Wake Up and Smell the Cake

I realise a cupcake and a butter cake recipe should be different after making this cupcake, cos a butter cake will typically separate from the tray and you can just pop it out but you're not supposed to do that with cupcakes. This is by far the best vanilla cupcake I've ever made, with a really pretty bump and super light, perfect for frosting. I've also made a good basic frosting and this time I really used the proper recipe hahaha. My princess has been bugging me DAILY to make princess cupcakes, and I finally got round to it by printing the princess pictures and pasting them on these bamboo sticks which is used for mini kebabs I guess? I did go round looking for ready made cupcake toppers (Robinsons, Toys R Us and Phoon Huat) but they didn't sell. Only found upper half dolls (no clothes) at Robinsons and Phoon Huat but I was lazy to make fondant clothes so no. And Robinsons charged $20 for the pack of 4 dolls, but Phoon Huat charges $12 only! Rip off. I assembl

I haven't been cooking much for the past few weekends, and yesterday was like a major cookout that compensates for the lack of using the stove. To list everything yesterday just to show how much cooking AND cleaning because we are a family of four that have different menus and many meals: banana cake sausage, tomato omelette fries beef rendang roti kirai, TWICE panko crumb chicken nuggets maggi apple popsicle instant prata nutella bread rolls But at least 1 kid has his appetite back, after a whole week of being sick and week. Also, this *could* be what life will be like if I were a SAHM. Hahahah

Start of a new year! My little boy is in K2, and princess is starting school, same place as her brother. Over the weekend we made cupcakes for a get together and for some at home, since Husband loves red velvet cupcakes. Used a repeat of this recipe , cos since Husband doesn't like change when it comes to food,  I won't google for a new one. Plus I could get like 30 cupcakes per batch! But I didn't manage to make proper frosting since: I didn't have enough icing sugar. The ants in my house are amazonian ants. They went into the supposedly air tight container and ate my icing sugar. Happily eating my icing sugar. Luckily I have some left in another packet, but wasn't enough so I ground some normal sugar to top up. Was supposed to buy mascarpone cheese but Friday plans changed, so could only get cream cheese. Frosting didn't turn out as light. Hence, sinful. Frosting wasn't enough for all! For the first time, I don't have enough frosting! Even

Yet another dessert to clear the fridge, banana oat crumble. Crumble, pies, cobblers are the best way to clear fruits! These used so little flour! Banana Oat Crumble 4 -5 bananas, sliced into circles 1/4 cup flour 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 cup oats Sprinkle of cinnamon powder 4 tbsp butter Chopped walnuts Chocolate chips Put the sliced bananas in ramekins, I used 6. Add in the walnuts. In another bowl, mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon and oats well. Add in butter. I find that using hands is the best, and after all you're going to sprinkle them over the bananas. I added in chocolate chips last, cos I forgot about it, and seems like it was a good thing too so it can hold some shape! Haha. I'm using Aalst chocolate, which is yummy but way cheaper than Ghirardelli or Valrhona. Husband approved! Cos it has chocolate chips -_-" Yesterday Junior did the first part of his holiday project, which is to cook something healthy and document in a scrapbook.

Haven't posted for so long! Not that I haven't been cooking, but all aren't new recipes. This year I made 1 less kuih compared to last year, since I'm always the one finishing these cookies. So it's the usual Almond London, Kuih Tart and Chocolate Chip Cookies. Last Saturday was my little girl's second birthday. We made no big celebration, just us 4 at home with a little Hello Kitty cake :) I made the cake on Saturday morning, before we went to the swimming pool. But cos I couldn't wait for the cake to cool, I left it in the pan and when we came back, the bottom sides were sticking to the pan noooooo. But I oiled it already :( So here's the outcome. Sigh. Whipped some whipping cream to cover it up, but after 10 minutes on medium-high and still no peaks and we had to go Raya visiting already, so I left the whisk, bowl and cream in the fridge. Whipped it again (about 7 minutes on speed 4 out of 6 on my Kitchenaid) at night and YAY! It worked!

