Our Saturday - 24 Oct 2016

We attended a food and fun fair at our church last Saturday. The girls have been looking forward to attend this fund-raising event since the church announced it months ago.










The girls were not too keen to spend the coupons on food. They were only eyeing the games!
Drama Queen used up a lot of coupons on 2 rounds of this game where playing cards had to be aimed and thrown at two half cut watermelons. If the card sticks to the melon, you'll get a chop on your redemption card.  I don't know why she chose this game as it's one of the toughest to aim.




Alycia tried too but didn't manage to stick any card to the watermelon.




Cass trying her luck with throwing darts at the balloons. Not easy too.



Hitting tins with a ball seemed easy but it ain't easy too...




Fishing ducks from the pool also seemed easy but it ain't easy as well as the plastic ducks were too light and kept buoying in all directions. Towards the last few seconds, Cass managed to fish out 1 duck... which earned her 3 chops, YAY!

And for almost RM60 on these games, the girls only accumulated 8 chops, which qualified them for a gift redemption.  Cass was eyeing on some Pokemon plushies but they were all already finished by the time we were at the redemption counter.  What's left were  only some plastic food containers and car sun shades for redemption.   She was really disappointed. But it's OK I told her as we are doing this for charity. We can try again next year.





I used some of the coupons to get myself a bowl of homemade Foo Chow red wine chicken noodles.





Back home, Drama Queen baked a tray of chocolate chip cookies for her school Girl Guide's party.  She baked the cookies all on her own while I was away with Cass for piano lesson at Yamaha. When I was back, I helped her crank up the oven.  The cookies turned out pretty tasty and I think that it's very good for an 11-year old girl, who did it all on her own steam.

Compilation Of Home-Cooked Dishes

Some simple but yummy dishes that I rolled out last week:

Braised minced meat with potatoes and tomatoes; Sauteed brocolli with French beans, carrot strips,  minced garlic and onions.










Grilled giant Portobello with minced garlic. The girls' grand-aunt prepared this mushroom dish.





Braised pork belly with carrots, dried flower mushrooms and spices; sauteed organic yau mak veggie with celery and onions. It was fridge-clearing day, thus the weird combo of this veggie dish.









Grilled salmon head with sea salt and cracked black pepper; braised chicken drumsticks with spices and hard-boiled eggs; sauteed organic yau mak veggie.





It's Friday and thank God it's the long-awaited day of the week!!  Weekends mean that my kitchen is closed and I can have a respite from cooking, eat out (but not junk), chillax and sleep-in.

Have a great weekend and well deserved rest peeps. I know I definitely deserve a good rest after two stressful exam weeks. The big princess doesn't need to go to school until mid of next week but it's school as usual for the other 2 gals.

Cass Finally Learned How To Swallow Pills And Capsules

Cass has recently started to master the art of swallowing pills and capsules. That's a big achievement for her considering the bitter experiences she has had in the process of learning how to swallow pills. When I first purchased Izumio and Super Lutein primarily for her consumption last year in April 2015, we both went through a very rough time trying to get her to swallow Super Lutein.  She would store the capsule in her mouth and just couldn't bring herself to swallow it. The more tensed she got, the harder it was for her to swallow the capsule.  Moments later, she would spit it out, only to see that the capsule had half melted into a dark brown sticky paste. The all-natural dark brown paste contains 6 types of carotenoids, blackcurrant polyphenols, anthocyanin, vitamin E, B group vitamins, DHA and various other nutrients.  She didn't like the taste of it as it has fish oil and would stifle a puke.  She would have tears in her eyes trying hard to swallow the capsule but alas, the capsule would end up in the bin with her puking. We both got so frustrated that I stopped forcing her to swallow Super Lutein.  I gave her a break of over a year for her to get over her traumatic bitter pill experience.

