【Hello, Kitty 。易容吉蒂貓】

Jan. 21, 2011 Bright Sunny day ;>

Mummy has planned to bake her most favourite pineapple tarts today, she pressumed that she won't have time to prepare *happy lunch* for Iroko. Hence, she made the little one a *happy breakfast*--Kitty d' Cheese sandwich ;D

【Hello, Kitty!! 易容吉蒂貓】
A kitten that has underwent plastic surgery >,<

 Mummy thought of making a Hello Kitty, but the end result doesn't seem so, hehe... That's why , mummy changed the title to: Hello, Kitty ;p

It's quite simple to prepare (mummy always says the same, hehe...). It needs more tools though...

Tools used for 【Hello, Kitty】
The 2 straws were used to cut the nose and the buttons on Kitty's shirt.

Cat was Iroko's top favourite and the first ever animal attracted her when she was baby.
No surprise, the first soft toy we bought her was a cat too.

【Mummy made it!! yoohoo... 。年餅之沾沾自喜篇】

2011年1月21日 晴空萬里的大好天

幾個月前媽咪就一直計劃要為即將來臨的農曆新年做年餅，而排在名單裡最前的就是媽咪最最最喜愛的“黃莉塔”了！！

這是媽咪第一次烘培黃梨塔，除了帶著滿滿的期待和喜悅，媽咪更是下足本錢，特地買了坐飛機來的‘萊佬貨’，讓她一嚐鍾情的‘DOLE黃梨’！真的一分錢，一分貨，確實沒讓媽咪失望，味道真的比較香！

因為家裡少了其中一樣材料--奶粉，媽咪原本打算延遲一天才做這餅，但因為嚐過了那天德國香酥奶油餅的成就感，媽咪對風車粉（馬鈴薯粉）抱有很大的希望，就鋌而走險的自改食譜，用風車粉取代奶粉（對於一個像媽咪的新手來說真的很冒險）。。。所以在等待第一批成品出爐時，真的有點待嫁女兒心的感覺。。。結果的結果真的讓媽咪有點喜出望外（不好意思，請允許媽咪沾沾自喜一次），一口咬下去時，真的感動死了！！不論口感味道都是媽咪9期待的--又香又酥，不會油膩，外皮很輕（不會像吃麵團的感覺），內餡頂級的香+適度的甜，（不會像吃糖泥的感覺）！愛死了！！

噠啷。。。

【沾沾自喜黃梨塔】
這麼多年來，媽咪每年都特地花錢買，現在找到這可遇不可求的食譜，真的有點覺得“相逢恨晚”

由於沒有準備擠外皮的模具，加上媽咪像盡量保持黃梨餡的新鮮，所以就弄黃梨形狀，把餡料包住，因為是第一次，媽咪用了好幾個小時才把那40多個塔完成！

後記：一開始還不會拿捏皮和餡的比例時，就狠狠地把多多的餡擠進去。結果到最後餡料用完了，皮還剩。爹地就建議用罐頭草莓醬。

烘過的草莓醬多了一份微微的焦味，恰是美味！

【Gong Xi Fa Cai 。過新年咯！！】

2011年1月20日 太陽出現了

最近{媽-masak}廚房特別的忙，因為媽咪第一次烘培年餅，由上星期的Nutty Cornflakes Cookies, 昨天的德國香酥奶油餅，到今天的花生餅。一直以來媽咪都沒想過要弄花生餅（因為實在太多想要烘培的蛋糕/曲奇餅。。。在腦海裡團團轉了），但因為女兒的契媽很喜歡花生餅，所以媽咪也跟著興致勃勃地想要試試弄這款非常傳統的年餅。

本來只想弄典型的圓形，後來又想用模具切朵花，但因為時間有限，又切得不好看，所以將錯就錯，就在圓形上印上一朵花，也還不賴嘛 ;)

有了這次的初體驗，以後要是再有機會弄這個，就知道，花生一定要選上等，大顆的，不然，要為它們剝皮，真的是要命！！

【Deutsch Cookies 。德國香酥奶油餅】

2011年1月19日 晴。月圓

這是近年來風頭蠻勁的年餅之一。第一次吃到是在前年新年，幫襯舊同事買了一罐RM20!! 雖然有點“肉痛”，但還蠻喜歡它的口感和味道 ;) 記得第一口吃進去的那一刻，真的又驚又喜，因為從來沒吃過那麼爽口，那麼松酥的年餅！！

