Whirlwind In A Mama's Head

Yesterday was an 'off' day as I had an afternoon nap that lasted until 8 pm. It was definitely NOT the hottest idea because I was wide awake until past 4 am. Less than 3 hours later my alarm rang, and it was time to get Miss Kiki ready to go to school. Lucky for me, my sister is driving her to school this week. Or my dad. Yeah... very lucky. Well I spent a good portion of my time in bed not sleeping, but browsing pinterest and youtube, and I got excited about baking. Not to let my excitement turn to dust, as soon as Miss Kiki left I got started. The project this morning is the Potato Duchess. I don't know where the Potato Duchess got its name from, but they are pretty, and very easy to make. Here's what you need: 3 medium sized potatoes (about 750 grams) 2 egg yolks 2 tablespoon of butter or margarine salt, pepper, nutmeg to taste any other spices you like: I used coriander and garlic powder Cooking spray (or melted butter, or vegetable oil) ...

Just very recently I learnt about the difference between the American scone (biscuits) and the English scone. Basically they are similar and yet very different. The difference lies in the amount of butter and sugar. I read somewhere that the English scone has less butter and sugar because it is meant to be eaten with jam and butter or whipped cream. This morning I made both. One turned out well because I've made it before. The other one, however, had awesome texture but tasted horrible. It was bitter, and I think it was because I put too much baking soda in it. So today I will share with you the good one, which is based on the  Ham and Scallion Scone  recipe but made "Halal" by substituting the ham with Gouda cheese instead. Here's what you need: 3 cups all purpose flour 1/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup cold butter 1 cup buttermilk (can be substituted with regular milk with a teaspoon of vinegar) 1 cup shredded med...

Chinese New Year is coming up, and I remembered that because on my facebook timeline appeared a picture of CNY themed clays for sale. These clays are soooo cute I could not help but buy! You've probably seen my tutorials for bows and hair pins before and I love making those. But clay is not something I have the patience for... So I made 4 pairs of pins with clay yesterday, and I plan to make bows for them sometime soon.....  Since the hair pins are for Miss Kiki, I asked her to choose which CNY clay she wanted on her pin. She chose these cute ones with buns and flowers. Chinese New Year theme Then she said "Mom, can we make one for Valentine's Day too?" And she chose these clays and ribbon. Valentine's Day theme So I said "Hey Ki, I am also planning to make you Christmas themed ones." So she chose these clays and ribbon. And I ended up making them at the same time. Christmas themed Then she continued "Let's make on...

Last week, one of my friends posted a picture from her daughter's birthday with a "Nasi Tumpeng" in it. Traditionally, in Java and some other places in Indonesia, this mountain-shaped rice dish is served for special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, and other celebrations. Below are some pictures of full blown Nasi Tumpeng platters. From satelitnews.co From bundatwinskitchen.files.wordpress.com From indochili.com Impressed yet? Well, the fore-mentioned friend offered me to come over to her place and learn how to make it so of course I gladly went! I am well aware of my cooking capability (and patience) so we made a much simpler (and smaller) version of it.  For the rice you need: 2 cups uncooked rice 1 cup coconut milk (you can put more or less depending on your preference) 1 stem lemongrass 2 bay leaves (dried or fresh) 2 lime leaves (dried or fresh) some turmeric (powder or fresh) water Here's the how to: ...

When your child starts going to school, it is inevitable that they would be exposed to food and drinks less healthy than what you would want for her.  For Miss Kiki, chocolate milk falls into that category. Or any other coloured milk. Most of these milk are packed with artificial flavours, artificial colours, or at least an enormous amount of sugar - way more than a child needs. Luckily for me, Miss Kiki can be reasoned with. I explained to her why those little boxed sweet liquid are not good for her and that I would make her a better one. So I did, and she loved it. She said that it was better that the others. You can try it for yourselves! All you need is cocoa powder, honey, and fresh milk.  Approximately 1 tsp cocoa powder 1 tsp honey 1 cup milk If your milk is cold, it can be tricky to mix in the cocoa powder. But if you want cold chocolate milk, it doesn't make sense to warm it up and chill it again... so what I did was..... Get a drinking cu...

And these are the rest of the pictures from Manado...