Snax Box #074 Hello Kitty Mooncake

Another mooncake for snack box this week :P

After I have failed with my marie mooncake, I did another round of "ping pei" hello kitty mooncake.  I prefer this as compared to my marie shaped mooncake because this one use natural flavour.  I used the cherries to get the pink colour.  So today I packed a small piece of mooncake, biscuits and froot loops for lil prince snack box. Hmmm....this snack box is a lil too girlish for a boy, right? hehehehe...I hope the girls in his class won't laugh at him today ^__^.

Lately I am also training my lil prince to eat kiwi.  I bought both the yellow and green kiwi for him and gave him a few slices.  I like kiwi fruits because they are rich in vitamin C.  I am keeping my fingers cross to have an empty snack box back today ^__^.

Looking forward for my 'tang lung' session this weekend.  Wishing all of you Happy Mid-Autumn Festival.

Homemade Hello Kitty Ping Pei Mooncake (2nd Trial)

Last year I tried making my own ping pei mooncake but it didn't turn out nice.  This year I gave it another try again.  As usual, lazy mummy like me prefer to do everything cepat-cepat (fast), so I bought the ready made snow skin premix and the lotus paste.  Nowadays, you can get this snow skin premix from any bakery shop.

This year instead of getting the red bean lotus paste, I opt for tiramisu lotus paste as I wanted to try something different.  For this recipe, I just need to add water, shortening, colouring.  I didn't want to use any artificial colouring this round, and since I only have red cherries in my fridge, I chopped them into pieces and mix together with the dough to get the 'pink' colour.  You can still see some tiny bits of cherries in my dough. 

The instructions were written on the pack.  First - pour the mixture into a bowl, add in water, stir and add shortening.  After adding the shortening, I added my red cherries and knead the dough.  Let it rest for 15 minutes to 50 minutes.

While waiting for the dough, I took the tiramisu paste and make them into small round balls.  After 20 minutes, I rolled the dough into small balls.  Next, flatten the skin, put the paste in the middle and wrapped around it.  Lastly I put them in my hello kitty cookie cutter and here comes my hello kitty ping pei moon cake :P

I think my mooncake was a bit thick, I still need lots of practice on how to wrapped the filling inside as I found it so difficult to wrapped it and also to make the shape of the hello kitty look nice.  I felt that my snow skin is not smooth.  Still haven't figured out why....hmmmmm.....Well, next year I guess I should go for mooncake making class!

Overall, I do enjoy the experience of making my own mooncakes ^__^.   Here are some of the hello kitty snow skin mooncake and also some traditional ones :P.

This is how it looks like with tiramisu lotus paste.  Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Snax Box # 073 Marie Mooncake

I guess this week theme will be on mooncakes since the Mid-Autumn festival is this weekend (I hope I got the date right).  This year I tried making my 'ping pei' mooncake again (will blog about it in my next post).  I was a bit reluctant to post this photo coz my mooncake didn't really turn out nice but my lil prince was there to support me, he told me 'mummy I want to take this to school'.  Awww...isn't that sweet?  Just when mummy was a bit disappointed after the mooncake failure, here comes the sweet words from my lil one. 

I used my marie cookie cutter to make the shape of the mooncake.  On the right was a hello kitty mooncake jelly that I made last week.  The other side dishes in the snack box are biscuits, strawberries and cherry tomatoes.

2nd Craft Session for De Lil Ones

Back-dated post.....
I was supposed to blog this earlier but I forgotten to download the photos.  Hence, the 3rd one came in before the 2nd one :P.

I had my 2nd craft session with the kids in early September 2012.  This time I gave them a piece of paper with a bear holding heart-shaped balloons.

Their task was to paste the 'hearts' inside the balloons and colour the picture.  I punched two different colours of hearts for them to paste and I've also outline the hearts balloons so that they look nicer :P.  I punched the "hearts" for a few days as I didn't expect that it will be so hard to use the puncher that I had.  I even had blisters on my fingers while punching it!  Need to get myself a better puncher next time.

