Jamie Oliver's Classic Victoria Sponge

26 Feb 11

Auntie YC gave me this copy of Jamie Oliver's "Cook with Jamie" cookbook. I had not tried any recipe from the book.

Today is Auntie YC's birthday. We invited her for her favourite seafood dinner, in particular, sweet and spicy crab from Restaurant Wong Poh.

Jared's school exam is around the corner. I need to do exam revision with Jared and I usually run errands on Saturday too. However, I knew I should bake a cake for Auntie YC's birthday, a simple cake. It is only complete to have a birthday cake to blow candles for birthday celebration.

Lately, I've fallen in love with layers cake, not the traditional Indonesian layer cake but cake being assemble in layers with whipping cream in between the cake layers.

I made this Classic Victoria sponge cake from Jamie Oliver's cookbook. I baked the sponge cake in the morning and assembled the cake in the evening, after our seafood dinner.

The results ... the cake on the top is done by me and the one at the bottom is picture from Jamie Oliver's book.

Auntie YC and Hubby love the cake. They were very impressed with the results for this first attempt, just by following instructions from the book.

Red Velvet Cheesecake, my first cake business on Valentine's Day

14 Feb 2011

It is Valentine's Day. I baked a cake, not for my Hubby but for my very first cake order that I get paid for. This is a milestone achievement for me!

I made Pavlova and Red Velvet Cheesecake for Hubby's last birthday in August 2010. I invited Audrey and family over for tea but they were too busy with their house moving. The following day, Hubby and I decided to bring some slices of Red Velvet Cheesecake to their house instead as we would love to peep into their new house. A few days later, Audrey told me they love my Red Velvet Cheesecake.

Two weeks later, she ordered the same cake from me for her party at their new house and wanted to pay for it. Audrey has been a good friend of us, especially during the period that we were in between maid ... she cooked for us and took care of our kids when we needed help!

I was happy to receive my very first "official" cake order and gladly made the cake for her. I made it for her complimentary as appreciation for her help during the period that we needed help the most. Baking is suppose to be a good stress reliever but not for this particular one, it was stressful. What if the cake does not turn out well? What if the taste is not as nice? Audrey will not have cake for her party then ....

At almost midnight, Audrey sent me a sms after her party ... the cake was a hit. Her guests love it! Knowing the positive respond was a BIG relief for me and boost my confidence.

A few days ago, Audrey sent me another sms. This time round the sms "I got u accidentally involved in a cake business". Her friend asked if I can make the same Red Velvet Cheesecake for her daughter's birthday. This friend of Audrey has tasted my cake during Audrey's party. I was very happy to know that people remember my cake. Despite Tuesday being a public holiday, I have friends coming to our house for lunch and tea and I will be too tired to bake cake thereafter. I told Hubby about it and he supported the idea, not for the money, but for the baking passion that I have and bake for those who know how to appreciate them. Hubby also advised me to take the first step which may bring many other steps.

I baked the Red Velvet Cheesecake a day earlier, on Monday instead as I am not working. I took a day off to rest after our trip to Kluang over the weekend. I also need to prepare for CNY lunch and tea gatherings at our house the following day.

I learnt to bake this Red Velvet Cheesecake from Catherine Lau. I must thank Christina for inviting me to attend the Cheesecake workshop at Signature Kitchen organised by Flavours. The cake is made from buttermilk, beetroot juice (which is a healthy fruit and give the red colour to the cake), cocoa powder, vegetable oil, cream cheese, whipping cream, etc.

For the record to treasure the memories ... the perceived value by Audrey for the Red Velvet Cheesecake is RM110. Keep the fingers cross. I hope they will still like the cake as much.

Jared's First Sport Shoes

20 Jan 11

One of our 2011 new year resolution is to stay healthy. We ... as a family, has started jogging. We jogged around our house garden, at Desa Parkcity park, etc. From this jogging exercise, Hubby realized that Jared can run, has good stamina and run at constant pace too.

Auntie YC wanted to buy new year gift for Jared and Jaden. She bought toys for both of them ... and also this pair of Nike running shoes.

This pair of Nike's Air Pegasus+ 26 comes with full length, soft air cushioning so that our heel and forefoot are fully supported for any running distance.

I can't believe Jared is wearing adult size shoes now. His first running shoes cost his grand auntie RM199.

Segamat Flood

1 Feb 2011

After the bad flood experience in 2006, Segamat is hit with another flood. This time round, it is during the peak traffic, rush travelling, going back hometown for Chinese New Year celebration.

Lots of people are affected by the roads not accessible, cancelled and reschedules train services, landslides, etc.

We are not sparred too. We were suppose to travel South to Segamat to my in-laws house for CNY reunion. We are on standby, look see mode now.

