Aiks! What the heck happened to my cake?
This is my first try in baking Pandan Chiffon Cake. It was rising so perfectly when it was done. When I inverted the pan on the rack to cool, it crumbled as if out of air within 10 mins! I whisked the egg whites real stiff with the cream of tartar but my folding wasn’t that great I guess. Sigh. The recipe calls for Ovalette (a stabilizer for the egg whites) which is optional BUT you can’t find it here in Canada or the US. It’s widely available in Asia, even in the smallest of smallest grocery store. I am going to drive by Fraser and Main to check out the Fillipino or Vietnamese stores there to see if one does carry it.
That said, the cake was delicious! The texture is slightly dense from the normal pandan cake which is perfect for me. I’ve always find the normal pandan cake is a bit too dry although the texture is perfect with these tiny holes with the air trapped in the batter. My kids say it’s great and ate a few extra slices. So, I guess it’s a success — in a way, hahahah.
Last night, I came across a blog, Rasa Malaysia by a Malaysian living in the US and she has a recipe called Malaysian Turmeric and Honey Wings.
Recipe: Malaysian Turmeric and Honey Wings
Ingredients:
1 lb chicken wings (middle section)
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/8 teaspoon chili powder
2 inches ginger (skin peeled)
Prepare the ginger by pounding with a mortar and pestle or grinding with small food processor. Extract the juice by squeezing with your hand and discard the ginger.
Marinate the chicken wings with the ginger juice and all the seasonings above for 1-2hours. Grill or bake them in oven (at 375 degree F) for 20-25 minutes until cooked or golden brown.
Simple enough right? So, I bought 2lbs of chicken wings and marinate them overnight. Baked them for dinner tonight and guess what? It’s delicious! I can taste the turmeric with a splash of ginger. Too bad my kids can’t eat too spicy or I would have added more chilli sauce in in the marinade. You also know that it’s a success when your daughter gives you the thumbs up after her first bite into the wing! 
Best pop-up alphabet book!!
Coming out in Oct 2008. Check it out.
What a scare!!
I HATE, HATE updating wordpress. It scares the bejeezus out of me. More so now that in some file, I have to reroute my URL to my blog directory. To do that I have to type in codes which really, really scares me silly. Like just 5 mins ago, this whole blog didn’t come out. There were lines of warning of this and that. I don’t want to think about it now. Thank god that is over with.
It’s now mid-July and it’s all a blur to me. At times, it doesn’t seem that fast but a week just passed you by and then another week.Here’s a peek at my July calendar.
There’s some things happening everyday and on some days, several activities are scheduled each day. The only blank dates are weekend. My previous “gulp-for-air” days. Some days are just so good and enjoyable. Some days are just made of “mommy, he hit me. mommy, she wouldn’t give it to me.” On those days, I wish I could hide and maybe cry a few tears of frustration. I keep telling myself to understand the situation with the eyes and mind of a 4 year old or a 7 year old because things that is stupid to adults are actually very important to the kids. I am learning.
Being tired, I have forgotten to schedule my monthly photography session with my kids. I shot more videos of them because I was looking back at their pictures and realized there wasn’t enough videos of my kids growing up. Right now, I only have my small point & shoot to do it. I am looking to get a camcorder. Our 8 year old brick-like Sony camcorder doesn’t function like it used to be. Besides, it’s such a pain to carry it. That said, I shoved my camera at my kids this morning, trying to capture their activity.
*My son folding triangles. He didn’t have anything in mind on what to fold.
*My daughter peeking from behind the chair… and on tiptoes. Still love her piggies.
*Our dog, sitting on my.. oops his Ikea chair. He went dominant on another dog at the park this afternoon, chasing a dog which was bigger than he is. I’ve never seen him do that ever in the 9 years I have him. Usually, it’s the other way round where some big dogs do it to him. I wasn’t too worried because I’ve seen dogs going at it before but the owner of the bigger dog was a young woman who obviously was in distress seeing her dog being chased like that. I had to apologize to her and her dog gave me tons of kisses.
