Happy monthsary~

This is actually a picture to remind myself to stop procrastinating! I am supposed to start scrap-booking on my wedding pics but 6 months have passed and nothing is started. OOPs!

For our monthsary, we decided to buy lobster from Joe Pattie, we are abit broke from the Thanksgiving madness, so we shared 1 lobster between 2 of us (haha), 1 whole lobster only costs 6.50. But we kinda of unsure what to do it, we threw it into microwave and just warmed it and ate it. Maybe I should whip up some lemon butter sauce or something? Heh

Our 1st Thanksgiving~~whooohooo aka Shopping Madness

It was Thanksgiving for most of us with the exception of Ryan. Initially I wanted to try roasting a turkey but all the turkeys are bigger than my toaster oven (haha, why is that hardly surprising).
The itinerary for Thanksgiving is as followed:
4-6pm: Drive down to Destin
6-8pm: Thanksgiving Buffet @ Marina Cafe, Destin
Hang around....chill, rest before shopping
The whole cafe has a nice waterfront view, we got
to try both fried and roasted turkeys. I much prefer the
fried turkey. Hah

10pm: Ralph Lauren outlet store opens
12-3am: Own time own target at Silversands Outlet Mall
I believed Coach has the biggest crowd, literally have to snatch for what you want.
Our boot is fully stocked!

3-5am: NEX opens
Yeah I grabbed my knife set for 19.99. Yippee, going to bring it home (as in Singapore) with me.

The other item I was really drooling upon is the classic white KitchenAid Mixer for 149.99. We did not buy for several reason, firstly there is no tabletop space for the mixer, which means it has to be put on the floor, secondly, we cant use it in Singapore due to voltage difference, we need to buy a transformer which might be very expensive for all we know, thirdly, it will be hell trying to bring it back because of its weight. Oh well, the rational side won.

Oh ya the other big ticket item we bought is a new Sony Vaio so that we can each have our own laptop, for him to play game and for her to bug her friends while they are working. But sadly it seem like the old computer is at its brink of death...why like that!!!! Argh

Ps, I am wearing a scarf sent by Irene all the way from Singapore~*Grin*

Live in the moment

I am falling back on the Straits Times articles but this article "Live it, don't click it" by Teo Cheng Wee, 23rd Nov 2008 had caught my eye.

"After all, the most powerful camera, I can now say with some certainty, is in your head."

In it, he has questioned about how easy it is for people to "miss" the moment while they are trying to get a good picture (or looking at it through the LCD screen of the camera). I must admit I am VERY guilty of that, especially when it comes to fireworks, most of the time, I am furiously trying to either record it or take pictures while the flames exploded in burst, latest incident being the Blue Angels Homecoming show. Now come to think of it, I almost never replay the numerous videos of fireworks I took.

I should just sit back and enjoy the fireworks with my hubby.

Meanwhile HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all~

Blue Angels Homecoming Air Show

The Homecoming airhshow is a huge event on base, although I had seen the Blue angels practise before, it is still exciting to see them fly pass.

There were alot static displays, in this picture is a F15, Singapore's newly acquired aircraft and could be what Kenny will be working on next time. Anyway Singapore has 2 types of fighter aircraft, F15 and F16, so either this or that. Either way we hope to come back to US soonish after this stint. Heh.

I wish I could have taken pictures of the aircrafts doing their stunts but my point-and-shoot did not allow that. Check out the pros and their gadgets.

Chocolatey chocolate chips

The Sweet Melissa Baking Book: Recipes from the Beloved Bakery for Everyone's Favorite Treats

Melissa Murphy

I'm not interested in desserts that involve ten components, exotic ingredients, and structural supports. I want to make everyone's favorite desserts better than they have had them before. Now you can to. (p. XIII)

A new book! This is the first and only recipe I tried and it is as true as she said, just simple ingredients

and steps. Best for a new baker, moi~

I omited the nuts just because I dont have any on hand.

If you follow her method of chilling the dough, the

cookies are really soft in the center and chewy.

Yummy! The boys cant keep their hands off these chocolate chip cookies.

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Toasted Almonds

Makes 2 dozen

Ingredients: 10 tablespoons unsalted butters softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup whole natural almonds, toasted, roughly chopped

8 ounces best quality semi-sweet (58%) chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugars and vanilla until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat for another minute.

3. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. With the mixer of low speed, add flour mixture in three batches to the butter mixture, mixing until no flour is visible after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

4. Remove bowl from mixer and stir in almonds and chocolate. Refrigerate dough until firm, about 1 hour. Turn dough out onto a clean work surface and divide it in half. Roll each half into a log about 12 inches long. Refrigerate logs for 30 minutes (or tightly wrap in plastic and foil and freeze for up to a month).

