Merry Christmas!

If there's still any of you left anyway, after I've abandoned my blog for a considerably long period of time XD I'm just gonna drop a short little wish and off to bed soon.

So now, I want to convey my wish for everyone's happiness and well-being for this special and meaningful day.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU!!!

Not just today, but for everyday onwards!! After all, happiness (even the slightest bit) is all we need to get on with all the challenges life presents to us. Isn't that right??

You know before my holiday starts I kept wishing that I wanna go out everyday everyday everyday. And I really went out most of the days. It's uber tiring (although fun and eye-opening) and now I just wanna have one week to myself. But before I know it the next semester of college is here already.

Why in the world time always passes so darn fast? For the good bits I mean?

Sometimes I get the feeling that life's going so fast. There's no time to observe and appreciate what's good and right in front of us. We're always trying to pursue something but the blessings are already here, with us. People say, teenage is a phase where you learn a lot of things. But for me, teenage is, yes, a phase where I learn a lot of things. However, only these 2 or 3 years are the years that I've really learn. About life. About how we treat people and how the world works. About how to accept defeat and learn to climb back up again. About how short life really is and how seemingly important things right now will all be a tiny little past in the future.

From end of 2007 till now, I dare say that I've learned a lot, mentally and philosophically. I've found some answers to some of my own questions, those kind of questions where no one can really answer you but only you yourself will know the answer to it through personal experiences. I've learned to let go and put down certain things in my heart that I'll never forgive myself for. After all, it's the past, why dwell on it? Why not look forward to the future with an open heart and the readiness to accept whatever life will give to us, no matter good or bad, with a smile?

Here I'll quote something from a friend:

"Don't take life so seriously... no one comes out of it alive anyway."

Why, so true indeed. Although yes it's coated heavily with sarcasm but yes it's the truth nonetheless. I agree with it all-heartedly :D Although that's not to tell you all to commit suicide. Please don't get me wrong that way lol. But I can always see people (myself included) making such a big deal out of a simple little things sometimes. Yet when we're in the heat of the moment it's the only thing we focus on and worry soooo much about it. Funny ain't it? Oh well oh well. I should probably stop babbling about that now.

I've just finished watching Code Geass and migod it's WOW. Seriously. WOW. ESPECIALLY Season 2. It's wow-inducing. No take that back. It's a WOW itself. Okay I don't know what I'm talking about now but the point is that it's fantabuloso. In fact now I've listed it into my Top 5 faves. It's worthy of Top 5 but No. 1 is still Honey and Clover for me :D Anyway I'll not say more about it as I plan to do a full post only about Code Geass later (I keep saying that a lot lately huh? I'll post that, I'll post this...when oh when will I post xD).

And now I'm watching Natsume Yuujincho. It's been on my To Watch list for about one (or was it two?) years already and finally now I get to watch it. All because of Rurouni Kenshin *ahem* nothing. It's a very relaxing anime and I NEED more animes like this to calm my soul (LOL as if I've been in the war or something for the past 20 years XD).

OH DAMN I JUST ANN-ED* UP NATSUME'S SEIYUU TO FIND OUT IF MY SUSPICION IS CORRECT AND I'M RIGHT!!!!! NO WONDER I KNEW THERE'S SOMETHING FAMILIAR ABOUT THAT VOICE!! HE'S ALSO THE SEIYUU FOR TAKEMOTO IN HONEY AND CLOVER!!! I CAN ACTUALLY RECOGNIZE THAT VOICE WHILE WATCHING THE ANIME!! OMG I LOVE THAT VOICE.

*ANN-ED - Anime News Network-ed (also see: Googled)

Ahem. Sorry for the sudden outburst. Where was I just now? Oh. Yeah. Natsume and seiyuu. MAN I CAN'T BELIEVE I ACTUALLY RECOGNIZE THAT VOICE. Okay, Hiroshi Kamiya is so on my favourite seiyuu list now.

Okay, done with my otaku talk. I'm pretty sure every reader skip that part anyway :D

ANYWAY, so much for my "short little wish". I ended up talking about nearly everything =.= So, have a BLASTING MERI KURISMASU!!! Oyasuminasai!



Yvonne..

ありがとう 心から...