This activity was much easier and the kids get to complete them quite fast.  At the end of the session, I reminded the kids to go home and tell their daddy and mummy ---> I Love You!

This is the lesson of the day--> L-O-V-E!  

One of my favourite bible verse :

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

New International Version (NIV)

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
⁸ Love never fails. 

Have a nice week ahead!

Merryn’s Eggless Nutty Chocolate Brownie Recipe

After reading about Merryn’s Eggless Nutty Chocolate Brownie Recipe, I was so tempted to give it a try because it sounds so easy! No baking was required and I can even ask my lil prince to be my assistance.

Here are the ingredients (recipe from Merryn’s blog)

22 Marie Biscuits
20gm cocoa powder
40gm roasted nuts
200gm condensed milk

I bought the tiger marie biscuits, cocoa powder, condensed milk and for roasted nuts, I also use cashew nuts and almond nuts as these are my favorites!

The instructions are pretty easy to follow too.  I placed the marie biscuits in my zip lock bag so that it’s easier for  me to break them into pieces.  I gave the bag to my lil prince to break the marie biscuits into crumbs while I chopped the nuts.  Boy!  He had fun breaking those pieces of biscuits and he almost broke my zip lock bag!   

 

Next we added the cocoa powder, nuts and lastly the condensed milk.    Simple right?  Just mixed everything together and pour into your baking tray.  Let it chill for at least 4 hours in the fridge or overnight.  I pour the mixture into my star shaped silicon molds and the left over I put them in a round plate. 

Here’s my star shaped chocolate brownies.

I cut the remaining chocolate brownies into heart shaped using my cookie cutter and packed them for lil prince snack box yesterday.

My lil prince absolutely loves this chocolate brownies and kept asking for me for more.  I will definitely make this again as it is really simple and the kids love it!  As for the process of making the brownies, I personally enjoyed the mother & son bonding time together in the kitchen.  I was so surprise that my lil prince was so eager to help me out in the kitchen right till the very end and even offer to wash the plates for me. 

You may hop over to Merryn's blog for step-by-step instructions on this recipe.  Thank you Merryn for sharing this lovely recipe!

 Last assignment for the day was to wash the utensils :P

Snax Box # 072 Heart Shape Chocolate Brownie

My lil prince and I made some chocolate brownies yesterday and I cut it into heart shape for his snack box today.  I followed the recipe from Merryn's blog.  It was an extremely easy-to-make brownie.  Thanks, Merryn for sharing the recipe and the step by step photos.  Hope to blog about my chocolate brownie experience in my next post.

I have added some 'sugar hearts' on my brownies and as usual gave some side dishes such as cherry tomatoes and strawberries in his snack box.  I also packed some froot loops and a few organic cheese rings.  Lastly, a small 'mushroom' marshmallow as dessert :P.

Have a nice weekend!

Snax Box # 071 Happy Butterflies

It's the first day of the week but no Monday blues as we look forward for this week, there's only four working days :P.  Hope everyone had a good time during the long weekend.  Three days is not really very long but for working mums, we always treasure our days off where we can spend time with our family and kids.

I didn't know what to pack for my lil boy today and I bought a pack of the twiggies waffle cake at the sundry shop yesterday.  I cut the waffle cake into half and I only pack half for lil prince as I don't think he can finish the whole waffle.  To make my snack box more attractive, I added some cheese 'butterflies' with a happy smile.  The two lil so called dimple (in red) are tomato sauce.  I gave a tiny drop on the cheek to make the butterflies 'blush'...hehehehe...

The other two side dishes are peach and cherry tomatoes (one yellow and one red).  Not forgetting his favourite biscuits.

I bought this 'biskut ais jem' from Giant and they brought back my childhood memories.  I remember we ate this a lot when I was young.  We will always choose our favourite colours to eat.  Now, it has become my lil prince favourite biscuits.

Have a great week ahead.