So today is Day 2 of Junior's K1. His session is 4 hours, with a break for snacks i.e. breakfast since he doesn't want to eat before leaving the house. My parents will nag at me for not giving him breakfast but he doesn't want to eat! Yesterday I gave him nutella sandwiches, a little extra than what he gets during nursery. He finished all 4, which is about 2 slices of bread. Today I packed for him fish finger burgers. Airfried fish fingers sandwiched between white bread, no edges. Gave him 2 slices of bread and 3 fish fingers in total. I added a teeny bit of light mayonnaise and thai chili sauce for some flavour. My mum said he didn't finish it, only ate 1 set. Sigh. Not sure what to give him tomorrow. Maybe nutella sandwiches and fish fingers without bread? It's so hard when children are picky! And especially when they don't eat eggs! Oh wells I'll see what other ideas I can come up with. 

When Husband's not around, I become more hardworking HAHAHA. I clean more, I cook more. Saturday I made lontong goreng tomyam for breakfast, and yesterday I made my first ever chicken rice. I even have ingredients to make aglio olio, which I think I'll make either tonight or early tomorrow morning for breakfast. The lontong goreng was a pure experiment, no inferences from recipes and all but it turned out good. Not sure if it's something Husband would eat haha! Lontong Goreng Tomyam 1 packet lontong instant Adabi, cut in cubes 4 tbsp tomyam paste 2 eggs, pre-scrambled Handful of mushrooms Chicken breast, sliced Coriander leaves (I didn't have lemongrass or lime leaves) 1/2-1 tsp salt Fry the tomyam paste in some oil, then add the mushrooms and chicken to cook them. Add some water so the paste doesn't dry up. Add in the scrambled eggs then the lontong cubes and fry until mixed well. For yesterday's chicken rice, I adapted slightly from a reci

Husband's gone for 15 days. Third time in two months, or 22 out of 60 days. That's a whole lot of days. I usually stay at my mum's when the Husband isn't around especially for long periods, but I decided to stay on our own, and this will be the longest ever with him around. So far I've managed well, though I feel I should be bringing them out more on weekends, but I am just occupied with basic housework stuff. This weekend I shall make an effort to bring them to see Elmo and Cookie Monster. Haha. The day he went off, he wanted to eat some homecooked meal, and requested for rendang. I already have a rendang recipe from my mum , but we tried the minang version, provided by my friend. I tweaked it a bit, but I will show you the original recipe as well. Rendang Minang original version 1kg beef 1 litre pati santan 2 tbsp kerisik 1 pc asam keping 2 tbsp gula melaka 2 daun kunyit sliced thinly 3 tbsp cili kisar Ingredients to blend: 10 red onions 4 clove

I guess this has to be the healthiest muffins I've ever made. I made them this morning for breakfast. Very quick, mixing + baking + cooling took about an hour. It's a win-win muffin of sorts; trying to clear my oats, bananas and yoghurt, and at the same time make a healthy snack to hopefully boost my milk production. I adapted the recipe from here , but I don't have a huge food processor (I have those small ones that comes with the blender, and the baby food steamer cum processor) hence I couldn't blend all in. I just processed the sugar and oats together and mixed with the other ingredients. 2 cups oats 1/4 cup sugar 3 medium ripe bananas 1 cup yoghurt 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 2 eggs It's amazing, no oil! They turned out moist, but because I didn't process the oats to be really fine, it kinda tasted like eating cooked oatmeal. But still good cos it has a bite and even the Husband said it's okay. I added chocolate covertures

Today is Junior's 3rd birthday. We had a small celebration, just the 3 of us at home on Saturday morning because Husband has to shuttle to and fro the hospital for the past few weeks and the coming few weeks too I suppose. It has been a very trying time for him and his family, may Allah ease their hearts, give them strength and patience. Junior was very excited to make his own birthday cake ever since I showed him that I plan to make a digger cake for his birthday. Just normal chocolate cake, with chocolate frosting and topping it with his diggers and cake crumbs to look like a construction site. Whoever came up with this idea is brilliant! I don't have to frost properly, and he gets to play with the cake first before we cut it. I meant to go to NTUC during lunch on Friday, but lunch plans changed, and we didn't manage to go to the supermarket that night hence I had no eggs for cake. No eggs! Luckily there's such thing as dairy free, egg free and butter free cake

