God's Supernatural Help

Today, God made a miracle for me, solving my problems which had caused insomnia to me last night. 

I just came back from a long holiday and was given the 2016 timetable. I was given 5 classes of English, 1 Year One Physical Education (PE), 1 Year Two Physical Education, 1 Year Two Visual Art and 1 Year One Music. 

Headache No.1: 

PE is a new subject for me so I need to search for the yearly scheme of work and then typing out the lesson plans. I need to search from outside the school as I need the set in Malay language. 

Headache No.2:

Music is also a new subject for me to teach in the school. Not only that, it is also run in mandarin, a language I am not fluent of. Teaching it also requires me to find the yearly scheme of work and daily lesson plans all by myself as I need the sets in Malay language and all my other colleagues are using the ones in mandarin. 

I really felt stressed out. So I was in my insomnia stage that night. I felt overwhelmed. I told God about it. If I am not mistaken, I think I asked Him for help without specifying what God should do. I really believed that I can go through it with God'd mercy and grace. 

So the next morning, I went to school in the morning for Year One orientation. My afternoon supervisor later told me that she has removed the music lesson from my timetable. How relieved I was snd I knew it was God. 

Later, I went for the PE meeting. There, they required me to write the lesson plans in mandarin. So a kind colleague offered me her well typed PE lesson plan which is in mandarin. 

Uh!!! What a relief ! Now, not only that I don't need to teach music, I also do not need to write both the Year One and Year Two PE lesson plans! She will tell me what to teach each week. All I need is the manpower (which I have) to carry out the lessons weekly. 

I am truly blessed! It's like having a faith exercise in God. 

God, you are truly amazing. Thank you so much. 

Yosef's 7 soon

Yosef will soon turn seven end of this year. As a mother whose birthday falls in the long term school holiday every year, I understand the feeling of envious of my friends celebrating their birthdays with our classmates in school. That is why I'd normally celebrate Yosef's birthday for him twice every year, once with his friends before the school term ends and once on the actual day. 

This year, I did it on the Children's Day in his school so that to minimise the trouble his class teacher might have. Thank God I got his teacher's permission to do so on that day. 

So the preparation was really trilled but tiring. The theme of the birthday party was 'Science'. I was able to squeeze the creativity juice out of me to do the decorations. 

I made a anti-gravity Florence flask chocolate cake for him. It was my maid who helped me baked the cake. However, the cake didn't taste good but it sure looked great. 

Anti-gravity Florence Flask cake

Besides the main cake, I baked some other cupcakes too. I made some Braint Cupcakes and some Elixir Cupcakes. They are mostly decorated with simple slightly tinted buttercream. The elixirs were made in fondant. I placed the cupcakes in the paper cupcake stands which I bought from Mr DIY. 

Brainy Cupcakes

Elixir Cupcakes

Because it was a Science theme party, I also made some tadpoles in jellies and eyeball jellies. I soaked some basil seeds to let them become gelatinous. I then put them into the cooked jelly mixture before the jellies cured. The jelly mixtures was then pour into their respective glass chicken essence bottles which I salvaged all these while. Unfortunately, I didn't take a closeup photo of it. 

As for the eyeballs, they were made of jelly too. I used the sphere shape ice cube tray to make them. I tinted a little jelly with blue dye and poured just a little into the cavities. As soon as they cured a little I carefully placed a small piece of chocolate chip in the middle and then I poured in the milk jelly mixture to fill in the cavities fully. Let them cured in the fridge. 

I also bought some gummy worms for the table. A magnifying glass was out as a decorative item next to the gummies.

Next was the Chromosome Pasta to ease the kids' hungry tummy. 

To tie the things together, I placed two Pom Poms next to the main cake. The Pom Poms successfully gave a pop of colour. And they were put one one each side of the cake just to get a symmetry look. 

As for the back drop, I simply folded a piece of plastic (same as the table runner) into half and used some sticky tape to hang it up. I also printed out some letters on triangular shaped paper and hung them up just like it in the photo. 

Besides the dessert table, I also prepared some photo props for the kids to take photos. The kids were happy. 

I am thankful that everything went well and my son was super happy too. Well at least, when he looks back next time, he will have some memory of celebrating his birthday with his friends in the school and with the grace of God, his mother was the one who made the things happened for him. 

I love you, my son! 

