This Blog Indefinitely Closed NOT!

MY LAPTOP IS SPOILT.

I have no more warranty, I have no cash to send it for repair.

So till then, I'll only be sporadically blogging. D:

I'm depressed about the situation because I need to finish my Final Year Project Report (DUE THIS WEEK!!) with my group, do my tutorials and study for my tests, without my Cupcake. D: (Yes I've named my laptop)

I'll be using school computers, tackling my siblings for the use of the desktop at home and begging people to let me use their laptops.

That's all for now. I'm just going to find a corner, sit down, rock on my feet and suck my thumb now.

I want my Cupcake back!!;

OMG Cupcake's screen just came back to life!!

I'm praying she remains alright!

Monday Quickies

Time again for Monday Quickies!

1. I'm gonna get a DSLR~ (More on that soon!)

2. I went for Anime Fest. FOC. Hee! I love networking.

3. I went for the movie preview of Let Me In thanks to omy.sg. Review in post before this.

4. I am too busy to do any major blog updates unless I have to. Sigh...

5. I'm celebrating my 21st birthday this weekend! I'm sorry for those that I can't invite. Its just me and my close friends. I'm pretty broke to celebrate. If not for Mr. Wonderful, I won't even be celebrating. 

He's just so darn insistent that everyone deserves to celebrate their 21st. Apparently he didn't get the notice that Jehovah's Witnesses played a pivotal role in my childhood. Birthdays to me if celebrated is a bonus, if not.. *shrugs* its cool.

So nothing much for now, Pretty swamped with school work.

Monday Quickies

Monday Quickies!

I love monday quickies! I don't have to write alot. Most of the time anyway.

Soo how was your weekend??

Mine was awesome but intense. Instead of slowing down as I enter the third week of school the pace is still the same. Sigh..

Anyway for the past week this is what happened,

1. I went for Bobbi Brown Beauty Workshop! Will blog sometime this week and will let you decide if I look better or like a clown.

2. Mr. Wonderful came back from Genting! Yay! and I'm so happy! He bought me the bag I was craving for when I started threatening him. I was worried the bag would be OOS. So the first thing he did when he got back was get the bag. He's so sweet!

3. I worked for Tone selling concert tickets at the door. Tone by the way is this awesome a capella group! My classmate Qi Min, her boyfriend's one of the singer.

4. We set up the Christmas tree! Yay Christmas is exciting! We've yet to put up the decoration tho.

No radioactive tree this year I hope >.<

So that's what happened to me this week. :D

Monday Quickies

So here are quick updates from my last week where I was too busy to blog >.<

1. I went for Granado Espada V 5.0 Renaissance Ball

2. Went for Sinema Showoff for screening of Masala Mix 2

3. Went for Halloween Horrors at Night Safari

4. Gonna work tomorrow at Mediacorp Subaru Impreza Challange 2010

5. Gonna go to the Substation for First Take screening tomorrow

6. Gave my blog a new look!

7. And I have yet to write a post of above events and some of them are like closing in on deadline! >.<

I'm pretty sure I missed out something, Gosh I need to get organised. Or get a PA.

Anyone willing to work as my PA for peanuts??

New Layout!

(finally!)

After having such a hectic week, I don't know where I found the time to create this new layout for my blog.

Its somewhat complete. I'm still doing some minor tweaks but overall, I'm loving the new layout. :D

So to go into detail what I've done...

I removed the background image I was using. I didn't like it anymore and the background image feels like my blog was from a template which isnt cos I designed the background image. Oh and I changed it to a plain white background. Minimalist and refreshing. :D

I've changed the header picture. I'm still quite adamant about putting my face up there. It's just not my style.

I put navigation tabs below the header! I didn't want to use the pages widget cos the I can't customize the tabs. I know its a bit small but I didn't want it to be bigger than my header and I don't have alot of navigation tabs (yet). If I don't plan on adding more, I'll just centre align them.

(PS some of the navigation don't work cos I still don't have a FAQ and a Sponsor page)

Then instead of putting in different badges/widgets of other sites where you can find me which looks so messy, I decided to just remove them, create my own buttons and put it under one place.

I totally love my buttons! Push those buttons yea! Especially facebook because I've finally created a Facebook page for my blog!
I know not the meaning of shame.


So those are the major changes I've made.