後來家婆憑著感覺自己研發了她的食譜，味道已經99%接近了，只是餅乾太酥了，拿在手，還沒放進嘴巴就散了，所以常常都吃到滿地都是，弄得髒兮兮，尤其是IROKO那寶貝。。。

最近無意間媽咪在她很喜愛的部落格找到了這食譜，就迫不及待想趁這個新年試做。

看到成品時真的很興奮！！

口感和触感都跟媽咪第一次吃到的一模一樣，又香又酥，最重要是入口即溶，但又不會粘牙齒，牙縫！也沒有一拿起來就散的問題！愛死這食譜了'u'

第一批還拿捏不好，弄得很粗魯，很大。得到教訓後，就把SIZE減了一半！

後記：女兒的爸吃了讚好，但還加了一句--“我看你還是跟cookies比較有緣，蛋糕嘛。。。。 >,<

【Mini Underwater World 。潛到海底去】

Jan. 18, 2010 Sunny morning Cloudy afternoon

This mini underwater world has been placed on the waiting list since months ago. It turned up at last ;)




Mummy hates the most frying fish but she has to do it today because the fishes have been sitting in the freezer for about a week time! Will definitely be very fishy if they're steamed! Surprisingly, Iroko took the fried fish (she hardly ate more than 3 feedings if it's steamed one >,< No surprise actually, mummy remembers,during her pregnancy, she had bad nausea when she smelled steamed fish!!)

Like mother like daighter! Iroko does love prawns as well!!
But, this is not a real one babe ;p

Ah, there is something "new" to introduce today! Mini pumpkin from Cameron Highlands. What so new/special? Firstly, the size is much smaller than ordinary pumpkins. It is just as big as normal size grapefruit or XL size orange! Next, the skin is edible!! Mummy used them to cook soup. The soup taste sweet and it's true that the skin is so soft and you simply don't feel you are eating pumpkin skin!!



Mini pumpkin soup



【mama-sOaP 。苦艾草平安母乳手工皂】

2011年1月16日 晴

話說好幾個月前媽咪參加了某雜誌的有獎遊戲，結果被抽中，獎品就是免費母乳手工皂課程, 嘢。。。(^.^)v

又話說，之前（一年半前，當媽咪還是上班擠奶一族時）所留下來的奶庫，都被女兒洗澡用的7788了，還好那天女兒得了手足口症，不喝奶時，媽咪收集了一瓶“鮮奶”，現在正派上用場了，嘢。。。(^.^)v

對於這一次的手工皂課程，媽咪真的是期待萬分，嘢。。。(^.^)v
來看看吧！

首先，當然要有“食譜”啦！

課程也包括了所有的材料和工具

手工皂的主要用料包括氢氧化钠/鹼，各類不同分量的基础油品（如，椰子油，葡萄籽油，棕櫚油，甜杏油。。。），精華油，植物粉，當然還有母乳咯！！



基础油品



媽咪的母乳

母乳冰塊準備好了後就要開始量油品了！要製造好的手工皂，一定要“斤斤計較”，要非常的精準，1絲1毫也不能加，不能減哦！

小心，小心，加錯了油就完蛋了>,<

油品準備好了就要把它加熱。

油的溫度要維持在攝氏40度

戲肉來了--慢慢地把鹼加入母乳。由於鹼在溶解的過程會散發熱能，但因為要保存母乳中的營養，所以溫度的控制是極度重要。因此，製造手工母乳的這一個環節是最考功夫，最挑戰能耐，也是最累的！少一點點耐性，攪拌技巧，就會毀了母乳的價值！

媽咪有點心急，所以一個不小心倒多了鹼進母乳，又攪拌得不夠快，溫度瞬間飆升，所以母乳變黃了;(
希望沒有影響到母乳的品質！

接著，就是把油品加入母乳。再攪拌至稍微濃稠（如果溫度一直維持在40度大概要30分鐘，要是溫度降低又沒給混合料加溫，可能要攪上1，2個小時！！）

最後就是加入精油和苦艾草粉（有避邪，消毒作用），再倒入模具，再等個24小時的造化，就完成了。

手工皂的造化過程需要至少24小時，之後就可以把它切成塊。

噠啷。。。出爐了！

這個時候可以給手工皂蓋印章了;)

