Cupcakes & Mango Sago

Two days ago, I suddenly decided that I must make some food for Hubby to try before he got back to work (his MC was going to end soon). Since he was still staying at home, he could try my food the minute it came out from the oven - freshly baked. I tried my 2nd attempt on the cupcakes again. This time, the look was better. But the taste, I gave myself 6 out of 10, cos not so spongy as I expected. However Hubby had given me a lot of face, while I was still baking the cakes in batches (as I only have one 12 hole tray for my mini cupcakes), he had stuffed many of them into his stomach. Asher tried a few of them while Aron refused to eat after taking a bite, when he realised there were chocolate chips in the cakes. Aron is not a kid who likes chocolate chips and creamy cakes.

I also made something more refreshing on the same day - Mango Sago, after reading thru the recipe, I thought it was simple enough for me to start as my first dessert. Well, with my 2 mothers who don't take dairy products, I had to prepare 2 versions of Mango Sago, one with milk , one without milk. After tasting, my boys didn't appreciate the dessert, so the adults had more shares.

There were more praises for the Mango Sago than the cupcakes. MIL finished most of the "no milk" version, while my Hubby finished all the rest of the "with milk" version, without leaving a spoonful for me, despite of the soury mangoes. For a man who hates sour taste, I don't know if the dessert was really that good (I added sweetener) or he just wanted to show his full support for me. I felt flattered when my sis-in-law wanted to get the recipe from me. For this dessert, I gave myself 8 out of 10. The only thing that spoilt the taste was the soury mangoes which I got the fruit seller to select for me, I would not trust this fellow again. I already told him that I wanted to make dessert on that day and instructed him to pick the sweet ones for me. But still I got some really sour ones. The fruit seller still dare to put there "gurantteed sweet". I went back to the fruit stall the next day, and wanted to give that fellow a good scolding. He was lucky that he was not there. But I still complaint to his colleague. Well what else can I do...

Afterall, I am quite satisfied with the food I had prepared for the family. Lets see what other simple recipes I can try for next week.

Maybe for the future gathering with friends, Mango Sago will become my signature dessert.

Hubby's Pain

Its coming to the end of 2nd month of 2009 now, hubby already had his 3rd surgery in the year. This surgery was related to the 2nd one. The healing wasn't very good, and the stupid doc said he "might" need to go for further surgeries, depending on the comfort (or discomfort) level after healing. I am really doubtful about the doc's skill and professionalism, feel like stranggling him.

Each time after the surgery, I saw the pain and discomfort that hubby had to go thru, I sensed his depression and frustration even though he didn't really show out (he is not the kind of man that has much expression of his emotions). The pain that he had to endure during the toilet businesses and the discomfort you could see in the way he walk, sit and sleep. Plus the mixed feelings he had of having 10 days MC after every surgery. Happy that he could rest at home, but worried that his work piled up in the office, & bored that we could spend so much time with each other in the day (without children around), but doing nothing together.

He would just spend time on his work via email, surf net or watch tv, while I couldn't think of anything we could really spend quality time together. So I ended up keeping all appointments which I had made prior to his MCs. While I felt bad about leaving him at home, to enjoy myself outside, I thought it would be better to keep my spirit high and come back home to cheer him up after that.

When he flew too often and spent the rest of the time playing with our sons, I complaint that he wasn't focusing on me. Now that he stayed at home with 20 days of MC, I had no idea of what to do with him, except to help him put on the bandages after his shower.

Valentine Day had just passed, we didn't had any celebration, not even prepared any gifts for each other. In the past, I would be disappointed. But this time, I felt relieved, cos I couldn't think of anything to give him either. Men, especially, straight and simple ones, usually have very limited things to give. It makes it worse when he doesn't tell me what he wishes to get for his present.

For now, I just wish hubby could recover quickly and comfortably, so that we can have a craxy night of celebration by going to disco and dance till our butt drop, which we had never done before. Well, that is just a thought.

Updates

Hi, I am back again! I am still alive.

Its been a long long time since I last blog. I think my friends had given up checking out my blog already.

K, this is what happened to me for the past few months:

Nov - Dec, 08:

Was busy planning for family holidays and the sons school holiday programmes. Managed to enrol the boys into the holiday art programme in Mandarin Garden. The artworks are rather impressive. Pictures in the following sites:
http://picasaweb.google.com/diane.neo/08HolidayArtProgram#

Went to Bali first in end Nov and then to Genting, KL in Dec. In Bali, as my boys are rather timid, they didn't really had a 'wow' time with the sand and the waves. In fact, Aron burst into tears when 1 big wave gushed inshore unexpectedly while he was fidgetting his feet in the shallow water. One afternoon, Aron made a scene by throwing his biggest tantrum at the resort lobby, while I struggled carrying and pulling him out to the street, till all the guests and staff were watching us. Guessed I must have become the star of the day in the hotel. The 2 places that the boys enjoyed most were the resort swimming pool and the game arcade in the nearby shopping mall.