School Holiday

We were having a school holiday and Kevin had already taken off during this period. We thought that we won't be going back to hometown as granny had passed away. 

Well, we went back anyway as we really had nothing else to do at home. Yeah, we went back. 

The air in in Penang is better than the one in Klang Valley (Klang Valley's experiencing haze from Sumatra). 

Taking kids back often is good to remind them about our roots, where we come from. It's also a great way for them to learn paying respect to our eldest and do ending time with them. 

Fire Theme Cupcakes

Here are the pictures of the cupcakes I made for the recent customers. 

The flame cupcakes. 

The fireman hose cupcakes. 

    

Cupcakes in the boxes ready for pick up. 

Cream Firemen Hose Cupcakes

As I received an order of fireman hose cupcakes, I have been trying to make cupcakes with hoses in fondant and hoses in cream. 

I found that hoses made in fondant looked better but since the customer wanted them to be cream hoses, I continued trying my best to make nicer hoses in cream. 

I had tried out many brands of red colouring and even did some experiments on the 'soaking' time with those colourings. Finally I got the color I wanted and the hoses looked much better. 

May I present to you my 'fireman hose' cupcakes! 

I am thankful for the opportunity in making these cakes. 

Red Red Red

I got an order to make fireman hose cupcakes and I have decided to make red hoses as the other design is yellow flame. 

So I thought red hoses should look better if  two types of cakes are put side by side on the same cup cake stand. 

I have never thought that getting a true red butter cream is something not so straightforward. I first tinted some cream with Chefmaster Christmas Red and I found that the color didn't turn out to be red, but pink instead. I got panic and added in some orange powder, thinking that it might help to make it vibrant and more fire engine like. No, it didn't turn out to be what I wanted. Instead, the color, though became more intense, looked very old and boring. Yucks!!

I then came out with a brilliant idea- drove to a 24hour sundry shop nearby and got a small bottle of red colouring powder. I got even shocked. The anticipated red turn out to be light purple! 

That night, I was pretty unhappy but still continued piping. The end result was quite lousy as the color was not vibrant. 

The next day, I decided to do a color test. The Chefmaster colouring still couldn't  meet my requirement. It was still pink. 

I did another experiment with the red colouring powder I bought from the sundry shop the other day. The colour was still purple. 

Then I look up at the internet. I googled about it and found that I wasn't alone in the journey of getting the vibrant red butter cream. 

I read about some comments. One of them actually says that the colouring will get more vivid after some time. So just put some colouring and let the color sit. If the shade still isn't up to what we are looking for, then only should we add in some more colouring. 

The next thing I read about was about the brand of colouring. I found that many people actually prefer Americolor than Wilton or any other brand. Besides, I have also watched someone making a cake with many vibrant colours in YouTube that uses Americolor. 

These had helped me making my decision to look for 'Super Red' by Americolor. I bought it and started tinting some cream with it. I also made sure to leave the red cream for a while before adding additional dye. Yes, the result was stunning. The red was exactly what I was looking for and the colour actually intensified and became vibrant. 

The experiment in tinting butter cream. Picture was taken indoor at the same place and with the same lighting.

I hope this post is helpful to you. Thank you. 

Seaweed Soy Floss

Have you heard about the seaweed soy floss? Can you imagine that soy bean can be made into floss? Well, at least for me, I haven't until I tried on this. 

It doesn't cost that much. It's only about RM14 for a packet of 250g. The beans used are organic, non-GMO. 

The texture is light and crunchy. It tastes just like the normal chicken or pork floss, but with bean smell.

The floss also comes with seaweed stripes, which I think complements quite well with the soy bean floss. 

This floss is imported from Taiwan and can be eaten with porridge, bread, sandwiches, sushi and rice, just to babe a few. 

I think this floss isn't bad at all. For those vegetarian out there, this is something you must try! 

Pot Bless During UPSR

'Makan time' (eating time) is a happy time. 

Today, my colleagues and I had a pot bless time in the office. There were many types of good food prepared by the us. 

I lined up quickly and got myself a bowl of bak kut teh soup (herbal tea pork ribs soup). Uh! The soup smells delicious and it has the sweetness of the pork. The meat was sweet and tender too. 

Some of the food prepared by the colleagues

Food I prepared

Skewered cherry tomatos, quill eggs and cucumbers

Somebody was doing a demo on bread and pizza making. The smell of the garlic bread filled the air. Personally, I don't like the smell of it especially in the office. 