Been listening to this song non-stop recently. Yes I know it's mellow and not something I usually would listen to but hey it's nice and I like how ORANGE RANGE sing it - with a very kind, grateful, and soft voice. I heard of the indie band ORANGE RANGE since few years back, due to their extensive works covering dramas (Hanazakarino Kimitachi e - Ikenai Taiyou), movies (the record-breaking song "Hana"), and animes (Code Geass). Majoring in alternative rock, in my honest opinion, they produce surprising good songs occassionally. And the unique part of it is that sometimes they're not in the rock genre. And this song is one of those.

シアワセネイロ (Shiawase Neiro)
by ORANGE RANGE

胸の中いつか拾った　幸せのかけら　集めてみよう
I'll try gathering up the pieces of happiness
that I picked up some other time in my chest
忘れかけていた　メロディー　色あせず僕の真ん中に
A melody that I started to forget about is
right in the middle of me, unfading


借りたままの漫画捜索中　たまたま見つけた色あせた文集
While I was searching through borrowed comic books,
from time to time I found faded anthologies
「天下を掴む」なんて我ながらアホらしくて笑いが出た
It was me who laughed out loud like an idiot
at stuff like "seize the world"
天下じゃなくて電車の吊革を掴む日々
During the days when I seized not the world
but the hanging strap on the train
あの頃のボクに「ごめんなさいね」と微笑みながら頭を下げた
While smiling and saying, "I'm sorry,"
to me back then, you lowered your head


ありがとう　心から
Thank you, from my heart
僕に今があるのは皆のおかげさ
I owe it to everyone for now to exist in me
ありがとう　心から
Thank you, from my heart
次は僕が皆にHAPPY贈るよoh oh oh
Next it'll be me who delivers happiness to everyone oh oh oh


何もかも忘れないよ　あの日のボクモボクだから
I won't forget just about everything since me back then was also me
大好きだよっていつも言ってあげなきゃダメだね
It was useless that I didn't always say 'I love you'
辛ければ逃げてもいいよ　またここに帰ってくるのなら
When it's tough, it's okay even if you run away,
if you return here again
いろいろ寄り道もして行こうオリジナルな日々を
Let's go make various stops on the way in the original days


止まらない町の真ん中で　いつかからか君はうつむき加減
Right in the middle of an unstopping city,
since when have you been looking down?
抱える「気持ち」が多すぎて　一人きりでパンクしちゃってる
You hold too many "feelings" and blow out like a tire all alone
だから僕の言葉を聞いて　幸せをくれた君のため
So listen to my words, for you who gave me happiness
力を送るよday by day
I'll give you strength day by day


胸の中あふれそうな　幸せのかけら　つなげてみよう
I'll try connecting the pieces of happiness
that seem to overflow in my chest
力強くなる　メロディー　繰り返されてくメッセージ
A message makes the strengthening melody repeat
涙がこぼれそうな　長い夜は　ふっとふり返って
On a long night when my tears seem to spill, I suddenly turn back
足跡をたどるんだ　あの日を忘れないように
And follow my footprints, so that I won't forget about that day


***

ORANGE RANGE, with this song, I change my perspective and thoughts about you guys. Good work :)

Yvonne..

Okay

Long time no post, don't worry, I'm not dead (yet). As usual finals slaughtered me and dragged me across a bed of sharp long nails. Well, that's clearly no surprise.

But anyway, I'M DONE WITH FINALS NOW!!! (And another 6 months I'll be dragged across that bed of nails again anyway =.=)

I have so many things to do, I feel like listing them down:

• Go to Comic Fiesta 2009.
  
• Watch at least 5 animes before the next semester (I'm watching Code Geass now :D).
  
• UPDATE THIS BLOG (I have like, 30 posts to update and I'm lazy but I have so many things to write!! A lot of anime reviews, food reviews, shits and stuff :D).
  
• Scour through all the malls for Christmas decorations. God I love Christmas decorations.
• Restaurant City unlock 3 dishes for each course, reach 800000 GP before semester starts (I really hate the game now yet I'm still playing it wtf).
  
• Update photos on FB.
  
• Find new recipes to bake :D
• Go out, go out, go out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, there're more on my list, but those are personal stuffs :D

So this is a post to tell you guys that I'm still alive, and be prepared to see major spamming of blog posts within this month (I hope I won't drag this till next year :D).

