18 months JAKE

My favourite picture of Jake - by Clara

A little bit about Jake at 18 months…

loves to watch Iggle piggle and Thomas the tank engine, starts dancing when he hears their music!

loves to scribble on the black board and the occasionally on my furniture…

loves tomatoes, blueberries, mandarin and squeezie yoghurt (thanks aunty kel for introducing)

loves water either in the bath, pool or playing with the hose in the garden.

loves to copy what Stella is doing, including pushing the toy pram and even asked me to put a hair clip on his hair… (and no I didn’t put any! but there were times when Stella thought it would be cute to put hair clip on Jake’s hair)

loves throwing ball or anything that resembles a ball, eg. mandarin and oranges

Jake did some painting this morning, he really enjoyed it, in fact he wanted to paint the whole easel!

1st day at Kindy!

Just a quick update… Stella started kindy this week!  She was super excited, on her 1st day, she woke up at 6am and wanted to change to her uniform and go to kindy straight away!  (I just wish this excitement will last till she graduated from uni… )

We were all excited for her, it’s a bit of a mixed feeling for me, happy that she is looking forward to school and sad for realizing that she is “big” kid now and she will be doing things for herself.  Anyway, enough of being a bit sad… overall the day went really well, she was EXTREMELY happy to be at kindy meeting new friends and new teachers.  When I went to pick her up that day she asked “Am I going to kindy again tomorrow?  I can’t wait!”  I couldn’t be more happier when I heard that… good sign!  Anyway, Stella will be going to kindy for 3 days… yes, they offered 5 days, but I just can’t let her go for 5 days yet and it’s NOT compulsory!  And here are some snippets taken on her first day at kindy 2nd February 2010!

Stella ready for her 1st day at kindy!

With Jake, he was super excited for her too!

In front of her classroom, can't wait to go in!

Cherry and Almond Cake

cherry and almond

For christmas I got more than enough cooking and baking books, which is a dream come true really.  There is nothing better then winding down at the end of the day, reading a cook book, looking at the pictures and drooling… and then comes the hard part of choosing a recipe to try.

Well, this cherry and almond recipe comes from Fantastic party cakes by Mich Turner.  I chose the recipe simply because it’s cherry season right now, we have heaps of cherry at home and I have never tried fresh cherries in a cake before.  Stella in particular loves cherry!

Stella - after eating a big bowl of cherries

What I love about this recipe is super easy to put together and I love the crunchy crumble on top.  Perfect for afternoon tea!

Here is the recipe.

for the cake

140 g self raising flour

50 g golden caster sugar ( I used white caster sugar)

1 large egg

4 tbs organic milk

85 g unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp almond extract

350 g juicy ripe cherries

icing sugar, for dusting

for the crumble topping

25 g butter at room temperature

25 g ground almonds

25 g golden caster sugar (again i used white caster sugar)

1/2 tsp almond extract

Preheat oven to 180 c (fan oven 160 c).  Grease and line the base of shallow 20cm cake tin.  Measure the flour and caster sugar into a bowl, stir together.  Make a well in the centre and add the egg, milk, melted butter and almond extract.  Beat with an electric mixer to make smooth mixture.  Spoon into the tin and spread evenly.

Remove the stalks and stones from the cherries, cut in half and scatter over the cake mixture – gently press them in.

Make the topping by measuring all the ingreadients into a clean bowl.  Rub the butter uin until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs and then gently clups together.  Scatter this over the cherries.

ready for baking

Bake for 30 – 35 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool before removing from the tin and allow to cool completely on wire rack.

Dredge with icing sugar to serve.

Tip – try substituting the fresh cherries with other ripe fruit in season plums and apricots work particularly well – chop the stoned flesh into quarters before adding to the recipe.

The verdict: this cherry and almond cake is delicious and moist and the flavour combo of cherry and almond is just beautiful!  Great by itself or with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

I am loving this book, it has lots of step by step technique on decorating small cakes which includes covering cakes with fondant, decorating with royal icing, tempering chocolate and a lot more.  There are lots of recipe on cakes, meringues, cookies and pastries.  Definitely will be trying more recipes!

