Time to go out ...

#2 is learning fast - when he sees me with a bag on my shoulder, he knows I'm going out ... and without him. So these days, if he sees me with a bag, he will immediately wail and try to jump into my arms, and then cling on tightly, refusing to go to anyone else.

So .... we kinda trick him .... someone else will just carry an empty bag on their shoulder and offer to carry him. Most often than not, he falls for it and leaps into that person's arms and then ... oops ... why is the person putting the bag back on the seat?

Mostly I try not to "trick" him unless I really to go to run some errands or to use the loo. I quite enjoy the new "attention" he is lavishing on me now ... I bring him along with me if I can, but I can't I will just give him his favourite biscuit as compensation.

He can't say 'no' yet but he sure knows how to shake it. In fact, when he is in a deliriously happy mood, he can shake non stop for a minute or so. But now, he seems to be able to associate "shaking head" for "no". The other day someone offered to carry him, and he took a look at that person and promptly shook his head.

Yes, he's a choosy sorta fellow too ;P

One of my favourit pics of #2

Isn't he cute???? Taken at 6 months old.

#2 updates

His 5th and 6th teeth are coming through the top now - he doesn't look as cute with 2 and 2, but I guess I'll get use to him.

He's quite happy to be carried by me these day, but even more so by the hubby. He also enjoys his KM classes, especially if there are lots of pretty babes to look at.

He's learning to stand without support and fighting for toys with the sister. Gee, he's really loud and fierce too.

One of his favourite toys these days is my water bottle. He's fascinated by it - he will laugh when he touches the wet surface (condensation) or when the water swirls in the bottle.

Yup, he's 10 months too, soon to be 1 year old! wow ....

a nice weekend

This weekend was relatively nice - managed to have time to bring the kids to the pool. We had an early start yesterday, brought them at about 11 am and they refused to get out of the pool. However, once they were out, showered and fed, they both knocked off for a nice long nap - #2 about 3 hours and #1 about 2 plus hours.

In the evening, we had to return some very overdue-d library books and so we brought the kids out, #2 was on the spur of the moment. He already had his porridge and was playing on the mat when he saw us trooping out and started crying and crawling frantically towards me (how dramatic!). So I scooped him up, grab some diapers and his water bottle and we were out of the door. Yes, I was praying frantically he wouldn't pooped or throw up all over himself or us! Then we stopped at Macs to get some ice cream. This #2, he kept staring at this pretty girl at a table about 5 oclock position from us, so he kept his body twisted and ogling at her! Even as I fed him some bread, he just kept his head and body locked in that position, and just opened his mouth for me to feed him. He was very happy, laughing away and occasionally look at our table to check on us. Girls, beware of him ok?

Today, #1 refused to sleep the entire day, and I have no idea how she kept up with it. She finally slept at 9:30pm, after much coaxing. I brought them out to swim in the evening too - this #2 laughed so loud when I asked him "Swimming?" #1 was jealous as she was somewhere else when I asked #2. She heard it from the helpers and was calling for me. When she finally found me, she went " Didi go swimming? Mummy bring him?!?!?!" I told her, yes, but with her. So she was quite happy and went "NOW NOW NOW????" I wanted to take a short nap but gave up so got them to change and then went down to the pool. I was freezing away in the cold water but the 2 kids were happily playing with the water. #1 is now less scared of the water jets and would ask me to bring her nearer to it. #2 would just happily splash his way around with his tongue sticking out. Then we had to go out so that the hubby could get his hair cut - #2 spotted my bag on my shoulder and went crying, and trying to cling on to me. Too bad for him, I cannot manage both of them as #1 would definitely be cranky. In the end he had to stay at home while #1 got to go out with us. Normally #1 will complain about hot food, but I bought this OCK carrot cake for her - it was so hot that I had difficulty holding on to it, but she insist she would be careful and she chomped it all down within 5 minutes!

