wedding bells are ringing

they're ringing all right. it feels like everyone is getting married in the near future. ppl whom im close to. a number of my dearest frens are either engaged or about to be, married or soon to be or already have a baby!

a few months back my fav cousin announced she was getting engaged. naturally i was thrilled for her. i was her maid in waiting at her engagement and i will be her maid of honour at her wedding not too long from now.

i was excited looking for stuff for her hantaran n suggesting this and that, till it hit me that my fav cousin was getting married... the one i always hang out with when i balik kampung... the one who takes me around to eat like thrs no tomorrow.. the one i confide it.. n now shes getting married.. then i realised that all my cousins from my moms side who's around my age are married. save for one who's getting engaged at the end o d year... and me

im a planner. and for as long as i can remember ive planned to be married by the time i hit 25. but after a failed engagement i did have certain qualms about getting into another serious relationship. but after a lot of some thinking, crying, fighting, and getting to kno him i realised what an honest person he is, and truth be told, that honesty was a lifeline for me. it made me trust again. with him it is a 'what u see is what u get' situation. he can be bluntly honest at times and initially i was taken aback many times, but after a while it grew on me. and i started to see the humour in it. n he is the funniest thing ever! he says d weirdest things and means sumtin else. n he'd pretend he didnt hear me when i correct his grammar n words (yes yes i kno its irritating but i cant help it!). and he makes me laugh so hard.

eg. he'd say 'nice doing pleasure with you' when what he really wanted to say is 'its a pleasure doing business with u'

pastu marah org laugh. its not that i wanna laugh, but i just have too!! for the sake of my sanity!!

so my point is, it doesnt bother me so much that im missing my 25th year wedding plans. because i kno i have sumone who makes it worth it.

as for my wedding bells... i do hear its ringing... faintly.... but surely

Aubergine

I read the news last nite. and as always, finding out my outfit for the nite is always a source of entertainment for me. it seems that they left the clothes forgotten over the years (from zaman zaman wen hang tuah was alive and agogo was all the rage) for the newest readers to be humiliated in.

Lastnite yet again proved me right. i laughed out loud to myself in the wardrobe when i saw the disaster i had to don in front of millions.

it was purple, with weird crooked sleeves and a kembang bottom (think saloma) and if that wasnt bad enuf, the designer (zang toi) dcided to throw in a ribbon to be tied in front!

and did i mentioned it was purple?

yes my dears, purple as of aubergine purple. oh and my camisole inside? is also purple. of the same shade mind u. so u see, i went into the studio with about as much confidence as a used sock.

the nice make up person spent aeons on my hair twisting n curling and blowdrying it. ive never had my hair done that way before so it looked a lil weird to me. reminded me of the curtains at my grandmothers house. ropol2 renda2.

despite the interesting (read: catastrophic) outfit, i think i did ok.

oh and i also got to wave a little malaysian flag at the closing. which my producer took from sumones car.

I hate the sleeves. theyve got attitude problem. wanting to bend where i dont want...

My favourite things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,

bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,

brown paper packages tied up with strings,

these are a few of my favorite things.

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels,

door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles.

Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings.

these are a few of my favorite things.

 Girls in a white dresses with a blue satin sashes,

snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes,

silver white winters that melt into springs,

these are a few of my favorite things.

 

When the dog bites, when the bee stings,

when I'm feeling sad,

 

I simply remember my favorite things,

and then I don't feel so bad

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,

bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,

brown paper packages tied up with strings,

these are a few of my favorite things.

A friend like ben..

At this very moment, im wishing i was in london, at Covent Garden, looking at weird and wonderful but utterly useless things like a bottle cap (supposedly) from the 1920's while munching on these...

Strawberry Tart Recipe

Papa came home fr london the oth day and brought back 2 big boxes of strawberries. they were huge n was really juicy. as is always the case, it wud sit in a corner of the fridge, forgotten, and will eventually be tossed out all mouldy and stuff. so a few weeks back, i decided to make a strawberyr tart! having never made tarts before, i looked for measurements for the crust here.

It looked simple enough so i set right to work. so senang man!

165 plain flour

113.5 gm chilled butter

1-2 T iced water

pinch of salt

granulated sugar to sprinkle


Sift flour into a medium bowl. Add the salt and mix well. Grate the butter into the bowl. Just use your fingers lightly to mix the butter and flour up evenly.


I did not crumble the mixture until it became fine breadcrumbs because I wanted the pastry to be more flaky. Add iced water and stir the mixture and then using your fingers bring the dough together into a firm ball.


Do not knead so that the butter does not melt and the gluten is not worked up. Too much kneading will make a tough pastry.

Once the pastry comes together, chill it if necessary and then roll out in between 2 pieces of baking paper (*i didnt have this so i used cling wrap which works just as fine) to 1/8 inch thick. 


Cut a round slightly larger than the pie pan and then lift the pastry and line the pan. Cut the edges to neaten.


like her, also brushed my pastry with egg wash. i bake it in the oven for about 30 mins at 170C.
 For the filling.


20 large strawberries

2-3 tbsp icing sugar (according to preferance)


* you may subtitute with honey but be careful, it might burn faster


1-2 tbsp lime or lemon juice (depending on how tart you want it to be)


2 tbsp corn flour (mixed with water)

I cut up the strawberries and mixed them with the icing sugar. Place them in a pan and stir slighty (refrain from overstirring if you want chunky strawberries). 


When it starts to boil, pour in corn flour mixture bit by bit. stop adding when it starts to thicken and has lost that 'floury' taste. leave it aside to cool.


When the crust is ready, let it rest for 15 mins then pour in the filling.


The crust pastry might be a little difficult to handle to make the lattice, i added a bit more flour for the lattice part and rolled it again and cut into strips.


bake at 170C for 25 mins and tadaaah!!!

let it cool to a nice warm temperature and serve with vanilla ice cream.


welcome to heaven :)


love,


from Jane's Kitchen

Nightmare on news

I had a nigtmare last nite.

I was on my way to go to the studio coz i was reading. news was on at 2pm (which is weird coz i read at midnite). i left the house w my mom at 1130 am and thr was a MASSIVE crawl on the roads. the roads were SUPER scary!! it was at a 90 degree angle and was soooo soooo sooo tinggi!! ive got major issues w heights! n i was the one driving n it went on forever n ever!! my kaki got so lenguh n i asked mama to put her kaki on the accelerator a few times.

i arrived late. at 145pm. had 15 mins to go thru the story lineup and have hair n make up done. while reading i realised i was wearing my sleeveless pajama top, and they had put me in a bright green jacket with stars on it.

i almost died.

but i cudnt coz i was on camera.

so i smiled.

n did my thang!

it was sumtin like this. wouldnt you die?