I made pancakes again for breakfast this morning with a new recipe i found online and they were great! They were fluffy, didn’t burn and were made with wholemeal (or whole wheat) flour. Combined with a hot cup of coffee, it was a wonderful start to the day.

[Combine 2 cups wholemeal flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tspn baking soda and 3/4 tsp salt in a large bowl and stir. In a medium bowl, combine 2 eggs, 2 cups buttermilk, 2 T honey and 50g butter and stir. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir till just combined. Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat and spray with some olive oil spray. Ladle batter onto pan and cook until bubbles appear on the top. Flip over and cook for about 20s. Serve pancakes with fruit and maple syrup. Makes 10-12 pancakes.]

Last night, i made beef rendang from this recipe. It was so yummy, especially with this stir fried pumpkin and some fragrant jasmine rice cooked with star aniseed, cinnamon, cardamon, ginger and garlic (my auntie’s recipe). So, all good except that it took about three hours to finish cooking everything! I was so stressed afterwards and when i realised that i still had to make the pancake batter for breakfast today and do some ironing (which never took place), i collapsed on the lounge and asked Jon to please pour me a glass of chardonnay.

He had surprised me with a big bouquet of red roses minutes before and i concentrated on the fact that i had a lovely, generous husband whilst drinking my wine and eventually calmed down. Some days, cooking makes me feel relaxed and happy. Other days, not so. But as we sat down to our meal and Ugly Betty on tv, the flavours of the food and knowing that i had slaved over it made me feel quite accomplished.

I finally watched Sex and the City on Tuesday and really liked it. I loved the celebration of love and friendship and gosh, the fashion! I could never walk in that pair of blue Manolo Blahniks or even afford them but they were stunning. I’m probably most like Charlotte, fashion-wise with all her pretty dresses. The movie in its entirety was a fun experience and when i emerged from the cinema into the cold winter night, it left me dreaming about funky boots and made me look forward to seeing Jon and enveloping him in a big bear hug.