Happy Easter !!

Last week, a friend called to ask me if I could bake some Easter cookies for her & she brought me a very lovely Williams-Sonoma Easter cookie cutter set. After baking & decorating, the cookies are supposed to be interlocked & standing.

So we spent Good Friday baking & decorating the cookies. It was a lot of fun for both the kids & adults too. Hubby & I did the outline & flooding of the cookies, CJ was in-charge of checking if all the cookies were well flooded at every corner, also helping me with colouring the royal icing & washing up. She's a real helper in my bakery now :)

I followed the cookie recipe that's printed on the box & found the dough too soft so some of the baked & decorated cookie broke before I had the chance to assemble & take pictures of them. So I'm only left with these few cookies :


There's supposed to be a standing grass patch underneath the bunny so it could stand but it broke ! The girls had quite a few broken cookies this 2 days.



This duckling survived !

Standing Easter egg



Hot Cross Buns


We were out shopping & only got home when it was almost time for the KL F1 Grand Prix but the rain came at the wrong time so Astro's out. Instead of lazing around, I thought of bread making.

Since it's Easter, I decided on hot cross buns.

By the time the buns were done, it was about 6.30pm. We had a very late lunch at 3pm, so these buns were our light dinner. A very satisfying one, warm hot cross buns on a rainy Sunday evening......

* RECIPE FOR MY HOT CROSS BUNS *


400g High protein flour
100g Plain flour
6g Instant yeast
40g Sugar
52g Maple syrup (can be replaced with honey)
30g Egg yolk
170g Milk
72g Butter
6g Mixed spice
100g Sultanas

Flour paste :

1/2 cup flour
4 Tbsp water

Mix flour with water till a paste form, if too thick, just add a little more water.


1. Mix all ingredients, except butter & sultanas in a mixer with a dough hook on low speed until combined, add butter & continue to mix on medium speed for about 15 mins until dough is fully developed. Add sultanas.
Cover bowl & let rise in a warm place for 1 hr or until dough doubles in bulk.

2. Divide the dough into 48g portions & mould them round, place them onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, let proof for about 20 mins.
Place the flour paste in a piping bag, snip the corner off with scissors, pipe a cross on top of each bun.
3. Bake in a preheated oven of 190 degrees for 14-15 mins.


* This recipe yields 24 buns. Arrange buns in an order of 6x4 on a rectangle tray. I always bake my buns at the bottom rack for the first half of the baking time then rotate to the top rack after that for the top to brown. Once the buns are done, brush the top with sugar glaze while still hot.
I just make a simple glaze with about 2 Tbsp of sugar to 1 Tbsp of boiling water, stir till sugar is dissolved & brush on the buns.

I'm Back !

I'm finally back to my dear blog which I've been neglecting for the past 2 months.

January was a very very hectic month for me.
Besides baking, there were tons of stuff to be tidied. Towards the end of the month, I was hit by tonsillitis, fever & almost a dozen mouth ulcers. It was real torture & I felt really bad. This went on for 3 weeks & I couldn't eat. The bonus was I lost 4kg & I was so thrilled that I forgot the pain !

I took a long break after recovering from the ulcers. Luckily I was able to eat during my break :)

Now that I'm well rested & fully recovered, I'm back for more baking challenge...

X'mas Cookies

I know I'm late in this post when it's almost end of the year. Well, it's better late than never.

I've been so busy & there's no internet at my new place yet so I got to post whatever I have on my computer today before the year ends.

Merry Christmas

It's the best time of the year, once again !!

The time when my ovens have to work extra hard, when I'm only getting 5 hours of sleep a night (a week before Christmas) !

This year, I've got a new oven, new mixer & new kitchen. Thank God for all his wonderful blessings !

I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year.

October Celebration

Oh Gosh, I can't believe I've been missing my blog for over a month.

Time not just flies, it 'rockets' past me. I wish I could have more time, more extra time, so I could organise my schedule to do things that I really want to do : facial, massage....

