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Distance: 9km
Time: 51m:30s
Feeling: Seriously, v v tired
Weather: OK

so, apparently we have been running faster than usual. zzz times our run such that we reach certain points by a certain interval.

quite a good practice for me, I think i won't ever improve if someone doesn't push me to.

Blueberry boy bait (Cake)

Chanced upon this recipe from Smitten Kitchen and i was hooked.
We had some blueberries stocked in our freezer and decided to bake this for our weekend bake.

I used about 2 teaspoon of baking powder instead of 1 tablespoon which looked quite intimidating. And will advice using about 1/2 teaspoon of salt for those who like a sweet tooth.

Blueberry Boy Bait

Serves 12, generously

2 cups plus 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
16 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup whole milk (though buttermilk, which was all I had on hand, worked just great)
1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, do not defrost first as it tends to muddle in the batter)

Topping
1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (do not defrost)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 13 by 9-inch baking pan.

Whisk two cups flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. With electric mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium-high speed until fluffy, about two minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated and scraping down bowl. Reduce speed to medium and beat in one-third of flour mixture until incorporated; beat in half of milk. Beat in half of remaining flour mixture, then remaining milk, and finally remaining flour mixture. Toss blueberries with remaining one teaspoon flour. Using rubber spatula, gently fold in blueberries. Spread batter into prepared pan.

For the topping:
Scatter blueberries over top of batter. Stir sugar and cinnamon together in small bowl and sprinkle over batter. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan 20 minutes, then turn out and place on serving platter (topping side up). Serve warm or at room temperature. (Cake can be stored in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.)

Attempts to cook

huat kueh (fatt koh), first time attempt by zzz

home-made cabonara and pasta (a tad saltish but actually not bad!)

baked salmon with asparagus and mushrooms

self-made bread, inspired by Jamie Oliver

Improving Run. Yeah!

zzz had been pushing me to break my usual run routine of 63mins/8km. So during the Saturday Pierce reservoir runs, he'll deliberately up the pace (he usually drops to accomodate my crawls....heheh) and i'll have to catch up on my strides. The result?

Date: 4 July
Distance: 9km
Time: 54mins 30secs

Date 7 July
Distance: 8.4km
Time: 59mins

Don't ask me why the shorter distance takes a longer time. Could be a miscount but i am already Quite Happy ^_^

The best dessert is found right in my kitchen

blueberry compote & cheesecake, by zzz.

yellow heart

LOVE is in the AIR ?

alcohol zzzz

lesson # 1: never gulp down an alcoholic drink (actually it's 3), especially when it's a sweet one. zzz opened this Riesling Australian wine for dinner last night and i practically drank it like soda water.

the result? i zonked out on the sofa at 8pm and woke up at 7am.

makes me wonder where my 2 yrs of training has gone to?!

warning: never attempt to do this other than your own house!

Crystallized-ginger gingerbread

best with vanilla ice-cream

While in Kathmandu, we had the BEST banana cake ever from one of the hotel's breakfast buffet. It had a richer color and flavor than what we have here, which tend to have a 'looser' texture and lighter color. The one in Nepal had a dense texture, at first look and taste, looked like a clever combination between banana cake and gingerbread, with a distinct molasses fragrance.

So, now back home, the budding baker decides to try and recreate the recipe, only that he found one which we thought we'll like even better!

The kitchen was filled with the wonderful taste of molasses and ginger sugar! So Christmas-sy!

piZZZa!

We were supposed to go zzz ah-ma's house on Sunday to "bao ba-zhang" (glutinous rice dumpling) but zzz got an army notification to report back to camp in mid-morning (so very BL loh!)

zzz ended up making a small tomato base with mozerella cheese and basil pizza for his lunch, since he already had the dough refrigerated a day before. Snitched a slice from him before going off to dous house. Quite yummy!

Nepal. Part 2

Pashupati temple. Holy Hindu temple.
Buddha Stupa on the lower left hand side

Celebrations at Buddha Stupa. Coincidentally arrived on Vesak Day, Nepalese call it as "Birth of Buddha", translated.

