1st year anniversary

Today is the last day of September 2011. Sometime last year of the same month, I chanced upon my oven of 1 year old now and that was the begining of my baking/cooking journey. I have not looked back since. It has been a rewarding 1 year. I have learnt much and will continue to learn. It is such a joy to know friends/fellow bloggers who share the same interest/passion.

My loyal portable oven has been a fabulous partner! Apart from cakes, breads and cookies, it has also produced delicious roast pork (siew yoke) and roast bbq pork (char siew), speaking of which I need to get some done up for tomorrow's bbq party. :)

Happy baking!

BBQ pork

Home roasted BBQ pork.

It was delicious! The meat was nicely caramelised. Within minutes, the entire piece of pork was devoured :) I only make this occasionally as it is not exactly a very healthy food choice. Sugar and fats!

Almond Cookies Recipe

55g butter
100g flour
45g icing sugar
1 tbsp almond powder
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 egg
1tbsp fresh milk
1 tbsp milk powder
1/2 tsp baking powder

1. Mix Butter and icing sugar till fluffy
2. Add vanilla essence and egg.
3. Add flour, almond powder, milk poweder and baking powder
4. Add fresh milk
5. Pipe into desired shapes.
6. Bake at preheated oven at 170C for about 25min or until golden brown.

Lantern making competition

4 years in a row, N won prizes in the annual condo lantern making competition. Her pinkish red lantern (first from the left) won her the second prize this year. She was very pleased with the results indeed and so were we.

Char kuey teow - home fried

Very rarely would L comment favourably on my bakes. He doesnt have a sweet tooth, so he claims.

So, I decided to make something savory. Our favourite CKT, though rather unhealthy, the stall bought verson that is,

I did it without the added dose of lard and it tasted pretty good despite a lack of it. My " stove fire" was strong enough and it had a taste of "wok hei".

This stingy L only commented " hmm...not bad, perhaps you can consider operating a stall....do you have somemore in the kitchen?....add more chilli please "

Good driver in the making (2)

Again, N and I were home late but this round, we ran out of luck. There was no single parallel lot left. Those left were either on a slope or meant for smaller cars. I prayed hard. "Lord, please guide me or else we will be stuck in the car for the night" (though I knew I still had the option of parking at the visitors' lots or at other blocks further away)

First attempt at Lot a was no good. All I heard was " Mummy, no no! You are right in the middle of the pole...you are going to bang it...."

Ok....I gave up on Lot a and gave Lot b a go. "ok ok....you are doing fine...keep going.....no no..stop...you are going to hit our neighbour's car! " (It was a squeezy double lot for 2 smaller cars which even L would avoid).

Ok...another try.... I moved forward and reversed again. " Good good! I think you are almost there....no but you are too close on this side....i wont be able to open the door...I will bang the pole....."

Ok...again.... " keep going....no no...slanted..."

All in all, 4 attempts just to squeeze the car in! So much for a "gold" driving licience holder!

My next mission is to venture out of my comfort zones. (ie. going to work, sending nicole to school on Saturdays, a few nearby shopping malls and grocery shopping) I am targetting AMK! Wish me luck! :)

Sweet little cupcakes

Teachers' day cupcakes for E's and N's teachers. All individually packed into a pretty carrier bags on that day itself. E's pre-school teachers, especially, were delighted to receive the little cupcakes.

E

E is truly a thoughtful and sensitive child. Occasionally, he may hurt me unintentionally, be it a knock or a kick. As soon as I show a pitiful face, he would start to apologise profusely, to the extent of breaking down. At times, I dont even have to initiate it and he just knows it.

Isnt it simply so kind and thoughtful of E?

A good driver in the making

This is really funny.

N and I were home late and the condo car park was pretty full, with only a few odd lots left. I was undecided. Eventually, we spotted a relatively "good" lot. A single parallel lot...ah....a single lot...hmm

So, I tried to reverse into it. Technically, it should be a rather easy park as there were no cars, front and back but the trick was on the marking. I couldnt see it as it has faded terribly. N somehow could steal a peek of it by climbing up in the back seat.

Obviously, I was not within the box and she yelled " Mummy, stop. Don't turn the steering wheel. I can see the marking on the floor. Let me turn the steering wheel for you"

I was like....hahaha....my little girl can park the car for me?

