Pizza Bread Dinner

It had been a long time since we had pizzas due to Aver's allergy. We did not want her to feel left out. It had also been awhile since I stepped into my kitchen. The school holiday has started and since we are not so keen to be out of the house due to the extreme heat these few weeks, I thought of having our own pizza making... the easy way out.

I used plain white bread for the base and pasta sauce to spread. The children added their own ingredients on top. Aver's was suppose to have goat's cheese but she did not like the taste so she went without. The comment for that simple dinner was great. Everyone enjoyed it.

The ingredients to start with...

The girls were good to go after clear instructions have been given.

The girls and their creations.

Pre-toasted ones... Cheesy top is Ash's and the pasta sauce one belongs to Aver (She has not cleared her milk challenge yet).

After toasting them...

Yummilicious....

Finger(s) licking good...

Superpig's creation.

My creatiion (sorry for the super oily face...)

My beloved toaster...

We love our food. I love my kitchen. Most of all, I love the time we can all spend together to enjoy it.
*Muacks* to my beloved family.

Birthdays, Housewarming, Crafting, Relaxing...

The past few weeks were crazy around this house. There was massive unpacking and packing, sorting and throwing, drilling and cleaning... all for the sake of having a housewarming and birthday celebrations all in one.

First Fondant Cake (for the guests in the afternoon)

Second Fondant Cake (for the guests in the evening)

The two recipents of the cakes

Finally, a picture of the four of us.

I had always envied those people who could beautiful fondant cakes. I envied, I dreamt about it, I googled it, I youtubed it, I bought the ingredients, I tried it and it worked! I am proud of myself for the courage to try it. I am grateful for the many encouragement by Superpig and his usual,"You don't try, you will not know." attitude. I must also thank Aver for her mutliple food allergies that forced me to learn new ways of cooking and baking around those food items that she cannot eat.



Challenges push one to do things that he/she will not even think of doing. I have been put in many situations that are challenging and I must say that I walked out of these situations stronger but not without wounds. However, rather than crying over these wounds, I have learnt to soothe them and tell myself that I will not make the same mistakes hence suffer from the same wounds again.



Life is about facing our challenges, learning to overcome them and then looking forward to what lies ahead.




As for crafting... well, not much but I managed to squeeze in one yesterday as my children were taken off my hands.

I made three Kennys from South Park for my Superpig.

Cupcake Day

It is coming to the end of the June holiday and I finally decided to get the kids involved in cupcake making. It is a non-dairy. eggless cupcake which Aver can enjoy along with her sister.

The cupcakes came out flat. Should be due to the 'no egg' issue. However, it is still nice to eat.

These are Mango Cuppies.

These are Raisin and Choco Chips Cuppies.

Enjoy along with us, please.

Failed!!!

My layered agar-agar.

Hello Kitty looked like it got punched by a jealous kitty.

Mickey Mouse had used a cheap dye for his hair...

It's my first try at layering so I have expected it to fail.
It requires lots of patience.
So I will practice it again.

Lunch today...

Ham and cheese sandwiches, using my new toys.

A parcel from Hong Kong

Superpig has a friend who resides in Hong Kong and she had kindly ordered some toys for my kitchen for me. I am totally grateful to her for her help.

And in return, I am working on two knitted products to be sent there in time for the change of season. When I finished with them, I will post it up. Now, I will return to my knitting.

On a happier note...

Due to the stress that an irresponsible person had caused I suffered from a terrible migraine attack that kept me in bed the next day. When I was better, I refused to sit and sulk... I will never be able to win this battle and will not want to waste my energy on such things.

So I dusted off the dust from my sewing machine and sewed some.

Dinner... was a little fun-looking.

I bought these cute serving plates to make the princesses meals more insteresting.

And these are the satisfied looking princesses after the meal.

Onto the bento wagon

Due to the lack of time to cook lunch on weekdays when we reach home, I have to learnt to cook the night before and store it in the fridge. Once we reached home, I can pop it into the microwave oven to heat and lunch will be ready in 5 minutes.

Since I cook lunches for Ash and myself, why not prepare another set for Superpig to bring to work.

This is one of it.

Contents:

1. Fried egg with minced meat on rice

2. Simple lettuce, orange and raisin salad

3. Japanese salad sauce in Pooh container

Christmas is coming...

and my christmas presents for my friends, their kids, Aver's childcare teachers are not at all done. I have YET TO START on them!!!

Don't ask me why? Seems like I have this problem of proscratination or simply I still have not found something that is suitable for them yet.

Anyway... in preparation for christmas, I wanted the children to have a go at making christmas cookies but I fear the need to clean up later. Yesterday, I plucked up the courage and we had a cookie making sesssion (just that it was not in the christmas theme.)

The princesses selecting from my stash of cookie cutters the ones that they want to use.

Then, we all started the cookie cutting and cookie stamping.

