Mamajojo's Diary

Yesterday during our Japanese language lesson, my teacher told me that one of her students recently received the result for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) which was held last December. She asked if I have received mine but I had not then. After our lesson, I went to the mailbox to check. Look and behold! There was the letter from the JLPT organiser!!

I was soooooooo nervous when I opened the envelope. The result? I PASSED!!!! I passed the JLPT level 4 (elementary) exam!!! Yippy!!! Thank God for this wonderful achievement!!! I felt sooooooooo happy and overwhelmed by this great news!!!! I immediately called Papajojo and sms to my Japanese teacher about this news. Finally, after a year's learning, I passed the exam. As a SAHM, I felt a great sense of achievement. Sooooooooooo happyyyyyyyyy!!!

I want to dedicate this achievement to firstly, my Japanese teacher, Yasuda sensei, for her wondeful patience and guidance.She's really very knowledgable and kind. Secondly, to Papajojo, for his patience and guidance too while revising with me what I've learnt for the exam. Last but not least, to my family and friends who have been giving me lots of encouragement to learn this wonderful langauge. Of course, learning doesn't stop here. I'm now even more motivated to take the JLPT level 3 (intermediate) exam to be held at the end of this year. I hope to be able to master this language well so that I can better communicate with my Japanese friends and Papajojo's relatives who are living in Japan. Ganbari masu (means work hard in Japanese) !!!

Last Saturday, Papajojo and Joseph went to the Singapore Airshow 2008 at Changi. Papajojo was really sun burnt on his face and arms when he came home! Joseph was not so badly burnt, thanks to Papajojo for shielding him.

Before leaving the house, they took photos of their matching attire. Joseph wore the T-shirt which Papajojo bought specially for him. It says "Dad's Little Co-Pilot". Joseph also brought along his A380 model to the airshow. It was given by his Guu-Guu in Singapore. Thank you, Mollie!

Here are photos of the Singapore's Air Force aerobatic team "Black Knights". Exciting!

Joseph was rather annoyed by all the noise made by the aircraft during the aerobatic performances. So Papajojo brought Joseph into the indoor exhibition hall to escape from the noise and heat.

After Joseph had calmed down, they went outdoor again to see the world's largest airliner in flight, the A380. Joseph was thrilled and flew his A380 model in his hand!!

It was getting hotter outdoor so they went back into the indoor exhibition hall to cool down and see all the displays.

Here's the Airbus, Boeing and Bell booths.

The other booth they saw was the Changi Airport Booth.

After cooling down, they decided to look at the outdoor displays again, such as F-15, KC-135, Chinook and B-1.

Finally, Papajojo and Joseph saw the A380 being towed back to the display area after the demo flight. Jospeh was sooooo excited seeing the real aircraft while holding the A380 model in his hand.

Papajojo and Joseph were exhausted after being in the sun and heat for half a day at the airshow. Nonetheless, they enjoyed going to the airshow together. Great bonding time for father and son!!

Papajojo bought these identical sets of T-shirts for himself and Joseph when he went to Florida in January 08 for work. Don't they look like brothers?!! ouuuuuu... so handsome... Best friend forever!!

This year, Joseph had a total of three birthday parties. Phew! After all the preparations and fun celebrations, finally Papajojo and I got to get some rest...

About three weeks before Joseph's birthday, we went to The Concourse Shopping Arcade to get the items for Joseph's party packs to be given to his friends. We bought some wrapping papers out of which I made 20 paper bags. Inside the party packs, there's a packet of soya drink, sweets, bottle of soap bubble, paper balloon, plastic spinning top and a "Char Teck" (a traditional Malay toy made of feather and you use one leg to kick it). Jojo helped out in assembling the party packs.

First party was held at Jojo's play school. During their snack time at 10am, Papajojo (He took leave from work on 14th and 15th Feb for Joseph's birthday. Thank you, dear!) and I brought a cake to their school. Papajojo also brought along his guitar to have music accompanyment while singing Joseph's birthday song. I brought along photos of Joseph while he was younger to show to his friends. Then we lit the candles, sang birthday song, Joseph blew his candles, cut cake, and distributed the cake to his friends and teachers. After that, I put the party packs into his friends' cubby holes. Joseph had a fun time celebrating his birthday with his friends, teachers and family!

