Saturday, March 29, 2008

Precious Moments tagged me!

I got tagged by Precious Moments. Sorry E, it took me so long before I sat down today to do it..hehe..

Here it is!

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night?
My the other half lor:)

2. What were you doing at 0800?
Baking Bread and Muffins.

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
uploading my food photos.

4. What happened to you in 2006?
oh dear..couldn't remember leh..let me recall first.

5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
GO TAKE YR SHOWER NOW, BOY! (my younger son)

6. How many beverages did you have today?
1 cup of coffee, 1 glass of water, 1 cup of green tea, 1 cup of orange juice.

7. What color is your hairbrush?
Black.

8. What was the last thing you paid for?
HL Milk.

9. Where were you last night?
At home, watching my dvd.

10. What color is your front door?
Brown

11. Where do you keep your change?
Coin Purse

12. What’s the weather like today?
Hot,humid.

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor?
Vanilla

14. What excites you?
Successful bakes.

15. Do you want to cut your hair?
No. I have been keeping long hair for years.

16. Are you over the age of 25?
over liao :(

17. Do you talk a lot?
sometimes..depends on who, where and when.

18. Do you watch the O.C.?
Nope.

19. Do you know anyone named Steven?
yes

20. Do you make up your own words?
hmmm...yes or no

21. Are you a jealous person?
maybe..sometimes..depends..

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’.
Alice

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’.
Kim

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list?
Dh

25. What does the last text message you received say?
nothing.

26. Do you chew on your straw?
Nope

27. Do you have curly hair?
yes, natural curl (but I rebond)

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to?
White Sands shopping mall

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life?
too many, countless lah..

30. What was the last thing you ate?
duck rice

31. Will you get married in the future?
too late liao.. I am already a Mrs Tan

32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks?
sorry, not a movie fan leh

33. Is there anyone you like right now?
countless...

34. When was the last time you did the dishes?
an hour ago

35. Are you currently depressed?
Nope

36. Did you cry today?
Nope. I am very happy today in fact, so why cry?

37. Why did you answer and post this?
Cos Precious Moments tagged me, even take a long time, must also reply :)

38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey.
let me think who should i tag and will post the names later.

Crumble Muffins

This recipe was adapted from all.recipes website.

I have kept this recipe for quite a while and die die I have to give it a try today because of the name: "To Die For Blueberry Muffins". It says "These muffins are extra large and yummy with the sugary-cinnamon crumb topping!" and I love anything cinnamon!

Well, I do not have blueberry so I replaced with Jade Raisins and Chocolate Chips. So I have got 4 each of the flavour.


These Jade Raisins were from Hainan Island, China. In-laws bought a big pkt during their holiday trip there in mid March.






CRUMBLE MUFFINS
*slightly modify from the original recipe "To Die For Blueberry Muffins.

Ingredients:
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used self-raising flour, so I omit the baking powder)
* 2 tsp baking powder
* 3/4 cup caster sugar (I used slightly lesser than that)
* 1/3 cup veg oil (I used corn oil)
* 1 egg
* 1/3 cup milk
* 1 cup fresh blueberries (I used raisins and chocolate chips)

Methods:
1. Preheat oven to 180deg c. Line muffin cups with muffin liners.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl. .
3. Place corn oil into a 1 cup measuring cup (1 cup = 250ml); add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture, need not be smooth, batter has to be lumpy. Fold in blueberries.
4. Fill muffin cups right to the top, sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
5. Bake for about 20 - 25 mins in the preheated oven, or until done.


Crumb Toppings:-
* 1/2 cup caster sugar
* 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/4 cup butter, cubed
* 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

To make crumb toppings:
1. Mix together sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon.
2. Mix with a fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.



Soft & Moist Banana Cakes

Thanks Joyce (jthorge) for sharing her Soft & Moist Banana Cakes recipe. Is indeed very soft and moist. I like it! I added too much bananas and could'nt find much of the cake hahaha..however, it tasted very yummy. I made into little cups rather than in loafs as the baking time is shorter :)



Wednesday, March 26, 2008

FRIENDSHIP AWARD

I received this lovely "Friendship Award" from Lucy aka Auntie Yochana. Thanks Lucy :)




I would like to pass this award to:-

1) Baking Mum
2) Singairishgirl

Sunday, March 23, 2008

黄金酥 aka Golden Sunshine

I tried out another recipe from the same cookbook, Y3K today. It has got a nice name, 黄金酥 aka Golden Sunshine.

I hand moulded the shape as I do not have a square mould. However, I found it too buttery for my liking and it taste kind of bitter. I am not sure what's wrong with it, maybe of the ingredients or maybe over baked. Somehow, I still prefer our local Pineapple Tarts. These are like pineapple cakes. I am just not used to the taste so I packed and gave all to my mum






I used the packaging that I bought during my recent trip to HKG in March this year.



Saturday, March 22, 2008

梅花酥 - Winter Plum Blossom Flower Flaky Mooncakes

My colleague got me a Y3K Cookbook from Malaysia. It's all about making Mooncakes. I gave one of the recipes a try just now. The mooncakes were out from the oven not long ago, still hot.... will let it cool well before storage. Will get Hub to try it out tonite when he is back from his night shift later.


one recipe yields 16 big pieces


I simply adore the shape of this pastry that I decided to give it a try...



