I'm Grateful For Family

As much as I'm always making jibes at my family, in times like these, I'm really thankful that they are my family and that I'm part of theirs!

When the Grim's mother (ie my grandmother) passed away, and she had to be at the wake for like 5 days, Little Pixie and I were suddenly stuck without lunch for a few days.

I had to er, start cutting apron strings in a hurry, and it was really no joke trying to cook 3 big meals and snacks - breakfast, lunch, dinner and teatime on just one day.

I capitulated the other 4 days - we simply ate out! -
Since I'm allergic to every other dish in the hawker centre - all we had was Bee Tai Mak and more Bee Tai Mak!

When we couldn't stand it anymore, we leeched on the Goose!! (Gosh do I feel like a vermin now)

When I was younger, I used to make fun of them and grumble about all their idiosyncracies, irritating or annoying behaviour. But, time goes by, there are ups and downs in life - and as cliched as it may sound - they look more and more beautiful through the untinted glasses of adversity and maturity.

I can't imagine how the Grim really handles the following:
- babysits 2 kids for a pittance (24 x 7 - the kids go home for a few hours every Sunday)
- cooks lunch for Adult Baby (that's me) and Little Pixie on schooldays (that's 5 days a week!)
- insists on doing household chores herself after kids sleep, refuses even part-time maid,
- insists on cooking dinner for the entire household 5 nights a week.

I can't imagine either how the Goose takes care of:
- cooking 5 nights a week for a household of VERY FUSSY EATERS who won't eat anything green and who eat at different times of the night, from 5pm to 9pm.
- babysits 2 VERY FUSSY KIDS
- being the primary caregiver for a high-needs senior
- waking up every hour each night to tend to the Gnome's needs, and never making up for her lost sleep by taking day naps
- wanting to do everything herself despite having a capable and kind domestic helper

I don't think the Goose has an easier job than the Grim just because she has a helper and the Grim doesn't. I think both have it real tough. And I've learnt to really appreciate them, and the love that is written all over their sacrifices and acts for the family (despite all their fogey demeanours that inspired their respective nicknames!!!).

I've just undergone what turned out to be a rather not-so-minor surgery on my tummy. Doctor says part of my tummy muscle's been damaged - so no exercise allowed for the next 3 months. Don't want to burst the wound!

Tin Hang Zai had the wisdom to suggest I do so during the March hols, and he was so sweet to take a week's leave to care for me.

I'm so grateful to everyone because Little Pixie got to attend the Goose Daycare (meals, nap, bath - what more could I ask???) for the entire week after I was operated on. Grim Daycare was out because the 2 charges inside were sick from a virus. This left Tin Hang Zai free to be my house-helper since I couldn't really move around!

And get this, I got homecooked steamed fish & vegetables & rice & tonic soup from Goose Tingkat Services daily for lunch & dinner, delivered by the Tin Hang Zai Courier Services which also provided Little Pixie's transport to the Goose Daycare. And since the Goose Tingkat doesn't operate on weekends, I was certainly very blessed to have hot meals, ALLERGY-FREE from Grim Tingkat.

The list doesn't end there.

Cosmo came to visit me and kindly donated her hand-me-up magazines, and I had friends (you know who you are: - Miss Quiet, Miss Intellectual, Miss Music, Miss Salmon, Miss Koala, and Miss J) who prayed for me and kept me company with your smses.

Lastly, I had received another cake order for the Pixie Fudge-Frosted Chocolate Cake this weekend but really did not feel up to it. So Airport agreed to help me fulfil the order!

Thank You to my Friends and Family!

I really thank God for you all!

Little Pixie Turns 3!!!

Last year this time, we were too worn out from the Hong Kong holiday to prepare anything. The year before, we weren't aware of her allergies or mine.

But this time, I managed to find a REALLY cool recipe for decadent, egg-free dairy-free chocolate cake.

So this is her very first home-baked birthday cake from Mommy!

Over the course of 1 week, I made like 5 of the same cakes in a row:

Cake 1 - Tin Hang Zai's Colleagues (aka guinea pigs for most of my baking experiments) "they all say very nice!"
Cake 2 - For my family's Christmas get-together-cum-Little Pixie's birthday cake "yummy!"
Cake 3 - For Becks, my "apprentice" "I like it. I'd give it 9 out of 10"
Cake 4 - For the Goose & Gremlins "too much frosting!"
Cake 5 - For Lasik's Friend Liz "tastes like Awfully Chocolate!"

