If you can't bake them, shoot them

So I took my baby Cammie (my DSLR) out to play recently cuz I bought macarons from Canelé, my favourite place! Also where my bestfriends brought me for my birthday treat.

I love the macarons there! It's where I bought my first macaron from with Geisel hehe.

I need to stop my macaron craze!!!!!

Their packaging changed a lil. Now the macarons come encased in this plastic holder. Guess it's to prevent the macarons from knocking into each other when the customer carries the box around?

Haven't actual sat down to scrutinize photos and edit them using Photoshop.. felt kinda good to be doing that again cuz that's how I spent most of my free time during my gap year.

So I've also been sick for the longest time and it's annoying me to no end!

Had to skip my Nepal OCIP trip meeting today because I felt so horrible, especially after having a bit of my breakfast. Sigh me no likey because I haven't really stopped coughing since the haze period? It got better for a bit, but it's a lot worse now.

Doesn't help that I hate taking meds and never take them on time (or at all) just because. My mom sometimes has to force feed me my meds and I can sense how annoyed she is whenever she has to do that hehe.

Knees have been really bad too, hurts to lie in bed even because my knees ache and burn so badly that I try to find a position to lie in that doesn't hurt them.

Wish I could replace my knees with a snap of my fingers. :'(

I've decided that I'll go back for physiotherapy after I'm done with my internships! Wouldn't wanna attend uni (if possible) with knees like that, would be restricted from doing so much, especially dance! For now I'll just stick with achy knees and treatments at those TCM places.

My schedule for this week and the next is gonna kill me: Intensive Nepal trip meetings everyday before the 7th, and yours truly has to plan team bonding activities for us to do.

For some reason I'm always doing team bonding! For camps, for orientations.. I think I'm getting really good at planning them.

Looking forward to my 15 days in Nepal!

Ending off with a photo of a really demure-looking me headed for #DMCraya a few days back. Too many photos to save and edit here and there, so I guess I'll post them up some other time.

Bye!

Random Quiz Feels

Hi, it's 3:47AM and I have to get up for work in 5 hours time cuz I'm meeting Mel to go look at shoes before we start our shift at 12PM.

So here I am, listening to some songs while doing my FYP reflections due Friday (noooo, Ms Laura's gonna collect our Agency access cards too sigh. 10018, I'll miss you) and I noticed that people were doing this '20 facts' thing on Instagram.

I searched for "quiz" on my blog's posts search bar and decided to do a random quiz to compare my then and now since well, I am bored.

Got this quiz from this post dated back to November 10, 2006.

It's been 7 years.. I wonder how much my answers would differ.

Okay here goes!


full name: Gwendolyn Neo Yuan Qi
nicknames: Gwen, Gee, Geebee, Gwean, Gwendy, Gwennie, Gwendolean, Gwendonai, Mama, Mom, Gwen Stefani, Gwenno, Gwendo, Gwen Gwen, Ah Neo.. I have a whole list from my poly friends but I can't seem to recall them now.
gender: Female
age: 20
b-day: 8th April
star sign: Aries
place of birth: Thomson Medical Hospital, Singapore
height: 165CM (last measured)
eye color: Dark brown
hair color: Dark brown with awful dark roots
skin color: Tanned
any piercings: One on each ear
where: Refer to answer above
do you want more: Nope, I'm good.
do you wear glasses: Only when I need to
do you have braces: Was supposed to get them in sec 4, still am contemplating this.
what color are your nails: Haven't painted them in months. They b bare.

mom's name: June
dad's name: Hock Choon
any brothers or sisters: One younger brother
how old: 16
who do you live with: Family
are your parents married: Yup
do you have any pets: Fishes and hamsters all passed on
where do you live: Singapore

what school do you go to: Singapore Polytechnic
what grade: Year 3, graduating in a semester
favourite subject: English and Literature
favourite teacher: Ms Esther and Ms Pam Fang
worst subject: Math and Econs
is your school public or private: Public
would you ever go to a private school: No?
do you like football: Love watching and playing. Arsenal baby!
do you like baseball: Still no
do you like basketball: How did I say yes in the past, no I dislike it
do you like dance: Too much for my own good. Get Down! Vol. 6 is coming up in Sept, definitely competing again. Here's to hoping I can get past Top 16 this time :)
do you like badminton: Still do
do you like volleyball: Still do!
do you like golf: Still don't
do you have a boyfriend: Yeah, am happily attached :)
if so, name: Russell
how old is he: My age
are you single: This makes no sense since the answer's above
are you straight/gay/bi: Straight

