Finding a Career

I've been waking up as early as 8am this whole week and just this one day, I decided to wake up late and guess what happened?

I missed an important call. 

I called back just to know that it's the general number for the organisation. When I told them about the email I've sent to the HR Dept about 2 days back regarding job opportunity there, they told me that the person in charge is on leave today.

Then who on Earth called?

I sad. 

Supposed to be getting a job by the end of January.

Ganesha, y u do dis to ur child? 

Pft, I remember my dear friend asking if I wanna follow him to the Pulliyar Temple early morning today but I couldn't because 'time of the month' is magically early, the next morning, right after I agreed to follow him. 

Y Ganesha y? 

:/ 

RECIPE : Vegetarian Briyani

Hey! 

I don't normally post recipes on my blog as this is more like a personal site but I'm so bored at home that I decided to be kind. Hah!

Since Thaipusam is just around the corner, I'm sure a lot of Indians are craving for briyani but apakah daya , vegetarian broooooo, vegetarian. Hahaha. *evil laugh* It's okay if you can't eat meat items and craving for briyani cuz hey, we always have an alternative vegetarian version of non-vege meals right? 

Anyway, here's the vegetarian briyani recipe I learnt and decided to try at home. (I always add more onions and veges and spices, so it's up to you to control the ingredients according to your own taste bud alright?)

Ingredients

• Basmathi rice - 1 cup
• Oil  - 2tbsp (I used a lot of ghee instead)
• Bay leaf 
• Cinnamon stick
• Cloves - 2
• Coconut milk - 2 cups
• Fennel seeds - 1.5 tsp
• 1 inch Ginger (finely chopped) 
• 1 Big Onion (diced)
• 1/2 tomato (diced)
• 2 green chillies 
• 10 mint leaves (roughly chopped)
• Salt
• Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
• Coriander leaves (about 4-5 sprigs, roughly chopped)

Method

1. Heat oil/ ghee and add in bay leave, cinnamon, cloves and fennel seeds. 
2. Add in ginger, garlic and green chillies. Fry well until the raw smell goes off and add in onions and fry well.
3. Add in tomato and fry well until it turns mushy. 
4. Add in washed basmathi rice and stir well after sprinkling with salt to taste until they're coated well with the oil and spices. 
5. Add in the chopped mint leaves.
6. Transfer to cooker. This is how it should look like;
7. I added a generous amount of frozen mixed vegetables in my dish. It's optional. As I said, it all depends on your own preference. 
   
8. Pour in the coconut milk (I used plain water) and let it cook. This is how it should look like after it's done. You may add in the coriander leaves now and mix well. 
   
9. Just sprinkle a little bit of yellow colouring and mix well only on the top part. Mix everything up after leaving it for a while. This is how it should look like when it's done, with bits of white rice showing. This step is purely optional. Hahaha. 
   
10. Your briyani is ready to be served! :D 

I served mine with spicy chicken varuval and onion raita. 

Let me know how yours turned out with the coconut milk! Remember, you can always add in extra spices or vegetables like diced carrots if you want. You're the chef!:) 

Shanu. x

Silly Shanu

I wear my heart on my sleeve. 

Hahaha, anyway. It's funny how broken and sleepless was I for so long and how fast is it to actually get over it when I finally decide to share when people ask about it. All this while, I won't say a word about it to anyone cuz I actually know how they'll respond. But now that I realise how desperate am I for help, it's probably the best decision ever. 

Life is full of surprises. Life is full of lessons. Life is amazing.

:) x

Goodbye 2014, Welcome 2015!

2014 finally came to an end and I must admit that it has been the quickest yet most memorable months of my life.

Beginning of the year was amazing. You could see my posts here itself and I'm sure anyone could guess how happy I was. I was literally in cloud 9. Hectic working life, but still managed to laugh and enjoy myself. And the nights by the seaside and the rides in the middle of the night is my favourite.

Let's not talk about what's gone and focus on the future, for once.

I spent my year not worrying about future at all.

At first, it was all fun and blissful. To not care about anything. To not have the slightest worry in life. To love. To share laughter. Just enjoying the current moment. 

And then it hit me. 

Slowly.

