I'm A.L.I.V.E S.T.I.L.L.

As per the subject. Well more active than ever before. Let's blame the Lit'l Precious for it. I've neglected this blog for moons. I ONLY have time surfing in the wee hours of the morning (like now), when the Lit'l Princess is fast asleep and after I've done ALL my never ending chores OR when I'm at work. Which of course does not warrant me to have my ass sit-ed down for hours of blogging and updates. That's call skiving...

Honestly, I've been cooking and baking and trying countless of toddlers recipes BUT NEVER have time to actually blog about it. What more to upload the pics I've dutyfully snapped. Sad..... I reckon you can put it as I'm damn lazy and would like to catch on my sleep rather than facing the monitor and wait for the uploads. Oh yeah, I'm in need of 72 solid hours of peaceful sleep with no small hands harrassing my boobs for the indefinite milk supply. Imagine, you in slumber and every 3 hours, there'll be a voice with a sharp outburst "NAK mek-mek, NAK mek-mek, NAaaak" (want milk). Hish... sometimes, I just roll her to her oblivious Papa who in no sense will wake up coz all he'll say is, "aren't you the one she's asking for?" jeeesz... Each night I'm always ready with a bottle of 240ml warm milk to stuff her. But you will notice these tiny arms shoving hard and grab for the ultimate boobs for her nightly dose. Only sometimes I'm able to get away with serving her bottled milk. Else, it'll be the boobs to go. Oh, and mine you, the Lit'l Princess still needs 3 x serving of milk (for bottled) every night. If BF, it'll be countless self-service. So, a 72 hours deep sleep is a justifying proposition!

Evenso, I'm still loving every moment of it albeit being really tired each morning. This priceless experience will soon ceased with time. My Lit'l Princess is growing healthy at 19months now. Soon, she'llbe starting her playgroup classes. I'm also enrolling her for ballet, violin and aikido. Her dictionary has increased since the last. Oh, and she said "I.B.U." on the morning of 1st Ramadhan! Sweet rite. I KNEW she was saving the best for last. But it had last been change to her twang of her tongue to "A.BO". Whatever la.

Back to the updates of this blog, I PROMISE for the gazillion times, that I will not forsake blogging. Frankly, I had forgotten Daylillies until a long-time friend SMS on my recipe of Apple Pie. I do hope she succeeded.

My Apologies...

Do you peeps noticed that time now flies really... really fast...? OR is it just me...?!!! My Precious Litl Princess is coming 15mths soon. She's already walking, uttered her first ever word - S.T.A.R., drank more formula, eating solid food oh... and practically turning into a vainpot... She won't be out of the house without her (1) hair clip, (2) her yellow-flowery watch, (3) DORA handbag OR Hippo bagpack, (4) batik prints hat and (5) shoes & socks (now she adores the sandals that makes that squeeky sound whenever she steps. I HATE those. But they were a gift from her nanny, so ok lar). Now, I dress her in more skirts and dresses. Ooooh... I just loves the way she sashays... with her diaper-butt and tiny steps.

Before, I can't wait for her to start flipping, then crawling, then cruising and finally walking. But if I couldturn back time... I'd really prefer her asa newborn always. Pssst... it's easier to maintain. I have NO regrets. I love her just the way she is now. "B" is ever so proud being the Papa. Yeah, why shouldn't "B" becoz the 3rd word she uttered was no other than "Pa..pa". 2nd was T.O.Y. No IBU yet... But I KNOW, it'll just be in a matter of time..

Eversince, Litl Princess came, I seemed to have really littl time left for blogging. OR maybe, I just want to spend all the time I have with Litl Princess. I guess the latter. Eh, my time management is STILL outstanding. If not, how can I still juggle work, household chores and lookng after Litl Princess every night and weekends without help. Oh, the man of the house helps a great deal too. Kudos to "B". He is what I call the "New-Age-Parent". Thank God, he shares the workload with me. If not I'll be crushed and stick-thin. Eh, I do like the latter. Running after Litl Princess is a cheap workout. Breastfeeding also helps to maintain some of my weight. I'm still a couple of kilos above my pre-pregnancy weight. "B" said I looked fuller... Yeah, whatever... I still can't fit into my favourite size 2 jeans.

Meals for us are many a times packet food. Now, with the recession and all... packet food is a tad cheaper after much calculations (since there's only the TWO of us adults). Still... homecooked food beats handsdown. PROMISE, I'll download all the pics I've saved soon...

Wait for me to blog again soon... Don't give-up on this page yeah... To all, who dropped by, many, many thanks for the support. To some who just don't know what to do with their life and trashed things here, I still wish you well. The old me will just say this "keep your s**t outta my space you dinghead". It's the Litl Princess who mellowed me down. Till then... ToodLes...

Baby Formula... hmmm...???

I've been BUSY with the Little Princess. I did cooked and baked but it seems that I NEVER can find the time to blog! Jeesh... OR I'm just layzieeee OR I didn't want to lose any precious moments with my one and only. I'd pick the latter. I cooked every alternate days and baked whenever time I could squeeze in. SO I'm not lazieee huh....

Anyways, tonight's different. I had to clear 2 mini baguettes in the fridge, thus the night baking. Morever, Little Princess is sound asleep. She's dead tired after playing peek-a-boo with her Papa and me. Oh, she's 10 mths + now. My little darling is growing up fast. I've just browsed thru her pics when she was like 1 to a week old. So much had changed. She's like already cruising and could stand for like 5 seconds on her own. Perhaps she could just walk any moment now...

Ok, I can't blog for long. I've a philosophy to follow. When the Little Princess sleeps, I GO TO SLEEP TOO. The least I could waste is an hour. Besides, studies did proved that a person who have adequate rest of 8 hours or more are slimmer. Therefore, I steadfast to this rule aites!

So here goes. I baked Choc Chips Bread Pudding with a special ingredient ---> BABY FORMULA. And it bloody worked! Tasted bloody good! For mommies who have many samples in hand and nearing to their expiry dates. Go try this recipe. That is if you have no qualms about it...

