Happy to be Home

I've been away for a long year and it's good to be back in Singapore again. Touching down to a place so familiar felt nice though I wasn't sure how I would like it after a long absence.

Being away for so many years allows me to appreciate the sheer convenience this city brings and i am not about to take it for granted. I was already planning my appointments and updating my calendar. This is the first time in man years that my birthday was spent here and I'm also happy that I can be here for Christmas.

We are missing big daddy who is in KL and I think he should be bored with the food and lack of space by now. We are all looking forward to Krabi and then HK..l it would be what we call a family vacation. This trip to Singapore is packed with activities as I had signed up with a few baking and cooking classes with chef Aki. I've always want to learn the art of macaron making and good souffle cheesecake. It took me 4 attempts to succeed macaron baking a few months ago so I do like to know how to do it well. And I'm happy that I had made a really soft and nice Japanese souffle cheesecake yesterday.

I'm looking forward to some good Christmas shopping here in Singapore and its quite hard choosing the right gift as there ae heaps of gift ideas. Maybe some funny t shirts for the teens and a masculine gift for the big man in the house. I forgave him for missing my birthday. Now, he cant complain about my shopping spree!

Its on to physio at Physioeficaz before watch shopping at The Hour Glass with my dear friend...

Less Baking and More Packing

The week has been quiet but very busy since DH left for Malaysia. It's tiring doing the school and activity runs on my own but I'm coping well.

In less than two weeks' time, school is out for 2011 and it's vacation time for most. It's been an amazing year and I'm so thankful for everything. Though I didn't like the idea of moving another time, I'm thankful that we found a nice place. Though I didn't like clearing the yard for the fussy owner to do the concrete works, I'm thankful for strength to do the clearance and for friends who so graciously look after my plants. I miss my herbs and veggies and can't wait to grow them again next year in the new place.

I've started group fitness training and it's been so tiring. It's good to know that I'm toning up and burning calories but I didn't like wobbly knees the next day! Now that DH is not here, I'm baking less cos there isn't anyone to share the sweets! I'd love to share them with friends but I just don't want them to get bored with my baking pleasures. Less sweets for me means less weight gain! I'm one of those who never seem to be bothered with the best weight loss pill though I know of people who use weight loss aids.

So the packing begins... it feels like a year ago where we had to pack and do the big move. This one is smaller... that's for sure.

House Settled, Move will be Next

After some stressful weeks of home inspections, we had finally confirmed our place for next year! What a relief! I was praying hard that it would all be settled before Alex leaves for his long trip.

Looking back, God has opened doors for this house and I was very sure He would do the same for the next. He is faithful. I'm glad that I don't have to do anymore house inspections and though I dread the move, I am happy to move into a house soon. Last week had been a busy one for me as I moved all my plants to friends' homes. I am missing my mini cherry tomato plant and my french beans! They were growing so well and I miss watering and caring for them. I can't wait to have a vege patch when I move into the house next year!

The next few weeks will be different as DH won't be here. I'll be doing all the school runs and packing. My friend whom I used to do coffee with is looking out for Pharmacy Technician Jobs so I will be without a partner when she starts working.

This week, it's cooking time again with my 'teacher-friend' and I can't wait to learn something new with these lovely ladies. It's life here in Brissy and I'll be missing these things in three weeks' time!

Moving Again...

I felt a little sad when I learned that we needed to move out of this place end January 12. We have grown to like where we are and it's just nice to be 8 minutes drive from school! No traffic jams, no highways.... the local area is beautiful and we enjoy the park.

But we need to face the truth and move forward. I trust that God has a purpose in all things. So the house hunting starts and continues. It's time to find a place before any of us leaves for our long vacation. I certainly look forward to the coming holiday. Singapore, Krabi, Hong Kong... plus the baking and cooking lessons I'm going to have. I know it's going to be fun, fun, fun! Clayton will have his fair share of fun at Children Technology Workshop.

