Extended Preschool Hours in 2011

We just got notice from Bryan's kindy that according to the Ministry of Education's new regulations, preschool hours have to be extended by one hour with effect from 2011. Is it the same at your kid's preschool?

Bryan goes to a Montessori kindy and they have 2 sessions a day. I can't recall what time the morning session starts but the second session starts at 11.45am till 2.45pm (so thats 3 hrs). With the new regulation extended to 4 hours, his session for 2011 will start at 12.15pm till 4.15pm!

Actually we are quite excited about this and it kinda fits our requirement better ... hehehe. You know why? Cos right now, our prince wakes up late and of course, to start with, he sleeps late lah. And he does need his afternoon nap. The moment he steps home, he gets changed and will ask for milk. Right after milk, he will automatically doze off in the sofa. So nap time is around 3.30pm till 5.30pm. With the nap in between, nights are torturous for us! We will all be trying to go to bed by 11pm (that's already considered late for me!) and he will still be very hyper with his badminton & tennis racquests asking for game after game!!! Aiyoh!

So with the new timing, our plan is to allow him to wake up late (he can sleep till 10.30am) and then prepare for school. If school finishes at 4.15pm, we reckon he'll reach home around 4.45pm and after a shower and a glass of milk, its time for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on Channel 613 - hurray!!!! So that means, he wont have a chance to take a nap! And with that, we are hoping that his battery would run out no later than 10pm and then its PEACE for all of us ... woaah! Cant wait to embrace 2011!!!!!

Selamat Hari Raya .. woohoo!!

Selamat Hari Raya guys!!! Hope you all have a joyous celebration with your family & friends back home. Most importantly, don't rush and drive safely to your destination. Its better to be late than to never reach home.

For the rest, wishing you a happy long weekend, relax and enjoy the traffic-free streets of Kuala Lumpur *wink*.

For me, I wil be staying back in town, try to bake mom a cake as its her birthday this weekend. Take her out for a hair-perm followed by dinner.

Take care all and see you again after Raya ok???

Visiting Ikano

Our Sundays are usually spent lazing at home. Its the time to do laundry, clean the kitchen and hubs would usually be washing both cars and touching up on paint here & there. Also because we are too tired run after our hyper-fella all over, so we (actually me) prefer to just sit put at home.

However, last Sunday, we decided to drive to Ikano for a visit to Macy cos they were having a sale. Its time to get a 2nd set of curtains for the house. Those that I installed since we moved in last Nov are still hanging up there without a single wash .... Disappointed to note that mostly are only 20% discount. No not worth rushing over I guess. Didn't decide on any cos the sale will continue till Sept, the salesperson said. So ok lar, no rush. Moreover, have to come back and double confirm the measurements.

















As usual, Bryan was all over the place. There were quite a number of play-stations (like pics above) at some of the corners, so that kept him busy for a while, hopping from one to another. We took him up to the pet corner .. but what a pity, the cats were not out yet. Bryan loves cats. He does not really fancy dogs or anything else .. but cats .. even if he sees them at the street corner or anywhere, he would want to run to it and touch it. Dogs - only if the dog is small in size. The bigger ones, he does not like. Smart also lar . nanti kena hentam by the big dog how .. hahahaha.

It was a short visit, lasted only 2 hrs door-to-door. And on the way back, Bryan fell asleep in the car. Continued sleeping when we reached home. And we had 2 hrs of bliss. I napped as well. The end :-)

Cake for MIL

It was my MIL's birthday last Saturday and luckily I called my SIL to ask if they have ordered a cake or was she expecting me to bake one. My SIL said "of course we expect you to bake lar" ... so there I went, at 9pm on a Friday evening, baking a cake (1.5 hrs), waiting it to be cool down (2 hrs) and another 2 hrs preparing the icing and trying to ice the cake! Didnt manage to finish it the same night so woke up at 6am the next day to finish icing it.


















I am definately not a pro in baking & cake decorating. Only a total beginner and learning from internet off & on. I try my very best to do the best I can and honestly, my cake does not taste super good but its not too bad either!

