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Last entry of the year... yayyyy... i managed to get my lazy ass to pick up that tripod stand of mine... that reflector of mine and my precious camera out to take a couple of shots... well thats all it takes actually.. a couple of shots... maybe a half an hr thingy and i am on my way to share a new recipe with my readers... I dont know why i've become so lazy in taking pics of what i've baked lately... its like .. i love baking.. i love trying out new recipes but when it comes to taking pics... kwang kwang kwang


People say u must have some kind of vision for the new year.. some kind of a goal.. i honestly think that no matter how young or old u get.. having a goal is important to motivate urself.. to be a step higher than the year bef.. is important.. well at least to me :o)


Anyway today i wud love to share a type of everyday cake that will go down well with those who are big fans of buttercake... like me ahaks.. recipe is fm a book called "I love buttercake too" by Kevin Chai.

Ingredients
250g butter
200g caster sugar
4 eggs
250g plain flour - i used cake flour
5g baking powder
100ml fresh milk
1/2 tsp coffee paste - i used 1/2tsp coffee paste and 1/2 tsp coffee extract
50g crushed oreo

Method
- Preheat oven to 160C.. greased and line a 18cm(7") baking pan
- Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition
- Fold in sifted flour and baking powder, alternately fold in fresh milk. Mix until well combined - i used Mr Aid - low speed
- Divide batter into two portions, add in coffee paste and crushed oreo to a portion and mix well
- Spoon batters into prepared pan alternately until finished
- Bake in oven for 50 to 60 mins or until cooked



So ok.. thats it... enjoy ur day.. spend it with ur loved ones .. relax and sit back and wake up to a brand new year...

Happy 2013 to all and stay healthy! Cheers!
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My bday has always been a special day for us.. not only do we manage to gather everyone around... it also give hubs the chance to gv out xmas presents.. u see.. hes our santa  .. he believes.. sharing is caring hehehe


Gingerbread house that was assembled and decorated by hubs.. he took a couple of red mac shells and "glued" it to the roof - pic of Sonia and kakak Dafinah.. they are 2yrs apart :o)


Had wanted to do roasted chicken.. ya know.. all the western dishes but ended up doing korean bbq.. simply bec.. this kinda of food will fill up our tummy.. hubs did a cold salad/Sicilian seafood salad for a starter.


Pardon me for my "bare" look.. no need to use any make up.. original aka natural look muahaha


Right after the cake cutting session.. we gave out xmas pressies to everyone.. not one pressie.. almost everyone got 3 pressies each hehe


Some pressies were bought fm my last Europe trip..


Gift fm my parents and also Hairi.. sis wati got me perfume.. sis lyn gave me a handmade swarovski phone cover and my dear hubs got me a set of knives and chopping board fm Zwilling JA Henckels - isnt he romantic?! muahaha


Boys and their perfume


Hairi and his pressie.. Topman pants and also Ted Baker watch..


Theres a story behind this.. Sonia had written a note to Santa asking for this Playmobil set... of cos our "santa" had to go and buy it.. right? hehe


It was a night of celebration.. a night of laughter and a night where we got to gather bef 2012 ends.. ty everyone for making it happen.. bday girl had a blast!

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I miss blogging.. i miss this space and i miss interacting with my readers.. am taking a break fm baking till next week to spend quality time with my family.. i thought that would be the best thing to do after i hit 44yrs old yesterday ahaks.. To all that sent me greetings via Email, FB. phone... thank you so much!

Yes yes.. I turned a year older yesterday and i spent it with my loved ones.. invited everyone over and it was a blast.. now.. now.. i know i shouldnt promise anything but i hv tons and tons of pics to share.. Penang pics, my cousin Nadia's engagement pics and of cos my bday celebration pics.. time is really not on my side for now and for the past 10 days i hv not been well twice.. so i hope to keep on blogging next year and wishing everyone a wonderful year ahead.. May 2013 bring happiness to everyone...

So ok this is the last recipe that i will be sharing this year.. its a recipe which i had created impromptu  hehe.. its delish and am not ashamed to admit that i can eat two slices in one go... ishhh Rima Rima.. no wonder u cant stop coughing!

Ingredients
250ml cold heavy whipping cream
227g mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp espresso extract
1 tsp tiramisu essence

120-140g semi-sweet chocolate shavings
Cocoa powder, for dusting
a pack of ladyfingers (homemade and store-bought work equally well)
2 cups of strong coffee

Method
In a large bowl, whip heavy cream and 2 tbsp of powdered sugar until it forms stiff peaks... place it in ur fridge

In another bowl, whisk together mascarpone, powdered sugar, vanilla essence. Whisk in espresso extract and tiramisu essence. Fold the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture.

To Assemble
Slice ladyfingers into 3/4 high.. place it around ur pan..

