Shern and his Floats

Since Shern is 16 months old and was always finding ways not to be confined in his crabby float, I brought out the Floaties hand floats. And to be safer and to make me feel more at ease, I went to buy him the Ogival ring float as well - to secure my super active toddler.

The Ogival ring float is the smallest I could find. The rest are all for bigger kids with a much bigger ring. However, this Ogival ring float is still too big for my little Shern.

So instead of stopping on Shern's waist, it goes all the way up to his armpits. Wearing both the arm floats and the ring floats, Shern looks so cute. He is all padded up with floats! Haha.

I love this photo. He is like super adorable here!

11 October 2010

Shern could not stay upright. I should say he do not know how to stay upright yet. His backside kept on floating up and he could not control his hands well as he is not used to wearing arm floats.

He does better just swimming around. But at times, his head got too low when he rested his chin on the ring float and water could go into his mouth.

Ain't he the cutie-bear? Hehehe

After awhile, I took the ring floats out and let him play and splash about in the baby pool, with his toys. He enjoyed just walking about the pool.

A few times he tried pulling out the arm floats, but since he did not succeed in doing so, he just continued wearing it. I am glad he did not make a fuss about it.

Once awhile, Shern would come to me or his daddy, hugging us. :)

Shern playing with his toys and all. Well, Shern always has a great time in the pool. This is just one of his happy swimming pool session! :)

Photographer: Tan Shu-Min ;)

The Baked Brownie

The Baked Brownie - 9 October 2010

This is supposed to be the famed The Baked Brownie loved by Oprah and America's Test Kitchens. Wow...two big names loving it and this piqued my curiosity. Of course I want to have a try baking it too, especially since I love chocolates. Got the recipe from BrownEyedBaker's blog.

The ingredient list calls for 11 oz of chocolates! A whopping 11 ounces!

After melting the chocolate on a heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering fire, sugars are added into it with the heat off.

Then adding of eggs to the chocolate mixture.

Lastly, the flour mixture is mixed into the chocolate mixture.

The batter is then poured into a baking pan covered with aluminum foil.

This brownie is not supposed to be cakey, therefore there is no calling for any leavening agents. Thus, no baking powder nor baking soda. And also I like that some coffee powder is added into it, giving the brownie a nice chocolate-y coffee aroma.

Surprisingly, the height is still there although no leavening agents is being used. Maybe due to the large amount of chocolates used, plus additional flour and eggs which makes a bigger batter.

I think there is no need to tell you that this is a dense and rich brownie. Not cakey, but dense and rich. How could it not be when this recipe consists of 11 whopping oz of chocolates, cocoa powder and 5 eggs. All these spells RICH! Chocolate-y rich!
Therefore this is definitely another brownie strictly for chocolate lovers!

I think this brownie lived up to its fame. It is indeed delicious.
It has a thin layer of crispy crust and the inside is moist and fudgy - the way I love it!

Recipe: The Baked Brownie (copied from The Brown Eyed Baker's blog)

Yield: 24 brownies

Prep Time: 30 minutes | Bake Time : 30 minutes

1¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons dark unsweetened cocoa powder - (as usual, I use Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder)
11 ounces dark chocolate, coarsely chopped - (I used a mixture of couveture dark choc & Van Houten's baking choc)
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1 ½ cups granulated sugar - (I reduced it to 1 cup)
½ cup packed light brown sugar
5 eggs, at room temperature (I used medium-sized eggs)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9×13-inch glass or light-colored baking pan. Line the pan with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and cocoa powder together.

3. Put the chocolate, butter and instant espresso powder in a large bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water and add the sugars. Whisk until completely combined, then remove the bowl from the pan. The mixture should be room temperature.

4. Add 3 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Add the remaining eggs and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not overbeat the batter at this stage or your brownies will be cakey.

5. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture. Using a rubber spatula (not a whisk), fold the flour mixture into the chocolate until just a bit of the flour mixture is visible.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Let the brownies cool completely, then lift them out of the pan using the parchment paper. Cut into squares and serve.

7. Store at room temperature in an airtight container or wrap with plastic wrap for up to 3 days.

What A Great Place To Go!

This afternoon, hubby & I took Shern to a great place.
Shern had a great time there...

...cooking

...and being a chef

...being a basketball player

...being a babysitter

...and playing with his favourite toy cars

So where is this place?
It is the i-Play Toy Library in the Penang Children's Library.

What I like about this place is that it is:

• child-friendly
  
• air-conditioned
• spacious
• clean
• very new and well-kept toys
• a large variety of educational toys

They have many sections in Toy Library. There are many buckets that have many, many toys in it. From the usual blocks to some haven't-seen-before toys.
There are books and little tables and chairs, pram, dolls, soft toys and a basketball hoop.

Big wooden toys such a toy kitchen equipped with toy food (pizza, carrots, cake, etc), a refrigerator and even a sink. They even have a Mixer. Hahaha.

This is another section with the glass cupboard full of board games. And look at the costumes for children to play dress up and the big stereo speakers with a collection of CDs.

