Year of the Rabbit

The Chinese New Year will arrive in less than 3 weeks time. Stalls have put up their CNY ware, some even on Boxing Day. I like the way Chinese like to decorate their place in red (auspicious colour). This was more a recent liking, when I was younger thought it was so 'lao tu' (old-fashioned). Guess age changes our perspective on the things around us. Or I have joined the rank of an auntie. Oops.

Planned to make some CNY goodies. Lots of plans, but usually little time. Here's what I did last week:

Fried crabstick crisps

This was surprising good and addictive and it is such a no-brainer to prepare. Just shred the crabsticks and fry them in oil.

Porkfloss Rolls

I make these every year. My hubby's favourite. It is quite a nice snack, can't stop at two. But it is back straining exercise making the rolls by hand. I'll use frozen popiah (springroll) skins, cut them in four quarters, and wrap porkfloss in them. Then deep-fry. Pardon the non-uniform shape of each roll, after all these years, still have not mastered the technique of making them all look the same. Despite the appearance, these were quickly snapped up, and my hubby offered to buy more porkfloss (hint hint).

Sugared Crisps

Also quite a easy item to make. Just deepfry the popiah skin and sprinkle sugar over them.

Bubbles and Buttercup did volunteer their help with the making of the sugared crisps, here's Buttercup hard at work:

It was a fun bonding time for the 3 of us that afternoon :)

What a hiatus!

Happy New Year 2011! Time, subconsiously amidst our busy-ness, passes by without our noticing. Ironically, it is only when we stand still and relook back that we alarming realise that it is another year (and my white hair strands coming out) But good things also deserve our notice - my girls have grown (Blossom's height is now at my shoulder).

Didn't realise that it has been such a long while since I last wrote or posted a photo. Lost the passion at some times. Things caught up. Or I was caught up.

Enough of the procrastinating. I have given the blog a new skin and look!

Notwithstanding the above, I have done a few things for my loved ones during the 'hiatus'. Let's rewind the clock :)

Mid-Autumn Festival

Went for a course with my fren L. It taught us how to make the baked mooncake as well as the snowskin one. We had a good time at the course and also during our search for the best mooncake filling that brought us to the east side of the island. I only managed to try the snowskin one at home. I loved the moulds.

Trip to Hong Kong

We went for a short trip over the National Day holiday. The egg tarts were truly delicious!
Christmas

No creative juices flowed when I had to put down what to bring for my Buttercup's Xmas party in the childcare centre. It was a repeat item (from 2008). But I think the kids liked the colours and the cute edible icing figurines.

Last year i did egg-boats for them:

Cookies for my colleagues:
And Gingerbread men done by my 3 girls:

Ad hoc items:

Avocado mousse tart

I think i overbeat the whipping cream, resulting in the specks on the mousse, sigh. But the taste was creamy, a pity the girls didn't like avocado.

Happy Mother's Day!

To all the wonderful mommies out there, Happy Mother's Day! This day does not need flowers, expensive meals or chocolates. Dat is all commercial stuff. Being a mother, those are not the things I yearn for. A simple meal at home or just being in the company of one another is already the most blessed thing. Just want the kids to grow up to be useful people. I love this "job" although I do pull out hairs in the process. Hope they appreciate what i have done... one day :)

Pinnacle@Duxton

Our recent trip to the sky bridge on the 50th floor at the Pinnacle@Duxton. The gals didn't expect a garden to be on top of the building. They were looking for more on-the-ground type. It was a lovely view at the top, esp at night, it was a 360 degree view as we walked round the whole tower. It was a nice feeling to see the panaromic scene of our tiny island, the girls imagined where our home was in the background. They enjoyed the night breeze, gazing at the stars, playing in the playground, and posing for photos (was kicking myself when i realised that my digicamera's battery was flat, could only snap a few with my mobile phone)

For those who are not familiar, The Pinnacle@Duxton is an iconic, unique public housing project that has unique features that sets it apart from other HDB projects (HDB stands for Housing & Development Board, which builds the public housing in Singapore). From their website http://www.pinnacleduxton.com.sg/, it seems that the project is "located at the site where the first two HDB blocks in that area were built, it is the first 50-storey public housing project in Singapore, housing 1,848 apartments in 7 towering blocks.Born out of the first international design competition for public housing, it is also the first in the world with 2 unique skybridges linking the 7 blocks at the 26th and 50th storey. The skybridges create possibly the longest continuous skygardens in the world, offering panoramic views of the city skyline."

