Baked Nigella's Lemon-Syrup Loaf Cake on Friday morning...as I had a friend over for coffee and chit-chat. Have to say that I was quite pleased with the overall result. The cake was moist and lemony. Not too sweet and not exactly soaking wet from the lemon syrup. It was just right.
And on Saturday, as I had S2's friends over, I made Chocolate Cupcakes from the recipe that D gave. I have to say that I panicked abit when the batter looked toooooo watery. Was afraid that the cupcakes wouldn't rise. Worse when I put the batter in the little papercups, it was more than 2/3 full. Luckily, the cupcakes did rise quite nicely. The results were quite good. Cupcakes were soft and moist. Only thing is that I must use better quality cocoa powder in future. Could taste the "not so nice" cocoa taste. Otherwise, it would have been perfect.
Yeah. I know my decor NOT nice. Didn't bother to smoothen the chocolate topping. Kids won't really care how it looks also.
Actually....my kids NOT real cake-eaters. Everytime I bake, most of the baked goods goes to the hired help. For example, out of these 12 cupcakes, S1 ate 2, S2 ate 1, friends ate 2, gave them 2 to bring home...and the remainder 5 all went to the staff. 2 for the guards, 2 for the maid and 1 for the driver.
H?
He doesn't like cupcakes.
If I bake exact same recipe but in a loaf or normal cake tin, he'll eat it.
But in cupcake form?
He won't even touch it.
SIOW, I know.
"Swa-Koo"
Literally translated to "Hill Tortoise" .... or rather "Hillbilly".
Was actually referring to my two boys.
Decided to bring them to have Teppanyaki for dinner. I think the last time they had teppanyaki was at Benihana at Pattaya....yonks ago. Doubt that they remembered what teppanyaki is.
So...made some calls to the various Japanese restaurants. Though many serve teppanyaki, not that many cook it in-front of the patrons. And I wanted my "Swa-Koos" to experience the REAL teppanyaki experience.
Where did we end up then?
Nadaman at Shangri-La Hotel.
Ordered a Sirloin Steak Set and a Seafood Set.....Nope. Didn't bring camera. So no photos.
When the chef was cooking our dinner, my S2 was like "take picture. take picture". hahahah....so "Swa Koo"......"hiong har chai choot saang saeng!".
Yes. They enjoyed dinner tremendously...even asked that we go there again today!
GILA lah....
Too Modern?
Went out to the mall this morning with the three boys...and bought this tealights-sculpture.
I first saw it last year...when my friend, EL and family came over for a visit. She bought one of these. I thought it looked kinda nice. So when I was at the mall today, I popped into the same shop to see if it was still there...it was. And I decided to buy it. Can't remember how much EL paid but I paid about USD 44/- for it.
When I brought it home....I tried to put it at different places in the house....somehow, my woody ethic Chinesey-style of my living/dining area just didn't seem to be able to accommodate this modern looking tealights-scupture. At the moment, it's just sitting atop one of my cabinets. Maybe I have to shift this upstairs to the NOT-so-woody upstairs living area.
Maids!
Maids all the same one. The longer they worked, the more "indispensable" they think they are. It was my maid's off-day on Saturday. Usually, she goes off on Saturday, 4 pm and is expected back at 4 pm the following day, so that she could make dinner on Sunday night. Since we didn't have much going on yesterday, I told her she could go after washing up after lunch. She came to tell me that she was leaving at 1.50 pm. Nevermind.
And then she said that she'll be back at 7 pm.
Not asking permission. TELLING!
Of course I made noise.
Then she said 6.30 pm.
What's the diff??? Blardy half an hour only.
Summore we (H and I) were supposed to try our luck to get last-minute tickets to watch George Benson/Al Jarreau live!
Geeeeezzzz....Of course I was upset. So, after that, I was still "ngamm ngamm chamm chamm" and was telling H that I need to have proper talk with the maid when she gets back.
H's remark was "NO Need to talk to her anymore. If she does it again, just fire her".
Aiya....easy for him to say. He's not the one having to train a new maid.
Yes. At the rate that we pay (the locals pay their maids approximately USD 50, but we pay about USD 100), definitely there are people willing to work for us....BUT. BUT. It's such a hassle to train a new maid. Don't you think so?
So what do I do when the maid came back this evening?
I asked her lah..if she still wants to work. She said YES. And proceeded to apologised blah blah blah. Told her what's the use of apologising if she continues to do what she is doing?
WE, the employers have to change our plans to suit the maid??? Where can???
I gave her long grandmother story about what H said....about NOT giving her another chance.
Painted H to be the NASTY guy (actually...he is! Apparently people fear him at work...cause he is sooooo nasty! He is also nasty at home! Towards me!!!!)
So she better buck up.
Or be out of the door.
Oh yeah...and another thing. She's also gonna be gone for 8 long daya over the Raya holidays. I expected her be gone for only 5 days...and she didn't bother to tell me the dates that she will be gone until I asked her..... 28th Sept to the 6th Oct.
See lah? Really toooo much lah.
Again, we have to scramble to find someone to babysit/supervise the boys on Sunday, 5th Oct.
We've bought tickets to watch Diana Krall performing live at the Ritz Carlton Hotel.
And Monday, 6th October would be a school day....thus we need to have the boys in bed earliest...so the babysitter/supervisor needs to stay quite close to our house.
Geezzz....
Maids! Can't live with them. Can't live without them.
8 comments:
Oi! Better buck up on the cake making. Another disaster and H may kick you out the house!! Hahaha! I am sure his bark is worse than his bite.
You are absolutely right about the maids. We all have the same problem. But what to do? We have become too dependant on them.
Talking of teppanyaki, i love those that deliver the food right to your mouths. They tell you to sit there with mouth open and they shoot it in!! Love to watch it, but not when they do it to me!!
wah...
george bensen, got tix ah?
Funny this H don't eat cupcakes...only if it's out of a proper cake tin. Why? Too feminine ah?
easier to eat mah..just pop the whole thing in the mouth..assuming it's a BIG mouth! WAKAKAKAKAKAAKAK!
wei bake until so san fu give hired help..sai em sai tit ah?? once in a while ok la..all the time give...cannot geh...spoil them only..hahahaa
Yala, maids. My new maid also, so sua ku, everything edible also she gasap, no need to even ask. That day bought 6 JCo, and she ate 4. I went fuming mad la. Really gave her a piece of my mind. Cannot tahan.
Your cupcakes look good!
Agree about the maids....I hate training new ones.
SAHM - Don't really need to buck up lah...Just have to use NORMAL tins and NOT in cupcakes. :-)
Errr....shoot food right into mouth? Isn't that gonna burn the mouth??
Mott - Aiya..didn't go and watch George Benson/Al Jarreau lah. Told you maid didn't come back home early.
As for the cupcakes, I really don't understand why he won't eat cupcakes. *Scratches head*
Laundryamah - If I don't give, we also cannot finish a dozen of cupcakes...I don't like to keep them for too many days.
Shern's Mom - Wah...your maid so terrer...eat 4 out of 6 donuts. If I , also will scold her like mad!
Bryan & Brandon's Mama - Yeah. Nothing worse than training new maids who refuses to learn!!!
wah..your cupcake looks good wat !!!
maids, sigh. when I used to have maids, I think I can't live without them. Now I have no maids, I am glad I live without them. Then we get a replacement maid from an agent who owe us one from 2 years back (now only giving replacement!!),I got lazy all over again. I tell you, we get so lazy when we have maids, but when we have none, we discover we actually can do very well without them.
Allthingspurple - WAAAAA...replacement maid takes TWO years to come? Cialatt man.
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