愛心母乳手工皂完成了！

雞蛋變形器印出來的手工皂 ;)

對了，要45天的陰乾+退鹼才能使用哦！

感覺上製造手工母乳就像平時媽咪烘培蛋糕，但卻需要更多的專注，耐心，精準度和愛心！忙了3個小時，媽咪就累得不像話！真的很佩服那可愛的EVI老師！
但，既能環保又可以呵護心愛的人的皮膚， 何樂而不為？

【Oink~Oink Cheesy Day ‘@’ “金豬”（金瓜+懶豬）湊熱鬧來咯！】

Jan. 14, 2011 Rainy morning Sunny noon Cloudy evening 

Mummy found the piggie illustrated in Iroko's pocket book very cute, therefore, she decided to "invite" two piggies on the farm to play with Iroko this afternoon!

【Oink~Oink! Piggies on the run!!】

It has been quite some time mummy didn't serve Iroko with sausage. She was so excited when seeing daddy having sausages as his supper last night. She then requested mummy to get her sausage for her lunch. So, here you are babe *@*

As mummy promised Natalie 姑姑 there will be cake waiting for her as she arrived tonight. So mummy tried out a new recipe, which she intended to experiment since long time ago. It's the show time ;)

Freshly out from oven!! Need to be chilled for at least 2 hours then!

What do you think they are? Yes, cheesecake! Pumpkin cheesecake. Baked-->Chilled PUMPKIN cheesecake!

Mummy"engraved" 2 mini pumpkins to decorate the cake (for photoshooting purpose, hehe...), daa lang...

"Carrot Pumpkins"

Just a few cuts with simple tools that everyone has at home--knife and scissors (just to cut the stem, which originally attached to an apple ;p).

Tools used to engrave carrot pumpkin

Before the cheesecake is chilled, the texture was like pudding, and it didn't really taste good >,< Mummy was quite worried that she would disappoint Nat 姑姑. However, the taste magically changed to a different one after being chilled for 7 hours. At least 二姨, Iroko and mummy like it ;D

The only shortcoming is that the base is not solid enough. This is because mummy couldn't press too hard as she is using paper cups to hold the cakes. In general, the mission is accomplished!!

Hope you like it, Nat 姑姑 ;)

【Pumpkin Cheesecake】

【A Wonderful EAT-PLAY-LOVE Day 。好心情】

Jan. 13, 2011 Rainy day

Cat was the first animal attracted Iroko when she was 6-month-old. As she grows, more animals enter to her world and she is now not so fond of cat. For no special reason, mummy simply felt like making her a kitten this morning.

【Playful Dirty Kitten 。污濁貓】

Although it couldn't be done within a minute or two (definitely < 10min. for beginners), it is still considered as an easy-to-prepare non-cook breakfast!



Tools used to prepare the【Playful Dirty Kitten】

 Mummy used 3 cookie cutters (eggplant, peanut, and bell shape) to cut the tail, paws, and the ears. The body and head were cut by using the measuring cup and the lid of Marmite container (forgot to include in the photo). Now only mummy realised that she was so blundered--she was to put the scissors, which was used to cut the nose, instead of the knife >,<

The lunch is also Iroko's top favourite--ICE-CREAM!!


【Potato "Ice-Cream" 。不是雪糕，是“薯”糕】
arrrgggg, got cheated by mummy!!

 Of course mummy will never prepare real ice-cream as Iroko's lunch!! It's mashed potato. Besides, to make sure the little one gets sufficient fluid intake, mummy prepared spinach soup (forgot to take a picture of it).
Guess what, Iroko finished everything!! That was a big size potato!

Iroko loves orange soooooo much recently until she totally forewent her "EX"--strawberry. We don't always get nice strawberry even some were imported and didn't come cheap--RM12 for <10 strawberries!! Daddy, as you wished--your daughter found her new love!



看她這副吃得津津有味，多麼享受的模樣，就想像得到她是有多愛ORANGE!!

