The Princess and The Cupcake

She is a 3.5-year old heiress to the throne. 

I am so proud to present, the first creation of our little princess. Cinnamon cupcake with strawberry icing.

We bought the cupcake maker toys, with real cupcake ingredients. She did everything on her own. Or..almost everything. Well, mommy helped out a bit. But it's just for adult things, such as putting the cake into the microwave oven for 30 seconds (yes, 30 seconds in microwave oven and the cake rose beautifully, such magic cake does exists). 

She was so proud of the cupcake, she showed it off to her brother and grandparents.

The brother accidentally hit on the cupcake, and the side of the cake chipped off slightly. Our girl almost cried when she showed me how her brother ruined the cupcake.

But, with Daddy's skillful photography, we could not  see the ruined side of the cupcake, could we? So, she smiled again!

 

Be warned, we still have enough ingredients for 3 more cupcakes! So, stay tuned for more attempts on cupcake making from the princess.

All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth

My Big N lost his first two lower teeth last month! He's only 5.5 years old! 

Awwwwww.....

Bonding Time

What do mother and daughter do together for bonding time?

They come up with fondant doll..

At least, it's a step forward from playdough.

Fun!!!

Cakes Round-up - A Confession

I love baking, and the maids who have worked for me are the living testimony of my hobby. The previous one who worked for me put on 10 kg within 6 months. The current one is still struggling with her weight gain, one look and a person can tell that I feed her well.

Almost every week, I will find a new project challenge, or something just to satisfy my craving for sweet things. I am more than aware of the effect of glycation on skin, being a vain person that I am. And also the high risk of developing diabetes. But, I just can't help it, I need something to work on almost at the weekly basis. Only to regret it afterwards.

Sin is an act of regrettable fault or offense.

Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. The round up of my sins in chronological order:

German Cheesecake

From 50 Resep Istimewa a la Nila Chandra cookbook. Oma Nila Chandra is a dear friend of my grandmother, they were neighbors for years. Her grandchildren were my childhood friends. My mother and aunties were trained under her cooking class. She was the baking queen in her time. 

This cake was quite surprisingly, a clever rendition of the real German Cheesecake. Using cream cheese, instead of the curd. It was sponge cakes with layer of creamy cheesecake, with bits of raisins. Big thumbs up from everyone in the family, including my daughter.

The recipe, however, was very inaccurate. A lot of errors found in the recipe that I found through trial and error made me wonder if the recipe has been tested prior to publishing. But then again, coming from old school, I wonder if they are really sincere about sharing the recipe to outside world.

Carrot Cake

One of my favorite cakes. Something that I never get tired of baking over and over again. This version is taken from All-recipes.  I am still searching for my perfect carrot cakes.

Anyone has recipe to share?

Avocado Tiramisu

I baked this cake for our anniversary. I found out that the challenge for this cake is to find the perfect avocado. I imported the avocado all the way from Jakarta, only to throw more than 2 kg of them into the bin as they were unripe and bitter.

I have not had much luck with my Tiramisu attempt. And this one was no different. 

It was average, but not special. But then again, I need to get the perfect avocado before I can come up with the perfect Avocado Tiramisu. I did not use enough avocado in this cake.

Recipe adapted from different sources, inspired by Ny Liem's Favorite Modern Cake's Avocado Tiramisu.

Outrageous Chocolate Cookies

For years, I thought I was the odd one out, because I loooove chewy and soft cookies. But all the cookies that I found were all crispy. That's why I fell madly in love with Mrs. Field cookies. Chewy, soft in the middle, with the right amount of chocolate chunks.

It was only years later, I find out that I am perfectly normal, that there are people in the world who love soft and chewy cookies as much as I do.

Strangely enough, other than one failed attempt of coming up with the chewy cookies, I did not bother to come up with the cookies. Until I saw this one.

This one is from Martha Stewart. And I really love it. Very intense chocolate taste, mixed with chunks of bittersweet chocolate in a chewy fudgy cookies. Recipe can be found here.

Chocolate Cheesecake

This no-bake version, is very simple to do. Y said that he gave it 7.5/10 rating, which, according to him was very high rating, as he had very high standard on my cakes.

Tini, my domestic helper, said...nice..nice! 

I say, this is definitely in my baking list. Something that I will redo again, given the low level of difficulty. 

Recipe from Yasaboga.

I will go on Soutbeach Diet for my penance! No cakes or sweet things for the next 3 months.

The Seventh Year

"I come from the Fire Princess, and she wants to marry the Water King's son, and they're afraid of touching each other, lest he should dry up, or she be put out. So, please, they want to know what to do"

"Oh, the stupidity of people! And all this time, they are afraid of doing the very thing they ought to do. Of course it's impossible for them to marry till he is dried up and she is put out. What puts out fire but water? What dries up water but fire?"

Through The Fire

Mary Morgan

For 7 years they have been married. All in all, they have been together for more than 10 years. They have spent one third of their lives with each other. Oh, my!

So, the Fire Princess and the Water Prince, the two opposites attract, they have been together since the day they first met.

