通过美妙的音乐，把心里面的私语道出。

在秋天这浪漫的季节里，有多少男男女女想向对方表述情谊，却碍于矜持、面子、地位等障碍，无法表达出来，实在可惜。因此，通过音乐，即能表达爱意，也能欣赏到动听的音乐，一举两得。这是本人对《秋日私语》的解悟。

喜欢这首Hugh Grant 和 Drew Barrymore合唱的Way Back Into Love，曲名也是该部电影的名称。请来欣赏吧！（要跟着唱的话，歌词在此。。。）

WAY BACK INTO LOVE
I've been living with a shadow overhead,
I've been sleeping with a cloud above my bed,
I've been lonely for so long,
Trapped in the past,
I just can't seem to move on!

(Hugh Grant)
I've been hiding all my hopes and dreams away,
Just in case I ever need them again someday,
I've been setting aside time,
To clear a little space in the corners of my mind!

[Chorus](Both)
All I want to do is find a way back into love.
I can't make it through without a way back into love.
Oooooh.

[Verse 2](Drew Barrymore)
I've been watching but the stars refuse to shine,
I've been searching but i just don't see the signs,
I know that it's out there,
There's got to be something for my soul somewhere!

(Hugh Grant)
I've been looking for someone to shed some light,
Not somebody just to get me through the night,
I could use some direction,
And I'm open to your suggestions

[Chorus](Both)
All I want to do is find a way back into love.
I can't make it through without a way back into love.
And if I open my heart again,
I guess I'm hoping you'll be there for me in the end!
Oooooooh, Ooooooh, Ooooooh.

(Drew Barrymore)
There are moments when I don't know if it's real
Or if anybody feels the way I feelI need inspiration
Not just another negotiation

[Chorus](Both)
All I want to do is find a way back into love,
I can't make it through without a way back into love,
And if I open my heart to you,
I'm hoping you'll show me what to do,
And if you help me to start again,
You know that I'll be there for you in the end

In fact, I should have posted this long time ago. Somehow, the pictures couldn't be uploaded, so has to procrastinate until now.

During last year's Christmas, I tried my hands on Butter Cookies using recipe from Baking Cottage. They were given to my friends and family members.  The cookies were well recieved by all of them. Here are the pics:








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Besides butter cookies, I also baked CNY cookies--Cashew Nut Cookies (黑芝麻腰豆饼)and Peanut Butter Cookies(花生酱饼干). However, I didn't take too many pics on that, only these few pics: 

Cashew Nut Cookies (黑芝麻腰豆饼)


Peanut Butter Cookies (花生酱饼干)
*Note: I shouldn't have substituted butter for margarine for these cookies. Reason being, as I was dropping spoonfuls of dough onto baking tray, the dough became very oily and was difficult for me to compress it with the fork.  Should stick to using butter.

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I also baked some brownies few days ago for my colleagues.  During our break, all brownies were gone in 15 minutes time.  The brownie was the cake-like type, very soft and chocolatey.  I had 
put some fresh blueberries in the brownie to give it an "oomph" when sinking the teeth into the cake.

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I have made some blueberry muffins too.  The taste was fantastic with a hinch of cinnamon which enhanced the blueberry.  I love these muffins and will bake again soon.

两年了，就这样我过了两年的婚姻生活。
这两年里，我成长了不少。
离开了孕育我三十多年的家庭，
离开了处处保护我的母亲，
我踏入了人生的另一个旅程。
这趟旅程并不是一帆风顺，
至少，我和他曾经吵嘴过，
甚至因为闹意见而不理睬对方一段日子。

但，这不就是人生吗？
人的一生，怎么可能没有风浪？
越安静的大海，潜伏着的危险更大。
因此，我没有后悔嫁给他。

其实，他是个体贴的丈夫。
他也是处处护着我。
但，挑剔的我有时真的很过分，使到他吃不消。
话又说回来，有他在身旁，即使走过黑暗，
心里还是踏实的。
因为他的手牵着我的，一步步引领我。

昨天，是我们结婚两周年纪念。
没有花俏的言语，没有宝石美钻。
只有一束白色的百合花，伴着紫色的满天星，
朴素地递在我的手上。
心里面感到一股暖流，潺潺流过。
赶快送上真挚的一吻，感谢他的贴心。
静静地，我们面对面，吃着简单的晚餐，
讲着我们的生活。
就这样，纪念日过去了。
但温馨的感觉，久久挥之不去。

