3 Flavors Sponge Cake

I adapted the French sponge cake recipe from Alex Goh's 'Creative making of cakes', with some additions.

Ingredients

(A)

5 egg yolks

20g sugar

(B)

5 egg whites

(C)

130g sugar

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

(D)

120g flour

1 tsp baking powder

(E)

80g melted butter

(F)

3 tsp strawberry syrup

1 tsp green tea powder

1. Put (A) into a mixing bowl, whisk until light and fluffy. Set aside
2. Pour (B) into another mixing bowl, whip until soft peak, add in (C) and continue whipping until stiff
3. Mix a small portion of egg white mixture into (A) mixture, then pour the remaining (A) mixture into egg white mixture, lightly fold til well blended
4. Fold in (D) til well combined
5. Stir in (E) slowly and mix well
6. Divide batter into 3 portions, mix in strawberry syrup and green tea respectively into 2 different portions
7. Spoon 3 colors batters alternately into a 9" round cake mould
8. Bake at 180C for 30 minutes
9. Remove the cake from mould immediately after it was out from oven.

The 3 colors in the cake

Kept telling guests the cake has 3 flavors and tested them, most of them got the answer right ;)

Chocolate Cookies

Decorated chocolate cookies group 1

Ingredients

250g plain flour

1/2 tsp soda bicarbonate

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon powder

75g castor sugar

60ml water

100g chocolate

90g butter

1. Sift flour, soda, baking powder and cinnamon powder
2. Combine sugar, water and rum in a saucepan. Cook with low heat to form syrup
3. Melt chocolate and butter. Add into flour mixture, mix well. Add in syrup to form smooth dough. Cover and refigerated for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 175C. Roll out dough between 2 sheets of cling film, about 5mm. Use mould to mold out desired shapes.
5. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes. Leave to cool. Decorate with ornamental icing.

Decorated cookies group 2

X'mas trees chocolate cookies

Ginger bread man chocolate cookies

Ginger bread lady chocolate cookies

Assorted colors ornamental icing (clockwise): strawberry, cocoa, plain, and green tea

The cookies were very crunchy after baking (even after a day), kids kept asking for more, in fact, I was addicted too ;p However, after decorated them and kept for another day, they turned soft, were rather disappointing during the X'mas day party, lesson learned, do not keep them for long.

X'mas Party 2009

Parent threw a big party on X'mas day, not that they were Christian, but more to hold a 'grand-opening' for their 2 newly renovated toilets 新屎坑 (joked by SIL) and a bigger kitchen , hahaha.... :p

Actually it was for the 2 birthday girls, SIL (birthday on X'mas eve) and little girl. We had planned our menu 2 to 3 weeks ago, every families (about 7 families) would bring in some food to cater the big group of relatives.

Our buffet line

With about 15 delicious dishes (I lost count, just so many of them), from Western to Chinese, and local

The main actor for this show - roast turkey

Had decorated it for fun while resting it

Mum roast this beautiful turkey, and it was so, so, so succulent!

Another of mum's must cook dish for party - roast lamb leg

Dad contributed this local salad - pickle chopped onions, cucumbers and pineapple

Aunt came early to help mum preparing this dish - fried prawn and a big pot of fried meehoon (rice vermicelli, may find at photo of buffet line)

Aunt's must cook item for every party - kau zhi

SIL's mum came early to cook this dish too, the stuffed yau char kuai

and she brought some cute jelly for dessert (may see at photo of buffet line)

God mum cooked this yummy sticky rice (loh mai fan)

It was so good that hubby requested to tapao (pack away) home!

Chicken curry from god mum

Have u ever see purple potatoes? No, not sweet potatoes, but potatoes, sis & me found them at Cold Storage, Jaya One, we were so surprised to see potatoes as black as charcoal (the outer layer)!

