Sunday, February 24, 2013

A Year +


I am a kind of person who wants surprises :)). Honestly.. its true and I would not lie about it... I want to feel the thrill of being surprised in a good way! I have been imagining events, oh well let us say I've done a lot of "imaginings"... that my family or friends will surprise me on special occasions... But sometimes, there were no surprises... 

However, my 2013 Birthday came as a great surprise ^__________^ and I am so happy! HA HA HA... 

Here are the surprises I got on my birthday!!!

Even if I am currently working in Japan, my 3 closest friends in the Philippines sent a snail mail... inside were our pictures together and their messages... printed family pictures and my self portrait... kinda cool.. they were so creative.. and I was deeply touched! I cried reading their messages... ooops.. :') I love them all... We call ourselves JM3... hahaha so way out of the topic...

they did a good job selecting my best poses hahahaha...


My friends and colleagues here in Japan also did the AWESOME surprise! I wanted to bake my own birthday cake and since my friend has an oven, we went to his place.. Jeddo and Potato (its my way of calling them) willingly helped with the cake and after hours of baking... TADA! My Birthday CAKE!

a snowflake designed Devil's Food Cake!

I have been wishing a snow on my birthday! and since we were not so sure if there will be a snow or not so Jeddo designed the cake with a snowflake ^___^. We finished the cake late at night and I requested Jeddo if I could sleep at his place just for the night but he refused.. I was shocked.. What? Why? He then explained to me that "someday" I will understand... And so I thought its a "boy" thing.. Well I went home... travelling for 1 hour so sleepy and soooo cold... @_@... but anyways.. on the day of my birthday... so early morning I was so surprised... at 6:30 am Jeddo rang the bell with a different cake and a gift! waaaaaaaaaaaaaah waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah I am sooooo touched!... the reason why I was not allowed to sleep at his place at that time was that he was planning to bake another cake... T___________T I am soo surprised. It was one of my fave cake "THE WHITE TRUFFLE CAKE!!!" and the gift and the message.. I am soo blessed to have him as one of my closest friend! 

the cake, walking / barking dog, and the touching message!

I thought that the surprises were over... but I am mistaken!... YES... the surprises just keep on coming... during our lunch in the office... they gave me another gift.. ONE PIECE 950 Puzzle Pieces!!! What shocked me was that I was the one who chose the puzzle because I thought Potato would buy it for himself.. hahahaha I was quite jealous since we would be buying the puzzle I really really want to have... BUT IT WAS FOR ME ALL ALONG!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAH... 

one piece when they were still kids... YEY!


And they also gave me flowers...
oh the sweet smell of these lovely ones... 


And their messages on a special cut snowflake papers 
hand-made by Jeddo.... waaaaaaaah 
others wrote funny messages hahahaha...

I am deeply touched... all the gifts, cakes, messages... and loving greetings from my parents and brothers warmed my heart and completed my day... It was such as lovely birthday... I thought I will feel alone during my birthday since I am away from HOME but with my friends surrounding me... I never felt lonely! I am indeed loved and I loved them all too... 

I will never forget this moment.. they are my treasures... 


I always say this:
"it is not the years in my life that count. It is the life in my years."

Indeed... my family and friends are my inspiration to always move forward midst the difficulties life would bring!


til next time...
ja ne







Monday, February 11, 2013

My First Ever French Vanilla Souffle

After watching MasterChef USA Season 1, I really wanted to make my version of souffle... My bet on MasterChef  was Whitney Miller and she won... I am sooooo happy for her... She inspired me to be a cook.. not to be famous.. but to cook delicious foods for my loved ones ^_^

Well anyways... I will share my first ever souffle!!! 

I just followed the instructions from http://www.youtube.com/user/EugenieKitchen?v=jc1DtH-OC94

The ingredients are as follows:


  1. 1 tbsp. unsalted butter
  2. 1 tbsp. all purpose flour
  3. 1/2 cup of milk
  4. 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
  5. 2 tbsp. caster sugar (granulated sugar)
  6. 2 eggs
  7. Pinch of salt
I would be repeating everything Eugenie says in her blog if I write the recipe here.. here is the link for the procedure though: http://eugeniekitchen.com/vanilla_souffle/...

Anyways.. my goal is to experience or to feel the excitement in making / baking the souffle... and I was able to do it.. YEY!!! Thanks to my ever supportive friends Jeddo and Potato... We anxiously waited for 15 minutes in front of the oven just to check if our souffle will really rise... and it did... WAAAAAAAH we were like little kids so happy watching our work perfectly risen.. =))... 

Here is the picture of my first ever french vanilla souffle ^__^



til next time...
ja ne