Chiffon Cake, Finally!

Most of my friends and relatives know that I like to bake but I don't really like to eat cakes, or pies, or biscuits. I like to try out new recipes, test out my skills, and happy to see people around me enjoying the output. But there is one cake I do like and I will eat a couple pieces every time I buy them. It's the Chiffon Cake. It is very soft and light, not oily and I don't really feel stuffed after I ate it. I love them and I found out that Charlotte also likes Chiffon Cake. That makes me an excuse to try making it. Actually, I tried baking a Chiffon Cake many years back, when I was in my teen. But it was a total failure and I never touch on that recipe ever since.

I have been trying baking Chiffon Cake for the past few weeks and I had disasters that no one could imagine. I didn't come across any of the challenges mentioned in every recipe such as difficulty in removing the cake from the cake pan, egg whites not beaten to the right stage, cake did not rise properly and etc. What I had was my cake raised perfectly and I didn't have any trouble removing it from the pan because it fell off from the pan the moment I inverted it! So what I had from the last few attempts were all collapsed Chiffon Cakes that looked like this...although it all tasted great.

I asked the experts, I checked the recipe, I bought fresh ingredients, but nothing helps. Finally I was looking into my oven last night and I realized something. I realized that my baking tray was closer to the upper heat element of the oven than the lower ones. I recalled all my Chiffon Cakes had nice golden brown top but the bottom and sides looked "naked" when removed from the cake pan. Maybe the bottom wasn't completely baked and that's why it fell off the moment it was inverted. So I moved the baking tray to a level lower and tried baking another one. This time I tried the Orange Chiffon Cake recipe as I ran out of coconut milk (santan) for Pandan Chiffon Cake and I had no more bananas for Banana Chiffon Cake. I separate the egg yolks and eggs whites carefully and followed the recipe steps as much as possible. I want to rule out all the possibility of "is it something wrong with the ingredients I put, or is it my skill in making it".

And finally there is a decent looking Chiffon Cake from my oven...

And a happy customer...she's my biggest supporter afterall and she said "mommy, 你成功了!"

Next, I need to work on the skill removing the cake from the pan so that the side doesn't look so "cacat", haha!



My Pregnancy Memory

I didn't write down any pregnancy memory when I was carrying Charlotte. Back then, I didn't even have a blog. I only started blogging 2 years after having Charlotte. And this is it, a blog all about her.

Now that I am expecting my second baby very soon, and I think I have a perfect place to keep not just about my kids' growing up memory, but also start all the way back from my pregnancy memory.

I remember clearly the night before I found out that I was pregnant with Charlotte we invited a few friends to our house for dinner. We cooked steak and had a very nice wine and we stayed all night chit chatting. The next morning, I decided to take a home pregnancy test since my period was late. When the test result came out positive, the first thing I recalled was "damn! I was drinking last night!"...it wasn't a planned pregnancy but Pat and I did talk about it as we thought we'll just take it easy and if it happens, it happens...and it happened!!!

I swear and was 101% sure that I will not have a second child. I guessed I was not prepared to welcome another baby experience along with the responsibilities and commitments associate with it. I was overwhelmed, my tried to do the best (I think I did) for the Charlotte, I was committed to breastfeeding, I sacrificed my career commitment to allow bandwidth to take care of the Charlotte, I gave up many opportunities on both personal and professional growth. Naturally, I was in phobia to commit another one. Pat on the other hand, always wanted a second child. But he couldn't push to hard for it to happen because half the time he is not home and he knows that the responsibility is all mine. His brilliant idea is to have maid to help out, but I am someone that cannot rely on maid entirely, not on baby, not even on house chores. Baby is too fragile and I can never imagine to have something happen to a baby because I "outsource" the responsibility to a maid and accident happened. So second baby was out of the equation for quite some time. Charlotte is turning 6 this year and maybe I'm kinda forgotten about all the sweat and tears, and I also missed the feeling of having a baby kicking inside your tummy when you are carrying him/her, but I also realized that now I am 6 years older, my stamina and health may not be in the same condition as 6 years ago. Can I still cope with the night feeding marathon? The miserable colic cry every night? The washing and cleaning...so just like the 1st pregnancy we were not to serious about it but we are blessed!

