Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Love is over?

I ve read about how a couple's relationship may distance after having a baby and didnt quite comprehend until now.
Yes, I ve realised that RY and I are not as loving as before.
We only talk when he is at work via Whatsap, strange huh?

When he comes back from work, he'll lock himself in the study room (so that bb can't disturb him) to continue with his work and only come out when it's dinner time.
After dinner, he'll play with bb for a short while and then again lock himself in the study to do his own reading or does his work.

By the time I put bb to sleep, I'd also fall asleep too, so we've no chance to talk and be intimate.
We are like "acting parents", u know what I mean?
We look normal like any couple who are parents but we've no "soul", we're just there as parents for bb Rae.

I know this is dangerous .........
But really, there doesn't seem to ve any chance to communicate.
Weekends? 
Oh, his standard answer is "I just wanna do nothing at home, don't plan anything!"
So weekend will be just me and bb, I will take bb out as she goes to school daily during weekdays.

Think our love is dying ..........

When we were childless, we ve each other.
He was there when I was sad and happy.
Now, I ve bb but without him .......



Sunday, April 20, 2014

Happy Easter 2014

Last Thursday, bb Rae came home with her 1st Easter egg art.
She was very happy and eager to show mommy her master piece she did in school.
I gotta document this before I bin it.



Friday, April 11, 2014

Baby Rae's first bake!

Today my baby came home with excitement to show me what she had done in school, her 1st bake (with teacher's help), a cookie!
She managed to curb her desire to bite off this cute cookie so that she can bring home to show mommy.
I'm very proud of my baby.
This is the small thing that makes a mom happy, guess it's my bonus for this quarter!


Triple Chocolate Brownies

I've made this Triple Chocolate Brownies this morning.

Recipe:
A
50g Plain flour
1/3 tsp baking powder (sift together with flour twice)

B
Unsalted butter 80g
Unsweeten baking chocolate 110g (I used Hershey)

C
Castor sugar 90g
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

D
50g white Choco chips
50g semi Choco chips

Method (pre heat oven 170'c and line a 8" by 3.5" baking tin
1 melt B using microwave oven but make sure low heat with short  sec interval so that the mixture won't sizzle.
2 cream C in stand mixer till pale n frothy
3 add B into C n mix well
4 add in D
5 fold in flour
6 pour into baking tin and bake in 170'c for 15 min then change to 160'c for 30 min till top is dry but inside still moist


Thursday, March 27, 2014

RIP : MH370

It was a sad news regarding the MH370 tragedy, I sincerely hope that all the relatives, loved ones and friends of the 200+ passengers on board that fateful flight can get over the grieves ASAP.

I've been following closely the news and was hoping for a miracle that the plane to be found in some remote island.
I'm still hoping for a miracle .........

Friday, February 14, 2014

Bread making

I've been making my own bread since our return from Ipoh CNY trip in early Feb.

Bread recipe (using Tang Zhong method)
A
200g bread flour
90g plain flour
30g caster sugar
6g instant yeast
12g milk powder
1 egg (without shell 60g)
65g water
Salt 6g (if using salted butter 2g)
Tang Zhong 80g
Cranberry 30g (optional)

B
50g Butter (unsalted)

Method 
1 mix A group of ingredient using stand mixer (hook) till well mix and bowl clean using low speed
2 add in butter and mix using low speed till well combine then beat till non sticky and the dough is elastic (pass the stretch membrane test)
3 shape the dough into round shape & put it in a greased bowl and let it proof in room temperature for about 45mins (dough size double)
4 dust finger with flour and poke the dough to test if well proof, if hole remains then it's ok
5 Divide the dough into 10 to 11 round balls of about 55g each, let dough rest for another 10 mins
6 shape the dough into oval shape by flattening the ball, fold the long sides then seal the 2 ends tightly 
7 line the dough on a well greased baking tray, remember to leave sufficient gap in between
8 put the baking tray inside the oven to proof the dough for 40mins, turn on the oven light without the heat and put a tray of hot water underneath the baking tray of bread dough
9 check that the dough is double in size and butter wash the dough (can sprinkle cheese & parsley on top)
10 remove from oven n preheat 180'c
11 bake at 180'c for 15min
12 once turn golden brown, remove from oven n butter wash

Top pic is bread with cheese n parsley 
Bottom is plain butter roll


Happy Valentine's Day 2014!

This year RY (as usual) bought me a bouquet of red roses and suggested dinner.
I didn't want to spend hours in the long q outside the restaurant, I had declined his offer.

I'll be making his favorite dish, yellow ginger chicken, for tonight's dinner.

