Chinese Eye Cookies

Usually by end Nov each year, I would have decided on my range of CNY cookies to be made available for sale at my Confections page.   These are then open for sale in the month of December and usually before Christmas, my order book would be full.

I tried hard to think of something different and not just offer the usual peanut cookies, green pea cookies or "snake" cookies although its the year of the snake!   I like something new and I do get bored of doing the same type of cookies.

Finally, I made something that I named "Chinese Eye" cookies lol!!    Its a butter based cookie topped with melted choc & home roasted whole almonds.   Cute leh .. hehehe.     For those who have tasted it (did a test run earlier to try out various recipes ma) they loved it.   So it was highly recommended to offer this sale this year.

My test batch used dark chocolate but for actual deliveries, I prefer to use milk chocolate.   My cookie is NOT SWEET and since the dark chocolate is slightly bitter, the milk chocolate would give it some sweetness that is needed for all cookies.

And for those who had the courage to order it, hope you like it.   I will definitely offer this for sale again next CNY cos I know almond lovers would love this.

Blossom Pineapple Tarts by ConfectionsKL

Blossom Pineapple Tarts homemade by me and this will be the 2nd year I am selling this for Chinese New Year.   Using imported NZ butter, these are moulded piece by piece and then baked to perfection.   

Sorry I cannot share my recipe (obviously) but its one recipe that is very forgiving (can get the right consistency nicely) and its really easy to remember too.   

Its just a couple of weeks away from CNY and I just had to push myself to bake a batch to retry the recipe since the last time I baked them was in Jan this year!   I am glad it turned out well and I had no trouble at all getting into the rhythm all over again.   Love it when recipes work well and are trustworthy and reliable.  I am all set to start the baking marathon!!

Carted back cartons and cartons of containers back from the wholesaler.   These plastic containers are so much cheaper when bought in cartons of course.   Very excited to start!

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The Real Red Velvet Cake?

I have tried a couple of red velvet cakes out there and honestly, I dont really know which is the real deal!   Some taste just like ordinary cake, some taste like a chocolate cake and some are sharp with lots of vinegar .. so will the real red velvet cake please stand up? Hahaha.

Really .. I am confused.   Dont really know how a real red velvet should taste like.  Anyhow, did a test batch on a recipe and the cake turned out ... not bad la.   Love the cream cheese frosting on this.      Should have slathered on more cream cheese filling in between ... yumzzz!!    

Floral Fantasy Cake Range

I've been lazy on Blogger but been active on Facebook, hence the long absence. But I cannot forget this batch of cake & cupcakes I made.   Named it Floral Fantasy!!  Do you like it?

Love the combination of pink and purple.   And the cake looks amazing all round!!   See more of this at www.facebook.com/ConfectionsKL

Air Cond Hokkien Mee!!

Kim Lian Kee - seen this place usually filled with customers and soon realised that they were just selling the plain old hokkien mee!      After a few checks, apparently they originated from one of the hokkien mee stalls at Petaling Street but now modernised their business and moved on to open up their outlets in shopping malls :D

Pork lard filled hokkien mee in shopping mall - gotta give it a try!

Actually, they offer a variety of noodles (eg hokkien mee, cantonese noodles, claypot loh shue fun, singapore fried beehoon, etc) but seems like the hot favourite and chiu-phai-meen is the hokkien mee.

Verdict:

Tried the hokkien mee on 2 separate occasions.  Quite good.  More than enough dose of lard for me.   Got good wok-hei.    Tried the wat-tan-hor (cantonese kuay teow) - terrible!   Worst ever!   A friend then tried the hokkien mee at the same branch I went to - she said horrible!  Aiks!  How come??    I think she got the Myanmar chef instead of a Chinese one .. hehehe.  Told her dont give up, go try one more time.  This time ask who is the chef before ordering .. hahaha.  Wish her luck.

