Sunday, September 30, 2007

it's ya birthday !!

and It's EVERYBODY'S BIRTHDAY ! .. yeah .. its already the last day of sept ... and so happen that i attended 3 birthday parties in a shot on this very last two week of the month .. so i decided to compile all 3 into this entry .... hmm .. birthdays in the air lol ...


My grandma's 80th Birthday ..


me & my grandma =)
( anyway this was the only pic i took that nite )

( grandma and small lil duncan hehehe )

i was a little surprise when my grandma pass me this photo that she use to keep with her that day ... to me it means more than anything else .. the love she gave was priceless! she wanted me to keep as a memorable gift from her .. in fact i was kinda touch at that moment ... grandma , thanks for taking care of me when i was a notti little boy hahah .... =p



NEXT ..
on the 2nd last week of the month ...
was out celebrating my colleague JERVIN'S Birthday ...


we had steamboat @ beach road .. golden mile






after our steamboat session .... we move to Arab street to chill ...


some random pics taken by me ...



nite @ arab st ...

group photo taking sessions again lol ..



jervin was'nt aware when we brought out the cake and obviously from the pics you can tell that she was delighted with the surprise we gave her .. hope she had a great nite with us =)


cam whoring sessions begins !





i'm sure we guys have loads of fun ! =D



Last but not least ...... attended cousin cindy's First baby ADIN'S one month year old Birthday party today ...



it's all happening here !




The happy family ..... ( wher's adin lookin !? haa )

ADIN , mummy & me ....



nice overlooking sea view from their apartment's balcony ...

you must be wondering why adam is written on this card ? haha .. cuz the grandparents of Adin made a mistake telling me that their grandson name is adam which i wasn'nt aware at all .. so embarrassing .. however its so hard to buy present for the infants as this was my very first time shopping for it nevertheless guess what's inside ? ha it's a small winter cap .. hopefully adin can wear it when he's back to australia for good at the end of the year ... uncle duncan will miss u ! =)

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Bake 4 Loves ...


For those who have seen benjamin's blog earlier on the entry " tart that i love " dun get your hand rubbing your chin or wondering if you might be seeing a replica of it here ... hahah .. nah .. im not trying to be a copycat or what but i do seriously feel that my best friends definitely deserve to be in this entry... ... i mean, good friends are hard to come by , to me i always go for QUALITY and not QUANTITY .. hence a few good friends are more than enough .. in fact my clique and i had known each others for almost ten years !!! ( and we are still as close as ever ! ) gawwww.. how time flies too !
and .... because they were always joking to me complaining why they can only "ogle" on the food that i bake yet haven have a real " feel ' of it .... so is'nt it obvious enough that beside baking for my family the so call next " guinea pigs" that i will hit on will sure goes to them right ??? hahah .... nevertheless on this very very last sunday i took the effort in the hot afternoon preparing a less sumptuous but definitely a little baking surprise for them =)


Look what i've got for them !!!!!!!


Duncan's cupcakes and mini chicken pies on delivery !!!!!!

thou its nothing elaborate , nothing sublime , nothing smashing but what's better than homemake baking with love right ??? hahaha .... oppps .. =p



oh im made to do this lah ... i feel so tacky in this photo agrrr .. with my cupcakes looking like a retard .. forgive me pls .haha...

once cam whoring ...
it's never ending ... oops...


i'm so obsessed ...


with my little gorgeous cakes of mine .. hehe.

i'm lovin it ha


and that's me and my cupcakes ^^


well .. if u really want to know how good and tasty my bakings are ..


check em out ...


eh hemmm.... ready ?


SHERLYN


JEREMY


BENJAMIN





ok .. i'm not gonna tell you whether they are liking it anot .. haha ... make a guess judging from their expressions??? .. well in fact i really dunno too either ... bleah ... .. but i guess if it's really that awful they will also finish it too .. thats them ! well .. they are always so nice and supportive .... =)




MY CLIQUE =)





i love u guyz !

thanks for being there for me all these while =)

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Eat that humble pie !

Despite of my busy working schedule lately...

I'm back with Baking action today !!! !!..

anyway ...

i was looking thru some food blogs and books recently thinking what should i come up with in my new baking post ... and realize i've been whipping up few desserts at a go in the last few entries hence today i still thought of working on baking but not desserts ..
in fact i've always been a great fan of chicken pie but hardly finish one myself , so sharing here today ... i will be baking mini chicken pies .. mini is small but i'm definitely still generous in the portions .. QUALITY QUALITY ! ! hehe ... .. ahaha ... .. ..