Choc Chip Baby Formula Bread Pudding
2 mini baguettes or 1 normal baguette
150ml hot water
20 scoops baby formula (I used Enfalac and Nan Pro)
5 tbsp condense milk
2 eggs
200g chocolate chips
Method
Mix well hot water and baby's formula in a bowl. Add in condense milk and mix well. Add in eggs and mix. In another bowl, shred the baguettes into bitesizes. Pour in the mixture and let the bread soak in the mixture. Add inchocolate chips. Use a non-stick muffin tray and scoop in full. Bake for 20 minutes in 180'C. Serve warm with a drizzle of condense milk or ice-cream...

Oh, to answer with a number of similar queries. YES, alternatively, other milk powder can be a substitute to Baby's Formula. Try with Fernleaf, Everyday, Dumex, Anlene etc... You could also use just cindense milk. Just up the amount (let's say x 3 more). Add in a couple of tbsp of creamer for added thickness. Apart from powdered milk, one can use full cream milk too. : )

BLACK is Just A Colour

DON'T be turned-off by the colour.

DON'T be turned-off by its look.

DON'T be turned-off by the ingredients.

DON'T turn-off this page either...

Black Glutinous Rice Cake
2 cups black glutinous rice
1.5 cups AP flour
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup vege oil
1 cup powdered milk
Method
Steam glutinous rice till soften and put aside. In a bowl, mix glutinous rice with vege oil. In another bowl, beat eggs and mix with sugar. Pour in sugar mixture into glutinous rice bowl. Mix well. Add in baking soda. Add in flour little-by-little and mix well. Add in powdered milk and combine thoroughly. Grease a baking tin and bake for 40 minutes at 180'C. Let cool before cutting. It's soft and chewy... For the more adventurous, add in chocolate drops for an extra ooomph... Do try...

The get-together-iftar a SUCCESS

We had a GREAT time! Little Princess had FUN! GREAT FUNTIME with all the other babies and toddlers. She was an independent baby. I let her sit and crawl around as she deemed wished. Although I STRONGLY disapproved of letting her crawl on the tiled flooring, I obliged today seeing that she is ENJOYING herself. Next time I know NOT to dress her in that "ra-ra" skirt. Long pants or 3/4 pants would be most appropriate. Her knees were red due to all the crawling. She wasn't cranky, was all friendly with my mates and most of all she could be-friend with the other kids. I was all smiles when she sat in a circle amidst other toddlers above 12months and played with them! Not onced she wanted to be carried by her Ibu and Papa and yeah, she even missed her milk-milk time with me. How to breastfeed when other kids are peering about??? She was a darl...

At least, this'll prepare me when Hari Raya comes next Wednesday. I'll know how to deal with Little Princess with all the 'chaos'. This'll be her FIRST Idilfitri with us and I'm positive we'll enjoy it together! We've been teaching her to 'salam' with the elders and she did it with grace. I'll post up a pic for proof!

We mates did a lot of catching ups and you ought to hear the noise level. With the kids and elders at one go... hmmm... Kakak M house macam nak roboh! Not included the mess we did to her house too! There were lotsa food for iftar. Sweet Sour Fish, Opor Ayam, Ayam Kicap Pedas, Kangkong Goreng Belachan, Beef Kailan, Chapchai, Sup Tulang Merah, Murtabak, Fishball Soup, Fried Rice, Fried Chicken, Lychee Muffins, Chocolate Brownie, Doughnuts, Shepherd's Pie, Bubur Pulut Hitam, Roll Cakes, Choc Chips Cookies, Rempeyek, Ice Cream Soda, tea and coffee... phew... we had a fulfilled iftar. AND for once I had a satisfying break fast after 26 days of simple meal of kuehs (coz I had to rush to MIL to fetch Little Princess. So our break fast are short). I'm looking forward to the jalan raya with the mates.

Since we're at our last week of Ramadhan...
I'm taking this oportunity to wish ALL my Muslims brothers and sisters -

"SELAMAT HARI RAYA IDILFITRI
MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN
from Daylillies, "B" and Little Princess!"

Iftar Chocolate Brownie Cake

Harlow.... people...!!!!! I'm back, back, back! It feels good to continue again after M.I.A for soooo loooong... "My apologies..." Let's blame the Little Princess for this aites ;-) hahahahaaaa... I had been cooking and baking every now and then but had no time to snap pics and whatmore to update! Let's say, I'm S.L.O.W. and I wanted to put ALL my attention to the Little Princess. After work, my time is SOLELY to Little Princess, weekends DEFINITELY with Little Princess. In fact any other free time is with Little Princess. My world revolves around Little Princess AND also "B" (he's NOT forgotten huh!). Sheeesh... the time flew too fast when you've become a Mommy. But I loved EVERY minute of it. TIRED I am, but that's put a side when I see my Little Princess SMILE! So tonight, I put in a tad more effort to stay up later to blog.

I hope I'm not too late to still wish the Muslims brothers and sisters "SELAMAT BERPUASA!". This will be the last week for us to fully utilise the holy month of Ramadhan before Eid Mubarak arrives this Wednesday. This year, I didn't bake any goodies for Hari Raya. Bought a couple of tidbits and some kuehs (just to fill up the table for guests). Maybe next year I'll be a little more productive.

Anyhows, tomorrow, the mates are going to gather to a friend's house for a last minute iftar. I'm determine to go (eventhough "B" had to work till after 8pm). I'm going to 'show' Little Princess around. That answer tonight's blogging and late night baking. It's suppose to be a potluck iftar. So I'm gonna showcase my Chocolate Brownie Cake. "B" already had a go. So if you peeps are reading this, you'll know the answer why there's a missing piece. Oh, "B" gave his thumbs up. "B" said I still got the 'touch'. Ahuh, appreciated the comment. So now just shush and eat hokay...

This time, I didn't bother to open the recipe book. It was based on memory. The recipe books had been kept in the store room to make space for Little Princess' books. Oh yeah, she have books from 0mths to 3years old. THE MOMMY is kiasu... Thank GOD the brownie turned out edible. phew... Also, I put in little extra effort to make the icing so to make the brownie a tad presentable. Now, it's safely in the fridge for tomorrow's iftar.

