Everything Peranakan...

Peranakan Chinese....this is term which I am proud of as I am a halfie and Peranakan Chinese runs in my blood.  Peranakan Chinese call themselves Babas (for the men) and Nyonyas (for the women).  So, what does "peranakan" means? It means descendant and we are mixed race descendants of part of chinese and part of malay.  Some of the Peranakans are Christians / Catholics and others are Buddhists and other religions.  The Peranakan food is influenced by Malay culture as the Nyonya food uses a lot of Malay herbs and spices.

My other half was looking through the old photos and we saw the Nyonya Kueh and we just had to satisfy our tastebuds.  Hence, I ransacked the kitchen and started making some kueh.  Here's what I came out with...
Pulut Tai-Tai which is delicious with Kaya Jam
Pulut Inti
Ondeh-Ondeh
Kaya Toast

Here's the photos of our version of the Nyonya Kueh...

Homemade Kaya Jam
Kaya Toast

Ondeh-Ondeh, Pulut Tai-Tai which is eaten with Kaya Jam and Pulut Inti

Close-up of Pulut Inti & Ondeh-Ondeh

We finished everything within a day....haha!  That's how much we missed the nyonya kueh...

Till next time....salut!

Kueh Bahulu (Mini Egg Cake)

Kueh Bahulu is a sentimental kueh for me as this little cutie is especially baked during festive seasons such as Chinese New Year, Christmas, etc.  When I was little, my Grandma will gather all her baking stuff and will bring it under the house where the charcoal fire has been lighted and burning softly.  My Grandma will then sit at the front of the charcoal burner and make these kueh bahulu.  My aunties will be there chit-chatting with my Grandma and helps her un-mould these kueh bahulu.  And I will be there holding the fan and upon instruction, I will be fanning away to ensure that there's always constant fire in the charcoal burner. Gosh...how I miss my Grandma Rosa L.

My two kiddos were asking me about my good old days and I was telling them about kueh bahulu and such.  They were so curious that I decided to make some just for them to try it.  Furthermore, my other half was asking for it too.  As I do not have the kueh bahulu moulds, I decided to make do with my little mini muffin pan.

Here's my little kueh bahulu (mini muffin style)....

Hubby said that even though it doesn't look like kueh bahulu, the taste is just the SAME.... 

and....my 2 kiddos love it so much!!! :)

A Family Gathering...

It has been an exciting week in this household...firstly, my other half secretly baked a cake with our 2 kids and decorated it for my birthday.  I was so impressed and so proud of them...its one of my best birthday ever.  Secondly, we had a family gathering where our love ones came all the way from the city to visit us. We decided to cook some chinese food to tickle their taste buds. My little prince and little princess were so excited to welcome them.

Here's a photo of my birthday cake. My 2 kids were so proud to tell me all about how the baked the cake and decorated it with Dad.  I am so VERY proud of my other half and my two precious....*tears of joy*

Here's some photos of our family gathering.  This is a photo of the prawn crackers (keropok).  Keropok is a deep fried cracker made from prawns and flour. My little prince always call it "chinese magic" and he loves deep frying the keropok with me.

Here's a photo of the fried rice which we made. Fried rice is a very popular dish in SEA. We used plain white rice and stir-fry it in the wok, adding in eggs, peas, ham, onions and garlic.

Here's a photo of our finger food...sotong balls with sweet chilli sauce. This little babies are delicious. Once you take the first bite, you will want more...haha! Sotong balls are like meat balls, but instead of meat, its made with sotong (squid).

We also made sweet and sour chicken and mongolian beef.  Sweet and sour chicken or pork is a very popular Cantonese dish. This is a dish which is loved my adults and children alike. We have to deep fry the meat first. Then, we have to make the sweet and sour sauce. Once the sauce is prepared, we will add in the deep fried meat into the sauce, add in the green pepper, pineapple, etc. Here's a photo of our sweet and sour chicken.

Next the mongolian beef dish. This is a very popular dish in America and over here too. This dish consists of sliced beef and its stir-fried with veggies and a spicy sauce.  Here's a photo of our mongolian beef.

We had roll cake for dessert with tea.  When we finished our dessert, all of us couldn't move...haha!!!....too full...haha!!!  We also 'ta-pau' some so that they can bring it home for dinner...

It was an awesome week.... :)

Long Time No See...

It has been ages since I last wrote on this blog. I have been so busy...completing my last semester, working oh the days which I do not attend classes, trying to spend time with my kids, etc, etc, etc...golly! Its pretty hard work...no I understand why some people say that 24 hours is just ain't enough. I totally get it even though lots of my friends said that if I have better time management, I will not be like so.  However, with 2 kids who need your attention when you get home throw all your "time management" skills out of the window...that's how I feel as I want to catch-up with my kids, watch them grow, the milestones, etc, etc, etc.

I have not been doing much cake decorating lately....I wish I had more time but I will surely do one for my lovely princess on her birthday which is next month.  She requested for Strawberry Short Cake...hmm. That will be a challenge to me. Fingers cross!!!