Although sometimes, the fire refuses to be put out and the water does not want to be dried up! But, they are trying their best to find that equilibrium.

He's still not extravagant with words of endearment, just like she's still nagging him non stop about being more romantic in words and action.

He thinks that she's as childish as their 5-year old boy. And she thinks that he acts like he is the younger one in the relationship (think kimi wa petto).

But they still enjoy each other's company, talking to each other about everything and nothing, whenever they can find the time.

Or sneak in a bit of romance here and there, something that reminds them about their love existence.

And with two little ones between them, their love strengthen as time goes by.

(And what is love but to compromise?)

Or so they think, until their 8th anniversary!

Kuming, The City of Eternal Spring

A view from my hotel window

One of the perks (or curse, depending on how people look at it) of business travel is the chance to see other parts of the world. Of course, the traveller can forget about visiting the places of interests in that particular city. Any free time would be spent reviewing the presentation--over and over again, memorizing the statistics, doing the lengthy and tedious presentation dry-run. And after the presentation was done and the traveller thought that she could have sometime to take a look at the city, the organizer surprised her by asking her to do another presentation that she's unaware of. And there went another cycle of preparation for her.

Let me introduce you to Kunming, City of Eternal Spring. Kuming is the capital of Yunnan province, located in the southwestern part of China. I was there for 5 days for business purpose, with no intent on extending my stay for the touristy purpose of visiting the places of interest or the more famous town in Yunnan, Dali and Lijiang.

For the reasons I mentioned above, I did not really get the chance to see the city. And I refused to bring my digicam with me, as it will only add more burden on my overstrained-with-laptop shoulders. So, I've got to rely on my mobile phone to capture the moment of interests.

Considering that this is supposedly a culinary and miscellaneous blog, not a travel blog, let me tell you something about the food in Kunming:

"Kunming is a mushroom lovers heaven".

The city's climate fosters the growth of literally hundreds of species of mushroom which are consequently a predominant feature of many dishes. And being the mushroom lover that I am, I was beyond excited to be introduced to the carnivore's worst nightmare: mushroom hotpot.

Mushroom Hotpot

Larvae was also in the menu, for Fear Factor training

The guys that I went out with for this dinner were devastated with the fact that the chicken drumstick we ordered turned out to be the chicken drumstick mushroom. It's amazing how many varieties of mushroom that I've never got to know in my whole life. We only ordered less than 15 kinds, while the restaurant actually served more than 100 species of mushroom.

The mushroom hotpot turned out to be very tasty, with the soup that oozed the sweetness derived from the mushrooms mixed with the chicken broth. It was especially nice to be eaten piping hot that it would cause serious damage on the larynx, tongue, and lips, on a chilly autumn night. I will come back to this city just for the mushroom hotpot itself.

The restaurants also has some larvae in the menu, quite interestingly, the guys chickened out from ordering, while the ladies wanted to try some. Talk about Girl Power!!!

Another dish worth mentioning is the famous Yunnan Guoqiao Mixian (Across Bridge Rice Noodle). I love the presentation of this dish. The thinly slices of chicken and fish, various vegetables and spices were served in front of us. We will have to put them into the boiling hot chicken broth, together with the rice noodles.

Qiguo Ji or the steaming chicken pot is a chicken cooked in a little pot and served steaming hot. Yep, the Yunnan people apparrently love to have their dishes steaming hot. While the pot functions to retain the flavour of the chicken, it also manages to keep all the oil in the pot. The one that I had, though, was so oily that I refused to take more than a spoonful of the soup.

I also tried the duck. It's indeed delicious, crispy in the outside, but still moist and tender in the inside. And at RMB 20 ($4) per duck, it's really a steal for duck lovers. Well, after the recent melamine incident in China, I just hope that they don't feed melamine or formaldehyde or any of that chemical to the poultry (this post is written after the recent update on the melamine tainted eggs in China).

Smelly tofu, that did not smell

I stayed in a 5-star hotel in Kunming, The Grand Empark Hotel. The hotel reminded me so much of the grand buildings in Jakarta in the eighties. With big chandeliers and overzealous shimmer of gold everywhere. I really question this hotel, being categorized as a 5 star hotel. For one thing, the staffs did not really speak english, so communication was a big problem. And the big thing for me was the food in the hotel! It was terrible with a big T. And especially so with the chinese food. I wonder how the Chef in this hotel could sleep peacefully at night, with people cursing and swearing about the food that they eat. The food was always served cold and it was too oily. Come on, terrible horrible chinese food, in 5-star hotel in China???

Food aside, this was my first encounter with a hotel that actually provided condom as part of toiletteries. Just to be safe!!

If there is one thing that I prize about Kunming, it was the weather. Kunming was not called City of Eternal Spring for nothing. The weather was very lovely, ranging between 15-20 C. After one of my dinners, I actually went to one of the parks by the lake. It was very fine weather, with nice cool breeze. I walked in the park, looking at the willow tree, and there was a melody from this lady who was playing the chinese harp. It was just so peaceful and so oriental, I wished I could stay longer in Kunming.

