While waiting for our little monster - part two (Valentine Day 2013) ...

So here I am, 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant and one false alarm later, still waiting for my little daughter to be born.

Two days ago, as a result of lower back pain and abdominal cramps that really seemed to be contractions, my husband and I thought that I was going into labour. But after three hours, the cramps had all but stopped. I took a nap waiting for them to return. Well, I obviously wasn't in labour as not only did the pain and aches not return, I woke up another 4 hours later feeling perfectly fine with my little monster doing her nightly Gangnam dance in my tummy. Sigh...

Anyway, I thought that it would be best that I distract myself a little as she wasn't gonna show up if she wasn't ready and it wouldn't do me any good to sit around the house moping. So, as Hubby had asked for some homemade chocolate truffles for Valentine's Day, I set about making them for him yesterday.

The recipe was very simple. Some dark chocolate, heavy cream, a little butter and some rum. I remembered the rum at the beginning but didn't pour it out. As a result, I didn't remember the rum again until the truffles were left to harden in the fridge. Doh!!



Easy ingredients - Dark chocolate and heavy cream



The melted chocolate, cream and butter mixture cooling over
a bowl of iced water.



The melted chocolate, butter and cream mixture ready to be chilled
This is before I remembered the rum >.<

I have never had them myself before, and the various videos I have seen show them being cut into square blocks... but of course I had to be creative didn't I, and tried to make them into balls. They ended up looking like little turds instead.



An origami box I made to fit those turd like chocolates in

My turd like chocolate truffles for my Darling Husband!

When he came home I said "Happy Valentine's Day Darling! I made the なまチョコ (nama choco aka chocolate truffles) you wanted, but I am sorry they look like little turds," He laughed so hard I though he was going to wet himself. I was very surprised he knew what "turd" meant, and then I remembered that I had introduced him to that word a few days ago when I was reading this brilliant picture blog called Crappy Pictures (See here for reference http://crappypictures.com/learning-from-poop/) Bad wife! Bad teacher!

Sigh... my husband is like a child. I have been trying to get him to expand his vocabulary for the longest time, but he seems only to pick up the rude rude words...

In any case, Hubby's eyes lit up when he ate them little turds!! He really enjoyed them so I guess that's alright ^_____^

He surprised me with lovely pot of flowers. They must have cost a small bomb. But they made my day. Hubby's not really the romantic type, but he tries so hard and that's what counts in my book!

My little pot of happiness. LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

After exchanging presents, we went and had what will most likely be our last romantic dinner out (without baby worries) last night. The restaurant we went to was a place we used to frequent quite often called Bistro Fiore, a little Japanese Italian cafe in Plaza Damas. And though we ordered dishes that were familiar to the palate, we had a great time ^.^

Potato and Bacon Pizza- Mild tasting but super with a dash of Tobasco.

Deep fried pork cutlet with cheese and salsa on the top

I can never resist these, Deep Fried Mozarella. So sinful! So yummy!

Caeser Salad. The dressing is the restaurant's own recipe and is heavenly.

One of my favourites! Mentaiko Mayonnaise paste on a toasted baguette.

There was so much food that I felt doubly pregnant after dinner!!

Now, a full dinner, breakfast and lunch later I am back to waiting for Little Miss Monster to be born...tick tock tick tock...

While waiting for our Little Monster...

At 37 weeks and 5 days pregnant, I am nearing the end of my pregnancy and facing it with mixed feelings. On one hand I can't wait to see our Little Monster not least because we have been waiting close to 8 months now, but also because I am fed-up of feeling like a waddling planet and getting tired after a couple of hours walking about. On the other hand, I am dreading the day when she is actually born because it means that it will no longer be just me and Mika in my own little world.

Anyways, in trying not to get caught up in negative thoughts, I thought I would do a little baking to distract myself. Domestic Goddess I am not. I loathe tidying up and cleaning; cooking is a chore and baking was something I did in my secondary school years. So, I am always happy if the recipes I try out come out edible but look less than perfect. Which is good considering all three recipes I tried this time turned out tasting good but lacking a little in the looks department.

