Me Aussie Wife

time to say goodbye

2010-05-02T13:22:00.002+08:00

It had crossed my mind that this blog thingy is starting to get old (for me that is) and many times had i contemplated on shutting down this one. Of cos i would still love to still update those who are close to the heart on the joys and worries and all the other random going ons here Down Under. And furthermore, I also do have very fond memories logged right in the beginnings of this blog of my life before I met the man of my dreams and our courtship together.

This blog was a place that i expressed myself as a teen trying to find herself in God's plan. Its where I shared my joy of my courtship with J together. And it was a place of refuge when I was away from home and dreadfully honesick. Though I was never good with that, it had been a place where I shared wholesome healthy meals and also cupcake and cakes that I had tried out over the years.

Not too long ago, I realised that I had changed and matured alot since 5 years ago. And this space is no longer one that encourages me to write but instead suffocates and made me run away from it. So dear readers, where ever u are and if anyone is still reading this, I have come to made the hard decision of closing this down. It feels kind of sad.....but I realise the need to close this chapter in my life and move on....Goodbye bloggy, i know i havent showed much care and attention to u over the last few years. I wanna enjoy bloggin but always seem to find myself with a writer's block whenever i come to this place. Forgive me but we just have to say farewell for good.......or maybe for just a moment....i dunno. Pardon me but I have gotta admit that we women are fickle minded creatures.

Hugs,
Aussie Wife....

I'm craving for a lemon pie!!!!

2010-04-01T20:30:00.003+08:00

I left my camera charger somewhere in SG and now, my camera battery is running dangerously low. Thus,the lack of pics which lead to a lack of posts. I am very much a visually stimulated person and with no pics to show, there's just no inspiration to blog. ANyways, we had visitors over tonight and I made a Lemon & lime chiffon pie with a polenta crust which was absolutely delectable. It is so smooth, so moussey, so meringuey.....and the tangy taste of lemon and lime.....my mouth is starting to water thingking of it. And what's best about it is that it doesn't require any cream added to it. So it is just a light and yummy pie that keeps you coming back for more.

Since being in Aus, I 've realised that I have nurtured a love for citrusy desserts. Esp if it is lemon or lime based. The tanginess of the fruit gives a very refreshing and light mouthfeel. Never leaving one feeling too heavy from having too much. If I can get eggs tml and if I can get my camera working someway or another, I would definitely make this pie tml and blog the recipe here soon. Lord willing.....

Its the long Ester weekend!!!! 4 days of holiday!!! It has been a while since Josh is able to spend some quality time with us. What are we going to do.....there's just so much we want to do!

Maybe I'm just not good enough.....

2010-02-21T20:44:00.003+08:00

My kids are respectively 3 years and 3 months old. My life have barely started with them but I've already gone through many days thinking myself as a lousy mother.People often say that it gets easier with each additional kids. I just hope they are talking about it in the long term sense.....

2010-01-28T14:01:00.007+08:00

I know, I know....I have been doing that disappearing act again.....Its so much harder to be able to blog with two kids.....one wanting ur full attention to something amazing she is doing at the moment and with the other, just wanting to suckle all day long. Okay okay......its partly due to my procrasting blogging nature too.....Well, there's just times when I just want to kick back after a long hot day and read what other people have to say and not say a thing.

While I was away from blogasphere, I have been cooking (or baking) a storm up in my kitchen. For an engagment party and also for my little angel 3rd bdae. It seems like I spent my whole life waiting to turn 18 and be independent. And it took ages......and ages and ages....And since the day I turn 18, time just fly pass me like it never had. Take the birth of my 2nd bub for example, he is already an adorable 8 weeks old bub with those chubby cheeks that one can hardly resist from pimching it.

Over the last couple of weeks, my fridge and pantry were never short of sweet stuff like brownies, truffles, ganache ,caramel,mousse and essential baking ingredients like butter, milk, flour, sugar, eggs...i'm sure u get the picture. And as u can expect, both J and T enjoyed surprising themselves with a little sweet thing every night after dins dins and looked forward to a spoon or a bowl to lick after each baking session. "Just an occassional treat..." they will say and helped themselves to more the following day and then night again.....Hmmm....so much for a treat.

I'm just glad that now with those two big events over and that my house is practically....almost clean of all those indulgent sweet things. Of everything that I had baked.......there was one, just one that stood out and seduced me with its depth of flavour and fudgy melt in the mouth texture. Its just a simple brownie recipe really......but with the addition of Guinness in it.....The maltiness of it just brought out the deep rich notes of the dark chocolate. Its one recipe that's going into my hadnwritten recipe book to be passed down to generations to come. Yup, its that good. So good that I just have to bake it another time......u know.....just to make sure that its really good. =)

Let's cut the talking and here's the pics......

For the engagement party,

peach spelt cake for the gluten intolerance

Guinness brownies &.....

....Bailey's Truffles for the chocoholics

Lemon creme & Raspberry Mousse Tartlets &.....

......mini ispahan cuppies for the petite fours lover.

For a dear gurlfren's bdae,

chocolate torte served with raspberry compote & whipped cream

For Tashy's 3rd bdae,

Flower dessert pots with 5 different layers that consists of: brownie base, fresh raspberries, milk choc caramel mousse, dark choc ganache & topped off with hazelnut dirt.

included a white cake with lemon cream & raspberries covered in white choc ganache as a last minute decision....which explains the poorly decorated cake..=P

this coming fri, i would heading off to SG to spend some much anticipated tiime with my family. Hoping to be able to do some baking before then and while i'm away.....Guess i can be hopeful for now...by the way, one of my church fren has been supplying organic wholegrain & others such as spelt, buckwheat, millet etc for a really reasonable price. I'm def gg to experiment with these dif flours in my baking n come up with dessertsith a more of a wholesome twist to them. To healthy home baking!

An awesome birth and a surprise!

2009-12-15T13:43:00.000+08:00

Right after the birth of Toby Higgs

If you have not heard, our gorgeous little boy (still nameless at the moment) was delivered via waterbirth on the 25/11 at 9.28pm. It was such an empowering birth that I truly believe all women should be entitled to this form of birthing to rid any negative thoughts associated with birth. There were no rush, no intervention of any manner, no bright lights, no schedule to follow. I was simply encouraged to follow my instincts, to listen to my body, allowed to work through each surge in dimmed surroundings to the sound birds chirping (it was the only CD avaliable at the room which i din't think was too new age, it however made me feel like I was birthing in a forest which was awesome!).

One day old

Thouugh early labour lasted longer this time round (36 hours in comparison to 29hours), no real discomfort was felt at all. I got to admit this time that childbirth is really about letting your body go, accepting each surge (contraction) as it comes and not be afraid. Experience does play a great part in not getting to anxious or fear thus the elimination or decrease sensation of discomfort.

The proud big sister

Anyways, we were truly surprised to have been blessed with a little boy since there seem to be like a 99.9% chance that our baby would be a girl. I was so certain that we would have a girl that I even have girl's clothings bought and ready to dress our new baby in it. SO surprise surprise! The Higgs line continue!!!!! For the unknown, Josh is actually the last remaining Higgs male and thus the pressure is/was on to have a male heir (however not as much pressure as in the asian culture i must say). Everyone esp Josh's granddad was exceptionally joyful at this occasion.

And 3 weeks have passed since little Tobs was born and this time round, i think if I do not have to go through being HUGE for 10months with baby, I would be game to have any kid any day.....maybe....=P

Things that I have been up to for the past month....

2009-11-04T20:19:00.000+08:00

For my MIL's 50th b'dae, I made her this chocolate mango and coconut cream cake which is just so light and refreshing. Since I know everyone who were going to devour this cake (i.e my in laws) will appreciate it if it is a healthy cake, I braved it out with light coconut cream, using genoise instead of sponge layers etc. It turned out fantastic, the mango and coconut flavours fused so very nicely and it was just perfect for a spring b'dae.

Made this for Sandy's (my cousin in law's) early morning b'dae celebration with the youth group at a park by the Brisbane river. It was just a simple reliable chocolate banana cake recipe that I had used many times. It's a great recipe to use up overripe banana and the addition of bananas contributes to a moist cake even without the use of milk. Even people who are not allergic to dairy products gave it the thumbs up.

This was designed and made especially for my beloved SIL, Becky,in celebration of her belated 21st b'dae (which supposed to be on the 6/12/08). The cupcakes were rose flavoured with a lychee filling and topped with raspberry cream cheese frosting. The addition of almond meal kept this cupcakes moist for a longer period of time too. Being a non cupcake lover, I actually tasted one and thought about keeping this recipe for future use again.

So even though I haven't been blogging much, I have been fairly busy in my kitchen with the b'daes, trying out new recipes and also to satisfy the baking bug in Tashy who regularly pester me to bake something with her. With the weather getting warmer by the day, I sense myself growing distance with my oven. Been working on non baked recipes such as coconut apricot balls which has always been a favorite of Josh. Its such a easy and healthy snack to make with just the addition of diced apricots, dessicated coconut, peanut butter, honey or condensed milk, sesame seeds, rolled oats and you just have to roll them all together. If it doesn't come together, just add more honey/ peanut butter (depending on how sweet/ peanutty you like it to be). If its too sticky, put in more seeds or grain. Roll them into little balls and keep refrigerated. They were so yum that half the tray was gone before I can put them into container for the next few mornings' morning tea!

2009-10-20T20:17:00.001+08:00

Strangely enough, a similar pattern/ habit of being uninterested of my blog and the blogging world had reoccurred again with this 2nd preggy. I just do not enjoy writing as much and even though there's so much for me to blog about, the inspiration just doesn't flow. Just want to say that we are still pretty much alive and kicking but just need a moment of silence in the blogging world for probably the next few months till our little bub comes. May the arrival of our 2nd bub bring about that bout of inspiration and sharing-ness to this blog. Till then...........

Love,
Wei

Just 2 more sleeps.......

2009-10-02T20:35:00.003+08:00

till we reunite as a little family unit again!!!! For the past 14 days, I dread the lonely times at home in the day and going to a cold and empty bed. Having my little angel help to lighten my days drastically.But still I miss him. Still can't believe its only 2 days more......So near yet so far....

It makes me most fulfilled as a cook and mother....

2009-09-29T17:22:00.002+08:00

.......when my little daughter tells me," You are a good cook!" when what was served in front of her was just a plate of leftovers put together.

In the dark of the night.........

2009-09-28T19:08:00.001+08:00

Its been 10 days since he left. I miss him so dearly.................

2009-09-08T20:16:00.008+08:00

Tashy loved playing with the red dirt and was often covered in red dust by the end of the day.

It's about time that I blog sth about our trip up to St George with Pete, shouldn't I? Been a bit slack since we got back (what's new?)and also been away out camping the following week after we came back.

As part of our gift of appreciation, I made them (clockwise order) a fudgy chocolate log, passionfruit ricotta cheesecake and lemon truffles. I was relived to find out that Jake has got a sweet tooth and enjoyed these immersely. Amongst all these, I think the passionfruit cheesecake is the best. 'Cos Josh who usually dislike rich cheesecakes actually went back for seconds and thirds for this. Must be saying something abt this isn't it? =P

It was such a unique and completely different lifestyle outback. Its simply a pleasure to kick back a notch in life and just enjoy the sun and smell the flowers (if u don't choke on the multitude of red dust in the first place). We were staying at a cattle farm owned by Pete's cousin-in-law and cousin and their small family of 3 kids. They were such accomodating people who were generous with their time down to their house. Anything to make us feel right at home.

Pete teaching Josh how to use a rifle

Josh helping the kids to crack some macadamia nuts

Being on a cattle farm, we had beef (mind u, their own fresh organic, self butchered beef) for most of our meals besides for brekkie. Though I have never been a big fan of meat, especially red meat, I have to say that the beef that we had was absolutely sensational. My favorite meal there had to be the corned meat served with white sauce and roasted veggies on the side. Unlike the commercial preservative laden corned meat, this was preserved by just soaking in brine by their personal butcher.

The best meal ever: Corned meat with white sauce and roasted veggies. Yum! The meat was so tender that it just simply melt in your mouth. How I wish I have rice to go with it then. (yes yes, i'm such an asian....)

Pot Roast served with gravy and roasted veggies which was pretty tasty too.

We had grilled steaks and snags (aussie slang for sausages) one night and Pete and Josh got the largest slabs! It can barely fit into their plates! Josh had his done rare and my, the steak was so tender and juicy! And I gotta admit that that is how steak should be eaten.

Aside from the food, Pete's cousin in law, Jack, took the time to drive us around the property(which was huge!!) and gave the guys the privilege to shot some *roos (aussie slang for kangeroos) by taking them out spotlighting at night. Anyways these are just a few of the many stuff we did out at St George. Being my usual lazy self, I would just let the pics do the talking.

The guys helped Jack to master (round the sheep up to be sold) some sheep during our stay.

There were red dust and flies everywhere! And its not even summer yet. I dare not imagine the swarm of flies that hangs around the farms in the hot weather.

We explored part of the property on foot on the Lord's day.

Stopping to have some refreshign homemade yogurt on our way home.................

I want.......no no no......I NEED it.!

2009-08-25T19:28:00.003+08:00

Someone must be up to some mischief up there by fiddling with the temperature gauge. We have just been away for just 4 days and Spring seems to have pushed itself into this last month of winter. Theoretically, this is (or was) supposed to be one of the coldest months of the year.Therefore it does not make sense that the average temp over the past few days are above 30 degrees Celsius.

Anyways, with the arrival of an inevitable heat wave that comes along with the "joys" of summer and having to carry an additional growing "load" (aka preggy bump) this year, my wants of getting my dream blender (refer to wish list) is increasingly becoming more of a need. I just am dying to make my own smoothies rather than paying 5 bucks for a Boost smoothie just to satisfy my constant craving for icy fruity drinks. If I were to put away $5 everytime I crave for a Boost juice, I prob be able to afford my dream blender halfway through summer. But can I go without.........would be quite a big problem....

Heaps to update but..........

2009-08-18T14:01:00.002+08:00

I'm just simply tied for time!!!! I have tried out quite a few good recipes (okay, it only just one or two) in my kitchen and have been yearning to post it up. And for one of the recipes, due to the inavailability of freshly grated coconut, I even got when through the whole experience of cracking to grating the coconut flesh by myself. I got to say I was pretty proud of that bowl of freshly grated coconut after spending 3 hours on it. I will have to blog all about it one of these days.

The reason why I'm so tied for time is that I had been at work for the whole of today and will be tomorrow again. And besides that, we would be going off to St George with Pete this coming Thurs till next Mon staying with his uncle and aunt. And staying with others also mean we have to bring along something as a git of appreciation. So I decided that I should put my baking skills to use and make them some yummy goodies to enjoy while we are there. To know what I had planned to make, do keep in touch for next week's blogs. =) (pray that I would be faithful in posting it....=P)

Anyways, rembr that I mentioned about the gathering of Singaporeans at the Stamford plaza for a National day buffet lunch? The food served was mainly SG food such as beef and chicken rendang, mee goreng, curry veg, sambal egg etc . It was really good and had helped to ease some homesickness for SG foods even though I normally won't choose to have such food back home. At the end of that lunch session, I reckoned that I chatted more than I ate. It was nice to know a few more SG pple. But having survived pretty comfortably and contentedly without any SG contact at all in Brissy, I do not feel any inclination to meet up regularly with this group of pple. Not so sure if you might feel this way if u r in my shoes. Belonging to a church and being close to my in laws probably are the reasons for my lack of homesickness, i guess......

Okay okay for now......i really have to get on with my list of things to do today. You guys take care and see ya soonn.....

Boondall Wetlands

2009-08-07T11:18:00.005+08:00

Jump to reach the skies!!!!

The sun was shining and the the skies were clear. I needed to bum up driving hours up (In order to sit for my learner's driving test, I gotta have 100 practise driving hours. I'm up to 65 hours, more than half way!!). So Josh hopped advised our faithful search site, Google and found this place. Off we went towards the north of Brisbane away from the bustling city. However, the wetlands did not turn out to be as serene and away from civilization as we imagined it to be. It was situated right next to the highway and it seems that no matter where we walk, the sound of zooming vehicles was unescapable. On the bright side, there were certain parts of the boardwalk where the scernery was just gorgeous and one of its kind. The main thing was that we had fun.......and I got more driving hours. =)

She enjoyed tromping around the overgrown grass to look for wild flowers

A flower known by the name of Pig Face. Supposed to be used as food and medicinal purposes by the Aborginals .

A type of plant that thrive on salt water.

The 2km boardwalk which lead us out to the wetlands.

We attempted to do a jumping shot with Tash which ended up with.............

Josh literally "giving her a hand " to help her along.

Exhausted after the jumping shot....lolz..

That's all for now folks.......oh yeah, Singapore's National day is coming up isn't it.....Hmmm....this have got to be the fourth consecutive year of me being away for it. I was never a big fan of it growing up except for looking forward to the parades which my Dad (being in the military then) was able to get free tickets every year. Now, I miss seeing the red and white flags hanging off HDBs and also the atmosphere on the day itself where most people would have a BBQ and a get together to take advantage of the holiday. However, this year might be a slightly different for us. Josh got to know a Singaporean guy, Mervin, in the reservist who had organized a national day buffet lunch at the Stanford (quite a nice hotel) where he had invited quite a number of Singaporeans to go along too. Will update on how that went too. Till then, ta ta.................

Centenary Rocks Festival'09

2009-07-30T15:33:00.002+08:00

The girls with their fav baby animals

Just this past Saturday, there was a festival held at a park, River Rocks park, which is just 5 mins drive away from us. In the brochure that we received in our mailbox, there was supposedly to have free hotair balloon rides for everyone, live music, community and food stalls, African fireshow and fireworks at the end of the night.

