One tray dinner

One of the simplest dinner one can prepare..

No skills needed, not much washing, definitely easy but nevertheless yummy. A sure hit with both young [my 3 angels] and old [the husband of course!] :D

Why one tray dinner?

Because... i really did chuck everything in into that one baking tray!

Grilled chicken

And some asparagus, potatoes and lastly...

the highlight of the day.. and also the main reason this dinner was cooked ->



Portobello mushrooms!

It was my first time buying portobello mushrooms and grilling it at home.

To be honest, i'm not a huge fan of mushrooms. I can live without it. I bought because i remember vividly how fond the husband was when we had some grilled shiitake mushroom over the dinner in a Japanese restaurant a couple of months back.

I wanted to whip up something similar.

And i'm pretty damn pleased i did.

Lemon yoghurt cake with blueberry

Whenever there is an opportunity, the family will ask me for my bakes. Very 'fan' you know! [hint to the no-automatic sisters, HINT!] :P

Initially the greedy sisters and mother wanted 3 different type of cakes! But because of my tight schedule nearing the weekend, i could only squeezed in one. Hehe...

And i picked lemon yoghurt cake which i had done once earlier.



Reason being is that i needed to clear my yoghurt and lemon.. Lol.

And of course, they are truly delicious despite on their plain look when not dressed up. Plus, my younger sister in law has been requesting this cake for sometime already ever since she last tried it. So frustrated she is until she wanted to 'order' from me :P

In total, i baked about 3 dozens of them.

Gave a few to boy2's teachers, some for testing, some for sil and the rest, my greedy family :)

Because i didn't have enough yoghurt (short of half a cup), i substituted it with 1 cup whipping cream + another cup of milk. I remember quite clearly that the last batch could have used another cup of milk for a perfect texture, hence my adaption for this time round.

I was half accurate.

When the cakes were fresh out of the oven, it tasted so heavenly. Moist, soft and just right for everything!

However, after being contained in the container for 1 day, the cakes became a tad too moist for my liking. Now i know what to do for my next time round.

If yoghurt isn't enough : 1/2 cup whipping cream + 1 cup milk.
If yoghurt is enough : 1 cup of milk.

But i tell you hor, no one else noticed the extra moistness in the cake leh! I was the only one... they were nicely chomping the cupcakes away till no more left.. oh, left 1 actually :P

Shopping!

I was feeling bored yesterday around 12ish midnight.

This, is what happened when one's bored.

Eyeing on :

Front

I like the details and the not so expensive price tag ;)

Back

Front

This one is on sale!! Costs around USD$30+ only. Cheap aye? ^.^ I want!


I love this especially the hood. Hehe.. me think it's good for rough wear eg : trekking in the mountains :)

Then last week, me bought :



Dang! Pics too small.. Can't see the details that i wanna show eg : neckline, sleeves and the back of the dress which has got a tie.

Then the gf showed this to me saying that she thinks i might like it and u bet i do girl!


Unfortunately, the one i wanted was black not lemon but at USD$11+, lemon will do too!! Kekeke.. :P

Hope the order will go through because till now, no confirmation yet :(

And my lemmings... Heh.

Tried 2 jackets are Zara last week and i am still thinking about them :P This time round, Zara has got quite a few nice coats that made me wanna buy them all!

Something similar to the ones i have tried :



The similarity for this piece with the one i am eyeing on is the neckline but the Zara's looks abit better and it's a 3/4 sleeves in chili red with black buttons. Very classy and chic~

The second outerwear that i tried on was picked by mil. Mil loves asking me to try on clothings for her to see, especially the ones she fancies but it was me who fell in love with it in the end. Grrr.. :P



It looks something like this except that it's shorter, different colour, different belt and slightly different neckline + not so bulky. Zara's more fitting.

Very chic i tell ya!

But but.. *sniffs* the price is pretty exorbitant :(

$219 each!

How to buy?

Er, don't ask me why outerwear..

Nope, i'm not travelling anytime soon. It's just that i like collecting nice clothings and i have this small obsession with dresses and outerwear especially. Lol.