I found out that I was pregnant at around the 5th week the first time, and this second time was maybe just around the 3rd week. We couldn't see any sign of embryo formation when we went to see the Gynae, just a sign of positive pregnancy with thick wall on the uterus. I was in a little denial for a couple of weeks until the presence of an embryo showed on the ultrasound scan later on. So the pregnancy journey started...

I had a very easy pregnancy the first time. Everything was normal, I ate as usual (maybe was eating a lot more than usual), sat, walked, slept as usual. No morning sickness, no backache, nothing...so the whole 40 weeks passed by very quickly and Charlotte born just 2 days earlier than the EDD. The 2nd pregnancy is a whole new experience, and I never thought it could be that challenging although I had heard many difficult pregnancy experiences before. It started with a very bad morning sickness, or maybe I should say all-day sickness because that's really what it was. I felt so sick all day long, nothing (food/drinks) seemed to be able to comfort my tummy. I was hungry but everything that went in came out pretty soon. What makes it worse is the washroom in the office, the look, the smell, even just the thought of using it made me sick already. So I was really dragging myself to work everyday in the first trimester. Not only that, I started to have backache even at 8 weeks along. I couldn't bear the pain even just walking a short distant, imagine back then my tummy had not really show and I was worried sick about the remaining 30+ weeks journey. In between 1st and 2nd trimester, I had numerous occasions of spotting and visited A&E very frequently. I spotted when I was slightly overworked, slightly over stressed, did a little bit more house chores than usual, baked a cake or two over the weekend...I was on bed rest many times so far. I felt so fragile and weak with this 2nd pregnancy, but I was all energetic and active during the 1st. No wonder the old wive tales called it unique pregnancy...but I call it "age does matter pregnancy"...

With Charlotte, I had a very clear sign of labor - my water bag burst at 40 weeks, at 4+am. I knew for sure I had to check myself in to hospital by then. I am now 38+ weeks and for the last one whole week I kept having false signs of labor. I felt the contraction last Thursday late afternoon, Pat was away from home and so I drove to the hospital myself and had a CTG check. The nurse asked me to pack my bag and check-in that night because the contraction was strong and consistent. On my way back, I called Pat and asked him to come home immediately. Pat came back late night, but we didn't check ourselves in because the contraction had went away, and it was nothing for the next few days. I woke up on Saturday morning and found out that I had "show" and this time we packed and put all the necessary things into the car and went straight to the hospital. Strangely, the contraction that morning was very mild than usual and my Gynae said there was no dilation yet. He sent me to CTG monitoring again and when the result also showed mild and inconsistent contraction I was sent home. I had my follow up today and my Gynae said my baby likes it in my womb and decided to stay a little longer...(sigh!). I'm home once again.

Will the bell rings next week?

Double Reunion & Happy New Year!

I am very lucky that I still get to have reunion dinner with my parents every year, and still make it with my in-laws. My parents usually start early whereas my in-law has a big clan and it usually takes awhile to start and to finish. So, each year I will steal the opportunity to have double reunion, start with an early dinner with my parents and then adjourn to my in-laws.

As usual, lots of food, lots of chit chatting, and the kids had fun time of their own. My father bought them a whole big box of "pop pop", I think there was 50boxes inside and 4 kids finished it all in 1 night. They were also very creative in playing it, not just throw and popped it but they had a strategy. The boys built a "castle" with the empty boxes and they fight to hit the castle to blow it down. My girl, at 5+ years old was not very far behind the game. She was quite a "samseng" as well, catch her in action here...

My mother is usually nowhere to be seen. It is rather difficult to have her to sit down, she is always too busy with the cooking and serving. My dad will be joining the kids, monitoring them as they play. In the end it was the 3 of us and our spouse sitting by the dinning table and making noises as we chit chat, joke and sharing funny moments (hehe).

I had no picture taken at the in-law house (oops), usually there were too many "photographers" and too many cameras...so I just keep my and concentrate eating (haha).