The first cake I tried was something called a Flourless Chocolate Cake taken from this website http://www.recipelion.com/Chocolate-Cake-Recipes/Easy-Chocolate-Fudge-Cake. It was really easy to make, took only 15 minutes of prep and used very simple ingredients: sugar, chocolate chips, butter, eggs and vanilla. But the finished result looked even worse than the one in the recipe! Taste wise, it got different reviews. Mummy said it was too rich for her, Daddy thought it was nice but a little too sweet while Hubby said it was good- but then Hubby is one of the best people in the world to cook for as he always thinks whatever I make is good. Personally, I think taste wise it was passable, although I will try using darker chocolate next time.Texture wise, it wasn't what I had imagined.The recipe said it was fudgy. It wasn't. It was a little too light, perhaps I overbeat the egg whites...



The ingredients for the Flourless Chocolate Cake

The melted chocolate and beaten egg mixture ready to be baked.
Still looked normal here. And then...

I think my cake tin was a little too small for this cake...
It looks like it's about to explode!

Although the recipe said the cake was meant to rise and fall,
I don't think it was meant to collapse in this manner!!

The outside of the cake was nice and crusty while the inside was light and moist,
but not FUDGY as I expected >.<

A few days later I tried my hand at making Creme Caramel aka Custard Pudding. I developed a craving for this dessert while watching one of my favourite Youtube cooking channels, Cooking with Dog. What made me try it was that the lady made it look so easy!! Don't believe me? Take a look for yourself at:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6JZx86OyXM

It took me only 30 minutes to finish prep and used ingredients I could find around the house immediately-sugar, water, eggs, milk and vanilla. I had problems with the cooking time though. The recipe said that it would take only 20 minutes for the custard to be done, but in my case it took almost 50 minutes!! I had made 1.5 times more than the recipe and adjusted the cooking time accordingly, but I am sure I messed up somewhere. Or perhaps my ramekins were just too thick. Taste and texture wise I was very pleased. It was smooth and velvety if a little too sweet for our tastebuds. Appearance wise, I shall need to try and ensure that there aren't any bubbles the next time I make it.

I liked this because it did not have the normal eggy smell of most creme caramels
but the recipe was a little too sweet for us though.

 

Yesterday I tried something a little more complicated. New York Cheesecake. Again the ingredients were very simple, but EXPENSIVE! Might be better to just buy the cake from a shop. Anyway, I modified the recipe a little. Firstly, I thought there was way too much sugar in it. There is meant to be sugar in the base, cream cheese filling as well as the sour cream topping!! Definitely not something I want in my condition. So in the end I omitted the sugar from the biscuit base, and cut down the sugar in the filling from two thirds of a cup to half a cup. I also reduced the sugar in the topping from half a cup to slightly over a quarter of a cup. I also could not be bothered to bake the base first, so I just chilled it in the fridge while I prepared the filling.

The end result wasn't as bad as I had imagined. I had only ever made chilled cheesecakes and so was expecting my first attempt to be disasterous. It wasn't perfect, but I think I can forgive myself the slight cracks in the corners.

We had the cake tonight for dessert, and it was well received not just by my husband, but also by my extended family. I guess this recipe's a keeper!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_sfHb1Aq5Q

I was a little disappointed with the cracks at the side,
but decided to ignore them and slopped the sourcream topping all over it (^.^)/

I held my breath while removing the cheesecake from the tin.
Thank goodness it turned out alright.
You can actually see the sourcream topping on top of the filling if you look close enough.

I'm not artistic at all and had planned to serve the cheesecake plain.
But seeing that it was meant to be a Valentne's Day cake for my husband,
I decide to slice up some canned peaches and place them on the top as additional topping.
I am pleased to say that the sweetnes of the peaches went well with the sourcream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Post pregnancy and family support- Part 1

Dum de dum... Hubby's away in Thailand for work for three days and I am bored. I hope Mika doesn't decide to visit us early... Baby, you have a good 4.5 weeks left, please be good, listen to Mummy and stay inside.

I'm feeling increasingly nervous as my due date draws closer...I find myself worrying about so many things. Will the room be ready on time, will my labour go smoothly, will she be healthy, will I be able to breastfeed, will Hubby and I be able to cope... Obviously being Malaysian Chinese, most people would suggest I employ a confinement lady for one to three months to help out right after Mika is born. The confinement lady's role is to ensure I adhere to confinement norms to keep my body 'healthy',to  look after the baby at night so the new Mum and Dad can sleep and to teach us the ropes involved in taking care of a new baby.

HOWEVER, me being me, I have decided that I will not have a confinement lady come in as I would not be able to put up with a stranger making me eat food I don't like, preventing me from drinking cold drinks and eating ice-cream, telling me I can't wash my hair for 30 days and then insisting I learn outdated methods of childcare. Instead I will have my Mum (who incidentally did not have a confinement lady after both my sister and I were born either and who is also feeling increasingly anxious.) and the rest of my family!!!