I haven't wanted to see, smell, taste or eat anything chocolate since.

More pictures of poetry

That's me holding a huge beach bag.

The Sun, the Sea, the Sand

After another eventful year, we finally got to go on holiday again. Our "simple-life" goal has always been to indulge in all the "S"s - last year's trip to Hong Kong was an indulgence in the shops and the stomach - before I got diagnosed with all those allergies.

This time round, we opted to indulge in the sun, the sea, the sand, the stomach and...the Silence!

Have you ever been to a place where there is absolute silence? I have never - not in Singapore at least. Even at East Coast Park, you could always hear - besides the airplanes overhead - sounds of other beach goers, sounds of the cars whizzing by in the distance...and just...sounds.

This was definitely the best holiday we have had so far - far surpassed our experiences at Bali and Phuket.

This is the wonderful resort we went to - the Tanjung Rhu at Langkawi - and those other people on Tripadvisor couldn't have said it better. Someone described it as "heaven on earth" and another described it as "paradise" and none of them are exaggerating. The resort's website says it even better - "1001 acres of poetry". And those wonderful pictures you see on the hotel website are nothing compared to the real thing when you get there.

That's how it was for Tin Hang Zai and me! Here's how we spent our 5 days there on the "S"s - (minus 1 day because we needed to take a day trip to check out what else was in Langkawi)

• Stomach - we were on an all-inclusive plan where all meals were included and you could eat from any of the resorts' restaurants *unlimited* - and room service *all day*. (now how cool is that?) - and because I had informed them earlier about my shocking allergies - they took great pains to accomodate my meals. I had an egg-free dairy-free selection of 3 different breads baked for me daily and they even told me they had more on standby in case I happened to request it for room service at night!
  
• Sleeping - someone described our bedroom as "massive" and it really was
• Sun & Sea - having 2km of private beach, sunbeds scattered everywhere you might want to lounge around, and a half-empty resort is a good thing!

The Silence? Tin Hang Zai, Little Pixie and I took a walk one day along the entire stretch of beach - to the "Land of Far Beyond" - yes, the resort was THAT expansive - and we sat among some shrubs which sheltered us from the hot sun - and watched the sea and the islands far ahead and just sat still. And listenedto the sound of silence. It was AWESOME. I had never heard such silence before - there was just absolute peace, tranquility - and serenity. We really could have heard God whisper in there!

You've really got to see this place to believe it. It's the first time I've ever wanted to go back to a resort a 2nd time.

Simplicity through the Shops...and the Skin - Organic Skincare

You know I'm a walking encyclopaedia about all the poisons that go into skincare and what's all that hype about "organic" skincare.

After all my years of reading up, I've been using these baby products for myself.

Those brands that claim to be "organic" that you find in Watsons / Guardian are generally not all that "organic" - they merely use a few "natural" sounding ingredients and the rest is all that nasty petroleum-derived stuff).

These are a few brands that I would recommend and some comments about them.

• Lavera
  If you want lipstick or lipgloss that won't poison you, this is the brand to go for (the rest are baby brands and don't carry makeup). The range of colours is good and very moisturising.
  
  For sunblock, this brand wins hands down. It's the cheapest for the amount of sunblock in the bottle. And none of the nasty ingredients that go into the other non-organic brands at Watsons/ Guardian.
  
  However, I have been trying their moisturiser for oily skin - and I'm not sure if it's doing me all that good since I started using it a month ago. It contains alcohol too (a no-no for skincare).
  
• Aromababy
  This brand uses the least amount of ingredients for their Newborn Baby Lotion, which means it is least likely to irritate your skin should you have sensitive skin. However, their prices have gone up from when I first bought these products in 2005 - the 125 ml tube used to cost S$12 then, now it retails for S$28 at Robinsons. (!!!!)
  
• Buds Baby
  I bought this today at Robinsons because it was much cheaper (cost per unit weight) compared to Aromababy. The list of ingredients is slightly longer, though I would say it's equally safe. (for me, I can't even take moisturisers with vanilla in them!!)
  Their sunblock is equally effective as Lavera's, but not as cheap if you compare the costs per unit weight.
  