Other things still in the work, like I mentioned, the FAQs (do ask me me questions yea?), the sponsor page, yes I'm taking sponsorship! That is if anyone wants to sponsor Waking Up Famous, lol (I'm shameless).
Also, I plan on putting up a list of blog links I love. A badge for grab to link my blog to anyone who's interested in linking. (lol) Oh and other housekeeping stuff like organising the labels on my post.
I would love to continue doing all the above but I've got backloads of post to update so its going to be a slow and hopefully painless process.

So tell me truthfully, how do you like the revamped Waking Up Famous??

Monday Quickies

How was your weekend everyone?? :D

My weekend was good so here's some quick updates.

1. I went for Sentosa Spooktacular 2010 on Friday night and I was super excited about it that I had to to write a post it here!

2. I went for the annual Filipino Family Rosary 2010. And as expected it was chaotic but fun.

3. Its going to be a busy week for me this week! I've got events to attend, hats to crochet

(more bout this next time), school work to do and sleep to catch up on and hopefully time to blog.

4. Oh and watch out for my Mister Potato post coming soon!

So how was your weekend??

Gosh This is Bad

Its the first week of school and..

Gah!

Five Things Wednesdays will resume next week!

Sheez. So many project piled on top of us already.

I must make sure all of them get my equal attention so please bear with me if my blog lack updates.

At least till  I establish some form of stability and schedule.

A Quickie

Okay my quickies are going to be on Mondays!

(Also another effort to blog more regularly, that makes it two days out of a week where I must blog, the other being Five Things Wednesday)

(PS: If you're wondering why I keep posting the same image for my quickie updates, its cos I haven't found another image and well I label my quickies under "totally domestics", you know, housekeeping for my blog)

1. Call for a date for Sentosa Spooktacular is over!

I'm bringing my bodyguard friend Sebby. Who apparently wants to go to scare the scare actors. Hehe.
Mr. Wonderful is going with me! So so sorry to Sebby! >.<

2. My eye is bruised.

Thanks to Mr. Wonderful. No no he's not abusive. He kicked my accidentally while swimming.

3. School starts today.

Argh and my monday class is from 3 - 6pm. One class only.

4. I promised to post up my 21st birthday idea(and I will!)

Umm. I'll post tomorrow. :P

So yup that's all for this weekend. How was yours?

Macaroons. In Conclusion

Remember, my first post about macaroons here and how horribly disappointed I was that they turned out horrible?

Well, here the photos of my 4th attempt at making it.

Not bad eh? Its still a work in progress but I'm getting closer to achieving

How does it taste?? Well you've got to ask Mr. Wonderful, ny friend Ming and bloggers, HP, Henry, Ying Zi and Josh, cos they got to taste it. :D

Well, I told Ying Zi, I'd blog about the recipe.

So what is a macaroon or in french, la macaron?

Well, in short, its a sweet confectionery that originated from Italy, and made popular by the French.

What's so special about it?

Its pretty and its delectable and making it, is a complete nightmare to make because you can get different results from such a simple recipe. Ask around and you'll find lots of people who attempted making it curse and swear.

So here's two disclaimer from someone who has (really) cried over the failures.

1. Be prepared to be disappointed if its your first try.

2. FOLLOW THE EXACT RECIPE, including the measurements and all.

So with that, if you still insist on giving it a try, here goes.

For the recipe, I actually followed the recipe from Not So Humble Pie. She goes really in depth into the science of making macaroons in pursuit of making the perfect macaroon including trouble shooting the process. She adjusted the recipe here, but I've not tried it yet since my 4th attempt so for now, I'll share her previous recipe :D.

Ingredients:

120g Ground almonds

200g confectioner's sugar

100g egg white

30-35g caster sugar

pinch of salt

food colouring

Utensils:

Round-bottom metal mixing bowl

Electric Mixer

Baking tray

waxed baking paper or silicone baking mat

spatula

piping bag

So for the recipe itself, (I'll be giving some tips along the way and the reason why I insist you need to do some things and etc.

1. Measure the ingredients to the EXACT measurement.

Any less,or any more will ruin it. Trust me.

2. SHIFT, the confectioner's sugar and ground almonds together and mix well.

I'll explain later why.

