Bread Pudding

My brother, Jin LOVES bread pudding! Our first attempt baking our own bread pudding.

We followed the recipe from Joy of Baking

Initially I was quite worried because baking bread pudding, I need to prepare 'water bath' or 'Bain Marie'.I was using Microwave Oven to bake the bread pudding, I was not sure whether can I put water in the it.. But then, we still tried.

I bought a bigger glass casserole from Carefour, to hold my smaller casserole that filled with the batter. Instead of baking for 1 hour, we baked for 40 minutes. We were using French loaf for this recipe.

You can add Raisin/Sultana, apple or others to add flavor. We didn't cos ML doesn't like Raisin... So we had it original.

Voila!

Look at how happy Jin was... :)

I'm 29 weeks PREGNANT!

I'm pregnant and this week is my 29th week... I have 11 more weeks to deliver baby Joel to this world...

My husband and I decided to name our boy JOEL...

'The name Joel comes from the Hebrew origin. In Hebrew The meaning of the name Joel is: Jehovah is God. .Strong - willed. The name of a Breton saint. The biblical prophet Joel wrote the Book of Joel.' (from Babyhold.com)

He is really our precious gift from GOD...

Mee Suah....

Knotty Bicsie's First solo exhibition @ The ART HOUSE! We were all invited to her openings on last Saturday. CONGRATULATION BETSY! It's really a successful one.

I've brought Jin and ML to the exhibition too... :) It was also my first time to the ART HOUSE.

Around 100 people were there.... :) Friends from MAAD and from KBCC were there too...

Glimpse to her works.... :)

 

Find out more from Betsy's site: KNOTTY BICSIE...

I'm very proud to have a friend like her... :) May God bless her in her carrier as a full-time crafter & artist....

Wednesday Lunch - Chicken Baked Rice

I was feeling unwell today... :( Been coughing quite badly the night before. So, I took a day off to rest at home.

Felt lazy to go down to 'da bao', decided to do my own lunch. All I have is chicken breast, some vege... So, I decided to BAKED RICE!

I found this recipe from the net... So, simple..

http://www.recipezaar.com/Creamy-Baked-Rice-70173 

I added green pepper & potatoes, besides chicken breast. YUMMY!!! I finished almost all by myself... =P

 

3 CAKES!

Last Saturday, I baked 3 cakes... Mayling came over to my place. We suppose to bake together. However, she was not feeling well. After taking 2 Panadols, she had a nap. While, I started to explore the craft of baking cake... Hehehehe

I found this recipe from http://www.joyofbaking.com/... Cheese Pound Cake. Look easy... So, I decided to try.

Yup! This is my multi-purpose dining table... Look quite complete right?

I baked 3 cakes on that day... Well, the first cake I did, I didn't know the proper way to bake cake... Cos the recipe didn't mention that I need to grease & spread parchment paper on the baking pan... I just poured the batter into it... I was using microwave oven to bake instead of oven, so I didn't know ho to control the temperature.. Well, this was the result of my 1st cake!! BURNT!... =P

Then, May Ling woke up... She suggested to refer to on-line video... How come I never think of that! So, we visited www.videojug.com. There's a video on "how to make a simple pound cake".

We followed the steps exactly and baked our 2nd cake...

Not bad rite! But it's a bit tough. Maybe it's the temperature was too high & baking timing was too long.

Since we left some batter, this time, we mix with chocolate chip & chocolate syrup and baked our 3rd cake!

So far, our 3rd cake was better than 2nd one... Not that tough, but still quite dry... :( I'm still searching for tips to bake using microwave oven...

Wedding Couple for Ivy

Ivy bought a doll from me before. Well, actually was bought by her boyfriend. They are tying knot soon. So, Ivy wanted me to customize a wedding couple for them... :)

I really like this bride very much. Spent hours on the details...

Bake Lasagna using Slow Cooker

Ever since I'm pregnant with baby Joel, I love to cook... I'm not sure why. Cooking or baking is kind of craft too... Don't you think so? A kind of hobby, involves patience & creativity... :)

My dear SIL passed me her slow cooker the other day cos she has no patience using the slow cooker, it's too SLOW to COOK... Excited of having the slow cooker, I started to search for slow cooker recipes... Hundreds of recipes can be found. However, I was kinda confused with those cooking terms, until I came across this wonderful site: http://recipetips.com! Not only sharing about recipes, it also shares pictorial cooking guides using slow cooker!

