小女的生日

三月。二十五日。

正是小女的生日。

即使再忙，也总该上来报告一下近况。

今年年初，我家先生健康上出现了一连串的小毛病。

小毛病 ＋ 小毛病，多个小毛病合起来就变成个束手无测的大毛病。

我是个笨拙的好老婆，要全心全意照顾老公，我必须把其余 XYZ 的消闲活动通通都取消掉。

难得今年生日就那么刚好落在 Easter Friday，在澳洲今天是个公共假期。

老公今早给我准备早餐，下午带我去野餐，让我当了一天的女王。

随着年龄增长，生活上越细微的东西越变得更重要。

金钱越买不到的东西越变得更珍贵。

祝我生日快乐 ^_^

三月尾

很快的，三月尾又悄悄来到了。

趁着三月还没溜走之前，先在这儿留下一点字迹。

三月二十五日，是小女的生日，同一段时间，也是万人敬爱的李光耀先生逝世的一天。

这段时间，开心与难过同时交际在一起，我居然被难过征服了。

都不晓得最近哪来的感触，生日前后有好几个夜晚，我每一夜眼眶瞒着泪水，跟我先生说：

“礼物都不要给我，我只要看到你就很开心”

。

下个月，我又要起飞了。

这一次飞往的目的地是斐济 Fiji，是个我还未曾去过的一个地方。

这一次独自去公干，希望途中一切顺利。

祝你也有个美满的四月份，下次见！

你喜欢我的蛋糕吗？

其实我没有贪心，起初我并没有特别想要弄一个那么巨大的蛋糕。

可是当我把蛋糕端到大家的面前，看到大家惊喜的脸孔，再听到大家 “哇” 得很大声之后⋯⋯

我就觉得，这个 JUMBO 草莓蛋糕，真的做对了！

蛋糕一共四寸高，四层厚，层与层之前夹着新鲜的 STRAWBERRY PUREE。

在我生日的前两个月，其实男人已经重复问我，今年想要什么生日蛋糕呢？

虽然听了很窝心，可是今年我还是坚决自己做蛋糕了，因为我希望在生日这一天，依然可以把惊喜带到大家的身边，生日不应该是自我中心的一日，而是更需要分享的一日。

金钱买不到时间，财富买不到快乐，我的生日，希望天天都是开心的 ～

BerryLicious

I used to do lotsa baking at home a long long long time ago... 
before I took a 60-hours-per-week crazy full time position.

Nowadays I hardly have any time left to relax; not even on my day off; so let alone baking.
The only time when I well and truly make an effort to bake is when someone's birthday is coming close. That will be when I suddenly feel a strong urge to bake again.

The weekend just gone was double delight because both my dad's and mum-in-law's birthdays fell on the same weekend (only 2 days apart!). So that gave me one sweet chance to salvage and re-explore my interest in baking again.

Well... in fact I didn't even need to touch the oven this time, because mum-in-law loves cheesecake, so I decided to make her one with loads of dazzling berries on it. 

The biscuit base at the bottom is no ordinary either. I added a generous amount of pounded macadamia nuts in it before covered with a creamy layer of vanilla-flavoured filling and luscious strawberry swirl. I could have easily used more berries or even add another layer of gelatine on top of it. But I am not a strong believer in complication =)

The cheesecake turned out to be very nice <--- this is what my father-in-law said!

The biscuit base is not too thick and the sweetness is just perfect. 

I can't be any happier than this! 

On the same evening, mum's son (aka my husband-to-be) treated the whole family to Hog's Breath.

It was packed with people. So many tables were celebrating birthdays as well (what a coincidence!).

The menu seems to have more varieties and better options since our last visit. Lobster is in the season now, and with such a good value in place, how can we miss that, right?

I had such a yummy weekend feeding in so much calories OMG! 

I hope you had a wonderful weekend too!

This wednesday I will be attending an official beauty treatment by Clarins (yes again!).

I am already all ecstatic about it - hopefully I will be able to share some experience soon.

So until then, sweet dreams everyone~

The Birthday Cakes

Check out the mega large strawberries... the size of ping pong balls!

And the chocolate frosting along the edge... OoOo... that is yummilicious~

Our parents custom ordered this ice cream cake specially for Alex's birthday.

Doesn't it look pretty? 

Although we still have half a cake in the freezer, like previous years, I still bake him a birthday cake to show my ♥♥♥

Hazelnut and coffee cake (^_^)

Kaiseki Experience

Alex's birthday happens to fall on a weekday this year.
So we decided to have an early celebration on the weekend instead.
We chose to dine in at the Japanese restaurant as usual (because Japanese cuisine is the best!) but unlike before, this time I had to pre-book one month ahead for this very very very special kaiseki dinner (a traditional Japanese multi-course haute cuisine). This is the most elaborate and unique dining experience in Japanese culture as all courses are specially prepared to highlight seasonal delicacies.
In which case our kaiseki dinner happened to include 14 courses altogether.
Most ingredients are sourced from Japan and skilfully prepared by experienced kaiseki chefs.
We didn't know what will be served on the menu that night.
We were only told to sit back and patiently wait for the surprises to come.