 

【Welcoming the Rabbit Year 。爸爸，你要揚眉“兔”氣哦！】

Jan. 12, 2011 Sunny Windy Cloudy day

The best plan is never have a plan! Well, this is quite true most of the time especially in the {ma-masak} kitchen. Many *happy meals* just came into picture in adhoc. Just like the "Carrot Rabbit" lunch of the day ! Initially, mummy "planned" to do something else but it ended up with a rabbit! OKAY lar (Iroko's habit of speaking nowadays), since the Rabbit year is just around the corner, just leave it ;D

Oh yes, it's daddy's year! (opps... sorry daddy, "unintentionally" disclosing your age, ;-p)

So this is Iroko's lunch of the day--congee (or porridge?) with corn and carrot with soy floss on top.

Without looking at the ears, the rabbit looks like a rat from this angle >,< Agree?

Mummy felt so excited to use glass noodle again (as the whiskers) when she got a nice outcome from the work yesterday--whale spouting water. As usual, the eyes are made of black sesame seeds (although the rabbit eyes are supposed in RED, it wouldn't look nice for a carrot rabbit to have red eyes)

mmm, this angle makes the creature looks better like a RABBIT!!

Is just as simple as this! yayyy, take a break, and let's continue tomorrow!

【an EVENTFUL day 。呯呯砰砰，就忙了一天】

Jan. 11, 2010 Windy day

After much thought, mummy has decided to stop posting photos to the {ma-masak} album on FB. Of course mummy will still share Iroko's *happy meals* with friends on FB from here!

In contrast to this new place, which is completely "quiet" and so deserted, the {ma-masak} kitchen is quite busy since this morning.

Mummy and Iroko are falling in love with kokoji (cockerel and chicken, or more appropriately, BIRDs) recently. So another cockerel was presented ;> The cockerel is not as cheecky as the one we had the other day.

【When they meet 。偶遇】

  Let's zoom in a bit...


Some asked mummy how much has she invested in cutters, moulds, or accessories used for making Iroko's *happy meals*. Well, be frank, not more than RM20!! Most of the time, mummy prefers to cut/shape manually. And the fact is, it's rather impossible to get all mummy wants.

As for this Birdies Breakfast, mummy used only a lid (of the container of cocoa butter spread) to cut the body of the cockerel, a measuring cup to cut the body of the crow, and a knife to cut the rest. It's that simple, isn't? ;-)

These are the tools used to cut the birdies.

Mummy has been waiting for a right timing to make a WHALE for Iroko. And this is the day! daa lang...

Until the last minute, mummy had no idea what should be used to mimic the water spout, daa lang--glass noodle!! Really love this amazing little noodle!! It made the mouse looks so real with the glass noodle whisker, and now it gives a plus to the whale. [Iroko: "Mummy, be humble a bit, please"!!]

【The WHALE is spouting water!!】

Look at the 2 "corals". They are beautiful, aren't they? In fact the whole stalk of the veggie (mummy doesn't know the actual name, should be baby bok choy （小油菜）??

Mummy always loves to groom the animals in the *happy meals*.
Look, the whale got curly eye lashes and rosy cheek ;)

Parents, do watch out what you say and your behaviour, kids are 100% effective + efficient copycat! This happened to mummy again today! When mummy started doing her cooking, Iroko told mummy, "OK, let's cooking." while setting up her little kitchen in the living room, and...

Mummy, take photo!!

She requested mummy to take a photo of what she had cooked when she saw mummy busy "ka cha, ka cha" (shooting photos for the whale). 

There you go, mummy ;D

She is absolutely a lovely girl... WHEN HER "ANGIN" IS RIGHT!!

Next, mummy spared some time to do cornflakes cookies as per daddy's request.

【脆到不行的曲奇餅 。SUPERRRRRR Crunchy Nutty Cornflakes Cookies】

This is mummy's first attempt. Mummy never thought of having such super duper crunchy cookies. However she's wondering if daddy loves the crunchiness because he had one very nice cornflakes cookies the other day with more solid and "firm" texture...

The peacan nuts have sat in the store for weeks. It's now their turn to perform!
Mummy also got them a friend--Chocolate rices

Guess what, it took the WHOLE AFTERNOON (from 3:30pm till 7pm)! Why? Because the mini oven could only hold a small cooking pan. Because mummy doesn't have a proper cookie tray but just normal square and round cooking pans. Only 9 PIECES of cookies to be baked each time >,< Almost gave up...