I hope to log on often after this. Oh, for updates, my Little Princess can crawl now. She's exploring every nooks and corners of the house. My baby is growing up. Her favourite daily affairs is to be a dinosaur (this week she's a Brontosaurous). Hari Raya week, we promised she'll be a T-Rex. You all ought to hear her growl... Till then...
Ingredients for Iftar Chocolate Brownie Cake
(DO NOTE that all these are not measured coz I wanted to minimise the washing part)
400g hazelnut chocolate
water
2 eggs
brown sugar
biocarbonate soda
canola oil
AP flour
Ingredients for Chocolate Sauce
200g chocolate
1.5 tbsp salted butter
Method
Double boil chocolate. Add water till it becomes a smooth paste. I know that many will disagree with adding water in chocolate. But I had seen a cooking series on Discovery Channel that, if a chocolate sauce is 'spoilt' when water accidentally comes into contact, DO NOT throw the mixture. Just add in more water and keep stirring till it becomes a sauce again. Thus, I 'purposely' added water in today's recipe. It worked! Put the chocolate mixture aside to cool. In another bowl, beat eggs and mixed in sugar. Stir well till combined. Pour in canola oil into chocolate mixture. Add in egg mixture into chocolate mixture. Stir to combine. Sprinkle some biocarbonate soda. Add in AP flour bit-by-bit and stir well. My gauge to stop adding AP flour is when the mixture becomes a thick paste. Similar to when you make muffins. Grease a baking pan with melted butter. Bake @ 180'C for 20 minutes or when nothing sticks on the skewer when you test it. Place on a coling rack.
For the chocolate sauce, double boil the chocolate with butter. Slab onto the cooled chcolate cake and 'dress' accordingly. Put in the fridge for a couple of hours before cut to serve. Its full chocolatey brownie cake. Those chocolate lovers will definitely enjoy this. Go try!

M.I.A Yet Again...

Hiya peeps.... it's been sometime since I last logged in. Have started work and now staying with Mommy (for the time being till I get to a better time management and routine with Little Princess and "B"). Mommy looking after Little Princess. Erm... "B" looking after himself lar. She's 4 months as of today. Time sure flies to darn fast. I kinda forgot how she was when she's a newborn... jeesh... Little Princess is now a healthy 6.2kg (weight @ 3mth). Lotsa antics, goo-goo - gaaa-gaaing etc. She's still on total BF & EBF and already doing well with the bottle! Still remembered how we had a HARD time teaching her to suck from the bottle. I cried almost EVERYTIME! Heart wrenching! Ooops... tooo much side tracking... On the cooking issue, I'll be back soon. Wait up for my new entry. Pweety soooon...

Love you all,

Daylillies

Mango Chocolatey Cake

Mango season is in right now. Erm... WAIT. I think... mangoes have no season nowadays. Daddy had been bringing boxes of mangoes from his garden. At one point, it was mango for breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, tea, dinner and supper! I'm NOT complaining. Who doen't want free ripe juicy yellowey ultra sweet mangoes. Since I'm BF, I reckon it's always good to have fruits in your diet. Mango is a fruit. So good lar. Heheheeeh... Since there's sooo many mangoes, there'll bound to be left a side for sometime before the next person yearns for them (which I foresee will be a looong while). So... I packed some home to make this cake. A little change from having the fresh bite. Now... what should I do with the one, two, three, five, seven... ten more mangoes?!!! Eat lar... No way I'm going to waste them! Oh, I brought some to Mama-B too.

Ingredients for Mango Chocolatey Cake
2 cups bread flour
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup warm milk
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp Van Houten cocoa powder
250g Cadbury plain milk chocolate
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
Method
Beat eggs and brown sugar. Add in melted butter. In another bowl, sift bread flour, baking powder. Add in cocoa powder and salt. Pour in egg mixture into flour mixture. Fold in well. Pour in warm milk. Break in milk chocolate and mix thoroughly. Let the milk chocolate be chunky coz they'll melt while baking. Add in sunflower seeds. Bake @ 180'C for 25 minutes. Let cool before serve.

Apple & Carrot Muffins

I got apples. I got carrots. I got an idea. I'll make muffins. Erm... don't get me wrong. Not that I'm mega crazy about muffins. I'm just nuts about the silicone muffin casings that I have. Thus... EVERYTHING also I bake in these casings. Besides, it's easier. No cutting needed. Just peel and bite. Ez-pz. I can't wait to get my hands on the love shapes silicone casing. Spotlight is having a VIP Club sale. They're selling the cups @ 12pks for $22.45. Oooh... there's also the cookie cutters @ 50pcs for $18.70. Cookie cutters come in alphabet shapes, insects (e.g butterfly), numbers and flowers etc... Oooh... also gotta grab that 'White Sweet Server'. It's a three tiers tray. Ideal for serving cupcakes, muffins and other little treats. Can't wait for Little Princess to grow up. Can play masak-masak with me!

Kueh Lapis Beras

This is definitely a first. Been hesitating to try make this kueh coz it's bloody tedious lar... It needs to be done layer-by-layer and with Little Princess it's a no-no kueh for me. But "B" persisted and said that he'll look after Little Princess while I went about my kueh making. Baby behaved tremendiously well. "Mesti lah dengan Papa dia. Her beloved playmate kan..." After almost an hour... I succeeded. Phew...! No more making htis for a while now. Gotta wait till Little Princess grows older. Anyhows, "B" enjoyed this pinky-white layered kueh to the last bit. He sooo loved kuehs... In fact, he sooo love EVERYTHING!!!

Ingredients for Kueh Lapis Beras
250g rice flour
350g fine sugar
250ml water
300ml boiling water
200ml thick coconut milk
2 tbsp tapioca flour
1 tsp salt
Method
1) Mix rice flour, tapioca flour and fine sugar.
2) Pour in water a little at a time.
3) Pour in boiling water and mix well.
4) Pour in thick coconut milk.
5) Divide into two mixtures.
6) Drop in red colouring into 1 mixture.
7) Steam layer-by-layer. Each layer will take appx 5 minutes.
8) Let cool before cutting and serving.

Picnic! Picnic!

It's been a looong... looong... while since I last when to the beach. Intended to take a dip BUT Little Princess is erm... too little. Gotta wait till she gets a little older. I had been waiting for this outing the whole week! I've packed Little Princess' bag as early as last weekend. All's ready to go. It was Sista-B's idea to have the small gathering. Was a good idea and I second that. Instead of having it at home (w/c usually will be at mine), we are going out for a picnic. Changi to be exact.