婚姻，有的人说是爱情的坟墓，有的人说是开始。
这，要取决个人对婚姻的看法。
我不喜欢太高调地告诉人，我非常爱他，没有他就怎样怎样。
我用我自己的方法，爱着他，伴着他。只有他知道我的真挚。
婚姻是否是坟墓或开始，这重要吗？
我觉得最重要的还是珍惜彼此在一起的每一时，每一刻。

It has been 3 weeks since the school reopened.  This year I am teaching the Primary One and Five students.  
The P1 pupils are really a joy to be with, though they can be very blur .  They are so innocent and very truthful.  That's the reason I like to teach the lower primary.  They don't know how to hide their emotions and thoughts.  Whatever they have in their mind, they will say it out.   

There was this cute little girl who came up to me after the lesson ended and said to me secretively. She said to me in Mandarin (I am a Chinese Language teacher):"老师，我爱你!" (Teacher, I love you!).  Hahaha  ... after hearing what she said, I was elated.  I asked her to give me a pack on my cheek, and she promptly did it!  You see, children are children.  When they like or dislike someone, they show it openly.  Another little boy, super cute boy, was not as brave as the girl, also expressed through his classmate that he likes me.  This class is fun to be with.  Though is a small class, only 15 pupils in all, I have grown to like them and build a close relationship with them.  I really hope they will find joy in learning and grow up to be responsible and useful persons.

These are their pictures when doing some class work.  I snapped the photo without their knowing as they were engrossed in their work. You can see their serious face when doing work.

















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These are the older pupils from P5.  They are more sentive towards the camera.  Some pupils are new to me, some are those whom I have taught last year.  All in all, this P5 class is also very cute and they are eager to learn.  That's most important.  Next year, they will be facing the 1st big challenge in their entire school years, the PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examination).  I have told them to be extra studious from now on to gear themselves up towards PSLE.  Some can see a serious change in them from the work they do.  I was extremely pleased with one boy whom I taught last year.  He has never made an effort to study his spelling, thus always failed.  This year, he is like a change person.  He scored 99 out of 100 for his first spelling!  As a teacher, I am too delighted to see such positive changed in him.  I praised him in front of the whole class and guess what?  He shed a tear or two.  From this incident, I know the time I spent counselling him, giving him extra lessons has paid off.  I hope that many more students will be like him, change for the better and excel in their studies.

It's been a while since I updated my blog.  I was very busy 2 weeks before and 1 week after school reopened. Hence, I barely have the leisure time to sit down and update my blog.  However, I did not stop my favourite hobby -- baking.  Below are some pictures which I had taken and now share them with those who read my blog.

In the late December, we have our Dong Zhi.  I cooked some tang yuan (glutinous rice balls) for my DH.  He loves it so much. For the soup, I cooked with brown sugar and screwpine (pandan leaves) and a few slices of ginger.  This dessert is cooked during the winter solstice.  It celebrates the arrival of winter and by cooking this round round glutinous balls, it symbolises Tuan Yuan (reunion).

















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I have bought a packet of dessicated coconut and put into the fridge for quite some time.  One day, I felt I should make use of this pack of dessicated coconut, if not it may turn bad.  Thus, I came up with coconut tarts.  However, I still have some coconut left in the fridge.   After I had finished kneading the dough, and prepared to press into the mould, I found that I had much difficulty doing it.  In fact, the ingredients can make 8 tarts, but I came out only with 6 tarts.  That's why after baking, I can see that the tart shell is uneven, some portion thin, some thick.  I think my skill has still room for much improvement.  However, my DH said the taste was very good, not too sweet (he doesn't has a sweet tooth) for his liking.  The coconut smell aromatic when the tarts were baking in the oven.  Here is it....

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Yesterday (6 Jan 08), I have baked my very first apple raisin cake using a loaf tin.  The taste was just nice according to my DH.  The texture was soft and fluffy.  There was a bit burn on the bottom of the cake.  I think is because the bottom fire of my oven is too high.  I will take note of this the next time.  Nonetheless, I was quite happy with the result. And also, I should cut the apple into thicker slices, as I can hardly bite the apple in the cake, though I can taste it and also the raisins.  Haiz  ... Stingy me

 

Yesterday was Dong Zhi （冬至）, DH and myself went back to my mum's place for dinner.  In the morning, I made my mum's favourite dessert -- Gula Melaka Agar Agar.

