Donuts

For some reason I've been having craving for donuts ever since I came home from Malaysia. I know that J&Co. (I'm not sure if I have it right) is really popular in Malaysia but obviously when I went home to Malaysia that was the LAST thing in my mind to want to eat. Even if I had cravings when I was back home it would be the donuts you find at the bakery store!I love those donuts and I remember when I was little every time we go out and pass a bakery store I would ask for some of my parents would buy some for me if they go out because they know I love them.

Anyway I've been really lazy to go to the store to get some donuts(have to go really early in the morning if I want the fresh once) so I decided to make my own donuts. I was really skeptical because I know that it would not taste like the once at the store but then I really wanted some so I took the courage and tried it.

Retarded looking glazed donuts (I don't have the doughnut mold to shape them nicely)

I didn't enough glaze so I sprinkled some with sugar

Donuts
Ingredients
Set A
2 1/4 tsp of yeast
2 tablespoons warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
3/4 cup lukewarm milk
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 eggs
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons shortening
2-1/2 cups bread flour
oil for frying

Glaze
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons butter
1 cup confectioners' sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons hot water or as needed

Directions
1. Add set A in the bread machine and set it on knead cycle. (Watch the first 5 minutes of the consistency of the dough-not too wet not too dry). Let it rise until it becomes double of its size (Mine took like 1 hr).
2. When is done rising bunch and let the air out. Let it sit for 10 minutes again then shape it however you want. Let it sit out and rise again. (Mine stuck together and my "so call" shaping thing fell apart resulting in horrible donuts shape)
3. Fry them in a pan of hot oil.
4. For the glaze: Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in confectioners' sugar and vanilla until smooth. Remove from heat, and stir in hot water one tablespoon at a time until the icing is somewhat thin, but not watery. Set aside.
5. Glaze donuts while is still warm

p/s: You can add 4 ounces or chocolate chips or semi sweet chocolate chips to the glaze to make chocolate glaze.

Verdict: I really liked the donuts. I haven't tried the once with sprinkled sugar but hubby said that the once glazed is better although he'll also eat the sprinkled once. Aunt and Uncle Richie loved it. They both each had two and I send home half a dozen back with them (although they are trying to lose weight-my bad). I would definitely again and I think I would do half of the normal glaze and half chocolate glaze this time. Although it doesn't taste like Krispy Kreme or Shipley's but then I think it taste really good too. Hubby says that it tastes better than the store bought once. I'm happy with it :).

Update on Stanley and Milo

Stanley turned two last year December. I was planning to have a mini party for him but then because we were busy with I'm not sure what at that time we didn't do anything for him. I promise myself that I would make it up to him eventually..We now officially have two dogs. We kept Milo and SIL took Sadie. I hope that hubby will not bring home any dogs anymore because I'm really happy with having just TWO dogs at home. I still don't really know anything about Milo because I need to make an appointment to take him in to the animal hospital.

Milo is very attached to me. He's very protective of us and he barks and growls at other people that comes in the door. Milo has never ever barked or growl at me even the very first time I saw him. He's a good boy but he still sleeps in the crate at night although he doesn't want to but there is just not going to be enough room for two dogs and two adults in the bed. We will get a new and bigger bed I think before he starts to sleep with us.

Hubby's aunt and uncle watched both of our dogs when we went home to Malaysia. Stanley had some anxiety issue and he was having diarrhea the first couple of days we were gone therefore they had to take him in to the doctor just in case. Apart from that Stanley was so welcome and was doing fine at their place. Milo on the other hand was a handful. He would constantly tried marking his territory everywhere at their house. He would growl or bark at Uncle Richie when Uncle Richie tries getting in bed! Milo thinks that he's the king dog and always acts like the boss when he's the smallest among all of them. They have three big dogs and he tries to be the bossy one! Bailey, Stanley and Milo ran away once and aunt had a terrible time trying to get those three back together!They said that Stanley is welcomed anytime but didn't say anything about Milo!*faint* Aunt and Uncle Richie said that having FIVE dogs; three big, one medium and one small is like a zoo when we were gone. When they would be making something at the kitchen ALL of them would sit in the middle of the way hoping to get something. I think is cute and told them they should have gotten pictures! Hopefully when Milo is more trained he would be more welcome.

Stanley has been more calm and mature. Once in a while when Stanley is near Milo Milo would growl at him especially when Milo is near me and Stanley tries to come close to me. Stanley and Milo will play really wild and then they will get into mischief together and then they will even take naps together and they love to suntan together too o_o.