Mum's bought a book on confinement foods, and we have gone through it together deciding what to cook, so I am quite looking forward to it. For theoretical information, Hubby and I have been to ante-natal classes together and have bought several books as well. As for looking after Mika, I am living with my parents so they will be able to teach us all the practical skills we will need to know.

My parents have been incredibly supportive, so much so I don't want to move out!! Mum's even come to my breastfeeding class with me and she says it was an eye opener as so many new things have come up. Thank goodness I will not have to put up with old folks saying "Aiyah, you don't have enough milk, better go and make some formula milk for Mika, she's hungry" instead I foresee Mum being very supportive =)

My Dad's also taking his role as Grandad very seriously and has recently bought a little baby tub. Although no one has said anything, Dad declared that he needs that tub as he will be relegated bathing duties anyway. I haven't had the heart to tell him that his son-in -law will have to bath Mika at night as a means of bonding. He's also starting to think of nursery rhymes to sing to her already...

Mika's only aunt is excited in her own way, coming to me off and on and talking and making weird noises into my tummy to see if her niece moves. Very cute. My baby sister is excited about the baby.

Meanwhile, Hubby's Mum all the way over in Japan keeps wondering (and I think secretly hoping) that Mika will arrive earlier as she cannot wait to see the baby ^.^ I think she would be so chuffed if her first grandchild was born in January as that would mean they shared the same birth month! Plan are already being made to come over to see Mika although dates have not been finalised.

Mika darling, you are one lucky baby. Everyone's doting on you even before you see the light of day. I dread to think of how spoilt you could become if I am not strict as your Daddy's already admitted he will not be able to say no to you and your Grandad has declared that it is the job of grandparents to spoil their grandchild. >.<

Next checkup this Saturday... can't wait to see you again my preciousssss...

A question of poo

At 35.5 weeks pregnant, I still feel completely unprepared for the arrival of our little monster.

The baby crib we bought in October has been delivered, but sits idle in the hall. My excuse is that it's waiting for a replacement part that will only arrive at the end of the month.The reality is that I just haven't sorted out the junk in my room to make space for it... Bad Mummy I am.

At the moment the one thing that I am preoccupied with, apart from worrying about if Mika is going to arrive early and my blood sugar levels,  is diapering. Hubby was dead set on disposables, while I am a little more idealistic and am considering using disposables for when we go out and cloth diapers at home.

After a lot of discussion, and as neither of us has ANY diapering experience, Hubby decided that we will start off with a starter pack of two cloth diapers with additional inserts and a small pack of disposables first. This, he claims, will enable us to assess the the benefits of both and make a more informed decision.

I hate to say this but the environment doesn't really factor into our decision. For us, the baby's comfort level is paramount, followed by convenience and cost. So if Mika is able to use both, then we will most definitely be using a mix. But Hubby says we may inadvertently find ourselves using disposables most of the time as they are just so convenient. I would love to say otherwise, but the thought of not having to worry about laundering a stack of dirty diapers  in addition to taking of Mika is strangely seducing.

He's also mentioned that while it's a given that we will save more on cloth diapering in the long run, it would be nice to see a simulation of how much that would work out to be in a year... Damn engineers and their numbers. But if I am going to win him over to the cloth diapering side (my own conviction is weak so I am not able to insist as strongly as I would normally do in other matters) I will need to spreadsheet it for him. Poo (sic).

So, once we decided that we would get at least 2 cloth diapers, Shopaholic Mama took to the internet to make her first cloth diaper purchase. I had already done rounds of surveying the market for cloth diapers, and am very taken by a local brand called Geboo (http://www.geboo.com.my/en/). Made from bamboo fibres and hemp, they are very soft and best of all, come with inserts that have wings to prevent leakage!!! So after a couple of clicks, I bought Mika a starter pack costing RM125 with free delivery, can't wait for it to arrive in the post =)

Mika's cloth diaper starte

Happy 2013 ^.^

It's January 1, 2013 and a day that marks the first of what will be a year of many firsts for me. Most immediate is the fact that for the first time in my life I made a few dishes for the Japanese New Year. While my husband reassured me many times that he does not really fancy these osechi dishes, I thought I should make a few that he likes anyway.