By the way, please note that my latest obsession is:

♥KURURUGI SUZAKU♥
(Omg, I wanna marry him.)

from Code Geass (Jeez I really hope one day I can stop loving fictional or anime characters, did you guys know that in Japan a guy married a game character in a virtual dating game?? Like wtfffffff, I wish I could do that to Shinichi *cough ahem* Kidding. :) )

And yes Does that mean I'm *FINALLY* done with Rurouni Kenshin? Why yes that's RIGHT, after 95 excruciating-but-in-the-end-it's-nice episodes, I'M FREED FROM RK. Actually, I finished watching that like before the finals :X Himura Kenshin is so hot ♥ XD.

Alright I really gotta gather my thoughts now and erm post some more later, now I'm busy. LOL.

Yvonne..

So true, so true.

We make those who care for us cry,
we cry for those who never care for us,
and we care for those who will never cry for us.

Yvonne..

Anthony

Too damn good. Second one really reminds me a bit of Eason Chan.

Yvonne..

Winter

November often strikes me as a more wintery month than December. I don't know why, probably the spelling of the month which involves "v", and that somehow expressed the coldness of a month in the name.

Therefore, I've decided to take up a new theme, for winter, for Christmas, cheers :) [Also, probably because with pink I'll only put off blogging as long as possible as I really couldn't stand it XD.]

I've thought of changing the song to something like "I've never had a dream come true", a song which, I'm sure a number of you had heard and became fans of it just like me about 8 years ago. But, since I've said the new theme's also for Christmas so I have Sakura Kiss on string and piano which I think is quite festive and... happy.

To me, no doubt November is a cold, winter month. But, it's never a month of sorrow or sadness to me. In fact, winter never gives me that kinda feeling. I'm the kind who had, or maybe have, the amount of hope in me that I think winter is a warming, comfortable season.

Yvonne..

Memories

Went to my primary school's 80th anniversary.. Walking along the corridors of a place I'd once so familiar with, it's almost sad to feel so grown up. Good memories or bad memories, I still regard them as treasured, priceless memories.

I find it weird that our school never have a class like 6A. We have strange letters like B, K, H, and so on. There's no name, but I couldn't help wondering why those letters were picked instead of A, Y, and so on?

So many years had passed since graduation, and yet my good old school's still there, strong like never before. But I'm quite surprised to find out that it's going to move to "a more suitable location" in a few years. I bet most of us, especially those who have graduated, must be against it. Unless they move the whole building over. Because it's really special to us.

It's sad to know that one of our classmates had passed away just weeks ago. At such a young age, I wonder what he felt at the moments of his last breath. Regrets? Reluctance? or Anger? But it doesn't matter, because in the end, we must all let go. RIP my friend.

Yvonne..

Regal

I hate cats, but sometimes there are exceptional cases. Especially for cats who know how to behave and look almost adorable.

This one looks serene and almost regal.

Yvonne..

Weird Combination

I've seen yoghurts in many many different flavours: mango, tropical fruits, strawberry, raspberry, whatever-kind-of-berry, orange, aloe vera and so on.

But CAPPUCCINO?

Interesting.

Somehow cappuccino's flavour matched quite well with the yoghurt, although I dislike the addition of Nata de Coco in there. But then again, i always dislike Nata de Coco XD

Yvonne..

A Quick Update

Haven't blog in a long time, mostly, due to I haven't been online that frequently anymore. But still, I do keep a little list of what I'm planning to blog, so when I have the time, like these two days, I just post as many as I can. XD

I had mock test recently, which was a complete horror to me. I went into a blank panic in one of the papers, and I think this time round I'm definitely going to flunk it. Sigh. Who else to blame except me. Great.

After the mock I went and cleaned up my room, which was a very very tremendously satisfying experience for me XDXD. You couldn't imagine the amount of dust that I "discovered", which was very scary, because the kind of dust I'm talking about here is not like what you imagine, like a sheet of dust on something right? Wrong. Some places in my room, the dust had accumulated to a point where they ROLLED INTO A CYLINDRICAL SHAPE. Rolls with about 1cm diameter. So you get rolls and rolls of dust which look a bit like insects. Interesting eh? :)

Then I read some books which I intend to read for a long time but haven't got round to do it, I'll blog about it soon :) Rewatched a Korean drama, definitely not the type Nigahiga's talking about, and finally finished watching Heroes up to Season 4. I'll definitely continue to watch Heroes. I couldn't resist watching how evil Sylar is. It's scary to say that I find it utterly interesting :D

AND I JUST DISCOVERED THAT UGLY BETTY SEASON 4 IS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG. I CAN'T WAIIIIIITTTT. :D:D:D:D:D

Yvonne..