I always look forward to October, which many birthdays fall in & I could share the joy with others.
I had a rather 'fun' birthday this year. For the past few years, it was always hubby, myself & the girls. This year, my Korean friends found out about my birthday & took me out for lunch. I really appreciated their thoughtfulness.
On another day, a week after my birthday, we had a gathering at a friend's house. A called me a day before the gathering to order a cake to bring over to the friend's house. I baked & brought the cake over, without realising anything. Half-way through the gathering, the cake was brought out by the host with the singing of birthday song. Everyone was looking around, not knowing who's birthday was it, including me. As they walked closer to me, I realised that it was for me !!! I was really caught by surprise & that made me feel like a little school girl. I was so touched by them, A, F & P. Thank you, my dear friends.

JF made me a card, with mummy sitting on our dining chair (am looking forward to it, very very soon ), with a 5-tier cake. I especially liked the chandelier hanging overhead !

KA Food Processor

I was looking for a real big food processor lately but as usual couldn't find any here in KK.

Then, an advertisement in an Australia magazine caught my eye few weeks ago. The look of a Magimix food processor attracted me. I called both KL & Singapore to find out the details, was told that I could get it ordered in KK through Pelangi, but no way I'm going to buy my machine from that shop ! After some research on the net, I discovered that Magimix's body is made of plastic, not metal, so I gave up the idea of getting one even though the look is so cool.

Hubby suggested that I check out Kitchenaid website to see of they have any. Oh, how could I have forgotten about it ? Under the artisan range, they also have food processor. But only red & brushed metal is available in Singapore. Red would be the perfect accompaniment for my mixer. However the brushed metal version is so attractive I couldn't take my eyes off it (even though it's a S$100 more than the red one).

I was so lucky, because I got my sister to buy me the machine ! She went to buy it for me, my brother sent it to the hotel where hubby's friend was staying (he was in Singapore for a few days). Then hubby's friend was so kind to lug it back to KK for me. I was having sleepless nights before my machine came home to me because it weighs a whopping 14+kg !! I was worrying about dents, about excess baggage.........

So finally, on Wednesday night, I got it, in perfect condition. I would say, the box is really huge for a food processor, a 2.8L one. I mean the machine is big too & so gorgeous !

A big thank you to everyone who made the effort to help me acquire my perfect food processor !

Can You Name Them ?

I got this though an email today from a friend. I was staring at everyone of them with my girls. Oh dear, it was tough, I could only name a few, don't ask me how many !!! Some of them looked so familiar but I couldn't name them (excuse !!!)


There are more than 100 world known personalities on this painting.
If you can name a minimum of 25, you may consider yourself a cultivated person, good luck.....

A Good Easter Break !

I had a good Easter break, a really good one.

A whole week of eat, sleep & shop. Total indulgence & relaxation, I really allowed myself to get away from all the stresses I've been having. I had my trainers with me but it was hiding in the shoe cabinet for the whole week. Every morning when hubby came back from his run, I was still in bed !

I woke up late every day, from 8am, to 8.30am, to even later at 9.30am & I felt so good. When I'm in KK, most days I'm up at 4.30am for our morning run !

Oh, did I forget to mention, I went home again this Easter holiday. My girls are having their Easter break & airfares are so affordable now, so we just packed up & go.......

As usual each trip I'll be savouring all the yummy cakes that I see, everywhere I go.
This time I tried the famous Hilton Hotel cheesecake, which many people have been raving about. I would say it's creamy but too salty for my liking, I think salted butter has been used. I've always use unsalted butter in my baking as I don't like the tinge of saltiness in my cakes.


Ok, this is a piece of cake that I really liked. It's from my favourite bakery, Canele Patisserie.
It's raspberry cheesecake - the bottom crust was chocolate based, studded with macadamia nuts, creamy cheese filling, raspberry jelly, topped with some piped cream. I liked the piped cream on top, it's infused with rosemary, which I found it so unusual. In fact, when I saw the sprig of rosemary leaf on the cake, I was thinking, could there be rosemary in it ?? But I brushed it off my mind, how can it be ? I was really anticipating the first bite when the cake arrived on our table, hmmm I was right, there's rosemary flavour in the whipped cream !!! It was really yummy, I'm into most kinds of herbs, especially lavender. Hubby thought the cheesecake was horrible, so I had the whole piece to myself................. yum yum

Easter Bonnet Parade

Every year in April or maybe late March, the school will organise a Easter Bonnet Parade for the primary kids. This is one event that gives me headache each year. For the past few years, my girls were either wearing any hats that I could find in the cupboard or simply nothing at all because the mummy is so not creative in arts at all. Yes, the best score I've ever had in arts was a D in my secondary school days !!