Since we had nothing better to do with our time, we drove down to check this annual festival out. Tash and I were pleasantly surprised to find a baby animal petting area which admission was free. We spent practically a whole hour there with my SILs petting 3 weeks old lamb, chooks, ducks and piglets. I managed to catch hold of one of the 2 piglets which was so tough to get hold of as they often try to stuggle and jump out of anyone's reach. The piglet that I held was so worked up that it kept squealing the whole time I had it in my arms. It made Tash so upset that she kept insisting that I "put piggy down now!"

Me trying to calm the distressed piggy....

....which didn't really do much

Haha! Managed to snap a cute shot of the two escapees together

Moving from the petting farm, there were not really much that appeal since the rides cost money and none of the market stalls have any interesting things at all. In the end, we found ourselves just relaxing on the lush green field by the river on a nice clear day listening to live music that ranged from soft rock to celtic folk.

P.S judging from my pics, you prob have gathered that we enjoyed the petting farm most.....=p

What's for tea tonight, honey?

2009-07-28T15:02:00.002+08:00

The Aussies like to call dinner as "tea". Why? I dunno.....Maybe an aussie or someone more familiar with the aussie culture can help me explain that. I din't feel like cooking tonight and having had a big salad lunch, I decided to put my sandwich maker into good use and whipped up some toasted sandwiches. I made up 3 varieties. All using different spreads. One with pesto, another with vegemite and the last with just a light spread of butter. Strangely enough, I actually really like the one with vegemite the most.

I can still remember how disgusting the taste of vegemite was when I first tasted it. Over the years, it was always Josh chucking in the bottle of glucky black goog into our shopping trolley ('cos i did not want to hold responsible for finishing that stuff).And to my surprise, each 400g bottle was emptied out faithfully within the span of a couple of months without fail. I have no idea how he did that but it seems like he was and still is consuming a fair bit per week.

It was only recently I decided to give this goog a fair go again just curious to find out again why is this "jam" so popular and to reaffirm to myself that I definitely am not wrong for turning my nose at it. It turned out that I was proven wrong. It's weird taste is starting to appeal to me so much so I actually sometimes feel like a vegemite toast. How strange is that?! Friends who had studied in aussie or being here for a period of time, have u ever felt this way before about vegemite?

A new look for the old......

2009-07-28T14:50:00.003+08:00

Just last week, for a girl's 21st bdae, I made some Tim Tam truffles. Its a truffle that is often requested by my SILs. Bored with my own designs, I decided to jazz them up a bit by adding some of my gumpaste flowers and sprinkles.

The box that I made up for truffles. I would have used another colour for the ribbons but that's all I had. Still turned out fine.... =)

Inside the box

Made a few extras to give away and of course for my sweet tooth hubby and daughter. This is the perfect (if u ever ran out of gift ideas) for your special one, or just a thank you prezzie, or an anniversary gift or a "just becos" love gift.

Picnic Brunch at the Roma St Parklands

2009-07-28T14:12:00.005+08:00

We had wholemeal spelt pancakes which we had in a variety of ways i.e lemon sugar, maple syrup with fresh strawberries, Nutella with strawberries etc....

Josh had lots of fun cooking these pancakes on the hotplates. Guess its something different from the usual steak or snags (sausages). We were practically starving by the time all the pancakes were cooked since it took a while to drive into the city, setting everything up and then getting the pancakes cooked. But boy, its well worth the wait. I can't wait to have another picnic brunch. Its so much better than eating greasy meat stuff.

As you can see, we like our pancakes done in different ways. Josh loves strawberries with his but Tash would just eat her berries first then her pancake (which is always smothered in butter) on its own. After our brunch, we took a walk around the parklands which showcased some really gorgeous flowers. What I love about the weather in Brissy is that be it winter or summer, there always is something beautiful in bloom.

These are known as Kangeroo claws. Interesting huh?

And thats Tashy being "coy" with the camera.....

Happenings in Jul

2009-07-28T06:26:00.005+08:00

Yup, the 2 birthday gurlies chose to throw a 60's theme bdae party with the youth group. And what more, we all get to shop at St Vinnes (aka Salvation Army) and wear grandma's clothes! It was good fun though. =)

Before I neglect my bloggy again, let me put up some pics about what we had been up to for this month...........

My cute hubby with his all too tight shirt and jeans.

The kids had lots of fun dancing (sixties style *cringe* =P) to lots of 60's music throught the night.

As usual, Beck came as a hippie.....

On another occasion,

We had tea at Becky and Justin's place (the newlyweds) one Sat and we had so much fun making DIY sushi and catching up with each other.

Lydia Coleborne made a real yum strabwerry mousse for Tashy (and the adults, a port flavoured chocolate mousse) which definitely was the highlight of the evening for her (as u can see here).

More pics to come when I get back from work tonight. =) Ciaoz...

Another Grubby Grub

2009-07-16T22:11:00.002+08:00

Yes, we are going to have another bub joining our growing brood! I'm sure some of you had gathered it from another blog, facebook .......So how are we feeling? More excited than we were when we were expecting Tashy. Guess we, being more experienced parents, know what to expect and are more relax this time around. And even though we got around to seeing the doc earlier this time, we only done our very first ultrasound on this baby just this week (way past the first scan which was supposed to be done in the 12th week). The main reason of us seeing the doc earlier this time is so that I can apply to be in the balloting system to get amongst hundreds of women who would like to get into the only Birth centre (run by midwives only) in Brissy.

So why is this Birth centre so popular? Firstly, this place fully encourages any mother to have her baby in the most natural way possible without any medical intervention. Secondly, there is a wide range of natural pain relief options avaliable such as the hot tube, the birthing ball, the birthing stool, hot showers etc. Thirdly, instead of seeing a gynaecologist, the mothers get to know a group of midwives during the pregnancy and would have a midwife from the group assisting during the labour. Fourthly, the mother get to have a whole room where she would be able to labour and then stay for the next 24 hours after she had her baby all to herself. She can have her family to sleep the night with her (either on the queen size bed provided or a sofa coach nearby), have visitors any time etc. Fiftly, amongst the hundreds that balloted for the opportunity to get into the Birthing Centre, only 40 women are chosen for each month. And I do thank God for providing me with a spot. Last but not least, being in Australia which is a social welfare country, all the services provided by the Birthing centre is absolutely freee!!!!

Of course, women that did not get their spot at the Birthing Centre will go into the public system which I have heard quite a few good reviews about. So no one is left out at all.

Enough said of this birthing stuff, from the scan, this grub is about 19 weeks along. Everything seems good with he/her. No, we didn't find out the gender. Just so to keep it as a surprise for us at the very end. Interestingly, the sonographer reckons that from all the asian babies she had scanned, this bub look nothing like an asian baby at all. Guess we might be getting another Higgs baby again. Or maybe not......................we'll see.....................

If only money fall from the sky......

2009-07-09T21:24:00.003+08:00

I am officially exhausted and sick of working. I have worked a total of 14 hours for the past two days and there is still 6 hours more to go tomorrow!!!! And I have spend 13 of those hours on my feet running around serving and washing up in the kitchen. I have no idea how you guys out there can work 5 days straight and still be able to go back for more after 2 rest days. Now I see why God had planned my life in such a way that there really is no need for me to work full time. Oh Lord, may positive thoughts stay and tide me over for another day of work......

Lake Moogerah bootcamp day

2009-07-07T15:29:00.006+08:00

Lake Moogerah

For a family day out, we drove westward to Lake Moogerah for a nice picnic (which Tashy was more excited about than us) and to spend most of the avro at a Christian netball camp organized for girls age 8-12 years by a lady from our church.

Very happy to be having a picnic with mum and dad

We had a roasted chicken, rocket and spinach leaves, boccocini and strawberry wrap for lunch. Yum!

Josh was actually invited to run five 20minutes bootcamp as an elective for these girl on their first day of camp. And in that short 20mins, he managed to that strict army guy making the girls run up and down the field, doing push ups, sit ups, lunges etc.

My dashing militant husband

It was interesting to watch how comfortable he is with these girls and his casual interaction with them before and after the session. Most guys his age would probably be a bit overwhelmed having giggly shrieking girls like everywhere. And what more spend 2 hours of his afternoon with them. Guess growing up with 7 girls did make a big difference.

Believe me, the girls started laughing as they ran along

but towards the end of the session, none had the energy to even talk!

Tashy did enjoy doing bootcamp with daddy too for at least the first session of it.

She was running with the girls and imitating Josh doing all the different exercises.

It worn her out so much so that she was knocked out as soon as she got to her car seat!

hee heee.....

2009-07-04T14:38:00.005+08:00

Yes yes, faithful readers. I have once again horribly neglected this blog. Its just seems like big things comes one after another without much of a break in between. My mum came for a one and a half week visit at the start of June followed by my sis and a fren from church. And its only today that we had the house to ourselves again with my sis leaving for Perth for another 8 days to complete her month long Aussie holiday.

Anyways, its always nice to have family with us as it always give me the excuse to be on vacation too. And of cos, the state of my house somehow suffer quite reasonably with household chores taking a backseat. With everyone gone, life IS really back to normal.

Aside from my life from last month, I realised its been a while since I posted something that I made since the wedding.

Celebrated Katie (SIL #3) and Ellie (cousin-in-law)'s 18th birthday at JC Slaghter Falls today for lunch with the extended family. It was a great day with clear skies, woodfire barbarque burning, lush green grass to sit on and of course wonderful Christian fellowship. As part of our prezzie to them, I made a Strawberry Charlotte.
It was made up of a vanilla genoise, fresh sliced strawberries and a thick layer of strawberry mousse and Kahlua soaked sponge fingers. I enjoyed making this cake especially when my kitchen gets to smell like a strawberry farm and also for a change, no much baking was involved. Everyone loved it so much that the whole cake was gone in 5 minutes.

Personally, the strawberry mousse went really well with the genoise and sponge fingers giving a different dimension of taste and texture. The geniose was light and fluffy and complement the strawberry mousse which was bursting of strawberry flavour (of cos) and was just sweet enough that the savory people even gave it a thumbs up. The only thing I felt I can improve on is prob to soak the geniose in Kahlua to make this a more grown-up dessert/cake.

I love strawberry season......

Life back to noraml......finally

2009-06-07T22:31:00.002+08:00

Life have settled down heaps since the wedding and I'm very much glad to have my life back. It feels good just to take a break for a while before having to touch my sugarpaste again. Not so sure what I'm feeling at the moment but I sure know that I'm "sugarpaste burned out" or even "cupcake out". I just don't feel like having anything to do with any of those stuff. I missed whipping up a new savoury recipe which I always wanted to try i.e Chicken and Camembert filo (I know its simple but I never am able to make the filo come out crispy like how they serve it at cafes) and going back to bread making. I remembered making mini bagels which i would love to try making it again, DIY pizza bases and even a sweet chili, spinach and feta pull apart. Dwelling on such thoughts is making me hungry!

On another note, mummy and Lena coming to visit! It would be heaps of fun cos i get to feel like a tourist again when they are around. And we will be driving down to Sydney early this wednesday morning for 5 days. Will be heaps of fun. Will update abt it soon. =)

For a miracle baby......

2009-05-31T22:38:00.006+08:00

Wish I can make more of those baby sneakers but rolling those laces was a killer!

Sam, the previous cook at coffee club, is due to have her firstborn, a boy, in July. It was really a miracle that she got pregnant in the first place as her husband and her were trying for the past 11 years. Though I could not understand the multitude of her joy (since we never have trouble conceiving ourselves), I sure know the immense joy kids can bring to our life (yes, not counting the smelling nappies, sleepless nights, messy house etc).

Anyway, I made these cuppies (orange poppy seed cuppies with orange infused cream cheese frosting) for her shower which was on last Saturday. After churning out 100 of these little creations for the wedding, I made all these in just a day's time.

Teddy bear shirts

Teddies in action (i.e school time, bath time winter wear etc)

Some of the finished cuppies

the aussies or maybe more like the ang mohs love their handmade quilts

30 cuppies all ready to go!

Tashy in her funky princess outfit and her best friend Princess Amie (the birthday gurl)

I finished these cuppies early than expected that I even had time to attend a princess birthday party with Tashy in the avro! Enough talking for now or I will just keep babblering.

this turned me off cuppies for 2 whole weeks!

2009-05-31T22:11:00.005+08:00

Finally found my card reader to offload the pics from my camera and the time and mood to put the pics up as promised.....=P So here we are, the final product of 2 whole crazy week of moulding, organizing and making sure everything went as planned to the very dot (for the cuppies of cos, not the wedding).

Pictures from the night before the wedding

(at 2 am in the morning when I finally completed the last piece).

Tea anybody?
I had heaps of fun creating and painting these tea cups.

.....and with ur tea would u like some madelines or cuppies?

....or some piklets (smallish pancakes) with jam and cream?

if u feel like savories, can always have roasted pumkin dip with breadsticks.

or a cheese platter?

why not be healthier and have a fruit.....=P

Mini food feast!

THE BIG DAY!

The savouries and other sweet stuffs that the church ladies helped out to make.

I got to take credit for coming up with the ceiling drapes idea which dramatically gave a dreamy and soft effect to the hall.

The cupcake stand was especially made for me by the two most capable granddads' in law anyone can have! Granddad Greatbatch designed and built the stand and Granddad Higgs stained and polished it! And it only cost me a mere $22 to get the material! For the ignorant, a 5 tier stand like this can cost up to $500!

Sorry about the pic quality for some of the pics. It was taken at night and the lighting was not perfect and it was 2am in the morning. Taking pics was the last thing I wanted to do!

After tomorrow.....yes....after tiomorrow...

2009-05-29T12:36:00.003+08:00

As usual, I'm in the last minute rush to complete baby shower cuppies for a dear fren's (from Coffee Club again) baby shower tomorrow evening. After tomorrow.....after tomorrow, I promise...picture will be up. I haven't been able to upload them as my dearest husband has once more went over the download limit. Just taking a breather from creating cute baby stuff.......i better go back now as I have about 18 more cuppie toppers to finish. =)

Mundane post

2009-05-20T07:13:00.002+08:00

I have been on a bloggin low (if u haven't realised) since the wedding and after. It seemed like I had an internet overload days before the wedding (just researching for stuff and modifying recipes) so much so that the thought of reading food blogs gives my stomach a sickly churn. There's so much that I want to blog about (i.e the wedding, preparations beforehand, the aftermath, the visitor with her nightmarish 1 year old who stayed with us for almost 3 weeks, my current life etc) but just don't feel like making any effort. I know I still have promised recipes (yes Skinnymum, i still rembr!) to put up (which i'm just so bad at doing....haiz*) and all those stuff just make me feel so gulity whenever I pop into the blogging world.

So before my ultra long shift at work (Coffee Club) today, I shall update my dearest friends out there on recent happenenings in my life. Let's start from the weather. Brissy been raining heaps since Monday night and it looks like we are in for a really rainy week with the maximum temp being 18 degrees Celcius. I have a mostly loving relationship with such weather. I love going to sleep warm and cozy under my donna (thick down blanket) listening to the "pitter patter"ing of raindrops hitting roofs and the road. I too love to awake to hearing the rain pouring outside as I snuggle close to Tash and Josh in the morning. This is such good weather for great comfort foods too like the strawberry pie (but its not strawberry season yet...), a good old indian/thai curry, a spicy chili con carne, or even as simple as a yummy toasted BLT with avocado sandwich. In this weather, I love just staying home reading a good book and have my faithful Bushell tea to sip on.

However, aside from my loves, being a clean and neat freak, I simply can't stand the thought of having the wet laundry build up mountain high in the laundry room. Saying this, I already have 2 basketful loads of wet clothes waiting to be sun. And there's so much wet weather a Queenslander can handle. This dreadful weather can be quite depressing at times especially for us who always seem to have the sunshine up here.

Wooo....its 9.30 already.....it looks like its time for work now.....sorry I have just only mentioned about the weather. Will attempt to make a greater effort to blog sooner. love ya alll!

Halo again!

2009-05-10T14:12:00.002+08:00

The big day came and pass. It was quite an uncomfortable and stressful week of having to finish 100 cuppy toppers, chores to do around the house, having a visitor with a baby in the house to add on to the stress and also having to deal with a bad cold which still is showing no signs of going away. Being entirely sleep deprived after the long day yesterday, I can't believe I actually found the strength to vaccuum the entire house (just be'cos filthy carpets have the tendency to drive me mad) and to put on new bed sheets. The tingling sound of dirt hitting the side of the vacuum cleaner did bring about a sense of peace to my frustrated soul, strangely enough. And the feel and smell of clean bedsheets was one of my happier moment of yesterday. Yes, I guess I just to admit to the whole world that I am a clean freak and am happy to be one. Maybe....

Anyways, I am sorry to have neglected this site for coming to a month which is my tendency when there's just too many things on my mind. But I would soon get all my pictures for the wedding up in a couple of weeks. Yes, not immediately cos I still have that visitor (and the baby) with us till next Mon and Josh, Tash and I are planning to go away for a couple of days this week. And on top of that I have 2 long shifts at work this week too. Its still busy busy but I have to say that the work put in is all worth it. =) Till next time.....and hopefully not too long till then. Ciao!

Cups of coffee to blocks of land

2009-04-09T17:49:00.003+08:00

Liz, a dear friend from Coffee Club, is moving on to a new chapter of her life after her last shift on Saturday. Leaving her first job ever, she had decided to take on real estate as her new career path.