Here's some of the photos which I took when I was working during the long school holidays in December 2011. I really enjoyed myself as I made so many different types of desserts for the dessert buffet counter.  Had an awesome time there!

We had a small family reunion dinner during Chinese New Year and then rushed to the temple for prayers and blessings. My 2 precious wanted to watch the lion dance and fire crackers.  Here's some photos of our simple reunion dinner.

I finally made frittata for my DH and he loved it ever since...ha!ha! Frittata is just an egg-based dish. I have been asking my Chef where frittata comes from and he said its from Italy and the meaning is "to fry". However, we do not fry frittata...not the version which I am using though, I bake it in the oven.  I enrich the frittata with mushrooms, bacon, sausages, veggies, potatoes and whatever I can find in the fridge.  Here's one of the frittata photos which I took.

In February, one of my friends asked if I could do a cake for her. She wanted to surprise her darling BF. I am so glad to hear that both of them loved it. Here's a photo I took before I delivered it to her house.

Lastly, here's a photo of one of the items which I made at my current workplace. My Chef is just awesome as he wants me to better myself and sharpen my skills. Eclairs is made from choux pastry filled with cream and decorated with chocolate and icing sugar. According to my Chef, eclairs originated from France.

Last but not least, we went to the temple to celebrate Lord Buddha's birthday. This is the day where we can bathe the little baby Buddha.  We will bathe him 3 times to improve harmony and inner balance in our lives.

That's the end of this post. Made baked pasta for tomorrow's potluck.  Can't wait to savour my friends' dishes...yummy-yum-yum.

Meet The Dinosaurs...Explore-a-saurus

To continue with my previous post about school holidays....
Besides bring my 2 precious to Fairy Park, we also went to the zoo and to Sciencework where we brought them to Meet The Dinosaurs.  I really had to do some reading up before the trip as I know nuts about dinosaurs except from all the movies I watched.  I ended up reading a simple book about dinosaurs (Meet The Dinosaurs by DK Readers) to my kids and they really enjoyed the trip to Sciencework.  So, who did they meet there?
Apatosaurus
Maiasaura
Muttaburrasaurus
Stegosaurus
Triceratops
Tyrannosaurus Rex

When my little Prince commented that its hard to pronounce the names of the dinos, I remembered The Doodlebops and searched for the DVD and played it for him. After several days of watching The Doodlebops, I am proud to say my little Prince can now call the dinos by their names...wohoo!!!

Here's some photos to share:

And I will end this post with the Doodlebops song -


If your having trouble
And you can't remember
How to say certain things
All you've got to do
Is sing a little tune and
Make it like a little game

Tricera cera tops tops Triceratops
Tricera cera tops tops Triceratops is the name

Hey, that works really well
What do you think?

Veloca loca raptor raptor Velocarapoter
Veloca loca raptor raptor Velocarapoter is the name

Wow, I like it, it really goes work

Lets try one more time
Here we go

Stego stego saurus saurus Stegosaurus
Stego stego saurus saurus Stegosaurus is the name

All right
Now you try it
With Stegosaurus

Stego stego saurus saurus Stegosaurus
Stego stego saurus saurus Stegosaurus is the name


I think we should do it one more time

Stego stego saurus saurus Stegosaurus
Stego stego saurus saurus Stegosaurus is the name

School Holidays...

This is not a post about food...its about a Mum's roles in a family.  How did I ended up talking about this? Well...as you all know, school holidays have started and I have to put on my planner hat to plan activities for my 2 precious. I chatted with a friend of mine and she was amazed that I had so much energy even though I have 2 active kids. Boy, oh boy, she doesn't see me all tired out, dying to crawl into my warm bed...

I never knew before I got married that being a married woman needs to wear so many hats - Wife (to my DH), Mother (to my 2 precious kids), Daughter (to my parents), Friend (to my friends), Teacher, Artist, Chef, Chambermaid, Cleaner, Taxi Driver, Police Officer cum Detective, Counsellor, Nurse (to my family)....the list goes on, I tell you.  24 hours a day is just not enough and no matter how hard you try, even though you neglect your precious "sleeping hours", somehow, something is just NOT done...like folding the laundry, vacuuming the carpet, etc. There's no more "Me" time once you are a Mother.  So, when DH gives me this precious gift "I take care of the kids and you do what you want to do", I will take it without a single thought as its a seldom thingy. But, DH is my rock...he helps whenever he can and I really appreciate and love him for it.

Spring is here and we finally decided to bring our 2 precious to Fairy Park as we felt that they know the fairy tales pretty well now. So, we head off to Fairy Park at 8ish and we got there within 2 hours.  We had fun there and I was really happy to hear my 2 precious telling us the stories about Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, etc. I am so proud to hear my 2 precious being our personal storytellers of the day. :)  We walked through the Fairytale Land, went to the Model Trains room, went up the Summit and after lunch, went down to the Camelot Playground.

Here's some photos of our trip to Fairy Park

We really had a wonderful time at Fairy Park.  Will definitely go again...

And they live happily ever after....