AND... what is a get-together without FOOD huh... huuh...?!!! Thus, it was a great excuse for me to plan what to bring. Not that I have to BUT I want to! Only downturn is that I can't make much elaborated goodies. I need recipes that are fast, easy, less time consuming to make and importantly... easy to transport around. Nowadays, I can't just lugged my favourite designer handbags no more. It's gotta be a bagpack. No kidding yeah! Oh, also we have to have the pram too. My stuffs would mainly be the mainly keys, my Braun Buffel coin pouch, vaseline and a hairclip. Haiz... so tak glamour...

Anyhows, I managed to prepare these treats for the picnic. Chocolate Muffins, Mini Apple Pies and Bread Pizza. These three are the simplest I could come up with. I hope, Little Princess will behave tomorrow. Hmmm.... my motherly instinc tells me she WILL...

Ingredients for Chocolate Muffins courtesy from joyofbaking.com
(I followed the Chocolate Ricotta Muffins MINUS the Ricotta cheese thou)

Ingredients for Mini Apple PiesBread Pizza ez-pz

Pear Pie for Me Beloved

Mama-B gave me some pears when we visited her last weekend. They were over-riped. "B" loved those but I prefer the hardy ones. I love the crunch in them. I knew, if I were to let those pears sit longer in the fridge, they'll meet "Mr Bin" someday. Eventhough "B" loves soft pears, he'll take blimming ages to finish them. I simply can't waste them... Hmmm... Why not make pies with them?! I got the idea whilst breastfeeding (BF). It's been ages since I last made pies. Last made was during the Girl's Day In.

Last time, I had the luxury of TIME. Now, I'm always in a mad rush. Only relaxing time will be during BF. You simply can't do anything else while doing that. All will need to come to a stop for me Little Princess milk-milk time. I had to 'steal' time to do this pie. I placed Little Princess in her rocker and switched on Cartoon Network. At the moment, "Ben 10" was showing. I had 30 minutes. In a jiffy, the base was mixed, rolled and baked. The filling cubes, mixed and poured in. I let a huge sigh when the pie was baking in the oven. Hah...! I beat the time limit. She;s still watching teevee.

The pie turned out beautiful. I did an open face coz I made an error in the measurement for the skin. I should have doubled it to do a top portion. Argh... nvm. "B" had a slice before going to work. Think I'm going to make it again this weekend for our beach outing with Sister-B. I'll do them in minis...

Ingredients for Pear Pie
Filling:
3 pears - cubed
5 tbsp brown sugar
2.5 tbsp AP flour
a pinch of salt
1 tsp cinnamon powder
0.5 tsp nutmeg powder
Method - In a bowl, mix all thoroughly.
Skin:
1.5 cups AP flour
1/3 cup UHT milk
1/3 vege oil
Method: In abowl mix all up with a fork. Roll into half cm thick and place in a baking tray/pan. Bake for 10 minutes in 180'C. Take out and let cool. Pour in fillings and bake for another 15 minutes.

Banana Almond and Chips Muffins

Going to the Doc tomorrow and then to Mama-B. Made these Banana Almond and Chips Muffins for the family. Hokay, gotta go tend to Little Princess and make her go to sleep. Tomorrow gotta see the Doc early am.

Ingredients for Banana Almond and Chips Muffins
2 cups AP flour
8 bananas
1 cup ground almond
1/4 cup butter - melted
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup mini choc chips
1 tsp biocarbonate soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup buttermilk
Method
Preheat oven to 180'C. In a bowl, sift AP flour and add in biocarbonate soda and ground almond. In another bowl, mashed bananas and add in melted butter. In another bowl, whisk eggs and sugar and pour in buttermilk. Combine egg mixture into mashed bananas. Fold in flour mixture. Add in raisins, mini choc chips and salt last. Bake for 25 minutes.

Roast Chicken & Lemon Almond Pound Cupcakes

Each morning it'll always be the same routine for the both of us. Little Princess wakes up and have her milk-milk. Then, she'll laze around and I'll be rushing to set-up her bathing apparatus. In the mean time, "B" will tend to her 'needs'. She LOVES to play with her Papa. And I mean she REALLY LOVES it! "B" will 'baby talk' with her, teaching her to sit-up, sit-up, crawl, prop herself up with her tiny arms, walk her (with his hands under her armpits of course) and do whatever. Little Princess looks foward for bathe-bathe time. She'll just sit back and relax whilst her Papa scrubs and clean her all over. One things she hates is to use a cotton ball to clean her cutey face. She'll grunts and squirms. With our hands to wash her face she's super alright with it. After bath time, she'll latch on me and then go for a 2-3 hours nap. By then, "B" will be off to work and I'll be doing the household chores.

Thus for dinner yesterday, I managed to go to NTUC with Little Princess to get all the ingredients and do up these bits. Roasted Chicken and Lemon Almond Pound Cupcakes.

Ingredients for Roasted Chicken
1 medium fresh chicken
Hoisin sauce
soy sauce
lemon rind
lemon juice
dried rosemary
dried basil
1 large red onion
1 whole cloves garlic
2 russet potatoes
Method
Wash chicken in and out. Marinate with all the sauces above for 1 hour. Halves potatoes, quarted onion and halves garlic all with skin on. Put all in a big foil pan. Put oven to roasting point and roast for 45 minutes. Let rest before serving with fresh greens. Peel off the onion and garlic skins and spread those on a toast like butter. It'll taste sweet and creamy. No oniony nor garlicky taste at all. Try it!

Ingredients for Lemon Almond Pound Cupcakes
1.5 cups AP flour
1 cup ground almonds
1 tsp biocarbonate soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter - room temp
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup lemon juice
lemon rinds
Manuka Honey - topping (opt)
Method
Preheat oven to 180'C. In a bowl, combine flour, ground almond, biocarbonate soda and salt. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add in eggs one at a time in a low speed. Add in vanilla essence. Then add in the dry ingredients alternate with the lemon juice and milk. Whisk till smooth. Prepare cups and fill halfull coz they'll rise later. Dollop a teaspoonfull of Manuka Honey. Bake for 25 minutes. Ready to eat.

Chocolate Chips & Almond Muffins

Luckily, I didn't burnt any of these...