Unlike my excitement of visiting Japan, I had mixed feeling about visiting China. Heard too many stories about this land of my ancestors, about the people being so greedy and will rip you off whenever they have a chance, dirty toilets, and people who spit all over and did not care about their personal hygiene. This trip has changed all that. Okay, some of them are true. But, I still met decent, honest people in Kunming. People I met were nice and so far, I think they take their bath regularly. I wish I can get more chance to get to know China better. So maybe next time, I hope, it will be Beijing or Shanghai.

And there's a dark cloud ahead..

One minute I read that we are doing well, suddenly the next minute I read about the looming recession. And that happens within weeks.

It did not happen overnight of course. All the analysts have predicted this 10 years cycle. Somehow, we just refuse to admit that it's happening.

When it happened 10 years ago, it did not affect me much. I was still enjoying university life, happily unattached, with no family responsibility. I still carried on with life as usual.

But this time, it's different! Now I really understand how this financial turmoil affects our life or others. And never a day passes without me thinking about "what if". It's my two children that I worry about.

I know that our company have laid off contract workers in the factory due to decreasing demand of the products. It just saddens me to learn that in the city where the factory is, most of the people are actually dependant on the factory to make a living. What will happen to the family, when one day, the parents come home telling the family that they no longer have a job.

And so, there's this big dark cloud ahead! We'll need to go through it before we can see better days. I am so blessed that I don't have to go through this alone, I have Y with me.

I only know one thing:

This too shall pass...

This too shall pass..

Just an excuse to have cake

I did not have time to come up with a cake for hubby on his birthday. We were in Jakarta on his birthday, and we went to Kidzania with the children on that day. We had dinner to celebrate Y and my mother's birthday together, but we did not have cake. With the holiday season in Jakarta, my parents have got two cakes that they have not finished eating yet. One cake was from Dapur Cokelat and the other cake was from Harvest. Both were chocolate cakes, but not up to my standard. Both were disappointingly dry. Or I am biased, because I am just not a fan of chocolate mousse cake.

Since Y went back to Singapore a few days earlier, I asked him to buy a cake from Awfully Chocolate. Maybe it's a post birthday cake, or just another excuse to have cake. I am not sure. Y always wanted to try the banana chocolate, although I love AC's chocolate rum & cherry better. I was thinking, I should try out something that I've never tried before and figured that chocolate banana should be a good choice.

So, here's the cake:

I usually love Awfully Chocolate's chocolate cake, but this one, is definitely not my thing. Or I just hate the combination of banana and chocolate. Y's uncle and aunt also commented the same thing about this cake. There is nothing fancy about this cake.

But then again, Y loves his banana, tracing down from his Darwinian origin. And he loves his chocolate.

I asked Y if we are going to buy the cake again. He said, "No! Your cake is much better than AC!" I am so happy with his compliment.

So, I have this entry, although I don't bake this cake, and I am still disappointed with this cake! But I figure, Y's compliment is worth to be blogged!

So, everyone, if you want to buy Awfully Chocolate, don't buy Chocolate Banana. If you want to have better cake, you can even contact me for some pointers on how to make a mean chocolate cake, okay! Even better, when I have nothing to do, I can even bake chocolate cake for you! 

Pre-Birthday Cake : Chocolate Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Any excuse just to bake cakes! This time, since Y's birthday is coming soon, I thought of coming up with some pre-birthday cake before the real day.

Y, as you all know, celebrates his birthday in September. And since he has been a nice husband since the day I married him, he deserves to get more than just one cake for his birthday. So, I plan to have pre-birthday cake, birthday cake, and post-birthday cake just for him.

Oh yes, anything just to bake cakes!

Y loves chocolate cakes. Last year, I baked Sacher Torte for him. And this year, I was inspired by my dear friend, Sitha who kindly shared her special secret recipe, chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. Doesn't it sound heavenly?

And it does taste so too! The special cream cheese frosting will definitely stay in my priceless recipe list!

Sitha, my apology for not following your recipe thoroughly. I did not follow your cake recipe, for very simple reason; I hate cup measurement! So I used another recipe that I always use for layered chocolate cake (the recipe is in metrics). But I followed your cream cheese frosting to a tee. And I just love it!

So, anyone who's interested in getting this recipe, please contact my friend, Sitha! She will gladly share this recipe to anyone who ask. Ya, kan, Sit?

For your information, Sitha is an experienced english teacher. So, do contact her if you need any english tutorial. If you ask very nicely, she will even give you one-to-one english tuition at discounted price *_*

Mid Autumn Festival means...

Mooncakes!

And lanterns too.

Yesterday, we went to visit the 2008 lantern festival in Chinese Garden. It was my first time visiting Chinese Garden. And it was perfect timing, as it was on weekdays, and it was not so crowded. We could leisurely walk and enjoy the lanterns.

This year's theme is Sanrio. And the characters from Sanrio were lanternized exquisitely.  The lanterns display were beautiful. The tickets we bought also entitled us to get small paper lantern with Sanrio characters design. Nice and cute!