I am so proud of my brother in-law for the job well done on his segamat.com. His website was mentioned on The Star today under "Segamat flood updates on Facebook". He updates the flood situation in Segamat, roads accessibility, etc with photos taken and uploaded on a close interval basis.

There is no electricity and water supply in Segamat due to the flood. Telephone line is down too. Those people with handphone would have their battery running low and flat by now. As such, a lot of peoples are unable to stay connected with their family in Segamat. My brother in-law is very resourceful. He seems to know a lot of people in Segamat and able to link and keep the visitors to his website updated on family and friends condition.

He has done a fantastic job. That site probably has the highest hit in the last few days for those who planned to head South to be united with family for CNY reunion.

Well done, Jin and keep up the good work of sharing and caring. We are so proud of you.

Gong Xi Fa Cai! It's a Rabbit Year!

29 Jan 2011

This morning, when Jared and Jaden woke up, they hugged and caressed each other. That was so sweet, especially when both of them were wearing the same pyjamas too.

Later in the morning,

Jaden said "Daddy, can you play with me?"

Daddy answered "I'm busy."

Jaden told me "Mommy, can you don't give Daddy so much work?"

I asked Jaden "Why?"

Jaden replied "Because I want Daddy to play with me!.

That was so cute.

Chinese New Year is just a few days away. Hooray ... my maid and I have finally completed the entire house spring cleaning. Has started spring cleaning bits by bits since December.

In the evening, I made these almond cookies. Auntie Jenny gave me the recipe when we visited her in Penang. My 3 boys love them and I decided to make it.

The biscuits are very easy to make and the recipe only made these 2 cans of biscuits. I hope I can find time to make more tomorrow.

I love CNY decoration too. I've been doing simple CNY decoration at home since I was a little girl. Maybe, I'm in the wrong line and should be in interior.

This is the first time that I bought orchid. I saw this pot of orchid in TTDI market and bought it a few weeks ago for RM50, after some price negotiation.

At 6pm, Hubby drove us to Sg Buloh nursery to buy flowers. I bought this orchid at RM25 only, without any price negotiation. That's so cheap as compared to what I've paid earlier. This pot is for my office. I'm going to put it in my office and hopefully, it will bring some colours and joy to the office.

Aren't they sweet and pretty? Jared loves this photo.

Jaden loves the orchid too. He smell the flowers.

During CNY, I like my house to have lots of flowers. They add colours to our house and brighten up our days too.

I paid RM8 for this pot of flower.

I paid RM36 for this pot of flowers. I brought my pots along and asked the nursery to transfer the flowers to my own pots.

This pot of flowers cost RM19.

Tomorrow, I will go for manicure and pedicure. My fingers and toes have been showing me a "grumpy" look and that they too needed a fresh makeover.

I am looking forward to the CNY, to see my family, relatives, school friends, ex-colleagues, dancing school friends and the more the merrier.

Finally, I made a promise that from next year onwards, I will not change new notes for Ang Pow purpose. Who are going to deny their Ang Pows just because they are old note? We are going green and we should stop more trees been chopped just to print new notes.

Wish everyone a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year. May the year of Rabbit brings us Joy, Good Health, Peace and Happiness!

Baby Names and Translation from English to Chinese

4 Jan 2011

My colleague will be a father soon. I'm so happy for him. I remembered attending his wedding dinner last year. Both him and his wife love to travel, the adventurous type of travelling. I've been reminding him to enjoy it while it lasts as once they have their baby, the type of travel will be totally different, with stroller, nappy, milk powder and bottles, etc, at least for the first few years. He was frightened by me ... hahaha.

Today, he sat next to me in our hugh conference room. He asked me for nice, suitable baby girl's name ending with surname "Khoo".

I used to browse thru internet to get ideas for my sons names. This famous baby names website is useful. They provide most popular names for male and female, by ranking. They also provide the meaning of the names and their origin.

The other useful website is baby name translation from English to Chinese. We can obtain our Chinese name based on the chosen English name and also find out our sign in the Chinese Zodiac. The name recommended also take into consideration what kind of characteristics we want to be expressed in the name, gender and birthdate.

Hopefully, others will find them useful.

At the point of writing, my colleague has shortlisted "Natalie Khoo" and "Cassendra Khoo". I told him for his next baby, if it is a boy, to name the baby "Nat King Khoo". hehehe

Happy Naming!

Goodbye 2010

31 Dec 2010

How time flies. It's the last day of year 2010. It has been a mix of ups and downs, especially today.

Today is the last working day for my capable finance manager. She has been a good assistant to me at work and a truly good friend and companion too. She transformed my thoughts and ideas into powerful powerpoints and reports. We had lunch together, went for yoga classes together, we exchanged DVDs and cakes that we baked, etc. I particularly miss our cha cha dance session in Hua Hin and shopping spree in Bangkok.