Ever since Cass had a UTI attack in November 2015 and was given strong dosage of antibiotics via IV and oral, her immunity took a plunge. She would have a minor cold or flu every month on end. But she got well pretty fast too, thanks to Izumio. But we were both very frustrated that she kept getting bitten by the flu bugs every month.  It was so frustrating for her that she asked for Super Lutein as I have always been telling her that this supplement will strengthen her immune system. She wanted to try popping the small tear-drop like capsule again.

It was around July this year that Cass finally had the courage to try swallowing Super Lutein again. Before we started, I had a Eureka moment. I remembered how my mum used reverse psychology on the girls when they were younger to get them to drink water and milk by challenging them to compete with her to see who finished the drink first. I tried the same tactic on Cass.  This brat who is quite competitive in nature loved the challenge as she wanted to win me all the time!  By making pill-popping seem like a fun competition, the brat conquered her phobia of pill swallowing and voila, she finally swallowed her first Super Lutein without much fuss, and then the next and the rest they say is history. She now pops 2 capsules of Super Lutein a day. And would you believe it if I told you that she doesn't get colds and flu so often now? I shan't say more. As you know, Chinese folks are very 'pantang' (taboo) if a child is praised excessively. I kind of believe this taboo too.

However, the brat would only willingly swallow her Super Lutein only if I compete with her each time, which isn't a big deal to me. Most times, I fake losing to her :D   She gets the honor of winning the race and I have one less worry.  Life is so much more easier when your kids are healthy. This I am sure every parent out there would agree with me.


 

Exam Week

This week is the big Princess' final exam and will end on Saturday. Yep she has full day school on Saturdays too.  If you don't already know, I am always sleep deprived as I only have a max of 5 hours sleep from Mondays through Saturdays.  I am up by 4:45 am each day to get the girls ready for school.  But I'm glad that the big Princess is attending a school voted the best Chinese Independent High School in Malaysia, all rounder :)

For the past few nights, when I got up at 2am to bring Cass for her nightly pee, I found the big Princess still studying in her room, with air-cond turned on and a very weary look on her face.  I chided her (though very toned down) and told her that her way of revising for an exam is very wrong.  I have always discouraged the girls to do last minute revision till ungodly hours. Instead I always exhort to them that revision should be done everyday, though only half an hour a day. But sigh... it is SO HARD to drum this into their heads.  Stubborn like who??? Me or the hubs?   The big girl tells me that it is pointless to study too soon as she will forget the facts, thus she feels it is best to only revise at the eleventh hour. Makes sense ar??  Pretty, maybe. But I am all for getting sufficient sleep to gain sharp mental acuity to fight the battlefields the next day. I pray that the big Princess will still have the mental alertness to answer her Physics and History papers today. She has to study Sejarah (Malaysia history) and China history in Chinese.  She only has 4 hours of sleep today.

I am unable to help the big girl much in the preparation of her exam. But I can do a supporting role by rolling out only fresh and wholesome meals for the girls to prep their bodies to weather the stress from lack of sleep and exam anxiety.  I also pump them with Izumio and Super Lutein everyday to zap away free radicals.  Stress and lack of sleep are the biggest free radicals causing culprits!


Dinner for yesterday-

ABC soup, sauteed organic Chinese spinach (por choy) with garlic and steamed Berkcious minced pork with salted egg, chicken eggs and organic wood fungus (Mok Yue).





You can get organic wood fungus from most organic shops. I used about 2 pieces and cut them into thin strips. Since there is salted duck's egg added, I omitted the salt and soy sauce.  The girls loved this dish very much.  Cass polished off almost half the plate!




Soup for the soul - composed of carrots, potatoes, celery, big onions, corn pepper, Sakura antibiotic-free chicken keel, Sanshui free range chicken parts and soft baby pork ribs.




Dinner two nights ago - rice cooker chicken rice and sauteed organic bok choy and organic French beans with garlic and carrot strips, washed down with a glass of refreshing cool coconut water.

Beat The Blue Light's Damage To Your Eyes With Flora Glo Lutein

If you use a handphone very frequently, you need to pop a good lutein supplement to preserve your eye sight for as long as you can.

