New Kid On The Blog

30-SEP-2008:

I made Char Siew today. Yum! It doesn't really taste like the most authentic Char Siew but it's Char Siew alright. The meat is too lean and is not the right cut. I was looking for pork belly but couldn't find it, so I used pork escalopes instead. The charred parts were delicious though. We're going to have Char Siew Noodle for dinner tonight. I hope I don't munch away half of the Char Siew before it's dinner time.

So here's the recipe that I found from someone's blog on the Internet:

Ingredients:

• 500g pork - cut into 2 inches strips and score the strips(belly pork or marbled)

Seasonings:

• 2½ tbsp Hoisin sauce - I substitued with 1 tbsp of plum sauce. Don't know why I did but I didn't have Hoisin sauce and I thought plum sauce "tastes" right.
• 1 tsp garlic powder - I used chopped garlic instead
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1/4 -1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp wine - Mui Kai Lo - I used Shao Xing wine
• 1/2 tsp 5 spice powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Dash of pepper

Glaze:

1 tbsp dark soya sauce
1 tbsp honey or maltose
1 tbsp oil

Method:

1. Marinade pork with seasonings for 2 hours.(optional). Pork can be baked as soon as it is marinated.
2. Line a baking tray or stainless steel dish with aluminium foil. Transfer marinated pork on to it and cover with foil.
3. Bake char siew at 220 C/425 F for about 10 minutes.
4. Remove from oven. Open the top foil and bake again until gravy thickens and coat the pork.
5. Alternatively, cook pork together with the marinade in a wok until the gravy thickens. Stir occasionally to prevent burning. (In fact, this is what I did)
6. Preheat grill and grill the pork until it is charred(not burnt), turning all the time for even grilling.
7. Dip into glaze and return pork to grill just for a short while, enough to give pork a shine.
   

# posted by Skye @ 9:34 am 0 comments

30-SEP-2008:

A friend celebrated her 7th wedding anniversary recently and it dawned on me that I've been legally married for 5 1/2 years and ceremoniously married for almost 4 years, and we've never celebrated either anniversary before. I've been thinking about which date is more significant to us - the day we were binded husband and wife by law or the day we were recognized by friends and relatives as husband and wife? I would say the latter was more eventful and it brought back more memories. Nevertheless, if anyone asks how long we've been married, it would be 5 1/2 years instead of 4 years. :-)

# posted by Skye @ 7:14 am 0 comments

Saturday, 27 Sep 2008:

It was a warm and sunny weekend - around 18 degrees - which was considered warm for a typical September day in the great British weather. We rented a car and drove around town - bought some sandwiches and snacks - and drove down to Richmond Park for some good old nature and fresh air. There wasn't much at Richmond Park, except if you are into golfing, cycling, horse riding or jogging. There were plenty of open space for picnic of course. We did neither except to stroll around and soak up the sun. After that we headed off to a fun fair where Dom had his favourite train rides.

This is the car that daddy rented. Don't ask me what's the model or make, I only know it's a Ford. As long as it has 4 wheels, doesn't break down and doesn't look too shabby, I'm not too concerned about other aspects of a car.

Dominic's first car seat. Actually, no, his 2nd car seat. He had one when he was a baby but we stopped driving when we came to the UK.

Reindeer at Richmond Park

Sunday, 28 Sep 2008:

Sunday was a little bit cooler but still sunny. Daddy drove us up to the seaside town of Bournemouth. He managed to get us there without losing his way once but took a wrong turn on the way back - always meticulous in finding the way there but too excited to remember that it's not always the same road back.

The journey took slightly more than 2 hours (towards Bournemouth) with a little bit of traffic jam but it was unbelievable slow on the way back, which took us 4 1/2 hours includng a quick stopover for dinner. Traffic jam on the north-south highway in M'sia during the 'balik kampung' season was bad enough, as I'm pretty sure some of you would have experienced over the weekend as well. What we've experienced on Sunday was just as bad. At one point, we were actually at a complete standstill. With the M'sian traffic jam, I've always managed uncaught driving on the shoulder, as so many other vehicles did the same, but here, absolutely no one at all ventured into that tempting free empty lane.

Dominic was fabulously impressive throughout the entire journey and remained seated strapped up in his car seat for the entire time. At one point when we were stuck in traffic, he started singing, which I initially thought was to entertain himself out of boredom. It was only when he exclaimed "It's working!" (when the cars started moving) and "We did it!" (when we overtook a truck) that I understood he was imitating the Little Einsteins, overcoming obstacles by singing, dancing, etc. When he was a baby, I thought he was extremely cute and couldn't imagine him being cuter than that as he grows up, but I was wrong.

