warm apple pie

The other day, I bought 1.1 kg of apples, unsalted butter and some other ingredient my kitchen is lacking of and baked an apple pie for the Enemy Combatant. Boy, this is the longest and hardest thing I've ever baked! Mainly because it's difficult to roll the dough into a perfect round. It somehow always turn out to be a square. Being Miss Perfectionist, I had to roll it again and again until it turn into a rounded dough to be nicely placed into stainless steel plate improvised as a pie pan.

It also requires substantial time to slice the apples into similar width; soak the apples in nutmeg, cinnamon and lemon juice until there is a quarter cup of juice; drained the juice to be cooked into syrup; refrigerate the dough; arranging slices of apple on the dough and, of course, bake the pie. Overall, it took me four hours to bake this:

Nope, the pie is not burnt. Unfortunately, I poured too much syrup for I thought it would taste better (The Enemy Combatant loves buttery stuff). The plate was flooded with syrup and it turned black and sticky when baked. When it's done, I leave it for a while to set and, when it was still warm, delivered it to the Enemy Combatant's house to give him a surprise! Here comes the best part: he came out from his house and was so shock to see me he looked as if he was dreaming; I've never seen him this dazed.

We went out to a nice dessert place where he claimed that he was full but he was actually waiting to go home to eat the apple pie. How cute. But knowing I spent 4 hours on the pie when he knew I had been very busy, he said something practical and very typical of him "How about you buy for me an apple pie the next time?". That was of course above all the thank yous and i love yous.

***

Oh, I also made a flag using paper and toothpick, and poked it on the pie. On it was a private joke on 'warm apple pie' and our nicknames based on food. haha. It was almost cheesy if there weren't a funny story behind them.

Surprising a practical boyfriend is fun!

=:)

Overdue Father's Day Dinner

Manda and I had a plan; we decided to cook my Dad a 3 course meal on Father's Day. That did not happen until today for Amanda ranaway to Redang with her boyfriend and left me staying home on a Sunday not knowing what to do! I only bought a nice chocolate from the airport for that poor man. But today's dinner prove that the wait is worth it.

We made black pepper steak, mashed potato, coleslaw, cream of chicken soup and mango lassi. It exceeded out expectation. Everything taste unbelievably good! Even my Mom, who at the beginning was very apprehensive of us cooking a full meal, at the end, explicitly say that it was a good meal. She even said the coleslaw I made tasted better than hers. Okay, admittedly, I am no cook. I was more of an assistance than the cook. The only thing I really made was the coleslaw and the mango lassi. Boo!

***

But Dad was happy. I heard the delight in his voice when I called him and make sure he does not have dinner elsewhere. I am certain he enjoyed the meal (my Dad is a man of a few words and do not express himself too well with words). The rest of us sure did.

=:)

Ps: Poor Mom. Dad got a great meal for Father's Day and she only got ugly cupcakes

So many things to do, so little time.

Accessories. Err, yeah, I wore my swiss knife around my neck

Before the Enemy Combatant came to take me to the creative art festival Urbanscapes at Sentul, he told me to grab something to eat lest I can't find any food there. As I was too busy working on some work and dressing up (I didn't know what to wear and at the end grab some funky necklaces I have and decided to pile them all up), I went out with my stomach only fed with a bowl of Koko Crunch with milk. So I simply grab a container filled with nuts into the car. Halfway there, the Enemy Combatant asked:

"Have you eaten?"

"Yeah. Nuts"

He laughed as I continued munching it. Ah, the joy of speaking to someone who get your jokes. There are too little people out there who understand deadpan humour, what more enjoy it.

On an unrelated note, time and time again I have been boggled with time. So many things to do, so little time. I've been out almost daily, doing many different things. The more I go out, the more plans I make. Somehow, rather magically, the next two weeks is fully booked. My schedule is pack to the brim.

Ah, and I thought I'll be free during holidays! I have came to a realisation that I can never be free--because I never want to. I can't leave my brain idle. At Barsonic yesterday or was it two days ago (too much activities I dont remember it falls on which day), I sat on the couch watching people; I spoke a bit and, when others are drinking, I read news on my RSS feed (?). The Enemy Combatant asked why I'm reading news in a club, and I can only answer "I can't leave my brain idle". Ah! I wish I can just turn it off sometimes, sit like a zombie, stare into the air and think nothing.