I have been on and off work this past week because we were cleaning our home to make way for baby before fasting starts. We've managed to clear loads of stuff and made way for new wardrobes for the spare room (for Husband's long coats etc) and for the kids' room, and got brand new airconditioners for all the rooms! Ka-ching. Our home is all set now, minus the dining table which is still a hand-me-down. Oh and our bed could do with a change too but that can wait. Did some normal cooking and a little baking over the days, made bread pudding and this time round it turned great cos I soaked the bread in the custard for almost an hour. Soaking it prevents the crust from being too hard when baking. Oh and I attempted apple spring rolls too! I think I prefer banana chocolate spring rolls instead. Here's the recipe: Apple Spring Rolls , recipe from Crazy Mom Cook 6 small apples, peeled and diced 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/3 cup brown sugar 2 tbsp butter 2 tsp orang

I'll be due in less than 7 weeks! Suddenly it's so fast. We haven't really prepared the house for the baby yet. We didn't buy any cute clothes, just normal home clothes you can get from the market. No shoes, no bows or ribbons. Things we have yet to do/buy: clean the house to make way for new cupboard and playpen cupboard for both Junior and No. 2 prepare my delivery bag!! Clothes, disposable underwear, sanitary pads, baby's clothes, documents diaper changing mat (I can tell when my boy is gonna pee but for girls, you'll never know!) new bottles to keep breastmilk bedsheets and pillows for playpen I think that's about all, not much prep for a second baby. The rest I have them already. No need for a birth plan blah blah. Will use epidural if I require, that's all. I hope I can go through with natural birth no matter how big she is. It's time to start panicking. Haha.

Going for a short getaway to KL this weekend with colleagues! 3 families consisting of 6 adults, 4 children. I have trouble thinking of what things to bring for the trip. When Junior was younger, there was so much prep! Extra clothes, cooking porridge in advance and freezing them, bringing milk and my breast pump just in case, bringing all sorts of toys and books to keep him entertained. Ah yes porridge. I was am one of those mothers who must make sure my child gets good nutrition, but somehow along the line Junior developed a liking for only the usual chicken porridge with carrots and broccoli. No salt too. So wherever we went, I was sure to bring containers of porridge along. My son didn't like to be hungry and can turn into Hulk for not having food on time (like his mama too haha). I remember cooking in advance, freezing them, putting in freezer bags and thawing when it was time to eat haha. Nowadays I don't have to cook porridge, but it can be quite a hassle to thin

Yesterday was one of those days I was really hardworking in the kitchen. Cooked Junior's broccoli soup and got started on my beef rendang. I wanted to try cooking pulut kuning using the rice cooker, what rendang compliments pulut kuning beautifully. My SIL just got back from Bandung and I requested this from her! Haha. Have no idea what it's called, but on the packet it says "sale pisang". I love it a lot but can't seem to find it here. This beats getting cloth or clothes as presents haha! She gave me 5 packets summore. I'm a happy girl! :) Anyway back to rendang. Husband requested the addition of kerisik, though I don't know how that will help except bring more fats in :/ I still stuck to my mum's recipe because I refuse to try others hahaha. Once that was about done, I started on the glutinous rice. I tried the recipe from here , and I think I should have reduced the amount of coconut cream and replaced with water. Pulut Kuning Rice Cook