Two in One

Twin-yolked egg!


But sadly it's not me, but dad who discovered it =(

Yvonne..

Anticipation

Never more eager to know the answer.

From the moment I learned that he's coming back, my mind had set off in a series of lightning-fast guessings and ran through dozens of possibility.

Why? For what? Or could it be For who?

My mind was unbelievably driven by tinglings of excitement, that I seriously hate to wait until he's back to find out what is it that brings him back here. Better not be for a model of Transformer. Grr.

Yvonne..

Sign

For the first time in a reasonably long time, I had a truly good dream.

There were no worries or sorrow, could it be a sign of freedom?

I have a very good feeling that it is =)

Yvonne..

Tsk tsk tsk

Recently I heard that Taylor Swift's "You Belong with Me" topped AT40 either this or last week.

Let me get this straight - America's top favourite song for the week, is about this girl who love this guy for a long time but never confess to him until some skank snatched her boy, whom this oh-so-innocent-girl paid revenge by snatching the boy back?

Ah, how very delighting to know that :)

Yvonne..

Black Forest Delight

As the package had suggested, it does have the power to make you surrender for more, well that's what I did. Black Forest Delight is similar to the normal original Tim Tam, except for the additional cranberry cream squeezing in between. But that's all it needs to rock =D

♥

Yvonne..

A Good Rock Song

"No Surprise"
by Chris Daughtry

I've practiced this for hours, gone round and round
And now I think that I've got it all down
And as I'm singing louder, I love how it sounds
'Cause I'm not taking the easy way out
Not wrappin' this in ribbons
Shouldn't have to give a reason why


It's no surprise.. I won't be here tomorrow
I can't believe that I stayed til today
Yeah you and I will be a tough act to follow
But I know in time we'll find this was no surprise


It came out like a river, once I let it out
When I thought that I wouldn't know how
Held onto it forever.. just pushing it down
It felt so good to let go of it now
Not wrapping this in ribbons
Shouldn't have to give a reason why


It's no surprise.. I won't be here tomorrow
I can't believe that I stayed til today
There's nothing here in this heart left to borrow
There's nothing here in this soul left to save
Don't be surprised when we hate this tomorrow
God knows we tried to find an easier way
Yeah you and I will be a tough act to follow
But I know in time we'll find this was no surprise
Our favorite place we used to go
The warm embrace that no one knows
The lovin' look that's left your eyes
That's why this comes as no..
as no surprise


If I could see the future and how this plays out
I bet it's better than where we are now
But after going through this
It's easier to see the reason why


It's no surprise.. I won't be here tomorrow
I can't believe that I stayed til today
(Stayed til today)
Yeah you and I will be a tough act to follow
But I know in time we'll find this was no surprise
Our favorite place we used to go
The warm embrace that no one knows
The lovin' look that's left your eyes
But I know in time we'll find this was no surprise.


***

Yvonne..

Bless Him

I don't really believe that a person with pure kindness exists, though once in a while I do meet certain people whom I can sense kindness right out from his or her heart.

When I say I can sense kindness, I really mean that I can feel it, and words ringing in my head "my god, he/she is kind".

Today I've experienced it again.

God bless that old man.

Yvonne..

Manner

I find that some people do really lack of it.

Sometimes I don't see how the word "Thank You" can be so hard for a person to say, because it seemed to me that saying it could make some people choke and suffocate to death. And yes I'm being sarcastic.

But really, I loathe people who take everything for granted as if the world owes it to him. Therefore, "thank you", to that person, does not exist.

Gratefulness is a feeling that we should never forget.

I can forgive those who are really shy, or just not accustomed to saying certain words, like how I'm not accustomed to saying "I love you" to people whom I really really love, not even with my family, because I was being brought up by a family who express love through actions and care, not words and displays of love.

But for those who are ignorant, I have no more to say other than throwing a disdainful glance at him.

Luckily, in this culture, no one really dare to forget "Sorry", for when everyone is afraid of upsetting another person which might set off a series of unpleasant events. Oh, how I love my culture.

Be grateful!!

Yvonne..