Blue light is everywhere. Sunlight is the main source of blue light, and being outdoors during daylight is where most of us get most of our exposure to it. But there are also many man-made, indoor sources of blue light, including fluorescent and LED lighting and flat-screen televisions. Most notably, the display screens of computers, electronic notebooks, smartphones and other digital devices emit significant amounts of blue light. The amount of HEV light these devices emit is only a fraction of that emitted by the sun. But the amount of time people spend using these devices and the proximity of these screens to the user's face have many eye doctors and other health care professionals concerned about possible long-term effects of blue light on eye health.

Has it occurred to you that kids these days start wearing eye glasses at a very tender age? That is because kids in this era have easy access to electrical gadgets like iPad, iPod, mobile phones, laptops, desk top computers and other e-devices.  Some parents use these gadgets to babysit their kids.




The eye is not very good at blocking blue light. Anterior structures of the adult human eye (the cornea and lens) are very effective at blocking UV rays from reaching the light-sensitive retina at the back of the eyeball. In fact, less than one percent of UV radiation from the sun reaches the retina, even if you aren't wearing sunglasses. On the other hand, virtually all visible blue light passes through the cornea and lens and reaches the retina.

Blue light exposure may increase the risk of macular degeneration. The fact that blue light penetrates all the way to the retina (the inner lining of the back of the eye) is important, because laboratory studies have shown that too much exposure to blue light can damage light-sensitive cells in the retina. This causes changes that resemble those of macular degeneration, which can lead to permanent vision loss. Although more research is needed to determine how much natural and man-made blue light is "too much blue light" for the retina, many eye care providers are concerned that the added blue light exposure from computer screens, smartphones and other digital devices might increase a person's risk of macular degeneration later in life.

Protecting Your Eyes With Lutein, The Eye Vitamin.  Lutein is one of two major carotenoids found as a color pigment in the human eye (macula and retina). It is thought to function as a light filter, protecting the eye tissues from sunlight damage. Lutein is called a carotenoid vitamin. It is related to beta-carotene and vitamin A. Foods rich in lutein include broccoli, spinach, kale, corn, orange pepper, kiwi fruit, grapes, orange juice, zucchini, and squash. Lutein is absorbed best when it is taken with a high-fat meal.

FloraGlo Lutein protects your eyes from the harmful blue light that you get from your smartphone, iPads and computers daily. DAILY!!!!  I am guilty as charged too!

Lutein for babies and pregnant mommies.  This is from studies made by the American Government research centre not just hearsay by me. Read the conclusion at the bottom. And please remember, only use FloraGlo Lutein for pregnant mommies and babies despite the fact that all other Lutein supplements in the market are cheap. There is a reason why they are cheap. The Lutein eaters are not pure in composition like Floraglo Lutein and does not get absorbed well into the blood.

Super Lutein from Naturally Plus contains Floraglo Lutein, the only lutein trusted by doctors in the USA.

My 3 girls and I pop 2 Super Lutein a day.  This is to protect our eyes from damage as my kids are exposed to man-made blue light every single day.  I stare at the computer screen for almost 10 hours each day and I know that if I do not take care of my eyes, I may lose my vision in time to come.  I already have eye floaters and I am very certain that this is caused by over-usage and over-stressing my eyes.  After 1.5 years on Super Lutein, the floaters have reduced in intensity and frequency.

Do we want to wait till it is too late?   Do drop me an email at shireenyong@gmail.com or call / Whatsapp me at 019 266 4290 to find out more.  No obligation to purchase anything :)

For more reading on Izumio and Super Lutein, you can click here.

