February 2010

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Find yourself hard to resist cupcakes??

Always had a thing for Baileys Irish Coffee??

If the answer is yes to both, you gotta try this simple recipe, only takes 20 minutes to prepare and another 20 to bake, and variable time to decorate *wink*

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170g flour

140g sugar (actual recipe says 170g but I feel 140g is just nice when eaten with the icing)

80 g butter (actual recipe is 125g so my cupcake is abit dry *sniff*)

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 tbsp milk

60 g chocolate chips (maybe white choc chips might be better aesthetically as it doesn’t stand out so much)

Blend flour, sugar, and butter in a blender until smooth. You can also use an electric mixer. Add eggs, vanilla extract and milk. Fold in white chocolate and mix well. Fill up cups half to 3/4 full.
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Preheat oven to 150°C.

Divide batter between 12 cake cases and bake for about 15-20 minutes. Watch the cakes carefully so that they do not overbake and burn.

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Baileys icing:
50 g butter (i think 50g is abit too much icing cos it turned out watery and oily cos i took too long to decorate it)
2 tbsp Baileys
60 g icing sugar
Combine butter with Baileys, and slowly add the icing sugar, beating until smooth and creamy.

Spread the icing roughly over the warm cakes. For the dark colour icing, i added cocoa powder..

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ENJOY!

the verdict?

i suppose its quite yummy for the first attempt.. but several areas need improvement

1. the cupcake was delicious when fresh from the oven, but it got hard once it cooled.. anybody has any suggestions to make a light a fluffy cupcake?? baking soda or self raising flour perhaps??

2. the icing was too watery, maybe too much butter or Baileys with too little icing sugar??

*scratch head*

So, please help!!DSCN4863

It has always been the hopes and dreams of people wearing spectacles or contacts that one day we no longer have to.. and the day has come together with technology, and of course a hefty pricetag..

LASIK on YouTube

this is Wikipedia’s take on the procedure:

LASIK or Lasik (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis) is a type of refractive surgery for correcting myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. LASIK is performed by ophthalmologistslaser. LASIK is similar to other surgical corrective procedures such as photorefractive keratectomy, PRK, (also called ASA, Advanced Surface Ablation) though it provides benefits such as faster patient recovery. Both LASIK and PRK represent advances over radial keratotomy in the surgical treatment of vision problems, and are thus viable alternatives to wearing corrective eyeglasses or contact lenses for many patients.

The operation is performed with the patient awake and mobile; however, the patient is sometimes given a mild sedative (such as Valium) and anesthetic eye drops.

LASIK is performed in three steps. The first step is to create a flap of corneal tissue. The second step is remodeling of the cornea underneath the flap with the laser. Finally, the flap is repositioned.

The surveys determining patient satisfaction with LASIK have found most patients satisfied, with satisfaction range being 92–98 percent. A meta-analysis dated March 2008 performed by the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery over 3,000 peer-reviewed articles published over the past 10 years in clinical journals from around the world, including 19 studies comprising 2,200 patients that looked directly at satisfaction, revealed a 95.4 percent patient satisfaction rate among LASIK patients worldwide.

The risk for a patient of suffering from disturbing visual side effects such as halos, double vision (ghosting), loss of contrast sensitivity (foggy vision) and glare after LASIK depends on the degree of ametropia before the laser eye surgery and other risk factors. For this reason, it is important to take into account the individual risk potential of a patient and not just the average probability for all patients. The following are some of the more frequently reported complications of LASIK:

  • Surgery induced dry eyes
  • Overcorrection or undercorrection
  • Very Low level vitamin D – Sun sensitivity
  • Visual acuity fluctuation
  • Halos or starbursts around light sources at night
  • Light sensitivity
  • Ghost images or double vision
  • Wrinkles in flap (striae)
  • Decentered ablation
  • Debris or growth under flap
  • Thin or buttonhole flap
  • Induced astigmatism
  • Corneal Ectasia
  • Floaters
  • Epithelium erosion

So what do you guys think?? Dare to give it a try??

I for one feel skeptical about it, cos i don’t think that wearing spectacles pose a problem neither in terms of convenience or cosmetic *wink*

Are you craving for a chocolatey cookie with crispy biscuit but soft liquid choc chips??

was that a YES i hear??

then you got to try this simple recipe, i’m not kidding its so addictive i’m eating ‘em as i write this..

before baking…

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*in RED are my adjustments to this recipe*

125g butter,softened, chopped (I cut it down to 100g, next time even lesser!!)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups (275g) firmly packed brown sugar (180g)
1 egg
1cup (150g) plain flour
1/4 cup (35g) self-raising flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/3 cup (35g) cocoa powder
1/2 cup (85g) coarsely chopped raisins
1/2 cup (95g) milk Choc Bits
1/2 cup (75g) white chocolate Melts, halved
1/2 cup (75g) dark chocolate Melts, halved

(Milk Choc Bits, White Choc melts and dark choc melts were replaced by 245g Hershley’s semisweet choc chips)

1 Preheat oven to 180′C/160′C fan-forced. Grease oven trays.
2 Beat butter, extract, sugar and egg in small bowl with electric mixer until smooth; do not overbeat. Stir in sifted dry ingredients, then raisins and all the chocolate.
3 Drop level tablespoons of mixture onto trays, allowing 5cm between each cookie; bake about 10 minutes. Stand cookies 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool.

makes 36 (its rather huge, so you may wanna make smaller crunchier cookies)
preparation time 10 minutes (are you kidding me???)
cooking time 10 minutes per tray
tips For a firmer cookie, bake an extra 2 minutes. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.

and, ENJOY!!

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Its chinese new year once again!!

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As usual, the 5 of us had a small quiet reunion dinner cooked by mummy XD

this year, no Happy to watch us eat dinner with his sad little eyes from the main door.. and the furious wagging of tail when we give him a treat.

Happy Chinese New Year!!

Happy Valentines Day!!

Happy HOLIDAY!!

pocketwatch2107585m

It was just like yesterday when I applied to IMU, but now, i’m almost gonna start my final year as a medical student..

the first time i met the gang, seemed like seconds ago, but this people have been there for me for 4 years now.. i am blessed *hearts*

the first medical exam seemed so far away, and i wonder why we were so stressed that time..

first, we began seeing simulated patients who “pretended” to be sick and boy, was it awkward!! but now in clinicals, have been seeing real patients with real diseases and of course a real chance of catching whatever they harbour *gulp!*

even the day i begun clinical school was eons ago but the white coat ceremony was still fresh in mind where we were honoured with the title of student doctors..

the first blood i took, i still remember that uncle.. and the kind HO who held my hand and guided me all the way.. until now, procedures still excites me..

oh not to mention living all on my own.. out from under daddy and mummy’s wings.. i must say i survived.. i learnt to cook had a few meals without salt and wash my own clothes but left a packet of tissue in the washing machine.. but it was all in the process of growing up.. and i must say I LOVE YOU mummy and daddy for making me your little princess *muax*

hmm, i guess time really flies.. but i’m glad the memories remain XD

and one short year from now, I’ll finally be Dr. Xan-di (MBBS IMU) and i hope i will do justice to that title..