The dough

Helping Aver with her cookie cutting.

Aver showing her flour-ed finger.

Superpig's turn...

They are waiting patiently for the oven to heat up.

All baked and waiting to be cooled and eaten.

The last bit of the dough... and this is what I created.

Let see if I can squeeze in a christmas cookie making session tomorrow night.

Lucia Buns

If you have been to Ikea (Singapore) recently, you will have seen the staff setting up baking counters in the showroom.

Aver tasted the Lucia Buns and fell in love with it. Why we know she likes it? After finishing a little portion of it, she kept asking for more. On top of that, when we return two days later for an item refund, she pointed into the showroom and demanded for bread.

There were also recipe sheets given out to customers and Superpig got one for me.

I tried the Ikea's recipe and totally failed ... that was last night ... and I went to bed feeling angry with myself.

This morning, I did a search online and found a simple enough recipe and tried it... it worked!!!

Yippeeee yeh yeh yeh...

(But I still need to twit the temperature of my oven so the buns doesn't look burnt.)

I did not use saffron, which is actually the main item in this bun, as cheapo Superpig refused to spend S$9 for a small bush of saffron. (Actually, I will not spend that money too... it is incredibly expensive!) He bought mixed spices for me instead and so I used that ... and it still taste as NICE!

Yippeee yipeee yeh yeh!!!

The dough separated into balls waiting for to be shaped.

The shaped doughs waiting to rise... (I need to add a little more yeast to let it rise more so that it will be fluffier.)

In the oven....

The end result.... a little too burnt looking.

The inside of the bun... Yummy...

Aver have not tasted this batch yet so I do not know whether she will like it. However, Ash tasted and she said she likes it.

With God's many blessings, I am richer and stronger

Before Superpig started on his new job, he went on a shopping spree with me.

However, eventhough we were shopping we have no idea that his job was in the process of being confirmed.

A little of the background...

He was offered a job a few weeks ago and we were all very excited.

However, as he had to declare that he was the shareholder of the company that he was working then, the current one sort of held back comfirmation of his job.

Then it was about two weeks of waiting, praying and simply relying on God's grace.

I, on the other hand, told him to have himself remove from the company as soon as possible and he did.

The auditors did the necessary documents and the necessary persons signed on the dotted line and I persuaded him to send the relevant documents to the current employer without any delay.

That Thursday, 8 May 2008, he sent the documents to the current employer and then we went shopping.

Somehow, there was a kind of peace in me ( I am not sure about him though...) but he allowed me to enjoy my shopping.

I walked home with quite a few things and a very happy lady.

That evening, he got a call from the current company informing him to report to work the next week.

So he had been at his new job for a week now .. tiring due to long hours and numerous tasks to complete but very happy as God has given us.

I do not know what to put as the title of this post but I think the title I had up there is really relevant to our current situation.

Back to the shopping spree...

One of the loot is the Hello Kitty silicon baking mould I used to bake the Mother's Day Cakes.

Here is another one ... Pooh Bear silicom baking mould which I used to bake the Pooh Bear Sponge Cake in the previous post.By the way the recipe for the sponge cake is posted HERE.

Was out and tired...

I missed yet another post as I was really tired.
I had to go report to work (a weekly affair) and pick Ash up from school after her ballet... this is usual.
What tired me out was that I had to run an extra errand for Superpig.
After he had started on his new job, I have to help out with his old one...collecting mails, calling for courier, getting invoices and all. So I went to his old office on the public transport... I could have the car...but been a lost cow (moooo....mooo.....) most of the time, I thought that it will be safer to not drive.
At least if I was lost, I could always hail a cab.

So after all the travelling and walking and all, I came home with blisters on my feet (ouchhhhhhhh!) and aching legs.
Well, eventhough I was tired, I cannot resist making these for Superpig and Ash.

Happy Mother's Day

Yup... now I can finally say this.

I don't know what to get for my mother-in-law, who lacks nothing, and my mum, who don't want anything. So the only thing I know that they cannot buy with money is what comes out from my oven.

So I decided to bake them and also my sister-in-law their own Mother's Day Cake.
If you have read the previous post, you will know that I had started baking since the night before.

The cake failed to be baked ... in total, I failed five times.
I don't think it was the recipe but largely due to me.
This morning with the fifth try, I was at the verge of giving up.
And then I found another recipe and tried it again.
It finally worked.
So I continued to bake another 2 more.

Here is the mould that I bought few days ago.

This is my first try... see how badly burnt it was.

Then this is me, sitting and staring at the oven and praying that the cake will work this time (Superpig thought it was cute to take this picture.)

And here is Aver hoping to get my attention (please ignore that camera strap ... Superpig has problem taking pictures.)

Now, after the sixth try.

Here is the third successful one...finally!

The filling in between the layers is durian puree... pure durian!