Unique Layer Cake

Since my previous topic was about a cake, Hubby showed me a photo he took of this special layer cake at a function in Universiti Tenaga Nasional. Every time the cake was sliced the word UNITEN would appear but he just couldn't figure out how it was done. I was rather puzzled too but I have some theories which I will try out in the kitchen one of these days...

Green Tea and Red Beans

A friend gave me a sponge cake from RT Pastry House in Subang Jaya yesterday. It looked like an ordinary pandan sponge, until I noticed red beans on top of the cake. That made me quite curious as red beans don't usually appear on sponge cakes. Had a taste of it and discovered that it was actually green tea, not pandan flavour. Nice combination...very Japanese.

Afternoon In The Kitchen

My modem finally came to the end of its useful life (how sad), and the kids and I had no internet connection for the entire day. So while the kids went at each other's throats out of boredom, I decided to put my bread machine to work...and hid myself in the kitchen to escape my noisy kids.


I have a cheap breadmaker which I use just to knead dough. Then I transfer the dough into my larger electric oven for the baking process. When using a breadmaker, the order in which we add the ingredients is very important:

1) 300ml of cold water

2) 1 egg

3) 4 Tbsp of dried yeast

4) 60 g of butter

5) 600g of bread flour

6) 4 Tbsp of powdered milk

7) 12 Tbsp of sugar

8) 1/2 tsp of salt

Just set the machine to knead, and switch it off before it starts to bake.

Let the dough rise for 45 mins, then shape into buns.

Leave in a dry, warm place for 45 mins before baking.

Bake for 20-25 mins at 190 degrees. Brush with melted butter when removed from oven.

Some cinnamon rolls which Miss PreTeen helped to make (her favourite).

Aaah...nothing beats the smell of buns baking in the oven...except eating them, of course!

The Power Of A Snapshot

I took this photo of a signboard placed behind a lamp post and submitted it to The Star newspaper hoping to win RM50 because there is an ongoing contest for original photos of anything news-worthy.


But my photo didn't appear in the 'thumbnails' page; instead, 3 days later the large signboard was relocated...to the right of the lamp post!

Leg Power In Singapore

Went on a 4-day family trip to Johor Bahru and Singapore. We thought we would try taking the bus from JB to Singapore each day, and move around Singapore using the MRT. On the 1st day, we had a long wait at the Larkin Bus Station for our bus to Woodlands. So we got smarter and on the 2nd day we took the bus from the KotaRaya terminal instead.

trying to figure out the MRT route before buying tickets

It was quite an adventure, taking the taxi to KotaRaya, go through immigration, catch the 950 bus to Woodlands, get down and walk through the immigration checkpoint, hop back onto the bus, then head to Kranji MRT Station. The rides on the MRT wasn’t fun either, as there was usually standing space only by the time we get on. We would explore Singapore island and then do the same thing but in reverse order to get back to JB. Got left behind by our bus once when we took too long at the immigration checkpoint! The next time we filled the immigration forms first before we reached the immigration complex.

Orchard Road Christmas deco

Went to Orchard Road to look at the Christmas deco, which was rather minimal this year. My daughter finally got to ride on a double-decker bus. On Day 2 we spent a whole day at Sentosa Island and all of us rode on the luge…the kids rode it twice!

traffic jam at the end of the luge track

The Songs Of The Sea show at Sentosa Island

It seemed like a fun idea using public transportation to move around, but in reality it is a whole lot of waiting and walking…we were really tired by the end of Day 2! Haven’t been so happy to finally travel around in my own car on Day 3!

Spent Day 3 hopping from one shopping complex to another and discovered that 2 large shopping malls have already closed down...but hey, it’s been 10 years since I last visited JB.

The Waiting Game

Spent about one fifth of today ‘waiting’. I sent my car for servicing and waited. Read a magazine and a few chapters of a Christian book. I was told that it would take 2 to 2 ½ hours, but thankfully I got my car back in 1 hour.

Fetched my son from school today – went early to book a parking spot before the other parents arrive. Played my daughter’s Gameboy while waiting. It’s rush hour, so I tried to take a shortcut but took a wrong turn instead. Got caught in a bumper to bumper crawl and had to wait in the traffic jam for an hour.

Wanted to take my kids to the pasar malam but got caught in a heavy downpour on the way there and decided to turn around, but got caught in traffic again as cars tried to maneuver past a flooded section of the road. The only silver lining was that the 16 inch wheels of my family car could take me through flooded roads while smaller cars had to stop. (grins)

Yummy Bites

Usually after shopping at Ikea in Mutiara Damansara, I would buy either the hotdog or curry puff sold just opposite the check-out counters (or both if I'm hungry!). With prices of food on the rise I think they are really value for money as I can fill my tummy with just RM4 - a hotdog and drink combo (RM3) plus a curry puff (RM1).


You can add tomato sauce, chilli sauce or mustard as well as sweet relish and onions to your heart's delight at the self-service kiosk.



The not-too-spicy curry puff is filled with bits of chicken, potatoes and half a hardboiled egg.

The refillable soft drinks are a hit with my kids. Miss PreTeen, being the more adventurous one, has even tried mixing different flavours together.

