Wake Up and Smell the 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

Very very lazy Monday morning today. Cousin got married over the weekend! Junior was in a good mood for both days, surrounded by family which he loves. This was after the nikah at the girl's side. He was happily making this cute pose and laughing at himself haha. My little king, slightly sleepy yet still wanted to pose with his crown. Managed to slot in semolina pudding on Saturday morning, finally I got to make some. It's kinda hard to find a recipe online cos there's German version, Indian version and others as well. Few weeks ago I came across a recipe book by an Indian/Pakistani Singaporean and the semolina pudding looks like what I was looking for so I tried it out! Sadly I didn't have rose water so the Indian flavour fell flat. Or maybe I should add in more cardamoms next time. Semolina Pudding , by Liza Kassim 900ml water 1 cup sugar 2 tsp rose water (I didn't have this) 1 pandan leaf (Didn't have this either) 2-3 cardamoms 400ml

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.

Today is a much better day than yesterday. Good start to my morning! I woke up at 4am and got my washing machine going, slept back and woke up at 5 to start the dryer. I love it when laundry gets done! Then I ironed a couple of shirts, baked banana muffins cos I have ripe bananas rotting in the fridge, and then off to work with the muffins! In office, a stack of chappati with keema and vegetable curries awaited me YUMYUM :) My dearest colleague made them for me (I requested for her homemade chappati and keema), she loves cooking for pregnant women. Totally love her soft chappati and her curries! With such spices, I don't mind being vegetarian haha. My banana muffins today aren't sweet, luckily I added some leftover chocolates in for a bit of sweet chocolatey taste and topped off with sliced almonds. Banana Muffins (they don't qualify as my type of banana cake) 250g plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder 2 eggs 125ml oi

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

Back from the long weekend and dreading it. Haha. I've never believed in the concept of going for a break and coming back refreshed. Going for a break, yes, but who would want to come back from a break! Anyway. Lots happened! Like Junior's cookie session, and my 7th month check up (yes time flies!), another round of abdominal pains that got me so worried and got me thinking of death too later that night. But happy things first. Cookies! Wanted to make no chill sugar cookies but it didn't turn out well. I followed the recipe yet the batter was too soft so I added more flour and sugar (but more flour than sugar and the ratio got weird), and while it was good to make shapes for Junior, the taste was horribly bitter. So I threw them out. Good that I only used half a pack of butter, and saved the other half for chocolate chip cookies. Next time I shall just use my pineapple tart cookie recipe lah. Junior couldn't wait to press the cookie dough! Yes

Good morning! We had a good weekend, but it was really really hot to the point where I ironed clothes in aircon and with the fan on haha. Also! It's the start of my 3rd trimester yay! And what a way to start 3rd trimester than a dream about giving birth. Such a tiring dream -_- Saturday morning I cooked an early lunch for Husband's korma ayam brunch (yup repeat telecast), and later I made apple raisin muffins which he approves!! Seldom does he approve fruit related bakes so this is an achievement! He did ask though if eating that qualifies eating fruit. I would like to think so too ahhahaha. I've made apple cupcakes using this moist apple cake recipe ! I've used this before, in an earlier post . Totally love it. I added raisins as well for a sweeter bite. Would have been nice to have walnuts too. Moist Apple Mini Cakes 4 apples, peeled cored & diced 3/4 tbsp cinnamon 3/4 tbsp sugar (supposed to be 3 but I followed wrongly but still turned out fine wit

Love the long weekend! Junior and I made some old fashioned chocolate cake by Nigella and I cooked chicken curry on Friday. Because the other 2 days we were out with extended family. Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake 116g butter, softened 133g self raising flour 133g sugar 1/2 tsp baking powder 30g cocoa (valrhona, not dutch processed) 100g light sour cream 2 eggs The recipe blitzed everything in a blender, but I did the old fashioned way of creaming the butter and sugar together, then adding in eggs one by one and then the sifted cocoa + flour and light sour cream. Junior helped too of course :) We put them into cupcakes, and got me exactly 12 normal sized ones. I have not taken any photo of the finished product, but it is soft and fluffy, and I love how the domes turned out! Totally love this recipe :) Chocolatey but not too much, perfect for chocolate base cakes! I cheated on the frosting, bought the Philadelphia ready made chocolate frosting because I have never h

Back to work. We spent most of the weekend at home since Junior is down with chicken pox. Saturday's menu is ayam masak korma and pengat pisang. Both are The Husband's cravings. So morning I managed to cook pengat pisang for breakfast using the same recipe as before. Got started on my ayam masak korma. I decided to follow the recipe on the korma powder packet cos it seems simple enough and it's catered to that specific spice anyway. So for 1 whole chicken, this is the recipe. Ayam Masak Korma 1 whole chicken 2 onions, thinly sliced 2 cloves, 1 cardamom 1 star anise 5 cloves garlic 3 cm ginger 1 tbsp chili paste (I added because I didn't have fresh chilis) 5 tbsp korma powder, Malabar brand 2 tbsp meat curry powder, Malabar brand 1 packet Kara coconut cream (200ml) Potatoes and cherry tomatoes Thinly slice the onions, pound garlic and ginger together. Fry the sliced onions in oil. Add in the cloves, cardamom and star anise to fry together. On

