Frodo and Bilbo Baggins,

Garo arad-o-onnad 'elir!

Image source

!!!*Harry Birthday*!!!

Happy 31st, Potter.

Just something I designed the other day:

Happy Halloween!

And a big Happy Birthday to my mum :)

My orange decided to dress up for the occasion!

As a pumpkin! Haha! Are you dressing up/decorating around the house?

Untitled.

Hello, folks! Can I just say, I had an amazing birthday, thanks again to K, M, J, A, and mum and dad for the loveliest cake that I've ever had! This is one of my favourite photos from the day (I'm the one in the middle):

And something I found on Katie's blog: Emails written in your handwriting. I can't wait to try it out, after the assignments are handed in!

Edit: Totally forgot to report back about the cookies! Everyone loved them! Making more for Christmas! :')

Cookies (Work In Progress)

Not bad for a first-timer, right?! :) I've made 24 so far, I'll be making (baking/icing) some more today!

Navratri

Navratri is a Hindu festival, and the name literally means "nine nights" (nav is nine, and ratri is nights). It started last Friday, and will go on till Saturday (which is also my birthday!). Traditionally, people dance in a large circle around the statue/photo of the Goddess (I wasn't sure which Goddess it was, but Wikipedia says that this depends on different traditions). This dance is called Garba (pronounced gur-ba).

I just got back from Garba half an hour ago.. it's such an exciting experience, dancing and twirling to the beat of rhythmic music. I forgot everything and just danced! There's specific steps that you need to follow, and my friend Karishma (who also writes a blog here) taught me how to do them. Thanks, Kri! :) We were meant to take photos today, but we just danced the whole time... I'm going tomorrow as well, and I really hope I can take some photos that I can share here with you!

I don't think it's an opportunity to miss, so if you have any Indian friends, do grab them and go to Garba!!

Oooh, and my cookies are progressing very well, thank you. I iced some today. I've kept PINK as the theme of my birthday party, as it's one of my favourite colours, and it's also Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

Birthday Cookies

Feeling totally inspired by Amber Spiegel and her cookies... mmm... I'm going to be making cookies for my small birthday get-together on Saturday (along with lots of other nosh, of course!). But the cookie will not be the focus of the cookie-making-and-devouring, it'll be the decoration on it... I hope that makes sense. But I guess it doesn't. I'll definitely put a photo up after Saturday to let you know what I'm babbling about. Haha...

And talk about "you are your worst client". It took me hours to design my birthday invites and a rough draft for my new portfolio website (it's an assignment for university). Sigh.

:O

Realisation just struck me hard.

I will be 21 in exactly two months.

EEK! ;)

Pop Up Balloon Card

My gran showed me this video today:

So fun to do for a friend's birthday!

!!!* Harry Birthday *!!!

Yep, our beloved boy wizard has turned 30! (Epilogue happens in six years!)

Happy Birthday, Harry Potter (and J. K. Rowling).

Happy Birthday Kunal!

Whoa, officially an adult now, eh Kunal?

Vintage frame from The Graphics Fairy.

Holy Mackerel!

Aquarium Cake.

via DesignMom

Ladelle

Today's my gran's birthday, and I gave her this apron [same colour] from Ladelle:

And she loves it! And I love that she loves it! I really enjoy giving thoughtful gifts [as you might've guessed, my gran loves cooking and baking]. I take so long to decide what to give someone; I look in ten shops, compare the prices, the quality! Maybe it's just because I'm a Libra. So indecisive. XD

Anyway, we just had some Movenpick ice cream [swiss chocolate] and now I'm settling down to finish my photography essay that's due this Friday!

Did I tell you guys, that the Apple and Rose Ice Cream we made was oh-so-delicious? And did I tell you guys that the Rainbow Cake wasn't as successful? [And hence, no photos ...] Mind you, it was delicious all right, just wasn't as grand looking as I expected it to be. I think I'm sort of sick of cakes at the moment, to be honest ... ha ha ha ...

Saturday

Rainbow cake's in the oven as I type this ... the purple and blue layers are done, and green's a-baking ... I had to use generous drops of liquid food colouring as I couldn't find the gel type [which is said to give far more bright colours]. I'm going to do the remaining layers later, and ice them - frost them? - tomorrow. I'll put some pics up too. Yay!

And now I must scoot and do some assessments.

Edit: If anyone missed it, the recipe for rainbow cake is here. And I used Betty Crocker's Super Moist Vanilla Cake mix for the base.

Heart Cake

Aha! I'd said earlier that I wanted to share another beautiful cake recipe - and here it is! 

The Secret Heart Cake recipe! From I Am Baker.

