German strawberry cake

Straight out from the pan

You know how it is to FINALLY do something that you've been wanting to for the longest time? 

That sense of accomplishment and "Yes! I've done it!" top of the world feeling?

Oh yeah. That's how we felt recently when hubby and I made a strawberry cake together straight out from his mother's recipe. 

It was sooooo good that we both went straight for seconds. 

Another best part of it? This recipe is so simple that one can simple store the ingredients for the cake in the pantry for a long time and take them out to satisfy the cake craving.

It's light, fluffy and oh-so-fruity. One can use fresh strawberries or simple substitute it with canned fruits like peaches, raspberries or whatever your heart desires. 

It has an airy, vanilla-flavoured base, topped with a layer of pudding, followed by strawberries covered in a layer of jelly. We used Dr. Oetker - the leading German brand for baking condiments and we're never disappointed with the results.

Enjoying the cake with a Nespresso Cappuccino

 Ingredients for the cake base:

- 1 tablespoon cold water

- 100 grams Sugar

- 100 grams Flour

- 4 tbsp Oil

- 3 Eggs

- 1 Packet of Vanilla sugar

- 1/2 Packet Backing Powder

1. Mix everything together with a hand mixer until smooth. 

2. Bake in a baking form (28cm) for about 15 minutes at 160 degree celsius (fan-forced) or 180 degree celsius (normal oven).

3. Once base is done, let it cool. 

4. In the meantime, prepare the vanilla pudding according to the packet instructions. Spread the vanilla pudding on the cake base.

5. Arrange the cut strawberries on top of the vanilla pudding.

6. Prepare the jelly according to the packet instructions and spread it on top of the strawberries.

7. Allow the cake to cool / refrigerate it. Enjoy! :)

The pudding and jelly packets that I used

Stir-fry asparagus with chicken and shrimps

Asparagus is in season now. 

Before I came to Germany, I have never even tasted this vegetable before, let alone know how to cook it. However, the Chinese in me loves cooked vegetables and would have that anytime compared to raw salads. 

Don't get me wrong. I love my fresh salads too but it's one of those things that I eat once a week rather than everyday. Sammy ain't a fan of raw salads at this age, so I do try to incorporate more cooked vegetables in our daily meals. 

With this dish, he ate perhaps 50% of the asparagus that I stuffed into his mouth, while throwing out the other half. I think that's not too bad, considering the very strong unique taste of asparagus. 

Hubby, who ain't a fan of vegetables in general, loved this meal and said that it was a fantastic way to get him to eat his greens. 

I myself loved this meal. It was fairly quick to cook plus I loved the fact that I could throw all the ingredients in one wok and mix everything together.

Given that I hardly get to the Asian store these days for fresh produce, I do appreciate having another variety of vegetables to stir-fry. I must add that I'm becomingly increasingly wary of vegetables imported from China these days, due to the increasing food scandals and their notorious practice of drenching their crops in pesticides.  

Yup, so in short, this recipe is definitely a keeper!

Ingredients: -

- 600 grams chicken breast, diced

- 5 cloves of garlic, chopped

- 1 kg green asparagus (cut into smaller pieces, discard the bottom tip)

- 2 peppers (red / green / yellow), diced

- 250 grams shrimps

- 2 tbsp soya sauce

- 2 tsp tau cheo (preserved bean paste)

- sesame oil

- oyster sauce

- egg white from 2 eggs

1. Marinate the diced chicken in soya sauce, tau cheo and sesame oil for 15 minutes

2. Heat up oil in a wok. Stir-fry the diced chicken in oil until 3/4 done.

3. Add in the asparagus, peppers and shrimps. Stir-fry for a couple of minutes.

4. Add a bit of water and cover the wok. Simmer for a couple of minutes until the vegetables are softened but still al-dente.

5. Season with some oyster sauce and light soya sauce. 

6. Cook some egg whites in the sauce for that "hawker centre" feel. Thicken the sauce with corn starch if need be.

7. Serve warm with rice.

Notes: 

- I separated the sauce and ingredients when I stored them in the fridge overnight. This would help the vegetables to retain their crunchiness the next day.

- This recipe makes about 5 servings.

Honey garlic pork chops

I think I've officialy started nesting. That's the phase when a pregnant lady starts to prepare her home for the upcoming new addition. 