Price:

Cant recall all the prices but as a start, the small portion is RM8.90.     Just slighly more expensive than roadside stall nia ... some more here got good service, clean environment and clean utensils too plus good service and free tissue :D    Some more got aircond leh ... so ok lah the price.

Go give it a try and tell me yours is Chinese version or Myanmar version .. hehehe.

Jagabee My Love !!

One of the expats in my office was the first to introduce this lovely snack to me 2 years back.  He is an American but worked in Singapore prior to coming over to KL and one day, after his meetings there .. he came back with a carton of these crunchy snacks!!

First we were all reluctant to take it and we thought it was just another snack.   But when the first one tried a pack, he gave a big smile.   Then another colleague tried .. and we got another big smile.   So tunggu apa lagi .. try la!

This is hell of a snack!  Start with the first pack and bet you will be looking out for another!  Its awefully crunchy on the outside and still soft on the inside.   The are actually potato strips (like the ones you see at McD la but much crunchier!) and it says in the package .. they use real potatoes ... hmm.   Wei ... damn good!

So far we found that you can get these in Singapore, Hong Kong and of course Japan.   My regular supplies comes from Singapore and this sort of packaging (5 in a pack) costs about S$3.80.   There is also another packaging (in paper can type) and I buy them at around S20 per carton of 12 cans :)

Do you think they really use real potatoes?  Well I think they do .. cos after years of buying these ... they always have a short shelf life ... max 3 months.   So do watch out for the expiry date if you're buying this ok?

Do give it a try ... its worth it!

Mickey Inspired 2 Tier Cake

I am slowly venturing into the world of fondant cakes.   Many moons ago before I started Confections, I did bake a 2 tier Toy Story cake for a friend of mine.  It was a disaster in my eye but no choice, got to deliver the cake that morning!  I felt sooo bad that I didnt touch fondant for more a year.

Recently I took up the challenge again cos you know why .. I tried promoting my buttercream cakes but this customer still prefer fondant covered cakes cos she said she never tried eating fondant cakes before ... wuahahaha.   So I challenged myself and came up with this mickey inspired cake.    Credit to original designer but I tweaked it a little since customer prefer this design.

In order not to take the risk, I invested in using Satin Ice Fondant which costs a bomb!   But its ok.   I am not here to make huge profits from my cakes.  Im happy with the fact that I get to do something I truly enjoy.  And also happy to challenge myself slowly, step by step and see myself progressing in this field.   Money is not the sole motivator here but well .... its definitely a reinforcer, hahaha!!

Baked fresh and worked till late at night, ready in time to delivery next morning.  Cake base was vanilla butter with bottom tier 8" and top tier 6".   Forgot to weight the whole cake but I reckon would have been more than 3kg.  

Will I take on another fondant cake request in the near future?   Bring it on!    Love working with it now ;)

Transportation Themed Cupcakes

Two sets of box-of-9 cupcakes for Jayden's 4th birthday celebration in school.  Mummy said Jayden loved it but I think Mummy got no time to blog about it since titi Kevin came along.  

Jayden requested for transportation themed cupcakes (cos we all know Jayden loves trains, cars, etc) so googled for some ideas and come up with these.   

I kinda like how it all turned out.   But boy, literally took me hours to complete!   Remember sitting down after dinner one night at 8pm and by the time I looked up, Bryan was already upstairs in bed and hubby was switching off the TV, ready for bed time .. which means it is 11pm!  Gosh!!!

Note to self :  Next order cannot charge so cheap!!

Banner Cupcakes for Fullmoon Party

Decided to do something a little extra with cupcakes and decided, why not have banners to spice up the look eh?    Seen banners for cakes so I thought they could work for cupcakes as well ... and so right I was!

Quite a few of the blogger mommies are having a dragon year baby and its my pleasure to bake them some of my home created cupcakes.   This time round, its for Paik Ling's princess Kayley.    It must be a true joy to have 3 boys and then finally hit the gold with a princess ... yeay!!   Congrats again Paik Ling ;)

Baked vanilla cuppies to go with buttercream deco and fondant cut-outs in the shape of onesies, baby pram, milk bottle and also a horsie.   Pink and yellow is a good combination for girls, dont you think?