After the 2nd round of reunion dinner, the adults at my in-laws usually gathered and play card games while the kids were warming up and waiting for the fireworks moment. We stayed there until almost midnight and get back to my house and get ready for this...

We moved Simba to the next junction before the clock hits 12.



and then it was action! Sorry, bad angle picture because I was scared myself (haha)

So that was it! Officially welcomed the year of Rabbit!

Eve of The Eve

The Lee clan actually celebrated the eve of the eve this year and we headed for a festival feast at the Spice Market Cafe Rasa Sayang, catching the buy 1 get 1 free deal.

As usual Charlotte had lots and lots of fun with her cousin brothers around, especially Abraham...or should I say she is close to anyone who has iPhone, iPad, Wii, PS and etc. See how she monopolized the iPad from her cousin brother...

Meal time was long, or intentionally long. We spent a lot of time chit chatting and enjoying the reunion. My brothers, Pat and myself have a lot in common to talk about, like career, family, investment, hobby and my parents are usually listening, observing and laughing at some of our crazy moments. 

Overall, we had a great time at the early reunion and it is always a must to capture a family photo...I was at 32 weeks!



年年有鱼(余)!

It's the year of Rabbit and Gong Xi Fa Chai everyone!! This year I didn't bake any of the Chinese New Year cookies because physically I just couldn't cope with the chores. However, I still did something, something easy but interesting --- Jelly. I bought several fish molds and with simple coloring I made Japenese Koi Fish Jelly, symbolizing 年年有余. My initial attempt only yielded half of the portion. The control of the coloring wasn't good, and the mold was a little too difficult to handle. But the result was very nice. So I decided to do it again, and I had 100% yield the 3rd time, at last. I gave this auspicious symbolic jelly away to my parents, brothers and in-laws. They all loved it!

I also had several demand of cakes that I used to bake, like the Orange Cranberry Buttercake and Cheesecake. I had my brother to buy back a big pack of dried Cranberries from the States and it was just in time for CNY baking. The biggest hit this year was a new Cheesecake recipe that I found. I tried it a couple of weeks before CNY, and I baked it for my parents on new year's eve and then I baked it again for another gathering with my in-law. It has great smooth and silky texture, not too sweet, not too heavy. I am definitely adding this to my recipe collection!

Wrapping Up 2010!

I was partly very busy with work, plus the pregnancy progressing into the third trimester and having to have a frequently traveled husband I missed updating my favourite celebration of the year, Christmas!!! I looked back my SD card for photos took, unfortunately I didn't have many as well *sob*. I guess I will just do a brief wrap up for 2010...

A week after my babymoon to KL, we actually had another trip to Melaka. It was a planned to trip with the Chan clan. There was a lot of walking, eating, talking and driving. A short trip, but I think everyone had fun, especially Charlotte.

Then it was Christmas celebration. I can't believe it that I didn't take any picture of Charlotte in her beautiful dress that Pat bought her for Christmas eve! I have no picture to show what so ever took place during Christmas, not even a family photo under the Christmas tree. How lazy was I? Or I should blame it to the pregnancy *hehe*?

Anyway, we attended Christmas eve service at the church with my family and spent the entire Christmas day with in-laws. We had Christmas dinner at one of Pat's sister's house and Pat assigned me a real good challenge - roast turkey! I made it, with Pat's help of course. The bird that we bought was about 5kg in size and I couldn't manage that weight myself. It turned out to be quite a success. But just when I thought it was over, Pat threw another idea after the Christmas dinner with the turkey left over. He suggested to have another lunch the next day and asked for "kiam chai boey" with the turkey left over. So I woke up early the next day, rushed to the market and get the ingredient and rushed back to cook for lunch. I have to tell you that the "kiam chai boey" was the best I did so far (thanks to the turkey) and it was probably the most expensive chai boey ever *ha*. Unfortunately, no picture on the turkey and also the "kiam chai boey"...

Some random pictures in Dec 2010...

loved the grand piano that cousin Rachel has! 

picture with cousin Christopher at Melaka

The war ship at Melaka

Playing PS III - cousin Samantha helping her

Pressies under the tree - the new scooter from daddy is Charlotte's favorite!

