Every Picture (collage) Has A Story..

So instead of a long post of just pictures, I decided to use good ol' Picassa to make collages and sum up my recent adventures :D

Collage #1:

A Kelly+Pei outing! It was the night of the UT vs. Alabama BCS National Championship Game that we had gotten yummy Korean food and then decided to head out to a bar to watch the big game! That's right.. I insisted on a "Football & Beer Girl's Night"! Booya! We went to Ernie's to meet up with a friend and her husband, and sipped on beer while cheering (for the opposite team :P)! - Although, I have to admit that UT wasn't doing very well without their QB there.. not as good a game as expected..

Collage #2:

A QA day at Discovery Green! A friend had told me about an ice sculpting competition going on that weekend at Discovery Green, and seeing how it was a little too late to gather a group to go, I took a little trip all by myself! I loved it - beautiful weather, screaming kids, and ice flying here and there :D And of course, a chance to take fun pictures :) Wheeee..

Collage #3:

Later that same afternoon, I met up with my Biochem&Genetics girls! :D It's been too longsince we last hung out, and it's the first time since we graduated that we've all been able to meetup! Everyone's been busy with school and work, and the X-mas break was the best time to meet :) Yay for catching up and Ruggles wraps! Picture with all 5 of us: (L-R) Wendy, Sarah, Shefali, Sora (who's not B&G) and me :) :)

Collage #4:

Sometime on Saturday, I had gone over to make Tiramisu with Bel & Gaya, and stayed till 2am that night.. What did we do? Well, made a fire and roast S'mores, duh!! Tee hee.. Prabu, my brother and Jon gathered the firewood, the girls got the ingredients ready, and Nishan expertly showed us how to make a fire haha.. what I didn't get a picture of was us sacrificing gummy bears to the fire *grinn*

Collage #5:

A S'more party is never complete without an ooeyy gooey picture of us all biting into this deliciousness ;) And a party is never complete without playing goofy games and huddling close to the fire talking.. Yay for a good weekend!

Collage #6:

Having a blast trudging through mud, and getting our fingers and feet dirty from Paintballing!! Whoop! Who knew I'd be an expert at sniping *grinn* Surprisingly there were no squeals and shrieks from the girls (YAY!), and I'm pretty sure that everyone enjoyed themselves!

Next post: Baking Adventures!!!!!

It's Official..

I just got my Australian Student Visa approved today!

I'm relieved to know that the process is finally over, but now I'm getting sad thinking of all the friends and people I have to leave behind.. :'(

This is very sad indeed.

My highlights of the weekend:
1. Irene's surprise end of exam potluck :D I love friends who cook amazing food, and spending time just having fun! Playing the broken telephone game, Super Mario, and being goofy till 3am!
2. Paintball with the Msians in muddy, cold weather.. but it was so much fun, and we all had some pretty fun stories and battles wounds to talk about ;)
3. My Surprise Farewell Party organized by my brother and nearly ruined by me! haha.. I nearly didn't make it which made my brother leak the secret out but it all worked out eventually and we had the best time Karaoke-ing, singing and dancing out hearts out like there was no tomorrow! :D
4. Spending time with Hannah and Khalisa, and the bear hug I got :) I shall miss you HL :'(

Snippets of the night :D

With Casey, Gaya, Gowri :)

With Prabu, Marcos and Nishan

Singing with Albert, bro, and Alvin

The girlsss!!! Irene, Bel, me, Gaya and Gowri

<3 <3 <3

Not exactly the end of the night ;)

Goofiness!

O' My Buns!

... indeed so. *grinn*

The last time I went back to Malaysia with the family, I made a list of all the different kinds of food I wanted to eat. The ones at the top were mainly junk food, street food and of course, seafood!

Around that time, the craze for butter buns (bwhahaha..) seemed to spread like wildfire, and I found myself standing in line buying these yummy deliciousness at every mall trip! The francise name is Roti Boy, and it's really a simple butter bun with a crisp coffee topping..

And then recently a friend told me that they sell it by the dozens here in the US, most commonly known as the Mexican bun.. hmm.. Who knew?

Well, a branch from Roti Boy (called O' My Buns) mysteriously showed up in Dallas, and when Kelly came to stay she brought me 2! Yummers! :) Scrumpdiddlyumtious!

So out of curiousity, I looked up "Roti Boy recipe", and House of Annie's has this amazing recipe as well as step by step pictures on how to make it from scratch!


Future baking adventure?? I think so!



"Well now, who is going to eat this loaf of bread?" asked the little red hen.
"I will", said the duck.
"I will", said the pig.
"I will", said the cat.
"Oh no you won't", said the little red hen. "I am going to eat it myself."
Then she called all her little chicks together and they ate the whole loaf of bread. Not a crumb was left for the duck, pig or cat.

Hello, 2010!

HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Well, hello there!
It's been awhile, but I'm back with more updates!

-My parents came into town mid November, and because of crunch time, I decided to bite the bullet and accept the Masters program in Australia.. so I'll be going down under, mates! I'm super excited but this also means leaving behind good friends and people I've started to bond with :'(
-Moving all of my stuff along with my parent's shipment from Houston.. which meant:
1. No crafting
2. No sewing
3. Living on an air mattress and a very much empty room save my luggage bags..
SIGH.
-Volunteering like crazy at the museum! I got to teach a girl scouts class, an eye dissection, fetal pig dissection, lungs class as well as write up a curriculum on the Scientific Method! :D Yay to 119 hours served!
-Spending time with family friends, having Kelly stay over, and taking mini trips to Dallas & College Station to hang out with people!
-Getting my Aggie ring resized.. *sob!
-Applying for my Australian Visa and going through awkward medical exams.. haha!