what is your ideal hair color for a boyfriend/girlfriend: Black/brown
eye color: Black/brown
skin color: Tanned I suppose?
height: Taller than me! (It just occured to me that I've been subconciously describing my boyfriend over the past few questions HAHAHA)
personality: Plain awesome
style: Whatever goes
does size matter: Still kinda does
are you happy: Yeah but I have my moments
sad: Like I said, moments.
funny: Typical class clown. I lean more to the lame side of life now hurhur
boring: I noticed it's becoming more so as I age, oh dear.
popular: My boyfriend claims I am but nah
happy-go-lucky: Let bygones be bygones
serious: Only when need be
chilled: Super
stressed: Not at the moment but I stress pretty easily
smart: Dumb asian
dumb: Answer above
shy: Initially, but after I warm up to others I'm just.... plain crazy
outgoing: Super
loud: Sadly, yes sigh I need to tone down
quiet: More so. Comes packaged with aging I suppose
annoying: Sorry everyone
nice: Subjective, but I try to be to everyone
kind: Yeah
friendly: Suppose so
nasty: Subjective once again
evil: No
fashionable: After 2 years of dressing up and wearing makeup to school? I'm sorry but I'd like to spend most of my final year in my Vans, shorts and a basic/comfortable but stylish top.
pretty: No
ugly: Yes
have you ever smoked: Nope
have you ever done drugs?: Nope I may be a dumb Asian but drugs are still stupid
have you ever drank alcohol?: Too much too often heheh
have you ever had sex?: Nope
have you ever been abroad?: Yup and yearning a getaway right now.
do you have any scars?: Loaded with them. My body is a battlefield
have you ever killed someone?: Oh wow this question's terribly intellectual
have you ever kicked someone in the nuts: Think I accidentally kneed someone's nuts before
have you ever been arrested?: Nope
have you ever got in a fight?: Technically yes. Almost punched the person and vice versa but my teammates stopped us
have you ever stolen something?: Nope
have you ever given birth?: Nope
have you ever been fired?: Nope, too awesome an employee to be fired.
have you ever passed out?: Yeah and it felt horrible
have you ever peed in your pants?: As a kid
if so, why?: Kids can't control their urges to wee

Gwen Bakes: (Failed) Macarons

So I wrote a blog post about how I had this bucket list to clear.

It has been a while since I last sat down and wrote a proper blog post with proper photos from my baby Cammie (my beloved Sony DSLR which I am contemplating selling so that I can upgrade – more on that another time), and I decided that why not start my old blogging habit again by documenting my baking adventures?

(Don't expect high quality photos though, I'm still just getting into the mood of using Cammie again + photo editing.)

I've always had a strong interest in baking, and I seldom admit this but one of my dreams is also to open a bakery or a cafe that people would love sitting in all day.

Dad and I have even had long, serious discussions about this due to my mom being so awesome in cooking. We thought we could work something out in future due to how Singaporeans are taking a huge liking to the cafes springing up around here.

Today I (unsuccessfully) cleared the one on the top of my list: The macaron *cue dramatic background music*

Dun dun dunnnn!

I doubt anyone remembers, but I've ever mentioned how macarons are my absolute favourite things on Earth. They make me so happy!

Albeit it was a failure (photo at the end of the post, I'm keeping y'all in suspense. DON'T SCROLL DOWN TO SPOIL YOURSELF! I'm not using reverse psychology here and oh the recipe link's below too), I figured it could be considered a success if you change the recipe title to something like....... 'Meringue Cookies' or something?

I kid you not; this motherbitch is extremely testing on your patience so be warned if you ever feel ambitious (or bored) enough to try baking something that shops in town are selling at $2.50-$5 per piece!??

With countertop cleared and my army of baking utensils at the ready!

Sifting the icing sugar + almond meal + cocoa powder + salt took up bulk of the time, which surprised me a lil' cuz I expected myself to spend more time whipping the egg whites into a meringue instead.

In the end half my almond meal was left behind due to it being too big to sift through! Madness. Almond meal isn't cheap in Singapore either, so oh well.

My mom took the first failure so well.

"Aiyah nevermind la, your first time also what. Nevermind lor."

Do not overwhip the egg whites, and always ensure that you allow your egg whites are at room temperature, which is an essential for those stiff peaks.

I have no idea how long I did this for, but I normally follow my gut feeling when it comes to whipping egg whites.

My gut feeling was SO WRONG when it came to the folding in of the dry mixture into the egg whites though.