So, armed to my elbows with enthusiasm, I started cooking two days ago. After scouring the internet for dishes I thought I could make with relatively little difficulty I decided on datemaki (sweet egg rolls), chikuzenni (chicken simmered with root vegetables), namasu (daikon and carrot pickles), yahatamaki (burdock root and carrot sticks rolled in beef and simmered in a marinade) and ozouni (a traditional broth with condiments eaten on New Year's Day).

So having already decided what to cook, I thought it would be nice to serve the food on some Japanese looking tableware. This saw us shopping for bowls for the soup and boxes for the dishes at our neighbourhood 100yen shop. Traditionally the dishes are placed in laquer boxes, but as we were doing our shopping in a 100yen shop we settled for plastic look alikes.

Can't really tell they cost between RM5-7 can you?

In the end, cooking took more time and stress than I had imagined.

When making the datemaki, I am supposed to either pan fry or bake a mixture of egg and Japanese fishcake , and then roll it up. I chose to bake it. Although I had followed the instructions closely, I still faced a few problems with the eggroll.

The first was that I found it so difficult to roll up the baked egg because it was so thick, and really wanted to give up halfway. It was only because my husband and sister cheered me on that I stubbornly kept on rolling. The second problm I had was that after rolling up the egg, it started to leak liquid. I panicked, suspecting that I had not baked it through. SO what did I do? I cheated and stuck in the microwave oven. I thank my lucky stars that when I cut it this morning it was fine.

On the left is store bought fishcake called kamaboko
while on the right is the datemaki that almost went wrong.

The next dish I made was the chikuzenni. The recipe was pretty straight forward so I didn't think I would face any problems. Well, I hadn't counted on my bad judgement in replacing the chicken thighs with the more fragile chicken fillets. Sigh... the simmering meant that by the time the dish was done, my bite sized chicken pieces had disintegrated into chicken shreds. (-.-)

Chikuzenni, chicken with lots of yummy lotus root,
burdock root and carrots. I forgot to add in
the sugarsnap peas.

The yahatamaki was also straightforward, but I couldn't have done it without my husband as the instructional video I was watching was in Japanese and the lady spoke too fast for me to understand what to do with the beef.

Yahatamaki completed with help from Hubs

I am personally not very fond of osechi dishes, but there is one particular one that I really do like, mainly because I love all things sour, and that's the namasu. This was in fact the easiest dish to make, but because my husband and my Dad both don't like anything sour, I had to cut back on the vinegar.

Store bought black beans- I decided not to cook these
as it would have taken too long- and my favourite namasu.

My husband is from the Kanto area and grew up having clear broth ozouni, so that is what we had this year. The ozouni turned out alright I think, although I would like to try the Kansai version that uses white miso next time. 

This dish usually has komatsu (Japanese mustard leaves) and Shiitake mushrooms it in but as I couldn't find komatsu and don't like Shiitake, I left them out. I am not sure if the mochi is supposed to be so puffed up as my husband toasted them, but they tasted much better this way than when I had them in Japan when they were less crispy and a lot stickier!

Ozouni. Clear broth made from kelp and bonito flake
stock, enhanced with daikon, carrots, kamaboko
and kirimochi or mochi.

The other dish we had were soba noodles. Although soba is eaten all year round in Japan,  soba eaten on New Year's Eve is known as toshikoshi soba and the name symbolises crossing over from one year to the next. I was still cooking when the clock struck 12 so we ended up eating it today instead.

My husband says people usually have kakesoba
(warm soba) as their toshikoshi soba,
but as it is warm in Malaysia I decided
we would have zaru soba (cold soba) instead.

Traditional Japanese dishes served at a
 traditional Chinese round table.
A marriage of cultures.

My husband's lunchbox for tomorrow.

It was my family's first time having osechi ryouri and ozouni, but they were very open about it and finished everything!! I was so glad. Although like me, I am sure my Mum and Dad can wait another year before having ozouni again =) The taste of the broth is just too delicate for our Chinese tastebuds I reckon.

The links to the dishes I have made are below. Most of the videos are in Japanese so I will be posting an English translation on the blog later.

1. Namasu- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2fuatmG4AQ
2. Datemaki- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA995QfIm6c
3. Chikuzenni- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou4zCvq6Raw
4. Yahatamaki- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJijabOy9OM
5. Ozouni- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TLoD1IzGlU

Happy New Year everyone!

Mika at 31 weeks and 4 days- 旦那と一緒に親ばかになちゃった。。。

La Di Da, we went for our monthly ante natal check up today.