Well, I hope that we can find a place near parks and all. There are plenty of parks here in Brissy but some of them can be a drive away. Last weekend, we took a drive to the Mount Gravatt Outlook Reserve and it was nice. We saw bikers in their scorpion helmets and the bike tracks looked cool!

I can't believe that it's just two more weeks and school holidays will begin. Till then, I am geared up for a long break but I don't look forward to the humid weather in Singapore.

Holidays Are Coming!

Just when I felt so settled, we got news that our rental lease won't be renewed. This isn't very good news for us as we will be away in less than two months' time.

It did take me some days to accept the situation and I dislike being back to a 'square one' situation. But I know it happens for a good reason. I do hope that we buy a place next year but for now, I have to work on getting a place to move into early next year.

Sad news aside, I'm glad that our Krabi trip is confirmed and it's nice to be on holiday with good friends again. We have never been to Krabi so it would be nice as we go island hopping. Clayton is happy to see his friends again and I'm missing the beautiful beaches in Asia. Queensland does have some nice beaches but the waters can be too cold to jump into!

Now that the holidays are confirmed, I need to start shopping for a gift for new baby arrival as a friend of ours will be having a baby girl soon. It is nice to rejoice over a new birth and I can imagine the joys that surround the family. Shopping for a baby gift can be fun as those little baby clothes are so pretty and cute.

As the trip home draws closer, I am listing down the things to buy when I am back. One thing for sure, I'll be visiting a few bake shops. It's time to stock up things I can't find here!

Cooking, Baking... in brissy

So many things have happened in the last month that I'm having difficulties recalling them one by one.

In a nutshell, the little junior celebrated his seventh birthday last weekend, his first birthday celebration in sunny brissy. He was very happy to have his friends on that day and we decided to do it at Lollypops playland. It was a very simple and 'stress-free' celebration as there was a party host who took care of of the activities and games. He received lots of lego gifts and we had only allowed him to unwrap them once a week. The party place had personalized bags for the party guests and it all went well. For the 1st time ever, I made a cake for him and the chocolate cake brought much compliments and I was comforted.

There had been so many cooking and baking lessons in the last month and I found myself picking skills of making rice dumplings, chee cheong fun and even tiramisu cake. Last monday, I even learnt how to make ang ku kueh... sweet!

Next week, I'll be teaching a friend how to make kueh bangkit.... life is brissy is exciting after all :)

Durian Baking Time

My baking adventures continue and this month, it's durian time!

Well, I certainly miss my durians - Musang king, XO, D24 - whatever. When you are here and durians are sold in the chiller for $8/kg, it makes your craving grow more intense! BUT we were delighted to spot frozen durians in Yuen few weeks ago and I bought a pack to try out. For $8, I was willing to test it out. Well, the frozen durians surprised us - they smelled good and tasted delicious! I couldn't wait to try out my durian chiffon cake.

You couldn't imagine how excited I was when that durian chiffon cake came out of the oven... I touched it straight away to test the softness and viola, it was pillowy soft and the whole kitchen was saturated with the fragrance of XO durian. I was SOOO happy - the durian chiffon was a huge success!

My durian experiment didn't end here. I went on to test out the Japanese Cotton Durian Cheesecake and then the Durian Cream cake. I think the durian cheesecake was too dense with that recipe I had but the durian cream cake was yummy!

So much of durian cakes and bakes, there are so many baking stuff I need to buy when I'm back in SG end of this year. I think I would need to ship a box for the list of things I want to buy! My friend is asking me to bring back some canon camera batteries for him and I am hoping to get a few household items during those post christmas sale.

I'm now eyeing at the Kitchenaid food processor and mixer... it would be nice to get them both... they sure make great birthday and Christmas gifts!

Term 3 Ended and School Holidays is Here

I can't believe that it's the end of term three for Clayton and school holidays is here again!

Looking back, he was still settling into his new school and environment and now, he's almost finishing his grade one! Whew! This also means that we have been here for 10 months and in two months' time, it's officially our first full year down under!