Garlic Minced Pork Chives Ala Taiwan And Steamed Egg Wtih Fish Paste And Japanese Tofu

Dinner that I wok-ed up on one of the weekdays this week :)

Garlic minced pork chives ala Taiwan.  I have not cooked this dish for SO LONG and I had forgotten all about this dish until I chanced upon the picture of a chives dish that I had cooked very many years ago in my archived photo album.  Those days, the hubs would order this dish whenever we dined at Fong Lye Taiwanese restaurant and it was our favorite dish to order at the restaurant.   This dish can also be used to prepare 'Zha Jiang Mien' but the chives have to be chopped into smaller pieces and there is also add on of cucumber strips.





Steamed egg with fish paste, Japanese egg tofu and shredded carrot again. This dish is so easy to prepare and has been a hit with the girls ever since I cooked it for the first time two weeks ago.

Shanshui Free-Range Chicken

About two weeks ago, I found someone who lives at my neighborhood who arranges Group Buy on Facebook for naturally raised free-range chickens. The chickens are bred in a farm in the outskirts of Selangor. They are slaughtered at pre-dawn and delivered at 6am to this lady.  I was so excited!  As you know, I am a total health freak. Each time I buy regular chickens to cook, I limit my girls' intake of the meat. I am sure by now you know what goes into our chicken feed these days -- antibiotics to prevent diseases and growth hormones to accelerate the chickens' growth to meet high demand. I have recently posted an article on how bacteria becomes resistant and one of the causes is livestock fed with antibiotics.

This retired lady who is organizing the Group Buy was very helpful. She sent the 2 freshly slaughtered Shanshui free-range chickens to me in the morning and only charges me RM5 for handling fees. The chickens were cut into 16 pieces each and vacuumed packed.  I can also have the chicken tailored cut.




I had the chicken steamed with sea salt, red dates, wolfberries, ginger wine and a few slices of tong kwai.




It was so yummy! The meat is firm and juicy.  The girls and I polished off the entire plate of chicken that evening. I still have another Shanshui chicken in the freezer and I am planning to cook rice-cooker chicken rice next week. This time will save some for the King of the house (he is a chicken lover too) to sample :D

Kitchen Tales With Drama Queen

We all love eating cantaloupe or rock melon.  But I hardly buy it as I hate cutting it!!  I hate chopping off the thick skin from the cantaloupe.

The other day, the hubs brought home a huge cantaloupe.  The girls were overjoyed as they have not dug into a cantaloupe for quite a while. But I had been very busy with work for the past one week and hadn't found the time to cut the cantaloupe.



Yesterday Drama Queen volunteered to cut and pare the cantaloupe but I said NO. Cutting and paring the cantaloupe would mean using a  long and sharp ceramic knife as the cantaloupe was huge and very hard on the exterior. But she reassured me that it would be an easy peasy job as she had already Googled  how to cut a cantaloupe in the easiest way. She found two methods from Mr Google. She sauntered into the kitchen still in her school uniform and prepared the chopping board and knife. I stood next to her JUST IN CASE!!  Did I tell you that she used to be a very clumsy girl?  She had cut her fingers in the kitchen umpteen times. And I ain't going to take any chances with a razor sharp ceramic knife! I don't have the time to drive her to the hospital and spend hours on end at the A&E with blood oozing out of her fingers. By the way I am not exaggerating. I was once a traumatized pregnant mummy waiting at the A&E of the hospital with Drama Queen and pressing on her bloodied thumb. There were drops of blood all over the hospital floor. And she was only about 2 years old when she squashed her thumb on a steel kitchen door and chipped the bone.. and the nail dropped off *faint*!!


And my Drama Queen executed the job efficiently. She had memorized the techniques of cutting a cantaloupe and did it without a hitch. I stood next to her watching her hands like a hawk while popping the sweet cantaloupe into my mouth and nodding approvingly HAHAHA!  Good job once again to Drama Queen. She has always encouraged me to participate in My Kitchen Rules and Master Chef but I don't think I have the cut and material of one.   I would think she should qualify for Junior Iron Chef in time to come :D

Compilation Of Simple And Healthy Kids-Friendly Homecooked Dishes

Despite having a very hectic day each weekday, I try to dish out something healthy and yummy for my girls. In the past, I have tried ordering daily tiffin meals for dinner but each time I did so, it didn't last for a month.  So I gave up and have decided that no matter how busy each day turns out for me, I will try to place something healthy on the dining table, though they may be something really simple and plain like steamed chicken or steamed fish with a vegetables dish.


