Wake Up and Smell the Cake

Back to work after the long weekend! Three day weekends are perfect, aren't they. Love spending time with our family :)   Last Friday the SIL came over to make rainbow cake for FIL's birthday. All set for white cake recipe which I have never tried out before, and frostings which we have never tried before too - Nutella frosting and swiss meringue buttercream. I was and still am afraid of frostings. Can never get them right. I hate the thought of having too much butter, of eating just butter and sugar, so I always resort to cream cheese frostings with highly reduced sugar.   But SIL doesn't want cream cheese frosting, so we tried out something else. I didn't want plain buttercream cos butter + sugar is just yuck. So I chose swiss meringue buttercream, which apparently is lighter cos it has egg whites.   It was my first time making a white cake, the batter looked really pale because of the absence of yolks. The cake turned out great, but if I were to repeat

My blogging frequency has definitely decreased! I haven't even done the recipe for the mango cheesecake, but anyway you can refer to this one , cos I adapted a little but I realised later that this recipe needs no alteration. Haha. I decided to make carrot cupcakes yesterday to use up 2 leftover carrots and some raisins. Turns out I have way too much carrots compared to the batter and I ended up with soggy cupcakes. See? Carrots more than batter! Haha Here's the recipe from food.com , but adjusted for 6 muffins instead. 2/3 cups flour 2/3 tsp baking soda 1/4 cup white sugar 1/4 cup brown sugar 2 carrots (it says medium carrots, maybe mine's large) 1/2 cup raisins 1 egg 1/3 cup vegetable oil 2/3 tsp vanilla essence handful of white chocolate chips Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl. Mix the oil and egg in a separate container, then mix into the flour mixture just until combined. Add in the grated carrot, raisins and chocolate chips. Baked for 40 mi

Hello hello! It's been weeks since I last updated. Been busy with lotsa stuff, even went out of the country for a work trip. I'm nursing the little one even as I type this entry. It's the Mother's Day weekend and the best part of it is the sales! I'm eyeing Crocs 20% off all women's shoes hmm. I bought a pair of Crocs flats few days ago sadly the 20% promo hadn't begun. Boo. But I feel like getting another pair heehee. We'll see how tomorrow. Anyway! Since it's mango season, I thought of making mango desserts for my mum and MIL. Have just completed one, which is mango sago for my MIL. Yesterday after work, we went to Chong Pang to get mangoes and they were going for 50 cents each! So I bought 20. HAHA. 6 for MIL, the rest for mango sago and mango cheesecake.  I think I put in a little too much vanilla essence into the dessert oh wells. But I'm sure once it is cooled it'll taste yummy!  Here's what I used: 5 med

Meant to talk about rendang last week cos we made beef rendang the weekend before, and since I made rendang again (by request of Husband) yesterday, the recipe is still fresh in my head so here I am typing on the bus to class. So pardon me for the lack of bullet points etc. Class. Haha. I skipped last week's class cos I was at my mum's hurhur, this week need to go cos next week is the last lesson already, and I can't go for that either because I'll be in Jakarta for a work trip. Busy huh. Anyway back to the rendang! This is my mum's recipe and it doesn't use kerisik, and that should be the shredded coconut thingy? Haha. Anyway this got the approval of dear Husband so I'm happy! Ingredients 1kg beef/chicken 4 onions 8 cloves garlic 2 inches ginger 4 sticks of lemongrass 4 tbsp ketumbar powder 2 tbsp jintan halus powder 5 tbsp cili kisar 200ml coconut cream About 10-15 lime leaves 5 tbsp sugar +/- Salt to taste Slice lemongrass very thin

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

I am so happy! Although I woke up today with a red swollen eye but no matter! I finally found a shop that sells loads of childhood stuff! Biscuits in metal tins, old toys like pick up sticks, paper aeroplane thingy and so many others I know not the name but I just go, "eh this one!", and childhood snacks too! My ultimate fave, Hiro cake! And there's Tora and Dingdang too! Omg so so happy! It's like finding long lost treasure. This is the shop! Bad angle I know. But this caught my eye: Old School Toys & Games SOLD HERE!  Hiro Cake *screams* oh how I missed you! Sadly the cakes are so small and thin now. I didn't get one, don't ask me why haha, afraid of disappointment maybe. But next time I will. Ding Dang and Tora. All along I thought that Doraemon is on the box of Ding Dang hahaha. These snacks were sorta forbidden when we were younger. Snacks were a no-no. So if we did get them, it was really a happy occasion. See the boxes of biscuits beh

Ooh it's been weeks since I last updated! Lots happened, but nothing really interesting baked recently. Am on the bus on the way to class, so might as well update. This morning I was shocked at the price increase at the canteen that it has made me determined to prepare my own breakfast. The epok2 became smaller AND increased in price by 30 cents! Outrageous I tell you! So I think now I shall stock up on bread, salad vege, tuna eggs and chicken to make me some yummy sandwiches. No more of canteen food. Or oatmeal on standby in office if I am pressed for time. Shall not be lazy anymore!

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.

Tomorrow's the day! After 31 days of waiting, finally. Lots to do for Husband's return! I've already baked him a welcome home cake, his favourite, the butter almond cake. More or less done with sprucing up the house, got some air freshener, did some clearing up, I even ironed 2 weeks' worth of his work clothes hahaha. Oh! Spruced up the car too! Cleaned the carpets, cleared up the boot and seat pockets and what's left is a final car wash tomorrow. Need to pick up the staff cards for sentosa and the zoo tomorrow too for some family bonding time and hopefully the rain won't spoil our fun. I don't know why but I'm more hardworking when Husband is away haha! 28 hours left! :)

It's been ages since I've checked the countdown website! So today, on the last full workday before Husband returns, here's the countdown check! Yay! Soon soon :)

Another batch of rocky road, yes! And even so, I didn't finish my pack of marshmallows and hazelnuts. Sigh. But I did finish my chocolates! Haha I didn't use all of that, I threw away Nips and kept 1 bar of Toblerone back in the fridge hehe. This time round, I didn't use as much too, the first time was overkill. Haha. I used a different recipe for the brownie too, a recipe I've been meaning to use for a long time, best cocoa brownies by smitten kitchen . And it's a wonderful recipe! Best brownie I've made from scratch. Totally love the rich, fudgy deep chocolate flavour. I love that this brownie can be made in a saucepan too! Fuss free and easy. 10 tablespoons (140 grams) unsalted butter 1 1/4 cups (250 grams) sugar 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (65 grams, though some brands may weigh more) unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process) 2 large eggs, cold 1/2 cup (65 grams) all-purpose flour Melt butter in a saucepan, add in sugar and cocoa and mi

I can never leave Korean strawberries alone when they're on offer. So last Friday's lunchtime grocery shopping I bought 2 packs i.e. 500g. When I was in my second trimester of pregnancy, I ate Korean strawberries almost everyday, finishing a pack of 250g daily. But I couldn't finish them this time round since I have a whole carton of oranges too (yes greedy much) so I decided to make strawberry cake to be brought for the cousins gathering. Junior was very accommodating too, sleeping the whole time I was preparing the strawberries. This is quite rare, I had time to boil them, drain & blitz in the food processor, and used the strawberry water to cook down to a syrup. The whole house smelled of strawberries it was just awesome! I used this recipe by Confessions of A Foodie Bride , for a fresh strawberry cake. It is by far the most moist cake I've ever made! I totally love the texture! The colour of the cake wasn't pink, more of a very pale, brownish pink. Not i

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