Baking Marathon

It began on Thursday evening, right through to the most of yesterday and this morning... I have been baking. I have offered to bake cakes to raise funds for church to install air-conditioners. Cake sales is only one of the initiative. There were lunch boxes and chocolates over the past 2 months too... all in the hope to raise more than $5k for reverse air-conditioners to cool us down in summer and warm us up in winter.

3 types of cakes are offered for sale: cranberry coconut, orange poppy seed and banana chocolate. In total, we are baking 37 loaf sizes (19x11cm), 6 24cm diameter round cakes and 36 cupcakes. Thankfully my sister-in-law offered to help me and she is baking the banana chocolate cakes.

Tuesday
Went shopping at 3 supermarkets, in a bid to get the best at the cheapest prices so that I can keep my cost low. Did most of shopping at Woolies in the morning before work. After work, went to Coles and Aldi to get those that I did not manage to get from Woolies.

Most of my purchases

Thursday
Hubby went for 300 men for Jesus event after dinner. After watching a movie, I began to rind and juiced 16 navel oranges (got 3kg bag for sale of $2!) and sieved 2kg worth of self-raising flour and 1 kg worth of plain flour in preparation for the big day.

Part of the 16 oranges that I rinded and juiced

Friday
11am - 4pm: In this 5-hour marathon, I baked 1 round, 13 loaves and 12 cupcakes of cranberry coconut cakes and also iced 4 of the loaves, and 10 loaves and 12 cupcakes of orange poppy seed cake. I had to stop because I ran out of butter. I underestimated the amount that I require. So hubby had to buy them for me after work. In between the cakes, I had some time to do check email, surf around facebook and bring in the bin.

A total of 4.5kg of butter was used

8.30pm - 1am Sat: Hubby bought another 3kg worth of butter. After dinner and watching "Better Homes & Gardens", I baked again. This time, with a bit of hubby's assistance. However because of the wait of the only round baking tin that I have, much time was delayed and also, the larger round tin takes longer to bake in the oven compared to the smaller ones. Was glad that I finished baking all the cakes. I managed ice some cakes in between the pocket time.

Took a shower and really felt tired from the day's baking. My right arm is aching from all the folding, stirring, holding the electric beater, washing dishes and cleaning tables. It affected my back too... aching...

Saturday (today)
9.30am-11.30am: Woke up with arm and back ache... thankfully managed to complete icing all the cakes are they are good to go for tomorrow!

Cranberry coconut cake - iced and un-iced version; loaf and cupcake sizes.

Orange poppy seed cake - loaf and cupcake sizes

Boy, it has been very tiring... but very fulfilling. Thinking back, my interest for baking began 9 years ago. I baked to raise funds for my mission trip 8 years ago too. Then I baked in small proportions about 2-3 times a week because orders come in every now and then. The difference is that the cakes I baked then were simplier ones - butter, chocolate, banana, walnut, almond, cherry, marble cake. This time, the cakes are a bit more complicated and have icing or butter cream on them.

Most of the loaves, before they were packed and stored away

Tired but trying to be cheery. In the foreground, orange poppy seed cake mix ready to be folded

Postscript on Sunday 31 August: Although the cakes didn't get all sold out, I was still happy to have support of many. All praise to God! :)

Alpaca Pink Vest

Took about 3 weeks' time in total to complete this vest. When I first saw the yarn at Kmart, I fell in love with it. The yarn was soft and comfortable. It is made of 15% alpaca which is enough to keep me warm but not too warm to wear in spring or autumn.

However I don't quite like the knitting pattern of this vest. The end product is meant to look like it has cap sleeves. But I wanted a sleeveless vest for me to wear over a t-shirt or shirt. So I adapted the pattern from the original and the pattern of the vest that I knitted for hubby 2 years ago. The result? A vest that I am pleased with :)

How To.....????

2 "How to...??" websites that I discovered that are very informative and useful. Now you can get your questions answered!