It was one of the longest day trip we've had and Dominic only wet his pants once - that is when we were stuck in traffic and even I felt like wetting my pants.

He was saying "I like waves! I like water!". The water was ice cold!

Then it was lunch time.

Hot air baloon ride - £10 per adult and £6 per child, which was pretty reasonable, but we didn't go on it because the queue was long, it was late and our parking was running out of time.

The entire photo album here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sukye/sets/72157607601134427/

# posted by Skye @ 4:14 am 0 comments

26-SEP-2008:

Yesterday, we had a full-day workshop at the vendor's office. My colleague offered to pick me up from our office in the morning. My colleague a.k.a. the "Arthur" who's probably about the same age as my mum and has a head full of grey hair. I certainly did not expect him to pick me up in a Porsche!

On the way back home, I took a cab because I had to leave at 5pm (as usual) to pick Dom up. It felt good to be traveling on private transport for a change. But when I think about it, if I had a car, I would hate to drive to the vendor's office anyway. I'm wondering ... does anyone still hire a chauffeur these days?

# posted by Skye @ 10:34 am 0 comments

24-SEP-2008:

I said it too soon when I said that there wasn't enough work in this new project to occupy me for 2 weeks. There has been a lot work since Friday afternoon and believe it or not, I actually worked the whole day from 9 to 5 on Monday. There's still work today but I guess I can afford a little time to blog. :-) Tomorrow, there'll be another workshop and I'll be lucky if I can logon to the Internet at all. Next Monday, I'll be back on the bench - if I am not assigned to another project. Perhaps if I'm lucky, I'll get a few days break.

We went window shopping for cars last weekend, but the question remains do we need a car now? I won't be driving to work because it's just so convenient to hop on a free shuttle, and I can even take a nap on the way. Daddy won't be driving to work because it'll be a nightmare (not to mention expensive) to drive into the city centre. Dominic's nursery is just 1 minute walk away. The supermarkets, library, swimming pool, pharmacies and restaurants are all within 10 mins walk. The clinic is just next door. So what are we going to use the car for? Perhaps only for weekend trips, and in that case, wouldn't it make more sense to just rent a car when we need it?

# posted by Skye @ 5:10 am 0 comments

19-SEP-2008:

Funny conversation I had with a friend the other day:

Friend: How's your new project?
Me: Good. At least there's something to do.
Friend: I thought you always have something to do but just not enough to occupy for the whole day.
Me: That is true, but now there's actually work to occupy me the whole day.
Friend: So you mean you're happy because you have a lot of work?
Me: (The way she put it, I seriously didn't know how to answer) Well, it's not a good thing when there's no work.
Friend: Is it because you're bored or because you think you may not be needed?
Me: (That part about not being needed has never crossed my mind) It's because I'm bored.

So, later I got to think about it and I concluded that the problem is that time passes by sooooo slowly when I'm in the office if I have nothing to do. This new project was supposed to last me 2 weeks but I was only *busy* for the first 4 days (minus the day and a half I took off when Dom was sick), which equals to 2.5 FULL days of actual work. Haha! And the people think that I'm doing a *fantastic* job. They'll be more work to come after the workshop this afternoon but till then I'm pretty free. I've not run a workshop for many, many weeks now and I feel kinda nervous and excited.

# posted by Skye @ 6:42 am 0 comments

19-SEP-2008:

Dominic started acting yesterday evening around bath time - whining, uncooperative, refused to wash his hair, crying, etc. When it was time for bed, he kept complaining about his itchy ass. I scratched, patted, looked and applied cream but he still insisted that there was something wrong with his buttocks. I was pretty sure it was just a trantrum He didn't have an itchy when he was playing or reading - why did it only come when it was bedtime? So I ignored him.

He was just whining - "mummeee .... mummeee ...". At first. And then daddy stepped in and spoke to him - I don't know what. But after a while he walked out and closed the door and Dominic started screaming in there. Hysterically. As usual I stepped in and then after much crying he fell asleep at 10pm.

11:00pm - more crying, but he was still exhausted so he went back to sleep pretty soon.

But at 12:00am, he woke up again, crying like he was really annoyed, kicking his blanket and all. Daddy wanted to bring him into our bed but I said no. I calmed him down with some milk and a little pacifying and he went back to sleep.