Time actually flies quite slowly after eating time especially there isn't a class for anyone of us today. 

Making Sample Cupcakes

Arrgghh! I really was so tired. 

Since accepting an order for cupcakes from Kevin's friend , I thought I should practise doing the decoration of the cupcakes. So I baked a dozen of lemon cupcakes and tried piping. 

Lemon butter cupcakes

The flame icing was pretty easy to make and it looked nice too. The topper was made of fondant. It takes some time but the effect was nice. 

However, the design of a fireman hose was a little bit tricky. First, the hose was too plain as it was. Second, the shape of a hose is snake-like. That's why, I tried on a few orientations of the hose, and I still didn't like it. 

Well I will try again today. 

Dragonfruit Jelly Mooncake

Kevin came back telling me that he tried on a dragonfruit jelly Mooncake and he loved it. So I thought I would just give it a try. 

This is how I made my dragonfruit jelly mooncakes. 

Purée 

Dice half a dragonfruit and put them into a hand press. Press out the purée. 

Filling

1 teaspoon jelly powder

400ml water

2 tablespoon condensed milk

80g dragonfruit purée

1) Mix everything together except the dragonfruit purée in s sauce pan. 

2) Bring mixture to boil then add the purée. (This should bring mixture slightly below boiling point)

3) Turn off fire and let cool a little before pouring it into small cupcake cups. 

4) Let it cured then remove the filling. 

Skin

10g jelly powder

4 tbsp sugar

700ml water

80g dragonfruit purée 

1) Mix everything except the purée in a saucepan. 

2) Bring mixture to boil, then put in the purée. 

3) Let boil and turn off the fire. 

Assemble

1) Pour the skin mixture in the the mould about 1/2 cm. 

2) Place filling at the centre. 

3) Pour the remaining skin mixture into the cavity till full. 

4) Let it cure. 

5) Chill the jelly mooncakes in the fridge before serving. 

Making Glutinous Rice Tapai

Tapai is a Southeast Asia food that is made through fermentation process. Tapai can be made of glutinous rice or sweet potatoes. Ragi is used as a mould starter to ferment the carbohydrate. 

My maid and I are making glutinous rice tapai today. Here is how we made it. 

1) Wash and soak the glutinous rice overnight. 

2) Rise and put the rice on a tray. Steam the rice and let cool. 

3) Crush the mould and sprinkle the crumbs on the cooled rice. Sprinkle some coarse sugar too. 

4) Scoop a spoonful of rice and put it on the prepared banana leaf. Wrap it and secure with a skewer. 

Prepared banana leaves

5) Keep the ready tapai into a plastic bag or container. 

6) Wait for it to ferment (usually takes about three days in Malaysia weather). 

P/s: This batch of Tapai wasn't successful as I wet my hands while wrapping them. One should not wet the Tapai 

Grandma's Funeral

Today is the third day after grandma's passing away. It's the last day of the funeral. 

After some ritual ceremony, the cortège left the house at 2 pm sharp to Berapit Cemetery, where grandpa was buried. Now, grandma is buried right next to grandpa. 

Kevin and James drove our own cars to the site. We got lost in the cemetery at first and thank God we managed to see the coffin in the ground. 

Anyway, I am sad that grandma is gone and things might not feel the same especially when we come back to Penang next time. 

But at the same time, I am glad that grandma is now in a better place. 

Run! Yosef Run!

15th August 2015 was the school sports day. We were very excited as Yosef was taking part in one of the tele match items- running with a beanbag balanced on the head. 

While waiting for the game. Kids lined up in the hall. 

In action! 

My son's team came in second for that item. 

Both Kevin and I went to school to give support to our son. Of course I was requested to attend as I am working in the school, but Kevin's presence was a great support for him. It shows to our son that we love him so much and what matters him, matters us. We really want to involve in our son's activities. I hope, next time, when he looks back, he will remember that his parents were always with him through thick and thin. 

We love you, son! 

Salvation is here

Why is grandma in good hands? 

A week ago, we decided to visit my grandma in Penang. Just as we were almost reaching her house, I gave a call and was told by my uncle that they were leaving for Gleaneagles Hospital. So we shifted our destination at once. 