 

The lady bug backpack from KimKim

I think my next post will be CNY. Hopefully I will have a better story to tell and more pictures to share.

My Babymoon

It was recommended that it is now time to do a little getaway before the baby comes - people call it "babymoon". So we did, but it was not just Pat and I. For those who knows me, I never left Charlotte behind. We spent the last weekend and the public holiday this week at KL and Cameron Highlands, again.

It is a very nice timing to visit most of the malls this time around, with all the fancy and beautiful Christmas decorations. In fact, we went to KL almost every year around the same time. I didn't take any pictures at KL as I was too tired and too lazy to carry around a huge camera bag. Kinda regretted now :(

We did most of the Christmas shopping and food exploring in KL, on top of that we also took Charlotte to watch the Rapunzel at Cathay Cineplex at e@Curve! It was the first time I bought a 3D movie for Charlotte. She was terrified when we went to the 4D theater at Hong Kong Disneyland in 2008. I was hesitated when deciding 3D or 2D ticket but Pat assured me that Charlotte is ready now, plus it is not 4D like the one we experienced in Disneyland. It turned out to be quite alright, Charlotte enjoyed the movie and the 3D experience. In fact, we were the one feeling uncomfortable wearing the 3D glasses for so long.

On the 3rd day, we left KL and headed to Cameron Highlands. We made plan and met my parents at the foothill. I enjoyed going to Cameron, I like the cooling weather, the greens and the slow and relaxing pace up there. Our last trip to Cameron was in Feb/Mar this year, together with Charlotte's friend, Chloe. The only thing Charlotte remembered was she went with Chloe, and they went strawberry picking. The weather was very nice and cooling, and we were lucky that it wasn't raining! Spent a very nice cool evening having a traditional charcoal steamboat dinner. My grandfather used to use this type of steamboat every Chinese New Year when he was around. It reminded me so much of him and also the reunion dinner when I was a young kid.

Of course the strawberry picking...

and the vegetable farm...

and the tea plantation...

It was a short trip, in fact too short for Cameron Highlands. Will probably plan another trip before the little trouble maker arrives...

In My Head

I have been much of a couch potato at home lately as my belly gets bigger. I rest on my recliner while teaching Charlotte homework, watching movie, reading newspaper, reading emails...not very good pregnancy exercise, I know.

One evening, I was watching TV on my recliner, Charlotte started to sing "mi mi mi, mi mi mi, mi so do re mi..." (Jingle Bells) and I was surprised how did she come out with that. She actually sang it correctly, the whole song. So I told her to go to the piano and play it out. I told her to go ahead as I can hear if she plays wrongly and I continued to glue myself on the recliner. I was expecting a boring right hand play, but she showed me this...

It was still boring, but I was very pleased! She is just starting JMC book 2 and she could improvise this!

Pat had told me to teach her "jingle bells" once after the Saturday lesson but I have been procastnating it. I was surprise to hear it came from Charlotte that night. Further more she was playing with her left hand too. So went next to her when she played it again. I asked her if her teacher had taught her this but she said no, she said "I had it in my head!" 

What's In The Mail?

I came home from work last Monday and saw a sweet pink color envolope, with very nice handwritting addressing to Charlotte Chan. I flipped to the back of the envolope trying to find who that was but it wasn't written. So I guess it must be a nice surprise to Charlotte. 

I went to pick her up from school and showed her her first (real) letter that came in the mailbox today. She eagerly tearing the envolope apart (first timer, don't know how to open an envolope) and it side it was a beautiful birthday card!   

It was a birthday card from Auntie Cheah Wei and her daughter Yan. I had invited them for the party but unfortunately Auntie Cheah Wei was travelling that time.

The card was a very authentic idea, every single words was hand written by Yan and that includes the address on the envelope (very nice job) and there is also a McD voucher. What a wonderful idea, thanks CW and Yan!!!

Charlotte's 5th Birthday Party

We celebrated all Charlotte's previous birthdays with just close family members. This year Charlotte started to request to invite her friends and she started counting down many months back. Pat and I agreed that we will organize a birthday party for her since she has established her own circle of friends now.