2:30am - it happened again. This time, I scolded him (in a whisper though since it was late). He knew that I was scolding him since his whining turned into loud cries. He cried for about 1 minute, fell asleep and slept till morning. Sometimes this boy needs to be dealt with harshly.

# posted by Skye @ 5:44 am 0 comments

18-SEP-2008:

I'm looking for good books to feed my soul and imagination. The books that I got from the library recently were all crap. Was I looking at the wrong section? Why did I always end up with some lame murder investigation that was utterly predictable? It was worse when it wasn't predictable - like the killer would be some random stranger that wasn't even mentioned until the end. Besides, I don't want to read about the miserable reality of life anymore. We all know that there are sick psychos and desperate single women who are getting old out there. I want to read to escape from reality ... to a happy place I can call my Utopia. I guess that's why I like "Young Adult" fictions. I want to read about love rather than lust. Romance rather than sex. Hope rather than despair. Beautiful and attractive people rather than ageing 40-year-olds. I actually like to believe that Superman actually exists to make the world a better place. :-)

You know, for many many years now, I've been unable to find another writer who can devise plots as wonderful as Sidney Sheldon. So suggestions, anyone? I think I might give Neil Gaiman another try. I enjoyed his previous book but he was too abstract I had no idea what he was getting at. His stories don't have endings. You make the conclusion yourself - which was really frustrating. Or maybe it was just that one book I happened to pick up, hence I'm going to give it another try. It's funny that ALL of the people I spoke to in the office DON'T like fantasy fiction. They're always so serious, and realistic and ... the guys mostly don't like fiction at all.

# posted by Skye @ 10:12 am 1 comments

17-SEP-2008:

At about 11:30am yesterday, I received a call from Dominic's nursery telling me that he had a temperature around 99 Fahrenheit. How many degree celcius was that? I faintly recalled from watching cantonese dramas that it was only bad when the temperature reached over a hundred. Well, I guessed I had time to finish my work quickly and then pick Dominic up. Of all days, he had to fall ill on a day that I actually had work in the office.

12:45pm, I was ready to leave. I gave the nursery one last call to make sure that he wasn't already taking his afternoon nap, or else I would pick him up after he woke up. I was told to come as soon as possible because his temperature had gone up to 102 Fahrenheit and normally he would have to be sent to the hospital already. 102 F? Hospital? I knew anything above 100 F was bad but what's 102? Was it 39 C? 40 C? I had already turned off my laptop or else I would google it immediately.

Anyway, when I saw Dominic at the nursery, I was instantly relieved. No matter how high his temperature was, he was obviously fine. He was talkative and his voice was as loud as usual, telling me - "Mummy, Dominic sleep in the quiet room", "Mummy, where's my shoe?", Mummy, give me sweets". When I took his temperature at home, it was only 38.5 C - definitely a fever but he was still alert and playful. And I also found out that 102 F is only 38.9 C.

He threw up after drinking his milk yesterday afternoon. This ALWAYS happened when he was sick and I ALWAYS forgot and made the same mistake. I shall remember from now - no milk when he is sick. Any other food was alright but not milk. He took a long afternoon nap and when he woke up, the first thing he wanted was dinner! He ate two bowls of noodles and wanted more.

Anyway, he was still hot this morning so I decided to stay home with him today and took a day off work. He ate as usual, played as usual. He kept asking for his milk and finally at 2pm today, I gave it to him. He didn't throw up, which means (hopefully) he has recovered.

# posted by Skye @ 10:32 am 0 comments

16-SEP-2008:

Last weekend was rather sunny and warm. Although not warm enough that I was comfortable to leave the house without a jumper, it was considered good British weather. Daddy arrived home around 10am on Saturday and we spent the morning happily going through our souvenirs. There were more toys for Dominic and clothes for all of us. Clothes in the US are really, really cheap! Osh Kosh jeans for DOminic - £6, denim jacket - £6, t-shirt - £1!!! Recently, for my nephew's 1st birthday, I engaged a "professional shopper" in Singapore to get him a set of outfit - a shirt, a pair of pants and a pair of shoes. I initially set a budget of S$100, which I thought was enough considering the price I paid here for Dominic's clothes. But the bill came up to S$120.

On Saturday, Dominic and I went to feed our beloved ducks and geese while daddy prepared for his driving. He flunked the first test and this was his 2nd one. Can you believe someone who's been driving in Malaysia for more than 10 years flunked a driving test in the UK? Haha! No wonder they say Malaysian drivers are the worst in the world. Fortunately, this time round, he passed! So we celebrated that night with heavy dinner.