My brain is invaded with many alien ideas and plans from nowhere. Oh, and I need to finish Pride and Prejudice and proceed to read other books such as Alice in the Wonderland or The Satanic Verses. I've been reading the same book for months already! Hurry up, Sara!

Hey, actually there's no worry. They'll be a beach holiday soon. All I'm gonna do is lie down on a bed of sand and read till I go blind. The boys can drink their duty-free beer/liquor whole day and night or smoke till their lungs turn black for all I care. Okay, that's not true. The Enemy Combatant better be able to wake up early to watch the sunrise with me. The last time we wanted to, the weather failed us. This time I'm gonna check the weather forecast.
And you'll get warm apple pie soon;)

Fun fun fun!

=:)

All things shallow

I have succumb to all things 'shallow': I let the maid make breakfast for me upon request, laze on bed reading Pride & Prejudice, watch Joan of Arc on Astro while flipping through a recently purchased fashion book from the huge Kinokuniya at Central World Bangkok, put on pretty clothes and fancy accessories wherever I go and oh, contemplating to get a cute new haircut just like this:


photos: http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com

To do myself justice, other times, I wonder and think deeply about important things, write and arrange my grand ideas on Evernote and constantly taking in new information from everything I hear and see. Days are filled with activities, both play and work. Mainly the former for I miss all my friends and been making plans to see them. Life is moving at slow pace. That however, I foresee, is transient. At the mean time, I just want to take in all the grandeur that life have to offer; I'll worry and toil later.

=:)

Not worried

Finally, something came out that I'm not worried my Dad will see. Phew. It's my view on politics instead of on my parents. Unlike the former, it requires no explanation or elaboration. Oouh, on a different but related note, Amanda and I are already plan what to do on Father's Day. It requires a little bit of work and skills, skill I'm lacking of. Hope things will turn out great!

=:)

Painting t-shirt

Between study breaks, I painted a t-shirt!

The design was inspired by the 'I Love Geek' book the Enemy Combatant bought for me. So I bought some paints, plain white t-shirt and started getting crafty. It's my favourite t-shirt at the moment; I worn this thrice in a month already. The first time was on the Enemy Combatant's birthday. Boy he was so pleased with it. heh, heh. I send a photograph of the t-shirt via e-mail to the author of the book and she loves it too.

The t-shirt above is my third try. The first was on my brother's old pyjamas. It was painted with the word 'Hot Geek'. My brother was quite annoyed for it seems that the torn and tattered shirt was his favourite. Opss. Now, he refused to wear the shirt that is contaminated with words he thought was boastful. Now, he not only say I steal his clothes but ruin them as well. Hee hee. My brother is so cute. Another one was on a old green t-shirt. It's look good too.

***

Hmm. Now, I wanna make more t-shirt. Maybe an ambigram of the word 'lluminati' or 'Trekkie'. That'll be interesting.

=:)

I'm dating a Vulcan

At the end of Star Trek, the old Spock told the young Spock "Spock, do yourself a favor: put aside logic, do what feels right". I chuckled, gave the Enemy Combatant a squeeze as uttered "Yeah!". The hint was obvious--the boyfriend needed that advise. Logic, more often than not, is useless in managing relationships. He, of all people, who reads xkcd should know that it doesn't work. But the message just wouldn't penetrate his thick skull what more register in his brain?

The rest of the day, we spoke about Spock, Vulcan and logic. I learned that despite all good advise from geeks on love and relationship, he still think his current practice is right. He said "Only you don't like my logic". Ptff. Oh well, I think the weakness of confidence is pride. I accept that it's a package deal. I may seem to complain about it, but I'm actually enjoying his logic (though sometimes its theory flawed and the application absurd). It's surprisingly amusing and made me laugh countless of time. That day, I gone a step further: I turned him into a Vulcan by making his ear pointy.

***
So there, I've got my own Mr.Spock.

=:)
There, a typical secret message but it never runs old: I love you!

_\\//