* The kids together.
*Individually
Been busy
Boy, I am glad I am not booking this month because it has been crazy so far. I am fulfilling orders from two clients and both are HUGE orders. Thank you. My latest client just has her baby girl earlier this week. Congratulations to S&P in Surrey.
I’ve been crazy getting my son to his art class all this week and trying to get my daughter busy while waiting for big brother. Next week, both kids are going for their ice-skating lessons (yes, you read right. Ice-skating!) in the mornings and swim lessons in the afternoon. I guess I am trying to tire them out and in the process, I am tired too. This weekend, I have to get my e-client sites ready for my clients whose sessions are scheduled in August. Make an appointment to meet up with my September’s client. Then, more kids activities. Hubby will be away in Seoul again. Sigh. 
I’ve also borrowed a lot of books to read but haven’t really find the 30 mins before bedtime to do so.
Among all these, I managed to get a Wii-Fit — finally! It’s a bundle sale from The Source online and I picked it up from the store this afternoon. I’ve clocked over an hour on it. Since I don’t have the time to go for my fitness class this summer, Wii-Fit will have to help me out. So far, it’s pretty fun. I wish they have a more complicated steps game.
I promise I will get some pictures up in my next posting. At least, you didn’t get “cupcakes-talk” in this posting, haha.
Still reeling from George Michael’s concert
Wow, what a great yester-night. I dragged hubby with me to the concert. Supposed to start at 8pm prompt but it only started at 8:40pm. George explained that he was detained at Customs for an hour. I thought I would be bored out of my skull after I’ve looked at the playlist that he has done thus far in the US leg. I only know the older songs but when this Greek God came out and the two mini screens filled up with his image, all you could was SCREAM!!!!!
I am not going to talk about the stage, the songs. Google and you can find tons of pictures, video in Youtube (this particular guy has the best spot at the front at the San Jose concert). There were great reviews in Georgia Straight, Global, CBC about the concert. Yes, it was fab. The man can still sing although he can’t really hit the higher notes in some of the songs BUT he can still sing. It was so amazing to be part of an over 10,000 people gathering (it was nearly sold out) having fun singing along to Everything She Wants, Faith or even Careless Whisper. And we were good and LOUD! A surprising gift to Vancouver was that George sang “Fantasy” live for the first time before the Freedom 90 reprise.
It has been a while since I’ve been to a concert this huge. I had FUN!
One done, three more to go. Next in September, Janet Jackson.
Another baby boy!
Ms L’s baby boy arrived on June 13 at a whooping 9.9lbs. His name is Oliver (aww!). Mom had complications after labour and had to stay at the hospital but she’s back home. Congrats to you again.
Lissalo.com 2008 Babies – Boys vs Girls: 4:1
Don Hong-Oai: simply jaw-dropping poetic work
I just discovered Dong Hong-Oai’s work. He was born in China but then moved to Vietnam after the death of his parents. He apprenticed for a photography studio for 10 years. When the war broke out between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the People’s Republic of China in 1979, he was forced to fled to San Francisco. There, he learned the style of photography based on the long tradition of landscape imagery in Chinese art fromLong Chin-San. His work was recognized when he was 60. He died in 2004.
Here are some of my favourite of his work. These are photographs, NOT Paintings.
My daughter is crazy! :)
In a good way! Last night, she amused herself immensely by trying different ways to towel herself after shower.
YAY!!! We paid off our car.
5 years and it’s a done deal. The bad news is our car is only worth one-fifth of what we paid for. GAH!
