The Christmas holiday was spent baking with ZL...as she embark on baking her 2 most-wanted pastry: Pancake Cupcake & Cinammon roll!Both of which the first time we're making it...

While im rather proficient whipping up simple meals, baking is very much an unchartered grd for me until recently...well at least im beginning to know what to do now, so not tht bad..haha

The pancake cupcake is a maple & cinammon flavoured cupcake...the steps are quite direct i wld say, at least there's no need to knead the dough and stuff...juz mix everything can le..haha...turns out not bad...haha, not forgetting, zl added her signature "thousand and hundreds"...haha.and its small enough for me to eat a few at 1 go...

The cinammon roll was much tougher...as our mixer cldnt really mix the dough well, end up i had to do manually....shag. It was fun tho, looking at the processing of raising the dough....very different from those we've done b4....but it didnt came thru, as the we took it out of the oven to realise it tasted bland and too hard for a bread....it was quite bad.

Nvtheless still ate 2 of it...well, its abit lyk scones...having it with maple syrup was not bad too..haha. We're not tht sure what went wrong..certainly the incomplete recipe we got from Ikea during 1 of our trips was to blame!! We also realise the yeast we put was much more than other recipes online...

So much it caused ZL to have a stomach upset..vormit some more...poor thing. Tho we failed...its alright, it was meant to be a try-out anyway...we'll try again ya!!:)Get well soon dear...

Oh and Zl made great-looking rainbow cupcakes for me...specially went to stay over at her grandma's place to bake the fruit-cupcake...for some reasons i just love fruit cupcakes, tho its a cheapo food..haha..Thanks dear for all the trouble..loved it.In the afternoon, we had Zl's fav 3 tier traditional afternoon tea!! I kept the location secret throughout the train ride til we were there..haha. Its at Fullerton Hotel. We had the high tea at The Courtyard....the serve the 3 tier sandwiches, scones and desserts with a selection of teas. It wasnt a buffet style so they'll just come and ask if you would like any item to be replenished. We sat and talk and enjoyed seating in the middle of the hotel, looking at the flowing bubbles that floated all ard us(the hotel had a bubble machine right on top..it was quite magical) and listening to the pianist....it was perfect. I gave Zl her card that i prepared....=)The scones there are damn nice especially the premium jam that it was served with...it was THE best jam ever.There were salmon bagel, crab meat with baggeutte, egg mayo sandwich....desserts were not bad but not the best...

Its been a long time we had time to talk about things other than our work,away from how busy we are and how we have to plan our times...complain about life's miseries...and just merely talk abt random stuff that comes into our mind. I guess it was a really enjoyable time...after high tea, we took a short walk to One fullerton and the Fullerton Bay hotel-all very good view!!As for the night, again I kept ZL guessing on where and what we are doing...we took a bus to RWS where we watched the Circus show Voyage De La Vie!! Though it resembles First World Genting(which isnt tht spectacular) RWS is still a Happy place to be...and there were loads of people.

The show started with the performers interacting with the audience...climbing thru the seats like spiders and performing simple magic on stage...not bad a start...While it lacks a narrator which wld help us understand the underlying meaning behind..the show was pretty exciting, and there are many talented performers....tho i found it abit short for the price. Its also the first Circus that i see in SG...so im pretty satisfied...I got ZL a rose pink laptop bag which is versatile and compact for her work...and Uniqlo Heattech longjohn for her Jan trip....While I got a great looking watch from FCUK...just what i needed!Hope you had a memorable day...

And in the same episode...when the gf(frm this ah-lian/ah beng couple team) made a mistake...the guy was so pissed with her he kept scolding her and calling her names. The girl whom at first i thot was a strong ah lian, actually didnt react with vulgarities....instead she just kept apologising(like how a girl-next-door would)...surprising!!

And thru-out the challenge, he kept on with his demoralising talks...blaming her....until she suffered a slight asthma attack. Immediately he woke up and turned nice and understanding towards her...haha!! At least it shows he's just saying the nasty words out of anger...still cares abt her...

iT is these amazing twist and turn and how ppl's roles change as the game goes tht i enjoy watching the show tht much....often u only get to see how dependable ppl are in times of difficulties...

As we start work, we get to enjoy the days after work when there's no more HomeWork!(Tho not all the time), we enjoy the extra few bucks we get to indulge every now n then...but just like school, it becomes a large part of our lives...

In the morning, we prep for work....we travel to work, we have lunch with our colleagues, we go back to work til the evening and by the time we're back hm...not much of us is left. And the same goes on day after day...

The sudden lack of time in my life, made me realise that as much as work is important as it defines how much i earn(haha)...we should not forget our family and our loved ones...maybe its because my boss always ask me abt what the company means to me, what my job means to me...and stuff like tht.It also got me thinking abt the same for my loved ones...what they mean to mean and whether i tk em for granted...

Besides the 8-10 hrs we spend at our work place everyday(some times more for some ppl!)...hm is where we spend the next bulk of our time...and for those ppl who travel overseas for work, time for family and loved ones become even more precious...

So guess its as impt to work...as to rem the most basic part of our lives...