It's the Jingle time again!!!

Yippie! Can't wait to bake my Christmas cake this week. This will be the first time we are celebrating Christmas in Singapore. Sig.Ot is quite disappointed that he won't be seeing his folks this time round. Even more reason why I should make sure the dinner does not disappoint!

This blog entry is M18:- What on earth is a disco stick?

I recently read an article entitled "Children at risk of pop charts porn." Without doubt, music is one of the most accessible entertainment to all of us. When we were teenagers, we could count on the radio even if it meant only one English station albeit Radio 4. Today, there are countless English radio stations and the internet with its music on demand allows us to listen to whatever we want instantaneously, without having to wait by the radio and press the cassette record button!

Music (not MTV) escapes censorship the easiest. Lyrics are made up of beautiful beautiful words, or sometimes naughty suggestions or even outright sexual descriptions. When I was in secondary school, every Friday after school my friends and I hung out at a road side ice kacang stall which housed an ancient juke box. One of the songs we would pay to listen to was Color Me Badd's I Wanna Sex You Up which we thought was very naughty at that time. We would giggle like the school girls we were and slightly awed by the blatant sexual intention. Thinking back perhaps the song writer merely lacked literary imagination. Then there were also songs with equally sexy melody but more subdued sexual connotation such as Rush Rush by Paula Abdul. "When you kiss me up and down" ".... no one has touched me 'so deep' x3 inside" ???

We also know that certain music genre tend to contain more expletives and sexual imageries. However these days, there are more R rated materials in the pop charts which I think is most inappropriate for young children. Some of them are pretty clever with metaphors and depending on how imaginative you are, one may miss it out completely. Have you ever listened to Kanye West's Big Ego??? The melody in the beginning itself is extremely suggestive and his snickering! Or am I just way too imagitive? How about Lady Gaga wanting to ride a disco stick????? Come on!

Do share what songs you think should be R rated or M18 or PG-13.

It is Not Complicated

Convicted rapists should be castrated.

Definitely not a crooner...

The other night when I was putting Eddie to bed, I was trying all kinds of tricks to make sure that he stayed in his room. Ever since he has outgrown his cot, sleeping affair is a nightly challenge. He would keep popping out of his room, standing at the top of the stairs taunting me. Then I'll run up the stairs at which point he'll run straight back into his room. Repeat 10 times.

Sometimes, I would stay in his room to try to get him to sleep. He just likes my company I guess. Recently he's taken up singing. He is just not very talented in that department. His repertoire used to be Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and he could only sing bits of the song. So on that night, we were laying down in his room looking at the stars on his ceiling and he started going (in a monotone) "Bobbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb de... de... can fix" and again and again."

Only when he was doing the 3rd round that I realised that he was singing Bob the Builder theme song. And because he could not sing the entire line he only picked up the words he knew!

Bobbbbbbbbb... the builder, can we fix it?!

Aneboda- Brand New Workout!

I woke up this morning with aches all over my body. Who would have thought that assemblying a chest of IKEA drawers is such a body breaker!

It took me about 2 hours in total, 70 screws, 30 nails and an extra 13 wooden pegs (resembling mini tampons). Sig.Ot came home and told me that IKEA does not give out extra parts! Well, it is waaayyyyy too late. The drawers look pretty sturdy, albeit IKEA sturdy to me.

Equipment : Aneboda- 3 Drawer Chest: Color White
Targetted Muscles : Bum, Thighs and Upper Back
Total Time : 2 hours



The extra pegs are still bugging me. I shall make an enquiry with IKEA today.

Eddie's Birthday - 2

Remember what I said last year? It's all about the picture with the cake.

White Butter Cake:

1 3/4 cups (175 grams) sifted cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar, divided

2 large eggs, separated

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup (120 ml) milk

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

White Butter Cake: While eggs are still cold separate the eggs, placing the yolks in one bowl and the whites in another bowl. Cover the two bowls with plastic wrap and allow the eggs to come to room temperature before using (about 30 minutes).

