Wake Up and Smell the Cake

Took the bus with Husband to Junction 8 for lunch! I forgot that he sent the car to the workshop, so I happily went to the basement. Haha. It's very very rare to get Husband to take the bus. Very exciting I should say :)When car rides are too frequent, taking public transport is an adventure! We should do this more often! Walking before and after lunch, and taking the public transport too. Weekend zoomed by because both days were working days sadly, but I brought Junior along so it wouldn't be that bad. Junior was very well behaved. His appetite was good too! He will eat the porridge I brought from home, AND eat again when it's our turn to eat! Thank goodness I brought a lot of his clothes cos most of his tops were smeared with watermelon juice. Am looking forward to this weekend where finally we don't have any commitments and we can have pure family time. And it'll be Junior's first playgym lesson after signing him up a week ago. Exciting! No baking la

Last Sunday I signed both Junior and myself up for a trial session at MyGym Tampines. We previously went to a trial class at Leap Schoolhouse but it wasn't to my liking. I felt that they were limiting free play by cramming too many activities into one session. I liked the location though. My colleague recommended MyGym, so I decided to give them a call and sign up for a trial. I've set aside playgym classes for Husband to have some father-son bonding time, but I forgot that he had another appointment during that slot so I went ahead with Junior instead. How did Junior find the session? He seems to love it! Well love the place at least. He doesn't listen to instructions yet which is a bit of a problem but we'll get there insyaAllah. Once he's satisfied playing with the slides and balls and explored every nook and cranny (he even wanted to go into the store!), I think he should be able to sit down and listen. At least I hope so! I was a little bit worried beca

I miss my cheekycheeks. He had an emo moment yesterday. I had night class, and Husband would pick Junior up then me. So at my MIL's earlier, he was really hoping for me to come home soon. He heard the gate open, ran to the door thinking I was home, but was sad to see it's his auntie instead. So he walked to his atok, sat beside him and sobbed! No tears but with sobbing sound. So emo but so cute! I love that boy so so much. I can't wait to see him tonight. And it's a long weekend ahead, with trial play gym with Junior on Sunday! I hope he likes it :)

Junior came for abah's class (where I'm the student as well) last Saturday! He was the teacher's assistant, and thankfully an obedient one too for the long (in baby hours) four hours. Got up early to get things ready, and I was extra early so I made bread pudding for breakfast! My breakfast. Hahaha. This time round I used condensed milk only, no granulated sugar. Recipe: 6 or 7 slices of bread, torn to about 2 to 3 inch squares 388g tin of condensed milk 2 cups milk 3 eggs 1 box of raisins Sprinkle of sliced almonds Tear the bread and arrange them in the pan. I used an 8 by 8 inch square pan. Sprinkle raisins and almonds in the pan. Mix milk, condensed milk and eggs together in a bowl and pour into the baking pan. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Let the bread soak up the custard mixture while waiting for the oven to heat up. Bake for about 40 minutes. Yummy soft custardy bread pudding! Almost like my mum's. Almost. Tastes much nicer whe

Yay the easel has arrived! Can collect it after work. I'm so excited to have it in Junior's room! It'll be crowded but ah well every kid needs an easel haha! I'm doing way too much online shopping these days. Tsk tsk.

Today I brought the wrong book for class nooooo. Maybe I'll make a copy for today's lessons later. Bleah. Last weekend's bake: banana choc chip muffins for breakfast. I used the recipe before , this time round I made it a little bit healthier. I reduced the egg from 2 to 1, switched from butter to oil, and I used a bit more bananas. I noticed that the muffins' top became smooth as cupcakes when I left the batter to rest before baking. Nice! I used: 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1 1/2 tsp baking soda 6 medium ripe bananas, mashed 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup oil 1/2 cup low fat milk 1 egg 1/2 cup chocolate chips Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin papers. I got 17 muffins.  Combine all dry ingredients and chocolate chips in a large bowl and mix well. Combine bananas, sugar, oil, milk and egg in a medium bowl. Mix wet ingredients into the dry ingredients bowl. Do not over-mix! Divide batter among prepared muffin cups, fill it till 3/4 full. B

Yesterday was my first day at work without pumping. I noticed my breasts weren't full by midday, and at the end of the day wasn't hurting either, so I didn't pump. This could be the start of the stop of pumping at work! That'll save me 1 hour of work time, the hassle of bringing my pumps and ice bag, and no longer need to wear nursing friendly clothes! The joy! Actually I'm already wearing a dress which is not pump-friendly muahahaha. And no ice bags today! :) But I'll still continue to breastfeed at night or when Junior is with me. Need to get him accustomed to drinking milk from bottle with me around.

