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My second entry for today... just wanna post the last few pics of this year.. we took Sonia to the Singapore Zoological Garden yesterday morning.. i dont know how many times both Sonia and I have been to the zoo this year... Shes so so in love with our zoo that she often wanted me to take her there.. I think once she turns three we will apply for the Friends of the Zoo pass..

So sit back and enjoy the last pics of this year.. Have a super wonderful hols peeps.. Have a great year ahead!!

See u in year 2011!!!!

Papa will help u a little for u to take good pics ...

This is how u aim it properly Sonia...

Sonia's fav animal! She can differenciate between jaguar, cheetah and leopard.. hmmm

I think she felt some kinda connection there lol - how often does this happen!!

Busy taking pics ..

Animals show.. it was just so so for the adults.. Sonia loved it tho cos according to her "sasha" performs hahaha

I love this pic to bits!

Of cos the pool area is one of the must go places for Sonia...


She was a little frustrated when there was not a single kangaroo that she cud touch.. then came this kangaroo hopping close to her after Sonia started to cry :o)
She got to touch it for quite a while too...

Time to head home kiddo!


Ohhh and yep.. its Sicilian Orange Cake peeps to usher the New Year..

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One more day bef year end ey... seriously?? can u really feel it?? I know i cant cos when hb booked movie tickets for us to watch last night we realised that we have done 364 days this year! eekkk (not just that.. we realised that we have not watched a movie together for the past 4yrs!! super eekkkkss!!) where hv all the moons gone to this year?? am i ready for a brand new year?? How is it gonna be like next year?? Will i be a much more wiser person.. ahemmm... will i be stronger err not strong headed yah hb!! hehe.. I pray hard that its gonna be an easy one... i pray hard that my family will be in good health... :o)





So anyway I had baked this cheesecake the night bef.. both hb and i had gone to the Isetan private sale earlier that day.. in fact as early as half past 7 lol.. call us kiasu but thats how it is with private sales... well err pardon me.. i wouldnt call myself super kiasu cos when we got there.. the queue was already looonnggg!! is it worth queuing?? hehe if u think there is something that u wanna get and they are giving like 40% off.. its better to start early ey bef its too late hehehe..

Okie dokie.. heres the recipe to this wonderful cheesecake.. I really like the taste of this cheesecake while hb felt that the caramel part shud be much more crunchier.. overall he loves the combination of this cheesecake and oh hey if u hv not caught Gulliver's Travel.. go and watch it with ur other half cos its fun! ty Shiela for babysitting Sonia.. this weekend Wawa might need ur service again hehhe




Ingredients
170g digestive biscuits
30g brown sugar
70g butter, melted

20 pieces Werther's Original caramels
45 ml milk
1/4 tsp salt
90g pecans,chopped coarsely - I used almonds

Chocolate ganache
200g good dark chocolate - I used Manner couverture
170g nestle cream - I used double cream

500g cream cheese, softened
150ml sour cream- i used lite sour cream
150g brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/4 cup plain flour

Method
1. To make the Caramel Filling: Microwave everything on low till smooth and melted. Stir in nuts. Preheat oven to 160 degrees C - i make sure i crush Werther's bef microwaving it..

2. In a medium bowl, combine digestive crumbs, sugar and melted butter. Mix well and press into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of a 9 inch springform pan. Pour on melted caramel mixture and freeze for 30 minutes. (i used 10" springform pan)

3. To make ganache.. heat cream and pour onto chocolate.. let it sit for a few mins and stir till it thickenned.

4. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar,sour cream and vanilla until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Sift in the flour. Fold 1/3 of the filling into the chocolate ganache, then mix till smooth. Pour some white batter on the crust, marble half the chocolate batter thru then smooth on the remaining white batter. Marble the remaining chocolate batter on

5. Steam-bake (in bain-marie) in the preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until center is almost set. Cool in oven with door slightly open. Refrigerate overnight before serving.

6. Can decorate with chocolate glaze before serving...melt some chocolate with butter and a bit of golden syrup for a shiny look,pipe/drizzle randomly over the cake. - I did chocolate ganache instead.. Heat 150ml of double cream and pour it into 150g dark chocolate.. let it sit for a few mins bef stirring 20g of butter.