3. Line the baking trays with waxed baking paper.

2. Put the egg white into the mixing bowl with a pinch of salt and beat it with a mixer till its glossy and stiff.

Why I say a round bottom METAL mixing bowl, is because a flat bottom means the whisk on the mixer wont be able to get the egg white on the bottom and you won't be able to get that stiffness you need. (If you turn it upside down and it doesn't drop, its perfect. 

Why metal? Something about acidic reaction and blah blah blah. All I know is that metal bowls, makes better meringue.

You can also age the egg white for 24 hours but I don't cos I'm lazy. :P

3. As you beat the egg white, slowly add in the colouring and the caster sugar. Personal preference on how deep the colour you want to be.

4. Slowly, add a quarter of the sugar/almond mix into the egg whites and FOLD with a spatula until it mixes with the foam. Repeat till you've added all the mix in. Don't break the foam!

To do this, mix it in a circular motion on the edge of the bowl.

(these are pictures from my third attempt. Obviously, I didn't do it right cos its grainy and this is the reason why you should shift the sugar/almond)

5. Mix till the batter is thick but only slightly runny.

To know you've reached this point, do a test on a plate. drop some batter and the top should flatten after awhile without lossing its shape. If you over mix it, I'm sorry, I can't help you.

6. Spoon the batter into the piping bag.

You can make do with a plastic bag if you don't have one. It helps if you fold over the bag in a tall glass so it makes it easier to fill it up.

7. Pipe it into round even circles.

Make sure its evenly spaced out cos it'll spread. My piping needs work.

8. Tap the tray on the counter to bring up air bubbles and pop it with a toothpick!

9. Leave it to set for an hour to create the shell. (The bottom fluffy part is called the feet by the way)

Why an hour, cos in Singapore, the humidity is so high! Actually, even an hour is not enough, to create a proper shell. If you live an a low humidity area or have a humidity control thingy in your kitchen, half an hour is enough, sometimes even 10 minutes.

I left this out for 10 minutes, and the shells were too thin.

10. Preheat your oven to 150 degrees Celsius. I use a microwave/convention oven, so I don't need to do any pre-heating. The temperature range varies depending on your oven, if you know every quirks and idiosyncrasies of it, you can probably adjust accordingly. Usually the range is from 150 to 200 degree Celsius.

11. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Once again, depending on your oven. Let it cool.

As you can see, its important to use WAXED baking paper

Pretty horrible for my third attempt. But at least these went into the oven. My second attempt was thrown out cos I over mixed the batter.

Trying to pick it off the baking paper. Lol. The shells were so thin, they cracked that no feet formed. D:

So umm that's pretty much it. If you want to put some sort of filling, you can try jam which I used, or search for recipes for ganache online.

The filling I used for my fourth attempt.

I made it using 1/3 cheese cream, 1/3 icing sugar and 1/3 butter. This one, you can experiment on the ratio. :D

On a final note, here are a few things.

If you're confused over my instructions, here's a video I recommend watching to get a "visual" of how things are done and how things should look.

And I recommend really highly that you Not So Humble Pie before making any attempt whatsoever, and when you if you have any problem, just leave a comment and I'll see what I can help with? Lol.

Oh and thanks to HP and Ying Zi! I took your photos of my 4th attempt macaroon!

A Quickie

Okay here's a quick update!

1. I met up with a some bloggers, HP, Ying Zi, Henry of Clever Munkey and Josh on Saturday and I finally met the (in)famous Henry for real! HAHA! I also brought along Mr. Wonderful and Ming (not the Boss).

I'm a lousy blogger, I didn't take any pictures. I was too busy having fun Lol! 

But do check out HP's post here if you want to know what we did.

2. My last paper is on the 17 September! Wish me luck!

3. And OH MY GOODNESS, I've been blogging for 6 years now and I didn't realise it! I wrote my first blog post on my first blog on September 4, 2004 and its waay past September 4. Quick celebrate with me! Maybe I should do a small give away? Lemme know what you think?

4. Remember my post about my first attempt at making Macaroons? (PS: I just wiki-ed this. Macaron is the French spelling while Macaroons is the English spelling)

Well I've had made a few attempts and I shall do an update of it cos partially I told Ying Zi I'll blog about the recipe and the trouble shooting etc.