1. Food how-tos

2. Food and other how-tos (almost anything under the sun)

Enjoy the learning process and share what you learn! :)

Walking Her Home

Mark Schultz sang the song with the title above and I have been hearing it on the radio. This is 'the song' of one of our couple friends who were recently engaged. I thought I'll look up the lyrics on google and this is what I found:

Looking back, he sees it all

It was her first date the night he came to call

Her dad said son, have her home on time

And promise me you’ll never leave her side

He took her to a show in town

And he was ten feet off the ground

(Chorus) He was walking her home

And holding her hand

Oh the way she smiled it stole the breath right out of him

Down that old road with the stars up above

He remembers where he was the night he fell in love

He was walking her home

Ten more years and a waiting room at half past one

And the doctor said come in and meet your son

His knees went weak when he saw his wife

She was smiling as she said he’s got your eyes

And as she slept he held her tight

His mind went back to that first night

He walked her through the best days of her life

Sixty years together and he never left her side

A nursing home, at eighty-five

And the doctor said it could be her last night

And the nurse said

Oh Should we tell him now or should he wait until the morning to find out

But when they checked her room that night

He was laying by her side

Oh he was walking her home and holding her hand

Oh the way she smiled when he said this is not the end

And just for a while they were eighteen

And she was still more beautiful to him than anything

He was walking her home

He was walking her home

Looking back, he sees it all

It was her first date the night he came to call

Lovely lyrics and rather moving, isn't it? There was another love song which made me teared. I will go look up the lyrics of the song....

Christian Star Grieves Daughter's Death

I'm not sure if this is old news. I just saw the link and I thought I will go watch the video interview of Steven Curtis Chapman, whose teenage son accidentally ran his 5-year-old sister on their driveway.

I thought it was encouraging to see how the family grieve over the death of their adopted daughter/sister and also forgive and continue to live on with hope. Steven and his wife has 3 children of their own and they also adopted 3 other girls from China.

Because of God's grace, we can forgive those who wrong us, for God also forgives us of whatever wrong that we done against Him. And because of the hope we have in Jesus Christ, we can continue to live on on earth until we see Him (and our loved ones) in heaven, where there will be no more death, pain, grief and suffering.

Watch the video

A Glimpse of Spring

It was some time when I last blogged about my garden. I thought I will do an update. Since the last time, my roma tomato plant died a natural death. My plant with small chillies also shed all its leaves (hopefully it is only a winter thing!) while my other chilli plants continue to bear chillies.

I was watering the garden and doing some pruning and weeding today, and I found out that my sweet potato plant had reproduced! Unfortunately I had already taken the new potato (root) out of the ground because I was cutting off some yellow-leaved parts. Anyhow I shall cook this up and taste to see if it is sweet :)

My little new sweet potato

Meanwhile I noticed that some other flowers are blooming. I suppose I should not be surprised since spring is arriving in about 2 weeks' time. Seeing the blooming flowers got me excited once more (especially since my garden does not seem to be producing much because of deficient sunlight).

Flowers of some succulent plant

A flower plant - pertuna.
This plant (under my clothes line) is growing better than those at other spots

Yellow flowers from my tomato plant. This (hopefully) will become a tomato :)

At the same time, these are the better growing plants that I have at the moment:

Rocket leaves (vegetables), aka arugula


Spring onions (the chinese type)

Flat leaf parsley. I have some curley ones too.

I think I have more to learn about gardening and will continue to experiment what grows and what not grow in my garden :)

More Anchovies

Last month, I made some ikan bilis (fried anchovies and peanuts). Last week, I attempted it again. This time, I used peanuts with skin and added a bit more seasoning. I have also made a batch, 3x more than the previous and gave some to my SIL and PIL.

As usual, what you do is dry fry the peanuts and anchovies separately until they are nicely toasted and crispy. You can choose to put in some oil. For me, I used canola spray oil. Combine both the peanuts and anchovies in the wok and mix well. Add sugar and sweet chilli sauce and stir and cook, until it becomes sticky and the sugar has caramelised. Add enough sugar and sweet chilli to your taste.

It seems like this is a much more popular version than the dry fried ones. Everyone in my family loves it! Yum!

Hubby's Birthday

Hubby turns 3x today! He does not like to make a big fuss about birthdays and especially his own. He reckons it is just another day... except to be thankful for the life that God has given him and be thankful that he has the best gift of all - salvation and eternal life through Jesus Christ.

A few other things to enjoy on and during your birthday, is to have birthday privileges and discounts :p Baskin Robbins Aust has a birthday club that anyone can join and sign up. Near your birthday, they will email you a coupon to print out and you can go to your nearest store to claim your free 70g scoop of any ice cream flavour. Hubby is not a big fan of ice cream. I signed him up nevertheless, so that he can give his wife (who loves ice cream even in this cold winter) a treat (at no extra cost). Being a member of this club, one can sign up your family (and I think friends too), so that you will be emailed a coupon on their birthdays. You can then give it to them and/share it with them ;p

You can also join a currently ongoing contest on a Christian family radio station 96five and see if you or your family/friend will be lucky enough to be picked to win a free birthday cake, courtesy of Toowong Fresh Patisserie. I signed up both hubby and my father-in-law (whose birthday was 2 days ago)... This morning at about 7.10am, hubby and I were woken up suddenly from his ringing mobile phone. The radio station rang him up and told him that he won the birthday cake! 1-2 minutes later, the short interview of "what are you doing for your birthday?" and "what did you get for your birthday?" of hubby was played on the radio station (anyone heard it??)