Yet another Cupcake Bouquet

She always made an effort to understand me and made time at work more enjoyable. Its sad to see her leave. Being someone of little words, I made her some old fashioned choc cuppies with Lindt peppermint choc centres topped with mint buttercream to show my appreciation for our friendship. The Lindt choc ball in the centre was indeed like a surprise treat to bit into as the melted choc had moistened the cake around it and the mint cream so gently infused into the cuppie. Quite a sophisticated taste for a cuppies I must say.

Sophiscated Liz

Liz always have her pony tail tied up with a red ribbon which went really well with her real estate office wear designed especially for her. With her coffee club uniform abandoned, she had exchanged for a elegant office suit with nice ruffled pastel green blouse and gorgeous lavender heels (who wouldn't!).

Humble Queenslander (the best I can replicate at the moment)

Luxiourous Living (Flag's up, Queen's home)

The houses made were to wish that she would have no problems in selling any sort of real estate, be it from the humble Queenslanders (Kampong type houses) to the modern middle class houses to the more luxurious mansions (or castles except don't think we have any of those here in Aust! Anyway you get my point.)

Liz was pleasantly surprised with when this package was personally delivered by Tashy and me (I got Tashy to say,"A prezzie for you, Liz!" *she was so excited to do so that she kept practising it on the car on the way to Coffee Club*). She was absolutely touched to tears for these babies. Guess it did made leaving harder....but well at least she got these to make her feel better.

Aside from that, Mr purple eyes Bunny wishes you guys a great and blessed easter long weekend. *Hugzzz*

Perfect Autumn Comfort Food

2009-04-04T20:35:00.004+08:00

I just have to blog about this one before I retire for the night. Its just too good to let you guys who are in Aust or even back home in SG to even miss out on. I baked an upside down apple peach cake tonight. Yes yes.....you prob be thinking what so great about it. Well, let me tell you how GREAT this cake is.

I used peaches (which are going out of season but still being sold at Coles or Woolies) which are pretty yucky and tasteless to eat on its own. Though the peaches were not fantastic, the end result of this cake is awesome. It has a very fluffy and light texture and has the aroma of grilled peaches and apples infused in. The caramelized peaches were simply heavenly. I have always read about grilled peaches and never tried it till now. Though my peaches were not caramelized enough (prob due to my personal reduction of butter and sugar added), I can't imagine it getting any better than this. This is a very simple recipe which only require basic pantry ingredients other than peaches. So Jema, this is another good autumn recipe for you. Prob be better up in Melbourne since its colder there and this is a perfect comfort food. =)

I'm looking forward to tasting it tomorrow again. Then, the juices from the fruits would have seeped into the cake and make it even moister and flavourful. It brings great comfort to me knowning that Josh would have something yummy to savour when he gets back from his weekend training tomorrow. After being in this rain for the last 2 days! Yes, can you believe that Brissy is getting an entire week of rain? And it seems like the Mr Sun have decided to take a few days off.

Upside Down Apple Peach Cake (adapted from Coconut & Lime)

2 cups thinly sliced peaches (added 1 more cup of apple, sliced)
1/4 cup demerara sugar (added only 1tsp)
1 tsp cornstarh
1 tsp lemon juice

1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar (used only 1/4-1/3cup)
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature, divided use (used only 4 tbsp)
1/3 cup milk (used soy milk instead)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg

Preheat oven at 180 degrees celcius.

In a medium bowl, combine the first 4 ingredients (peaches and apples, demerara sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice) till well mixed. Pour the peach mixture into a well greased cast iron skillet pan (if not, a 20cm cake tin) and make sure the peaches are well distributed. Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

In a separate large bowl, beat butter and sugar till creamy. Add egg and vanilla and beat thoroughly. Then add milk and the dry ingredients alternately, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.

Pour the cake batter over the peaches and smooth the edges making sure that the fruit mixture is entirely covered. Bake for 40 minutes or till cake is golden brown. Cool slightly and then invert to serve.

Driving woes and joys .....

2009-04-03T06:46:00.005+08:00

I am probably the oldest person amongst you guys who is still on my learner's licence! Both my younger brother and sister have already been driving for more than 1 or 2 years. Me........its a long story why I was completely unmotivated to get mine till now.

I have always relied on Josh or occasionally my in laws to drive me around. But recently, I have got to the point of choosing to stay at home cos I'm sick of being so reliant on others. I would rather take the train any day which is a 15 minutes walk away. However, I have to admit that taking public transport here in Brissy is not the fastest or easier form of transport esp when u have to lug around a toddler with you. And then, Josh have to leave me for another 16 days for another military training out in the desert someway this Sept!

Good news is that our goal, yup its not just mine this time but also my "instructor's", is to have me Ps by then. So i would be able to drive Tashy around, go for picnics at the gardens, walks in the city, visit friends, have a coffee (baby chino for T) at a cozy cafe etc. (Yes, I have it all planned)

In fact, just the other day, Josh agreed to let me drive our car out with Beck. I was so taken aback that he did it with no hesitation to me driving the car without feeling the need to supervise me. Not so sure if any of you out there have been taught to drive by your husband. Maybe its just our personalities. We are just complete opposite to each other.

When we first started, we often end up getting all upset with each other. Josh wanted me to view him as my instructor and nothing else. And me, I find it so hard not to take each critisim and comment personally. Josh can get a little worked up (okay more than a little) whenever we encounter any near car crash/ scratch situation. And me, I do my best not to crash/ scratch the car as much as possible but come on, I'm still a learner. Can't expect me to be perfect right? When have u seen a instructor's training car scratch or dent free?

I have to say as much as it can get frustrating many times, it can also be very rewarding too when J starts to approve of my driving. Knowing J's high expectations in regards to driving, I go estatic whenever he says, " You did well, I felt safe the whole time."

These my driving woes n joys I share.....

I made POCKY STICKS!!

2009-03-26T08:22:00.004+08:00

Made these for Joshy's birthday since he is quite a pocky fan. Since I had heaps leftover, I made some for Megan too (as i promised her that I make her something nice for her bdae last year). You can find the pocky sticks recipe here if you feel like making your own version of pocky even though pocky is like everywhere in SG! =) Still special to make your own. Warning, i found it quite hard to roll the dough out after taking out from the fridge. I sure was perspiring like a pig while I was trying to flatten it. Maybe my dough was too dry.....dunno. Might try again.......maybe in the middle of winter when I need a good upper body workout. =P

And I bought some really fat and gorgeous smelling Tahitian organic vanilla pods and made my 2nd bottle of vanilla extract! And they only cost me $15 AUD for 100g which includes free delivery. I love online shopping!

Pink, purple and ivory

2009-03-26T07:15:00.004+08:00

The array of yummy cupcakes

With gentle music playing in the background and English tea to sip on, I began my first ever wedding cupcakes tasting with Becky N whose wedding will fall on the 2nd week of May. I sure have been busy coming up with designs, mixing up batters and whipping up buttercream since Monday. But it sure worth helping Becky find the perfect cupcake to have at her wedding.

Almond and vanilla cupcakes with vanilla cherry filling frosted with rose petal buttercream. It was so hard to find the pearl sugar and I resorted to making some myself. And it turned out to be really simple.

I had prepared 3 different sorts of cupcakes, all of which are dominently vanilla flavour, since she had requested for vanilla cupcakes. And they were Almond and vanilla, 3 vanilla and White choc and cranberry cupcakes. I gotta say my favorite would be the first with a sweet vanilla flavour complemented by a subtle almondy flavour. The almond meal added to this cupcake also gave it a nice moist and slightly denser flavour. And I do favour it very much with a melt-in-the-mouth rose petal buttercream which reminded me of turkish delight.

The 3 designs chosen

Going back to the tasting session, 3 vanilla cupcake became the obvious choice with Becky's English tastebuds who are more inclined to the more traditional flavours. 2 fruity fillings, vanilla cherry and lemon/lime curd were also very much favoured. With her wedding colours being purple, ivory and olive green, I'm really glad that she had found 3 designs which she really like.

Really like this little basket of flowers but not so sure how long its gonna take me to make at least 40 of them

With everything settled, I sure am eager to get started with these 100 cupcakes. In a strange way, I do look forward to the quiet nights that I will be up modelling these flowers. Maybe its the time alone doing what I love. I sure am more excited than Becky to see the end result of these cupcakes! Bring on May, please!

And till next time, I sure be blogging more about my joourney to completing these little babies. For my recipes, can i post it after this wedding? =P Sorry for delaying it for like yonky years.....take care for now....=D

While J was away for another army weekend training.......

2009-03-15T21:59:00.005+08:00

To celebrate J's birthday (without him), we spent 5 hours shopping at Indooroopilly,the nearest biggest shopping centre to our suburb! When we first got there, Tashy asked for something to eat. So we sat down and had a light sushi lunch. As Tashy puts it," One for mummy and one for Tashy!" Once our little tummies were filled, we head off the check out the stores. Our first stop was at Mr Toyworld which (of cos) was T's fav. I have to say how impressed I am with her that she left the store with no tantrum or what so ever when I was ready to leave after 10minutes. Thank God that she does have a strict father who had nurtured her really well.

After checking out a few store, we snuggled on a big cushy chair together and sipped on our soy hot choc and baby chino as we chatted and watched the world go on around us. With the last drop of baby chino gone, we were up on the go with the next stop at Riot, an art and craft store. I spent a good 45 minutes looking for the perfect scrap booking paper to put together a small birthday album for Josh while T played on her own at a nearby felt board with little felt cut-outs. She played so beautifully just talking and amusing herself with random stuff that she made up.

And wherever there's a pet store, you can count on us to be there. There were a few Goodles (golden retriever cross poodles), Spoodles (cocker spaniel cross poodles) and Maltese. Hmmm....wonder whats with the fascination of cross breeding poodles? Well, those pups that were there yesterday were really cute with their curly fur. But definitely won't be my first dog choice. Anyways, we still spent a good 10 minutes gawking at those puppies. To conclude our entire trip, we got a kid size "All Berry Bang" boost juice and shared it on the way down to the train station. Oh yes.....and while we were walking home, I showed Tashy my dream house which happened to be along the walk home from the train station.

I must say that I really enjoyed spending time just hanging out with T. Though she is all but 2 years of age, I love the connection that we share, the things that she says that only I can understand, and all the simple acts that she does just to show her love. My most favorite moment on Sat have to be us snuggling onto the couch, sipping our fav hot drink and just thinking of what to get J for his bday. I still can't believe that my little angel is growing up so fast and I have to say its nothing but God's grace who had kept her and made her into such a special little girl.

To the most special girl in my heart......

xoxoxooxoxoxo,

mummy.....

O-HAI-YO!!!

2009-03-07T14:22:00.007+08:00

Just came back from Rach's sushi bdae party and with Tashy over at mum and dad's place, it means I'm getting my much needed break after busy week. This is actually the first week of getting back into part time work at coffee club since I got back from SG. Really surprised that they still want me (being their most expensive casual) with the bad economy. Surely they must not be doing too badly, i guess.

Besides that, been back into my watercolour classes and of course, cake decorating esp with birthdays and a wedding coming up in May. And what better gift to give than a gift made of lots of love. So back to Rachel's birthday, as a birthday gift, I made her a boxful of pineapple tarts (which recipe is not what I learnt in SG. Since there's no such thing as the pineapple filling you can get at NTUC or Poon Huat, I have to make my own. And I spent about 4 hours in front of the hot stove in a muggy kitchen stirring the jam. This is not just a gift of love but a one of sweat and sacrifice! =P

And of course, a party is never complete without a birthday cake. Rach especially requested for the lemon and raspberry cake which made for Becky's,Cat's and Josh's graduation last year. So I made this!

A raspberry cupcake with lemon curd and cream cheese frosting. Yummmy! As Josh puts it," The lemon curd kept the cake moist but not soggy. The flavours of the cake blended really nicely without being overpowering at all." Looks like I'm nurturing a gourmet food taster here in my house. ;)

To go with the whole japanese theme, I made kimono dolls and a bonzai cherry blossom tree. With the tree representing 10 years and a year for each doll to celebrate her 19th bdae. Everyone seemed to love enjoy the cupcakes and esp the boys since they have never been to a party with such modelling figurines. They just can't wait to bite into the head and make their own "skewer dolls". So much for my hard work....=P

Davie, one of the boys, enjoyed playing with the models so much that he requested for a Lord of the Rings chess set cake for this 18 b'dae (which is 2 years time). He wants me to make a weapon for each model so that it can be used to stab the opponent with. So that's what guys like for a cake.

I gotta say that though I might have missed out a few hours of sleep, been grumpy due to that,having to get organised with my cooking, it is really rewarding to be able to bring a smile to everyone's faces with my labour of love. Coming from Davie," Wei'er's cakes is not just how it taste but how it looks. It always look good!" "And it always taste divine!" added Chazz . Hearing that really really really made my day. I can't wait to start working on my next one.....=)

Getting back into Gear!

2009-03-02T11:17:00.006+08:00

Yes!!!! I am now officially back into my working world of cakes again! With a couple weeks of settling back into normal life, I have been suck right into mixing up sticky batters, baking in a very hot kitchen (its still really hot here!) with perspiration pouring down my face, modelling till day break and churning out yummilicous desserts.

With the start of March, it means I'm just 2 months closer to the wedding in which I have been placed in charge of (together with grandma Greatbatch) the catering of an English high tea after the ceremony. March is also the birthday month of both Josh and Rach whose birthdays are almost a week apart. And there's also a youth group organised ladies pampering night which I hope to be able to contribute a dessert or two.

Just this Sunday, I made my first cupcakes bouquet (or that's just what I like it to be called) for a dear church lady who just had her 4th little girl, Claire. She lost her 3rd little girl, Charlotte, who was a stillborn close to a year ago.

This is Chrissy,the mother, with 3 roses, each representing each of her daughters. The lil butterfly on her arm is Charlotte. The lil butterfly was a way that they used to explain to their daughters how Charlotte had flew all the way up to Heaven to be with God.

Baby Claire

They were very thankful to have added another little girl in their family and I thought it was the perfect time to celebrate with cute lil cupcakes!

Besides cupcakes, I made a stack of cheesecake brownies for Becky and Justin's engagement party which I found myself craving for days later.

The food at the party. The cake with the heart in the background was baked by Justin especially for Becky as a valentine day pressie. He actually went all the way out to cover it with mazipan and then buttercream all made by himself. So awfully sweeeet!

Its funny 'cos I personally don't like fudgy sweets at all. But in this recipe, the tangy-ness in the cream cheese provided a nice balance. This is a very easy way to make something special.

So Jema, no matter how busy u are i'm sure u be able to find time to make these little babies. ;) Maybe can make it for "yong yong" for his bdae? To make it more romantic can always cut the brownies out with a heart shaped cookie cutter too.

Cheesecake Brownies (taken from Taste)

Melted butter, to grease
150g butter, chopped (I only used 95g)
300g good-quality dark cooking chocolate, chopped
3 eggs
215g (1 cup) caster sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla essence
225g (1 1/2 cups) plain flour
65g (1/4 cup) sour cream (I used light sour cream)
1 x 250g pkt cream cheese, at room temperature (I used light)

Preheat oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a 20cm square cake pan with the melted butter. Line the bottom and sides with baking paper and lightly grease it.

In a saucepan, combine butter and chocolate and cook over low heat. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth.

Remove from heat. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool.

Whisk 2 eggs in a small bowl. Add whisked eggs and 140g (2/3 cup) of the sugar to the chocolate mixture, and stir to combine.
Add the flour and sour cream and stir until well combined.

Using an electric beater, beat cream cheese and remaining sugar in a bowl until smooth.
Add the remaining egg and beat until just combined.

Spoon chocolate and cream cheese mixtures, alternately, over base of pan.

Use a skewer to swirl to create a marble effect.

Bake in oven for 30 minutes-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside in the pan for 1 hour to cool. Cut into squares to serve.

Make sure to only make these for a party or too bad to your thighs...=P

xoxoxoxo

TAdah!!! I did it!!!

2009-02-27T14:42:00.003+08:00

I don't often leave T alone with a cupful of water quite a few reasons. One of them is due to her inclination to dip whatever stuff that is nearby into the cup......ful of water. Anyways just when I thought I can start to trust her with a cup of water and left her alone (just for a couple of minutes), I came back to find my mobile being dunked as of a cookie in milk in her cup. I hurried to rescue my 2 months old mobile from its watery death and out of the lil monster grasp (very much to her dismay). Anyways, thanks to my speedy actions, it was still working but just a little wet. So I passed it to Josh who was taking his avro nap to dismentle it on the bed.

Came along the lil monster 15 minutes later to "I wana wake dadi up!" toddling down the hallway into where he was sleeping and plonked herself next to him. There was silence with a few clicking noise from time to time as if she was playing with her legos. Just as I was walking in (to check what she was up to), I heard her proudly proclaimed,"TAdah!!!! I did it!!!" waving my mobile (now assembled and switched on) in her grabby hand with a snoring Josh next to her.

How does this 2 year old know how to assemble a dismentled phone? What is this world coming to?!!! Are babies getting technologically smarter nowadays?

The green furry balls

2009-02-23T22:35:00.006+08:00

Remember how i mentioned about craving ondeh ondeh in my last post. I was craving for these "green furry balls" (what my SILs call them before committing its actual name to memory) so much so that I went out the next day, got all the ingredients and made it on the same day. It turned out that Beck had to leave earlier for another appointment so I decided to shift my ondeh ondeh making session to Mum and Dad's place. Its really great having some many SILs cos there will always be one who will be willing and interested in what I do. This time, Jess, the fashionable SIL, was my willing helper. She actually did most of the work aside from preparing the dough while I went about taking pictures which I never seem to be able to take if I'm doing this all by myself. More and more, I actually am enjoying being part of a big family and having so many people to share my desserts with.

