Notice on updates

I'm updating this blog after months of neglect, yay! Finally have some time to move old files from previous blogs and those that have never been published before, so bear with me, it might take sometime, and I'm going in a flashback mode too.. *impish grin* 

In the meantime, please check out the handful of entries that I currently have.. :) Drop a comment if you have time, and do check back often!

Mermaid & Seascape FREE Cake give-away

After the princess doll cake, I felt like decorating some more dolls, they are so versatile! So, I planned to give this mermaid version away for another little girl's first birthday. It was another fun project, but all cake decorating are usually fun projects, unless you get weird orders, that is.

Unfortunately, the girl's parents have got something planned for the event, and so the mermaid is now up for grabs.. really! At the moment I'm not aware of any other little girl's birthday, and rather than wasting it away, I'd love to give it to anyone who wants it. 

Here's what's included:  

1x 8" (20cm) round dummy/artificial cake with mermaid figurine as centerpiece, and it comes with 16 mini lemon cupcakes, decorated in similar theme. They come in two separate boxes. Below I've included the centrepiece picture (without the cupcakes) 

the octopus is offering a pearl to her...

Here's more details:

For those with genuine interest only, please email me: deemonic@gmail.com or text me on 0421 346 777 in advance, as the cupcakes will only be made then; I'll be more than happy to oblige. (If you want me to send you the pics in more details, let me know too)

Please note that since there's only 1 cake offered, whoever emails/texts me first will get it, and also, I won't be available after 18 December 2010 til' the end of the year 2010, so this offer stands to last for about 2 weeks only! 

We can arrange to meet up for you to pick up the cake. I'm based in South of the River, Perth, W.A. Once again, this cake is completely FREE of charge, you just need to pick it up, that's all...  Hope this mermaid finds its new home soon!!

All tangled up...

What a hot day today! We had the top of 35°C and it's not even Summer yet... I'm dreading the scorching days even more now that I'm pregnant, as the body heats up much faster now. I should be getting a hair cut soon or risk looking like Sadako when I deliver the baby (from The Ring, a Japanese horror blockbuster from a decade ago. If you don't know it or have never seen the movie, just thank me for not putting her picture here...) that'll surely freak everyone out at the St. Mary's ward.. *evil grin*

My hair's grown almost to the waist now, though I had it trimmed about 3 months or so ago. Another one of those pregnancy hormone wonders, of that I'm sure...

With that in mind, I search for a simple, easy to maintain hairstyle, preferably one that just requires a couple of head shakes in the morning before I walk out of the house. Maybe a military crew-cut for guys would suit me (NOT!)....  You see, I like looking at breezy styles such as these, but don't think they'll suit me..

or

Maybe I should just stop thinking and get it done, after all, it wouldn't do much harm, right? (but I do recall that one time I had a hair cut years ago, I was dropped off at the hair salon by my sister, and when she came back, she exclaimed, "I came to drop off a sister and now I'm going home with a brother?!".... that didn't sit well with me for a while... ^_~ ) oh well.. Anyway, I've gotten a contact number of this Japanese hairstylist that I'd like to try, I think she does her business from home, but also is a mobile hairdresser. If I get an appointment with her sometime soon, I'll see what she suggests for this troublesome hair!!!

On raffle tickets and competitions

I want to quit being a sloth and actually post daily, but it is such a difficult task to do... 

Anyways, when I went to IKEA last week, I was onto something good. I found out about the gingerbread house competition that they're holding, and that instantly perked me up. The idea is for you to get a pack of their "Pepparkakhus" (Ginger bread house), then decorate it to your heart's content, submit a picture of the result to IKEA, then cross your fingers as you wait for the judges to vote.

Apparently, the best 10 entries will be rewarded with a $100 gift voucher.. that's quite neat, right? (I could use one for sure!)

  
I love competitions and raffles despite the sad fact that I've only ever won a small Easter raffle back in my high school years... perhaps it's because of this unfulfilled yearning, I'm always excited when I see raffle ticket booths... especially those ones that have a car display alongside the booth. You just know you'll never win one, yet it lures you to buy the ticket, doesn't it? 


Well, wish me luck, I shall update the result within a few weeks' time.. :)
For more details on this competition,grab a copy of the form in the store. Be quick though, it closes on 12th December'10!!

