Wake Up and Smell the CAKE

Stand Mixer

2012-01-30T17:34:00.002+08:00

Other Half got for me a stand mixer yay! ♥ Not a fancy schmancy one, no metal bowl. Just a basic mixer. One which I think if Junior were to use and spoil it, I won't mind. HAHA. I wanted to get a Philips mixer but I got Kenwood instead.

Have yet to unwrap it haha. Now I can whip cream and eggs! Frosting here I come! But before that... My first experiment shall be Marble Cake using Optima Flour! Or if I'm feeling adventurous, Chocolate Banana Cake, something which Other Half would very much prefer. Heh. Here's to many more cakes! :)

Accidental Recipe - Lemak Rendang Cili Padi

2012-01-30T08:42:00.002+08:00

So today was supposed to be day 3 or 29 but I overslept. Bummer.

Junior has been disturbing my sleep a lot lately. He doesn't really sleep in the day, and at night, he can wake up every hour, sometimes a few times in an hour. Long gone are the days I had uninterrupted sleep.

Yesterday Other Half wanted to eat lemak cili padi again after my successful lemak cili padi tenggiri attempt. Haha. But he wanted to cook it this time round, so I can attend to our little mister cranky and feed him dinner.

I prepared all the ingredients, cut them nicely and put into bowls for him to cook. This time round I added more red chili cos I wanted to finish them and they weren't hot anyway so might as well. And more cili padi too!! Other Half prefers to blend everything, easy peasy. I on the other hand, prefer to tumbuk the chili using batu lesung just like my mum does it. To me the flavours kinda disappear when you blend. Hence more chili? Hahaha. So I let Other Half cook, and he wanted to cook the chicken in the lemak itself instead of pre-frying the chicken. The problem with this is that the coconut milk will 'break oil' if you don't stir often, a consistency I didn't want. When I came to check, true enough the coconut milk curdled, and the pot was burnt! But guess what! Haha! Lemak became rendang?! Hahahaha! but luckily the taste wasn't that bad. In fact it was tasty! So from lemak it became halfway of a rendang? Hahaha!

Ingredients:
7 pieces chicken
1 lemongrass, cut into 4 dititik
2 medium onions
5 red chili
15 cili padi
Half a small carton coconut cream Kara
Tumeric for colour, & salt for taste
Lime leaves

Haha this is the second recipe we made our own, this time by accident. I love it when we come up with our own recipes. Makes cooking special ♥ This, I shall call it! Lemak Rendang Cili Padi! :)

2 of 29

2012-01-26T08:33:00.024+08:00

Day two, insyaAllah. This time I planned my sahur earlier and with more food and water! Muahaha.

On the day I decide to fast, there's free good food. Like epok-epok my colleague brought. And new tidbits from another colleague. And sandwich and suji from the wife of yet another colleague!

Drools. But I get to eat the suji at least! She brought these cookies for me yay! Hmm does that mean I have to bring something in return? Such a nice lady, I have yet to meet her! :)

My eyes are dry, from the lack of sleep. Woke up at 5am and didn't sleep back. And at night Junior didn't really want to sleep. He kept waking up after like 10 minutes of sleep between midnight and 1+am, finally slept after singing to him. He's getting VERY active too! Cannot sit still! So adorable, such a handful! Husband says he's not a handful, he's two hands full. Hahahaha ♥

Four Day Weekend

2012-01-25T13:51:00.003+08:00

So the four day weekend has come and gone. Way to fast! Sadness.

Day one was quite fruitful yet packed. Morning I did laundry (I think? I've done laundry waayyyy to many times over the weekend I forgot!) and entertained my chubbycheeks. Afternoon we went to fetch in-laws and had lunch at Sabar Menanti which somehow wasn't that good on that day for some reason, and then sent them somewhere. Then we went Mustafa's which was kinda crowded and then to my mum's house to rot and celebrate Brother's twenty-fifth birthday. Sister made hazelnut cake and yes!

She bakes! Hahaha. Hazelnut cake with Smuckers chocolate syrup and crushed roasted hazelnuts. Yumyum.

Day two was spent at FFL (YK)'s home, made opera cake and had Indian food for dinner. Husband had a meeting most of the afternoon, bummer. I didn't really take part in the baking cos I was babysitting, how to babysit and make a cake?! Actually I can, I've been doing it all along but that's at home, where I don't even use precision for recipes haha! Yant wants the cake to be perfect, so I'd better stop it with my guesstimations teeheehee. Chubbycheeks was more friendly this time round, he didn't cry as much and he had a fun time playing with the fake grass at the balcony and even tried to pluck them hurhur.

Day three I was reading the papers and it featured River Hongbao 2012 and I completely forgot about it!! How can I! It was my excuse of a date four years ago! Hehehehe. Thank you to the kind soul who posted it on our bulletin :) Anyway. Day three was spent at Husband's grandparents' home. And I watched Ombak Rindu like finally. Actually I couldn't really hear the dialogue but because of prior reading of the very helpful review by omgsianz I could follow the movie. Hahaha. I love Maya Karin. I think she's gorgeous. At night I was exhausted and my back was aching but I was hungry so Other Half cooked sardin masak chili for his beloved wife and it was yummy! :) I like the lemony twist to it! Nicer than ginger! Am so thankful to have a husband who can cook heehee!!

Day four finally finally!! We get to spend exclusive family time. Morning I cooked, after a long looonnngg time, ikan tenggiri masak lemak cili padi and Other Half said it's yummy! Yay! I haven't heard a compliment on my food for some time now! So happyyyy :) Then I tried roasting a head of broccoli (is that what it's called?) with a drizzle of oil cos I read it tastes amazing. Damn easy! Pop it in the oven, and I used the baking time to nurse chubbycheeks! The taste? Okay lah not like omgsodelicious to the point where even Husband will love it but it's kinda good. Will definitely make it again because it allows multi-tasking. In the evening before dinner we went for a walk at Bottletree Village. But. Chubbycheeks wasn't at all keen to look at the fishes. Hah.

So that's it.

OH WAIT!!! How can I forget! I baked yesterday. Hahaha. Since I already cooked for dinner, I had time for some baking! I have been planning it for a few days already, make one basic cake batter, then make different flavour mini cakes. I had butternut squash and carrots to finish, plums, bananas, mandarin oranges, and unwanted chocolates. To my surprise there ARE recipes for butternut squash cakes and plum cakes! But. Those remain ideas in my head. Because in the end, while I did make the cake batter, I ended up making fererro rocher mini cakes and a banana loaf cake. Hahaha!!

Ingredients:
200g butter
9oz self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
4 medium eggs
7oz sugar
1 cup milk + 1 lime = self made buttermilk

Mix all happily, and bake for about 40-50min at 170 degrees Celsius!

This is the banana loaf. Very moist. Because of the buttermilk I guess. So moist it didn't want to come out of the pan!! Grr. This was made with 2 large bananas squashed, and mixed with batter that was leftover after making six mini cakes below.

My fererro rocher mini cakes! I used the muffin pan without any lining cos I didn't have any hahaha. I put in a tablespoonful of batter, then add in the chocolates, then covered with another tablespoonful of batter or so like in the photo (two have been covered!). And they turned out really well! Other Half loves it yay! Next time I shall add other stuff to these mini cakes. And I think I wanna get a mini loaf pan! Then I can make different flavoured cakes! Or even a rainbow cake wahahaha.

My shopping list just keeps getting longer. Sigh.

Ultimate Chocolate Cake

2012-01-20T09:05:00.006+08:00

So yesterday we were on half day cos Husband wasn't feeling too well. Went back, and felt like pre-Junior days. Even so, I have become so accustomed to Junior, I kept expecting to hear a baby crying. Hahaha.

While Husband was resting... I baked! And did laundry. I can never resist doing laundry when I see the sun shining so brightly. Husband almost forbid me to do laundry, saying I need to rest too since I'm fasting, but in the end he gave in. Teeheehee.

I tried Ultimate Chocolate Cake by Angela Nilsen from bbcgoodfood.com. I am on the hunt for awesome chocolate cake recipes! I planned to do the ganache but have yet to do so cos I ran out of chocolates haha. You can refer to the website for the original ingredients, but below is what I actually used (some measurements are different cos I don't have weighing scale and proper measuring instruments).

Ingredients:

200g good quality dark chocolate = I used 2 bars of Hershey's (finally finished using them!) one 60% one 40% cocoa and I suspect one has nuts! + some Hershey's kisses to make it to 200g
200g butter, cut in pieces
1 pack instant coffee granules
6tbsp self-raising flour
6tbsp plain flour
1⁄4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
7oz brown sugar
7oz caster sugar
2tbsp cocoa powder
3 medium eggs
75ml milk

Method:

Beat eggs together in a bowl, then pour in milk to get mixture A.
Mix flour, bicarbonate of soda, sugar and cocoa powder in a large mixing bowl. Run through the mixture with your fingers and break any lumps, as in picture B.
In a separate bowl, add 125ml of cold water, coffee granules, chopped up chocolate and butter. Microwave medium for 5 minutes, stirring the mixture occasionally. And you will get mixture C!
Add C to B and mix using a whisk. Add mixture C (picture D) and mix well.
Bake at 160 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes.

The downside of baking when you're fasting (yes! I made it! 1 day down, 28 more to go!) is you can't get to scrape off the leftover batter in the bowl! But it smells and looks soooo good! While it was baking, omg the smell is AWESOME can! A mix of coffee and chocolate. For a good 45 minutes! I love the aroma of baking. Simply entices you more! And when that was done, I took it out, and my cake had a weird circle popping out on the surface! And it's only the thin layer crust. Weird.

Oh well. So I let the cake to cool, while we went grocery shopping and then picked up Junior. By the time we were back, it was kinda late, and I totally forgot to buy chocolate for the ganache! Should've put it in my grocery list. Tsk.

First thing I did when I went to the kitchen? Had a bite of the cake! It was total YUMS! Very chocolaty, very dense. And moist. Took more pieces and enjoyed it with a cup of milk. Aahhhh. Was so enjoying it, I thought it was the start of weekend already. Dang.

Recipe is a definite keeper, will try it again sometime! And probably reduce the sugar. Hahaha.

Oh and I bought Optima Flour!! Teeheehee!! Sponge cake here I come!! But I'd need a mixer hmm.

Other Chocolate Cake recipes to I might be trying:

1 of 29

2012-01-19T08:40:00.001+08:00

Weewoo we're going Langkawi this March!! :))) It'll be our second family holiday, and the first airplane ride for Junior. He'll be eight months by then, should be okay for him. I have to think of activities for him on the plane, and on the trip too! Unless he sleeps through the flight. Hahaha.

Today is the first of twenty-nine days I have to pay back for fasting. And at 9am I was so freaking hungry my stomach keeps growling very very loudly.

Oh God twenty-nine!!! *faints*

The last time I fasted was like a year and a half ago? Hahaha. That is looonnggg. I hope my milk supply won't dwindle. InsyaAllah.

My First Gmarket Buy!

2012-01-18T11:23:00.003+08:00

I have been browsing gmarket once in a while, with Shez & Juni but I have yet to buy anything from there. Until today!!! I found the cutest measuring set! I'm on the lookout for measuring cups and spoons, and this is just too cute to resist! Cheap too!

So I got for myself one set!

See! Soooo cute! Hahaha. I wonder when it'll arrive though. Can't wait! :)

I wanna look for bundt pans next!

Finally Found My Measuring Cup!

2012-01-17T08:21:00.002+08:00

Omg omg omg I am so so excited!! You must be thinking I'm crazy to go crazy over a measuring cup, but it's no ordinary measuring cup okay! It's the kind that can measure all sorts of dry ingredients in pounds. My mum has it, but it's super duper ancient I thought they wouldn't sell these anymore.

Until!!!

I was browsing Bake King's website - how I came here, I'll explain in a bit - and I FOUND IT!!!

Here it is, the Tala Cook's Measure!

Very retro looking (totally love!) and freakin' made in England can! I am so gonna buy it!! I hope the shop has it if not I'll have to order online. I browsed the website and found lots of other things I am so tempted to buy! Heehee. Lucky thing I have loads of cabinet space that can store my baking utensils :)

So back to the point where I was directed to Bake King. Yesterday at Husband's grandma's house, she made for us marble cake which I totally love! So moist and soft and airy! So I asked for the recipe wahahhaha. And she said she used Optima Flour. I saw it being used before in one of the food blogs I frequent, it is flour with sugar. So I googled, and Bake King has optima flour!

Yayness! So that's how, the end.

Teeheehee!! Totally made my day :) And I'm gonna get measuring spoons and cups too. It's time I use more precise methods of measurement rather than the estimation by parts (ya, I measure the height of the flour pack and divide it accordingly to get the weight I want), or using normal spoons and my one and only plastic measuring jug.

Oh ya and Husband's grandma asked me for my banana cake recipe. I'm scared. She's quite the food critic and a wonderful cook, I'm afraid my cake won't be up to her standards. Hahaha.

Okay that's all for now! Toodle-oo!

My Banana Cake!

2012-01-16T09:03:00.001+08:00

Okay I think I shall skip the outstanding posts I mentioned earlier. Getting out of date already. Haha. Suffice to say, making sugar cookies with difficult mould shapes (like Chip & Dale) is frustrating and tedious, and I haven't found the perfect icing recipe yet.

That aside!! I is excited to say I've finally (yes, finally!) perfected my banana cake recipe! Heehee. I have no idea why I couldn't get my mum's recipe to work, maybe cos it's a different oven? But it's almost the same model! Oh well.

This time I reduced the butter because the last time it was too oily, and the cake could use a bit more flour. I kept the banana the same cos I love having loads of banana in the cake, rather than use banana essence.

Here are my lovelies I brought to work. I didn't capture any pictures while I was baking because I wanted to get it in the oven before Junior gets impatient watching me bake. This was taken with my iPhone.