Good "Monday" to everyone. So glad it's a short work week and Monday Husband is back! YAY! :) I love my colleagues. Last Friday was really TGIF, with a wonderful lunch and grocery shopping included. Haha. What was supposed to be just getting a box of oranges ended up with at least $30 worth of groceries per person. I got the Bisquick mix too, to make pancakes since I've read that it's almost similar to McD's pancakes. I made two batches over the weekend, the first time was really good and the second time was a little runny and I couldn't make thick pancakes. 1 cup of Bisquick (+ 1/2 cup milk + 1 egg) is enough for a hearty breakfast for 2. I still have more left, so I'm gonna make some for Husband when he gets back. I also made strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting on Saturday, and rocky road brownies yesterday but the recipe is different from my clear-the-fridge project last week . This time round I used a best cocoa brownie recipe with mo

2 more weeks and this misery is over! Had a pretty good weekend, Saturday we were out and I brought Junior to the library while waiting for his grandparents. Geylang East Library is good for kids! The books are still new, and there aren't many kids around. Junior was happily roaming the shelves and the reading areas. Went to Tampines after that and there was a fantastic pots and pans sale I just had to get something! For only $69 I got a 34-cm skillet cum steamer. Yeah now I can make steamed cakes woohoo! I also grabbed a hair dryer which has been on my to-buy list for years and this one cost me only $15! Sunday was spent at home, it was raining practically the whole day. For Saturday's breakfast I made white chocolate raspberry muffins (project clear-fridge #1: raspberries) and mushroom & cheese omelette. White Chocolate Raspberry Muffins Recipe from Best Recipes Australia , but below is what I used: 2 1/2 cups flour 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 3/4 cups caster s

Junior & I have been Tango-ing with Husband these past few days. Thank God for technology. Junior is pretty clingy lately. He feels like his routine is out of place, and we have to get him accustomed to the new routine. And we've made a big achievement - Junior can sit by himself in his car seat without crying big YAY!! Now it's easier for me to move around with him thank god! Countdown check: 24 more days to go. It breaks my heart when I see Junior looking for his abah, like last Sunday he searched all rooms then told me "don't have", and yesterday he climbed onto our bed, leaned against Abah's pillows and complained. He's like saying, why isn't abah here? :( Sad rite! Sigh hopefully Junior won't be so affected by it and may the days pass by quickly.

Yesterday night, Junior pointed to the door when I asked him if he wanted to sleep. He wanted to go back home and sleep. He misses our home. Aww my little angel, mama misses our home too. This morning, he didn't want me to leave for work. It's not his usual routine being left at home without a short drive to his grandparents'. Our boy's a big boy now, he knows his routine and who's missing. I hope it gets better for him, we have 27 more days to go sweetie before we reunite with abah.

Today I brought Junior home for the first time since his Abah flew off. The first thing he did was to search all the rooms looking for Abah. Aww. My poor little boy. He looked at me, and shook his hands in the air indicating that Abah's not here. The past few days at Nyai's didn't feel that bad but here in his own home which he was so eager to go back to by the way, he was expecting Abah to be around. We had lunch, then he wanted milk and he fell asleep after that so I let him sleep on Abah's side of the bed with Abah's pillows. When he woke up, he rolled around in bed, not wanting to do anything else. I tried to interest him in painting but he wasn't amused. Maybe after my chores are done we'll go back to Nyai's so you won't feel as sad. This is the first time my little boy really notices that his daddy is away, worse still he will be away for a month. I hope he will feel better, babies shouldn't have to be sad.

I'm in the taxi now on the way to court. Court hearings aren't as exciting as I thought it would be, certainly not to the level of The Pupil and far from court sessions as shown in US tv shows. But it has been a good experience for me, this is the first time I sat through hearings, and I'm glad I'm not the one testifying as a witness. In other news, I have yet to talk about Lombok or post photos, and I haven't been baking either. Hmm I need to do a spring cleaning of the larder and see what I can whip up. Husband will be going for a month long trip and I'm dreading it a lot. Why does he have to travel so much. A month is just too long. It's like London all over again only thing there's a baby now. A friend told me to pester him everyday to come back and even fly back early! Haha. I don't think it's possible though sadly. Junior is getting more adorable by the day! He know prays, he'll takbir, rukuk and sujud, then takbir again when he&#

The feeling of guilt is back again. Not the ate-too-much guilt, but the guilt of not teaching or exposing my child enough. I am still refusing to send him to school because I need to force myself to teach him. I haven't repeated finger painting with him, and I haven't been introducing much things to him. How bad a mother I have been :( Tomorrow lunch time I shall forgo exercise, and I shall head down to Popular to get some sticky board, blue tack, vanguard sheets and glue. And I need to make some busy bags for the weekend trip too. Hope I can get creative enough!

