Chinese Glutinous Rice Dumpling (II)

I had it last year. I am having it again this year. 

This time, coincide with our trip home, I sought my mum's consensus to do it together, to rejoice our good old family tradition. I also thought, perhaps I can show off a little of my matured skill of rice dumpling wrapping.

Baking is Addictive!

Of late, I have been hooked with baking. I don't know why but the mixing brings calming effect to a tired brain and the aroma coming from the oven are incredibly irresistible! And of course, the eating part, scrumptiously joy. It is very different between homemade and those selling in the bakery/pastries shops- more and better ingredients and lesser sweetness. Some of the cake I made, I can finished them all and left little for the girls. I should not, but I am totally lost control!

That explains how I did not realised November zips by so quickly and I only completed one post for the month. I bake a lot since October! Mostly at night, or mid-night. When Little Bomber caught a glimpse of me taking out the mixer and the needed ingredients and what not, she would exclaims, "Not again?!"

Anyway, for the record, I have been very busy!

Chinese Glutinous Rice Dumpling

In the pantry of my office right now, I am having Chinese glutinous rice dumplings (肉粽) as lunch. I have a sense of gratification as this is something I made from scratch. And seriously, it ain't easy! There are lots of preparation work prior to the wrapping, cleaning and washing numerous utensils after wrapping and waiting at least 2.5 hours of cooking thereafter. I always know it, that's why I didn't want to do it myself, alone. I grown up in typical Chinese family where every year praying of Dragon Boat Festival (or Dumpling Festival, 端午节) and eating dumplings are part of the family tradition. I have the vivid picture of my mum wrapping dumplings, siting on a stool with all the ingredients laying on the kitchen floor; I have fuzzy memory of my grandma doing the same. Long hour of hard work.

Then we grown up, my mum demanded helps from me and my sister. I didn't learn dumpling wrapping skill from my mum willingly. Well, I didn't resist it either. I found it challenging and wanted to overcome it and I sensed, she needed company. In retrospective, this was probably one skill that she passed to me with little confident, as she admitted that she didn't like the work and not good at the technique of wrapping the dumpling. Sometime, we would had wrapped dumplings leak/loosen up while cooking. She repeated the same confession more than once. Her little fear blocks her from improvement. Yet, it didn't stop her from doing. My dad loves dumpling apparently and we love it too. I reckon, family love gave her a push to do it. Over the years, she saw my sister's and my wrapping technique doing better, and better. I think, she was relieved.

One little dumpling revived One little family tradition of mine.

Thanks to Mrs Kam and Lynn, gladly joined me last Sunday (Fathers' Day!) to wrap dumplings from 2kg glutinous rice, 1kg of pork belly, and many other ingredients (I used Diana's recipe). If not, I would not able to complete the entire process of dumpling making! whew~!

Pearl Beans (aka Cranberry Beans) and Corn Soup

Peeling off the pod of pearl beans are great for training toddlers' fine motors skill, as well as mathematic lesson for primary schooler- counting, grouping; addition and multiplication.

My daughters love the work involving these beans, I always get help volunteering in peeling off and extracting the beans. Little Bomber first laid her hands on the beans when she was about 3. She was probably attracted to the beautiful appearance of the bean pods.

They love to consume the soup that is boiled with these beans too.

As I surfing in the internet, it is also called cranberry bean,

Ingredients:

• 200g of cranberry beans
• 1 ear of fresh corn (or two, if you wish for more sweetness from the corn)
• 250-300g of pork ribs
• some red dates (optional) - Or carrot
• 1500ml of water
• salt to taste

Black Chicken and Black Beans Soup

I learnt about black chicken soup from my grandmother. At that time, two youngest aunts were still single and under the same roof with my grandmother. They taught me that this yummy chicken soup was great for nourish the body and the tasteless chicken meat was actually tender and delicious to eat with bit of soy sauce. I had some great time on my grandma's dining table with her and my aunts. They always tried to feed me and my siblings healthy nutrients whenever we were sent by my mother over while she headed out for some errands or her work.

In the nutrition aspect, black chicken does indeed have less calories than regular chicken, mostly due to less fat. For example, a 100 gram piece of regular chicken has around 8 grams fat, while black chicken has only 2 grams.
Recent evidence also shows a higher level of an antioxidant called carnosine. Antioxidants in general are a great thing, and black chicken has double the amount of carnosine than regular chicken. - source

To me, my grandma boiled the most hearty chicken soup in the universal.

