Dinner request

Baby sitting and Dinner Request

As we wanted to give the new parents some time off to themselves, we offered to babysit James. They visit quite often on Sundays but this is the first time after 20+ years that I will be looking after a baby for the whole night. I was so worried and had so many what ifs.... but little Mr. was a darling.

His parents dropped him off around 7+ so that's when I fed him, then around 10 gave him his bath -ooo... he loves his bath time, he is ever so quite then, just enjoying the warmth of the water! So anyway, after his bath, gave him his last feed and he only woke up at 4 for his next. Dropped off again straight after that and did not wake up till 8. Hope he will be like this next time we baby sit!

So anyway after his parents picked him up in the morning, I went supermarket shopping as I had invited some friends over for dinner. I offered to make nasi lemak but he was craving chicken rice. He is leaving for Singapore on Wednesday for a holiday and yet he wanted chicken rice. Told him if my chicken rice was not good enough then do not blame me! hehe.

So menu for the night was boiled chicken, har cheong kai (this is more for Pat as he does not like plain chicken), siu yoke and oyster sauced chye sim. Dessert was pavlova and special request of kueh kosui - no pics as you can find them in the archives!

Sorry pictures look terrible as I only remembered to take them halfway during the meal!

Matt & Donna's wedding

Wedding Cake


Warning! Another long post!
As you have seen from my previous posts, I have made wedding cakes before. 1 tier and 2 tiers and not very big ones at that! So when Matt and Donna decided to get married, I offered to bake them a cake and they wanted 3 tiers and white and burgundy themed. Good! I thought - gives me a chance to practice and widen my portfolio of cakes.

Hmm.. told Pat will not bake a cake for free again (lol) as I never imagined it would be such a difficult task. Boy, do I admire those people who do it for a living, but then again, when it is a job, I suppose it gets easier!

Anyway, a week after I returned from Singapore, I baked the top layer - a 6 inch fruit cake which traditionally in UK, you keep for the christening of your first child. Had to bake the cake earlier as I had to feed it brandy. Step one done!

Then Tuesday of last week, baked the 2nd layer and it did not turn out well. When I tried the recipe some time back, it was ok but perhaps this time, it was bigger - 10 inches - the cake was not high enough. So Wednesday night, baked another one using a different recipe. Yay, it worked.

Thursday, took a day off and baked the bottom layer - 12 inches. Then whilst waiting for it to cool, made the sugarpaste rose and the roses for the middle tier. The 2 bottom tiers are chocolate.

Then after dinner, covered all 3 cakes. Friday night after work, after dinner continued with the deco. Worked till around 0230 and decided I had to stop. I didn't like the deco but as it was so late, my mind was not working as I did not know what to do with it as it just looked a mess. While in bed, did manage to have an idea of how to "cure" the problem, but it meant that I had to re-cover the cake as the burgundy colour would be showing as it had seeped into the frosting.

So next morning, woke up bright and early but feeling like s**t, went downstairs to try and finish the cake. Redesigned the placing of the flowers and this time, I was quite happy with it. So tried as hard and as quick as possible to cover the cake and then had to drive to the cake shop about 40 mins(1 way) away to get separate cake boxes to house the cakes. When I went to the shop 2 weeks ago, the lady said to assemble them and take it to the venue, but I was worried about the weight of the cakes and them toppling over, so went back to get them. While I was there, got some silver sparkle as well to highlight the roses. Left home at 1000 and got back at 1130, not bad driving, eh, considering it was like 60 + miles both ways. hehe.

so, so to cut a very long story a bit shorter, got everything ready by 1300, got dressed and arrived at the venue at 1430. The wedding ceremony was scheduled to begin at 1530, so 1 hour for me to set up the cake. The most time consuming thing on arrival was to add the beads to the cake! But tada, here is my or rather Matt and Donna's wedding cake.







One last picture before I go, just could not resist taking this. Found this in the loo! Don't you think it is so sweet?

My holiday

My holiday

Apologies for the lack of post and now please sit down, have a cup of tea cos it's going to be a fairly long one as I am going to put 2 1/2 weeks of stories into 1 post!

The main purpose of my going to Singapore at was to attend my cousin's wedding and then have my hols there as well. It was a good thing that Pat did not come with me because on the day I landed, when I called Pat to inform him that I had arrived, he told me that his dad had passed away. We had discussed it already that if that happend, I would still continue my holiday and not turn back but he will try to see if he could delay the funeral. So luckily he could and the funeral was scheduled for 24 August, 2 days after I get back.