Ingredients:
200g butter
9 oz self-raising flour
7 oz sugar, grind to powder
1 tsp baking powder
4 very ripe large bananas, mashed
4 eggs
2 tbsp condensed milk

Haha so while making the cake, I actually forgot whether to put eggs in first or flour! Wahahaha. And I melted the butter a bit too long and it became all liquid -_-

But I mixed that anyway with the powdered sugar, and then (rightfully) add in eggs one by one, then flour and baking powder. And condensed milk. Last to go is the bananas. I got a very golden yellow batter, maybe because the butter was too melted, looked kinda weird but the texture was okay. I didn't mash the bananas fully, left some banana chunks for the fun of it, which turned out pretty well after the cake was baked. I could see banana chunks on the surface and in the cake! I used a round pan (10 inch?), and baked for 40 minutes at 170 degrees Celsius.

Oh and I added in chocolate chips, like I always do with my banana cakes cos Other Half loves it that way :)

I want to add that I think using very ripe bananas makes all the difference, like extra sweetness and even extra oil I guess from the last banana cake I baked? I used 250g of butter (which I always do) and that was soaking in oil!! So whenever I have leftover bananas, I'll make sure they're reeeaaalllyyy ripe (to the extent that fruit flies may circle round) and then I store it in the fridge till I wanna use them. Haha!

On another note, I have GOT to get myself to the tailor!! I have like two sets of cloth to make to breastfeeding-friendly baju kurung (I only have a miserable pair of those right now that I've been using wayyy too much like as if I have no other clothes), and cloth to make to office skirts, and yesterday I bought two sets of songket which I totally love!! One dark blue with a shiny sheen, very professional looking, and a green one. I miss my songket. Have always been a fan of songket and cotton baju kurung. Last year's Hari Raya was egyptian cotton with songket kain, this year it's back to songket! Yeah! Loves :)

Loads to Catch Up

2012-01-05T08:43:00.007+08:00

I've yet to write about the sugar cookie baking session with my siblings (that was Christmas!), baby developments (two teeth!!), work, and the mandatory year-in-review and what I hope for 2012. So far 2012 started off with lots of work! -_-

Hope to do so soon!

And what's this buzz about Ombak Rindu. I wanna watch it! But sooo many links on YouTube have been removed. Sadness.

Okay back to work! I have a ginormous target I set for myself!

Cinnamon Loaf

2011-12-20T13:53:00.001+08:00

Tuesday blues. Lack sleep. Junior woke me up at the most terrible times. He woke me up just after I dozed off for 15 minutes and it felt like my entire sleep was disrupted. After milk he went back to sleep, only to wake me up 15 minutes later!!! And then he slept peacefully and what seemed like five hours but it was only 1 plus when he woke me up again! Then again at 2, and again at 3, and 4 and he didn't want to sleep back until 6am. I suspect it's teething that's causing him discomfort. When he finally slept at 6, he was holding me tight and cried when I put him in his cot. So I let him sleep with me and hugged him :)

Oh and starting yesterday my FFL isn't gonna be online anymore for a couple of months cos she's happily rotting at home. How I envy her.

Sunday morning I attempted to make Maple Pecan Cinnamon Rolls. Wanted to make them for breakfast but it was ready only after 10 because Junior wanted attention as well. Key word is attempted. I couldn't roll the dough. HAHA. So I scooped them up and put the lumps in the tray.

Here's the recipe with my modifications:

FILLING:
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon salted butter, melted

DOUGH:
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup milk (I didn't have buttermilk sobsob)
6 tablespoons salted butter, melted
1/3 cup maple syrup

ICING:
1 can Nestle cream
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla powder
1/2-1 cup milk

To make the filling: Combine all of the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add the melted butter and stir with a fork until the mixture looks like wet sand. Set aside.
To make the dough: Preheat the oven to 220 C. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add milk, syrup, and 2 tablespoons of the melted butter, and stir until just combined. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and knead until smooth (it will still be very soft and a little sticky, but will be smoother and less lumpy). Place in a lightly floured bowl, cover, and chill for 20 minutes.
Once chilled, flatten the dough into a rectangle. Pour the filling over the dough and spread it evenly over the top, leaving about a 1/2 inch or so border around the outside edge. Press the filling down to pack it on top of the dough.
Roll, and put it in the tray.
Bake for 30-40 minutes.

I didn't use all of the cinnamon-sugar mix cos I felt it was too much.My dough couldn't be rolled either even after sitting in the fridge for half an hour! Sadness. So after step 3, I just scooped them all up and lumped them together in the tray. Sobsob. And baking took longer than expected! Here's the fotos!

The failed dough :( Couldn't roll at all! So after spreading the dough and spreading the sugar and cinnamon mix, I folded to make it look like a roll and scooped them up and lumped inside the aluminium tray. Oh! I added a box of raisins too!

Half-way filled! See the lumps and the messy 'rolls'? Hahahah!! Looks kinda yummy and the effect is kinda there. Wahahaha

All baked! I took like 40 minutes instead of the 20-25 minutes in the recipe? The top is hard but at least the inside's cooked!

And here it is, the cinnamon loaf with my cincai vanilla sauce. Not bad for a first try, my sister said it tastes like McDonald's Cinnamon Melts which I personally have yet to try. Wee!

I love my vanilla sauce! The Husband didn't appreciate this round's bake, he still wants his chocolate cake with ganache. Haha. Fine fine, I'll bake that next!!

Glutton

2011-12-15T09:16:00.002+08:00

My stomach has been on a food fest lately that I refuse to weigh myself. Haha.

Over the weekend, I baked two cakes. Butter cake at my mum's and banana cake at our own home. Even though I didn't eat much of the butter cake, I happily wiped clean the leftover batter from the mixing bowl with sheer glee and greed. It has been ages since I've eaten cake batter! I had to avoid raw eggs during pregnancy.

Then on Tuesday Husband and I went to Al Majlis for dinner date. I was surprised by the ambiance! Very cosy and perfect for dates. I had sheesha kofta or something like that, and it is delicious! The previous time we were there for an office thingy, the kebab was cooked too long and it was almost burnt. This time round the lamb balls were done beautifully, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside! Yums! I wanna go there again!

The yesterday lunch was Arnold's Chicken. Sungguh perangai budak gemuk (fat girl attitude?!). Hahaha.

I wonder what's for lunch today :D

Scatter Brain

2011-12-12T09:45:00.002+08:00

Hello everyone I am feeling very lazy to work and so many people are on leave already!

My fingers on my left hand smells of baby barf! As weird as it may sound, I shall not wash it with soap just as yet cos I will smell my fingers if I miss my boy.

And I miss my boy so so much!

I miss my other boy too. He was busy with sooo many things over the weekend that I only managed to enjoy his company only minutes before dozing off.

And I don't want movie dates! No fun just watching the screen -_-"

But then again I always talk a lot in movies. I love to spoil the show and give my own commentary. Hahahha. Husband gets irritated by it but I do it anyway teeheehee!

Today is the last day for the 1-for-1 Filet-O-Fish deal. Maybe I shall have two Filet-O-Fish burgers for lunch! :D

Tampines Mall is overcrowded.

9kg baby on a ring sling for TWO hours is sooo not advisable for your shoulder. Pain will last two days. Minimum.

Okay I just smelt my fingers. Baby barf isn't nice.

Hahah you must be thinking, DUH right, barfs are never fragrant!

I am still on a hunt for a backpack. Went to Zinc yesterday and I actually want the simple Outdoor kinda backpack, and I saw this cute girly backpack with small white hearts haha! Was contemplating on getting it and I didn't in the end.

Backpacks are expensive. Who pays $60 for backpacks!! Aren't they supposed to be $30 or something?

Ah! Back to School deal by Royal Sporting House! Maybe I'll get the JanSport bag instead! Yippee!

Or should I get that white hearts bag?? Heeheehee!!!

Everyone is on holiday I think. Even the expressways aren't jammed up.

I baked two cakes over the weekend, a normal butter cake at my mum's on Saturday, and banana cake early morning yesterday! I wanna bake the perfect chocolate cake for Husband. Complete with frosting or ganache. Shall stock up on ingredients!

So I learnt the key to a fluffy cake is to add more eggs. Aaahhhhh.

Tomorrow I'm on course again, this time it's ETHICS. One course a week for whole of December! To meet training hours, what else. Hahaha.

Perfect! There's both Zinc and Royal Sporting House at Junction 8! Can drop by during lunch!

I shall stop here. FFL is online! Yay!

Bad Morning

2011-11-29T09:10:00.000+08:00

Mornings should start out proper.
Mornings should be pleasant and positive.
Mornings shouldn't be spent talking about things that will put you down.
Mornings shouldn't be about rushing, shouldn't be about worrying, shouldn't be about negativity.

I hate it when my mornings don't begin right.

It Will Rain by Bruno Mars shall be on repeat mode to make my day a little better. And some Gary Moore too.

Squirtle

2011-11-28T13:45:00.002+08:00

Since the end of last week Junior has been playing with his mouth a lot. It's like he found out he can pout and puff and make bubbles. Cos that's what he has been doing :) And he looks like he enjoys it a lot! Spurting out bubbles (large ones too!) of saliva to anyone and everyone with an amazing trajectory. Reminds me of that pokemon Squirtle.

Boooshh saliva!! Hahaha I don't have a picture of him in the act but this is the closest.

Taken this morning, on the way to fetch my in-laws and send them to the polyclinic. This was when he was about to start squirting. Junior was very well-behaved in the car! Kept smiling at me and kept himself busy when Mama had to concentrate on driving. The cheeky boy wanted to play peek-a-boo while Mama was driving hahaha.

Monday blues!! I miss him. This weekend will be LAME. The Husband will be busy on Saturday and Sunday both of us will be at a work event. We'll make it up to you sweetie, Tuesday when you have your injection, Mama and Abah will spend the whole day with you ♥

In Twelve Years' Time

2011-11-25T09:12:00.000+08:00

Dear son,

Yesterday was the PSLE results. In twelve years' time, it'll be your turn. This year's top student is the daughter of a bank director and a lawyer. The second top student is the son of a lawyer and an accountant. Since you're the son of a LLM-but-no-LLB-lawyer and an accountant, we'd expect the same.

Nope we're not trying to stress you out. Just a point to note.

Lotsa love,
Mama

New Pump

2011-11-24T14:12:00.000+08:00

Okay I think I'll blog today.

I bought a new pump last Friday! I've been using the Medela Mini-Electric since I got back to work, and of late I realised the other breast leaks when there's a letdown on one breast. Wasted precious milk! So double pump it is!

After days of deliberation, I've settled for the tried-and-tested Ameda Lactaline instead of the relatively new Ardo Calypso because I am not a risk taker. I found good reviews for both but I decided to go with the one with a longer track record. So I searched for online shops and retailers selling the pump, contacted departmental stores to ask if they're going to have a baby fair soon, and finally bought one from Baby Kingdom at Kaki Bukit. I actually wanted to go to the main distributor at Tagore Lane, but they didn't pick up my call when I wanted to come so I went to Baby Kingdom instead. For $399, I got the pump with free milk bags (I can't remember how many) and a nursing pillow which we now use it as Junior's portable armchair.

Here's the little boss using the nursing pillow. Fits perfectly! He's all dressed up for the hectic wedding/outing Saturday last weekend. His favourite activity now is to sit upright but he's still finding it hard to balance his body. I admire your ambition, boy.

Anyway back to the pump!! The first try was disappointing. But it could be because I wasn't used to the suction and speed settings yet, and I tried it after feeding Junior hence, not much to pump anyway. Brought it to work on Monday, and I love it! Efficient and effective! Totally love it! And it's waayyyyy quieter than Mini Electric! Not regretting my decision to get this pump! :)

Last week was very tiring. Early mornings and a very tiring weekend. I was looking forward to a stay-at-home lazy day. Hope to get one this weekend cos the following weekend will be a busy one again :(

And to end off! A cute cartoon on breastfeeding :)

Finding Balance

2011-11-11T13:24:00.002+08:00

Not in the best of moods today. Except for the good news that Fang gave birth early this morning!! So excited for her! :)

Expanding Appetite Right now I need chocolate. I'm craving it so bad it's like as if I'm pregnant. Which I'm not. I just had lunch too by the way. The past two days I've noticed I have a huge appetite. And even after I had a meal, I can still feel hungry or feel like a gastric's coming. That isn't good news for someone who still has lots of kilos to lose.

Forgetting Things I wanted to bring my orange chocolate Marks & Spencer biscuits but I forgot. Just like how I forgot to throw out the rubbish bag from the toilet too. I wonder what's in my head. Yesterday I forgot to bring my pump's valve. Had to rush all the way home to get it. Urgh.

Anyway. I'm still finding it hard to balance these days. Motherhood isn't easy.

Time for Learn and Play Yes I am still figuring out when to play and teach Junior. Weekdays seem to be out of the question cos once we reach home, Junior wants to sleep. We're left with weekends, which aren't fully ours to utilise anyway :( I have to find ways to make car rides educational as well. Time is so so precious. He's learning a lot now. Very inquisitive too. I better channel that energy properly.

Balancing Needs of Two Babies Example, the Vietnam trip. One wants to go on holiday, and the other baby I'm afraid might get sick during or after the holiday. And I feel like I'm neglecting one baby :( Not spending as much time, not doing for him as much things as I did pre-pregnancy.

And sometimes I feel like I'm neglecting myself too. I think I need some me time. Or just to cry. I have this weird habit of needing to cry once in a few months. Or a few weeks. Depends. Most of the time I wake up feeling much better, but that depends as well. I'm not depressed, am I?

Argh damnit lah. All this negativity seems to be affecting my milk production. I have to think happy thoughts!