When we arrived at the hospital, grandma was sleeping quite soundly. I waited while chatting with aunt. After quite some time, we slowly woke her up. Grandma was too weak to talk. She was admitted because she couldn't eat or drink. 

Asking her if she knew who I was, she thought for a long time. Couldn't even say my name and was so blur too. 

Then I pulled a chair near her bed when I saw the opportunity arises when my aunt went out from the room. 

I prayed in my heart that God will keep them out from the room. To safe time, I quickly told her in her ears, "Ah mah, I know you remember the gospel I have shared with you. You heard from me in your dreams. I now ask you, do you wanna accept Jesus as your saviour?" No answer from her. I could see that she was thinking. 

I asked a couple of times. Then I realised that she was too weak to talk. No wonder she can't answer me. So I asked her again and said to her that if she agreed to accept Jesus, then blink her eyes. She blinked her eyes once. I got shocked and happy. So to make sure, I asked again (in fact a few more times) and she really blinked a few more times. So I told her if she really agrees with it, she could follow after me, to make the sinner's prayer in her heart. I guided her through the prayer and led her to Christ. 

I was delighted and I looked at her. She looked back at me. At that moment, just through her stare, I knew she recognised me. 

Here, I wanna thank God for the salvation and have taken us back to visit her last week. It was indeed a miracle to be back home last week and it was a surprise too that my aunt who was about to walk near her bed walked out from the room. 

Thank God for my maid and the maid who took care of grandma. They were beside grandma and I throughout the whole sharing. Thank God that they were also praying while I shared with grandma. Thank God for them too that they could be the witnesses about grandma's decision. 

Thank God for answering prayer for sa Christian maid. She told us that she also shared the Gospel with grandma, just as I have prayed for, to have a Christian maid to keep reminding her about the Gospel. 

Last but not least, thank you everyone who have prayed for grandma and us. 

You will never know who will be praying for you. My 3rd uncle's wife told me that she and her sister have been praying for grandma's salvation too. That's why when she heard of the testimony I told her, she rejoiced and praised God for that. 

By the way, today, as I told my aunt Hiang about grandma accepted Christ, she got shocked too. 

But I just leave my family to God. 

May all honour, glory and praises be to our one and only true God who loves us and can save us fro Sheol. 

Goodbye Grandma

I was told by my aunt that grandma has discharged from the hospital today and her vital organs are seriously not well. Aunt asked us to go home. 

After some contemplating, I decided to go home with my whole family. So we went home after dinner. 

As we were on the way, I texted my aunt asking her to open door for me afterwards as we will be late. Her reply to me was quite slow and she told me that the door will be open till the next morning. I figured grandma could have gone. 

After a few hours, we were approaching grandma's house. I was truly scared, scared of receiving the bad news, even though I could have expected it. I did pray for myself and all that are in the car. Kevin prayed for me too. 

So we finally reached the house and I saw many strangers and a van with its back door open. I told Kev that grandma should have gone. Yes, she's gone. 

Surprisingly, the feeling of fear somehow dissipated when I got down from the car. I believe it was God who was working in protecting me and giving me peace. I think grandma should be in good hands. (Why? I will share about this in my next posting.) 

Thank You God. 

Bye ah mah ! 

Jade Mooncakes

Mid Autumn Festival is just around the corner. Hubby came back telling me about the dragonfruit jelly mooncake his colleague was treating them. This inspired me looking out for jelly mooncake recipe. 

As I looked through the sharings on the net, I found that the ingredients used are those used to make normal jelly. So I got myself some mooncake moulds and started making. 

Jade Goldfish Jelly Mooncake

Jade Flower Pendant Mooncake

When it's cut.

Do not let the first layer cool too much before you pour in the second layer of mixture as the layers will separate. Notice the line in the middle of the mooncake shown in the above photo. 

Ingredients

12g Jelly Powder

40ml Pandan Juice

1060ml Sweeten Soy Bean Milk

1tube Grass Jelly

Method

1) Put all ingredients except the grass jelly into a sauce pan. 

2) Stir over slow fire till mixture boils. 

3) Turn off the fire.

4) Pour mixture into mooncake moulds half full. 

5) Place a piece of grass jelly into the mixture. 

6) Pour the remaining jelly mixture into the mould until full and let cool. 

7) Unmould, cut and serve the mooncake. 

But it's best to serve when it's chilled beforehand. 