Took the day off yesterday cos my mum had to take care of her baby boy (HAHA) so I took care of mine :) It was the first time we sent him to school. We went to work cos I had to settle some slides even though I was on leave, and later I fetched him from school. Junior was so bubbly and happy :) Love seeing him so carefree and enjoying life. After I settled work stuff, we took the public transport like he has longed wanted, so it was the bus and train! Junior entertained mama's selfies hahahaha :) We stopped by the Lego shop too to get more parts for his building Lego collection. Waiting for the train to come! And yes I got the reserved seat woohoo! By the time we reached our MRT stop, he was tired so we too a taxi home instead of another bus. He too said he was tired. Aww my poor little boy. Almost fell asleep in the taxi. But once he reached home, he has a sudden release of energy and was off singing and talking again. We did his Lego set, sooo difficult to g

The Husband is on yet again another work trip. I've lost count how many times he's left us for work. This morning Junior woke up and asked where's his abah, and when I told him that abah flew off for work, he was so sad he whimpered a lot. My poor boy :( Weekend we were supposed to cook nasi kabsa but it didn't materialise cos of other plans. Planned to spend the most out of the weekend we had before the husband flew. Just love spending family time together, I couldn't have asked for more. Am so thankful for a loving husband and son :) We had a good time at McDonald's Parkway Parade. Junior was having his dinner of nuggets and fries and there was someone playing music, the breeze was awesome. Junior really enjoyed his meal! Even told me he wanted to take off his Crocs while he enjoyed his meal haha. Junior enjoying the music as he ate. Love to see how kids enjoy life. It's so refreshing :) Managed to squeeze in time for baking with Junior, 1 batc

It's been ages since I've last updated! Recently we went to Dubai on a multi generational trip, 4 generations in total! It was a good holiday and loads of unexpected shopping but what matters most is that we spent family time together. Junior has also made some progress in his speech, saying one syllable words like cat, sleep, eat, egg, come on his own. We're so delighted to see him attempt to speak. He also attempted to count one to ten with the guidance of the husband. And we're happy to announce, we're having another Junior! :) I'm halfway through the pregnancy now. This pregnancy is more eventful than the previous, with me being rushed to KKH for abdominal pains at the end of 1st trimester for exerting myself too much, and recently the doctor said the baby is too big and I could have gestational diabetes. So now I have to really monitor my diet. Will only know the results in the next check up in May. Reading up on GD is scary. Anyhoo!! This year is re

Haven't been blogging! Junior is now in preschool, just a simple class at the block beside my mum's. He has been a good boy, wanting to go school, and now he loves school and his teachers. He's more expressive too, singing his own songs and having exaggerated expressions. He's just too cute :) I am so glad he likes his school, there's no need to find another school to transfer to, and for him to get used to. Never mind there's no montessori or what, for now what I want is for him to socialise and get used to a classroom setting and he's adapting perfectly. Baking and cooking-wise, I've been doing a bit here and there, now that we have Saturday classes for a few weeks I haven't been cooking much. Junior has been trying out new things, like golf which he absolutely loves, shadow play with his favourite puppets and we've transitioned him to sleeping on the mattress! He's getting too big for the cot now. Junior's second time at

My oven can be collected yay!!! Last week we discovered it was spoilt, cannot microwave or heat. So yesterday we sent it for repair and today we can collect! I miss baking. Wanna bake with my baby boy this weekend! Speaking of baby boy, he tried to mutter some words and we're soooo proud of him! He can now sort of say egg, sleep, eat, red, snake and nak but not so clearly. We're trying to get him to say more words but so far he's only interested in single syllable words. We started with him trying to imitate Baby Jake from cbeebies when he says "koki hiya!", so I go "koki" and Junior will respond with "hiya". That opened him up I think. My mum heard him blurt out some words before, but for me, the first word was egg. We were baking and he pointed and said egg. And when I was reading to him his favourite books (vehicle series, what else), he saw the bird sleeping and he said "sleep" twice! Heart melting moment awww. Looking forw

Hahahaha!! So funny right! That's just what I go through practically every day! Seldom do mothers get "me" time. Just like my Junior, he will run to the toilet to find me, open the door slightly and peek in with a cheeky smile. I seldom lock the door when I'm in the toilet, and that means he'll open and close the door with so much glee! Oh the joys of motherhood haha.