Seasons of life....

Coffee Marble Cheesecake

2009-02-17T04:11:00.000-08:00

Mum sent me a very nice book and I love it very much. The first cake that I baked from this book is the Coffee Marble Cheesecake. I have baked at least 3 of these in the past 2 weeks; one for ourself, one for supper after bible study lesson and another one for tea after church service. My my.... you should have seen how this is being snap off in just a blink of an eye. Truly glad that my dear friends enjoyed it so much. I didn't use sponge base as recommended by the recipe. I used digestive cookie crumbs instead. I still have a lot of request for this cake and even a dear friend who asked me to teach her how to bake this cake. Am going to bake it again soon :)

Recipe is taken from The Ultimate Indulgence Cheesecake by Chef Alan Kok

Mocha loaf

2009-02-15T23:57:00.000-08:00

We all love this bread. I like it with cheese spread while Kenny likes his with hazelnut spread. The texture is a bit cake like, very soft and yet bouncy, moist and delicious. This recipe too is a keeper.

Ingredients:

300 ml water
1 tbsp oil
450 g bread flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder - sifted
2 tbsp instant coffee granules
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp light brown soft sugar
1 tbsp chocolate hazelnut spread
2 tbsp skimmed milk powder
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast

Settings used:

Mode 1 (or basic white bread)
2lb loaf size
light crust

Recipe is taken from The Complete Bread Machine Cookbook by Sonia Allison

Milk Loaf

2009-02-09T10:23:00.000-08:00

Been very involved in bread making lately. Have been having great experimental time with our new bread maker. This milk loaf is soft and spongy at the same time. Really good recipe. Just put everything into the baking pan and after 3 hours, a beautiful nice and soft bread comes out!

Ingredients:

300 ml skimmed milk
1 tbsp melted butter
450 g superior white bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp caster sugar
1 1/4 tsp fast action yeast

Settings used:

Mode 1 (or for Basic white bread)
2 lb loaf size
medium crust

Recipe is taken from The Complete Bread Machine Cookbook by Sonia Allison

Maki and sushi

2009-01-17T09:39:00.000-08:00

Been reading up a lot about Japanese food. Oh, how we love them! This is my first attempt to make maki and sushi. Plenty of room for improvement. Supermarkets and Asian Food Stores here are well stocked with ingredients for Japanese food and they are quite affordable too. We ate them with pickled ginger, soy sauce and wasabi. Speaking of wasabi, I read that wasabi is very expensive and that most Japanese food outlets use Horseradish (plus colouring) as a substitute. I then checked the wasabi powder that I bought. True enough, stated on the ingredients are 50% horseradish and only 10% wasabi. As a matter of fact, I even try to find a pure wasabi paste here but so far, I have not been able to find one. But, they taste and gives you the same wasabi sensation. I was just thinking, I might as well just use horseradish paste and mustard instead next time.

Cucumber, crab stick, mayo tuna and thinly sliced smoked sausage

Smoked salmon sushi

Sweet Dough

2009-01-09T22:25:00.000-08:00

I have been spending some time reading up about bread and bun baking. As usual, I studied through methods and recipes that I found and then compare them. There are quite a lot of sites that guides you into baking such as Bread Baking 101 and How To-s. These sites are truly great especially for a beginner like me. Thus, after putting considerable amount of time into studying it, I finally put them into practise. I used a basic sweet dough recipe. Very good recipe, easy to make and very tasty.

This recipe is a keeper. I managed to make 14 buns and a loaf of bread out of it. I prepared two fillings earlier.

Freshly baked buns on cooling rack.

Sardine Bun

Mushroom Chicken Bun

My first loaf of homemade bread.

Eee (in Hokkien/Teochew)

2009-01-05T22:15:00.000-08:00

The is a super duper late post; obviously! Anyway, better late than never. Just to keep mum up to date what we have been eating here and also not forgetting our chinese traditions. Speaking of chinese traditions, we have been considering about switching to chinese church. Should we?

Blogging up to date have been something that I have not been able to achieve. What a lousy blogger I am. Anyway, blogging really is not a `top' priority in my list of `to-do' at all; not when you have a toddler who demands 110% attention and a husband who loves to eat! ha...ha...

Okonomiyaki

2009-01-05T21:57:00.000-08:00

A new dish that I learnt from watching YouTube ! Yup, internet truly is very informative. Okonomiyaki (Japanese assorted pancake) is actually quite like my mum's hakka pancake. But the preparation was extremely tedious as there were so many ingredients to chop and prepare. Not complaining really, as I find searching around for the ingredients very fun and oh... all the chopping is truly therapeutic! However, I was not able to find all the required ingredients but I try to make it as closely as I can. I would say my Okonomiyaki is about 90% to the one in the in the video that I watched and learned from. I like this dish a lot as it is everything in one; lots of protein and fibre.