One at a time, very gently dip both sides of each ladyfinger into the coffee mixture, lining bottom of a 8" inch Springform pan. Dip and line as you go. The ladyfingers can break apart, so don’t dip them too long. About a 2-second dip on each side. Trim any ladyfingers as needed so that it fits comfortably in pan. Split mascarpone filling in half. Spread half of the filling on top of ladyfingers. Dust with cocoa powder and chocolate shaving. Repeat dipping and lining for second layer of ladyfingers. Spread remaining mascarpone filling on top. Dust with cocoa. Sprinkle with chocolate shavings. Chill overnight in springform pan to set.

Enjoy!
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Time: 10:45pm
Weather: 26 deg
Venue: Hard Rock Hotel, Penang
Mood: High.. i love December cos its the only month where hubs will put away all his gadgets.. no blackberry.. no iphone.. no lappy to be seen! phewwww
Peak Agenda: First of all... i am so so sorry for not updating sooner... its different when u hv the whole family holidaying.. this is the story of my life... i go on trips all the time but the only time where i am really on hols is when my dear hubs is clearing his annual leave... niceeee

So ok.. we got into Penang yesterday afternoon... only took hubs a total of 5 and half hrs to get here... Alhamdullilah... took a few pics but the internet here is so so slowwww that it took me close to half an hr to load a pic! grrr.. will hv to keep this short.. will load more pics of Penang in KL.. Insyallah...

So without further ado... let me announce the winner of my 8th Giveaway.. thank you so very much to those that took the time to enter my little giveaway.. was good fun :o)

... and by the way: The answer is 2 stores :))

The winner is...

Yuen Chin from Kuching

Congrats dear! Hope it comes to good use!
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So..... it's time again! Yay!!!

I have something REALLY special this time!

As all of you know I am in love with Maison du Monde... a French interior design store. So during my last trip to Europe I went crazy and also decided to bring back some items back for a giveaway...

Here a sneak peek :)



As always.. I have a question that needs to be answered.

I am now using punchtab to run my giveaways since its easier to manage and it also allows my readers to increase their chances of wining by sharing the giveaway on FB etc.

So here is the punchtab box.. once you have linked via FB or email, you will see the question... don't forget to answer it in the comments below!

Good luck everyone!

GA end Thursday 11pm and I will announce the winner on Friday afternoon (from Penang :)

Giveaway has ended - winner will be announced this afternoon!

Disclaimer: This is not being sponsored by Maison du Monde :) LOL
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Ok i hv to admit that this time round its different... it took me a couple of days to go thru my jet lag.. Sonia was a lot more worse than me.. she would sleep at 3pm and when i tried waking her up at 6pm.. she would get agitated and head back back to bed.. sh then finally woke up at 10pm and would only fall asleep again close to 2am.. guess what time she got up?? blahhh 4am! yes to her the 2am sleep was like taking a nap in the afternoon arghhh!!


The last two days was better... we managed to make her not go to sleep at 3pm and by 8pm she was telling us that she wanted to lie down... she would then sleep thru till 7am... and me? since i am officially on "hols" and dont hv to get up at 6:30am to perform my prayers.. will then sleep till 10am... ahhhh this is life ey hehehe

So alrighty.. this cake was baked a day after i got home fm Germany.. i had actually wanted to bake something else but while going thru my fridge.. i found 2 packets of ice cream powder which were abt to expire.. so with a full tray of eggs in hand and a can of Wisjman butter which i had in my freezer.. i decided to bake this strawberry ice cream layer cake.. and then I forgot the ice cream.. So i ran out to the petrol station and all they had was... Haagen Dazs... argghh! $14.90 just for ice cream!!!


Ingredients
A
450g butter - i used Wisjman butter
1 tsp vanilla essence

B
24 egg yolk
5 egg white
280g fine sugar
80g self-raising flour
1 tbsp ovelette

C
130g milk powder - i used vanilla ice cream powder and milk powder
1 tsp vanilla essence

D
170g strawberry ice-cream powder - i added strawberry paste for making ice cream
150g strawberry ice-cream (softened) - i use Haagen Dazs :op
pink colouring - pink gel

Method:
Preheat oven at 160 deg C. Use top heat only.
Cream A until softened & mixed thoroughly.
Combine B in a mixing bowl & beat on high speed for about 7 minutes until thick .
Add A & mix thoroughly.
Divide mixture into 2 parts.
Add C into 1 part & mix thoroughly.
Add D into another part & mix thoroughly.
Pour 2 ladles of plain batter into a 10x7" lined & greased baking pan (Grease & line bottom of pan only). Grill until cook & golden brown for about one & a half to two minutes.
Repeat no 8.
Then pour 2 ladles of strawberry batter into pan & grill. Repeat.
Bake 2 layers of plain followed by 2 layers of strawberry batter until finish.
Lastly, baked the whole cake using top & bottom heat at 200 deg C for about 10 minutes.
Remove from pan and allow to cool before storing.


