Cupcake Memories: Life in Sydney, Australia

I have started thinking about whether I should test my baking skills this year by making cookies and other yummies to give to neighbours but being the skeptic I always am, I would need lots of practice before I dare serve my homemade food to anyone outside the family *LOL*

The problem is, the me and DH put on a lot of unnecessary weight from sampling my experimental baking skills that we would probably need the best colon cleanse in the market to help us rid of those junk in our bodies.

*Sigh* gone were the days when we could just eat and our higher metabolism rates back then, just burned away the calories. How things have changed now that we’re officially old.

Wasn’t aware that Deepavali is just around the corner has my friend not mentioned it to me via email. Oh how I miss the festival crunchy treats like muruku especially spicy ones. I can’t help but think about all the food back home ALL the time.

I just love authentic Nyonya, Malay and some Indian food sooooo much. It is very difficult for me living here *LOL*. To solve this problem I should either learn to make them myself or buy them at Msian restaurants but we’re a family on a budget and can’t afford to indulge on restaurant takeaways often.

Like the Malaysians say it … “So how?”

That’s my favourite of all time but not when I cook it myself. I do not have the patience to boil till the peanuts get really soft in the congee. Furthermore I hardly ever make it now as both my cupcakes are allergic to nuts.

Anyway, I made it today, as usual, the peanuts are not soft enough. I still ate it, hehe. I remember those times when me and my ex-colleague would always order “Hoe Si Fa Sung Jook” for lunch at this tiny restaurant at Sg Wang Plaza decades ago. It was crazy to have hot congee for lunch!

One of the things I miss most about working life is lunch time when we would try every hawker stalls, coffee shops, western restaurants, etc, etc, oh wow what a bliss

Okay, so I was left with two large sweet potatoes after MIL left. I am thinking about making ondeh ondeh but hate the idea of having to grate the coconut myself. We’ll see how it goes.

Another alternative is to make sweet potato donuts coated with sugar, yumm. But I hate deep frying.

I’ll look up some sweet potato recipe and see if there is anything more simple to make.

My appetite for anything spicy has been crazy lately although I did stop myself from cooking spicy or curry dishes daily *LOL* I can’t forget the spicy nasi goreng I had last Sunday … I can’t get the smell and taste out of my mind. I so wish that I can just walk to a shop and order red curry mee, curry chicken, etc! I am sure DH would happily join me as he too is curry crazy. I am gonna make curry chicken tomorrow, yum!

I have lost my love for chocolates eons ago. I’m not sure why. Could it be due to overeating it during my early working years when I would reward myself with a bar of chocolate every Friday? I do still eat chocolates occasionally but I prefer orange flavoured ones. I tried Lindt’s Dark Orange chocolate bar (left photo) but it was too bitter and I didn’t like it at all. Then one day DH bought me a usual Lindt’s Orange Flavoured Chocolate (right photo) because he knew I didn’t like the previous one which I bought myself; and he really wanted me to have something I like, to snack on. True enough, this one tasted nice, not bitter.

I know some people must have chocolates every now and then or they’d go into a withdrawal symptom, such as DH!