Perspectives

It's very subjective.

The world looks exactly like how we wanted to see it. It's something I never doubted, and believed the moment I learned of this concept.

Don't you agree that when we feel happy and at ease, everything runs smoother? Even a piece of shit looks pretty. No joke.

But when your heart is at the wrong emotion, the wrong place, the wrong mood, that's it, even a simple general statement can negatively affect your judgement easily.

Therefore you see, monks don't really get upset that often, if they ever do. They look at things with a wider perspective, they sit further back in the cinema, they look at things without involving themselves into it, and I think, this action is important when we wanted to clear our head, or got too busy, or just too upset about something.

It's a good skill to be mastered, be perfected. When we steer clear of all the little things cluttering all around in our head, we can appreciate the beauty of the seemingly unimportant small little things around us, those that we've took for granted. Family, friends, the sun, the sky, nature, music, everything. Why is it that people will only realize how grateful should they be when those things are gone?

Why is it that some of us can be poor but happy? Why is it that, despite all the negative issues we read each day in the newspaper, some of us can still learn to trust others other than own family? Why is it that some people can just commit suicide over some trivial matters? Is there really no other way out?

No money? So what? I'll earn some.

No family? So what? Friends will be your new family.

No friends? So what? I'll make some. There're people all around you.

No hope? Take a break, and let time wash things over.

Change the perspectives.

I don't believe there is anything (most of them) that time can't solve. Especially for highly volatile human related matters.

Life is too short for anything. It's really funny to me when I see some people just rush life over especially those of us who're incredibly workaholic.

Damn. The thought of soul-searching creeps up to the back of my mind again. Lol.

Yvonne..

人有悲欢离合

人有悲欢离合，月有阴晴圆缺，此事古难全。

但愿人长久，千里共婵娟。

菁..

The Pink Phase

I know, I know, this is like, omg and all, since I don't specifically like pink (understatement of the year hahaha), but still, SOMETIMES it can be quite nice. Just bear with me for a while, I'll change again as soon as I'm bored of pink.

(Which I estimate will be in no time >.<)

Happy October people!! Ten months passed without most of us registering that fact, and it seems like only yesterday we were wishing each other Happy 2009.

Time flies like light. Faster than light.

P.S. Add-on: Shit it's seriously pink. Candy pink. I got scared for a while. So gay. Urgh. So not me.

Yvonne..

母语

很久没打华语字了。

那天突然挖出全部华语歌， 听个痛痛快快。

普通朋友，春泥，雨人，我要快乐，翅膀等等。

发现自己忽略了母语好久好久。

差点忘了母语的美丽，每一个字，每一个词，都有不一样的意义。表达情感，如此容易。

真的有些想念。

六年前就趋向西方日本文化， 听的歌， 当然， 也是英文日文。

摆脱了中文流行排行榜的魔咒， 却忘了也有很多值得收藏， 值得珍惜的歌。

庆幸的发现， 原来有些东西， 是不会变的。 喜欢的歌， 现在依然喜欢。

菁..

Tasty Salt

Please tell me how can salt be tasty.

Apparently, the advertiser had been working too hard. We don't need adjectives in the ingredients list, but thank you very much for lighting up my day xD

Yvonne..

Graduation

From CAT I mean. Certified Accounting Technician.

Not ACCA.

So cool down, people.

But I do hope that I will graduate from ACCA asap of course.

Actually the point of this post is that, is that, is that:

I FELT LIKE WE'RE ALL FROM
HOGWARTS (yes that school of witchcraft) TODAY.

Because the robes, seriously, reminded me of Harry Potter, Hogwarts, and Wingardium Levi-oh-sa.

What's lacking?

Magic wands and brooms.

AHAAHAAAHAAA.

P.S. I know I sounded dumb, or still-crazy-over-harry-potter, but you know, being an ex-HP fan, I just couldn't help it. xD

Yvonne..

Meet Sweet Bubble

Meet Sweet Bubble, my loyal and faithful wrist rest that relieved that bruise near my wrist.

If you're someone who spend time with your computer most of the time while you're awake, you'll get what kinda bruise I'm talking about here.

So meet Sweet Bubble, my newfound healer :D

Yvonne..

The New Hotcake

I won't say that this curry puff's the best curry puff in the world, but of all the ones that I've got my hands on before, this should be one of the Top 5.

