Last night, I decided to call Ade in Singapore and got my address book- which I hide my passport in.

To my horror, I discovered my passport was missing.

That was not good at all. I spend the whole night, thinking of every possible nook and cranny to hide a passport. Went through every CD case (which I once hid my passport), flipped through every book, every magazine, every underlid of boxes. And had a panic attack when I remembered that my mum cleared some junk from my room a few months back. Before going to bed, I prayed fervently that my passport will eventually turn up somewhere in my room.

No, I didn't sleep well last night.

Today, I couldn't concentrate on work and spent a good 3 hours searching. My fingers were dusty from fingering books untouched for months and my nose was itchy from sneezing fits. After one hour, I found RM150 and an unworn indian peasant blouse. That motivated me to keep searching. I practically covered every inch of my room, bathroom and the storeroom beside my room.

Finally! I found my passport! Underneath a stack of bank statement files in the cupboard.

That added to my windfall of RM150 and an Indian peasant blouse which I don't remember buying. Hahaha!

The dried meat made me do it

This morning, I woke up with a very dry throat. The weather hasn't been good, either. It was sweltering hot and dry, last night. There was nothing appealing to eat for breakfast except for a tupperware filled with kon yoke (dried meat), nicely cut up into neat 2-inch squares. Surely, one small piece won't hurt.

While getting ready for work, I did the unimaginable. Yes, I texted Mr. J and asked him to lunch. But. Yes, but I also texted 3 other friends (backup plan, mah). However, they replied saying they were busy with other plans.

Three hours later, I was feeling feverish and weak. Dielah, the kon yoke is making me sick! Suddenly, I lost my appetite. And all I want is my ultimate comfort food when sick -a bowl of soupy, watery rice porridge.

So, I came home to make watery, soupy rice porridge flavoured with Bovril. And quickly took 2 panadols and a tablespoon of Manuka honey to stop a full-blown flu/cold.

As for Mr.J, hmmph... the dungu has confirmed himself a big DUNGU. He didn't even reply my SMS.

Post-CNY blues

All the constant eating dried meat, prawn crackers, cookies and 9 course dinners are taking their toll on me. I've been sluggish, tired and headachy the past week. And I looked a little chubby from CNY photos- yikes!

Better do yoga in the morning, weights + walks in the evenings and start cooking vegetarian meals.

Last monday, Lia called to ask if we'd like to call off our weekly meet as it was Valentine's Day. "Oh, I didn't know today's Valentine's day," I told her. "Aiya, you never celebrate, meh?" "Nope!" was my reply.

Yeah, I've never bothered. For some reasons, I've never celebrated V-day with my exs. Plus, during the 2nd week of February, I'm usually pre-occupied with my mother's birthday as her birthday falls a few days after Feb 14. This year, I baked mum a chocolate almond torte with chocolate icing. I even made chocolate leaves to decorate the cake. And placed a purple orchid on top of the leaves.

Mr. J's birthday is this week and I wonder if I should call him and tell him I'll bake him a birthday cake.

Sigh, why do I bother, really?

Boring cock year ahead

The whole CNY festivities saw a very tired and sleepy Cupcake Queen. I was dying to go home and crash on my bed during the CNY reunion dinner. On the first day of CNY, I was too exhausted to get up from bed until my fatso 11 year old cousin came to my room to announce his first two angpows were a grand sum of RM200 - "Wah, Jie-jie, I've gotten RM200 angpows already!! Woohoo!!" Little Fatso did a little wriggle dance in sheer happiness.

Later, the whole clan came from KL and Seremban to lunch at my house. I nary said a word, except to quietly accept ang pows and eat the braised abalone, steamed chicken, pig's stomach soup, yee sang, pie tee with popiah, etc. It was a good feast for my seemingly malnourished body. After all the feasting, it was the mandatory gambling session which I won RM20.

The next day, went to Seremban to visit rellies- more eating and more gambling. However, I did something uncharacteristic of my usual self. I finally, stood up to my ill-mannered cousin who begrudgingly told me last year, that I didn't deserve to receive her angpow. Yes, I rejected her angpow and told her in her face that she doesn't have to give me any more angpows. Surprisingly, no one urged me to "forget about last year's incident" and accept her angpow.

This CNY was somewhat subdued and boring. Maybe I'm getting old. I dunno.

Oh, Mr. J called to wish me "gong xi, gong xi" on the first day of CNY. Hmm...

Maximising angpows

This year, I've decided to put my angpows to good use. I, now, have a bigger reason to turn deaf and unashamedly stretch out my hand to annoying aunts and married cousins who threaten to not give me the red packet.

Yes, I'm getting more cookbooks!


"South East Asian Food" by Rosemary Brissenden
"South East Asian Food" is a comprehensive 500-page cookbook which I stumbled upon in Popular Bookstore, Ikano Center a few months back. At first, I was attracted to the cover photo. Browsing through "South East Asian Food", I was absolutely delighted to discover there're no photos inside which means more recipes. I'm somewhat convinced that cookbooks with minimal or no photos are for serious cooks and their recipes work. Plus, I'm been wanting to learn how to cook local, Thai and Vietnamese dishes.



"The Colman's Mustard Cookbook" by Paul Hartley
Yes, seriously, this is a mustard cookbook. I'm a Mustard Queen. I never fail to request for mustard when dining at steakhouses. Colman's mustard is my favourite mustard. The author, Paul Hartley has also written a Marmite cookbook. I do love Marmite but on cream crackers and toasts. Somehow, I don't think Marmite enhances flavour in other foods. Besides mustard, I also love wasabi :P

I can't wait to receive angpows in the next two days!!

Hungry wolf in the kitchen

This morning, I woke up absolutely famished, and secretly ate some of the CNY goodies -prawn crackers, tapioca chips, nyonya acar and choc chip cookies. My body is craving for food as I type this.

I'm dying of Pre-CNY exhaustion here. During the last 2 weeks, I've been painting doors, baking almost every night (after my mum has gone to bed) and clearing out the junk in my room and not forgetting the CNY shopping for clothes.

Got myself a 50s-inspired retro cheongsam from Tangs Studio. It's white cotton with orange and brown dots, edged with orange piping. I even got myself an orange handbag to match the cheongsam and a pair of black heels from Vincci.

I've been hit by frequent hungry pangs this week. All I can think of is food. Yesterday, I was starving during lunch that I had a whole rack of Moroccan lamb served with couscous and some veggies. It was so good that I want to learn how to make a mean rack of Moroccan lamb. And I had the most delicious green tea noodles at my favourite Japanese restaurant, Ozeki Bistro on Tuesday. I'm still dreaming of those luscious green tea noodles with paper-thin slivers of seaweed!

I'm tired and hungry. All I can think of is what's the next good thing to eat.

Aiyoh! I still got the two cakes to bake. I want to pengsan, already!