So this year, 3 days before the parade, I decided that maybe I could try to make something for the girls. After some searching & searching on Google, I got an easy idea of how to make a Easter bonnet. Off to Popular Bookstore on Wednesday, 10 mins there & Rm 7.20 spent, I got the materials.

When I started on making the bonnets, they weren't as easy as I thought !! There were measuring to do, flowers & leaves to print & loads of cutting to do. I spent 5 hours making the bonnets but over 2 days, as I have baking to do, as well as other errands to run. I finished with the last bits of gluing & sticking at 11.15 pm on Thursday night, much much later than my bedtime !!

I got 2 identital bonnets for the girls. By the time I finished, I told myself this will probably be the only time I'm making Easter bonnets................


From this pile of flowers & leaves cutouts.......

To this flowery Easter bonnet.

This is my favourite, it's so gorgeous !

This is funny too !

Basic Fondant Cake Decoration

After a busy day at the school bazaar last Saturday, I didn't have the chance to wake up late on Sunday ! I was up at 6.30am , much earlier than my usual 8am on Sundays. Why ???
Because I was scheduled to attend the first cake decoration in my life & I was rather excited about it.

After breakfast, we ( yes we, D & I) sent the girls off to a friend's house, & later in the day another friend had to fetch them to a birthday party at Rasa Ria Resort, what a busy day for all of us ! We had to rush to Alamesra, where the class was, before 9am. The class was conducted by Yasmin of Baking Project, from KL.

In this class, we learnt to make swags, frills & ribbons, as well as rose from scratch, without the help of any gadgets. Besides these, she also taught about covering the cake with fondant.

After 2 attempts with fondant covered cakes, we're rather confident with rolling, covering & trimming the fondant. I've got quite a few cake decoration books that show different ways to play around with fondant. But looking at a book is different from real hands-on practice, so after knowing that Yasmin is coming to KK, I persuaded D to attend the class with me. How did I do it ? Well, I paid for the course for both of us !!

Yasmin was kind enough to provide lunch for us (or was it in the class fee ?). Nothing great, just a packet of greasy fried bee-hoon from a nearby coffeeshop. While we were heading home, we passed by another shop in Alamesra that sells 'yong tau foo', so being gluttony, we went in for another round of lunch.


Our dummy cake, covered in fondant. I think D did a good job, ours was the smoothest of all !

The swags were done pretty well too !

Oh, I'm really terrible in shaping, had a hard time making ribbons & the roses. D made better ribbons than me but was becoming impatient after several attempts in rose making. I think he rather make bunny like this !

The Arrival Of Little Ryan

I got myself another nephew yesterday evening.

The long-awaited Ryan was born yesterday. His due date was supposed to be on the 28th, mummy experienced contractions since weekend but there was no dilation so her gynae suggested a C-section. I was disappointed as I thought my sister could deliver Ryan via natural birth, but since she's rather stressed with the situation so C-section may be better for her.

I haven't receive any pictures of Ryan yet, still waiting eagerly for my sister to send me some.
I was cracking my mind what gifts to send to my sister yesterday. And I was thinking of something funny..... when we told my mum about Ryan's name, she kept calling him Lion, hahaha so Lion was on my mind since then. Finally I managed to find something that I want, through a Singapore flora website, placed the order online & the cutie plush & flowers were delivered to my sister this afternoon ! Here's what I found online :

Eating Around Singapore Again !

I managed to snap some of the yummy food that we had at the last few days of your trip. Each time when we are in Singapore, we are sure to
visit East Ocean Teochew Restaurant for their dim sum. I love their 'po lor yao', which is only available on weekends. The bun is small with a thick slab of butter (real butter !) This trip we went on a weekday, as it was during the CNY period, the restaurant was so full we only managed to get a table at 2pm !