Recently, she started baking and cooking. It seems to be the trend for working with our company ... somehow, staff will start cooking or baking no matter how little we cook or bake. For her farewell, I got her cooking utensils presented in a lovely pink polka dot with ribbon box. I bought 2 pizza trays, pizza cutter, pastry roller, whisker, meat temperature, potato masher and a spring form pan. Hope she will think of me whenever she bakes or cooks. As much as I would like her to stay on with our company, I am happy for her next endeavour.

Fei Yin made me a photobook which was very nicely done with attention to details. I'm missing her already.

Although today is a sudden declaration of public holiday, it's not a rest day for finance personnel who have to close company's year end books. I decided to buy cakes for office staff. It's new year eve and they have to work to meet dateline. Fei Yin and I went down to Coffeebean and bought 12 slices of varieties of cakes and a Latte for my boss, which made him a happy man as he does not like sweet things and he loves coffee.

Looking back to 2010, I've been promoted to Finance Director, a milestone achievement for me in my career. I'm taking my career one step at a time. To me, being a wife and a mother does not mean we can't have our career. It's not easy but it's not impossible, especially if you have a supportive spouse. I'm glad my Hubby understands what corporate life is all about and he is happy if I am happy at work.

In Jun 2010, Hubby and I had our first holiday trip without our kids to Macau, in conjunction with our 8 years wedding anniversary. It was hard for me to leave our kids behind while we had good times. I am happy to have an understanding mother in-law who offered to take care of our kids while we were away. She encouraged us to have time off from kids once in a while to rejuvenate our marriage and love. It was nice that Hubby could pay 100% attention on me and held my hands when we walked.

In 2010 also, our house construction kicked off, after more than a year of planning and designing the house plan, meetings, obtain approval, tender, etc. Luckily, Hubby is handling this project.

In 2010, there were unpleasant happenings too. 2 of my close friends and relative were diagnosed with cancers. There were also a few marriage complication among family and friends. These reminded me to take care of our health and pay attention to our spouse. Somehow, we always neglect our spouse once we have our kids. These also made me realise how important family and friends are to me. They are part of my life.

Today, my boss told me that 2011 will not be a good year for me ... after I bought him a cup of Latte. There will be significant outflow of cash. I hope this relates to our house construction and not any other cash outflow. I also pray that our house construction will progress smoothly without major obstacles. This is Hubby's dream and I'll be happy to see his dream comes true in 2011.

My new year resolution is very simple. I want to spend quality time with my family ... my kids, my Hubby, my parents, my siblings, my friends and family members. They need me and I need them too. I should not take them for granted. They need my attention and care. After all, why do we work so hard? To provide a better and quality living to them, isn't it?

During work day, I spend a significant of my time at work. I am someone who needs "me time" every night before call it a day. I will browse through my emails, Facebook, reading blogs, etc. I also bake quite a bit. Baking is a good stress reliever and I am happy to see my family and friends enjoying my cake. I know I need to hit on to the gym more often to lose my weight and attend more yoga classes which is good for my health. I also like scrapbooking and update my blog. I am not a superwoman and everyone only has 24 hours in a day. With all these activities and hobbies, I've seen myself starting on a project and stopped half way and not getting them done. There were 2 mini album workshops that I've attended and the mini albums were still half done.

I need to live a balance life. An extreme of anything is not good. I need to stay focus too. Else, I will end up nowhere and never do well in anything that I do. It will always be an average results.

I need to pay more attention on my family lifestyle. Live as stress free as possible as stress is bad for health. The one most simple way to achieve this is not to wait for things to be done on last minute. Get things done a head of schedule.

Yes, today my best friend Christina asked me if my Hubby and I are interested to join them for eating, massage and shopping trip to Bangkok in mid 2011. Kids are not allowed and the trip has been booked. Hooray!

Auntie YC invited us to her house for new year eve's dinner. She roasted a chicken, the Jamie Oliver's way.

While Hubby and kids were swimming in the pool, I roasted another chicken, my very first roast chicken. I followed the recipe that I learned from Paul of Food Studio ... rub chicken with salt, pepper, paprika and mustard.

Hubby preferred the chicken roasted by Auntie YC, as a comparison, not that my chicken tasted bad but I've put too much salt that the chicken was salty. Jared ate a lot for dinner and he's weighing 20kg today, whereas, Jaden's weight is 15.2 kg.

Roasted potatoes, carrots, garlic, etc prepared by Auntie YC.
Onion cooked with butter, sugar and red wine. Goes very well with my roasted chicken.

We watched movie and TV at Auntie YC's house in Mt Kiara, while waiting for fireworks to countdown to new year 2011.

View from Auntie YC's balcony.

My simple new year wish ... good health, success and happiness.

By the way, Jaden said "Don't get angry. Be Happy!"