What? Is it coming to an end?

That's what I feel about year 2009. More accurately, that's how I feel at end December every year.
Usually the mellow feeling will come early, sometime around September, but of course, it's going to peak in December. Sometime like now.

For me, 2009 is a year full of blessings, despite the many upheavals that I experienced. Not to deny that at times I felt indignant at many things, I still feel that I am so very blessed throughout the year.

End of the year is the time to count the blessings. Or just to reflect all the things that make 2009 a year above the rest.

Let's do the round up

January: Celebration of the new year, where everything was still glittering like there's no end. There was the euphoria from the holiday season, coupled with Chinese new year. Got a new job and grateful, I could still have a job!
February: Let's welcome my boy, fresh from Jakarta, to start the new life in his real home. Now, take a deep breath, he's going to adjust fine!
March: Celebrate the paycut! Come on, for every dark cloud, we have to find the silver lining!
April: Oh, life as usual..just be happy!
May: Misdiagnosed? No kidding? Kill the doctor! Let's go to Phuket to celebrate..
June: Holiday season for the children! Gosh, that's half a year passed!
July: Let's race for the new school for big N!
Aug: Oh, life as usual..just be happy!
Sep: Another holiday in Jakarta! Oh, no more paycut effective Oct!
Oct: No more paycut, but we lost our Friday off! That's a fair trade.
Nov: What can I say? Life is a balance of two things, light and darkness. But, just remember the light side, always!
Dec: What, is it coming to an end? An the maid has run away?

Great! I can't wait for year 2010 to come! Hi and welcome!

Parenting 101: Overconfident Children? Where's The Balance?

This is how I grew up: A friend of my mother complimented my mother on how pretty I was since she had not seen me for years. And being the typical Asian mother, my mother would say, "You've got to be kidding. Look at her big nose, chubby cheeks, her big mouth!" etc..etc. In her own words, I was the personification of Princess Fiona (of Shrek fame). And don't get her started on how badly I performed at school, or on my incorrigible character!

And yes..that's how I grew up. Wonder why I did not sign up for Putri Indonesia beauty contest! Or that I did not develop inferiority complex that got me into under psychologist care.

Despite my mother's endless verbal abuse on my general being and appearance, I still grew up to be confident person, who think that I look okay. Well, may be not a Miss Universe material, but I still think I look pretty attractive...ehm...ehm. Oh well, at least I have my share of inner beauty, don't I? So, can you imagine, what would I be if my mother did not try to lower my qualities during my growing up years?

Now, watch those overconfident and weird contestants in American Idols, who could not cary out a tune, but embarrassed themselves and their parents by saying, "My parents said I am the next Celine Dion or Josh Groban!" Your parents are so dead wrong, dear!

Or my neighbor's kid who joined Singapore Idol, saying that she's the next Avril Lavigne, when she could not even sing the right do-re-mi.

(Let's be bitchy here..she's really my neighbor, from the other block. But, my, there was once I saw her mother scolded her! What made her think that she's the next Avril Lavigne???? From the way the mother scolded her, I did not think the mother is the type who would say, "Cutie pie, look at your God-given talent..go and join Sing Idol, I think you have Avril Lavigne qualities!")

That aside, I think we should find the balance when we praise our children. While it's the typical Asian thing not to praise the child, I am quite surprised that there is some truth in it. A research has shown that praising gifted children did not prevent them from underperforming. Praise may have inverse power. In plain english, it means that praise may backfire on the child. Instead of making the child confident, they may actually make them complacent, thus nurturing them into being over-confident (and turning them into weird people that you see in the those reality TV/Idol/Wannabe series).

Strange, does it mean that my mother has been right all this time?

No expert in the field of parenting, I believe in giving credit where it is due. Find the balance: Praise the child for the effort, not just for the sake of praising. Inferiority is bad, but over-confidence is equally bad.

But my children are definitely more good looking than Shrek and Princess Fiona and I am going to tell them just so!

We are really really busy!

I said this before and I say this again: I don't know how other parents do it. Especially those working mothers, who can still be so productive after work: baking, cooking, spending time with children!

Honestly, I just can't find time in the kitchen. Weekdays are definitely off, I am so drained after work. Whatever little time that I've got is spent tutoring the kids, spending time with them. I go to bed close to midnight, trying to get some relaxing time watching tv, or just talking to hubby!

Weekends are definitely burned; sending children for their extra classes, doing whatever work that we cannot get done during the weekdays. It's also the time when I get to catch up with my sleep. It may just as simple as getting up later than my usual 6 am schedule or napping for 20-30 minutes in the afternoon.

Even then there are so many things that I want to do with the children but I just can't find time. Simple things such as bringing the children to free concert in Esplanade so that they can learn to enjoy the music. Or, exploring the beauty of art by exposing them to art galleries.

