Our first Love Nest :)

After almost two years of waiting, finally we are now proud owners of our first asset, where we will be setting up our home. :) Haha... this photo doesn't spell anything about our new flat, and our keys. But we are imdeed posing in the office of HDB. I realised all the photos taken reveals my new house number, so P&C. ;)

Huat ar!! (meaning increasing wealth in Hokkein)... LOL... that's the Chinese custom of rolling two pineapples before stepping into the new house, for wealth and prosperity.

Here's a small, 90 sqm public housing, with three bedrooms, in the northern part of Singapore. :)

Looking from the door entrance.... It's rather dark as we are living on the fifth floor... On the left is the household shelter, to the right is the kitchen.

Pathetic small kitchen.... We will be hacking off the left wall to make way for an open concept kitchen. Nevermind that people often advises about the grease and all, we need a bright kitchen and more spacious living hall. We will buy a strong hood!

The service yard area, where we will be putting the washer.

Looking out from the service yard area. That's the household shelter.

Our living room. :)

Stepping further in....

Looking from the living room. On the left is the kitchen, Behind the wall with the circular vent is the household shelter. Got it?

Moving to the left will be our bedrooms. Very small yea?

Our dining area. We plan to put a big mirror to enlarge the space. There, you see three bedrooms. We'll be combining two bedrooms into one as the master bedroom is so freakingly small.

Alright, that's about it... will update more again when there's more things to see instead of a bare house.

We started sourcing for contractors / Interior Designers (ID) since last year and finally, we decided to be our own ID. An interior designer helps to design your house but we find that most of the designs coming from such identical layout are similar, and as our house is small, there isn't much designs to play around with.

Hubby is the main "designer" and I'm fortunate that he's enjoying it and good at all the details. :)

Renovation permit has been approved and we'll be starting our renovation soon... *excited*I shall journal it down when things get going... ;)

** I have no idea why the moment I published the post, the paragraph spacing becomes so large. Sorry for the ugle presentation. ***

Happy Birthday to Hubby!

This year, I'm celebrating birthday for Mr Fong, my dd, as a wife / Mrs Fong! There isn't much difference actually. In fact now that we are married, we tend to make things simpler, unlike during those days of courtship. How I miss those days! hehe... I often tell hubby that we have to remind each other to continue to be lovey dovey even after 10, 20 years later... hopefully! It's not that we are not now, just that as we move into different stages of life, such as planning for our home and marriage, we have to be practical, such as saving money for the neccessities. For birthdays, we would usually buy each other what we wanted, instead of buying something that is not practical and we may not like / use it. I don't mind cute stuffs which could be impractical, but not for my hubby. So, I have not bought his birthday present. I will probably pay for our short trip to genting soon then. :)

Another difference is that since we are married, it is hard not to get involved in each other's family's outings and gatherings, even though we may prefer to spend time or certain occasions together with only the two of us. No difference from previous years, I would bake hubby a birthday cake and this year, since his family are celebrating for him and his sister together (their birthday is two days apart), I made a birthday for all to celebrate together.

I decided on a strawberry mousse cake, recipe from Judy Koh's published VCD. I used my newly bought 8-inch round cake ring which was too big for the recipe I was using, hence I baked it a second round, only to realise that the mousse I prepared was not enough for two layers!I had to make do with a really short cake. I also bake the sponge fingers so that I can prevent the mousse from melting by the time we reached the restaurant.

My mother-in-law liked the cake, much to my surprise because she does not have a sweet tooth. I believe it's the tangyness of the strawberry mousse and lemon juice that made it refreshing. I was not quite happy with the texture though as I find the mousse a little too stiff for my liking.

Pretty cake boxes from Daiso. :)

Hubby mentioned he does not like mousse cakes as much and this is the first time I knew it. But still, I have to practise the making of mousse... bear with me ok.. :P

Easy Chocolate Fix - Chocolate Madeleine

I was reading dailydelicious's blog the other day and awed by her beautiful dessert photos, I began to read little more. That was when I read her post on the madeleines she made and struck me that I had only used my madeleine silicon moulds once since the day I bought it. I'm sure that's not surprising to most of you... buying cute baking gadgets out of impulse and hardly use. :P For me, baking stuffs are never an impulse because I think they are really worth it even though I hardly use them. Worth the buy as they makes me happy and I will motivate myself to use it. ;) Back to these cute little seashell cakes, they are so easy to put together and is another alternative to muffins if you to have a quick chocolate fix. Unlike most madeleine recipes that calls for whisking the eggs using a mixer, this recipe works like the muffin method by combining the wet and dry batter together. I supposed this method works better for chocolate madeleines, as I don't see this method in other madeleines, probably because most people prefer a denser texture for chocolate flavours? That's my guess! :) The recipe is none other than dailydelicious mini chocolate madeleine and I've also found a similar recipe at Cuisine Paradise's blog too.


I'm using a silicon mould but I've read that for madeleine, it is better to bake it in a traditional madeleine tray as it browns better. Do remember to butter the mould generously to prevent any peeling of the cakes when you removed from the mould.

Though I received funny remarks about the hump, I thought the hump looks really cute... don't they? :P

I am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #7 - Chocolate Delight (May 2011). This time I shall not missed sending the email to DG. :P

Happy Chocolate Month!