Yea... so we have been waiting very patiently for that one month to come!

So here we were. Finally. We arrived at 6pm and dinner did not start until 45 minutes later.

The restaurant manager brought out two generous size of starters which contain half a lobster, Japanese sweet plum wine, Japanese cherry, grilled cod, edamame beans, sea urchin and tuna sashimi, lotus root and octopus with umeboshi, salmon sashimi with raw salads, mushroom and scallop tempura, tofu etc. All dishes add up to 6 courses (we think?). For a starter, this was enormous!

Of course the night did not just end there. 

Kaori-san (who was assigned to look after our table) continued to serve us our favourite dobin mushi, followed by salmon+tuna+snapper+kingfish sashimi, a grilled fish course with bamboo shoots, Japanese Tarabagani king crab, sizzling wagyu beef, prawn and scallop salads, rice with pickles and miso soup, then finally matcha and black sesame ice cream. 

These add up to the final 8 courses on the menu with each course separated by a sensible 5-10 minutes break in between (in case if we need to visit the loo!). Anyhow, we did not finish until about 3.5 hours later (about 10:15pm). Good job we came earlier!

It was a shocking 14-course dinner indeed.

I think we both have done pretty well for our size.

I surrendered at the 11th course (almost done with my wagyu beef dish) and Alex dropped his cutlery at the 12th course (prawn and scallop salads). We skipped through to the dessert ice cream.

We had a lot of fun enjoying our sumptuous meals while interacting with Kaori-san.

She has such a kind, friendly and approachable personality.

And she always wears a beautiful smile on her face (very pretty both inside and outside).

Here is a picture of us with the cute Kaori-san with a pretty kimono at the background.

Alex and I had picked well - slightly baggy clothes to cover up our distended belly.

A cute pose as requested by Kaori-san v(^_^)v

It was a fun night exploring new dining experience together.

Happy birthday sweetheart ♥♥♥

小女的生日

嗯⋯⋯ 小女终于要展翅变轻熟女了！

其实还真的有点舍不得青春⋯⋯ (>_<)

妮妮阿姨跟我说：Nowadays 40 years old is just the beginning!

我想，但愿如此，但愿如此⋯⋯ 

离开家里的那N年，妈咪那N年寄来的生日卡我都有收着⋯⋯

只是大学中间那两年的，好像还在某个抽屉里⋯⋯

每一张生日卡的前一句都很故意写上：Dearest Lenglui

原来我小时候的脸皮还真是厚啊～ (^o^)

年年的生日，我的愿望依然是希望跟Alex一直幸福下去。

除了生日礼物，Alex每一年都会给我生日卡。

里头常常写些让我感动的message⋯⋯

我是个超级无敌爱美兼怕老的女人 (>_<)

这次又让Alex破费了⋯⋯ 谢谢你那么疼爱我 (^_^)

时间刚跨12点钟，Alex紧紧张张从房间取出一份礼物。

打开来看⋯⋯ 啊！原来是Clarins护肤品！

我很喜欢，也很惊喜！因为我没有想过会要他再破费的。

其实也挺搞笑的。

因为前一晚我已经在莎莎订购了生命中的第一支神仙水⋯⋯

不过Alex的心意我怎么可以不用呢？

当天晚上，Alex带了我吃日本餐⋯⋯

其实我也很爱吃中国菜，可是这里的中国菜都西洋化了，不好吃，不好吃！

这碟寿司不在菜单上，日本师傅知道是小女的牛一，所以特别准备给小女的⋯⋯ 

有劳了师傅，谢谢！

上面包括有点小贵的Blue Fin Tuna Belly、Hokkaido Scallop、Tasmanian Salmon。

超正的！我真是荣幸⋯⋯

日本师傅Aoki San是个很有经验的寿司师傅。

寿司水准比我们在东京香港吃的还要赞啊！

据说，吃寿司是有次序的，由口味简单的白鱼开始，然后慢慢才轮到咸咸的鳗鱼。

旁边的姜片不是点缀，而是用来协调我们的味觉。

这碟小小块的Cod Fish真是好吃到不行。

心想世界上怎么会有那么好吃的东西呢？ (^o^)

鱼块旁边放的日本嫩姜，据说差不多有$80/kg (大约RM240/kg)。

我还活生生吞了两大颗下肚？！

其实我生日当天发生了一点小状况。

我的漂亮“奶奶”提议要为我准备蛋糕庆生（她人很好的！）。

怎么知道当天蛋糕一打开，却变成了一个苹果派？！

其实也没关系，因为我喜欢吃派，可是她儿子我老公就有点小意见了。

他说：她为我付出很多，我很爱她，她怎么可以在生日的时候吃派呢？

当刻我冒了点冷汗⋯⋯ 因为我很怕弄得大家不开心⋯⋯

可是冒汗之余我内心也觉得暖暖的，感觉好像有个守护天使在身边保护我⋯⋯

其实我的生日简单得来可以很开心的。

祝我生日快乐 (^_^)