Sun, 6th Jan 2007

When you get invited to tea at Pablo and Bunny's, you know you are in for a treat and what a fabulous spread was laid before us:

Chocolate Kit Kat cupcakes ooooozzzziinnnggggg with chocolate sauce... (photo by Bulimic)

A gorgeous 3 tier cake holder consisting of two types of quiches, choc cupcake and peach muffins.

And a chocolate banana cake which was so so moist and banana-ey (I can't think of a better word),

And a sticky hazelnut cake with coffee syrup and chocolate chips,

I brought the savouries -Honey Mustard Chicken Wings;

From this:

To this - patiently grilling and basting often

To this (photo by Bulimic)

Mee Hoon Puteh - My pic

And Bulimic's pic

Mrs AB brought some cucur udang - yummssss!!! (Send me some pics so I can include in this post, Reeds, please).

Thank you to our gracious hosts, and it was lovely to see all of you again.

Sat, 5th Jan 2007

I've marinated the chicken wings for tomorrow's tea party;
I hope they will turn out as good as the ones we had on New Year's Eve.


Have also bought the ingredients for meehoon putih so catch you all tomorrow!

Apartment in KL

We had a spacious studio apartment to ourselves in KL. I really liked the tiny self-contained kitchen with large fridge/freezer, cook tops, and kitchen utensils enough to cook a meal for a few people.

The couch which became Mark's bed for 6 nights.

On our last night, I stayed in while the children had their dinner at the Shangri-La. I steamed some corn in the microwave, ate a papaya and had some Chardonnay while packing. I needed and enjoyed the time to myself.

p.s No, no one's sick but I must have basic meds and Hazel's inhalers with me 'just in case'.

The lobby - taken on Christmas Eve.

Just outside the apartments, taken on 22nd Dec.

Fri, 4th Jan 2007

Dinner for the children - baked chicken chop (honey mustard marinade again),

spinach and melon soup with chicken and peanuts.

Marinating the chicken (deboned whole chicken leg).

Just out of the oven.

Reducing the pan juices.

Pour some over the chicken.

Spinach.

My dinner - half a plate of these lovely vegetables with dried shrimp, shrimp paste & chilli; and some soup.

Sat, 29th Dec 2007

Poppy Seed Cake

Wm made these 2 lovely poppy seed cakes which I love love.

The cakes were glazed with lemon juice and sugar after baking. We had many pieces with tea that day.

Cake, anybody?

Post Christmas goodies

I received this lovely package from a friend of my sister's whom I had helped do something simple for recently. For S & P, if you're reading this, thank you very much again.

There was a lovely Italian chocolate panettone, a Christmas pudding, a small box of chocolates in a very pretty box to keep bits and bobs in which is now on my dressing table and a chocolate reindeer.

Chocolate Panettone

The panettone was very interesting, I warmed it up in the oven and we had a few slices for tea. It was very aromatic with spices, raisins & chocolate bits, and it was soft with a slightly crisp top and although it looks dry and stodgy, it was quite fluffly light. I think we will have the Christmas pudding with turkey when Mum arrives at the end of January (yippee)!!!!!! And you know what that means when Mum is here, FOOD!! Great food.

New Year's Eve - Monday, 31st December 2007

The food at last night's simple BBQ turned out great;
this year we decided to cut down on the amount/variety of food and just stick to the basics for a stress-free easy affair.

We had chicken drumsticks (marinated in a simple Chinese style - light soy, oyster sauce, white pepper, sesame oil, Chinese wine and a bit of sugar),

and chicken wings (marinated with honey, grain mustard, garlic, black pepper, light soy, and parsley)

and some ribeyes which I dusted with rosemary, salt & black pepper which I now find I have no pictures of, and some frozen garlic beef sausages (we all found this too oily but ate them anyway).

Potato Salad.

Two green salads

with homemade dressing.

Fruits and jelly for dessert. Some wine, pleasant company, fire crackers at midnight and bed by 1 am - I like it this way!

There is still another fresh green salad and potato salad and 3 slices of steak in the fridge - that'll be plenty for lunch.