Below is a blue and yellow combination for baby Kelvin.   Those in FB would surely remember this cute lil fella.    Congrats again too to Kristie ;)

Remember, you first saw banner cupcakes at Confections ;)   Hope over to see my other creations.

Restoran Tien Sun Tien, Taman Connaught Cheras

If you are looking for a decent dinner for a family of 3 to 4 pax and have a budget of RM50, look no further.    

Driving past this place every evening, i find that it is always packed with customers every single day and I believe you need to be very lucky if you can find a table for yourself on weekends.   But fret not, its not only taste good, comes cheap, service is also very fast!!

Restoran Tien Sun Tien is located at the very beginning of the "longest pasar malam in Malaysia" road!    Along Jalan Connaught in Cheras, at one end you will see Giant/McDonalds and Tien Sun Tien is located on the opposite end of this road.   The very first corner shoplot.

We ordered a deep fried fish with thai sauce, herbal steamed chicken, tofu and stir fried vege.  All taste quite ok.    RM56 incl drinks.     You can also try their nyonya steamed stingray - I like!!

They also have a decent satay stall and roast chicken wing stalls right outside this restaurant if you also fancy these.

Hot Wheels Wall Track Starter Kit

Are you one of those that are very lucky when it comes to lucky draws, free gifts, etc?  I am definitely not one of them!   I hardly win anything!  But when I saw this Hot Wheel Wall Track Starter kit in this famous blog, I got very kan-cheong!!  Cos this will freak my boy out!   I can imagine him jumping up & down if he gets this!

I am a pretty kiam-siap mom.   Meaning I don't buy expensive and branded toys for him.   This is also because he is not that good in taking care of his toys.   And he also gets bored really fast.   So I only buy when there is an occasion or when he truly deserves it.    Most of them time, night market toys will do.   The branded ones are all gifts from his aunts & uncles and of course his precious daddie.   Not that I dont love him, but I truly believe he is already priviledge enough and too much will only spoil him.  

About 2 weeks after I joined the contest, I saw the email that I wanted to see!  Actually, I was expecting the announcement via FB but then it was announced via email to me, then the official announcement on her blog.    Yeah!!!!!    I won!!!!!   Thanks so much MG!!

The gift was delivered by Hot Wheel's local PR agency to me 2 weeks later which was totally fine with me cos they were kind enough to hand deliver it to me rather than having me drive all they way to some place to collect it.

Its been a month or more and I have yet to give it to him.  I've decided to keep it for a special occasion.  Birthday had passed,  so he will have to wait till its Christmas.    Between now and Christmas, of course there will be small gifts every now & then from his aunt (my sis).  She works in Singapore and she come back every 2 months or so ... without fail a gift for him.    He is into Beyblade now ... and its so much cheaper getting it from there.   I once bought a Ben 10 shoe for S$10 and her it costs RM60 or RM80 ! Chee sin!

Even when we go grocery shopping to Giant, Tesco or Carrefour, he is reminded that we will not buy any toys.  Only fruits & vegetables and grocery items (like coco-crunch, vitagen or yakult, cheese, etc).  If there is advance reminder before we leave the house, he is OK with and will normally agree to it.   But he will tell me he wants an ice-cream which we normally allow.   But then he sees the chocolate, he wants that too.  So he has to make a choice, cannot have both. 

Am I too strict?  How often do you get toys for your kids?  Do you buy whatever they fancy and ask for? 

My Awesome, Mean Durian Cake!!

"Last time I used to get my durian cake from Bon Bon but they no longer sell it.   Yours is just like Bon Bon's and I'm glad I found you!"    This is what some of my customers said to me.   And I'm soooo happy!!

