deliciously dramatic

No, M’am! Yes, M’am! curtsy

madaboutcupcakes — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:09:10 +0000

It is not a party until someone comes dressed in theme. Every halloween night, BBQ, birthday, bridal shower, heck even a wedding comes with a theme. One would think we’d run out of ideas by now. With an upcoming pool party, the theme is “Ozzie” as in “hey there mate, let’s have a barbie” as opposed to Osbourne munching on a dove’s head.

Obviously, someone is sick of my usual uniform -black so, a non-descript warning came in the mail

“….the original theme WAS to follow the colours of the australian flag but…the colour theme has been extended, and now you have MORE colour options of red, blue, white, green, and yellow. There you go, almost all the colours of the rainbow. No more excuse to wear BLACK anything except the colour of your hair, your eyes, eyebrowns and dare I say BIKINI LINE!”

I love them.

I miss Wally

madaboutcupcakes — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 13:29:05 +0000

Where I am, Where am I going?

madaboutcupcakes — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:32:10 +0000

Less than a month ago, I was served with a writ of summons. For all intents and purposes, it is absolute proof that life is not fair. Counting my blessings, it is a battle for the powers to be because, I no longer want to fight.

Fight-or-Flight? Do or do not.

In the meantime, gewgaws keep me satiated.

iolite solitaire

The date that wasn’t.

madaboutcupcakes — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 04:08:58 +0000

In a recent effort to placate me, Jade made the call to Buko Nero. While he balked at a very bad six letter word - fusion, he made the attempt to appease me (or so he says) and I suppose, that’s all that matters.

Amuse Bouche

Buffalo Mozzerella with Balsamic Vinaigrette Reduction

Starter

Spanish Melon & Mescuni Salad with Lime Dressing

Soup

Cream of Corn & Sea Scallops

Palate Cleanser

White Peach Sherbet

Main Course

Lamb Chops

Dessert

Soft Milk Chocolate Cake with Caramel Coulis

With Buko Nero’s strict “No Photography” policy, I went with a single aim in mind - Enjoy. Oh and enjoy I did, every dish had a distinct layer and texture. There was not a dish that did not send big signals of “yummy” down my spine. The finale was the dessert, and it took the cake. It was light yet creamy, sweet but not cloyingly so. Perfect.

We made our way to Cafe Le Claire where the service is reliably bad but the sheesha (hookah) is affordable and conversation always runs easy. Vanilla is my new found favourite though, I wish that they had a double version of it because a single shot was too light for my usual “double apple” lungs.

Buko Nero

126 Tanjong Pagar Road
Singapore 088534
Tel: 6324 6225

Café Le Caire
39 Arab Street
Singapore 199738
Tel: 6292 0979

None shall sleep

madaboutcupcakes — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:06:52 +0000

Puccini’s arias are part of popular culture even if the ignorant and unassuming public does not realise it. Giacomo Puccini is the talented Italian composer behind works like La Bohème and Mademe Butterfly.

The Singapore Lyric Opera is presenting Puccini’s Turandot this season. A Persian legend which tells of an icy Chinese princess whose suitors were made to answer three impossible riddles or perish. Eventually, an exiled price wins her heart in a test of sacrifice, loyalty and love.

Nessun Dorma is an aria from the final act of Turandot and Pavarotti turned it into a cult hit when he sung it during the 1990 World Cup and later, 2006 Winter Olympics. One of his signature arias, I doubt anyone will ever sing it better than Pavarotti. Bias, much?

All I hope now is that I’ll be back in Singapore by then.

Managing your digital footprint

madaboutcupcakes — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:26:46 +0000

Out of sheer curiousity and pure masochism, I googled a name of someone I used to know and a heap of information poured out. There it was for all and sundry to see - his full name, on a personals site. Actually, several personal sites. If my glass were half full, it depicts him as a lonely, lonely single who loves photography.

Granted, nothing horrific: no alcohol abuse, no expletives, or drag outfits.

Still.

A while back, I had been motivated to minimise my digital footprint after L.L did a quick search and found some information about me. This massive clean up involved deleting all of the following: several online journals, social networking sites-myspace and friendster as well as selectively editing articles with sensitive information.

What is your digital footprint like?

First Paw-ty

madaboutcupcakes — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:10:48 +0000

Last Sunday, I woke up with my calves aching beyond belief. No Body Pump class has ever caused me such physical pain before. What did I do on Saturday might you ask? Hosting my dog’s first birthday pawty with 5 other fur friends and 24 humans. Yes. Twenty-four!

One of Marie’s least mentioned talents is her ability to cook! She makes the BEST Sugee cakes - Ones that make me a non-sweet tooth half breed ask for a second piece. For Chutney and Stomper’s birthday, we made a pact to split the cooking - she had the humans and I had the furry monsters covered plus my trademark, Oreo Cupcake.

For three hours, it was insanity. My cheeks were aching from all the smiling I did because, it was just that hilarious.

face-off: big boxer against big bark

face-off part.2: copper against all small dogs

copper trying to launch a sniff attack

scruffy the adorable silky terror

LOVE BUG - Copper Ho

Yes, I am acutely aware that there’s a little copper love fest going on but he is SO adorable. The youngest but the biggest. Scruffy has got such a great coat and looked dashing in his yellow/green rugby outfit. His possessiveness over his owners is mush-worthy. Chutney could not care less if I was hugging Copper, Scruffy, Brandi, Casey or Stomper. He would sell me for a piece of bone, I tell you!

freckles against the world.

madaboutcupcakes — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:06:41 +0000

“Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world.”
- Bette Midler

4am and I am still breathing.

madaboutcupcakes — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:52:54 +0000

“Just five more minutes,” she pleads over the phone like a child.

“Ok, I lied. Maybe, it is ten more minutes that I really want,” she thinks out loud.

They talk for what seems a single breath before what once was near becomes distant and cold. As her fingers search the darkness for the end, her eyelashes flutter to a tired close dreaming of his warmth of his voice.

It’s 4am and the only breath she feels is her own.

Oh what little feet you have……

madaboutcupcakes — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:05:16 +0000

Rambunctious makes for a great descriptive word for Chutney. All that energy that exists underneath all that honey is deceptive. Work is across the road from the gym so, I have resorted to leaving my workout shoes in a locker in a sad bid to motivate myself to work out more often. The little mind game worked. Gym happens with more frequency than my body shows.

Perfect, except I lack a pair of shoes to potter about in for activities of weekend warrior nature - cycling in Ubin, a jog around the neighbourhood with Chutney.

With the GSS in full force, I reckon that all and sundry were looking for a pair of runners too. The first #299 stores stocked shoes for long lost relatives of Big Foot. Number #300 was not lucky for me, the shoes were painfully made for the blind. As I walked into #301, NG abandoned me for the leather shoes and I ventured into the bright lights of the sports section.

My eyes looked at each rack of shoes with increasing disappointment, until I spotted a pair with potential.

1. Colours that won’t make anyone staring at my feet go blind - check.

2. Price within budget- erm. no, but I could deal with it.

3. Does it come in a non giant size?

With trepidation, I asked the smiley salesgirl.

SG: Yes. I have them in your size…but…

Me: But? What is it?

SG: This is from the Juniors’ series, is that okay?

Me: Juniors’ as in Kids?

SG: Yep.

Me: Oh.

15mins later, I walked out a proud peacock because I scored a pair of runners in my size and half the price of a similar pair in Women’s. There’s not much about me that’s small - big butt, eyes that rival glass marbles, a voice that sounds like I smoked too many cigarettes and heaving *oh nevermind*. The feet though, are small.

Air Pegasus (Bowerman Series) for Juniors