Happy Valentine's Day

Do you remember the first time you leaned towards yr partner to plant that first kiss?

Butter Cookies with dark choc. flakes

A little flour
A little butter (maybe a little more than a little)
A hint of salt
A scrap of vanilla
A little egg white
A tad of dark choc

A lot of satisfaction :)

Happy 2013!

Happy New Year! And I've started it all lazy with a bread base bake for breakfast :)

Bread base quiche

More DIY Xmas ornaments

Little .. well not so little ornaments created with a styra-foam ball, ribbons and fabric & an online inspiration.
Now all we need is a tree....

It's Beginning to look a lot like Xmas

I've been a little down... but thankfully I've been trying to keep my spirits up by working on our tree's Xmas' ornaments. This is the second time I'm attempting to make my own Xmas ornaments as an annual affair :) I am loving it so far and can't wait to see them up in the tree.

10 years?

I can't even keep tabs of how many years it has been but it's been more than just collecting plastic dolls and making clothes for plastic.
It's about building friendships with fellow collectors turn friends. Supporting fellow collectors turn entrepreneurs. Following the journeys of fellow collectors become mummies. Loads of happy and sad experiences.

For me, collecting these little dolls kept me sane when I was out stationed with no friends in a foreign land. In a land where the great firewall was so tall I almost could not climb over it. (until I found a proxy server :p) This seemly weird hobby took my mine off heartaches and work frustrations. Hack! it even took me to a remote part of Beijing just to buy fabric to sew for them.

And even when I took a detour from the little dolls, tried packing them aside as I move on to another chapter in my life. I've returned bk to them. My partner can't picture my life without them.

The last 2 weeks has been a bit of a dolly rekindling process. It wasn't hard but it's always nice to have some friendly dolly nudge :)

Here's a pix of a little outing last week to mark a decade of dolly loving.

Crab meat pasta with roasted peppers

I had a craving. I had to satisfy it.

Fresh crabs, no canned crab meat pls. Boiled and deshelled.


Oven roasted peppers. Love the charred flavor infused in it.


Peppers' skin removed, chopped


The completed dish


A lovely lovely dish that will keep me away from ordering similar dishes in restaurants for a while.

This dish was adapted from
http://www.alexandracooks.com/2012/08/10/linguini-with-roasted-red-peppers-crabmeat-basil/