Recipe i got fm Bitter Sweet Spicy blog.. ty Faeez for sharing this wonderful recipe.. u were right.. the cake is moist and delish..

To those that hv been emailing me and leaving messages in my FB.. i will be opening my mac sheet pre order this weekend in my online store.. at the same time the macaron pyramids will be available and also Fleur de Sel!... and for all my reader for this holiday period... until the 25th Dec... I will be giving 5% discount on all my store goods. Just enter XMAS as voucher code when you "check out"...

...oh and guess what.. while in Colmar.. i got something for my readers.. nothing fancy but i think u will love it.. wait up! :)

Original recipe is fm Mdm Hawa Ismail
18


Time: 11:45pm
Weather: 2 deg - weather forecast said its gonna snow.. but it didnt happen..
Venue: Düsseldorf, Germany
Mood: love shopping - hate packing - yikes!
Peak Agenda: When it comes to Düsseldorf theres not much of a peak agenda... its like we either start our hols fm Düsseldorf or end it in Düsseldorf... daily without fail.. i will wake up in the morning.. prepare brekkie and as soon as hubs is out i will get ready and take Sonia to the nearest playground bef heading to town... usually i will go to diff parts of town and will only spend around 2hrs there as the weather was too cold for our liking..

So let me just finish up the 3rd part of our days in Colmar... didnt realise that the pic that was supposed to be the 3rd part are all abt Sonia riding her horsey in the evening lol


Right bef we drove to Strasbourg.. we decided to walk around Colmar to find the one and only baking shop there.. found it and was a little disappointed with the price there.. got what i was supposed to get and found another type of colour powder meant for macarons... wasnt cheap and bought a few bottles.... if it works like a charm.. am thinking of bringing it in my online store :o)


Hotel St Martin that we stayed in... bed was comfy and room was rather small.. reminded me of the hotel room we stayed in Paris lol.. the interior was classic and the window that u see was our room :o)


On our way to Düsseldorf, hubs decided to drive to Holland to go to the Roermond Factory Outlet since on this trip hubs was too busy to go to any and since it was sunday the factory outlet is open till 8pm.. he thought why not... it was our first time in Holland .. its like u drive a further 45mins fm Düsseldorf and u end up in Holland lol.. we got there close to 5pm and by 7pm we were out... so so crowded with ppl.. saw a couple of Malay women there.. first time i came across our own ppl on this trip lol .. to us the price wasnt too impressive . we bought pretty much what we wanted and by 8pm we were already unpacking our stuff..


We stayed in an apartment in Düsseldorf which makes it easier for me to feed our tummy.. the very next day as soon as hubs got home fm his meeting.. he took me to the halal butcher to stock up our fridge..


Hereon are a few pics taken at the Christmas night market here in Düsseldorf.. only went there once... to me.. Düsseldorf is the fashion city.. as its the only place where i have so far found Massimo Dutti for example :o(


There are a few christmas markets around here and we cant even be bothered to go all.. we were a little disappointed to find out that our usual Italian cafe that we patronized is no longer there.. not just that.. our fav kebab place has now changed to some other restaurant... so in another words.. theres not much to look forward to except that we have found a new shopping mall which is abt 10mins away fm our apartment.. hubs is usually back by 5pm and since the mall closes at 8pm.. it was a perfect reason for us to keep ourselves warm and shop at the same time hehe.. oh i also found a perfect cafe there.. they serve great coffee and cakes.. yumms!!


Sonia and her rides... haishhh


Can u imagine seeing something like this at our ramadhan bazaar? sure our Poffertjes will be selling like hot cakes lol


I really love all the window displays here... especially the Steiff ones.. they hv like maybe 10 window displays in this Kaufhof store alone! oh gosh... we in Singapore shud learn a thing or two on this... ours is like forever and ever showing the same thing lol


Christmas period is like a fairy tale .. beautiful lights... beautiful feelings.. beautiful weather.. so it is really a good idea for them to display their toy products since most of what we end up buying for our kids is toys.. toys ... toys lol


Christmas market around Königsallee ... same like two years ago.. no changes and no more magical feeling  hahaha


Düsseldorf - super crowded with tourists


Ok thats it.. this will be my last post ... tmrw we will be driving to Frankfurt right after hubs meeting and will be staying there for a night.. we fly back to SG on Saturday afternoon via KL :o)

I just wanna thank everyone for taking the time to read up my posts and following us on this trip... its always a pleasure to blog abt it .. it makes me feel close to home when i get to interact with others.. to me.. am blogging about it for my kids to read up whenever they want in the future and at the same time to take my readers with me on my trips... take care all and hv a wonderful weekend.. i know when i get to SG on sunday... i will probably be too sleepy to even unpack my luggage lol... cheers and see u back in Singapore!
4