I actually made a few for Henry. Lol and he thinks it alright but I've got more fine tuning it and the ingredients aren't exactly pocket friendly. (Ouch)

That's all for now! This is the longest quick update ever. Lol. :D

Macaroons! Important lessons learnt.

(image from mysaltysweet.com)

Ever seen one of these online?

(cute delicious confectionaries - Macaroons!)

Ever wondered what it tastes like?

(Crispy on the outside, soft, fluffy and buttery on the inside)

Ever wanted to make one?

(I did.)

And I did.

And I was so EXCITED! Excited!

And this is how it turned out. D:

I was so excited! I even sat infront of the oven watching my macaroons become HUGE and Fluffy!

Even tho its all different sizes, I didn't care that much cos its FLUFFY!

But it deflated.

Lessons learnt in my mini adventures in macaroon making:

1. Don't be a wuss when it comes to food colouring. Put more to get a really nice purple colour.

2. Ditto for vanilla extract. (Sigh, that's like 50c for each drop of vanilla extract)

3. Use more icing sugar in the batter. Asia is more humid and humidity deflates the macaroons like a pin to a balloon. 

4. Don't use the wrong side of the baking paper. O.o

(At least the inside is soft like what macaroons should be!)

5. Let the batter sit on the pan for half an hour to let it settle to get the smooth top a macaroon should look like.

and the most important lesson of all.

6. Play Cooking Mama.

(To practice making the perfect circular macaroon)

A Quickie

1. Tests are almost over. 1 more to go on Friday!!

2. I'm going for runway cycling and skating 2010!

3. I SMEELL TWO WEEKS OF FREEDOMMMM!

A Quickie

Here's Another Quickie Post!

I'll be away this weekend working. (Boo!)

So that means my blog will be kind of quite, unless you all decided to throw a chatbox party here while I'm away. (No fair!)

So thanks to my classmate YT. (Can't find her blog)

Apparently she works for a company as a promoter of things. What things? Alot.

I have a feeling the prettier you are the sexier the outfit and better things to promote. Well apparently she's quite prettay. Haha

So they needed more more promoters to promote food stuff and she rounded up us (classmates and I)

Hehe, doesn't it totally rock to be in a class of 20 where 15 are of the female variety??

So I'll be working at Carrefour Suntec City promoting some vitamin drink.

YOU WANT FREE SAMPLE??

If you're there drop ya?

That's all. Gotta go :D

And don't hold that party without me!

(image from weheartit.com)

Sometimes I wonder why I decided upon Event Management as my career choice??

Its stressful, tiring, fustrating and often times high risk.

I just came back from Terrappin's office, one of Singapore's biggest corporate events management company. Its an awesome company but here's what I notice, only temporary staff like me can sit back and relax in our seats while the others, are practically on the edge of their seats.

Lol.

Anyway, I'll be busy tomorrow once again in the running a conference.

 I think I love events management cos its controlled yet unpredictable at the same. 

Its never boring.

Another Quickie

Been SUPER Busy.

I'm currently working for a second conference. In fact I'm using the laptop for the conference proper later on. I'm AV crew for a room.

Since its bloody 7:45 AM, I have to wake up at an ungodly 4:30 AM to get here by freaking 7 AM, (Note to self: Work on vocabulary list) I've just basically set up the AV stuff already for the first session at 11 AM, so I'm sitting duck right now.

I'll be stuck in this room till 6 PM.

Heh.

I came prepared tho.

Camera? Check.

iTouch? Check.

iTouch Charger? Check.

Hoodie? Check.

Snacks? Check.

earphones? Dammit!

Was so looking forward to watching friends if I get bored of Scrabbles, Plants v Zombies, Amy's Dessert Shop Tap Tap 3.... D:

Will update more on Sunday I hope!! For now I shall go on Facebook and catch up on my games. :D

A Quickie

Ok here's a quickie!



Bought lots of stuff last week. Shall post it up soon! Grr. Exams are such as bummer.

The weather's killing my exercise regime, or I'll kill myself if I excercise in the weather. Take you pick. (PS NEED TO GO ON DIET)

NEED A J-O-B!!

Need to buy:

• Contact lens solution
• My 'meds' from the doc's
• and cotton wool pads

That should be all. I think. :D

Garlic Breath Day

Haha! Yum! Toast and Tea! And its Garlic Toast using my homemade garlic spread recipe!