My Four Month Old

2011-10-31T14:04:00.003+08:00

I am missing my chubbycheeks. He turned four months yesterday! Time flies :)

Today I'm back in office after one and a half weeks on leave. Very the lemak. Spent lots of time with family, and precious precious time with Junior! He's getting so adorable! Talks a lot these days, complete with tonation. Smiles and laughs, loves to cuddle and hold me tight when I'm carrying him. My sweet little angel :)

His favourite activity now is to grab my tudung and put it in his mouth. Easiest to grab and he does it very fast now! Seems that he likes to put cloth in his mouth: his pillow ends, washcloth, my tudung. But when we gave him a proper teething toy, he didn't like it. Maybe it doesn't taste nice. But he did want to put his (very cheap, very effective. 3 for $3.50 from Mustafa) rattle in his mouth! In a way it's good cos we don't have to buy those specific and expensive toys! Normal daily items would do :)

Yesterday we bought a very cheap walker from Mustafa, $17 only! We want him to try it out first before we get those over $70 walkers. It's surprising to find a $17 walker actually! But it does the job for now. It's low, lightweight and colourful!

Junior is always trying to pull out the toy that's fixed to the walker. He did a short walk backwards behind our sofa before putting him to bed. Seems like he loves it! We'll do it tonight again okay sweetie?

P.S. I know I have that cake recipe overdue and some fotos from KL too! Haha. Maybe I'll skip the KL fotos :D

On MC

2011-10-27T16:14:00.000+08:00

Hello!! I'm on Medical Leave :D

Husband's at work, and Junior's at my mum's house. I'm free to do just about everything! Heh.

Morning I sent off Junior, and stuck around for a bit before going to my all time fave Chong Pang to get some stuff and most importantly, threading. I've been putting it off for the longest time! With that done, and toiletries bought, I spent $50. How did I spend that much on so few items!

And I've yet to buy rice, kicap and eggs!

Anyway. So I went home, fried my french beans to go with my daging masak kicap for lunch, and then washed and hung clothes to dry, and then baked a chocolate cake (recipe later), and vacuumed the house and now I'm taking a break before I start ironing. Did all that when I'm supposed to be resting and slacking around haha. Husband's gonna scold me for not resting hehe! Daging masak kicap was done yesterday, I prepared everything and cooked the meat and off to zzzland I went, while Husband monitored the meat. It needed to cook for one and a half hours, might as well I rest.

Today is the last day of my week long leave. Actually it was yesterday, but I added another day because of MC. Junior got sick after we came back from KL, and I got sick two days after that.

KL was superb for the tummy! I'm a KL suaku. I don't make weekend trips there. And I don't bother reading up on the city either. Give me any European city anytime, and I can find loads of stuff to do. But not KL. Hahahha. We didn't go that many places either. KLCC, Pavilion and that's about it. We did visit the Islamic Arts Museum to do shopping. HAHA. Yup! We went to the museum not to see the artifacts, but spent over an hour picking our these wooden motif pieces to bring home! And thankfully for us, new stock arrived just in time! We went back with six pieces, a hefty price paid, but the pieces are just awesome :) We'll be collecting them from the frame shop tomorrow, let's see how well they turn out!

We also went to Masjid Wilayah cos Husband wanted to visit it. It is AWESOME!! It's as huge as the Blue Mosque in Turkey, and made to look like it too. The best part? Fully air-conditioned baybeh!!! I could stay in that mosque the whole day :D It's too bad I couldn't follow the jemaah prayers for Zuhur cos I had to babysit Junior. So I went out heading to the car while waiting for Husband. ANDDDDDD I couldn't find my Birks! My new Birks!!! Like OMG I was sooooo gonna curse the person who stole my Birks! I looked around and my sandals were the newest and the most striking. OMG how can people STEAL shoes!!!

So I hung around while waiting for Husband, looking everywhere for my Birks but nowhere to be found. I stuck around guarding Husband's Birks just in case his gets stolen too, then we'd both be shoeless. And then! One of the female security guards came back with what looks like a packet lunch, and MY BIRKS!!! Omg she totally borrowed my Birks and just went off and came back and didn't even put it in the place she found it! She must have assumed that the owner would be praying inside and it wouldn't hurt to use them for a while. Sooooo relieved to get my Birks back. Good thing I stuck around. If not, the Birks will be up for free.

KL is for food and nothing else. We had mega burgers for lunch, steaks for another lunch, it was just eat eat and eat. The hotel had a weighing scale and Shez told me she knows someone who put on 3kg after a KL feasting trip, so I decided to weigh myself too. I put on 1 and a half kilos. Hahahaha.

Oh and I bought a bag for work like finally!!! From Sembonia (not that I adore the brand but the bag is pretty!) and it's SGD100, bought at Pavilion I think. It's cool! Weaved, camel brown leather and it's those chuck-everything-bags. Love it!

Travelling with a baby is so different. Especially a fussy one. You can't walk around shopping malls the whole day cos he's tired from being in my sling or in Husband's baby carrier, and this baby can't keep still in a pram. You can't have long meals and enjoy the ambience cos once the food comes, Junior starts being fussy and wants attention. You have to plan properly where to go, where to stop for feeding sessions and diaper changing, and carry a diaper bag all the time. But I'm sure we'll get used to it soon. This is after all the first baby holiday :)

Okay pictures later! I just realised that most of the KL photos are in CR2 format which I have no idea how to convert, some RAW Canon photo thingy. Help :( Oh and recipe for chocolate cake later too.

I think I shall do some ironing before heading to my mum's house to see my chubbycheeks soon :)

Awesomest Weekend!

2011-10-17T10:06:00.006+08:00

This is the first week (or that I can remember) that we have the whole weekend to ourselves. No extended family, no errands to run, and best of all, The Husband didn't think about work. Absolute family time. And we totally enjoyed it!

Saturday morning we went to the market, bought some groceries for cooking my favourite Sindhi Briyani (yumyum!) for the day, and bought Junior's home clothes. Then we lazed around at home till late afternoon and went out for a bit of shopping. Junior's first time in a pram in Orchard! But he didn't last long, about two hours only -_-"

Sunday we went out too, had a simple dinner at Charco's and went to Ikea. We were supposed to go to the beach for a sunset walk but it was pretty hot even at 5 in the evening.

Oh and did I mention the sun!! Omg the hot hot sun! PERFECT for drying clothes! So perfect, I washed clothes on both days! Totally love it hahahaha. Okay I know I sound so housewife-ish.

Here's Umar in the car while waiting for Abah to finish solat. Haha now we have to take turns to pray. And no more praying anywhere anytime either. Umar really talks a lot these days! And his favourite thing to do now is to bring things to his mouth, especially cloth. My tudung is his easiest target.

Isn't he just soooo cute!!! We are sooo thankful to Allah for our little bundle of joy, our adorable boy, and now this little family of ours feels complete :)

Two more days to our first family holiday!! Yippee!!

Board Books!

2011-10-14T14:08:00.000+08:00

I was browsing an online shop for books for Junior, and I decided, hey! Why not make my own board books! Toddlers' board books looks simple, anyway!

Got searching for some inspiration, and these websites are good:

Simple blank images that will strike well with babies! http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/2008/11/homemade-board-books.html
Flip open to see what's behind! So cute! I'm definitely trying this! http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Custom-Lift-the-Flap-Book-for-a-Toddler/?ALLSTEPS
And this makes use of scrap papers which I have LOADS of. http://naptimecrafters.blogspot.com/2011/04/diy-board-book_11.html

For a start I could try with shapes and colours! Oooh and material too! Paste felt material, feather, foil that sorta stuff. Then maybe one for the road for our little holiday next week, make it as we go along. Ah I'm so excited thinking about it! Haha! I do hope I'll do this and it's not just another project in my dreams. Like the other time I wanted to make my own flashcards. Still have not done it till now. -_-"

Was googling for blank board books and I couldn't find any sold in Singapore :( Bummer. Looks like I have to get my lazy fat ass moving and visit shops. Maybe I should try Prints.

Sooo looking forward to the weekend! Now that I'm a working mother, I appreciate weekends a whole lot more. Maybe we should go to the park this weekend :)

Love Lunch Dates

2011-10-13T15:03:00.000+08:00

Just a simple, quick lunch with Other Half. Bank - BK - bus ride back to office. And it is bliss ♥ :)

First lunch date since I came back to work. First time on the bus together here! Funfun :) We should do it more often! Heehee~

Back At Work

2011-10-12T12:30:00.000+08:00

Today's the third day of work since I came back. It SUCKS.

Day 1 was okay. My reactions are always slow. Like jetlag. And fasting. Second day onwards then I'll feel the strain.

Day 1, we left him at my in-laws', he didn't cry when we went off cos he was still a bit groggy. My chubbycheeks isn't used to waking up so early in the morning hehe. I almost teared, but I tried to hold it back. Day 1 he behaved, he drank from his bottle, he didn't cry much, and he slept well. We were relieved. I missed him, but it was manageable. So I thought, okay this is not too bad! When we came to fetch Junior, he was all smiley and happy. My charming angel :)

Day 2. Started out okay too. But I got really emotional and sad and all teary when we got back home. It finally kicked in that I wasn't going to spend as much time as I did during maternity leave. I hated the send baby-go work-fetch baby routine. When we reach home, I'll only have at most an hour before I have to put Junior to bed. I want more time :(

Cried buckets that night. It was just too sad.

But thus far the support I got from other working mums on facebook is very encouraging. It'll get better insyaAllah. I have to work things out. Efficiency and quality time is key!

No Bake Cookies (Or So I Thought)

2011-10-05T22:06:00.000+08:00

Today I left Junior at my mum's for about five hours, to bottle train but it was a total failure. Sigh. Why oh why won't my darling not drink from the bottle! How would he survive without milk when I'm back at work! :(

Anyway. I decided to make No Bake Cookies.

I have loads of Hershey's chocolate that Other Half brought back from his NY trip a couple of months ago. As much as I love chocolate, I was disappointed with the Hershey's pack he bought! Doesn't taste like good chocolate at all. Even the Kisses aren't good.

While looking for recipes at random, I came across one which could make use of Reese's peanutbutter cups, the chocolate I dislike among the mix. It looks fast, simple and no baking required! It is the No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies.

Ingredients that I use which I shouldn't have adjusted to:

125g butter
1/2 cup milk
2 cups sugar
1 and a half cup Reese's Peanutbutter Cups
3 cups quick oatmeal
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation:

Place chocolate peanut butter, oats, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Combine the margarine, milk, and sugar in a saucepan; bring to a full rolling boil. Boil for 1 full minute. Combine the hot mixture with the oatmeal and chocolate chip mixture; stir well. Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper or parchment paper.

Reese's Peanutbutter Cup chocolate. I don't like the sharpness of the peanut butter and chocolate combined.

One cup of chocolate was called for in the recipe, but what's the harm in adding more? :)

Chopped up buttercup chocolate!

Okay then the cooking part. Somehow I didn't get it right :( Either I didn't boil it too long, or I should've added more oatmeal. I reduced the sugar by half a cup because I thought the chocolate & excess peanut butter would cover for it, but I guess that disturbed the balance for the cookie to harden. And maybe not using parchment paper resulted in too much butter? Paper would've absorbed the excess butter.

Hence, gooey flat yuckness.

It tasted good though! Just that you have to eat it with a spoon -_-"

So I decided to put some in the muffin tray hahaha. And refrigerate.

But it's still not hard enough. Sigh.

Then for some of it, I decided to put in mini cups! With the hope that it'll follow the shape and harden. HAHA.

But it didn't, Oh well. I doubt Other Half would want to eat these. Next time! Add more oatmeal! Was contemplating on adding flour and baking it in the oven. I know. Defeats the purpose right. Haha. Maybe I'll modify it tomorrow.

Or maybe I'll make vanilla sables tomorrow! And use my all new Chip and Dale cookie cutter!! Yay!

Fail

2011-09-19T12:32:00.000+08:00

If Umar mistakes a sealion for a seal, it's my fault haha. Only realised I got the animals mixed up after I wrote the letters.

No Onion Day

2011-09-07T17:54:00.001+08:00

Once again I did not step out of the house to get groceries. Yes, I'm such a procrastinator, I've been wanting to do it for a week now but everytime I just postpone.

Monday's dinner was a result of the procrastination. You see, I've ran out of onions. And I only have a whole chicken in the fridge. So what did I do? Find a recipe where cooking doesn't involve any onions hahaha. Couldn't think of any cos onion is such an essential ingredient.

So I thought of cooking with the next most essential ingredient - garlic!

And I found this garlic chicken recipe! I had a tahu kering set and that would be made into a simple soup dish, of which I added too much garlic. Hurhur. Note to self: never EVER use more than three cloves in a soup. It'll just be bitter.

Anyway. I tried the chicken recipe and Other Half loves it! Although he only ate one piece -_-"
I wasn't confident of the taste, didn't know if he liked it and I know he won't like the tahu kering soup so I told him to buy something if he wanted to.

Anyway! Here's what I did.

Ingredients
700g chicken

A:
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch ginger
1-1/4 cups water
3 tablespoons teaspoons honey
2 tablespoons light soy sauce

B:
2 tablespoons potato starch (cos that's what I have haha)
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons water

Bake chicken at 190 degrees C for 25-30 min.
Mix ingredients A together, bring to a boil. Separately in a bowl, mix ingredients B together.
Add B into boiling A and stir until mixture thickens.
Once thickened, pour mixture onto baked chicken, and get it back in the oven for about 20 more minutes or until mixture dries up.

Will definitely do this again when I'm out of onions! Haha!

Condensed Milk Cheesecake

2011-09-01T15:43:00.000+08:00

It's been ages since I last baked! Today I did the cheesecake, only because the cream cheese is expiring today. HAHA. Yes. And I still have one packet left I don't know what to do.

I curi a tiny piece while the cake is still cooling cos I was hungry hehe.

With baby asking for milk every hour and sleeping for 30 minutes each nap, I needed a fast recipe, and one where I don't have to buy any ingredients, so I modified and made my very first cheesecake without recipe.

Ingredients

2 packs cream cheese
1 tin (388g) condensed milk
4 tbsp flour
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla essence
Crust: 125g digestives + 50g butter

Crush the digestives and mix with the melted butter. Press them onto the springform pan and bake at 170 degrees C for 8 minutes.
Mix condensed milk and cream cheese. Then add in the egg, mix well.
Add flour and vanilla essence.
Bake at 160 degrees C for about 45 to 50 minutes.