For just in case mah! ;)

Malacca

I last went when i was 12 years old with my parents and sisters. The only thing i remembered was the red church, the A Famosa and the ruined church-looking building on the hill.

Since 1-2 years ago when the boys were a little older, i wanted to bring them there quite badly everytime when i travel pass it on the way to KL. But because i was alone with the boys, i don't quite dare and if we are with the husband, hb isn't keen *kabish*.

So it was a good thing that my younger sister who is currently working at Maersk managed to book her company's holiday house in A'Famosa Resort for 3 days 2 nights last weekend. I finally get to bring the kids to the place i have once been when i was a child!

Additionally, it was with my own family [parents , sisters and nephews]. Double joy! ;)

Some random pics picked out of the hundereds.. Heh.

In front of the red building, with windmill behind us

Do ignore my jacket. I had it on because it was too hot! I can feel my skin burning without it. Malacca is hot... super hot!

The sister who loves beep to bits...

Stairs, stairs, stairs and more stairs! *faint*

I love going out / holiday with my family. They really know how to help me to take care of my boys. When beep first saw them, he cried like nobody's business. But the sisters were pretty adamant on carrying him. So they spent quite some time playing and fooling with him to warm him up a bit.

Before i know it, they were already carrying him! This, is what i really like about my family. They love my children and they show it. They don't give up easily. My sisters will keep on trying and trying till they get him.

And best of all, they will help me to hold their hands when we are out, clean them up when they are dirty, basically, doing things that mothers should do without me asking them to. Going on a holiday with them is almost like going for a holiday myself sans kids!

Simply fantabulous! Grin. [yeah, lazy mommy here!]

Heh. The sister who can't keep her mouth to herself! :P

On our second day, my eldest sister and family joined us but by the time she got to Malacca, it was already supper time!

Then on our last day, we went to the Safari in the resort. Eldest sister got us all a discounted ticket at half the usual price through contacts and it was her treat! Yay.. :D

Heffalump and us :)

The place where we had our lunch in town was pretty cool! Check out the pic below.

I had chicken rice balls and the rest had the normal rice because they have already tried the balls before. Unfortunately, the rice balls are nothing to shout about.

Basically, they are shaped into balls that's all. Because of how they are made, the rice is pretty hard. Me no like. Give me the normal fluffy rice anytime!




There are also a spiral staircase and a place where u can rent the King's costume and take photographs for a fee in the restaurant. And oh, there was an antique trishaw in it too.

After our lunch at Jongker St, we walked over to a shop opposite which sells excellent chendol and ice kachang. Another adorable antique shop...


So cute hor.. ;)

The boys and my nephews and their play station *shakes head* Boys!!

And the sisters?

Guess what were they doing? ^.^

Kidnapped my beep!

They brought him to the room for a molesting session! Hehehehee.... It was only when beep started to protest then i got to know about it :)

Too bad the trip was just a 3d2n thingie.. aihs. We had so much fun!

I love love love love my sisters and family. They truly rock! My sisters are not only my sisters. They are my confidante, best friends and activity partners. Too bad my 2nd sis wasn't able to join us this time round. She is residing in Taipei. Too far to come! :(

Sometimes i wonder how life would be without my many many sisters.... i simply cannot imagine if i only had 1 brother. Scary!

Driving up north

I drove up North again last weekend, for 3 days 2 nights stay.

It's tiring. My most tiring journey so far i must say.

Because there are 2 newly installed speed cameras! I think most Singaporeans would not have known because the signs are in Malay unless they are informed or a seasoned traveller.

For those who drive up often, the sign is a small rectangular yellow board placed right in the middle of the road divider which says 'Awas Perangkap Had Laju'. There you have it. Keke.. the Malaysian's TP is so gonna hate me now! :P

The 2 mentioned speed cameras are only in the Johor state. After that, no more cameras but there'll be real police though.

There was one incident happened which got me laughing out loud evilly. Lol. I'm mean!!