Hubby and I have been spending some time on weekends trying to create more space in Sammy's room. This includes, but is not limited to, clearing out unwanted books / belongings by either discarding them or storing them into those huge Ikea transparent boxes.

We're also facing another flood of decision-making like whether or not we should get a double stroller or even get a bigger car for myself (since my current one is a two-door car with a very small truck space) etc. 

I've settled into such a nice routine with Sammy - with our playdates, social appointments, my housework and cooking. Sammy is also old enough for me to feed him whatever we eat and he doesn't grumble if dinner takes longer to be cooked.

However, I know that we would face another stage of adjustment with a second young one in the family, so in preparation for that, I have started to look out for easier recipes to cook at home.

After seeing this on my friend's blog, I made a mental note to try it out at some point in time. The original recipe is here, but I twiged it to metric measurements because I don't have the U.S. cup system at home.

This recipe is A.W.E.S.O.M.E! We simply marinated the meat the night before, left it in the fridge overnight and grilled it for lunch the next day.

A note of caution though. Our meat was charred quite a bit because we were quite "generous" with the grilling time. However, because the ingredients consist of honey, one should cut down the amount of time of grilling to avoid having too much charred parts.

Having said that, the pork chops still tasted amazing and we're definitely going to revisit this recipe soon!

Ingredients:-

- 8 pork chops
- 200 grams honey
- 4 tbsp soy sauce
- 8 cloves garlic, chopped (1 clove garlic / pork chop)

1. Whisk the honey, soy sauce and garlic together. Marinate the pork chops in this mixture overnight.

2. Grill chops over high heat, basting the chops with the remaining marinate mixture.

3. Serve with a side of mashed potatoes and vegetables. I opted for frozen mixed vegetables which I boiled for a while with the potatoes.

That's it! :) I'm confident that we would be able to handle this recipe with 2 little kiddos! 

Oh this recipe supposedly works well by baking the pork chops together with the marinade in an oven. I haven't tried this method yet, but this would be even more fuss-free! 

Playdates in Singapore & Happy Mother's Day!

We had some pretty awesome playdates during our short trip in Singapore.

My girlfriends and I from church became first-time moms around the same time. Funnily enough, all of them ended up being boys! So, it was very fun catching up with them and their little men over finger-painting and lunch one lovely Wednesday afternoon.

Sammy has the same name as my friend's kid. It was quite hilarious seeing how both of them responded when my friend was like, "No Samuel!"

Both the Samuels got along really well together and Sammy didn't take long to warm up to his Singaporean friends. I think he was simply overjoyed to be around kids his age and have toys to play with! (We only brought 2 toys from Germany with us).

The two Samuels hanging out in a tent together

They were so happy throwing balls at each other!

He lurves cars!

So cool how Samuel shares his toy with Sammy

Too cute lar!

Bub was perspiring too much so I resorted to stripping him of his top

Love how his expression seems to say, "Eh Ma, what's with all this paint?"

And why are my fingers coloured now?!?!

Nah, I'd rather push this toy around

We get to see each other once a year, so the difference in our kids' growth is tremendous! Even though we live halfway across the world, it's pretty cool to see how each mother's job is pretty much one and the same - To love our little bubs and prayerfully guide their hearts in the Lord's direction. 

Here we hung out with Seth and Vicky at a mall over a leisurely morning and lunch. It was so sweet seeing how affectionate they were towards each other! :) 

Kissing Seth (both 19 months old)

Come Seth, let me show you something!

Seth was always smiling at the camera while Sammy couldn't be bothered!

Together with Vicky and Seth!

In comparision, both of them at 5 months old (Jan 2012)

Another flashback to the past photo

I love being a Mom and consider it such a privilege to be one. It's a whole LOT of work and there are days when I'm just dying to have a few moments of me-time and not be bugged at. Or to have a clean house that stays clean!

But on the whole, it's so amazing to see how a little one grows under your tender, loving care. I never thought that I would savour this journey so much. And of course, when baby sleeps, one has time to miss baby and in the meantime recharge for the next day's challenges.

Now that I would relive Motherhood all over again when #2 comes, I pray too that God will expand my heart so that I can be His eyes, heart, hands and feet in this family that He has given to me.

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there! 

Hub's Mother's Day present to me - perfume to replace my old one!

Dear Sammy - 19 / 20 months

In your S$6 sunglasses

Dear Mr toddler!

We love you SO much young one!

