Sunday, January 30, 2011

Shern On My Birthday

Shern was happy on my birthday as well...smiling widely showing us all his teeth. :)

29 January 2011 - Foong Wei Restaurant

And then he got all serious as he sat on a chair. Min-yee put him on a chair and then he sat there quietly with this serious expression on his face. Haha.
29 January 2011 - Straits Quay

Saturday, January 29, 2011

My Best Birthday Ever

I felt like a child on my birthday this year. I felt so pampered by hubby.

It all started a few days back when he took me to buy me an iPhone4. I was like wow...is it for real? I am someone who usually uses the same mobile phone for years and only change it when it is spoiled. My Nokia 6300 has a black patch on its screen but well, it is still functioning. So I was hesitating to buy a new mobile.
And now hubby got me the most trendy mobile!

Then the day I brought back my new iPhone4, my laptop decided to die on me. The screen went flickering on and off every 3 seconds. I got dizzy even when I was transferring my precious photos to a portable hard disk.
So that was how hubby was forced to buy me a new Dell Inspiron. :P
(It's actually not arrived yet)

Then when the clock struck 12 on my birthday, hubby and family surprised me with a mini weird cake cutting celebration.
Look at the photo below and you would understand why I said it was a weird cake. Hubby bought a few assorted slices of Secret Recipe cakes, but they were of different sizes. Some taller and some shorter and when we put them together, they looked kinda funny. And five slices were not enough to form a 'circle'.
Haha. But it is the thoughts that count, right?

I was actually already wearing my PJs and pinning my hair up when they suddenly arrived at my door front to celebrate with me. So I quickly changed and my hair was a mess. But I really love them for coming. And was so surprised hubby organized this, even though it was a messy cake. :)


And hubby also brought me my favourite Famous Amos double chocolate chip with pecan cookies that I refused to buy a week earlier because I wanted to be on diet. Haha.
And Wen bought me a lovely bowl with the prettiest design. I feel like I wanna put everything into it now just so that I can put it on display.

The next morning, hubby gave me another birthday pressie - A Radley bag. I am loving Radley after receiving one for Mother's Day last year.
This is a Radley St. James Tote Handbag in purple.

Then for lunch, hubby took me to Miraku @ G Hotel. I ordered my a Sashimi and Tempura Zen set and Fotomaki, and it was shared by the 2 of us.

Then I posed with my new Radley bag and hubby said I look like a salesgirl trying to sell off my Radley bag. :P

As Wen is in Penang, hubby bought the whole family for dinner @ Foong Wei Restaurant. We ate 'til our stomach bloated. There goes my 'stay slim plan' :P

And when we thought we couldn't eat anymore, hubby told us he bought me a Haagen-Dazs ice cream cake. My favourite Strawberry Cheesecake flavour. And that was what we had for supper.




I really feel so loved.
Hubby who is like the world's worst planner, gave me my best birthday ever. :)

And ohh...I'm loving my iPhone4. :D

HAPPY 29th BIRTHDAY TO ME!

p/s- Just fyi, I blew off my birthday candle twice this year because I had two birthday cakes. And I made two different wishes. :P

Friday, January 21, 2011

Being A Big Boy For Not Crying

Every time whenever I left him with yee-pho in the mornings, Shern would definitely cry if he saw me leave. So I used to sneak out whenever he wasn't looking. I felt bad for sneaking out, but if he saw me leave, he would cry pitifully and yee-pho would have a hard time pacifying him.

I tried saying bye to him before I leave. I did. But he would surely be crying or even screaming whenever I leave. So sneaking out was easier for him and for me. For him, 'no see, no care'.

Then one day, Shern surprised me. I said bye to him and told him 'mummy going to work' and although he protested by shaking his head 'no', he did not make a big fuss when I left. He would whine a little and when I left, he continued watching the TV or playing with his cars.

I tried again the following day. It was another no-tears goodbye. I said bye to him and he tailed me to the door. He saw me leaving and made a whimper, but no tears. I hurried along, as I did not want him to change his mind and cry..

And this works for another few days. I was ecstatic! I could finally say 'bye-bye' and kiss my baby instead of sneaking out.
I don't know what has gotten over him that suddenly he is such a good boy.

I guess he grew up, huh?

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Watching Our E-Session Video Again

I was watching our E-Session Video again, and was falling in love with it all over again! This video was taken in 2007 when we won the Photo and Video Lifestyle Session Contest by Ke Wynn from Whizarts & Kee from Weddingstory.

Although more than 3 years ago I could still remember how stiff we were, how unnatural we were when stood in front of a photographer & a videographer.
But it was really their professionalism that the photos and video turned out great. Great enough for us, that is!

For the e-session photos, for those interested, you can view them here.

For the video, I've embedded it here.

This video was taken in 2007 at Penang Botanical Gardens


I was still the giggly-schoolgirl then. So happy being engaged.
3 years down the road, I'm just an ordinary fat homemaker. Gah!

But I'm still so happy every time I finish watching this video. I'm sure Kee produces more canggih videos nowadays. This video is like ancient technology. Haha.

But because this video has the still-slim me and still-slim hubby being crazily in love, it is priceless to me! ;)

Monday, January 17, 2011

Pineapple Tarts


17 January 2010

This is my maiden attempt in making any Chinese New Year tarts/cookies. Actually, I love eating cookies/tarts, but I am always hesitant to make them. Why? Because they are time-consuming. Not the preparation of the dough/pastry, but the baking time. Thanks to my small oven, I need to stand in front of it for like hours to bake all the batches.