We had a 10 course dinner (thanks to elder BIL's expensive taste that cost all of us quite a bomb!) and tummy was filled to the rim! So we requested for a tiny tiny piece of the cake each towards end of the dinner. I personally thought it was a wee bit dry (would have been better if it was slighly moist) but it was really not too bad. It was quite ok. As usual, icings are all sweet and I purposely layed a very thin layer on the entire cake. If you are into cake decorating, you will understand how tedious and difficult it is to lay a thin layer of icing!!! The thicker they are, the easier to lay and faster to lay it as well. We probably only ate 10% of the cake at most! Rest MIL & SIL took it home.

So Sunday, we would usually go back to MIL's house for dinner. As we were early, I looked in the cupboard & fridge and did not see any cake wor. Asked hubby to ask where was the cake cos I thought I would like to try a decent piece and see how it taste mah. Then she said, she has given away the cake! Distributed to friends wor! Which is totally strange cos my MIL is one person that would keep things in her fridge ETERNALLY! And at the same time I noticed there were 2 pcs of cake that she must have bought from the market that morning! Nevermind. Then hubby asked her, why you distribute the cake away and then you buy cake again from the market?? I didnt even bother to stay there to hear her answer. I felt like so bodoh. Already never tell me that I am suppose to bake until I ask, then late night start baking and icing and early morning wake up to finish it. Then now easily give it away.

There was a strange feeling inside me. I kept wondering ... if its really too sweet or even too big a cake, why didnt you ask if we wanted some to take home? I was trying to think of all possibly excuses why she gave the whole cake away like (1) too high cholestrol, not good for her mah (2) too sweet also not good cos she is diabetic (3) she cant finish the whole cake(?) - but then why buy 2 pics from market hor? Nevermind.

At the end of the day, I do my part. But if you wish to throw it into the drain also I dont care.

Thanks Facebook!

That I managed to find so many long lost friends. Its really a gem to rekindle both primary and secondary school mates after 20 odd years!

Had a tea party at my place last Sunday with some of them and it was really really nice to meet all of them again. After all these years, there are still so many things that are similar (even looks, my god!) and so many funny stories to share about what we used to do in school,etc.


















December would be another busy time as I have at least 3 other friends returning from abroad. Cant wait for that to happen.

Undecided

Life is hitting a cross road .. cos I can't decide. Usually I am one who knows exactly what I want. But now, I cant decide. I cant decide if I want a Coach handbag, Burberry long purse or a Mulberry bag!


































Should I thank Paul the Octopus??? No lah! You think I so "keng" meh. In fact, I hardly watched a single match in full.


As life hits a certain number, strange things can indeed happen! Ha! Ha! Ha! Hubby blames it on menopause!!!! And I'm totally fine with it ... hehehee.

Bryan's 1st Report Card

Due to laziness, I have not been updating my blog. There you go .. my confession .. hahaha. But having to experience our first ever parent-teacher's meet and having to experience receiving our son's 1st ever report card was a bit nerve-recking I shall say!

Nothing shocking but we were surpised to find out from the teacher that Bryan is a very polite boy (really?? he screams all the time at home if he wants something and loves to hit & bite his mom and poh-poh .. and that's polite??) and he actually sits down for his meals (huh, are you sure??)

But then again, yes, I have to admit that he is kinda polite when it comes to strangers. Yeah, he loves to greet anyone on the street or if there is someone in the lift when we enter. He would say "Hello Uncle!" or "Hello Aunty" to anyone in the mall or even "Hello Kakak" when he sees the maid next door! But when it comes to us at home, sorry lah. I think he knows very well that he can bully us in some ways.

I always thought that I will be a mom that will not expect or force my son to excel academically. I thought that B's are good enough and although A's would be good, its not really necessary, as long as you have tried your best. So seeing Bryan's so-called "REPORT CARD", I felt a bit different than I thought I would feel.

Bryan got a B for fine motor skills! I mean, fine motor skills wor! How can that be!!! Since he was months old, he would want to do everything himself. He would want to touch everything. He would want to taste everything. He would want to walk everywhere! As he learnt to speak, he would say "Bryan hold" or "Bryan touch" or "Bryan eat" or "Bryan try". Even till today, he still loves to say "Bryan try" everytime he wants to do the things we (the adults) are doing!! So how can he still get a B for fine motor skills??? To me, he has got excellent fine motor skills! Aiyoh!

