Caleb's homemade birthday cake 2012

For those who saw my previous post with birthday cake pictures without any words, I'm sorry. I was supposed to upload those pictures to my other blog (just for my parent and my father-in-law to see just in case we couldn't make it back home several weeks and they kinda miss Caleb), but I made a mistake. No wonder my mom complained that she couldn't see the pictures eventhou I said I've already uploaded them and she blamed it on my dad for getting senile (already??) for not able to type the blog address properly... haha...Sorry la dad.....  

Anyway, I've delete that post and decided to write a proper one....

Ok, back to Caleb's homemade birthday cake. Last year, I did his birthday cake too but I didn't like it because I cheated! Hah..... I made the cake with premix powder. No choice, couldn't make it on time as the first attempt failed miserably.

So, this time I was determined to make a proper one...from scratch. Ahemmm.... I surfed a lot of baking blog and there is one that never fail to impress me. Wendy-in-kk. God, she is the Goddess in baking and cooking and her ideas are endless. There's nothing that she can't do actually. So, I searched for her recipe on cake ideas and this particular one looked "wow..."

"I wish that I can do this"

Wish no more, let's get down to business.... And so, I bought all the ingredients and began doing it on Friday. We planned to go back to my parent's house for the celebration as my mom said she'll do the red-coloured-eggs (a must in Hokkien family, I guess but only if you are before 10-years-old because I don't remember my mom did any for me after I've puberty ;)) and a few other dishes.

So, this is the cake. My version. Of course don't compare with Wendy's one. :)

One mishap happened when I frosted the cake. As I don't have a proper frosting equipment like the spinning wheel where you put your cake on it and spin it around when you doing the frosting. So I just propped it on an upside down big bowl. While spinning the cake slowly and slabbed on the buttercream, the whole cake fall down. "AHHHHHHHHHH..." - this is my reaction. Caleb ran from the living room into the kitchen and asked me "Mami, what happen? what happen?"

Hahaha...I just shoo-ed him away. I don't need another trouble-maker from my guy.

The whole cake was 'senget'. Aiyer.....my whole effort is gone. G.O.N.E... I was stunned.

Finally after calm down for a while, I decided to use whipping cream instead of buttercream as whipping cream is more light and I needed to use tonnes of it to cover the flaws. Buttercream is too over-whelming. We ran down to gaint at 7pm and searching for some ideas to cover the side as well. Jk was 'kan cheong' as well. Hahahaha.........

So, I bought one pack of cadbury's chocolate stick and a packet of strawberry. And ching chang ching chang back in kitchen for another 2 hours (amateur, that's why took so long) and the final product look quite presentable. Phewwww........

The cake looks like bricks on the wall with badly infested white ants. Hahahaha....

Anyway, my mom like it very much and she was impressed. The next day, they had it for breakfast and my dad asked my mom "How much is this cake?" My mom said "What buy? Your daughter did it lar..."

Ahemmm........ this is priceless :)

I'm in weeks 18

I'm now in week 18 which is almost half way there. Somehow I feel my tummy is huge.
It not only me who feel this way, everybody have been commenting the same thing when they see me.

"How many months already?"

"4 and half"

"Ha? So big geh?"

Smiling forcefully. (*oh-bite-me* bluek)

Anyway, both jk and me went for monthly check up last Friday and *ahem* we should be knowing the gender now on. Eager, excited well, almost. We were hoping for a girl (or it is just me? ;)) all these while even when I was pregnant with Caleb last time. I like how I can make her pretty with ribbons and bows and lacey dress. I was telling jk the other day that perhaps I should be hoping for a boy instead. I know if I got a girl and when she reach puberty, I'm very sure I'll be paranoid mom by then.

Before the scanning, my gynae confirmed with me again if I want to know the gender of the baby. Oh ya, of cox. I don't like surprises. Not something like this :)

And tang tang tang.....

IT.GOT.ONE.ANGRY.BIRD.BETWEEN.THE.THIGH.

"Oh, congratulation Mr. Loo. You got another monster now. I'm sure both of them will think of a way to either rip off your Samsung LCD tv or the Astro remote."

The baby:
Gynae said my baby is slightly big-sized which explained why my belly is HUGE. The length is almost 14cm and weighing at 260g.
I felt him in me when I'm in week 13. It's early, I know. Not a frequent moves or a drastic one but I surely can feel ticklish and bubbles bursting inside my tummy. Until one night I felt a punch down my bladder. Ohhh....gosh.
That was when I'm in week 16. And now, yupe. I feel his punches every now and then and it's getting harder and harder. No more "I'm-wondering-if-he's-still-here" feeling anymore. He is here alive and kicking alright! :)

The mother:
Appetite is normal and no craving for any weird kinda thing what-so-ever. Meals consists of rice, noodles, fruits and *cough* junk food *cough*. It is hard to resist a pack of potato chips though as sometimes I have a bland taste in my mouth. I eat 3 times a day and no time for supper as all of us sleep at 11pm most days. Thanks to Caleb...... :) I need to wake up at 7:30am everyday preparing him for school and deal with his torturing act (I shall blog about this soon).