Anyways, I got this recipe from Lily's Wai Sek Hong. It was all good except for the part of incorporating the cooked tapioca flour into the rice flour. The cooked tapioca flour was had a very glue like texture and was impossible to get it to absorb any of the rice flour. Maybe I might have overcooked it. Might try it next time or if u want to be really safe, just use a sweet potato ondeh ondeh recipe. I made those before years ago and they were definitely easier to prepare. So for this time, I modified on the spot and the ondeh ondeh came out yum yum yum.

Ondeh Ondeh

270 g glutinous rice flour
55 g tapioca flour
2/3-3/4 cup of coconut milk (use light coconut milk to make it less sinful- I used coconut cream and diluted it with water)
A pinch of salt
1/2 tsp pandan paste (I bought mine from the Asian market- it's impossible to get fresh pandan here)
1 pot of boiling water 1 cup dessicated coconut (mix it in about 1/2 cup coconut milk and a pinch of salt. Steam for 5-10mins - this is the next best alternative to fresh coconut)

Filling (combine together in a small mixing bowl):

100g gula Melaka or palm sugar (chopped into small pieces (like really small)
1 tbsp soft brown sugar

Start boiling water in a medium sauce pan as ondeh ondeh dough dries quickly and might become quite crumbly.

In a medium bowl,mix sifted glutinous rice flour with tapioca flour in a medium mixing bowl. Add 2/3cup of coconut milk and add more until well absorbed.

Gradually add in salt and pandan paste. Stir well and transfer it to a lightly floured surface and knead to form a smooth and firm dough. If the dough is too wet, add a little more glutinous rice flour. If its too dry, add a little more coconut milk, 1 tbsp at a time.

Roll dough into a long cylinderical shape, cut into small pieces and form into 2.5cm size (approx. 1tsp) balls. Indent the middle of each ball and put 1/2 tsp filling in the centre and roll to form ondeh ondeh. Cover the rest of the ondeh ondeh dough with a damp towel.

Drop ondeh ondeh balls (approx 6-8 balls at a time) into the boiling water. Reduce to medium heat. Once cooked, the balls will float. Let it cook for a couple more minutes to melt the sugar within.

Remove balls with a straining ladle (those with holes) making sure it is well drained. Toss it in the prepared coconut and they are good to go!

They are best served warmed and freshly cooked since this type of ondeh ondeh tends to harden up when cooled or exposed to air for an extended period of time. The tapioca flour added gave the ondeh ondeh a chewier texture which was what I wanted. Make sure you boil it an extra min or two to melt the sugar within. We were so eager to eat them that we took them earlier than required. And ended up with balls with crunchy fillings. Still nice but I prefer the filling to explode in my mouth.

I doubled the recipe and it was more than enough to feed about 12 people. You can even have it with a cup of coffee for a more aussie afternoon tea snack.

It's lime season again and I managed to get my hands on a 5kg box of Tahitian limes at the fruit and veg market! I made some lime and lemon curd in SG but they are just too bitter. But these lime are simply BEAUTIFUL!!!! Not bitter but really tangy. Whatmore, they are absolutely easy to make using just eggs, sugar and lime. This was a batch that I made to go with some pikelets for youth group. Brought a tub of it and was gone within minutes!

Recollection of good times.....

2009-02-20T22:42:00.007+08:00

Yes! Strawberry cheesecake! One of the many I made during my SG hols. I made this esp for my dearest xw...glad she and her finace enjoyed it. =)

This is a collection of what I did in the kitchen over the few months in SG. Being completely out of my element and having to adjust to a more asian setting kitchen, I learnt to be more flexible and creative with tools that I never thought ahve more than one function to create the gorgeous creations you will see below. One thing for sure, I had made more non baked strawberry cheesecake than ever within the short period of these two months due to 2 biggest reason. Firstly, my mum does not own a proper oven (nope! A microwave oven is not an oven!). Secondly, strawberries were everywhere! So why not just adjust and create! voila! Strawberry cheesecake! I have never ventured into the cheesecake areana since Josh is never a big fan of anything that is sweet, rich and cheesy. But many seem more than happy to try a slice or two in SG.

So if there's demand, why not supply? I actually made so many cheesecake that my sisters flatly refused to trial taste (even with me on my knees looking at them with pleading eyes and a spoonful of the batter grasped tightly in one hand directing purposefully at their mouth) and were very (yes, they were indeed) happy when I finally moved on to pineapple tarts.....which they eventually begged me to stop. Eventually, my dearest cousin got a new oven (and yes, its not a microwave oven!) and I practically spent the rest of my holiday at her place....baking.

Anyways.......a recollection of good times

I was planning to make a stack of these babies (profferioles with orange infused pastry cream) for Tashy's b'ade party but had no confidence on how they would react to SG's humidity. Thus I abandon this plan for the following.

Tashy wanted a butterfly theme and thus I made these mini butterflies fruit tartlets as part of the dessert for her party. They are actually orange infused pastry cream with chocolate layered pistachio shell tart. The tartlets were really yum except for being a tad overbaked.
Tashy's chocolate mud cake with strawberry and cream filling covered in dark chocolate ganache topped with blueberries and strawberries butterflies. It was a slightly dense cake with a rich chocolate flavour which was complement by the floral taste of korean strawberries. It was quite well received amongst the younger people. The older generation still prefer their soft sponge cake topped with fruits served asian way.

I made (or decorated, really) another butterfly cake for a birthday picnic for Tashy a day after her b'dae to be celebrated at the botanica gardens. My cousin made this banana cake and I topped it off with a strawberry (yes, i know strawberry again) creamcheese frosting and a cute butterfly with hundred and thousand coated wings, blueberries for a body and chocolate sticks as antenna.

With the approach of CNY, I churned out about an approximate amount of 5kg pineapple tarts which was quite crazy when I think about it now. But the production process,though it takes about 3hours for me to make 1kg, was quite addictive i have to admit. I know of many people who loves to have a pineapple tart that has a melt in the mouth texture and a buttery taste. On the other hand, I always love mine to have a slightly hard crust, lots of pineapple filling and a less buttery taste. And I made my pineapple tart dream come true.

okay okay.......enough of my baking adventures in SG and coming back into present........

I'm craving for ondeh ondeh. I want it to explode in my mouth and fill it with the sweet gula melaka as I bite into the chewy coconut covered ball with the excess syrup dripping off the sides of my mouth. I love how the slight saltiness of coconut outside complements the intense sweetness of the goodness within. Its been ages since I had attempted to make ondeh ondeh here. And since my dearest SIL, Becky, is staying over tonight (Josh is away for another out field weekend till Sunday) I'm going to rope her into helping me out in this upcoming baking session. Can't wait.

while i was looking through my old files,

2009-02-20T18:41:00.003+08:00

I found these! these Aussies cracks me up with their interesting sense of humour.....enjoy!

I can't believe how embrassing (and okay,funny) my hubby can be....lolz

Good to be back!

2009-02-20T12:42:00.003+08:00

Here I am again after a million days of not bloggin again. Being on holidays always put me on a lazier mood and it sucks when blogspot just can't seem to load on any of my pictures after repeated tries! (That's why my posts had been picture deprived for the past couple of months.)

Anyways, now that i'm back here soaking in Brissy's muggy days and stormy nights, I hope to be updating this site more regularly. And of course, after re-uniting with my beloved kitchen, I would and have been cooking up a storm as and when I feel like.

Challenges for the next couple of months are :

Rachel's (my SIL's) birthday which I got tied in to help out with a sushi party.

Joshy's birthday whose cake will give me the biggest headache since I can't possibly make a computer cake right....how boring !

and most importantly, I have been placed in charge of putting together an English high tea wedding reception for Becky N's wedding. Though I see more stressful days ahead, I anticipate those days with much joy and excitement. Yes, I know i'm weird but i do love those sort of stress.

And yes, there's still the receipes that I have promised to post. Slack ol' me......do pardon me for my procrasinating nature.

p.s WHY IS BLOGGER STOPPING ME FROM POSTING PICTURES??!!!!! SOMEONE PLS HELP ME!!!

Time flashes just when i'm having a good time...

2009-02-09T04:41:00.002+08:00

Its true, I just can't believe that annual long holiday is over again and I'm due to return.....like today! Initially, i thought there was no way i'm going to survive so long away from Josh. But then, came Tashy's b'dae, CNY, meeting up with friends from poly, secondary and church. Not forgetting the many shopping trips I made with various indiviuals and the many baking sessions that I had at my cousin's place just to make use of her new oven.

I'm really thankful to have renewed old friendships and to realise that there are so many people whom I love and care about. I think this is the first time since I had Tasha that I felt more able and inclinced to meet up with friends and to take her out with me. With my schedule jammed pack with meet ups, shopping trips, baking sessions etc, there was hardly any time for me to yearn for Aust at all. And now when i'm just settling into the SG culture, i'm going home!

That's why i'm always going home with mixed feelings of wanting to stay longer and to go home to be with Josh. I'm just being greedy of wanting the best of both worlds. At least my long term holiday in SG always make me appreciate what I love about Brissy and my permanent stay in Brissy does the same for SG.

I will miss all of you friends whom i will be leaving behind again this time. And yes, as much as i' can be a really bad correspondence (take note: especially during times of trial, i have the tendency of not sharing), I will resolve to put more effort in keeping in contact with you gurls (from church) via email and blog, Ah Qing via email and msn, the gang and poly friends via blog and facebook. Just want to tell all of you how much I truly appreciate making time to catch up with me and to also learn to love Tashy.

Special thanks to Ah Qing for geting that new oven and taking so many days to bake, shop or simply just to catch up with me. Thanks to Eunice (gang) who is always willing to give me a lift to anywhere, to just window shop or to have lunch and spend time with Tashy. Thanks Jia (and also Ian) for also inviting me to many outings and even enjoyed babysitting Tashy. I will definitely miss you guys.Take care and will see you al back next year.....unless u come to visit earlier. =D Love ya!

Lesson learnt: make the best of every situation

2009-01-17T19:58:00.002+08:00

The birthday party came and gone. Over the past week, there were 1 failure choc cake , 100 pistachio shell tarts (inclusive of the practice batch), 6 cups of orange infused pastry cream, a 6inch banana cake with strawberry cream cheese filling, one 2 layers 8inch chocolate mud cake with strawberry and cream filling, 4 punnets of strawberries, 2 punnets of blueberries, 3 golden kiwis, 1 dragonfruit, 2 sleepless night, one messy kitchen with sticky tiles and a well used mixer, I'm have just only satisfy my itch to bake.

Uncomfortable zone

2009-01-15T01:00:00.002+08:00

My little baby is going to be 2 this Friday. Time just flashes by since the day I held her in my arms and stare right into her gray eyes. Since then, she had grown heaps and her eyes had turn from misty gray to take on gorgeous shades of gray, brown and green.....just like her father. From being a helpless babe, she is now an independent toddler who is able to find amusement in simple things. Though parenthood was not was easy initially, it got easier with both of us adjusting and learning to love one another.

Anyways, I have been squeezing my brain juices dry thinking of what to make for her birthday. yes, I know she did share a bath tub cake with Megan. But, thanks to my mum who had invited my relatives over for a small party, I have to come up with something. Since I got into baking, I just can't bring myself to buy anyone a cake. It is just too commercialised for my liking and it also gives me an opportunity to challenge myself.

Its actually quite tricky for someone as particular as me. Once I found my comfort zone, working outside of it always requires heaps of time to adjust and make the best of the situation. From the few recent baking sessions I had over the last month, I realised that night time is the best time for me to bake. There's no other buzz in the kitchen other for me, no annoying comments, no constant nagging, no abrupt interuptions etc. That's like my beloved kitchen I have back home in Brissy. My own oven, my own set of measuring tools, my own way of cleaning, my own system of organization........

But for the sake of this little girl, I grited my teeth and am determine to create something special for her. She wanted bubbles and butterflies this time and with fingers crossed, i hope to incoporate it into her cake if not her party. For now....i should retire for a big day of baking tomorrow and do keep checking in for updates on T's party. =) Ciaoz!

Water for my thirst

2009-01-05T18:29:00.002+08:00

JOSH JUST RANG!!!!! He was allocated an unscheduled phone call as his entire platoon had tidy lockers. Funny reason to let them have their phones back but as long as I can hear his voice I don't care whatever reason it is. The Lord had heard and answer is all I can say. But I miss him even more now....Love is indeed incomprehensible.

Incomplete.................

2009-01-05T17:57:00.004+08:00

I'm lonely but not......I'm surrounded with friends and family but still don't feel complete. I'm missing him again. It would not be as bad if I know I can reach him within a dial. But thanks to the unfeeling and cold military people (who cares what they are call in army terms!), no calls are allowed to be made for the first week or two!! I have no idea what sort of purpose does that achieve but I do know that I have gone cold turkey for like 3 full days = 27 hours without hearing his voice! That's like the longest I have ever gone not talking to him since we started going out !!!!!

Have you ever get this unsettling feeling in you for no particular reason and you know only talking to that special person would soothe it? Maybe its just my personality that I struggle with heaps of insecurities all the time and only by sharing it with him will they subside. I'm also curious to know how he is going on with this training and if he is enjoying every moment of it. I know he will.

Besides me missing him, Tashy definitely does too. Though she still thinks he is on a plane (cos that was what we told her when we sent J off at the airport) , she often looks forward to his calls. Now that he does not call at all, T always race to get my mobile or house phone whenever she hears it ringing in hope that its Joshy who is on the other line.

Love.......God really created love to be such a mysterious thing.

And it was good.....

2009-01-04T23:50:00.002+08:00

Can't believe 3 years had passed since we last met. And since then, many of us have found our special ones and others a job that they have became comfortable with. Its pretty interesting to observe that how no matter how we age or change, our character never really change. I have to say that Angie kept us really entertained the entire evening by asking and saying "intriguing" questions and facts. (To Angie darling:I would love to ask all the questions that u have ask me back the next time we meet!) I would definitely miss her open-ness and humour. I would have love to have catch up more with some others but guess I can't always have the best of all worlds. Thank you guys for coming and would be sure to post up the promised recipe and pictures soon! Really appreciate you all coming all this way to my place!!

Missing.....

2009-01-03T22:27:00.003+08:00

After being married for 3 years, I realised that separation for long period of time seemed more difficult each time as we learn to depend on each other and to enjoy each other's company in our daily life.

I miss just having to look at him for a "Yes, you can do it!" look when I doubt own abilities. I miss the reassuring hug at the end of a long and difficult day. I miss laughing with him at funny stuff that Tashy does. I miss just hanging out with him and enjoying the moment together. I miss him teasing me when I said or did something silly. I miss knowing he is just beside me when I close my eyes at night. I miss his comforting words when I felt bad after losing my temper. I miss him telling me, " I love you and always will, no matter what." even after horribly treated by me. I miss praying with him. I miss worshipping God without him. I miss watching him playing with Tashy. I miss......

In short, I miss him in person. I so would love to see and laugh at Josh with his pale and badly shaved head (which he was not too impressed about), to watch with amusement to see him learn to march, to marvel how he would be able to sleep and wake up at unearthly hours etc.

Yes, its my first post for the new year and it should be a happy one isn't it? Well, let this be a celebration of our love then! Of how much I cherish him as my bestest friend and my loving spouse.....

With regards to baking and food stuff, I resolve to be more regular at posting my own experiences and of cos the promised list of recipes!!! Being on holidays bring out the procrastinator in me. Hope you all won't mind waiting till I get back in Feb? =P With this new year, I'm really looking forward to challenging myself more with new techniques, mains and desserts. I am also aiming to use less processed products and to replace them with wholegrain and organic products. One last food resolution is to learn to prepare more yummy and interesting vegetarian dishes. Its always been on my mind to return and introduce to my family to vegetarianism. I had been one myself till I got pregnant and the cravings got the better of me. Knowing its benefits, I'm really looking forward to moving towards that direction again. Sure it would be a fun year learning about more new veg and fruits.

A blessed new year to my beloved friends and to my poly friends, can't wait to meet you guys tml! Its been too long!

Busier now than before....

2008-12-17T23:11:00.005+08:00

Can't believe how fast my free days get taken up these days. Unlike the "rubber band" lifestyle I lead in Aust, it seems like like have got back to the regulated,event filled, packed till the last minute schedule. Not that I'm always bumming back home in Brissy.Under normal circumstances, my weeks were never packed till my next "free and available day" will only come about 2 weeks later.

Anyways.....I managed to get sort of a break from my planned schedule due to a stomach bug which had been bugging me with multiple toilet runs which not only are disruptive and annoying. If I want to venture out of the house, I would have to make sure that it will have to be somewhere that has decent toilets (can't manage going in a filthy toilet with foot print smeared toilet rings and poo stained toilet bowl! urgh! makes me nauseous just thinking of it.) The stomach cramps that I get every so often makes each going out experience unpleasant as it often turns on the signal for another run to the toilets.

Okay okay....apart from all the gory details of my most current virus attack, just want to tell anyone of my dear friends who still checks my blog every now and then, that I'm alive and recovering slowly but surely. Promise to gradually get back into baking and cooking after Josh heads back this Mon (hopefully!). Sorry for being MIA for soooooo very long. =)

"UM-betta"

2008-12-03T17:14:00.003+08:00

I simply can't believe how fast my 'lil angel is learning to talk and apply a new learned word to various situation. Just recently, J taught her a new long word : umbrella. He broke it it into 2 parts for her to learn and in turn she has been pouncing it as "UM-betta".

And while we were about to go for a short walk this morning, perched on J's shoulders, she motioned towards the sky and said, " Sun.....hot(fans herself) .......UM-betta." of course, she was rejected since neither J or I can be bothered to carry an "UM-betta".