Whilst, my mum taught me about black bean. She usually cook black bean soup with pork rib. According to her, black bean nourish blood, essence and yin. One step before making the soup is, the black beans are to be roasted or pan-fried without oil until the skin of the bean crack.

Over the years, I learnt from somewhere else that both black chicken and black bean are in greater effect by combining both together in a pot with black dates and boil. It helps to replenish blood and vitality. So, here's the simple recipe:

Ingredients

• 1.5L of Water;
• 1 whole black chicken
  [I usually would ask the poultry stall to de-skin and cut it into 4] 
• 100g -150g of black beans
  [wash them and then pan-fried without oil until the skin of the bean crack]
• Some black dates (optional)
• Salt to taste

Pig Maw Soup

Growing up, pig maw soup is one of my comfort food. Strangely, I can't remember how did I acquire the taste of pepper or texture of pig maw from young. Why do I enjoy it so much?

Perhaps it is the consequence of consuming a bowl of the soup: the peppery of the soup dispenses into my tummy and stays warm for a long while. Perhaps, it serves as a reminder of my mum to take good care of my weak stomach these days. To her, this peppery soup helps to strengthen weak digestive system.

And over these years, I managed to convince my daughters to eat pig maw too. If I have the time and strength to do the cleaning of the pig maw (usually you would need 20-30 minutes standing by the sink for getting a satisfy result of a pig maw) during weekend, it would appear on our dinning table in one of the weekday after. Conveniently, it has become a one-pot meal for my family. I could easily gather all the needed ingredients and prepare the soup in the morning and boil in the pot of the vacuum thermal cooker for at least 30 minutes long before I head out to work.

So this is my version of pig maw soup-

Arrowroot Pork Rib Soup

Another yummy soup often shows up and makes the girls happy during dinner:

Arrowroot Pork Rib Soup.

Ingredient: 
1 Arrowroot (about 450-500g)
200-300g pork rib
1200ml water (or slightly more for longer hours of boiling)

Seasoning:
Salt to taste before you serve.

Showing how you should peel the skin.

Method:

1. Wash and peel the skin of arrowroot. 
2 .Cut the arrowroot into chunks. 
3. Bring a pot of water to boil. Once it is boil, put the ingredients into the boiling water. Bring to a boil and simmer for at least 2 hours.

I don't usually have 2 hours consecutively for boiling the soup especially during weekdays. But having a Thermos Shuttle Chef helps me tons!

I usually chop off the tuber into two for easy peeling purpose. 

Note: 
According to my mother, this soup is a good source to expel dampness but not cooling. It is important to boil this soup for minimum 2 hours. My mum gave me one reason of dissolving its negative tonic of it but when I google to learn more, it is actually more of it needs longer time to bring out the starchiness of arrowroot. 

Arrowroot in the western world is well-known for its edible starch from the rhizomes (rootstock) of arrowroot plant. Here, we are talking about the tuber, commonly known as 粉葛 (fěn gé). Often, it is easy to be mistaken as yam bean, or commonly known as mangkuang 沙葛 (sha ge) at first glance. In my opinion, arrowroot looks tougher, usually more like a tree trunk than yam bean. 

Arrowroot has no flovour or smell, but

after boiled, it has a slightly nutty sweet taste. Apparently, young tubers have the best flavour, older ones are fibrous. Frankly, I don't know how to choose a young tuber. I always try to look for a small (=young?) tuber, as we are a small family and I don't really need to boil big pot of soup. What I learn from years of boiling this soup is that, this is rather idiot-proof recipe. I never get a bad pot of soup, only sweeter, or sweet.

However, I do learn that it is important to choose an arrowroot that is easy to peel off the skin, the smoother look of the tuber, the better to peel the skin.

You can read more on the health benefit of arrowroot here. According to Chinese diet, arrowroot benefits the spleen, stimulates the secretion of body fluid and strengthen immune system.

In such a hot weather these days, this is one of the best soup to serve!


Linking up with

Exclusive Baking Class at Munch Ministry

Saturdays are usually family day and supposedly a day to be chauffeur and maid fully attend to the kiddos' needs. They have swimming and wushu classes. Thereafter we would proceed to park (or library/mall if it rains) till the sun down. Bumper to bumper, exhaustion.

