Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas everyone!

Meant to wake up at 0730 this morning but didn't set the alarm as I thought I would be able to do so. Unfortunately, overslept a bit and woke up at 0810. Panicked but managed to shower and get dressed and get to the kitchen before 0900. Reason I panicked was because Pat's dad was coming to lunch and I needed to get lunch ready by 1pm or thereabouts.

Got the stuffing ready last night, so stuffed it into the turkey, buttered it, covered with bacon and then foil and then into a preheated oven of 220 for 40 mins. After the 40 mins, turn down to 170 for the next 3 hours or so. During this time, made the bread sauce, prepared the veg for roasting.






At 1200 opened the foil, removed the bacon and basted the turkey. Turned the heat back to 200 and waited for the turkey to brown. The turkey was nicely browned and nice and tender and succulent!



And yes, everything was ready by about 130.











Made 3 cakes. 2 to give away and one for ourselves.

This is a carrot cake for our part time cleaner.



This was for Katrina



This was for us and had some of this after lunch

Back in London to snow

Back to snow

First before I start, I would like to wish my beautful daughter a Happy Birthday. Sorry Mama cannot be there to share it with you!

Arrived safely back to London. From 30 deg in SG to a sudden drop to 0 deg. hmm...



Monday night, Pat only managed to get home at around 11.30 as all the roads were closed as they could not manage to grit the roads and too many cars on the roads were abandoned as they were skidding and sliding all over the place. Luckily, Pat has a 4 wheel drive, so it is manageable.

But I have been stuck at home since arriving back on Monday and the road outside our house is a slope and because it is a private road, it does not get gritted and because I do not have a 4 wheel drive, I CANNOT GO OUT! Arggh... I need to do my grocery shopping for Christmas lunch. And the supermarkets will be like crazy. It is only 1 day of public holiday but the way the people shop here, you would think that they were preparing for a famine or war or something. Their trolleys are full to the brim and mind you, the big trolleys that we have here are really BIG! I tried ordering online when I arrived back, but all the delivery slots were filled up till 27 Dec. But even if I did manage to order, they would not be able to deliver due to the reason I gave above. sigh.

Hopefully I will be able to go out tonight and get my stuff.

SJC gathering

SJC gathering

I met up with a few of my SJC classmates and again was surprised with a birthday cake! It was only the few of us but nevertheless, it was so nice to be able to catch up with them.






Thanks Chris for opening your house to us. Blessed Christmas to you and your family.

After the gathering at Chris's place, went to church and after which the choir came back to my place for dinner.
This is my choir group - unfortnately did not have the flash on.

Card reading session


Sinseh at work

my birthday

My Birthday

Met up with E and D for lunch and afterwards went upstairs to E's place. Never expected E to remember my birthday and bake a cake for me. How sweet of her! And their 2 girls also drew me a birthday card.

The cake was yummilicious and the card - so sweet of the girls. Thanks K and S.

Adeline and Scott's registry wedding

My cousin's wedding

Arrived in Singapore just in time for my cousin's wedding. She had a JP come to a private room in Shang and held their solemnisation there.

This is the cake I made for Adeline and Scott. It is the simplest cake I have made so far, but because I made the flowers in London and had to carry them to SG, I was not sure how roses or other flowers would fare, hence gerberas.



Adeline and Scott




Congrats Adeline and Scott and may you have peace,happiness and love forever!

Life of Francis Wee

Francis Wee
Born 17 Sept 1965
Safe in the arms of Jesus - 15 Sept 2009

I just want to share with my friends and his friends a few pictures of Francis.

Francis a few months old with Mama taken at her house at Bukit Ho Swee


Francis and me at Japanese Gardens


Francis 12th birthday


Found this written in my autograph book, naughty boy must have sneaked it in. I didn't even know it was in there until recently.


Another one that he sneaked in but this one must have been when he was older as the writing has somewhat matured!



Francis army days


Francis passing out


When we were back in SG in 2001


My surprise birthday party from Francis


It's just past 2 months since Francis has gone. But it still hurts and I think about him most of the time. It's always why but I know it is not for us to question - God has his plan for us except that we don't know what it is.

Still I have to thank God for looking after my mum, that although I am sure she misses Francis, she is strong and taking it in her stride.

Thank you to everyone who attended his wake and funeral. As the funeral was on Monday which was a public holiday, there was a big turn out. I am sure he was pleased to see so many people who care.

I would also like to thank a lot of people here for helping my mum clear out the shop for handing back to the landlord.
My choir friends, Liana's father and family and E who actually only went to collect a fish tank, but on seeing my mum clearing, stayed on and for the next few days, came to help.
My friend's maid, my friend who sent his workers to clear the unwanted items, my cousins... hope I have not forgotten anyone. A big thank you! Because of your collected efforts, the shop has been handed back in time.

But I just cannot believe that he is gone. He would always call on April Fool's day to try and catch me and he did in the early days but then in recent years, I always reminded myself so he couldn't catch me out anymore. But he usually managed to fool mum. But this year, he sent me a text to say that he wouldn't call to fool me,hehe. Then a few days after my wedding anniversary this year, he sent an sms to wish us a belated anniverary apologising for the belated wish saying that he was busy with work. I will miss his calls (which start - eh sis), his emails, and dinners with him when I am back,his corny jokes.... I'll miss everything about him.