But, given the choice between pursuing my hobby or spending time with my family, my answer is obvious. The children grow up too fast and even then, I am still guilty of not spending enough time with them. Oh well, at least, I have tried my best.

It will take me some time to find the energy to be a superwoman. At this point of time I am enjoying the time with the family. The cakes can wait, but the children can't.

Just one of those days that I grouse non stop!

Note: amazingly, despite the busy claim for me, no weight is lost in the process!

Candid Moments

Just some candid moments with my children that I do not want to forget.

CM1

I was cuddling my big N.

Me: When I am old, will you still love me?

Big N: Very much. Just like the way you love grandma now!

My heart just melted!

CM2

Me: Little N, what do you want to be when you grow up?

Little N: I want to have rabbit farm!

Cute career of choice!

CM3

M: How many children you want to have, Big N?

BN: I want to have 6, 3 boys and 3 girls

LN: I want to have 2, 1 boy and 1 girl. Big bro, you REALLY want to have 6?

BN: Yes, I want to have 6 children

Y: Why so many?

BN: Initially I wanted to have 8, but I think it's too many, so now it's six!

Bolu Kukusku Ketawa Nyaris Ngakak..

The pictures should tell all.

Setelah lebih banyak mingkemnya, atau tersenyum malu-malu. Akhirnya, pelan-pelan, bolu kukusku mulai siap untuk tertawa ngakak!

Pictures from July experience. When I saw them shyly started to laugh in the steamer, I laughed so much harder!

Wakakakakak!!!!

Autumn Tale

I am rewatching this for the 100th times. Serious!

And as always, I am still as hooked on the story. And I still cry whenever I see the parting scene of young Eun Seuh and Jun Seuh.

Note: Adult ES and JS love story still bothers me a lot. I don't know whether I should say yes to their love story, since basically it's an incest love story. Not blood incest, but incest nonetheless. Eeewwww!!!!

Well, back to the point, the story of the switched baby is really every parents' nightmare. Luckily for hubby and me, we watched this drama. So, we knew what to watch out for when I gave birth to my first one! Y followed him all the way to the ICU, and made sure that the name tag was tight. It was indeed tight, we had to cut it using scissor.

Hubby and I have also made an agreement. If someone claimed that we've got our babies switched in the hospital, we would hang on to these two children, instead of re-switching the babies again! We figure that these 2 children are very adorable and worth keeping! Not to mention that we've fallen in love with them!

Oh, the effect of Autumn Tale in my life.

The Princess and The Cupcake Part 2

Yes, the princess is back with vengeance. Not only her second installment of the cupcake series is pinkier than her earlier work, it is also complimented with her signature rose. Or not? Let me think. Oh yes, the rose was the leftover from the Barbie Cake project that I did the other day. 

Amazingly, she actually decorated the cupcake with the real buttercream! Because I made the blunder with her ready-made icing. Luckily, I still had some buttercream stock in the fridge. And I think she enjoyed working with buttercream better than the icing.

So here it is, proof that she did it herself! So proud of you, Sweetie!

A Successful Science Experiment

Okay, this is new (at least, for me), it's called Ginger Milk Curd. It's actually very popular in Hong Kong and it's supposed to be good for your complexion. 

The taste? If I have to describe the taste, I would say that it's a cross of Tofu Hua (豆花 or Kembang Tahu) and ginger tea (wedang jahe). 

A colleague actually told me that she did it for 8 times before she got it right. My mother also told me a story that a friend that she knew failed to get the right consistency of the curd.

So, what's so difficult about the curd? Here's the ingredients, read carefully: milk, ginger juice, and sugar. That's it. I did not omit any other ingredients. My mother told me that the dessert seller actually did want to share her secret trade with her friend by just telling her that her curd only contained those ingredients. Guess what, Ma, the dessert seller was actually telling the truth. Unfortunately, your friend was not equipped with internet and thermometer. Otherwise, she would get it right the first time around. That's what happened to me. 

There's the science behind this ginger milk curd.

Ginger contains protease. When milk is added to ginger juice, protease reacts chemically with the protein in milk which changes from a water-soluble form to a water-insoluble form, and leads to the formation of milk curd

(from Wikipedia)

Simple enough? 

I did my research, and found out that the trick is to come up with the right temperature of milk. The milk temperature has to be hot enough to stimulate the starch in the ginger juice. Yet, not too hot as to kill the protease in the ginger juice. So, the right temperature should be 70-75 degree Celcius.

I guess, this is the failing point for most people. Finding the right milk temperature. Another thing will be the ratio of ginger juice to milk, which I find is secondary to the temperature.