Life has been interesting in the last ten months and I'm giving thanks every minute for God's goodness and provision. I have no complaints and in fact, I have so much to thank Him for. The RRV was indeed a wonderful blessing for us and that's why we can be home end of the year. I'm just so grateful for His favor.

There have been so many adjustments for us and so far, things have been smooth, despite a few hiccups here and there. It took DH a while to get used to the 60km speed limit and we are glad we haven't utilize any emergency road service so far. It's good to know it is there when we need it especially when we travel in the country.

We are looking forward to our second camping trip in October and yes, October is a very busy month for us. Clayton is turning seven and then DH will be preparing for his trip to Myanmar in Nov.

As for me, baking adventures continue every day and it's nice to smell fresh bakes from the oven. More about these later...

Durian Cake in the Baking

After a long search in the Asian grocery store, we finally found some frozen fresh Malaysia durians in the frozen section. I was quite happy to see them as I thought I could get them only in Melbourne.

Honestly, I ain't buying them to eat... frozen fresh just doesn't appeal to me. I'm thinking of getting them for my baking! Durian chiffon cake, durian swiss roll.... yum! It would be nice whipping up something and let the fragrance saturate the whole kitchen. I know Clayton won't think it's fragrance!

So we chose the XO one who was about $9 for 450g... not cheap but that's better than the Musang King, selling at $16. Aiyo, that is exorbitant! Well, hubby is waiting for me to whip up the durian chiffon and I can't wait too!

I just got home from the doctors and am glad that my medical results are looking good. No high cholesterol, no high sugar levels, no urid acid...etc. I must watch out for these things with all the coconut I'm using in my cooking and baking. Coconut is such a lovely ingredient in the kitchen and it's just so nice to savor the flavor!

We had a wonderful time in the city watching the riverfire at Southbank last weekend. My friend was telling me that she had so many friends taking up various courses at TAFE and some even took up Cardiovascular Technologist Jobs for better career prospects. DH seems interested in forklift truck classes.... he thinks it's good fun! I told him it would be good to learn a skill, after all, it pays well at $70 an hour!

It's Monday and I find myself listing down a big list of things to accomplish for the week!

My love for Pineapple Tarts and Kuih Bangkit

Lately, I have had a craving for some traditional Chinese New Year cookies such as pineapple tarts and kuih bangkit. These are about the two things I binge on during the festive season.

So now that I'm more familiar with baking and using the oven on a regular basis, I decided to embark on a baking journey on CNY cookies! Big G is the best place to learn and search for good recipes and there is always a risk in trying out a not-so-good one. The tip is to read the comments on what others had experienced and not repeat their mistakes. These days, people used Big G for anything and everything, from finding recipes to looking for payday loans!

After a long search, I found a couple of pineapple tart recipes and decided to give it a go. I bought two big ripened Queensland pineapples from Crisp on creek at $6 and started cooking the pineapple filling. I had heard from my mom that this was a tedious process. I did it anyway. Tedious can be a nice challenge. When the pineapple filling was done, I moved on to the pastry which I was most frightened of. You would only know if it is a success when it's baked and by then, you have to live with your mistakes. Know what I mean. A bit different from cooking the pineapple filling. You can adjust the moisture and end result.

To cut the story short, my first experience with pineapple tarts was a huge success! I was so happy that they turned out so well... according to DH, better than what we got from those we bought previously. I am so delighted that I won't need to order or buy any more pineapple tarts from anyone next time... it's such a nice feeling to eat your own 'masterpieces'!

I went on to try out kuih bangkit two days later. The 1st time was a flop because I used a tin of coconut cream that was reduced fat and had a fat content of only 23%. After reading many comments and doing my research, I used another recipe and lo and behold, they were perfect!

It's been two weeks since I first made these goodies and I'm on to my second batch.... What an amazing baking journey! I'm loving it!

Weekends is Here and More Baking

It's been a while since I wrote a post here. It's just been another busy school term and I find it hard to believe that we will be entering week six soon!