Recently while you slept, Mummy had one of those hormonally-charged moments of being overwhelmed that you are my kid! You have blessed our lives in so many ways you can't imagine. I know every Mom says this, but I'm sooo happy to be your Mom!

You've got such a gentle and docile personality. Sure, you've started little tantrums by lying down on the floor or throwing your fork on the floor when you're upset. But these moments are still far and few between and most of the time you look like you're still struggling to grapple with the things you don't like and trying to express your preferences in a healthy and acceptable way.

That's you exercising your rights to a tantrum. Daddy wrote Mummy a note to encourage me!

In short, you're learning how to cope with having a temperament. Like all of us. This is a life-long process baby. Even your parents are still learning to ask the Holy Spirit to guide our hearts and help us to submit to His gentle prompting than giving in to the flesh.

Over the past month, we brought you back for your second trip to Singapore. This time round, you managed to interact much more with Grandpa, Auntie Bernice and all the people who love you!

Flight-wise, it was a hit and miss. Flight to Singapore was interesting in that you fell asleep immediately when the plane took off, but was unfortunately woken up by a wailing 5-month old baby next to you after 2 hours of deep slumber. Mummy ended up having to walk you up and down the aisles while you inspected every single sleeping person and entertained the air-stewardesses until 3.30am!!!

Flight back was much easier cos you were way too tired from the midnight flight that you zonked out pretty much for most of the flight *phew*.

Mummy & you had to fight jet-lag together while Daddy had no issues adjusting to the new time zone in Singapore cos he was so sleep-deprived having had to work crazy hours so that we could go on our holiday.

You're such a travel bunny! Everyday when we took a cab, you would have the widest grin on your face watching the world go by through the window.

Look at that grin! You were matchy matchy with Daddy!

You love painting and making puzzles. Anything that requires you to use your hands without dirtying them would be a good pasttime for you.

You were so fascinated with your new puzzle that grandpa had to feed you

Painting with two hands!

You continue to be very affectionate, fishing out generous hugs and kisses to us. We love how you'd hold our heads in your hands and plant huge, sloppy kisses on our lips. We hope you'd continue to have this innocent, child-like joy in you for the rest of your life! Please don't be jaded by the imperfections of this world we live in. Jesus has overcome the world, so that we can live a victorious life in Him!

This is what I mean

You were sooo happy with your indoor playground!

Oh that infectious laughter!

You'll be a big brother in less than 2 months' time, so I think Mummy would have to drop your monthly posts to make way for your little brother's ones. But no worries, we're sure that you'll feature pretty often in photos of di di (younger brother) and Mummy will continue to write about you too.

We love you sweetie and trust that God will prepare your heart to be an amazing big brother.

Love
Mum & Dad

You took a sip of everything we drank!

At Aunty Bernice's office where you sat on the table like a tow kay

On one of those $1 automated rides

Pregnancy #2 - 30 weeks! (7.5 months)

Taken at my friend's wedding recently

I shall take a break from my Singapore posts to write about our 2nd boy in the making. 

Yupz, I've hit the 30 week milestone! Can't believe there's only 10 more weeks to go (maybe less) before I meet my little boy!

Since my last post, I realized that baby boy #2 has become really active! He simply CAN'T.STOP.MOVING.

You know that song, "I got to move it, move it?"

That's exactly how I feel like this days. Or more precisely, that's exactly how baby feels like these days.

At my last heartbeat check, when I was strapped to a machine to monitor baby's heartbeat, this baby kept wriggling around so much such that his heartbeat disappeared from the screen more than a couple of times.

The good thing is, unlike Sammy, who would "punch" me from the inside with a couple of soccer-ball-like-hits, baby #2's movements are more constant and random.

I haven't had to bowl over in pain due to baby's kicks. For that, I'm absolutely thankful. :)

Pregnancy-wise, I've been hit with a bad bout of hayfever since we returned to Germany. This is not entirely unexpected since I experienced hayfever for the first time when I was preggy with Sammy.

Still, it was / is horrible sneezing uncontrollably, blowing my nose and coughing my lungs out all the time! Argh. We try to keep our windows and doors shut to reduce the amount of pollen in our house, but there's only so much one can do.

As if that wasn't bad enough, I developed a bad case of cold over the weekend! We were out in the city running some errands on Saturday and the temperatures dipped to a meagre 5 degrees (!!!) after having had over 20 degrees 2 days ago.