I guess I was lucky to be able to come up with the curd on my first try. However, the edibility factor of the curd was another thing. The curd was too spicy for human consumption. I used 15 ml of ginger juice for 150 ml of milk, and that level of concentration was enough to cause skin breakouts, sore throat and mouth ulcer. For my next try, I must use less ginger.

So, dare to give it a try?

Blueberry Muffin

I bake faster than I blog. For some reason, I find it just so hard to find time to sit down and write down on things that I have come up with. Strangely enough, I can actually finish 10-episode drama in just 2 days. That should explain why I never have enough time to blog!

So this is one of the things that I have never had time to blog for some time. My favorite Blueberry Muffin. This time, I have decided to try another recipe. The result turned out great. The muffin was moist, with just the right amount of sweetness. I think I have played around with the recipe and I changed the sugar portion. I can't recall now! Oh (make a mental note), I have to write down whatever changes to original recipe that I have done.

This batch of muffin also rose wonderfully. I find that the therapeutic part of baking is to be able to see your batter rise in the oven. It's really a good stress reliever activity. On the other hand, I get very stressed whenever I fail in baking attempt. Moral of the story, when you are stressed and you want to bake to de-stress, only bake things that you are confident with. Don't come up with something new, failure will only make you feel more stressed. Take my word for it.

Happy 4th birthday, my little girl!

wish on my star [vocal] - jake shimabukuro

I wouldn't change a thing about you
I wouldn't ask the green to be blue
I wouldn't ask the birds not to fly,
or change a thing in the sky, or turn hello to good-bye

I wouldn't ask the birds not to sing
I wouldn't ask the phone not to ring
I just couldn't ask the wind not to blow,
or a boat not to row, or a trio to go solo

You are amazing just as you are
You are a flower in the spring,
and you're the light each morning brings
And I adore you, just the way you are
You are not the star that I wish on
You are the wish on my star

Mini Bluder, the bread of love

Why is it called the bread of love?

What else can you call the bread, when hubby was actually the one kneading the dough! It's so sweet of him. I went to the room, sweating and tired of punching and kneading the dough, and it's still not done yet. So I begged him to help me with the kneading part, and to my delight, he actually stood up, washed his hands, and started to help me with kneading part.

Those of you who don't know bluder, it's actually a higher class form of bread. This bread consumed more eggs, preferably egg yolks, and butter. The end result should be a softer bread. Some old recipe passed down from my mother, actually uses up to more than 10 egg yolks in the recipe. 

While I wanted to try some old recipe that I got from my mother, I just could not take the risk of failure and decided to take an easy way out. This recipe, only used 6 egg yolks and 2 egg whites.

The result? Hubby, my dear food critics, commented that it was like those that he could find from those "abang-abang", and I was like, "What???? You mean my bread can't even be compared to Bread Talk?"

Then again, without any bread improver, this bluder was soft and it stayed considerably soft and fluffy after I put them in fridge.

Since I still have a lot of yeast, expect more bread from me..

Valentine Project Failure: The Cheesy Cheese Cake

Hello and happy belated valentine day.

I have not been the most diligent when it comes to updating this blog. I still do bake regularly. But most of the time, I just baked the same old thing for my family. Maybe one of these days, I can find time to blog what I bake regularly.

On this year's val's day, I had actually intended to bake a special CCC (Cheesy Cheese Cake), something that a dear friend of mine had shared with me for quite sometime. It has remained in my to do list for quite sometime, as after Christmas/New Year/Chinese New Year, everything else becomes an anti climax. Too much cakes to try on, too little time. So again, VD is a good excuse to bake something different.

The above mentioned friend has advised me that I should not use just ordinary sponge cake. I should use the good quality ones (meaning, a lot of egg yolks) such as my favorite Lapis Surabaya. I decided to come up with something else, a sponge cake, with lesser eggs, but still more eggs than what I usually use for my baking. As much as I love Lapis Surabaya, I just can't get myself to slowly kill myself by clogging my arteries with the cholesterol and fat from this cake.

If I thought that I have mastered the skill of baking sponge cake, I was deep wrong! The sponge cake was a total failure. Something went wrong with the mixing process, which I could not figure out. The batter ran terribly runny, and it just failed to rise in the oven. So my cake ended up in the trash bin. When my husband came back from gym, all he saw was my sulking face and he knew something went wrong with my cake. There went my Valentine Cake Project. Say goodbye to The Cheesy Cheese Cake. 

All's not lost, at least my spirit. I gathered up my courage to continue the same project earlier today. The sponge cake was okay, and the cream...the famous cheesy cheese was incredibly light and delicious! My little girl finished almost more than half the slice of the cake, which was a record for her. Y loved it too.  

So, the famous CCC will sure stay in my list of special cakes! Something that I will bake over and over again! Thank you, Fifang, for sharing this special recipe with me!