Baby club

Have you ever heard of Coles Baby Club? yes, there's such thing. (I'm not sure about Woolworths though) Last week I was leisurely doing my grocery shopping and noticed the form at one of the registers. I took it home with me and read all about it. It's based in the Eastern states, but people in W.A. can also apply to be a member (via mail/ online) free of charge.

This entitles you to a monthly subscription to Coles' baby & toddler magazine (up til' the bub is 3 years old) sent to your chosen address, email subscriptions & offers from Coles. Just a few days ago I received my very first magazine! and it's jam-packed with useful articles to read, ideas on baby & toddler recipes, parents' stories, and a number of offers. 

I feel it's such a good idea for Coles to do this, it certainly helps relieve the anxiety of first-time (would-be) mums just like me, because it's simple & practical... I'm glad I signed up that day!!

If you're interested, you can check out this link and sign up online too!

Shop til' you drop?

With the end of the month fast approaching, I have to start thinking about the baby's nursery. Yes, indeed, the baby's due in the beginning of Feb, if not the end of January, and I haven't even started? I must be one of the most relaxed would-be-moms around here. 

Truthfully, I have been feeling rather homely these days, and shopping for baby stuff is rather an overwhelming experience! There are so many nice, cute things (not necessarily important things) out there that makes you want to buy 'em all! So, the trip to the shop just gets delayed and delayed some more until I noticed the date.. and that made me look for books & magazines on essential baby items. I found Cosmo pregnancy baby checklist a pretty useful read for a starter.

I feel that sometimes having a baby means you have to allocate a tremendous budget for him/her. (imagine, you need a new bed, new bathtub, changing table, new wardrobe, car seat, transportation (a.k.a stroller) and you may need to upgrade your car too, new set of clothes, nappies, sterilisation kit, and so on and so forth..) the list is seemingly endless. 

I guess it pays to be a little creative in accommodating this new person into the family, such as lobbying friends & family for their used baby goods *grins*, and checking out online shops. I found a great long list on the same magazine above, so I will start looking very soon!

A Holstein cow

This week was a busy one.. and at the end of it we're invited for a friend's son's birthday. I've been told by many of these married friends with kids that they're attending up to 7 kids' parties in a week! imagine all those cakes & cupcakes you'll be eating in a week!! :) Oh well, we haven't even gotten kids just yet, but we're invited to a few of them, and I think they're great fun (unless you're the one hosting it.. hee hee.. then it'll probably a bit chaotic instead)

Well, the parents of this little boy were making a cake for him, but I just added some cupcakes to it, and the cow-themed cake as well, because I couldn't resist the cute cow theme they're having for the birthday boy!! Underneath the sugarpaste is a moist & finger-lickin' good chocolate cake that tastes like mudcake.. though not as rich... and the doll? I modelled it after my cow doll, "Moo".

milestone - the 7th month

Finally getting to the last trimester of pregnancy! It has been quite a journey up to 28 weeks now.. from the beginning when those achy, tiring feeling took place that made me suspect something was amiss to the very obvious fact that my tummy is ballooning quite vigorously. 

It's one of the reasons I turn to blogging, since I can do less and less chores without receiving disapproving frowns from my family. I was going to start earlier on to journal this experience, yet the pregnancy hormones turned against me and made me into such a lazy bum in the past couple of months.


As the months rolled by, I've collected enough baby scans now that when I looked at them, I see such a rapid pace of growth it amazes me to no end...

So I decided to compile and include them in with the scrapbook that I'm working on. I'd like to think of it as a flashback progress. ^_^ Can you see the picture clearly? the top left was my first scan at about 7 weeks, and the bottom left was one at 19 weeks.. big difference!!! 


Yeah, so about this scrapbook, before this, I've never made one, so I'm kinda dreading the end result. Hopefully it's not going to be that messed up...

getting there...

Glucose test today! thankfully it requires no fasting. (it's gonna give me a hard time otherwise, as I'm hungry every two hours recently...) I made my way to the Pathology center @ SJOG in the afternoon with a bag-full of books (I've been warned about the hour-long wait).

