I am a brewer!

My wine making had started about a week plus ago. I was supposed to check it on the 3rd day but because I was too busy so I only managed to check on it on the 5th day. I was so happy that it appeared to be forming well, the rice is fermenting and producing liquid as it should. Even tasted it and it was so sweet. Mixed about half a bottle of rice wine (samsu) (bought from the chinese medicine store) into the pot and turned the fermenting rice upside down. Now just have to wait another 20 days or so before it is ready for bottling. Yippie, my first try at making rice wine and it looks like it's a success (so far).

Cooked glutinous rice, wine yeast (crushed to powder) and red stuff for colouring.

Alternate yeast powder and rice in layers and end with more yeast on top.

Sprinkle generous amount of water and close with thick plastic sheet. Make some holes on the sheet.

Cover with 2 layers of newspaper and make your daughter stand beside it for a picture.

Let it sit in cool dry place, i.e. under my kitchen counter. Wait about 25 days. Open to check on day 3 and add half a bottle of bought rice wine.

Busy me...

Phew! Finally it's the weekend. It's been one crazy, hectic week. Managing the kids in the morning, alone, is really hard, even for me! I tend to miss something or forget stuff in the rush and that makes me late. Luckily, only slightly late. I am like 5 or 10 mins late for work only. That's better than some others in my office! But still I dislike being late. Next week my mum will be here so I can breathe easier and get things done quickly with her help.

I bought the iBaby IP cam online through Superbuy, it was delivered a few days ago. It was a breeze setting it up for LAN and wifi. Nothing to it. And it worked automatically on my iPhone and iPad using the app. But getting it to work on my browser in the office proves to be much harder. Could be the firewall or network restrictions there but I will get it sorted soon. Using the browser at home through the external IP/DDNS only needed a port routing set on my router. Next week, will try fixing it from my office pc.The price is a bit high and the manuals/FAQ sare not so satisfactory but the night vision is great and you can easily rotate the cam with a swipe of your finger. The ability to hear and talk through it (require external speakers) is a great bonus. I could talk to people at home using the cam. Overall, it is a good product.

Hubby and I are off on Monday to bring baby for checkup. Also, we have many things planned for the weekend, cleaning the store, repairing the baby cot, clearing up the clothes in the spare room. I also plan to make rice wine and make some Bak Chang! Too ambitious maybe. We'll see what we can achieve. Besides, I am getting a bit of a flu too. I am not made of steel after all :P.

This is life

The Bak Chang making was sort of a success with some small mishaps of a few loosen Changs in the pot. I have some ingredients left over, so I would be making some again within these few weeks. Next, I will be trying my hands on rice wine making for my sister who will be delivering a baby in August or September. More on that soon.

We are renovating the office at work so we have temporarily moved to the computer room next to our office. It will be another 4 to 6 weeks before the office is ready. Meanwhile, we are all seated in the open space, feels like we are in a Japanese manufacturing company:).

I am still waiting for the maid's arrival, so now it is a bit of a rush for me in the morning to get the 4 kids ready for their day. My sons have to go to day care in the morning and the center will send them to school in the afternoon. My daughter goes to kindy and stays back after that until the evening when I pick her up. My baby goes to her grandma for now. When my mum stays with us, it's much better, since I do not have to bring the baby to a different place plus she will prepare breakfast for the kids.

I have been reading recently about babies dying because of negligent childcare centers and it is really scary to hear. I can really feel for working mothers whom have to send their babies to centers or babysitters, we are left with very little choice. Even when we have maids, we would still be worried if our kids, especially babies, are well take care of in our absence. I am planning to put a IP webcam in my living room so that I can see the house from work and keep an eye on my baby while she is with the maid. We are still looking for the most suitable model, one of them is iBaby which works with iPhone and supports 2 way communication. We are expecting the maid in end of August so we are still have a bit of time to do so.

iBaby which works with iPhone.