Done! :) Haven't tasted it yet though hahahaha. But I'm sure it'll be awesome! Can't go wrong with cream cheese and condensed milk!

Massaging Poop

2011-08-26T14:51:00.001+08:00

I am so thrilled to see poop! You see, Junior didn't have bowel movements for 5 days last week and we went to the doctor who gave him a solution via the anus to flush out the poop. And boy did he flush out everything.

Two days after, he pooped but a bit less than usual. And today, another two days after, his farts have become so pungent like the smell of his poop. That could only mean there's lots of poop waiting to come out, hence the smell. His tummy wasn't feeling too good too. He cringed a lot just to let out gas. So I went to the trusty Babycenter forum for some tips, and found this massage technique recommended by the contributor's doctor. Gave it a try, and Junior felt happier! He didn't cry when I left him alone, and played actively too! And best of all, he pooped just like what I read! Amazing!

Happiest moment in the day! Haha! I gleefully messaged my mum the good news and she replied, "The simple things in life that make u happy..seeing ur child berak haha."

So true :)

Here's the method:
I did three sets of this: moving your palm from chest to diaper 15 times, holding his knees to his chest for 15 sec, rubbing his tummy round the bellybutton clockwise 15 times, and knees to chest 15 sec

Our Second

2011-08-17T17:31:00.001+08:00

Celebrated our second anniversary last Monday. What an amazing two years it has been, and thinking back all the things we did and went through! This year, with a baby practically hanging on to me 24/7, I couldn't bake or even complete a decent card! But I did come up with a short and simple message which sums up everything:

Loving you is like butter cake. It is easy, non-extravagant yet so good and wholesome, and it gets better by the day :)

I know! Butter cake right! Me, baking, buttrer cake! Perfect! Muahahaha

In other news!! My fingers got itchy and so!!! I got for myself a snakeskin handbag! At a steal! The last time I bought for myself a leather handbag was a year ago, my favourite leather, ostrich skin. So okay la hor one year on, quite justified to get one now hehe.

Awesomeposum! Just in time for raya! :)

Play Date With Mommy!

2011-08-02T14:42:00.001+08:00

While others had their first night of terawih last Sunday...

Junior learnt ABC using [self-declared] yummy godmummy Shez and playing with Sophie the giraffe from Auntie Sophie! Tired lah learn so many things at one go!

My chubbycheeks!! I love you very much, sweetheart ♥♥♥

Ring Sling!

2011-08-02T14:15:00.001+08:00

Baby's over the one month mark! He's getting more interested in talking to people and wanting people to talk to him, and I've started reading his books to him. But I think he's more interested in the pictures than the content haha. The past two days or so his eating patterns have changed again, there was one period of time which was amazing for me, breastfeeding reduced to about 15 to 30 minutes per session instead of the initial one hour or so. And then it reverted back to the old pattern! Less sleep again :( But on the good side of things, I think my breast milk is stabilising. Though sometimes when Junior gets too impatient he doesn't want to latch on properly and that isn't good for either one of us.

Have started using the ring sling! I decided to ask Sis Nurhidayati for recommendations since she has loads of advice on breastfeeding and all things baby. I got the gauze double layer ring sling after much consideration (mostly of the colours haha). Black + rust! I like! :)

Was very excited to use it. Tried it once at home alone while doing laundry and Junior fell asleep in it! That should be a sign I was wearing it correctly haha. Tried it again, this time for a longer period last Sunday. We went out for breakfast and then some grocery shopping at Giant, about three hours in total and again Junior slept most of the time! Amazing! Usually he won't sleep that long. I totally love it!

Here's Junior in the sling on the way to Giant. Standing up is more comfortable than sitting down when baby's on the sling. He gets so comfortable, even when you repositon his head, he doesn't wake up. Try that while he's in the cot and he'll wake up crying.

Mum's not coming over daily anymore. Have to manage cooking on my own now. Kinda lost touch after being pampered for a month haha! Furthermore! It's fasting month! And baking kuih?! Haha. This is the first raya in our own home where there'll be visitors. Last year we only spent three days of Hari Raya here and then off we flew to London! Sad to say I don't think I can manage to make much cookies with koala baby. Even Other Half's favourite kuih tarts would have to be cut down. I think I shall resort to simple cookies only.

Have not gone back to pre-pregnancy weight yet. I have A LOT more to go even though what I've lost (including baby's weight) is already half of the pregnancy weight gain. I do hope I can lose them! Looking at my work clothes knowing I can't fit into them is just depressing. Two more months and 1 day before I go back to office. Not much time to exercise there. What more with Hari Raya right smack in the middle.

Going back to office. Sigh. I don't want to part with my baby. We left him over at my in-laws' place so we could have some couple time and catch a movie, and I miss him so much already. And that was just a few hours. I can't imagine how it'd be like going back to office :(

BUT. Never mind that. Shall enjoy the time I have at home and with Junior.

Three Weeks

2011-07-22T12:25:00.000+08:00

Taken yesterday, at three weeks young. We tried making him hold his own bottle :) Didn't last long, of course. Hahaha.

New York New York

2011-07-21T09:16:00.004+08:00

Am at my mum's house now, have been staying here while Husband is in NY for a work trip. Yes! A work trip when baby is only over two weeks?! Sadness. Even the mother of the baby is extra sad :( Can I blame it on post-natal hormones? Haha.

He flew last Sunday night, and for the whole day, Junior refused to sleep, only wanting to be cuddled and given attention especially by daddy dearest. It's like he knows daddy dearest is flying off. Heart wrenching. But since Sunday, Junior's been a good boy behaving himself. But sometimes he still wants attention and to be cradled. I guess that's normal for newborns.

Five more days till Other Half is home! :) I miss him. Somehow I'm reminded of days of London, cos he's very very far away. If he were to go, say, Brunei, it won't be as bad. New York is just so, scary. Watching too much crime dramas like CSI New York and my favourite Bones makes US sound dangerous with their small, dark alleys and guns!! Guns! Is it really safe to walk about at night there? Anyways, it is kinda cool to be in a city where you've seen so much on TV. You can go like, eh I was there before! Hahaha. That said, I don't really have much interest to go NY. The only place I wanna go in US is Disneyland.

Another thing I miss is my home haha. Even though I've lived here for like half my life, it's just different when you've gotten used to your own living space, your own home you set up. Plus my house is bigger and cooler, temperature-wise. It's kinda advantageous to have a house near the forest, the overall temperature is lower and it's more windy!

Managed to bake banana cake yesterday hurhur!! Reealllyy ripe bananas, about nine of them. But because they're too ripe, there were maggots. Or some white insect thingy gross. Managed to salvage four bananas that weren't infected yet. As if THAT'S not enough to disgust me, the flour (long time no use) had tiny weevils too! Like omg! No salvaging for this one, bought a new pack. Haha. But the cake turned out well, and by today it'll be finished. Too many cake monsters in this house.

Today Junior is three weeks old. He's been such a charmer. Haha! You can say I'm just like a typical biased mom who thinks her child is the handsomest and smartest, but I think my baby's awesomely cute, even his weird old man expressions :D

Sleep Deprived

2011-07-15T09:46:00.001+08:00

I am zombified. Sleep deprived. Headache from sleep deprevation. Yesterday we set a new record: baby was awake for four hours and like three and a half of it was spent on breastfeeding. I could feel my breasts empty and much lighter! Plus, before that he was already waking up for feeds like every hour. I do hope it's because of a growth spurt!

Have tried my best to avoid formula milk, but when he refuses to sleep after almost an hour and a half of breastfeeding at night and I doze off while breastfeeding at the edge of the bed, formula milk is sooo tempting to quench his never-ending thirst. Puts him to sleep quickly and lasts a little bit longer. Plus it's dangerous too what if I accidentally lost grip of Junior.

Today Junior is 15 days old. I can't really believe it, two weeks and eleven hours ago, I was pushing with all my might to get this darling out. Felt like its been ages though! And I kinda miss the feeling of being pregnant. I was heavily pregnant yet energetic. Now I'm lethargic. Haha.

I haven't done any cooking or baking since Junior was born. Wanted to do something yesterday and use the buttermilk in the fridge, but I was too lazy to do anything, and Junior kept me busy for the whole afternoon anyway. Makes me wonder if I have time to bake anything for Hari Raya! Highly likely I'll resort to simple and quick cookies. Pineapple tarts would be a challenge. Hmm.

Still getting the hang of having Junior around. I hope it'll get better in days to come! Although I have a feeling this baby's gonna drain us even more in the next few months haha. We love you still anyway chubbycheeks! ♥ You mean the world to us :)

Okay I'd better get some sleep before he wakes up again!

Labourious Labour

2011-07-11T14:12:00.002+08:00

It's Day 11 with Junior, but it feels like we've had him for a few weeks! Haha. My mum's been a fantastic help around the house coming almost daily to cook and help with household chores. Best mum ever :) Her mum did that for her too when she gave birth to me, and I think she's just passing it on. And it's a huge advantage having your parents live near you!

Junior was born on 30 June 2011, at a little past 11pm, and weighs a whopping 4 kilos! By normal birth mind you. A total of 44 hours of labour, though the contractions at the beginning weren't that bad cos I could still walk around the hospital. We went to the hospital on 29th, two hours earlier than our induce appointment because I already had "show". We thought, Junior's very punctual! First sign of labour on his EDD! But dilation took longer than expected, plus there weren't enough beds for non-emergency cases like me so I had to wait till 30th afternoon before they could burst my waterbag. How can there be lack of beds when our birth rate is declining! Weird. Anyway! The contractions got much more frequent and stronger and I couldn't handle the pain. I didn't want to resort to epidural but the laughing gas wasn't working for me. It didn't relieve me of the pain. Instead, I vomitted out all the food in my stomach! Resorted to the epidural in the end, after considering the fact that I'll need my energy to push later. I should take a rest since the night before I couldn't really sleep because I was awoken by contractions every 10 to 15 minutes.

And! Epidural is HEAVEN. Hahahahahha. The process of getting it in was terrible, contractions came when the doctor was inserting the tube, and I wasn't allowed to move my back and my shoulders during the entire process. All I could do is squeeze Husband's hand tightly. But once it was in! Whoa! I went to sleep lah! Shiok! :D

Labour was tiring, especially with my relatively short breaths. Almost one hour of pushing and the doctor was ready to make a diagnose of whether to go for assisted delivery or caesarian, and out came Junior! I have to thank the midwives and nurses who helped, and most importantly my dear husband who was there throughout even though he was very tired and sleepy. Junior came out in one swoosh and cried immediately. All along I thought I'd cry when I saw my baby, or when the nurses put the baby on my chest or when I'm breastfeeding the first time round, but no tears came out. I guess the crying emotion was overwhelmed by the huge relief I felt that baby is out and healthy, and I was probably too tired to cry too.

While waiting to go back to the normal ward I vomitted AGAIN. Twice. Was too hungry and thirsty (12 hours of no food and all of breakfast was thrown up) so I gulped down a whole cup of plain water and whole cup of Milo but all came out again including the stomach acids. Could be the side effect of the epidural, or maybe my stomach was just too empty.

That was two weeks ago. Today, I'm still adjusting to baby's needs, nights interrupted by Junior's cries, and his increasing appetite. I do have to admit, couple time has greatly reduced, Husband is somehow as tired if not more tired than me, and all we want to do is just to sleep. Our lives revolve pretty much around Junior now. Husband suggested we leave Junior at either parents' house and we go for a little movie date, but I'm not keen to leave him at this moment.

Maybe when he's bigger.

Welcome to the world, my little angel :)

Been Busy...

2011-07-06T17:14:00.001+08:00

...because Junior is out! :)

Have loads to tell, but I don't know where to start. I'm loving Junior more and more each day, and I thank God for this blessed child. He just gets more adorable by the day, and it's amazing to see what he can learn. I do hope we can be the best parents to this little angel. Amin.

German Cookies

2011-06-28T12:18:00.004+08:00

Today is the first day of maternity leave. Baby still show no signs of moving out yet. I hope tomorrow all goes well!

Have some time to kill, and I would love some cookies or cake in my kitchen when I get back from the hospital, so I decided to make the long overdue German Cookies.

Ingredients

250g butter
80g icing sugar, sifted (5 heaps tbsp)
250g potato starch
160g flour (I used cake flour)

Sift the icing sugar and flour and mix with the butter. Add in the potato starch and mix them altogether. I mixed them using my hand! Heehee
Once consistent, roll into small balls with diameter of 1-2cm, and press down using a fork.
Bake at 160 degrees Celsius, for 15 minutes.

This recipe is pretty popular, and actually I doubled the recipe because I have 250g butter. And that only made 100 pieces only! Even with double the recipe, I don't think it's enough! I can't help but pop them into my mouth! This cookie can definitely be a Hari Raya kuih, but I would have to make many batches of it hahaha.

Chocolate Lava Cake

2011-06-24T21:02:00.001+08:00

Today I is a bit eager to cook, lunch was pizza and dinner was chicken curry with soy sauce vege stir fry, and I decided to make chocolate lava cake for dessert after clearing up dinner. And with all that work, I now have enormous elephant-like legs. Hahahaha.

Chocolate Lava Cake

170g butter
170g chocolate (I used Van Houten baking chocolate)
4 eggs
5 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp flour
pinch of vanilla powder
pinch of bicarbonate soda

Melt the butter and chocolate together using double boil.
Mix flour, sugar, vanilla powder and bicarbonate soda together. Add an egg each time and beat till consistent before adding another egg.
Add the butter-chocolate mix.
Fill the muffin pan till 3/4 full, bake at 200 degrees Celsius for 6 minutes.

The first batch I baked at 230 degrees Celsius, for 8 minutes and they turned out to be cake-like, no lava centre!

See? No oozy sink-in centre. Bummer.