It was like a slow death. Well, it was not that bad, but I died a little every single night when I came back home.

Often, I lose control. I cry myself to sleep.

But in the daylight, I try my best to be the usual happy go lucky Shanu.

But when I meet the ones that I love, I can't hide myself.

The sad, pathetic loser inside of me shined bright like a m-.

It went on for months, probably till the end of the year.

Almost the end of the year (which was yesterday).

I couldn't sleep at night. The earliest I slept was before my birthday, 9pm when I couldn't control my emotions and ended up breaking down. And then the good early sleep was since the past two weeks. I learnt to worry less and slowly accept the truth and try to move on. 

And yay! I started sleeping as early as 1am. 3am would be the latest. :)

The thing is, we think love gives us butterflies. If we fail to know where we stand in the other person's life and open our eyes, they're actually wasps in disguise. 

"When your stomach flutters, and your hand shakes, and your cheeks flush, sometimes it's not love. It's pain."

I think the tummy pain and flu is messing with my head so sorryyyyyy, let's stop the negativity and HI! WHAT'S YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTION? :>

I missed you, bloggy. 

This video pretty much sums up the most memorable days of my 2014. :)

Anyway, Hello 2015! I won't ask you to be good to me cuz I'll make you good! Let's do this together alright. :D

Thanks for reading whatever nonsense I typed in here cuz I honestly didn't had anything in mind when I started this post rofl. Happy new year dear whomever reading this. <3


Oh! Remember my first saree pic on my previous post?

I had so much fun :)

x

How the last chapter of 2014 began.

Hi! I know I'm not as active as before on blogger but my blog is not dead (answer to the question on my ask.fm lol)

Anyway, I don't know if I'll be rajin enough to write about every month in 2014 as we bloggers usually do before welcoming new year, so I'll just post as usual.

I'm glad my December is eye opening and full of lessons. I had few rough nights but hey, I got up and learnt. 

Started the month with a good outing with sis and mom to get me my first saree and honestly, I didn't know what to choose so I randomly picked a red one.

Too simple? Boring? I don't know. Haha

Oh here's the best part. Anjappar's briyani!! Damn they were the bomb. Of course, I prefer ABC's banana leaf meal and Saravana Bhavan wins the vegetarian meal.

What else? Oh NU Sentral's Christmas deco was amazing. Went there w my sis to pass cheese brownies order.

The short haired sis went long and tge long haired went short. Lol I don't know how some people get confused with us. 

She got me the adventurer hat. Lol reminds me of my fav player in MetalSlug back then. Guess who?

Ended the day with the best nasi lemak I've ever tasted. My favourite Wawan. <3

I'll post the rest soon since this post is getting too long haha.

Anyway, here's my cheese brownies and Krispy chocolate brownies picture. :3

Krispy Chocolates,salted peanuts, chocolate ganache. :3

Marble Cream Cheese Brownies. Do checkout @lilchefjoypastries on Ig. :3

Oh before I say goodbye, dear creep is back home. Oh how I wish to be back there too. Will miss (missing actually) that pretty face of his. :/

Bye bye till next time.

Here's a song. x

The Way of Love

When you meet a boy

That you like a lot

And you fall in love

But he loves you not

If a flame should start

As you hold him near

Better keep your heart

Out of danger, dear

For the way of love

Is a way of woe

And the day may come

When you'll see him go

Then what will you do

When he sets you free?

Read more: Cher - The Way Of Love Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

GRADUATION !

Three nights earlier, I was terribly upset with everything around me, my life, situation at home, past, future, present, everything and no, I was not on my period.
I cried to bed, as early as 9pm, with pillows all wet, face covered with blanket, nose clogged, it was terribly stupid and depressing that I woke up with puffy eyes.

Cuz words alone are not enough lol and for once, my eyes were not that small. haha

But yeah, to make things worse, I skipped breakfast and when I checked for lunch at home, there was only dhal curry. :|

And of course, no food ; no life ; no mood ; depression rofl

Dramatic, I know. Sad girls are the worst thing ever.