In the end, I just got out of the car to see where the marking was and I got it in (without the little driver's help). Mummy has pride too...:) N really made my day!

Jelly mooncake

First attempt in making jelly mooncake. It was quite an experience. I used carrot as the yolk and orange as the fillings. It turned out fine. These were just meant for home consumption upon the kids' request to have some ice cold jelly.

I also made a batch of traditional baked mooncakes and little piggies but I forgot to snap some pictures...well, gotta wait for another year then :)

Moon cake 3

My give-away mooncakes to relatives and friends.

I filled them with :

red bean paste or mung bean paste with melon seeds, almond flakes

red bean paste or mung bean paste with sesame seeds

red bean paste or mung bean paste with feraro rocher

The winner was none other than the Rocher! Crispy on the inside and soft on the outside. :)

All were pleased to receive them as they were all made from scratch. No articifial colouring or preservatives, low in sugar and fats. Happy Mid Autumn Festival to all :)

Lion King

N was privileged, very much indeed. She watched the Lion King with L, seated at the first row, right in front of the casts!

I didnt expect L to purchase the platinum tickets. It was such an extravagance to spend S$480 for a play of 2 hours for 2 persons. Well, on second thought, perhaps it wasnt such a big deal as it served a good bonding purpose between the father and the child. I am sure N enjoyed every moment of it and hence made it worth every cent!

Thank God for His generous blessing on us :)

Snowkin Mooncake 2

Second attempt at snowskin mooncake. My parents loved them as they were of the right sweetness and they were as fresh as they could get :). From steaming to eating, all up within 2 hours. I will be giving some away to friends who like mooncakes :) These are easy to make, relative to shaping and cutting fondant!

Buy and Sell

I remember we played alot of "buy and sell" when Nic was about 4 yo. It was my way of teaching her the values of money and mental maths. Now, we are repeating the same play with E and it was E's first time at it. He showed tremendous interest in the play but he was obviously not observing the rules. He set his own.

Me " How much is this plate of pasta?"
E " $5"

Me " Ok, I will have a plate, here you go, $5" (and I took the plate of pasta from his "stall")

He came running after me.

E" Mummy! you can not take my pasta. It's mine"
Me " But I paid for it. You took my money"
E " No, the pasta belongs to me. Give me back"
Me " I know. We exchanged, remember? You have my $5 now"

After 2 sessions, he has learnt the concept of buy and sell. Now, he wouldnt insist that I have taken his merchandise. He would happily part with them, as soon as he receives his money.

Nicole's 7th birthday

It was really a challenge in all aspects : determination, physical wellness and faith.

Being a new kid on the block for such fanciful gimmick, coupled with a mini oven with limited output per bake, it took me a long long time to deliver just these:

25 fondant cupcakes ( 2 bakes)

60 fondant cookies (4 bakes) - as goodie bags

A 2 tiered fondant hello kitty cake (3 bakes as it was made up of 3 cakes)

The killer was in the fondant decoration. I did everything from scratch.

I baked and froze the cake; melted the marshmallow and rolled it out; and got the fondant readily cut out the night before; and

I decorated the cake the next morning and I had to make do with whatever coloured marshmallows I had, since I didnt want to introduce anymore artifiicial colouring

I didnt get to bed till 230am and I got up at 7am to work on the deco as the cake had to be delivered by 10am! I did it though in my view, there is still room for improvement on the shaping and cutting techniques! Thank God!

Well, seeing the megawatt smile on Nic's face and hearing all the good comments with "uuhhss" and "ahhs" made it all worthwhile :) Upon seeing the colorful cake, E turned possessive.

E " This cake is for me, not for you che-che! I like it. Mummy baked it for me!"

N " Whatever you say, it is mine!"

E " No, it is mine.......etc ...etc"

I had to pacify him before it turned into an ugly fight. The price for that was a Power Ranger cake for his next birthday! I hope he would change his mind then, to perhaps just a chocolate cake :(

Happy Birthday sweetheart! Trust you had great fun with your friends :)

Durian Golf Cake

It was rather challenging moulding the golf club and the golf ball as the fondant wasn't behaving the way it should :(. It was plain stubborn somehow! Plenty of room for improvement definitely! The objects looked hideous! Yucks!

The D24 durian cake was otherwise well received :)