Photo Credit: Adeline of The Accidental Mom Blogger

But one Saturday, I sneaked out early and quietly (Bomber would not let me to leave her behind) to attend a baking class at Civil Service Club, hosted by Munch Ministry. This is another event in conjunction of SMB's One Celebration. We were to learn to make Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes.

I love the opportunity given here: learn baking from a seasoned baker, one who I admire at- Pauline. I known her when I chanced upon the playgroup that was led by her back in 2008. Jiejie and I have many fond memory of being part of the playgroup. Few of us mums even learnt sewing from her previously.

Yes, she is an amazing women with tons of inspirations!

Maybe that's why I came out a big idea to lug a stranger-to-me and heavy DSLR, just so I could made friendly connection between the two of us. By trying and errorring on the aperture and the shutter of the camera, I would be a better photographer, well, better than the day before. A tad bit?

Sure enough, it was a lousy idea. One third of the time I was busy adjusting the setting, another one third was monkeying around like a naughty student in the class (like I was once behaved such), the remaining one third on the lesson. Greedy me!

[Photo Credits (L-R): Liza of Mother of Xander and Munch Ministry]

But then again, as you can see, bloggers work pretty hard and I am just catching up.

The class started with Pauline demonstrate the very first part of making the cake: How egg yolk mixture are done. Pauline delightfully told us that Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes is not originally from Hokkaido, Japan. It's merely because the recipe using the milk from Hokkaido. Nonetheless, during the class, we used ordinary milk from New Zealand.

One of the mom blogger was quick enough to try baking another batch of cakes with the milk from Hokkaido(after the baking class), and she said,

"The chiffon cakes were extra milky and creamy and after baking the chiffon cakes, the milky scent was present with every bite."   - Jasmine from scissorspaperstoneblog.com

That is surely entice me to try this recipe with Hokkaido milk!

Back to the class, Pauline shared few other great tips in the class besides walking us through the recipe. For example, the egg white used for making meringue, which is the main foundation of a chiffon cake, is not supposedly have any drop of egg yolk. Another great reminder I got from Pauline is that, once all the batter are scooped into liners/tray, before putting it into the oven, knock it to get rid of the bubble trapped inside the batter.

Lastly, Louisa taught us making the filling and piping into the cupcakes.

After the first part of demonstration, we began the hands-on. We were to team-up in two. Double the ingredients, double the joy of working together for our cupcakes. Liza was my partner. And, together with Jennifer, we had more than baking fun. 

In the class, most of us encountered problem with the separation of egg yolk and egg white. So were Liza and I. Firstly we had more than 1 messy egg yolks, Then we got confused with number of remaining eggs we needed to crack to match the total number of egg yolks and egg whites. Remember double the ingredients? We needed 6 eggs for making the right among of cupcakes for two mothers to bring home individually. Apparently 6 is a big number and easily to lost count.
Thank goodness there were cracked egg shells laying on our table to count on. We were convinced that one of us added extra egg when one of the egg yolks found its way to to mess with the egg white. Obviously, Liza and I had too much laughs.

You have gotto to read the best way to separate egg yolk and egg white from my partner, Liza:

"You can buy the fanciest egg separating gadget available but nothing beats using your hands to wiggle the yolk in your palm while the whites ooze away through your finger tips."

We then pay more attention into our cake-making. It was great to learn and work with a partner. You get to discuss, analyse and execute about the recipe, humorously.   

Inevitably, I had a great time, laughing, battering, piping, photographing. Though, most of the photos I took were pretty poor quality. Rachel of Catch 40 Winks gave me some quick tips, apparently try and error is not  the only way to learn photography. ^^|

But at least the cupcakes were perfectly done! It is light and delectable, I gulped down not just one but two at the end of the class. Yum yum!

Well, I'm a cake person.

I let my girl try the cake as supper that night. Judging from my fussy eater's response, I am encouraged to bake these cakes again.

Hopefully, I find the milk from Hokkaido too;).

For similar recipes, hop over to Munch Ministry's link. More of our SMB's individual's story can be found here. If you have intention to host a party or team building event over baking/cooking class like ours, ask Munch Minstry at munchministrylwp@gmail.com.

Thank you Louisa and Pauline for hosting this for us, SMB.