Little Princess is 2 months old today and she surprised me with a full diaper of poo-poo at 1am. It was soooo much that some 'ooozed' out from her back and sides. Sigh... Thanks yeah for the wonderful 'gift'. Grrr... So we got up and had to clean her in the master toilet sink. After that she latched on me for milk for a full hour (left then right). Hungry lar after so much poo-poo. After that she didn't want to go sleep BUT wanted to stay up to PLAY!!! Haish... Wrong timing lar darling... Anyways, Little Princess got sleepy only after 5-freaking-am. That was why these muffins could be baked.

I hadn't much ingredients at home coz had not replenish stocks for 2 months. I used whatever was there. Instead of the usual 1 hour to prepare these treats, it took me 3x longer! Was playing and baking at the same time. You can't imagine how exhausted we were. I was cranky but thank god... "B" was ever so patient. He was THE ONE who managed to tone down Little Princess and slept her later. Thanks Darl... I owe you loads!!!

Ingredients for Choco Chips and Alomond Muffins
1 cup ground almonds
2 cups AP flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp biocarbonate soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup warm milk
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup butter - melted
2 eggs - beaten
2 cups chocolate chips
chopped cashewnuts for topping
Method
In a bowl, mix, ground almond, AP flour, sugar, baking powder, biocarbonate soda and salt. In another bowl, mix warm milk, almong extract, melted butter and eggs. Fold chocolate chips into the batter. Combine the dry ingredients into the batter. Mix thoroughly BUT NOT too much. It'll toughen the muffins later. It'll be lumpy and that's alright. Scoop half full into muffin cups and sprinkle chopped cashewnuts. Bake at 180'C for 25 minutes. Serve warm with a hot cup of cocoa with mashmallow drops in it.

All Express Cooking

Being a Mommy is the GREATEST feeling that any women will ever feel. There's NO exact words to describe. One should go through it to feel it. And yup, after several years of 'singlehood' with "B", it was time for a third party to join us. And yesh, our Little Princess is definitely a bundle of joy.

Talking about her, I had to re-schedule my time with her around. No more about ME, ME, ME only. During the first few weeks, my time was sooooo topsy-turvy that I couldn't do any kitchen duties. Actually these are all excuses. Now, I'm retuning myself and also making time to cook and bake again for "B". Today, I did it! I made a meal with a cake included. On the days that I didn't cook, my Mommy would dilligently bring homecooked food from her home to mine. Every single day, unless on certain days when she's busy with other stuffs. THANKS MOMMY! I don't want to trouble her always. Eventhough she's ever so willing to do it. Mommy worries because I'm breastfeeding and she said I needed to eat well. Apart from that... she just want to see her granddaughter lar...

Tonight, "B" will have dinner made by yours truly. Nasi Goreng Belacan, Spiced Lamb Patties, Honey-Oyster Baked Chicken and Apple-Banana Nutella Cake. He said he wanted to fly home the moment I msg-ed him the menu! Preparing the food wasn't an easy task coz Little Princess was calling to me to carry her. I reckon it's the cold and wet weather and she just wanted to cuddle with me to feel my warmth. I surrendered after her continuous cries. Thus, the food preparations were done in batches. In the end, I managed everything. Including to blog about it all too!

Till my next kitchen duties. In the meantime, feast your eyes on these pics! Taataaa!

Ingredients for Nasi Goreng Belacan
Cooked cold rice
Half hand palm size toasted belacan
7 whole cili padis
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 large red onion - diced
2 garlic - diced
crushed black pepper
Method
Heat oil and saute diced onion and garlic. Add in whole cili padis. If you want more heat, chop the cili padis. Then add in the belacan. Stir till all combined. Pour in the cold rice and stir well till all rice grains are evenly coated. Add in soy sauce and black pepper. Let cook for several minutes and you're done.

Ingredients for Spiced Lamb Patties
500g minced lamb
1 carrot - grated
1 onion - chopped finely
1 egg
1 palm size old bread - chopped finely
a bunch of scallions - chopped finely
a bunch of corriander - chopped finely
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/3 tsp nutmeg powder
1 tsp all spice powder
a pinch of cumin seeds - pound lightly
salt to taste
crushed black peppers
Method
Mix all ingredients thouroughly. Let sit in the fridge for 1 hour for ingredients to combine and easy frying so that the patties will not break. Take a spoonfull and shape into mini patties. Shallow fry in olive oil. These can be made into bigger patties and have them as lamb-burgers. They can also be oven bake at 180'C for 20 minutes (depending on size of patties) or BBQ them.

Ingredients for Honey-Oyster Baked Chicken
1kg chicken drumlets
oyster sauce
soy sauce
sweet dark sauce
dried rosemary
extra virgin olive oil
cinnamon powder
paprika
honey
Method
Marinate all ingredients with drumlets overnight. Bake at 200'C for 25 minutes. Let drumlets set first before serving to let the juices combine.

Ingredients for Apple-Banana Nutella Cake
4 riped bananas
a handfull of dried ring apples - chopped roughly
Nutella
2 eggs
1 cup icing sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup AP flour
1 tsp biocarbonate soda
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Method
In a bowl, mashed bananas and mix with vege oil. Add chopped dried apple rings. In another bowl, beat eggs and add in icing sugar. Pour in the egg mixture into mashed bananas. Add in biocarbonate soda, cinnamon powder and nutmeg powder. Mix thoroughly. Sift AP flour bit by bit and mix the mixture well. Dollop Nutella on top. Grease a 9"x9" baking tin. Bake at 180'C for 30 minutes.

Missing Cooking!

Hi peeps! I'm now well and baby's doing great. She'll be TWO MONTHS this coming Mar 16th. Fast ain't it huh?! I was counting the days to go by when I was in my 1 month confinement period. Waiting... and waiting for the month to end and for my girl to celebrate her 1 month old. After that, time seemed to fly really fast! And before I knew it, February was over and done with and come March. She's definitely much bigger, longer and heavier than before.

I've not neglected my kitchen duties. Just that these days, I've been cooking one dish-meals and repetitions of what I've done before. Thus, no updates for the moment. I so..... missed cooking and baking. "B" had been a great help and he's giving me the leeway in the kitchen department. Thanks DARL! I'm giving my 200% to my girl before my maternity leave's over. Hokay, Baby needs her feeding now. Till, then... Holaaa!