Let's see what we need ..

INGREDIENTS

All purpose flour
salt
sugar
butter
olive oil
milk
chicken meat
mushrooms
potatoes
tomatoes
carrots
eggs
spring onions
basil leaves
parsley flakes
all seasons purpose
steak grille
black pepper
red peppercorn



To kick off ..

although you can always save the hassle from buying ready made puff pastry from any supermarket ... but i prefer to do it myself and i'm making short crust rather than the above mention .. so it's a very very own duncan's way of baking the pies ...



In a large bowl, combine the butter, eggs , flour, sugar, salt and mix thoroughly .. Gather the dough into a ball. If the dough is crumbly, add the remaining ice water by drops until the particles adhere. Dust the pastry dough with a little flour. Refrigerate for at least a half hour before using.

Meanwhile .. i specially choose boneless chicken thighs for the pies as i always feel that thigh meat is one of the most tender part in a chicken .. ( cause i hate breast meat .. lol ) next ... chop the meat into bite - size chunks and marinate it will steak grille , all purpose season , black pepper , red peppercorn ,olive oil , salt and flour . while marinating the chicken for 20 mins , boil the carrots , potatoes ( before chopping into cubes too ) and egg .


For the filling ...


pour olive oil and butter in medium heated sauce pan .. next add chopped carrots ,potatoes , mushrooms and stir fry for 2 mins in low heat follow by the marinated chicken chunks . Add parsley flakes , basil leaves , salt and black pepper to taste , last but not least add milk and stir continuously to make it creamy and simmer for about 2 mins .

NEXT ..
lightly grease the tart mould with butter before placing the dough .. ... Center the dough in the small tart mould , if necessary, trim the excess dough, then pinch the edges of the dough flat with the edge of the tart mould . Divide the prepared chicken mixture and place in every pastry base before adding the egg on top . lastly i finish up the top by cutting the pastry into strips and lay across on every top of the pies .


My lovely sweetie pies ready to be bake !! =D


preheat the oven to 180 degree to 200 degree and bake for 25 - 30 mins
until pastry is golden brown and the filling is bubbly ..



Hmmmm... really smells good ... lol ...

it's HAWT !!!

It RAWKS !!!

FRESHLY BAKE PIES IN THE HOUSE !! =p

After baking , leave it on the tray for about 10 mins to cool before serving ....


Presenting ... my creation for the day ....


DUNCAN' S MINI CHICKEN PIE

^^

Friday, September 14, 2007

Think Friday ...

maybe for those who are interested to know what i'm actually busy with .. this might interest you .. =P so let's see what i'm up to from the 1st to the 4th day of the week ! =D


( exterior of our showflat booth )

our company is working on the official showflat in the exhibition again locating at spore expo and this time round we are doing up a celebrity showflat of Mediacorp star TERENCE CAO ( hmm wondering why my bosses engage him ??? hahah ... -_- ) anyway below are some shots that i snap to share with everyone here ..


( living area )
( Cozy area )

( Kitchen area )
( Dining area )


( Master bedroom )
( vanity area )
( bathroom )
hmmm .. hahah ..i'm not terence cao but i really do wish i'm the owner of this house .... =D

ok , i know i should'nt have .. haha i secretly snap a shot of our competitor showflat which did up another celebrity FIONA XIE 's dream home .. so cool right ? that explain why i commented why our bosses engage him rather than fiona haha ... ( maybe cheaper ? lol )

ok ... beside busy with working in the exhibition ...

tonight ..i'm out to a farewell dinner for my colleague alston which he will be leaving our company ... so sad ... haha more and more leaving .... -_- ( so when's my turn ???? lol )

it's all happening here tonight ...

in this thai restaurant ....


showing here

the interior ...




The Food ...

Love desserts ! look at those lovely tarts ....


cam whoring again .... ^^

he's the male lead of the nite ... one of the clique in my company ... MR Alston .. we gonna miss u =)
my colleagues !
( from left top ) Alston , lawerence , daniel , me
( from left bottom ) victor , jervin and joan ...

Find this pic interesting ...
juz thought jervin look so " elegant with an oriental retro look " in this pic .. hahah ... lol

and i have a " oriental looking " pic too ahhaha.. bleah .... ^^



IT'S FRIDAY !! smile .... =)
WEEKENDS COMING !!



please please ! dun let me work over the weekend again !

* wink *