Steamed Rice in Bacon Roll

2008-12-31T06:53:00.000-08:00

I have no idea how to name this dish...*frown*. I have some bacon stashed in the fridge and not knowing what to do; I came out with this. I squeezed some steamed rice into oval shape and use the bacon to roll up the rice with a stick of carrot in it. Then, I placed it in a medium size pyrex and lightly glazed it with some honey. I then baked it in the oven using Gas Mark 4 for 30 minutes. Tadaaaaa....

It went well with mustard. Kenny called it English Sushi.

Homemade Cinnamon Bun

2008-12-29T09:48:00.000-08:00

This took me much longer that I anticipated. But it was worth it. I baked the cinnamon buns after watching it on YouTube. The smell of freshly baked cinnamon buns was truly awesome. I added some raisins and chocolate chips into these buns.

Seafood Fusilli with Blue Cheese

2008-12-23T22:33:00.000-08:00

Cooked some fusilli and tossed it with some blue cheese for dinner. Just trying to come out with something different for dinner nowadays. Can be quite fun. I used:

1 can of tuna
1 cup of cooked, peeled prawn
1/2 onion; chopped
175 ml of single cream
a handful of blue cheese
200g of fusilli; cook according to the instructions

Just saute the onion and then add in the tuna and prawn. Lastly, add the cream and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Then, toss the cooked fusilli and blue cheese lastly. There are a lot of cheese here for me to work with.

Mushroom Chicken Puff

2008-12-22T21:48:00.000-08:00

Puffs.... no wonder they are called as such.... cause they puffed up when you bake them. Glorious, glorious puffs.... both my boys like them very much. Fresh button mushrooms are readily available here and they can be easily manipulated into many dishes; pasta, stir-fry, etc.

Vapour Fan

2008-12-14T01:46:00.000-08:00

Since Dan Dan recovered from his sicknesses, he has became very demanding. He'll scream and cry and whine in order to get the things he wants or his ways. His routines are no longer there but I was quick enough to recognize that and quickly established a new routine. On top of that I really put in a lot of effort to read up and to try and discipline him. I believe it is important to do that and I praise God that I have been given the time that I really need.

This winter, our noses are stuffed most of the time. Dan Dan is very irritated by his stuff nose and could not sleep well most of the time. We saw the vapour fan quite some time ago in the pharmacy but never pay much attention to it. Friends would always recommend that we put warm vapour with vicks near him but this is quite impossible as Dan Dan will definitely spill them. He loves to play with water and especially when it comes to spilling them all over. Back to the vapour fan. Two weeks ago, Kenny finally bought this and it turned out to be our answered prayer to stop the block nose problem.

We will have the vapour fan switch on whenever he has stuff nose and he'll easily sleep through the night. Even our noses too are cleared. We are loving this a lot!

Loh Mai Kai

2008-12-10T06:05:00.000-08:00

Bought a bag of 5 kg Thai glutinous rice 2 weeks ago. One of the very first recipe that I've tried is `Loh Mai Kai'. I used the recipe from Lily's blog. I tried both method mentioned; the steaming method and also the one that uses microwave. Both methods turn out well.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-09T07:28:00.000-08:00

Curry Fish Head

2008-12-08T09:09:00.000-08:00

A dear friend gave us two salmon fish heads. Cleaned them and cooked curry out of it. The meat is very smooth and delicious. The salmon fish heads were very fleshy and it took us two days to finish. The recipe is taken from Uniquely Singapore. Yes, curry fish head is very popular in Singapore.

Chocolate Cheesecake

2008-12-07T23:11:00.000-08:00

Tried a new recipe last weekend. Yes, chocolate and cheese.... nyummy!! Recipe is taken from Nigella's Website. I didn't have dark chocolate with me so I substituted it with just normal cooking chocolate but reduce the sugar to 1/2 cup instead of 3/4 cup.

It's freezing cold here!!

2008-12-07T12:11:00.000-08:00

It has been so cold. How cold? Well, I guess these pictures below are self-explanatory. Kenny wanted to try and cycle to uni but he had to turn back and walk instead. It was just way too slippery and dangerous. It never snowed so heavily; not since we came here. Some senior friends and locals from here told us that it used to be much much colder 30 years back. They had to waddle through snow- knee high to go to school. Gosh!

Lasagna

2008-12-06T01:06:00.000-08:00

I bought some lasagna sheets months back but never get to use until now. I think with the internet, one can cook any kind of dish they want. The most important ingredient of all would be `time'. I learned how to make lasagna from Videojug.

Still hot in the Pyrex dish

Ready to be eaten!

It's very cheessy.. I must have added too much parmesan into the bechamel sauce. Speaking of parmesan, I have been looking high and low for it on the cheese shelves until Kenny finally figure out that it's Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Cook and bake and cook and......