5. Cut the logs into 1-inch slices and place them 1 1/2 inches apart on the cookie sheets. Bake for 13 to 14 minutes or until the centers no longer have a glossy look of raw dough. They should be chewy so don’t overbake. Store cooled cookies in an airtight container for up to three days.

Please refer to her pastry book for more delicious treats!

Ps, my cookies might be much smaller than Melissa as my toaster oven is duper small.

B is for Birthday, B is for BBQ

We decided to host a mini BBQ for my birthday, essentially made up of the boys, Yukari and family, Akemi and family and Jennifer who had very kindly offer to make me a birthday cake.
A lemon poppyseed cake, oh so yummy, her secret is using pudding mix instead of butter, cant wait to get the recipe.
Master Chef Tan is having fun pretending to be satay-man, Kenny had tried to make satay (which uses peanut butter), he also spent alot effort making seafood skewers, bacon-wrapped-scallops, and many others.

Thanks to all who turned up, had lots of food and laughter.
What more could I want? Till next time~

Pandan or chocolate? Or both~~

Another of my new favorite food blogger, I have been on a lookout for healthier ingredients for cake baking. I have first tried Pandan Yogurt Cake and like her, I have too much yogurt on hand so I decided to try her chocolate yogurt cake as well. We much prefer pandan yogurt cake. I did it in a loaf pan instead of cup cakes and had used grapeseed oil instead of canola oil. I need to get a smaller loaf pan so my cake will be taller instead of wider! =)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup plain yogurt

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs, beaten

1/2 tsp Pandan extract

1/2 cup canola oil

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350'F. Place papercups in the muffin pan.

2. In a bowl, sift flour and baking powder. Add in salt & sugar. Stir to mix.

3. Add in beaten eggs, yogurt, Pandan extract and oil. Stir until incorporated.

4. Lastly, scoop the batter into each papercups until 3/4 full.

5. Bake for 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool on wire rack.

Very happy birthday indeed

Yeah finally the weather is cold enough for me to flaunt my coach trenchcoat hah *pardon my vain-ness* We went for lunch at Jackson's Steakhouse just now, it is a seven-time consecutive recipient of Florida Trend magazine’s Golden Spoon Award. Jackson’s Steakhouse is considered one of Florida’s top 25 restaurants and is placed by the Distinguished Restaurants of North America in the top two percent of all fine dining restaurants in the country. http://jacksons.goodgrits.com/

All in all, it was an enjoyable experience but we kinda of prefer Skolepos, maybe it is the ambience and the fact we prefer seafood more.

Taaa daaaaaaaa...my present, haha it was actually bought in July when I was in California with the gals. A Tiffany & Co rosegold heart necklace which I been craving when I was back in Singapore. Looking forward to my mini-BBQ on Sat!

Quote of the day

"You have ten new messages."
-Hotmail Email Alerts

Thank you very much for all the well wishes for my birthday. I am very touched to receive so many birthday greetings from friends back home. I wish you all good things!
This is the first time time in 5 years I am celebrating my birthday with my darling hubby hohoho~

Great Gulf Coast Arts Festival

Great Gulf Coast Arts Festival
The Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival is a juried art show. Each year, more than 600 applications for the festival were received. Each applicant is required to submit three slides of their work and one slide of their display area along with their application. Qualified jurors are shown each artists' slides simultaneously and anonymously, and collectively choose more than 200 artists who will be invited to exhibit their work. Best of Show, Awards of Distinction, Awards of Excellence, Awards of Honor, and Awards of Merit winners from previous festivals are exempt from the jurying process. The artists compete for a total of $25,000 in prize money in categories including ceramics, drawing, fiber/leather, glass, jewelry, mixed media, oil/acrylic, photography, printmaking/graphics, sculpture, watercolor and wood. This family oriented festival is ranked in the top 50 Fine Art Shows in the nation by Sunshine Artist Magazine.
http://www.ggaf.org/artshow/index.html

We met this very interesting photographer, love his work ;)
http://www.bodyscapes.com/

Playground of the South

Bourbon Street has gained its reputation of the playground of the South, it has numerous bars, pubs, restaurants and novelty shops. Come after sunset to fully experience the hustle and buzz Bourbon Street has to offer!

Pomegranate Fun

We are indeed very "sua-ku", most of the boys here grew their own pomegranates back in Singapore and here we are never eaten one before. Hence when we saw a truckload of pomegranates at Walmart, we bought one to try, they also provide a "how to cut" brochure with it. It is sweet and juicy, it takes a long time to eat all, I choose to eat one by one while Kenny ate 1 handful at a time. I find it harder to spit out the seeds that way though. I attached a link on how to open a pomegranate and also recipes. Enjoy!