I call it my awesome, mean Durian Cake!   Hahaha.   Cos I really think its pretty awesome and with the amount of fresh durian I have in there, they are quite mean!!!!

I made my very first Durian Cake for my MIL's birthday last July (exactly a year ago).  I had no idea how it was going to taste until we were all at the dinner venue.  After dinner, we sang the song and she cut it open ... and all hell broke loose after that, I tell ya.   The aroma was killing (esp in an airconditioned room) and all other guests were looking at us!   We had a piece each and while eating it half-way I still remember my SIL told me that the lady at the next table requested for a small piece for her daughter as she loved durian cake.  How can we say no?  We gave her a piece (cos really, not much left edi) and she (the Mom) gave us a thumbs up after trying a wee bit.  She even asked us where she can buy one ;) 

The smell was such a killer that the restaurant captain walked over.   She then told us that durian cakes were not allowed (ooopps!!)  but then again she said with a smile .. that she actually cut a tiny tiny tiny piece (more like crumbs from the sides) and tasted it and it was very very good wor ... hahaha.  We all had a good laugh.  And she ended up ordering one for herself!   Was reluctant to take her offer then but glad I did it.  She has since given her friends my contacts and the rest as they say .. is history lor.

My signature durian cake design was unintentional.  Like I said, it was designed with my MIL in mind so I piped rosettes on them.   Made a pink one for my mom as well last year.

This year, I decided to offer it for sale to friends of FB.  I only bake them when I can locate my favourite durian uncle cos his quality is assured and his prices are reasonable.  Actually prices of durian are double of last years prices but I am still maintaining the same price.

I bake only one size (that feeds 10-15 pax) depending on how big a portion each gets.    It weights about 1.6kg or more depending on my generosity ;)

Yesterday (Sunday) was my 3rd baking session and so far, all the reviews and feedback has been positive and this has motivated me further.  In fact, I manage to improvise on my sponge cake recipe and I think the improvised version will be used from now on.  I do believe its much moist and fluffier!

More photos can be viewed from www.facebook.com/ConfectionsKL

Wynx Club Cake

Received an email one afternoon for a Wynx Club Cake.   Had no idea what it was so had to google to do some research.    Since the enquiry came quite late (delivery needed in 3 days), I had no time to do an edible image cake, so I proposed a cartoon drawing cake instead.

Having just done one other cartoon drawing method just a couple of weeks ago, I bravely embarked on this Wynx Club design.    While I was drawing out the outline of the image, Bryan came by and asked "Mom, what cake are you doing?".   He then paused for a couple of seconds and waited for my reply but I was too busy concentrating hard on the image to get it right.  Then he said "Mom, you doing Wynx Club cake ah?"   Fuh!   Am I glad he could recognise it!!!  Means ok la!

Glad it turned out alright.  Could be better.   Hope to improve over time with more practise.

Customer ordered it for her niece's 8th birthday.   She wanted a pure butter cake.  FYI, I only use 100% pure butter for my cakes.   The finished cake is actually pretty heavy even for an 8" cake.   

Some potential customers do enquire about the weight of my cake and when I tell them its close to 2kg for just an 8" cake, they dont believe me.  I guess they are used to getting lighter cakes from the bakeries who by the way, some use only sponge cakes, okay!!!  So thats why they lighter, so they bake into a bigger size and charge you slightly cheaper la.  Once you try a home made pure butter cake, you will never to bake to the regular bakery shops :D   Im sure many home bakers will agree with me.

For more designs on cakes and cupcakes, do "Like" me at www.facebook.com/ConfectionsKL

Bryan's Mid Year Report Card

This is Bryan's third year in kindergarten.    During the first 2 years, it was more like playschool and nothing really academic.   Only this year, they have introduced so called proper subjects and kids have to sit for formal mid and year end examinations and are given proper report cards.   Bahasa Malaysia was introduced for the first time as well as Moral, in addition to English, Maths and Mandarin.