When i was driving up on Friday, a car opposite flashed at us [other cars and i]. Usually this means police ahead. The few cars and i slowed down of course. Then, suddenly a Z4 zoomed passed us from behind, my guess is he was going at 160km/h at least and even tailgate a poor car right ahead of me so close so that i frowned though it wasn't me that he tailgated.

Right after the poor car changed his lane, the Z4 of course revved up and on the go again. But guess what happened after that?

In less than 5 seconds, i saw the Z4 being pulled over by a police car. Hahaa.. The last thing i saw was the police officer walking over to the driver who happened to be a young male driver. Hehehehe... I tell you, the look on the driver's face was priceless. I burst out laughing so loud and evilly that my helper who was sleeping woke up asking what'd happened.

Seriously, serve him right!!

But but.. i do do the same too, speeding. However, i don't tailgate until that close lah you know. So very dangerous. I bet yeah, other drivers do laugh at me too whenever i got stopped by police for speeding. Grin :P

Oh well.. but i was really good during this trip up. Honest.

That is why i said the trip was tiring because i normally do a 140km/h at least. The length of this journey is almost the same time i take to travel back to KL. I was that slow *yawn*.

Plus i have to i- keep an eye on the road, ii- check the rear and side mirror every 3-5 seconds when i'm on the fast lane over taking to see if there's a mad driver who tailgates me in that few seconds [it happened really, in just 2-3 seconds.. it was like now you don't see it, now you see it, in a mere few seconds. They are that fast!], iii- keep track of my speed - 110km/h throughout [don't want my effort of not speeding to go wasted just in case i got caught for that few seconds of unconscious speeding] iv- keep a look out for cars opposite who are kind enough to flash to warn and v- entertaining the boys too!

Tired ah.. but i think for now, i'll keep to 110km/h. Damn those cameras but but they are good for peeps like me :P

Oh, because i was good, i also managed to siam another road block yesterday on the way home.. Hehehe. U say lah, the cameras good or not? ^.^

If not for them, i would be RM100 or more poorer!

Financiers give away

Something which i have said i would bake again. Financier ;)

This time, it was meant to be given away though, to some nice aunties and in laws whom i felt i owed big time. Hehehe...

Super big one at the side is for the husband's breakfast

First, it was the egg auntie. Yupyup, i have got an egg auntie! Heh. She delivers eggs to me. Fresh eggs from Lim Chu Kang whenever i needed a tray of them - 30pcs. All gorgeous eggs and you can really tell.

There was once she even brought me 2 types of really fresh vegetables, from Lim Chu Kang again. So fresh that my helper couldn't help but to smell it. Hahahaa.. though they weren't flowers!

Okayyy... fine..... i did the same too! Lol.

I can't decide which colour i like better, the fairer ones or the more golden ones. So i baked 2 batches of 2 different colour financiers :P

Then there's aunty Shirley who never fails to bring me cook books whenever she comes to visit. She used to be hb's old neighbour who works in a publishing company.

Every now and then, the workers are asked if they want any of the excess books that got printed and this very nice aunty Shirley will always get some for me and my boys :)



Of course, for the in laws too. It has been quite some time since i last gave them any of my bakes because these days, we usually eat them all! *hide*

Knowing how much my mother in law fancies nuts and more nuts, half a dozen got set aside just for her but it turned out that she only had one of out 6, as usual... though she openly commented that she loves it.

One thing about my family of in laws is that they never over eat. No matter how delicious the food is. I'm amazed at their self control. Totally. Why oh why do i not have it? Dang!

pssstt : even my boys inherited it, believe it or not.. amazing! Boy1 can say no to chocolates *gasp* and ice cream too.



Financiers.

The other time i didn't have the chance to take a closed up shot of it but now i do :)

It's really soft and fluffy.. not spongey like some sponge cakes though. Because of the ground almond used, it's slightly grainy which i love.

I wanted to use sliced almonds for the topping but when i was about to finish, i realised i didn't have sliced almonds after all. Didn't want it plain so i substituted it with freshly roast walnuts. They taste just as nice if not better...

I will be making them again very soon no doubt since everyone loves them and no egg yolks! Excellent.. :)