This is my first attempt in baking almond cookies.  In fact, I thought of baking it during CNY, but can't wait to try out the recipe from DJ Fen Ying (粉樱) .  I have modified some of the ingredients used to suit my taste.  The result was very good, taste just nice, not too sweet.  However, I still post the original recipe over here.

Ingredients A :
130g butter (I reduced to abt 100g)
120g shortening (I reduced to abt 90g)
200g icing sugar (I reduced to 140g)

Ingredients B :
2 egg yolks
¼ tsp vanilla oil

Ingredients C : (sifted)
350g plain flour (I reduced to 300g)
5g baking powder
5g bicarbonate of soda
¼ tsp salt

Ingredients D :
150g ground almond (I used only 100g)

Ingredients E :
1 egg yolk (beaten for glazing)


Method:
1. Cream Ingredients A till well combined
2. Add Ingredients B and mix well
3. fold in sifted flour (Ingredients C)
4. Add in ground almond to form a soft dough
5. Shape into small balls. Arrange on greased baking tray at least 3-4 cm apart to prevent sticking. Brush with beaten egg yolks
6. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180ºC about 20mins

Whew, for the past one week, it seems that I have spent all my time in the kitchen baking one thing after another ... Blueberry pie, tiramisu, choc chips cookies, almond cookies, muffins ..... 

Today, I baked my 3rd attempt for Choc Chips Muffin but add in raisins.  The last 2 times were a failure.  Thank goodness, this time round, the outcome was a success... The texture was surprisingly very soft and fluffy.  Hurray!!!    I have extracted the recipe from Happy Home Baking.  She has forgotten to put her egg for this recipe but still it tasted good.  I didn't forget, but also tasted fine.    Thanks to her recipe & clear instruction that my muffins turned out well.  Only one slight problem:  The muffins don't really rise a lot.  I think the muffin case I used is too big.  I should use smaller muffin cups instead.



















Ingredients:
(makes 8 muffins)

250g plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Hershey's semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup raisins
1 egg, beaten 
60g unsalted butter, melted (I reduced it to 50g)
175ml milk (I used low-fat fresh milk)
150g granulated sugar (I reduced it to 120g sugar)


Method:
1.Pre-heat oven to 180*C.

2. Melt butter in a saucepan, over low heat, set aside to cool.

3. Sieve together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a mixing bowl.

4. Add chocolate chips, raisins and mix with a spatula. Make a well in the centre.

5. Place egg, melted butter, milk and sugar in another bowl. Mix until thoroughly combined. (To cut down on washing up, I mixed these ingredients into the saucepan which I used to melt the butter).

6. Pour the liquid mixture into the flour. With the spatula, gently fold all the ingredients to form a wet batter. Just mix until the flour are incorporate into the batter. DO NOT Over mix.

7. Spoon batter into paper muffin cups. Bake for 15~20mins (mine took almost 25mins) until muffins turn golden brown or a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

8. Let cool on a wire rack.

I love chocolate, so eversince I know how to bake, I have baked chocolate chips cookies a few times.  Three days ago, I baked these cookies again 

People say that everytime we do some task again, it must be better than the previous time we did.  As such, with this principle in mind, the quality of the cookies I baked this time has improved.  From texture to colour, the outcome was much better than the previous one.  Though I have reduced the amt of sugar used, the taste is still perfect.  However, the shape of the cookies were not uniform, some bigger, some smaller. Well, as long as they tasted fine, its ok for me and my DH.


























Ingredients:
180g     melted butter
1 1/4     cup brown sugar
2 nos.   eggs, beaten
1 tsp     vanilla essence
2 cups  self raising flour
2 cups  chocolate chips


Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180*C
2. Cream butter & sugar till pale & creamy
3. Add in eggs & vanilla essence, beat well.
4. Fold in sifted flour gently, then the chocolate chips.
5. Form dough into small balls & place on tray lined with baking paper, leaving room for spreading.
6. Bake for 12 -15 mins till pale golden
7. Cool for 5 mins, then cool completely on wire rack.