Toowong French Patisserie's shop front is big, not your typical cake shop

The carrot cake that I chose (hubby is not a fan of chocolate, coffee and liquer)

The night was spent with me and my in-laws (since we usually go over for dinner on Wednesdays). Thank God for the gift of this birthday cake for us to enjoy :)

It was a day loaded with sugar. Hubby's colleagues also celebrated for him with a marble mud cake from The Cheesecake Shop (one of my favourites)

My SIL, W made a cake (mixed berries with butter icing) last week. It was a hit with the family!

The same mixed berries cake but with a different decor. This was the original recipe and decor, made by W for R and G's birthdays last month

After so many sweet cakes, I am baking a savoury quiche for hubby's little surprise gathering with a few closer friends this Friday. The next 2 birthdays in this W family won't be until November. I wonder what cake will be next? :p

Chee Cheong Fun (Rolled Noodles)

CCF is one of my childhood food. Eating it reminds me of how my mum would go to the market near our place on weekends and she would buy me that for my breaky. It used to cost 50c to 70c, depending on the portion that you want. The 50c portion is good enough for me.

In Brissy, I have only eaten CCF (aka cheong fun, as the Cantonese know it) at yum cha places. Although I like cheong fun with fillings like 油条 yu tiao (fried dough fritters) or char sui (bbq roast pork) or prawns, I also miss the simplier ones with the black sweet sauce (not the red ones). I was told that I can find CCF at my local Asian grocery store (Yuen's)... I did not see it until last week!

1kg worth of chee cheong fun

After a search on google "how to make chee cheong fun sauce", the most authentic recipe that I found was this:

Chee Cheong Fun sweet sauce (from Waitakere Redneck's Kitchen)
1/2 cup water
7 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
3tbsp light soy sauce

Mix everything in a saucepan. Stir the mixture and cook it in medium heat. Because mine did not really thicken, I added a bit of cornflour to thicken it.

To serve: pour the sauce lavishly onto the warmed CCF (steam or microwave it), drizzle over some sesame oil and sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on top and you are good to go!

The end product which I really really enjoyed :)

3rd (& 1st) Year Anniversary

Today marks the 3rd year of this blog. I have been blogging for 3 years. Last year, I shared how blogging has changed my life. Now I am keeping the blog and blogging for similiar reasons: a platform to update folks back in Singapore and to keep myself accountable. I can also think of another reason, that is, to share (good) things/news/recipes with people.

In the past year, I have blogged mostly about my life in Brisbane. I still am doing that, especially sharing about my homemaking days. Speaking of which, this also marks my 1 year anniversary to moving to Brisbane.

It is amazing how people move around the globe and years later, you still meet them in another part of the world. The only 2 persons who are my friends (and not originally hubby's) are 2 of my secondary school friends - Y and L. Y used to be my really close good girlfriend from secondary school to junior college days. We parted when she came Brisbane for uni and she stayed here ever since. God has put Y in my life really for good reasons, even though she is not a believer (yet?). I don't know if Y is in God's will to be one. But I know that being here in the same city with her again, gives me that opportunity again. It is hard though, because it seems that after so many years, she cannot really understand God. Sometimes I think that perhaps I have not been a good Christian testimony to her all these years. But really, I don't have that 'power'. Only God can change people. I have to persevere and try and pray for Y.

As for L, I thought she was a Christian... perhaps not. It probably is God's divine arrangement that L and I now live very close to each other. We are just one suburb away about less than 5 mins' drive. We did not live close to each other in Singapore. Anyhow because of that and L's love for basketball (she used to play for school), she and her friend now joins me and hubby to watch Wasabi play on Sundays, somewhere near our homes. On top of that, they are also joining us to play badminton with our (Christian) friends as part of playing sports. Prayerfully, hubby and I can form good friendships with L and her friend through all these interactions and be able to, one day, share the the good news with them.

I have been thinking about it... maybe those reasons are why I am in Australia :) Nevertheless, I am still a Christian, whether in Singapore or Australia, and therefore called to be His disciple to share His word with people around me.