Ok .. ok .. I better cool down. After all its only first year at kindy. And I have to remind myself that I am not supposed to feel or behave negatively if he gets a B - remember!!! Ok, ok, cool down liao.

He also got a B for emotional development initiative. Its ok then. Its good. Cos then there is room for improvement. Right?

Koi Fish Jelly

Getting really busy at work these days. Will have to be in Bali again whole of next week to host a conference for 80 pax, so imagine lah the work that is needed.

Nevertheless, I miss baking and decided to hit the kitchen again on Saturday evening while Bryan was at my mom's place for the afternoon. I decided to embark on a jelly adventure and managed to churn out 2 new types of jelly that I have never made before.

The first one is a koi fish jelly.

Second, a mixed corn jelly using my mini flower & mooncake mould. Cutie pie looking hor?

So what's cooking in your kitchen these days?

Malaysian Ice Cream!!

You wont believe how happy I was when I saw it! Do you guys remember the good old malaysian ice cream? I used to love it soooo much! And my favourite flavour was thick milo!!!!


We were in Cameron Highlands last weekend and I got to taste strawberry flavoured ones and oh boy ... they were darn good!



Bryan taste it for the very first time and at first, he just wanted to hold it .. until I taught him how to suck it! And then, he never gave it back to me ... LOL!


Sorry for not updating my blog for quite some time. Will update more in a couple of days okie? Thanks for dropping by!

Baking again ...

But this time, its for lunch and its not a cake. Lunch on weekends is a headache for me. I dont really like to cook full meals and its difficult to cook for 2 as well. So before we end up with another plate of chicken rice, I decided to use up the puff pastry that's been sitting in my freezer for a good 3 mths!!! But dont worry lah, its not expired yet.

I opened up a can of tuna in oil (I dont fancy the one with water cos it does not taste as good) and marinated it with some lemon juice. Then I chopped up the onion and chillies to be mixed in. Be generous with your mayonnaise if you want it to taste real good. So, if you are on a diet, dont eat this at all. And if you want to eat this, do it the right way .. muahahahahaha. Salt and pepper to be added according to your liking.

Before putting it into your oven, brush some egg white over the pastry. Then bake until its nicely puffed and color is golden brown.

I am surprised with how easy it is handling puff pastry. And oh boy, after baking it, it sure does smell and taste really good! Even hubby said it was nice, which is rare cos he would prefer the "cina" food normally.

Easier Tiramisu Cake

Not much happening at home lately. Its all routine and nothing more. Have not been baking much as well but promised myself to make a cake for one of our close friends. He was turning 40 and it was a cause for celebration!!

I decided on a tiramisu cake. Tiramisu would sound intimidating for those who dont know how to make it, cos they normally taste real heavenly and looks good too! But once I ran through the recipe (more than a year ago!) and actually started doing it, it was real easy. And the finished product looks soooo impressive even if its made by an amateur!

The only "highly skilled" part of making this cake is when it comes to whipping the cream. In our weather, I've learnt from past mistake that we need to FREEZE the bowl, beater and the cream for at least 10 mins. Only then, the cream turns out nicely whipped :-) Trust me, learnt from personal mistake and cream aint cheap these days you know. Even cheese is so darn expensive! Dont even try mascarpone cheese cos they cost almost RM30 for a bar of 250gm which is just enough for a small cake. I stick to cream cheese :-) To me, they still taste heavenly if you have a generous dose of Baileys ... hehehe.

Easy Mickey Mouse Cake

As you know by now, I started dabbling in cake baking & decorating during my (limited) leisure time. Having baked hubby his birthday cake, I decided to get Bryan his very first mommy-baked cake as well!

1st birthday = barney 3D cake

2nd birthday = Blues Clues cake

3rd birthday = what else! Mickey Mouse lor!

Limited baking tools do not deter one from baking a cute cake I guess. Of couse as usual, I only own the basics like a round or a square pan. Nothing fancy. And no Mickey Mouse cake moulds from Wilton either. So I used the cover of Bryan's milk tin to imprint the round head and then used 2 drinking classes to imprint the ears on the icing **wide smile** Next, I just had to mix the icing with the right colors and piped my way through!