2008-11-18T08:27:00.000-08:00

I have been doing so much cooking and baking for the past 2 weeks and I hardly can keep track of them. It has been quite nice really to spend time and energy on things that I really enjoy .... to be with my little darling ( also the `old' darling too of course) and to cook and bake. These are a few things that I have managed to snap some photos.

Curry Mee Hoon

Crispy Apam Balik

This recipe is taken from http://lilyng2000.blogspot.com/2007/05/apam-balik.html

Very good recipe. It was still crispy after an hour or so.

Cream Cheese with Choc Swirl Cupcake

Poppy Seed Cake

Looked alright but not tasty :( I miss mum's version of poppy seed cake.

Meat-filled Puff

I have been baking a lot of puffs lately - mostly for my dear to bring to work (mainly for his tea in the afternoon). I could wake up as early as 4 am to do this. I really enjoy the kneading and rolling out the pastry very much. I baked some pies too but forgotten to take any photo. And I fried some curry puffs too - again!

Home Baked Pizza

Dan Dan loves pizzas. I found a simple pizza recipe using bread flour. It turns out really great. The smell of freshly baked pizzas with the mixed herbs is truly divine. I didn't know what `mixed-herbs' is until I did some shopping on herbs. To me, I think this is what makes the pizza so Italian. I then added some new ingredients that I have never used before such as capers, anchovies paste, salami and fresh mushrooms. Kenny likes it a lot and suggested that I topped it with some other toppings next time - he suggested redang! LOL!

Dry Pork Curry

I used my own curry paste. The only difference is this time, I added a cup of yoghurt to thicken the sauce.

Stir Fry Mixed Peppers

When ever I try to add colour into my cooking, I'll use pepper. They are really nice - bursting with colours and antioxidants.

Meat Balls in Creamy Red Pepper Soup

2008-11-03T00:27:00.000-08:00

Made a big batch of meat balls. One portion was used a few days back for tofu soup. This portion was used in the Creamy Red Pepper Soup. Actually, I didn't know what to cook and I happened to have some pepper and cream in the fridge, so I thought ....why not come out with something different. Am thinking of using different colours of peppers ..... that would be next time. I only have red pepper left for this dish.

Ingredients:
1 cup of single cream
1 medium sized pepper - chopped to small pieces
1/2 cup of onion - sliced thinly
1 clove of garlic - minced
1 tbs of steak sauce - I used HP's
salt to taste

Method:
1. Lightly fry the onion and garlic.
2. Add in the chopped pepper. Fry it for a minute or so.
3. Add in the cream, meat balls, followed by steak sauce and salt to taste.

Stick? Ounce? Gas mark?

2008-11-01T02:31:00.000-07:00

It's Saturday morning. Dan Dan woke up first and he took my glasses and gave it to me. OK! I get it; he's telling me to wake up as well. Fine darling, even though I was so reluctant to leave my duvet. I then switched on my laptop straight away to check the weather forecast from BBC's Homepage; sunny intervals. What?! Did I just see the word SUN??? YEAAHHHHH!!!! It has been pouring so much and practically not sunny at all. Then, I went to have a peak at the window to double check. It's still as gloomy as it was the past few dayssss and we are surrounded by thick grey clouds :( Well, I really don't think I am going to let this weather thingy get into my nerves anymore. When Kenny comes back from lab, I'm going to pack us some light snacks and drive the 3 of us out for some shopping. I need to gather some ingredients for my cooking/baking and also I just saw some awesome silicone moulds on the internet that I would very much want to get hold of.

Speaking of cooking and baking, I have been gathering a lot of recipes. The more I read, the more hook I am into it. It has been really generous of these cool bloggers to try out and post the perfected recipes; not forgetting the cool pictures too. I am truly thankful for their generosity in sharing their passion in cooking and baking. As for me, I still have a long list of things to learn. I am really not good at all in taking pictures.

As mentioned earlier, I am currently reading and collecting ideas for my cooking and baking. Along the way, I came across many kinds of measurement. Depending of which country the recipes originates from; they give different measurement . You can just convert them from websites such as these:

www.onlineconversion.com/cooking_butter.htm

www.hintsandthings.co.uk/kitchen/oventemp.htm

Grilled Pork Ribs

2008-10-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

Marinated this overnight. Taste wise - good; but was a bit chewy though. Maybe I need to marinate it with some kind of meat tenderizer? Anyway, we had a good time eating it. Goes well with red wine.

Fried Tang Hoon

2008-10-27T02:00:00.000-07:00

Now, this is an `all-time' favourite. Fried tang hoon with shredded black fungus, dried chinese mushroom, cabbage and chicken strips.