While I have not got the time to blog on mooncakes, as I enjoyed eating mooncakes more than taking photos of them, I made sure I took the pictures of the lanterns.

A Tribute to Ruri: Muffin Ruri

Ruri did not create this muffin. But she generously shared the recipe with us, NCC members. For that, she showed us what a kind and generous person she was. And for that, we call this recipe, Muffin Ruri.

I did not personally know Ruri just like I did not personally know Inong, but in the virtual net, the world has become such a small place.

I made Wilton Klappertart, another recipe that she shared with us, for my christmas gathering last year. Her muffin recipe is my favorite that I will bake over and over again. I read her blog, learned from her experiences too.

I shared the same pain that other members felt when we found out that she has succumbed to cancer early this month. My heart goes out to the two little girls that she left behind, who have to grow up missing their mother in their lives. I baked this muffin in the memory of her. And I know that in the subsequent Muffin Ruri baking session, I'll always remember this kind and special lady.

Requiscat in Pace, Ruri!

Treasure Hunt

For  those people who outbid me in Ebay, eat your heart out. I got this book from Amazon at half the price, and since it was shipped to US address, I saved on shipping cost as well *evil grin*

                                  

I got the translated version of Hilda Boswell's Treasury of Children's Stories from my mother when I was six years old. It was my first sophisticated book, since it had small fonts and each page contained more than few sentences, very complicated for children my age at that time. I liked it, but did not appreciate it until few years later. By then, the book was getting old, damaged to the spine, some pages torn and loose, thanks to those people who borrowed it and thought that they could just abuse it since the book was not theirs. 

I preserved whatever left of the book, kept it well in my bookshelf, until much later. I wanted to buy the second copy, but the book has been out of print. I also brought my beloved copy to Singapore.

Hilda Boswell personally selected and illustrated the stories in the book. The illustrations were beautiful. As a child, I was so fixated upon the illustration, characters from her books appeared in my dreams. The lovely illustration of fairies, princes and princesses, flowers and animals really enlivened the stories she has handpicked.

The stories were also as unforgettable, she has achieved her objective when she said in her foreword, "...but the sort of stories that stick in your memory--that you are drawn back to time and time again." I can't tell which one is my favorites, I love so many of them. I love Our Field, Through The Fire, The Story of Fairyfoot, to name a few. And the image of Tom of Water Babies, swimming together with the fishes, or little David Copperfield sitting by the window sill in the moonlit night, still lingers in my mind. 

I tried to find the english copy of this book, but I guess, never did try hard enough. I remember I was browsing through the children section in Dymock in Sydney, but I could not find it.

Now that I have my children, I really want to share this book with them, especially with my daughter. Not trying to be sexist, I believe my daughter will come to treasure this book better than my son. And there went my hunt for this book.

Kinokuniya and Borders have confirmed that this book was no longer available in the market. At that time, the idea of buying used book did not appeal to me. I bought a lot of used books before, but those were romance novels. I doubted I could find used copy that was still in excellent condition, since this book was first published sometime in early seventies to early eighties.

But as I did more and more searches, I grew desperate. The book has gone out of print for quite sometime. I could only find used book copies in the net.

So I made up my mind, I would buy even a used copy, so that I could read the original versions of the stories so close to my heart to my children. I went to Amazon UK, a mistake, since most of the marketplace book sellers did not do international shipping. I went to E-bay, found a copy, place a bid, so confident of winning, and found out that I was not the only one eyeing for this book. I did not take the outbidding well. Especially since the book was auctioned in British Pound currency, the book became so expensive for me. At most I would just pay for $15, since I still needed to pay a lot for the shipping cost as well. Since then, I learned that Hilda Boswell has many fans still searching for her books who's willing to pay high prices for her used copy books. And I am just a fan, but I will not pay excessively silly price for her book as I still have the other copy at home.

After being outbid in E-bay for many times, I found out that Y was about to visit US for business. He got me an address of his colleague that I could send the book too. I was still hopeful of winning a copy that I bid in E-bay. By the time I found out that I was getting outbid again (although I have raised my bid to $20), I was so fed up. I went to Amazon, and at that instant, bought a copy at US$5. In the description, it was described as very good with minor dents, but clean copy appeared never read.

From US, Y sent me a text message, "The inside is very good, some scratches at the cover, but barely noticeable". I sighed with relief, I have not been had by the Amazon marketplace seller. I turned into an eager child when Y came back from his trip (which was few hours ago) and handed me the book. It is really a treasure. The copy has some minor dents at the cover and its spine, but the pages really are excellent. They are as good as new. My daughter was also equally excited about the book, because I've been telling her that this copy will be hers, and she just loves story book. I don't really intend to let her know that she can only own the book when she's old enough to drive a car, so that she can appreciate this book too.

Meanwhile, I just want to share the news with the whole world, "I am now a proud owner of (another) Hilda Boswell's Treasury of Children's Stories!" And this book is indeed a treasure!