I didn't even realize that I was sick sick (no thanks to having hayfever), until I had to get out of my bed in the night cos my throat was so itchy, dry and uncomfortable. Made myself some hot tea and had to drink 2 glasses of it before I could somewhat placate my respiratory system enough to get back to sleep. Sammy unfortunately woke up from my constant coughing, such that both of us had a wee-hour-early-morning snack in bed before drifting off to la-la land.

That was the night from Saturday to Sunday. As I'm writing this, it's still Monday and I spent the entire afternoon in bed. Just sleeping. My body feels so weak, with achy muscles and all.

I'm still hopeful that the hayfever would disappear soon. It's been there for slightly more than a week now. With Sammy's pregnancy, the hayfever stopped miraculously after 3 weeks. Let's see how long it will take this time.

Back to baby, my gynae gave me the 100% confirmation that baby's a boy. There was this huge circle on the scan - which my gynae told me were baby's balls. Lol. They looked so disproportionately huge, but then again everything looks way too huge on a zoomed-in screen.

We're excited about starting the whole newborn stage all over again, but not without a slight apprehension of what this means for us as a family. I've been trying to tell Sammy about baby but he doesn't yet seem to realize what that means. In any case, I know that Sammy will make a great big brother because he does enjoy hanging out with his playmates and he's very much a social creature. :)

Oh, one more issue about the pregnancy.... Backache! We've been trying to see if we can purchase a Tempur mattress to alleviate both our backaches (hubby has been having backaches since forever), but we have yet to be able to contact the lady who's in charge of the financing plans. **bummer**

I think that about wraps up my pregnancy post! We love you little baby boy #2. Continue to grow well, strong and healthily!
 

Baby #2 at 29 weeks 4 days

S.E.A. Aquarium at Resort World Sentosa

We went to Sentosa not just for the beach but mainly to hang out at the world's largest aquarium - S.E.A. Aquarium at RWS. 

I don't know if its got something to do with watching fishes, or whether it was the refractive index of looking through thick glass, but all of us - my brother, hubby and I felt soooo sleeply and utterly relaxed while walking through the aquarium! Sammy fell asleep before we even reached the aquarium (I'm attributing it to the air-conditioning).

Hubby has not been to Sentosa since it was revamped a while back, so we wanted to go there as a family to revisit this island. The last time we visited Sentosa together was probably for our wedding photography 7 years ago! 

It was such an entralling experience! Very highly-recommended for families with young kid(s). Singapore's weather is simply too hot and humid to be outdoors in the afternoon. Hence the aquarium provided such great entertainment indoors in the comfort of air-conditioning.

We spoke to one of the staff who was leading a school group and he somehow got into such an impassioned speech about how sharks are going to be extinct at the rate Chinese people are eating sharks' fins because its a regularly-served delicacy at weddings.

I must admit that we did have sharks' fins on our wedding menu but only because that was the standard course that was served and I wasn't environment-conscious enough to ask for an alternative dish. **hmmm**

Still, I need to give this guy some brownie points for the way he was so passionate about what he does. He really loves marine life and it shows in the way he interacts with the visitors.

Sammy finally did wake up after we were almost done with our round at the aquarium. But we did managed to go for another shorter round, during which Sammy was more interested in running around than staring at the fishes.

We liked the small pond where one gets to touch the corals / starfish and various small fish. Sammy's still a bit too young to appreciate such a hands-on experience but he was sure fascinated by the water.

If we lived in Singapore, we would definitely buy the annual pass for this aquarium. It's so very worth a visit(s)! 

The little poser who wears his glasses for a few seconds?

My trusty brother, Isaac came along with us to Sentosa. :)

There was some exhibit before the entrance of the aquarium

Loved the idea of a shipwreck as a backdrop

Ohhh, one of my dreams..... to learn how to dive!

Gorgeous tank!

Jellyfish.... Quite eerie to watch

Know what I mean?

All blue-tinged cos camera was on aquarium mode

Doesn't Isaac look so fatherly? ;)

Now now, what am I supposed to do?

So mesmerized!

Here's hubby trying to entertain Sammy after he got bored

Sammy's sitting on some glass panel where one sees fishes swimming underneath

More corals

A pond where one can touch starfish and various small fishes

Sammy was too cautious to touch anything

but he sure enjoyed dipping his hand in the water