Steamed Egg Sponge Cake

I was feeling much better yesterday night and decided to satisfy my itch in baking. However, my bitter memories of my very recent sore-throat, terrible flu and fever last week told me to forget about the oven but instead steam one.


I settled for an easy recipe which requires less butter and something not too sweet and ended up with a modified recipe from Amy Beh. Also, a recipe that uses a small can of condensed milk seemed "healthier" than 250gms of sugar ... well at least that's what I think la.

Ingredients:
125gm butter at room temperature
180gm self-raising flour, sifted twice
3 large eggs
1 small can of condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
a pinch of salt
some food coloring (optional)

Method:

• Grease an 8" round pan.
• Beat butter till light & fluffy.
• Then beat in eggs well, one at a time.
• Add the can of condensed milk, essence & salt. Beat till well mixed.
• (I beat it till it doubles in volume).
• Slowly fold in the flour.
• Divide mixture into 3 equal parts & add coloring to 2 parts.
• Pour batter alternatively into the pan.
• Steam for about 25-30 minutes till done.

Remember to sieve the flour so that the cake will be softer. You can also use Hong Kong flour if you prefer as its finer. And its important to have room temperature butter, else when you beat it, it turns out yucky and not fluffy and light. And oh ya, make sure water is boiling rapidly before you put in your cake to steam okay?

Since lil one was screaming "cake! cake" once he started see me taking out my beater, I decided to make it colourful for his sake. To cheer him up! If it was my choice, a simple cake with some chocolate flavouring marbled in, would be my favourite .. hehehe. Otherwise, this is just as nice when its plain.

Lil one loved it .. cos we "pretended" it was his birthday .. with candles and all .. and he tried blowing the cake after we sang the "birthday song" ... hahaha. Good practice for his upcoming birthday dinner. Guess what cake I ordered for him? The clue is "clue" ... hehehe.


P/S: My apologies for some bad pics ... took via my mobile phone.

Hair cut gone bad ...

Does your kiddo fear haircuts? Mine does! He will scream and wail and yell like as if the hairdresser is going to murder him with her scissors! Serious!

Everytime I take him to have a haircut, I feel so embarassed. Everybody else in the salon would stop and look as if we are "torturing" our kid! Aiyoh so paiseh I tell you.

This round was no different. He wailed and yelled and screamed so much that we really could not keep him in place. I had to "force" him by holding his head with my 2 hands while my mom held his body in place. Still he moved so much .. and ended up with an almost botak spot on his head! Ugly! I would have wanted a shorter look even, but he just wont sit still and cry until all his crocodile tears and yucky stuff flowing out of his nose .. like ... like ... yucks!

And we have to repeat this cycle every 2 months .. headache. Girls so nice .. can keep long hair if she hates the hairdressers .. but boy .. how??

Instant points redemption @ KLCC

While running an errand at KLCC few weeks back, I bumped into Citibank's credit card points redemption counter on the ground floor. I had already had in mind what are the items I wished to redeem from our hard earned points which hubby & I accummulated for so many donkey years!

Sad to say, those items in the mailed out brochure are not available at these "express" redemption counters. Nevertheless, there are similar items in a different brand and a different amount of total points required.

I ended up redeeming 2 items which I think would be useful in my new home. A "Rowenta" tower fan and a "Thermos" portable coffee centre console consisting of a portable flask and 4 stainless steel mugs. I love the mugs. They come in super-cute size!

Coming to think of it, I think redeeming points this way is way better than the conventional way where they get their agent to process the request and then wait for it to arrive, say 2 months later, via ordinary parcel post! At least now, I get to actually see, touch and check the items before I take them home. From my own experience, I am too lazy to send back defective goods which I previously redeemed online. Feel that its a waste of time to drive to the post office or their service centre. I also dislike online shopping. I tend to feel 'cheated" cos pictures just seems so much nicer or prettier than the real thing. It's just me.

Getting better

Lil one seems happy again. He is back to asking for "milk" whenever he is a little hungry or we are late in giving him his usual meals. Last night, he had his milk at 11pm then went to bed. At 2am, he woke up screaming for milk! Then at 4am again he wanted milk! And I could not sleep after the 4am session ... shit.

I am having cold sweat every now and then. Fever is "gone" but its "still there" .. you know what I mean? I think I need to take some traditional chinese medicine instead of those from the clinic. Eerrgggg!!!

Mommie Down. Daddie Out.

Yeah, I'm still down . with flu, sorethroat and fever. But Daddie is out .. yeah, out of town .. having a good time for a week! Aaarrggggghhh!