As usual, I have been baking and doing lots of cooking. Two days ago, we were invited to a friend's house for steamboat and I made Keiko's Green Tea Tiramisu. Everyone loved the Japanese inspired dessert and I was glad that my first attempt had brought much compliments. It was a nice feeling. The slight bitterness of the green tea complemented the sweet mascarpone cheese and the homemade lady fingers (sponge fingers) were nice to bite into!

It's the weekends tomorrow and I'm heading to the Brisbane Markets. I'm going to stock up some spices from this lovely spice store and maybe buy a few plants for the garden. I can't wait to put more 'edibles' in the garden and I'm enjoying those lovely herbs in the patio. It's been my desire to have a herb garden and I'm so happy that it's come together now.

My little boy loves Saturdays cos he is allowed some computer time and he's so 'wired' electronically. Many of his friends have handheld games and couple of them are already talking about the PS3. We haven't bought him any and I am delaying it as long as I can.

Oh yes, I baked Keiko's Soy Bean Chiffon cake and it turned out very well. The kinako was fragrant and there's a 'peanut butter' flavour in every bite of the soft chiffon. It was a lovely cake to have in the morning when need a pick me up!

That's it for a friday night and have a nice weekend if you are reading this on a friday!

Back from Melbourne

In the twinkling of an eye, we are back from our vacation in Melbourne and I only wish we can stay a couple of days more! Living in brisbane is quite different from Melbourne where the city is vibrant and the lifestyle is busier. I'm not complaining but it's nice to have a little change every now and then.

It was nice to see some old friends and it was great for the little man as he played and spent time with his little friends too. For us, it's discovering new places to dine, especially Asian food and we didn't find anything that stood out until our final day in Melbourne. A friend recommended Shark Fin Inn and the dim sum was so good. I later found out that it was a popular restaurant! We went to a couple of 'good' ones including Ocha Japanese (which we thought was so-so) and Hutong whose pan fried dumplings didn't deliver. The skin of the dumpling was so thick that I much prefer the ones in Shangpaign kitchen in Brisbane.

Food aside, Clayton missed few days of school during the Melbourne trip and I believe the memories of hanging out with old friends meant more than those few days in school. He would have many years in school so few days of absence won't hurt too much!

Yesterday, he received a birthday party invitation from his good friend in class and he's looking forward to it. He's already discussing with me about his birthday party and telling me that some of his friends have cool invitations such as Pirate Invitations and superhero ones. He wanted a lego party and a big set of lego... we'll see how he behaves haha.

It's back to baking for me after taking a break for a few days. I miss baking and oh, I miss Koko Black in Melbourne. Since learning that their chocolates are so good, I have been sipping a cup of belgium hot chocolate every morning and I even splurged on a big and few packs of koko black chocolates. I finished the box ones in two days and I am truly missing them!

Till then, Melbourne is a lovely place to visit and we had brought the Queensland sunshine to this city of erratic weathers! I hope to be back again and this time, I must check out all the yummy restaurants with the real locals!

Off to Melbourne

The week has gone so quick and it's now week 2 of Term 3.

The routine has resumed and I'm feeling the fatigue from waking up early and preparing morning tea for the little man's lunch box. The holidays has been a good break for me - sleeping in and and taking things easy - but now, it's back to normal!

I have a big list of things to do and my home office table is piled up with letters that need filing! I should find time to take a look at the Christmas photo cards online, so that I can start planning early.

Tomorrow will be Melbourne for five nights and my little man is so excited to meet his friends! It's going to be a good time catching up with friends and I only wish that Melbourne's weather is as nice as Brisbane! Winter in Brisbane has been enjoyable despite some cold mornings and nights. But it's still nice to see the sun during winter.

That's it for now and my oven will be 'off' for a few days while we are away.

Hayden Quinn is OUT - ARRGRRHH!

Arggrhh! Why is Hayden Quinn out of the Masterchef Season 3? In the first place, Dani and Ellie don't deserve to be in the top 5! The entire team challenge yesterday was biased and totally badly judged! The blue team got the signature dish nailed and they lost to the lousy red team! The judges are biased and for whatever reason, they tend to favor that Dani and Ellie.