• GAIA
  I have tried their Baby Massage Oil for Little Pixie and I like it. Very short list of (safe) ingredients and price is the lowest amongst all 3 brands of Baby Massage Oil. Please do not even try Johnson & Johnson's or some other conventional baby brand like Avent or Mustela - they contain mineral oil which clogs pores!
  
  I bought their moisturiser too because, it is every bit as organic and safe as the rest - and it's also the cheapest. In fact, its advantage over Buds is that it doesn't use alien-sounding ingredients that Buds claim are safe.

Lastly, about the Pureen Fluoride-Free toothpaste. Fluoride isn't as good for teeth as the media would have you believe - at least that's what I read from the back-to-naturals literature. I have over the years tried buying fluoride-free toothpaste from Neways, from organic shops, and the cheapest I'd found was this brand called Nature's Gate (S$10 a tube). So I was elated to find this brand (it actually says : "fluoride-free - safe for baby" - can you believe it? If fluoride is harmful for babies then what makes it good for adults!?!?) selling for S$2.35, and it's sugar-free too!!!

Simplicity through the Shops ...and the Soles

Tin Hang Zai's Cushioned Slippers from Adidas and my Pink Crocs

Those of you who have known me through the years will know I can't stand window-shopping and shopping without a list. Those aimless strolls through the malls make me very nervous - with no promise of any "meaningful" outcome at the end of each trip.

I even think the last time I truly enjoyed shopping with THZ was when we were dating, like 10 years ago. Gasp!!

Well guess what, perhaps with the passage of time and with Little Pixie, I am learning not to be so hard on myself (why must every activity have a tangible outcome anyway?) and to well, indulge in the simple pleasures of life. Today I actually enjoyed window-shopping at Centrepoint with THZ and Little Pixie for like, 6 hrs!! We went to Robinsons, looked at "stuff", went to John Little, and then back to Robinsons, and then to Cold Storage!

About the Crocs - first, I wasn't even looking for shoes (see? that's what happens when you don't shop with a list). Second, I have never even been interested in Crocs after those horror stories about kids losing toes from wearing Crocs . THZ was smitten with the quirky Mary Janes and persuaded me to try them. And I was converted!!! They were so comfy I bought them right away and wore them out of Robinsons!

Bento Breakfasts

Niceties introduced me to the concept of bentos. For various reasons (HFMD, Tin Hang Zai coming home too late, etc) , I've not been making dinners or lunches and have been depending on the Veteran's kindness for lunches and dinners (bless her heart).

Inspired by Niceties and Lunch-In-A-Box and Just Bento, I decided that since I wasn't making decent lunches and dinners for my two charges at home, I might as well focus my efforts on making nice bento-breakfasts that can double up as tea-time snacking and pre-dinner munchies for Tin Hang Zai's frequent late nights at work. (Plus make him feel special and pampered)

Menu for today:
Me - homemade wholemeal bread with NTUC-'s minimal-trans-fat and lactose-free margarine (since I'm allergic to butter now) and organic sausages from NTUC Finest
Little Pixie - Homemade wholemeal bread kosong with a slice of orange and homemade applesauce raisin wholemeal muffin
Tin Hang Zai - Homemade wholemeal bread with margarine and jam, whole orange minus 1 slice and homemade applesauce raisin wholemeal muffin

The Sun, the Sea and the Sand

Isn't this beautiful? I really like the weather at East Coast. There's really nothing like lazing by the beach, listening to the sounds of the sea and the planes and watching the sailboats go by...

The Vines Steak & Seafood at Novena Ville

Isn't this neat? We splurged at Changi Village on Tin Hang Zai's birthday, and we continued our celebrations at The Vines in Novena. We brought along the Gnome, the Goose and their kind new helper.

The place looks very cottage-like, and the menu looks somewhat like Jack's Place. However, the similarities stop there.

The Vines gives a lot more value for money (for the same price, you can get much more at The Vines than at Jack's Place), service staff are more courteous, and the food tastes better generally. You don't get those crummy desserts at Jack's Place (those jellies that taste as plastic as the cups they come in, or horrid pieces of butter cake that taste like they were leftovers from Jack's Place cake counters) - we got apple crumble that night.

And even though there were no credit card offers, Tin Hang Zai got a free slice of yummy blueberry cheese pie with ice cream!