This is a compilation of some of the dishes that I cooked over the last 10 days or so...

Braised minced pork with organic miso, tomatoes, onion and garlic.  Pork used is Berkcious pork, free from antibiotics and growth hormones.




Pork ribs soup with radish, carrots and organic cabbage.






Pan-fried red snapper fish fillet and sauteed organic leek with Berkcious sliced pork chop and onions.











Kids-friendly braised brinjal with organic miso, organic fermented bean paste with toona sinensis, squids, tomatoes, grated carrot, shredded kafir lime leaves and garlic.




I discovered that tomatoes and grated carrots added to a dish impart natural sweetness and flavors to the dish.  Thus, almost all my dishes have carrots and tomatoes in addition to garlic and onions. I hardly use oyster sauce and dark sauce, except for dark sauce naturally brewed purchased from the organic shop.








Steamed Japanese tofu with 100% fish paste, eggs and grated carrot.





This is another new dish that I chanced upon from the newspapers and is SO easy to prepare and SO yummy and healthy.

Just mash the fish paste, Japanese tofu and add them into some beaten eggs with a drizzle of soy sauce, pepper, sesame seed oil, water and throw in some grated carrots for the sweetness. Steam for about 15 - 20 minutes.





The girls loved this dish. Even the persnickety KING of the house who happens to be a foodie and perfectionist caterer loved it.









Another kids-friendly healthy dish is braised bitter gourd with pan-fried chicken fillet, black pepper, organic miso, tomatoes, grated carrot and onions. The grated carrot and tomatoes impart natural sweetness to the dish, masking the bitterness.







Sweet corn egg drop soup with organic miso, grated carrot, scallions and organic 'lai park' veggie.

1 Percent Glimmer Of Hope

Today we were running late for church.  Again I drove like an F1 driver on Federal Highway. We were 15-20 minutes late by the time I reached the church compound.  I would normally park outside the church as parking space is very, very limited inside the church compound. The church is undergoing a massive renovation and extension, thus the lack of parking space in the compound.  As today's morning sun was really fiery and fierce, I told the girls that I didn't feel like parking outside and walking under the hot sun into the church.  I tried my luck and drove into the church compound. Alycia and Drama Queen were telling me to just park outside as there were already many cars inside the church  compound and it didn't look like I would be lucky enough to get a space to park my car.

But I told them that there is always  a 1% pure luck no matter how negative or futile a circumstance may seem to be.   I drove my car into the church compound and right at the end of the compound was a tiny space, just enough to fit my small Hyundai i10.  Though it was tricky to maneuver my car in, I did it. And it was right under a shady tree. It was the only space left in the entire parking lot... and waiting for me.   We were so happy that we didn't have to walk 5-10 minutes under the blazing sun.  "See, this is the 1% luck for me!" I told the girls happily.

As we walked into the church, I told them the story of how Alycia is my 1% glimmer of hope and miracle baby.

It was in early March 2003. I lay nervously on the procedure table of my fertility specialist's clinic. I was praying fervently that the IUI procedure would be a success. I waited for a long time for my doctor to come in to start the procedure.  The door flung opened.  My doctor walked in with a frown on his face and he broke the devastating news to me -- "Only 1% of your husband's sperms is good"... and he let out a sigh.

I went "what the?????  Does that mean that this procedure will be cancelled?"

He went ahead with the procedure. After the sperms were placed inside my uterus, I lay still on the table which was raised up at the lower end, for the sperms to better reach the most inner part of my uterus. I prayed and prayed to God to let the 1% good sperms  meet my single perfect egg.. for the procedure to be successful... for me to successfully conceive and give birth to a baby.