Yesterday, I started a new project at work - moved to a new location, new building, new desk, new team, new faces - all the faces that I've never seen before - new names to remember. Coincidentally, the Senior Product Development Manager that I'm working with now has the same name as my son. As usual, work is never too difficult nor too much for me (Hehe!). I have 2 weeks to deliver and looking at things, that should be more than enough time. I love my job, but really for the wrong reasons.

Daddy and I discussed about going home (to Malaysia). It was a short discussion but I can see where he's coming from. He wants to go home - eventually. He has reached his objective - he got his promotion and it's time to move on. He agreed that the situation back home is saddening but he doesn't think it will affect us very much. We're just normal people, he said. But what about our kids, I asked. He said they'll be alright - you know it because you grew up there as well. In a way, I tend to agree with him on this. On the other hand, do I want my kids to belong no where in 20 years time? Citizens of Malaysia but also an "immigrant"? A "pendatang"? If you are a British citizen, you're treated the same regardless of whether you're white, black or even purple. I don't know. It's a tough decision and not one that I can make on my own. I know daddy is right - life will go on despite the political turmoil. Almost anything can be solved with money and if you just live in the moment and don't care about the future, you'll be alright. I've said it time and time again, it's my kids' future that bothers me. But that too can be resolved with money.

# posted by Skye @ 4:04 am 1 comments

14-SEP-2008:

This is going to bore some of you, especially if you have no idea what I'm talking about but for those who are interested, here goes.

Twilight movie trailers can be found here: http://www.twilightthemovie.com/

Generally, I'm quite happy with the cast and they live up to my imagination. Edward looks a bit scarier than he should be but I guess I'll have to see the whole movie to really judge that. The rest of the cast look like what I've imagined, except for Rosalie, Jasper and Laurent. Rosalie was supposed to VERY beautiful but the actress (whoever she is) doesn't live up to that expectation (in my opinion). Jasper is so boyish and looks younger than he should be. And where in the book did it say that Laurent is black? After looking at the cast, I think Carlisle is the most dashing one - absolutely, absolutely gorgeous. In the 4th book, Breaking Dawn, Carlisle was described as "looking like Zeus's younger better-looking brother", although I have no idea what Zeus looked like.

From the trailers, it seems they have shot the fighting scene at the dance studio, which was never described in the book. In it, I caught glimpses of Bella being still concious and aware when Edward and the rest came to the rescue, which was not true at all. She was supposed to unconcious and dying and unaware of what happened. I get really annoyed when the film production deviates from the original story.

And also, this scene where Bella asked Edward: "How old are you?". "Seventeen". "How long have you been seventeen?" "A while." This ... was supposed to happen in the car but in the trailer, it happened in a forest. Again, how much of the movie will be different from the original story?

In the lab, Bella and Edward sat in the middle row. There were people to their left and right, not by the window as shown in the trailer. Plus, Bella wore a tatty old sweater to bed, not a sexy singlet. Hmm ...

The movie is due to release on 21 Nov 2008. Although I anticipate it but not enough to make me head straight to the cinema. Instead, I'll get to it when it's available elsewhere, be it in DVD, illegal download (*grin*) or on TV.

# posted by Skye @ 6:53 pm 0 comments

14-SEP-2008:

Last week, I craved for Seremban Siew Pau, so yesterday I made them. I found the recipe below at someone's blog - I can't even remember whose blog was it now - and I have to say the Siew Pau turned out really delicious! I was very, very surprised. When I bit into the Pau, the flaky "skin" came off in layers, just like the real deal.

Below, the recipe yields 56 Pau's but I cut the ingredients into 1/4 and made 14 instead. We finished all in one day, but then they were very tiny ones. It's not really difficult if you follow the steps closely. The difficult part (for me) was shaping the Pau's into a nice Pau shape. As you can see, I did a horrible job. :p

Oil Dough

• 340g plain flour
• 220g shortening / lard - (I used butter)

Water Doug

• 550g plain flour
• 150g castor sugar - this means fine sugar if you don't know what it means
• 160ml vegetable oil
• 240ml iced water
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp golden syrup - I have no idea what this is, so I substituted with vanilla extract

Glaze

• 2 egg yolks

Method:

1. Process the oil dough ingredients in a food processor. Scale it into 20 gm balls.
2. Process the water dough ingredients in food processor. Scale it into 40 gm balls.
3. Wrap oil dough inside water dough.
4. Roll it flat. Then roll it up like swiss roll. Repeat this 3 times.
5. Repeat step 4 with all the pieces of dough.
6. Cut each piece of dough into 2.
7. Roll out each pieces and put in filling.
8. Preheat oven to 190 C and bake 10 mins
9. Remove from oven, glaze with egg yolk and bake another 20 mins.

