following mommy to work

i hardly work late or required to work late. recently, we were rushing for a tender so i have to come back to work even on my leave. so i have no choice but to bring the 2 along with me to work. armed with 2 dvds, new thomas capsules toys and off we go.

 

i brought them to collect our taobao stuff from aileen, then headed to soo kee to pass andrina's her stuff and headed back to office. we had our lunch at mac before we go up. so at mac, i bought them happy meal and so they have another toy each.

 

i'm so glad that they manage to self entertain themselves for a good 5 hours without having to take out the tablet for them to play. darling is suppose to pick them up around 3pm+ after work. however, he had forgotten about them till i called him at 5pm+. he reached at 6pm+ to pick them up to go back to his school for a while before heading home.

 

on the way home, the 2 cried cos papa never bring them to come and fetch mommy. hahaha..... yu ze didn't sleep when i reached home at around 10pm. he told me he don't want to go to school. he wants to follow me to work. is it enjoying himself with me or he chao keng, wants to skip school.

 

mad science party

we have another combine birthday party for the 2008 august babies again. this round we engage mad science to do some simple experiments for the kids. it was decided quite last minute, glad that we still can make it happen within a month or less planning. thanks to all mommies who contributed in their small ways to make this happen.

as they grow older, its not easy to gather the kids to do such party. everyone had their own activities on weekends. hope this can last for many years. thought kids are not super familiar with each other but they do have fun.

thank you mad science too to make this party an enjoyable one for them.

eat, play, love cafe

i get to know about this cafe from phyl. saw her posting photos of it in her facebook so decided to bring the kids. since its only half day school for them, thought might as well bring them today. i called earlier to make a reservation for it.
 

fetch them from school and we headed straight down. located at aliwal street, i have no idea where is it at all. well, when this happen, you can always ask your good friend google map food help. following the instructions given by my good friend, we manage to find it but no carpark lot. we waited in the carpark for a while till we get a lot.
 

the kids already had their lunch in school so i offer them an ice cream before they start their activities at the art corner while i have my lunch. it's not a bad place to bring the kids and let their creativity flow with whatever art materials they can find. i guess the kids also must enjoy some form of art to like this place.
 

2 hours is a nice timing for them to stay there and engage some arty crafty stuff while we can sit and relax. Anything more will be too much for them unless they really love art. they have fun. thanks to phyl, we had explore another place that i didn't know it exist.

pineapple tarts



i have tried a few recipe for pineapple tarts and finally found this one. thanks to thelittleteochew for this nice recipe.

recipe for pineapple tarts

ingredients:
400g plain flour
50g corn flour
280g cold, unsalted butter
3 egg yolks, beaten
3 tablespoon cold water
6 tablespoon icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
For glaze, mix 1 egg yolk + 1 tablespoon water

method:
1. Sift the flours, icing sugar and salt. Mix well to combine.

 2. Using the pointed ends of a fork, rub the butter into the flour until it looks like fine bread crumbs. If necessary, use fingertips to continue rubbing lightly the bigger pieces into finer pieces. Basically, just scrape / flake the butter with your forks. You essentially want to coat the butter crumbs in flour. Using forks prevents the cold butter from melting since there is no contact with heat. If you want to rub the butter into the flour using your hands, make sure you use only your fingertips.

3. Beat together egg yolks, cold water and vanilla extract. Add it into the butter-flour mixture. Using your finger tips, gently coax all the crumbs into one large dough ball. Do not knead. As long as all the crumbs come together, stop. Chill in the fridge for about 10mins, covered.

4. Roll out to desired thickness (mine was about 8mm thick). Cut out dough using cutter. Arrange neatly onto baking tray, with at least 1.5cm apart. Since this is a very buttery, oily pastry, it would be good to use a small portion at a time. Keep the rest covered in the fridge, otherwise it will ooze oil.

5. Once you have arranged the tart shells on your tray, glaze them (the entire surface, not just the rims).

 6. Place the pre-rolled pineapple jam balls onto the centre of each tart shell.

7. Bake at 160°C for 20 minutes, turning the tray halfway through baking.

another option is the wrapped the pineapple jam with the pastry to form a ball. 

snowskin mooncake

recipe for snow skin mooncake

Ingredients:
(makes 12 mini mooncakes)

75g cooked glutinous rice flour
50g icing sugar
25g shortening,
90ml cold water
¼ teaspoon vanilla

 method:
1. Mix white lotus paste with melon seeds. Divide the paste into 30g portions and shape into balls. Set aside. (Note: I used a ratio of 40% dough to 60% filling)

2. Sieve together cooked glutinous rice flour and icing sugar into a mixing bowl. 

3. Rub the shortening into the flour mixture with fingertips until a crumbly mixture forms.

4. Add cold water to the mixture and knead for a couple of minutes to form a soft dough. Do not over work the dough.

5. Leave dough in the fridge for about 15 mins.

6. Divide dough into 20g pieces. Shape each dough into a ball. For each dough, flatten to form a small disc and roll it out into 3mm-thick circle or about 5cm in diameter.