In a mixing bowl sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In bowl of electric mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add 3/4 cup (150 grams) of the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

In a clean bowl of your electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue beating until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup (50 grams) of sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. With a rubber spatula gently fold a little of the whites into the batter to lighten it, and then fold in the remaining whites until combined. Do not over mix the batter or it will deflate.

Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 20 - 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Oreo Cheesecake

Sorry I haven't got time for the picture but I just baked this yesterday morning at 6am.

Oreo Cheesecake
750g cream cheese
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
26 oreo cookies plus 3 tbs melted butter

• Smash up 18 cookies and mix with melted butter as cake base.
• Cream the cream cheese with sugar, then add eggs 1 at a time. Finally throw in the vanilla essence.
• To answer yummymummy's question: Once the cream cheese sugar mixture becomes smooth, it's good enough to add eggs. Overbeating causes bubble built-ups which lead to cracking of the cake.
• As for the remaining oreos, you could either smash it up and fold into cream cheese mixture or alternatively sprinkle them on the top of the cake for the black effect, before putting into the oven.
• 175degrees C for 45 minutes. But my oven's bit hot. Next time I'll just do it for 40 min under.

Chill overnight before serving.

After that, I used the remaining cream cheese (250g) to bake the following.

Mini Oreo Cheesecake (Muffin size)
250g cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
Vanilla Essence
8 oreo cookies
About 8 muffin liners, adjust accordingly to the size of your muffin tray

This one is super easy.

• Cream cheese method as per above, the only difference is use half the cookie, the side with icing on as the base of your mini cheesecake.
• Scoop cream cheese mixture and then top it off with the mashed up remainder of the cookie halves.
• Bake for only 20 minutes.

Fast Lanes

Can I please reiterate that when a stretch of road has got more than 1 lane, the foremost right lane is meant for overtaking????!!!!!!!! It is not meant for moronic drivers to stick to the speed limit despite the fact that the next 3 - 4 lanes to the left are empty.

For some moronic reasons unknown to unmoronic mortals like us, many people just don't get it. If these people drive with that kind of behaviour, there will never be enough lanes to ease congestion! Well I suppose KL folks are unlikely to have the luxury of free lanes either to the left or right but if you ever drive back to your kampungs using trunk roads, do not undermine the government's efforts in expanding the roads to 2 lanes each direction.

Thank you.

What That Defines Us

I remember reading an article whereby the writer points out that each time he meets new people, the conversation inevitably always focuses on what each other does, for a living.

I agree that this topic always comes up and it works very well as an icebreaker because EVERYBODY does something for a living. For some, what they do for a living is what they esssentially live for and hence, a subject they most love to talk about.

When I stopped working, I admit that I struggled with an identity crisis. For a long time, I kept wondering to myself what I should put in the column "occupation" whenever the need to fill up a form arises. The truth is, I found it difficult to just proclaim myself as a housewife or homemaker. My past 9 working years have been a rather ambitious one looking for recognition in the form of promotion and monetary gains.

Therefore in the beginning, I used to write "freelancer." I honestly think now that is the most vague profession anyone could profess to hold! Sig.Ot used to make fun of me and asked what exactly I was freelancing at. Well, I write sometimes and I could do translation work which I have done before. Oh, I could be a hand model too! My hands were shown on NTV 7 and SBB's ATM screens.

When I stopped working, it annoyed the hell out of me when people asked me what do I do everyday. Not so much that they are genuinely interested to find out what I do daily, but I suspect they are curious to see what kind of identity do I hold now without a job to qualify me. Have I turned into an aunty who only knows the price difference of carrots in the local wet market vs. Cold Storage.

I am proud to say that for now, I have finally come to terms with my new profession as a full time mother and wife. I can opt out of having to go to the market on Tuesday and sit in a coffeeshop reading instead. I can accommodate my friends' lunch dates requests by scheduling it around my facial appointments. I can bake cakes for my neighbours as thank you gift for looking after the house when we were away.

Most importantly I get to spend time with Eddie everyday while baking 2 buns in the oven. That's productive isn't it?

"... so ancient..."

Yesterday I came across a piece of news in theStar following Rais' comment on microblogging. I am not very sure what he said since most politicians these days tend to say things just for the heck of publishing space.