For the filling:

• 300 gm Char Siew, finely diced - I used raw chicken breast meat instead.
• 3 tbsp sugar - I used more because I like it sweet
• 1 tbsp flour
• 3/4 cup water - 1 cup = 240ml, so do your own calculation
• 1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce - omitted this one, didn't have any
• 4 chopped shallots
• 1/2 cup green peas
• 2 tbsp oil

The Steps:

1. Saute shallot in oil.
2. Add flour, cook until browned.
3. Add Char Siew.
4. Add water, all sauces and sugar.
5. Cook until gluey.
6. Add green peas.
7. Cool it before wrapping the Pau.

# posted by Skye @ 6:31 pm 0 comments

13-SEP-2008:

PETALING JAYA: The MCA has expressed shock that former Bukit Bendera Umno division chairman Datuk Ahmad Ismail, who made racist remarks has not been taken to task but reporter Tan Hoon Cheng, who wrote about the incident, has been arrested instead.

“The perpetrator who vowed to conduct a nationwide roadshow on his remarks without any remorse is still at large,” MCA vice-president Datuk Ong Tee Keat said in a statement yesterday.

He said anybody in his right mind would certainly be stunned by such an arrest targeted at the reporter and not the perpetrator.

This is appalling and disgusting and saddening and mortifying ... I don't know what else to say.

Raja Petra, 58, who was arrested under Section 73(1) of the ISA, is alleged to have posted articles deemed seditious and that also belittle Islam.

Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek said the arrest of Raja Petra Kamaruddin was judicious because he ridiculed Islam in his postings which could spark fury among Muslims.

It's all about the Muslims and Malays, isn't it? What about sparking fury among the non-Muslims? Sick, sick, sick!!!

Daddy wants to move back to THAT country. I hope he changes his mind.

# posted by Skye @ 3:19 am 2 comments

12-SEP-2008:

Tonight will be the last night I sleep alone. Or maybe not because I'm planning to ask Dominic to sleep with me tonight. :-) Tomorrow morning, daddy will be coming home. This time, he's gone only for 6 days and Dominic had asked the question only once: Where is daddy?

Daddy sent me an email when he arrived at Chicago last Sunday. He wrote: "Hi, I have arrived safely at St. Charles ... bla, bla, bla ... Cheers, Saimun."

I wrote back. I started typing: "Hellooo ...". And then I erased it and typed: "Hi dear ...". But it didn't feel right to me. We have never called each other dear or darling or any other pet names before, as far as I can remember. That's not our style. The most I could bring myself to write was "Dear Saimun ...", but I settled with "Hellooo ...". :-) I ended the note with "Love, Sukye" to tell him that I missed him, and clicked send before I could change my mind. We say things better with action rather than words.

When daddy gets home I will tell him that Dominic came back from school yesterday and said "Eugene hit me on the head". Was it painful? Yeah ... and he made a pitiful face. In this situation, should I or should I not inform the nursery of the incident? I don't want to sound like an over-protective mother and I'm pretty sure it was a minor thing. If it had really hurt, I'm sure the people at the nursery would have noticed the incident. Besides, I think Eugene is Dominic's best friend because he's been talking about him a lot - I chased Eugene ... Eugene squashed me ... Eugene is a monster. And you know what? Eugene is the only other Chinese boy in the nursery. His mum speaks Mandarin to him and it may have sounded like M'sian or S'porean Mandarin. I've yet to ask. He just turned 3 a couple of days ago but he's shorter and thinner than Dominic.

The weather has suddenly turned very cold today. As we were walking to school today, even Dominic commented that it was freezing. When we arrived at the nursery, he told Belinda "It's freezing. Look at that!" (pointing to his nose which was dripping). He then walked to a shelf, pulled a tissue, blew his nose and threw the tissue into a dustbin. He was so independent, whereas at home, I would have wiped his nose for him, else God will only know how much tissue he would waste.

Finally, are you smarter than a 4-year-old? Answer the questions below - honestly, from your knowledge. Don't Google, don't refer to anything, don't ask anyone.

1) Name the nine planets in the universe in order, starting from the one nearest to the sun.

2) Which is the largest planet?