When we were walking back home from the walk, it started drizzling. T immediately pointed out, "Raining....UM-betta...have."

Its really interesting how young kids have such abilities to teach themselves new things without being prompted at all. So much work must have gone into creating our human mind!

Balmy days

2008-11-29T01:16:00.002+08:00

Its just been only 3 days and I'm already craving for home cooked Aussie food. Looks like the longer I am in Aust, the more assimilated I become. And I do have to admit that as much as I did miss Singaporean food when I first moved there, I have taken quite a liking for the fresh green salads, yummy and health wraps, pipping hot stews, chunky veggie soups, comforting self saucing puddings etc.....Can't wait to make more when I get back.....in a couple of months. For now the local hawker fare will do....hopefully.

A truffle for your thoughts?

2008-11-22T22:43:00.007+08:00

Kate, the graduate, is planning to pursue an occupational therapist course in uni next year.

Gourmet, formal sit down party, group of sugar thirsty youths......made me decide to make a truffle stack for Katie's graduation dinner party. Since she was home-schooled till this year, she do not have a prom/formal that she can attend. So that's the reason and because we love her, that we all decked out in formal wear on this humid and "balmy" (as Pete would call it which is interprete as ultra hot!) night. Imagine 17 youths ages ranging from 13-32 all squeezed into the already reasonable large dining table with elbows hitting, with perspiration running down the face, sweat patches in embrassing places, trying to eat politely as if we are at a posh dinner party with mountains of food stacked on our plates.....

My neighbours at the table (on the LH)

The point for us to sit around the table was that we would be able to chat with practically anyone around the table but I ended up just talking to my neighbours Trev, Pete, Josh and Jess.

And on the right

Back to the truffle stack, it was by far the easiest to assemble apart from the fact that it took me a couple of days to make all the truffles. To cover that cone approximately 30cm (if i'm not wrong), it took about 160-170 truffles (the mathematical side of me was lost in the wee hours of the morning with both hands covered in chocolate, legs sore from standing for the last 6 hours and the only thing i want to do was to hit the sack!) that are either made of Tim tams or red velvet cake. They are either coated with milk, dark or white choc and then with hazelnut meal, peanuts, coconut, cocoa powder or icing sugar. I have been making the Tim tam truffles for a couple of years and they were by far always a crowd pleaser *if no such word exists, I made it up just fyi*. Humidity never seem to bother them and keeping their shape is definitely no problem.

But for the red velvet.....hmmm...though that cake was a hit when I made it for Han's birthday party with cream cheese frosting, I personally regretted making it into a truffle. It did not really hold the shape very well and had the tendency to become too soft. But anyhow, as I always say, there's always more for me to learn.

My dinner which I barely even fit into my tummy!

After a huge dinner with beef enchilades, baked turkey spring rolls (my idea, its actually one of the regular favorite way to load up veggies in a light but still filling way) and quiche Lorraine, plus a yummy berry trifle with a macroon to top it off made everyone so stuff to even fit in more than two truffles.

My dessert and the masterpiece for the night in the background

So the remaining truffles.....the gurls were more than happy to have them for the next few days. Thats one good thing about having a big family. Food never goes to waste. Though my family is half the size of Josh's.....there's always an issue for my mum when it comes to getting rid of leftovers. Guess we are probably fussier eaters than the gurls who are so easy to cook for.

The best quality pic I can find of the truffle stack

In my rush to get to Mum and dad's place, I forgot my camera. And thus, I have to borrow a camera which still is able to give decent but not as good pictures. Better than nothing I guess. Well, at least I remembered everything that was required to make the truffle stack. So please excuse me for the lousy picture quality. I'm not really sure if I would be able to have time to post another entry before I leave for SG this coming Tues. But I wish all you my dearest the best and would see ya (with the promised recipes of course!) in a couple days, weeks time.....hopefully I won't neglect this bog on my vacation.....*cross fingers*

Facebook - The next Big Brother ?

2008-11-21T23:29:00.003+08:00

I have been hearing so much about facebook becoming the next big brother from more than one sources. It all does make lots of sense since looking at pictures on facebook had practically (almost) become an addiction to me. It came very slowly and subtly and then next thing I know, I'm checking facebook pictures every single time I log on to the internet.

Its true that how it links friends who are seas apart by puttin up photos that shows them a bit of their daily life. It had also helped me located long lost friends within a matter of seconds just by typing their names into the search box. Without facebook, I would not be able to see my dearest friend's new bundle of joy too. And my parents would not have been able to view pictures of their beloved granddaughter too.

However, I have been thinking if its really essential to have a facebook account at all. Being the wiser one, Josh had always scowl at the idea of having a facebook account and had kept to it by being the only one amongst all our friends who do not have one. Actually.......I did secretly set up an account for him long long ago just to laughs.....not so sure what happened to that account since I have not checked it for ages.

It seems more and more to me that facebook had got everyone addicted to posting pictures on it. Of course its nice to share to your friends the nice little outing you went with your family, or that huge 21st party where everyone had an awesome time, or just a romantic time with that special person. However, with practically everyone around you (and I mean EVERYONE) having a facebook account, nothing goes private these days. I have to say I have some pictures of me on facebook that absolutely irks me and all I want is just to delete every single megapixel of it. Yes, I know I can delete it, but I came to understand that once a picture gets uploaded to facebook, it automatically becomes the property of facebook and therefore even if its deleted by you, there's is still a blueprint somewhere in its system. And with that blueprint, they are entitled to use for whatever purposes.

Though it still seems like an innocent, effective and friendly way to stay in touch with friends, there's just something in its too-good-to-be-true-ness that I don't feel too comfortable about......Not so sure what but I'm sure time will let the answer be known....

When I'm not baking......

2008-11-19T10:58:00.004+08:00

This reminded me of Chinese painting. But I think one of my bird looked alot like a kingfisher.

watercolour painting is another hobby that I took up this past year. I remember being sent to drawing classes at our local community centre (Lena, do u remember?) with 2 of my siblings and was taught to draw random stuff with crayons, pencils etc.

When we got older, the 3 of us were then promoted to Chinese painting classes which were definitely a whole different way of drawing again. Those were the times we were not even serious about art and were there 'cos our parents think its a good way to stimulate our artist side of our brain. I can recall numerous times of just drawing carelessly and quickly just so to finish my drawing and get out of the class in the shortest time possible. Not so sure if my mum was really proud of our drawings but she did dedicate an entire wall in the living room just to display our paintings.

My very first painting Most recent effort of the same pic

Anyways, I have been doing these watercolour classes with a few mothers from my church and a couple of the art teacher's (Shirley) ex students. Being the only beginner there, my paintings always seem to have a touch of childishness in them or something. But when I compared my most recent painting with my very first, I was pleasantly surprised to realise how much I have improved over the past months. With more confidence in my brush, I decided to paint one especially for my dearest fren, Dorcas, as a congratulatory gift for her first baby. Wanting it to be really perfect, it took me an entire hour to sketch it and another three to paint it.

hope this will bring brighten up her fav room.....

From all my paintings, I think I'm more of a flower painter than anything... A gurl has to love her flowers.

Bubble time fun!!!!

2008-11-19T02:33:00.004+08:00

Both gurls always enjoy a bubble bath time together. Both are such good friends that though they do not share the same birthday, they still insisted on having a joint birthday celebration together. It took me a whole 5 hours to assemble this cake in the wee hours of the morning but it was totally worth the lack of sleep when I saw how both their faces lit up with joy and delight. =)

Tash was very much intrigued with all the little bubbles and figurines.

Being really particular with what Tashy eats, I made a wholegrain banana and blueberry cake with light cream cheese frosting as the base of the bath tub.

To re-create a personalised bath tub cake, Tasha's favorite bath toys were re-created in moulding paste which she simply adored.

Besides being my first attempt with fondant, the weather near the beach was very humid and hot most of the time and it definitely did slow me down. It was a disaster trying to cover the cake at first, since I do not have a proper rolling pin to ensure even thickness throughout. I nearly pulled all my hair out of frustration having the fondant split open a million times while it was lifted up to cover the cake due to the unevenness of it. I am really so very thankful that the end result turned out better than I expected. Josh even chipped in by helping me make the tiles and did whatever that needed helping which was really appreciated. One thing I've learnt for sure is fondant and humidity do not make good partners. In fact, to prove that fact, my fondant covered cake started to melt a couple hours after as surrounding climatic temperature and humidity rise. It was a good thing that it actually went with the bath theme and seemed more like water being splashed out of the bath tub (as described by the gurls).

You can observe some "water" coming out the right hand side of the bath tub...

Anyways, do keep in tune for one more cake and then the promised recipes......

Why is my house so messy again??!!!!

2008-11-19T02:22:00.002+08:00

Just got back from a family holiday with my in laws at Bribe Island. It was great fun having the gurls (my SILs) around just hanging out together swimming amongst the waves, going for walks, making desserts, playing boardgames, watching dvds on rainy days etc. And in less than a week, or about 6 days time to be exact, we would all be in SG again!!!! I know that I had mentioned to some of you that Josh would be coming later. However, his military training dates turned out to be the whole month of Jan. And yup, he would be coming down with me for 3 weeks and we would love to catch up with all you guys out there before he leaves on the 22nd Dec.

I really would love to post more recipes that I have promised but i'm not really sure if I can do it anytime soon as I have once again been assigned as the official cake maker for Kate's graduation dinner which is coming up this Friday. I have two cakes down now (I made Tasha and Meg a birthday cake during the holidays) and 1 more to go. Instead of feeling sick of making cakes, I feel more and more inspired and excited each time I have a new cake to make.Anyways, its really late already...silly me should not be up at this hour esp when I have lots to do tml!

Yes I know i promised....

2008-11-12T00:12:00.003+08:00

With quite a few recipe additions to my blog over the past few months, I have been asked for the recipes of a handful of them. Just to let my dear friends know that it had not slip my mind to pass the recipes on to you guys and that it always prick my conscious to think that I'm so slow at getting them posted. Anyways to remind myself what recipes to blog in my next few posts, I shall come up with a lists of them. Do remind me if I had missed any recipe requests.

Strawberry pie
Lemon Layer cake with raspberry and lemon curd buttercream
Mocha Expresso Cake with Lindt buttercream
Apple & Strawberry millet crumble (gluten, egg and dairy free)

Strawberries, lemon and Expresso...

2008-11-09T22:26:00.009+08:00

Graduation Day

I'm happy when others are happy. Especially when its something that I have made an effort in an act of love to them. Yup, the graduation cake for the 3 grads turned out to be a success. Its actually my first attempt using moulding paste and I'm pretty much happy with the results. Still definitely lots of room for improvement too. I made a mocha expresso cake soaked in Hazelnut flavoured Kahula and Lindt buttercream, and a lemon layer cake with lemon curd and raspberries filling covered in home made lemon curd buttercream. It took a while for me to decide on what to make since I really want to try baking something more adventurous but yet want it to turn out well the first attempt. I'm kind of greedy that way, wanting to have the best of both worlds all the time.

Lemon layer cake with lemon curd and raspberry filling...yum!

Anyways, this cake idea was inspired by Su,Malaysian cake decorator who did this cake a couple years back for a joint 21st birthday celebration. Since I really am not prepared to handle food dowels and staking cake, this was indeed the perfect to go about making a huge cake.

My masterpiece which took a fair few hours to assemble

The cake took about 2 trays of 12 punnets strawberries to cover and took me 6 hours to assemble. Good thing I was in the air conditioned study room of my in laws or else the cake would be a melted mess of blob in our current hot and humid weather. All right now.....pictures please....By the way, I did not take lots of pics while I was assembling 'cos I was under too much stress and to engross in putting the whole thing together that I forgot about my camera (tho it was right in front of me the whole time!). Taste verdict: the cakes went down really well with the guests and everyone thought the sweetness and richness of the cakes were perfectly balanced by the strawberries. The recipes are definitely keepers!!

This lil doll is Cat (one of Becky's good mate from uni)who is a girly gurl and adores her roses and cupcakes.

And this lil doll in the pink dress is Becky with her little nurse hat and a cute stethoscope. And of cos, can't forget to put a flower in her hair since she loves looking like an "earth child" as she puts it. =)

And here is my darling beloved who I can't think of anything better than putting him with a laptop coming from a microelectronics engineering background. I thought of making semiconductors which he did a final project on but thought otherwise when I saw a picture of it.

I made a little path which lead from where the little dolls were sitting to the graduation hat and scroll out of crushed peanuts wlanuts and millet puffs (which I thought looked like little pebbles). The effect turned out better than I thought it would too. It also added a nice texture and taste to the cake and what more, nuts and grains good for you too. For this cake, I did almost half the butter and sugar added to it and the buttercream. Used only unbleached all purpose flour. Even with decreased amount of butter and sugar, both cakes still were moist and fluffy. My goal for my next cake will be to use wholegrain flour and to use agave syrup instead of sugar. And that porbably for Tashy and Meg's cake which will be due this coming sunday. Would be fun making another cake! =) Can't wait cos i'm already bursting with ideas of what to make for them!

Tashy was very intrigued by little "baaaaabe Joshy"

J being beheaded by one of his many sisters

And last but not least....HAPPY GRADUATION, GUYS!!!!You made it....finally!!!

Baking Frenzy

2008-11-07T00:20:00.003+08:00

After 2 half broken cakes, 4 perfectly rounded and well wrapped cakes in the freezer and 5 hours of baking, I can finally sleep in peace knowing that I am on schedule and one less thing to worry about. Though I probably won't get my 8 full hours of sleep, I do have a good motivating factor to get me out of bed at 8 am. Josh and I are going to the Brisbane Food and Wine show. Heard from MIL (who attended last year's event) that it was pretty popular and people started lining up as early as half an hour before the start of the event on the first day (which normally is the less crowded being a weekday). Would update more on this event too.....for now...sleep shall be my main priority. Nightz....

Midnight Baking.....

2008-11-06T22:16:00.002+08:00

Yup, while J & T drift off to slumberland in bed at this hour, I'm up slaving my butt away in the kitchen churning out part of my master piece for this coming Saturday (Becky's, Cat's and Josh's joint graduation dinner party). Not so sure how everything would turn out and strangely enough, my mind somehow seemed to have enough of writing lists. Instead, I'm just doing whatever that comes to mind and pray that it all come together eventually. Actually due to my laziness and impatience, I had already screwed up by breaking my first cake into pieces by removing it before it gets a chance to cool completely and did not bothered about parchement paper. At the moment, cake no.2 is baking in the oven. And when its ready, I would have to make cake no.1 again! Serves me right....at least i know that cake no. 1 taste quite yum and fluffy which are always the essential qualites for a goog cake. I'm not letting you guys noe what sort of of cake i'm making but i would just give you a couple of hints.....think lemon & expresso....To know how the graduation cake turn out, check on me after saturday.....cheers!

Jazz up your stir-fry!!!

2008-10-26T22:07:00.005+08:00

While Josh was working late one night, I did not really feel like a proper dinner but still want to have something quick, light and of 'cos full of goodness. I found a pack of filo pastry in my fridge and thought I will make my dinner out of it. Out comes some turkey mince (they are really yummy and most importantly high in protein and low in fat!), all the veggies I have in my fridge and freezer and some curry spices 'cos I felt like it.

Anyways, I chopped, baked and fried and out came this little baby that tasted so yum that I nearly finished all the filo cups and left only the stir fry for Josh to wipe up with lavesh bread.

This dish is really suitable for finger food parties. Everyone will be so impressed by its classy appearance, easy on your budget and it takes you practically no time to make it if you have already done the chopping of the veggies beforehand. The filo cups has a nice crunch to it with the stir fry filling giving it a whole dimension of it. Before you scroll down to the recipe, I just want to say that when it comes to making savoury meals or dishes, I mainly eyeball my ingredients and go by taste (for the stir fry, i mean). So I would just list the ingredients added and it would be up to your own liking to what sort and how much veg and meat you would like to use.

To make the filo cups:

Lightly grease your 12 muffin cups tray. And preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Remove 6 sheets of filo pastry and cut all of them in half.
Hold a half sheet of filo pastry up and lightly spray it with oil (I use rice bran oil for its high smoking point and high content of antioxidant).
Fold the greased sheet into a square and push it into one of the muffin cups' hole. Repeat the same for the rest.
Bake for 15 mins in preheated oven. Remove once the filo cups turn into a shade of golden brown. Leave it in the tray to cool for 5 mins and transfer to wire rack.

Ingredients added to stir fry:

500g turkey mince (I took it out of a prepackaged box)
zucchini, chopped
carrots, chopped
frozen corn
frozen long beans
tomatoes, chopped
Onion, chopped
cumin
curry powder
soya sauce
rice bran oil, to grease pan
Freshly ground pepper

Its really easy cooking this up once everything been chopped up. Its really up to personal choice to whether what sort of meat or veg to use. One thing for sure, just trust your taste buds as you throw this dish together and you will definitely not go wrong. =)
Some ideas......

stir fry mung bean vermicelli with chicken mince and top with a little sweet chili sauce and chopped coriander on top for an asian twist
cajun chicken mince
moroocan orange and lamb stew for a more gourmet and exotic dish
a mexican chili hot pot if you are looking for something with more of a bite! You might want to only fill the filo cups with the chili only before serving 'cos the heat (temperature) of the chili might soften the cups.

As I have said before, its entirely up to your creativity to fill this cups!!! Have fun!!

Stuck my fingers in too many pies!!!