Sis made this beautiful 2 tones potato salad

The super crunchy cocktail sausages from Euro deli, sponsored by sis

It is now presenting dishes prepared by yours truely:

Guinness stout shepherd pie

A dish cooked to ease dad's crave but I poured in the whole can of Guinness stout which resulting a strong flavor pie, which was not accepted by most people ;p (will post the recipe soon)

Baked mac & cheese

An easy dish, used the Kraft's pokemon cheese mix and added some chopped smoked sausages, baked a small quantity (not very confident with the cheese mix) and it was fast wiped out by the kids

The 3 flavors cake (strawberry, green tea and plain) I baked for little girl (recipe will be up soon)

And moist chocolate cake for SIL

The kids prepared this too - chocolate cookies (will post recipe soon)

Cookie dough was helped prepare by me, molded by HT (god bro's eldest son), picky eater Y and little girl, whereas the decorations was done by SWM, SKS, SKY (niece & nephews), little girl, me & mum, ok, I know, we r not artistic at all ;p

I think there were a few dishes that we didn't capture the photo, like mum's sago pudding, neighbor auntie's pot stickers, god bro's ice creams, etc, there was so many of dishes flowing in.

Although there were about 50 peoples in the party, there was still plenty of food leftover by the end of the nite, but every family was happy tapaoing (packing) home. I believe all of us were home with full belly and boxes of goodies.

The most fun moment of the party was during the present exchange time, SIL had placed number on each present kids brought over and had each of them to pick their lucky number from a box. I was almost drown by the kids while distributing the presents, gotta keep asking them to sit still ;) Once all the kids had their present on hand, I called out 'u may open your present now!', all the kids gave a loud cheer & started tearing off the wrapper at the same time! It was so fun to see those happy, excited faces, really priceless!

CNY Cookies Selling

I have been helping mum baking CNY cookies for selling since very young age. Though it was very tiring for 1 month plus, I really enjoyed the moments especially during the weekends, where my brother, SIL, sisters, nephews, nieces, even cousins sometimes joining us for the busy cookies production.

This year, we are pushing our limits a little further, we are selling thru the internet, so here is the web site: www.happinesscookies.blogspot.com Please hop over to have a look and do make a order soonest possible.

(I'm sorry that as of 3rd Jan 2010, I'd removed the link, please refer here.)

Thank you.

Merry Christmas 2009!

Wishing all of u a very merry Christmas!

Of course, not forgetting happy birthday to u too, little girl!

Pre-Birthday Celebration 2 - 2009

Celebrated Dong Zhi day 冬至 at Seremban on Sun, little girl has been looking forward for the day as we'd promised to invite her cousins for her birthday celebration. This year, only 3 cousins able to celebrate her birthday, but she was still happy.

This was the cake I baked for little girl, thanks to SIL & bro for the decoration ideas, it turned out awesome, little girl was smiling from ear to ear after seeing her cake, giving me an approving look.

Another close up of the cake

As for BIL, he made little girl the princess jelly again, as little girl requested it again for this year.

Coffee & Rum Butter Cake

There was a sudden rain this evening, I didn't get to go to pasar malam, but a sudden mood brought me to bake this cake. I modified the basic butter cake recipe from Wendy Kor's Cake Talk in order to get this strong flavorful cake.

Ingredients

(A)

250g butter

200g castor sugar

1/2 tsp salt

(B)

5 eggs

(C)

280g superfine flour

1 tsp baking powder

(D)

50ml warm milk (or 50ml water + 1 tbsp milk powder)

1 tsp instant coffee powder (or 2 tsp instant coffee powder if without coffee paste)

1 tsp coffee paste

2 tbsp rum

(E) - optional

2 - 4 tbsp rum

1. Cream ingredients (A) until light and fluffy
2. Add ingredients (B) one at a time and blend well
3. Sift ingredients (C) then add into (2). Mix til well combined
4. Finally add ingredients (D) and mix well
5. Transfer to 2 loaf pan. Bake at 180 for 40 minutes
6. Brush (E) all over cake once cake cool completely

I love the aroma from this coffee & rum combination, it made the entire kitchen smell so good. Once it was cool, while I was going to brush the rum, little girl came to ask for a small piece, then returned again for a bigger slice, so can u imagine how good it is ;)

Dolphins & Sea Lions Show

Went to the Dolphins & Sea Lions Show at Sunway Pyramid last Wednesday. I remember watching a similar show during the 80's at Old Klang Road, however, it stated as the 1st ever in Malaysia?? The tickets r (with mykad, adult for RM45 and kid for Rm25) on the high side for me (but we went there foc, hehehe...), but it would be priceless to see those happy smiles on the kids' faces.