Lil one has been much better these few days. We are still inserting anemas for him to clear his bowel. Sometimes on alternate days, to see if he can clear his bowels on his own. Laxatives are given on a daily basis to soften his stools.

He still cries and runs about until he "does" it. Although he does not cry as "torturously" as before, it still makes my heart feel achy whenever he needs to "poo". Maybe he does not like the feeling of wanting to poo, or his dislikes the "tummy ache" feeling. I really dont know. Just wished he could communicate with me better.

No long post today. Did not sleep well last night. Breathing with my mouth open. Bye.

Treatment for Retentive Constipation

In a very short span of time and after a crash course from my lil one's new paediatrician, we learnt that the treatment for retentive constipation in toddlers consist of 3 phases.

Phase 1 - immediately empty his bowels
Phase 2 - keep bowel empty, repeatedly
Phase 3 - bowel training

Phase 1 which lil one is under-going now, he has prescribed a series of anemas to make him empty his bowels. This is pretty painful as the stools have been in there for quite a number of days and it has hardened to almost pebble like. The longer this problem has been around, the longer it takes to clear off old stools as they can stored up high in the colon. Therefore may take a week or two or longer, depending on each toddler's history in this issue.

In Phase 2, he has to take in some laxatives to make his stool soft so that he will not feel the pain when he has to clear his bowels. This will make him feel more confident and comfortable of the whole "poo-poo" business. After a week or two (depending again on each toddler's history on this matter), he may be able to poo-poo by himself without having to withhold it for fear of pain.

Phase 3 would be the hardest part as in how to make him understand the importance of clearing his bowel each day and make it a pleasant experience for him. I have thought of making it a fun experience during bath time to encourage him to sit on the potty. We bought a kiddo potty lid to put on top of our adult toilet bowl. I tried it ones and he did not like it previously (before we started this process) so I will have to try it over and over again now. I also bought some colourful writing pens which can be scribbled over tiles and easily cleaned after that for him to have more fun time in the bathroom. I bought it online from here. Other than this, I have to consistently come up with something new cos my lil one gets bored very very easily. Hopefully by then, he has grown up a bit and can communicate with me better (he is learning to say more words now) and thus, this whole process can be a nicer experience.

We have also stepped up in feeding him more fibre. He loves prunes and raisins but just like everything else, he gets bored very very easily. So now we feed him freshly juiced apple juice, dried fruits and apricots in addition to his almost-daily dose of fresh papayas. We took off yoghurt from his daily diet as we were told to reduce on milk-based products like milk, cheese or yoghurt. Poor lil one .. he loves his "ice-cream" .. at least he thinks it is ice-cream ... cos that's what we told him .. hahaha!

We learnt a lesson

Vomits.
Losing weight.
Swollen abdomen.
Pain & bleeding with bowel movements.

This is exactly what is happening to my lil one. I never knew that a simple problem like constipation can lead to a bigger problem. We noticed that he started vomitting again after stopping for a few days. Although his appetite is not back to normal, we thought he was doing ok, but we were so wrong. I am glad to have found a good paediatrician near our home.

Lil one has had constipation problems every now and then. He would normally "poo-poo" everyday but once every few weeks, he will only do it the 3rd day. By that time, its hard as a rock and when he needs to pass out, he seems to be too afraid of the pain. We noticed that when this happens, he would try to hold it back if he could. Otherwise, he would be screaming his head off running up & down until it happened.

Last week was the worse of all the previous happenings. He started vomitting and had fever. We suspected the normal viral fever. But no, it was not.

The doctor told me that all the above are signs of retentive constipation. He has prescribed a series of enemas and laxatives and also recommended us to go through a special program to encourage lil one back to his normal bowel movement behaviours.

We started his medication today and he did his business 5 times! Mom told me he was so tired and worked up that he has now developed a fever, which is expected. Mom gave him paracetamol just now. Hopefully when I see him later today, he will feel much better.

D-Day is coming nearer and nearer...

I felt a sense of excitement rushing inside me last evening. We visited our new home site and it really seems like its ready for handover to the purchasers .. meaning "us" ... real soon! The units (particularly mine!) was nicely painted up in 2 coats of paint and the insides were all washed and cleaned and the air-conditioners were seen installed in the living room already ... yippee!!

So from now on, my renovation ideas, home furnishing and home electrical items shopping plans (especially our LCD TV!!!!) will be on a fast-forward track from now on! But this also signals the beginning of all headaches right? There are so much to think, consider and decide. Then there is always the $$$ issue.

