Two Sundays ago, we went to have dinner at a restaurant located in a plant nursery. It's a short drive from home and boasts of cosy outdoor dining surrounded by beautiful plants.
Despite the rave reviews, we were kind of disappointed with the food. The portions were small and the food was just okay and not worth the price. We did end with a slice of yuzu matcha cheesecake which my sister said it's my birthday cake (this was 3 days before my birthday) and that was really good. But that was not done in-house. So I guess we're not going back.
So my sister E spent quite a bit of time putting together this CNY Lego Lion...
And I figured we should have it in the family scrapbook while it's still intact (I tried moving it and promptly lost 4 pieces at the side...LOL*)
I haven't made anyone's birthday cake in a while...it's just been easier to buy one....but I baked a Basque Burnt Cheesecake for CNY and discovered that I really miss the therapeutic process of measuring and mixing and making something delicious. So I'm going to bake a lot more in 2026. :)
Incidentally, I also bought an ice-cream maker a few months ago and have been enjoying making my own ice-cream. So I decided to try an ice-cream cake. Back in December I served my vanilla ice-cream with blondies and it was a hit....so I went with a blondie vanilla ice-cream cake. I did run out of time and didn't manage to cover the cake with frosting but I decorated with Fererro Rochers and it looked pretty good. *winks*
I almost forgot how excited the Yams get when there's cake. *LOL*
Can you spot the upcycled packaging on the layout?
Happy Tuesday friends!
So nephew #1 brought his girlfriend over to meet his grandparents and his fave aunt (of course! *winks*).
They met in Melbourne last year...yes, she's tiny!
Meanwhile nephew #1 also came with a fresh new perm. *LOL*
Lots of red packet bits as embellishments since this was during CNY 2026. :)
Haven't done a double page spread in ages. Here's one from Christmas 2025.
So we celebrated my sister E's birthday last week.
She got her pressies 2 weeks prior so it was just cake for the actual day.
Can you tell that the folks are happy to have cake? *LOL*
Lots of cardboard packaging used. I even incorporated the bakery's happy birthday signage on this layout.
So we went out for dinner on New Year's Day....
Here are the folks acting all cutesy with the food. *LOL*
So I went all in with the cute elements...*winks*
Hello friends! Just sharing a last family layout before taking a break from blogging to enjoy the last few days of 2025.
My cousin came over with her boys for a Christmas gathering.
The nephews love ice-cream so I made my first batch of vanilla ice-cream for them using my new WMF ice-cream maker. I got the two thumbs ups (plus big toes) from the boys! *LOL*
Happy holidays friends! See you in 2026!
Haven't shared much of this year's family food. Here's what the Yams ate on Monday. All made by me of course. :)
We had braised sweet and sour pork ribs, stir-fried mixed veggies and wood ear mushroom salad.
I fussy-card the Fresh rewards illustration from the marketing flyer and added some more "blooms" with stickers. The red "frame" also came from a marketing pamphlet. I just adhered random bits of paper and stickers to add interest and texture.
Kept it simple (by my standards) with pops of texture and layers.