Lil Craft Session 3 - Twinkle Twinkle Lil Stars

Ooopss!  I've just realized that I've forgotten to blog about my second craft experience.  This was the third session that I had with the kids at the playground.  Aiya...hopefully I will have time to pen down the 2nd session as a momento for myself.

This week craft was twinkle twinkle lil stars.  I cut out the happy star shape face and let the kids do the pasting.  I prepared two different blue cut outs (dark and light blue).  Upon completion, I attached a straw to it.

I can only do simple craft due to limited resources and also limited time and space.  Frankly speaking, I really enjoy having these sessions with the kids.  I enjoyed seeing them having the interest to do my extremely simple craft.  I was amazed to see how the kids also had patience to sit down and paste the tiny lil blue dots (one by one) on the stars.   On the other hand, I am also training the younger ones their motor skills too.  For every session that I conducted so far, every one of them will definately complete their craft at the end of the session although some might take longer time.  The elder kids will be able to finished their task sooner as compared to the younger ones.  For late comers, sometimes, the kids even requested to bring home and continued their craft at home.

At the end of the session, we took photos and my lil prince asked, Mummy can we sing a song?  Of course, when they see the stars, it reminds them about Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars!  Hence, besides the craft session, there is also a sing-a-long session!

This is one of the lil boy master piece!

The whole experience was indeed awesome.  I absolutely adores the smiles on the children faces.  Sometimes I wonder if I am into the wrong profession.  I should be teaching in a kindy instead of office work. But then, I never doubt God's plans for me:)

Have a nice weekend.  This week we get three days off...yipeeee!!!

My Experience : Jelly Mooncakes

I like to eat agar-agar, jellies and anything soft and sweet. As the Mid-Autumn festival is just round the corner, I saw a lot of mooncakes on sale.  Recently I saw a stall selling jelly mooncakes and I remember eating this jelly mooncakes when I was young and I really love them.  I was surprised that nowadays, they are selling at RM 8.00 per piece!  I was really shocked with the price.  

Last weekend, I tried to make my own jelly mooncakes.  I did make them last year but didn't turn out nice.  This year, I thought I wanna give it a try again.  Hmmm....outcome...not really successful in terms of taste but presentation wise, they do look like jelly mooncake ^__^.  

Got the looks but not the taste.....

I need to search for step by step recipe for jelly mooncake for improvement.  Nonetheless, my lil prince did give me a lot of support because he finished these two stars jelly mooncakes!  Mummies out there if you have any step-by-step recipe do let me know,ya! 

Snax Box #070 Angry Bird Fish Cake

Look what I have discovered!  Angry Bird Fish Cake!  It really caught me by surprise when I first saw this.  I was so delighted and it's like I've found a treasure in the treasure island!  It is so interesting to see how they have turn this into food.  I've also notice that some steamboat restaurant do have this fish cake in their menu.

I think they are really adorable!  I bought two packets, one red and one yellow.  The yellow birds has smoked cheese flavour and the red one just taste like the normal fish cake (like those stars, teddy bears and nemo fish cake).

I packed four pieces of the AB fish cake for lil prince today.  I also added some green peas and strawberries.  Since I have limited space left, I gave him some froot loops instead of biscuits.  These angry bird fish cake do make my snack box look more colourful ^__^.

Although my lil prince is a fan of Angry Bird, he is not so into playing the game nowadays because we don't have an iPAD.  Only once in a blue moon he get to play on my hp.  Well, I guess not having an iPAD is also an advantage :P.

Snax Box # 069 I Love U

The kids slept quite late last night.  They only dozed off at 10.30pm, and by that time, mummy eyes was also going to close.  As usual, Monday blues.....  Hence, I just made a simple snack box for lil prince.  We bought some cakes from pasar malam and I only added some cheese and heart sprinkles on top to make it look more attractive.  Something simple to tell my lil prince that Mummy Loves You!

I also tried to cut my strawberries into heart shape to go with the theme :P.