Love Daylillies

Temporary M.I.A.

Firstly - Selamat Tahun Baru Islam to all Muslims!!!

Hi peeps, I'll be temporarily out of action in the kitchen department. Am counting down for Little Princess' arrival! I was engaged last week and gynae had predicted that I may be in labour anytime soon... Amidst the anxiety and impatient-ness... I admit that I'm pweety scared too!!! I'm praying for a safe and smooth delivery and also preparing mentally for THE DAY! Yesternight, I had some discomforts but it subsided after a while.

Immediately right after, I decided to do a last bake before our Princess' arrival to the world. Baked "B" a whole Peppermint Chocolate Brownies to munch whilst I'm in confinement period. I hope the brownies can last throughout that long (crossing my fingers yeah). I had some peppermint sticks from last Christmas and used them. All that minty flavour reacted well with the chocolatey goodness. Well, mint and chocolate do go hand-in-hand! You'll kinda have that 'cooling' sensation each time you have a bite of the brownie. Better with a cup of hot cocoa or Milo. For "B", it was his Nescafe that accompanied. I didn't take any pics coz the look is very much similar to the Chewy-Gooey Brownies only different in taste.

Hokay folks... will be missing blogging for a witsy while after this. Till the next round of cookings and bakings. Love from yours truly, Daylillies...

Another Bake of Weekend Chewy-Gooey Brownies

The flu bug had subsided (a little) and I'm getting (a little) better. Thank God nothing major happened (like me going into early contraction as predicted by gynae earlier or any other complications for that matter). But gynae is still taking precaution measures by making me visit him weekly now. It's appx 3 weeks to my EDD (Estimated Delivery Date). Since it's me first, I'm a little MORE worried. Well, who wouldn't...! I'm taking each day slowly and definitely looking forward to hold me Little Princess in my arms soon. Pweety soon!!! Still, all these didn't deter my cooking/baking spirits. It had been a lovely weekend morning today and what better way than to treat my "B" to a round or two of CHEWY-GOOEY BROWNIES!

I didn't do any lunch coz had packed some fried seafood kueh teow from Mommy yesternight. That'll do for "B". Me, I'm not in the mood for anything heavy today. Just wanted something suuuweeet. I'm determined to make a batch of chewy-gooey brownies this time round. The Idiladha Brownies I baked was a little on the cakey side. I reckon it's my silly oven's temperature. So, on to my quest. "B" wanted to take a half hour nap and instructed me to wake him up later. Well, my dear "B", I'm giving you an hour and a little extra nap today, coz... I'll wake you up only after I finish with the Brownies. Heeheheeh... Now you go shoo away and don't disturb me.

........An hour later........

The Brownies turned out as what I wanted. HooYiPPeee!!! Chewy-Gooey-Soft and most of all Chocolatey richness! Recipe isn't much of a diff to the Idiladha Brownies but I'll post the recipe again anyhow. My "B" ate the Brownies with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. Mmmmm...

Ingredients for Chewy-Gooey Brownies
350g dark chocolate chips (this time I used RedMan brand)
350g salted butter
4 eggs (I lessen the eggs this time round)
225g fine white sugar
200g AP flour
50g ground almonds
dollops of Nutella
Method
In a pan, melt dark chocolate chips and butter. Let cool a bit. In another bowl, mix eggs and sugar. Add egg mixture into cooled chocolate mixture. Mix till combined. Add ground almonds and mix well. Sift AP flour little by little. Pour into a well grease baking tray. Scoop a spoonfull of Nutella and 'swirl' on the poured batter. Add as much Nutella as you prefer. I added 4 spoonfulls. I heart Nutella!!!!

These batch are stored for future munchies in front of the teevee
w/c I reckon they wouldn't last too long with "B" hounding around...

Will The Real Chix Nuggets Please Stand Up!

Living in a modern fast pace society, we are faced with an equally modern and fast way of food servings. From easy-to-dial home services to frozen food. Everything seemed to lose its touch of tender loving care. All we need is to just satisfy the hunger fast, quick, no-fuss and absolutely no mess. Time's always the main factor. Sometimes, I too admitted defeat. The temptation to surrender is really great. But, I am determined to provide my baby a better souce of food in future. No mass produce junkies for my Little Princess. These chicken nuggets are a perfect recipe for children to enjoy. Serve in fanciful ways to WoW them and you'll not feel guilty if they have more than the usual servings. I can't wait to tryout on me Little Princess and that'll be some years to come from now. In the mean time, the experiment will be on "B".

Ingredients for Real Chicken Nuggets
7 chicken breasts
1 hard tofu
1 tsp tumeric powder
salt to taste
crushed black pepper
1 tbsp flour
1 large egg
half carrot
virgin olive ol for frying
Method
Marinate chicken breasts with tumeric powder, salt, crushed black pepper and flour. In a food processor, minced marinated chicken breasts. Add in hard tofu, half carrot and egg. Minced till combined. With two spoons, shape minced chicken into a ball and shallow fry in virgin olive oil. Turn about till each nugget is evenly browned. Drain and serve warm with chilli sauce or mayonaise. It's also good to eat it on its own too!

Nursing the Flu Bug. Haiz...!

I've always hated when I'm down with flu. Really hated the runny then blocked nose. The temporary lost sense of taste. The continuous sneezing. The sleepless nights. The hot and cold body temperature. The teary eyes. The red nose. Then come the dry nose (peeling due to too much rubbing of tissues). Argh...! The endless 'tortures'! With the pregnancy, it's triple of "the" everything! Plus, poor Little Baby had to 'endure' the jerks whenever I sneeze non-the-stopping! I had to hold my tummy just to 'ease' the jerkings a little. Hope, it does help though. It's been a week since I last fell ill. Doctor had given me MCs and told me to rest real good. Being sick at 36 weeks is no joke at all! I'm really worried but the Doc ensured that all's fine. Just let the medicines run its course and me to drink loads of H2O, eat and rest, rest, rest... Thank God I didn't totally lost my appetite. I still want to eat BUT in really small quantities and not too rich flavourings. thus, I made myself and "B" some Chicken Noodles to savour. With the combination of the flu and rainy weather. It's a good choice there!