Look! It's so flaky!




Vanilla Sponge Cupcakes

Thanks jthorge for sharing this lovely Vanilla Sponge Cake recipe. This is really soft and very light, a in between of steamed sponge cake and kueh baulu, a mix of chinese and malay hehe... Hub and the kids love it very much.




Plain ones for Hub





For the kids, I added some melted chocolate and chocolate curls



It happened to be my niece (Natalie) 3rd birthday on that day. I didn't bake a cake for her as it was so last min and these sponge cupcakes came into handy. I used some of it and this was how it looked like:)

Charity Food Fair

Elder son's school held their Charity Food Fair in school last week. I contributed 50 cupcakes, a 9" Peach Marshmallow Cake and 30 Konnyaku Jellie Cups for sale. I took half a day to help out in the fair and did the frosting of the cupcakes on the spot. I was very pleased that the cakes are well-liked by the students, parents volunteers and teachers that all were sold out pretty fast haha... However, I left the fair half way through as Ds was feeling sick that I need to fetch him home to rest. I was later informed by the chairperson that the fair was a success. Hurray!

I have take a few pictures of what I have sold..forgotten to take pics of my jellies hehe..




Peach Marshmallow slices


Chocolate Chip Cupcakes


Vanilla Cupcakes


Frosted Cupcakes

Cupcakes for Tea-break

Normally when I start to bake, I tend to bake more to give away to neighbours and friends. These were baked yesterday after my easter cupcakes. Just plain ones without frosting.


Oreo and Chocolate Chip Brownies


Coffee Cupcakes

Friday, March 21, 2008

Happy Easter Day!

Happy Easter Day, Everyone!

I have not been blogging much and baking much as well.. haha..busy? nope! plain excuse for myself. Lazy? more likely to be..

my naked cupcakes before frosting....




Since Ds is going to his cell group gathering this evening, I managed to squeeze sometimes in the afternoon to bake some cupcakes for him to bring along to share with his cell members.

with simple frosting...







Baptism - 15th Mar 2008

Elder ds, Brandon, just got baptised last Saturday, 15th Mar. Hub, myself, younger ds and a close family friend of us, Kim and her dd came along to give him our blessing and share his joy for this glorious day.







Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Tagged - Before I was a mum

I got tagged by singairishgirl quite sometimes ago. Sorry D, it took me so long to do it.

This is what she wrote:
The rule to the e-mail (?) was that, once you have been hit, you have to hit 5 pretty Moms, including the one who thought of you today & sent it to you. The idea is that if you get hit again, You will know you are really pretty!

So I thought lets just turn this into a tag instead. But that “hit” part won’t work very well in a tag. So instead of giving a “hit” to the one who tag you, you add your name at the bottom of the tagged persons list, and without bumping the person at the top or bumping anyone off and let the list grow.
Hit 5 pretty moms on your list to let them know they are pretty!

So, I guess it's what you'd like to share about how life was before you became a mum. I just did the same amount on the list as Singairishgirl. Have fun ladies!



Here you go, sharing how my life was before I became a mum.

Before I was a mum;
I get to party every weekend.

Before I was a mum;
I need not cook and do housework as much as I do now.

Before I was a mum;
I slept till very late (not anymore now).

Before I was a mum;
I didn't know how tough motherhood be like.

Before I was a mum;
I could control my temper very well.

Before I was a mum;
I didn't have much worry as I do now.


The first chain of tag:
1. Lovelymummy
2. Pek Imm
3. Momisodes
4. Ling that’s me
5. Janicepa
6. AnnieQ
7. Allthingspurple
8. Montessorimum
9. clumsy mommy
10. Sandra
11. KittyCat
12. VivianZ
13. Sweetpea
14. Sasha
15. Giddy Tiger
16. Wen
17. Jo-N
18. Janice Ng
19. BlurTing
19. ViEmwk
20. Singairishgir
21. hutofcranberry

I would like to tag the following pretty moms :
1. Zu's Kitchen
2. Baking Mum
3. CookBake Legacy
4. Mum Loves Cooking
5. got2bme

I am ALONE tonite!

I am left alone tonite :( :(....... Elder son went for resilience camp in Pahang on Monday, coming back this Friday. Younger son too, but camping in school. I am missing both of them already...... Hubby going to work later, on night shift today :( The house is so quiet today, is just too quiet without the boys...Hub felt the same too. I knew he miss them as much as I do.

Elder son's school teachers are really nice. They set up a blog for this camp and we parents get the update daily. Thanks to all the teachers for sharing some of the exciting pictures and video clips! WOw! really cool man! The campers were enjoying themselves! Ds didn't appear in any of the pics or clips.....must be hiding somewhere...hahaha..He is in the "Hunters Group", must be somewhere in the jungle or forest. Oh boy, be careful of insects, especially the leeches... oh dear, they suck blood! Don't play with the animals, drink enough water, be careful of these , be careful of that. These were the mindful words that I told him before he left. Hope he enjoy and have fun thru out the whole camp and I believe he will.

Well, Boys, we will see you this Friday!