Stanley and Milo suntanning on the stairs together.

Or on the floor (the follow the sun)

Milo playing on the sun by himself

Stanley was laying on the couch while Milo was playing under the sun himself (above). I think he was waiting for me to come home because I was at the gym.

Milo's favorite spot!

I now have two babies instead of one. Milo loves attention from me and if I give Stanley attention he'll jump to me quickly...Hopefully I will have the patient to train Milo like I trained Stanley so that he's more well behaved. It's difficult for me to train Milo because training a dog involves giving them treats and Stanley LOVES food so he'll always be in my way when I try to train Milo *sigh*

Current Addiction!!

I started watching this series a week before my departure...That's also the reason why I was so occupied because I had to catch up...I'm satisfied because I'm all caught up now BUT I hate waiting for the next episode...interesting show....Recommended if you have time..

Gong Xi Fa Chai 2009

Wishing Everyone a happy, prosperous and a safe year...

Back from Malaysia!! "Backpost"

My much anticipated vacation back home sweet home came and gone in a blink of an eye. Hubby and I left for Malaysia on the 25th December 2009. It was such a wonderful and memorable trip. The only thing bad about this trip for me was I was sick the entire time I was home.

As soon as I walked into a MAS plane my heart started to race. I saw the Malaysia newspaper "the star". I was so excited because I was so much closer to home, closer to see my family and friends. I could barely sleep because I just want to arrive there ASAP.

The wedding there went perfectly well thanks to my lovely parents that planned the entire thing a year ahead. Everything was just great and everyone had such a lovely time. I was so happy with the entire ceremony.

I had no time or energy to shop when I went home. I noticed that things were not cheap back home and I could find better deals here. I didn't really get the opportunity to indulge with a lot of local food because I was sick and my parents would not let me eat a lot of junk food.

We didn't get the opportunity to visit a lot of places this trip because we were busy finalizing with the wedding stuff. This trip we didn't even make it to downtown KL because we could not find time. The only place in KL we went to was Central Market and the passport place. It took my sister and I almost ONE whole day to get our passport done and even that we had to go back there the next day to collect it. The reason why we could not renew our passport at the machine was because we renewed our passport here in New York hence our passport is not microchip therefore we had to do it the manual way. My sister had time to go down to KL; Sogo area to get her ID renew (she had the old ID) to the microchip one and came back to the passport place and our number was still not called *slap head*. Poor hubby had to be with us to renew the passport and had to accompany me almost a day to try and change my plane ticket. I wanted to stay in Malaysia till after Chinese New Year but sadly MAS did not have any place available. I asked them to check the dates until first week of March and they still could not find any seats!sob sob therefore all I could was extend my flight one additional week. The one extra week I had was wonderful but I just wished that I had a little bit more time. I wish we had more time to spend with just my parents but unfortunately because of our lack of time we didn't get to spend time just with my immediate family. I am also really happy that I sneak some time to spend with my BFF's and also thanking them for joining me on my special occasion.

BFF's at my favorite place.."Sai Mai Lo"

My self proclaimed god son - lil Ian

BFF's at my house for buffet dinner

BFF's on my hens night

First "lo sang" in 3 years

Good friends that came for my wedding

Girlfriends

Guys

Since Hubby went home a week before me I had to travel all the way home by myself which is not that bad but I was almost sobbing all the way home. I know hubby was worried about me coming back here myself but then there was nothing we could do about it because he has to come home to work and I wanted to try and stay a little more longer (the longer the better). On my way back I held on the the virtual Malaysia paper as tightly I could because I missed home so much hence I am now able to declare that I'm still homesick especially with the festive season now.

I really had a blast when I went home I know all the memories will stay with me forever. I would like to thanks my beloved family, relatives and friends for being there and spending time with me. For going back all the way to Malaysia to celebrate my special day with me. Thank You guys so much! Hubby and I really appreciate it from the bottom of our heart. xoxo

p/s: SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!!THE WHOLE PICTURE IS SHOWED BEFORE I PUBLISH MY POSTING BUT THEN AFTER POSTING WHY IS MY PICTURE CROPPED!!ARGGHHHH

TAG: 16 facts, goals or habits about Me

So I have been taged by bobo last month. I just haven't had the time to do the tag or blog about my trip back home. The internet was really slow in Malaysia and as soon as I got back I had a lot of errands to do and catch up on my sleep because I'm still a little jet lag.