The Senses & the Stomachs

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It's Tin Hang Zai's birthday. To celebrate, we indulged by going to the spa & pigging out near the sea.

As a single-income family, it had been a loooong time since we wanted to go and splurge on things like spas. But well, what the heck. It's his birthday!

So we checked out The Ultimate Spa at the Civil Service Club (since it was so near our place), and we used some Maybank offer to get ourselves a cool 2 hrs of pampering (scrub, massage, hydrobath) at something like S$150+. And they give you some fancy drinks & dessert after that.

We had a great time, and we finished off by going to the neighbourhood foot reflexology for another 45 mins!

Evening time, we picked Little Pixie up and headed off to the far east to pig out at the Saltwater Cafe at Changi Village Hotel. I wasn't expecting too high a standard, but the food was amazingly fantastic! I'd always thought we'd outgrown buffets long ago, and certainly our last few buffets in 2007 weren't fantastic. (Think Merchant Court's high tea (yucks - you just don't want to pay more than S$20 to eat nothing but kuehs & kuehs) and Paris at Marina (just too much rich food in a day).

But this was different! I had everything I wanted to eat. The BBQ section was decent (I got to eat my favourite lamb chops - something I can't eat with Tin Hang Zai at home since he doesn't like lamb), the seafood was decent, and so was the sashimi! The desserts were decent too, so were the soups. The cold seafood selection was very decent too. All in all, I haven't (and we haven't) been so satisfied in a loong time. I finished up all the keropok the moment they were laid out (freshly fried). The poppadums were nice too.

Yum!!

God is a Matchmaker!! (Part 1 of X)

Do you believe in miracles? I do. This is one of them.

I've known Miss Sweet-and-Gentle-Spirit
since, er, 2001. She is the prettiest, er, school chaplain I have ever seen, and she has the most beautiful heart too. Full of compassion, empathy, and all the good things you can ever think of.

Our Prison Group was very sad to see her go when God called her to the mission field. I supposed she was one of those that Paul referred to in Corinthians about "making eunuchs of themselves" - because whilst I had never doubted her attractiveness as a potential mate, I had never heard her mention anything about desiring marriage. So I assumed that she, well, wasn't interested.

Indeed, Miss Intellectual told us that when she went to the mission field, she "gave up", because you couldn't imagine finding a mate in that particular field. Turns out, God had other plans. It sounded exactly like what I read about in this book.

Guess what, the Honest Guy whom our Matchmaker had prepared for her (and her for him) appeared miraculously in that place, for a medical appointment that never happened! Instead it was an appointment with the Master Surgeon - who was showing him the "rib" that had been taken out of him!

Each was all that the other had been praying and waiting for all these years. And more.

Can you imagine waiting for "the one" till you are 37 or 42? She who had never believed in whirlwind romances has been blessed by our humorous God in the "twinkling of an eye".

We are all so excited!

"Baby" Risotto

I can't believe I made this! This looks exactly like a risotto, but it wasn't meant to look like this. Everything was rather "accidental". And it's unbelievably healthy. It's 90% vegetables, virtually fat-free, and you feel so full you won't believe there's hardly any meat in it (again, another accidental thing - I just didn't put in enough meat).

In fact, I think it beats those awful dishes I tried at the only organic restaurant I ever went to.

The original title of this dish is "Tasty Rice with Meat & Vegetables" and was taken from Annabel Karmel's cookbook for toddlers.

As usual, I modified it with whatever vegetables I had on hand, and everything was done "to taste".

Here's how I came to be dishing out these "accidental" dinners:

Lately, I have been getting very frustrated with having to make frozen dinners for Little Pixie, rush to feed, bathe and put her to bed before 7pm each night, and then rush to the kitchen to make dinner for Tin Hang Zai and myself. My main quibble was that if I made stir-fried greens for Little Pixie at 5pm, they would turn yellow by the time Tin Hang Zai reaches home each night at 830pm. Not to mention I have to wash dishes till 10pm each night thanks to this routine!

So I have been trying out these one-dish meals that just one-time cooking at 430pm, and then a 5 min reheat once Tin Hang Zai returns home late at night. 90% of the dishwashing is completed before 7pm. No more dishes to wash except for 2 serving plates, 2 sets of cutlery and a tiny pot.

This is one of them.