Fried rice with egg white & conpoy (dried scallop). This was really yummy, each rice grain seperated, so full of 'wok hei', couldn't remember how many bowls I had !

The 'siu mai' was nice too, filling of pork & prawn so succulent & the topping on it was ebiko, not coloured sago like some cheap joints use !

Smoked duck breast. The skin was crispy & dry yet the meat was so tender, I loved this ! I seem to have a fetish for duck breast recently.

These were actually prawn paste, shaped & decorated to look like a buzzing bee & deep fried. The girls orderded this for themselves. I had a bite, it was good, the paste was juicy & crunchy, very well done.

We also ordered broccoli with foie gras sauce, it was marked as one of their speciality. When the food arrived, it was with chunks of foir gras instead of sauce, so we thought it was a bonus. However, Hubby commented that the foie gras was a little overcooked.


Ember Restaurant is a must visit restaurant as well. It is located within Hotel 1929 at Keong Saik, along Chinatown. Hubby loves their pan seared foie gras with caramalised apples, clove port & raspberry glaze. This is an item he's sure to order each time we are there. Their beef tenderloin done medium rare is also very good.

Seared scallops with parma ham, served with mesclun tossed in a orange vinaigrette dressing.
Our all time favourite !


Seafood Linguine . Their version is very well done, the seafood fresh & succulent. My girls love this, so I always order a portion for them to share. I had the linguine too this time. I always order their duck confit & beef tenderloin but was craving for some pasta on that day we visited Ember. Hubby had his usual beef tenderlion, the picture was very badly taken by me, so blurred it didn't make it to this post !

Among their desserts, the warm banana tart with lavender ice-cream is good, so does the fig cake served with mascarpone cream. I think their apple tarte tartin is the best, the pastry so crispy & the apples very well caramelised, super yummy ! Once again, I was so fast to wallop the tartin that Hubby had no chance to take a picture of it.



Strawberry shortcake at Canele Pattiserie. I'll have my cakes everywhere I go, couldn't stand the temptation. I used to frequent Bakerzin but have stopped after finding their cakes too commercialised now, not as fresh as they used to be but the quality of the ingredients used are still good. I find cakes at Canele better then Bakerzin, the sponge soft & moist, quality dairy cream is used too.


Pastries at Caffe Cova. I've read about this famous chain & since it's so talked about, we paid this cafe a visit. Well, the ambience of the cafe was good, nice uniforms the staff wore, pretty cutleries & loads of magazines around, perfect place for an afternoon tea ! However, I don't find the pastries fantastic for the prices thet charged. Their cakes were mostly at S$9+/slice & tiny little tartlettes at S$2+/pc. The presentation was good, expensive looking berries as topping. But that was it, the cakes that we tried were rather dry, the only thing we liked were probably the cream patissiere. Check out some of the reviews of this cafe.



Sweet & juicty korean strawberries ! We love strawberries & those that we get in KK are dry & sourish. Korean strawberries are everywhere in Singapore now. We were feasting on these throughout the trip. And I bought a cooler bag, happily hand carried 10 packets of these back to KK. If I can get hold of a bigger cooler bag, I would have bring more back........

Eating Around Singapore

I love food as much as I love cakes.

So each trip back home, I'll have a list of where to eat & when to go. My sister always comments that she put on weight each time I'm back !

Without fail, I'll have my favourite minced meat noodle with extra fish balls most mornings. I've been having this for years & never get bored of it.

This trip back home, I took my brother's car & was driving around with hubby & sometimes the girls tagged along, so we were able to go to restaurants/cafes that I've always wanted to go.

On our list were :

Jones The Grocer (Dempsey Hill)

Lots of nice groceries, meats, cheeses, wine, how I wish there's such a grocer in KK. Food wise, hubby didn't like the breakfast. It was the usual breakfast with sauteed mushroom ,greasy bacon, sausage, grilled tomato, sourdough bread. He didn't find anything special about the breakfast, just that the button mushrooms were fresh instead of canned, sausage home-made instead of frozen. The location of this grocer is great, just opposite the Botanic Gardens.