Mika has GROWN!! A little too fast my OBGYN says...this could be caused by my blood sugar behaving eratically in the last three weeks.

Because I am diabetic and because babies are so sensitive to their mother's blood sugar levels, I am due back for another check up in two weeks. In the mean time it means I will need to monitor my blood sugar closely and try to do more activity after meals, especially dinner as it appears that the problem lies in the insulin produced when I sleep. Sigh...I hope everything goes well. I have been very careful with what I have been eating, and keeping to my allocated carbohydrate count but I guess sometimes not everything is within our control. I just hope I don't have to go on insulin >.<

On a happier note, our little monster looks like a real baby now!! She can smile and even purse her lips in what looks like slight dissatisfaction. A friend asked if I teared up when I saw her on the 4D ultrasound, I know it sounds juvenile, but instead of feeling touched and warm and tingly, I felt excited and wanted to pinch her cheeks. I said to my doctor "Ohhhhh! She's so chubbehhhhh!" And my doctor laughed. My little monster's going to be in for some serious cheek pinching when she's born.

Another highlight to the day was the moment my husband said, "Oh... she's so cute" and then he said "ここから親ばかが始まるかな。。。” which roughly translates into "Here's where we start being the type of parents who think their children are the cutest and the smartest in the whole wide world." I thought that was just so cute. If the pregnancy to me has been surreal, to him it was like watching a movie... so the fact that he felt like that reassured me a lot.

My parents are also fawning over Mika's latest pictures... I think she's going to be one lucky girl. Everyone is just waiting to see her. Fingers crossed she's not a crier...

Here're a few stills of her and and an edited version of her 4D ultrasound.


She's so chubbehhhhh!



Our little monster looks like she's smiling!

 

In the video, you'l see that she appears to be smiling until 0.03 seconds, and then it switches to her looking more surly. I have actually pieced together two different clips for this one video to safe time and space. She moved about a lot during the ultrasound so halfway through each one the visual became distorted...

A very short stay at the E&O

Over the weekend I was invited to accompany my husband to his company's annual dinner Penang. We stayed at the very luxurious Eastern & Oriental Hotel located on Lebuh Farquhar. We arrived on Friday, just before noon and were allowed to check in early!! The staff at the front desk were friendly and efficient. They sorted out our early check-in in a jiffy and were thorough in explaining what and where things were in the hotel.

After checking in, we went up to our suite to off load our luggage and to take a few quick snaps.


The bed...

Gloriously comfortable with pillows that were soft and welcoming.

The living room that came attached to the bedroom.
Very old style and, as expected, the sofa smelled a little musty.

The bathroom has a tub in the middle,
and is flanked by the loo on one side and the shower cubicle on the other.

The shower cubicle and one of two sinks-
one for Him and one for Her. The amenities are nothing to shout about.

After that, we headed down to one of the hotel's eateries for lunch. Sarkies Corner has been outfitted to look like a coffee shop from days gone by. And while the staff were friendly enough, they lacked the finesse and attention to detail that one would expect from a five star hotel. As we were seated we were told by our server that they serve only A' la carte there and that if we wanted to sample the buffet, we'd have to go over Sarkies in the new wing. As my husband was pressed for time- he had to rush off for a meeting, we decided to go for the buffet, and walked over to Sarkies only to find that the buffet did not start for another hour and so we had to walk all the way back for lunch.

While the walk wasn't long, I was annoyed as it still took us about 15 minutes to walk over and walk back and to be seated again. We quickly ordered and poor Hubby had to wolf down his lunch. The food was passable, nothing to shout about, I am ashamed to say we ordered Char Koay Teow and Assam Laksa. I know, I know, it's a sin to eat those in a hotel when we could have gotten it anywhere else outside and a fraction of the price.

Sarkies Corner

A very expensive kopi tiam

My Assam Laksa- which tasted alright

After lunch Hubby rushed off to his meeting and I spent the rest of the day lounging around the fab hotel room. When he got back we got dolled up and attended the annual dinner. Here's a shot of us after the do, taken in the bathroom!!!

Heheheheh..This had to be taken in the bathroom
beause the lighting in the bedroom was too dim!!!

I must say that I didn't get to take many shots as Hubby had to rush off to work and I was allowed to waddle around the grounds by my own pregnant self. Hopefully we'll get to go back and visit again another day, although I wouldn't be fussed if we didn't stay as I think the hotel is a little over rated.