Directions (Original Recipe) (My modifications in Blue)

Rice

1/3 cup white rice (3/4 cups white short-grain Calrose rice (that's all I had at home!))

4/3 cup chicken stock (3 cups water)

1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped (1 red and 1 green bell pepper - just felt like buying more at the wet market!)

1/2 cup peas, fresh or frozen (no peas at home, just lots of supersweet frozen corn)

Others

1/2 onion, finely chopped (used 2, because we love onions)

1 carrot, finely chopped (skipped, used leftover shitake mushrooms which I'd soaked for another dish but hadn't used)

1 cup lean ground beef (used pork slices cut up finely with scissors, cuz that's all I had in the freezer, seasoned generously with salt)

1/2 tablespoon ketchup (Just poured in as much as I felt like it, plus some Prego's Pasta Sauce)

a few drops Worcestershire sauce (just poured in as much as I felt like it)

Oil for sauteing

Spring onion (my favourite vegetable seller gave me lots this morning) - this is what gives the dish a bright cheery green because the green pepper loses its bright-greenness after prolonged cooking.

Directions

• Put rice into saucepan, cover with chicken broth. Bring to boil, cover & simmer for 15 min (please monitor carefully, my rice sputtered all over the stove!)
• Add red bell pepper and peas and cook, uncovered, 6-7 min, or until rice is tender and no liquid left (ditto above - but I had to add salt to the rice and some Prego's sauce at this stage to give the rice a bit more taste)
• Meanwhile, in a separate saucepan, saute onion and carrots in a little vegetable oil for 5 min. Add ground meat & cook, stirring, till browned. Stir in ketchup and Worcestershire sauce and cook over gentle heat for 10 minutes.
• When ready to serve, mix desired amount of rice & meat and cook over gentle heat for 3-4 min.
• Cut up spring onion into small bits and mix into rice just before serving, for unsuspecting guests
• Freeze the rest.

Our First Day at "School"

I titled this as "Our" because it was equally 'traumatic' for me. Being a bit unrealistic about timing as usual, I thought I'd be going jogging after dropping Little Pixie off at her first day at Flexi-Care. (Beats me why they call it "flexi" since there is nothing flexible about it. You turn up from 0900-1200 every day, is there anything flexible about this!?!?!). And then have a leisurely breakfast, followed by grocery shopping at the wet market, and then prepare a "lunch from scratch", maybe even do some quiet time alone (peace! silence!) and come to pick her up. It couldn't have been further from reality!

For some months now, she has been displaying signs that she was 'ready' to socialise. Always the first one to say "hi" or to hug stranger kids on the streets, I thought it was time for Little Pixie to get to know more kids. (That was my only goal for this programme - other than that, I have no intention of hothousing her, and would like to try my hand at home-schooling, after my dear friend Clare pointed me to her friend who is homeschooling FOUR kids!!)

Little Pixie was overwhelmed by the number of new faces around her. Especially since it was her nap-time and she was outdoors at a time when she was supposed to be happily snoozing at home. And the fact that other kids were wailing and crying their hearts out (one girl cried for more than 2 hours straight after her mother left her there and was still crying when I left) seemed to make her think that there really was something to cry about. And cry she did! There was no way I could leave the centre to do all the aforementioned errands! (Hey I didn't even eat my breakfast!! And forget about the dinner I'd planned to cook!)

Bringing her her Linus bolster was a bad idea. Some rogue kid (who punches every other child in turn) snatched it from her and she cried. And didn't stop till I took her home half hour before time. After a quick trip to the market to buy lunch and leftovers at the butcher, feeding her, I was BEAT. I didn't know that listening to 4 kids crying for 3 hours can be so tiring and I have a newfound respect for those childcare teachers. They are indeed overworked, underpaid!

Hopefully, tomorrow will be better....

I miss Hong Kong Food!!!

The one thing I really miss about the holiday is eating at this very tiny but cheery, orange-hued Cha Can Teng called the Happy Kitchen. What attracted us was the owner's claims that their street fare had no MSG.

And did we keep eating there for our 5 day stay! Everything I ate there was fantastic!!! And if you knew just how critical I am about food, you'd want to go there too!

