simple things.

xoxo, elvyna.

Happening again.

Woke up today crying. From a nightmare. A really real nightmare. Or at least it seemed real.

It's been a while since this happened so why is it happening again? I pray it goes away, I really do. I cannot take this happening again. Not now, not when I'm so far away from family :(

xoxo, elvyna.

Easter Sunday.

A huge smiley easter egg chocolate and bunnies and chicks chocolate in a tiddly pot. So cute!

Spent Easter weekend in London meeting up with college friends I haven't seen since Chinese New Year. Was a really fun weekend had a picnic in Regent's Park on Saturday (I'll do a post on it later) but I really enjoyed my Easter Sunday so I'll talk about it first. Went to Hillsongs London with Jun King, a college mate from A levels whom I haven't seen in 3 years!

Love, love, loved the cross and heart animation on the screen.
Short skits with songs, dance performances and rapping. Loved the play on stage lights and sounds.
What Easter is all about: Redemption through Jesus Christ (:

After church, we went to Maze by Gordon Ramsay in Marriott on Grosvenor Square. This restaurant was awarded with one Michelin star so we wanted to see how good it was. Kim joined us for lunch too.
The three of us ordered a three-course meal each which costs £25.o0 which I thought wasn't too expensive for a one star Michelin restaurant.
Pear and PassionFruit Cocktail. Loved this!
Wild Garlic Soup with maple-glazed chicken oysters and lemon emulsion. Was not bad but the green seriously put me off. The chicken was yummy but there were only two small slices in it.
Kim and JunKing's Loch Duart Salmon, fondue of leek, vinaigrette of brown shrimps and foam of horseradish. The colours are really pretty but it's fish, so no way I'm going to taste it. Apparently it was nice though, according to them.
My Szechuan spiced Suffolk pork belly, edamame beans, pickled black radish and spring greens. The pork was really juicy and crispy on the outside and the light sauce complimented it really well. It wasn't too hard to compare it to roast pork (siu yuk) I could eat in any chicken rice/hawker shop in Malaysia though :/
Kim's braised veal shin with rocket pesto and white onion risotto. The risotto was really nice but I didn't take a picture of it. Didn't try the veal though.
My favourite part of a meal: Dessert! I had the Summer Fruit Crumble with elderflower mousse, berry sorbet and granola. It was really refreshing and slightly sour but I loved the crunch I get biting into the granola and crumble! (:
Kim's Pistachio parfait with cherry sorbet and griotte cherries. It was really rich the parfait and had a smooth taste to it.

All in all, the place was really nice and the food was good but there's nothing to shout about especially since it's a one star Michelin. Would've preferred if there was an exciting dish or something different. Like my all time favourite restaurant, Alain Ducasse! (:

And that's how I spent my Easter day! (:

xoxo, elvyna.

Easter hols, finally!

Got invited to a potluck party and decided to make some cupcakes (again!) but it's so fun trying to find new ways to decorate them each time. So this time I decided to use royal icing with a baby blue food colouring paste to just give it some colour instead of plain white. Stamped stars and drew smiley faces on them (:

If you were wondering what the white spots are, its cornflour, so the icing doesnt stick when i'm kneading it.
Pretty vanilla cupcakes (:
Making the frosting : Cream cheese, Butter, Nutella, more Nutella (: Made the consistency of the frosting much smoother compared to last time. Tweaked the recipe a little bit.
Smooth frosting. Was really yum too!
After filling the cupcakes with dark chocolate, they were ready to be frosted and decorated (my favourite part!)


Added a silver glitter to the stars but can barely see it really.

Boxed and ready to be brought to the party! (:

Hope everyone likes them!! (: Made some extras which are in my fridge now. Snacks for the coming days! (:

P/S: Cupcakes make me very happy! Do they make you happy? (:

xoxo, elvyna.

Pray.

Make my life a prayer to You,

I wanna do what You want me to,

No empty words and no white lies,

No token prayers, no compromise.

xoxo, elvyna.

What happened? What always happens. Life.

Rewatched 500 days of summer for the 4534231686th time and I'm still loving it like the first time I watched it. It's so real and raw and beautiful. Plus point that the soundtrack is waaayy awesome as well!

If you liked 500 days as much as I did, I'd recommend you watch Flipped as well. It'll leave you feeling the same way as when watching 500 days.

Totally in the mood to watch soppy love story movies now (:

xoxo, elvyna.

Nutella cupcakes.

Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting on Vanilla and Chocolate cupcake. Didn't have any recipe for the icing. Just had an idea to make Nutella icing since I'm a Nutella-addict (: Turned out pretty ok but I feel I should've added MORE Nutella. A little more never hurts anyone right?

First time making decorations using Royal Icing as well. There you go, my semi-retarded butterfly. Gotta practise more so it'll turn out better (:

Adult Psych last day tomorrow, which means there's an assessment. Hope I'll do ok. Can't believe 3 weeks just flew by like that. Halls are kinda quiet now since most students have already gone home/holidays for the Easter break. Medical student life - 5 weeks holiday becoming a 1 week break. Would've been a couple of days initially if not for the royal wedding. Thank you Prince William and Kate Middleton. Ah well. Better than nothing I suppose (:

xoxo, elvyna.

A bond that will never break.

It sucks to be 11,315 kms/a 13 hour non-stop flight away from the one person whom you always felt protective over and cared for. If only teleportation were feasible, if only you came here to study too. But no matter the distance, one thing remains, I'll always be here for you, no matter what. I may not be the best sister in the world, but I take pride in being your sister. I wouldn't have any other person as a brother but you.

Hang in there bro. I'll be back soon. It'll be just like old times (:

xoxo, elvyna.

What love really means.

What I learnt from the speaker in church today (taken from Matthew 5:38-48):

1) If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

2) If someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, offer him your cloak as well.

3) If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

Basically it just means we shouldn't apply the "an eye for an eye" saying as Christians. I found it really interesting how he related it back to Jesus, indicating that He wasn't just a man of words, but a man of action. Compare these following points to the three above:

1) Jesus was beaten up by the Roman soldiers (Matthew 27:30).

2) Jesus was stripped of His clothes (Matthew 27:28).

3) Jesus carried His cross (Matthew 27:31-33).

Well, I'm not the kind of person that would actually take revenge and get even with someone if they've crossed me. Normally I'll just let things slide and tell myself, "It's ok, it doesn't matter, things'll be ok if I don't retaliate, etc, etc." However, the speaker today said that that is not really the way to deal with it. He said even though getting even is not an option, letting yourself be "bullied" isn't an option either. Instead, one should apply the above verses and react positively.

To be honest, I don't really understand what that means :/ So what do I do then? If someone criticises me, do i tell him/her, c'mon criticise me more? Meh :( I don't even know what I'm doing in church. Probably hearing but not listening. Or maybe it's like some isi tersirat which I don't get/understand :(

Whatever it is, I guess I just got to keep reading His word and try and find out what it means. I pray I become more Christ-like everyday and learn to seek first His kingdom and not care about things of this world because honestly right now, the world isn't very kind to me :(

xoxo, elvyna.

Vanilla cupcakes with strawberry cream cheese frosting.

Ever since I got the Cake Days recipe book from The Hummingbird Bakery, I've been trying out most of their recipes and am loving every single one of it. Decided to make vanilla cupcakes instead of strawberry cupcakes because I don't want to OD on strawberries especially since the frosting is already full of strawberries! Anyways, this vanilla cupcake recipe in the book made the most delicious vanilla cupcakes I've ever tried! It's amazingly soft and moist and fluffy and fragrant. I'm not even kidding -_-

Try it if you guys want to here (it's not exactly the same as the recipe in the book but its the closest I can find online). I didn't use the recipe for the normal cream cheese frosting but instead made it a strawberry one, cos I was craving for a strawberry cupcake today (:

Super smooth batter that folds like a ribbon (:
Made 18 cupcakes with the recipe in the book although it said 12-16 cupcakes. Not complaining though (:
Strawberries, hulled and washed.
Mashed strawberries (Using fresh fruits instead of strawberry flavouring gives a natural colour and sweetness to the end product)
Strawberry halves to garnish.


Homemade strawberry jam as the filling. Had extra strawberries so decided to make jam with them! (:

Best served cold. Satisfied my craving for the day :P

xoxo, elvyna.

Lazy Friday.

Woke up REALLY late today and missed my lectures so I decided to continue staying in and maybe catch up on the sleep debt I've collected over the week. It's such a sunny day outside maybe I'll go out later, we'll see.

My new favourite thing to do - Wreck This Journal.
Made pasta shells in carrot & coriander soup for breakfast brunch today since I had time. It was yums and uber filling, can last me till dinner (:

xoxo, elvyna.