First of all it's double the size of a normal curry puff, and then there's the half-piece of hard boiled egg right in the middle of the spicy dhal-sort-of curry.

It might not be a good combination to some people, but I certainly like it :D

To state the facts, the tray of about 50 puffs will disappear within about 2 hours the moment these are served for sale to the hungry college students.

And if you're late...well, you're just gonna have to wait for another day XD

Yvonne..

Same!

Found my lappie's twin brother!







Ya know wyekeat, we should totally hold a ceremony for our lappies to become twin bros, what say you, eh? XD

Yvonne..

Mishka I love you~~~

Aww. I wanna get a dog~~

Still blur? Listen carefully to 0:15.

Yvonne..

Nice to Know :D

It's nice to realize that you've started a trend.

Mwahaahaahaa.

Yvonne..

Gasoline

Hang out with Kim and Agnes today at Times Square. Shopped majorly. I bought a pair of shoes and a handbag O.O Seriously I think I need to consider the option of working part-time. Anyway for lunch we went to Gasoline.

Gasoline - A comic-themed restaurant.

Chocolate Mint Ice Blended
Agnes loveeesss this. The ice's a bit too coarse though.

Black Pepper Butter Chicken Chop
The sauce's quite good actually, but kinda salty.
Mushroom soup tasteless :(

The chicken was quite nice though, soft and well-done.
Not too bad.

Cheese Butter Seafood Rice
Quite okay to me... but not really worth it, Agnes said.

The atmosphere at Gasoline's actually quite pleasant, the service wasn't that bad as well. But the food were not really up to par, probably because it was lunch peak hour when we entered the restaurant so everything's cooked up in a hurry.

Later on we stepped into Krispy Kreme to hang out/rest there. I don't know why last time when it was newly opened there's Hershey's Milk Chocolate and Hershey's Cookies and Cream flavour but now they're no longer on the display racks. So we got the original glazed instead. Still the best. ^o^

Pink Guava Juice.

Miss you guys loads. xoxo

Yvonne..

M-U-F-F-I-N-S

This time it's muffins!! Or to be exact, Choc Chip Chocolate Muffins with Walnuts and Banana! Lol I know the name's very long.

A success!!! Crisp on the outside, moist on the inside!! But yeah I admit it's a little bit too moist inside but I discovered that after a few days letting the muffins in the fridge they actually taste better O.O It's like the chocolate intensified and the muffin turned into a dense chocolate cake which is utterly utterly heavenly when you eat it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The mixture. I know it looked a bit messy. xP

My kitchen smelled like chocolate that time...

I like the cracks on the muffins :)

The inside.
The darker parts represent melted dark chocolate chips.

I got the original recipe from here but I modified it as well by adding bananas and walnuts. The bananas were not that obvious though, cuz there wasn't enough bananas :(

Hmm what's next to bake~~? Any suggestions?

Thought of making some candied walnuts next time... Hmm...

Yvonne..

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Yeap I've watched this as well.

But I'm not going to write much of a review on it. Well you know, light romcom like this don't have much for me to write about as it has nothing that philosophical and you can always pretty much guessed the rest of the story the moment you read the caption line of the movie. I just wanna quote a sentence or two from the movie which I found very similar to some of my thoughts some time ago.

"You know what, it scared the hell out of me too.
What if she hurt me?
You know, what if she left me? What if she died?
It'd have been the end of me.
So I cut it short, before she ever could.
And you know what?
It was the biggest mistake I have ever made."

And here's a second one.

"Any pain that you feel will never, ever compare to the regret that comes from walking away from love."

Agree much? Oh yes I do, very very much. In fact I almost thought the movie copied my thoughts XDXDXD

Yvonne..

Meatballs & Winter Warmers

Went out with college mates today, and it felt like this outing was some food-hunting mission. We ate three meals within about six hours. No joke. Well, not that I mind anyway XD, in fact I enjoyed a lot XDXD. From finally tasting the well-known Ikea's Swedish meatballs with cream sauce and Lingonberry jam, discovering Winter Warmers, to getting a bite of the popular and "famous" Ikea's curry puffs and hotdog.

We reached the place at about 10 to 11 in the morning and started off with a bang erm sorry I mean the meatballs. Yeah. Did I mention that PLin's parking skill made all of us almost speechless? I had my eyes closed while she went into the parking lot head-on so fiercely without even slowing down because she nearly nearly neaaarrrly scratch the car beside us. :D

Anyway, back to the meatballs. With cream sauce and Lingonberry jam. Gosh I love the cream sauce.