We made this party all by ourselves, invitation, decorations, cooking, kids activity and etc. Both Pat and I took a day off and started the preparation since 8.30am. We first went to the market and get all the fresh ingredient and my busy kitchen only got settled down shortly before 6.00pm, just right before the guests arrival.

Charlotte came back from school and her first reaction was "wah!!" and she exclaimed "Thank you mommy and daddy!" as she noticed all the decoration we had put up.

She especially excited with the children's table setting, she chose the party hat herself and I think it was a perfect choice!

In my kitchen, I have:
1. Hokkien mee (typical Penang prawn noodle)
2. Seafood Marinara
3. Roast quarter chicken
4. Mash potatos
5. Tang yuen (glutinous rice ball in pandan and ginger soup)
6. Cranberries orange cupcakes
7. Horlicks doggie cookies
8. Ice cream
9. Party give aways

From other kitchen supply:
1. Birthday cake
2. Mini fruit tarts
3. Sweet tapioca kuih

Too bad I didn't manage to take the pictrures of those food that I prepared, but that's not the highlight of the party. I think the highlight of the party was the cupcake decoration activity.

I baked the cranberries cupcakes, and prepared some colorful butter cream, fondant cutouts and sprinklers for the kids to experience cake decoration, and they can bring back their own creation :) I had a lot of help from all the mommies to make that session successful...

And the results...

I prepared boxes for the kids to bring home to share with their love ones. I think that was a lot of fun!

This year, the birthday song was sang very loudly and very warmly, and there was a lot of happy smiles we noticed. The birthday girl was definitely thrilled to have her friends around her.

The one thing she kept pestering was to present tea to us. I had wanted her to do that after the party but I think she wanted to show to everyone this special practise that her school had taught her. So we gave in and this was how she did it, in front of every guest...that was priceless!

Another priceless showoff - All these happy faces!

At night Pat asked Charlotte if she was happy and enjoyed the party, her response?

"Yes, and when is the next party?"  *mommy fainted*

A Big thank you to all for attending the party, and all the best wishes from friends and relatives!

A Letter To Baby

Charlotte wrote a letter to baby last week, I can't believe that baby's 1st letter was from her sister...

I love mommy because I like mommy. I oso love you baby so I like you baby. I love baby when baby come out. I will take care, I will not fight with baby. Baby is my friend, I love you baby. This is for you baby.
I am Charlotte. I oso your friend.

She's Such An Angel

I am very blessed to have Charlotte, she's such a sweet, understanding and sensitive girl even at this age. As I am marching in further at 2nd trimester, many of the early stage pregnancy sicknesses are gone but some new symptoms have surface too. When I was suffering from morning sickness, I tried to avoid letting Charlotte see or knows about it. I remembered once it hit me really badly and when I came out from the bathroom, Charlotte was crying and said "I don't want mommy to sick, I love you mommy!". It must be hard for her because I always seem strong to her and she probably felt insecure when I fall sick. It took her awhile to overcome and understand that I was ok after all.

Lately, I have been suffering from backache and I woke up with severe but sudden muscle ache on my left arm the night before. The pain was unbearable, but there was nothing I could do as Pat was not around and it was already midnight and I couldn't get help anywhere. I waited until morning came, get Charlotte ready, dropped her off to school, went to office for an important meeting and by the time I get myself out to hospital was almost 10.30am. I put on the cream subscribed by my Gyne all day when I was in office but it did not relief me much. I couldn't bother much at work because of my workload but when I got home, I felt like my arm was falling off my body. It was almost 9.30pm when I finally decided to visit to a nearby pharmacy and ask for help. I knew this pharmacist and he was very helpful for my last few visits to the store. He recommended my a patch and also a hot water bag. I immediately the patch on when I got home and Charlotte was watching me. She was again breaking down in tears "I don't want you to sick mommy!" while lightly pat on my arm. No matter how I assured her that I will be fine and the pain will all go away soon I couldn't stop her from crying so sadly. She was still sobbing when we went to bed. She did her bedtime prayer and this was what she said:

Jesus, I love my mommy and daddy, so please ask my baby to be good and don't make my mommy sick. Because she is so pain and I don't want my mommy to (feel) pain because I love her. Please ask my daddy to come home tomorrow so (that) he can help my mommy and my mommy not pain anymore. Jesus hear my prayer, Amen.