But with each trial and error comes a brilliant find. For I have found! A brownie recipe! HAHA. Or at least, an almost flourless chocolate cake recipe. I think the 1 tbsp of flour won't make much of a difference if it were to be left out.

So the second batch I decided to bake at 200 degrees Celsius, for 6 minutes. Lava cake a success! Oozing out chocolatey goodness! But Other Half was already full with a cake from the first batch, he could only manage a spoonful of the mini cake from the second batch.

Needless to say I finished the rest of the cake, of course ;)

Mini Pizza

2011-06-24T13:25:00.003+08:00

Home alone lunch before check up! Decided to make mini pizzas because I have leftover capsicum and bread. This time round I added a little sauce to the minced meat. Simple but yummy! The minced meat is sweet and tasty!

Ingredients

3 slices of bread
1/2 capsicum
Cheddar cheese & pizza cheese
Chilli sauce & tomato sauce for the base

Minced meat:
150g minced meat (rough estimation)
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp chilli sauce

Yummy yumyum pizza before adding the cheese. Baked at 180 deg Celsius for about 20 min. My first time baking pizza using normal bread, and it turned out surprisingly crunchy and toasted! Love it!

I have one piece leftover. Anyone wants one? :)

Deco Deadlock

2011-06-20T12:59:00.025+08:00

Baby's still not out yet! I have a feeling Junior's gonna be overdue. Hahahaha. The Husband really can't wait for baby to be out. It's like so near but so far. Check up went well, Junior is of healthy weight -- or maybe TOO healthy since he's on the heavier side! Haha! And my health is all well and fine, so there's no need to induce.

We did a major clean up of the house last Saturday, even cleaned the ceiling fan! One of our frames was broken in the process, when it's not even hung up on the wall yet! So wasted. We bought a pair of bamboo floor lamps and the pair of Moroccan-ish lanterns that we wanted so much, but when we brought them home, honestly we didn't know what to do with them. Haha! We literally sat at the sofa and stared at them for quite some time. Maybe our TV wall is just too big and whatever we do is kinda weird.

I am very much in a holiday mood already. I am BORED here. I wanna bake. Can I go home and bake? I wanna make butter cake and cheesecake and German biscuits and pineapple tarts.

And my blocked nose is not getting any better. Sigh.

Simple Lunch

2011-06-17T13:03:00.001+08:00

This must be the healthiest lunch I've ever made! Vege soup never tasted so good!! Sometimes sambal and curry and all that heavy gravy stuff can get boring.

False Alarm?

2011-06-16T08:53:00.002+08:00

Please please let me get well soon. It was only a few weeks ago I was plagued by cough, and now I'm having slight fever and a bit of flu. I have to be in tip top shape! Gonna use a lot of energy soon!

Was very reluctant to come to work today, felt like sleeping and sleeping and the weather's perfect for that too. But then I thought of outstanding laundry and cooking and I thought, ah well I'll just leave those and go to work hahaha. Or maybe I shall go back in the afternoon.

Yesterday I felt these weird constipation-contraction-like compresses coupled with backaches for about one and a half hours. I'm seriously not sure what it was, could be false alarm cos I walked a lot right before getting those, and when we got home I felt much better. Have to start monitoring such pains.

Baby don't come out so soon! I have yet to stock up my fridge, and iron as many clothes as I can, and go Ikea! :)

Banana Sour Cream Cake

2011-06-13T21:30:00.002+08:00

I have 3 bananas and sour cream that are about to go bad/expire, so I went to Google sour cream banana cake, and came across this! So there IS a recipe for sour cream banana cake haha!

Made some adjustments, but sadly I should've increased the amount of sugar instead. And bananas too if I have them. Sadly the banana taste wasn't much, but the cake is really moist! Especially after you leave it after a day. Soft, moist and the taste of banana and butter becomes more distinct!

Ingredients

180g salted butter (honestly I don't know how much I used but it's sort of more than half a pack of 250g butter)
3/4 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
250 light sour cream
3 mashed bananas
Generous doze of chocolate chips!

Mix everything! Then bake using a 10 inch round pan, 180°C for 40 minutes. Recipe called for 60 minutes but since the cake was already done and oh so sweet smelling, I took it out impatiently! Maybe for the next try, I shall use six medium bananas and and extra 1/2 cup sugar.

No Bake Lazy Weekend

2011-06-13T08:25:00.012+08:00

So I ended up not baking anything over the weekend. Was planning to do cheesecake and/or German cookies but none done. I was so certain I bought potato starch already but I couldn't find it anywhere! I also have a tub of sour cream to use before it hits expiry date i.e. in two days' time! Luckily I found some banana sour cream cake recipes that looks easy and have great reviews. Hope to try it out today!

I have been feeling lazy and sleepy a lot lately, especially during the weekend. Shopping trips have to be cut short cos I feel my legs are too tired, tummy too heavy. Eyelids become easily heavy too, haha. And besides, I can't buy clothes yet! Not even shoes!

Emergency grab bag already packed, and we've pretty much cleared Junior's room, washed his clothes and put up his wall sticker, all set for his arrival! My mum says he has too many clothes. Haha. But thinking that Junior will need to change clothes a few times a day, and I bought sizes of up to 9 months, I think his collection is pretty reasonable.

It's only the first day of the week but I can't wait for this Friday's check up! Another ultrasound wee!! Gonna check Junior's weight. I wonder how big he has become because he does feel huge.

Friday faster come! :)))

Red Light & Superman

2011-06-08T14:15:00.003+08:00

So on the way back to office, I beat the red light at that unnecessary traffic light near MacRitchie specially installed for all these rich buggers who play golf at the posh country club nearby. Other times I beat or choose not to beat (hey, I'm not always a reckless driver haha) the red light, I make decisions swiftly.

But not just now! This is not good.

I saw the light change, and I braked. Not once, but twice. But it wasn't enough to stop the car in time, so I stepped on the accelerator instead. Why in the world did I brake when I know I couldn't make it!! Darn. I do hope the cameras didn't catch me. Or else I'd have to say I thought I was going into labour and I needed to rush to the hospital. Hahaha.

Bought a whole tiramisu cake, hopefully it'll stay intact. Can't find a fridge big enough to accommodate it. My sister thought that tiramisu has coconut milk. Wonder where she got that idea from.

And!! My dear sister-in-law bought this for Junior! Hahahaha!! It is absolutely adorable! I laughed out loud when I saw this foto! Thank you Auntie Sophie! ♥

Superman! Hahaha!! I'm sure my dear husband will sigh and shake his head. Huahuahua!

Up up and awayyy!!! :)

Soon

2011-06-06T18:09:00.004+08:00

In a couple of weeks or so, I'll be having a baby. I can't imagine it happening! I can't imagine myself going through labour! But holding our little bundle of joy in my arms would erase the pain I suppose. Speaking of which! Junior is kicking me non-stop. Hahahha.

I can't believe it! A baby! Our baby. Our very huge responsibility.

Have been looking around for educational books. And my my these books especially those in series aren't cheap! I tried looking for second hands, but there's not much of a market for them. We'll have to get creative and find ways to stimulate Junior's brain! I do hope we'll be able to educate him well, and bring him up in the best possible manner.

Maybe I should get my craft materials out again and make some DIY cards and toys! Makes it more worthwhile and get myself involved in the whole process. I have some ideas already in mind, I hope I'll find the time to make them for Junior! :)

Oh and I would love to do something like this to decorate Junior's room! Matches the theme of his room!

**Updated**

Ahah!!! I was cracking my brain thinking what templates I need to find to make these miniatures, then I realised! I can just buy cut outs from scrapbooking shops! Hehe!

French Toast

2011-06-02T08:26:00.000+08:00

French toast for Other Half's breakfast this morning! He requested for it yesterday. I was feeling sleepy and tired, was supposed to wake up half an hour earlier to make them, but I woke up at the usual time I do without alarm.

Thank goodness I didn't take long. Haha!

Decided to add a bit of milk, added about 1 tsp evaporated milk (because I have half a tinful not used yet) and a pinch of salt to one beaten egg. I have a tendency of cooking extra and I end up eating the leftovers, so this time round I limited myself to one egg. And it's perfect too! Just enough to coat three pieces of bread.

I think they tasted awesome! One of my better tries of french toast :) I should make breakfast more often haha.

Egg Tarts Turned Kuih Bakar

2011-05-31T12:56:00.007+08:00

Baked egg tarts (or so I thought) last Saturday. It was a nice, couple time Saturday. Sometimes our weekends can get so packed, there's no couple time. But on the bright side we're living on our own, and that gives us more opportunities for couple time. I love our own little space :)

I happened to come across egg tart recipes, and this particular one from Chow Times which didn't need to use a crust. Perfect since I couldn't find instant crusts at the NTUC near my house. All I need is a greased muffin tray and I'm good to go! Adapted the recipe a little bit for some experimentation.

My Ingredients

1 cup mix of white and brown sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons margarine, melted
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 can 388ml condensed milk
2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla powder

Mix the ingredients together to form a smooth mixture, and transfer to the muffin trays. I baked at 200°C for 15 minutes, and then 160°C for 18 minutes.

Tarts in the oven!! Look at them rise so high! And yet no baking powder!

But but. Sadly. It didn't turn out like the one in Chow Times. Overbaked!

Out of the oven! And sadly, didn't turn out the way I wanted them to :( The top of the tart didn't caramelise, and it appears more cake-like than tart-like!

Nevertheless, the taste passed the test! Not the normal egg tart though, but more like a pudding or custard tart thingy. Sinfully sweet! I offloaded some tarts at my parents' house (hurhurhur) and my mum said it tastes like bread pudding, and my dad said it tastes like kuih bakar instead. A bit too sweet too, but still delicious! Ah yes! Kuih bakar! No wonder it tasted familiar but I'm not sure what. Okay so I found a kuih bakar recipe rather than an egg tart recipe! Oh well :)

Newspaper Subscription

2011-05-30T13:29:00.030+08:00

I've subscribed to the daily English papers for my home! So exciting! Reading the actual papers isn't the same as reading the online version. There seems to be less news online too. Reading the papers used to be a chore. It is one of those things that your parents force you to do when you were younger, and you hated it, but later on in life you'll finally see that they're doing you a favour. Now, I check with the CNA website or TV channel almost everyday, and we listen to 93.8 Live on the radio to work without fail. I used to think who would listen to such a boring music-less channel, but look at what I'm doing now! Haha!

And I'm going to introduce Junior to the newspapers as well, even though he won't be able to read yet.

Never mind that he'll mess up the papers and dirty his hands and looks intensely at the news but not understanding anything (oh won't it be sooo cute! Haha), as long as he familiarises himself with them.

Oh yes! Now that I've newspapers, I'd need a newspaper rack! Shopping excuse! HAHA!!

New Birks!

2011-05-30T08:32:00.001+08:00

Yay! New sandals! My second pair of Papillios, the first one was like at least five years ago? That pair went long distances, took me to many faraway places! This pair? We'll see where they'll bring me :)

Tiring Week

2011-05-26T08:37:00.002+08:00

Been feeling oh so lazy to wake up these past few mornings, unlike the little one in me who cannot stop squirming and swimming and kicking! Our adorable little angel :) Only a few weeks left now!

Yesterday I got the chance to go to NTUC Finest. Other Half didn't allow me to go in initially, cos I'll always end up buying a lot of things even though there's no urgent need for them. Hehe. Finally got my muffin tray, but thinking back now I should have bought another one so I can bake two trays at a time. Hope to make egg tarts this weekend! :) And of course, I stocked up on cheesecake ingredients! I found mascarpone too, thought of getting it but it's quite expensive for a small tub. Well at least now I know where to get some if I wanna make tiramisu.

Hope to get home early today, have a simple dinner at home (thawed chicken but have no idea what to cook), cos there's housework piling up after days of going home late these past few days. Tiring. I am so sleepy. I wish I can just stay at home and catch up on housework. And sleep too. I especially love to see laundry all done and hung, and lots of clothes ironed days in advance.

Pengat Pisang

2011-05-20T20:46:00.001+08:00

Made pengat pisang today! Was all prepared, with sago no less! And of course, leftover bananas.

My first time attempting this, as usual when my mother does it, I wouldn't pay attention to the method or recipe haha. Anyway when I asked my mum, there wasn't a clear recipe either, all is by estimation.

So here's my version! Makes 1 potful.

Ingredients
4-6 ripe bananas
150ml coconut milk
2 cups water
1 pandan leaf
1 1/2 inches' block of gula melaka
Sugar to taste, if necessary

Heat water with coconut milk until well mixed. Tie the pandan leaf into a knot and put in the pot.
Chop the gula melaka into smaller pieces so that it'll dissolve easily in the mix. Dissolve the gula melaka.
Slice the bananas (not too thin or else they'll break) and put them into the mixture.
Add already boiled and washed sago in! That's it! :)

Chopped gula melaka! Not that easy to chop :s

End product! Couldn't be bothered to take a proper photo cos I was more worried that the santan would pecah if the pengat continued to boil. Haha.

And I still have leftover bananas and sago (didn't know how much to boil) so I made another pot! Yumyum! :)

It was my first time with sago, and I didn't know it'll get so starchy! It took more than 10 minutes of boiling before the white sago turned colourless.

Since it was only me having lunch today, I made self-indulgent food - sardine goreng kari! Muahahaha. Ate with rice and leftover sambal godok which surprisingly didn't go bad even after like three days. Annndddd of course, a bowl of pengat pisang! :) Hungry woman satisfied!!

Sardine goreng kari: Mashed canned sardines, scrambled eggs, with curry powder (about 4 tbsp?), and 1 tbsp chilli sauce. Best eaten with bread or piping hot rice!

I Take Leave To Be A Super Housewife

2011-05-19T08:42:00.071+08:00

Life has been good, and very much in love with The Husband :) Am always thankful to be married to him, to have someone as amazing as him to spend my life with. He's more than I could ever ask for, sometimes I wonder what I did to deserve him.