I got upgraded on my way out and for the first time in ages, I did manage to catch some sleep. Arrived at SG airport not expecting to see anyone but whilst glancing at the crowd, saw Liana trying to pretend to be inconspicious but failing miserably. haha. What a sweet surprise! The silly girl did not check with the airlines on the arrival of my flight taking for granted that it would be on time, she had to wait 2 hours!

Anyway, got home, got showered and then went out for dinner with Liana and my mum.

2 days later, it's Adeline and Scott's wedding! It was a wonderful wedding. As Scott is an American of Scottish descent, he and his groomsmen wore kilts and as Adeline is half Peranakan, she had her matron of honour and bridesmaids in kebayas. Dinner was at Shangri-La's ballroom and everything was oh so nice!

Mum and Dad walking her down the aisle


I do


With groomsmen and bridesmaids


On stage with both sets of PILs


3 generations


As I was going to be in Singapore during this period, coincidentally, so were a few of my Sec 4 classmates. One was coming in from US for her sister's wedding, yet another from the US back for a holiday and another from Holland also back for holiday. Last minute we had another from UK as well. So we had a mini gathering again this year. Last year, I think we had about 80+ of us. This year we managed to gather about 40+ of us, which I think is also quite good.

All the girls


Sec 4/1


And then another one as some of them could not make it for the 1st gathering, so thanks to Chris, we had it at her place, with some wonderful food to go with it.

2nd SJC gathering






Then I had a 3rd gathering also for some others who could not make the 1st.

3rd mini SJC gathering


I have a lot of wonderful classmates who bother to meet up with me when I am back, some of whom I have been in school with since we were 6! Thank you all!

The rest of my hols were spent just going out with my mum and daughter or catching up with other friends.

Some of the food that I had.

Lunch with Andrew and company at Yanti restaurant







Ramen at Ippodo




Lunch at PS Cafe - thanks to E and D






Dinner at Flo's






We also went to RW at Sentosa and watched Resort World Circus show Voyage de la Vie. We had tickets from Mary - so thank you Mary. For those of you who have not watched this yet, please do. It is a wonderful performance and will keep you captivated throughout the 90 mins.

On the evening before heading out to the airport for my flight back, had dinner with my cousins and their mum. Thank you cousins!



That my friends is my trip in a nutshell and I am back to the real world!

On holiday

Holiday

Hi folks. Am away for 2 1/2 weeks,so will post when I return!

Dinner guests

My house guests


Apologies for not posting for some time. Have been busy lately as Pat's father is ill and in hospital, so after work, go home, go to hospital visit him, and then back home and have dinner. So by the time dinner's over, sometimes it is already 9pm and just to lazy/tired to log on. Pat's father is 91 he was hospitalised slightly over a week ago. At first we suspected that he had stroke as he could not speak, but he had the use of his arms and legs, so that could not be. He had a brain scan on Monday and the doctors told us that it was indeed not a stroke and when they did a blood test, we were told he had contracted MRSA and the only place that he could have gotten that was at the nursing home that he was at. So please say a prayer that he will recover soon.

Anyway, back to my dinner guests 2 Saturdays ago.
I only got to "speak" with terri. of Daily Obsessions recently. I normally read a lot of blogs but I am a silent reader. But because I sent Terri an award, and she replied. That's how I started communicating with her. I learnt that she would be in Europe for 2 1/2 months holiday as her daughter was finishing her 6 month exchange student stint, so she took the opportunity to travel around the continent.

So when I heard that Terri would be coming here, I took the opportunity to invite her over to stay the Saturday night for dinner and then take her and daughter to airport the next day. I live about 20 mins from the airport so it is really convenient! I was so happy that she accepted my invitation! I had a really good time with Terri and Yi. Thank you!

Was not sure of what to cook for dinner, but this was my menu for the evening. And as for dessert, made summer pudding. This is a typical English dessert which Pat loves and now Terri says she loves it too. So Terri, recipe is below and I will post step by step pictures shortly.

Satay Babi
Banana/Mango/Prawn packet
Thai Grilled Chicken
Yong Tau Fu
Nonya Chap Chye
and for dessert - Summer Pudding

I did not take pictures of the food as Terri and Yi were doing so! So my pictures are just file pictures (when I did them before)

Satay Babi - file picture


Banana/Mango/Prawn packet - file picture


Summer pudding
Recipe from Saturday Kitchen - James Martin

Ingredients
400g/14oz mixed berries, trimmed
2 tbsps water
50g/2oz caster_sugar
14 thin slices white_bread, crusts removed
oil, for greasing
200g/7oz clotted_cream/thick cream, optional

Preparation method
1. Heat the berries, sugar and water in a saucepan until boiling, reduce the heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
2. Blend half of the fruits in a blender and strain the purée through a sieve. Reserve the remaining fruit.
3. Stamp out four circles from four slices of the bread to fit the bottom of four small dariole moulds* and set aside. Stamp out four larger circles for the top of the moulds and set aside. Cut the remaining bread into wide strips the same height as the moulds.
4. Lightly oil the inside of each mould and line with cling film.

