Breastfeeding room - Central Festival, Hatyai

We're on a short 2D1N spontaneous holiday with my 2 little rascals. As usual, recording footsteps on the breastfeeding rooms we found. This time around is Central Festival at Hatyai.

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Mommydiary 24Aug2015: Allison is 2 months old!

Today Allison turns 2 months old and I did something meaningful for her.
I love the power of sharing through a nice platform like TBAN~
Very happy that by sharing Allison's case on gastro-oesophageal reflux would be able to help so many other babies going through the same issue.
My post has crazily being 'liked' over 2000 times up to now. *amazing*
I love being a mommy!!

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Japanese Cheesecake with Philips AirFryer

This round I tried experimenting the Philips AirFryer with another of my favorite cheesecake. I followed exactly the ingredients and instructions in Christine's Recipe, except the baking temperature and baking time due to different oven used. They turned out to be fluffy and creamy as expected!!!

Before the first batch cooled down, 4 cupcakes already gone missing... I chilled and refrigerated all and today they taste even better!


Recipe makes around 28 mini cupcakes.
(I made 24 mini cupcakes + 1 small baking pan size block)

Ingredients:
250 ml milk
250 gm cream cheese, cubed and softened at room temperature
60 gm butter, softened at room temperature
6 egg yolks
55 gm cake flour
20 gm corn flour
1 lemon zest
6 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
130 gm caster sugar

Tips: Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature before you start.

Method:

**Preheat the Philips AirFryer to 150deg C for about 5 minutes.

1. Use a large bowl, pour in milk. Place the bowl over simmering water. Don’t let the bottom of the bowl touch the water. Add cream cheese, stir occasionally, until completely dissolved and the mixture turns smooth (double boil method).

2. Stir in butter, till dissolved. Remove from heat. 

3. Let cool down a bit, then add the egg yolks and combine well. (Note: Make sure the mixture is not too hot to avoid cooking the egg yolks at this stage.)

4. Combine cake flour and corn flour. Sift in the flours into the cream cheese mixture, a small amount at a time. Mix well between every addition, and make sure there aren’t any flour lumps. Stir in freshly grated zest. Set aside.

5. Place egg whites in a large clean bowl. (Note: Make sure there’s no oil or water in the bowl at all.) Use an electric mixer to beat the egg whites for 3 minutes, then add cream of tartar and blend again. Pour sugar in the egg whites and blend until very stiff peaks form. Use highest speed.

6. Fold-in the egg whites into the cream cheese mixture gently with a rubber spatula.

7. For a better result, fold in egg whites with a small amount at a time, at least for 3 times.

8. Fold-in just until all ingredients are incorporated. Do not stir or beat.  

Bake with pan

Pour the mixture into a small baking pan. I use a baking pan which can fit into the Philips AirFryer. I add hot water in the lower tray up to the level near the mesh metal basket (water-bath method). Bake for 15-20 minutes. Test with a needle or skewer that comes out clean. Slide out the basket and leave it 5 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan. Let it cool completely on a wire rack, then chill in the fridge for hours. I chilled overnight.

Baking into cupcakes

For the remaining mixture, I baked into small cupcakes. Test with a needle or skewer that comes out clean. Slide out the basket and leave it 5 minutes for each batch (one batch yields about 7 cupcakes). Cool completely on a wire rack, then chill in the fridge.

Side note:

Some of the cakes shrink a little due to rapid cooling for certain batch.. But overall the surface didn't crack. :)

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Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes with Philips AirFryer

*Scheduled post*

Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes 北海道戚风杯蛋糕

Obviously I've been missing in action from blogospheres for months due to my second pregnancy... And surprisingly my second girl in the tummy started triggering mommy to go back into kitchen for foodie experiments after the first trimester. She even 'urged' me to add some new tools and did I get this Philips HD9220/56 AirFryer with Rapid Air Technology during the special staff sales weeks ago at only RM699 (cheap right? =D)

So far I've experimented with chips, wedges and even dinner rolls (all succeeded but I was lazy to post). This round I am so eager to try baking the Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes. And I guess I'm the first one to do it with an airfryer, so it's solely trial and error haha~ I did a bit of adjustment on the temperature and baking time, basically lowering the temperature and also shortened the baking time (you can see from the pictures below to see the difference).