Let's see .. we have the interior design to think of, the home garden to decide on, the kitchen cabinets, yes kitchen cabinets of course .. and from the dining right to the bedrooms, the washyard, etc etc and if budget permits, perhaps even a home-office for hubby. Yeah!

But I still cant figure out it is indeed worth it for me to engage an interior designer to take over the headache from me. As much as I would love to shop and do up the place on my own, I doubt I can have the freedom to go out and check out the latest trends at the various exhibitions in town. Life is just not the same since the lil one came along ...aaarrrrggggg!

But before all this, I need to shop for lil one's birthday gift. I have decided on this perfect item for him. He would love me dearly for it. I am sure he will. I know he will. He'd better!!!!

Mommie & Daddie came tumbling after ...

Yeah, that's what happened. My lil one has yet to recover and both mommie & daddie fell ill. It was due to food poisoning and both of us had to stay up all night taking turns visiting the toilet! We were both suffering from diarrhea and were puking non-stop.

The worst part is .. my mom was also feeling ill so I did not want to trouble her to take care of lil one that Thurs night. I felt a little funny right after a light dinner at her place. An hour later, I started to get that "funny" taste of saliva in my mouth .. you know . the one that taste a little salty and you feel as if you are a little bloated and uncomfortable but the time just has not come to puke .. that kinda feeling?

When we reached home, I just dumped lil one to my SIL and ran upstairs to bring out whatever that was waiting to be brought out. But ar ... aiyoh .. both "up" and "down" also come out ... feel sooooo terrible and sick! This happened for another 5 times before it was time for lil one to go to bed. Thank god he behaved that night and went to bed not too long after I gave him some diluted milk and pat him to sleep. But it continued for me till 1am.

Then at 2am, I saw hubby going out of the room and coming back 10 minutes later - shirtless! I asked him what happened. He pulak told me he had to puke but decided to do it downstairs as he did not want to wake up the lil one at 2am. Poor hubby. We both had another round at 3am. We decided to take some chinese medication and half a glass of 100Plus, then settled for bed. We managed to sleep till 5.30am before lil one kicked up a mini-fuss. Before you know it, its time to wake up for work.

I decided to take the day off with a visit to the doctor after I catch some sleep at my mom's place. So tiring and my bones all over my body was like crushing down. Hubby managed to attend a meeting in the morning before he "surrendered" at lunch time. We both went to the doc and went home to rest. Then as usual, we headed to mom's place in the evening to pick-up the lil one. Thank god he was feeling much better by now .. but I still dont know why he still pukes in the middle of the night. During the day he seems ok.

Glad is was the weekend as we did have some time to recover and rest before starting the work week again. Even now, tummy is not feeling too good. Much better though. Hope life would be normal again soon.

He is not feeling well ...

The main problem is .... my lil one has difficulty with his bowel movements. He can usually do his "business" every day but once every couple of weeks, he will only do it on the 3rd day. We give him fruits everyday like papayas and a little bananas, a daily dose of fruit yoghurt as well as organic honey in warm water. He used to love prunes which the moment he takes, he can do his "business" within the next hour, but recently, he dislikes it. He used to love raisins too but now also hates it.

Yesterday was his 3rd day without doing his business. He felt uncomfortable. Early morning at 4am, he was kicking up a fuss in bed. He just had his milk at 3am and slept a while before he started throwing up. I got worried. He never experienced vomitting before! Not even when he was a baby. He never vomits milk or anything. After some cuddling, he feel asleep in my arms. Dropped him off at mom's place before we went to work but hubby came by in the afternoon to take him to the doc cos he threw up one more time at mom's place.

Doc said his tummy has got quite a lot of wind, so he gave some medication to ease the nausea and vomitting and some liquid solution (dunno what it is called lah) to be pumped into his "bottom" should he have trouble doing his "business".

As usual, when he has the urge, he will display his "act" which by then we will know that we need to prepare for him to do his "business". But that whole day he could not do it. Late evening, we used the "weapon" given by the doctor and within a minute, all his "deposits" came out. He felt instantly better. Running about and playing around mom's place. We gave him another dose of the anti-vomitting medication. Then we headed for home.