When school ended at 1pm, we brought Jojo to the East Coast Chalet, called "Island Resorts". We checked in at about 4pm and stayed there till Sunday and checked out at 10am. It was fun staying at the chalet. During my childhood and school days, my family and friends would hang out there during school holidays to do fun activities like cycling, sand castle building and swimming in the sea. We wanted to let Jojo have sweet memories too doing these fun activities together.So we spent the rest of Thursday afternoon, evening and Friday morning cycling and playing at the beach.

On Friday morning, we put up decorations at the chalet for Joseph's birthday party. See the star fishes, octopus and jelly fish decorations? These were actually done by Alena's mom, Angkana, for Alena's birthday party held on 2nd Feb at their place. Angkana was very kind to let me "recycle" the decorations after Alena's birthday party. Thank you so much, Angkana!!

In the afternoon, Jojo's friends from their playschool joined us at the chalet for Joseph's second birthday party. The kids had fun playing at the pool, the playground and the beach. We got Joseph a cake decorated with a "space" theme. He was thrilled! All the kids and moms had a great time playing and talking together!

Then on Saturday evening, my mom, my brother and his family, and friends came and joined in Joseph's third birthday party celebrations. This time, we got a simple black forest cake for Joseph. All the kids and adults had fun celebrating Joseph's birthday!

A "BIG THANK YOU" for all our family and friends who came to celebrate Joseph's birthday with us. Thanks too for all the wonderful gifts which Joseph and Joanne received. Joseph's birthday celebrations were made special because of all your well wishes and presence. May God also bless each one of you just as you're a wonderful blessing to us!

Today's Joseph's 5th birthday! Wow, he's five already!! He's a happy and confident child. Really thank God for blessing him with good health.

Joseph, may you continue to be blessed with good health, love and happiness always!! Lots of love from your Papa and Mama and Joanne Mei Mei!!

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you too! To my dear friends, thank you for our wonderful friendships! May God bless our friendships to last forever!!

We're starting a Chinese New Year (CNY) family tradition this year. Since we already made it a tradition to welcome 1st Jan every year by having Japanese steamboat and watching the Japanese "Red & White Song Festival" program on the NHK channel every new year's eve, being Chinese, we'll set a tradition to welcome the Lunar New Year as well.

Papajojo and I decided that from this year onwards, for the traditional reunion dinner on Chinese New Year Eve, we'll make chinese dumplings (Jiao Zi) and have chinese steam boat for dinner at home. It would be nice if all four of us sat together to make the dumplings together but since we were running out of time (and energy!), while Papajojo and Joseph were busy downstairs washing the car, Joanne and I got busy in the kitchen making the chinese dumplings.

It's fun and easy making the dumplings with Joanne. In fact, this is about the fourth time we did this together. The last time we made the dumplings was about a week ago when Joanne's friend, Alena and her mom, Angkana, came to our place and we did the dumplings together. It was great fun!

For the fillings, we had minced pork, chopped napa cabbage, chopped onions and chopped ginger. If you like veggies, you can add more or other kinds like chopped carrots. For seasoning, I added chinese cooking wine, salt, soya sauce and sesame oil. Add an egg, and mix these together, then put cover and put in fridge for about 15mins before wrapping in wonton skins. Then either, steam, fry or cook in boiling soup stock. Easy breezy and yummy!

After Joseph and Papajojo finished washing the car, we began our chinese steamboat dinner. For this year's CNY reunion dinner, we had chinese dumplings, chicken soup stock, cabbage, spinach, onion, fish balls, canned baby abalone, prawns, fresh fish and vermicili. Simple, delicious and fun!

My dear friend, Angkana, gave me these lovely fresh ginger which she harvested from her beautiful garden. Thank you soooo much, Angkana! I treasure these fresh ginger so much, I can't bear to use them in my cooking!

ps: The bottom right photo was taken by Joanne. Not bad huh?!!

Wish all of you a very happy and blessed Year of Rat!!!

Recently I watched this Korean drama "My Lovely Sam Soon" (my most fav K-drama!!) about this 30 year old french pastry chef who found love despite being labeled as plump and unattractive. She mentioned about this small cake called Maleleines. It's also know as French Cake as the French would dip this cake into hot tea before taking a bit. I was immediately drawn to wanting to try bake this small cake as it sounded soooooooo romantic... you know, French stuff... linked with romantic feeling... ou la la...