There are so many recipes available and shared around the blogospheres and on FB. You may Google it on your own as I didn't really follow exactly any one of them because I used Philips AirFryer instead of the conventional oven. Seriously I've never baked a cake using an oven before... but then at least I succeeded this first time baking mini chiffon cakes which can be considered soft and fluffy enough.

I didn't make the custard cream filling as well but just use some ready custard powder. No ready whipping cream available in my fridge so I just make use of whatever I can find in the kitchen. Indeed the taste was good after I chilled the cake overnight!


Recipe makes 12 mini cupcakes.

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
3 eggs, separated
50g caster sugar (separate into 2 portions of 25g each)
35g vegetable oil - I used canola oil
60g milk
70g cake flour, sifted

For the filling:
2 tablespoon of custard powder + 2 tablespoon of milk (mixed)
1 cup of milk
25g caster sugar

For finishing:
Fresh fruits (I use plum)
Icing sugar to dust

Tips: Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature before you start.

Method (For the cupcakes):
1. Use hand whisk to whisk the egg yolks and sugar till pale in color. Whisk in canola oil and milk, mix well. Add sifted cake flour and whisk till the egg yolk mixture is smooth and well combined.
* I heated up the canola oil and milk before adding in to the mixture. Got the tips from Awayofmind Bakery House.

2. Instead of using the electronic mixer, I use hand whisk to whisk the egg whites and the sugar (I just come to realize that I lent my electronic mixer and yet to get it back.. ouch my hand!!). Whisk the egg whites until stiff peak.

3. Take 1/3 of the egg white mixture and add it to the egg yolk mixture. Mix until combined. 

4. Fold in the remaining egg white mixture to the egg yolk mixture. I did it in 3 rounds.

Method (For baking):
1. Preheat the Philips AirFryer at 170degC for 5 mins.
2. Fill up 3/4 of the cupcake linear. Bake in preheat oven at 170degC for 20 mins (I see some of the original recipe bake in 170degC for 20 mins, so I just tried if it works but it turned out to be overbaked...taste like normal cupcake which is harder in texture.)
3. The second batch I switched the setting to 150degC for 15 mins.
4. At 10 mins I started to monitor the cupcakes by sliding out the basket and check the appearance. I poked a chopstick into the middle to check. It seemed to be almost done at 12 mins! Somehow I lowered the temperature to 120degC and left them baking for another 3 mins until the timer is up.
5. Leave cake to cool down completely before piping in the filling.

Method (For the filling):
1. I used ready custard powder and follow the instructions to make the mixture.
2. Heat 1 cup of milk and add 25g of caster sugar. Bring to boil.

3. Lower the heat to medium, then add in the custard mixture and stir till it thickens.

4. Set aside and let it cool down before fill up to the pipe.

Finally....

Make a hole on the cupcake (I already poked a hole when checking them out in the oven) and pipe in the custard filling. Last but not least, dust them with icing sugar and garnish with fruit (I used plum).

Chill in the fridge (I chilled overnight) and ready to serve!!

Tadaaa~ My first attempt of chiffon cakes. Although I know that they're not the softest nor fluffiest but still they taste great!!

Chilled Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes ready to serve~

Happy trying if you have a Philips AirFryer too!

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Langkawi-Koh Lipe family trip 2014

Off we went for a short holiday again. This round we have 6 people, including my 82-year-old grandma and my little 21-month-old cheeky koala. It's another challenging trip having to travel with my grandma (Imagine boarding ferry and long-tail boat a few rounds with an 80+ senior citizen!! And yea we brought her out for the island hopping trip too~) but we've so used to running around everywhere with our oldest and youngest in the family, so it was considered a smooth one.

Holiday!!

