When Mom is also into blogging!

Yes, mom is also into blogging....it was last week i think that she suddenly popped up the question "how come you only take pictures of your baking and not my cooking?"..hmm..i thot i heard wrongly...but i replied.."oh..you never say you want me to take the photos mah".
So now i have 3 blogs to maintain...zach, mom and myself. And mom is cooking faster than i am publishing..hahaha..and also that i have to pick up photography as well...cannot harap my hubby...have to get every angle right, light right etc before snapping one photo..aiyo..headache.

And talking bout that, i find it pretty interesting actually...i mean food photography..how you can actually bring out the 'taste' of the food in a photo. Amazing...well to do that, i actually have to snap almost 10-15 pictures all the time..and choose the best one to publish. Well, i find it easier that way than to spend 5 minutes just getting the right angle/light/etc before snapping!!!

And for that i remembered during my family trip to NZ, my brother, Darrell, Gladys and myself went out one early morning to catch the glimpse of sunrise on the beach... While Darrell find his spot to take the photo (see ..it is without a s), Gladys and I took a stroll on the beach where we were "chased" by dogs and sea gulls... but Darrell...he was the whole time at the same spot that we left him earlier on...only now the sun has already came up, tide had came in a bit and he was almost in the water!!...He said...waiting for the right time to take the photo!!! i really admire his patience! Care to see his work? Pop by his website.

Bread, muffin or cake?

For the past weeks, I have been doing so much of baking until i have lost track of what i have been baking. Tried the 'pak tong ko' since it is my auntie's favourite. Thought that i will surprise her before she came from KK for the week. Anyway, first try, turn out ok.. the taste is there but no honeycomb!!! *sigh* Asked my online help, yozoranitesky. My second attempt turned out better, now lotsa honeycomb but a bit hard in the middle..not sure why. So auntie didn't look very satisfied...hehehe..but still it was also gone by the following day!! So i guess it is not that bad..

Then there was carrot cake, apple cake and yesterday, assorted buns. Thumbs up for apple cake from mom and the big bunny. He finished nearly half the cake in just one eating. Nowadays, lil bunny is not so eager in mummy's experiment anymore. He will pop by in the kitchen and say 'I stir?' or 'cake ready?' but a bit skeptical on trying them, unless he got no choice when the mummy feeds him!!

Anyway, bake some buns too and surprisingly it came out soft and fluffy. Taste good but outlook...hehehe..i don't even dare to take photo of them. Maybe next time!! Was trying to be more adventurous by following the shaping of buns published in some of the websites. Some came out looking ok..but the sausage bun looked eeeee.... Anyway, mom took the tuna bun and commented..'please don't change recipe ah...this one very nice already'. Wah..nearly fell off the chair. And she says she will cook curry chicken the next time so that i can make curry chicken bun!! So this bun recipe is definately a keeper.

Enough about baking....Anyway, spend last weekend at the library. Zach has been bugging me to bring him there these few weeks but as usual, the weekends have always been busy and without realizing, it is always Monday again. So i told myself, i must bring him this time. Pop by the library at 9:30am..wah still not open...opening hour is from 11am - 7pm. Ended up jalan-jalan at the shopping mall. Went again in the evening. Got him registered for RM2 and paid another RM2 for annual fee and he gets to borrow 6 books for 2 weeks. What a bargain!!! Now no need to buy him books anymore..hehehe..instead can buy more recipe books!

You mean it is not danish pastry?

Another baking day on Sunday. This time, thought i will try the Cinnamon Roll Recipe from my breadmaker recipe book. Now that i bake pretty often, grandma is into baking as well. She will ask me "What are we doing today". So i told her that instead of just the normal loaf, i will try Cinnamon Roll. Explained to her a bit and we both waited for the dough to be ready.

She can't wait to roll the dough actually....haha. She did most of the stuff actually. After cutting the roll and instead of putting them in rows onto a greased baking tin, we decided to put them onto the normal baking tray, leaving some gap in between for them to rise..First mistake! They doubled up but side ways too! Anyway, continue to bake them until golden brown...a bit too brown thus end up a bit dry actually.

