The Craftsman’s Forge

So, as planned, we had fun making Muffins this morning. Double Chocolate Chip Muffin! The mixture we end up with is alot more runny than last weeks scones, and for a while, I wondered if it was correct (yes, its been that long since I last baked a cake!) until I realised that its perfectly ok.

Pre-heating the oven to 180 degrees Celcius, we placed the trays in the oven for about 25 minutes, and wa lah!

Of course, the kids helped with this as well, and they had lots of fun whipping the mix , eggs and milk.

And.. they really did enjoy scoffing the muffins up as well!

Went over to DD’s last night for a little bit of a photography fun. You see, he bought a pair of brand new studio lights for quite an obscene amount of money. Well.. ok.. not so Obscene… but $900 isn’t your run of the mill type of flash either.

So anyways… with DD’s dire warning in my mind, of making sure I get to the right block lest I come face to face with a church elder (whom actually I’ve been wanting to say hi to), I parked the car and made my way up to his fourth floor apartment.

He was already mucking around with his studio, and I just got stucked in immediately.

I just came from a family trip to the grocers at Tanglin Mall, and picked up a half bottle of Ice Wine (From New Zealand, no less!) and a slice of Brie cheese. Would certainly make great subject matters for photography as well.

So anyways… here are the pics.

Will post the “making of” later…

Uh.. this was back in March 2006. Chris saw a Baby Crawling Contest, and we thought we should go give Elkan a shot. It was held at the Singapore Expo, if I don’t remember wrongly.

Kyla & Ariel on stage, mucking around.

While Gong Gong preps up the contestant.

ok ok… needs a little encouragement from Mummy.

Pre-contest Jitters… biting his finger nails…

Ah hah.. thats da way! .. lets see some spunk! Go knock em!

Heres the action!!

What can I say? My boy…. He’s da BEST!

Back in.. uh.. March 2006 (After I left U21 Global), Danny arranged for lunch at his place for a few of us. Everyone following this blog knows I’m going through my photo archives, and so… after 2 years, here are the photos and a short clip.

Ha ha ha… PY always sucking fingers..

Joel, when he was still so young!

“Rou Yuan” (Meatball) - Joanne and Ivy’s husband.

Danny has this really nice (kinda like Mezzanine floor thingy) kids play area. Ariel was just having fun there.

We were playing some card game I think..

The kids on a kiddy train ride at a Lor Ah Soo pasar malam back in February 2006. So small rite?

These photos were from wayyyy back in 2006, when Mr. Ang Sa Nah still stood majestically in Braddell Road. What a pity…

Cute? I’m housekeeping my photos, and will be posting some more photos soon. Elkan very cute hor?

Kyla & Ariel having Ice-cream…

Elkan with his four front teeth.

Such a cheeky and evil smirk

Dad & Elkan… (Pre-stroke in Feb 2006)

Kyla & Ariel on a kiddy ride.

Kyla with Wonder Woman.

Last Saturday morning, overcome by an overwhelming sense of domestication, we decided to make some scones for breakfast. Not exactly sure why scones aren’t too popular in Singapore, but Chris and I simply love scones to go with our English breakfast teas. Not too many place sell scones off the shelves (from our knowledge, only four leaves does), and if you really want to have good scones, you just have to make them yourself! Not too difficult really.

Ingredients:
- 2 cups “All Purpose” flour
- 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
- 3 Tablespoons Butter
- 2 Tablespoons Sugar
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 3/4 cup Fresh Milk
- 1 Egg
- 1 Box of Raisins or other embellishments you are keen to try!

Mix the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl, and add in the butter. You should end up with a crumbled powdery mixture like what you see below.

In the mean time, if you have baking trays, make sure you get your slaves.. urmmm… kids… to grease them.

Then, you need to add in the milk, which will then give you a nice sticky kneadable dough. Yah… a little bit like play dough. (Softer though)…. knead it, and mix it a little further, but note not to knead it too much, or the scones will turn out heavy.

Then, flatten out the dough with your hand till it is about 1 inch high, and use a cookie cutter or a small cup to cut out the scones. We did it with a Ikea kid’s cup. And we placed it in the greased baking tray.

Pre heat your oven to 230 degrees and place your baking trays in for 10 to 15 minutes until the scones are golden brown.

Oh.. I forgot to say that the kids made the decorations on top of the scones…. yah.. I know. Scones DO NOT have decorations… but…. they are OUR SCONES…. so we decide how they’re gonna look! Wa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ! Liek this one with the smiley.

Or this one… Elkan made this. He says its a dog. Uh… who am I to argue.. can’t you see the wagging tail?

The finished scones on a plate.

Umm.. Kyla loves the scones.

Ariel loves them too!

Elkan… What can I say! He wolfed down the lot!

And….Christine and I had the smiley scone. Peace…

I bring dad and mum to the wet market at Lorong Ah Soo every fortnight for their marketing. I pick them up at 7:30am, and depending on who’s awake, the kids get to follow me.

Today it was Elkan, and since I’ve just got hte new lens, I thought it might be a nice place to try out the lens. I’m not very much an indoors photographer, and am still learning the nuances of lighting, etc.

Elkan outside our house.

The Fruit stall taken from the 2nd floor.

Market Scenes

Weighing the purchase

Fresh Black Prawns. Yum!

Baby Prawns! I love this stuff!

Fish, Fish, Fish

I like this photo…. shows folks waiting for their fish, prawns, crabs, etc …

Finally, Elkan’s favourite fruit.

Theres more at my photoblog

Just testing out the new Sigma lens. All taken without flash on ISO 800, in a brightly orange lite living room.

Noticed a little camera shake even though the lens comes with optical stabilizer. Kyla’s shook a little, but Ariel and Elkan’s came out just sweet.