I was so touched hearing this. This is how sincere a kid can be, and I am glad that she knows to turn to God and ask for help. That night I hugged her to sleep and deep down I also pray to God to relieve my pain and let me have a good night sleep as I have a heavy responsibility at work and at home. I had a hot water bag on and I slept like baby in no time.

I am all recovered in the morning! Hallelujah!!

妈妈的味道

Charlotte likes to snuggle up with me whenever possible. It is very funny that even we are sitting on a 3 seater couch, two of us usually only occupied 1 seat. I felt suffocated when I needed a space of my own, especially when I had a long day at work, or not feeling too well. But most of the time we both enjoy the cuddling and being close to each other.

One night she was sleeping very close to me and held my hand. She asked: "mommy why you always smell so good?". I thought it was a very funny question, so I gave a simple answer: "because I just had a shower" and brushed it off.

This morning she came to me and put a little handkerchief of her on my face before we left home. I didn't know what she was doing but I let her. Later I overheard the conversation of her and my mother: "外婆, you smell" and hand out the handkerchief, and she continued: "妈妈的味道, 很香! 我要带去学校"

Little Kids, Big Heart

Last year Charlotte's school organized a "charity restaurant" which the children cooked and served lunch for parents and friends. They did the same thing this year and the theme was to love the earth, "大手小手爱地球" and the money collected will be donated as the Pakistan flood aid.

This event lasted for 3 days, each day for the respective grade (4yrs old, 5yrs old and 6 yrs old) to have a chance to be a waiter/waitress to serve while be in the kitchen as little chef for the other 2 days. Last year didn't know what to expect I attended the event myself. I felt it was very meaningful after the event and hence I invited both side of Charlotte's grandparents this year to join me, except daddy as daddy is away in Europe.

Before the arrival of guests, the kids line up in front of the porch awaiting for their love ones. They were all very excited and very well prepared (they had a week of intensive training).

The event started with an introduction by a 6 years old, sharing the Pakistan flood tragedy and how much pollution human being had created to the earth. It was a very simple narrative but yet very real and touching. I had a hard time controlling my tears from dropping down. Maybe preggers are more emotional anyway...

It was then followed by a song presentation.

We were then being seated at the "restaurant" and the kids started their role and showed us what they have learn from the past week.

First, it was a cold towel presentation.

Then it was order taking and making recommendation. (Charlotte did a good job in recommending, in fact, we didn't have enough and went back for the 2nd round the next day!)

Preparing the table...

Start serving... 

I went back the next day noon knowing that it will be Charlotte's turn to be in the kitchen as chef and took some pictures. I am really impressed once again by the commitment, passion, patience, love and care of the Tzu Chi organization and all the teachers and helpers at the school to train and manage the little one in the kitchen. I know I don't have the patience when Charlotte asked to help out in my kitchen. To me, she will only make the matter worse, make my kitchen dirtier, take longer time to complete what I want to complete and etc. I really respect the dedications that all the school personnel and volunteers had shown.

The school prepared smaller and lower desks and individual stove for the little chef to cook. The "restaurant" has Western, Chinese and Japanese menus, hence their workstations were divided into the respective theme and the little chef were positioned at their respective station and get busy!

The kids were well taught, aside from having fun they too fully understand the message that they want to send through this event. We were told to do 5 simple things in life to help save the earth:
1. 省电 (don't waste electricity)
2, 省水 (don't waste water)
3. 吃素 (be a vegetarian, don't slaughter)
4. 少用交通工具 (cut down usage on transportation, walk if possible)
5. 多用环保餐具 (use recyclable container)
 
Although this school is not as acedemically advance compared to most of the kindergarten in town, we appreciate that our children are properly taught with the right value in life. We believe this will bring them a long way.

 

Daddy's Girl

What can be better than spending a nice sunny morning in a pool, goofing around?

I see obvious resemblance in this picture

 

Pat likes to carry her the baby way, not just in the water you know?