They gave me a soda drink 1 hour prior to taking my blood sample (*bleugh.. I haven't had soda for a loooong, loooong time now!!) and the rest of the waiting time was a blur, as the room has air-con and I had with me a copy of the Sandra Brown's novel... ^_~ 

Well, hopefully the test comes out okay, or I'll be {forced} to return to the same place for a second test that will take around 2 and a half hours.. I'd rather not! the worst case scenario is, I'd have to forgo all the nice, sugary, chocolate-y stuff til' the end of the term. I'd really, really rather not!!!!

Banana bread

Craving for sweets? Well, I have been indulging in one too many... I really have to limit my sugar intake after that last week's blood glucose test turned out to be quite high (yes, at times it sucks to be pregnant). What a bummer! and for some reasons I can't peel myself away from sweet confections. 

Well anyway, I have some left-over bananas from the other day and they're ripening so quickly because of the horrid hot weather we've been having, so naturally I thought of banana cake or something similar to bake. With a stroke of luck, I came across a beautifully written recipe by Fig & Cherry, where she came up with a mouth-watering banana bread recipe that sounded so simple to make. So I made an exception this time, and baked this wholesome creation (I only omitted the clove and substitute walnuts to almond)

  *quietly vows to only try a slice once the bread is done.....

BANANA BREAD

Ingredients

125 g butter, melted & cooled

3 over- ripe bananas

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

a pinch of cinnamon

1 1/2 cup plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

a handful of raw almonds, roughly chopped (since they're one of the healthiest nuts around)

1. Pre-heat the oven to 175C, line a standard loaf tin with baking paper 
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt at least 2 to 3 times.
3. Mash the bananas, add in melted butter, sugar, egg, vanilla and cinnamon.
4. Mix in the sifted flour to the banana mixture until just combined.
5. Pour into the prepared bake pan and sprinkle with the almonds, if using
6. Bake for approximately 50 minutes to 1 hour until the bread rises and skewer comes out clean when inserted at the centre of it.

As I baked it, my whole kitchen smelled heavenly of fragrant bananas, cinnamon and almonds, it made me swoon! And once I took it out of the oven, the tempting loaf beckoned me to immediately cut it. I had to leave the kitchen and fast!!

At the end, I couldn't leave the kitchen too long before I came back to it, sliced the edge of the loaf, and slather a generous layer of butter on top... truly wonderful!!

Chocolate beetroot cake

Looking back, the past week has been quite an uneventful one, save from going to and fro from the airport to send my family members for their trip overseas. (yes, I'm envious, I won't be able to board a plane til' the middle of 2011.. anyways, it's just too far off to think about now)

Hence, my being in the kitchen to experiment with a few new recipes seems like a perfect diversion from all this Christmas holiday travels that everybody's talking about...

So I marched to the kitchen, looked into the fridge and amongst my meager fridge inventory, I saw a few fresh bulbs of beetroot, gleaming ruby red in color as if trying to scream "pick me! pick me!". So I did pick 'em, washed 'em, steamed 'em then this chocolate-y beetroot cake recipe came to mind soon after....

CHOCOLATE BEETROOT CAKE  

Ingredients: 

190 g caster sugar

50 g cocoa powder

180 g plain flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder 

a pinch of salt

270 g steamed, peeled beetroot (1 medium sized bulb)

3 medium eggs

200 g margarine, melted, cooled

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C, line a 15 cm square bake pan of medium thickness with baking paper. (you can also use 18 cm round/ square if you'd like)
2. Sift cocoa powder, flour, baking powder & salt together twice. Mix with the sugar, set aside.
3. Puree/ mash the steamed beetroot, add in the eggs gradually. 
4. Blend the flour mixture with the beetroot mixture with a spatula, adding the melted margarine & vanilla as you go. Mix until just blended.
5. Bake for approximately 55 minutes (depending on the pan's size) or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted at the centre of the cake.
6. Allow to cool in the pan before turning it out onto a wire rack.

This cake turned out to be quite dense and moist, and rather chocolate-y with the subtle hint of the earthy beetroot lending its sweetness to it. I simply dusted it with some more cocoa powder for a bittersweet finish, but I imagine it will also be delish if you have some fresh/ frozen berries to make compote to be enjoyed alongside the cake. It would then become more festive and even befitting of a Christmas season's dessert!