Arggrrhh....! I just hope that Michael or Kate takes the Masterchef Season 3 title - the other three....Alana is ok but the other two, no way! They are such 'lau ya' cooks lah! What's wrong with Gary, Matt and George??

My Green Tea Dacquoise and Orange Almond Cake

I'm sorry that I haven't been posting photos of my baking and cooking... due to the big file size of the photos, it takes long time just to upload them and sometimes, I just have to hurry off to my next task.

Here are some photos of my green tea dacquoise and orange almond butter cakes. My yuzu chiffon cake photo is still in my iPhone and I will copy them the next time. I haven't been on my iMac much these three weeks as my little man tends to 'share' my computer in the afternoons. Maybe we should look into some cheap desktops and get one for him so that he won't need to use mine. Then again, there are already five computers in this mini home office so I don't think we should add one more!

Gotta go for now... I'm gonna whip up a chocolate souffle on this cold winter's night... definitely a nice comfort food on a cold Saturday night!

Baking and More Baking from OKASHI

So I found a new love - baking :) This started since I got hold of Keiko Ishida's Okashi and I'm loving those yummy recipes everyday!

The oven is sending out nice fragrance of butter cakes and chiffon and it's a nice feeling for me. Yesterday I made another yuzu chiffon cake for DH's aunt and it turned out better than the previous :) I'm still awaiting my yuzu juice in the post and soon, I'll be able to use the pure yuzu juice for my baking :) I'm also trying to order the yuzu concentrate from Singapore. Can you see how crazy I am when I'm passionate about something... it's just so fun whipping up those delicious cakes from home! The best thing about this whole baking frenzy is that, I never know I can bake pillowy soft chiffon! I am so glad I have learned how to bake this delicate cake :)

IN the last few weeks, I had baked green tea dacquoise (little french cakes), japanese milky madeleines, orange almond butter cakes...etc. They all turned out very well though DH didn't like the rough texture of the butter cake. For me, the orange peel in the cake was refreshing and I love it. I could eat that because it was loaded with lots of butter! It was a light butter cake that was refreshing and the apricot glaze was so appetizing!

So much about cakes, I ought to be checking out some information on auto lifts for DH while he's enjoying Cars 2 with my little man. He had waited so long to watch this with his little friend and I hope they have a great time!

Bunya Mountains and More Cooking

Three week have passed so quick and school is starting for my little man on Monday! While DH thinks it will be 'peace' at last in the home office, I think it's been great having him around. It can be distracting when we need to work but I'm happy to be sleeping and taking it easy in the mornings!

My baking frenzy continues and this week, I experimented with Yuzu chiffon cake after our trip to Bunya Mountains! Oh, bunya mountains was a nice break though I didn't quite enjoy the cold. It was down to 2 deg at night and I was really upset that DH didn't agree to bring our portable heater with us! He was sorry about it and I hope that he will take my advice next time! We did lots of trails and walks and the kids had a great time. They were such good trekkers and we were so proud of them.

The cooking had been fun though I didn't enjoy cleaning up when I'm on holidays :) I don't mind doing this once in a while but too many of these and I won't feel like I'm on vacation! Plus, we had to do so much packing before the trip as we were staying in a self contained villa. On the overall, the trip was pleasant and we had lots of nice family time together. Having the pressure cooker with us was a blessing as we could do our beef goulash, chicken casserole and pumpkin soup with no hassle! This sort of holiday reminds me of our cousin's vacation at branson lake homes at pinnshores.com. They did cooking and cleaning in between their vacations too!

I'm loving my Tefal Clipso pressure cooker and just last week, my Fagor Duo 4 L came! Now I have two pressure cookers to alternate and I'm still hoping to get a Kuhn Rikon someday! But now, I'm happy with what I have and tomorrow, I'll be attempting Lor Ma Fun and I have a good feeling that it's going to turn out fine :)

Fun with Baking Chiffon Cakes and Pressure Cooking!