And the 1% glimmer of hope turned into a miracle. Though the 9 months was fraught with never-ending problems and false positives (German Measles, pre-term labour, etc) and I had to take unpaid leave for bed-rest, I finally met my long awaited baby Alycia! That was the happiest day of my life.

The girls were really amused and entertained with my story of how Alycia was born.. from a 1% hope to a miracle.

I told the girls that no matter how bleak a situation may seem to be, there is  a 1% chance that you will still succeed.  So never give up hope for there is always a 1% glimmer of hope. A 1% chance that you will get what you really want if you hope and pray hard enough for the 1% hope to turn into a miracle.

Grilled Salmon And Mackeral For Dinner - 30 Sept 2016

Dinner on a lovely Friday evening today -

Grilled salmon and tenggiri (mackeral) fish.




Salmon is lightly salted and seasoned with ground black pepper, thyme, garlic and lemon. Lemon is grilled together with the fish during the last 10 minutes in the oven at 160C.




Tenggiri (mackeral) fish is coated with turmeric powder, curry fish powder, sea salt, a dash of Lea and Perrin sauce and grilled with garlic.

Mashed sweet potato and potato with fresh milk, sea salt and ground black pepper.






Half way  through having our dinner, Drama Queen screamed out all of a sudden... which startled me! I thought something in the kitchen had caught fire!! LOL!

She was shouting out to me to see the rainbow, which was seen right outside our unit on the 5th floor.  We quickly ran out to admire the rainbow.  On taking a closer look, I excitedly told the girls that it was a double rainbow!!  The rainbow on the left side was pretty faint but the one on the right side was bright and clear. It is a rare sight to see a rainbow in the sky and it is even rarer to see a double rainbow. I can't even remember the last time I saw a rainbow.  I love rainbows.  This God's wonderful creation is just too pretty and definitely a sight to behold and capture on camera.




Happy Friday peeps and have a fun-tastic long weekend! :)  I am SO SO going to catch up on my beauty sleep on Monday.

Best Supplements For The Family To Weather The Storm

This is what Cass pops into her body each day -- 2 packets of Izumio and 2 capsules of Super Lutien each day. That's enough of antioxidants to protect her body from free radicals and toxins.  Alycia, Sherilyn and I consume these supplements too but in a slightly lower dosage.





On top of  these supplements from Naturally Plus that are free from fillers, binders and preservatives, we eat fresh fruits and vegetables everyday.  We have healthy homecooked food five times a week.

Fruits for today are Korean Shingo pear, New Zealand Sonya apple and cool kyuri.

As I was still very busy with work today and had no time to cook lunch for Cass, we had takeout nasi briyani - half a packet of rice with  chicken and sauteed spinach from my favorite Indian restaurant shared between the two of us.  I try not to eat outside food on week days but on mega busy days, I'll relax my Nazi health practice and take the easy way out by seeking refuge from the food stalls. It's comforting to know that we have Izumio and Super Lutein to assuage the crap that we put into our bodies each day.





Did you know that even the simple natural act of breathing causes free radicals in our body?  Stress, anger, lack of sleep, unhealthy diet and lifestyle all load our bodies with more free radicals. I am GUILTY as charged when it comes to stress and lack of sleep coz I just can't help it. If I had a choice, I'd throw stress and lack of sleep out of my life forever right away! That is why I need Izumio to zap away all the built up free radicals in my body every day.

If you are not taking any antioxidant supplements yet, it's a smart choice if you start taking them now. It's a good investment on yourself that can possibly safe you from serious health issues in future.

Gluten-Free Strawberry Cake

Drama Queen baked her beloved granny a gluten-free strawberry cake two weeks back.  The cake was a surprise for her granny, who would stay in KL over the weekend to celebrate her 70th birthday. It was a Thursday, a school holiday. Drama Queen started to bake the cake after lunch. She had been bugging me for weeks to buy gluten-free flour as my mum is gluten intolerance.