For the first time I halved a recipe. I need to start reducing my cake recipes or spread the fats so it won't all end up at my butt. The weekend was filled with weddings, began on Friday night, went home late, whole day Saturday and two weddings on Sunday. Despite that I still managed to squeeze time to bake yesterday morning with my little boy. I let him mix the butter, which he gladly touched and spread on the floor (!!), and he refused to give me back the ladle when he was having fun 'creaming' the butter and sugar together. I decided to make them in cupcake form rather than a 7 inch cake pan so that it'll be more interesting for Junior. This recipe makes exactly 12 cupcakes, just nice. Instead of the normal butter cake, I used ground almonds too so that I can reduce my stock and at the same time get a nuttier cake. Ingredients 125g butter 50g ground almonds 100g flour 1 tsp baking powder 100g sugar 1 tsp vanilla paste 3 eggs 12 tsp nutella Cream butter

Nothing on food today. I wanna talk about Junior. He's growing so fast. In a few weeks' time, he'll turn 18 months. He's grown so much, so tall. Junior pretty much understands most of the things we say to him cos he knows when to shake his head if he doesn't want something. But he hasn't learnt to talk yet. I am kinda worried about that, but then Husband didn't talk till after two and that didn't stop him from being a debater. I'm trying to console myself by saying maybe he's a little late, that's all. Not like he has some deficiency or something. Junior keeps changing his preferences. Like now he likes panda bears (he loved Kungfu Panda on okto yesterday!), he doesn't want to solat but he aminkan doa . Things that aren't seasonal are his love for fruits, climbing, biting me (yes, it's been going on for the longest time), and the most sweetest thing, helping out with housework. He will pull the laundry basket out of our room a

While waiting for Husband to end his meeting, I shall blog. We're going Toys R Us later to look at, well, toys. HAHA. Feeling under the weather a little, my throat felt weird yesterday afternoon and when it was night time I felt like I was swallowing a golf ball. Very painful. Now it's much better, with slight fever, am thinking if I should go to the doctor or not. And the office is freezing cold!! These people aren't wearing any jackets or anything either! It's already midweek but I'm gonna blog about the weekend haha. Made butter almond cake for dearest Husband who has been complaining I have been baking everything under the sun except his favourite, and on Sunday we had family day by the work place! It was fun :) Games, mingling with staff, and Junior had his first sea play. Haha. He wasn't quite fond of walking on sand but he really loved to be in the sea with his daddy. Thank goodness the weather was alright, not too hot and no thunderstorm. It did dr

Been a long while since I blogged. Made red velvet cupcakes for sister-in-law's birthday yesterday! Decided to try a different recipe, one which doesn't use butter. Reason being I didn't want to wait to thaw the butter hurhur. Anyway below will be a whole lot of buttermilk recipes cos I have a carton of buttermilk. Haha. Went to Universal Studios before that, with my family. There were too many people cos there were 2 family days there, one my dad's and another is a big shipping co. The waiting time is seriously crazy. We gave Transformers a miss. It rained too, in the afternoon. Thank goodness we weren't at at queue for outdoor rides. Anyway not much time to blog so here's the red velvets! It's a really moist cake, I read the reviews and some people found it too oily but I think it's perfect cos I hate dry cakes. I came across this when I was googling for "red velvet cupcakes oil". The tips were good, and turns out it's Paula Deen'

No bakes last weekend boo. I happily took out my butter and cream cheese with this cream cheese butter cake in mind but then I realised. I have. only. TWO. eggs. Baaah. So back into the fridge they went. I did find eggless chocolate cake and brownie recipes but didn't bother to do any. It was quite a packed weekend with raya, cousin's engagement and a little bit of work yesterday, and to top it all off, dear Junior decided to wake up at 4am this morning all fresh and happy. So I did laundry & ironing while he was awake. He only slept back at 6.10am and as much as I wanted to sleep back, it was a bit too late. Darn. There was talk of school for Junior and those montessori of sorts, Husband is convinced Junior needs school once he's 18 months old but I'm kinda refusing it. If the purpose is for the activities then I think we can have our own little school at home. I refuse to pay for something which can be done at home. It's like going to a baking school t

Had a superb weekend which means I'm sooo having the Monday blues. I love "just us" weekends. Husband had to attend a two day convention but skipped some sessions. Me and Junior was at home the whole time except Saturday afternoon where we went for early dinner and walked around Vivo. Vivo was quite an experience hahaha. I know it's family and children friendly but Junior wasn't keen on walking around on his own yet so we didn't really take note of such places until last Saturday. We have tried to let him walk around but he was choosy with the places. We first went into Toys R Us to get him warmed up, and warmed up he was! He couldn't wait to get out of the stroller! Once out, he happily roamed free, trying out this toy and that, wanted to make friends with GIRLS omg Junior you're too young, and when we carried him, he wanted to be put back down so he could walk. We literally had to scoop him up, hold him tight because he was squirming around