Just one week ago, my world suddenly came crumbling down on me. All was well when I turned in on Fri night, but I came down with a sudden high fever early Sat morning. The next day, my high fever persisted, and my taste buds went haywire. Everything from apples to watermelons had a bitter aftertaste, and only toast slathered with copious amounts of sour-sweet orange marmalade tasted somewhat edible. The fear of DENGUE loomed overhead all Sunday as I miserably wondered whether to get a dengue test done at the GP's.

Fast forward one week. And so it was DENGUE fever. Having to draw blood for daily blood counts was no fun at all, but I feel incredibly blessed that my dengue didn't turn out to be that serious. My shins are still covered with dengue rashes - but no severe headaches, no eye pain, nor the notorious bone or joint pains. I went home to recuperate for most of the week - while there was a fair amount of nagging from the parents, it also turns out I got to spend some quality time with them while resting. It was nice, as it's been a while since I really got the chance to do that.

Mum was also pretty bent on preparing anything that people tell her will get me on my feet again - frogs legs steamed with bittergourd, kiwis, papaya leaf juice... Actually papaya leaf juice was my contribution - part hearsay from people and part hearsay from internet sources. Enzymes in freshly extracted papaya leaf juice apparently helps to increase platelet levels - so I shared this little tit bit with my parents and the in-laws. Nice FIL found papaya leaves for me from the neighbourhood and I enthusiastically blended them and squeezed out a concentrated few tablespoons of the bitter concoction myself the first night.

Later I became less enthusiastic about drinking it, as one article I came across cautioned that such substances can affect the accurate reading of my platelet levels (apparently platelet levels will naturally rise on the 6th/ 7th day from onset of fever as part of natural recover process) but alas the 'seed' was planted and there was no escape from drinking more papaya leaf juice as my parents kept nagging me to continue the doses... [I later endured a 2nd 'dose' but soon managed to discontinue without fresh new supplies of leaves :P]

Am still feeling the general fatigue from dengue, but am SO SO happy that I am almost well again. After a week of 'house arrest', it felt great being able to just go out and enjoy some fresh air (healthily)! Nonetheless it's still peak dengue season now - do be careful everyone and if you really end up getting dengue, drink A LOT of water to keep hydrated the entire time!

I have been getting up at 715am for work the past few weeks, and my body clock is now attuned to waking up around 715am. Even on weekends! Which is quite annoying :(

On the brighter side, everything has been going decently well at work - with some time to bake on the weekends too. There is loads to pick up, but at least I actually feel quite happy! :)

Hello again! 

I know - I've abandoned my blog for so long that half of you have probably stopped frequenting this blog! But well, for the few faithful ones who still drop by, here are some updates on what I've been up to! 

Had a double birthday celebration at New Majestic restaurant this afternoon and dinner ended with some really delightful desserts, longevity buns for mum's 60th and a lovely family photo. We had also unintentionally arranged ourselves really symmetrically and aesthetically :P 

After lunch we also found these cool couple seats at the hotel lobby and decided to take some fun shots. It's been a while since I took such nice photos with my sis, and so they made me quite happy :) 

Last weekend we also took an early wedding anniversary trip to Maldives. Beautiful waters and trip, though it would have been much more pleasant if we hadn't booked ourselves into such an ulu resort.. Internal transfers including the domestic flight took almost as long as our flight from SG to MALE! 

Baking-wise, all is good but after my busy and tiring Christmas I somewhat decided that it might not be so wise to bake for a living after all. Well, I can't say for sure I won't do it in the future, but I guess I won't be doing it for now. Will keep it on the side as a hobby for time being. And quite excited to do more leisure baking and go back to making all kinds of random cakes and stuff again! Hope to master non-cake bakes such as scones and breads this year :) - like these maple oat scones I baked last month! 

And so tmr I start a new phase of my life. Hope all will be good :) 

Have a joyful, healthful and fulfilling 2014 dear friends! 