Rest in peace Francis.

Love forever

Calla Lilly Wedding Cake

Calla Lily Wedding Cake

Promised a friend that I would bake a wedding cake for her. It was a small wedding dinner celebration but I thought I would surprise them and make a 2 tier cake, partly for my own experience as well.

Well, have done roses before, so I thought I wanted to do a different kind of flower, so chose to make calla lilies. Was thinking of making just 1 colour but experimented with 3 different colours and in the end, used all three. Making the flowers separately was not a problem. Assembling it was. I know I am good with my hands, but am not creative whatsoever. So what do I do with the separate flowers? Played around with several variations, and boy, am I pleased with the end result.

Flowers in the preparation stage


Colour comparision - painted and unpainted lily


Tada - completed cake!


Bottom tier - fruit cake


Top layer - carrot cake

My brother - Francis Wee

My brother, Francis Wee - 17 Sept 1965 to 15 Sept 2009

I can't even type the heading without crying. I was going to write an eulogy to my brother but cannot do it now... I will do it eventually when I don't hurt so much.

When Mediacorp came...

When Mediacorp came...

Mediacorp - Channel U is going round the world (I think) filming overseas Singaporeans and what they eat. So they came on Monday, August 31 which was a bank holiday here and filmed....

Let me tell you what they wanted. They wanted someone who had a kitchen with an island - this request was sent out by San Choo who administers a few forums here. So itchy backside me sent him a pix of my kitchen as asked if it was ok. Came back to say producer likes it and could they film here?

They wanted 3 cooks to cook and compete. hehe.

First they wanted us to make fish head curry. No scrap that. Then they wanted us to make roti prata. So I practiced for a week to get it right. No, not the flipping method but the crispy prata. Managed to get that right, then they changed their minds. They said the normal way of eating prata was dipping in curry - as everyone knows ... so they don't want that. Do something fusion as in eating prata with something else. Alamak, even Pat went "Ang Mohs (Caucasions) eat roti prata with curry, what else you want them to eat with?" So anyway cracked my head as to what to cook. Thought of making fajitas and using the prata to wrap but San said it would be too cripsy to wrap. Ok, bad idea. So... second idea - make pizza with it. Pat didn't like that, so scrap that. Pat said what about prata with baked beans .. yeah yeah, funny.

So ended up making Baba Ganoush or in layman's term - Aubergine dip. This is a middle eastern dish that is normally eaten as a starter with pitta bread.

As they say, a picture paints a thousand words, so let the pictures tell you then.

Others competitors at work!


Pat











Cast and crew


Forgot to mention - they said it was scheduled to be aired on October 20 at 2009. English title is "Flavours of Singapore". But apparently the schedule may change, so watch out for this programme starting on October 13.

Glutinous Rice

Glutinous Rice

Soon Kueh

Soon Kueh

Another experiment as mum said she coulnd't get the skin rihgt. Made it some time ago and the last time I made it, I made it with wheat flour, so today thought I'd try it both ways - with wheat flour mixed with tapioca flour (my original recipe) and another one from another book - this one is rice flour and tapioca flour - the kind that is sold normally.

I prefer the one that uses wheat flour as is transparent and a bit more chewy whereas maybe I didn't follow the 2nd recipe correctly as the dough was a bit soft and difficult to mould. But after steaming it was alright although I did not take any pictures of it.

Filling is not supposed to be dark but as I had left over from popiah I made last week, I added dried mushrooms and dried prawns.

Beef Yakiniku

Beef Yakiniku

Tofu Seafood Patties

Tofu Seafood Patties

Lamb & Spinach Curry

Lamb & Spinach Curry

Kueh Sarlat

Kueh Sarlat

Was experimenting with the kaya topping for kueh sarlat. Hence you see more topping than rice.

Kueh Lopez

Kueh Lopez

The next few weekends will see me making various kuehs as a sort of experiment to see if they work well using the mw. As you all will have gathered by now, I like to cook, but also I like to find the quickest way of making them as well. Actually this applies to work as well, but I am digressing here. hehe.

So last night soaked 1  cup glutinous rice as I wanted to make some kueh lopez.

This morning, drained the rice, then coloured it a little bit green but only found out later(from Liana) that it is meant to be yellowish and not green. Who cares as long as it tastes good and is edible right? Anyway to continue... As I didnt want to waste the rice if the MW method didn't work, I just put about 1 cupful of the rice into a big soup bowl and added water to more than cover it and nuked it for about 5 mins. Took it out and stirred it and looked ok, then put it back in for another 5 mins again. If the water has dried out and the rice is still not soft, slowly add in a little bit at a time and mw it till the rice is soft. It has to be slightly softer than your normal cooked glutinous rice.

The put it on a big piece of cling film and made it into a triangle and moulded it. Other internet sites tell you to put the cling film into a nescafe cap and mould it into a round shape.

Remove from the cling film, cover with grated coconut and pour melted gula melaka over it and serve.

If you want to do it the traditional way using banana leaf, it is like making bakchang where you shape the leaf into a triangle and add the uncooked rice and put it into boiling water for about 30 mins until it is soft.