On Friday, the hubs went to the airport to pick up my parents and younger brother, Roy who had just returned from their 1-week cruise from Taiwan to Japan.





As I have very shallow knowledge in cake baking, except for watching my mum bake cakes when I was younger, I could not advise Drama Queen much. I grew up watching and helping my mum bake cakes, pau, buns, bread pudding and cookies.   Drama Queen has definitely inherited my mum's genes in the love and passion for baking, cooking and sewing. She's got my mum's creative juices flowing in her.

The only thing that I warned Drama Queen about was the cake pan.  From the look of her cake batter, I knew that she must have done a miscalculation in the measurement. The cake batter was really little and she told me that she wanted to use a 10 inch (I think) cake pan that was pretty tall in height.

"Common sense girl!! Look at the cake batter. How come it is SO LITTLE?? Did you measure the flour wrongly? Are you sure that the recipe that you got from You Tube calls for using such a BIG pan? See, see, this pan is SO tall and your batter is so little! Go find a smaller cake pan!"  was what I told her.

The girl ransacked grandma's kitchen cupboard but could not find a smaller cake pan. She found some cake rings  and showed me.

"I have no freaking idea how to use this cake ring OK. I have no experience baking. Have you seen how mah mah used this ring??"  I said to her.

And she said "oh yes, I have seen mah mah use this ring for baking cake. Can la. Can use la."

But how to use??

The both of us figured that we should first put the ring onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Then pour the cake batter into the middle of the ring.

The ring looked perfect for the amount of our cake batter. It fits just right.

About 10 minutes into baking, the batter seeped out from the ring.  OMG what are we to do!?  Would all the batter seep out and left with nothing inside the ring??? OMG OMG OMG!!

The girl told me that her recipe says to bake for 40 minutes but when I looked at the cake, it had turned brown and smelled good already even after 10 minutes.

Me to Drama Queen - ARE YOU SURE the recipe says to bake 40 minutes?? Look at the cake! It looks baked already.  Get me the stainless steel needle tester (whatcha call that cake tester thingy?)

After 15 minutes, we brought the cake out and this was how it looked.






The batter that had seeped out from the ring was slightly burnt. We could not wait to taste the cake to see if this very expensive cake tastes like a cake or something else!

Though the cake was still very hot, we quickly pinched all the cake that had seeped out from the ring and stuffed them into our mouths. And WOW, the cake was out of this world!  It tasted awesome, despite many things that went wrong, HAHAHAHA!!

Why do I say that the cake is expensive? Coz the gluten-free flour is expensive, plus the good quality butter, organic sugar, whipping cream, cream cheese and 2 punnets of strawberries are all costly. All the ingredients cost us about RM60.

The next big flop was the whipping cream!   I had advised Drama Queen to use cream cheese instead of being adventurous and try using whipping cream as I have no experience in beating whipping cream till it  turns stiff peak, for the frosting.  Being the very determined alpha female that she is, Drama Queen was very resolute and only wanted whipped cream as frosting for the cake.

So fine, I left the girl to beat the whipping cream with grandma's hand mixer.   When she shouted for help from the kitchen, I knew it was a flop already. The frosting had curdled and there was so much liquid!

Me to Drama Queen- "See, I told you to use cream cheese instead of whipping cream and you won't listen. Now you've wasted RM10 for the box of whipping cream.  Never mind, bring the cream cheese out!"

Just like a pro, Drama Queen used grandma's frosting knife and creamed the cake with cream cheese. Cass then helped her to decorate the cake with fresh strawberries.




... and toasted sliced almonds.




The final product was awesome.  The cake looks like some gourmet cake from a high-end patiserrie.





And the cake was SO delish!!  Despite all the initial stumbling blocks and blunders, it turned out to be PERFECT in terms of taste, texture and decor.  My Drama Queen's got talent!  From an AWFUL start to an AWESOME cake. We were both SO happy and could not wait for my mum to try the cake.

We'll definitely be baking more gluten-free cakes after the girls' final exam :)