P/S: not forgetting the little bugger who sticks ard my house. A really defensive and cautious cat that I've named San San. The relationship is really one-sided sometimes I really wonder why I bother at all. Maybe I over-empathise with its stray plight and maybe cos I have been sticking around the house too much. Take care little one. 

Now that I am on the other side and have to bake every single day the rest of the month with hardly any time nor energy to do other things during the day, I really wished I could just bake for leisure. The so-called 'dream job' is turning into a nightmare this month, and I feel like I have generally under-charged and underpaid :( I hope I survive the rest of the month, can somehow manage to keep healthy/sane and not end up too sleep-deprived...

I've recently developed some kind of attachment for cats, and I suspect it's because of how graceful and beautiful these creatures can be. I guess I am shallow that way :P Regardless whether they are strays or not, they all sit in a certain elegant manner, sleep so cutely and can make faces that make you go awww. Not all cats are equal though - some cats look more devious than others. E.g. there's always this lean cat sitting tall on the bonnet of some car every time I walk to the MRT and I swear he has a slightly evil look and stare!

Recently one guy started hanging out at my garden. Not IN my garden to be exact, but along the perimeter of my house - usually sleeping or just lazing and watching the world go by. He (or she) is the only cat I don't actively try to shoo out of my house - for whatever reasons. His fur seems to be somewhat ruffled/ imperfect and maybe deep down it made me feel sorry for him. I wouldn't want to be a stray - with nowhere to go, no one to like me etc. And so I decided to let him be. Share my garden - until he decides to be ungrateful and poo in my garden.

Earlier this week - I saw him hanging out again, and I decided to bring him some milk. After some initial hesitation (and after I hid behind my gate), he came forward to drink from the container! And I was thrilled to bits seeing him lick the milk with his little tongue. The guy got disinterested in the milk after a while, but I felt happy to have made his evening a little better that day (so I think). BUT - we are yet to be friends. He definitely keeps a distance, and I don't push it either. As with humans, I guess relationships take time to develop!

And so here's Part I of my juvenile and amateurish cat adventures. Not sure if I will get to Part II, but if there's any significant development worthy of an update, you will hear it here :P  Enjoy the rest of the week!

This afternoon I received the first cheque ever for a batch of 220 cookies I baked for a customer/friend. Seriously it was not a lot of money - but I felt pretty emotional about it. A really tangible feeling that I had worked really hard to earn it!

To be honest, I have not felt this way about my paycheck in a long time, probably not since my very first paycheck. As a salaried civil servant the money typically "appears" in your bank account without fail you eventually start to take a decent and stable stream of income for granted. And I never really thought that I would appreciate and actually miss this sense of financial security.

You know how parents always caution "that money is not easy to make"- I can definitely identify with that right now! From a financial point of view, that's probably not something I should be too happy about. On the other hand, it also puts things into perspective; and makes me think about others who don't have it easy yet have to grit their teeth to eke out a living - how it must be like for them..

It's back to the 'daily grind' after an extended holiday!

These days, I don't shop much for clothes - so while I was in land of high street labels I ended up frequenting the supermarkets the most. Selfridges food hall; Waitrose; M&S... I think 2/3 of my 'spoils' from the trip were groceries/ baking-related stuff. Madness! At times I got so carried away thinking I'd need XX ingredient for some imaginary cake that I haven't even conceptualised properly - that I bought quite a few things first before really knowing what I'd use them for! Am also running out of storage space in my kitchen! That's a kiasu baker for you :P

Am trying to cook up a Christmas menu of sorts this week/ next week. I've already had a few failed attempts last week, hopefully my luck will improve this week! I literally think about what cakes to make/ try all day long... So while I don't have a 9-5 job for now, life is pretty stressful too, in a pretty different way. I suppose I should be happy/ relieved that I am still relatively passionate about baking - and hopefully it will somehow work out monetarily in the longer term...