Directions: once you’ve been tagged, you have to write a blog with sixteen random things, facts, habits or goals about you. at the end choose ten people to be tagged, listing their names and why you chose them. don’t forget to leave them a comment (”you’re it”) and to read your blog. you can’t tag the person who tagged you. since you can’t tag me, let me know when you’ve posted your blog, so i can see your weirdness.

Let's begin....(in no specific order)

#1: Stanley is my first dog. My first pet and I love him dearly although he's a mutt and I will never trade him for any designer dogs.

#2: I will never ever buy a dog from a pet store or a breeder because I know that there is a lot of dogs in the shelter that needs a home. I know that they will eventually be put to sleep if they are not adopted. There are too many irresponsible breeder out there and owners that do not care about their pets.

#3: I used to be a shopaholic! I used to love to shop and has to go shopping ALL the time. If I cannot go to the store I'll shop virtually.

#4: I am desperate to get a job now because I think I'm done staying home with the dogs.

#5: Because my hubby has a soft spot for stray dogs we ended up with 3 dogs in just the last couple of months last year hence we now have two dogs.

#6: I love to bake and cook for the people I love most.

#7: My family and friends is extremely important to me.

#8: I don't really sweat. I can work out at the gym for hours but I don't sweat. I will only sweat I think when is really hot out and if I'm doing strenuous thing out there.

#9: I always want to be my parents little kid. I don't ever want to grow up!(too late)

#10: I love to eat spicy food. I can eat really really spicy food. When I was 5-6 years old I went went out to eat with my aunt and ordered curry laksa the lady was surprised that I could eat curry at a young age.

#11: By age 3 I already knew how to use chopsticks perfectly.

#12: I login to facebook everyday!

#13: Although I am very talkative and can chat with anyone and everyone I'm actually a shy person. I am shy talking to people I just met but then I don't show it. I love getting to know new and people I've already known forever!

#14: I am a very messy person but I'm also a clean person. I need my house or things to be really clean and I am a clean freak but yet a sloppy person (does it make sense?)

#15: My goal is to be a better person. A more understand and caring person to my family and friends.

#16: I hold grudges! I remember really clearly a lot of good and bad things that people have done to me and my family. I need to learn to let go and not remember all the bad things.

Now I would like to tag mummy shern, sass, siao yue, Jen, Nick & Sara and Avril

Shopping

Chinese New Year is around the corner and every year the Chinese that celebrates this day buys new clothing, shoes etc just to usher in the New Year. Since I'm also a Chinese living but living overseas I still try and follow the tradition to user in the Chinese New Year.

I went to the mall two days in a row to try and find some new clothing. The first time I went to the mall by myself and failed to find anything therefore on Saturday hubby decided to go to the mall with me to see if we could find anything together but sadly we failed to find anything again. I noticed that when ever we are out there to try and look for a particular item we might not be able to find it but then when we are just cruising or window shopping we are able to buy more items. I know that I should not procrastinated and should have started hunting for my new clothing earlier but then I did not have any mood to do any shopping as I just returned home from Malaysia and was suffering from jet lag. Oh well! Like I told that I’m sure I have some new clothing and shoes at home and I don’t HAVE to get one NOW. Hopefully I would still be able to find something before Chinese New Year ends that’s all. *wink wink*

*This is a a sponsor post*

Malaysian Drivers!

I’m finally back! I have been hiatus for almost a month I think. I have been extremely busy because I was prepping to return to Malaysia and when I was in Malaysia I was busy finalizing everything for our wedding ceremony back home plus the internet back home really sucks…It was so slow that I could hardly check my facebook!
There is so many things I would like to blog about but then I think I should take my time and slowly write about it but one thing that really bothers me is the drivers in Malaysia. I remembered when I was driving back home the people weren’t such a ding. People there would not give way to other people and they are not even courteous to the other drivers or pedestrians. Everyone is just so selfish and will not give way at all. We were on our way somewhere when the traffic light broke over here in the US if this happens everyone takes turn just like a four way stop sign but the people there they just rush and will not give other people a chance. You have to rush and force your way out if you want to continue the journey. I think Malaysia should know some collision repair experts because the way they are driving they are going to need to use one eventually. I am really worried about my parents there because my dad drives like one of them. I don’t want to nag him because he respected me when I was driving there and would not nag me therefore I want to give him the same respect but I am just so worried about him driving there.

*this is a sponsor post*