Moist Butter Orange Cake

Baked a butter orange cake 2 weeks back, and this recipe is another keeper too! Hubby gave another perfect 10 for this one :)

Orange Cake Recipe by Amy Beh

* 150g butter
* 100g castor sugar
* Grated rind of 1 orange
* 3 eggs
* 1 1/2 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

Sifted
*125g self-raising flour
* 1/8 tsp baking powder
* 1 tsp milk powder

Method

Ingredients

1. Grease sides and line the base of a 20cm round cake tin with greaseproof paper. Preheat oven at 170C.
2. Cream butter, sugar and orange rind until light and creamy.
3. Beat in one egg at a time, adding a little flour if the mixture begins to curdle.
4. Beat in orange juice till well combined.
5. Sift in flour mixture, half-portion at a time. Mix well on lowest speed until well combined.
6. Turn mixture out into prepared tin and level the surface with a spatula.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 50-60 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into center of the cake comes out clean.
8. Leave the cake to cool for 5-10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

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New York Cheese Cake

Found this recipe online when googl-ing for New York Cheesecake recipe. The 153 reviews of this recipe boast an average rating of 5 stars! So I chose to try this recipe out. No doubt, it does live to the 5 star rating even though I did some minor adjustment to the recipe! My relatives loved it, and hubby even gave a 10 rating for this cake!

 

INGREDIENTS
THE CRUST

• 85ml butter melted
• 140g digestive biscuits , made into fine crumbs
• 1 tbsp granulated / caster sugar

THE CHEESECAKE FILLING

• 3 x 250g pack full fat soft cheese (Philadelphia is good)
• 230g caster sugar
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract
• finely grated zest of 1 lemon (about 2 tsp)
• 1½ tsp lemon juice
• 3 large eggs , plus 1 yolk

METHOD
PREPARING THE CRUST

1. Position an oven shelf in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to fan 160C/conventional 180C/gas 4. Line the base of a 23cm springform cake tin with parchment paper. For the crust, melt the butter in a medium pan. Stir in the biscuit crumbs and sugar so the mixture is evenly moistened. Press the mixture into the bottom of the pan and bake for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack while preparing the filling.

PREPARING THE FILLING

1. For the filling, increase the oven temperature to fan 200C/conventional 240C/gas 9. In a table top mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the soft cheese at medium-low speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. With the mixer on low, gradually add the sugar, then the flour and a pinch of salt, scraping down the sides of the bowl and the paddle twice.
2. Swap the paddle attachment for the whisk. Continue by adding the vanilla, lemon zest and juice. Whisk in the eggs and yolk, one at a time, scraping the bowl and whisk at least twice. Stir the 200ml of soured cream until smooth. Continue on low speed as you add the measured soured cream. Whisk to blend, but don't over-beat. The batter should be smooth, light and somewhat airy.
3. Brush the sides of the springform tin with melted butter and put on a baking sheet. Pour in the filling - if there are any lumps, sink them using a knife - the top should be as smooth as possible. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to fan 90C/conventional 110C/gas 1⁄4 and bake for 25 minutes more. If you gently shake the tin, the filling should have a slight wobble. Turn off the oven and open the oven door for a cheesecake that's creamy in the centre, or leave it closed if you prefer a drier texture. Let cool in the oven for 2 hours. The cheesecake may get a slight crack on top as it cools.

Note: Keep everything at room temperature

Keep everything at room temperature. To avoid lumps and ensure even mixing without over-beating, it is essential to have the soft cheese at room temperature before starting. Ideally, let it come to room temperature in its pack for 2 hours. If you're short of time, cut the soft cheese into chunks and leave to soften for 1 hour. It also helps to have a tabletop mixer with a powerful motor. But if you don't have one, a hand-held mixer works fine.

For full actual recipe, click here

 

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Pink News & Vocabs!

Managed to get off work on time and arrive home early today despite the heavy downpour. Since there's some leisure time till I pick up the lil boy, I thought I'd start catching up with my blogging.