I must say it's really easy to bake the lovely Madeleines and they taste great!!! I used non-stick Madeleine cake mold so the cakes came off really nice and in perfect shape. A fantastically delicious cake to have afternoon tea with!

================================================

Madeleines (makes 18)

Ingredients:
4 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (essence)
1 cup all-purpose (plain) flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
Confectioners' (icing) sugar for dusting

Method:
Preheat oven to 425 deg F (220 deg C). Grease a 12- or 18-mold madeleine pan. In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar until thick and pale in color. Stir in vanilla. Sift flour and baking powder together onto a piece of waxed paper. Gently stir flour mixture into egg mixture in 3 batches, adding butter with last batch. Cover and refrigerate for 10 mins. Spoon into prepared molds.

Bake for 5 mins. Reduce oven temperature to 400 deg F (200 deg C) and bake for 5 more mins. Let cool in pan for 5 mins, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely. If using a 12-mold pan, let cool, regrease and use to bake remaining batter. Dust cakes with confectioners' sugar to serve.

Recipe take from book "Muffins & Small Cakes" (avaliable from NLB, call no. 641.8653)
=========================================================

During Chinese New Year, family and friends will visit each other's house and while catching up on each other's "happenings" for the past year, we'll also consume whatever goodies like biscuits, chocolates, egg rolls, etc which the hosts have prepared for the guests. Although it's more convenient to just buy the CNY goodies from supermarkets and bakery shops, it's not necessary cheaper and healthier than those home-made ones. I wanted to try baking some of them since I enjoy baking. What better food to prepare for your guests other than home-made goodies!

This year, I went cockkoo and made three types of CNY goodies in just one and half day... almost went crazy after finished baking... Next year MUST remind myself NOT to do this again... or risk really really going bananas...

First, my first ever attempt at baking Kueh Bangkit. It's a kind of cookie using tapioca flour instead of all-purpose wheat flour. I love its coconut flavour and that "melt-in-your-mouth" texture. But sad to admit, my first attempt at baking Kueh Bangkit has failed. The cookie was too thick and not dried out enough, so didn't have that "melt-in-your-mouth" texture. Instead, it's a bit "chewy", as Papajojo put it. (Thank God Papajojo agreed to help finish eating the Kueh Bangkit I baked... Hee Hee... )

I then learnt from my friend, Choy Wan, which she learnt from a baking lesson, that you need to fry the tapioca flour for about 30mins (I think), let it cool and store the flour for two weeks before using it to bake the cookie, in order to get that nice texture. Hmmm... better note this before I attempt to bake this challenging cookie again next year, or else consider the amount of hard work needed to bake it right, just buy them from bakery shops lah...

Here's the recipe of Kueh Bangkit I got from the Life Section of the Sunday Times, 3rd Feb 08.

============================================================
Kueh Bangkit

Ingredients:
2.5 cups tapioca flour
1 tbsp butter, melted
1 egg yolk
1 cup icing sugar
120ml thick coconut milk

Baking Instructions:
1. Microwave the tapioca flour for one minute or dry fry over the stove till fragrant. (leave to cool before using)

2. Sift the flour and icing sugar. Add the melted butter, egg yolk and coconut milk. Mix to form pliable dough.

3. Roll out the dough on a lightly-floured surface and cut with a cookie cutter.

4. Place on a lined baking tray and bake at 180 deg C for 15 mins or till crispy to the touch.

5. Leave to cool before packing.

=========================================================

Next, I made egg rolls, well actually, flatten egg rolls. Recipe from here. I used the electric non-stick egg roll mould and finished making them in four hours. Yup, four hours. Made about 200 pcs, I think. After the batter was cooked in the electric mould, I folded it in half, then half again, so the shape was a quarter of a circle. Jojo helped to eat the edges of the egg rolls as I trimmed them. Nice!

Last but not least, almond cookies. Recipe from here. It's easy to bake and I like that the almond cookies from this recipe aren't too sweet. Yummy! Well, at least 2 out of 3 CNY goodies I baked are considered successful attempts.

Tomorrow really have to focus on cleaning the house before CNY arrives on Thursday!!!