2008-10-26T13:28:00.002+08:00

I can't believe in just a month's time.....i would be heading back to SG for another couple of months. It actually just felt like I only been here for 6 months! November is going to be such a hectic month! I have to promise to come up with something for Becky's (my SIL, i have got seven SILs for those who don't know) graduation family dinner party on the 8thNov, a cake for a joint birthday for my beloved Tashy and my youngest SIL, Meg, who are good mates with Tashy. Then, I have also promised my other SIL, Kate, who will be moving on to uni next year, to help her out with a grad dinner party for her too. So I'm expected to churn out 3-4 cakes or sth along those lines in the span of 3 weeks!!! What have I got myself into now?! Its hard work keeping all my dearest SILs happy!

"It felt like I just finished a major exam!"

2008-10-18T17:10:00.006+08:00

IT'S PARTY TIME!!!

The gurls loved posing for my camera and this was one of the pic which I thought was very cute!

Waiting for people to arrive.....

That's what I felt like when the party finally got going and everything went really well without any major hiccups. It had been a crazy hectic week of planning, buying, preparing, cooking, baking, managing and sorting etc. It all paid off and went really smoothly today. Strangely enough, despite the amount of stress and heaps of planning that were involved, I actually loved and enjoyed every moment of it. It felt like I found something a long lost love somehow.

It was a gorgeous day for it with a flock of 8 cockatoos feeding on the grass not far away from us. The sky was clear and the sun rays shone through the leafy trees and there was a constant light breeze which kept all of us cool on this sunny day. Everyone was in a relaxed mood, catching up with each other and simply enjoying this beautiful day. We had a huge thunderstorm a couple of days before this BBQ, so the creek was filled up and running and the grass was lush and green.

Bbqing the mushroom skewers

The Sausage men

While we slave our butts away, the old folks just chit chatted under the shady trees.

Part of the spread that we prepared

Roast Beef Finger Sandwiches

Cheesy Mini Muffins

Chicken Noodle Salad

Fresh French Baguette from a Vietnamese Bakery, BBQ Mushroom Skewers & Sausages.

I never have to worry about Tashy going hungry 'cos her Meggy gu-gu always made sure she has something to eat and included in the kiddy group (which I thought was very sweet of her).

Birthday man and the cake with 69 mini chocolate muffins with cream cheese muffins and a red velvet cake to top it up to a big 70

This was the great highlight for the kids since the start of the BBQ. Most of them have a terrible sweet tooth and were eyeing at the flake, chocolate fingers and cupcakes especially. One of the flake and chocolate finger border around the cake actually went missing 'cos a sneaky little boy by the name of Gerald sneaked two pieces out of the cake when no one was watching. *tsk* tsk* "boys!!!"

The cake was really moist and had a deep chocolate taste which was a hit with everyone.

Though it was just a nice and simple gathering amongst the church, Hans enjoyed this day immersely being the centre of attention and having such a big crowd to celebrate his 70th birthday. The hard work that all of us put in beforehand had paid off indeed. =)

List after list

2008-10-15T23:07:00.002+08:00

My melancholic nature comes right up whenever I am preparing to for a significant event, exam, period of my life etc. I just keep writing list after list after list, and it sure it rearing its head with a birthday party that the youth group is planning for a 70th year old man from our church. I eagerly jumped at the opportunity to take up the responsibility to be in charge of the catering aspect of the party. In his mind, he was just planning to have a simple BBQ party with just sausages, patties, a couple of salads and soft drinks. But it was a different story in my maid. Numerous finger food and cake recipes raced through my mind with my hand trying desperately to capture my train of thought on paper. It was becoming an obsession so much so that it was the first and last thing that I think of every day and night.

However, with some expert advice from a colleague at work, I managed to come up with a simple menu that would be easy to prepare and still be below budget for us. (we only have a maximum of $300 to spend for 60 people and that works out to be like $5 /person.) The menu is as below:

On the Grill
Sausages
Mushroom skewers
Grilled Onions

Salads
Fresh Garden Salad
Chicken Noodle Lettuce Cups

Finger Foods
Cheesy Muffins
Satay Beef Finger Sandwiches

Dessert
Summer Fruit Bowl
Mini chocolate and blueberry muffins with cream cheese frosting

A birthday cake for him (which I will only reveal to everyone after the event, in case you still don't really know me, I really love giving people surprises be it in real life or blogsphere =p)

Josh and I just got most of the ingredients to make the food today and tomorrow is there for me to get the little things that I have missed out on today's shop. God has been really good to make sure that we got a few good discounts like the mushrooms which would have cost us $3 a small box was reduced to $1. And that allowed us to get more than we planned for. And we also managed to get gourmet sausages at a reduced price similar to the normal thin ones. That made up half of our sausages for us. (yea!!)

I'm sort of half looking forward and half anxious about Friday. 'Cos there will be a mad rush to chop up all the salad stuff, make all the cupcakes and sandwiches, fruits etc. And to make sure all that need to be chilled are chilling and those that need to be defrost are being defrosted. I should really stop here now or my melancholic nature will rear its ugly head and start coming up with a list right at this moment. I should really go to bed now having at work at 8.30am tomorrow. Will update about how everything went. Pray for me and wish me all the best. (*smile anxiously*)

Pie my strawberries, please!!!!

2008-10-11T15:26:00.005+08:00

It already looks so yummy even before baking

Got an entire 12 tray punnets of strawberry yesterday at the fruit and veg market for just $5! Josh got me to make his favorite strawberry pie. Yum!!! Instead of having a proper dinner, we had that instead which I thought was an absolutely good idea and excuse to use up the juicy and sweet strawberries.

Josh got to the pie before my camera did!

Tashy has her father's sweet tooth too! She had about 1/4 of that pie!

Of course, I made sure that this pie is not only tasty but that it also fit my nutritional criteria for dessert. So we (or maybe more of me) won't feel as bad giving this to my family for dinner. I love the rustic look of free form pies!

Running Fun

2008-10-11T12:19:00.006+08:00

Tashy loves her ballons

Can you believe that J & me was already up and having brekkie at 6.30am this morning? People who knows us well will know that's weird for us to be up and about at that hour being the night owls that we are.

Josh was still coming out of slumberland at the running grounds

Well, Josh darling actually woke up so early just to participate at a 5Km fun run out at Springfield with me. It was 10Km that I planned to prepare for initially but it was somehow cancelled for some reason or other (which was pretty annoying since I just can't run fast enough to get a good timing for 5k). Anyways, we still went ahead since it was a goal I set at the beginning of this year to get myself back into long dist running.

If you look carefully you would be able to see J coming from behind.

It was great having Josh to pace me the entire way and I simply love running with a huge group of people. Though this might not be as big as ones that I have participate before like Standard Chartered (in Singapore), its better than nothing I figured. There were the fit runners, okay okay fitness runners (me!), the just for fun runners, back pack carrying runners, pram pushing parents runners,just there to walk runners etc. Its interesting to see the variety of different runners all congregate together to do this fun run on a downcast and chilly morning. I was thankful that the rain held back till after the run cos I can't see myself being able to run as fast being all wet and cold.

And that's me doing my last stride for the race.

Towards the last 100m, J went ahead and got in under 24 mins and with me striding behind him just slightly over 24mins. We figured that our actual timing is probably slightly lower than what was stated on the electronic timer since we started in the middle of the crowd. I'm looking forward to see what our actual timing was (recorded by a microchip that each runner has on his/her bib) on Wednesday this coming week when the results gets posted online. Till Wed.......Us feeling refreshed and yearning for more after the run.

There were events planned after the race, one of them being tug of war. This man at the end was ultra strong, man. He actually won by just grabbing unto turfs of grass and walking backwards.

Meggy joined in the fun too!

Found a boy who shares the same name as me

We end the morning at a cafe with Tash sipping on her fav cup of cuppa: Baby Cino

Spring's bub

2008-10-11T10:53:00.002+08:00

A very dear friend just recent had a new addition to her family. A beautiful baby boy named Elijah, “the Lord is my God”. Our friendship extends to when we were first thrown together on a mission trip to Myanmar by both our churches. And due to similar life interests and circumstances, we had grown closer over the last couple of years. It’s a comfort to me to know that I can always turn to her with all my troubles and woes and she would be there to listen and turn me to God’s path.

When I first heard that she was pregnant, I could not be happier. For I know her love and yearning for children of her own and the multitude of hurdles both her husband and her had climbed over just to hold a baby of their own in their arms. Having heard that she has already had this little one is making me really impatient for Nov 25 to come. I just want to rejoice with them and see for myself God’s little miracle.

Since I can’t physically be there now, let me dedicate this little favorite muffin recipe of mine to her little family. (I promise to bake you some when I get down there!) Both T and J just can’t get enough of this muffin which is full of wholegrain goodness and simply bursting with flavor. I was pleasantly surprised to sink my teeth into a soft and fluffy muffin which is unlike some other rolled oat muffins I baked not long ago. This is an extremely versatile recipe to have at hand to play around with the ingredients and to help use up stuff in your pantry.

One most important step to baking a perfect cranberry muffin is to always plump the dried cranberries up in hot water with some lemon zest for 20 mins before using. This helps to restore moisture and adds more texture to the end product. Since I making this on behalf of my friend’s little one, I shall name this recipe after him. =)

Elijah’s Cranberry Bite

1/2 cup brown sugar
1-2 tbsp golden syrup (can also be substituted with honey or maple syrup)
3/4 cup Greek yogurt
1 tsp natural vanilla extract
1 over ripe banana (mashed)
1/4 cup butter (melted)
1 egg
3/4 cup rolled oats (ground in food processor)
1 cup wholegrain flour (can be substituted with unbleached plain flour if unavailable)
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup dried cranberries, plumped in hot water and 1 tbsp lemon zest

Mix the brown sugar, golden syrup, yogurt, vanilla extract, banana, butter, egg and rolled oats in a bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes.
Mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.
Mix the wet and dry ingredients along with the cranberries until just mixed.
Spoon the mixture into a greased muffin pan. Bake in a preheated 375F oven for about 20 minutes.

Rejoice in Spring with a new little bub......

2008-10-09T22:52:00.005+08:00

I just want to sent my wholehearted congrats to my dearest friend who just had a beautiful precious baby boy named Elijah, 'the Lord is my God'. My friend is one whom I have known since we were 16 being put together on a mission trip to Myanmar. And we have been in contact ever since and had grown even closer due to our similar lifestyle and interests. I praise the Lord for keeping both her and baby safe and just can't contain my excitement and happiness for her knowing that this baby did not come easy for both her hubby and her. God is indeed a gracious and generous God, I would never doubt that with them being a witness of his sovereign grace. My dear Dorcas, I just can't wait till the next of next month to finally meet you. Miss you lots....

Let me then dedicate this little favorite recipe of mine to her little new family. Both Tashy and Josh loves loves loves this muffin that I just discovered not long ago. Its full of wholegrain goodness (which would be in Dorcas's favor) and simply bursting with flavour!! I was pleasantly surprised to be able to sink my teeth into a soft and fluffy muffin which is unlike some other healthy muffins I have baked before in the past. The flavours of banana, cranberries, lemon and greek yogurt blended in with each other to give a full flavour that its so hard to describe till you bake this yourself. But before you reach for your mixing bowls, there is one important step to baking a perfect cranberry muffin. Always remember to plump up dried cranberries in hot water with lemon/lime zest for 20mins before using them. This method restore some moisture to the cranberries and contributes more texture to the end product.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1-2 tbsp golden syrup (can also be replace with honey or maple syrup)
3/4 cup greek yogurt
1 tsp natural vanilla extract
1 over ripe banana (mashed)
1/4 cup butter (melted)
1 egg
3/4 cup rolled oats (ground in food processor)
1 cup flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup dried cranberries, plumped in hot water and lemon zest

Directions:
1. Mix the brown sugar, maple syrup, yogurt, banana, butter, egg and rolled oats in a bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes.
2. Mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.
3. Mix the wet and dry ingredients along with the blueberries until just mixed.
4. Spoon the mixture into a greased muffin pan.
5. Mix the pecans, flour, cinnamon, brown sugar and butter until they form crumbs.
6. Spoon some of the streusel onto the muffins.
7. Bake in a preheated 375F oven for about 20 minutes.

I'm in Strawberry Heaven......

2008-10-05T21:43:00.010+08:00

Spring is here.....Flowers are blooming...

It was great having Jo and Jema come visit us for the past ten days. I always love dear friends to visit from Singapore 'cos I'm so deprived to the point that I just can't speak Singlish properly. Besides that, it always brings about a good excuse to go places, eat out and most importantly make nice yummy food just for entertainment sake. Since its strawberry season at the moment, one new dessert recipe that came to mind was strawberry trifle. According to Wiki,

"A trifle is a dessert dish made from thick (or often solidified) custard, fruit, sponge cake, fruit juice or, more recently, jelly (gelatin), and whipped cream. These ingredients are usually arranged in layers with fruit and sponge on the bottom, and custard and cream on top."

And it can double as a aesthetically pretty dessert if layered in a transparent glass bowl. Anyways, I found this refreshing and melt in the mouth strawberry and lemon curd trifle from "Joy of Baking" website ( a favorite website that I adore!) which turned out perfectly. It involves a sponge layer, followed by a strawberry sauce layer, then sprinkled with fresh sliced strawberries, followed with the lemon curd layer and then a whipped cream layer. Then this is repeated till it fills up the bowl.

Being a health nut, I decreased the amount of sugar added to the homemade strawberry sauce and lemon curd to almost half and used light cream instead of the full cream version. To further decrease the fat content, I added only a thin layer of cream just to give a touch of flavor and creaminess. I also added more strawberries than the stated on the recipe just to bulk up the trifle and increase the fiber content of the dessert. And the end result turns out perfect....the trifle turned out to be just right on the sweetness level (I would not add more sugar than what I had added). The tangy-ness of the lemon went well with the strawberry sauce and the cream layer added the right amount of flavor without being too overwhelming rich (I just can't stand the feeling overly rich dessert gives me..). This recipe is a keeper and I would definitely make it again.

My modified ingredient list......

Strawberry & Lemon Curd Trifle
A packet of ladyfinger/ sponge fingers
1 1/2 cup Strawberry sauce (recipe below)

500g fresh strawberry, sliced
1 1/2 cup Lemon Curd
(can be bought from the stores to save time but home made is always the best)

1/2 - 3/4 cup light whipping cream (depends on the size of trifle bowl)
2 tbsp raw sugar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (I used a homemade one)

Homemade Strawberry Sauce

570g frozen/ fresh strawberries

1/8-1/4 cups of raw sugar (depending on sweetness of strawberries)

Homemade Lemon Curd

3 eggs
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp lemon zest
1/3- 1/2 cup raw sugar

(original recipe calls for butter but I made do without that and it still tasted just right. I can just eat it by itself if not for the trifle..)

For specific instructions of how to make the trifle refer to the original recipe here.

I just love how spring brings about the blossoming of flowers which covers our lawn with snow beds of yellow petals.....

Busy Beesssssss

2008-09-29T21:58:00.003+08:00

With Jo and Jemima (friends from SG) around for just a few days, my life changed from sedentary and peaceful to a mad rush of fun filled activities for the last few days. We have been to the hippy and alternate WestEnd markets, had an authentic Aussie BBQ with all the Aussies included, trekked up Mt Cotha in the dark, went shopping at Indooropilly, and visited an organic nursery that was not opened (much to my disappointment) etc. And its not over yet actually. We will be heading to the beach at Moololaba to splash around the beautiful turquoise water and eat the famous fish and chips tomorrow morning. And while i'm working on wednesday, they probably be going up to do some trekking at Mount Tamborine all in preparation for our big hike up Mount Barney with the whole youth group on Friday. To the unawares, Mount Barney is Queensland's 2nd tallest mountain and the entire trek will be approximately 14km. And as half of the trek would be a steep upclimb the mount, the entire trek might possibly take up to 10 plus hours to finish considering the breaks we would take on the way. It would be interesting to see how we go after Mount Barney. I will definitely keep you guys update on that. And for me now, I should so get ready Tashy and mine stuff for the beach tml. I just can't wait for the cold sea water to swish around me and for the waves to carry me under the cool Brissy sun. The best part is that I get to play in the ocean with my sister in laws and good friends who are always good company in and out of the ocean.

Its 12.39 AM.......

2008-09-22T22:39:00.002+08:00

and I'm the only one up. With J and T tucked in bed, the house seemed so empty and.........quiet? And I'm no where near slumberland at all. I know I should be in bed......but my blogging bug got the better of me as you can see.

I was just thinking the other day about the beginnings of this blog......which was way before the love of my life came into the picture and while I was still leading a boring student life. I remembered yearning for the life I lead now.....a husband, some kids (at least we have taken the first step to having A kid), christian home, carefree life.....I remembered feeling that my dream life would not start happening for maybe another decade according to the marriage and birth statistics in Singapore. But I also remember feeling that tinge of hope of "the one" might come sooner than I thought. And God did had such plans indeed.....

Before "he" came into my life, I totally buried myself in studies and track activities. If any of my poly mates recall, they prob tell you my dress sense was pretty much crap those days. I was happy in my over-sized T-shirts, bermuda shorts and old man sandals and my long hair always tied back in a pony tail. And my only gear would be a hugmongous backpack that was usually filled with textbooks (brought them just in case I might need them....yeah..call me a geek..), notes and.....stationary? Yeah....I can become quite complusive obessive at times. Believe it or not, I first met J wearing this sort of attire at Tampines MRT about 3 years ago. It was simply amazing how he looked past that mask of mine and brought out the me today.

Well, as much as he accepted my fashion sense then, my entire wardrobe was practically thrown out, gave to lifeline or taken by my Father in law once we got married. Yeah.....I have the same dress sense as my FIL whose dress sense is (no offense at all!) non-existent?