Since he did not drink or eat well the whole day, we gave him small doses of diluted milk. Fed him some warm water at 9pm, fell asleep at 11pm but not too long after falling asleep, he woke up crying and then threw up again. We had to change him and the beddings. Soon he feel asleep in my arms again. But at 1am, he vomitted one more time. I felt so sad. I felt so helpless. I dont dare feed him the medication cos I was afraid he would throw up again. At 3am, he woke up but he did not cry. He was starting to kick up a mini-fuss and I made him 4oz of diluted milk. He was hungry. Then I realised he has developed some fever. Maybe he was dehydrated cos he could not take in any food or liquid the whole day. I told him not to gobble up all the milk at one go, then he pulled out his bottle and passed it to me. He finished about 3oz. He was tired and sleepy but could not sleep well. Tossing & turning in my arms and on my lap. Poor guy. I hugged him all night till he finally dozed off at 5.30am.

At 6.30am I woke up, showered & prepared for work but he also woke up, crying. I rushed to finish off brushing my teeth and cuddled him again. He feel asleep in my arms one more time. Sent him to mom's and the fever seems to have subside a little by now. Gave mom the "magic pillow" in case she needed it. Its a water-filled pillow that hubby bought from a hospital in Singapore that is useful for babies or toddlers who are experiencing fever. It brings down the temperature pretty quickly.

Told mom to give him some paracetamol in case he has fever again later today. And another dosage of the anti-nausea medication. Hope he will get well soon. It was tiring for both hubby & me last night ... and must also be tiring for lil one too. Really hope he will be feeling better today and will be able to run to the door to greet us when he sees us approaching mom's apartment :-)

Thank god I have my mom to take good care of him while we are at work. It is a blessing and a gift from God that both hubby and I cherish every single day.

Free Money!

Every 6 months or so, I get some "free money" ... from Jusco! I am sure you all know what I am talking about. It is not much, but any amount of "free money" makes you feel good indeed.

I saw the envelope for the J Card rebate vouchers on my table last night. Feeling nice .. I was wondering in my heart .. how much "free money" I would be given ... this round only RM70.

In December last year, I remember they rewarded me with RM120. So my "income" dipped by about 40%. Talking about the economy slowing down .. even this can slow down ... sigh.

A nice long weekend ...

It was a lovely long weekend away from the office and away from our daily mad rush to & from work each day. We took the opportunity to vist Sunway Pyramid for my dose of massage from Arokaya. Hubby says I am like his car .. needs "servicing" every 3 months .. hahaha. What to do .. my hip bones (or is it the nerves) hurt pretty bad these few weeks, thus, needed a massage to relieve the pain a little. It works for me.

We stopped by "I love Yoo" for a light lunch cos I was feeling a little nausea that day. Surprisingly, a lil food stall like this served real good porridge, yau char kuay, sweet potato balls and of course its yummilicious soy bean milk! My favourite - its Hainanese coffee!!!!

It was a pretty "expensive" lunch for almost RM20 for just fried finger food & soybean + porridge, but it was indeed good. You should try it. Its located just one floor above the skating ring ie same level as Pizza Hut & McDonalds. They also have a branch at The Gardens, Mid Valley. Highly recommended for a light lunch!

Bathroom ideas

When I found out about this website, I almost went bonkers over their bathroom ideas. I went oooh, aaah, oooh, wow, waaaah, and so on.

That was the only fun part though. Cos if I really pick any one of them, surely they wont fit in to our local culture. I mean, fully carpeted bathroom floors???

This designs reminds me of the time I visited London a couple of years back and stayed over at a friend's place. And for sure, those matsalleh bathrooms are all fully carpeted lor. I tried soooo hard not splash any water onto the floor/carpets that I ended up not really having a shower at all!

Nevertheless, should you wish to get some inspiration for your next bathroom makeover, do visit TrendIR Modern Interiors. It's pretty inspiring.

P/S : I quite like the last pics though. Love the long-shaped mirrors and its very stylishly curved table. What's your favourite?

He decides for himself ..

Time flies. My lil brat is a big boy now. He knows what he wants. We cannot change his mind. He is pretty stubborn .. like me .. kekeke.

On one of our visits to Mid Valley, we dropped by Carrefour to stock up on Mamypoko disposable diapers. Its cheaper here .. usually abt RM48.80 compared to Jusco which can sometime price it at RM52.90. When Carrefour is on sale, its even cheaper at RM42.80. So almost 10 bucks in savings per pack.

My lil one usually heads for his favourite department ... which is the toys lor .. where else right? But he does not go for the cars or balls. He only goes for the bicycles. Popo (his maternal grandma) promised to buy him one for his birthday next month. So our lil fart quickly grabbed one and .... see the price tag ..??? Not to bad lar .. so ok ok, we will KIV this for him.

As for me, I have not decided what to get him yet .. but I do have something in mind. Will have to start looking out for some bargains.