Quick, Simple Beetroot Soup

I cook, most of the time. And most of them are simple and quick to prepare. Here is one of my favourite soup and the girls like it very much.

Ingredient: 
1 Beetroot (about 290-300g)
200-300g lean pork meat or chicken breast meat
900ml-1000ml water

Seasoning:
Salt to taste, but I always skip this. It's yummy without any!

Note: 
Do remember not to rinse or rinse minimally the beetroot after you peel off the skin and cut, as it will wash away the colour, as well as the nutritious.

Method:
All you need to do is put the meat and the beetroot into the boiling water. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 30 mins (sometime, I did it like 20 mins).

You can easily get beetroot from FairPrice nearby. Usually I would get a dollar price (plus minus) of it. I mean I would not get too big or too small of a beetroot, the price tag is a good guide to me to cook a pot of soup for a family of 4.

According to lovebeetroot.co.uk, the benefits of drinking beetroot juice is to boost stamina and make muscles work more efficiently to reducing blood pressure. But due to its bloody red hue colour, I never try to drink the juice. Probably my mum had read my mind, she taught me this recipes. And I slowly learn to eat the cooked beetroot.

Most importantly, she helped to add one soup recipe in the what-to-cook-tonight compartment of my brain, it easy to extract out when I walk pass aisles of food in supermarket without any clue.

Best is, when I am in good mood, I cook dishes with some other colours to create a visually happy dinner.

Bon Appetite!

[If you want to challenge your self, try this!]


Linking up with

Candy Cane Biscotti

Source: Tracey's Culinary Adventures

For this coming red and white season, I believe everyone will love Candy Cane Biscotti. The red swirl in the buttery cookies  bring you into a Christmassy taste and the hints of peppermint flavour throughout the bite will surprise you, for sure!  I followed the recipes as close as possible, but improvised and altered the method along the way. I reckon  this is why I have so much fun in baking: get to make judgement call in a jiffy (the most!) to make sure I am getting a successful result as I hate to see the waste of the ingredients. And even if I fail, I know I tried, no regret.

Anyway, you get to access the main source at the end of this post. Apparently this recipes is contagious, Since 2005!

Candy Cane Biscotti
Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature [ I used about 113.5g of French butter]
• 1/2 cup sugar [ I used 100g of sugar]
• 3 large eggs
• 2/3 cup crush peppermint candy canes [I used 6 candy sticks], plus extra for garnish 
• 14 oz white chocolate

Methods: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F [approx. 175° C]. Line a baking sheet with grease paper or a silicon baking mat.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir briefly with a fork to combine.  In the another bigger bowl, beat together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until well combined, about 2 minutes.  Beat in the eggs one a time, mixing well after each addition.  
3. Add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until incorporated.  Fold in the 2/3 cup crushed peppermints with a rubber spatula until evenly incorporated.
4. Place the dough entirely into the baking tray with grease paper, as I can't divine the dough into 4 portion as per the original recipes
5. Bake until the log of cookies are light golden brown on top, about 25-30 minutes.  Remove the tray from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes.  Reduce the oven temperature to 325° F.
6. After the log have cooled for 10 minutes, use a sharp serrated knife to cut the logs into ½-inch slices on the diagonal or like me, cut it straight and square (discard ends, if you want).  Arrange the cut pieces on the baking sheet, laying on one of their cut sides so one cut side is facing up.  Bake for 15 minutes more, until the cookies are light golden brown and crisp.  (They may seem a bit soft, but will firm as they cool.)  
7. Extra step for me: Continue to third baking by turning the cookies to the other side of the cut sides for about 10 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. 
8. Once the biscotti have cooled, melt the white chocolate in the top of a double boiler.  Dip one half of each cookie in the chocolate, shake gently to remove the excess, and transfer to a baking sheet or work surface lined with wax paper.  Sprinkle with extra crushed candy canes while the chocolate is still wet.  Let stand at room temperature until the chocolate has set completely.  Store in an airtight container.

Original Source From Annie's Eats.

Looks like my knife isn't sharp enough (I mistrust it). But it tastes good, frankly speaking. Together with the chocolate cupcakes, I give some of the biscotti away as Christmas gift. 

"It's yummy. The sweetness of the biscotti are just nice to be dipped in coffee or tea." One were surprised when I told her I used candy cane=). "No wonder I tasted mints!" 