This was where it all went terribly downhill (and I expected it due to all the research I've done before baking this badass).

I over mixed the batter, and I mistook 'slow running lava' as runny.

No idea how that happened.. it just did!

Was so frustrated that I was this close to throwing out my ruined batter. THIS CLOSE. Then I felt bad because that would be about 3 cups of icing sugar I'd be pouring down the drain – and did I mention how expensive almond meal is?

Even piping them was tough due to the batter being soooooooooo runny.

Decided that YOLO! "Just whack only! Fail already what."

(Whoopsie, photograph from my Instagram)

The counter was a total mess.. as was I.

The final product?:

ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS – but deliciously, sickly sweet – COOKIES MUAHAHAH

The batter made so much though – not just the ones you see in the picture!

Due to the over mixed and terribly runny batter, they wouldn't rise upwards no matter how long I made them sit out (essential for your macarons to rise UP and not OUT).

And if you were wondering, duh they didn't grow 'feet' either. Not like I expected them to, the failed batter was sign #1 that the feet weren't gonna happen, not today.

They do, however, taste really good!

Not something I would consume a lot of at one go though, the amount of sugar plus the fact that my stomach hasn't been too good to me due to my eating habits the past few months. But hey I'm back to trying my best at eating clean and working out daily!

These should be called meringue cookies instead HAHAHA. What a way to cover up my fail!

I'm gonna have another go at baking them really soon, when I'm not as tired or in a rush to get them done. These babies are pricey for a reason, and they are prolly the world's toughest cookie to bake! The mixing etc. alone took me almost 2 hours due to the sifting.

Oh well, shall stuff these in my brother's mouth for the time being. And my boyfriend's, that is, if they last till I see him but urgh these are the equivalent to diabetes in TWO BITES, which is why I'm pretty sure my brother would enjoy them.

Okay fine, diabetes in four bites.

(I had more than 10 bites for sure)

(Shit.)

You can get the recipe here @ CHOW. 

I normally tweak recipes especially if I've baked them a couple of times but since this is my first time trying this recipe I've yet to change it. The measurements aren't in metric form too so it's best to Google for a metric conversion chart – take note the different measurements for different kinds of things!

Spontaneous Fat Boys + Spontaneous Friday

So I've decided that it's time to return to the sea!

(By wakeboarding again, duh.)

It's amazing what you find yourself doing when you've too much time. It suddenly hit me that I desperately wanted to do any watersport again (that allows you to gauge my level of desperation) and I found myself texting Joshua Fong about renting a boat.

$130/hr's totally expensive, and sadly that's the norm, so we're considering returning to SPWB (SP Wakeboarding). Both of us are Year 3s though, and we've not gone back for trainings since a month or two after camp. It'll be a bit thick-skinned if we do, huh?


Anywho, I love spontaneous plans.

The past two days have been nothing but.

A spontaneous plan on Thursday saw me at Fat Boys with Mel for dinner.

I don't like beer, but I love Hoegaarden.

I ordered a pint, and it's a pity I always can't finish my beer because my stomach isn't the exact definition of strong. By the time I was halfway through, my stomach started to hurt because it got so bloated from both dinner + beer.

It felt really good to catch up with Mel!

Ever since I got busy with dance and FYP, I couldn't really dig out the time to meet her. The last time I saw her was during Chinese New Year? When I came out of the lift at my side of the block (we stay at the same block), we stared at each other and laughed at the realisation that we've not seen each other for a good 7 months or so.


A spontaneous plan on Friday saw me and my girlies rushing around the City Hall area in search of the all-amazing llaollao.

llaollao is this amazing froyo shop and their froyo looks like this:

Hehe it looks so good I wish I could have some nowwww!

I absolutely love froyo. If I had a choice to eat froyo or a proper meal, I'd pick froyo FO' SHO.

By the time we found it – the one and only llaollao outlet in Singapore – at Marina Square, it was almost 8 and we had to rush cos I was meeting Russell for dinner. Sica and I both bought brownies for our busy army boyfriends (hehe thoughtfulgirlfriends93&94) and she had to head home to put her crowbar stuff down before meeting Zuofeng for supper.

I won't deny – it's really good. Steffi has been bringing and recommending people to go to llaollao and it just so happened that we had a 1-for-1 coupon, so 2 huge cups cost us $5.60 which is MAD CHEAP. Treat from Steffi though! Must find the time to return her the treat.

We still found it hard to finish everything even though the three of us were sharing two cups. I ended up too full for dinner (I ate anyways).