Source: Stef and Aunty Yochana

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Yep I am not well.. very bad stomach flu after I ate a plate of paper thosai last night.. u know me.. if i hv tummy flu it feels like bad contraction.. thank goodness i only felt it after we got home fm Mustaffa Center or else i wouldnt be able to even stand.. anyway i am ok now.. no more tummy flu.. Sonia was so so concerned abt me that she lay quietly besides me for half an hr and kept on saying.. "its ok mama.. dont worry.. dont cry.. sonia blow".. "Mama want sticker (aka plaster)??" i was in pain and couldnt help but smile when she said that.. awwww

Anyway ..i had wanted to go out today but hb told me to rest.. hmmmm rest?? how to rest when everyone is at home.. i worry abt too many things that there is no way i am able to just not do anything!! was a little agitated actually with hb but hey i guess he has his own agenda aka sending Hairi to a motorbike workshop!!! grrr




Ok ok cool off.. its year end.. dont get mad over little things Rima!! soooo this is what a supposedly "sick" woman cooked today.. i dont blog abt my everyday food but if i need to keep a recipe in here.. i will hv a posting on it.. this is a simple lunch and also a hot soup for moi.. i loveeee french onion soup.. theres something so so refreshing abt it even tho this soup can be so so fattening muahahahha

Ingredients
1 ½ lbs/680g yellow onions, thinly sliced
3 tbsp butter (I used unsalted and used 5tbsp hehe)
1 tbsp oil (I used canola)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar (helps with browning)
3 tbsp all purpose flour
2 quarts beef stock (I used a 1litre of Heiz chicken broth – lazy me), boiling when added to soup
½ cup dry white wine (I didnt use)
Salt & pepper to taste
3 tbsp cognac (I didnt use)
Rounds of hard toasted French bread
1-2 cups coarsely grated Swiss or Parmesan Cheese

For Trois Gourmandes version just before serving… (I skipped this part hehe)
1 tsp cornstarch
1 egg yolk
1 tsp Worcestireshire sauce
3 tbsp cognac

Method
1. Cook the onions slowly in butter and oil in a large, heavy bottom Dutch oven, covered for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally.

2. Uncover, raise heat to moderate and stir in salt and sugar. Cook for 30-40 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions are an even, deep, golden brown. Sprinkle in the flour and stir for 3 minutes.

3. Take the pot off the heat and blend in the boiling liquid. Add the wine and season to taste. Simmer, partially covered for 30-40 minutes. Correct seasoning.

If you are not serving right away, set aside.

4. Twenty minutes before serving, reheat soup to the simmer and add cognac or…for the full Trois Gourmandes version….

5. In a bowl, beat the cornstarch into the egg yolk, then Worcestershire sauce and cognac. Remove a ladleful of soup and add it to the mixture slowly with a fork. You don’t want to shock the egg yolk and curdle it. Add two more ladles of soup and blend. Pour this mixture back into the pot of soup and stir.

6. Preheat oven to 325°F/165°C and prepare individual oven proof soup bowls (Julia says you can do this in a large tureen)

7. Pour soup into each bowl, stir in some grated cheese. Float a crisply toasted slice of French Bread (spread with a little butter, or not) on top of the soup and add more grated cheese to completely cover it. Bake for 20 minutes and then under the broiler for a couple of minutes to brown the top a bit. Serve immediately.

For aglio olio pasta recipe u can go to my previous entry.. I used fresh pasta today.. yum yum!!

Oh oh bef i go.. wanna see something funny?? muahahahha this is what u called... putting a smile on a sick gal face!! kahkahkah

Ouch ouch! 6th most popular search keywords that takes you to my blog: "Singapore cougar baking" kahkahkah

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The post Christmas sale is on and u shud see the crowd in town yesterday... we were out the whole day yesterday.. not to shop till we drop.. no way... but to do little errands and at the same time to go to our fav cafe.. unfortunately when we got to Paragon.. Caffe Beviamo was closed.. so no Piccolo Latte coffee and sticky date pudding for us but instead we had our coffee in PS Cafe.. i am not saying PS Cafe is not that good.. it is .. the coffee is little thin for our liking and to be paying $15 for a slice of cake is a little pricey! :o(





Talking abt this pudding... i think we got addicted to it ever since we were still dating.. every single time we wanna hv desert we will head to Tanglin Mall.. their coffee is the best and their sticky date pudding is to die for.. anyway dont ask me why i hv not attempted baking it all this while cos i really hv no answer to it.. to be honest.. ever since i started baking full time again.. i hv never.. not once ordered any cake fm any bakery.. every single time i feel like ordering some i will always end up walking out of the bakery.. last week on my bday.. hb told me not to bake but instead buy one as my bday cake... i didnt end up doing so simply cos i cant.. and if i now start baking my fav sticky date pudding and if the recipe turns out well.. i dont think i would be able to enjoy my coffee with any other desert.. lets just say... dont spoil ur palette lah Rima.. u need to go to a cafe and hv coffee with some kinda desert!!