Pizza at the park

The kids always have so much fun together. always playing, always fighting, always chasing and copying one another! =)

These pics were taken at Bales Park steps away from our home. It’s a pretty little park…The kids played and the oldies had pizza & pide. Perfect! It was such a beautiful day!

3 Happy Kids

These photos were taken a few weeks back in my garden (07/01/10) – just before we were about to go to dinner at the Victoria Room. We were so happy that finally we have a few good photos of the 3 kids together!!

NYE @ Barangaroo

I can’t believe we’re 10 days into the new year!

We spent our New Year’s Eve at Barangaroo. Tickets were limited to 10000 and it was a family friendly event, meaning no glass and alcohol. We all had a great time sitting around enjoying our picnic and the view of the harbour bridge whilst waiting for the fireworks to start up.

For those who are looking for a safe environment to watch the fireworks for NYE  next year – I highly recommend Barangaroo! The space allocated was so large that it didn’t feel crowded at all. Plus, the view was really amazing!

Hope everyone had a memorable NYE!

Less than 24 hours to go till 2010!!

Can you believe it? Where did the time go this year?

As Clara said on her post a few days ago – we really have had some ups and downs in our family this year. The latest tragedy being so close to Christmas day as my mum lost her beloved sister in Singapore. It was indeed a sad time for everyone..

So as this year, the final day of 2009 is about to end, I’m going to list down my most memorable moments that I am thankful for this year, all the big and small things that matters!

~

Celebrating my dad’s 60th Birthday in Hong Kong with all 1o of us! And also meeting up with my parents in law there too!

Birthday lunch at Nobu (sorry no pictures of the birthday boy, he likes to remain anonymous:))

First Disneyland experience for the kids.

For my friendly neighbours..

You might remember my post about sponsoring a child many months back. I’m so thankful that this year we’re able to sponsor 1 more girl from the Philippines, again through Compassion. This cause is really something that is so close to my heart. I am forever grateful for God’s abundance blessing in our lives so that we can be a blessing to others in need. Please consider sponsoring a child too!

For making it to 30 years on this earth.

For potatoes, all kinds of potatoes..

For my casual weekend job..

For all the fun trips far and near..

Chinese new year festivities in Macao

Halloween in Bali

For books…

For Christmas time with all my family..

How did we end up with SO many presents?

Caroline and her family

and most of all for this cheeky, adorable little guy who has brought so much joy to our lives!

2 years old Jayden

Have a wonderful new year ahead everyone!

Reflections

As the year almost comes to a close, it only makes sense to look back and reflect on the year that was 2009.

It was a mixed bag this year, full of highs and lows. For me personally, moving to Sydney and starting work would have to be the greatest achievement this year. I relocated from Perth and settled here to begin the part of my life as a working woman. Other highs for me would have to include Jay Chou’s Sydney Concert, a family trip to Bali/Surabaya and the purchase of my piano!

It was a great year, but in some aspects, it wasn’t the best.

Whilst others mourned the celebirty deaths of Michael Jackson and Brittany Murphy, my own family lost two very loving people, my eldest aunt and second uncle. These two were well loved among our family and will be greatly missed. Rest in peace, Tua-Ie and Li Ie-Tiu.

Another scary time this year would have to be when Stella was sick. Being an aunt and I’m sure Kelen would agree, your heart skips a beat and you really pray and hope for a speedy recovery. Thankfully, Stella is back, happy and all recovered

If there’s anything I’ve realised more than ever this year, is that life is precious. Live each day as if it were your last. Love all and give generously. Be sincere and genuine to people. Don’t let the sun go down with a frown on your face and sort out all problems before you sleep.

So as 2010 creeps up on us, I really hope for a happy, prosperous and healthy new year. Let’s make 2010 one to remember and make it a year that you’ll look back on and be proud of.

And since a post always looks better with a photo, here’s one of the kids, all together!