Enjoy 😋

Macarons

The other day, my eldest asked me to buy macarons. When I saw the price, I got shocked, and immediately I came out with a statement "Let me make those for you". 

"You can make them?"

"Yes, it's easy!"

"Then I want strawberry flavoured macarons."

Knowing well that he will keep reminding me about the promise until it is fulfilled, I quickly looked for the recipe on the web. 

I found one recipe which I think looks good to me, got the ingredients ready and started making my first ever macarons! 

I precisely measured all the ingredients except for the sugar. Carefully followed all the steps, except for the steps of letting the piped batter dry on the surface. I thought I would still yield beautiful and successful macarons but I was wrong. Totally wrong. 

Not only that my macarons didn't have feet, they just glued to the parchment paper underneath. My macarons were hollow too. Well, this first batch was a doom!

Then came my son's statement, "Mummy, I thought you said it's easy?"

Man, I tell ya, I got challenged real hard! 

I looked again on the web and I came across this YouTube channel called Kitchen Tigress. When I looked at the recipe, I knew in my heart that the recipe surely works and it really did. 

Not only that I watched her video for a few times, I also read her blog regarding the tips to get successful shells. 

Here is the link

http://kitchentigress.blogspot.com/2015/06/macarons.html?m=1

And here are a few photos of my macarons.

The freshly piped batter and the shell in the oven.

My freshly baked macarons in plain whipped cream.

Yes I know that my macarons do look brownish, very different from the pink batter. I am still so happy with the success. In fact, I did reduce the amount of colouring stated in her recipe.

I chilled the macarons in the fridge over night so that the cream can penetrate into the shell. This soften the inner side of the shell and makes the shell crust on the outside but soft on the inside. Perfect!

I think I will continue making macarons 😎 

White Bread with Bread Maker

Below is the simplest recipe my helper uses to make our homemade white bread. 

Ingredients: 

4 cup high protein flour

2 tbsp yeast+2cup warm water 

4 tbsp oil

2 tsp salt

4 tsp sugar

Steps:

1) Put the yeast into the warm water and set aside. 

2) Measure and put all the other ingredients into the bread pan of the bread maker. 

3) Add in the water with yeast. 

4) Use pizza dough setting (2x)

5) Bake.

Note: 

1) We don't use auto setting as we find the end product's too hard.

2) We use Breville bread maker.

I hope you find this recipe useful. 

Butterfly Chiffon Cake

Yesterday, I got an order of a cake from my friend. Her daughter is turning three today. 

The little girl asked for a butterfly cake for her birthday. So I made one for her. 

The cake inside is a chiffon cake baked in  a normal round cake pan. It didn't rise as high as the chiffon cake I normally bake using a ring pan. So I made two cakes, cut the dome, and stacked them up together. 

I then filled the cake with some cream, crumb coated the cake and then cut the cake into half. I crumb coated the parts where I just cut. The cake went into the fridge for a while. 

After that, I started piping the butterfly. I first did the top and then the side, followed by its head and body. I used a spaghetti and two pepper gummy sweets to make the antena. Lastly I made the grass. 

Chocolate Strawberry Crepe Cake

One day, I saw someone was making crepe cake in the YouTube. It reminded me of my friend, OML. She told me what crepe cake is all about. Yes, I didn't know what is a crepe cake. 

I was determined to give it a try. So after watching the video, I found that making the crepe cake wasn't a hard thing at all as I have been making crepes since young. The only differences are that I didn't stack them up with filling and I didn't add any toppings or decorations. 

So, to make the chocolate crepes, I just had to add some cocoa powder to the better. Great idea. 

So below are the things I used to make the crepes. 

I mixed all these together with a whisk and I started frying the crepes. I didn't let it rest. 

I found that flipping with an offset spatula was easier. After frying, I let them cool on two plates. 

I then made the strawberry cream. These were the things I used. 

Method? 

I first mashed the strawberries and put it aside. Then I whisked all the other ingredients together. Lastly, I added the mashed berries into the cream and folded. 

How to assemble? 

Assembled the cake by first spreding the prepared cream onto a piece of crepe with a spatula. Then I covered it with another piece of crepe. I continued this process until there was no more crepe left. I then refrigerated the cake overnight. 

The next day...

I decorated the top of the cake with the left over cream from last night. Then I placed some strawberries on top of it. 

Crepe cake ! Anyone?