There was a dish which stuck in my mind, but no search on the Internet would find me any recipes for anything remotely labelled "Hong Kong cuisine". Back home, I could not stop thinking about the Curry Beef Ramen I ate at that fantastic shop! (it's so tiny, their shop space is probably the size of my study, not a very big space).

I found a useful substitute at Happy Homebaker's Blog , and this is what I also used. Of course this dish above looks very gross compared to hers - it's not the Curry Beef Ramen I fantasized about, but a last-minute throw-together using S & B curry sauce mix from Cold Storage, potatoes, carrots, fresh shitake and onions, to be eaten on rice. It was good, but I think I'll try making my own sauce next time. Better still, it doesn't cause any fumes in the kitchen - where my laundry hangs. Definitely a keeper. (Meantime I have conveniently downloaded the remainder of the curry sauce to the Veterans).

The blessing of my brother and sister...

I'm reflecting on the year that has just gone by. Even though my family is far from perfect, and the Veterans have the typical dysfunctionalities of person their generation, I'm very thankful that I also have two very great siblings who have been the source of many blessings to me.

Amongst all my friends, it seems few, or none of them are actually close to their siblings. So I don't take it for granted that I can talk to Cosmo about anything under the sun (especially those gross things like what happens when you get L.S.), and call her up at crazy hours (and vice versa) and that Airport is always so kind with little favours and lending a hand with everything - from babysitting Little Pixie so that we could go have a foot reflexology session, watch a midnight movie, and buying groceries, and most recently, letting us take a holiday to visit Cosmo with his free air miles.

And without Airport, I could not have come up with the most recent cheesecake "creations".

Take this wonderful oven. I only realised after recent trips to the shops that at 42L, it's almost twice as large as most of the ovens on sale now.

Cosmo bought it for me as a wedding gift 5 years ago. I had no idea then what a good deal it was, seeing that we had ordered it in some sleazy neighbourhood shop on the recommendations of an "auntie" friend. What's more, I didn't even know a thing about baking 5 years ago, and didn't know a cupcake from a muffin, or flour from cornstarch.

5 years down, and a Little Pixie later, it has become one of the things I absolutely can't live without in my kitchen - next to the washing machine. It is THE most important kitchen cooking tool for a lazy, smoke-averse cook who also happens to hang her laundry in the kitchen! And I am not the only fan of the oven. So is Little Pixie who runs to the kitchen each time something edible comes out of the oven.

Thank you Cosmo and Airport!

My Cheesecake Cracked & Cheese Cupcakes Exploded!!

It was Little Pixie's 2nd birthday. I had wanted to make little muffin-sized cheesecakes with an Oreo cookie each for the base - using a no-bake recipe by Annabel Karmel (and inspired by some suggestion in David Tutera's Party Planner on Discovery Travel & Living), and the classic New York-style (this is my 5th run) to give away.

Airport was kind enough to help me out as the cleaner lady was coming and unlike half a year ago, Little Pixie is now old enough to be interested in a career as a baking assistant. She watches and tries to get involved as much as she can.

So Airport did all the mixing, pouring, and cleaning up - all I did was interprete the recipe & give out instructions.

Unfortunately, I made a crucial error in the no-bake version - as you can see. After many hours, it had still not set - and in desperation, I put one of the 3 trays I made into the oven. Well, the cheese-cupcakes-with-Oreo-base puffed up nicely, exploded and then collapsed all over my oven!!

A separate version had all the Oreos floating up into the cheese batter!

Of all the cheesecakes I have made, only the first one seems to be crack-free. And get this: I baked the first one in a blur, before consulting all those expert books on how to get the perfect crack-free cheesecake and baking the subsequent ones.

I am still mystified as to what caused all my subsequent attempts to crack!

Daddy and his Little Girl

Isn't this just beautiful?

Baking Class at Civil Service Club

The Pixie decided to take the affection-starved Gremlin to a Baking Buddies Hands-On Baking Class at the Civil Service Club for an afternoon of bonding and undivided attention.

Gremlin was so excited about it that he fantasised about the class constantly for the one month before the class.

It turned out to be a very fun experience. For $38 per adult-plus-child pair, the two of them got to bake this Monster Cookie just in time for Father's Day. Tin Hang Zai and Little Pixie both got very cute cookies at the end of the session - whilst Gremlin took the Monster Cookie to share with the adults-who-ignore-him-and-keep-putting-him-down.