The tent of the show is rather small, and very hot, I felt the heat right away after stepping into the tent. The pool for the dolphins is small too, pity them for having to stay in for another 2 months. However, little girl gotta excited the moment she walked into the tent, as she able to see the dolphins so near, she didn't complain of the heat or anything at all, ;)

The show head by a male emcee, though he speaks mostly in Malay (cos the show is bring in from Indonesia), but he is quite funny and good in cheering up the audiences. It started off with the sea lions performance ....

Then followed with the dolphins' performance, they r so adorable...

The best part comes after the shows, u able to get a kiss from the dolphin and capture a pic for RM10. Little girl was delighted to touch, cuddle and being kissed by the dolphin though she went near the mammal with the trainer only, cos mummy was busy holding video cam and daddy busy snapping photos ;p

This pink dolphin comes home with little girl after the show, well, she wanna it the moment she eyed on it, it is swimming on little girl's bed most of the time now.

The 1st Fallen Tooth

Remember I mentioned about little girl's wiggling tooth 1 or 2 weeks ago, it has wiggled more and to my surprised, I found a small tooth growing behind this wiggling tooth over the weekend. Most of the elderly advised me to have little girl visit a dentist to help her get rid of the wiggling tooth so that the growing adult tooth won't be blocked.

We brought her to the dentist yesterday, the dentist rubbed some strawberry jelly to her gum (to get it numb), then sprayed some cold stuffs to the cotton (to distract her I presumed), and got the tooth pulled out so fast that little girl didn't even realize! She didn't cry at all!!! Hubby & me were so worried for the entire morning afraid of the crying scene.

We had her tooth washed at home, got it stored in a little container. Slightly b4 bed time, she put the container under her pillow, then went to sleep full of expectation, ;p

The 1st thing she did once she opened her eyes this morning, she quickly pull off the pillow, surprised to find her tooth still remaining, then she saw a RM10 and a letter! A letter from the tooth fairy! Here is the letter, hope u able to read it clearly:

She kept reading the letter again & again, followed with lots of questions:

LG: Mummy, how does tooth fairy know my name?

Me: Well, think she is just like Santa Claus, they know all the children's name.

LG: How did she know I didn't cry?

Me: She is the tooth fairy! She knows everything!

LG: Why didn't she keep the tooth?

Me: May be she want you to keep it yourself.

LG: Why she used the sparkling color pen to write this letter, did she use mine?

Me: May be, I'm not sure with this.

LG: Mummy, she said my tooth was clean and healthy!

Me: Yes, that's why mummy always ask u to brush your teeth properly.

LG: Yeah, she said brushing every day and night.

Me: Yes, day and night, but u brushed at night only, are u going to brush in the morning now?

LG: Yes, I am going to brush now! * Then turning to her dad * Daddy! I wanna put this RM10 into the bank later!

What a nice tooth fairy, not only giving her money, praised her but able to persuade her to brush teeth in the morning (I'd been trying to get her doing it for a very long time), thank you, Tooth Fairy!

Christmas Tree - 2009

We put on our christmas tree at the evening of 1st Dec this year, same old tree with same old balls and lights, with a slightest different:

Little girl is pointing it out to u....

Duck from Littlest pet shop

Little girl is a big fan of littlest pet shop's soft toys lately, she had begged hubby & cried once to get her this littlest pet shop VIP's doggie few months ago:



And when she found some new series at Ikano, she begged hubby again, she chose to have the duck last Mon, but we made her promised to unwrap/play with it only after her birthday or Christmas day, however we let her slept with it with the box on for a nite. She found a best place to hang it on the Christmas tree so that she able to touch and kiss it when she wakes up in the morning.

LG: Mummy, why u said Tweety is a duck?
Me: The label said it is a duck
LG: No, it is not a duck, it is a bird!
Me: It is a duck!
LG: Urrrrr..... Is a bird * showing a angry look *
Me: Ok, ok, ok.... Bird-lah!
LG: Yeah!!!!