NO NEED FOR A SPIT TAKE
Many of our California Wonderful Pomegranate fans have asked the age old question: Do you eat the seed inside or spit it out after enjoying the juice? Well, the truth of the matter is, it’s a personal choice. But keep in mind that most of the fiber you get from eating pomegranates comes from that little seed. So to keep up with a healthy dose of daily fiber, crunch on!
http://www.pomegranates.org/recipes.html

Previously I posted the scenery we get to admire on our way back to the base whenever we go out in the day. On this particular day, I cant resist whipping out my camera and capture an evening shot. If there is one scenery which I love most in Pensacola, this is it,right on this bridge, regardless day or night. Pardon me for the blur picture, I did ask Kenny to slow down, next time I need to walk across the bridge to get a proper picture. Heh

The French Quarter

The most famous neighbourhood in New Orleans- the French Quarter. It is a tad touristy with a souvenir shop in every 3 shops you passed by on Decatur Street where Bubba Gump New Orleans is at as well. If you are one who appreciate architecture with ornate cast and wrought-iron balconies, you will need the whole day in French Quarter. Also horse carriages is a big thing, I have to go back and take a ride on the horse carriage.

"The Court of Two Sisters has been ISPR-certified as haunted and many locals tell haunted tales Of the Two Sisters ghosts (Emma and Bertha Camors) watching over them as they enjoy their wonderful meals. The two sisters, Emma and Bertha Camors, born 1858 and 1860 respectively, belonged to a proud and aristocratic Creole family. Marriage, reversals of fortune, widowhood - nothing could separate the sisters. Indeed, as the Picayune was to report, the sisters died within two months of each other in the winter of 1944. United in death as in life, the sisters lie side by side at St. Louis Cemetery #3. And today they say there ghost do the very same and or often sighted sitting together at a table late at night."

Quoted from Haunted History

But we are more interested in the Jazz Brunch (haha)

While walking around the townhouses, do not forget to peek in others' courtyards, you never know what you might get to see~

Ginseng Chix Soup

We managed to get some fresh ginseng in Houston's Chinatown and hence the bold attempt to cook Sam Gye Tang. All thanks to Lily's simple-follow recipe, it is a success and hence the ginseng was not wasted haha. I been craving for this since Carina and I had it in Korea earlier this year.

Cafe Du Monde

Beignet (pronounced ben-yay) from Cafe du Monde

According to most guide-books, no trip to New Orleans is complete without some powdered sugar-dusted beignets from this historic cafe. The texture of the beignet reminds me of the hum chim peng sold fresh by the father-daughter at Maxwell market, they also provide a bowl of powdered sugar for their hum chim pengs. Anyhow it is sold in 3, I ate 5 by myself and left only 1 for my darling hubby, you can tell how good it is ha-ha.

It is very packed at all times so be prepared to wait for a table, we choose take-outs and ate it at Jackson Square instead. Love the smell of fresh beignets, the chatters of the people, the music from the baskers around the square, the whole atmosphere is warm and fuzzy~

Cajun Encounters

We went for the Honey Island Swamp tour with Cajun Encounters, it is one of the highlights of our trip.


Alligator alert~
Summer is the best season for alligators sighting as the water is warm. Apparently alligators like marshmallows, that is according to our guide who kept a big packet on his boat. * Added- It turned out marshmallows resemble egret's eggs henceforth attracts the alligators. Interesting!


Remnants of Katrina, destroyed homes left by people who chose not to come back.

Atchafalaya Basin

On our way from Lafayette to New Orleans, we passed by this eerily pristine swamp, too irresistible to be just driving by. We decided to do a swamp tour, pontoon boats at McGee's landing take passengers for 1.5 hrs swamp tour. But sadly we got horribly lost and missed the last boat of the day aaarghhhh I hope to have a chance to do it in the future. Anyhow we did a swamp tour in Honey Island Swamp nearer to New Orleans which I will cover next. Have a good week ahead babes~

The birthplace of Tabasco sauce

Avery Island is the birthplace of the famous Tabasco sauce which is distributed to many parts of the world, and was first invented by Edmund Mcllhenny in the 1800s. Tabasco factory till today remained a family-runned business, the tabasco peppers are grown in many parts of the world but it is only produced and bottled here on Avery Island. Once you stepped out the car, you can smell the pungent aroma of Tabasco. The factory building itself is a real beauty admist the tall surrounding trees.

A 2 mins drive away is the 250 acre Jungle Gardens is well known for its southern Louisiana flora and fauna display. This pristine natural paradise belonged to Edward Avery Mcllhenny who brought back flora from his travels around the world such as bamboo from China and lotus from Egypt. The world largest egret colony begins nesting annually in Feb/March and the offsprings remain until the following winter. Each person admission fee is $6.25, excluding the $1 toll per card into Avery Island. We didnt have enough time to go into the Jungle Gardens, sigh.