I really need to get the aircon fixed - i set it at 20 degree C and it's barely even cool! time to spend $$ again =(

SplishSplashSplosh time

Brought the 2 kids to the swimming pool TWICE today - once in the morning and once in the late evening.

V was OK since she has at least 3 to 4 swimming gear to choose from, but for Ian, I had nothing other than the disposable swimming diapers. Anyway I decided he wouldn't know what I dress him in as long as there's no photographic proof ;P So this cheapskate mummy dug out V's swimming bottom with in the built in "guard" (which was BRIGHT pink and flowery) and one of her short slip swim top. One parent actually called my boy "mei mei" but I just kept quiet. In the evening, I managed to dig out another one-piece pink and purple swimming suit. OK, I will get around to getting proper boy color swimming attire for him soon :P

Well, the #2 kinda went crazy in the pool. He was splashing around happily with his tongue stuck out all the time. The 2 kids were just screaming away as they were splashing away at each other. I managed to find the older yellow float, so both kids had a float each (V refused to share her pink hello kitty one). I am going to take lots of photo next time, they looked so happy and cute as they were splashing each other silly!

Trusted and Tried recipes ... con't (cakes II)

With the pound cake ring recipe, I also made a chocolate version.

Using the exact same ingredients, reduce 50g of the self-raising flour and add 50g cocoa powder, though I think the result would be just as great if I had added just the 50g cocoa powder without reducing any of the self-raising flour.

What I did with this recipe was to put 1 oreo cookie at the base of the cups and then add the batter on top (think we made about 24 cupcakes with half of the batter). With the other half, I added 1 cup of coveture dark chocolate drops and then baked it as a 7inch round cake (butter the cake tin and line it with baking paper) (the final product as the top picture).

Trusted and Tried recipes ... con't (cakes)

This recipe is taken from All-Colour Baking Book (1983) and most of the recipes in this book are winners - no matter how badly I screw up the job. I even won a consolation prize for a baking contest held in a school fair some *erm* 20 years ago.

Anyway, this recipe is also my all-time favourite recipe that I go to when I need a good, solid, buttery cake.

Pound Cake Ring

(modified slightly only)

Ingredients

250g self raising flour

225g butter (I used a 250g block/ 1 cup of salted butter)

350g caster sugar (I used only 250g sugar)

4 eggs

2 teaspoon vanilla essence

grated zest of 1 orange (or you could use lemon)

225g sour cream (they only sell 215g cups in the supermarket so I used only 215g)

Icing sugar to dust

Method (using stand mixer)

1. Preheat oven to 175 degree C.

2. Cream softened butter with sugar on medium speed for 5 to 7 minutes.

3. Add eggs, one at a time. If you cannot stand the curdling that will definitely happen, add some flour (1 tablespoon or so).

4. Divide flour into 2 portions. Add 1st portion of flour and beat till well combined. Add sour cream. Beat till well combined. Add 2nd portion flour and beat till well combined.

5. Batter will make about 40 cupcakes (base of cupcake liners/ cups 1.75 inches - just enough to fold 1 oreo cookie). Fill to just slightly over 1/2 halfway.

6. Bake for 30 minutes to 45 minutes - why the discrepancy - my oven doesn't have a fan so it takes MUCH longer to bake. For ovens with fan, it would not take so long. In anycase, do the skewer test to make sure it's done.

7. Cool, and then dust with icing sugar to decorate. Ice with frosting if you wish.

Trusted and Tried recipes

For V's birthday cakes, I used a total of 3 recipes for the cakes and 2 recipes for the frosting/ icing. I'll post the 2 cake recipes I liked, of which one was a new recipe and the other was tried and trusted recipe.