Nice to give surprise, isn't it? 

Have a joyous holiday, all!

*This post is part of the Festive Fare Blogtrain hosted by Dinomama. 

The Festive Fare Blogtrain isn't going to stop here. Hop over to Jean's blog tomorrow as she will be sharing how she cooks a simple yet delicious Beef Pasta. Jean is a happy wife and a homeschooling mum to 2 kids who love fabric, sew, craft, bake, strawberry shortcake, taking pictures under the sunny island. She also shares her thoughts over at her facebook page.

Dec 2012: Let's Sprinkle!

We are getting a little bit more into Christmas now (a bit more busier too). 

I made lots of cupcakes with this recipes for giving out as gift to friends and colleagues. What's more? I got the girls to help me to decorate one of the batch I made. 

For the very first time, I have two helpers! I was a little disordered, to be honest. From melting the chocolate for creaming purpose, distributing the tasks of putting the sprinkles and directing the girls, to taking picture of one big achievement we had and of course, giving warning and yawning. 

Little Bomber had fun and was concentrating to attempt in doing a good job as per my instruction. She looked beautifully when she is concentrating to something.

Credits: JM's Designs, FeiFei's Stuff and Michelle Coleman.

And you can tell from the picture of the cupcakes, which are done by who=). Both did wonderfully, if you ask me, and I gifted them away, proudly.

 *This post is linking up with Fun for Free by Gingerbread Mum.

Pack Food for Recess

I am busy with a new routine: prepare simple food for my P1 child to consume during her recess time.  

Everyday!

It is fun to mix & match and create one unique combination everyday.

And I start to be attentive to the frozen department of supermarket and hunt for proper food for packing. Food that in favor of my fussy little eater. Food that is easy and quick in preparation.

Apple, cashew nuts and raisins are her favourite and hence regular in the pack.

Sushi is just done when there is left-over rice and Tamanoi Sushinoko, when I am up much earlier.

Sometime, I feel smug on my creation.

Sometime, I get lazy and just chuck in a bun and a choice of her snack.

The truth is, she never able to finish all of it. She plans well and usually take second part of her recess time for play. Often, she shares with her friends, 'cause the friend(s) asked for it. Yup, she is pretty honest with me on this part. I would just remind her that, "you suppose to eat most of it, not your friend". The bottom line is, I know what she eats in school and there is communication establish, like "Eclair for tomorrow?"

Happy me.

Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip (and walnuts) Cookies

Sounds healthier, right? 

Pretty easy too, CS! [yes, the recipes is for you=)] 

Just need to mix the ingredients together and drop the dough on the cookies sheet (tray) for baking.

Ingredients

1 ½    cups packed brown sugar 1        cup butter or margarine, softened 1        teaspoon vanilla 1        egg 2        cups quick-cooking oats (I used Quaker brand) 1 ½    cups Gold Medal® all-purpose or unbleached flour 1        teaspoon baking soda ¼       teaspoon salt 1        cup semisweet chocolate chips (6 oz) 1        cup chopped nuts, if desired (I used walnuts, crushed) Method

·                Heat oven to 350°F ·                In a large bowl, stir brown sugar and butter until blened. ·                Stir in vanilla and egg until light and fluffy. ·                Stir in oats, flour, baking soda and salt; stir in chocolate chips and nuts. ·                Onto ungreased cookies sheet, drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart. ·                Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

I got the recipes from here. [the page includes nutrition information]

Full strength to stir the ingredients.

A rainy Saturday afternoon. I was alone at home with two, SC was called to work urgently. 

On a typical stay-home weekend, she refused to take afternoon nap like little Bomber. So to keep her busy and stop asking about watching Winx Club from iPad, I got her involved. She wanted to make cookies instead of cake. 

While cookies were baked one batch after another, we read 1 chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Coincidentally, Bomber's nap was a short one. I then multi-tasked to bring out raisin, water, grapes, anything I can find from the fridge as afternoon snack while reading the chapter. 

As a result of running in and out of the kitchen, I wasted some dough and got some over-burnt cookies...

Burnt cookies tucked at the back... keeping it for my self to consume.

Though it doesn't look pretty, it was irresistibly yummy. (I could not resist from munching it while it was just out from oven even though I was having sore throat). Intend to give some to Yvonne who handed-me-down some P1 books and one of Jiejie's teacher. 

walnut brownie

Need a break from stress of dealine.

