Happy Birthday Mum!

Happy Birthday Mummy!!! Here is to another year of 4D wins, good food, holidays and no wedding stress!


I can't find any recent pictures of her on my laptop. This was taken probably 2 years ago but I like it. Everyone is looking happy. Mum is next to her fav son (only because there is only one! haha) and her soon-to-be son-in-law. That must be something to smile about right?

My guilty *SPAM* pleasure

I lurveee Spam - for all its preservatives and E number and what not. Call it nostalgic food or comfort food but once in a while I get a strong craving for it. For all the healthy/organic/free-range food we have daily and the daily drumming from the media of rubbish 'mystery meat'....I still have a soft spot for it
Scott is not a fan so I often grab a can when he is away (like this weekend!)


It is such a versatile 'meat'! - can you call it that? I mean I love it in my fried rice, with instant noodle, fried with tomato sauce on soft white bread, with kimchi soup and rice....It has to be fried though...I like the crispy outside and the soft soft 'meat' inside.

Apparently SPAM stands for 'Specially Processed American Meat' or 'Supply Pressed American Meat'....or more naughtily (but correct?) - 'Something Posing As Meat' or 'Spare Parts Animal Meat'


I do wonder who buys them - I know they are supposed to be cheap meat but I dont think it is very cheap considering I paid £1.58 for a small can (larger 300g can cost £1.78) and you can buy a whole chicken (ok - battery reared sad chicken) for £2.29!!! I assume they are targeting the same consumer demographics no? Apart from the pensioners who still have a soft spot for it from their WW2 days.... I mean it is still very popular in Hawaii and the Philipines (according to the world wide web!!) - why those two countries? American army supply base.....bingo!




Last night I had it as fried rice.....with Glory Ikan Bilis sambal -yum yum yum....Glory is the best. Don't bother trying their sambal with prawns...stick with the ikan bilis!

Happy Birthday Scott!!!

One day late - only because I was busy finalising his pressie!

Happy birthday love - you crack me up!

The obligatory Valentine's day post

It's not a day we celebrate for obvious reasons (cheesy, commercial, every day should be valentine's day blah blah) so we do not go out for a special meal or do anything that fancy. We do always try to cook something lovely at home. Like yesterday, we (ok..he) cooked risotto because it's one of our favourite food and I made choc chip cookies. End of....oh, ok we do exchange cheesy cards - thats the extent of us falling into the commercial trap, but to my credit, I did make his card from scratch so it's just him falling into that trap!


But he did surprise me with flowers delivered to my office - a huge bouquet of flowers that looks like it exploded it the bag (so big I filled 3 vases of flowers at home)! It was a lovely surprise as I wasn't expecting anything (apparently he buy me flowers every year - I do have rubbish memory...need to eat more gingko nuts). I was the only one with flowers on my floor - smug!


one of my fav flower - the amaryllis






lamb with cous cous
he cooked dinner again tonight because I was working late...definately a keeper eh? :)

10k run...no, not me

can you spot him?




making sure he finishes in good time


Done in just under 40 minutes - well done!
He is my hero...

When Scott is working late at home...

and I am not.. (he he) I try to keep out of his way (often unsuccessfully as the desk and TV are in the same room) and make him tea to keep him going. We always have dessert at home...simple stuff like yoghurt with fruits - so I will make that for him. But sometimes when the mood is right and I feel like a super-gf moment, I surprise him with something silly...like yesterday







The beauty of this recipe is there is no hard and fast rule... no exact measurement needed. Just chuck in a pack of oreos in the food processer and blitz it to sand-like, whack in some cream cheese (buy low fat to feel better) and mix it all up to taste. Then shape it into anything you like, leave it in the fridge for a bit to harden up and finally coat it in choc. If you are anal like Scott and need a recipe to follow, then this is a good one to use

I shaped mine as hershey's kisses...(ok it was done in a rush so the wrapping is not great! and I would recommend buying super cheap foil for this as my thick bacofoil doesnt crunch up as smoothly)

he he he....


this cracks him up...a nice change from the spreadsheet he has been staring at intently for the last hour!


with his usual evening cuppa

oh side note about the paper...the design is from the inside of an envelope! :)




I also try out making a couple of cupcake balls (Jasmine: this is from the book you bought me!) - wedding deco possibly?


I also made the meringue underneath the choc sauce yesterday night (I was very productive yesterday!) - made the choc sauce about 15 min ago while Scott cooks so we are now sorted for dessert tonight! Off for my chow...

Busy Sunday

You know when you have a list of things to do that keeps growing and growing and you complete a couple on a Sunday and feel so pleased with yourself...well this Sunday is one of those!






sand, scrub and clean the letterpress drawer I bought almost a year ago from Cambridge - I am in love with this tiny beauty...its original purpose was to keep the different letters, numbers etc for printing. We have hung it in the living room but no pic yet as it is not ready for its big unveil...I have a couple of ideas of what to display on it!


While cleaning the drawer...I noticed the rainbow chards are having a 'second life'and the leaves looks ready to be picked! The garden always surprises...both good and bad surprises...


Lunchtime...I made chicken and chinese sausage claypot rice. Double up the portions so we have extra for lunch tomorrow.. a treat for Monday






Roasted maple syrup almond and hazelnut - half kept as whole to scatter on our morning porridge and the other half blitz to death into nut butter (after 15 minutes of crazy whizzing in the food processor...it taste like home-made nutella!)
I can't resist taking pictures of my cutie duck measuring cup - it stacks and come in 4 sizes....too cute not to buy. Same with the sea-shells measuring spoon...you can see it but the back of the spoon is shaped as shells - all purchased from Anthropologie (interior heaven)


Made a 'good luck' card for my colleague/office-buddy Lucy who is going on a secondment to our NY office. She has agreed to be my unofficial postwoman. I'm excited...so excited about the shopping possibilities...without the expensive postage!




One of Scott's xmas pressie was a voucher for a craft class near us and I chose to do a silk-screen printing class. I had grand ideas of filling the whole tea towel with different shape bottles but the printing frame and time limitations meant I scale down my design and this is what I ended up with. I love it! I came home with 2 tea towels and 1 bag

We also hung about a million pictures and Scott's drawing/painting around the flat but none has a finish look (i.e. still waiting for a few more pieces / need to buy the correct nails to hang some of the frames!!) so no pics.

That's my Sunday sorted! Phew....