Let's see here's what you need:

- 3 - 5 cloves of Garlic (Depends on your preference of how garlicky you want your toast to be)

- About two spoonful of butter at room temperature

- knife

- chopping board

- pestle and mortar

- frying pan or toaster

And here's how you make it!:

- peel your garlic!

- minced it up!

- mash it with your pestle and mortar! If you don't have one or couldn't find one like me, just use the flat side of the knife and smash it!

- put garlic and butter in a bowl and mix it up real good! (the reason why butter needs to be at room temperature, really hard to mash up cold butter unless you cut it down to chunks) Make sure they're really mashed and mixed together!



- optional: add a pinch of salt to taste!

- heat up the pan or toaster on low heat!

-optional: grease it up with olive oil! (Don't worry its super healthy, I want to live the Greek lifestyle!)

- spread the garlic spread on you bread!

- and toast it!



- to get it really crunchy toast the non-buttered side as well!

- and you're done!

If you're irritated by the amount of exclaimation mark, too bad!

Lol!

I could easily make 5-8 pieces of toast if I don't watch out, and if I don't I end up with a bad throat. D: I made 4 for myself and I already can feel my throat wanting to choke.

Hehe, I love Garlic but Garlic Breath isn't somthing I like, I usually make this when I feel like it, or/and when I'm not going out and meeting people. It can, ruin your social life.

But too bad for Mr. Wonderful who I'm meeting later. Hehe! He better hope the my garlic breath abates then.

House Keeping

Alright I need to get organised so here's my plan for the next 3 weeks since I need to get organised for the exams!

Blogging and Internet stuff

1. I will temporarily stop blogging except for my Project 52. The project must go on! Or unless something really ugly or really funny occurs.

2. I've added a new category called 5 Things! Once a week (This is to ensure my blog doesn't go stagnant! and sometimes just to fill in the space) To kick this off the first 5 Things was part of the blogging contest! :D

3. I will not be online or will only be online for awhile for the next 3 weeks or till my exams are over

Other Stuff

1. Just discovered a great place to study, quiet, not many people go there and near my place. Heheh!

2. I'm going to get Garlic Bread from the Robinson's Sale at Expo! I must. Its awesome!

Guilt and Excercise Is Killing Me!

I Had KFC yesterday!! OMG! After swearing off not having it. D:

Guilt guilt and more guilt.

Did you know KFC chicken are injected with STEROIDS??

Male homrmones people! So that they have more meat for us to strip off the poor overfed chickens' bones.

And now since I'm having my period, I'm limited in my type of work out. D: I'm very much afraid to continue my run. Hopefully this weekend I'll get to run.

And all I did this morning was 30 crunches, 15 push ups and 15 lunges, 3 sets of each. I fear its not enough. My thighs are going to balloon up just like those juicy yummy KFC chicken drumstick.

And there's also my tests next week. Grr. I have not revised. I'm doomed. I need to get started now.

I've got blog posts in draft mode waiting to be edited to be posted up too. So many things. Panic is killing me. (PS Nuffnang replied!)

Oh and darn. Clara and her friend went for Muse concert last night. They got the $120 tix for only $65. So not fair. D:

With these drivels I'll end it off with a Giant Rubber Duck! (Cos its not chicken, I don't like eating duck and ducks in this form is cute)

I Look Like a Fucking Hipster!

I've been known to just pop into any hairdresser and impulsively just get a new hair cut, usually of the experimental kind.





Most of the time I regret doing so but I'll end up loving it I guess. But I look like the hipsters you see on MySpace! Grr. All I need now is tattoos, piercings and a small dog in my bag. Not that I have anything against them.

I think they're cool!



What I regret bout this new hair style, is my bangs, or the shortness of it, and how short my layers are!! My hair is still kinda long, its been thinned. Why is it, when I ask for my hair to be layered, they want me to cut it thin??

Gosh half my hair is gone! It took me a year to get my hair to the length that it was!





Hopefully it'll grow out by 22 November. For once Jan, please let your hair grow long, or you'll be threatened with extensions.

PS: If my fringe/bangs grow out, let's say 6 weeks from now. I'm getting it cut straight. like this,





I love Zooey Seschanel! I love the hipster roles she plays. I loved her in 500 Days Of Summer. And maybe I'm really a hipster at heart.