The father:
Not really a big impact on the father yet, just that now he goes to work before 10am every morning. Hahaha....few months ago, waking up at 8am is mission impossible that I should just let him die and sleeping before 12am (sometimes 10:30pm) is a joke. As if asking the ducks not to "quack" or the cows not to "moo"....

It's a norm for us now as what they said "early bird catches the biggest worms"

Oh, I don't think this is the right one thou...... :)

Today's lunch

It just me and Caleb at home today. The father went outstation for work since last night and Caleb 'ponteng'ed class today. No choice, we just have one car at home. The father has been contemplating of buying a new car for the past 4 years and until now, it just more towards a discussion rather than the big move. :)

Anyway, I cooked eggs with minced meat and fish slice with french bean for Caleb while I ordered a regular Island Supreme Pizza and Deli Wings for myself. Hehehe...*wicked*

Scrambled egg with mince meat.

Fish slice with french bean drenched in gravy.

I'm ok with the fish smell now since past the 1st trimester. I can deal with the fish if the smell is not too fishy. So, for safety reason, I marinated the fish slices with few drops sesame oil and a piece of ginger. That managed to take away the fishy smell. :)

And for myself......hehe

A regular Island Supreme pizza

The 'devilish' Deli Wings

The mother ate those yummy foods and the son ate healthy foods...... :)

Bon Appétit !!

Tappers @ Jaya One and Setia Walk Puchong

We were in Jaya One the other day when Jk went to meet up his client. And since Jaya One is an 'alien' place to me (and to jk too), we looked around where to have our lunch, since it already lunch time and his client was late. We were riding up and down on the escalators, searching for a prominent eatery shop, and this advertisement caught my sight. It was stucked on both side of the escalator.

The Tappers Cafe....featuring a mouth-watering hainanese chicken chop and chicken rendang and fried mee...oh heaven...( I hope)

So we looked everywhere, searching for this Tappers Cafe and we found it somehow to be kopitiam alike with contemporary decor, inspired by colonial designs with white rattan chairs, white marble tables and old photographs. 

We stepped in and took a seat. We were presented their set lunch menu and one peek at their menu, we were surprised. The price is CHEAP. But normally cheap food equals to errrmmm.... bad food. 

It's ok, they ought to be given a chance. If the foods are good, then we'll have another choice of eatery place and if they are bad, means we were 'fcuked' up just once. :)

And so, I've ordered a set of Hainanese Chicken Chop plus drinks for RM12.90 and Jk ordered a set of Chicken Schnitzel plus drinks for RM12.90 too.

My Hainanese Chicken Chop came with 2 HUGE pieces of chicken, coated with eggy mixture, deep-fried until golden brown topped with steamed (or braised) potatoes, carrots and green peas, and a tomato based sauce. The sauce was kinda sweet but the chickens were soft and juicy. Well, not the best hainanese chicken chop I had but definitely worth the price.

Hainanese Chicken Chop

Jk's Chicken Schnitzel came with 2 HUGE pieces of chicken too, coated with breadcrumbs, deep-fried until golden brown with fries and coleslaw as side dishes. Overall, the taste was ok. I like this better but jk said he prefer it to be abit drier and without the sauce. Oh well, everyone have their own preferences.

Chicken Schnitzel.

A few weeks ago, we found Tappers Cafe was open in our neighbourhood. Oh yea, the new hang out place: Setia Walk in Puchong. On normal bright weekday, the place is quiet, peaceful and serene. But it totally different when night falls. Beer Factory, Sector 7, Muzeum and god-knows-what's-more pub and bistro blaring their music deafening the ears. (ok, I'm purposely saying that because I'm old people who sleep at 10pm, everyday :))

Caleb loves the fountain...

Angry pose

Force-to-smile pose

We actually went for their breakfast and it was really GOOD....! Especially the pancakes. Soft, fragrant and fluffy like mini cakes drizzled with maple syrup.

Tappers Cafe

Old photographs hanging on the wall

"This happen if you don't listen, ok?"

When the food arrived, I was thrilled for the presentation and at the sheer value for money. With every value breakfast set priced under RM10 and plus a drink (you can choose between coffee and tea, btw, the coffee is really nice). Tell me, where to find such a bargain?

Hot coffee

Tappers breakfast set; a sausage, a slice of chicken ham, 2 pieces of toasted bread, salad, baked bean and 2 sunny side up - which I told them to make it cooked (pregnant lady cannot eat raw eggs,ok?)

American breakfast set; 2 out-of-this-world fluffy pancakes, a sausage, a slice of chicken ham and 2 sunny side up.

Drooling yet?

Yes, I am now.... :(

Our silly conversation...

Me and Caleb were having jellies after our dinner one night. As the last piece went into his mouth, I was rubbing his tummy and asked "Caleb, what is in your tummy?"

He rubbed his tummy and said "Got rice, soup, carrots and JELLY!"

And so I rubbed on my tummy and asked him "What's inside mummy's tummy?"

He said "JELLY..."

I said "No, mummy's tummy got baby...."

He frowned and said "NOOO..........mummy no eat BABY, mummy eat jelly,ok?"


LMAO!!!!!