Upcoming Events

My youngest brother is getting married this weekend. My mum has requested that I cook Rendang Ayam to go with her Nasi Briyani for the guests who visit the night before the wedding. I had to do a test run, :). So off I went to the trusty google for a recipe. Once I had that, I had to plan a weekend when I am able to get the ingredients and test it out.

So finally, 2 weeks ago, I tried it out and it tasted good. But we couldn't finish it as my kids don't take spicy food. My in laws had some, the rest went into the fridge. I had it for 2 lunches that week. Then my mum-in-law came on Saturday and threw it away from my fridge, :(. Oh well, will be trying the recipe again this weekend.

Been also shopping for clothes for the kids and me for the wedding. Managed to get some new stuff, trying not to spend too much. Still need to give big angpow to brother. Never mind, all siblings already married, so no more such events in future.

American Idol 8 - Go Adam!!!

I started noticing Adam Lambert in the current AI since his audition. He is so cute and boy, he can really sing. His perfomances have been consistently on par. But the rest of the contestants were good too. This AI is by far the best in terms of talent. At my age, I shouldn't be oogling over cute boys anymore but just can't help myself. I didn't follow much on last year's AI but this year is certainly a showcase of great talents, like Allison, Danny and of course Adam! On another note, I love Chris Daughtry too, took me some effort to get his band's debut CD when it came out.

I hope Adam will win, if I could vote for him I would. I hope there will be no upsets from Kris, as Adam deserves to win more than Kris. I thought Danny was better then Kris and should be in the finals with Adam. I hope American viewers will not let any upsets happen and vote for Adam... MY AMERICAN IDOL.

Guilty

I am really guilty of having no will-power or sustainability. Ok, so my chinese learning thingy is not going anywhere beyond a few pages in my exercise book which is now sitting, gathering dust on my work desk. It is now accompanying my Catholic Guide to the Bible book which I read through the one third of and stopped. Last time I touched the book was a good 6 months or so ago. This blog for instance, 2 months passed since my last update. I really need to get myself organised.

Anyways, I am back. I did make my 2nd fondant cake for my little girl's birthday in Feb and here's a pic. And next, we have hubby's Bday and mother's day in the next 2 weekends. Haven't been able to bake for the past few weeks since the kids were sick one after another. Only last week they got better, thank God.

So many things that I want to do and haven't. I really have to sit down and list down everything and prioritise. I should start with updating my blog more regularly. So stay tuned for more ramblings, I hope...

My First Fondant Cake

After a lot of reading up and researching on the web, I finally took a big step. I made 2 batches of Masrhmallow Fondant (MMF) one night and then tried my hands on decorating a chocolate cake (I baked) for Valentine. I was supposed to be done on Valentine's day itself but due to unforseen happenings, I only did it on the day after Valentine. The results was better than what I expected.

So now I have more confidence to try my next cake which is very important. My baby girl's first birthday cake. I have enough fondant in my fridge to decorate a fairly large cake but now I am checking out the designs. I will post my 2nd fondant cake picture soon. Hopefully I will be happy with my creation and my family will appreciate it too...

Learning to Write Chinese

Having come from a Kebangsaan School background, I do not read or write chinese. Not that I am complaining, but since my pre-school kids are having chinese (or Mandarin to be exact) as a subject, I decide I should also learn some too. Luckily, I can speak and understand chinese, mainly due to using it at home (Hokkien), watching the Singapore TV dramas when growing up in Johor (Mandarin) and being forced to speak Cantonese while living in KL/PJ. Now I can even understand Hakka, cuase my hubby's family is Hakka, though I can't speak it yet.

So here I am writing basic chinese in my big square excercise book. I figure if I learn 5 new words a day during the weekdays, I will be reading and writing chinese like a pro soon. NOT.... I don't seem to remember them after I wrote them down. Signs of getting old I guess.

But I will persevere. I have to know more than my pre-schools kids. I am their mother!

Cooking & Baking Time

I have always enjoyed cooking, and now with 3 kids, I enjoy it even more. The thought of my little ones eating the wholesome meals I prepare for them is really enough to drive me to cook more often.

On and off, I will try something new that I think my kids will enjoy like the vegetable dahl recipe which I got from the web. Here's a picture of how it turned out. We all liked it that I have cooked this recipe twice. The roti is the frozen ones you get from the supermarket.

I also enjoy baking since I became pregnant with my baby girl in 2007. Some kind of instinct, I guess. And once again, Chinese New Year is near and cookies baking time is here again. Am planning my weekends to enable me to bake a few types of cookies. At the same time, I am planning to bake and decorate my baby girl's 1st birthday cake which is in the end of Feb. So I will be trying my hands at making fondant this weekend. Looks like my weekends will be really busy....