Time: 9pm
Weather: 7 deg - weird but its freezing here at 7 deg!
Venue: Colmar - Hotel St Martin / Dusseldorf, Germany
Mood: Relaxing and realising that my hols will end this wkend.. huhu.. for some reason... am not missing my oven .. YET hehe.. i cooked rendang and chicken soup today.. its been awhile since we last had rice.. 
Peak Agenda: Salam peeps.. as promised.. here are a few more pics taken in Colmar.. i usually will hv "the mood" to take lots of scenery shots when hubs is around.. easier when someone is there to keep a look-out for little Sonia..

Anyway on the second day in Colmar.. we decided to drive to Strasbourg.. (the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border to Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking, explaining the city's Germanic name - wikipidia) It took us under an hr to get there and oh boy.. unlike in the old town of Colmar.. u can see halal kebab place just abt everywhere.. so long story short.. we got our meat craving fixed lol.. what to do.. we are meat eating ppl hehehe.. we spent like 4hrs there and hubs also took me to Galleries Lafayette which later saw me walking out with another Vanessa Bruno bag - big smile!



Somehow weekends get everyone going.. we were up pretty early on Saturday.. took a stroll around the old city again.. found a halal kebab place but the shop didnt look like its there anymore.. an empty shop with a halal sign lol


The duo who keep me on my feet on this trip :o)


The chocolate place - Jaques Bockel - that we patronized more than three times lol... this guy (the old guy in the picture) is famous for his chocolate and i bought chocolate couverture to see if its as good compared to Valrhona and Cocoa Berry.. pls pls try his fleur de sel praline chocolate if u do see him... its to DIE for! - oh on another note.. my fleur de sel will soon be back in store.. got em while in france!


We later walked towards an indoor market hall.. not too sure of the name.. i think its called Marche Couvert.. this market was built in 1865 but was recently renovated.. and its known for its great and varied selection of Alsatian food (Bakery, Cheese, Poultry, Fish, Butcher, Confectioner, Fruits and Veggies etc etc) as well as Vietnamese and Indian food. As it is Christmas they are also selling Christmas decoration together with their produce... 


My little Sonia is a great story teller.. she wud pretend as tho she knows how to read well and will tell a story behind every single thing that she sees.. gv her a book and she will read to u - in her own words of cos -


Staple food where ever we go... it fills our tummy whenever we travel... be it in Asia or Europe.. this is what u call.. on survival mode :oPP


Sonia with her gingerbread man hehe


This indoor market reminded me of Central Market in Adelaide.. in a small scale of cos hehehe.. a market without all sorts of veggies is a no no


A market without seafood is not a market lol... looking at those mussels.. it reminded me of the mussels we had while in France early this year .. ty to the Bachmans hehe


Morning coffee is a must.. if u wanna hv ur coffee fix u can go to this little espresso place to your left as soon as you enter the indoor market.. it has an ok cup of espresso to sit and drink or "to go" - Italians make better coffee though! hehe


Sonia being my mommy.. she said "one sugar is enough mama!" hahaha


A picturesque street in Colmar along the river Lauch....


Eh eh.. what is so funny Rima.. u shud hv just gv that sweet smile when taking pics.. at least that will cover up ur double chin muahahaha


Bonjour ...


Aduhhh another not that good shot of me .. why ohhhh whyyyy hahaha - pic on the right is my all time fav too...


We later ended up in another picturesque area of Colmar along the river Lauch..


The other side of the River Lauch.. see those berries... i wonder if u can eat them.. hmmm

They dont call it little Venice for no reason ey


Kinder market as what i wud call it... this is one of the 5 Christmas markets there at La Petite Venise


Sonia being a little difficult.. the moment she saw the horsey ride.. she wanted to go on it.. ishhh and papa can be a little impatient at times handling Sonia.. i will.. time and again remind hubs that we shud count our blessings cos Allah has given us such a precious little girl..


Live rabbits... live sheep..


The main attraction here is of cos the kiddy rides and this is it.. horsey ride that my little Sonia goes crazy on.. u shud see the excitement on her face.. she calls it.. wiggle wiggle ride lol


Getting ready... i think she must hv ridden on it 5 times


Foamy snow hehe


This is how she is... her expression... priceless!
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About Me

My photo
Hi.. I am a SAHM to 2 kiddoes..19yr old boy n 2 year old girl.. met my Austrian hubby here in Singapore and hv been living here all my life... my love for baking started when i was 6mths preggie to my daughter, Sonia... my addiction to baking has not stop eversince.. I hope to learn as much as i can abt baking and decorating and then share it with u along the way..