Pandan Chiffron Cake

Recently I had this craze for baking. So far I tried jelly hearts, moist steamed chocolate cake, chocolate macadamia cookies and pineapple tarts. Today, I had a go at baking pandan chiffron cake. I used the recipe from baking mum's website. It was a success except I was quite impatient when removing the cake from the tin and hence the 'ugly' cake. My hubby said it was nice but I didn't trust him as his answers are always 'politically correct' answers. Maybe I will let my family members or colleagues try it out. They always give me truthful feedback. The next dish I'm going to try is either mango swiss roll or luncheon meat puff (i happen to buy one from breadtalk and it was nice, so decided to bake it myself).

CNY 2009

This year's CNY came and went fast and furious. Everyday (except working day) was fully packed with lunches, dinners and house visiting.

Chu Yi

We slept late on eve and woke up at 10am. The kids were very excited to wear their new clothes. Every year without fail we would visit mum first. The moment Xavier received his ang baos, he refused to part with it as I wanted to keep them for him. Then we had dim sum lunch at Ah Yat in Allson hotel with my in laws. Maybe due to the bad times, many restaurants were open on the first day of CNY as compared to last year. After lunch they came to mum house and start the black jack session and it lasted for 3 hours. Amazing! This year is really not a lucky year for me, lost everytime I gamble, even yp has better luck. Last stop for the day, dinner at godma's house. The kids were so happy to gather and have fun together with all the older gor gors and jie jies to entertain them. When we left at 11pm, we realised that the night was still young (only for CNY), we decided to have a mahjong session back at mum's place. Half way through the game, I was losing quite a bit and being 'kia su', I got YP to replace me. Luckily he managed to win a teeny bit at the end. My saviour!

Chu Er

Every year, mum would do the lunch on the 2nd day of CNY. Her house would be packed with goodies and people. This year I managed to order dim sum buffet for her. We had a great time chatting and eating. Next, we went to sis-in-law's house and they were entertaining my bro-in-law's colleagues. Did not spend much time there as we felt a bit out of place. We headed for cousin ah nee's house which is just nearby. Another gambling session after dinner. This time it is 'in-between' and all of 13 of us were so high during the game especially when the pool of money grew. Our voice were hoarse at the end of the game. Dad being a gambler only joined in when the pool of money grew beyond $50. Han Jie was considered the unluckiest when he had 'A's for all 3 cards. Ha ha what are the chances! Luckily the minimum bet was 50cents. It was a great game!

Chu San

My company shutted down on this day. With nothing to do, I invited my cousins over for lunch. After that, my sis and dad stayed behind for a mahjong session again. When YP came back from work, he couldn't resist and insisted I gave up the seat for him. I was winning lor!

CNY was always great fun even when I'm into the 36th year now! Really hope the year of Ox will be a good year and economy will improve!

NAFA Audition

Yu En is having another round of audition for her acceptance to NAFA (Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts) Gifted Young Pianists Course tomorrow. Hope she makes it through. Her father has been preparing her for the past few months. She is expected to play a solo piece on the piano, sing a song and identify/read notes. The last time she failed one of the items as she had stage fright and did not dare to sing in front of the tester. It'll be good if she gets enrolled in NAFA as she'll learn much more than in yamaha. However, on the other hand I am afraid she cannot take the stress. At this moment, I am praying hard!

Family Studio Shots

I had long wanted a family portrait taken since Yu Chen was born. So when I saw the promotion by U-foto on the singaporemothehood website. I decided to grab the chance. The package is $120 with one hour of unlimited shots. We reached there early as I anticipate the kids need to warm up a bit before the shoot. Yu Chen was still sleeping when we reached the studio so the photographer, Benjamin, decided to take Yu En's photo 1st. The session went well except Yu Chen refused to smile for the camera, acting so cool. Benjamin had a hard time trying to make him smile, he had to hi5 with him and then 'go stan' to take the picture when Yu Chen smiled after the hi5. I even had to resort to tickle him when taking picture with him. A few shots to share:

An Evening at Botanic Gardens

i was looking forward to attend april's july mummies gathering this afternoon as it's been a long while since i last seen all the mummies and their tots. however, yu chen was still having runny nose and a slight cough. afraid that he would pass the virus to his frens, i decided to give the gathering a miss, yet again.

leng called me up at around 3pm and asked me if i wan to bring my kids along to botanic gardens as there will be a performance by SSO in the evening. since i had nothing on after missing the gathering, i agreed. yp was too lazy to go and send us there, i asked leng to give me a lift since it's on the way, er....sort of lah. i managed to dig out all the snacks in my kitchen and leng oso got some snacks and drinks for a mini picnic.

we reached there at about 5pm and it was getting really crowded (as compared to normal weekend). we quickly settled down and started to enjoy the music. guess we were not quite the artistic bunch cos the kids went to play ball and bubbles, i was chatting wif mum, leng and marcus were walking around(dunno what they were looking for). it was so humid and warm that all of us were perspiring esp the kids. when the performance was over, it was time to make a move as the sky was oso getting dark.

No More Pacifier!

Sometimes I do wonder how to wean Yu Chen off pacifier. He is quite dependent on his pacifier when sleeping, even crying for it when he is awake. Just imagine, he has 5 spare pacifiers at my house and ah ma's house. I remebered en en weaned off pacifer when she was 2+ without any fuss, it just happened.

One night, it just happened. I was about to put yu chen to sleep at home when I realised all the pacifiers were at ah ma's house. Daddy was simply too lazy to go buy one or go ah ma's house at get one. He asked me to try making him sleep without it and take this as an oppotunity to wean him. I was very hesitant as I was afraid yu chen would make a big fuss or even wake up a few times in the night without the comfort sucking. Daddy assured me that he will help in the later shift if that happens. Surprisingly, yu chen fell asleep quite fast and woke up only once to drink milk, no fuss at all.

The next day we were very proud of him and felt that it was a great achievement. He is a big boy now. Daddy quickly disposed all the pacifiers, afraid that yu chen will go back to his old ways when he sees one. Now, my next target is to toilet train him, hope it's just as fuss free and easy!

Bonding Time