Wake Up and Smell the Cake

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% o

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.

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!

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 f

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

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!

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 rol

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 :

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 ni

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.

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,

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

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

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 s

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,

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

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 Junior in the car

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 w

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~

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