Wah.....its already 1am....I better hit the sack before I blabber any more here. Hope to be able to do some baking with T tml. Might post it up if I get to it.....Nitez pple......=)

Spring is here!!! Bagel Attempt #1

2008-09-18T19:09:00.010+08:00

When I'm just getting into the habit of faithfully slapping body and facial moisturizers on the largest organ of my body, the weather just inconsiderately took a warmer turn. Well, so much for stocking up on lip balms and moisturizers. Guess there's always next year to use them, if I still remember where I last left them then.

Our week long Gold Coast holiday was......good?...it's not bad but maybe I went with the ideal holiday of tanning on the beach, splashing in the ocean and swimming with the waves whole week long. It turned out that I sort of forgot to include my darling baby in the picture. T turned out to be utterly terrified of the sound of crashing and gentle lapping waves. There was simply no way to get pass the shallowest part of the sea without her kicking and crying and pointing to the exit of the beach screaming,"There! There! There!" (In translation, she wants to get out asap as far from the water as possible.) You get the picture, so my ideal beach holiday went out of the window from the first day of our holiday. Anyways, the waters were still quite chilly and I probably won't be able to stay in too long either. Neither could T since she has a lower body fat (insulation) content. Maybe when summer comes and the water becomes warmer, T might like it better then....maybe...

On second thoughts, though my ideal holiday was not realised, we had fun hiking up Mount Warning, spending the day at Byron Bay (a hippie town of NSW) enjoying the sun and biting into organic cinnamon sugar dusted donuts (yum!I still crave for them every now and then), building sandcastles and doing cartwheels on a deserted beach, eating fish and chips near the ocean, shopping at Habour Town, went to Natural Arch to say hi to our glow worm mates and many other activities that we squeezed into that one week which I can't recall offhand.

It was one good relaxing week and it felt unreal to be back on Monday and be at work on Tues. But it only took a week to get settled back into our normal life routine of causal work, gym, baking, doing stuff with Tasha, meeting up with friends etc. Like yesterday, after hitting the gym with Ana (my neighbour who is the same age as me and has a son that is just a few months younger than T), we decided to bring the kids (she has a 18month old son, Jack Jack) for a swim and then for lunch. It turned out that the pool was closed and we ended up at a nearby playground for the next half hour. When Tasha and I finally got home at 3pm, I decided to bake some bagels for Josh's dinner. So that was my challenge for the day.

I really did no research beforehand and just went along with a recipe from a mostly reliable foodblog site's recipe. Its till afterwards that I realised there were a ton of steps which I missed out. My wrong for being simply so impatient to sink my teeth into a chewy bagel but the end result of my first attempt wasn't too bad after all. Considering the fact that there were no research put into it and a chewy bagel-y texture and appearance was attained. I've made mini bagels 'cos the normal size ones are simply too big to finish and mini ones are cuter. =P A girl will always be a girl and have a soft spot for cute stuff i.e babies, puppies, kittens......you know what I mean. I'm also hoping to use them as mini party food for some upcoming church farewell parties.

Would definitely attempt bagel making a few times more before granting them access beyond my taste panel's (J&T) lips. ;)

Cut the talking now and here are some pics of our holiday and my #1 Bagel attempt....

Father's Day Brekkie- Buttermilk pancakes with fresh fruits and maple syrup

T presenting Josh with a father's day prezzie wrapped in a big towel ('cos we can't be bothered wrapping it up)=P

Josh's presents - Dove caramel chocolate bites, GPS holder and a mobile protector. All that he wanted for his new smartphone.

Brekkie out the front of our apartment

T loves to suck on chew off the meat from bones. So much for hoping that she becomes a vegan with me.
Both love their Booast.

To reward T for being such a good girl while we were shopping, we had a go on a ride on a toy car controlled by Josh using a remote.

Saying, "Go away" to the ocean in sign language.

MIL's Birthday

2008-09-05T14:08:00.005+08:00

We had a birthday celebration for my MIL on Tues night this week and part of my present for her, I decided to give myself a challenge and bake a nice cake for her. I have been thinking of something like that since last year but my inexperience did not give me the confidence I needed then. I ended up baking Hummingbird cupcakes (a combination of coconut, pineapple and banana cupcakes) with cream cheese icing that did not turn out the way it supposed to be. So anyways, that was last year and I took note to give myself lots of time to research, prepare and do the thing. Well, its always hard to buy prezzies for MIL and the best thing anyone can do to impress her is to make something personally.

I planned to start my research and readings 1 week in advance. However after living with a procrastinator (but he can be really with it for somethings that really matters i.e our relationship) for coming to 3 years, I only started thinking to play with ideas of what to make 2 days before the birthday dinner. Its a good thing that with Josh's way of procrastinating, the limited amount of time given always seemed to squeeze up some creative juices. And I was thankful for that. =)

To the cake that I decided to bake, I thought I would bake a chocolate cake since the gurls (who always love anything that has chocolate) haven't had a chocolate cake for ages. With a handful of printed recipes in mind, I made up this raspberry double chocolate cake with Baileys dark chocolate ganache cake which is moist and chocolate-y but not too rich, a slight tangy taste from the raspberry and a touch of creaminess added by the splash of Baileys.

This cake which is my first in cake decorating did caused a bit of stress as I am still learning to work around Tasha with fiddly stuff like this which I just don't want to mess up. Its moments like these that I can't stand myself being such a perfectionist. I devoted the whole day just praying and making sure that each step goes right and that Tasha don't go around my kitchen sticking her fingers in chocolate, sugar, flour or worse....Baileys..*on second thought, that could have been a great idea to put her to sleep for a longer nap* just kidding lah...

To cut the long story short, the cake was finally baked, cooled, assembled, iced and decorated all with 2 hours to spare for chilling in the fridge before the birthday dinner. And I even manged to squeezed in vacuuming, changing the bedspreads, putting Tashy to sleep (without Baileys of cos!), steal some lavender from my neighbor's garden in between the baking and cooling times.

It turned out that the gurls also baked a chocolate cake and brownies for mum!! lolz! guess everyone felt chocolate deprived. Dinner went well and everyone loved the cakes. I'm already thinking of what to bake for T's 2nd birthday!I should quit talking now...here are some pictures.

The naked truth

Dressed for the party!

Family fav : Lamb roast n veg

Tasha luuuuvvv it too!!! Prob 'cos i don't make such meals at home.

Meg looked like she is about to devour all the chocolate stuff on the table!!!

T was upset cos she wanted one of the white chocolate butterflies.

Hours of hard work gone in a few minutes!!!

As long as it made MIL's happy, thats all it matter....we will be heading to Gold Coast tml for 1 week!! Can't wait!!! Would update soon.....Ta ta!!

A homemaker's woe

2008-09-01T07:44:00.002+08:00

With Tashy playing underneath my desk with scraps of stationary and pooping at the same time, here am I feeling absolutely boiling over my stupid washing machine. Its been stopping and beeping every 5 minutes during a normal wash ever since the beginning of last month. I simply just dread putting a wash on nowdays cos I would end up spending more time in the laundry room than doing anything else. I simply detest a stinky and messy laundry room and it bothers me to no end to not be able to get clean laundry at the end of the wash cos this machine just don't work hard enough!

And I mention it to J, the normal nonsensical reply I would always get is," The machine still work, dear. You just have to be patient with it." Urgghhhhh!!!!! That's not what I want him to say! If only he can say," I really understand, darling. Do you think we should get a new machine soon?" Yes yes yes yes of course we should get a new machine rather than putting up with this hand me down old crappy stress inducing machine!

Okay now, I should really go and change Tashy's nappy now....the smell is getting too overwhelming for me to have her within short range. Ta ta for today..

Hee hee hee...we are going away for a holiday!!!

2008-08-27T11:21:00.002+08:00

It felt like ages since we had our last holiday together. And next Saturday, we would be off to the Gold Coast (thanks to Dorcas's father who holds a time-share resort thing around that area). That gave us a week of free accommodation which is really providential.

Anyways, besides having to do the usual chores and playing with Tashy, I actually got myself a job at a Coffee Club just a week ago where Josh works. And working just a couple of shifts a week works brings in just enough to let me pamper myself by saving up to get some really cool gadgets or just something nice for a loved one.

Talking about cool gadgets, just recently i came across this really cool blender gadget (http://www.greenimage.com.my/genInv_nutrimix.html) that can do like almost a million thing. Okay, maybe i exaggerated on that one but it can do at least 35 stuff. From making nut milks, to smoothies, to hot and nutritious soups, ice cream, mixing up batters, kneading etc. And it is so good that even Mackers, Booast etc also use this brand of blenders. But to own such a cool equipment always comes with burning a somewhat fair size hole in the pocket (or more of Josh's). The quoted price is almost a grand. But but but .....it is guaranteed to last at least 25-30 years. And i do wholeheartedly believe that. I'm reali a sucker for such gadgets..... Its just too good to resist....

Weird Weather and life in the Kitchen

2008-08-01T22:37:00.003+08:00

It was soooooo very cold for the earlier part of this week that we have to put an extra duna (thick down blanket) on the bed since we were not getting warmer with three of our body huddled together. It even got down to as low as under 1 degree Celsius out our way just a couple nights ago.

And now, instead of having to put on three layers of warm clothing, the weather just took a warm turn. At the moment, it feels more like in the 20's range (i.e spring temperature). Guess that might be a hint to start packing away the winter clothings and to take out the sleeveless and light wear.

I'm kind of sad that winter is leaving actually. 'Cos with the arrival of spring and then summer, it also means the increased appearance of my "favourite" friend -Mr Crocky and all other yucky stick-like or bug like stuff. And over this winter, as some of u can see on my facebook photos, I'd spent quite a fair amount of time in the kitchen getting warmth from the oven and making yummy stuff with Tasha at the same time. Talking about baking, she simply luuuvvves to bake. I would just have to ask her, "Tashy, do u want to help mummy bake bake?" And she would be right at the spot she always take whenever we have our baking bonding session.

Besides the usual muffins that i bake for Josh to take to work, we had baked

-Self saucing lime and semolina pudding (which we baked heaps of this winter as we had about 10kg of lime from the fruit and veg market, and we are still not sick of it yet. Its that good.),

-Cinnamon hazelnut scrolls (which i need to experiment more with since mine came out a bit dense once its cooled)

-Cream Puff (which i was inspired to make since it required a different preparation method) and making the pastry cream was fun too. It was just amazing to watch how a lump of ugly dough turn into a golden and crisp puff in the oven.

-Turkish bread (which was a bit bland since I didn't thought of adding salt. Must make it again.)

-Orange and almond cake (which had to be left aside for a couple of days to let it get a bit drier and for the flavour to develop).

-Rustic free-form berry pie (one of our fav too since the pastry is not too greasy and the polenta in the crust adds some grittiness to the juicy and tangy filling)

-Basil and Feta Pull apart which Tasha enjoyed punching the dough and eating the feta which was supposed to go into the bread.

-Baked Custard (had a silky and melt in the mouth texture which tasted better once its lukewarm. It was not too sweet and had a nice vanilla taste. Very important to use natural vanilla in this recipe)

-Home made mixed seeds and fruits museli bar which Josh takes to one to work everyday every so often when I come around to making it. Its actually cheaper than getting those commercial ones and prob better for him.

-Homemade vanilla extract which I add into most of my baked goods and is still brewing in my pantry now. Been there since the end of autumn, so prob a few months. It has a nice deep amber colour which i hope would get even darker by the end of this year.

Think these are all the stuff that I can rembr spending time researching and making for now. Don't worry that its only desserts that i'm feeding my family. I actually been making a few more Moroccan and Mexican meals every few weeks just to try something different. They actually taste really good with the combination of spices used, especially Moroccan cuisine. Kind of similar spices to Indian cooking actually. But not as much. The addition of fresh citrus fruits with meats was also an interesting taste dimension that calls for more attention.

Not so sure why I babbled about my culinary life here since I never reali do. But thats reali what I'm doing most of the time so I thought, Why not? Anyways, till next time ....

Current life.....

2008-07-13T14:54:00.002+08:00

If any of you are or were wondering where's Wei'er nowadays since she doesn't seem to be putting pictures online or update her blog, I reckon that my somewhat hectic life is often contributed to having a ultra active toddler who happens to be a night owl too.

In comparison to caring for a small infant, I get to do more activities outdoors (which I do enjoy to a certain extent) rather than just being suck at home most of the time (a choice I choose to take since I prefer to have Tasha sleep in a more sound environment). The only free time I have everyday is during her two hours nap time every afternoon which I often take advantage to do some chores, prepare meals etc.

Of course my life is not just a mundane chores, I get to go off shopping whenever I like (part of how I get an income, I'm not joking about this!) at least twice to thrice a week, pop into the gym, visit my in-laws etc. In fact, I feel that I have not been more contended than right at this moment in life. Tasha been such a happy and entertaining baby most of the time. She is at the stage of expanding her vocabulary in both English and Mandarin and being more expressive in describing herself.

Just thought I pop quick post to tell you guys that I'm still alive and kicking more than ever. Would hope to update with more pics (fingers crossed) soon....=)

A 'chip' of the old block

2008-07-02T19:51:00.002+08:00

I was at a toy shop the other day with Tasha (actually she dragged me in) while we were out doing some jobs. I promptly placed her in front of some teddy bears thinking they probably caught her eye to lure her in. However, she turned around and went straight to a bright yellow toy tractor in the opposite direction. Somehow, it seemed like big vehicles like lorries, cranes and tractor that seemed to always captured her attention. Guess its probably due to the many number of times that Josh had taken her for rides on the tractor and even taught her how to steer!! And there has not been a time when a toy trolley has not caught her attention too. Interesting to know that kids picked up the things we do even when we are not always actively showing or teaching her.

Things to look forward to....

2008-06-11T12:04:00.002+08:00

Without Uni in my life for past many months, looking forward to the holidays after the hellish exam period is no longer a highlight in life. Instead, amidst the chores, work and mundane things in life that requires my attention, I look forward to visiting friends and family from afar, camping events, short day trips to various gorgeous destinations, spending a day at the West end markets, or just spending time with my family on Josh's day off. How interesting to realise how one's perspective in life changes so much with just taking a couple great leaps in one's life (i.e marriage and having a family).

Well, I'm definitely looking forward to having Eunice to visit from Melbourne. ESPECIALLY FOR HER, I had mowed the lawn, pluck out annoying and tough weeds, made her room, scrubbed the toilets, done the laundry, cleaned up the kitchen, vacuumed the carpets till its spotlessly ....... Not that my house is a dump to start with. Just that I have been busy with quite a few matters for the last week. So i'm just picking up the loose ends now. And... I have planned so many nice places to bring you to.So, you better love me, gurlie. =)

Anyways, i'm so looking forward to showing you Brissy, gurl and to just do some proper catching up.

Can't wait to have you up here!!!!

Driving Hazard

2008-05-27T22:04:00.002+08:00

After 5 years of being nagged and forced o take my learner's license, I have officially passed the theory test (after 1 failed one) and got my learner's license. Much to my relief and joy. I have been visiting the Queensland transport website to do the online general driving test like a million times that I can remember almost all the answers to the questions. I have also thumbed through the theory booklet that its pages are almost falling out. I forsake doing all chores and focus solely on doing the online tests and remember facts that I probably would forget after the test. All this for the sake of getting a card that say "Learner's License".

Anyways, I'm a happy mummy now. Even went for a short drive with Josh tonight. Actually, driving is pretty easy to pick up ,though i probably gave Josh a few heart attacks by accelerating too much and forgetting where is the brake while I was heading towards a parked car! Don't think he would be taking me for a drive anytime soon. Due to the new rules, I have to fulfill a 100 hours and wait 1 year before I can get my P (provisional license). So I guess there's heaps of time to learn and to get those hours done. Though I might have drove a bit recklessly just now, Tasha who was in the car seat seem to enjoy my driving immensely by laughing crazily away (cos I was doing that too....think I get high on driving!). And that made me enjoy driving even more.

To more driving adventures and may the Lord bless me with wisdom and safety in this new phase of life.

99 hours 30mins more to go before I hit the requirement of 100 hours.

Still Alive !!!!! Save me from the Tummy Bug!!!!

2008-05-08T22:31:00.002+08:00

Vomiting and diarrhea and feeling weak for an entire day. Don't think I would mind the latter but vomiting is totally out of question. To those who are unaware, I resent any form of action that involves regurgitation even if my life or comfort is depended on it.

Right now, quite a number of kids at church, Josh, my MIL and SILs have been stricken by this dreaded bug. Though I do have a bad cough that tickles my throat so much that I feel like coughing all the time, Tasha and I still spared from this virus (but I shouldn't speak too early either). This change of season with winter coming on is making itself known to us very loudly.

Having been back here just coming to a month, it somehow seemed like i have never been on holiday ever. Nothing had changed much besides all the kids at church growing taller (which made me feel like I shrunk an inch each time I return from SG). Besides being the most virtuous wife by faithfully doing chores daily (its not as bad as it sounds, you know), I have been going out often either to a nearby park, with my MIL or SIL for a coffee, a weekly mothers and kids exercise class organized by a church mother, visiting neighbors or just going out for whatever random reason I can find.

By the way, poly friends who resides in Brissy, please contact me after you finish your exams k? (if you guys read my blog) We should plan something interesting to do for a get together. =)

I know I have taken a long break from posting photo albums online. I have heaps of pictures that i would soon be posting online.

To end, this is for you my dearest Tammy. =) keep in contact k? Love ya. Thanks for your encouragement! Really helpful and made me feel really comforted.

FINALLY!!!!!

2008-04-12T06:49:00.001+08:00

The day that i have longed for since 2 weeks after being separated from my beloved husband have finally come!!!!! Do pray the God would grant us journey mercies!!