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

Eating healthy is not interesting at all. I'm starting to get bored. No wonder my grandmother can't stand being on the strict diet that she has to adhere to. Since we've found out my baby is big about a month ago, I've been trying to eat proper breakfasts and snacks so that neither the baby or I will gain unnecessary weight. No more canteen breakfasts (I cheated on 2 days so far but I'm still proud of the fact that it's only 2 days haha), cut down on chocolates and cakes and replaced with apples. So far my weight has not changed for 5 weeks now even though my belly is growing and I've found that apples really do help with appetite and managing your glucose. By far the best snack I've discovered so far! I've prepared breakfast of mostly wraps with marinated chicken or scrambled eggs and lots of salad. Good amount of protein with minimal carbs. But today I am starting to feel bored of healthy food. I am craving for potato chips with sour cream and

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

This morning I woke up earlier to get ready and even have breakfast before sending Junior to my mum's via bus. TWO buses sadly. Same town, but at different ends. Our car is spoilt and Husband followed the tow truck to send it to the workshop. I must say, getting up early and forcing yourself to have breakfast is really good discipline. Junior was still sleeping when I was all ready so I had to wake him up. But since he loves the idea of taking buses (he's been asking for it for countless of times), he got up all fresh and ready to go. After sending him off, time for me to take another two buses to work. All in all the journey took about 1 hr 45 min which is not too bad, I reached work around 8.45am. Fatty me was panting by the time I got to office haha! Spent the entire afternoon in the kitchen yesterday, making pineapple tarts and daging masak merah. Junior helped too! He helped pound the garlic and ginger, then later with rolling of the dough. He loves helping out in the k

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

I made my first ever baked rice last Sunday. All in the name of having salmon incorporated in my meals. The first recipe I googled used milk, and so I settled for that! Subsequently I found recipes with cream but I don't need the added fat. Who does, anyway.  So here's the link to the original recipe . I always trust Australian and British recipe sites to give good food. Haha. Salmon Baked Rice 15g butter 1 cup milk 220g salmon, cooked 1 1/2 cups cooked white rice 1 tbsp flour About 1 cup grated cheese (I used Perfect Bake mix) 1/2 head of cauliflower Cilantro Melt butter in saucepan till bubbling, then add in flour. Mix well. Add in milk 1/4 at a time and bring to a boil. Once mixture thickens, turn off the stove and add in 1/4 cup cheese.  Layer in a 7 inch round pan, 1/2 of the rice, cauliflower and fish. Pour some of the milk mixture and sprinkle cheese on top, and repeat for the 2nd layer.  Add more cheese for the top layer! B

It's December! Too fast. Weekends aren't that free anymore, not much of cooking these days. Two weekends ago (or 1 weekend ago?) was daging masak kicap, and the weekend that just passed I didn't really cook save the quick Sunday dinner of sambal sardine with canned mushrooms. My ultimate comfort food best eaten with hot rice. I think I finally got it, tastes like my mum's. Yumyum. 1 can sardines in tomato sauce (Sardines, not mackerel. Ayam brand's the best!) 1 onion, finely sliced 2 garlic, smashed and chopped 1 inch ginger, sliced 1 stalk lemongrass, bruised and cut into 3 3 tbsp chili paste 1 small can mushrooms, drained and washed) Fry the lemongrass and onions till fragrant. Add in garlic and ginger, fry till fragrant as well then add in the chili paste. Fry till the oil separates (yes that's what my mother says), probably 10-15 minutes I didn't time, but the longer the better. Add in mushrooms, stir fry for about 1 to 2 minutes before a

My parents are home! Yay! My mum is still sick though hope she gets better :( The welcome home asam pedas was a success! I realised I didn't have to go all the way to Geylang Serai market on Friday during lunch to get ingredients cos I went to the market to get fish and Chong Pang is pretty self sufficient anyway. It wasn't really cheap at Geylang either! Oh wells. Lesson learnt. This is my second time making asam pedas using the recipe from the Malay Heritage Cooking cookbook. I made some slight changes like the method. Asam Pedas Ground paste: 50 dried chilis, cut into small pieces & soaked in hot water 70g belacan 5 onions, sliced 15 gloves garlic 2 1/2 ginger Asam pulp, 200g soaked in water (but I didn't use all) 3 stalks lemon grass, bruised 2kg ikan kerisi (about 3 tails) Laksa leaves (daun kesum), about 30 leaves Lady's fingers, about 30-40 Salt 1 1/2 tsp Sugar 2 tbsp Prepare ground paste in a blender to form a paste. Heat oil in a