So, the next one in line...Hilda Boswell's Treasury of Poetry?

 

Busy Bee August (Part 3) : Home will be where the heart is

I was told

Ev'ry day in my childhood:

Even when we grow old

Home will be where the heart is

Never were words so true

My heart's far, far away

Home is too

Home - from Beauty and the Beast, The Musical

Part of my busy bee August was because I had to go back home twice in 2 weeks time. In both weeks, I went to Jakarta on Tuesday, stayed in Dharmawangsa Hotel until Friday, where I actually had a chance to visit home and spent a night there and went back to Singapore on Saturday. Tiring, yes. But it's a chance for me to visit home!

People always commented when they found out that I was about to go back to Jakarta for my business trip, "Oh, you are going home!" Is it really?

Something that they have forgotten to take into account; when it's business trip, it's not really home. I did not stay in my childhood home. I had to stay in a hotel. My trip is about work, work, and more work. Oh, did I mention traffic jam? I may sound someone with the nose so stuck up in the air when I write about traffic jam in Jakarta (either you live with it, or you migrate to other country). As much as I hate it, after years of training, I just learn to live with it. When I am in Jakarta, just blame everything to traffic, but don't complain about it. In Kota Singa, I can always complain about how bad traffic is and how government fail to control the car population even with the ever increasing ERP charges.

But is Jakarta still home for me? My parents house is still my home, and nothing will change that. My room is still there, although I can't use it anymore since my mother has handed it over to the heir of the throne and I had to use my sister's room now. But the sense of familiarity, the smell of home, is really something priceless. Knowing that I've got a place that I really belong to, when everything else fails me! But then, home is not really home when it comes to Jakarta. Traffic congestion was killer! And the sight of children begging or people asking money at the traffic light junction is something that I've never gotten used to since I was young. Although I also define home as a place to get good and cheap lulur massage and creambath as well as good and cheap shopping spree in Mangga Dua. And home is where I can get nice pempek palembang, rujak bebek and my favourite kolak pisang. Not to mention, nice affordable restaurant that's so rare in Singapore.

But over the years, I've also come to love this "fine city". It has never been love at the first sight. Although, when I first came to the city, there was this sense of euphoria of being in the new place, exploring something new. But then the euphoric feeling did not last, and I missed home terribly. Especially after I had my children. I wanted them to be brought up in the place where I spent my childhood, to be brought up the way I was brought up. I just wanted to go back and stayed in Jakarta, where it's home.

But, slowly, there's this feeling of attachment that comes from the fine city. Maybe it's from the way I can walk leisurely on the streets, knowing that the chance of someone mugging me is very slim. Or maybe because of the friendship with the people here that I have made over the years. Or how I can physically blend in the society where I can proudly announce, "I am chinese!" and did not get the racist stare! (my racist stare only came later, when people find out that the chinese looking lady, does not speak chinese, but speaks fluent bahasa indonesia -- so I don't know which one is worse). But I've started to love this city, and now I have adopted this city as my second home, without feeling guilty about having two homes.

Belle said that home should be where the heart is. So, I split my heart into two and put them in the two countries I call home.

In August, where both my homes celebrate the national day and independence day, respectively, I came up with the strawberry shortcake. Its red and white tone just matched well with the flags from both countries.

I have posted the recipe for the cake, since I bought a Japanese recipe book with gorgeous pictures of cakes (yes, it's written in Japanese). And I took pain to translate the recipe for this cake. For that effort, I believe I should be rewarded with something as simple as sharing the recipe with other people.

Happy birthday to both of my homes!

Nothing lasts, nothing holds

All of me

My heart's far, far away

Home and free

Busy Bee August (Part 2) : Adventure of a non-adventurer

"I thought you said you did not want to go to the forest!"
"I am not going to the forest, I am going to Pekanbaru!"
"What do you think Pekanbaru is? It's a forest!"

I was sort of cursing and swearing about going to Pekanbaru. The thing is, I am not so keen on going any business trips. Because business trip means changes from my daily routine. And on top of that, I just hate packing and unpacking my things. Lame excuse, but it's so true. And I also heard about the forest fire in Pekanbaru. So, that's it. Pekanbaru is a forest, with raging forest fire.
Still I had no choice. I've got a guest that I need to accompany, and so I reluctantly went for this trip. I consoled myself, it's a short trip, less than 2 days.

I left Jakarta on Tuesday afternoon, and reached PB in the early evening, before the sun set, so I still managed to get glimpse of PB before the darkness set in.

So, how's PB? 

"Pekanbaru is a two-time Adipura Award winner!" boasted the driver who sent me to the hotel.  I understood why he was so proud of his city. The city was very clean. He continued to explain that there were two shifts of road cleaners employed to maintain the city's cleanliness. Having spent most of my time in big cities, it was a nice break to see smaller town. 

I had my visual feast on the city on the way to the hotel from the airport.

this is the picture I took from the hotel window

I stayed on Aryadutta Hotel. Supposedly the best hotel in the city. I've got no complain, but my travel companion, from the same company, was busy making phone calls to move us to another hotel. He told me that Aryadutta Hotel was too quiet for his liking. Due to some security approval, we still ended up in the same hotel.