First off, it would be the PINK news that we received earlier this month! It was my monthly check-up at week 19. I was initially afraid that my urine test would show that the glucose level is on the high side as I have been taking in a lot of sweet stuffs i.e. chocolates, coke, packet drinks, desserts, etc. Thank god, the test came out clear. *phew~* As the gynae did the routine ultrasound scan, she was commenting that the lil bub is active and likes to move about. After doing all the necessary measurements, she then checked for the gender. She went "Hmm... see, this is one leg, and this is the other. Both hands are near the face... and I see nothing between the legs.. so it's a girl." Boy oh boy!! I was gleaming with joy!!! I then asked the gynae, "Doc, u sure it's a girl eh? No surprises for me when I deliver yea?" She just laughed and replied "Well, we haven't encounter such situation so far.. but from the scan it's a girl to me." So after the checkup, very quickly hubby and I broke the news to our parents. They were so happy as if they received their Xmas pressie early!! Well, at least I felt that way. :p

And back to lil K, he's been adding lots of 'words' to his vocabulary lately, and he understands a number of simple instructions now. He'd help around with putting away his toys, and sometimes help passing us the hangers when we are hanging our clothes. His new 'vocabs' now are:

* neyney - Barney
* miemie - Mickey
* bit - Rabbit
* moomoo - Cow
* beevee / veevee - TV
* baby
* duck
* ball
* ka-kah - refering to Thomas the train, and anything that has wheels on it..
* woo-woo - refering to dog, and anything that has 4 legs

Although we tried to correct him, but he just kept repeating his language. O'well.. guess he'll eventually correct himself when he wants to.

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Someone is 16 months old today!

Just realised that lil K is 16 months old today. Ah... how time flies. In another 8 months, he'd enter the Terrible Two phase.

Lately, although he's been real cheeky, but he starts to show response to what we're saying. Well, all the while he understands us, but he just chose not to give any response.

We've been telling him that he'd be a big brother soon, and there's a baby in my tummy as soon as we found out we're expecting the second one. At first, he couldn't care less, well, of course he wouldn't when there was no bump to be found! :p But as when the baby bump gets bigger, he seems to show more connection with the bump. First, it was the protuding belly button. He was so into pinching my belly button and smiles in delight when I said 'ouch'! But day by day, we kept telling that he's a big brother now and ask him to kiss my bump. After seeing his dad doing it, he started to follow suit. Now when I ask him "where is baby?", he'd lift up my shirt to reveal the bump, gives it a peck, put his cheek onto my bump as a gesture of 'hugging-the-baby', and finally giving my belly button a pinch. I think he thinks that the belly button is the baby cause when I asked "where is daddy's baby?", he'd pinch his dad's belly button too! =.=" Ah well, at least he's bonding with my bump :)

All these while we've been trying to make it a habit for him to put on his shoes/sandals before we go out. We'd make him sit at the landing steps, which is just the perfect height for him to sit and us to put on his shoes. So, when we tell him '"Come, let's put on shoe-shoe", he'd walk to the shoe cabinet and point while saying "shh..shh". Then we'd lead him to the step. And few days ago, when my hubby told him "K, we go kai kai (means outing in cantonese) later ok?", lil K heads straight to the landing step, sat down, and said "shh shh", while lifting both his feet up! LOL!

On his vocal skills, he's kinda stuck. When he picks up a new word, he'd pronounce it quite accurately. But somehow or rather, as the days go by, he'd pronounced it wrongly. Example, he started saying book as "bok"..and now it's "bak". We kept correcting him but still he'd go "bak..bak". Sigh.. looks like there'll be more effort needed in this area.

Oh,and now he has a new best buddy. It's Thomas the train from Thomas & Friends. He can really sit down and watch a whole DVD. And while watching it, he needs to hold his Thomas train with him. And the train is the first thing he looks for when he wakes up. Yeap, it's no longer his books that he looks for in the morning. It's Thomas now. And having Thomas to keep him company in the car seat is a must. He doesn't really play with it while in the car seat, but just by holding it while looking out at the scenery is just enough for him.

Everyday has been a lil surprise with us, as he tries to explore his world. Sometimes, I just couldn't believe how much my lil 34 weeker has grown!