Best of all, they have my favorite dish recipe, LASAGNA! Well, for those who wonders what is Lasagna, a dish with layers of pasta & beef bakes at high temp. and it's Garfield's favorite dish too... =P

http://www.recipetips.com/kitchen-tips/t--1279/slow-cooking-whole-meal-recipes.asp

Now then I know, how easy it is to cook Lasagna. Following the ingredients on the site, I went for groceries shopping on Friday night. To bake lasagna using slow cooker requires 4 to 5 hours to cook, that is how SLOW COOKER gets its name. Of cos you can bake it using oven... :) The preparation and cooking method are the same.

On Friday night, I prepared & cooked the fillings: Simple ingredients - Onions, garlic, beef, tomatoes, spaghettis sauces and lots of cheese... Let it cooled down, then put into the fridge.

On Saturday morning, around 10am, I started with soften the lasagne noodle in boiling water. I used around 6 pcs of lasagna noodles.

1stly, I spread one layer of fillings at the bottom of the slow cooker.

Then followed by lasagne noodle.

Lastly, spread 'KRAFT' grated parmesan cheese on top of lasagna noodle.

Repeat the steps from spreading filling to spreading cheese for 3 times.

Once done, it's time to cook using SLOW cooker. Set to HIGH knob and cook for 1 hour. Then, set to AUTO knob and cook for another 3 hours.

.......After 3 hours

Well, a bit soggy but the taste is good... Not bad for first timer... =P

Draw String Pouch for a friend...

A close friend of mine is celebrating her birthday today. I've made this string pouch for her so she can use it during lunch time. :) I hope she'll like it.

*Getting ML to hold the pouch for me.... Thanks, Ger*

Making Bean Sprout Husk Pillow for Tong Tong...

Bean Sprout Husk Pillow is for babies & toddlers. According to the older generation, husk pillow is used to calm babies and made them feel more secure. According to my own study, babies like to have something pressing on their back or stomach, as the husk pillow has a certain weight. The husk is pretty light weight and it will not cause any discomfort. At the same time, it is porous, so, baby still feel cooling while using it.

The most challenging part of making the husk pillow is CLEANING the husk.

Initially, it was pretty hard to find the husk. My mother-in-law was telling me that I need to get it from the bean sprout supplier. Well, consider myself very fortunate, I managed to find bean sprout husk at a market near my place. :) The uncle was very kind to give me a big plastic bag full of husk at NO CHARGE! =D

Like I've mentioned, CLEANING the husk is very tedious. Thank GOD my Mom-in-law is pretty experience in the cleaning process. First of all, she had to pick all sprouts out from the husk. Then later, she washed it in hot water because it's kind of smelly... AND, she had to do a few times to get rid of the smell. Then, the husk MUST be dried under an optimum sunlight. Unfortunately, during that past few weeks, the weather was cloudy. If it's not dry enough, it will start to rot & smell. So, she had to wash it again. :( Took her 3 weeks to finally clean the husks. Big thanks to my mom in law.... :)

See the end result?? The husk has to be very very dry....

The size of the pillow case that I've made was around 30cm by 20cm. It was a bit too big. The ideal size would be 30cm by 15cm.

Then, I rolled up a paper like a cone to assist in pouring the husk into the pillow case.

Once completed, I've made a pillow cover because husk pillow is not suppose to be washed.

I've made this specially for my dear niece, Tong Tong....

Wedding Couple for Suz

Suz has ordered a wedding couple for her friend since March! I don't have any wedding picture for reference. So have to use my imagination to create this couple.

I've made a pair of white suit & pants for the bridegroom. As for the bride, I've made a simple gown decorated with crystals.

Mmm... After I've completed this couple, there's something wrong... So, I seek some advises from my friends as well as Suz. It was the bride. She looked quite plain. So I redo the gown for her.

"Ta-da"

I've crocheted a violet dress for her. This is the first time making a gown in other colours than white.... Initially, I was quite worried about the turn-out. After decorated with lace & beads ribbon... Hey, the bride looked very pretty... Thank God Suz likes it to.... :)

Doily Exchange for Irma

A doily for Irma... :)

Wedding Couple for EP

A sweet lovely bride-to-be, EP, has ordered a wedding couple from me few months back... Due to my sickness, I was unable to complete it earlier... :( Thank GOD she LOVES them...

Decorated the bride with paper flowers that I've bought from Bangkok and also crystal paste-on beads...

Well, EP has a special request... :) She will like the groom to wear a pair of specs... So, I've bought this pair from Spotlight. Fit just nice...

Calla Lilies for SY

SY is getting married this coming Saturday... Congratulation!!

She ordered 10 calla lilies from me to give to her loved ones... I'm glad she like it very much. But I apologize for not able to do more than 10 as I've not been feeling too well lately...