Anyhoo!! Was on half day yesterday, was awaiting shelves and drawers for the baby room, and I did loads of things! When I go on leave, it's superwoman time! Especially when The Husband isn't around to tell me to not exert myself too much hurhur.

I do admit, it's tiring, but kinda fun too! And anyway I didn't have internet nor cable TV to entertain myself haha. Managed to cook a proper meal (by this I mean there's vege) and made begedil too, mopped the kitchen and did laundry including bedsheets (ironed, no less)! Haha! The bright sun was too tempting! Tiring but satisfying. Wanted to transfer some of baby stuff into his room, but I'll leave that to today or tomorrow probably.

Baby's arrival in a few weeks' time :) It's surreal. This is one countdown that I'm facing with mixed feelings, unlike wedding. That was simple. Haha.

Many questions in my head! How will he look like, how will he respond to us? How will labour be like? Will I have the physical ability to go through it? Will I be a good mother to our little angel? Parenting sounds scary. How will I know what baby needs? Will we be able to teach him well? Will I be back to my pre-pregnancy size?? The horror of being fat!! Have GOT to lose all excess weight.

Roar

2011-05-11T13:45:00.005+08:00

hungry woman = irritable woman

hungry + pregnant + impatient woman =

Chocolate Banana Rolls

2011-05-11T08:26:00.084+08:00

Sounds yummy doesn't it!! I first saw this recipe at Belzy's Kitchen and I thought what a cool idea! But to my amazement there are many other recipes out there too!

Yesterday night I was on a dessert frenzy. I have been longing to make agar-agar to eat in this hot weather, and I have all the ingredients ready. And I have like seven very ripe bananas that would end up in the rubbish bin unless I cook it. So! I did agar-agar sweetcorn and this chocolate banana roll.

My mum often makes agar-agar sweetcorn, but I've never even bothered to help out or ask how it's done. All I know is there's many little containers in the fridge filled with yummy agar-agar waiting to be eaten. Haha! I use the one my mum always does, the instant mix from Swallow Globe.

No fotos cos it's too simple to make and I didn't use any fancy moulds, just plain ol' Ikea square containers hahaha :)

Agar-Agar Sweetcorn

1 packet instant mix
1.2 litres water
3 tbsp condensed milk
4 tbsp evaporated milk
1/4 cup sugar (it was more of an estimation, about 1/8 to 1/4)
Half a tin of sweetcorn

Heat water and dissolve the instant mix.
Add sugar, condensed milk and evaporated milk together and stir. Add in the sweetcorn (with the sugar water as well).
Wait for the mixture to boil, and turn off the fire once mixture boils.
Transfer to containers, let it cool and refrigerate overnight! :)

Chocolate Banana Rolls!

7 very ripe bananas (I had pisang berangan)
Spring roll skin
1 cup chopped chocolate & chocolate chips (I had leftover dark chocolate from NZ courtesy of Shez hurhur, and I mixed with white chocolate chips and dark chocolate couverture)
2 tbsp evaporated milk
1 tbsp butter

Melt butter and chocolate over boiling water. I added the evaporated milk because I didn't want the chocolate to harden too quickly since I wasn't using cooking chocolate. This wasn't in the original recipe.
Cut each banana into two (depending on the size of the banana).
Use 2 layers of spring roll (you can use 1 but the chocolate might leak), spread 1 tbsp melted chocolate on the spring roll before putting a piece of banana, and roll like you would for popiah.
Deep fry till golden brown.

Yummy yum yum sweet mushy bananas with dark chocolate!! Easy to make too! Would definitely make these again! Reminds me of those days in Girl Guides where we would put chocolate cubes in bananas and wrap them in foil and let them cook in the campfire. One of the best camp foods ever.

Ambitions

2011-05-10T15:45:00.001+08:00

Have quite a few things I am feeling ambitious about making this week, that is if I've gone marketing. This is what happens when you start making your weekly grocery list! Haha!

Sambal godok
Kicap cili to go with fried tempeh and tahu
Ayam lemak mangga
Agar-agar jagung (found some tips here!)
Banana hot pockets cos I have leftover bananas. I think I can do this today since the bananas are reeeaaalllly ripe already
One whole jugful of fresh lime juice! Couldn't get enough of it especially in this hot weather!

And I came across this recipe at the same page I found agar-agar recipe, Chinese Custart Egg Tarts. Looks easypeasy! But this weekend I'll be quite busy. I hope to find time! :)

Almost Complete

2011-05-08T09:53:00.000+08:00

Yay! Family came over yesterday to help get the chinese calligraphy up, and in the evening the coffee table and TV console arrived! Bought artificial orchids for the display in the coffee table, but it took quite some time to decide which flowers. I initially wanted lilies but they didn't look that nice. Sigh. So we settled for white orchids instead. Decided not to drill TV to the wall cos there'll be permanent hole damage and in case we decide to get a new TV (though not anytime soon cos aircon is definitely a priority in this sweltering heat!) we'd have to plaster back the holes and probably drill again.

Elections yesterday. Voted for the first time! With technology it's easy to keep up with the results. And with me having sudden leg cramps at 2am and in my cringing and tossing and turning, woke up Other Half. Perfect time to check results haha! And so we have two unemployed ministers now. It's like being fired! So does that mean they have to clear their desks on Monday?

Hmm.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

2011-05-08T09:39:00.001+08:00

Here's the recipe for the chocolate chip cheesecake I mentioned earlier!

Got this recipe from Fantastic Cheesecake - Kek Keju Hebat by Alex Goh. My auntie gave it to us cos she doesn't have use for it hahahaha. Made some adaptations. For the base I used leftover digestive biscuits instead of the recipe's Oreo base. Like any digestive cheesecake base, crumble the digestive biscuits and mix with melted butter and press on the base of the springform tin. I think I used about 80 to 100g of digestives and 80g of butter. Bake in oven 170 degrees Celsius for 12 minutes and cool.

Cheesecake:
500g cream cheese
140g sugar (hehe I ran out of white sugar so I topped up with brown sugar haha!)
20g flour
2 eggs
200g whipping cream
semi-sweet chocolate couvertures

Topping:
200g sour cream (recipe calls for 400g but I only had 200g with me)
3 tbsp condensed milk (recipe calls for 2 tbsp sugar but I ran out of sugar)
generous amount of chocolate chips!!!

Mix and cream cheesecake ingredients well. Add chocolate chips last. Pour the batter on the crust.
Bake at 170 degrees Celsius at about 45 minutes or until almost set at the centre and slightly brown on the top. Remove cake from the oven.
Mix sour cream and condensed milk until well blended and spread on the baked cheesecake.
Place the cake in the oven again, bake for 10 more minutes at 160 degrees Celsius.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle chocolate chips!
Let it cool for about an hour, then refrigerate it overnight.

Baked cheesecake without the topping. Lovely brown colour! Still have a bit of cracks here and there though.

Spread sourcream + condensed milk on top of cake! And then return it to the oven.

Cake's all baked! Now the final touches of chocolate chips!! Yum yum :)

Final product. The recipe calls for orange zest but Other Half isn't fond of citrus flavour, he likes his cheesecake ALL cheese :) The recipe is a keeper! :)

Birthday Boy's Weekend Food Treat

2011-05-03T11:57:00.007+08:00

So it was major fatty food alert for the birthday/Good Friday weekend.Yes I know! Backdated post!

It started off with Cream Cheese Brownies, for birthday boy's birthday cake! :)

I searched for a fool-proof recipe and I found one at Betty Crocker's website using their instant brownie mix, and made a few adjustments.

Filling
8 oz cream cheese, softened (recipe only used 4oz but I thought that's too little!)
1 egg
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Brownies
1 box (1 lb 2.4 oz) Betty Crocker® Original Supreme Premium brownie mix
Water, vegetable oil and egg called for on brownie mix box
Sprinkle-happy semisweet chocolate chipsand white chocolate chips :)

Heat oven to 170ºC. In small bowl, beat filling ingredients until smooth. Set aside.
Make brownie batter as directed on box. Spread 3/4 of brownie batter in a 9 by 9 inch pan. Spoon filling by tablespoonfuls evenly onto brownie batter. Spoon remaining brownie batter over filling. Cut through mixture with knife several times for marbled design. Sprinkle with chocolate chips.
Bake 42 minutes or until toothpick inserted in brownie 1 inch from side of pan comes out almost clean. Cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours. Store covered in refrigerator.

Cream cheese brownies for birthday boy! Yumyum! :)

Admittedly, it tastes better after it's been refrigerated. And I still dunoe how the original recipe uses only 4oz cheese! I used double and I feel like there should be more!

Part two of fatty food alert: special breakfast for birthday boy, pancakes! Which sadly, didn't turn out well :( Here's the sad, sad foto of my first pancake attempt. Looks lame doesn't it!

I ended up eating it myself while waiting to cook the rest, the taste is nice but I didnt get the fluffy and brown texture!

The batter. At first I mixed using the wooden ladle, but it had flour bubbles so I blendered the whole batter instead. Easy peasy muahahahaha.

Second attempt and STILL ugly!! :(

Fourth attempt and finally it looks somewhat like a pancake. But not as fluffy though!! :( And I need a smaller pan ahahhaha.

Anyway! Here's the recipe!

From My Kitchen Snippets:
220 gram flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
2 eggs
300ml milk
1 tbsp melted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla powder

Part three of fatty food alert was baking chocolate chip cheesecake. Which will be done on a separate post cos I don't have the recipes and fotos with me right now except this one:

Looks delicious doesn't it!! Tastes great too! Made it with my sister on Saturday, because I have 2 packs of cream cheese to finish off before it expires in two days' time. Haha. This is the second time we did this particular recipe, the first time was for Other Half's first birthday celebration together three years ago :) That was one mad dash! And one thing we improved, we didn't include the lemon zest cos Other Half doesn't like the lemony flavour. The cheesecake turned out lovely! And since we have too much fatty food around, I spread the fats to both my family and his. Muahahahaha.

Part four of fatty food alert is jemput-jemput pisang for Sunday morning breakfast! Other Half loves this and even requested for it few days earlier, and so it became part of fatty food weekend! Made with love and served in bed :) Thank you Shez for the fondue set of which I used the heart shaped bowl for this. Haha!

Err no recipe for this cos I did it by estimation haha. Basically flour and mashed bananas and some water. That's all! :)

May Day Weekend

2011-05-03T08:33:00.002+08:00

FABULOUS weekend! :)

Saturday morning's class was fun! Especially love the part where they gave us dolls to play practise holding babies in breastfeeding position wahahaha. Other Half thinks I'm too rough with the doll. Hehe.

Went for a short getaway to JB. Stayed at Thistle for the second time because the first time was totally awesome, but this time round the service sucks. We were made to wait for like an hour before we could get our room because it wasn't ready. What the heck!! It's not like we asked for early check-in! I think they were shorthanded, but knowing that it's a public holiday, and the number of bookings they have, shouldn't they get more people to come and work?! Disaster at the reception I tell you. So many people were waiting.

Anyway. That aside, it was a good getaway. Laze around doing nothing haha. Other Half wanted a seafood dinner and so we went to Senibong. I haven't even heard of that place in my life yet it's so popular! LOADS of people there! Very hard to find parking. And many Singaporeans too! At such late hours! I have no idea how people get to know such places. The journey there is like so far lah! But apparently it's very near to Sembawang, we can see the shipyard. The food was okay-okay (I'm not a big fan of seafood), but we had to wait very long for it to come. We even saw crabs that were selling at RM120 each! Omg! How expensive is that!

Oh! And we bought Chinese calligraphy for our home! Yay! Finally the bare wall will have something. And it's huge! About 6 feet long? We were afraid it wouldn't fit in the car even with the back seats down, but it did! Ngamngam!

Here it is! We though it'll fill up practically the whole wall, but our wall is larger than we remember wahahaha. I've always loved Chinese calligraphy, good thing Other Half likes it too!

See! There's still space on the wall! Now the difficult part is to get it hung properly hmmm.

Our home is slowly but surely coming together! And by slowly I mean tortoise-slow. This Saturday we're expecting our coffee table and TV console to arrive! Yippee!! :)

No Expectations

2011-04-29T10:17:00.000+08:00

I always tell myself, lower or have no expectations, then I won't feel disappointed. But it isn't easy. And I'm all kinds of emotional right now.

Birthday Stress

2011-04-18T11:11:00.001+08:00

I am stressed. Yes, I am. After a long long time. I am seldom stressed.

It's Other Half's birthday very very soon and I don't know what to get for him. I gave him a suggestion which I thought he'd be okay with cos it's practical, but he wasn't excited about it. Bummer.

I do have something planned for morning, but that's just about it. Morning only. I am hopeless!!

I have to come up with ideas fast!!! :(

It's a Baby Sunday!

2011-04-11T12:34:00.001+08:00

Baby overdose yesterday!! Visited Adri to see his newborn, and also meet colleague's baby girl! Babies are just so cute. Can't wait to see mine :) You can just stare at them the whole day, watch their movements, watch them sleep peacefully. I asked Other Half how come babies are so cute, and he said if they weren't, people might not take care of them. True hor. Even so, there are heartless people who throw their babies in dustbins. Urgh.

Yesterday we went crazy shopping for the new room! Got this play mat for the room and I think it's just so cute!

It's even more exciting than buying the very long outstanding coffee table and TV console. Haha! The house is still so bare. Have to do something about it soon! More shopping -_-" Oh wells. At least bonus came at the correct time!

Think Happy Thoughts

2011-04-06T08:53:00.000+08:00

I need to think happy thoughts. Once again I'm plagued by negativity and everything bleargh.

Broken Frame

2011-03-28T14:00:00.000+08:00

Broke the frame of my glasses yesterday. Damn. And like that's not enough, it fell in the toilet bowl. Tried hard to put scotchtape but it didn't stick well. Now surviving on UHU glue. I hope it can last me till I get my new pair on Wednesday (or Tuesday, if it's ready).

If not then it's either walk around blindly, or wear my sunglasses with degree.

Either way I'm like a blind person.

