Like everything else, I finally succumbed to the bite of the cupcake bug.
It was a rare occasion to see Bulgemeister at home during the weekend, so I took the opportunity to do something that I have always wanted to do: baking!
After a few words of encouragement from CL, whom I deem now a Master at baking (these words should get me some of her nice cheesecake!), I finally took a plunge and baked my first cupcake. Lasy Sunday, I started off with peanut butter cupcakes, which turned out to be quite good. Everything was polished off almost immediately! I don’t have any pictures to show though.
I then tried to bake chocolate fudge cupcakes for my sister’s birthday. They turned out to be just alright; I did not think I made good chocolate fudge for the icing.
And on Saturday, I baked carrot cupcakes, which turned out to be nice. I was pleased with the end results: the mixture of carrot, spice and nut was perfect and the icing was spot on. I was hoping to bring some for work colleague during the departmental event on Sunday, but all were gone.
My makeshift piping bottle!
And yeah, cream cheese are quite difficult to find in Brunei lately. Let me know if you know where I can get them.
Recently, our next door neighbour passed away. This neighbour also happened to be my sister’s father- in-law. As with Muslim and Malay culture, seven nights of tahlil would follow. Because tahlils were not planned in advance, like what people normally do with weddings, everything, from food to clearing up and washing up after the tahlil, were done by the family and relatives. Or, at least that what should happen.
However, during the seven nights of tahlil, I was annoyed that none of the closer relatives helped out with the washing. Every night the same group of people was left to do the washing up, while the others, including the children, children-in-law and grandchildren of our neighbour, went upstairs and did God knows what. The same group that did the washing up consisted of my sisters, my nieces and the two maids that our neighbour had. There were times when I could not just stand around and had to roll my sleeves up and helped out. I was made even more annoyed when some from my neighbour’s family would look from upstairs and watched us doing the dishes. Didn’t they have any shame letting other people doing that? The tahlil functions were theirs to do and we were just helping but it would be nice if they joined us and helped out with the dishes.
I was brought up in a family where we do things together. Whenever we had a function at home, all the preparations, clearing up and washing up were done together. I would be embarrased to leave people doing things for us. If we see anyone, be it siblings, nieces or nephews, not helping out, we would tell them off and ask them to help. I was glad to see this important life lesson was taught to us by our parents. But sadly, it is one many families seem to be missing.
Here’s a birthday wish to my younger sister, whose job is something that I admire. As a teacher, among her responsibilities are to educate the young ones and shape the future of the country.
to whine: to complain or protest in a childish manner or about trivial things.
to moan: to complain. to rant: to criticise by ranting. to complain: to express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment.
I was speaking to one of my friends a while ago when she asked for the address of this blog. I thought I was expanding my readership and was quite happy to share it. However, I was taken aback and gutted when she said, “I heard from XXX about your blog and I heard that you complained a lot in your blog, so I wanted to read what you complained about”.
Am I really that? Well, I might have ‘commented’ about something before, but I saw them as harmless comments. They were not meant to be malicious or offensive. However, there were times when some people got offended but hey, you can’t please everyone all the time, can you?
Since I have been labelled a whiner, I might just as well rant more :)!
1. Why do slower cars drive on the right lane, move over to the left when a faster car comes along and then move back to the right lane?
2. I can’t understand why people drive around the shopping mall and waste time and petrol just to find that elusive parking space near the entrance, when you could park easily somewhere?
3. What’s up with putting numbers on your name which you then use to request or dedicate songs on the radio? Baby90210? Macho007? I understand why you put numbers on your email address, but not on your name…..
The top four teams in the Barclays Premier League failed to score any goals in their match. Manchester United played away at Villa Park, Chelsea at home against Newcastle United and Liverpool hosted Fulham at Anfield. As a result, the league standing for the top four sides remain unchanged.
Arsenal’s woe continued as they lost 3-0 to Manchester City at the City of Manchester Stadium. After beating Manchester United three weeks ago, they have gone from heroes to zeroes as they lost to Aston Villa and Manchester City and conceded 5 goals in the process. Arsene Wenger practically conceded that Arsenal would not be challenging for the title as losing five games so far is not a sign of a champion. Trouble also brewed offpitch with William Gallas spilling the beans on the bust-up in the Arsenal camp and it resulted with him being stripped off his captaincy and not being played on Saturday.
It was interesting to note that in the bottom half of the table, there are only six points separating the 11th team and the bottom team. If it continues this way until the end of the season, any three of the ten teams can be relegated!
1. Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked….You’re not as fat as you imagine.
2. Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind;
3. Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.
4. Don’t waste your time on jealousy.
5. Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults.
6. Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life
7. Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
8. What ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.
9. Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
10. Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good.
11. Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
12. Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on.
13. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.
14. Respect your elders.
15. Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.
16. Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it.
Yesterday, during Kristal FM’s Breakfast Show, DJ Tini asked her listeners to sms her and share the things that they have done while getting stuck in a traffic jam. Some sms’ed with the pretty normal stuff; sms’ing, calling friends, reading papers or books, touching up on make-up and snacking.
I have done most of the things above (well, touching up on make-up would mean putting moisturiser on my face and doing my hair). Sometimes, I would play arithmetic game, where I would try to make mathematical equations from the numbers on the license plates. For example, 5546 would mean 5+5=4+6, or 329 would mean 3 squared is 9. It was said to be a good way to exercise the brain.
I also have the mobile broadband and there would be times when I would switch on my laptop and, as I am a fan of Facebook, check on my Facebook! There was one time that I actually sent an email from my laptop while stuck in the traffic jam.
There was also a time when I was late for sports after work and I actually got changed in the car. It was quite a feat to actually getting changed in the small, tight space but I managed to somehow.
Without realising, we often have to learn life lessons the hard way. I just learnt the above that way.
Why is it when we think we can trust someone to confide in, the person stabs in the back? Why is it when we confide in someone and the person you confide in tells you that the story should remain between the two of you, somehow the story mysteriously comes back to you and the whole wide world seems to know the story too? Why do people betray trust so easily that your perceived opinions of them changed quickly? Why do people encourage you to say things and then use the information against you?
Bulgemeister 