A Simple Recipe for Chocolate Cupcakes (10 steps)

Ingredients:
1) 150 unsalted butter
2) 1/2 teaspoon salt
3) 150 ml water
4) 35g cocoa powder
5) 170g cake flour
6) 2 teaspoons baking powder
7) 200g caster sugar
8) 2 eggs
9) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:
Combine 150g unsalted butter, 1/2 teaspoon salt & 150ml water in a small pot.
Cover and cook over low heat until the butter has melted and the mixture is about to boil.
Add 35g cocoa powder and whisk until smooth. Let it cool completely.
Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 180 deg C.
Sift 170g cake flour and 2 teaspoons baking powder into a bowl.
Add 200g caster sugar and mix very well - stir for at least 1 minute.
Add 2 eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract to the pot of cooled cocoa mixture and 8. beat until smooth, then scrape this mixture into the flour bowl.
Stir with a whisk until smooth, then spoon batter into 12 cupcake tins or paper cases - each should be about two-thirds full.
Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake's centre comes out clean.

Jon sent me a link for a quiz
Click here to take the quiz if you wanna

here's my results:

Your view on yourself:
You are intelligent, honest and sweet. You are friendly to everybody and don't like conflict. Because you're so cheerful and fun people are naturally attracted to you and like to talk to you.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:
You like serious, smart and determined people. You don't judge a book by its cover, so good-looking people aren't necessarily your style. This makes you an attractive person in many people's eyes.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:
You prefer to get to know a person very well before deciding whether you will commit to the relationship.

The seriousness of your love:
You are very serious about relationships and aren't interested in wasting time with people you don't really like. If you meet the right person, you will fall deeply and beautifully in love.

Your views on education
Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.

The right job for you:
You're a practical person and will choose a secure job with a steady income. Knowing what you like to do is important. Find a regular job doing just that and you'll be set for life.


How do you view success:
You are confident that you will be successful in your chosen career and nothing will stop you from trying.

What are you most afraid of:
You are concerned about your image and the way others see you. This means that you try very hard to be accepted by other people. It's time for you to believe in who you are, not what you wear.

Who is your true self:
You are full of energy and confidence. You are unpredictable, with moods changing as quickly as an ocean. You might occasionally be calm and still, but never for long.

great day! te feeling of being welcomed back to work was good.. My manager made us laugh, he asked: "Corinne, can you speak??" hahah coz he thought I couldn't speak coz he was wondering why I was quiet today, didn't hear me speak much..I was so occupied with so much work, that's y.. read my mails when I reached work and interesting small issues being fussed up, but I do agree with some of them...

and my colleague joked with me:
me: 1 of our staff lost his memory coz of an accident??
colleague: huh? no la.. not lost his memory la..
me: sure?
colleague: none of our staff lost his/her memory la, but I noe of one staff who lost 4 teeth..
me: *^%$%

haha, everyone felt the pain when I told them I got rid of 4 teeth..gave me cringed shocked faces.. but coz I was put under local anaesthetics! so no pain no trauma...

well, while waiting for my colleague to end work, was clearing my mails after work today when I found this.. after reading it again, I kept asking myself if it's what I'm feeling - the fear of being alone.. but sometimes I don't have this fear, I love being on my own at times, like now.. gives me more space and time for myself...but somehow at the end of the day, this kinda feeling isn't right and nice...just made me feel empty inside me..especially after being asked by my distant cousin online ystd.. being single's just not what I wanted and expected and I've given a conclusion - there's no one now.. I wished there was..

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The Fear of Being Alone

People stay in unfulfilling relationships for any number of reasons, but chief among them is the fear of being alone.

Think about it - are you hanging on to this relationship because you're afraid you might not find someone better? Does the thought of being single scare you? Do you believe that being with someone you don't really love is better than being on your own? Are you "settling" because you think if you wait around too long, you might get left on the shelf?

Staying in a relationship because you're afraid of being alone is a recipe for unhappiness. Firstly, it probably means you have low self-esteem, which often makes you insecure, needy and over-sensitive. Secondly, it means you're not assuming responsibility for your own happiness and self-worth; that you're using the relationship to feel accepted and loved. Thirdly, this fear of being alone causes you to use anger, blame, tears, guilt and so on to compel your partner to stay with you. Or you yourself might be forcing yourself to tolerate unreasonable or abusive behaviour. And these are only a few of the main consequences I can think of at the moment. Others like getting pregnant because you think a child will bond you and your partner for life require more time than I have today.

The thing is, we are only truly alone when we abandon ourselves; when we refuse to take responsibility for who we are and what it takes for us to be happy. Besides, being in a relationship doesn't mean one cannot feel alone. In fact, the behaviour we're driven to when we're in unfulfilling relationships often strains them to the point where we feel alienated from our partners anyway. Ironically, the fear of being alone has had the biggest hand in making us truly alone.

On the other hand, an emotionally-responsible person is never alone because he attracts love, friendship and goodwill. He has no lack of close family members and good friends. And if a path of affection is closed to him, he easily channels the abundant love he has elsewhere.

So what kind of person are you? Are you the type who clings on to a relationship because the thought of being alone is unbearable? Or are you responsible for your own feelings?

We all can become more emotionally responsible by realizing that only we hold the key to our own happiness. No one else is obliged to be with us or to make us happy. We have to learn to manage our loneliness, and the big first step is not to to be afraid of it. The funny thing is that the less you fear loneliness, the less likely you are to suffer from it. People are attracted to individuals who are independent, self-assured and comfortable with who they are. Remember, we receive love when we give love, so always keep your heart open.

A Slice of Life is written, produced and presented by Eugene Loh unless otherwise stated. If you wish to share the scripts with others, please credit it to 'Eugene Loh, A Slice of Life, 938LIVE, a station of MediaCorp Radio'.
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