shirin's last vaccination & health check up

so i brought shirin for her last vacc at marsiling polyclinic this morning. shirin was happy throughout, she seem to have forgotten that this was the place she got injected many times before. when the needle went it, she let out a short "mmekk". a short whimper but she didn't cry. she only got irritated by the alcohol swab that i had to put on the injected site. her 11.5kg weight is in the 90th percentil (at this age, anisha was 50th percentile!), her 87cm height is in the 90th percentile (the nurse & doctor said she's tall for her age) & her head circumference is in the 75th percentile (up from 50th percentile few months ago). so she's a very healthy little girl & progressing well. luckily the next time we have to go back is only for her health check-up in Aug 2011, when she's 3 years old.

pretty 6 feb 2010

anisha has gotten more vain lately. she would ask to put on hairclips, hairbands etc then she would look at herself in the mirror & keep asking us if she's pretty or not!

where's daddy??

i think i held up pretty well the first week & into the second week of D not being around at home...even survived the first weekend w/o him by occupying ourselves with activities, but now as are entering the second weekend, i suddenly feel so lonely w/o D, & the girls have asked me where's their daddy...so i explained that he's coming home soon (his flight back to Sg has been re-scheduled to 12th Feb, arriving in Sg on 13th Feb) , mummy misses him too (hope he misses us too??!). weekdays are bearable but weekends are hard!

in other news...
this week was the busiest week for me workwise in a long time since i left my job at the educational publishing house 6 or 7 years ago!! i was baking everyday from tuesday till friday fulfilling orders, which i'm grateful to have received of course. it was tiring but a 'satisfying' kind of tiring, haven't felt that for a long time. so far i have 4 more orders to fulfill for this month. perhaps it's just the customers 'testing the waters' period, but i hope for the best in the long run. i hope the quality of my bakes will speak for itself & that i can 'mantain'!

so tomorrow sans D, i will probably bring the girls & our helper out for lunch, shop for shirin's shoes & see how, maybe window art painting for anisha. and then go visit mum on sunday...

pushin' around! 2 feb & anisha on 3 feb

nice pic except for her shaggy wet hair! (we were in a hurry hehe..)

playin' around! 19 & 25 jan '10

D in Auckland, New Zealand & scrapping of CNY holiday plans

my husband D has been working there for 1 & a half weeks now (since 25th jan, monday). at first we thought he was coming back on on 30th jan sat, but then it had to be postponed to 6th feb, sat & unfortunately today i received news from him that it had to be postponed for 1 week more! sigh, there's not much we can do about this as there's a lot of work to be done there (a major bridge)...we just hope that he will be back for the long CNY (chinese new year) holiday weekend (saturday till tuesday). we tried making holiday plans but we were just too late. all the regional spots were fully booked. even if they were not, the flight & accomodation prices are sky high since it's the peak period!! so no go & perhaps we will wait for the next 1 week march school holidays or month long june school holidays.

and i hope i get to see D soon.

good thing i've kept myself busy with my DIY part-time baking project! (i suppose i i was spurred to start my own little project when he left NZ for his!)

food related inspirations

all i can say is...brilliant!! i have finally found something that i can relate to & that really inspires me.

excerpt from "Under The Table" by Katerine Darling:
the art of creating something that would give someone else pleasure, whether it is a simple slice of bread or an elaborately constructed five-course meal, is a noble and satisfying thing. there is an immediate gratification in the act of cooking, a happy result that i could see within hours of beginning work, unlike my old job, where results in the form of a published book took months, even years to see. for the first time, i knew i had made the right decision in coming to (chef) school. in the upcoming levels, my classmates and i would be creating, feeding people every day, like actual chefs in a real restaurant. i couldn't wait.

excerpt from "Chef's Story: 27 Chefs Talk About What Got Them into the Kitchen" Edited by Dorothy Hamilton and Patric Kuh:
from the Charlie Trotter chapter:
people who are drawn to this field are generous by nature. you're doing something for someone that's very personal and very elemental. you don't just say, "i'll throw it together, and here it is." so giving comes naturally to us.

carelessly performed acts will eventually lower the level of attention with which every gesture is performed. then it becomes acceptable; then it becomes an atmosphere. the moment that happens, you've lost your focus. it's gone.

my new sister site

please feel free to visit my new site "SWEET SCRUMPTATIONS" & tell all your friends about it! cheers! :D
http://sweetscrumptations.blogspot.com/
or you can click on the photo of the apple pie on the right side bar for the link.
Su

mom's birthday lunch

mom & her 3 remaining children. RIP sulas, wish you were there to celebrate with us, sis.

mom turns 66 tomorrow. we celebrated her birthday with a lunch at bedok, an eating place called 'spize', together with the tweevrans, the ruchtis & the supandi family.
17th Jan 2010

i'm crazy for baking

hmmm i think my blog is slowly turning into a foodie/baking blog! i have been taking a few small orders here & there, mainly from my sister Ipah & her colleague Susila. they would normally order apple pie, cherry tart, cupcakes (vanilla cupcakes with creamcheese topping & chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing)....maybe about 15 to 25 cupcakes (per flavour) each time, with a tart/pie or two. so i don't think i earn much profit since the cost price of my ingredients are on the expensive side since i always try to use the BEST ingredients & i do put in a lot of effort with my bakes but that's alright for me since i have such a big interest for it that it doesn't seem like work (BINGO!)....! besides, i get these orders like say once or twice per month, so i won't be suffering from a BURNOUT anytime soon! Lol...

on saturday i had my 2 long-time friends over, jan & jay & they brought their hubbies along. so i baked them my apple pie & they liked it so much that they insisted i should charge a higher price for it since it was so good! ^-^
i will think about it since i do put a lot of effort in it...but i also don't want to SELLOUT. haha.
so i think i'll just keep it to a homey tiny little freelance 'homebusiness' for now. anyway it's not registered & maybe i'm just not ambitious enough for a FORMAL EXPANSION & getting it REGISTERED etc. or maybe i'm just clueless! :P

but i am willing to take more order though. i ENJOY it so much!!!!
i can't tell you how inspired i get reading other people's foodie (baking) blogs, reading cookbooks (baking books) & of course watching my current favourite cooking show BBC's Lifestyle's Masterchef Goes Large & ALL cooking shows. simply addicted! :D
yay, i think i found my calling, hehe....

one of my customer's recent order on 15.01.2010:

apple pie for j & j

apple pie i made for tea with my 2 old time girlfriends Janice & Jay, 16th January 2010
p.s. my older girl anisha helped me decorate the top!