Cotton Cheese Cake

2008-10-22T01:05:00.000-07:00

Baked Kenny one of his favourite cake for his birthday - cotton cheese cake. The last time I baked this must have been at least four years ago. Didn't have much time to put much deco on it but it'll do.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR!!!

Kolo Kiaw/wanton

2008-10-19T00:12:00.000-07:00

This dish reminds me of my nieces and nephews. They love `kiaw' very much and they only like `kiaw' from a special stall in 4 1/2 mile. Mum-in-law will always give them a treat of this special stall's `kiaw'.
I have prepared some `kiaw' for our own consumption here. Wanton skin is easily available though what we paid here for a packet of wanton skin; we can get about 7 packets back at home.

Chicken Curry

2008-10-17T21:49:00.001-07:00

I have cooked pots and pots of curry throughout the pass few months. More than any curry I have cooked in the last few years. There are plenty of spices here due to the big population of Pakistani or Asians generally. Which is of course a blessing as the idea of not having spices in your food really is not very palatable. I observed that ppl here do `spice up' their food but mostly using fresh herbs such as dill, basil, rosemary leaves etc. All these herbs are quite foreign to me as I have so far I only used fresh parsley and coriander (also fondly known as cilantro here). Oh ya, not forgetting my favourite spring onions. Plant them now in the kitchen so that I can have them whenever I need it. Well, I guess I'll read up more about herbs and see if I can try cooking with some of these herbs.

Back in Kuching, I would have just opened a pack of ready made A1 curry paste and never really try making one myself. Or easier still, just ring up mum and tell her that I want to eat curry :) Here, I have been cooking curry with my own homemade curry paste. I'll make a bulk most of the time; portion them out and store the extra ones in the freezer. I have fine tuned this combination and finally come to a mixture that I like. The curry paste ingredients:

4 medium size onions
1 large red onion
2 stalks of lemon grass
5 cm cut of ginger
6 cloves of garlic

3 tbs of ground coriander
3 tsp of garam masala
3 tsp of ground cumin
1 tsp of tumeric
1 tsp of ground paprika
1 tsp of extra hot chili powder
1 star anise
3 cloves
5 green cardamons
salt and sugar to taste

Method:
1. Blend onions, lemon grass, ginger and garlic to paste.
2. Gently fry the blended ingredients in about 3 tbs of oil for about 2 minutes.
3. Add in the rest of the ingredient and keep stirring for another 3 minutes or so.

Walla..... that's my curry paste.

and of course, the main dish....

We love curry very much! Can eat a big plate of rice with it and the best thing is that we'll be warm throughout the evening due to the spiciness and spices increase metabolism.

Cocoa Brownie

2008-10-16T20:08:00.000-07:00

Baked some brownies. This recipe is taken from Lily's blog. Good recipe and very easy to make. Intensely chocolaty and moist.

After one year.....

2008-10-13T19:54:00.000-07:00

Dan Dan has turned one 2 weeks ago. I have always been wondering "when will he be one?!" and before I realised, he's ONE! Time passed so fast. I truly am thankful for my little darling. He has kept me company and life has been so much more colourful with him. Kenny and I hardly spend much on ourselves and we would think through many times if we need to buy anything for ourselves but when it comes to buying things for him, daddy always gives it a `go'.

Over the past one year, a lot of adjustments has been made. Aidan came along at the very right time; God's timing. Throughout the past one year, we have made lot of silly mistakes and we still do as new parents. One thing that I will have to put down as a reminder to myself: "Be careful with any advise given by anyone who doesn't have a child no matter how many nieces, nephews or friends with kids that they have!" It is scary when you are new in this and people of no knowledge about parenting try to shove things down your throat.

Dan Dan has started walking when he was slightly over 11 months. Since then, I have been having a hard time trying to keep up with him. He has bumps here and there; all over. How I wish I can put padding all over the whole room so that he would stop hurting himself. Not that we didn't try. Kenny tried to put those safety sponge on edges of our cupboard but Dan Dan would go and bite them off. Well, I guess it's part of growing up that he has to go through. We now address ourselves mostly as `daddy' and `mummy'.

Some of the adjustments that we have made are like these:

Doing house chores with Aidan tucked in.

This is also part of our idea to train him to sit in a backpack so that when the right time comes, we'll be able to backpack him and go hiking.

His naughtiness....
Yes, he has been rather naughty lately. He'll be busy throwing my stuff into the rubbish bin or digging dirt out of it; peeling the paper wall and stuff them into his mouth; grab hold of water bottle and sprinkle water all over the carpet - he enjoys seeing the water droplet seeping into the carpet! Dad has warned me about this long ago. He is right; I guess he must have seen this coming. Well, I hate to do this but I truly agree with Dad that I have to start to discipline Dan Dan now before it's too late. Dan Dan did try to throw his tantrums a few times but fortunately, we managed to remind ourselves not to entertain or give in to this. More about our task in disciplining him in other post.

and what is left of me.....sigh....sigh......

