Granola chocolate chip muffins and a healthier lifestyle.

As always, there comes a time when I get sick of my blog layout, and decide to change it. It seems like the design is going from simple to simple-r. Simplistic is the key. From the multi photos collage designs I made from images I found on the web, to a handful of self-shot baking photos, to now, a single image design. Snorts. What next? ;)

Sigh. I'm still on the prowl for a job. Been sending out resumes and awaiting replies. It's getting hard to just sit by while your friends are all getting jobs. I'm happy for them, but at the same time, thinking, when is it going to be my turn? I don't expect alot from a job. Just that it pays reasonably well, has sufficient annual leave days, has a decent working environment, great learning opportunities and that's good enough. I mean, it's pretty realistic rights? I just got offered a job by a local F and B company. I really would like to accept it, but there are just too many cons to the job (mainly the pay and benefits). I'm in a dilemma but ultimately, I doubt I'll accept it. At the same time, I'm also afraid of not accepting it and no better offers come up. Sigh.

Anyway, have recently joined a Muay Thai class with my girlfriend and we've been attending classes several times a week (it's on every Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights). It's a great way to exercise cos you gotta do cardio, cardio, and more cardio. Burn those calories man. I'm all covered in sweat and the (whatever) muscles I actually have ache like mad after those sessions. I shall think of it as training for the coming 10k Sundown run in May since I havn't had the time to go jogging much, and has neglected exercise till I finished the SL intern.

Talking about a healthier lifestyle, here are some granola and chocolate chip (okay, not so healthy then) muffins I made two months back. I love granola, and what better than to add it into muffins to make it a filling breakfast item?

Granola and chocolate chip muffins

Home made granola

Tampopo

On one of the days of my last week at Saatchi Lab, Michelle treated Yee Hwee and I to dinner at Tampopo! On the very same day, because of a colleague's connections, we get half-price dining at Tampopo, so several of the SL people signed up for lunch at Tampopo a week before (Michelle and I included cos we didn't know we were going to plan our dinner on that very same night). So in short, the both of us had Tampopo for lunch AND dinner. Talk about oh mans. Well, it's okay since Tampopo has awesome Japanese food anyway.

I didn't bring my SLR out for the lunch outing cos there were many people around and I was shy. *coughs* Anyway, I ordered the Tonkatsu set for lunch, thus decided to give the Tonkatsu a miss during dinner time. Also, a few weeks ago, I had Tampopo with Jamie and I had the delicious ramen too. So I forego the ramen too. That's good. It means I can get to try new stuff. After staring at the menu for ages, I decided on the Kaisen bento box cos it had a variety of dishes. Michelle was still full after lunch, so she got the roll and cha soba. As Yee Hwee didn't join us for lunch, she chose the Tonkatsu set. Yay. I get to take pictures. Haha.

As YH is interested in photography too, it was no surprise that during our dinner, the two of us whipped out our SLRs and started snapping furiously, while Michelle was just shaking her head in exasperation and waiting for us to finish with our "photoshoot" before she could get to eat. Haha. It's quite fun to have a fellow photographer around me, it's no fun when I'm the only one frantically yelling "STOP! Do not eat first. Let me grab a shot of ______" when I dine out with friends. (:

Delicate tea cup; Sushi handroll; Soba dipping sauce

Ma Maison & Watami

As usual, I'm way behind in posting my pictures, and my friends have been grumbling (good-naturedly?) about it. Well, I think it's time to do something about it, so here are some pictures with friends who were back from Aussie. We met up like a month ago while I was still interning, and it was on consecutive days, at Clarke Quay's Central Mall (near my work place) and both Japanese dining places.

Mel was supposed to meet us on the night we were going to have Ma Maison, but she had something on, so she had to give it a miss (it's okay dearie, we managed to meet up the next day for lunch at Watami anyway!). So after work, I met up with the two girls for our catch up session at Ma Maison.

Yueying.

Jos.