Dinner was at Jalansutra's acclaimed Restoran Anom. Supposedly one of the best chinese restaurant in PB, Resto Anom was famous for its Udang Telor Asin (Salted Yolk Prawn). The dish itself was disappointing, it was runny with very mild salted yolk taste. The other dishes were not too bad, good review from the rest of our group. As our host (who came from Jakarta) explained, it's famous in PB, but we could not compare it to Jakarta's chinese food restaurant. I'll give them 3/5 rating.

No picture of the food from Resto Anom, as I was too hungry and busy eating to my heart's content

We went to Kerinci, another town close to PB, about an hour drive to meet one of our customers and to check on illegal logging business (??!). The road to Kerinci was narrow and winding. We've also got to be wary as there were wild Sumatran tigers abound.

Wild Sumatran Tiger

I would not live up to my non-adventurer tittle if I did take too many pictures of PB or Kerinci in that matter. Believe it or not, rather than enjoying the scene of a new place, I was either chatting with my travel companion or busy sleeping.

And there went my full day of PB and Kerinci. I also found out that equator line actually passed through PB. Too bad, I did not get to see the monument as we traveled to the opposite direction.

Some pictures that showed that indeed PB has forest to prove my colleague's words. No, I did not go to the forest, but the logs & chipped woods came from the forest.

So, that's the end of the adventure for me. I am still not looking forward to this kind of adventure in the future. But, I have to admit that it was quite fun. At least I did not encounter something nasty in the forest, and, oh, I did not go to the forest at all.

Busy Bee August (Part 1) : Communication Cram

I don't know how other people can keep up with blogging. For one, I admire the time that they can spend on blogging. Maybe it's poor time management on my part, or just the lame excuse, but honestly, I just do not have time to update this blog. And I live in the lion country, where internet connection is considered superior. I just can't imagine, living in a place, where internet speed is as big a problem as the traffic congestion, and spending my time uploading data to update my blog.

Those people must have had plenty of time and patience on their hands.

When I see those people who can work, get their degree, sell cakes online, be a mother to young children, really it's a two-thumbs up for them. They inspire me, but I just can't find the self-discipline to follow their path in multi-tasking. It's just me and my lackadaisical life, perhaps.  Maybe because I spend most of my free time reading cooking books and watching korean/taiwan/japanese/local singapore drama. But, hey, I need something for relaxation too, right?

Okay, so let's start to count how busy I've been this month. I started out this month with some communication cram. I am not a good communicator when it comes to public speaking. So I thought I can improve on that.  A proactive step on my part to embrace on public speaking skills.

Firstly, I signed up for Toastmaster Club in my company. A decision that I later regretted  since I then found out (after I signed up) that my VP will come to watch how we are doing as well. That's pressurizing. But then, during my observation session, I had my fun watching others delivered their short presentation, although with the level of skills that they have, I wonder why they still need to attend Toastmaster Club. They just made me feel very nervous about my own presentation when I have to do it later. But, oh well, I guess, I just need to find some courage and do it. Besides, TC comes with free lunch, and that's enough motivation for me to sign up for the membership. 

Secondly, I also attended some communication class. Communication in 4 Dimensions, held by SIM. I was not too impressed with the course. It's a 3-day course, and the trainer was busy trying to prove that there were 4 dimensions in communication. Which I have not problem accepting. I mean, she should know something that I do not, that's why she's the trainer, and I am just the lazy participant. I just want to know, how to apply these 4 dimensions to improve the communication. However, this is nice course to do when you want to get away from your daily mundane office routines. I had fun watching clips of movies, refreshing "The Secret" knowledge, learning about short exercise that you can do for 5 minutes a day, as well as meeting new friends during the course. And since the course was held in a hotel, the buffet lunch and tea breaks were above average. But I will not recommend this course to people who really want to improve their communication skills. In fact, I find that TC is better tools to improve communication, particularly in public speaking. 

So, am I a better communicator now? Still plenty of room for me to improve and plenty of opportunities for me that I can use to practice. And until the next TC meeting, I just hope that I will not be the one who has to do the ice breaker!

Constant Change

I attended a farewell dinner for some colleagues who move on to new jobs. Three of them are posted in China, and another one is leaving the company for good, for better opportunity. It was a nice farewell dinner together.

I do not really have the opportunity to spend time with my colleagues outside work. This kind of farewell dinner is not cheap. Besides, as a working mother, I just feel guilty that I do not spend enough time with my children, yet I have time for other people. So, it's really rare occasion that I go out and join my colleagues for dinner out with them.

But, this time around, it just makes perfect sense since it's the farewell of 3 people at the cost of one dinner. So, economics of scale applied here, and the dinner cost was averaged down significantly. And one colleague is someone that I work with (albeit indirectly) for quite sometime.
And I can only say, it's really fun to mingle with the colleagues.
I have to say that I enjoyed this dinner. Seeing the people I spend most of my time with in a different limelight. Some of them really turned into wild party animals. Amazing!!!
The thing that saddened me was since the dinner served as farewell to our colleagues.