Looking after an active toddler is extremely energy consuming!

Yes, it is challenging to bring up a kid but it is worth it!

Sponge Marble Cake

2008-10-13T19:41:00.000-07:00

Baked this last Saturday. I have been having terrible insomnia lately. Just don't know why. Anyway, to keep myself occupied, I tried to bake a new cake. It turn out quite well. Very healthy too as it doesn't require butter and just a bit of vegetable oil.

Sponge marble cake

Grilled Chicken Wings

2008-10-13T04:31:00.000-07:00

I grilled a big plate of chicken wings for Kenny. I am sure he misses his drinking buddies and the nights where they just hang around eating chicken wings with `gold water' to wash down. We came so far just to find that we love so much back at home. Many friends here too expressed similar things when we have the chance to sit down and talk. Many of us would try to cook as near to our home cook as much as we can. The last Hari Raya has been truly awesome. Thanks to all the Nasi Dagang, Nasi Kerabu and not forgetting Nasi Tomato. Some friends are attempting to try and grow the bunga telang (clitoria) so that they can cook more authentic Nasi Kerabu Kelantan. Hope that will be successful with that.

Here's the plateful of chicken wings

Backlog

2008-10-02T03:55:00.000-07:00

The following or coming posts are all way behind time.... a lot of backlog due to my laziness to blog.... he...he..... :) Here are some of the `food' that I managed to cook or bake lately.

Sausage Rolls

I have some home made pastry skin in the fridge so I just thawed it and wrapped it with sausages. Very handy pasty skin in hand. Shall make some more to keep.

Baked Char Siew Pau

Wrong timing to bake this. It was raya time and we were busy visiting and stuffing ourselves with lemang, curry and rendang. We tasted one each and the rest goes into the freezer. Now, my freezer is stuffed!

Steam Butternut Squash Kueh

Yes! I tried it with butternut squash instead of pumpkin. A dear friend gave me one so I thought why not. Aidan loves it.

Chicken Puffs

2008-09-19T13:52:00.000-07:00

Made some chicken puffs for dinner. I read about doing this a few years back but could never figure out how to do it until I watched this :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9sE0cisM58

I must have watched this countless times before I tried it out. I would still think there's room for me to improve on. Needs more practice. So, here's my chicken puff.

We have two left which Kenny took for supper and it was still crispy and fluffy after 3 hours! I guessed it must be the air here which is quite dry (very low humidity). Now that I know how to make the pastry, I have lots of fillings that I can put in. Can't wait to try and make some more.

Prawn Sambal

2008-09-15T05:53:00.000-07:00

This is a very special dish to me. I miss its presence in my fridge and finally got down to prepare some. I used to have a plastic container of prawn sambal with me anywhere and everywhere I go. Mum-in-law would generously packed them for me and thus I can always come up with a quick meal whenever I need to. Can just even eat this alone with plain rice. Almost brought one container with me here! Mum sent me some really nice dried shrimp which dad bought from Bintulu. It took me a while to fry this and the process of doing so actually released quite an unpleasant smell. But once it is cooked and crumbly, they are really nice.

Prawn Sambal

The following day, I saw some lady's fingers in the vegetable wholesaler shop and bought some. Lady's finger is known as Okra here. They are relatively shorter and not as slimy as the ones that we have back home. They are quite expensive too ( ₤2.80 per kg; that would be about RM18 per kg). Put my prawn sambal to good use. Stir fry the okra that I bought with it.

Stir fry okra with prawn sambal

Chocolate chips with cream cheese cupcake

2008-09-09T06:19:00.000-07:00

Baked this cupcakes yesterday. They are delicious. The soft textured cake goes well with the fluffy cream cheese filling. Nyum….

Italian Weekend

2008-09-08T07:08:00.001-07:00

Cooked something new last weekend. Gave this Italian pasta a try.

It is called tagliatelle and it is actually kind of `mee poh' look accept it is dried. Bought this about a month ago and have it kept in the cupboard until now. It was a huge package and have the chance to cook different sauces to go with it.

On Saturday, I cooked this: Salmon cream tagliatelle

On Sunday, we had this: Mince chicken cream tagliatelle

We really like this pasta a lot. Back at home, we'll call this noodle instead. Kenny has this theory: that the chinese must have visited Italy long long time ago. He said that Italians have Spaghetti while we have Tomato Mee aka `Keo Chiap Mee' or `Keo Chiap Kueh Tiaw' and some other familiar if not rather similar pasta to chinese cuisine. MMmmm.... he even shared his idea with his Geordie friends...ha...ha....