By the time we got home from Bali, my 3 months old Myammese maid decided to quit, leaving behind whole lot of housework and laundry for me to settle, I suddenly got demoted to maid again. To catch up with my mum's stardard of cleaniness, plus bringing my children around for their holiday classes, as well as to settle the Xmas gifts, was indeed too much for me to handle. However, I still have to drag myself to Genting with my family in Dec, and ended up having very bad flu and high fever there, which not only I had spread the virus to all the people in the family, but it also cause me to have sinus problem until today. To add more pity, after 1 month of waiting, the maid whom I originally selected right after I sent back the Myammese maid, decided not to come and work. How, re-select and wait again lor. I couldn't get any assurance if the maid would arrive before CNY. That means I had to be prepared to slave through the period.


Jan - Feb 09:

Thank god, my boys finally got back to school. But my poor hubby, probably had offended the "Tai Sui", had been facing lots of blood from the beginning of the year. He had 2 different surgeries within 1 month at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, after his high fever which I had spread to him. First, it was a ear infection, which was a day surgery. Then, he got an acute piles inflammation, just 1 day after his 43th birthday, which he ended up going to A&E and warded for 2 days. He is still enduring the pain and occassional bleeding until today, 9 day after the surgery.

Currently, I have a new maid from Indonesia, who just arrived few days before CNY. I am not sure if it was a blessing, as there was a drama happened in my family. My mum discovered she lost $1k of the Ang Bao she collected. She and the maid agent questioned the maid, and the maid denied she had taken it. I had also quietly checked her belongings and all the possible places that she could have hidden the $ in the house, but to no avail. So there is no evidence of theft on her. It could also be possible that my mum being old, blur and forgetful, had misplaced it or mistakenly given away to other people. While I really do not wish to be maidless again for the time being, I have to continue to keep a close watch on this maid.

Just keep my fingers crossed, hope that everything will be smooth sailing for the rest of this year.

Virgin Productions

Lately, I have 2 virgin productions. First, I design the artwork for Aron's birthday goodie bag, followed by Asher's birthday goodie bag. See Picture 1 & 2.

Pic 1 Pic 2

Though the designs are not fantastically impressive, at least, they mark the beginning of my creative design. Sons, do remember, without you, mummy probably will not ever start to do this. Hope this will make you feel proud in school.


The next production is... ta-da....

CUP CAKES!

Well, I bought a new mini oven a few months ago, after getting rid of the microwave oven which was sitting in my kitchen for a few years as white elephant. So, I decided, I should not let my new mini oven become the next white elephant.

I followed a recipe from a blog which says: 15 minutes cup-cake, and it is suppose to be fail-proof.

Guess what, at my first attempt, I put in the wrong amount of milk to the mixture of sugar, eggs, and butter. Instead of 60ml of milk stated in the recipe, I mistook it for 600ml of milk! And I actually beat the mixture till I suspected something was not right. Lucky, I didn't complete the mixing and put it in the oven. So after realising my mistake, I told my maid to throw away the mixture. She stared at me with big eyes. Yes, very wasteful, cos its a big bowl of mixture with 3 eggs, that I was throwing away.

I repeated the steps again. This time, the amount of all the ingredients were added without mistakes anymore. But manually beating the mixture was quite tiring.

I made another mistake. I bought the cake cups which the size were too big for the pan hole, so the look of the entire cupcakes were not as presentable as it could be.

But, the taste.....its yummy, at least, for a first timer, I am satisfied with my results. Everyone in my family said its not bad. Even MIL who doesn't take any food with dairy product also tasted a small tiny bit, and think its ok. She suggested that I use "coa-coa" instead of "milk" next time, so that she could eat it.

I shall post the pictures of my virgin cup cakes soon.

Updates

Its been quite a while since I last wrote on the blog.

Since I finished the Asiaworks Advanced Course, I went chalet at Pasir Ris Coasta Sand Resort. Then I worked on Aron's birthday goodie bag design (I spent a lot of time on this, cos it was my first time designing, without much knowledge or any guidance. Though it didn't look fantasitic, it was my virgin production after all). Half way through, I got an acute appendicitis attack, got into TTSH for surgery. I was suppose to take up an assignment, working at an event, but got to turn it down at the last minute. 2 days after I was discharged, in my dizziness and swelling stomache, I continued with the preparation for Aron's birthday goodie, went sourcing for the gift items. Finally after Aron's birthday, I packed up for my family's luggage, and off we flew to HK.