5. Dip the small bread circles into the purée and place into the moulds. Repeat with the wide strips of bread and use them to line the sides of the mould, making sure that they overlap slightly.
6. Fill the moulds with the reserved fruit and a little of the purée and press the mixture down firmly.

7. Dip the larger circles of bread in the purée and use them to cover the tops of the moulds. Cover with the cling film competely.

8. Chill the puddings in the fridge until ready to serve.
9. To serve, turn the puddings out onto serving plates and serve with a spoonful of clotted cream or double cream if using.


*Note: I used ramekins

Work and pleasure in Nice

Work and pleasure in Nice, France
June 30 - July 4

Sent by my company for course in Nice. Arrived there Wednesday afternoon and the course was till Friday afternoon. My coursemates were from all over Europe and there were about 20+ of us. Mostly ladies but we had 3 thorns amongst the roses. 2 came from Luxemburg (English but living there yonks) and the other was a Russian. We gave up with the Russian as he did not understand us. They did not join us for dinner on Wednesday evening, so when he was at our table the next morning, I asked him why they arrived late yesterday and his answer was... "Yes" and then I asked another question and his answer again was ... "yes". At this point I thought, ok, no need to ask anymore! Then at lunch and a conversation about him cropped up and apparently someone else asked him at coffee break - "so where did you go for dinner last night?" and you guessed it... his answer was.... "Yes" bwahahaha! Aiyo, I wonder what they are doing there - there were 3 of them at the course. I do not know about the language capabilities of the other 2 ladies as I did not get a chance to speak to them as they did not join us for lunch or dinner. The course cost Euro 1600+, so for 3 persons.... go figure!

Anyway, back to the course. It was good, gave us a chance to understand the whole venture capital business from set up to exit.

The rest of the group was a fun lot and during lunch break of the first day which was an hour and 45 mins, 4 girls decided to go for a swim during the break! Crazy or what?! Anyway, it was so hot in Nice, on Thursday, the temperature showed 34 degs!

Then the course ended on Friday after lunch and Pat was flying in for a short break. But instead of landing at 8+ which was the estimated arrival time, there was a 2 hour delay at Heathrow and he only arrived around 1000 and by the time he got out and we went for dinner was like 11+

The next day we went for a tour of the Provence countryside. I had booked a tour but it was only the 2 of us, so it was a nice leisurely one.

The on Sunday, I tried to book a late check out but because it's summer time, all their rooms were booked, so we were kicked out at 1230. As we had a late breakfast, we took a walk around Nice town, then went to the park and slept in the shade, went for lunch and then went park to our spot under the trees again till 5. While walking back to the hotel to collect our luggage, there was a band playing the "Can can song", so I was trying to do the cancan and whilst doing so, stepped on uneven ground and twisted my ankle! argh! hehe, don't worry, I'm ok now!

Perfume factory - antique bottles


Chapel


Market - cannot really see as there is nothing to compare to, but the garlic and the pepper were huge!




Medieval village




Waterfall



Sweet factory

James Thomas

Announcing the arrival of….

This is a back dated post - apologies for not posting earlier!

Dear Readers, I am officially a grandma, albeit a step grandma – haha. My step daughter K, gave birth to little James Thomas on Monday night (14 June) at 11.08 pm. Little JT is 3 weeks early. His original due date was supposed to be 4 July! He is actually a miracle baby as she has cystic ovaries and thought she would not be able to conceive naturally.

She is a dentist and just before she knew she was pregnant, she was not feeling well. So her patients asked her if she was pregnant and she laughed and said that it was not possible. But since a couple of her patients mentioned it, she decided to get a test kit to see if she was really pregnant and lo and behold, she was. But as she did not want to tempt fate, she did not tell anyone until she was in her third month. And as they say, the rest is history…..

Pat will be boring Grand – da, but I didn’t want to be called Nana or Grandma, so I have decided that he will call me Oma – which is the German term. It think it’s short and sweet and easy to pronounce.

For a Caucasian baby, don’t you think he has quite a full head of hair?

James Thomas with mum


with mum


with parents


With grandparents