March - October 2014 Bakes, etc

Heehee, I did not realize that I have not been updating my bakes, etc for such a long while :)

 

Starting from the most recent, the above yam and threadfin soup is one of my favourites.  The steamed pork ribs and yam was a dish that we had at tim sum recently and I decided to give it a try.  The third dish is a classic tau gay with salted fish :) 

Tangzhong Wassant.  I am not able to achieve what Provence is selling outside but these are soft and yummy as well :)

Chocolate Buns with Cream Cheese filling.

Mini Chempedak Tarts for my husband's teabreak :)

 

They guys at home were given a choice - Homemade Beef Stew and Buns or Homemade Jam on Toast with Brewed Coffee for breakfast.

Peach and Blueberry Tarts for praiseband practice.

Blueberry Tart for family members.

Love the fluffy and soft texture of this Egg Loaf recipe.  One original, the other I topped with some cheese and poppy seeds.

A simple chocolate sponge cake with caramelized bananas and peanut butter filling.

Homemade Fried Silver Fish and Peanuts.  If you have the time, homemade fried stuff are healthier as we do not reuse the oil like those from the shops.  This dish goes well with plain porridge or rice, nasi lemak :)

Renfred brought home some prosciutto so I used some of them in my baguettes ;-)

 

The inside of the mini prosciutto baguette. 

I enjoy playing with dough.  Maybe Play dough was not invented during my childhood days :)

Love to make pretty loaves like these :)

A simple vanilla sponge cake with homemade jam filling and a very simple drawing of a road bike for my hubby's 52nd birthday. 

Strawberry Chocolate Tart. 

A simple dish of Fried Chicken with herb seasoning. I am not good at following recipes, so I just add whatever I like :)

Nutella Flower Loaf

Apple Baked Ham and Cheddar Loaf

Made some Banana Walnut cakes for praiseband practice. 

Am happy with the crunchy walnuts and chunks of bananas :)

A Wagu Beef Dinner with homemade Soup Bowls and a bottle of 2005 Red Wine.

Made some mini pizza strips from the remaining olive dough where I made my soup bowls.  Topped them with Sundried Tomatoes, herb butter and curry fish.

Honey Coated Macadamia and Toffee Cinnamon Buns.  Lovely combination. 

Just love the texture of these buns :D

The night before, I made some Crabmeat Patties.  Used some of them to make Crabmeat Patties sandwich with my homemade Highway 10" French Baguette.

 

Bought these two huge flower crabs at the Marsling market, steamed them, added seasonings, etc and made my own Crabmeat Patties.  Those you eat or buy from outside are so expensive.

A friend ordered close to 100 sets of these cookies for her daughters' school Children's Day events. 

So I experimented and made different flavours and colours of heart-shaped cookies.

Quality and taste are very important to me, especially when it comes to selling my bakes. 

 

 

Chocolate, Vanilla, Raspberry, Cranberry, Lemon and Orange Heart-shaped cookies wrapped and sealed in individual small containers, ready for delivery :)

 

Orange Chocolate Tarts for Renfred's classmates.  One of his lecturers gave them a lunch treat so he asked if I could bake a dessert for his classmates.  Always very happy to do so whenever my young adults want their mom to bake for them :)

Homemade Straw, Blue and Blackberry Jam with peach liqueur from Nice.

 

Orange Cranberry and Stripes Agar Agar

Chocolate and Raspberry Muffins

Meringue topped with Balsamic Strawberry and Chocolate drizzle.

 

Made these Chocolate Tarts to share with some friends.

 

On this particular day, I just felt like doing some stencil baking.  So I baked these :D

Hope you have enjoyed looking at the above as I have enjoyed baking them.  GOD bless :)

Endurance - Melaka Century Ride 2014

We drove into Malacca on Saturday, 25 October, 2014 to participate in the Melaka Century Ride the next day.  This is our first time riding with a group of more than 2,600+ participants in a foreign land.

 

That evening, we went with of one Peter's cycling buddies, Cherlek, to do a short 12km orientation ride of the surrounding area.  At the back of my mind, I was thinking of backing out of the next day's ride :0

 

My steady and determined husband.  Really admire his perseverance and discipline in training in order to participate in such an event.

 

His not so steady but willing to try wife, together with his cycling buddies :)

 

All set and waiting at the starting point. 

 

Like real, 52 year old aunty on a road bike cycling with a group of strong and abled body riders ;-)  One year ago, I was not even able to make U-turn and cycle steadily on a bike.

 

Another picture of aunty behind the cyclist in orange jersey.

 

When I reached the coastal area, I was separated from the rest.  So I stopped and took a couple of pictures and a video of the sea.  Must enjoy GOD's creation on your journey, right? ;-)

 

After leaving the coastal area, I cycled through the kampong alone. 

Along the way, this song came to mind

"My life is in You, Lord, My hope is in You, Lord,

My strength is in You, Lord. In You, yes, in You."

I kept on singing and enjoying the experience of cycling alone in a foreign land.

 

Do I look tired?  Hahaha, this is where an inexperienced rider got "conned".  While I was enjoying my ride, there was this guy (part of the organizing team) in a car, asking if I was okay.  I told him "Thanks, yes, I am able to carry on."  So I continued but the vehicle kept following me until I pai seh and said "Okay, I will get up the vehicle."  Little did I realize that it was more torturing to be in a vehicle, slowly going after riders who are tired and I wished I had continued cycling instead of being pai seh :(

I was shortly transferred to a lorry, being told that it would go straight to the resort.  Instead, it went round the route, picking up cyclists who were either tired, got cramps or got slight injury.  One of their own marshalls on motorcycle also came up as his motor bike had a puncture.  Got to talk to this cyclist in white jersey from Kuala Lumpur.  He said he ran out of water and his buddies - 7 of them told him that they would wait for him before the start of the ride but all "deserted" him.  Maybe that's why we learn that in our Christian life's race we always say "run the race, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith." - man will fail us but Jesus would never.   

Here's another picture after more than 1+ hour in the lorry.  I counted, there were 15 cyclists with 15 bikes!  I regretted getting on to the vehicle and the lorry.

Pete did very well, he completed his first century ride well within his targetted time.  So proud of him :-D 

 

Since I came back earlier than he did, I showered and went downstairs to welcome my hubby.  He put on his medal with pride, tired but happy with his achievement.  Well done, dear! 

The next day, before setting off for home.  We gathered and took pictures for remembrance.

So happy and relaxed :)

At Malacca, enjoying Mee Sua Soup and shopping :)

 

This was dinner on the second night at PappaRich as there were not many eateries near the resort.

 

These are the two medals received for our participation.  For Pete, he completed the ride and he well deserved it.  For me, I only did about 1/3 of the ride but most of all, I thank GOD for the safety and experience, especially cycling alone on the road in a foreign land when I have not even participated in such events in my own country.  The part I enjoyed most was, when I was singing and cycling past the kampong area.   Now back to life's reality and to persevere on my eternal race, looking unto my Saviour and hearing Him say "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." on the day I meet Him face to face and maybe receive a crown :). 

 

The official results were out today.  Look at what I received.  I could not help but laugh at how humorous GOD is - it stated here that my timing was 4hours 47mins and 7 out of 154 in my category, 263 out of 2672!  What a joke!  The best 4 riders in the Yew Tee team clocked in about 5.15hours and I am ahead of them????  It is really as what the Bible says, "the last shall be the first." :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0M0NALW7EM&gl=SG&hl=en-GB