Last year, Bryan hardly spoke any Mandarin.   He was more playful and didnt want to learn to speak the language much.   He was in fact, pretty shy to speak in Mandarin then.   He got a C for spoken Mandarin and got a B for written Mandarin when we were shown his exam papers back in Dec last year.  Daddie was devastated! But mommie was cool :D   From then on, Daddie tried to speak in Mandarin to him and coached him a lot on his Mandarin homework and practiced a lot on writing chinese words too.  He also picked up mandarin speaking at his mental maths classes where majority of the kids there are Chinese.  Since then he has progressed really well.   Daddie was rewarded with an A for ting-xie and B for spoken Mandarin.  

Since Bahasa was just introduced 6 months ago and we almost never speak Bahasa at home, we were told to read more to him so that he can recognise more Bahasa words.  So now the pressure is on Mommie to perform ..haha.

Bryan generally speaks good English and we were curious why he only got 95% for spoken English .. teacher explained that he always speaks and ends his sentences with lah lah lah eg nevermind lah, ok lah .. omg!!!   I wonder where he learnt this!!   Daddie says its from  mommie wor ... aiyoh sei for!  I better speak properly from now on.

Mental Arithmetic Class For My 5 Yr Old

Its been quite some time since I posted any updates on my brat.   Its been routine stuff mostly ie school and some weekend classes that we send him too.     Since Jan, we decided to keep him a little more busier cos he just spends too much time on TV especially on weekends.

We have started him on mental arithmetic classes twice a week as well as an arts and craft class on Sundays.   Our choice was one academic lesson and one extra curricular activity (eg art, music or sports).

The first 2 weeks was tough.  He didnt enjoy the mental arithmetic class because his teacher was a little more strict with him compared to his kindy teacher.    Perhaps this is a light dose of how a primary chinese school environment would be compared to the current montessori environment he goes too.

He didnt want to go and would sulk every time I reminded him that he has classes today, etc.    Not only it was tough for him, I think the teacher also found it tough to teach him - cos he would not sit still - even for 10 seconds!   Instead of doing concentrating on his work, he would look around, see his friends book, play with his rubber, sharpen his pencils, day dream or go to the toilet every 5 mins.   Thats what the teacher told me .. and I totally believe her cos thats exactly what he does at home as well .. sigh.  

On week 3, I heard some magic words!   The teacher told me that she finds Bryan a really smart boy!  Just that he cant sit still for a longer period of time .. hahaha.   Since then, it has been quite a smooth journey.   I guess the teacher found a way to communicate better with him.   Most of the time now, he enjoys the classes.  After 6 months, the lessons are getting tough.   Even mommie and daddie have to think twice how to get the answer correctly using the correct method on his abacus.  If that day the teacher taught him a new chapter or bigger set of numbers, he would usually get 5 or 6 out of 20 wrong.  And that would put him in a really bad mood.   He would then come home with a black long face and tell us that he got so many wrong answers!!   We then have to sayang him and encourage him and promise him that the next lesson, we will ask the teacher to teach him again so that he can get all the answers correct - then his mood is better and cheers up instantly.   And true to behold, in the next class, he would proudly tell us that he got all correct answers that day!  That's my boy, very moody if he gets them wrong and very happy when he gets them all correct.

Its been 6 months now and we are happy with his progress.   Not only in mental maths but we are also proud that he has picked up Mandarin speaking as well.   I have mentioned to the teacher when we first registered Bryan there, that we plan to send him to a chinese primary school and preferred that the teacher speak to him in Mandarin although he could hardly speak a word then.    Now he is willing to speak Mandarin naturally even at home but its usually English with me and Mandarin with daddie, which works perfectly.

When he turns 6 next year, we will stop the arts and crafts class and enrol him into a sport, either golf or badminton as well as some leisure swimming lessons.   And if he prefers, either drums or piano.   He did mention he wants guitar lessons ... so we'll see.

What other extra or enrichment classes does your kid attend?