Ingredients for Chicken Noodles
1 pouch sop bunjut Adabi
1 Knorr chicken cube
2 garlic - crushed
1 shallot - half
1cm young ginger - sliced
1 stem leek - sliced
5 cups water
chicken backbones, necks or other chicken parts
2 potatoes - cubed
1 carrot - cubed
1 hard tofu - cubed
6 brocolli florets
4 shitake mushrooms - sliced
Method
Boil water. Add in cubed potatoes and carrots. Let cook. Add in chicken parts/bones. Add in garlic, shallot, young ginger and leek. Add in Adabi sup bunjut and Knorr chicken cube. Stir well. Let simmer for 15 minutes. Lastly, add in shitake mushrooms and tofu. Let boil for another 5 minutes then close fire. Then add in brocolli florets. Soaked beehoon or any types of desired noodles. Serve hot in a bowl filled with hot soup to the brim.

SELAMAT IDILADHA 2All Muslims

*** SELAMAT IDILADHA ***

It's a belated wish. But still... better late than never aites! winks* Idiladha fell on last Thursday, Dec 20th. Didn't do any "korban" this year though. But we celebrated nontheless with "B's" and my families. This year, we started earlier despite the rain and gloomy weather. Visited 4 houses in all. If not, it ought to be 5 but didn't went to Mommy's as my family were celebrating at Nenek's thus staying put at just 1 house. Saves the trouble for me to move around. "B" as usual went to one of the designated void-decks for the Idiladha prayers and was home by 9.30am. By then I was all ready and had packed all the goodies I've made the day before. Oh, this year, I made a wee bit more than usual. Just had the mood.

Menu for Idiladha
Putri Salat
Apam Manis
Apam Pisang Kukus
Roasted Chicken Curry Mayo
Brownies Idiladha

I was pretty happy and very much exhausted after 6 hours in the kitchen. The pregnancy made my movements a LOT sLooOwer! In fact, halfway through, I was getting frustrated. But perservered till the end.

This year, only Mommy made ketupats (beras & pulut). They were eaten with Sambal Sotong Kering and Sambal Goreng Pengantin. Lovely! Mommy's virgin attempt at making Sambal Goreng Pengantin was applauded for. I had rounds of just the Sambal Goreng Pengantin till like there's no tomorrow! Mama-B made Mee Bandung which was deeelicious! One of her specialities there and Nenek-B made Tulang Merah (like the ones at Beach Road) only way... better, thicker and full of deep kick-ass flavour. I don't eat kambing (lambs) coz I can't stand 'the' smell but the gravy rawks peeps! Thick deep red gravy. Not too spicy nor sourish. Just nice for you to mop up with some sliced baguettes. Satisfying! At me Grandma, they had Nasi Arab, Rendang Daging, Ayam Masak Tomato, Udang Belado, Ayam Panggang, Salads with Hummus dip, Acar Buah and Acar Pacri. Of course each house had their cakes, kuehs, goodies etc. What's Hari Raya without the sweets aites?!

I didn't stuffed myself crazy just to avoid puking my guts out later. Wasted if I did! Had a little of everything to satisfy meself. In all, we had a great Idiladha.

Ingredients for Apam Pisang Kukus
8 Pisang Berangan (a type of banana. I reckon you can use Del Monte or Dole too. Only these aren't as sweet as the local bananas.)
3/4 cup salted butter - melted (can substitute with canola oil)
3 eggs - beat slightly
2 cups AP flour
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
1 cup brown sugar
Method
In a bowl, sift AP flour and bicarbonate soda. In another bowl mashed bananas. Mix beaten eggs, brown sugar and melted butter. Mix egg mixture with mashed bananas. Add in flour a little at a time. Pour mixture in a greased baking tin or pyrex. Steam for 40 minutes in a tightly covered steamer to prevent water from dripping into mixture. Let cool before cutting.

Ingredients for Roasted Chicken Curry Mayo
1 kg chicken drumlets
meat curry powder
parika
crushed black pepper
dried rosemary
salt to taste
mayonaise
Method
Marinate the chicken drumlets with the dry ingredients overnight. Only add mayonaise an hour or two before roasting. Set oven to roast for 140'C for 45 minutes. I like my drumlets to brown slowly. Serve warm.

Ingredients for Brownies Idiladha
340g Hershey semi-sweet chocolate chips
340g salted butter
200g AP flour
5 eggs
250g fine sugar
100g chopped almonds
Nutella (highly opt)
Icing sugar (topping)
Method
Melt chocolate chips and butter in a bowl. Mix eggs and sugar. Pour in egg mixture into a slightly cooled chocolate mixture. Mix thoroughly. Add in sifted flour a little at a time. Add in chopped almonds. Pour mixture in a well greased pan. Scoop a couple dollops of Nutella and 'swirl' on top. Bake for 180'C for 45 minutes. Let cool thoroughly and sift icing sugar before serving.

NOTE: I didn't had time to take a bootiful pic of me Brownies. Next time aites!

I Sooo... 12 Eat Apam!

"Apam... Apam... Apam... I nak apam jugak!" (I want apam!). I'm never a fan of anything apam-ish. I'll just have it if it's there. I like the ones at Bengawan Solo. They called it "Ma Kuo Kueh" and they're accompanied with some white grated salted coconut to give an ooomph. These are the mini versions, gigantic ones are usually found at pasar malam. These to me are chinese apams. They're just sweet and comes in colours. I like another type of apam called Apam Gula Hangus and Harum Manis. Really sedap! Now to just know how to make them will definitely make my day. I know... I know... you peeps you'd say I can just buy them over the counter. But... it beats nothing when you get into the kitchen, sweat it out and make them yourself! I just feel happier and more satisfied that way. However, this first attempt isn't so much like what I want it to look like. Taste wise aok. The apams just didn't "bloom". It should "split" at the top to reveal a 3-split flowery shape. I reckon it meant that they've rose well. Hey apam, just you wait till my next tryout!

Ingredients for Apam Manis tak jadi
2 eggs
120g fine sugar
150g AP flour
130ml 7-UP
1 tsp ovalette
vanilla essence
red colouring (opt)
white grated coconut
salt
papercups
Method
Prepare steamer. Mix white grated coconut and salt and steam fo 10 minutes. Put aside to cool. In a bowl beat eggs and fine sugar till fluffy/thick. Sift flour into batter little by little. Pour in 7-UP. Add in ovalette and vanilla essence. Lastly, drop in some red colouring. Lay in papercups into steamer. Scoop batter into cups and steam for 15-20 minutes. Serve cool with grated coconut.

