Baking cookies

Anna, my sister in law, inspired me to bake my own cookies, since hers were so delicious and she made it look so easy to do.

I used to bake chocolate cakes often many years ago; chocolate cake was my favorite and the only dessert I ate. I enjoyed baking because I did not have to cook anything else; in Malaysia it is not more expensive to eat a fantastic exotic meal outside at the stalls. Since I moved back to england, with all its familiar ingredients; I enjoy cooking every day, trying new dishes, cooking family recipes and old favorites from my childhood, so I never took time to bake... until today.

This is my fridge; it was so full of pictures and magnets from our travel, that I started using the side as well.

My kitchen was very soul-less so I moved around some items to decorate a little.

This is the recipe before... I went to the shops this morning, and bought everything from the baking section, baking powder, baking soda, self raising flour, plain flour, butter, chocolate chip, hazelnut, white sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and lemon juice (just in case).

Ta-da! The end result. The cookies were lovely just out of the oven, but they got hard after a couple of hours, I followed the recipe to the gram, so it may be the wrong recipe to my taste, I'll have to ask Anna to give me her recipes, in the meantime, these will be great with a cup of tea.

Holiday... again

Yeah, I know I'm on holiday again, right now I'm under the sun, my hair still dripping from my afternoon swim, eating my sister-in-law's freshly baked delicious cholocate and cream cheese cookies. I did not use to tan but this time around I tanned on the first afternoon I arrived, thereafter, I am just cautious not to get a sunburn on my nose. It is a very cool holiday, except that because of Chinese New Year all the stalls are closed and I haven't had a chance to eat all the great food I miss so much, next year my in-laws will visit us in England for New Year and we will come at a later time when we can eat anything we like.

I occupy most days playing Pokemon or PS3, here Jacques is teaching me to play Pokemon, I borrowed his cards 'Leaf deck' against Nicolas' 'Fire deck'; it is a surprisingly very clever game.
In the afternoon, we swim, but only for a short while, most of the afternoon is spent playing 'Shark', so Tata (aka me) is the shark and the corners are home and I am supposed to lure and catch the fishes: Jacques, Nicolas, Kitem and Anna. That can go on for a whole hour at a time.
On CNY's day; Anna 's family celebrate in a traditional manner where the youths and children must serve tea and wish a Happy New Year to their elders and in exchange collect red packets Ang Pows.

Alex and I had a more relaxed New Year, my mom in law cooked a traditional vegetarian dish and spring rolls and the whole family played Nintendo Wii games all day.

Mr Garden and Kitem have started a tradition of inviting once a year the whole family, both Anna's and Alex' parents and sisters for a nice family reunion. Julien worked with my father in law for a short while many years ago, so they are always very eager to catch up.