# posted by Skye @ 5:29 am 0 comments

8-SEP-2008:

Dominic is now 2 years and 8 months old. Well, maybe a couple of weeks older than that but I'm not counting in weeks and days. I think the most significant development since a month ago is that he doesn't need nappies anymore during afternoon naps. Dominic usually put on nappies during the afternoon naps but when I picked Dominic up from the nursery one day, I was told that he hasn't been wetting his nappies for 3 days in a row, so they had stopped putting him on nappies since then. It's so cool although he comes home occasionally with wet pants. We've done that at home too but a couple of times, he slept for like 3 hours and wet the couch. We know he can hold his pee while asleep now because he woke up as soon as he wet the couch and when we took him to the toilet it was obvious that he had held it in for a long time. It will be some time before he can get through the night without nappies as well. I think my nephew still wet his bed at 5 years old.

As my cousin Cattypants blogged about sunny Saturdays and the beginning of spring in Melbourne, summer has officially ended in London. The weather is getting rainy and cold. Daddy bought Dominic this sleep suit (pictured below) to keep him warm during the night. Dominic hasn't worn a sleep suit since he was like 1 year old and started walking. I thought those were for babies only and I didn't know they sell sizes for 2 years and above, but apparently Osh Kosh does. As anticipated, Dominic refused to put it on, and when we finally managed to coax him into it (telling him it has stripes like a Tigger suit), he wanted out, giving all sorts of excuses: Can't see his feet, can't walk, hot, need to pee, etc, etc. We told him it's essential to keep him warm and he requested for sweater and socks instead. I was impressed that at this age, he can already negotiate and compromise - suggesting alternatives. Another example, when he requested for cookies before dinner and I said no, he provided suggestions such as "How about corn flakes?", "How about yogurt?" or his favourite "only one?". I'm proud of my little boy.

Dominic can finally count now. Not just 'saying' 1 to 10 but actually count the number of things. He can pick out 3 yellow blocks from a pile of colourful blocks and can count the number of dinosaurs in his book - up to twelve. He was the cutest little thing last night when he asked me to hold his hand while he slept. I told him that I couldn't do that because I had work to do and he said "just one". I held his hands for a moment and said okay, I need to go, and he went "just two". I said okay, that's the last time but after that he said "just three". I left the room after "three" but he was calling out for "just four". I ignored him and he fell asleep pretty soon.

I also noticed that he has become more and more independent and believe it or not, at this young age, he already needs privacy. He told me to go away when I sat and watched him drink his milk ... or when I peeped in the toilet while he was doing his poo. He wouldn't allow me to be around at all when he's in the toilet and he wants the door closed while he's at it.

Dominic is also much bolder with strangers now - teasing them, talking to them and playing peekaboo with them on the train. It's rather embarassing when he asked in his super loud high pitched voice "What's that man doing?". It's funny that he calls every man a "man" but he has never addressed a woman before. It's like he doesn't acknowledge women but call them "people" instead. It's not like he thinks "people" means "women" because he uses "people" for men too. However once we were at the nursery and there were several mothers there and Dominic went "Hey, one, two, three ... three mummies!". He doesn't just acknowlege mummies but if there's a daddy around he would say that's somebody's daddy.

# posted by Skye @ 4:10 am 0 comments

7-SEP-2008:

Yesterday was a busy day. I wanted to have an attempt at making Chinese egg tarts and I wanted to do it on Saturday rather than Sunday because daddy will be flying off to Chicago again on Sunday morning. And I wanted to make curry mee for dinner on Saturday because daddy is gonna eat American food for one whole week while he's in Chicago.

I woke up on Saturday morning and daddy told me buy him and Dominic some sweaters - another chance for me to shop and spend money. I came home after lunch with goodies for both Dominic and daddy but nothing for myself. :-(

Anyway, I started making the tarts as soon as I got back and the results was rather satisfactory. They tasted good while they were still warm but after that, they were edible but not exactly delicious. I would prefer egg tarts with the flaky multiple layers base. Maybe next time I would use puff pastry for the shell instead. Overall, I would call it a success. :-)

# posted by Skye @ 10:05 am 0 comments

3-SEP-2008:

We do a project every weekend (if mummy wasn't feeling lazy). At the very least, we bake a cake or make a dessert.

Here, we were making a frame for Dominic's artwork that he brought back

And this is the end result. Daddy said that the frame looks good but not the painting. Haha!

Daddy made his own photo frame too, below.

Our other weekend project was to bake a chocolate cheesecake. It turned out really good (in my opinion). :-)

For those of you who are interested, the recipe to the chocolate cheesecake is here.

# posted by Skye @ 8:38 am 0 comments