Well, I'm into some serious baking lately and I am glad to be doing this while keeping myself busy as a work at home mom!

I love making chiffon cakes these days and the Okashi book has been a real inspiration! How I wish I can attend a class by Keiko Ishida though I know that she's back in Tokyo now. I had tried out her Green Tea Dacquoise, chocolate almond cookies, almond snow balls, hazelnut cookies, black sesame chiffon, green tea souffle roll, matcha chiffon and today, the apple brownies!

I haven't had time to post the photos but I hope to do that in my next post! Today, I made another pandan chiffon and a tray of apple brownies for our Bunya Mountains trip tomorrow. The pandan chiffon turned out very well in my angel cake tin and since using this new tin, the top of my chiffon had not cracked - I am delighted! I hope to bake my mom a nice chiffon cake when I return to Singapore end of the year! I look forward to going back for some good shopping and I must remember to order our home address signs,

Believe it or not, it's 45 minutes to midnight and I'm off to cook a pot of beef rendang for our trip. This is made possible by my Tefal Clipso Easy and since buying this pressure cooker, cooking has been pleasurable and more fun! I'll share more on why I love my pressure cooker next time. Right now, I need to rush off to chop up the meats, blend the spices and do some real cooking!

My Baking and Cooking Diary

The mid year school holidays will be here in two days' time and it's amazing how the second term of school is ending.

We have been here for more than six months and I just couldn't believe how much I have done in the last few months. I enjoy cooking and experimenting new dishes and baking is my new found passion in the kitchen. Yesterday, I whipped up some mini oreo cheesecakes and they turned out yummy. Clayton likes it and so do I. DH wished that they are bigger cos I had made them 'bite size'!

I have been keeping a dairy of my food photos in Facebook and I like the fact that my iPhone can post those photos so easily. With all the smartphones in the market from htc sense to blackberry, posting and sharing photos is as easy as ABC!

Two weeks ago, I made a Pandan Souffle Roll with Toasted Coconut Cream and it was delicious! After discovering that recipe, I went on to purchase a book by Keiko Ishida from Amazon. Many bloggers had adapted Keiko's recipes from the book Sweet Treats and I just couldn't helped but wanna buy the book and try out all the yummy desserts! The next dessert on my to-bake list will be the Green Tea Swiss Roll :) First, I would need to buy a can of good green tea powder from the Asian store. And oh yes, I was glad to find frozen pandan leaves and pandan taste from Yuen's since my pandan leaves are growing fast enough for my baking!

Ok for now... the night is getting cold and it's just not right to still sit in front of the computer!

Cooking and Baking in Brisbane

It's been ages since I last wrote and the month has passed so fast that we are already at the last week of June 2011.

This has been a very exciting and busy month for us as our close friend from Singapore came to visit us with her two girls. They are our first visitors in Brisbane and it was nice seeing familiar faces and spending time together. I only wished it was school hols for Clayton as we had to plan trips around his school time table. Nevertheless, they had a good break here and the kids didn't wanna go home!

I've been so busy cooking and baking this month and I was inspired to delve into a Pandan chiffon cake after watching Masterchef one evening. I snipped off my pandan leaves in the garden and went online to search for the 'best' recipe for a Pandan chiffon cake. So many entries came for that search term and I started experimenting with the first which led to the second, the third and so forth. To date, I had made 5 pandan chiffon cakes and I can almost say which one is the most yummy Pandan chiffon cake. For me, a good Pandan chiffon has to be soft, cottony, moist and a smooth texture.

This evening, I made my 5th pandan chiffon cake and it turned out to be the best I had made so far :) It was very soft, fluffy and delicious.... I am delighted! The next time, I will experiment with different kinds of chiffon. Perhaps I should also learn how to make sugar free truffles during the school holidays! Truffles are always a favourite in the family and what more, sugar free ones!

Enough said, my love for cooking and baking is growing everyday and I am simply thankful for these wonderful experiences and indulgences in Brisbane.