Haha!

Fatfatfat

2011-03-24T08:15:00.000+08:00

Other Half says my face is chubby now :(

Fine I know I've gained more kilos than I should have, and my growing appetite especially for yummy fatty food like chocolates and french fries isn't helping. Sigh.

My muffin top isn't a muffin top anymore. It's an overflowing cake blob instead. How I dread the thought of losing all that extra weight. Would I have the determination? Haha. There's a nice little park near our home, and that would be perfect to jog, and go for walks. If I wanna fit back into my old clothes, then I'd have to shed the extra pounds. And cut down on my very much loved chocolate sobsob.

Cockroaches & 3 Months Countdown

2011-03-23T08:16:00.000+08:00

Tuesday

This morning while I was praying, a cockroach came beside me. Bloody hell! Another one in our room! It's not like I have food lying around! Even in the kitchen I make sure I don't have food lying around for cockroaches and ants to feast on. Yet they are still around! Do they eat wood or something? So irritating to see cockroach shit here and there. Tsk. And I wanted my kitchen to be cockroach-free :( I suspect they either come flying into the house, or from the rubbish chute, or from the drain. Bleah. Makes me miss London cos there seems to be very little cockroaches there, though there was a small mouse in our studio instead. Haha.

Wednesday

Time flies! It's exactly three months to D-Day! Am so super duper excited to meet you! Wonder how you'll look like :) The journey thus far has been very good and easy on us both. And I am very thankful for that. I pray that the rest of our journey will be smooth-sailing insyaAllah! Thinking about what's to come is surreal. Happy, excited, nervous all in one.

Late Night Baking!

2011-03-18T08:32:00.002+08:00

I tried the mango cheesecake on Wednesday night! Yup late night baking! Started at 9 plus, and crumbling the digestives really took some time! I also didn't read the recipe properly, that it requires 1 and a half hours to bake, and a further 1 hour to cool before refrigerating. I cut short the cooling time to 15 minutes under the fan, and popped it into the fridge cos it was time for bed.

Here's the ingredients with some modifications. The original can be found at Diana's Desserts.

Crust:
1 1/2 cups digestive crumbs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick/3 oz/85g) salted butter, melted

Filling:
3 large very ripe mangoes peeled, pitted, coarsely chopped (makes 2 cups)
3 (250g) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla powder
4 eggs

Instructions:
For Crust:
Preheat oven to 325°F/160°C. Lightly butter a 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides.

Stir cracker crumbs and sugar in medium bowl to blend. Add melted butter and stir until evenly moistened. Press crumb mixture firmly onto bottom (not sides) of prepared pan. Bake until crust is set, about 12 minutes. Cool completely. Maintain oven temperature.

For Filling:
Puree mangoes in processor until smooth. Set aside 1 cup mango puree for the batter, and 1 cup for the swirl. Beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in large bowl until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the cup of mango puree and beat until well blended. Pour filling over crust in pan. Pour the other 1 cup of mango puree and swirl in with the filling to get the mango swirl effect.

Bake cake at 170°C until set and puffed and golden around edges (center may move very slightly when pan is gently shaken), about 1 hour 30 minutes. Cool cake for about half an hour. Refrigerate uncovered overnight. Run small knife between cake and sides of pan to loosen. Remove pan sides. Transfer cake to platter.

Makes 12 servings.

More pictures later when I've uploaded from my camera. This is from Other Half's phone.

Yummy! :) Other Half wasn't keen on the idea of a mango cheesecake, he prefers pure cheesecake with no flavours except for marble cheesecake. But he likes this cos the mango taste isn't strong. You may want to add a cup more mango puree in the filling for a more mango taste! :)

Diana's Dessert Recipes

2011-03-15T17:04:00.001+08:00

I have stumbled upon a gem of a dessert recipe website! It's called Diana's Desserts. Came across it when I was looking for mango cheesecake recipe. Have leftover mangoes that could be used for something yummy and sinful! Like cheesecake! Muahahaha!!!

So now all I have to find is cream cheese. I do hope I can get it at the grocery shops near my house cos I feel like doing it today. Or else I'd have to stock up whenever I go to a bigger supermarket. In times like these I miss London! It's a baker's heaven there.

Pay Per Use Marketing

2011-03-10T12:06:00.003+08:00

I am very happy today I don't know why!

I wanna start this marketing pay per use scheme with my mum. Suggested by my sister. Haha. Since we're only cooking for two, with some days I don't even know if I'm cooking or not cos Other Half knocks off late from work, raw food goes to waste. Like the other time I bought too much tahu, tempe, fish and some other stuff which don't have long or freezable shelf life. It's a pity to throw them away, but they can't be rotting (literally, hurhurhur) in the fridge for so long. For things that can only be bought at wet markets, I've asked my mum's help to get them for me and I'll collect them after work.

Today I've requested for ikan bawal and/or ikan cermin. And my mum went to buy both. I know she will cook the rest, so might as well just tompang and take some. She buys onions and potatoes at 5kg packs too, maybe I can do that with those.

Speaking of which! I've run out of onions!

My mum's kitchen - my grocery shop :)

Good hor!

Muddy Day

2011-03-04T16:34:00.001+08:00

Stupid me lost my balance and splashed into a puddle of mud and sorta sprained my ankle. I hate it hate it! And I was wearing CLOTH shoes. Bloody disgusting. Luckily the mud was not very thick, and I think my foot is okay.

But still. That TOTALLY affected my mood.

I hate pools of mud. My last encounter with mud was TERRIBLE. Splashes all the way till above the knee. I hate losing my balance. I hate wet shoes. Wet dirty shoes. And I'm having a bad tudung day. Freakin' slippery material, I should have worn extra pins. And I'm feeling some sort hungry. But I ate rice for lunch! I hate it when I eat but I don't feel full. Why! Why don't I feel full! I wish I had a huge slice of cake here muahahaha.

I am soooo gonna to fry those frozen mini donuts and smother them with nutella for breakfast tomorrow morning!

Food Angels

2011-03-03T16:30:00.001+08:00

Dear God,

Please protect these wonderful, kind souls who so often give free food to me and little one :) There's always food to eat! May they never be short of rezeki, may they be blessed by You always, and have the very best of happiness, health and contentment in their lives.

Amin!

Bunny ♥

2011-03-01T17:24:00.000+08:00

Was clearing my Pictures folder, and I came across this, which has so much meaning for us now ♥ :)

And I love you very much, my dear husband :)

Princess And The Pea

2011-03-01T16:29:00.001+08:00

Omg I can't sit still!! My butt aches when I sit too long, and by long I mean like fifteen minutes?

I need a plush cushion for my Princess And The Pea royal behind.

The Perfect Saturday

2011-02-28T08:25:00.001+08:00

Some belated food fotos.

Lasagna dinner last Monday I think? Haha. Had more time to cook than usual but Other Half wanted lasagna. Nothing great about it except that it's the prettiest lasagna we've made! And a point to note, include chili sauce in the tomato paste! Hehe. Too much tomato and cheese is kinda jelak. Used pizza cheese mix for this, and leftover mozarella + cheddar mix.

The three layer lasagna

And this is the oats prawns. Deep frying prawns is totally NOT recommended. Oil splatter EVERYWHERE!!! I had to mop the floor after that! It's more violent than frying fish omg!! Didn't even have time to put the lid to prevent all that splatter! Recipe was okay, except that I should have not been clever-clever and added sugar. Fried oats is already sweet by itself.

Made the condensed milk cake without a weighing machine! Used some conversion table from the internet, and guestimates using my measuring cup and spoons. Tasted so very rich! Could reduce the condensed milk a bit. Or maybe I put in too much cos I didn't measure it at all, just dumped almost a whole tin of milk! Haha! Other Half loves it yay! :)

Saturday we had bhatura meal yumyummmmsss after class (love the convenience of having the hospital near Little India!) and so that cut short the time I had to do the many stuff I wanted but it's okay! Still managed to cook, bake and clean, just like what weekends at home should be like! :) Saturday began early. I love subuh at Masjid Mydin, the people there are lovely, wonderful morning classes, if I stayed in that area I wouldn't mind spending my weekend mornings there! And not to forget the AIRCON prayer hall hurhurhur :) And then in jubahs (yes we had people looking at us weirdly hahahahaha) we went to East Coast and had a little morning walk before going for our class.

The perfect Saturday :)

Free Time!!

2011-02-25T15:19:00.001+08:00

Teeheehee I have some free time tomorrow in between our little course in the morning and Other Half's class at night and I'm too excited thinking what I should do! I have lots of things I want to do, but postponed again and again! Like...

popiah
begedil
German biscuits
condensed milk cake

Okay that should keep me VERY busy. And Other Half would be worried if I did all that cos he doesn't want me to be so tired. Hahaha. Maybe I'll strike off begedil since it's more tedious than popiah.

And I'm going to start reading aloud today! :) Maybe I shall start with this book!

I love their collection of atlases. Makes history easy to understand especially for a pictorial person like me. Never been fond of studying history hahahaha.

Busy weekend ahead!

Chicken Curry

2011-02-24T11:51:00.000+08:00

No western menu yesterday! Changed to chicken curry instead hahaha. And stir fried some french beans for myself haha. A proper meal! :)

Chicken Curry
5 pieces of chicken
1 big onion + 5 garlic, blended
4 (I think?) tbsp Malabar Masala curry powder (I refuse to use any other especially Baba's)
3 medium tomatoes
1 tbsp chilli kisar
1 medium sized onion, sliced
usual spices (cinnamon stick, star anise, clove)
3 potatoes (optional)
1 tsp salt

My sweet Other Half helped cook :) We searched high and low (NTUC doesn't carry many curry brands) for this Malabar Masala curry powder. Finally got it at where else but Mustafa, my all time fave grocery store! HAHA. Should've bought a bigger packet hehe. I don't like Baba's cos it's not spicy enough. And sadly Baba's is e v e r y w h e r e. Oats prawns postponed to today! :)

Lazy Western Dinner

2011-02-23T08:43:00.019+08:00

My back's aching, I can't find a comfortable sitting position, I can't sit for long, and I'm tired.

And it's only midweek!! o_O

And not like it'll be a peaceful relaxing weekend either. Sigh.

Don't feel like cooking much tonight, and there's laundry and ironing to do. So western menu it is! HAHA. Crispy Oat Prawns with beef burger and a side of fries and I should go get some greens as well. To buy: curry leaves, burger bun, salad.

Bitch

2011-02-19T22:33:00.002+08:00

There I was, roaming around Golden Landmark waiting for The Husband and I saw this minah jubah who looked at me and smiled. I didn't know who she was but I thought it was nice of her to smile so I smiled back. But that mean bitch! When I bumped into her and her bf/guy fren/brother few minutes later she had the CHEEK to BURST out laughing while asking me "Cari siapa kak?"

Bloody bitch! I don't know you! Is it wrong to roam around on my own?!?! Mind you own business can! Urgh! Infuriating!

I seriously felt like cursing her. So mean.

**updated 22/2/2011**

Hohoho. I happened to be at one mosque yesterday and lo and behold! Saw her foto and name at the mosque's noticeboard. Tsk tsk. Orang masjid lagi.

Must-Try Cookie!

2011-02-18T09:19:00.001+08:00

Saw this totally awesome cookie, and I wanna try!!! It's a cookie in a cookie. Awesome! Weirdly enough I dreamt of baking yesterday night. I think I must have been wanting so so much to make that cake that I dreamt of making it, and weirdly enough, people were trying to take it away from me! And I hid the cakes in weird places hahaha. Weird dream but better than the night before!

Other Half's coming home today! Yay yay yay! I can't wait! ♥♥♥

Recap

2011-02-16T08:41:00.005+08:00

What happened since I last blogged:

I made mee goreng last Saturday! Could do with a bit more chilli. Tastes quite tomato-ish and more like fried spaghetti. But it feels good to wake up in the morning to prepare breakfast for Other Half :) Thinking of making nasi goreng kampung this coming weekend!
Ate instant noodles at 4 plus in the afternoon yesterday.Too hungry! Lunch was five hours before that, and dinner would be in another two hours. But I felt guilty after eating them. All that salt ~~and MSG~~ penetrating my system!! Baah. I wish I had healthier stuff here, granola bars or fruits.
I should really go and stock up on my fruits. Haven't been on a fruit filled diet lately :( And pomelo season is ending already sobsob. Never mind. There's still strawberries! Better get them before their season ends too!
Cooked sambal godok on Monday yay! :) Pictures up later! Was quite a success haha! Again, self-proclaimed. Haha.

I actually don't have to cook everyday. Cos most of the time I cook more than enough for a meal (trust myself to take Mum's recipe wholly when it can actually feed a whole family) and we can eat it over two days. Trying to reduce the portions so we won't have food wastage.

I have yet to make my Condensed Milk Cake grrrrrr. Today please please please!!

First Cooked Dinner & Pineapple Tarts

2011-02-12T13:29:00.004+08:00

Some overdue pictures:

First dinner of Chilli Tomato Chicken cooked in a mad dash after work!

When time is of essence, orderliness in the kitchen is definitely not priority.

Dinner is ready! :)

And here's pineapple tart fotos I made on 6 February for Other Half. All gone now!

Fresh from the oven yet many pieces have gone missing! -_-"

Trying out my very own flower tart mould! The pattern isn't very obvious, sadly. But it's okay cos I love the flower shapes!!

My beautiful oven baking the tarts.

And this is the biggest tart I've ever made, with a flower tart as a comparison. But all gobbled up just the same.

Laksa & First Dinner Guests

2011-02-11T08:59:00.037+08:00

Had yet another mad dash at the kitchen yesterday afternoon heehee! And the night before I made begedil to be frozen. One of the many things I want to do checked! But I need to do another batch cos this one was given to MIL.