SWA Garden Restaurant

This is a Teochew restaurant along MacPherson Road. My Dad has been there before & he raved about the food, so we have to arrange for a day when our family of 17 (grown from 6) could make it for the dinner. This is a very old restaurant but air-conditioned though.
We ordered steamed pomfret, braised goose, roasted suckling pig, roast chicken, sharksfin soup, fired kailan withfried dried sole fish,fried kway teow & yam paste (or nee) for desserts.
To me the steamed pomfret was just ok, the braised goose was dry & tough, I didn't try the suckling pig (can't make myself tuck in to this little one, especially that restaurant always serve it with it's head). The best of all was their fried kway teow with chopped kailan, garlic & chye poh (preserved radish). The kway teow was fried till crispy & really dry, so aromatic (I've put my home-made kway teow aside at that moment) ! The yam paste was really good, so smooth but a little on the sweet side. I would probably visit this restaurant again just for the fried kway teow.

On our list too, the Crystal Jade restaurant, which always has a long queue at the entrance.

Another place that we will visit each time we are in Singapore is the Putien Restaurant at Kitchener Road, along Jalan Besar. I love their starters, the drunken cockles especially, they are almost raw, so fresh & yummy, with a soya sauce/wine/vinegar sauce, top with lots of garlic & chilli. Their braised salted duck, which is served cold, is good too & their century egg, which I think is deep-fried & coated in a sweet sourish sauce, is fantastic ! Their different type of noodles namely mee sua, hing hua beehoon & lor mee are all so good. Each time we go there, we'll stuff ourselves with so much noodles that our tummy could only take in maybe just a vegetable dish. Check out their website for more yummy food !

If you are into nice cosy cafes & restaurants, check out Chip Bee Gardens opposite Holland Village. Check out Bulanun for their range of organic produce, Pantry Magic for their kitchen appliances, utensils, books & magazines, Shermay's Cooking School for their quality Valrhona chocolate, Nielsen-Massey range of pure extracts, baking ingredients. After all that walking & browsing, hop over to Holland Village for a cup of coffee & breads at Provence Bakery & Cafe , a Japanese bakery.

It was at the end of the first week in Singapore that hubby asked me if I have taken pictures of all the yummy food we had. I have totally forgotten about it, so I'll have to leave this post without any pictures. I managed to remember to take pictures of more food & cakes we had in
the second week, coming up in the next post.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day, to all who are celebrating it !

CNY Break

I had a long break, a full 2 week break.

This time I really had a good one, not doing anything at all, yes nothing, not even washing the mug when I'm done with my coffee.
I was eating & drinking all the time throughout my trip back home. I didn't bring my trainers so no exercising just indulging, a friend commented that I've put on some weight !!!

On this trip, I saw my little 3 month old nephew Jovier for the first time, he's a little cutie, always smiling & revealing his dimples all the time. Also, for the first time, I didn't shop from morning till night, till my legs hurt. Well, of course I still shopped, but not in the same crazy manner like I used to ! Hubby & I spent some time visiting kitchen departments of stores, electrical shops, bathroom accessory shops, I must say these were really fruitful trips. After visiting so many stores, I really find prices of appliances & accessories here in KK really steep !

We spent our time driving around, visiting bookstores, cafes, tourist attractions (I feel bad that both my girls have not even been to the Merlion !!)
We brought the girls to the Singapore Flyer as well as the Duck Tours, which they enjoyed very much. I didn't quite enjoy the flight on the flyer because most of the time I was grabbing the seats, especially when we were at the highest point, I'm terrified of heights ! My sister brought the girls for a prawn fishing trip too. As the girls had a rod to share, they ended up fighting most of the time ! Nevertheless, they still went home with 7 fresh water prawns.



CJ & JF in the capsule of the Flyer

View of the Marina Bay


Ready to go on the Duck Tours

JF with Uncle George & her catch of the 1st prawn


My brother-in-law got a Nikon D90 & CJ had a good time playing around with his camera. She took quite a number of pics & I found this 2 rather good :

Goodbye 2008 !

2008 has been a good year for me.

I started this blog.
We (D & I) made our 1st fondant cake.
We ventured into wedding cupcakes, cookies as both party & wedding favours .
We've made quite a number of 'themed' cakes for both adults & kids.