7. Wrap the dough skin around the filling and shape it into a ball. Seal the seams.

8. Dust mooncake moulds (diameter 4cm, for 50g mooncake) with cooked glutinous rice flour. Place the wrapped dough into the mould and press the mooncake out. Make sure the surface of the dough in contact with the patterned-face of the mould is smooth.

9. Store mooncakes in fridge.

Variations:
* Strawberry flavour - replace cold water with same amount of strawberry flavoured milk, add 1~2 drops of red food colouring (as desired).
** Mango flavour - replace cold water with same amount of mango juice, add 1 teaspoon of mango flavour (as desired).
*** Matcha flavour - replace cold water with: mix 1 teaspoon of matcha powder with 90ml of hot water. Leave to cool and then chill in fridge for at least 30mins before using.

traditional mooncake

recipe for traditional mooncake

ingredients:
140g syrup* (golden syrup)
45g cooking oil
1.5 teaspoon alkaline water
200g hongkong flour

egg wash: 1 egg yolk + 2 tablespoon milk

method:
1. Place syrup into blender/container

2. Add alkaline water, then oil and mix until all are well-combined.

3. Add flour and continue to mix to form a soft dough. (Depending on consistency of syrup used, extra flour has to be added to form an easy-to-handle dough. may add some flour if the dough is too sticky as the concentration of syrup is the main factor.")

4. Cover with cloth and set aside for 2 hr or more.

5. Prepare the filing by weighing them and roll into a ball (35g). Keep for later use

6. Prepare the skin by weighing them (15g each).

7. Dust work surface with some flour. Give the dough a few light kneading to smooth it. 

8. Roll each dough over some flour. Dust hand with flour and flatten each dough into a small disc (about 5cm in diameter). Wrap it around the filling and shape it into a ball. (always dust hand with some flour to avoid the dough from sticking).

9. Lightly dust the wrapped dough with some flour. Place it in the mooncake mould and press the mooncake out.

10. Place mooncake on a baking tray line with parchment paper.

11. Spray some water on the mooncakes. (Note: this helps to prevent the mooncake from cracking during baking.)

12. Bake at preheated oven at 150degC for 10mins. Remove from oven and leave to cool for 15mins (do not skip this step).

13. Brush the top with some egg wash. Return to oven and continue to bake for another 10mins until golden brown

piglets

recipe for the piglet (same recipe for traditional mooncake skin)

ingredients:
140g syrup* (golden syrup)
45g cooking oil
1.5 tsp alkaline water
200g hongkong flour

egg wash: 1 egg yolk + 2 tbsp milk

method:
1. Place syrup into blender/container.

2. Add alkaline water, then oil and mix until all are well-combined.

3. Add flour and continue to mix to form a soft dough. (Depending on consistency of syrup used, extra flour has to be added to form an easy-to-handle dough. may add some flour if the dough is too sticky as the concentration of syrup is the main factor.")

4. Cover with cloth and set aside for 2 hr or more.

5. Preheat oven to 150°C. Brush piggies with egg wash and bake for 5 min, turn tray around and bake for 5 min.

6. Remove and brush with. layer of egg wash and bake again for 5 min, turn tray around and bake for 5 min until golden brown.

total baking time is 20mins.

dentist

i have made appointment for their first dental appointment with school dental centre. darling is not free so I brought them myself after yu ze's violin class. personally, i don't like to visit the dentist at all, don't know how they will take to it. i told them about seeing the teeth doc. first thing yu ze asked me is, does the doc has toys? i told him, i don't know. he can check it out when he is there.

 

when we arrived, they headed straight to the play corner while i do registration. when it was yu ze's turn, we went in together. at first, he was a bit reluctant to sit on the chair. take him sometime to settle down and get a bit comfortable to the whole thing. we managed to get him to open his mouth to count the number of teeth he has. then we proceed to check if there is any germs on his teeth. generally, his teeth is still consider good and clean except for the 2 top corner which we need to pay more attention to. he is very cooperative as well to let the dentist polish his teeth for him. i think he did has some fun with this dental check.

 

yu xi on the hand refuse to open her golden mouth. only manage to get her to open a short short while to count the number of teeth she has. hopefully, it will be better the next trip.