Justin is 4 Years Old!

Happy Birthday, Justin! Justin celebrated his 4th birthday on 25 July 2013.

At kindy, he had a celebration with his friends on 19 July. We specially made him a white butterfly sponge cake upon his request. It was decorated with colourful Smarties candy. On the actual day, we had a simple celebration at home and made do with some cupcakes. We also had a belated celebration for him with the extended family on 27 July during our recent beach holiday (more on this in a separate post).


[Justin's butterfly sponge cake]


[Celebration at kindy]


[A simple celebration at home]


[Belated celebration at Bayview Beach Resort]

Here are his updates:

• He recently enjoys drawing cute and fat airplanes. He would then want to write the names of the airlines and this is when he would ask for some help with spelling.
  
• We learnt that he often resisted doing writing exercises in kindy. This resulted in him getting homework to do.
  

[Justin licking a homemade ice lolly]


[Justin during a recent kindy event at Queensbay Mall]

Our 9th Anniversary

We celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on 1 May 2013.

In the morning, we got the kids to do some cake decorating. Angie had baked a round cake, cut it into three pieces, and rearranged them into a butterfly shape. The kids had a fun time icing the cake and decorating it with all sorts of toppings.


[Icing the cake]


[Now for the toppings]


[Tadda! Our butterfly cake!]

We met up with my parents, my brother and sister-in-law in the afternoon and had a simple cake-cutting ceremony.

Later, in the quiet of the night, after the kids are in bed *phew*, we continued our tradition of lighting our Unity Candle and saying our anniversary prayer.


[Lighting of our Unity Candle 2013: Angie decided that our pose should not be so stoic this time :o)]

First Chiffon Cake

Motivated by the boys' preference for 'airy' cakes I baked my first chiffon cake on 6 September 2011. It was an orange chiffon using my mummy's recipe. It was a cake which I loved as a child (and now, too) :-)

For a first attempt, I think the result was acceptable. Of course, there will be improvements made in the future... :-)


[Getting the chiffon cake out of the mould]


[When it comes to cakes, Julian's the eager beaver]


[Slice of my first chiffon cake]

Bread Pudding

We had lots of frozen leftover bread and some mixed fruit that we needed to get rid off. So, 7 November 2010 saw us baking bread pudding.


[Tearing the bread into bits]


[Mash!]


[Cream!]


[Freshly baked bread pudding: Quality check!]


[Slice of bread pudding: Simply delicious!]

Holiday Treat

16 Sept 2010 was a public holiday so we decided to have a baking activity for Julian. We invited his friend, Ryan (and his parents, of course) to join us.

We prepared the cookie dough the day before to speed things up. We rolled out the dough and the Julian and Ryan used cookie cutters to cut out the cookies for baking. The boys' participated in the project but were quite often distracted by other toys and the TV... Julian was more interested in sprinkling the flour than in cutting the dough!

We also made pizza for lunch. Once again, the pastry was made in advance. The boys helped to put the pizza topping.

We had fun, although the cookies turned out HARD (think I added too much flour)! Still, the boys managed to eat it :-P Julian and even Justin seem to like the taste.


[Rolling out the dough]


[Cookie cutting time!]


[Let's make pizza!]


[Cookies ready to eat]

Julian Bakes Brownies

Julian and I baked a tray of brownies on 27 August 2010 (Nuzul Quran holiday)... a great way (amongst other things of course) to keep an active 3-year old occupied. Angie was at work :o( while Justin was at the babysitter's.

For simplicity and efficiency, we used a box of cake mix. Just add eggs, water, and oil! Any kid, 3 years old or 30+ years old, can bake a cake :o)!


[Julian mixing the batter]


[Quality check! Is there a lump of flour I see?!]


[Voila! Tasting time...]


[A chunk of Julian's moist and sweet brownie, up close]

Oven Update

Just an update on what's been baking in the oven recently.


[Tuna Cheese Bread Pudding]


[Close-up shot of a slice of Tuna Cheese Bread Pudding]


[Sponge Cake with Zesty Lemon Icing]


[Close-up shot of the Sponge Cacke]

Both were 'experimental' projects, baked for the first time with success :-)

Pleasing Pizza & Pie

Last week and early this week I was on another baking spree. Pizza was the order of the day on Tuesday (19 Feb 2008). It was an oriental pizza - minced pork with onions in dark soy sauce and oyster sauce, and sausages, topped with cheese. No tomato puree or oregano.


[Oriental Pizza]

On Thursday (21 Feb 2008) I baked my first pie, which I think was reasonably successful :-) It was a lime & coconut meringue pie. It has a sour tinge from the lime balanced by the sweet meringue on top. Quite an exquisite taste, I must say. Never tasted anything like it before. The texture is smooth with hints of desicated coconut although none is used in the recipe. It was an interesting pie. Would make a fantastic dessert to a very rich/filling meal.


[Lime & Coconut Meringue Pie]

On Tuesday (26 Feb 2008) we had bread pudding for supper :-)

Cake for Bunnies

Some weeks back (3 October 2007) I found the opportunity to indulge in another baking project. This time it was a carrot cake. I was quite surprised at how simple it was to make. The cake was successful but it got 'downgraded' as a result of my experiment with the topping. Thought I would skip the regular cream cheese topping and try a lemon icing glace since we had a lemon lying around. Bad idea. Or maybe I poured in too much lemon juice. We ended up eating carrot cake with vitamin C!

Baking is a luxury these days... so is blogging.


[Vitamin C-rich carrot cake]

Blondie

Wednesday, 18 April 2007, saw us trying out yet another new recipe - walnut & cinnamon blondies. Blondies are basically brownies without the chocolate. Turned out ok.


[Walnut & Cinnamon Blondies]

Mocha Brownies

After dinner on Good Friday, we baked some Mocha Brownies for Easter. It was our first time trying this recipe and it was (again) a success! :o)


[Mocha Brownies: Moist, dense, delicious... mmm]

Banana Chocolate Chip Loaf

Last Wednesday (8 February 2007), we were in our baking mood again. This time our baking project was a banana and chocolate chip loaf. It was a new recipe for us and boy, were we pleased! Very moist and the taste was really fantastic!


[A cake to go bananas over]