Dead tired!

I think I am getting very emotional of late. I don't know why. I am trying so hard to control my temper and yet I snapped. Sighhhhhh.....

I don't look forward to celebrating Chinese New Year. In fact I feel like running away from it. Leave all the stupid preparations behind...No eye to see.

Today was another busy day. I woke up at 7am and left for my Di Zi Gui at 8:15am. I finished at 10am. With a growling stomach (I was so worried that people seated next to me in the class would hear my hungry stomach), I went looking for food. I stopped by a bakery supplier shop to get some stuffs for my cookies.

11:45am I had to fetch Edrik back. By the time I got home it was past noon. I started preparations for my cornflakes cookies. This time I added dried mixed fruits and reduce the sugar amount by another 15gm. Well, it worked. It turned out fine.

3:15pm I had to take Edrik to his swimming trial at a newly opened pool. The pool has a length of an Olympic pool. (note: Just the length!!!) Ding dong here and there, by the time I got home it was 5pm++ Continued with my cookies again.

This time I did chocolate chips. I do not like chocolate but upon Master Edrik's request, I baked some for him. This is my first attempt at baking choc chips.

Macadamia Nuts

Hershey's chocolate chips
I am not sure if this is how it is supposed to look before being baked. For one who doesn't know that this is chocolate chips to-be, one would have imagined it as something else. (I thought it looked a lot like unbaked dung from far!!!).
I do not have a picture of the finished product but trust me it looked a whole lot better than the unbaked ones. Oh...and the taste was pretty good. While it was baking in the oven, the aroma of the cocoa lingers in the air. So fragrant that it actually made me drooled over it although at that time I was still unsure if the cookies would turn out well.

Personally, I think it would have been better with more macadamia nuts. I have actually increased the chocolate chips as compared to the original recipe. Here's the recipe by Amy Beh :

Ingredients:
120gm butter
140 gm soft brown sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla essence
1 small egg, lightly beated
175gm plain flour
35gm cocoa powder sifted twice
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
50gm macadamia nut, coarsely chopped
70gm chocolate chips

Method:
1. Grease baking trays lightly with melted butter and preheat oven to 175-180 degrees celcius.
2. Cream butter, sugar and egg in an electric mixer until light and pale. Stir in sifted flour mixture with a metal spoon and add in the nuts and chocolate chips. Mix well to combine.
3. Roll teaspoonfuls of the mixture into larger-than-cherry-sized balls. Arrange them on trays, well spaced out. Lightly press them down a little and bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until cooked and golden.
4. Leave cookies to cool slightly on the trays then lift them out onto wire racks to cool completely before storing in airtight containers.

So, by the time i finished baking, washing and storing the cookies into the containers...it was around 9:20pm. Then I had a very quick dinner. After that I proceeded to wash my car. I had to wash my car. It was so dirty and unrecognisable already. I could scribble words on it. So just imagine the layers of dust that has been sitting on my car!

That was not the end of it. After I showered, I had to iron Edrik's uniforms. And I supposed because I am too tired I just couldn't sleep. So here I am again, blogging down my frustrations and complains. No doubt the entire itinerary for today has nothing much to do with Chinese New Year except for the baking, I am still going to blame it on the festive season. Why? It's because the last weekend and the weekend before, I was painting, washing and cleaning.

I feel so haggard and tired. I even neglected my workouts. Damn! And now I have a stiff shoulder and sore on my neck. Where did those come from?

It is all Chinese New Year's fault.

I need to catch some sleep now. Got to wake up at 5:30am tomorrow.