The Pixie got her chance to finally ask Judy Seah (the lovely little girl who was the 'teacher' for the session) some burning questions like:

• There is no way to substitute vegetable oil for butter in a cookie recipe. The effect's just not going to be the same.
• Brown sugar makes cookies soft - white makes it crisp. Adjust proportion to taste and preference.
• Addition of more flour to the recipe makes the dough less sticky and easier to manipulate - but the cookies will be crisper. Adjust to preference.
• Dough can be frozen for future use.
• Eggs make the cookies rise.

This was definitely a better value than the Phoon Huat class - but then again - this is hands-on, the other was a demo class. Can't compare apples with oranges. And of course, this is in a different league from the Imp's type of classes.

Judy's good with kids. (Gremlin kept talking non-stop - and she never lost her patience with him.) And she has her own website! Check this out - Baking Hobby Club.

Tong Shui Cafe (TSC) @ Changi Airport Terminal 2

Gold Fish Dumplings in Nasty Soup

It has been a hectic month for the Pixie Family and connected Veterans. The Veteran had a knee operation - and Airport and the Canton Pixie had been stressing out trying to provide homecooked lunch and dinner for the whole of TWO WEEKS.

Tin Hang Zai has travelled thrice this month - and whilst picking him up from T2 past Friday, the Pixie Family decided to have dinner at this quirky place that looks high-class but serves Hong Kong street grub.

Hungering for hot soup - we ordered Gold Fish Dumplings in soup. The soup smelt like goldfish water!!! I bravely attempted a spoonful, and nearly spat it out! (Not that I have ever reared goldfish or gone near them - but the soup smelt and tasted as foul as I imagined goldfish water would smell and taste.) Urgh!! The dumplings were made of some cheap-tasting orange-coloured fish meat with bits of carrot and suspicious red cubes for its eyes. I couldn't stop laughing because this was such a funny experience!

The fish and chips (OK, I think this place obviously doesn't understand the concept of "core competencies") were drenched in some TSC-special "red and white" sauce - which turned out to be ketchup and mayo! Urgh! This felt like a high-class Pasar Malam fish-Ramly. And the battered fish smelt extremely fishy. (*gag*)

French Toast with Strawberry Ice Cream

Highly amused, I decided to give the desserts a try. This was ok (I mean, you can't go wrong with French Toast and what tastes like Magnolia ice-cream, can you??).

Overall - I gave the experience 8/10 for the quirkyness and the laughs (there were workmen carrying wheelbarrows of soil in and out of the restaurant through the tables at 7pm on a Friday night)

Food-wise
The usually lenient Tin Hang Zai gave the dumplings a 2/10 and the ghastly soup a 0/10.
Fish and Chips - 2/10 (for $9.88++ I'm sure we can find a better-tasting deal elsewhere)
Dessert - 7/10 (I can do this myself)

I'd probably go back just for the laughs

Marvellous Soft Muffins - I DID IT!!!!

Orange Breakfast Muffins by Nigella

Honestly, after umpteenth failed attempts, I had about given up. But then, Cat Angel introduced me to this recipe from Nigella.

• 75g unsalted butter
• 250g self-raising flour
• 25g ground almonds
• half teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 75g caster sugar (I just used brown sugar)
• zest of 1 orange (omitted)
• 100ml freshly squeezed orange juice (I used Ceres packet)
• 100ml full-fat milk (I used my home-made brown rice milk)
• 1 egg
• 12-bun muffin tray lined with 12 paper cases

Preheat the oven to 200 deg C. Melt the butter and set aside. Combine the flour, ground almonds, bicarb, baking powder, sugar and orange zest in a large bowl. Measure the orange juice and milk into a jug and whisk in the egg and then the cooled, melted butter. Now pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing with a fork as you go. The batter will be lumpy but that's as it should be: you want everything to be no more than barely combined. If really too dry, add another tablespoon of milk or orange juice (I did). The whole point of muffin mixture is that it must never be overworked. Spoon out the mixture equally into the muffin cases and cook for 15-20 minutes. Remove, in their paper cases, to a wire rack and let cool slightly (but not completely) before devouring.Makes 12.

This is the VERY FIRST TIME my muffins have turned out non-hard!!!
P/S Tin Hang Zai says it's not sweet enough for him - but it was for me - and this is supposed to be eaten with jam.