Most people would go through Pak Bara, but we prefer Langkawi. To save time and effort on booking separately, we threw the task to our regular use agent to settle it, in fact the price is almost the same but we just have to pack and go. And I only booked Langkawi hotels on my own.
*If you want to have the contact you may just PM me through my email.

Langkawi - Koh Lipe Family Trip: October 2014 5D4N Itinerary
Day1: Penang - Kuala Perlis - Langkawi
Day2: Langkawi - Koh Lipe
Day3: Koh Lipe Snorkeling day
Day4: Koh Lipe - Langkawi
Day5: Langkawi - Kuala Perlis - Penang

Ferry ticket:
Kuala Perlis - Langkawi: RM18/adult/way, RM13/child/way, FOC for child below 3 years old
Langkawi - Koh Lipe: RM248/adult/return trip, RM208/child/return trip, FOC for child below 2 years old (P.s. I got the tickets at much lower price!)
(There are a few companies running this service in Langkawi, can depart from Telaga Harbour or Kuah Jetty)

Accommodation：
Langkawi:
- Langgura Baron, Pantai Cenang (http://barongrouphotels.com/index.php?p=1_3_Langgura-Resort)
- Coco Valley Inn, Kuah Town (http://www.cocovalleyinn.com.my/)
*both also very convenient but not include breakfast

Koh Lipe:
- Anda Resort, Sunrise Beach (http://www.andaresort.com/en/)
- Varin Beach Resort, Pattaya Beach (http://varinbeachresort.com/main_en/)
*both also include buffet breakfast

Food：
Langkawi MUST-EAT: Seafood of course. Per meal is about RM20-30/pax depending on the variety (food + drinks)
Koh Lipe MUST-EAT: Mussaman curry, BBQ seafood, fruit shakes

For Family trip MUST-BRING items, you may refer to the lists in the related posts below for reference.
How to pack light for your baby's day out during travel
Items to bring when traveling with baby


*My baby has been travelling with us since 4 months old, we've had 6 overseas trip including this one and many domestic trips, and we've had all sorts of ride (car, plane, bus, boat, train), so everything I share here is solely base on our experience.

Road trip to Kuala Perlis

Waiting to board the ferry to Langkawi at Kuala Perlis Jetty

Going 'duo'! I love the 'twin' look hehe...

Nice beach.

Night time at Anda Resort

Supper-ing sandwich in the room

Morning at the seaside - Sunrise Beach

Playing sand

Am I cute in the baby life jacket?

Little adventurer on the go~ Off we went for island hopping.

Swimming at Koh Rawi

Enjoying our time under the sun~

Beautiful waters

My 82-year-old granny also went island hopping with us!

And not forgetting about the scrumptious seafood!!

BIG BIG prawns!

Razor clams!!

More updates to come (provided I have time to write details by day hehe~

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How to pack light for your baby's day out during travel

Happy 57th Merdeka to everyone!!
In conjunction with our national day holidays, I decided to blog on this topic base on my experience. In fact I owe my friends this update for some time already...
This is one of the popular search for mommies who has planned for a trip with their little ones.

How to pack light when going out with your little one? Let me just list down the main ones first, and I'll update from time to time when another new technique of  mine is proven workable okay...

1. Baby's luggage. 
This is one of the most essential item when going for a few days trip.
Refer to my photo below on how I usually pack her clothes. I use the travel luggage organizer as her luggage. Don't underestimate its space, I could squeeze in 1 week's clothes.
The trick: Roll the clothes instead of fold them. I even organize them in such a way that I can easily pull out 1 set of outfit for the following wear. Rolling clothes is always the best technique for space saving during packing luggage, it works well for adult clothes too!

2. Baby's handcarry backpack.

Think about avoiding a lot of bags when boarding the plane? Leave your diaper bag + mommy bag behind. Get a backpack instead. I opt for the soft type material with PU skin so that it is more stretchable and waterproof. Always think of the weather factor...I learned that from my first trip with LO to Taiwan, it was rainy and my diaper bag + mommy bag + backpack carrying her breast milk all got wet. (>*<)"

The trick: Pack only essential items plus additional 3 pcs of diapers and 1 set of clothes. Spare 2 extra meals portion (milk or biscuits) in case of any delay. 