Hence, featuring this...

I have been making this walnut brownie for 3 times in less than 2 weeks.

1st was testing.

Overwhelmed with the rich chocolate and the successful attempt.

2nd was for the girl's 6th birthday party last Saturday.

Double the ingredients.

A little dry. 

3rd was yesterday dawn. 

For little Bomber's nanny and family's great help in the party.

Appreciation from the bottom of my heart.

I do wish that the spirit of (baking) enthusiasm will spill over to... now in office.

Back to digging history of work and do my self-appraisal!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

200g dark cooking chocolate
125g butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup self raising flour
1/3 cup milk
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 180C.
Chop the chocolate into pieces of about 2-3 centimeters.
Chop the butter and add it to the chocolate.

On low heat on the stove, melt the mixture without bubbling.
Remove the mixture from the heat and carefully fold in the brown sugar.
Add eggs, stirring carefully.
Slowly sift in the flour and fold it into the mixture.
Add milk, mixing it in completely.
Add chopped walnuts.

Pour the mixture into a greased medium-sized baking tray lined with baking paper.
Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool in the tin for five minutes,
then turn onto a wire rack until cool and slice into squares.
Dust with icing sugar.

M.O.T.

life as a mother of two (MOT)is certainly challenging (otherwise i would have my second child 1 or 2 years ago). especially at night, when i desperately look forward to SC's return to split the attentions of 2 children. he has been working late lately.

problem occurs when the baby gets cranky badly at night, wail till 12 midnight. every single night! so i have to carry her, nurse her till she snoozes. but the moment i put her down in cot, she will "wuaaaa...". fierce little baby! on the other hand, HY unwillingly to get her self prepared for bed. i guess she wanted to spend more time with us and her little sister after come back from school in the evening. unfortunately nights are always busy for us on her, tiny little her required 2 runs of dinner: 6-7pm and 9-10pm. in between will be our bonding time with her, plays or doodles or sometime homeworks from school. if SC is late to come home, both are crying babies, as I could not really attend to anyone of them at one time. i couldn't neglect HY and let her do nothing but waste time, i'd have to help her. but when my hands are on HY, XY will wail badly on cot. could it be jealousy? 

at one time, i was gloomed.

i guess adaptation to be MOT requires more wisdom and patience.

one small thing is showing the sign of improvement is that, little XY starts to sleep longer hours at night. from the very beginning of every 2 hourly feeding to only 1 feeding (at 4am+) required for last night.



anyway, share with you my recipes of home alone lunch: Steamed Angelica Chicken 蒸当归鸡.

my version of ingredients:
1. one chicken thigh
2. some salt to marinate
3. 2 thin slices of Dong Guai (angelica sinensis)
4. a tablespoon of Gei Zi (wolfberries)
boil the water in the wok first, then steam the marinated chicken thigh with Dang Gui and Gei Zi for about 10 to 15 minutes. you can refer to the link above for proper method of preparation. slurp it with a bowl of steamed rice. simple and yummy!

i have a long way to go, so i better eat properly.

pancake, anyone?

if Mamabliss is into messy fun now, i am bringing little bud into the fun of kitchen *grin*.

oh yes, she is very keen into it. bring the stool to stand up high to reach the stove/table top for fun. asks thousand and one innocent questions to program her mind. think thousand and one way to test 'what if i am not listening to mama..?'.

this was her trying to 'shape' her pancake on wok. her hand then accidentally touched the edge of the hot wok and cried out loud. very loud. she then lost interest, totally. even not keen in eating.

it was not a serious burn. it was a good Sunday morning for us to enjoy simple things in life.

(thank goodness she is eating pancake today~.)

QP from Weeds and Wildflowers Design. Go grab it while its expired soon!

simply scrapbooking

This is purely an excuse to scrapbook. But I am more than happy to tell you the detail of the recipe if you are keen on this :).

Similar recipe from mamabliss.

credit: shabby princess & akizo designs.

ShabbyPrincess.com is a stunning site to grab freebies and learn more about DSB. I was going through a technique called photo tinting:), which is easier way than how I used to leave a portion of a photo in colour. Go check out on other useful tutorials~! *thanks to Ruth once again on the new freebies* and CONGRATULATION to her being selected as Guest CT for FeiFei's Stuff! \^^/.