Clear Gazpacho

So, Wikipedia told me that Gazpacho is basically just a cold tomato soup. Spanish origin. I've got this straight from Vogue 1996. Well, let's get on with the recipe. 

Clear Gazpacho [serves 4]

You will need:

8 beefsteak tomatoes/

1 tbsp salt/

1 firm avocado peeled and diced/

24 yellow teardrop tomatoes, halved/

1/2 cucumber peeled, seeded, and diced/

4 tsp olive oil/

1 tbsp lemon juice/

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste/

chives, cut diagonal.

The preparation:

- Blend the beefsteak tomatoes and salt together in the food processor.

- Tie the contents in a muslin and allow the tomato water to drip through overnight. Chill in the refrigerator [not you, the tomato water!].

- Toss the avocado, teardrop tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini and plum tomatoes [but the ingredients didn't even mention these?] with olive oil, lemon juice, and add salt and pepper to taste.

- Add the vegetables to the tomato water [which I guess you collect from the overnight dripping] and stir in with chives.

- Serve chilled.

Sounds like a classy but easy entree! I'm still unsure if I'll actually make this for my dad's - and gran's - birthday, but I like the fact that it's now on my blog, and I can access it anytime I want.

And thank you, Sarah, for following me! :)

Let's get bakey!

Tee hee ... it's my dad's and my gran's birthdays coming up real soon, and I'm thinking of baking a little something! I've never exactly baked before, just a little blueberry pie [recipe here] for an assignment, so let's see how this goes!

I'm thinking of baking ... drumroll, please ... the Rainbow cake! Except ... I'm not sure if I'll make it rainbow, maybe in colours they like best? Anyway, I thought the idea was brilliant, and I like how it looks white from outside, then you cut it open, and voila - burst of colour. I'd bookmarked another beautiful cake recipe, but alas, I can't find it at the moment - I'll definitely put it up if and when I find the link, though!

Some more bakey links:

- Cupcakes that make me drool.

- Even more cupcakes that make me drool [minus the Twilight ones].

- Smart and beautiful cupcakes.

- Glitter cupcakes!

- How to make some cupcake art.

- Here's where my mum got me cupcakes. They were totally yummeh, if a little expensive.

Fun fun! I'm doing this next Sunday, and I shall post pics up if all goes well!

Edit:

p.s.: Brrr, it's getting colder here. I must get my soft and cuddly Singapore Airlines socks out! I hope you're warm and cosy, wherever you are!

Firsts..

I'd written the first welcoming post here in October 2008. Then, after a gap, I really started writing in this blog. On April 22nd last year. It was my clips tutorial post, written for my best friend. I'd only started this blog for my bestie, to let her know what I'd been up to... but then - and I love this part! - others joined in, like Stephanie, Abby, Brajesh [who I would've never dreamed of reading this blog! He's all futbol and running around], Rachel, Sam, Robert, Silviana, Rashmi, Ruthie, Maia, Marinho, Kunal, DT, Akshay, Karishma, Quinn, Laxmy, Devil, Kitty Cheese, and last but definitely not the least, Jingle! Yay! Thanks all!! :D

And here's another first. My first-ever photograph taken in the flash-as studios we've got up at university:

Please don't just take that photo away, ask me first. :)

Easter!

Yay for the Easter break! Here's a nice Easter wreath tutorial that I stumbled upon earlier today, if you're interested. 

Okay. Half-way through writing that, I remembered: Today's April Fools Day! And ... it's 8:30pm! Damn!!

So I whipped up this easy prank:

Dried-up blood and wound:

Take some glue. The kind you get in sticks. I used Amos Baton de Colle. It's quite a soft glue. Scrape a bit off, and apply it to wherever you want the wound to be. Paint over it with a red gel pen/pilot pen/whatever you want. I used a vivid [a permanent marker] because I was in a great rush, but I'm not sure how it's going to come off now! So think before you paint :P

It's awesome how glue looks just like dried up blood. I did mine on my palm [it was "a cut from a blade!"]. And yes, if you are wondering, my little trick did work, though I think the person who I was tricking was a tad annoyed. Okay, maybe more than tad. But that's because my "wound" was huge and pretty awful-looking. Hahaha ...

By the way, someone from school taught me this four years ago :D

Also. It's George [and Fred *sob*] Weasley's birthday today! Happy Birthday to the master pranksters!

PS: This post was only supposed to be about Easter and eggs and such. But one thing led to another ... ha ha ha ... funny how that happens!

Edit: The time down here ↡ lies.

InDesign

How cute is this InDesign birthday cake?! 

By Trickartt. You can view their flickr here.

EDIT: InDesign is a layout software by Adobe! Read more about it here and here.