Fruit Puffs & Blueberry Muffins

I try to bake every month. I love trying new recipes. I get bored baking the same thing over and over again - with the exception of chocolate chip muffins (because I love chocolate & it is easy to make).


Fruit Puff
I ordered fruit puff in Winter Warmers last month and I it looked easy to bake and I get to save RM9.90.
So I baked fruit puff for my family for breakfast last week.

Fruit Puffs - 10 Jan 2010

In case you are wondering, no, I did not make the puff pastry from scratch. I used store-bought puff pastry to save time. For ingredients, I used sliced apples, pears and canned sliced peaches.
It was delicious while it is hot.


Blueberry Muffins

And just yesterday, I baked again. I baked banana muffins AND blueberry muffins. Since, I had featured banana muffins in my blog last year, I am not going to include any photos here.

Blueberry Muffins - 18 Jan 2010

I saw some blueberries from Chille selling in Cold Storage for RM9.90 for 120g, so I grabbed a box.
I found the blueberries not flavourful enough and also my recipe did not call for any butter and thus my blueberry muffins were not ooomphh enough for me. Edible, yes. But not that nice compared to other muffins I made.
Ah yee loves it though, saying that it is not too sweet.

Asking Permission To Pee

No, I am not in school anymore. Nor am I in the prison. So why do I need to ask permission to pee?

"Dad, can you please help to carry Shern for just awhile while I go pee?"
"Min, can you please keep your eyes on Shern while I go pee for a minute?"

Yes, I need to ask permission to pee because of Boss Shern. :)

Avatar

pic: bigchicosmovieblog.com

***Avatar is the story of an ex-Marine who finds himself thrust into hostilities on an alien planet filled with exotic life forms. As an Avatar, a human mind in an alien body, he finds himself torn between two worlds, in a desperate fight for his own survival and that of the indigenous people*** (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/avatar/)

My review: I know. I am probably the last person who watch Avatar. Anyway, it is absolutely one of the best movie I've ever seen. Ok, maybe because of the movie-deprived state I am in (my 1st movie after Shern was born), I may be exaggerating but somehow I simply love this movie.
What makes it even nicer is that I watched it free thanks to GSC Birthday Ticket treat. I find this movie fast-paced and with a good storyline. (I hate movies with no storyline and leave you hanging at the end of it not knowing what the hell you just watched).
Furthermore, this movie does not even need super-famous actors (I don't know who Sam Worthington is. Ok, I guess I'm a noob) and yet it can be so nice.
This movie is out of the ordinary and makes you fantasize of a beautiful world and that there are still nice people out there.

This movie just made me a fan of James Cameron. I love Titanic AND Avatar. :)

Rating: 9.5/10

My Birthday Month

pic from: diegoonadime.com

I've always loved January simply because it is my birthday month. As my birthday is at the end of the month, I've always enjoyed waiting for my birthday to arrive. And I start reminding darlin' to treat me good because it is my birthday month! :)

When I was small, I loved receiving presents from relatives and friends. Friends in school would give me little presents bought from our school bookshop - erasers, pencils, notepads. I loved those little treasures.

Now that I'm a big girl now, these presents became less and less. I'm lucky if I receive more than 5 birthday presents in a year.

Thus far, I've received my birthday present from GSC - free movie ticket which I redeemed for Avatar movie. My first ever visit to the cinema since the arrival of Shern.

My Birthday Wish List:

• Book Vouchers (Borders, MPH, Popular)
• Gold Anklet (but gold is expensive nowadays...so not worth it)
  
• A Holiday Getaway to some luxurious hotel
  

If darlin' reads my blog, he will know that these are the presents I would love to have. But I doubt he reads my blog.
And actually, it's so NOT romantic for him to give me book vouchers...bah!

Food and Tea Restaurant @ Gurney Plaza

Went to Gurney Plaza yesterday with darlin' and saw below new restaurant called Food and Tea Restaurant at Gurney Plaza (used to be Hangten outlet).

We went there at around 2pm but it was quite empty. We saw the value set meal ranging from Rm6.90+ to Rm12.90 and decided to try it out.

We ordered 2 sets of RM10.90 with each set consists of a soup + main meal + hot/cold 'yin yong' drink + herbal jelly

Main meal: black pepper beef baked pasta & fried rice with honey spare ribs

our herbal jelly and cold 'yin yong' with choice of corn soup with crab meat and creamy mushroom soup

Portion was quite reasonable. There were many big pieces of beef for our baked pasta. The honey spare ribs were a bit too sweet and too salty for me.

The mushroom soup is nice. But I don't like the corn soup. Too sweet.
I like the 'yin yong' drink. The glasses are big enough to quench my thirst.

Overall taste is OK. I give it 3/5 stars.

Although we only ordered 2 value set meals, our order list comes out to be so long.

What amazed us is how empty it is. There were like 2-3 occupied tables and so many empty tables. Their restaurant space is so big.

There were also so many workers there. Easily 8-10 workers that we saw and all were just hanging aroung chatting because there were nothing to do.

Then you see some of them started wiping the mirror. Some were climbing up the seats and started cleaning the deco there.

Anyway, the restaurant is still quite new. Heard that it only open since end of last year.

But I think they need to do more marketing because their restaurant is quite easy to miss as it is at the corner of Gurney Plaza.

And if people don't start flogging in, I wonder how long can they last. The last I heard, Gurney Plaza's space rental is very high and they are definitely taking up huge floor space.

Shern Loves Mashed Avocado

Shern loves avocado's smooth and creamy consistency and delicate flavour. And what's more, it is a food with an impressive list of health-giving properties.

• contains health-promoting monounsaturated fats needed by babies' body for the healthy development of his brain and central nervous system.
• excellent source of pottasium (60% more of this valuable mineral than bananas).
• Lutein. A natural anti-oxidant, lutein is responsible for promoting healthy skin and eyes.
• Folate
• Fibre
• Vitamin E
• Iron
• Copper
• Beta-Carotene
• Vitamin K
• B Vitamins
• Not only is avocado baby food highly nutritious in its own right, avocado actually helps your baby's body more efficiently absorb the nutrients from OTHER fruits and veggies he eats them with!

Avocado is an ideal food to take when you're travelling with a baby. An unpeeled avocado doesn't need to be kept cool and you can just slice it and serve it to your baby when you're out and about. You don't even need a bowl!

Shern likes his avocado with pureed fruits. It is yummy. I like it myself too. Below recipe is what I usually make for him.


Creamy Fruit Mashed
1 small apple or pear, peeled, cored, diced
1/3 avocado

Steam the prepared apple or pear until the fruit is tender.
Transfer the apple or pear to a food processor and puree until smooth.
Mash the avocado with the fruit puree and serve.


Shern loves it.

You can mix avocado with mashed banana, or baked potato or even steamed sweet potato.
One thing though, it is kinda expensive to buy avocados here in Penang.

Source: http://www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/

One. Two. Three. Four.

One of Shern is definitely enough for me.

Two of Shern is gonna be a handful.
Double the trouble.

Three of Shern is gonna bring me a headache.
Can't bear to imagine it.

Four of Shern?
I totally SURRENDER!!!!



Thanks goodness it is only ONE Yiu-Shern now at the moment ;D