choc-life: January 2014

Gabriel is 3

Gabriel is 3 and this year we only invited closed friends and relatives (Am happy all of them took time to come and a great thanks to them)

Although its a smaller scale party, somehow I put in more effort and time into some simple DIY and on decorations etc

We also managed to get a jake pirate cake for Gabriel and sneak in a ninja turtle jelly cake!!

Food wise we got it from our usual Meihao 99 , this round we took up mini buffet as we only had appx 20pax

Balloons wise we DIY some latex balloons and for Mylar, I went to The Central to get the jake and the pirate balloons and and grateful to the staff at the party stuff for going extra miles to help transfer the jake pirate balloons which was oos at their branch! Thumbs up and here is there online website http://www.thepartystuff.com.sg

Managed to complete the birthday banner,

pirate hat, customized wrapper for kit kat,

Customized food label and am feeling good!

Oh ya! This year we also get a helium tank from

Spotlight and inflate the balloons ourselves (I guess

I prefer to have delivery of balloons)

Thanks to all for the presents and red packet!!

Thanks to all for attending :)

Twin cities!

Gabriel always called it "twin teddies"

A robot from real steel world which both kids love to play from iPad apps

Exercise after donkey years

Been putting off exercising since ages and not easy to kick start again as I always relied on meal replacement and supplements

But guess its time to start on exercising to have a healthier lifestyle and of coz a better number in the weighing scale!!!!

Started on 20-jan-14, I ran 3KM(10 rounds of 300M), 4 days a week

Then just on Monday 27-jan, ran appx 2.2 Km

加油加油!!!

Here comes the 2nd jog of this week!

28-Jan-2014

Gabriel grown up liao!!!

He seems to be like a baby before going to Pre-nursery

Cries for 3 weeks and on 21-Jan-14, Tuesday, our helper SMS me to inform that Gabriel is not crying finally.....

Thereafter we started to notice changes here and there .... From being able to sing parts of national anthem, to more songs and also at times, sit down calmly like an adult.......

Then on his actual day birthday , where we bring the kids to Go go bambini, he told me not to follow him around the playground.... To "get off and don't follow didi" and told me 我长大了.......

But he keep following his role model Raphael kor kor around in the playground

Wow!!! So turning 3 can actually change a kids mentality wor!

Labels: Gabriel

两个爸爸

This is one of the funny drama series i am watching now and it is actually one of the longer running series (73 episodes!!!)

I find the little girl sweet looking!!!!

2014 Special Ang Bao!!

This is one of the most unique red packet I had ever seen till date and its soooo cool!!!

I like the $1000 notes and got more packets!!

Eggless Almond Cookie

Serves : 30

Ingredients

All purpose Flour 1 cup
Butter, 1 cup
Icing sugar 1/2 cup
Corn flour 1/4 cup
Almonds Powder 1 tablespoon
Vanilla Essence, 1 teaspoon

Method

Cream butter and icing sugar till light and fluffy
Add vanilla essence
sift flour and corn flour together
Add almond powder to the flour mixture
mix butter mixture and flour till form a dough
wrap the dough and refrigerate for at least an hour
make small balls
bake in 180 degree for at least 18mins

Labels: Baking

Tie Dyed Cupcakes

Tie-Dyed Cupcakes
adapted from Bon Appetit Desserts
Yields: about 12 cupcakes

1 1/3 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup skim milk
3 large egg whites, at room temp
2 tablespoons light sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
food coloring in various colors; I used blue, yellow, green, red, and purple

Preheat the oven to 350F; line 12 regular muffin cups with liners, set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a (slightly large) measuring cup, mix together milk, egg whites, sour cream, and vanilla, whisking until completely incorporated.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, 8-10 minutes. Add in the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the sour cream mixture, starting and ending with the flour, and beating on low in-between additions.
Divide batter into several small bowls, as many as the colors you want to do. I did 5 colors, so I divided the batter equally into 5 containers! Add in food coloring to the divided batter until you reach the desired coloring. Drop batter by spoonfuls into the prepared muffin pan, layering colors. If desired, swirl using a toothpick. Don't swirl too much, or the colors will mix together!
Bake cupcakes for about 20 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely, then top with some powdered sugar (or white frosting) and enjoy!