What to include: Thermos for hot water, thermoflask for food (I use it to warm breastmilk when still breastfeeding), tumbler, milk (powder/breastmilk in cooler bag), milk bottle, 2 pacifiers, 5-6 diapers, wet wipes, changing mat, a few hankies, small feeding plate with cover and spoon, spare clothes & jacket, pillow, biscuits, 1 of her favorite toy/book, and some plastic bags.

Ground rules to follow so that you don't have to start 'digging' when searching for the items - heavy items at the bottom, frequent use items stack on top, small items in pockets. 

That's why I choose this type of backpack with a few compartments and pockets.

3. Space saving for milk powder storage.

When it comes to milk powder, the conventional way is to spare 3 meals in the dispenser, then the remaining meals in a small tin. Am I right?

The trick: Look at the difference in space occupied by each of these storage - food storage bag, 3-tier dispenser, and the 3-compartment dispenser. I would definitely go for the first one. I'm not going against recycling, you can still reuse the bags isn't it. After each serving, the total space occupied will definitely reduce.

And the following photo below shows the total space occupied in my luggage, for 6 days supply. 

4. Bring a light weight stroller and baby carrier.

The trick: Go hands-free with baby carrier when shopping or moving around in public transports, or even in the airport. Stroller can be your temporary shopping cart too. I always like baby carrier as my girl will just sleep whenever she wants to.

5. Bring a semi-transparent shawl.

I just realized that shawl is so useful from my recent trip. It can be your baby's temporary sunshade under the hot sun!

The trick: Easy to keep in the bag (almost weightless), and some new fun for the baby. As it's semi-transparent, baby can still see what's happening outside.

That's about all for now. Shall add in in future for new ideas. Or you may share in comment too.

By the way, this is my backpack size. My girl is now 19 months old, so you may estimate the size. :)

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Homemade sushi for dinner!

28th August, sushi night at home

I realized Abigail was enjoying very much the Japanese rice when we were in Japan, so I decided to make sushi for dinner in one of those not-so-busy working day. Well...we miss eating Japanese food too... so ended up I took half day off to do the preparation. 

I had gathered some of the ingredients during weekend grocery shopping, and what's left to buy were Unagi and Salmon sashimi. Left company around 2pm, grabbed the fishes and reached home at 4pm. Ingredients preparation took me another hour plus. So I only started wrapping the sushi near 6pm, just in time for dinner.

The very last time I made sushi was back in year 2002 (wow that was really long ago!), and I had lost my cookbook... So this round I just base on gut feeling on the sushi wrapping hehe.

Ingredients:

Rice

3 rice cooker cups* (540ml) of uncooked Japanese rice* (I use Sumo Calrose Rice)

Water (follow instruction on the rice sack - 2 cups of water to 1 cup of uncooked rice)

Sushi Vinegar

⅓ cup (80 ml) rice vinegar

3 tbsp. sugar

1 ½ tsp. salt

Method for cooking sushi rice:

1. Rinse the rice in a strainer or colander until the water runs clear. 

2. Scoop the rice with your palm and gently rub them against each other. This is polishing. Rinse and discard water. Repeat this process 1-2 times.

3. Let the rice soak in water for 5 minutes. Drain out the water and transfer the rice into the rice cooker bowl. 

4. Add cold water following the instruction on the rice sack. Different brand may differ for the amount of water needed. The brand of rice I use is Sumo Calrose Rice, it requires 2 cups of water to 1 cup of uncooked rice. Start cooking.

5. For making sushi vinegar, combine the rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan. Bring it to a boil over medium high heat until sugar is completely dissolved. Set aside to let it cool.

6. When the rice is cooked, moisten a large bowl with water so the rice will not stick. Transfer the cooked rice into the bowl and spread out evenly to let it cool faster. 