HK was damn hot. As I had not been there for 8-9 years, I had forgotten many places which I used to shop last time. Its quite challenging to balance the time and places to go, to accomodate different interests for all the family members. My children only interested in toys and play areas, MIL and myself interested in shopping. FIL more keen in sight-seeing. My poor hubby, didn't even dare to think where he wanted to go, he is there to work, not to enjoy. We ended splitting up, going in different directions - obviously, I brought MIL for shopping, while Kenny and FIL looked after the children. Though Kenny went HK a couple of times, but I couldn't count on him for giving me the list of shopping places. In fact, I think I know the shopping areas better than him, despite I had not been there for a long time. Imagine, he didn't even know where to get the famous "Yuen Long Lau Po Bing" (which I was craving), and ended up walking down the street, searching for the shop, then came back empty-handed & with frustration. In the end, with much unwillingness, I bought the not so fantastic Lau Po Bing from airport.

HK Disneyland Resort was really a pleasant surprise. Even MIL said she had never stayed in such a beautiful and luxurious hotel in her entire life. The hotel staff was real sweet to upgrade us to the Premium rooms, as they couldn't give us connecting rooms on our request. The rooms were big and the beds were also very comfortable. My boys enjoyed bath in the tub, while my in-laws were pampered with the Bon Cafe coffee made from the coffee maker. The bedroom slippers could be brought home as souvenirs, but I only brought the kids size back for the boys, and I packed all the slipper bags (6 pcs in 2 rooms) into my luggage - they are really useful for keeping my large volume of shoes. With about S$300 per room night, I decided to just stay for 1 night. We were greeted by the Disney characters at the cafe during breakfast. They went from table to table to greet the guests, be it young or old, with their cheerful smile. We snapped quite a number of photos together.

As for the Disneyland itself, to me, it wasn't as good as the ones in LA and Japan, but at least, the boys love it. With their timidness, they only took a few rides which were considered the mildest ones, like the Train-Ride, Merry-Go-Round, Flying Elephants, Tea-Cups and "Its a Small World" - their favourite, cos its so pleasant and sweet. The boys were horrified by the jungle boat ride, which they saw animals like crocodile, snakes, elephants, gorillas, as well as skeletons along the way, that Asher cried so badly throughout. The last part of all - the exploding cave which came rolling out with fire balls and smoke - Aron also burst out in tears. So, you can see how much adventure my boys can take. Therefore, we decided to keep within their "safety zone". The fire works was beautiful, even though we were standing at the furthest possible place to watch. I managed to keep my frightening Aron watching the whole show by carrying him and covering his ears, then slowing uncovered them as he started to relax. In fact, there wasn't much loud sound from the fire-works, unlike those we see at National Day Parade. Maybe, they understand the children's fear. Despite of the little sound, Asher was still scared to death and refused to stay on to watch. The grand-parents, being quite protective, worried he would get "over frightened", brought him out of the park in no time and waited for us outside.

At the end of the trip, I was so glad that we were finally home, as it was really tiring. MIL only got herself 1 blouse and 1 bag, while I got 6 pieces of clothing and 4 pairs of shoes. Obviously my boys were loaded with toys. Kenny, with my guilt conscious of "throwing" the boys to him, got 2 shirts from me. The most pathetic FIL got nothing, and yet worked throughout the trip as nanny without complaining. Really appreciate his commitment towards my sons.

Just few days after we came back, Kenny popped out the question: Where shall we go for the next trip? What about Bali on 1st Oct? At first, I was thinking he might be referring to just me and him. I thought we deserve to go for a relaxing trip that is meant for just both of us and to charge ourselves up. To my disappointment, he was referring to the whole family again. As he brought this idea up to MIL, she begun to look forward to another overseas trip already.

Sometimes, I just wonder: is it that I am too selfish to think about enjoying myself without the children? Or is it that my man doesn't feel its important enough for us to spend some couplehood time. I had mentioned to him a few times about it, but nothing was planned or done so far. Apparently, i think this is not important enough to him, otherwise he would have taken actions. Or maybe, he feels that going for 3 hour Spa together every few months would be sufficient to sustain our romance.

Well, I can't complain much, cos after all, I do have a very very very committed and responsible man, that has done every possible things to keep the whole family happy, to the extend that he doesn't even get to rest on weekends. A man with absolutely no extra time for himself, I don't know if I should expect him to think about couplehood time.