Colourful Neighbours

On the way to the Firefly Park in Kuala Selangor, we saw these 4 houses with colourful roof tiles...one was green, next to it was purple, then blue, and red. I wonder if they were competing with each other or complementing each other...but they sure looked striking even from a distance.

Trip To Firefly Park

Yesterday we took a trip to the Firefly Park at Kampung Kuantan in Kuala Selangor with some of my husband's colleagues and their families. We thought that it would be a good idea to let the kids see the fireflies before they become extinct.



We went in a convoy of 6 cars, lost 2 cars somewhere on the highway and missed a turning...making it a 2 hour journey. It should actually just take about 1 ½ hours from Kuala Lumpur - ½ an hour on the highway and 1 hour on a dual lane federal coastal road.


But it was worth it as the sight of the fireflies (kelip-kelip in Malay) lighting up the trees along the riverbank is just beyond description...you just have to see it for yourself.


After that we found a little Chinese village with a few seafood restaurants and went to the one with the most people (means that the food must be good!). The seafood was really fresh...we ordered steamed fish, lala, oyster omelette and some honey chicken (for Mr CoolTeen who isn't too fond of seafood) and some fruit juices...only came up to around RM70 for the 4 of us.

Used the GPS navigation on hubby's mobile phone to get us home as we were not familiar with the roads, having left a little earlier than the others.

Patience Is A Virtue

Living in a world where almost everything is becoming instant...instant noodles, instant coffee, instant photos, instant communication through mobile phones and text messaging, instant knowledge through the internet, etc.....except instant success and instant wealth!...it's no wonder that people become impatient if their needs and wants are not gratified instantly.

I'm ranting and raving because I was patiently queueing at the traffic lights the other day when a large lorry decided to jump queue (grrr!). Just wait till I get my lorry licence...!

Useful Tips For The Home

A friend emailed me these great housekeeping advice (not sure where she got it from) and I was thinking; "Hmm...why didn't I think of that?!"


Try it yourself.


Bed Sheets
After drying sheets, put both sheets and one pillowcase in the other pillow case. Fold neatly in a square. Next time you change sheets, you just take the one pillow case and all the sheets and pillow case are inside. No need to look for matches.

Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a non-stick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No more soggy microwave pizza.


Reheating Refrigerated Bread
To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

Broken Glass
use a dry cotton ball to pick up little broken pieces of glass - the fibres catch ones you can't see!


Reducing Static ClingPin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- voila static is gone.

Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill it with hot water.Dump out the hot water, but don't dry the cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Reopening Envelope
If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Voila! It unseals easily.

Good-bye Fruit FliesTo get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass and fill it 1/2 with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dishwashing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!
Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornflour where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' & can't digest it, so it kills them. It may take a week or so, esp. if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

Take baby powder to the beach
Keep a small bottle of baby powder in your beachbag. When you're ready to leave the beach sprinkle yourself and kids with the powder and the sand will slide right off your skin.

The Mom Song

When I first heard this song I recognised so many of the things that I have said to my kids. Many people have already seen this video, but for the moms who haven't - enjoy...


fr longtang1234

Does That Make Sense??

Our car seat belts are rather tight and uncomfortable, so I bought 2 seat belt clips – one each for the driver and front passenger – to keep the belt a little loose and more comfortable. The instructions really cracked me up and our whole family had a good laugh as we read it aloud. The funny ones are highlighted in red. See if you can spot any sentence at all without a single grammatical error…



USER MANUAL

Before use, pleased read the manual first for right usage

CHARACTERISTICS

-Can immediately dismantle while touch, can easily change the hang position
-The adoption operates in big volume of inner side button
-The thumb press button can easily switch the inner side of it for initiation use
-The design with folds and hinge to prevent the product from damaged when installing
-Under urgent circumstance the safety belt will start original function
-The safe belt’s max breadth is 53mms which it can support

INSTALLMENT METHOD

Put the coin or etc. into space of this product’s inner side and protect cover, to force it open
Stuffs into the safety belt, until hear the sound of “card, card”. At this time, turn the sigh of this product’s inner side button downcast direction.

Attention:

If install the wrong direction, it can’t revolve normally, please pay your attention.

OPERATION METHOD

After installing the safety belt, to loose a little bit of the safety belt.

Attention:

Loosen 3 cms or above (the palm can fill into) on normal of the safety belt, please do not use.
2) Push the button of the inner side up when in this state, making similar to the glide of metal tool when it hoisting, press the button of this product inner side to lock it.
3) Press the button of this product’s inner side, to lock it.

WARN
· If not obey the usage rule, exist the danger of the passenger rushing out of the car when the urgent brake or collide situation. It will not function properly.
· The passenger also should obey the above-mentioned operation method.

NOTICE

-This product will not fix the safety belt completely.
-Please don’t use beyond the original usage.
-The product used for limiting the safety belt of curl. While don’t use the safety belt, pay attention to the safety belt weather is stretching out of the car, do not hamper the driver’s operation.
-Absolutely forbid the error gearing and remolding otherwise lead to bad result our company does not take any assurance responsibility.
-While open the machine with the coin, would easily damage the produce.
-Before start please make sure whether the vehicle fixed or not.
-The safety belt width above 53 mms can uses this product.
-Some have special shape or parts’ safety belt can’t use this product.
-The inside safe sensor of the safety belt may lose efficacy, please must attention to.