7. While the rice is still hot, add the sushi vinegar over the rice. Use a rice paddle to slice the rice to separate the rice grains instead of mixing. Gently flip the rice in between slices. Repeat until rice is cooled.

8. Keep the rice covered with a damp towel until ready to serve or wrap.

Method for wrapping a maki sushi:

1. Some of the ingredients that I prepared for wrapping the nigiri sushi and maki sushi - carrots, Japanese cucumber, tuna spread, salmon, corn, egg mayo, crab sticks, etc...

2. Place a sheet of seaweed your sushi mat, with the rough side facing up. Spread a ball of sushi rice on top, evenly cover from the near edge to about an inch from edge. Keep your hands wet with a mixture of water and rice vinegar. 

3. After that add the ingredients that you like onto the center part, then top up with more rice.

Place them in a line, starting on the near edge of the rice layer. Some common maki ingredient combinations:

Basic tuna or salmon roll: These rolls typically just have just tuna or salmon rolled up, without any other ingredients.

Ahi roll: Yellowfin, cucumber, daikon, avocado.

Shrimp tempura roll: shrimp tempura, avocado, cucumber.

Phoenix roll: salmon, tuna, crab sticks, avocado, tempura batter (fried).

4. Hold the edge of the mat with your thumbs. Start with the edge that has your first ingredient next to it. Lift the seaweed sheet and fold it over the first ingredient. Make sure to keep the ingredients in place and that the rice sticks together.

5. Continue to roll. Tuck the front edge of the seaweed sheet into the roll, and remove the mat as you continue to roll the sushi. Roll slowly to ensure sushi coming out even.

6. Tighten the roll afterwards to keep ingredients from falling out when we cut it. Just roll it back and forth in the mat to tighten and seal it.

7. Allow the roll to sit for a minute or two before cutting it. Seaweed sheet will lightly moisten from the rice and less likely to tear.

8. Cut the roll into sixths or eighths using a sharp, wet knife. 

So these are some of the sushi I made. For the nigiri sushi, just take a small amount of sushi rice (about 3/4 the size of your palm), roll and squeeze it together until it rolls into a firm "log" sized rectangle. Then place a dab of wasabi on one side of the fish slice and then place the fish on the rice "log", with the wasabi side on the rice. Done!

I even made some really small ones for Abigail. Aren't they cute?

Besides sushi we also cooked Japanese Curry. Bought the curry from our recent Japan trip, so decided to make some good food with it. Topped up with unagi~

Last but not least, udon!

That's her second dinner after a bowl of porridge. No doubt my little lady has very good appetite at night...

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DIY play dough for babies and toddlers

Last Friday evening I decided to make baby-safe play dough for my girl. At toddler stage, usually all sorts of new stuff they will put into mouth, so it's always good to make an eatable one. I got the recipe online but made a slight modification by using the available ingredients in my kitchen.

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups of multi-purpose flour, half cup of salt, 2 tablespoon of vegetable oil, half tablespoon of vinegar, and 1.5 cup of boiling water
*Note: original recipe indicates 2 tablespoon cream of tartar, few drops of glycerine, and food coloring. But as I do not have these at home, I just replace the cream of tartar with vinegar and skip the glycerine and food coloring.

METHOD:
1. Mix the flour, salt, oil and vinegar in a large mixing bowl.
2. Add boiling water into the dry ingredients. (Coloring optional)
3. Stir all ingredients until it becomes a sticky, combined dough.
4. Allow it to cool down then take it out of the bowl and knead it vigorously for a couple of minutes until all stickiness is gone. (This is the most important part of the process so keep till it's perfect consistency!)
5. If the stickiness remains, add a touch more flour until it's just right!

Completed product! Fun time for my little girl.

The papa also joined in and made her some stars...

Counting starsss~~ Her favorite shape all the time.

I keep the dough after play time by wrapping it up with the cling wrap and put into fridge. Can be used up to a few times till today.

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