I have very limited adult contact these days which may have resulted in my reaction to the following jokes that were published in response to his comment. I could not stop laughing!

“Rais is so ancient, Parameswara asked him for directions.”

“Rais is so ancient, he knew Burger King when it was still a prince.”

“Rais is so ancient, he is on a first name basis with the pharoahs.”

Malaysian girl tops in S’pore O-Level exam

TheStar
Straitstimes

This piece of news made the front page of the Singapore Straits Times online yesterday. This brilliant girl is not the only one who has been studying in Singapore, as there are so many more Malaysian talents who have been invited and welcomed to study in Singapore.

Most amazingly, Singapore press had no qualms to introduce this Malaysian girl in the front page of its website.

I know for a fact that schools in Singapore not only welcome foreign students to apply to study in their schools, but their principals also travel to other countries during the school break to recruit scholars to study here!

Have I ever mentioned that my cousin's husband who runs his own company in KL and have possibly created hundreds of jobs, have been living in Malaysia for close to 20 years, and his PR application is yet to be approved?

Christmas 2009

As promised, this is my Christmas cake! I have forgotten to bring the decorations and the best I could come up with is a Christmas looking Thai wordings tag.


Also Tesco ran out of icing sugar, so I had to improvise with my Braun hand held musher. The outcome was not as good as a blender but what's one to do?

Marzipan...

I'm betting that it says Merry Christmas???

My long lost first love

During my trip back to my parents in November 09, I rediscovered my faithful first love. It is at least 16 years old, which my mom bought for me to replace manual labour. When I baked my first cake which was a Marble Cake, recipe courtesy of Reena's mom, we beat margarine and sugar using rice scoop and a huge metal basin!

Then I had my first cake mixer, which is a National. Unsurprisingly, it still works perfectly fine today. In fact, I hated to admit this to Sig.Ot, but the National is more user friendly than my giant Kenwood. To top it off, I suspect that the cake quality is also better with the National!!! Maybe the secret lies with the double beaters and the smaller sized bowl also allows all the ingredients to be mixed in better.

Tag

1. Adakah anda rasa anda hot?

Tentu sekali! Kadang-kadang boleh kedengaran "sssssssssssssssssssss"

2.Upload gambar kegemaran anda

Semuanya Eddie. Biar saya cari gambo dari dulu-dulu dan scan.

3. Cerita pasal gambar?

N/A

4.Bila kali terakhir makan pizza?

3 minggu yang lalu

5. Lagu terakhir yang anda dengar?

Virtual Insanity - dalam program Singapore Idol semalam. Laki yang nyangi lagu tu sangat bangus. Yang lain semua tak leh pakai.

(Disclaimer- Itu kali pertama saya menonton Singapore Idol)

6. Apa yang anda buat selain menyelesaikan tag ini?

Baring di atas katil (7.25am)

7. Selain nama sendiri anda dipanggil nama apa?

Yes dear. (tak tipu! suami tak panggil saya dear, tapi "yes dear")

8. Tag lagi 6 orang

Maaf kena repeat sebab para pembaca saya terhad.

a. Yummymummy
b. N/A
c. Kechik
d. Khemy
e. N/A
f. Elise

9. Siapakah orang No.1 pada anda?

Kawan baik sejak sekolah.

10.Kata sesuatu mengenai orang no 5

N/A

11. No.3 ada hubungan dengan siapa?

Hubungan menyusu dengan munchkin.

12. Bagaimana pula orang no.4?

Ini komplikated sikit. Saya tak tau kalau dia ingat, tapi kali pertama kita berjumpa adalah masa kita di Darjah 6 main bola jaring. Masa tu, khemy sekolah lain.

13. Pesanan kepada orang no 6.?

Mulakan blog.

Delia's Fool-proof Xmas Cake

My one and only tip is that before you embark on baking 2 cakes at the same time i.e. doubling up on the recipe, please check if there is any hand folding of flour plus over 1 kg of dried fruits involved. The total of 2 hours laboring in the dining room resulted in lower back pain and pulled hamstrings in both my legs. Pregnant women should NOT stand for a prolonged period of time.

