OK, enough moaning. First - apologies for the long long long loooooooooooooong silence. I just realised I have not updated my blog since November! And we are already past the middle of JANUARY in a whole new year :-p.
So, what have I been up to? Well, not a LOT, but have been surprisingly busy. Ben and Christine were with me in KL through till 4th December. And we made a trip to Singapore while they were here, and were able to catch up with Alan H (my beloved Ken's ex-boss), Rya (Lovely lovely Rya, Alan's right-hand lady!), and Tom S (another old friend of Kens). It was lovely seeing all of them again :-).
After Ben and Christine left, the house was back to being really quiet again - and both my parents and I really missed their presence. They provided so much life and energy! Anyway, life has to continue ... and so I got down to several tasks that I had been planning for a while - like putting up the Xmas tree and decorating it; putting up Xmas decorations (I got some lovely decorations while in Singapore); sorting out the cupboards under the stairs and throwing away loads of rubbish; finishing my Xmas shopping and wrapping all the gifts and putting them under the tree. Not to forget, making different types of cakes in between and, of course, fresh baked bread every few days :-). And, yes, I think I AM getting better with the breads :-).
Oh yes, before I forget, here are some pics of my Xmas decor:
1) The Xmas tree, with my new, and pretty, angel on top!
2) A family of angels on Ken's favourite baby grand.
3) Decor hung over the main door of our house.
4) Xmas trees, Santas, a snowman, an angel, and 4 Xmas tea lights, on the dining room cabinet.
This is the first time I have taken the effort to do more than just the Xmas tree, and I am already planning on doing a bit more than this for Xmas this year!
And, I hear some of you ask, what cakes and other goodies have I been making so far? Well... let's see: Simple sponge cakes with chocolate filling and choc ganache coating, or raspberry filling and choc ganache coating; Xmas plum cake (of course!); chilled cheese cake; caramel chocolate cake; chocolate mousse cake; panacotta; Fraisier; Swiss Roll; Apple filled brioche buns; apple crumble tart; lemon meringue tart; choux puffs with pastry cream filling, or with fresh cream filling; Churros (YUM); Banoffee pie; sticky toffee pudding; Malva pudding; caramel chocolate coffee cake. And, of course, BREADS - the usual low-GI multi grain loafs; raisin buns; pain ecossais; foccacia (YUMMMMM); croissants (YES, I rolled this by HAND!!!); and craquelin.
I did make the cakes for the Xmas Eve and Day get together - which was mostly family, but I did NOT do the cakes for my New Years Day open house - for that the catering for the food and the desserts was done by two amazing young ladies who became my friends when we were all attending classes at the Academy of Pastry Arts. Christine, together with another friend of hers, did the HOT food catering - and every single person (of the 100+ that came that day) totally agreed that the food was amazing and delicious! Check out the list of amazing food that they prepared ON THE DAY - IN MY KITCHEN (so now I can say that my kitchen is professional enough to cook for 100 people :-D ):
- Herb roasted potato with gherkin and parmesan
- Pan fried mini chicken murtabak
- Spaghetti Aglio Olio with chilli flakes and Parsley perfumed with Mint leaves
- Baked Chicken Syrah & Toasted Black Pepper Reduction
- Burnt garlic mushroom ragout
- Vegetables au gratin
- Fruit lollies - pineapple & watermelon "marinated" with sea salt
- Punch and Coffee/Tea
As for desserts - that was done 100% by Xiao-Ly - and she had to provide 100 pieces of EACH of the following:
- Mini chocolate tarts
- Mini lemon cupcakes with orange buttercream
- Coffee chocolate cake with coffee ganache and coffee buttercream
What can I say to describe all the above - both hot food and desserts? IN ONE WORD : DELICIOUS!! Seriously good stuff.
If you want to see what else Xiao-Ly can do - go check out her web-site at http://www.wix.com/xiaoly/crustz#!. And since we are heading into Chinese New Year, she has an amazing 100% home made goodies hamper that she can do for you or your friends, clients, whatever! And following that - she will have something equally amazing for Valentine's Day. So don't hold back folks - go check out her web site and ORDER!
As for Christine - if you want her catering skills, and if you have a kitchen able to handle the volume - get in touch with me, and I will put you directly in touch with her - and with any luck she may be free and available to do something for you!
So, what's been happening since New Year you ask? Well, it has not been a great month so far in some ways. A truly lovely, and well-loved, friend (Sally T) passed away Friday 13th Jan, after a 16-year battle with cancer, and her funeral was on Sunday 15th Jan. Her husband had passed away just 2 weeks before MY husband passed away, and she had been an amazing person whom I had always been able to just talk to - maybe because we both understood exactly what we were both going through, and so we could talk without having to EXPLAIN (!). Now she is gone, and it was heart breaking for ALL of us to lose her. She leaves behind 4 amazing children - a 24 year old daughter (who is working), a 23 year old son (finishing uni) and twin 19 year old sons (both in college). I am seriously glad that she is not suffering any more, but the world has lost a truly beautiful soul!
Then, on the same day as Sally's funeral, my Mum went into IJN (Institut Jantung Negara - National Heart Institute). She had been having the same symptoms that led to her bypass in 2008, and the pain was getting worse, so the cardiologist decided that it was time to do another angiogram. So, into hospital on the Sunday, and the angiogram was done on the Monday - the whole procedure only took 1 hour (11.30am to 12.30pm) but the 'angrio-gram' ended up as an 'angio-plasty' as they discovered a SEVERELY narrowed blood vessel, which required TWO stents. Thank God that this procedure now is so simple that they could put the stents in straight away without her having to undergo a second procedure! They kept her in the hospital overnight, as she is a diabetic and they had to be sure that the surgical wound, though tiny, did not bleed out. She was out of hospital on the Tuesday - reached home with a TON of medication by 2pm on Tuesday. She is still tired, still a bit shaky, and the wound site, through which they put the camera wire into her system, is badly bruised and somewhat painful. Thank God (again) that we have our tiny Nurul (our wonderful help) who really looks after my Mum so well.
And that's about it for now folks. We are now heading into Chinese New Year - a 4 day weekend coming up, and next Wednesday our much loved cousins from the US (L & R) will be here in KL for a month. We are WAY looking forward to seeing them again and spending time with them. And, I guess, somewhere in all that, I really need to get serious about job hunting too - since there will be more activity on that score once CNY is over. Wish me luck!
Oh, yes, before I forget - anyone want to buy my little Toyota Sera? Finally realised that I do have to sell her - I just do not have the time and ENERGY to worry about 2 cars any more. Let me know if you know anyone who would like to buy her - she is in good condition, engine overhauled, with only a slightly quirky set of signal lights, which only work properly once the engine is warmed up :-p. Other than that, she is in GOOD condition. Asking price... RM38K. Is that negotiable? Hmmm, I will think about that :-D.
Here's a picture of my Sera - and for those who don't know the car, the doors are gull-wing doors, opening upwards, requiring very LITTLE space on either side of the car :-). It is a 2+2 seater, with a small but quite serviceable boot!
And, FINALLY, that's it for this post...
Till next time folks, have a good day, every day!
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