Tadika Diyana

Due to safety reason and mutual agreement with hubby, I have yet to mention the name of little girl's pre-school. Since little girl has graduated, I would like to share with u more about the pre-school: Tadika Diyana.

I came across of Tadika Diyana 3 years ago after I did a search on the web. My 1st thot about the pre-school was it must be very expensive. However, after paying it a visit, I fell in love with it immediately, I like the school's environments, having its own hall, canteen, field, playgrounds, computer room, music room, library, day care and of course lots of class rooms.

Mega 2

Little girl was 1st going for the Montessori program, she was in Mega 2, who was taught by Ms Mei Fern (there is an article on Ms Mei Fern here, sorry Mei Fern, I have exposed u, hope u don mind). She is a pretty, soft-spoken and caring teacher. Little girl was fine during the 1st 2 weeks in the class, but started crying after I was late to pick her up 1 day. She cried only when she reached the door of M2, usually Ms Mei Fern would signal to me and scooped her into the class, and of course, little girl would screamed and cried more. It was a very tough time for me, most of the time, I would peeked from far to see her settled or sometimes even rushed to car and cried out loud myself :p silly ya? Little girl was famous as a cry baby since then, she cried every morning for close to 2 month, finally ended after some punishments and praises, phew! Anyway, Thank you, Mei Fern.

Mega 6 (5 years old)

Mega 8 (6 years old)

Then I enrolled little girl to the Mandarin session to get her ready for the Chinese primary school. She was in Mega 6, taught by Ms Lee. Ms Lee is a caring, responsible, and a bit strict, but I really like her teaching methods. Little girl didn't speak Mandarin b4 that, but after 1 month + with Ms Lee, during Chinese New Year, lots of my relative were surprised to see little girl communicating in Mandarin. Ms Lee really build up confident for little girl, not only on verbal communication, in proper written format as well.

Little girl was back to cry baby again at the beginning of the school year, it was only due to a male gym teacher, she felt uneasy with him I presumed. She would cling to Ms Lee, cried and not wanting to go to gym class. But after her gym teacher praised her once for not crying, she stopped the crying drama immediately!

I let little girl continued with Ms Lee after knowing that she'd teach the 6 yrs old this year. Throughout this 2 years, Ms Lee has not only taught little girl, she corrected me of some Chinese words too though I am one formally from Chinese school. Little girl speaks confidently in Mandarin now and able to complete her school works with less supervisions. I really appreciate all the efforts and times u put, Ms Lee, 謝謝你，李老師!

Left - school hall

Right - canteen

Center - field

Little girl had her gym, exercises class, school assembly, and some play times with her mates in the hall. At the beginning of this year, she asked to send her to the modern dance class which was conducted in this hall too. I am glad that I'd sent her as I was so happy & proud of her during her dance performance at the school concert.

We had our bento time at the canteen every Thursday of last year and every Monday & Thursday this year. Usually after sending little girl to her additional classes (kids yoga for Mon & modern dance for Thu), I would wait for her at the canteen, either reading some manga or playing the Nintendo DS. Of course, little girl enjoyed her snacks prepared by school (except the red bean soup) too, everyday after school, she'd inform me on the number of bowls she enjoyed, without fail, :)

We had some fun moments too at the field, during Family days and School Open days. Little girl loves running around with her mates after school.

Playground

This playground may look small, but it holds lots and lots of fun moments for little girl. She played with her best mates HS and friends from other classes, everyday (except Fri, as she need to goto mental arithmetic class) for almost an hour after school, we were usually the last to leave school :p

They liked to play in this little hut next to the playground too.

Remember Nick and Roy, little girl's pet tortoise? They have settled well in the little pond, guess they won't go hungry as they r love by all the kids.

Last but not least, I would like to thanks Mrs Yee (administrative) and Ms Lau (MD) for listening to us (Rachel & me), to reconsider on holding this year's school concert, though it was delays, it means a zillion to us seeing our kids performed on stage. Thank you!

And to Mr Ng (the principle), though has seldom speak to u, u did a great job on leading all the teachers and act as the fierce teacher most of the time. Used ur name to threaten little girl a few times, it worked all the time! Thank you!

Well, I'm sure, not only will little girl miss her pre-school, I'll definitely miss my time there too...