I still have some tagliatelle left in the cupboard. Maybe ..... we shall try it with turkey next time ;)

Char Siew Pau

2008-08-29T19:43:00.000-07:00

This is absolutely stress busting - making pau! I made the `char siew' two days earlier and kept it in the fridge until I can find time to proceed with the pau making. I prefer to make my own `char siew' as commercial ones are too red for my liking. I don't use any colouring or MSG and they actually look quite red naturally. As this is the trial version, I reduced it to a smaller scale and made enough paus for our dinner.

This is quite tricky. Took me a while to get it right.

Steaming hot char siew paus. I think I need a bigger steamer but it is so difficult to find one here.

Close-up view!

Chinese Dumpling

2008-08-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

Few weeks back, I missed a dumpling making session. We were caught in the rain and had to settle for buffet instead while waiting for the heavy down pour to cease. Again the weather thing.... I just can't help it but I am really sick of the weather here. Sometimes, I think it is so silly to complain about the weather so much but really can't help it. Oh....I HATE the weather here!

I have always wanted to learn how to make dumpling. So, I did some reading from the internet and found some interesting movie clips from youtube that teaches you how to make chinese dumpling. After watching a few times, I finally tried it out.

This took me one whole day to make and it took Kenny less than 10 minutes to finish them. Anyway, was very happy with the result and really worth all the effort. It used to look so complicated.

Card Making

2008-08-22T02:16:00.000-07:00

This post came in 2 weeks late.

Kenny came back one evening and told me that we are to join a card making activity. It was meant to be a fund raising activity for Tanzania. Card making is a very popular hobby here. I would think this hobby suits people with highly skilled hands and creativity. We are okay with fund raising activity but when we (Kenny and I) sat down after our prayer time, we have decided that from now onwards, all our `charity money' will go back to Kuching.

Back to card making...
To start the whole session, Isabel made a sample for us and showed us how to use some of the basic tools. We were really spoiled for choice. She has so much cards/ papers/ stickers/ flowers/ hand made embroderies/ paper punch and scissors with various design and a zillion things ... whatever you can think of ... she has it! A lady asked..."Isabel, do you have anything of elephants? My grandson love elephants!" Now, I was just thinking, how on earth will anyone keep elephant design! Isabel answered straight away "Oh yes, I have it in a bottle some where." Yup, she has a bottle filled with animal designs and they looked kinda button like. Very impressive really. She is really good in guiding us. Very passionate about card making, she is! So, we all happily helped ourselves. As we were doing this, Kenny took care of Aidan and was having some good time chatting away with some friends in the living room while we were busy making our cards in the dining place. I really had a good time, it has been quite a while that I do something different.

That's me busy with my card

Isabel holding Aidan

My card, done after about and hour or so.

Isabel, Thanks!! We have had a wonderful time. Hope you enjoy your holiday in Malaysia!

Take aways....

2008-08-04T05:12:00.000-07:00

We have been receiving a lot of leaflets from so called `take away' eateries/restaurants. Not a week passed by that we didn't receive any. Having a look around, some of this business operates fully on take away and delivery basis. The set up is normally just counter for you to order your food and sometimes there will be long benches or could be just a chair or two for you to sit while you wait for your food. Very minimal service required. Mmmm... do you think this kind of business will take off in our country? Am just wondering?

I tried two new recipes last week.

Meat Samosa

Dhal curry

The recipe requires half cup of yellow split peas (which looked very little). Anyway, I obediently followed the recipe's measurement and it turned out to be one big pot of curry! So be warned; if you want to cook dhal curry, follow the measurement closely otherwise make sure you have a big cooking pot with you.

I also find that dhal curry is a good appetizer. Goes well with rice or bread, good source of protein and very easy to cook.

Live life!

2008-07-29T07:47:00.000-07:00

Guess what?!! I have a 72 year old friend in my aerobics class. Oh my... she is awesome. Really keeps me very motivated to join her and she's ever so bubbly. She does press ups and sit-ups like everyone else and can be better than many too. I should be doing more exercise but I am not....lazy me :) No lah... Dan Dan has kept me so busy that whenever I am free, I'll be either cooking or doing some baking. Last week, I baked two banana cakes; half for ourselves and another 3 halves for a few of my close friends.

It has been so sunny lately and you can really see ppl practically baking themselves under the sun. The parks are filled with ppl and now that it is school holiday, you can see kids running about every corner. Very lively atmosphere.

More food

2008-07-02T01:49:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been ages since I last put in a post. Been reading a lot of `food blogs' and gosh....they are fab. Brilliantly arranged, step by step with gorgeous pictures to follow. Who needs a cookbook nowadays. On top of that, there are many food forums which is very generous in cooking and baking tips. I now call these myProjects as I am determine to experiment as much as I can within this 3 years. Aidan has been quite cooperative and Kenny see to it that Aidan is well taken care off when I am in the kitchen. Here are some of the food that Kenny (my loyal taster) has been consuming:

1. Laksa Sarawak

I have managed to gather all the ingredients that I needed including some `belachan' from Bintulu. I have not cook `Laksa Sarawak' since 2003; I was in Penang then.