All these become possible after June this year, in fact after I started this blog. I think the timing is right, well I must have something to blog about all the time !

When I started this little bakery 2 years ago, I was always baking for the same few friends. I work really hard & my efforts paid off gradually.

I'm really grateful to the blessings & wisdom that God has given me.

I would like to say a big THANK YOU to all those who have supported me in my little bakery.

Talk about new year resolution, I used to tell myself that I need to do this or that in the coming year but by the time I realised it, it's end of the year ! Well, if you ask me what do I hope for in 2009, the same old thing, I wish I could have my own cafe/bakery one day......... I love to dream, day dreaming most of the time. But hey, I have a location in mind, D & I talk about the layout all the time & I've even got the name on my mind !!
I'll continue to dream about it in 2009, who knows my dream may come true one day......

I would like to wish every one out there a very Happy New Year........


Oh, I've ended 2008 with a Liverpool design cotton cheesecake.

Sports Day

It was my girls' sports day on Friday.

On Thursday night, there was quite a heavy rain & on Friday morning, it was still drizzling.
Initially I wasn't pinning high hopes on the sports day. Somehow the events managed to go on even when still drizzling when certain events were going on.
Guess what ? On such a cool day, I got so tanned & close to sun-burnt after standing under the cool clear sky at 10.30am watching both my girls doing their long-jump & bean bag throw (the equivalent of javelin) !

I love sports day ever since I started Primary education at 7 years old. I had been an athlete, actually more of a sprinter & had even represented my school to take part in a nationwide competition. Those people were so good, it was then that I realised that I'm not the best yet, I couldn't even get into the finals ! Running has indeed given me lots of childhood memories, I think those medals that I've won in schools are still in my mum's cupboard in Singapore (most of them were golds, hahaha).

So I get excited every year during my girls' sports day. CJ has my genes, she's active & good in sports especially running but like me she's terrified of water & can't really swim yet. I only learn to swim at 12 years old & still afraid of the deep pool ! So naturally I'm confident in her. Well, I was disappointed when her teacher didn't put her in the 100m run (that was my best), instead she was in the 200m, I think quite tough for a 8 year old kid. Nevertheless, she did it ! She got the silver & I'm happy. She didn't get nay medal for the long jump & bean bag throw event but got a gold for the relay event.

As for JF, she's still a little girl in my eyes. I've never thought she'll win any medal in sports as she's so petite ! I was so very wrong this year. When she was in the 25m run, I was so surprised when I saw her 'sprinting' from the starting point, right running style, that swing & steps ! I was like OMG where did she learn that from ?? She really shocked me when she came in 2nd & so close to the winner. I must say I was so proud of her. She went on to get another silver for 50m run, a bronze for bean bag throw (must be the bread & butter from breakfast that gave her the energy) & a gold for relay.

I was shouting & screaming whrn my girls were running. It was the excitement I guess & really reminded me of myself when I was on the track years ago............

We were all exhausted after the event finished at noon time. I had a few friends coming over for dinner so after putting the girls to nap, I continued the second part of the celebration in the kitchen.

I've Been Tagged !

I've been tagged by Rei of All That Matters to state 7 facts about myself. It's been a week & I'm still thinking about it. Oh My, I've known me, myself & I ever since I came into this world & probably know myself too well that I can't even think of 7 facts about me !! So I finally I managed to come out with the following :


1. I love squid ever since I was a child. Whenever I see squid/calamari on a menu I'm bound to order it. Some restaurants use frozen squid which tend to be rubbery in texture, I'm still happy to chew on it, even though hubby thinks it's horrible.

2. I must have my cup of black coffee in the morning, or else my day will be hard to get by & in the afternoon I'll rely on a can of Coke Light. I know this is not healthy but regular Coke is high on calories & I need the caffeine !

3. I must have my 8hr of sleep each day, nothing less & I sleep well because I start my work early in the morning about 6am all the way till evening, so by end of the day, I'll be drop dead tired !

4. I've got gastric problems so my mealtimes are a routine every day, 6.30am, 12pm, 6pm. Anything later, the problem comes. If there's any dinner appointment, I'll make sure I stuff my tummy with some food before that. I can never take wombok, it makes me or rather my tummy sick !