My new favourite TV show – Jon & Kate Plus 8
I am writing about other stuff because I have like 500 pictures to look at and I need lots of coffee to do it. I am so procrasinating. Maybe it’s because I am on a frantic search for a Wii Fit to play with or asking questions like, “Why does our weather suck so much in June?” Anyway, I found a show I like to watch on TLC. It’s Jon & Kate Plus 8″. I have seen the title on the guide for a long time but I’ve never bothered to watch it until a couple of days ago. For those of you who don’t know, it’s a reality show about this couple with 8 kids – 2 older twins girls and 6 younger sextuplets. Google it and you can read in many sites about them. I am not sure what the draw is but I laugh out loud each time I see their kids hitting each other, crying and screaming. I think it’s because I am glad it’s their kids who are doing it. The crazy question is why am I watching something I am experiencing, at least less 6 kids? I think it’s because I love the interaction between Jon and Kate. I can relate with all the yelling and jabs at each other and frustration. My kids love the show too and they keep watching the reruns. They too can relate with all the hitting, crying and “I didn’t do it”.
It’s on TLC every day so check your tv guide for the times.
Deliciously creative!
Last November or December when I was back in Malaysia, I met up with my school friend Elicia whom I haven’t met for more than 10 years! She has four kids (3 boys and a little princess) and she told me she does part-time catering. Mostly cakes or cupcakes. I didn’t think much of it.
Yesterday, she signed up with Facebook and found me there. I checked on her blog (not updated since April though) and the pictures of her cakes and cupcakes and holy smokes, they are smoking!! Look at the details of the topping etc. I love how she incorporate a big picture (that is 16 cupcakes in a box) instead of one similar design.
My old friend, Elicia.
She did these cupcakes for her daughter’s birthday.
This must be my favourite of her creation.
See the details of the cupcakes of the three birthday girls.
You can check out more pictures from her flickr set. If you are in Kuala Lumpur and would love to order these delicious creative cakes, tell Elicia I sent you. Her phone number is listed in her flickr page.
Wii are family
UPDATE: Ms A has a baby boy last weekend after a long labour. Mom was pretty wiped out this morning when I saw her. Congrats, Ms A. So, the score now is Boy-3; Girl-0. Still waiting to hear from Katie if her baby girl is here yet.
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The other day while out at Metrotown I chanced upon the Wii Fit demo at the Grand Court. I’ve only played bowling once and it was nice. I do not know why it’s so popular and consoles and whatever are sold out all the time. I checked out Wii Fit, saw the demo on hula hoop and a few more. One of them got me to try out soccer heading. I did and whoa! It was very interesting!! Interests peaked I went to check out what games are available and hey, they have “Dancing with the Stars”. Cool!!!
Anyway, we went to lunch at Wok Box at Queensborough. It has the same concept as Nando’s and it was situated next door to one. It boasts of having food from Asia. I tried the Dan Dan (3 spicy level), hubby tried teriyaki udon, kids had the teriyaki rice and deep fried chicken with plum sauce. It’s NOT cheap but we are so willing to try out new places. I will give Wok Box one star for nice decor and that’s it. The DanDan is spicy enough but the sauce is so thick that it just stays in your throat! Urgh! All four dishes were salty! I can’t believe we paid $5 for just a small bowl of rice with fried chicken fritters. No veggies whatsover.
Later, we hopped into Wal-mart and bought the Wii Console. Yes, wii are finally a family. The kids love bowling. I loved the tennis game. I can’t wait to try some dancing games and grabbing the Wii Fit when it’s available.
YVR thumb down!
I was at the airport Friday morning waiting for my hubby to arrive from Seoul. What have happened to this airport, I don’t know. At the arrival hall, they are renovating with steel pillars holding up the upper portion. That’s ok because we want to get ready for the 2010 hoo-ha.
What isn’t ok:-
One:
The arrival/departure screens at the front of the arrival hall were showing last night’s schedule!! There was even a windows pop-up which says something about rebooting so obviously it does. Everyone who came in (including me) immediately stopped to check the times and it took us some time to figure (I blame the 24 hour time option) out that those times weren’t updated. There was NO notice anywhere telling anyone to check elsewhere. I saw several people telling this lady at the Info booth about it and all she did was redirect everyone to the screens at the food court (where Tim Hortons is). She didn’t volunteer to tell people looking at the screens that. She just waited for anyone to ask her. It was the same thing upstairs, near the escalators.