And guess what I used to make sure I had the right size for the wordings "BRYAN"? Guess. Guess. Ok let me tell ya, I used his magnet alphabets that had letterings from A-Z ... huahahahaha. I washed it clean and wiped it dry. Then I imprint the magnet onto the icing again to give me a guide and piped it with colored icing lor. Creative leh!

I also baked him 16 cuppies for the birthday party for April kids in his kindy. And he was the only one with mommy-baked cakes. The rest was store bought. I was beaming with pride but probably the teachers would be saying .. aiyoh this mommy so kiam siap! Who cares!

Why no updates?

Because I dont know how and when it happened, but when I wanted to download all the new pics of my cupcakes and bryan's, there was nothing on my phone! Aiyoh! All those that I snapped for the past months and all my videos are all gone! I really dont know how it happened so I am still recovering from the "trauama". Thankfully, all my phone contacts and appointments are still in there .. so strange stuff happened ... and I cant recall how it happened.

Anyway, Mom has been feeling down lately. Bryan seems to be pretty weak since he fell sick the 2nd time last month. He is not "weak" as in really weak. He still is still jumping, running & bouncing all over but he just does not want to eat solid food. He used to love chicken rice, kuay teow soup with fishballs and recently nasi lemak with chicken, but for the past full week, he does not want a single scoop of rice or anything! Just milk.

We took him to a chinese sinseh last weekend and he claimed that he is pretty weak inside. And so now Bryan is on medication with chinese herbs. Thank god, he loves chinese medication. The more bitter the better! Yeah, strange lil boy. Try giving him some western medication (be it strawberry or orange flavour) and he will yell his lungs out!!! And try giving him this bitter medication, he will go running to the high chair and wait for me to finish bancuh the powdered hereb with warm water and then open his mouth wide wide. He would sometimes GARGLE his mouth with the chinese herb before swallowing! His version of wine I guess!!!

I hope and pray he will have his normal appetite soon.

Sponge Chiffon Cake

Are you confused with my blog title? So is it a sponge cake or a chiffon cake? Well, I'm not sure either. All I know that it was really soft and moist and it turns out more like a sponge cake but I used a chiffon cake recipe. Hmm, great!

I made this on a Saturday afternoon while Bryan was enjoying his tv time. Actually he is in front of the tv on most times if he is awake but as usual, he never sits more than 5 mins at a time. So in between whatevers on tv, he will be running about or calling out for me or wanting me to carry him (still!) like 20 times within one cartoon show. Anyway ...

To start things off, I dont have a chiffon pan, so I used my regular 8" round pan and I think its because of this that it turned out more spongy than being a real chiffon. It didnt have the height of the pan to help it rise nicely. But it was a good try for me. My first time. I've read of so many failures in attempting chiffon cake recipes but I was happy with mine.

Ate some for Sunday breakfast, then tapau-ed some for in-laws to take back home. Left a few more for breakfast today and some for my mom to try this morning. Hope she likes it. So this is how I usually spend my weekends lah .. stay home and be a good mother & housewife *blek*.

My All-New Kitchen Aid Baby!

Just like many other bakers (and bakers wanna be like me!) there is always this choice that you have to make between a Kenwood or a Kitchen Aid. Its a never ending debate if you log onto forums what discuss which one is more superior than the other!



I had a chance to see one of the local baking sifu at her home and she was using a Kenwood Major. It was pretty bulky and noise compared to the Kitchen Aid I was eyeing the past year. Despite it being a "Major" model and big physically, it was light! The sifu placed her Kenwood on top of a pedestal and the pedestal was moving like 5 inches away from the original position within 10 seconds of beating on high! And boy, was it noisy!


Therefore, my choice would be a Kitchen Aid! Its smaller and more svelte in size and looks really sexy with its natural curves ... hehehe. And its very stable! It does not move and inch even on high speed! And its pretty silent too, which was good cos I can whip up something late at night and my neighbours wont complaint. Oh boy! How I love it! And the colors are so vibrant and can brighten any kitchen up!


However, being a very simple me, I decided on one of the safest colors in the world. It blends well into my kitchen (ie not standing out!) and that is what I want. My focus in my kitchen is the kitchen and not its appliances *wink*.


What's your choice?