my family members and my dearest Hubby, I've decided to go for NTU. Plus after attending their tea party, the professor there really sold his point about Psychology being a fun course to take part in. In addition, I'm more interested in NTU's Cheer team ACES and I will be very much interested in joining their cheer team :) Heehee, wish me luck!

That aside, I have a really late update from my previous date with my family. As I was going to be away from Singapore on Mother's Day, I thought of brining it forward earlier by one weekend. On that fateful day, a few of my family members, Hubby and I took a car-trip to a rather remote part of Singapore and had our brunch at the restaurant situated there: SPRUCE


We reached there around 11am and it was already bustling with so many people! Despite being located at such a remote area, this restaurant has really lived up to its name and reputation. Thank goodness, I booked one day in advance to save the trouble of having to wait. I like how this restaurant has this indoor and outdoor concept. For those who wanted to get close to nature, they can have a table outdoors. For people like me who is quite afraid of the heatwave and spiders, I rather stay indoors :P The interior design for the indoor cafe is really amazing as well. It is quite hard for me to explain, so I'm going to let the pictures do the talking :)





























After the brunch, my parents and younger brother headed back home while Hubby and I stayed outside having our own plans. Spruce is definitely a great place to go to for dining. It has an amazing ambiance unlike any other restaurants, and their food is just simply delightful! Every single dish has its own signature and unique taste that is definitely suited to your taste buds. Plus the service there is really wonderful. The waiter who waited on us greeted us with a smile and even helped us choose which dishes he felt was most suitable for our appetites. We took quite a long time to decide, but he didn't mind, he just kept on serving with a smile!(:

So all in all, my experience at Spruce was truly gratifying. I got to adore the outdoors even though I did not really dine under the great outdoors, I got to eat such exquisite dishes, and all in all, having this diving experience with people you love is even more rewarding than anything.

To those who are deciding whether they should try out Spruce, I say YES! However you may want to make a reservation a day before so that you won't have to fight against the crowd. Be mindful that even with a reservation, there should be a slight waiting time as Spruce is always crowded during meal times. The best I find is going there early in the morning on a weekend for brunch. If there is any need to inquire further, do call them up to clarify your doubts. In addition, Spruce also sells amazing cakes on display just outside the waiting area. But their pastries are slightly more expensive than the usual pricing, but you pay for quality that I can assure(:

Toodles!

” Unfaltering desires, unfading dreams ... "

So I embarked on my quest once again: my quest to have my very own bakery! :) Even though it may sound like a pretty far-fetched dream, but I still intend on holding this promise close to my heart. A huge thanks is due with my beloved mother and dearest Hubby for supporting me and helping me along the way!!

My mother: a true passionate baker/cook herself, shared a few of her best recipes yet. I know because I’ve been eating all her delightful treats since young (this may be the reason why I was so chubby back then! Hahaha) and I truly hold these as precious memories close to myself. However, this time was different, I wanted to try a new recipe from a website I was browsing through. My mother looked through the recipe and changed a few ingredients impromptu just to make sure that it suits my family.
Not everybody from my family has a sweet-tooth. My grandparents for instance, don’t really like treats that are too sweet. My dad, too, doesn’t really like to consume stuff which are too sweet. However, my siblings and I ADORE sweet things. We have a whole gum of sweet-teeth (horrible pun I know!) and we always like to satisfy our cravings for it. So to make up for a few changes in ingredients, I just spammed the entire box of chocolate chips into the batter.

Which reminds me, before I go on any further, I’m baking Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Dutch Frosting! The recipe I’m following is really suited for those who have a HUGE craving for sweetness, and it actually has golden syrup in it! Hahaha, my mother was quite shocked to see the need for golden syrup as her own recipe of cupcakes does not require it at all. But we just followed through and used the famous brand Aunt Jemima Syrup which are normally used for pancakes. For those who doesn’t know Aunt Jemima’s Syrup is a brand of syrup that has just the right combination of texture, consistency and flavor.

Alright, so instead of going too much into wordy details, I shall just show you the pictures! :)


























The making of the Dutch chocolate frosting! We literally used 2 and 1/4 cups of sugar just to mix the beginning batter.


Here we added a few more tablespoons of sugar to make the texture more consistent instead of its drippy form. Like this, it is easier to spread across the cupcakes for decorations.


We managed to make about 18 cupcakes, 12 big ones and 6 slightly smaller ones. As you can see, we really did not go easy on the chocolate chips.


And after letting the cupcakes cool down after taking out of the oven, we laid a few layers of Dutch frosting over it. However, we made a mistake: we should have put the frosting in the fridge for a while to let it harden so that we can actually decorate with the frosting with desired baking-tips. However, as the frosting was not solid enough, the decorations did not take shape.




It actually took quite short to finish getting the batter oven-ready. It was the waiting that was super long. My mother and I let the cupcakes bake for 30-40 minutes depending on whether you want the chocolate chips inside to melt to the gooey gooey chocolate goodness or just let it stay as it is. Other than that, we also wanted the top part of the cupcakes to have a cripsy-like texture. But of course, in the end we laid the frosting over it. But for those who prefers it to be more golden-brown, just let it bake for slightly longer. Of course do not over-do it till the cupcakes are burnt.

And tadah~ That is the end of our baking adventure. Cupcakes are probably one of the easiest things to bake besides Oreo Cheesecake, Brownies and Cookies(of any sort).. One thing for sure is that cheesecake do not require the oven, just put it in the fridge overnight. Brownies, cookies and cupcakes do not require much hand-to-hand- skills, just follow the instructions and do not over-beat the batter.

So my next challenge is probably either cakes or pies. I know pies are tough because sometimes the pastry does not turn out crispy enough or thick enough.
And before I head off to my crazy May-Travel, I’m probably going to stay in more at home and bake with my mother! :) Heehee. Wish me the best~!!!!! :D

Toodles.