Yesterday I didn't go back to office after check-up, went to Chong Pang instead for some bit of marketing, and then to my mum's house to get some stuff which I was lazy to get on my own like ikan bilis and belacan and even glass bottles to store used oil. HAHA. My mum's house, the pantry :)

Went home to start on the big project - laksa! Haha. I think I shall not use ikan kembung for laksa anymore. While it is the healthier option, using ikan bilis is WAAAYYY easier. No need to boil the fish, peel the flesh, remove those many many bones, pound the flesh. And I must remember to slice the lemongrass really really thinly. When my mum told me to slice thinly, I thought I could take the short cut and cut anyhow cos I'll be blendering it anyway, but you'll end up with coarsely chopped lemongrass. Note to self, don't ignore mum's advice on cooking.

Cooked too much laksa actually hahahha, so I asked Baby Sister if she wanted to eat dinner at my house, and she dragged my parents along too!

First guests to our house with me cooking! Mum says I could've put in more salt, father is okay with it. Husband didn't give any comments. Oh well. I think it's a good effort (haha praise own self) but could be improved.

Thinking of making sambal godok next! Hehe. Have too much tahu (I asked for 3 pieces, uncle gave me 5) and I have tempeh and prawns too! So exciting! Would go well with Other Half's favourite kicap marinated fried chicken!

Celebrating future BIL's birthday tomorrow. Was thinking of baking this:

Looks yummy doesn't it! It's a Condensed Milk Pound Cake from Curlybabe's Satisfaction. Looks pretty simple, but I don't have pretty moulds yet or maybe I should get one hurhur!! Am excited! :)

Cooking Therapy

2011-02-09T15:50:00.001+08:00

I am in the mood to make:

popiah
roti boyan but I don't have the recipe
bergedil
chocolate chip cookies
butter cake
cheesecake

Making these are more therapeutic than eating. Right now no comfort food comes to mind.

Grilled chicken and yummy fat fries at Charco's, naahh. Swensens meals or ice cream? Maybe, but not that interested either. Other normal comfort food like soto ayam, thosai, cheesy stuff, nope. Okay maybe bathura. But only slightly.

I find this abnormal. Haha.

080208+3 & Mad Kitchen Dash

2011-02-08T08:57:00.001+08:00

Today three years ago is a date I won't forget :) The start of something new, the best thing I've probably ever did and definitely not regretting that bold step.

Yesterday's ayam sambal tomato turned out great! Yay! Was a mad dash at the kitchen. Other Half dropped me off at home and went to practise his golf while I cook. Quite a rush and kitchen was turned upside down but it was worth it! The only thing to improve is not to use too much oil for the sambal. The onions were happily swimming in the oil HAHAHAHA. No wonder it turned out nice! Took a bit more than an hour to prepare everything, I think I need to find ways to cut the time for cooking, like pre-peeling the onions and garlic maybe since I've already tried frying the chicken at the same time I cook the sambal.

I think yesterday was a good start and a confidence booster definitely! But today, I'm not cooking hahaha. We're out to celebrate a special date ;) And I still have leftover chicken which could feed us both for another dinner!

This Is Home Truly

2011-02-07T08:40:00.002+08:00

Have been living in our own home for 6 days in a row! And I love it :) Never mind there's no internet yet at our house (the iPhone tethering is quite sufficient for now) nor do we have cable TV, I have loads to do! Haha. Actually we only got to use the TV yesterday after my dad gave us a better connection cable. Haha! Other Half was so bored not having anything to watch for the past few days. TV addict!

I on the other hand am still getting used to the washing and (minimal hurhur) cleaning (have not done mopping), and some sort of cooking which can't be called cooking yet, and best of all! New bedtime! Sleeping early and waking up early is a good routine.

Yesterday morning I went to Chong Pang market without my mum. Huhu. But in the end I still needed to call her to ask something. Not very independent yet. The butcher recognised me though! Even though I haven't followed my mum to the market for years hehehehe. He thought I was buying meat for my mum.

Tried baking using my beloved oven already, baked brownies on Friday morning, and pineapple tarts yesterday! And also used my new tart mould! Weee!! Quite hard to find varieties of these plastic moulds. Not much left. The uncle at the market says they don't really bring in much anymore cos no one bakes. Am very happy with my pineapple tarts! Baked it for my number one fan of my pineapple tarts :) My dad loved it too so yay!

Next thing to do is to get accustomed to cooking dinner. If I were to cook before going to work, I'm not sure if I have time. If I were to cook after work, I bet Other Half's stomach will be growling like mad. But as a start, today I shall try cooking after work. After all I need to get some ingredients later. Once I get used to it, I think I shall cook before going to work just in case we get home late.

Worst part of living in our home is there's NO season parking left for our car. Our carpark is so popular, it's sold out! I went down to HDB to purchase and they said it's first come first served basis. How can residents not have advantage!! Urgh. They allocated for us a lot at the multi-storey carpark which previously I didn't know existed, and it's across the mini park. Okay lah, forces us to have a short walk before going to work. HAHA. Luckily there's still vacancies for March's season parking, grabbed it immediately!

But it doesn't matter. Bottom line is we love our space, our sparse yet sufficient place we call home ♥

Tempting Unnecessaries For Our Home

2011-02-02T10:58:00.001+08:00

Was looking through Ikea website, and I thought these would be pretty at our house! FFL says they collect dust. True. But they're pretty! Hahahaha.

I can just throw this somewhere, near the sofa or near the bookshelves. Very nice! Not sure if it's nice to sit on hahahaha.

This would be a perfect storage facility near the sofa too, could be a coffee table as well. I love the unfinished look! And baby can fit in there too ahahahhahaha!!! Okay okay sounds like child abuse. I take that back. Baby has a perfect spot on our L-shaped sofa :)

If Ikea were to be like a 5 minute drive from our house, imagine all the things I would spend on! Hahahha!

Eat Right!

2011-02-02T09:06:00.000+08:00

Was just given an early morning lecture by Makcik on eating properly. She just had her check up and now is regretting her bad dietary habits. Though I think I fare better in my food choices, I have to keep in mind too not to eat too much junk food and also fast food. Fast food is a bit tricky cos it's so easy to get and it's tasty too. Haha. Okay okay I shall TRY to curb eating fast food.

Good reminder from makcik, and luckily today I didn't come in with McD's breakfast HAHAHAHA. Bought Gardenia's raisin loaf instead. Waahhhh healthy ah!! Now the next thing to do is to keep those chocolates on my table away from sight!

Day Gone Wrong

2011-01-31T21:42:00.001+08:00

Today is a day gone wrong.

I put too much salt in the eggs for french toast breakfast. Was so looking forward to preparing breakfast for The Husband but turned out to be a failure.
A little bit lost looking for Phoon Huat in Ang Mo Kio. Clever me didn't take down the address. And there's no iPhone to search the internet. But, found it in the end. Haha!
Colleague said there's cheese fries in the canteen, and they're still frying the fries as we spoke, but when I reached the stall, the last two sets were JUST sold. Oh well.
I stepped on a concrete slab thinking it's safe from the puddle of mud beside it. But noooo. It was a floating slab. I stepped on it, and SPLASH goes mud on my white dress. Lots of it Urgh. DON'T. LIKE. Cold, dirty and my dress was mopping the floor.
I forgot to take my ATM card from my other bag, had to go home to take it before paying bills.
The person before me took ages to pay bills.

I want my husband :(

Sleepy :(

2011-01-31T14:12:00.001+08:00

I am so sleepy. Didn't get a good sleep yesterday night, our second first night at our home, and Other Half had lots of work to do. Slept beside him while he was doing work but couldn't really sleep anyway. He couldn't either. Maybe we're not used to the house yet, just like we weren't used to it the first first night! Haha :) Will be back there on Wednesday! Cos Other Half isn't around and I am not allowed to stay alone. And I've got to start cooking. This morning I woke up super early, eager to make breakfast for Other Half but failed. How can I fail making french toast?!?! Put too much salt in it. Bleah. Oh well. Shall try again. I think Thursday morning I shall make jemput-jemput pisang! Haha. I'm getting rusty with cooking. Need to practise more! And get the kitchen and house fully equipped too.

Other Half isn't in Singapore for three days sobsob :( But the good news is! I think the Egypt trip is cancelled! YAHOOOO!!! Or maybe I shouldn't celebrate yet until there's official word that it's cancelled. Aiyah just cancel it can! We have an important meet on the 10 Feb! I'm sure you won't want to miss it rite??? Hehe :)

It's been raining a lot these past few days. Raining non-stop too through day and night. I don't think I've ever experienced such weather. I hope it's not raining where Other Half is gonna have his team building activities. And I hope Wednesday comes very very soon! Cos I miss him already :(

Of Nutrition, Weird Mothers & An Accident

2011-01-20T09:37:00.005+08:00

My stomach is getting a lot of attention from me. Haha. Easily bloated, hunger pangs, hungry very often, but when presented with food, sometimes I can be so full I can't eat so much, or I'm so hungry I can eat like a bear. And I still want my Korean strawberries! Found some at Cold Storage Bugis yesterday, and they look big and unsweet. I want the ones I had from NTUC Toa Payoh! Haha :p

Am quite conscious of the food I'm eating these days, to make sure I get enough nutrients. Yesterday I was worrying if I have enough protein and iron cos I don't think I'm eating enough meat. While I was busy calculating how much iron I'm consuming, I realised I am eating multi-vitamins! Turns out, those yucky pills have already met my daily iron requirement! Haha! So what's left is calcium and Omega-3, but then again I've read that too much fish isn't good too because of the high mercury content in most fish. Bummer. And I've found a food that covers BOTH calcium and Omega-3! Tuna with bones! Haha! That should be easy. I should make breakfast of canned sardines: drain off the tomato puree, mash it and dry-fry it with scrambled eggs and chilli! Yummy! I could eat loads of those! Yupyup :) Shall do that soon!

Oh and I'm hunting for iron-free long dresses! Cheap ones too. It's quite hard to find :( Really regretted not buying like 15 dresses instead of three when I was in London. It's cheaper and better there! Sigh. If we do go London this July, I am soooo gonna shop!

On another note. The show Toddlers and Tiaras should be banned. No no. The mothers featured in this show should be jailed. What kind of mother would force a child as young as two to be dolled up and enter beauty pageants. Worse! Eyebrows waxed against the poor girl's will. Ouch! These mothers should be banned from having any more daughters.

The recent death of a motorcyclist affected quite a few acquaintances because they sort of knew him. The deceased just got married five months ago. Got me and FFL thinking what we'd do if our other halves were to pass on so suddenly.

Very very sad to think about it actually. I can't imagine going on without The Husband. He has become such a part of me, it's hard to part.

Okay I shall not think about it! Too depressing.

I Want To Move In!

2011-01-13T09:53:00.000+08:00

I CAN'T WAIT TO MOVE INTO MY HOUSE!
Contractor please hurry up and finish whatever so we can move in. It's been too long. I wanna unpack and clean and do whatever I want.

TWO Overseas Trips

2011-01-12T10:52:00.000+08:00

Husband has two (yes, TWO) overseas trips within two weeks next month. And it clashes with our important date on the 10th.

Soooo. Should I change the date or not. Cos right now I sure feel like I don't.

All Coming Together

2011-01-10T11:06:00.005+08:00

My parents came over to our house on both days during the weekend, and they like our house! Yay! It's all slowly coming together now, just the minor paint touch ups and the drillings of shelves, railings etc, and Thursday we'll be welcoming our big items like sofa (HUGE I tell you), bookshelves, and my bedroom wardrobe. And then slowly we can fill it up. With A LOT of stuff. Haha.

The kitchen is warming itself up, fridge was delivered last Saturday, washing machine installed, and I've washed most utensils that were kept in the store for over a year. Am very eager to fill up the high cabinet and the fridge too! Hehe.

Can't wait for Thursday! My mum's coming down to help unpack. I think she can't stand the sight of mess. HAHAHA.

Apple Pie

2011-01-06T11:39:00.000+08:00

Something I should try out, apple pie:

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

Books To Get!

2011-01-04T14:46:00.000+08:00

Would like to get these books! Borrowed them at the neighbourhood library to kill time. And it's about time I started reading up! :) So far it's been a good read! I've come across normal books which offer week by week descriptions are not very informative. You could get the info from the net. These are a little different.

I like what I read thus far :) Good tips on how to bond with the little one, what it can hear, do and experience as a baby. Serves as a good reminder of what should or should not be done now that you're gonna be a mother.

This book (I've only read the first chapter hahaha) thus far has vivid description of conception! Good for people like me who didn't pay attention during biology in school. Hahahaha. Will be a good reference when my little angels ask us how they were formed :)

I think the third book is this:

Pictorals! Yay! All that DNA stuff in words soooo don't get into my head :D
I'm a visual person, and pictures, especially coloured ones, helps a lot! Another good book to keep for future reference.

Hope to get them all really soon! :)

I HATE Waiting

2011-01-04T14:30:00.001+08:00

I hate waiting. It's my number one pet peeve. I don't like being late and I don't like waiting for people who are late. If you're going to be late, please inform in advance so I can change my plans. I don't think I'm impatient. Would you call someone impatient if he/she waits for someone at the arranged time? No rite. It's a justified anger. Both parties have already agreed to come at a certain time. If that person came early and expect people to be early, then ya la you can call that person impatient.

Oh wait. I hate it even more when I have to wait, and the person is not contactable. That is just outrageous. Late without any notice AND cannot be reached. Make my blood boil.

Colour My World

2010-12-30T14:02:00.008+08:00

We bought our paints!

Thank you Khalid for the contact! And thankfully the shop's very near our house! Yay!

Went to the house just now, and they've started on the cabinet! The Husband says it looks like cabinets in the hospital or clinic -_-"

Monday the fans and lights will come, and it'll be all done soon! Can move in! Yay! Finally back into our home after more than a year!

Turi Beach Resort!

2010-12-29T22:22:00.002+08:00

Pictures from Batam honeymoon! :) Love the resort. Can just lepak there the whole day. The only bad thing is there's no shops within walking distance. But the view is wonderful. Next time we come here, we should stock up on snacks or food so that we don't have to order room service all the time. Haha.