Well, took them out...and hmmmm not bad..taste okay, just a bit hard.

Next day, my hubby asked "anymore of those danish pastry?" i replied "what danish pastry"?

Hmm....danish pastry it is then! Don't know whether to be disappointed or smile!

Insane or ?

Came back from work yesterday and suddenly have the urge to try out another recipe of muffin. Muffin again? Well, mom loves the blueberry muffin when she went over to States for the holiday last year and ever since then, she has been talking about muffin each time i bake. And my previous two attempts of muffin didn't turn out very well.

My first raisin muffin came out ok, just that they say it is a bit hard..found out the problem, Aiya, the recipe says 'melted' butter, but instead i just used the butter left melted in the room temperature (well to me, that is already melted wat...) n kena marah from mom - don't understand English ah...some more come out from 'big' school!!! haha. But anyway, grandma was willing to take back for breakfast. So that means, not too bad, i think can rate 3/5


My second cheese muffin was rated 1/5! hahaha. Again, kena marah. This time more teruk, from almost the whole household except the 'kakak' at home. 'Why? Not even perfect the first recipe already try a different one?' Anyway, made my poor son and hubby have some, but the rest, my good ole kakak has to help me eat. Actually, personally i don't think that it is that bad....tasted better the next day...it is just cheddar cheese..but come to think of it, maybe it is very bad, cos imagine a person who eats everything without complaining also say 'no taste one your muffin'. haha

So this 3rd attempt, the chocolate chip nut muffin was much better. Mom approves, though she says a bit sweet, but at least the texture is alright. No longer can throw at the wall!! And my little test bunny is the best..he says 'mommy, the muffin can bounce one...' hahaha. So thumbs up!!!
Phew...finally!!!

Easter Holiday is already over!

Since my last post, i have been in the kitchen most of the time. And yes, Zach and I did make our gingerbreadman cookie and he was proud enough to bring those cookies to his pre-school and share them with his friends. And not only that, he also gave some to his auntie and his auntie proudly showed off to her friends...saying..'my nephew is only 3 plus and he bakes these cookies'!!!! haha

Anyway, it is indeed a good way to spend time with him, especially when i can hardly cope with all his other super-active activities - ball kicking, water gun shooting etc... and it is only during baking that he slows down his pace. But still half of the time, i am not able to keep my eyes off him, even for 1 minute, just in case he decides to add something extra to the mixture....

Some cakes did turn out well, some didn't...but to Zach, he is always nice enough to tell the mummy, 'everything tastes nice'.... *meltz my heart*...ohhhhhh

Well...the baking journey continues.....

It's March already!!!

How time flies...tried to update this blog a couple of times....but my biggest excuse is my laziness!
But i did do some baking...that is becos i have my baking 'sifu' with me, my auntie. We baked 2 cakes in two days and never get the chance to snap any pics...since all the 'greedy' bunnies will not let me do that...in the first place, they cannot even wait for the cake to cool down!!

Anyway, since next week is school holiday, i have already promised Zach that 'we' will make some gingerbread man together...and he is looking forward to that...but actually i, myself am a bit nervous... shud attempt something simpler.... we'll see the results!!! And hopefully i will get a chance to snap some pics this time!!

What have i been up to?

It has been a hectic week since my last post. I can vaguely remember what i have been doing though... Guess, when your age is catching up, every week seems to pass extremely fast, one week after another. Weekends are even worst! I can still remember when i was very much younger...hm..like 20 years back..wah..i have to wait for so long for the school holidays. But now..with a blink of an eye, it is already 2008!!!!

Anyway, for the past few days, i was hooked on surfing for recipes..RECIPES?? what recipes? Well, any recipes that
1) easy to follow
2) has very little ingredients
3) takes very short time to prepare.

I bumped into few blogs and WOW...amazing...incredible how some people really have the passion for baking and cooking! I have included those links in the "Recipe Corner" in hoping that i will try out some of the recipes myself... Nance, if you are reading this, don't laugh cos i know my attempted siew mai years back didn't turn out very well....but thank you for being very supportive...i know that swallowing it down was not very easy either....hahaha

We will see this time round.... ;) Wish me luck