And finally.. Spending New Years with the Malaysians! :D

I haven't really thought about 2010 resolutions, but here's some... :P

1. Working out, and getting in shape..
2. Keeping in touch with friends and aquaintances
3. Getting my Masters and getting a job <--that will be in June 2011

4. Being less of a introvert, and getting out of my comfort zone
5. Be more open to new opportunities.. ;)
6. Take more pictures, cook more, sew more, craft more :)
7. Listen more, love more, laugh more, be more patient.

Toasting to the New Year! WHOOP!

Girls!

See-blings!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Things I am thankful for this year:

• Friends and Family that I can always count on to be there :)
• Acceptance into the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia to do my Masters in Biotechnology!! WHOOP!
• An amazing last year of college, graduating and learning so much..
• Being able to be a part of a research group, my office group, the ESL program, and The Health Museum!
• God - for never failing me.. for always watching over me, and knowing (always!) when the right moments are <3
• A new year, a new beginning, new adventures, and new stories!

What are you thankful for this year, and what are you excited for the coming year?

Halloween Cookies!

So it has been awhile since I last posted something, but I wanted to share the recipe for these scrumptious chocolate cookies that I made for Halloween.. (I know, I know, 1 month too late!)

I found these among the Woman's Day online magazine article titled, "Chocolate Boo Cookies", and you can get the recipe here!

In case you're not up to clicking things, here's the cut and copy version (I tweaked it some to fit my taste!)

Chocolate Cookies: Good for any Scrumptious Occasion!

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1⁄2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1⁄2 tsp salt

21⁄2 cups all-purpose flour

(Optional: Orange Zest! <--Pei's extra oommphh!)

1. To make Dough: Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. On low speed, beat in cocoa powder and salt until blended. Gradually beat in flour until blended. Add in orange zest and gently incorporate it into the dough. Press dough into a flat disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.

2. Heat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. On a floured surface or silicone baking mat, roll out dough to 1⁄3 in. thick. Use cookie cutter to cut out shapes. Place shapes 1⁄2 in. apart on baking sheets.

3. Bake cookies 15 minutes or until firm. Cool on wire rack 2 minutes, then remove to rack to cool completely. Reroll, cut and bake remaining cookie dough scraps.

Tips on making these cookies:

-Maybe it was just me, but they got soft really quick, so you might think of refrigerating the dough between baking, and only rolling out small amounts at a time..

-The ones I made were crunchy, just the way I like 'em! With a hint of orange zest, but you could also put in orange juice to give it more of a kick!

"Perfect in Every Way Possible"

Dear Readers,
Halloween this year definitely made up for all those missed Halloweens! Wheee! I had a blast of a time, and the best part of all of it is, my costume was 70% homemade! :D

This year, my friends and I made plans to go to Austin to soak in the Halloween craziness that is 6th Street! I decided, Why not make it a good costume seeing how I haven't made much of an effort for the past years.. so my choices came down to these 3:

a) Sexy Scientist (kitten heels, lab coat dress-like, and test tubes)
b) Chef (wooden spatula, chef's hat, full apron)
c) Sexy 50's Housewife <----------- DING! DING! DING!

So I set about looking for things I could make:
✓ Cutest Cherry print fabric from Joann's
✓ White ruffle fringe (What is it called??!)
✓ Beige fabric to make fabric peony brooch
✓ Pearl necklace + Pearl bracelets
✓ Cute black skirt with pocket (That I had already sewn in the last sewing project!)

It took about half a day sewing my apron, including pockets perfect for keeping my wallet and phone! (And as a 50's wife, I had to have my lipstick at hand! ;D)

I also copied a template for the peony flower brooch from Martha Steward's website! I frayed the edges to give it a more vintage-y look and pinched several petals and sewed it together to give it more depth and texture .. it turned out so well for a first timer! And I sewed on a super cute button to go with it, definitely proud of the finished product :)

I also found a string of craft pearls from Joann's for cheap and strung it onto an elastic chord, and even though it didn't go all the way around, I had a collared shirt to hide the empty space!

Enough talk, here are pictures!

-Things I love about sewing: My jar of threads, my awesome 50's apron, my felt donut pincushion, my jar of slowly accumulating buttons!, and my Peony fabric flower brooch <3>

Fabric Peony Brooch.. Ahhh! I love it so!

And last and not least.. the whole ensemble! I sneaked my brother's SLR camera again to take my pictures tee hee! I'd have to say, my outfit was tastefully classy, and none of that "scantily clad costumes" :P <--- Although, I got a very weird comment from a friend of a friend suggesting I wear that more often when I'm married?? hahah! My friends had some pretty kewl costumes as well! :)

Irene- forest nymph, Melvin- Popeye (we saw 5 of them that night!), Jon- creepy zombie, Benedict- devil, Belinda- hula girl, Nishan- the Apple dude, Emily- Avril Lavigne-esque, Albert- a tree (I thought his was the funniest, and definitely the most unique!), Prabu- beat up guy, Gaya- witch, Andrew- a Spartan, and Jennifer- Rennaissance girl?

Yay for the best Fall weekend!