Anyway.. we got home.. had our dinner and had coffee with no cake.. i told hb that maybe its time for me to try out one of the two recipes which i hv kept in my notebook of sticky date pudding... so right after the 9:30pm news.. i took out my butter.. whipped it and bef i knew it .. my cake was ready... we didnt hv it right away as we didnt hv any vanilla ice cream in our fridge.. so this morning right after brekkie.. hb drove to the nearest supermarket.. got ourself Vanilla ice cream and guess what we had as desert... sticky date pudding in our own comfort zone.. weeeee my super fussy hb gave 9 1/2 out of 10 and walloped the whole plate.. the cake itself is super soft and moist.. full of flavor and i am so so glad that i used the batter baker butterscotch sauce recipe cos it didnt overpower this desert .. now how on earth am i gonna go back to my normal routine of having sticky date pudding and coffee in Caffe Beviamo!! welp!


Ingredients (serves 8)
250g pitted dates, chopped
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 cups boiling water
125g butter, softened - i used unsalted anchor brand and added 1/4 tsp to my flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract - no stock so used 2tsp of vanilla essence
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups White Wings Self-Raising Flour, sifted - i used flour and added 1tsp of baking powder

Butterscotch Sauce
90g brown sugar
120ml thickened cream - i used double cream
80g butter




Method
- Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line the base of a 7cm deep, 22cm (base) cake pan.

- Place dates and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Pour over boiling water. Allow to stand for 20 minutes - I boil water and dates and once it started to boil.. i off heat and added bicarbonate of soda.. let it stand for 20 mins or till lukewarm to touch.

- Using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until pale and creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Using a large metal spoon, fold through date mixture and flour until well combined.

- Spoon mixture into prepared cake pan. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Turn onto a plate.

- Make sauce Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until sauce comes to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 2 minutes.

- Pierce pudding all over with a skewer. Pour 1/2 cup of warm sauce over warm pudding. Stand for 10 minutes. Cut into wedges. Serve with remaining sauce.



This is Cafe Beviamo sticky date pudding pic that i took a year ago and was featured in my blog.. i remembered the day i took this pic.. new camera so the pic didnt do justice to how delish this sticky date pudding is..anywho if u want another recipe for the cake that uses less butter here it is..

Ingredients
200g pitted dates
300ml water
1 tsp baking soda
40g walnuts (optional)
60g butter
40g brown sugar
100g white sugar
2 eggs
150g flour
1 tsp baking powder


Source: First recipe taken fm Taste.au

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As I am typing this.. i realised that we hv like 5 more days bef year end... oh boy how time flies... its like a year ago i was blogging abt blueberry lemon cake and that i was sick blah blah blah... this year on the very same day.. alhamdullilah i am as fit as a fiddle.. i am trying to eat healthy.. ahemmm hahha.. am trying to stay healthy and am trying to get myself into the habit of going to the gym which i have never visited eversince we moved into this housing complex.. sigh... lazy lazy!



So anyway.. do u remember that i had to prepare macarons shells last night?? well listen to this.. I only fell asleep at 3am yesterday.. i did 3 batches which all turned out horrible... for some reason my macarons looked like flying saucers wearing a long skirt hahaha... I was frustrated.. agitated and at the same time trying to figure out what went wrong.. i still think that the egg white was the real culprit.. there is no way that i cud bake it without ageing another set of egg whites.. so with my head up high i quickly whiped up another batch using the same egg whites.. baked it and voila.. my shells turned out err well better than the earlier ones.. sigh.. i threw away the rest of my egg whites.. packed the ones that i had baked and went straight to bed..


Yesterday I woke up early.. did the chocolate ganache and piped in the filling.. pheww.. am so glad everything turned out well in the end.. ty sis Rita for the order.. hope u liked it!




So back to what i am supposed to blog abt in the first place lol.. i baked this cake on my birthday.. ahuh.. no cream.. no mousse.. nothing fancy for moi... this is the kind of cake that i like.. simple and nice and at the same time makes me wanna eat lots and forget abt going to gym hahaha .. thank you Sonia for sharing this wonderful recipe.. tmrw i will hv to force myself to start jogging around our compound :op



Ingredients
250g butter
100g sugar
5 egg yolks (large)
230g cake flour
1tsp double action baking powder
4tbsp milk
1/2tsp vanilla essence

5 egg whites (large)
90g sugar




Method
1. Place the butter, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy.
2. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour and baking powder and beat well to combine. Fold through the milk and combine well.
3. Beat egg whites in a clean large bowl until soft foam. Gradually add in sugar, and beat till soft peak.
4. Take one portion of the egg white mixture, and use a hand whisk to stir well with egg yolk mixture till combine and thick paste.
5. Slowly fold in the balance egg white with a spatula till well combine.
6. Spoon the batter in a cake pan which line the base with paper and lightly grease.
7. Bake at preheated oven at 180c for 55mins or until cooked when tested with a skewer.




