Happy 2010

Another year is going to be over soon! I couldn't believe that time actually flies that fast. 2010 seemed so faraway when I was in University but now even our Wawasan 2020 feels so near... *scary*. :)

Few days ago it was raining at night, and EG was standing at the car porch, crossing his arms, watching the rain. I asked him what he's doing and he said it's comfortable to watch the rain & enjoy the breeze. And it just remind me of my dad. He's behaving exactly like an old uncle reminiscing his old times. Even he himself thought the same!

OK joke aside.

2009 has been a real busy year for me, but it was a good year. EG always says I'm a very simple and easily satisfied (and very low maintenance too) wifey and I thought there's nothing wrong with that. I just tend to thank God for everything that happens in our lives, looking at the brighter side and make ourselves feeling more contented & happier. Being happy is the most important thing in life - at least that's for me.

I read through my thanksgiving blog entries for the past few years and I never fail to thank God for His wonderful plans for me and EG all these while. I'm just very thankful that we're blessed with our smooth sailing life and with many things that we wanted in our lives. Anyway, the most important thing for us is to have each other side by side, and together with God, we have no fear to face any challenge in life. :)

God placed Jeremiah 29:11 in my heart this year and I truly believe that He has been blessing us MUCH with great plans this year. And for the coming year, the verse that I have in my heart is Matthew 7:7-8 - Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

I'm getting old so I'm not going to brag what my achievements are for 2009 and what's my new plan next year but 2010 definitely marks a NEW YEAR for both me and EG, and I'm sure we're going to enjoy it to the fullest together like many previous years that we have been.

Finally, HAPPY NEW YEAR to all my friends! And may all of you stay happy & healthy all the time! =)

Happy Birthday to Me =)

EG asked me how I'd want to celebrate my birthday this year. And as usual, I told him no need. =)

My mum used to cook some nice food on each of our birthday - like our favorite fried chicken wings, or fried golden boiled eggs. And when my dad saw it, he'll ask why the special food and normally make this funny comment:"Everyone also has birthday, so what so special about yours?" :P... I thought it's quite funny.

This year, I told EG I wanted a quiet birthday. Just two of us - as usual. We again went to Blue Reef for a nice dinner, ordering the same food :P. And before we went back Taiping for the long weekend, we got two small slices of cakes from Secret Recipe. EG sang me a birthday song, gave me a kiss on the cheek (and gave another kiss on my tummy :P). Then we had the cakes while watching the Lord of the Rings in TV8 (with no ending =.=).

My 1st birthday cakes

EG asked his parents to order my favorite pandan layer cake. But I insisted that there's no birthday song or cake cutting ceremony.. I shy... :).. So i just cut the cake and whacked half of it... Yummy! :)

My 2nd birthday cake

This is my last birthday with starting with number 2. I don't feel anything special, but just feel that time really flies. And as usual, I just feel happy and contented with my life. For me, that's the most important thing of all. :)

Happy Birthday, Penguin~!

Healthy Carrot Cake

My interest for baking suddenly increased during the last few months when I found that baking is actually not hard - provided you get the amount of the ingredients right! All you need to do is mainly mixing everything and bake them. The only hard thing is the washing part... argghh....

I tried to do this cake last month using the baking instead of the steam method, and it turned out not bad! I didn't blog about it as the steps are very simple and you can just follow the steps in the website. Anyway, the successful attempt definitely gave me a strong motivation to try baking again using my oh-so-lovely oven!

My mum taught me a healthy carrot cake recipe when I went back to Miri during CNY early this year. I thought since my sister who NEVER cooks can also make it successfully by her own, it shouldn't be too hard for me.. :P

Below is my mum's recipe (don't know where she got it from):

Ingredients:

Wholemeal mix flour - 200gm

Baking powder - 2 teaspoon

Bicarbonate of soda - 2 teaspoon

Brown sugar - 120gm (we reduced to 80gm as we don't like it to be too sweet)

Eggs - 2 nos

Natural Oil - 10 tablespoon

Carrot - 250gm - 300gm

Orange - 1/2 no

Raisins - 80g (optional)

Steps:
1. Beat brown sugar, oil, eggs together with a wooden spoon.

2. Add wholemeal flour + baking powder + bicarbonate soda (sieved), carrot (grated - this is the hard one), raisin. Stir evenly.

3. Bake at 170 degrees for 50 minutes. If the top of the cake is too wet after 50 minutes, bake at 120 degrees / 130 degrees using top fire.

4. After baking, poke the cake with "satay stick" and pour 1/2 no of orange (extract its juice) mix with 1 teaspoon of brown sugar.

Done! Easy right? And it's healthy too!

I tried it tonight. And I made it really healthy by using organic wholemeal flour (actually it's because I can't find the normal wholemeal mix flour :P), and organic raisins (which my mum bought for me but I didn't really like to eat). It didn't turn out as nice as my mum's. I used organic wholemeal flour and I think that's why it's more dry than my mum's. Hers is more moist. But anyway, it's edible. I shall try it again next time to improve it! =)

Note that I doubled the portion to yield the cake of the below size.

My first attempt of healthy carrot cake

The Hungry Hog

Previously I wrote an entry to promote The Hungry Hog 6 months ago. And now, our dear friend aka the boss has decided to extend his business to 7 days a week! And he also added another item into his Menu aka Homemade Sausages....


Check out the website for more details.

And if you wish to know more about the porkie, or the leng cai boss, you can also check out @ thestartonline.tv. He's kind enough to share the recipe on the yummy roasted pork belly...! And remember to listen to the crispy skin sound when he cut the roasted pork in the end... oh it sound heavenly! =)... And you'll know that you're definitely paying for great stuff! =)

Argh... Too bad he still doesn't send it to Penang... Lucky for those in KL!

Enjoy! =)