Two:
The women’s washroom downstairs is horribly “out of order”. This (tap) is out of order. That (hand dryer) is out of order. There is rust all over one of the taps.
What the HECK has happened to YVR facilities? Where did all the money from the airport expansion fees or whatever they collected GO to?
Sigh….
Updates: The storks have arrived…
Both Ms. M and Ms. S have boys. Same week too!! Didn’t ask if they came on the same day. Wouldn’t that be neat?
YES!!!
I got my tickets to Madonna’s concert in October!!! Whooo-hoooooooo!!!!
I bet there were thousands of people accessing ticketmaster when it opened at 10am. I’ve never waited this long for it to search for a best available. Anyway, I think Ticketmaster has enough money to upgrade their software to one that actually shows exactly where your seats are instead of just Section 40, Upper Level, Seat 11. I mean, what can you decipher from that generic floor plan?
I am doing my happy dance!!
UPDATE: Just read that over 60,000 tickets were gobbled up within 10 mins. This gig will some party!!
Don’t panic! Don’t panic!!
I just found out that New Kids On the Block is going on tour this year!! Aaargh!!!!!! Vancouver is in the line-up for Nov 21. OMG! I am so stoked!!!! Tickets on sale in two weeks.
Why are all my teenage groups coming out of the woodwork this year? Ticketmaster is squeezing my purse dry!!
Here they are performing at the Today Show last week. They can still dance, hooray!!
I am pooped!!!
One: Never schedule two sessions in one day especially if it’s within 2 hours of each session and involves lots of driving.
Two: Never do two fitness classes (especially one is intense cardio x-training) back to back the next day.
Moral of lesson learned: I am not Superwoman!
Another tooth…
another trip to earth by the Tooth Fairy.
I am going back to the post-processing salt mine. I had two maternity sessions last week and I am sure everyone (including me!) is anxious on how the pictures are turning out. Sneak peeks soon.
My current favourite things:-
* Starbucks Java Chip Frapp! My usual is the Peppermint Mocha.
* my fitness class with my instructor Syd! (Sometimes she seems to be a sadist but I truly love her for pushing us through all that minutes that seem like hours!)
* my daughter saying “Cool” to nearly everything nowadays!
Nice words…
from J, the mom of the little boy I photographed. Scroll down to see more the cutie pie’s pictures. She said, “The family just loved the pictures of R outside. The colours are just wonderful and I loved how you caught so many of his expressions. Thanks for making Rylan and I feel so comfortable with the whole experience.”
Thank you for choosing me. Now, I want to do a happy dance.
Fatigue continues…
this time, it’s physical exertion. I don’t know why I bother torturing myself three times a week doing intense cardio. Doing a variety of sit-ups are the worst. After the class, I just feel like running out and grab any food that has the most carb, sugar and caffeine in it. LOL!!
It’s one of those days…
No, not those days. It’s one of those days when you wished you had dogs instead of children. Those kind of days.
But having this kind of conversation with your daughter seemed to worth it all.
Daughter mentioned that she was learning the body anatomy at school. She asked me to quiz her.
Me: What’s this? (pointing to ankle)
She: Ankle!
Me: This? (pointing to chest)
She: Chest!
Me: This? (pointing to head)
She: Head
Me: What about this? (pointing to forehead)
She: Fever!!!
Friday night….
it’s snowing! Or at least wet snow when I was out walking the dog 1.5 hours ago. Some are stuck to the cars. Hopefully, they don’t stick on the roads.
Ouch, that hurts…
my right wrist hurt like crazy. I think I strained it using the mouse post processing pics. Now, it’s too painful to hold anything.