I've no gift for my love, so I've made this Garrett (copy cat version) caramel popcorn for him since he loves the Garrett very much.

My copy cat Garrett caramel popcorn recipe:
Popcorn 
100g corn kernel
2 tbsp oil
A handful of peanuts or cashew nuts (I use cashew)

Caramel
50g butter (salted)
A pinch of salt (if use unsalted butter then 1/2 tsp)
80g brown sugar
50g corn syrup
1tsp baking soda

Method
Popcorn
1 Heat up non stick pan (I use Happycall)
2 add oil
3 test the heat by throwing 1 or 2 kernels see if it pops, once pop, add in all (shake/ stir to make sure all coated with oil)
4 when the popping sound stops, pour the popcorn in a baking tray line with parchment paper (remove those unpopped ones)
5 mix in the cashew nuts

Caramel
1 add butter, sugar, syrup, salt in a small saucepan, bring to boil using low heat
2 stir continuously to prevent burnt bottom
3 once big boil, off the fire, add in the baking soda and stir till the foam subsided and the caramel is ready

Baking (heat up oven 150'c)
1 pour the hot caramel over the popcorn and stir till evenly coated
2 bake the popcorn for 5 mins, remove from oven and stir, (repeat another 3 rounds)
3 let it cool down and the Garrett style popcorn is ready







Sunday, January 19, 2014

Yellow Butter Choco Chips Cake

With 2 leftover egg yolk from yesterday's Almond Crisps' bakes, I've baked this Yellow Butter Choco Chips cake.

Ingredient 
Cake flour 100g
Baking powder 1 tsp
Butter 60g at room temp but not melted (salted)
Castor sugar 60g
Egg yolk 2 (35g)
Milk 80ml
Vanilla extracts 3/4 tsp
Chocolate chips 30g for batter and 10g to sprinkle

Method (preheat oven 180'c and line a rectangular baking tin with parchment paper)
1 cream butter till turn pale yellow and creamy
2 add in sugar in batches to cream into he butter till fluffy and light
3 add egg yolk one by one and mix well in circular motion then add in vanilla extracts
4 fold in flour and milk in alternate batches using spatula (flour in 3 batches and milk in 2 batches, flour being the 1st and the last). Ensure not over mix.
5 fold in chocolate chips
6 lightly pour into the baking tin and bang the tin few time to release air bubbles.
7 sprinkle Choco chips
8 bake at 180'c for 30 mins

Almond Crisps

I've made this Almond Crisp yesterday and as soon as it cool down, half of the fresh bakes were in RY and bb's tummy!

Yes, this is very yummy and easy to make too!

Ingredient
Plain flour 50g (sieve)
Butter melted 30g
Almond slice 100g
Vanilla extract 1/4 tsp
Egg whites 2 (each eggs weigh 64g with shell)
Castor sugar 60g

Method (preheat oven 180'c and line parchment paper on baking tray)
1 hand whisk egg whites till bubbles form
2 beat in sugar in circular motion till sugar dissolve 
3 add in vanilla extracts and mix well
4 add in flour till no traces of flour
5 fold in almond slices
6 add melted butter till well combine 
7 spread thin layer of the batter on the parchment paper and ensure no overlapping of the almond slices (I spread it over the big rectangular baking tray surface and cut into small pieces when it cool down)
8 bake in the oven at 180'c for about 20 min or turn golden brown


Last day in school

Last Friday was bb's last day in school as she'll go to a new one in February after our CNY trip from Ipoh.
Yes, we're changing bb to another sch because I don't really like the food menu there.
Weekly lunch menu includes hotdog, fishball, fish cake, chicken nuggets and crab stick and these are processed food which I seldom (actually never) give her at home.
However, the school still keep a place for her so that we can go back should she can't adapt to the new one.

To let bb bid goodbye to her friends and teachers, I've baked some Choco and blueberry muffins for her to distribute to them individually.

I've used the recipe in my blog but up the qty to 18 for each flavor to yield total 36 muffins.

On Thursday night, after putting bb to bed, I packed the muffins in a ziplock bag with a Thank You & Goodbye message stick on.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Homemade play dough

Yesterday I made these play dough for my baby.

Recipe
My simple recipe to yield the above 5 dough
2 cups plain flour
1 cup salt
2 cups water
1 tbsp cream of tartar
2 tbsp oil

Methods
Mix all the ingredient and boil (keep stirring) over low heat till all lump up together and the dough not sticky.
Wait till cool down then knead
Knead n add desired coloring (I used food colour)

After each play, place in zip lock bag and store in fridge to last for a couple of months.
If it dries up, just add some water and knead.
Discard if it turns moldy.