Strawberry Chiffon Cake

What a mommy does when her daughter requested a strawberry cake as her birthday cake? Luckily she didn't ask for a Dora cake. :P I know I want either a sponge or chiffon cake as a base instead of butter cake. So, I picked chiffon cake to experiment since I haven't made any chiffon cake for ages. I actually did a lot of "bo bo" when making this chiffon cake. When blending in the egg whites with the yolk batter, I realized that the color was not red. So I added some red coloring while blending in the egg whites mixture. Really scary! And when I done mixing and started pouring into a pan, I realized I got the wrong pan. I was pouring the batter into a bundt pan instead of a tube pan. So, I had to take out my tube pan and pour the one from the bundt pan into the tube pan and added in the rest of the batter. I was actually praying that my chiffon cake won't fail me at this point because I was certain I was kinda messed out.
Luckily after so many scary moments, my chiffon cake was a success! I cut the cake into half to add in the filling later. This cake actually turned out so yummy! :) Stay tuned for part 2 for the complete assembly. ;)

Cream Cheese Chicken Soup

Cooking cream cheese soup is my other way to use up the leftover cream cheese. This is fairly easy to make and should be ready in 30 mins or less. A bowl of creamy soup for lunch, anyone?

Update on My Girls

I realized I haven't update on my girls progress for awhile and so here it is.



My eldest girl just turned FOUR. She is learning to read and spell. So far she has done very well. We have started her on reading Dora's books. Once she learned the full page, she will be rewarded with a Dora sticker and once she finishes the whole book, she will be rewarded with a BIG Dora sticker. So far this method works very well, she finished one book already. The power of Dora! She can write A-Z, with problem with J and S, and 1-10, with problem writing 3 sometimes. Since she knows how to spell a few words, she can write a few words too. On Valentine's Day, she presented us with a card that she wrote on herself without help that read, EVY (insert love shape symbol) MOM, EVY (love symbol) DAD and EVY (love symbol) EDDA. Oh yeah, even her little sister got a card from her. Not only that, she can draw and color very well and she just finished a Kindergarten level activity book that I bought for her at Barne & Noble. Just got her two more books and she was so excited and did at least 20 pages per day. I had to set a 20 pages limit, if not she would probably finish the whole book in three days. She also knows how to do easy plus and minus already (1-10). I think we have prepared her well for kindergarten next year. With another year to teach and train her, she will be well prepared. By the way, we didn't send her to any pre-school, all home-taught. Not to say she is also conversing in Mandarin and English. Read and recognized up to 40 Chinese characters (from learning cards).



As for miss little Edda, she has turned into miss whiny!!! Oh my Gosh! This girl can whine, every little thing not her way, she will make me that face and start whining, got ignore, turned into crying. OMG! I need to train her to stop whining because I can't stand it! I would tell her, mommy doesn't like whining and you stop whining! I would ignore her whining and crying when I'm doing stuff and it would ease. She has all her 20 teeth already and eating excellent by herself. I didn't have to feed her since she turned one, I gave her a bowl and a spoon/fork and asked her to dig in. She does that in a restaurant too, give her her share and a spoon and she help herself. She is well developed on her motor skill, understood us and does what she is told. But very slow in her speech development. No new word since she turned one. Whereas, her sister could say 40 words already and kept adding new word every week at this age. This girl uses action to let us know what she wants instead. I'm not worry about it now but I expect her speech level to increase after she turns two later this year. If not, then I will start to worry. Finally she is almost sleeping through the night. Sometimes she will still wake up once a night and that's it, down from 4 times a night. One thing though I really need to wean her before she turns two. She is not into cow milk and Milo which makes it harder to wean. Still come to me and pull up my shirt every time she is thirsty or wants to nap. Aiyo! But since she is not taking any full milk, I had to give her the best milk a mother can give to a child right? *sigh* Oh yeah believe it or not, this little one knows how to set a table too. Like helping to bring her sister's rice to her sister and her own rice. She is still too short to get the spoon yet but she sures try. One way she letting me know she wants some cookies is she would open the drawer, bring a bowl and give it to me and when I ask her what is this bowl for, she would walk towards the kitchen. Smart right? If my pantry door is open, she would help herself with cookie bag/ cookie jar that she could reach at the bottom and bring it to me to open. Same thing, she would open the drawer and bring me the sippy cup when she wants water. You see, action speaks louder than words, probably that's why she doesn't see a reason to speak yet! Adoi!

Good thing is now they play together. Evy will talk to her, hug her and carry her around. Sometimes it's really cute to see them together, either playing, watching t.v. or reacting to each other. As expected, playing together also brings on fighting together.

Citrusy Tuna Shell Pasta

I haven't made this dish for almost nine years. This is one of my oldest recipes that doesn't look quite appealing but will leave you wanting for more. That was the reason I wanted to make it again because I couldn't stop thinking about it! Why wait until now was because I don't normally buy can tuna, like hardly ever, thus didn't get a chance to make it. But when craving strikes, I just have to make an effort to get those can tuna. I will share my recipe with you and hope you will like it too.


Top with Mozzarella Cheese before serving. You can add some crumbs and bake in the oven to melt the cheese too.

Award!

I would like to say a big Thank You to Beachlover for awarding me this Friendship Award. Doesn't it looks pretty among my other awards? :D I really loved it and I couldn't agree more that these four personalities are the perfect blend of a long-lasting friendship.

I would love to pass it on to my dear fellow bloggers:

1. V's East Meets West Kitchen

2. Daily Affairs

3. Daphne- More than Words

4. Rainbows

5. Tigerfish - Teczcape

6. Saucing Around, Jo's Deli

7. The Art and Science of Food

8. Florence's Do What I Like

9. Cocoa-Masakan Istimewa

10. Edith's Precious Moments

11. Lin's The Journey Begins

12. Ling's Passion

13. Dwiana's The Adventure of My Cooking Diary

14. SueSue - Cooking Momster

15. Baking Fiends Unite!

16. Blur_mommy's Kooky Culinary

17. Soy and Pepper

18. Yochana's Cake Delight

19. LeeLee's Baking Mum

20. Retno's Kedai Hamburg, Germany

And dear aunties Lily and Peony.

Cream Cheese Bread Take 3

Finally I did it. This is the texture that I was seeking, soft and fluffy! Thanks Cocoa for her pointer. At first, I was thinking of using the dough cycle and shape and prove the dough myself. But the weather was just not cooperating today. It was snowing and cold and I had no patient to wait and play with the dough. So this method was applied, way easier too. :P


Looking good right?


Soft and fluffy! Yipee!