Dining key

Ma Maison

The food was good, it's my second time dining there. Been there previously for lunch with a bunch of university mates, and thought that it was a really cosy place to be. Dining there at night brings the cosy-ness factor up a notch as the dim lighting brings a really romantic feel to the quaint restaurant. I was going to try the paella, but it was to be shared between two people, and the others already picked out what they want (I have lousy persuasion skills I guess sigh) so I decided on the beef hamburger dish. It was nice, but just a tad too salty. Oh well, meat dishes with sauce always tend to be salty so as to match the plain rice served alongside with them. So no complains about the food overall.

The next day, managed to meet the bubbly Mel. She's one girl I totally hit off right from the start of our friendship (through a mutual friend of ours). We don't meet up very often since she graduated from UQ and moved to a different state for her Masters (she's in Sydney, I'm in Brisbane; now she's still in Sydney, I'm in Singapore). So it was a real friend of her that she made the trip from her place in Bukit Gombak to have an one hour lunch with me during my lunch break at Clarke Quay. Awesome friend I say. (:

Mel's chicken dish; Salad appetizers; My bibimbap

We both ordered Watami's lunch sets, and proceeded to gossip non-stop. Or should I say from the moment I arrived, we started yakking away, had to focus to remember to make our orders, continue yakking, yakking through our meals, and yakking after we finished our food. Haha. Man, it was so sad we only had such a short time to catch up but it was definitely one of my best lunch hour during my internship. She made me laugh so many times over her sillyness. Lol. We didn't get the chance to club the next day cos I had some family matters going on, so that was our only meeting when she came back for the hols. I can't wait till her next trip back. It's going to be fun I hope. We keep saying we want to go shopping, shi-sha-ing and clubbing. Let's hope we get to do it all the next time round! (:

How times have changed

Lollipops turn into cigarettes. 
The innocent ones turn into sluts. 
Homework goes in the trash. 
Mobile phones are being used in class. 
Detention becomes suspension. 
Soda becomes vodka. 
Bikes become cars. 
Kisses turn into sex. 
Remember when getting high meant swinging on the playground? 
When protection meant wearing a helmet? 
When the worst things you could get from boys were cooties? 
Dad’s shoulders were the highest place on earth and mum was your hero? 
Your worst enemies were your siblings. 
Race issues were about who ran the fastest. 
War was only a card game. 
And the only drug you knew was cough medicine. 
When wearing a skirt didn’t make you a slut. 
The most pain you felt was when you skinned your knees, and goodbyes only meant until tomorrow? 
And we couldn’t wait to grow up.

~Unknown

Brown butter chocolate chip cookies

Nothing cheers me up like good old chocolate. In fact, chocolate is good for any occasion.

When I'm upset, my first thought - chocolate.
The week before my period, I crave - chocolate.
When I'm having period cramps, I reach for - chocolate.
When I'm happy, I feel like celebrating with - chocolate.
When I'm hungry, I desire - chocolate.
When I feel cranky, I buy - chocolate.
When I feel bored, I get inspired by - chocolate.
When in doubt, I choose - chocolate.

See? The list goes on. My love for chocolate shows for itself. I reckon if there's one thing in the world I can't live without, it's probably chocolate. How would I survive without knowing it? That's really too upsetting a thought. Let's not think about such depressing thoughts. Let's think about chocolate chip cookies.

This is yet again, another chocolate chip cookie recipe. Yet, one can never try too many recipes to find the perfect one. I can't say these are the best chocolate chip cookies I've made, but they're still pretty tasty nonethless. The brown butter brings out a lovely buttery taste. And with the addition of some coarse sea salt pressed into them when they are still soft from the oven, these cookies taste sweet and salty at the same time. Pretty addictive I must say.

Brown butter chocolate chip cookies

One Bite; Two bites; Three bites; Gone.

There's still an ongoing search for the perfect chocolate chip cookie. In the meantime, I'll slowly bake my way through my long stash of chocolate chip cookies recipes I bookmarked. Plus other chocolate- related recipes. There can never be too much chocolate. ;)