New Recipe Tried, Modified and Passed

Brownie Cupcakes

Adapted from: http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Brownie-Cupcakes

Original Ingredients and comments:

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (aka plain flour)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (I omitted it since I was using salted butter)
• 4 squares unsweetened chocolate chopped (I assumed = 4 oz)
• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter cut into pieces (assumed = unsalted butter - I used SCS salted butter)
• 1 cup granulated sugar (original called for 1.5 cups)
• 4 eggs lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract (I forgot to add but it was still good)
• 2 cups pecans chopped (optional) (didn't bother to add)
• Added: 1/2 cup cocoa powder (Van Houten or Tudor brand is a good choice)(adjust to own taste - see notes)

Since I made a variety of sizes, I am not sure how many standard cupcakes this would have made - the recipe says 20 though.

My Method using a stand mixer:

1. Preheat oven to 160 degree C.

2. Melt butter (I used microwave oven) and pour it over the chocolate. Stir until chocolate melts and well combined.

3. Pour into mixing bowl and add sugar. Mix on low to medium speed until sugar has slightly melted and mixture has cooled slightly (otherwise if it's too hot, your eggs will cook when you add it in).

4. Add eggs one by one - mix on medium speed. Add vanilla essence.

5. Add flour - mix on low speed else you get white clouds mushrooming from the mixer, until well combined.

6. Fill cups 1/2 to 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes or so, depending on the size of your cupcakes (note: my oven doesn't have a fan, so it usually takes longer to bake. Do the usual skewer test - no crumbs stuck to your skewer when poked into the cake and taken out.

7. Cool on rack and then iced with your preferred choice of icing.

Note about the original ingredients: I generally don't like my cakes too sweet, so I normally reduce the sugar based on sight. I like my shortcuts too, so I normally use salted butter. I added cocoa powder because when I tasted the batter, it was lacking in the chocolately "oomph" so I just add cocoa powder until the batter tasted right. I estimated that I added about 1/2 cup of cocoa powder since I used at least 3 very heaped tablespoon of cocoa powder. Given that I normally don't do well with brownies, this is a good and forgiving recipe. It was really good to eat - better if I had added nuts.

Important note - this recipe is good if using paper liners - it doesn't detach itself from it so it won't tumble out from the paper cup, unlike the other butter cake recipe I tried.

HFMD??

The sunday music class called up and informed that one of #2's classmate had HFMD. *argh* the last time we had such a scare, it wasn't fun. The only 'good' thing is that it's already past V's birthday.

I'm concerned as #2 was feverish a few days ago, and he had some rashes on his belly button. In anycase, I told the helpers what to look out for and I'm really crossing my fingers that the kids would be safe. The incubation period is 5 to 7 days and so, yes, the kids are still at risk so we will just have look out for any outbreak/ signs this weekend (there goes my nice restful weekend again).

Giggly #2

#2 seems to be back to normal, as in his "on and off" relationship with me.

I brought him for his class yesterday and 5 mins before the class ended, he was sound asleep. He just fell asleep without making any complaints and even adjusted himself for a comfortable position!

In the afternoon, he didn't mind me carrying him when he woke up from his nap and even "chose" me ;P In the evening, I was trying to read him a book and well, I read the book, he licked the book and attempted to chew a piece off it. V came in to join us and she quickly caught on she was to "share" since mummy shared things with #2 if she didn't!

By his bedtime, #2 was doing his giggle and kick trick - see me or V, he would start giggling out loud and kicking his legs furiously. I hope he didn't have any nightmares last night!

It was a nice ending to the weekend ... and I hope of more such times with my kids to come ...

Vanessa's Birthday cakes

This year, for some strange reason, I decided to bake V's birthday cake - I had no clue what I wanted to do, and I didn't plan beforehand since by the time I had to bake, I had to bake it (time past too quickly!).

For her school's party, I decided to try 2 new recipes - I didn't hear any complaints from the school so it should be ok? The cake decorating was also on the fly - whatever it seemed nice on the spot!

For her birthday party at home, I vaguely planned for cupcakes with a small cake on top, and I didn't want to spend money on a cupcake display stand (yes I am a cheapskate!) ... so I improvised with Wilton's cupcake holder as the "stand" and I bought 2 cake board as the "plates".