Well, luckily it worked out well!! Worth it!

【Farewell FACEBOOK 。預支哀悼】

Jan. 10, 2010 Rainy day '^'

There was a hearsay about Malaysian government is considering to ban Facebook in the country few weeks ago. Most FB users, included mummy, paid no attention to the rumour as it simply made no sense. Until yesterday, there's a post shared within the FB community announcing FB will end on 15th March (source: Weekly World News). Regardless of the validity and reliability of the announcement (or rumour?), mummy has gotten ready to retreat from Facebook. And this ({媽-masak} blog) is the new "refuge" for Iroko's *happy meals* ^.^

【Farewell Facebook】
Bread with butter+honey spread & butter+nuttela

Mummy never got interested in blogging or virtual network such as Friendster or so in the past. Until she met Facebook, it somewhat changed mummy's life. There are things and words that we hardly have an opportunity to share or we simply feel uneasy to share face-to-face. Just like Iroko's *happy meals*--not merely a showcase of what mummy cooked for Iroko, but they are actually a record of Iroko's learning, her moods, mummy's moods, etc.

The end of Facebook? No body knows!

Mummy found her old friends whom she had lost contact for years or even more than 2 decades!!
Iroko's 爺爺，奶奶can see her anytime whenever they miss her.
More importantly, it helps mummy to build a "kingdom" that keeps mummy motivated to train herself a creative mum!!

It is always a nice "BOOK" that shows mummy many interesting "FACEs"

Well, whether or not it has to be ended, mummy will still keep her {ma-masak} up ('v')v

【雞蛋變形餐 （3）。The EGG Meals (3)】

The Shapy EGGs series has been adjourned for quite sometimes. Because of the rumour (or truth?)--FaceBook is shutting down soon in March 2011, mummy forced herself to build up the {媽-masak} as quick as possible. Be honest, the progress of buidling and maintaining a blog is so much slower than updating own space in FB. It's more demanding (or mummy is the one who make the job demanding??) as a post in the blog is supposed to be more narrative (to mummy).

Well let's back to the track. Shapy Eggs.

【Dinosaur】

Seriously speaking, the egg was not re-shaped, mummy merely cut into half ;-p In fact, mummy doesn't like this egg dino. Simple reason--it's so rough and ugly as compared to other work of shapy eggs. This one has never been published in FB. Anyhow, mummy changed her mind--there is nothing perfect!! We should learn to accept everything: good or bad, beautiful or ugly or even disgusting like this pity dino... Such a bad experience is a good lesson that drives mummy to perform better in future ;D

【Struggled Mouse】

 The day became so grey suddenly. Not to say being moody or down, but mummy simply found herself quite uncertained and trapped in "yea-&-nay". Should wean Iroko off now or let her be? Should introuduce punishment or maintain a total caning-free caring early child-education? Should emphasise more on the outcomes or the process (childcare and early child education)? Should enroll Iroko to enrichment classes/preschool courses at this age (because kiasu--afraid she will lag behind >,<) or wait until she's mentally, emotionally & mentally ready...

This is one of the most satisfying job of *happy meals* Yipeee ;D

But mummy is quite certain that she is not alone--almost all parents are somehow facing the same dilemmas in relation to childcare/early education. So mummy named it "struggled mouse".

【chopper chopper Helicopter】

Hi-5 has exposed Iroko to the world quite fairly. Iroko is so attracted to helicopter recently because of Hi-5. Mummy noticed the little one tends to learn faster from Hi-5 than what mummy taught! Well, this is another dilemma--is that alright to let the little one watches Hi-5/Baby Eistein/Brainy Baby whenever mummy needs to do her cookings or housechores? Because it seems like switching on the TV is a must every day!!  >,< arghhhhhh Okay, mummy knows well the general and "official" advice is--be moderate!! Control the time, and bla bla bla...
Opps... mummy is off the track. This helicopter egg is not a good one because it's under-cooked. So it became a bit difficult for mummy to shape it. Ended up, it cracked when the ice-cream stick was inserted into it. Another defect is the "body" of the helicopter. Due to "time constraint" (Iroko was hungry when mummy was half way preparing the meal) the sticks were not cut symmetrically... Luckily, Iroko still named it as HELICOPTER!!