.::. Our 8th Anniversary .::.

“There is only one happiness in life: To love and be loved.”Georg Sands

A few days back, we celebrated our 8^th anniversary.  It’s also our 1^st wedding anniversary as we exchanged our vows one year before, on our 7^th anniversary.

We started our journey 8 years back, diving into the unknown, not knowing if we will even last past his army days.  We were 18 year-olds then, happily in love.  Fast forward 8 years, after all that has happened, everything has changed yet one thing remains.  We’re still very much in love.  Little did I know that I would love the same man for 8 years straight. 

Love means so many different things, and between us, it has evolved so much over the years.  Some people claim they love, but keep hurting people they love and screwing up relationships.  Some love, and enjoy the love and happiness that love brings.  I honestly think that the greatest form of love transcends everything – regardless of race, gender, religion, age, shape, size, looks and really everything else.  And today (and every other day), I’m most thankful to have found love and my partner in life.  The man who loves me for who I am, who understands me inside-out, who has never expected me to change in any way, who supports and encourage me in whatever I choose to pursue.  Unconditionally.

That’s the best gift anyone could receive in life.

If you ask me, what is the most important thing in a relationship, I would say honesty.  I’m thankful to be able to be 101% honest with the husband right from the start – I really can’t have it another way.  I think he loves me for that, because there’s no need to guess, I’ll let it all out.  He’s the complete opposite of me.  Sometimes, he thinks that what he thinks does not matter because it doesn’t change anything.  It’s very much due to his experiences that he’s the way he is, and it took years for him to slowly let down the wall he built around himself. The first 3 years of our relationship to be exact.  Things got better from then on.

Being able to speak your mind and be straight-forward with your thoughts and opinions avoids many misunderstandings, making it easier for you to understand someone.  Speaking your mind also encourages communication.  With understanding and communication, no problem is too big to solve as long as both is willing to go weather the storm together.  The prerequisite is the willingness to be reasonable, to compromise and to try to see each other’s point of view.  I now realize that it takes 2 willing parties to make relationships work.  It all gets easier when you know each other better.

I only have one goal in life – happiness.  Not career, not money, not fame, nor power.  Happiness as I envisioned is being able to have my own home designed by myself, doing things I love and surrounding myself with things that makes me happy.  Having a partner in life is a bonus to my little dream, and was something that was left to fate.  I met him when a boyfriend was the last thing on my mind, yet he's the best part in my happiness equation.

Here I am, in my mid-twenties, living my dream.  My dreams came alive. I’m this state of contentment, like I’ve nothing more that I want from life.  If I were to die tomorrow, or today (it's the 21st of December 2012), I will die a very happy woman.  I was telling the husband that if I were to die, I would like to be incinerated and to have a party-like funeral.  There’ll be turquoise table cloth (preferably polka dots and stripes) with pom poms hanging around with fresh flowers and jazz playing in the background.

And if we were lucky enough to grow old together, our retirement plan is to work in MacDonalds together.  It's our little joke and it makes me warm and fuzzy thinking of us, growing old together, hand-in-hand.  Happy together.

Having said that, things and people may change. Too many love stories gone wrong these days.  Till the day comes, I’m going to enjoy every little moment of happiness.  Afterall, 8 years of happiness is already aplenty and not everyone gets to experience such love in their entire lifetime.

Thank you, my dearest.  I will do all I can to protect our happily ever after.

Dreams do come true.

.::. Profiteroles .::.

I finally started baking again, after the husband replaced the transformer for my kitchenaid.  He blew the whole thing when he tried to use it to make brunch some time ago.

As we're hosting a few Christmas cum housewarming parties, I wanted to make some dessert for our guests.  I thought that profiteroles were a good choice - easy to make beforehand and kids would love it.  The first time I made this was with Emma in Sweden, it's a traditional French dessert - one of the many that she taught me.  How I miss those days.

I followed Martha Stewart's Pate-Choux Recipe and actually converted everything into grams.  It was really easy to do.  I just dumped everything into the pot, boiled it, then dump it into the kitchenaid, added eggs, and it was ready to be baked.

The recipe from her site, with my own conversion to grams for easy measurement.  I actually put everything into the pot that I'm using to boil and added everything on a digital scale.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (114g)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (160g)
• 4 large eggs, plus 1 large egg white - I used 5 eggs as the normal eggs in Singapore are pretty small and the mixture was too dry for soft peaks to form.

Directions

1. Bring butter, sugar, salt, and 1 cup water (263g) to a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Using a wooden spoon, quickly stir in flour. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture pulls away from sides and a film forms on bottom of pan, about 3 minutes.
   
2. Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until slightly cooled, about 1 minute. Raise speed to medium; add whole eggs, 1 at a time, until a soft peak forms when batter is touched with your finger. If peak does not form, lightly beat remaining egg white, and mix it into batter a little at a time until it does.
   
   
   I used the macaroon set which the husband bought for me secretly.  It had all the pipings and sheets.  It rose beautifully in the oven.
   
   2/3 of the whole batch.  Take note of the cooling part, leave it in the oven partially open to cool slowly or cut a hole for the steam to come out.  Otherwise, all of them will deflate and look soggy.
   
   You're then supposed to cut them into half and stuff ice-cream in between.  I used the 'watermelon' scoop (those used to make round watermelon or honeydew) to scoop the ice-cream.  Lastly, drip some chocolate sauce on it.  I was lazy to melt chocolate and make my own chocolate sauce and used Hersheys' instead,
   
   It's then ready to be served!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

.::. Complete .::.

The living room is complete now!  Our coffee table and papa chair finally arrived last week.



The living room.



Papa chair.  It's really comfy and I can fall asleep on it.



The smile table in oak.

We're only left with our bedside tables and my study table before the home is truly complete.  =)

.::. Bed's here! .::.

Our bed is finally here!  I love how comfy it is and how the room finally feels like a room.  The bed is the most expensive piece of furniture and cost a small fortune.  It reflects both of love for a good sleep.  It is quite similar to what I had in mind all along actually.  It's worth the search!



Yesterday, when the bed was delivered.




Today.  New bed, new bedsheets. =)

.::. Home .::.

Home.  A place where you can always find comfort and refuge in, where there's love and warmth, making everything else seem insignificant.











Home now really feels like home.