Few key pointers:-

1. Should've reduced more of the sugar. Could've easily cut off by 50g for each cake.
2. When baking more than one cake on the shelve, the cake furthest in the oven, is browner than the rest. It didn't burn though.
3. I substituted currants with sultanas. I don't like currants.
4. You could be much more generous with the brandy used to season the fruits. 3 tbs for that amount of fruits is really negligible.
5. Grating 2 lemon zest and 2 orange zest is really not as easy as it seems. Start early on that.
6. I cannot ice the cake until few days before Xmas or else the marzipan will dry out. For picture from last year's iced Xmas cake, please click 2008 Xmas.
7. Lowest shelf!!! And 4 1/2 hours is a tad too long. Maybe 4 hours is ok, and check before then. 4 1/2hrs resulted in crusty top.




(Grated orange and lemon zest)








THE CLASSIC CHRISTMAS CAKE

Ingredients
1 lb (450 g) currants
6 oz (175 g) sultanas
6 oz (175 g) raisins
2 oz (50 g) glacé cherries, rinsed, dried and finely chopped
2 oz (50 g) mixed candied peel, finely chopped
3 tablespoons brandy, plus extra for 'feeding'
8 oz (225 g) plain flour
½ level teaspoon salt
¼ level teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ level teaspoon ground mixed spice
8 oz (225 g) unsalted butter
8 oz (225 g) soft brown sugar
4 large eggs
2 oz (50 g) almonds, chopped (the skins can be left on)
1 level dessertspoon black treacle
grated zest 1 lemon
grated zest 1 orange
4 oz (110 g) whole blanched almonds (only if you don't intend to ice the cake

Method

You need to begin this cake the night before you want to bake it. All you do is weigh out the dried fruit and mixed peel, place it in a mixing bowl and mix in the brandy as evenly and thoroughly as possible. Cover the bowl with a clean tea cloth and leave the fruit aside to absorb the brandy for 12 hours.

Next day pre-heat the oven to gas mark 1, 275°F (140°C). Then measure out all the rest of the ingredients, ticking them off to make quite sure they're all there. The treacle will be easier to measure if you remove the lid and place the tin in a small pan of barely simmering water. Now begin the cake by sifting the flour, salt and spices into a large mixing bowl, lifting the sieve up high to give the flour a good airing. Next, in a separate large mixing bowl, whisk the butter and sugar together until it's light, pale and fluffy. Now beat the eggs in a separate bowl and add them to the creamed mixture a tablespoonful at a time; keep the whisk running until all the egg is incorporated. If you add the eggs slowly by degrees like this the mixture won't curdle. If it does, don't worry, any cake full of such beautiful things can't fail to taste good!

When all the egg has been added, fold in the flour and spices, using gentle, folding movements and not beating at all (this is to keep all that precious air in). Now fold in the fruit, peel, chopped nuts and treacle and finally the grated lemon and orange zests. Next, using a large kitchen spoon, transfer the cake mixture into the prepared tin, spread it out evenly with the back of a spoon and, if you don't intend to ice the cake, lightly drop the whole blanched almonds in circles or squares all over the surface. Finally cover the top of the cake with a double square of silicone paper with a 50p-size hole in the centre (this gives extra protection during the long slow cooking).

Bake the cake on the lowest shelf of the oven for 4½-4¾ hours. Sometimes it can take up to ½-¾ hour longer than this, but in any case don't look till at least 4 hours have passed. Cool the cake for 30 minutes in the tin, then remove it to a wire rack to finish cooling. When it's cold 'feed' it – make small holes in the top and base of the cake with a cocktail stick or small skewer, then spoon over a few teaspoons of brandy, wrap it in double silicone paper secured with an elastic band and either wrap again in foil or store in an airtight container. You can now feed it at odd intervals until you need to ice or eat it.

Jingle Jingle Jingle

It's one of my favourite times of the year! I love it when they put up the Christmas decor in the shops, on the streets and luckily this year's Orchard Road's Christmas decor is much nicer than last year.

I am excited because I shall be baking my Christmas cakes today! This is 3rd year in a running, with a fool-proof Delia's 31 years old recipe. Of course the anticipation of finding out whether the cake is tasty or not (on 25th Dec) adds to the whole zing as well.