Getting the 3months Aussie itch...

2008-04-02T00:31:00.003+08:00

I'm actually so looking forward to heading back to Aust and resume my faithful duty as a housewife and a loving wife to my beloved hubby. A sudden itch to do more housework, cook up yummy meals, get into more of a routine lifestyle, to re-visit my friendly neighbors, to chat up with the check out chicks at Woolies (Woolworths-our nearest grocer), to get into a more regular schedule of exercising etc. Man is indeed made to work. I think this holiday back home prob is a tad too long for my liking. Since Josh left, i have been looking for things to fill my time. I enjoy immensely the times that i spend visiting a dear friend who is in her 12th week of pregnancy and still undergoing the dreaded queasiness. Besides that, i love bringing Tasha shopping since most of the time, the attention of the salesgirl would be on her, leaving me alone to do my looking around in the store. Of cos, there are also times spend with my family and them enjoying our company, esp Tasha.

I really have to get in touch with Smitha, Kai wen and Ivan when i get back. Hey if any of you read this post please get in touch with me k? Would love to get together some time when i get back to Aust. And don't forget about the sleepover and the dinner at my place k? I'm sure we would have a ball of time. =)

BE RIGHT BACK!!!

2008-01-06T22:19:00.000+08:00

Halo fellow SG-ians....

Haven't been real good at updating at all. My apologies for that again. But as i have mentioned before, the end and beginning of year period is always event-filled coupled with a influx of visitors (usually relatives) from Tassie (Tasmania) to entertained. Not only is our time occupied with bringing them around Brissy, our wallets had became very much lighter since their arrival....lolz...errr....think i'm prob be the one who does most of the spending since there's heaps of sales at the moment...*guilty smile*.....but how to resist sales up to 50% off on boxing day right?

Anyways, we just also came back from a 6 days, 5 night church youth camp organised by youths from my congregation. There were tons of work and organization to do initially but what a relief it was to us when everything just fell into place. Pastor Cornners gave an excellent study focusing on the book of Proverb. It was in fact quite an emotional camp as Pastor had brought up many struggles that were very personal to the youths and he was very gentle in leading them to the truth. Pete C who was supposed to be the MC of the camp dislocated his shoulder within the first 5 mins of reaching the camp and thus the duty fell on Josh's shoulders.

I have to say, with absolutely no biasness , Josh makes a fantastic and engaging MC. I didn't realise this potential he had in him until this camp. Made me more thankful of this man whom God had prepared for me...=) Moving on comes the most important news, or basically the whole purpose of writing this entry.

Guess what? TASHA started walking at camp last saturday!!!!!!! Can u blive it? I thought she was going to take longer than that but no, i guess seeing about 70 plus youths everyday walking and participating games made her eager to get on her two feet and to see more of this world. And it would be exactly one week till we set foot on beloved SG. can't wait now......i need my holiday!!!!

Click on this only after u have seen the last album..+)

2007-12-01T00:15:00.001+08:00

Bribie Island Annual Family hols (10-11mths)

Only for lonesome hearts

2007-12-01T00:13:00.000+08:00

While i was missing frm cyberspace, i've.....(9-11mths)

I know u miss me.....or is it Tasha?

2007-11-27T15:46:00.000+08:00

Halo maties!!! How have everyone been doing? Having blogged somewhat regularly for the past few months had freed up quite a bit of my time but also at the same time nurtured a writing itch. So i'm back for a while folks till i finally set foot on the red dot.

So what have we been up to lately? Heaps of stuff of cos...=P Do u know.....

Tasha teeth count had reached a grand total of 3.

Besides crawling more professionally, she is able to stand up on her feet unassisted.

In the aspect of language development, she is now able to come up with long sentences that seem to be mimicking the English language. (she kindda seem to be saying bye bye and helo baby style)

She is also able to understand what we mean and tries to get her way more times than we prefer.

Concerning us as a family, we just returned from a family holiday with the in laws at Bribie Island. Will post some interesting pics soon.

Call Tasha a weird baby, she loves water. Be it cold or warm or whatever, she simply is most at home in the ocean. My little water baby.....=)

Till next time, i'm hoping to post some pics soon. =) To ease some lonesome hearts out there. =P

Missing something?

2007-11-21T17:42:00.000+08:00

Thank you!

2007-10-31T21:49:00.000+08:00

Many thanks to my loyal friends from random places to be checking how we going for the past year. As the holiday period draw closer, my spare time to myself would probably decrease drastically. Blame it on our thirst for adventure, activity and play, we are always filling our time with bush walking, camping, friends visiting etc over a good part of our hols. This year, i added something entirely new to my list of things for my holiday. That is sell pineapple tarts as christmas gifts. Its just an idea that is in its infant stages of development. Its just a shot in the dark. After doing a fair amount of research and having baked the first batch this week, i'm crossing my fingers to the success of this idea.

So with quite a number of things on my list, blogging might take a backseat for the moment tillw e get back to sunny s'pore. Dear hardcore Tashy's fans, i sincerely apologise on her behalf for her future absence. However, it would make meeting her in real life all the more special isn't it? So long for now....will definitely update the pics for my newcastle trip when i found my camera. (think i prob left it at Sandy's place on sat) And of cos, i would do my best to update whenever i can. Cheers!!

"Aaa.men!"

2007-10-31T21:11:00.000+08:00

Sandy, my cousin in law, threw an awesome 21st birthday last saturday, 27 days after her actual birthday. Reason being, all her "relos" (aussie slang for relatives) are always such busy people and got to be booked two weeks in advance. Being Sandy, she only decided to hold a dinner party just for her family only a week before her actual birthday. At least, she got most of her relos there that night.

Auntie Mary (Sandy's mum) is such an incredible cook and loving mum. She went to great lengths devoting an entire week before the party painstakingly prepared all the dishes. For appetizers, the varieties of olives, dips, fruits, cheese and crackers platters had everyone scrambling for a bite of the brie, a taste of kalamata olive with lavesh bread etc. Of course, as i'm getting to the main point of my story, she had already laid out dinner in the next room on a sturdy wooden table. Every single space was taken up with tender slices roast chook (aussie slang for chicken), chunky meat slices, salads of all sorts (aussies are into salads during summer time), fat and juicy curried meatballs and the list of food goes on. If both Josh and i to finish this amount of food by ourselves, we probably take an entire to do so. YUp, its that much.

Before everyone dig into the scrumptious feast, we gathered around to pray. With Tasha in my arms, I lowered my head with reverence. A few seconds after everyone in the room ended the prayer with "AMEN!" in unison, our precious angel uttered "Amen!" like she did it everyday.

And not just that, whenever we pray together as a family, the little baby who use to struggle to pull her hands away from ours actually learnt to keep still and wait patiently till we finished praying.

How amazing it is for me to realise that at such a tender age, the Lord does work in the hearts of babies. Soli Deo Gloria.

Toothy grins....crooked smile..

2007-10-17T12:18:00.000+08:00

The Toothy days starts here

Since that little tooth pop out, that also includes an additional hours of sleep deducted, increased cups of coffee, tea and energy drinks, darkening of the already present panda eyes and heavier eye bags. Ok ok... i'm actually just exaggerating it a bit too much...its not tat bad...i don't mean to turn off those who are into having babies in the future. =) ANyways, sorry for the lack of updates. As Tasha gets older and with the ability to crawl around now, she can be quite a handful. For now, i will let u guys go and satisfy ur cravings....esp for u , Angie! =P Do look forward for our pics at Newcastle. Just a short spontaneous holiday cos we feel like it...=) Ciaoz!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

2007-10-09T06:55:00.000+08:00

woooohoooooo!!!!! After waiting for that precious green dot to light up in the wireless router for weeks, i actually noticed something slightly different abt it. I tot i was suffering from another internet deprivation attack which can also lead to hallucinations. Anyways, i went ahead and clicked on the Morzilla Firefox icon just to give it a go. And to my absolute joy, the search engine page actually started downloading.

HAHAHAHHAAHH!!!! yeah....think i'm a bit crazy but i'm prob going through an internet high now. Would update soon with tales and pics!!!! Gotta run now.....=) Josh would be over the moon tooo!!

Cough Cough

2007-10-03T19:21:00.000+08:00

This blog is dusty indeed!!! Sorry pple on the lack of posts since our move. Thanks to our phone company, we have yet to get internet connection at our place. Good thing for my in laws who reside just a 5 mins drive away, I'm able to get this post in before u guys start thinking i'm going MIA again. =)

We have very much settled into our new place which is practically the same layout as our previous place and of cos, our "movers" (most of Josh's family) made moving a breeze. The only problem is our internet. But w/o the internet, it given us more time to read, with each other and Tasha too. As its getting really late now, and i have spent heaps of time online satisfying my craving to do stuff online, I shouldnt spent so much time here. Would definitely update asap when we get the internet up. By the way, Tasha having her 2nd tooth coming thru!!!! and and and.....she's practically crawling and standing on her own now....So more pics await...=)

Busy week ahead.....

2007-09-12T17:43:00.000+08:00

About 9 months ago, if i were to think of life being a homemaker and a mother of one, i would imagine myself ......

1) putting up my feet with a good book propped up on my tummy, looking over to a contented baby engrossed with her toys

2) having lots of time doing my personal research on health and dietetics issues (yeah...i'm pretty much a nerd who should have stayed at uni) while Tasha takes her nap

3) getting creative with scrapbooking which i had put off for a year with little angel keeping herself entertained with my markers, pen and pencils.

4) buzzing around the kitchen whipping up tasty and wholesome baby food, muffins and experimenting with cuisine of the world while Tasha taste the different veggies and fruits available

Coming back to reality, i seem to be competing for time more than before. My plans for the day never really goes as scheduled since my angel has an erratic streak when it comes to routine. So instead of being able to read a book in peace for an hour, i probably be able to get a maximum of maybe 15minutes on a good day. If i try to push it, Tasha's demanding cries would replace the serene classical music as the background music.

With respect to researching, i have not really done as much as i want and don't even mention scrapbooking. I hardly touched my scrapbooking box this year and my fingers are already itching for some creative outlet.

However, i am pleased to be able to spend more time in the kitchen from just preparing a simple sandwich to cooking up a storm for a dinner with friends. Tho i still have plenty of room for improvement b4 my dishes can be classified in the gourmet category. The reason why I'm able to spend so much time in the kitchen is because Tasha always get so excited whenever i offer her a piece of veg or fruit to gnaw on and that keeps her going long enough for me to whip up something for lunch or dinner.

Ohhh......i prob should stop her....the little Empress awakes and till next time....

p.s prob won't be blogging for a while cos we would be moving this sat to the house across the street. Not so sure how the internet connection will go. So hopefuli be back in a couple of weeks time. =)

Growling gets her way?

2007-09-07T21:51:00.000+08:00

Tasha been growing heaps faster than before that i simply have enough time to emotionally and mentally cope with it. It seemed like her development in motor skills and her personality took off from the moment she was able to sit up by herself. Though she is still in the process of summoning sufficient courage to crawl without falling face first, moving about an approx. of half a metre by wiggling her bum is no problem. Nowadays, there were times when i placed her on her play mat with heaps of toys to keep her entertain. And when i check on her next, she would be hugging one of the coffee table legs gnawing away like a hamster filing its teeth. Most of the time you can tell her joy in doing that by her bobbing her petite body up and down, flapping her arms up and down and breathing so excitedly that u can hear the air rushing in and out her nostrils.

Recently, we had Uncle Steve over for dinner, just because. We had tucked the little Empress into bed for a nap hoping she would remain asleep with fingers crossed. So we were happily tucking into our tandoori chicken, raita, mango chutney and garlic naan when a sudden burst of crying popped out happy bubble. Out came the Empress with grouchy look as if telling us that its us who woke her up from her sweet dreams. With her propped on her daddy's lap and a naan to suck on, conversations continued as usual. Out of habit, i would often check on her whenever she's not making much noise. (silence might be peaceful for us but it also mean an act of mischief is at progress) This time, she managed to make the naan soggy enough to gnaw off bits to swirl around her mouth. (She takes joy in swirling bits of food in her mouth and prob also enjoy watching me worry and panic - i prob wont be able to handle it if she ever choke). The naan was instantly confiscated. The moment it registered deprivation registered, with brows furrowed, blood rushing to her face as if summoning her entire being, a growl came from within. A growl from such an angelic being?! (scratching chin.....deep in thought). An oxymoron indeed.

Back to the scene at the dining table.....still comfortably placed on daddy's lap, she looked around demandingly as if taking the food seeking task into her hands. Uncle Steve with Greatbatch's blood running in him, growl back at Tasha, in an attempt to spike her ( i will explain another time about the thing with Greatbatches, Josh's maternal side). Eyes fixated at him, her face went a deeper shade of red as she screwed it up and let out a baby roar.

Hang on a minute, isnt she supposed to be most serene, contented, beautiful baby in the world? Where did she even get this streak of possessiveness or ill temper from? What is the world coming to? lolx.....guess thats why she's a Dog baby....

First Tooth

2007-09-04T21:21:00.001+08:00

Tasha's first tooth came through this week !!!! That's why she has been Ms CrankyPants for the past week ....

Salty Cream Cheese Frosting? Yurk!!!!

2007-09-04T21:21:00.000+08:00

Its 20mins past 11pm. And i have a bowl full of cream cheese frosting ready for the bin. Being a real thoughtful daughter-in-law (DIL) i decided to back some hummingbird cupcakes with cream cheese frosting to surprise my MIL early tomorrow morning. I was so busy thinking of the patterns to decorate my cupcakes with that I added 2 CUPS of salt instead of icing sugar into my frosting mixture. (*Smack head real hard on wall repeatedly*.......Ouch!!!that really hurts!!! rubs head gingerly*) Then again, salt and icing sugar does look quite alike at this time of the night to many of us, i figured....Thank God for SIL Rachel who is willing to come out on this rainy night to get me a box of philly cheese from the 24 hr servo nearby. Phew!!

Colour of the month - Green

2007-08-24T12:42:00.000+08:00

Launching the latest album......

Me luv Avocado!!!! 29-31wks

A shade of green.....

2007-08-16T12:22:00.000+08:00

Tasha have been going green over the past week......not green with the intention to puke but covering herself (esp her face) with gooey bits of mashed up avocado. Initially, i was not very keen to introduce solids into her diet till she is about a year old. (yes, i always seem to be going against the conventional and tradition way of doing things when it comes to pregnancy and motherhood. But i never once regret doing what i have done...will go into this in more details in another post)

However, Tasha seemed to have more of a curious and adventurous personality. For example, she loves to throw herself backwards and hang upside down. Sometimes if she's on her bed, she would push herself enough to let her head hang off the bed edge and that often would keep her entertained for quite a while. While scary noises might scare some babies, it always thrills her whenever Josh makes creepy, deep growling sounds that sometimes spook me if i'm in the right mood for it (maybe i prob be the timid one in the family). Don't know if this is something that u have come across when u are younger. But i remember being reprimanded by adults when i just happen to stimulate my baby cousins just before their bed time when i was younger. The oldies reckoned that it would make the babies have nightmares and be unable to sleep at night.

If that's true, then Tasha is new generation of hardier babies or it could be just the angmoh blood in her. Cos if she's not stimulated, its often harder to make her sleep and stay asleep for long. Thus, we have a nightly stimulate Tasha session where we would throw her around, shake her, roar at her, tickle her, hang her upside down and swing her. Hmmm....sounds like we torture her ah? But she would be laughing her head off the whole time. Wonder which side did she get this weird streak of humor from.....definitely not from me. And i'm sure abt that.

Anyways....i started writing abt Tasha's first foods and look where i have ended up....Well, i'll be posting some more pictures and hopefuli videos (i realised that picasa can upload videos too...Angie: i tried using youtube but i think my videos somehow doesnt get accepted so i was stuck before) . So stay tune while i work hard on the pics. Would post more abt the first food diet again. Cheers!

p.s Josh had been craving for a pipping hot plate of Char Kor Kway (and he's the Australian here), so i decided to take up the challenge and google up some "carrot / radish cake" recipes. (I actually do a lot of baking instead and coming up with my own recipes. So thot i cook something more authentic for a change).I actually found a couple and made up my own plate of CKK from scratch i.e grated the radish, steam the rice cake before frying up the CCK. It was quite fun cooking homeland fare and it tasted pretty similar though the "cake" was a bit sticky compared to normal (or maybe cos we are pretty deprived). I not a particularly big fan on CKK but i'm glad that i came up with a similar tasting and less greasy(in other words, healthier) recipe. Just thot i share cos i'm pretty proud of myself having cooked my first plate of CKK that we often take for granted in S'pore.Next cooking challenge, hmmmm.....what do u suggest?

*Update*

i realised its actuali Char Tow Kway.....not what i said above. =p gUESS the singaporean in me seemed to be getting a little smaller with each passing day (Horrors of all horrors!!!) I must say....i'm proud to be a singaporean!!!! (Yet, shamefully, i was reminded by an Aussie of our National day.....Can u blive that he actually remembered it and not me?!!!) Good thing i did take some pictures of CTK (want to always remember my first plate of CTK....cos i was quite proud that i actually attempted to fry up a plate that taste pretty similar) together with our cutie baby...=)

Ada: I asked Josh how he would feel if i try to prepare Yong Tau Foo for dinner one day. And his reply: (pause....burrowing his brows) " Yeah....u can....i might just have a bite....you can have all of it. Cos i know its your favorite food." Me: " Just say u dun like it la... Never mind lor, its better for me if u dun have any." Whats the bet Yong Tau Foo will never once appear on the dinner table for a while.

Ruth: Maybe its just Tasha that make motherhood more interesting. =)