And so I thought, there's no way I'm being all sad and upset with my family when my graduation is just 3 days away!
Luckily enough, my favourite man (Jesus in man's form lol) was free yay!
We made last minute plan for lunch (not exactly lunch cuz he arrived around 5pm) and I don't know mannnnn, I grinned from ear to ear as soon as I saw him! Had so much laughter and being bullied by him was never an issue, of course lol.

Oh I adore him (and his pretty face) so much

It felt like the good old time - well not exactly old times lol but yeah. It felt so nice to finally get back to my usual annoying self after I came back from JB mooooonths ago. 

And of course, the gentleman *cough* offered to send me home and to my surprise, he left me right in front of my house even when I asked him to drop me at the nearest bus stop, Since I adore him so much (I was feeling bad cuz he came in the rain all wet, wearing slippers actually lol), got him a little something and chocolate. 

Went back home, all smiley, and mom was not mad eventhough I came back late and yeah! I WAS BACK TO NORMAL WOOOHOOOOO ! Love you for this, dear creep.

And yes! Back to what this post is supposed to be about, GRADUATION! :D

Right after we all received out sroll (thanks for the flowers, akka, amma and appa. <3)

There you go, my tired, awkward smiley hehehehehe. :3

Right after we got our dress, before the convocation starts. :D
Meet the ones that were with me during my last semester! 

Mas Aidil down there. I couldn't contain my hyperness when I saw him getting his scroll and screamed Mas Aidil!! and everyone around laughed lol. :D 

And of course, I couldn't have gotten my diploma without my pillar of strength, family, Brother was not around. Thank you, my loves. :')

Andddd.... yep. That's all! I don't know what to write about the convocation hahahahaha but it was so nice to finally show appa the place I studied at and he was so happy, watching around, meeting my chefs, enjoying the foods provided. It was overall a happy day. And I felt pretty! Hahahaha. Thank you amma for the lovely suit. <3

One does not simply leave my college without the amazing wall full of celebrity chefs that have visited our place. ;) Hahaha, it was a candid, honestly. 

Yep, that's all! Thank you for reading. 

Till next time, your lil chef. <3 x

Happiness.

Happiness to me, is to bake all day long and spend the night with loved ones. I don't mind not getting enough sleep, I don't mind bossy leaders, I don't mind annoying customers, I don;t mind as long as no one stops me from baking.

I'm graduating next week and I've been working on on my little online business  but here's the thing about working from home at such young age. You stay in other people's house. I know, it's your parents', but still, it's time for you to step out and start living on your own. It gets a bit annoying when I need to try out new recipes and practice my piping skills and stuff but the people around you would still see it this way ; wasted money. wasted time. what's the point if you're not selling it.

But. Is it wrong to make sure my products are really good before selling it? I mean like, come on. People don't repeat orders for my brownies just because it was my first brownies recipe. NO. It's because I tried it so many times and finally found the good recipe that everyone loves.

And about money, it's not like I'm asking money from anyone..

It's sad, really. I would leave this business and start working in a hotel. Infact, I want to go back to JB. I have offers there. But mom is so reluctant, saying that JB is so far away when my own brother is just there. I can work in other hotels, I know, but I can't be doing it from home when I got no transportation! Don't tell me to rely on public transportation during night shift. Don't tell me to actually ask for morning shift. And please, don't tell me to work in some random ass cafe or restaurants. I did not study for nothing. 

This sadness is turning into frustration lol sorry. 

'till next time, loves. x 

M&M Chocolate Cake

Hey guys!

I'm so sorry for not updating my blog as frequent as I used to but hey! I'm updating now. ;) so Hello and Happy November!

I've decided to start a small business on my own before starting my career (early 2015 if possible) and the support was amazing, thanks to my Facebook friends. Last month, a friend of mine asked if I could bake any kind of cake using M&M and I immediately thought of the M&M cake with Kit Kats tied with a big ribbon around it but it's a bit too pricey so I thought of making something more affordable with generous amount of chocolate buttercream buttercream and oreos. And yay! It was a success! :D

This is how it looks like on the inside ;

4 Layers of Chocolate buttercake with two different shades of brown colour. :D 

So what do you think of it? Let me know alright! :D 

These are my other products for now. 

More to come. Thanks for those who've been supporting me and showering me with tons of ideas. :)

'till next time, your lilchef. x