But I really could not resist making these Pineapple Tarts when I saw them in Ju's blog. I just knew I got to do it. And I'm glad I made it.

Just like Ju, I used store-bought pineapple jam. I bought mine from Bonjour and it was a no-brand packet of 1kg. I thought it looked a little wet and sticky but I just grabbed it too. Turned out ok when I rolled it into balls that night.



As for the pastry, I used my favourite SCS unsalted butter. The next morning, I cleared my dry-kitchen top to make space for me to roll my pastry. It was rather tricky working with the dough as it melted quite quickly. But I followed Ju's advice and worked only a little dough at a time. The rest was put back into the fridge cling-wrapped for later use.

And since this was my first time making it, I did not even know how to use the pineapple tart mould. Haha. As you can see, some of them they did not turn out very pretty. But I was impatient to continue so I did not care. Pretty or ugly, onto the tray they go.


Then I transferred the tray into my wet-kitchen which I then glazed them with egg-yolk before topping it with the pre-rolled pineapple jam. .


Don't they look pretty all nicely glazed and topped with the jam? They are them ready to be baked in the oven.




These are really a gem! They are really buttery-melt-in-my-mouth pastry as claimed by Ju. Fantastic! And I'm glad the pineapple jam are not too-sweet either. But I think I rolled the jam a little too big. Next time, I will roll smaller balls! ;)
But no one's complaining so far.




But it was really time consuming churning all these out from the oven. I really need a bigger oven. I made around 100 tarts with it.


Then I packed them into air-tight containers. Some are given to MIL, some to friends, but most of them for my family.
Mum is now complaining that I did not forewarn her that I will be making this. If I did, she would not order it from other people. She said these tasted really delicious! :)





Recipe: Pineapple Tarts (copied directly from The Little Teochew)

Pastry

- 400g plain flour
- 50g corn flour
- 1/4 (heaped) tsp salt
- 280g cold, unsalted butter (do not allow it to soften)
- 3 egg yolks, beaten
- 3 tbsp cold water (or iced water)
- 6 tbsp icing sugar
- 1/2 tsp cognac or pure vanilla extract
- For glaze, mix 1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp water

- store-bought pineapple jam, pre-rolled into balls (I bought mine from Bonjour, 1 kg)


1. Sift the flours, salt and icing sugar.

2. Using the pointed ends of a fork, rub the butter into the flour until it looks like fine bread crumbs. If necessary, use fingertips to continue rubbing lightly the bigger pieces into finer pieces. Basically, just scrape / flake the butter with your forks. You essentially want to coat the butter crumbs in flour. Using forks prevents the cold butter from melting since there is no contact with heat. If you want to rub the butter into the flour using your hands, make sure you use only your fingertips.

3. Beat together egg yolks, cold water and cognac (or vanilla extract). Add it into the butter-flour mixture. Using your finger tips, gently coax all the crumbs into one large dough ball. Do not knead. As long as all the crumbs come together, stop. Chill in the fridge for about 10mins, covered.

4. Roll out to desired thickness (mine was about 8mm thick). Cut out dough using cutter. Arrange neatly onto baking tray, with at least 1.5cm apart. Since this is a very buttery, oily pastry, it would be good to use a small portion at a time. Keep the rest covered in the fridge, otherwise it will ooze oil.

5. Once you have arranged the tart shells on your tray, glaze them (the entire surface, not just the rims).

6. Place the pre-rolled pineapple jam balls onto the centre of each tart shell.

7. Bake at 160 degrees celsius for 20-25 minutes, turning the tray halfway through baking. According to the original recipe, when placing jam onto the pastry, take caution not to smear jam onto the sides as this will easily “burn” and render the sides of the pastry (the flowery design) darker.

~ This recipe yields about 100 tarts.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Everything Seems Ticklish To Shern

He was putting some powder on my face yesterday. And when he did, I made an exaggerated funny expression and Shern was so tickled, he laughed so much. He repeated it a few times with more laughter.

And then when he was about to sleep, he was playing with his walker. He pressed the alphabets and I was imitating the sounds. When he heard me, he was also so tickled by it and laughed as if it was very funny. See below video.



Everything seems so funny to him. Everything seems so ticklish to him. In Shern's life, it is full of laughter. So beautiful to my baby.

Friday, January 14, 2011

2010 Bakes:The Way To A Man's Heart Is Through His Stomach


















2010 Bakes

I baked 58 new recipes in 2010. That's like an average of 5 new bakes in a month. Not bad. Ok, not all are baked goods. Homemade Chocolate Fondue is not. And Blueberry Ripple Yogurt Ice Cream is not either. And some others. But most of them are.

I wrote an entry about my bakes of 2009 with the title The Way To A Man's Heart Is Through His Stomach. Now I am going to write about my 2010 bakes with the same title. The only difference is that in 2009, hubby's waistline grew wider. But in 2010, my waistline is the one growing wider. Arghhhh.

Anyway, I've enjoyed my baking sessions whole of 2010. I've expanded my baking utensils and now have a whole cabinet compartment and a drawer dedicated for baking stuff. And I just got my red baby KitchenAid Stand Mixer not too long ago.

Here is to wishing me for another good year of baking and pray fervently that somehow my waistline don't grow any wider. :)

HAPPY BAKING EVERYONE!

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