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Out of Comfort Zone

Haven't been able to blog as frequent as I wanted to lately. What not, when I changed my job or should I say career last month. Had been in the previous company, in which it was the first company i worked for, for the past 7 years. I'd say the last 6.5 years was great.. till i had a jack-a$$ as my superior. Long story short, while he's being a total jerk, but it wasn't entirely him that made me quit. Another opportunity came along, and it's in a whole different industry although marketing related. So, why not?

In a nut shell, I've moved from building material industry to a retail marketing consultancy industry. Different industries altogether, different sets of challenges, with some similarities in between: N.U.M.B.E.R.S!! Yeah, from reportings to designing program mechanics. Seems like I can't run away from Excel spreadsheets. It used to be 3 tabs in a worksheet, and now it's 10 tabs in a worksheet. Nevertheless, it's fun. I was suprised how addictive this new challenge could be. Once I start on a case, I'm reluctant to stop till I get a first good draft of the mechanics before going for lunch or leaving office. Heh.

3 days after reporting to work, I was lucky enough to be sent to HK for orientation and training. It so happened that the HQ were organizing regional training on the mechanism design process, and I was lucky to join in. Made my life easier when I had to start designing mechanics. But on the other hand, it was my first time being away from my family for so long.. 5D 5N. I was practically 'crying' while going into the boarding gate. And my lil boy pulled some kind of 'boycott' with me when I got home. He used to be my mini "pelekat" (adhesive), but he chose to stick to his dad when he cries. *Heartache*

Now that I'm away again in Singapore for 3D2N, I hope he won't be pulling off another round of 'boycott' with me when I get home. This time around, I'm in Singapore to be mystery shopper for the company's client. Doing spot-checks on some random outlets. Sounds interesting, yah? Well, it is and it's darn tiring as well. I have to cover almost 40 stores in 3D2N, and today alone I've covered 20-ish stores (which was beyond my target for today :D) Yah, it's going in and out of the cab, and basically travelling in the cab the whole day. But it is really something very different to what I've been doing the past 7 years.

So, again, I'm glad this opportunity came by, and I'm happy to be out of the comfort zone. :)

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The Stork News

We received the stork news on Christmas eve last year. Talking about receiving Christmas present, I think that's the best Christmas present we've received by far. *beams* :)

This time around, the pregnancy journey into the 1st trimester wasn't as smooth as lil K. For at least lil K, I knew what food to avoid and when the sickness usually kicks in. I was feeling much more tired than my first pregnancy, and the dizziness, nausea, and vomiting were kicking in round the clock. There was no way in determining whether I was having morning or evening sickness. And I could be enjoying the food this moment but ending up in the toilet the next. Sigh. Ok, and to complete the pieces of the puzzle, this is the real reason I stopped breastfeeding lil K (not because I'm making plans for no 2). At the escalating rate of my frequent visit to the toilet and the decreasing appetite, I have no choice but to take this step although I was hoping I could breastfeed him till my 2nd trimester, hoping he'd self wean at that time. Anyhow, the sickness are starting to decrease now, although it could still be temperamental occasionally, but it's still better than an everyday event. :p

And I learnt that since I had placenta previa in my previous pregnancy, the risk of recurrence is actually higher. I was kind of worried, cause I've just changed my job and I hope I wouldn't end up in another pregnancy complication. Thankfully, during the last check-up my gynae told me that the placenta position looks very good and there's nothing to be worried of. *phew*

The baby bump showed up a lil bit earlier this time around, but I'm still fitting into my normal pants. No need for maternity pants now at least :p

And oh, I'd be due in August... that's another 5 months to go!

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Milestones @ 14 Months

Lil K's milestones achievement at 14 month old:

* Called us 'a-ma' and 'a-pa'
* Learnt to stand on his own
* Took his first few steps and now started to explore around the house on his own
* Climbed the staircase
* Climbed onto the sofa
* Learnt to get down from our bed safely
* Points to the Elmo toy we got him and said "ah-mo"
* Throws tantrum (by screaming and knock his head onto the wall/floor/table) to get things done his way..  =.=
* Learning to self-feed

My lil son is really growing up and I'm starting to miss the baby in him already...

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