Wish me luck! Will post pictures once they are done.

Ignoring which couple of bad apples?

In response to the recent announcement by PM asking us to ignore the racist remarks made by certain politicians, I came across a very good commentary on this issue. The Nut Graph is an independent news portal with no political affiliation whatsoever. Do read.

http://www.thenutgraph.com/umno-not-racist

The Case of the late TBH

I know that an independent inquest has been going on for months but honestly I no longer know what it is to achieve. Perhaps I am so sceptical to the point of not believing that justice is ever going to reach beyond the grave of this poor man who will never get to hold his newborn.

I may be wrong but from all the legal dramas and CSI I have seen, I am not convinced that this man has voluntarily jumped off a building simply because he was being "investigated" for a few thousand ringgit. Mind you, he has not been convicted of anything yet. On top of that, he was due to get married and he is going to be a father!

Therefore I read with interest when I realised that the famed Dr. Pornthip (I remember her from National Geographic) has been invited to give her opinions. To her credit, she has conducted over 10,000 autopsies in her career. It is most astounding that she was able to conclude there is 80% probability that TBH was murdered simply by reading the reports and looking at the photographs. Just imagine what else she could have concluded and told us if only she had the opportunity to conduct a post mortem on the late TBH.

I read with amusement another commentator's remark on Dr. Pornthip's testimony:-

by drrafick
4. What does this testimony means? To some it may means that TBH was murdered by MACC officers. To me it means a lot more. It means that the entire system which consists of the MACC, Police, the doctors (from Klang and UHKL), and officers in Putrajaya is now on trial.

The Yacoubian Building... by Alaa Al Aswany

Just by reading the prologue, I was won over immediately. It has been a very long time since I read a good book. Each page that I read, I pored on each word very slowly in case I miss any of it. Every word is so important and crucial to this great literary work and I just wanted to drink it in. (Unlike some other books which you can speed read and still get the gist of what is happening).

What inspired the writer to write this book, he wrote it exactly how he was inspired in the first place. One day while walking through downtown Cairo, he saw a building which was in the process of being torn down. The buidling was being dissected and was to be torn down in sections. The walls of the building had been stripped bare and he could see into the different apartments and the various personal effects which were left behind by the previous tenants.

Al Aswany wrote about the inhabitants of Yacoubian Building which represented the different segments of the Egyptian society. As I am no expert of modern day Egypt, I suspect the building itself was symbolic in its representation of Egypt. Yacoubian Building which by the way a real landmark in Egypt, was fictitiously dressed up in the book. The writer talked about the building in its heyday in all its glory as it was inspired by French architecture just like most buildings were in the 19th century. Prominent people used to live in this apartments but as time passed, the building begun to lose its shine and deteriorated. On top of the roof, there were individual rooms which were allocated to each apartment owner for use as storage (think parking lot). However it now had been sublet to poor families which used the tiny store rooms as their homes.

The book talks about corruption, social changes and religion, among many other things. It is something most of us could identify with, despite our differences. The one thing I found most striking about this book is the order among chaos.

The Scare Tactic

I have not read up much on the subject of bringing up children but I am quite sure most experts warn against scaring children into submission.

Most of you while growing up would be familiar with "bad people will come and catch you" or sometimes the police would come catch you too depending on your locality, and in the past some politically incorrect terms were used too.

This I remember from my childhood and I think it is quite funny. "Police come catch you and put you into prison, and you will have to eat curry rice." I am not quite sure how scary curry rice is supposed to be. Maybe as a kid, you wouldn't like spicy food or the prospect of eating rice with only curry gravy is quite pitiful.

The issue that I am faced with today is whether I too should employ a scare tactic. Honestly, as much as I would like to adopt all the idealistic approaches of raising children but being in the state that I am in today; WHATEVER that works to keep my boy from harm, who cares.

I have been telling Eddie there is a dinosaur outside the house and I always accompany that statement with a roar. It worked for about a week. This morning he ventured out when I was not looking and realised for himself that of course there isn't one. It is very tiring to have to consistently outsmart your children.