I am a creature of routines, and I do not adapt well to changes. So, I really have mixed feelings about seeing the people I know move on to their new endeavor. True, for them it is better opportunity. But still, I just hate not seeing them in the office, or establish new working relationship with other people. I just hate changes!
And since early this year, there has been many changes, even in my team. One by one, people start to leave, and new faces come in. I guess, it's true, the only thing that remains constant in life is change.
Still...so sad to let them go..

Paying Off My Nigela Lawson

I have a resolution. In order to pay off my investment in those cookbooks that I've collected over the years, I am going to attempt to do at least one recipe from each cookbook. The reality is not that simple. I've got few obstacles that I still can not overcome till now.
I enjoy reading the recipes and the books. I have a long list of things to bake from each cookbook. But to find willing guinea pigs to devour the stuff that I bake is another thing.
Those who know me should know that I only eat things that are fruity. And Y and Big N only eat chocolate and its derivatives. Little N watches out her diet carefully, she does not take any cakes as it may ruin her slender figure. Of course my maid is my next target, but she too has had enough of my weekly baking. I think I enjoy baking more than I enjoy eating the final product.
So, coming out with the rendition of the baking stuff is the easy part. But finding the market for my stuff, that remains the challenge. And have I mentioned the low success rate that entails each experiment?

Ever since my successful yogurt experiment last month, I've been making yogurt almost once a week. Sadly, I am the only one eating the yogurt that I make. Sometimes, little N will help, but, most of the time, I am the one finishing the whole tub.
Until one day, the tragedy struck. I got food poisoning. Not because of the yogurt, because on that fateful day, little N also took the yogurt and she was okay. But the doctor asked me to stay clear out of the dairy products for a few days. Meanwhile, I've got more than half a liter of yogurt in my fridge. And I've turned into Cleopatra, applying my all-the-goodness-in-the-nature yogurt as face mask. But I figured I could make something better with my yogurt stock, than just turning them into face mask.

So, I turned into my recipe book. And Nigella Lawson and her blitz everything for a few minutes captured my attention. After all, she's the domestic goddess. And the best part is, I've never done ANY of her recipes.
So I whipped up "Baby Bundt" from Nigella's How To Be a Domestic Goddess. But, since I don't have a bundt pan, I used my muffin pan, and turned them into cupcakes.

And the review from my food critics cum husband went something like this, "hmmm...it's not too bad!"
'Not too bad' is a safe comment. It's something that a husband said to avoid arguments with the wife. Should I come up with this again, I asked. He nodded unconvincingly.
But then he ate most of the cakes for his breakfast. So it could not be that bad since he is very fussy about cakes.
As for me, as much as I love the yogurt, but I find that the cake is very plain and lack the the certain oomph in it. I am not too sure what kind of X-factor I am looking for.

But, to finish off the yogurt in the fridge, this is not a bad choice. And at least, I've done another recipe from my cookbook collections. Investment slowly paid off.

PS: nobody got food poisoning after eating this cake.

Just another weekend project

The last 2 weekends, I had enough fun experimenting with things that I put in a 'to-do-but-never-get-a-chance' list. I made yogurt. And I baked cake: Pandan Kaya Layer Cake.

My yogurt experiment went quite well. The yogurt was too runny for my liking. On the second attempt, I managed to get the texture that I want, at the expense of the fat and calories. Well, life is full of trade-offs. You can't get your creamy yogurt and not get fat!
Note: A friend who watched Oprah's Dr. Oz told me that calcium actually helped to bind the fat. So, if yogurt is full of calcium, so I don't have to worry about consuming too much of the full cream milk yogurt, do I? Again, I did not watch Oprah, so I don't know how true is the statement.

If people ask me on what can define the south-east asian food, my answer will be: Pandan. In the funny english terminology, it is also called screw pine. While green-tea is now such a hit, I still favour my old fragrant friend, Pandan. Although my son thinks that it's smelly, I still think that this is an exotic herb from south east Asia. Something that define Indonesian, Malaysian, Singaporean, Thai, and all the other Asian countries. The soft fragrance that the leaves ooze, that is so comforting.

People in Singapore and Malaysia are more than familiar with Pandan Kaya Layer Cake. I think this is a modern twist on traditional cake. The so-called pandan kaya fudge is supposed to be the kaya layer of the cake, made of coconut milk, pandan (screw pine) and green pea flour. It reminded me of the custard layer in kue sarlat. The same tastiness of the coconut milk. And don't forget the Pandan smell. The cake is either sponge or chiffon cake. I chose chiffon cake. Chiffon cake is not something that I have mastered, so I figured, it's good to have a chance to practice. For some reason, my chiffon cake always shrank after I took it out from oven. I figured it has something to do with the temperature management.
This time, I baked my chiffon cake in 160 C. The cake did not shrink at all, to my delight.