2. Grilled Salmon

Lightly salted; braced with Worcestershire Sauce and black pepper. A bit dry though. Maybe I'll try and wrapped it in aluminium foil next time.

3. `Ngo Hiang'

My first time making `ngo hiang'. Used minced chicken instead of pork. Taste quite the same as the butcher here use thigh portion for mince chicken.

4. Mussels Omelette

I can experiment more with mussels. They are quite reasonably priced and comes in frozen packages.

5. Spring Rolls

I was actually contemplating whether I should fry or bake them. Like I said, this is an experiment and thus I tried baking it in very low fire instead. Got the same crunchy effect that I wanted (minus the oil). Quite a healthy dish really; high fibre and low GI. Am thinking of making this in bulk and then freeze them down in batches.

6. Swiss Roll

My latest craze. Was so happy when I successfully make this. Used mix fruit jam. Found a few more recipes for swiss roll and am going to make more of these.

Diarrhoea 2

2008-06-02T02:02:00.000-07:00

Finally, after 14 long days.... we didn't wake up because of Aidan's purging sound. We woke up and felt very glad that this is over. Here's a recap of what had happened.

On the 6th day, we have managed to send his stool sample for a lab test. On the 10th day, the result came back negative - no viral infection. Dan Dan's diarrhoea frequency wasn't getting any less in fact, it was getting worse. The receptionist wanted to put us to the nurse practitioner again but then Kenny insisted for the GP. Finally, she gave in and guess what, there was a slot on that morning for him. The GP suggested for another lab test; this time for bacterial infection. Everything that is being practiced here is so much like what is written in the text book. One thing at a time.... so sick and tired of waiting .... in our mind "Why can't they run all the test in one shot?" Fine, then we sent in some more stool sample and waited. Two days later (12th day), we went back to the clinic and the result for bacterial infection was negative too. Dr. Cookey quickly checked Dan Dan and diagnose him to have secondary lactose intolerance. He believed that Dan Dan could have had an initial viral infection but that normally last for about 3 days and then one of the `side effect' of this is the virus disturbs his intestine causing him to have lactose intolerance. Dr. Cookey prescribed him with a special milk (extensively hydrolysed protein infant formula). It was not easy to find this milk though. Kenny managed to get it from the biggest chemist around in the city centre. After taking this milk for a day or so, his diarrhoea stopped. And since I can't give him my milk now, I guess this is the best time to wean him off.

The past 14 days had been a really tough time for us. We were very worried and Kenny hardly can concentrate in his work. He would just go down to run an experiment or two and then would quickly come home to give me a hand. We just kept going in and out of the clinic and the chemist (pharmacy). We have purchased many `new' items and they are:

₤ 2.45 from Boots

₤ 2.95 from Superdrugs

₤ 3.55 from Lloyds

₤ 7.43 from Boots

Free - requires prescribtion

And of course, not forgetting the tons of diapers and wipes that we had to stock up :(

Mama

2008-05-20T06:08:00.000-07:00

2 days ago....

I woke up rather late this morning as Aidan has not been sleeping well. I love to cuddle him and do that so often as I realised that he is growing very fast. That really reminds me of a dear ex-colleague who used to share with us how much he miss carrying his daughter when she was a baby. Just as I was cuddling him, he suddenly look straight at me and called "Mama". Tears of joy just rolled...

Aidan started calling "daddy" when he was slightly more than 5 months old. Now, he's almost 8 months old. Time flies. I have always wanted to document down all the new syllables that he has come out with but am yet to do so. A friend just shared with me that how she wished she has written down all the funny words her daughters made. She would remember them, tell her husband and they both would have a good laugh. But over the years, they have forgotten it. So, I am determine to put this into practice. I do not want to look back and regret that I didn't pen down those cute noises.

Yesterday.....

Nope, his diarrhoea has not stop. We managed to get an appointment for him with the nurse practitioner but as expected; there's no remedy. Apparently there's some tummy bug circulating around and she said just let him purge and put lots of vaseline on his buttocks to protect his skin. You don't get to have antibiotics here.... not that easy unless they send some samples to the lab and confirm that it is really necessary. Back in Kuching, every little thing comes with antibiotic. Aidan has lost a lot of weight too. His stomach that was once protruding now sinks in and his ribs are visible. His thighs are still chunky but now not as solid as it used to be.

Today...

I have been spending the last four days cleaning, washing, wiping, put creams and push him to drink more water; REPEATEDLY. Siang and I jumped out from bed instantly when we heard him purge. Sigh....sigh.....sigh......