Medieval city of Bhaktapur, one of the 3 of ancient Nepal.
The other 2 are Kathmandu and Patan

On top the Panchase

Sunrise!
Love the first photo. Magnificent sunBEAMS

Typical campsite and food. We even had a small dining tent.
The cook made a cake for us on last day of trek!
Amazing, considering he was cooking on kerosene all through the trek

Domestic air. Buddha air! Ohmm.....

"Monkey temple"

Nepal

its surreal

First night out. one of the first sighing of the Annapurna Range. See out little red tent! (actually, it's not little at all, quite long and comfy)

My internet connection is abit wonky.
So, here's abit on the Himalayan mountains now and more to come on the mountains and Kathmandu city later :)

We went on the Panchase trek. It's an easy trek by Nepalese standard(we suspect they could have completed the whole trek in 2 days max) but still proved to be much of an experience for us. Panchase is not as common as Poon hill and it's further by distance to the Annapurna range, but pretty all the same.

I guess i am overwhelmed.
Me, i was never a trekker (some friends will remember the screaming experience i had once in Hanoi and that was a 2 hour climb), so climbing this is kind of like a big deal to me. It's a good thing i actually went without thinking of whether i was even physically prepared.

My first sight at the snow-capped mountains after the first day's trek is engraved in memory. The sight struck me right in the face just as we rested for the day, it had rained and the clouds were starting to clear. All of a sudden, peaks of snow-capped mountains started unfolding before us one by one. You can imagine how excited i was. The same feeling i had when i first saw snow in Beijing (than, i simply ran out w/o my jacket just to stare at the sky falling it's first winter flakes. Crazy Singaporean girl)

Rise and shine at 5am day 3 of trek to watch sunrise atop Panchase
Chandraman (Moon man, translated in Nepalese) with me. A kiddish 43 year old Sherpa, took great care of us!

Nepal

Fish tail lodge at Pokhara.
Our soon to be lodging after the trek.

This makes me happy.

easter cupcakes

Easter bunny chocolate cupcakes with orange buttercream icing

zzz is in a cupcake frenzy and
i get to eat.
what's not to like?

carrot cake cupcakes

carror cake cupcakes with cream cheese topping.....and tennis racquets

Another of zzz's creation.
For JC, the tennis lover.
My role here?
important....
the tester & critique.

Nutella Muffins

Baking on a weekday.

foods from zzz

Sardines in cream cheese linguine

peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate ganache

Foods from zzz this weekend....heheheh....

More cupcakes

Cupcakes from zzz. Yummy! Thanks!

Run less, run better?

Distance: 862 to Lower Pierce
Time: 57 minutes

I have not been updating too much on my runs, because they have been pretty boring recently. Running the same route, same timing, same feeling. Even zzz commented today that i have not improved since the SC marathon in December. He commented that it could be due to tiredness of my body from my frequents runs and suggested i skip next weekdays' runs to concentrate on doing better during the weekend.

Hmm. or is it a ploy of his to make me run less? heh.

Cupcakes with cream cheese icing

My part was to sprinkle the colorful sugar beads. But it tasted and looked good, all thanks to zzz's efforts. No complains from me!

Cupcakes
225g butter, softened
225g caster sugar
225g self-raising flour
4 eggs

Icing
200g cream cheese (Philadelphia is the best!)
175g icing sugar, sieved
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla essence

Preheat the oven to 175degC. Place 18 paper baking cases in muffin tins. Combine the butter, sugar, flour, eggs in a large bowl and beat with am electric whisk until smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Spoon batter into the cases and bake for 20 minutes. Remove tins from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Then remove the cupcakes and cook on a rack

To make icing, slowly beat the cream cheese in a large bowl with an electric whisk until it is smooth and soft. Add icing sugar, lemon juice and vanilla. Beat briskly until smooth and well combined. Swirl the icing onto cooled cupcakes.

The curious case of Benjamin Buttons

It's a nice feeling to go to the movies, especially with someone you know will enjoy the show as you will.

And ever since school started for both of us, it's been almost never possible to go out on Friday nights. So, we made an impromptu after-lunch decision last Friday to catch the latest 'must-watch' show

The curious case of Benjamin Buttons.

Based on F.Scott Fitzgerald short story of the same title.

Worth a watch, if not for the company, its also worth the 166 minutes and the $9.50 weekend show.

Not to mention Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. YUM