Went for a jog with him and a friend after. (Actually it was me who shamelessly requested to tag along hehe. See, another spontaneous thing that occurred today!)

My knees are feeling the aftermath of the jog though. The burn and ache feels horrible now, but I'm used to it. It happened the last time I promised myself that it'd be 'just a jog' too because I ended up running and doing sprint/jog intervals.

I can't help it! I love running, ESPECIALLY sprinting. My dad always told me as he watched me win my inter-house events, "You take after daddy ah! Winning all the sprinting events.. I always did the short-distance ones too and always won them. 100m, 200m.. oh baton relays like yours also. You're really taking after me!"

It starts with me telling myself, "Oh since I'm already here why not just run for a bit?" which usually sees me running the whole distance.

The first time that happened I limped home and walked funny because my knees were crazy weak. My physiotherapist could only shake his head when I complained of my *cough* ordeal.

I REGRET NOTHING.

I absolutely abhor the fact that I have knees like that.

I didn't ask for it, and it's denying me of the things I've always loved doing.

Oh, to completely digress and to end this post off (because it's 5:20AM and my brain can't seem to link my thoughts properly)..........

......I found this picture on Twitter.

I am sick of allowing people's thoughts about my body control me, my eating habits and my mood.

Need more motivation. I can do this!

Terribly thankful for the people around me who make me feel so much better.

Guess that's especially applicable for my boyfriend cuz he's just the sweetest person ever, always saying nice stuff about me and how I look regardless of how I put myself down. He has no idea (yah after reading this he most certainly will) but he always makes my day really.

The past 2 months have been nothing but amazing.

So yes, thank you for being such an awesome possum person :)


p.s. I'm sorry again this is random the gamer girl in me is totally showing right about now but THE NEW TRAILER FOR WoW'S LATEST MISTS OF PANDARIA PATCH: SIEGE OF ORGRIMMAR IS OUT AND IT LOOKS LIKE MAJOR AWESOMESAUCE I MEAN LOOK IT'S SO AWESOME I'M TYPING IN CAPS AND I USED THE WORD 'AWESOMESAUCE' OMG OK BYE

For anyone who plays WoW (and loves it):


I was never about the Horde, though I do understand it's best to play both sides to understand the full story behind the Alliance-Horde War.

FOR THE ALLIANCE!

∞

Recently I saw someone wear the infinity ring in school, and for some reason it suddenly popped back on my mind just as I fell asleep.

So.. I have a 10-5 shift at work tomorrow and I decided that I HAD to Google it.

Pretty stupid decision..

..as I am going out of my mind at the moment!

They are SOOOO pretty.

If you can't already tell from *ahem* parts of my blog here and there *titleAHEMtitleCOUGH*, I kinda have this thing for the infinity symbol, or the – cue the atas-ness – lemniscate. (Thank you to my boyfriend for always educating me on random stuff. He is awesome like that.)

The #1 reason I thought of to justify why I have a thing for the infinity symbol:

It resembles the number 8, my absolute favourite number in the whole wide world, hands down.

Or up.

Even one of my favourite Ellie Goulding songs has the number 8 in the title.


But yes, I think I need to stop scrolling down the Google Image search result because it's driving me absolutely bonkers.

(See, I remember how in a blog post a while back, I talked about how I used words that no one else in Singapore would even come close to using.. like 'bonkers'.)

So it's the beginning of my holidays, and well it may only be day 3 since the end of my Final Year Project/Presentation (or FYP for short, as we call it), but I've been bored out of my wits.

I think I'm just too used to spending all my time awake feeling stressed out and rushing work. To suddenly be this free is just.. mental. There's too much time.

I suppose with all the free time I can finally get on with my ambitious bucket list titled 'Bucket List: Baking Edition'.

This time has been on my mind since forever (nah, just since I got busy – I exaggerate) and whoa now I can finally take time off to bake my macarons (NOTE: NOT macaroons), cakes and even venture into the cooking world or the simplest parts of the region.

Cooking's still pretty much what I consider foreign territory, especially to a MasterNoob like yours truly. But who's to say I won't be able to pick it up during the two-month break?

Or one and a half, actually, since I'll be spending half of September conquering Nepal.

But yes, the two favourite men in my life – it'll be three if I include Dad! Don't worry daddumz – can be my tasters for now. Cue evil laughter in background...... for I don't have to finish everything I bake by myself (as I always do).

Oh well, I shall dream of the (possible) culinary adventures that I could have within the next month and a half, supposing if I don't decide to go all out and spend everyday at my part-time job.