The fudge turned out easier than I thought it would be. It's not too runny. In fact I enjoyed making the fudge so much, I was thinking of making this cake every week.
One problem, though. My other half does not like Pandan. So, he sacrificed himself when he ate this cake for his breakfast.

To my little boy on his 5th birthday

My dearest little boy,

Has it been 5 years since we have you in our life?

Somehow, we just can't imagine our life without you.


Looking at you now, it's just hard to imagine that you were actually the same baby that we saw in the 3D ultrasound long time ago! The baby that we saw in the screen were only 6 cm long. But you were such an active baby even then. I remember looking at the alien on the screen, boxing and cycling non stop, and wondering if the doctor were actually just lying. Maybe you're not really our baby. Maybe your father and I were just looking at some video on someone else's baby. So hard to believe that the little thing we saw in the screen turned out to be you. The perfect you.


You and your cheerful smile. You and your mischievous laugh. You and your sunny nature. You and your kind heart.


And, it is even harder to believe that the little baby with twinkles in his eyes, can already praise me, "mama, why are you so good in baking cakes?"
You really made me blush when you said that.


Your mama learns baking so that you and your little sister will have a home-made birthday cakes year after year.


Happy birthday, my little boy!

Remaining of Sakura

My boss must have secretly read my earlier blog.

A month after my earlier trip to Japan, another business trip to Japan was confirmed. The exciting part was to know that I might be able to see cherry blossom. My counterpart in Kobe dashed my hope during one of the calls that I had with him, "Nope! It's been raining heavily the last couple of days! By the time you reach here, there will be no sakura left for you to see!" Okay, forget about Sakura, anyway, I come to Japan for business. Business aside, it should be fun to visit Japan in different season other than winter. Deep inside, I still harboured the thought of seeing sakura during my trip. I wish..I wish..I wish!

This time around, I did not get the luxury of getting decent flight hour. Instead, I had to take midnight flight to Osaka. With barely 3 hours of sleep that night, my colleague and I were welcomed by the 2-hour long queue in immigration. What a great way to start our trip.
After we cleared the immigration, the reality sunk in. I had to go to Kobe on my own (actually there's my colleague too, but she's a first-timer to Osaka). For the first time, I've got to rely on myself to go to Kobe from Osaka. While for other people, the trip from Osaka to Kobe seems to be efortless, for me, it's a real challenge. That's because I have no sense of direction. I could not even tell the difference between left and right. Everywhere looks the same to me.

Long story cut short, somehow, I managed to reach my hotel in Kobe safely. By the time I was getting closer to town, I could see some flowery trees on the streets. Sakura! Yes, some of the cherry blossom still held its power. Yay!!!!
I brainwashed my colleague to go to a place that I've been wanting to visit for so long. The old town, Kyoto.
So, after lunch, we started our small adventure. We took a train from Kobe to Kyoto. I expected to see the temples, old Japan in Kyoto. However, after I stepped out of the train station, I was greeted by shopping mall and Isetan. I looked at my colleague, "Do you want to go to Isetan to look for our Blue Label? Or do you want to see the temple?"
We've finally decided to look for the temple first. After all, it's just the sensible thing to do. People go to Kyoto because of the temples, not because of the shopping malls.

Another challenge. After I popped out my head from station, I did not see any temple. I saw buildings, but no temple. So I went to the tourist centre, and found out that the temple was not within walking distance from the train station. To go to the temple, I needed to take the bus followed by another 15 minutes walk.
So based on the advise that I got from the tourist centre, I took the bus to Kiyomizu temple, boasted to be the one of the oldest and most beautiful temples in Japan. The 15 minutes walk was a breeze, for there were a lot of things to see a long the way.

It's very good advise for Kiyomizu temple is famous for the sakura. I reached my hysterical point when I saw the lush sakura at the entrance of the temple. They were waiting for me!





We had to cut short our visit to Kiyomizu since it rained.
Of course the day would not be perfect without the visit to Isetan. It was in the train station, anyway!

For the rest of the days, business as usual. I could barely find time to take a look at the other side of Kobe. It's always office and hotel! Not much to tell.

This time around, I did not get to eat my favourite kobe beef. I just did not have the time. Anyway, it's business trip.

Some things worth noted down from this trip:

1. Cherry blossom will not produce cherries. Well, some species will. Different people came up with different opinion on this.

2. Singapore MRT treat the passengers like human. In Japan, I had the chance of experiencing how it felt to be the human sandwich. The train was so packed and crowded, I did not have room for my own feet. The good thing was, I did not have to care about losing my balance and fell down, as there would be no room for me to fall down.

3. Male chauvisnism is still very strong in Japan. The factory manager refused to shake hands with me and another female colleague! On one occasion, they even made me and my colleague wait outside the restaurant, we were not allowed to sit in the restaurant until all the guys came out! Hmm..lucky I am not a feminist!

4. I have the renewed faith on all the things pastries and cakes. Japanese love them. I love them. We share strong bond, Japan and I.

Boss, if you really read this blog again, what about a trip to Sagami next? Then I can visit Tokyo. I wish..I wish..I wish..