Happy 3rd Anniversary!

< to us, that is..>

We've just celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. Wow has it just been 3 years? I feel that we've been married for very long already.. (in a good way).

Both of us took leave on that day, but apparently pi had meeting in the morning, so he can only take half day leave.. which is good. Because it gave me ample time to prepare a little something for him: I decided to try baking cupcakes!

I think it's my first time baking cakes in Singapore.. wahahahaha... My oven has been under-utilised for very long, hor? I've bought all the necessities in a cake shop in Toa Payoh which is quite complete, just that I need to walk quite far from my office (about 20-25 mins of walking!). And 1 visit is not enough to buy all the things, since I'm so fickle-minded, especially in choosing the not important but fun stuff, such as: which paper cup design should I choose? What size?? Can you imagine I can spend like 10-15 mins just to decide that? And coupled with walking time and the time I need to have my lunch, you can see why 1 visit is not enough in my (already) extended lunch-hour (1 1/2 hours haha). Oh, must say thank you to a friend who has given me self-raising flour and cranberries to make the cupcake!

So... the baking process begun.. Based on recipe from internet, I wanted to make vanilla cupcake with cranberries, topped with chocolate toppings.

As can be guessed, Vio got scared by the sound of mixer, and he kept tugging me to play with him. So finding a time to make the cake (and the topping) was proven to be quite difficult, as Vio always came to nag me to play with him. Nevertheless, here's the vanilla cupcake, fresh from the oven! (though I'm not sure why the top part is not smooth as in picture.. some cracked up. But that's not a problem lah.. since anyway it will be topped by chocolate topping. And I'm not having high expectations on it anyway...)

[caption id="attachment_1797" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Fresh from the Oven"][/caption]

I tried 1 piece, and yummm.. It was not bad... The texture was quite soft :)

As for the chocolate topping, I decided to substitute the required cocoa powder to use chocolate drink that I already have, but reducing the sugar. And.... it's not apparently working well. The topping came out to be reaaaaaaallll sweet. Next time, should follow recipe and use real cocoa powder, or melted chocolate bar instead.. But anyway, it works well as the topping (though the color is not chocola-tey enough). Just that in the end, we didn't eat the topping.

[caption id="attachment_1798" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Cupcake with Chocolate Frostings"][/caption]

Oh well, it doesn't look too bad right? (Repeat: I'm not having high expectation. Haha!)

And here's the cupcakes prepared specially for pi...

[caption id="attachment_1799" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Cupcakes for Pi"][/caption]

Though not as pretty as those sold in the shops, it's the thought that counts, isn't it? ;)

Not long after, pi came home with a stalk of pink roses. Thank you, darling! :)

We had our dinner at Ambush, a European restaurant with apparently, rather affordable prices. I ordered German sausage with Rosti; the sausage was real nice! Vio love it a lot (and so does mommy)! Pi ordered paella, which is a Spanish food. The taste was quite unique. The only thing is... the portion was quite small. I didn't really feel full after eating it.. Haha... I think they encourage people to order more side dishes.. :p

Looking back at the last 3 years, overall it was a great. Surely there are some ups and downs, but I'd rather we look at the more "up" side. And since I'm currently pregnant, I can't help but remember the sweet little things pi had done, especially during my first pregnancy. Some of them are listed here (just in case my memory fails me!)

1. He woke up in the middle of many nights whenever I had sudden leg cramps, and massaged my leg until I was feeling better, and of course, willingly without complaint.


2. He didn't let me do any tiring housework during my pregnancy, and took over all of them. These were brooming, mopping, and cleaning the toilet. I was left only with dusting, which was the easiest housework.


3. Despite his dislike of guys who carry their girlfriends' or wives' bags, he was more than willingly carry my bag when I'm pregnant.


4. He has no complain and is very supportive of my pregnancy complaints, which is always the same for many many nights in a row, and always try to help to lessen the discomfort.


5. ... and many other small things that can't all be mentioned here..

All in all, thank you dear for these three great years :)