Actually I think I love the cream sauce
more than the meatballs O.O seriously.

A close up of the meatballs, look at how
creamy and luscious the sauce looked. I know :D
Oh and notice the Lingonberry jam too =D

We shopped for a bit after the brunch. Then I discovered Daiso, a Japanese supermarket where everything is priced at 5 bucks each. It was like my kind of shopping heaven!! Why haven't I discover this before??? OMG I couldn't believe that. I have no idea why Daiso never open up a store in the city, it's really beyond me. What a waste of business opportunity. Sighs oh well.

Again as usual we mulled over where to have lunch after several hours of trolling around the malls (note: malls: plural), then finally all of us poured into a little sweet modest looking English tea and coffee house named Winter Warmers. Mind you I was quite tired by that time.

The interior's quite small but very chic.

Their signature teacups cabinet.

Mine - Chocolate-Mint Coffee
One of the few times I drank coffee. Or shall I put it correctly
I was duped into ordering this cuz I only focused on
the words "chocolate-mint" when I was placing
my order. Then only I discovered that it's actually hot coffee. =.=
But not bad actually. The coffee tasted quite nice for a change.
And yes we marveled at the prettiness of the cup for quite a while XD

SMay - Green Tea Ice Blended.

PLin & Steph - Rose Ice Blended
Looked a bit like orange ice blended to me though XD

PLin & Steph - Macaroni Cheese Bake
I couldn't forget the smell of the thick melted cheese...yum.

Liana - Mango Chicken Rice
Very tangy and very mangoed -
the chicken, the sauce, and the mango.
Love the sweetness of it ;)

SMay - Veggie and Egg Waffle
Seriously I think this is the first time I saw a savoury waffle.
Very creative and tasty!! The egg added a nice flavour to the waffle :)

Mine - Deep Fried Garlic Chicken
I love the garlic sauce. And the cold potato salad.
But the pasta garden salad's a bit weird-tasting, there's
something about the dressing they used... very floral-like.

I forgot to take pictures of the curry puffs and the hotdog. The curry puffs were not exactly the kind I like cuz the pastry's too thick especially at the sides of the puff. I prefer thin pastry when it comes to curry puffs =X The hotdog however was a delight. We can put as many chili sauce, mustard, relish and chopped onions on it. I love the relish. That was why I didn't take a picture of it, too busy gobbling it down XDXD

Gahhhh I wanna go out with you guys again!!!!!!! :D

Yvonne..

C-U-P-C-A-K-E-S

I BAKED AGAIN.

And this time it's not those pre-mixed stuff anymore. I really BAKED. As in, beat the sugar and butter and fold in the mixture into the flour and all those. You get the picture anyway. YES, I DID IT!!! :D After about, oh-I-don't-know, 3 years after my parents bought the oven, finally someone actually used the oven to bake some cakes. Teehee!

Um, it's vanilla choc chip cupcakes with white chocolate frosting. Well, it was supposed to be chocolate fudge frosting but mom bought the wrong kind of chocolate =.= But seriously the chocolate wrapper was really misleading, I thought it's milk chocolate too until I opened the package =.=

Anyway stop reading my crap and LOOK AT MY FRESHLY BAKED CUPCAKES!!!!!!!!! OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG! Lol.

Baking~ baking~ the vanilla scent in the air~

I know this arrangement looked so gay but whatever.

Pretty? Pretty??

I would've bought some colourings to add to the frosting
had I known that it's white but not milk chocolate xD

:D

Last one~~

Alright, show's over XD. But to tell the truth the cupcakes were not really that good. The frosting's a bit tasteless and it's worse when paired with the vanilla cupcakes as both were equally tasteless. Luckily there was some choc chips in the cupcakes so at least they're not too dull.

Oh I got the recipe from Joy of Baking.com and as for the chocolate frosting the recipe's from here. I've modified the recipe a little bit to make room for the chocolate chips and the white chocolate. But REMEMBERRRRR to get milk or dark chocolate for your frosting. The good quality ones. Don't get crappy-branded white chocolate like me, ruined the frosting. Hehe.

Kyaaa I'm still so happy :D

Yvonne..