5. Ever since I got hooked to baking, I can't stop & still loving every moment of it. I guess it's the recognition I get from my customers. If I'm not baking for people, I'll be whipping up goodies for hubby & the girls !

6. I have a very bad habit which I still can't kick until today. When I'm nervous, bored, lack of confidence, I bite my nails !

7. I'm an observant person. I make it a point to listen to what people say, about their likes/dislikes & I remember them. Oh I remember birthdays & passwords really well !



I would like to pass this tag to the following fellow bloggers.

1. A Daily Obsession
2. Cherry on A Cake
3. The Drool Team
4. Mrs Kwok
5. Ling's Passion
6. Daily Affairs
7. Baking Fiend

Here are the rules for tagging:
Link to my blog (tagger) on your blog.
Give seven facts about yourself.
Tag another seven bloggers by leaving a comment on their blogs and letting them know they were tagged and listing them (and their blogs) on your blog.

Our Brunei Trip

Slices that I got from Fleur-De-Lys Bakery in Kiarong


CJ's head on a platter !!!

CJ ready to go on a 360 degree spin ride


I have been back from Brunei for almost a week but was so busy with chores like pedicure, facial, haircut that I only have the time to blog today, haha !! Not really, these are only done this 2 days, I have a big load of laundry to clear, dirty clothes before I go & more after I came back. Then there was dinner & lunch appointment on both Tuesday & Wednesday.
Today I'm back to my baking session, durian swiss rolls to start with.....

Back to the trip, my girls were on half-term break for a week after the Deepavali holiday. My friend P mentioned one day that maybe we should bring the kids to Brunei during a long weekend so we decided on the half-term break. We didn't take a plane, instead we set off in her Hilux double cab. Initially, I was unsure if my girls & I could survive such a long drive, 6 hours according to P.
We left on Wednesday morning, 8.30am & set off towards Papar direction. It was nice driving throught the countryside, passing through paddy fields, dragonfruit plantation, cows & baffalos. After Beaufort I couldn't remember some of the town's name except for Sipitang. It was this trip that I realised that Sipitang is different from Sipatang, how ignorant I am !

The only complaint I have about driving to Brunei is the endless immigration checkpoints on the way !! Frankly, I find it silly to be exiting one state & entering another state with a new immigration card each time even though I'm still in the same country, imagine filling in 4 card each time with a almost 3 year old toddler on my lap !!

One thing that really amazed me was a public toilet at the border of Sabah & Sarawak, it was the cleanest public toilet I've ever seen in Malaysia & can you believe it, there's a rice cooker & a kettle in it, I guess the toilet cleaner must be cooking there each day ! I should really carry my little camera with me all the time so I can snap any picture anytime !

I guess the grass is greener on the other side. The moment we entered Sarawak, I could see lots of trees everywhere & the first town, Lawas is not as dusty as KK. My friend, P, originates from Lawas. We reached Lawas at 12 pm & she brought us to a local coffeeshop for lunch. As compared to KK, the food prices are really cheap, only RM2.60 for a Kolo Mee & wild boar or deer meat can be found everywhere in Lawas. I had the fried noodle with chicken (to be safe, in case it's filled with fatty pork & I'll be too embarrassed to picking out the fats in front of P & her parents !) The portion was really big, at RM 4.00, it could easily feed 2 adults. I was hungry & greedy, so I finished the whole portion, the 'wok hei' was so so good !!
P brought us to her 'kampung' after lunch. My girls were complaining about flies & mosquitoes when they were there but after a while they 'warmed up'. This is the first time they've ever seen chicken, monkey, pigs in the wild & P's mum has a little durian plantation so we filled ourselves once again with yummy durian before we set off again.
I remembered the last town before reaching Brunei was Limbang. They have the cleanest 'kampungs' I've ever seen. Big rubbish bins can be found like every few hundred metres, along the roadside & big trees line the road too !