It looks a  bit plain to me.  Mummy didn't put on her thinking cap today coz there are so many things on my mind.  How I wish we have more than 24 hours per day!  So many things to do and yet time is so limited.

Butterflies and Flowers for Breakfast

I am currently in the process of training my lil prince and princess to eat more GREENS :P and also introducing some new fruits to him.  I always wonder why kids just don't eat anything that is green in colour? Is it because of the taste or because of the colour? 

Last Sunday, I make a simple breakfast for my lil ones. 

For lil prince
I boiled some broccoli, decorated with some crab meat on top as flowers.  I also make a small portion of mix vegetables that consists of carrots, green peas and corns in a small food cup.  Instead of having veges only, I added some ham and also eggs (the butterflies are made out of ham and egg).  The yellow spots on the butterflies are cheese sauce.

I make another attempt to get my lil prince to eat yellow kiwi.  He rejected it the first time.   This time I cut the kiwi fruit into flower shape.  The top flowers shape are kiwi fruits and strawberries.  I also get to use two of my food pick for my cherry tomatoes ^__^.

Outcome....successful!!!  My lil prince ate everything on the plate and left only one cherry tomato.  He also ate the yellow kiwi fruit!  To me, it is really an improvement.  It is a good start and also it gives me motivation to continue my GREEN project with my lil ones!

For lil princess

I also made a small bowl for my princess but too bad, she only eat the cheese and the mix vegetables.  She didn't know how to bite the broccoli.  I need to make it softer the next round.  Anyway, no harm in trying because there's always the first time.  Lesson learn today, don't give up.  Just keep trying...one day, we will succeed!

I'm starting my GREEN journey....:P

Swimming Pool @ The Gurney Hotel

We love the swimming pool at Gurney Hotel.  It was really big enough for the kids.  We prefer hotels with swimming pools so that the kids can have some outdoor activities besides staying in the hotel.  So far, among all our local destination visit, the best swimming pool or pool area was Hard Rock Hotel, second place goes to Gold Coast Morib and I would rate this as third best for us!

There are two slides at the kids pool for the kids to slide down.  One on the right and the other on the left.

At the kids pool too, they have a few  'mushrooms' with waters flowing down.  My lil prince loves to go inside the mushroom while lil princess was soooo afraid of the mushroom and won't even go near it!

While waiting for the time to check into the hotel (we arrived earlier than expected), we immediately changed into our swimming outfit and hop into the pool.  This shows how excited the kids were when they saw the pool (although it was lil prince second visit).  Hubby stayed dry to look after our belongings.  We were lucky that the weather was kind to us.  We didn't suffer any sun burn, eventhough we were swimming at 2.00pm in the afternoon!

There was also an adult pool at the other side where I didn't go into coz it looks pretty deep. 

Just in front of the swimming pool, it's a sandy beach (that what I called it) for the kids to have fun in the sand.  We only had one session of sand play as the kids are more interested to dip themselves in the pool.

For those who loves to work out at the gym, there is also a small gym area in front of the swimming pool.

There is a TV room on the same floor as the pool but we didn't get to see any movies inside.  Not really sure how was the condition there.  Our focus was only at the pool and sand :P.

We will definately visit this place again if our budget allows :P.  Although there were some hiccups with our reservation, overall this is a great place for family with kids.  We just can't have enough of the pool! 

Snax Box # 068 Smiley Stars

I get to use my star shaped food cups today.  It was slightly big but luckily I was able close my food box.  Today's theme is S-T-A-R-S :P.  I make bread with cheese and decorated my cheese with smiling expression.

In the big food cup, I boiled few pieces of star shaped fish balls and some corns.  The smaller star shaped food cup house some strawberries and grapes.  I also added two cherry tomatoes at the side.  Ooops!  I only realized that I have forgotten to pack some biscuits for him. Aiya...anyway, there's no more space to add in the biscuits too :).

Hope everyone will have a good weekend this week!