Starting all over with Butter cakes!

I feel like i'm starting all  over again. Not baking for real for ages, my skills have sort of, deteriorated. Being alone at home and enjoying while i can before my studies/work start in July, i try to make use of the time the best I could. Best thing is my hub has a bigger appetite now that he's back to work, so i could try out more stuff.

To begin with, i figured it's best to re-solidy my butter cake creaming skills. Hence many stuff like chocolate, pumpkin etc etc butter cakes. Haha. And i'm still crossing my fingers abt dropping 5 kgs!

Joanna's B'day Cake

Not baking a real cake for a long time has really taken a toll of my skill. I trembled, confused not knowing exactly how i am going to do it. It was Joanna's,daughter of my lifegroup leader 15th Birthday.

A simple cream cake, Japanese Cotton Cheesecake with Lemon Curd.

My hub told me to use up the ingredients stocked up in the cabinet. Which means i wasn't allowed to buy any decorative items or fresh fruits e.g. strawberries. With only cherries available as the red, i snipped some basil leaves from the poor plant. In the end, i decided it looked more like a Christmas cake than a birthday.

 Simple 6 lemon cupcakes to surround the cake. 6 to carry the six letters in 'Joanna'.

With one extra i reserved it for hubby.

Blessed 15th Birthday, Joanna. I hope you like the cake.

Before July comes

Have been waking up early since my hub started his work at MA. Preparing his lunch box, breakfast n tea treats is my responsibility and tat's how i start my day daily. At 8.30am, i send him off to the Park n Ride a.k.a. major bus stand to catch his direct bus to the city. Come home, clean, read, surf and cook. Thank God i'm having a break before my semester starts, and i'll be a student officially next mth! :-). At the meantime, i'm a housewife who's contemplating whether she shd join Mccain.

Every day i ask him what he wld like in his lunch box, and without fail, he wld answer 'sandwiches ba'. I am hoping that he wld bring some leftovers from last nite's dinner but i understand sandwiches are perhaps, one of the convenient meals. No need microwaving, or reheating; just pop n munch. And yeah, he's much slimmer now.

I try to make them as healthy as i can with lotsa salads n proper fillings. Sometimes it's ham n honey mustard. At times when there is chicken, it wld be chicken avocado. Or when the supplies are out, tuna or egg mayo comes into the rescue. Any more ideas ppl? I'll be searching for nice pork floss.

N they are often multigrain/ linseed soy bread. I became lenient these days, i gave him croissants. :-) If he grows slimmer, it makes me feel insecure (HAHA!).

And that's how bad i am. I wld fill his tea box with butter cakes or fresh egg tarts, depending on  what i baked the day before. That way he can last till a proper dinner at home.

Pumpkin butter cake - still trying out n modifying the recipe.

I have been pretty lazy. Wanted to bake buns, but somehow the tv looks more inviting. :-P

Lazy week

I've been terribly lazy lately. Why? Coz there is a TV in the house now!

Yeah, my hub bought a 50" plasma tv the next day after his exams and ever since then, the house has never been quiet. I'm home alone most of the time with hub working in the city; and always having this 'cake baking' project going on in my mind but never seem to get the action going. LOL. In the end, i only made two items: peanut cookies and egg tarts, which of course i spent the hours sitting in front of the tv pushing doughs onto tart cases and simply popping into the oven very quickly without having to leave the tv for more than 10 mins!

So typical me. LOL. My frens asked where i got the patience to make these egg tarts ... i told them i made them when i was lazy. What could be better? sitting in front of the tv doing something which i like! I can have all the patience n time in the world! :-P

Battle: Level 2 (Known to be the toughest exam on planet Earth?)

My dearest hubby is sitting for a V.I.P (paper) tmr! The battle of CFA level 2 will kick off at 9am, tormenting pour souls for six hours 'zhun-zhun' (2 hrs lunch break in between) and i will be picking him up after 5pm.

Pretty tough; six books, six modules fitted into one exam in one day of six hours. My hub claimed he's losing hair ald. LOL

For the last lunch before the battle day, i cooked my first pot of lamb in my entire life!! Black pepper mongolian lamb!

A very ordinary spread of a typical chinese meal:

Now it's my turn to stress! Civil or Environmental?? What say you? I need to make an informed and justified decision!



In spite of that, i wan to wish hub the very best of all best - May God's wisdom, patience, good time management and ultimate favor be with you throughout your exam!! God bless you tremendously!! 

Seafood Marinara

My dearest hub cooked me another pasta dish the other day and i was overjoyed! Lol.

Seafood marinara in red wine basil sauce spaghetti...yummy. Has been long long time since i had fish! :-(

A little sth to share

Don't ever challenge God, He's not easily defeated, certainly not someone you wan to test on. Woke up this afternoon from a nap that left me very disappointed, I posed God a very harsh statement: "If You really care abt me; this instance i wan the 'offers' for my postgrad." And they came. Yeah. God cares!

Let me tell you an interesting testimony. I have not told anyone apart from my fellow brothers n sisters in Mel, but it is truly a remarkable way of how God works in my life personally. Wanting to pursue a postgrad in Ozzie or specifically the University of Melbourne being one of the top in the southern hemisphere, was one of my dreams before i came and even when i was working back home! You may not heard of this, becoz i seldom share abt my life with people, but yeah, i had hoped to enrol as i settled in the metropolitan. Initially i thought of searching for a full time job, and have attended lotsa interviews only to be given false hopes and futile results. I guess being a lady in the engineering workforce is somehow not an advantage after all. Especially when you are young at a child bearing age with a husband and a privilege to take up to 12 mths paid maternity leave. So for some discrimination reasons, i lost to my male counterparts. Sigh. This is life.

In April, I was invited to two interviews by this company which I learnt through an engineering expo. Using my 'very not-usual' networking skills (i'm an extreme introvert!), i got to know this guy who later recommended me for a position in his company and hence went for two meetings with them. I still got a 'no'. In midst of that, i was telling God that if it's His will for me to start working first, then I will get the job; but if it's Study, then it's a no. So it was a no. Later on, i discovered from one of the assessors in Mel Uni for the School of Engineering that the supported places (which are fees subsidised by the Oz Govn) are guaranteed for those who have successfully admitted in 2011 and they are changing the policy from next year onwards. Which means, this is the last semester for a guaranteed supported place! The annual tuition fee for a Master in Eng is $26,500 and the supported place is $7,756. Becoz i am a lady in engineering, I have the privilege of receiving $5,000 bursary per year, which means my fee is reduced 90%!

After all those nos, i feel life is so unfair, and extremely difficult. But God's timing is always the best. If not for the nos, i wouldn't have gone back to my studying option and discovered that i'm still in time for the last semester of guaranteed subsidy. I don't think it wld be possible for me to do my Masters, if the fee is $26,500 per annum or more for the next few years even if i have already started to earn $$$.

Praise God. He is awesome! He even provided me with a part time job opportunity! What wld be better to do full time study n work part time in your own profession?? Most importantly, thank God for hub's support and blessings!

P/S: Wld appreciate all your continuous prayers always. N i will be praying for each n every one of you. :-)