Home Alone on A Saturday

Boohoohoo...! "B" had to go to work for some urgent matters (as ALWAYS grrr...!) AND me, I'm left all alone on a Saturday mind you. Well, actually not that all alone, heheheheeh... I got Little Baby to accompany me aites! winks* To not bore myself to death, I did some household chores and of course some cookings too lar! It had been raining almost everyday for the past week and I hadn't got the chance to do any laundries. I reckon today's THE DAY. So out came the baju-bajas to dry. Weather forecast was saying that it'll rain late evening and I hope by then, me laundries would be semi-dry.

I did say I cooked didn't I...? Nothing really spectacular, just some light lunch for me and Little Baby and a dessert for "B" later. Had some glutinous rice that I took from Mommy yesternight. Thus, I googled to see what could be done. Then, I came across "LOH MAI KAI". Wah, sound sedap! Besides, it's hard to get Halal Loh Mai Kai around except at 7-11 (served by KampungFood), QIJI and Hara HongKong Dim Sums. Just to name the Halal few that I know. But when you're pregnant, you just need it like NOW and get someone (in my case "B") to go run out and get for me. I could have neither. One, where I live, there isn't a freaking 7-11. Only Cheers. Besides, not all 7-11 carry the Halal paus, timsums and whatnots. Two, there's no "B" today! How...!??? Next best thing was to make my own.

I went blog-hopping to find the fastest and easiest way to make Loh Mai Kai. Jeesh, why all so tedious huh??? I guess I was taken aback with the ingredients used. So, I did it my way and I shouldn't be calling it Loh Mai Kai no more. Loh Mai Kai needed re-steaming but I simply stir-fry it all. Just simple comfort food to enjoy all alone on a gloomy day. This got to do for now. I'll make the real deal, say... sometime much, much later IF the craving ever kicks in again. Oooh... "B" just sms. He's coming home about 4-ish and he's bringing me to a BBQ at ECP. Wooyipppeee! A Saturday not wasted then. Besides, I've already had made "B" dessert. His favourite Putri Salat!

See my glistening mini bowl of riceIngredients for Re-simplified Loh Mai Kai
Glutinous Rice - soaked & steamed
2 chicken breasts - sliced
1 garlic - roughly chopped
0.5cm young ginger - roughly chopped
a pinch of fennel seeds
2 tsp light soy sauce
2 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
paprika powder
crushed black pepper
1 tbs salted butter - room temp
Method
Marinate sliced chicken breasts with chopped garlic, ginger, fennel seeds, light soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, paprika, black pepper and salted butter. Leave for half an hour. In the meantime, steam glutinous rice. I made enough for a portion's worth. In fact, I had a ratio of 2:1. More chicken than rice. Just the way I want it. Put the steamed glutinous rice aside to cool. Heat a pan and put in the marinated chicken breasts. No need oil coz we had the butter in it. Stir till chicken meat turned white, then add in glutinous rice. Put fire to low and mix both chicken and rice till combine. Serve warm.

To Mama's

One of "B's" cuzzie just gave birth a month back to a Baby Girl. She's having a "cukur rambut" ceremony after zohor. But before trotting over, "B" and me will be at Mama's for a short visit. In fact we have an agenda, an important one at that. Both "B" and me gonna make a huge decision to do something after the birth of our Little Baby. Decision's not concrete yet but in our thoughts. We just need to see if everything goes hand-in-hand. If not, gotta scrap the idea flatout! I'm not hoping too much. I'm still in deep, deep love with the current. But, this decision's for our children's future. Oooh, did I mentioned the plural of child. Yeaps, I want more than one. Many, many more!

I brought over a box of Bread Choc Chip Pudding & Putri Salat
I made yesteday for Mama, Papa, Nenek and whoever's at home.

Putri Salat aka Serimuka

Putri Salat @ Serimuka I tried my bestest to capture a good pic. I SWEAR!

Either names just fine with the kueh I just made. I had wanted to try this kueh for the longest time ever! Coz, I figured out that they're easier to just be paid for rather than made for. Save time, hassle and the "un-necessary" outcome later. But today, I broke the rules and brave myself up for the kueh making. I had all the ingredients needed and I don't see any barriers to it. Apart from the not-so-sure attitude, I'm already in the game. No backing up now. Let's get things started!

Oh, so just you peeps know what we're having for dinner tonight. It's ALL fingerfood. The Putri Salat, Baked Popiah Curry Potatoes and Bread and Butter Chocolate Chips Pudding. No 'real' food. I'm SURE "B's" gonna be alright with these since I have his favourite kueh on the table!

I had browsed through countless of recipes via the website but eventually settled on a book recipe I had eons back - '100 Resepi Masakan Kuih-Muih Malaysia'. I read through and it seemed a pretty straight forward recipe. I reckon I can make-it till the end. Yup, "I think I can, I think I can!". First, to go soak the glutinous rice. Oh, did I mentioned sometime in an earlier post that "B" heart anything with glutinous rice?! Yep, this is one of "B's" favourite kueh. It'll be his must have kueh during the fasting season. I can't wait for "B" to reach home. It'll be a surprise!!! But first things first. Gotta get this kueh steaming right away.

Ingredients for Putri Salat
Bottom half:
2 cups glutinous rice - soaked for 3hrs
2 cups water
0.5 tsp salt
0.5 tsp vegetable oil
Method for Bottom half
Boil water in a steamer. Mix the soaked glutinous rice, water, vege oil and salt first. Place it in a baking tin. Steam till glutinous rice cook. Approximately 20 minutes. Then, with a spatula, press glutinous rice till it becomes compact.
Top half:
3 cups coconut milk - Kara
0.5 tsp green colouring

(can make green coluring with pandan juice too)
0.5 cup sugar
0.5 cup AP flour
2 tbsp custard flour
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
Method for Top half
Blend all the ingredients for the top half. Pour onto the bottom half slowly. Steam for 30 minutes. Let kueh cool first before cutting, then serve.