Diarrhoea

2008-05-20T05:30:00.001-07:00

My little boy has diarrhoea!! It was his first time and I feel so helpless. I guess, one of the most daunting role of being a mother is realizing that you are responsible for the health and well-being of your child. You are more than willing to do whatever it takes to live up to this responsibility.

The first thing that came to my mind is that he must have got it from the baby social group that we joined last Friday. Siang straight away suspected rotavirus and urged me to read up on it (that is what happen when you marry a virologist). So, I quickly read up and do whatever I can to monitor him.

Aidan was very cranky on Saturday night. Tossed and turned and waking up countless times at night. I presumed it must be tummy ache but we didn't know then. As usual, we packed up and go to church on Sunday. It started in church....prut...pruttt.....prutt..... prutttttt....... and I thought that was a lot of air that he has released until the smell came along. I quickly cleaned him and then went home after the service was over.

Back at home, Aidan started vomitting after I fed him. We have never seen him vommited like this and Siang was just as panicked as I was. All the milk just churnned out like a fountain. Then he quickly said to Aidan, "It's ok, we'll clean you up". Those words were really a great relief. So, there we went, bathed Aidan, wiped, cleaned and scrubbed the carpet. Then, I gave him some warm water which he drank and finished the whole bottle. As I was about to burp him, he vomitted out all the water and now I double panicked. Shouted for Siang and he came rushing to the living room. Once again, we calmed down and cleaned Aidan all over. The cleaning seems endless and that that was how we spent our Sunday afternoon.

What have I been cooking/baking?

2008-04-23T05:04:00.000-07:00

I love to cook and bake very very much and Kenny.... loves to eat of course ;) . When we were back in Kuching, I would spend countless hours looking for recipes (still do) for Chinese New Year and put aside time just to concentrate on baking cakes and cookies. And this I share with my darling mum who has always been super supportive. She would fit me in her busy cooking schedule (as CNY is always the busiest time of the year) so that I can use her baking utensils and oven. Thanks mum!!

For the past 4 1/2 months, I have been doing a lot of experimenting here. Now, my lab is my kitchen. A few food that I have managed to capture:

Fried curry puffs

Wanton in rice noodle soup

Chocolate chip muffin

Chicken Siew Mai

But above all, our all time favourite on a cold gloomy grey day is mince chicken porridge; cooked with a few slices of ginger and eaten with tau ju.

Now, cooking (don't even think of baking) is getting more and more challenging as Aidan is starting to exercise his new found mobility. I used to put him on his bouncing chair and he would sit there watching me in the kitchen. Like this

Now, he rolls himself off the bouncing chair and start grabbing anything that he could reach. Two days ago, I tried to put him on the bouncing chair; hoping that he would sit still while I wash and cut some pak choi and guess what, in just a matter of less than 2 minutes, I found him on the floor and licking the floor happily. So, I guess I'll have to forget the idea of trying to cook while he is awake for the moment.

Our Activities

2008-04-14T13:25:00.000-07:00

Have been keeping Aidan and myself occupied with free courses at the Nunsmoore Centre. We have completed:

1. Baby Massage Course (30.01.08 to 05.03.08)

A reference book that was given to us at the end of the course

One of our session

We were given a bottle of cold pressed sunflower oil to massage our babies. Aidan really benefit a lot from this course. After we complete each session, he would sleep very soundly; sometimes he would fall asleep halfway before we finish. The one that I find most useful is the tummy massage.

2. Sing and Sign Course (05.03.08 to 02.04.08)

There are many more courses to come :) It is really great that we are here at this time that Aidan is still so little/young as the local authority has pump in lots and lots of money for early childhood development programs.

As for me, going to these courses is a good way for me to make new friends and also see other baby’s progress. One thing that I learned from my friends here is the way they describe their babies and how much they look forward to enjoy their babies. Now that I have three years here; I am really really going to enjoy my baby too! On top of that, we share our ups and downs and in many circumstances it helps to troubleshoot certain problems such as `how to get our baby into a routine’, what to do when our baby cry a lot until we are out of our wits and of course we are in the group of people whose hair lose in bunches, etc..

On top of these activities with Aidan, I have joined some other activities such as aerobics and circuit training. My health has improve a lot (now 99% recovery from C-section) and also as the sun shines longer (longer day light), we would go out and have more power walk with Aidan in the pram of course. Am planning to take up pilates and boxercise too (if time permits).

Six Months

2008-04-01T14:44:00.000-07:00

Today, Aidan is six months old. Have wanted to start a blog earlier but wanted to choose a special date for it. Well, time flies.... have grown very attach to him and love him dearly.

'I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.'

Psalm 139:14

This verse has been in my mind since last Sunday after Rev Jill preached. Also want to dedicate this special first blog of mine to praise God for he truly is a faithful God.