Even as I baked the cake, it was touch and go, since I was *erm* still improvising away! I end up having 60 cupcakes - 1/4 as pound cake with a touch of orange zest, 1/4 as the former with added chocolate chips and 1/2 chocolate pound cake with oreo biscui

ts as the base. The 7 inch cake was the same chocolate pound cake with added chocolate chips.

Then ... came the decorating :P I still no had idea what I wanted to make, so I made it up as I decorated it. The end product? Scroll to the end to see :P

The recipes will follow in the next few days ...

This was the cakelettes for V's party at school.

The variety of cupcakes offered ;P

The cake closed up ...

Cake with the pooh candle

V was out when I was doing up the cake - she came back and zoomed straight to the cake. She then went "WOW!!!"

Needless to say, it was one of the proudest mummy's moments =)

Happy Birthday Princess!

Ok, the "big" party was today - she had one in school yesterday but today was with the family.

I'll post up the pictures lately, but I think I am quite done with baking for a little while. The next cake for Sunday would be a cheesecake / cakelettes, so it wouldn't be such a "pain" (due to lack of storage, I have to empty out my oven everytime I bake).

For her school, it was quite experimental - the good, the brownie recipe kinda worked but I had to add at least 50g of cocoa to it to make it taste chocolately. The butter cake recipe ... well it worked but I didn't like the taste. And I should have bought the cupcake cups *darn* I ended up with 4 different sizes of cupcakes for her class and school mates. It should be a "success" since all the containers came back empty :P I also decorated it with some help from Vanessa, but it was a "hack" job and I just did it like a mad artist out of creative ideas :P One of the major bloopers was the buttercream icing - let just say one big tub (over 1 kg of icing) went to waste because the recipe didn't say to add when the chocolate is cooled *sigh*

For today's party, I went back to the basic, my favourite pound cake recipe which has never failed me. I tweaked a little by making it a chocolate pound cake too. So one batch was "spiced" up with orange zest and some chocolate chips (for those who didn't want chocolate or chocolate overdose), the other batch was overdose on chocolate. All in all, I made 60 cupcakes and 1X7inch cake. Would I have saved money by ordering the cakes instead? I might :P since I bought new "kachang" to use but it was FUN :P

I still had my good buttercream icing from the day before so it saved some time to make more icing. I only made 1 batch of glaze for the chocolate cupcakes since the chocolate cupcakes were way too *short* to do much.

I actually managed to complete decorating her cake and cupcakes without any disaster so I am quite pleased with myself. I just hope the hubby has some nice pictures since I didn't take any!

Using the sugar butterflies and flowers from BIY was a breeze and time-saver! One of my nieces liked it so much she swiped 4 of the figures from the cupcakes before it even started! I think at the end of the party, she had 10 of them, in her tummy!

At the party, one of the daddies liked the cake so much he ate mostly cake and nothing else. It was so funny, because everytime I saw him, he was eating a piece of cake. His wife actually sampled all the different variations I had. I'm glad I found some fans for my baking!

We didn't cater in this round but we made most of the food:

1. Laksa (enough for 30 bowls)

2. Vegetable Thai Green curry

3. Ngoh Hiang

4. Chicken soup with fishballs (for the kids)

5. Chocolate dip with fruits and marshmallow

We bought some packed chicken nuggets/ fish fingers and baked them (healthier choice!) and ordered in satay and bee hoon.

It was crazy doing all the stuff but we survived. Now everyone is sleeping to regain their energy while I am doing my usual mummy duties.

I'll post up recipes with the photos!

Quick updates on #2

1. #2 top 2 teeth erupted about 1 week ago

2. #2 can now pull himself up and stand in the crib

All while mummy is not around ... I feel so ... sad =( not to mention now he doesn't need/ want mummy anymore.