Grimbergen is officially here – the awesome beer made by monks.

Dragged my isolated ass out of the house last night to attend Grimbergen’s launch at the Belgian Ambassador’s Residence.

# – Belgian Ambassador’s Residence. No, they don’t live in a tent.

Grimbergen is an abbey beer which I first got to know about from hubs. Its history dates back to the middle ages.

# – With my Maid of Honour, LooLoo <3

# – Mike.

It’s not unusual for us to drop by Brussels (the restaurant, not the Belgian capital) at the oddest hours just for a plate of roast pork and a large bottle of Grimbergen Blonde. Or two.

It is G’s absolute favourite beer in the world and would have been mine too if I weren’t such a cheap drunk. It has 6.7% alcohol content.

# – With the hubs, looking dashing in his kurta, which we bought in Hyderabad.

Now Carlsberg Malaysia has officially brought Grimbergen to us Malaysian folks via its subsidiary, Luen Heng.

There will be Grimbergen Blonde (blond) & Ambree (brown) in bottle as well as Grimbergen Blanche (white) in both draught and bottle at selected high-end trendy bars and entertainment outlets peninsular-wide.

# – Ambree (brown), Blonde (blond) and Blance (white).

# – Blonde.

Have discussed with G about serving Grimbergen at our wedding. Why the hell not??

The awesome healthy(ier) sticky date pudding.

I want to write something funny and engaging to accompany this recipe but sorry, I can’t.

I am currently in a situation of what you would call, “being in a rut”, where I self-loath and watch a lot of America’s Next Top Model, subsequently hating myself even more due to the inability to stop myself from watching such a pointless, vapid show.

Tyra Banks in a white leotard speaking in robot voice to welcome her new recruits. Yeap.

Anyway, this is a recipe for a sort of healthy sticky date pudding. I say “sort of”, because while there’s no cream there are still loads of sugar involved and hence the puddings are ridiculously tasty.

# – The awesome healthy(ier) sticky date pudding.

The black treacle and yogurt give the pudding a depth of flavour that you can’t find in ordinary sticky date puddings.

Here’s the recipe!

For the pudding:

  • 200g pitted whole dates
  • 175ml of boiling water
  • 75ml of cooking oil (plus some for oiling ramekins)
  • 175g of flour, plus some for dusting
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon of black treacle
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
  • 100g of brown sugar
  • 100g of plain yogurt


  • For the toffee sauce:

  • 100g of brown sugar
  • 25g of butter, cut into pieces
  • 1.5 teaspoon of black treacle
  • 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • 100g of plain yogurt
  • # – First pour 175ml of boiling water over the chopped pitted dates. Leave to cool for 30 minutes.

    # – In the meantime, oil the ramekins with a paper towel and dust with flour.

    # – When the dates have cooled down, add vanilla extract. Followed by black treacle. Mash with a fork to form a rough puree.

    # – In a bowl, mix brown sugar and oil together with a wooden spoon.

    # – Add beaten eggs to the mixture and stir to combine.

    # – In a different bowl, add the bicarb soda to the flour and mix with a spoon.

    # – Pour 1/2 the flour into the sugar mixture and stir lightly to combine.

    # – Followed by 100 grams of plain yogurt. Also stir to combine.

    # – Next, tip the rest of the flour into the mixture and fold until combined. Don’t overmix!

    # – Now, pour in the date puree into the mixture and stir until combined.

    # – Divide the mixture into 6 oiled/floured ramekins.

    # – Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees celcius for 20-25 minutes.

    # – While waiting for the puddings to bake, get on with making the toffee sauce. First, heat up the brown sugar and butter in a saucepan over medium heat, constantly stirring.

    # – When the sugar has completely melted, add vanilla essence. Followed by black treacle. Stir to combine.

    # – Remove the saucepan from heat. Then, stir in the yogurt. Toffee sauce is now done :)

    # – Remove puddings from the oven.

    # – Serve in a bowl with the toffee sauce drizzled all over.

    # – Awesome healthy(ier) sticky date pudding, DONE!

    The pudding tasted absolutely sticky, luxurious and delicious. It’s also much lighter than it looks.

    They freeze well too! When you have a craving, just pop it back into a ramekin, cover with clingfilm (but making sure pudding doesn’t touch the clingfilm) and nuke for 3 minutes at Medium High.

    # – So glad I have a box of pitted dates right now in my fridge cause I need to make more!!!

    Wedding dress inspirations.

    I only know a few things that I want for my dress.

    Lace & sleeves.

    I’m not sure how much lace or how much sleeves but like I told a few friends, I want to look and feel like a virgin on my wedding day. HEHEHEHEHEH.

    (Also preferably a dress that won’t accentuate my bingo wings during the Yam Seng session T_T)

    Possibly off-shoulders but not sure how practical that look is. Don’t want to keep hiking the collars up on the big day.

    I definitely want a veil. Something light, long & plain with beautiful lace trimming. I want G to like cry tears of joy after he lifts my veil up.

    #1 – I quite like this style, although not sure about V-neck line. Really love the bottom half of the dress.

    #2 – The top part reminds me of mosquito netting, but I like the “down-to-earth chic” quality of it.

    #3 – I like the off-shoulders, long sleeve and the flare detail at the end. Don’t like the skirt.

    #4 – Similar to the one above, but shorter sleeves. Could go both ways, either slim or fatten up my upper arms.

    #5 – Quite like the whole ensemble, although sleeveless.

    Thoughts, anyone?