Orange Cupcake

My nephew was at my place yesterday afternoon. Thought bake some orange cupcakes for the 4 kids. Had some time between 2-3pm, so quickly whipped them up and put them in the oven.Receipe:
200g self-raising flour
200g butter
200g sugar
1 tbsp freshly orange zest
50ml freshly squeezed orange juice
3 eggs

Cream the butter and sugar till pale. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat. Mix all the flour and zest, juice in. Bake for about 35 min on 170C oven.

Blogging through email

Technology has been moving ahead so fast, at times I am struggling to keep up.  But the younger generation seems to have it all in their stride.  I am trying out posting on my blog via email.  This is the test result J

Icing Room

We passed by Icing Room @ Jurong Point and the gals were so amazed at the icing. This is a really good concept, especially for those who do not want the hassle of preparing the cake with frosting but just want to try their hands being a decorator. We bought the medium-sized cake that was ready frosted with white fresh cream. A few cones of coloured frosting and some sprinkles came with the 'package'. The gals were so eager to add 'colours' to their 'canvas'

Deciding how to decorate... With 3 different minds, I know it is difficult to come to a consensus.

Blossom took charge and told her siblings to make it a "Happy day" cake.

But look at the final 'product'! Aiyo! Colourful indeed... But what is the theme huh? "Mesh of colours"? " Bird's nest rainbow" :P They had a happy day indeed.

My baby is 5!

My little "baby" Buttercup turns five! Time flies, but she will still be the baby of the house.

This was what I did for her 2 celebrations - one at parents-in-law's and another at her childcare centre. Cute little train, filled with goodies in their carriage.

We were browsing through the websites for lovely cakes, and she asked for a train/dino/butterfly. The frosting is buttercream, though I personally like fresh/whipped cream better. Buttercup helped by colouring the frosting with pink, green and blue. Frosting a cake was not as simple as it looks from the videos on the internet. The crumbs seem to get in the way. Was stressed that if the cake did not turn out as expected, I would have to rush to buy an alternative. But I wanted to make it turn out right as the gals' expectations were already there.

Her friends loved the cake, Buttercup was proud, her teacher was inspired. I was pleased with it too! Coz I had a lot of fun making it.

Receipe for frosting:

100g butter

100g shortening

250g icing sugar

3 tablespoons fresh milk

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

colouring

2 in a row

Sometimes it is really true that bad things come together in a row. My Buttercup caught the virus and came down with chickenpox, although she took the vaccine when she was one year old. But thank God, that has come and gone. She went back to school yesterday (and I was able to come back to work). Working from home is pretty disruptive, esp with a young one at home.

Shingles

My Bubbles had been down with shingles since last week. Ordered to stay home for 14 days, coz it is contagious. When I brought her to the hospital to see the doctor that night, we were ushered into the 'empty" tent in the carpark. It had aircon but it was not switched on. The air seemed stale there, was wondering if the tent had not been used for quite a while? Anyway, after 3 days of fever (at times alarmingly high), plus days of headache, tummy pain, vommitting, blisters pain and itch, she looks more or less on the road to recovery. She is now having a cold and cough. On the very bad days, she only wanted me at the bed, rubbing her forehead and tummy all the time.

Poor little gal, to get the virus twice so soon (Shingles is caused bythe same virus as chickenpox, which she had when she was one yr old, when the virus decides to 'erupt' again). Reminds me of the time when she caught Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease twice too.

Tough to be sick. So always count our blessings! Glad she is feeling better now :)