We finally arrived in Brunei about 6 pm. The drive itself took about 8 hours, excluding stopping for meal, immigration checkpoints & toilet stops.
I think eating out in Brunei is expensive. We had dinner in a food court near Centrepoint, Gadong. Food is bad & with 6 kids in tow, we decided it was enough so the next 2 days we were cooking at our friend's house. Jun has been kind to let us stay at her house this trip.

There's nothing much in Brunei, I mean shopping ! There's pretty cars & houses everywhere. I think the people there are really fortunate, they get to buy cheap fuel & rice.
I love their shophouse kind of shops in Kiulap & Kiarong, with cafes & retail shops. I must have checked out all the bakery shops there, a few of them have nice ambience & coffee (Lavazza) but minus the taste. The only bakery shop worth visiting is the Fleur-De-Lys Bakery, I tried some of their slices & think they're rather good so ended up buying cooler box & brough them all the way back to KK for hubby.

I love their SupaSave supermarket, it has all the imported milk, cheese, butter, fruits........
We went there I think twice a day to check out their produce, to plan our meals.
I brought back trays of Lurpak mini-dish butter, frozen berries, sausages, rose water, fruit bars for my girls & huge Thai 'jambu'. Imported goodies in Brunei are cheaper than KK but more expensive than Singapore. I was happily eating huge 'Doles' bananas everyday.

Besides visiting the supermarkets, we brought the kids to the Oil & Gas Discovery Centre in
Seria, the oil town of Brunei, about 1 1/2 hours drive away from Gadong.
The kids loved this centre, it's filled with all kinds of Science experiments & games. There's this ride that requires you to be at least 48 inches tall to be able to ride in it. Poor JF couldn't get a chane to try. The rider will be belted up & spinned around for a while (can't remember how long), the name of this ride starts with a 'c', I've forgotten the name & couldn't find it on google.
CJ tried the ride & to my surprise she liked it as she's always on the timid side !
The most interesting part of this discovery centre will be the illusions corner. Lots of stuff to trick our brains & my eyes were really blurred after trying to concentrate so much. The most interesting one will be the 'head-on-a-platter', you actually go into a box covered with glass so you'll look like as if your head is on a platter & the rest of the body invisible !

Oh, before I forget, we went to the Empire Hotel too ! The Sultan of Brunei was there too but we didn't get to meet him, only his entourage of bodyguards, policemen & of course grant, nice cars ! The kids went to watch 'High School Musical 3' at the cinema there so Jun, P & I went for tea at the lobby lounge. Well, nice ambience, with shiny WMF coffee machine, Asprey cups & saucers and cutleries, but Oh My the pastries were disappointing !! I was hoping to savour some really good pastries when I saw them being displayed on the trolley. The opera cake was dry, blueberry tart's pastry over-baked & the apple cake was damn sweet, at least the cappuccino was good !

We left Brunei on Saturday, 12pm & arrived in KK 10.30pm. We were supposed to leave in the morning but after getting all the kids ready & packing all the frozen stuff, it was already noon. Driving at night was not fun at all as everywhere was so dark. we were hoping the kids will sleep all the way home but they did not, they were bickering all the way instead !!

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Theme Party

MM Clubhouse Cake


The party hats were painstakingly made by Y



MM Clubhouse goodies bag



MM balloon


It was Justin's 5th birthday party yesterday & he had a MM clubhouse theme party. His mum asked me if I could bake him a clubhouse cake & the moment I looked at the picture, I was like thinking how am I going to tackle this ?

Since it was only end of September, I thought there's still plenty of time. After the Raya holiday, his mum Y said he wanted sponge cake, so sugar paste is out. Considering the lightness of the sponge cake, every thing on the cake must not be heavy. So Y & I were running round town on seperate trips looking for stuff to make the MM head & the hand. No luck after looking through all the big craft shops in town, so we have to turn to toys that our kids have.

The cake was a chocolate cake filled with chocolate fudge & frosted with buttercream. Besides the MM head & the hand (created by my 'designer'), everything on the top of the cake was edible & the colour was of course food colouring, including the black colour. The dome & the leg part were chocolate sponge cakes & I didn't fill it as I was worried it might be too heavy for the bottom cake to take it. A dowel was inserted into the leg part to support it.

It was a fun party, the kids had fun, the mums had fun too !