Well, hubby & I are both members of the adult Penang library. I saw the Children Library the last time we went, knowing that we will be bringing Shern there when he is older. When I saw the i-Play Toy Library section, I immediately know Shern will fall in love with the place. And I was right! I think Shern loves it there more than his own house! hehe.

All you need to do is to bring your child there and register your child with a MyKid and pay RM12/year.

Shern had so much fun there and of course he cried when I took him home! We'll definitely be going there again next week.

photo source: http://www.penang-traveltips.com/penang-public-library.htm

Penang Children Library (Georgetown)

11, Jalan Scotland
10450 Penang
Tel: 04-2287010

Email: kkanak@penanglib.gov.my

Opening Hours:
Wednesdays to Fridays 2pm-5.30pm
Saturdays and Sundays 10am to 5.30pm (Lunch break 1pm-2.30pm)
Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays as well as Public Holidays

Shern Belly Dancing

Nah. He is not doing belly dancing. He is wearing Min-yee's belly dancing belt. We find him super-cute. Hehe. He looks like a monk doing belly dancing. :P

He loves it. He cried whenever we took it away from him. Awwww...

Waffles of Insane Greatness

Waffles - 5 Oct 2010

I saw this 'Waffles of Insane Greatness' being titled in one of the post in Julie's blog, and was intrigued by the title, so I looked at the recipe.
This recipe is simple, with no beating of egg whites or things like that. And also it calls for corn flour to be added into the batter, which I find interesting.

And I recently bought a Kenwood waffle maker and this was a chance to use it. I followed the recipe to make the waffle batter the poured it into the maker.
It yields 5 crispy and fluffy waffles. Crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

I cut some fresh strawberries and kiwi fruits to add to my plate of waffles.

Drizzled some honey on it.

And lastly topped it with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. And this was my breakfast.

This is hubby's plate.

One thing though. My Kenwood waffle maker takes so slow to make 2 waffles. Almost 15 minutes waiting time.
If I am to make waffles for my whole family of 7 people including Shern, it would take me 1 hour and 45 minutes assuming that each person takes 2 pieces.
Aiks...forget it! I am not making waffles for the whole family. (Min...u read this? :P)

Recipe: Waffles of Insane Greatness (copied directly from Julie's blog)

Adapted from Food Network by way of Orangette.

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk (I made my own. Add 1 tbsp of apple cider to 1 cup of milk)
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the milk, oil, egg and vanilla and mix well. Let the batter sit for 30 minutes.

Preheat a waffle iron but don’t spray it with nonstick spray; the oil in the batter will allow the waffle to release easily. Cook them according to the waffle maker’s directions, and serve warm. Makes about 6 waffles. (I got 5 out of it)

Shern's 7th Hair Cut

Yes, my boy has cut his hair seven times since birth, if I counted correctly.
It is not that I do not want to let his hair grow. It is just that his hair is so stiff and hard that when it grows, it grows up, all the way standing up!

I'd tried letting it grew longer and the result was still the same. Standing up!
Even when he was a few months old, his hair was already so stubborn. Look at his hair 1 year ago!

week 18

So now we cut his hair every two months or so, when his hairs near his ears grew so long that it poke his ears and he kept using his hands trying to keep them away.

So how does Shern looks like now? Hehe....back to botak again.
And thinner, and more active than ever!

5 Oct 2010

Look at the last photo. Shern was climbing up his bouncer and wanted to bounce himself in it standing up. He can't even walk properly and he now wants to bounce himself in it. He showed me his cheeky smile before doing it because he knows that this act is forbidden.
Arrghh....what a naughty and active toddler he is!

Anyway, Shern was screaming the whole hair saloon down while the lady was shaving his head. He was terrified of her and was even more terrified of the loud hair dryer sound nearby.

The moment we stepped out of the saloon, he stopped crying.
I am now the one who is scared whenever it is Shern's hair cutting time.
Thank goodness the next one is about two months away!

Salmon Sashimi @ Azuma, QBM - My Favourite Japanese Restaurant

I'd always been a fan of Azuma @ Queensbay Mall since I tasted their rice dishes. I like their beef rice (RM8), garlic rice(RM5) and even their mushroom(RM6) rice. Even they are mini, they are compact and full of fragrant. At only RM5-8, they are pretty affordable I think.

But the moment I bit into these fat, juicy salmon sashimi, I was sold. There and then, I knew they've got me!

I went there yesterday with hubby and I saw that Salmon was their October month offer. Their meal set of pan-fried salmon did not look as appetizing as their raw salmon.
So I ordered one plate of those Salmon Sashimi at only RM12.90 (normal price is RM20).

My actual order of Azuma's Raw Salmon - 4 Oct 2010

There was actually 5 pieces, but I ate one slice of it before I took photos of them. ;P
And that bite was so mesmerizing that I could not stop raving to hubby how nice and fresh and juicy they are. (Thank goodness hubby is not a sake fan. So I don't have to share it with him! hehe)

Aren't they fresh and juicy and FAT?

So now I officially announce Azuma being my favourite Japanese restaurant. After all, I only go to Japanese restaurants for their sashimi and sake is my favourite.

Slurrp...I feel like going back there again tomorrow!