Oh bef i go.. this is the rainbow jelly that i prepared for cousin Hairul for his engagement party... the good news is.. this one turned out good.. the bad news is.. my uncle didnt hv a proper plate for it and hence my jelly moved like theres no tomorrow while making its way to the girls house.. heard fm mom that they had to hold on to it and during the process.. my jelly was slightly damaged.. anywho.. Congrats Hairul.. semoga berkekalan hingga ke jinjang pelamin :o)



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First off.. we wanna wish all our friends and relatives a Merry Christmas...for those in Europe it is definitely a very White Christmas and I hope that everyone got home in time and safely... we woke up pretty early today despite the wonderful and cooling weather.. u can really feel the quietness and the serenity surrounding our house... Sonia and papa came down and gave me a big hug wishing me happy holidays... :o)




Anyway.. This is one cookie that is a must every year in the Aue's household.. hb will without fail request this cookie to be baked and served during Christmas.. the original recipe u can get fm my previous post.. this year i decided to use snow princess recipe and added almond powder to it.. :o)





Ingredients:
250g margarine - I used Anchor unsalted butter and added 1/4tsp salt
2 tbsp milk powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
225gg of low-protein flour - cake flour
225g almond powder


200g powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilli powder - I used 1/2 tbsp


Method
- Preheat oven to 160 deg C
- Grease a baking pan with margarine
- Beat margarine, milk powder, and baking powder until smooth
- Add sifted almond powder and flour, stir well until ur dough is good enough to shape
- Shape it like crescent
- Bake for 20 minutes, lift it immediately while its hot and roll it into ur powder sugar + vanilli (I sieved my sugar and pls be careful when ur roll em cos it break!)
- Store in airtight container





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I am so so sorry for not updating my blog eversince we got home fm KL... busy to the max and yes ever since we got home.. i hv baked twice..will load pics of what i baked soon.. I hv to prepare rainbow jelly in a moment and at the same time start baking macaron shells for tmrw's order.. :o)

Sooo its my birthday today.. as always every year.. come Christmas eve.. we would invite everyone to our place.. i would prepare dinner and after that would gv away presents... this year tho it was a little different.. we decided to celebrate my birthday a day earlier since sis wati was to fly to Medan tonight.. instead of cooking up a storm.. we decided to treat everyone to Swenson's (less work hehe).. drove back home and spent the night away at our place.. opening up presents.. laughing and just chilling.. so enjoy pics taken last night.. i had so much fun that age no longer matters to me.. as long as i am healthy and happy.. that matter most.. alhamdullilah... am blessed to hv my loved ones around me.. :o)


I am a one happy gal every year during christmas eve.. :op

Munching away... the kids enjoyed themself with the dessert buffet!

Danish got to go first.. he was ecstatic .. hysterical when he saw what we got him for Christmas hehe - priceless!

Adik and her pressie! - priceless!

We decided to let Hairi choose what he wants this year.. ok ok new motorbike decals for u and new tshirts to go along (which he promptly wore hehe..) - priceless!

Papa got Sonia three pressies this year... shes been playing with it all day long and ty 'Ayah' for buying her a new make up set hehe - priceless!

Its so so easy when it comes to buying Marissa a present.. book, books and more books.. and yes Yayan.. we know u love ur new beauty box - priceless!

All the laughters and smiles... priceless!


Hehe hb got himself a Christmas present.. got it wrapped and placed it under our tree.. yesterday he re-enacted Mr Bean's Christmas scene... everyone was laughing so so hard... ur the best babe!! - priceless!

LMAO... each time i look at these pics.. i will start laughing.. finally ey sis lyn!! glad u love it! - priceless!

Hehehe... sis Wati... hold on tight dear.. dont let ur girls take it away fm u haha - priceless!

Finally i got to use my newly bought bag - priceless!

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About Me

My photo
Hi.. I am a SAHM to 2 kiddoes..19yr old boy n 2 year old girl.. met my Austrian hubby here in Singapore and hv been living here all my life... my love for baking started when i was 6mths preggie to my daughter, Sonia... my addiction to baking has not stop eversince.. I hope to learn as much as i can abt baking and decorating and then share it with u along the way..