Trial Run for a Birthday Cake

Had wanted to do a birthday cake for my mum's birthday and the courage came after I attending the baking classes at Creative Culinaire...

The sponge cake texture was good, the look of the whole cake seems acceptable, though the application of cream wasn't too neat. The only thing I don't like is the non-dairy whipping cream that I used. I guessed when one is eating this cake, definitely has to sweep away most of the cream. I had to use non-dairy whipping cream as it is easier to handle for a beginner.

Hopefully after I learnt more from sifu E Zee, I would be more confident to handle a dairy whipping cream.

Giselle, upon seeing the cake, kept asking me whose birthday is it... haha

Assembly Time @ Fairfield

It was nice week to start with Assembly time at Fairfield. There she was sitting among the other children to get ready. Then later Ashley (in the 2nd picture), her usual partner, came over to join her :)

Tomato Rice with Meat and Onion

Did this for Giselle's lunch today and she said it was very yummy. Giselle commented the supposed-to-look-like teddy bear rice was a panda bear. haha.

Basically I used organic tomato juice to simmer the meat and onion. Then I sprinkled some mixed herbs as well.

Her favourite Activity now... Writing

Everytime Giselle reaches home, she would love to go to her study corner after she washes her hand. Then she would sit down and begin her writing of alphabets.

I am not sure what motivates her but I think could be she looking forward to my stars and chop to her. Nevertheless, I am happy that she has the interest to practise her handwriting :)

Home-made Pizza for Giselle

I bought the ready-made pizza bread from supermarket and made Giselle a small pizza using my home-made pasta paste. I just top it up with shredded cheddar cheese and sprinkled some chopped pasley on it.

Then I put in the oven to bake at 230 degree C for about 6 mins it was nicely browned!

Giselle did most of the job this round and she enjoyed eating half of the pizza :)

A New Start @ Fairfield Methodist Church Kindergarten School

Giselle started her daily 3 hour Nursery class this week. On the most of the days, she was pretty excited about wearing her uniform and going to school.

The environment seems new to her but I could that she has quietly accepting her new school, new schedule without any difficulty. Her teachers said that Giselle is adapting very well and always ask for 2nd helping on the morning snacks.

We started the school on 23 Mar 09, Mon and it was the day of the week whereby all the students would gather together at the Encounter Lounge for their assembly. During this programme, all the students would sing the National Anthem, say their Pledge, greet every teacher and friends.

Adrian and I watched with interest as it really brought back the memories of our olden days when we had assembly at our schools too. Haha :)

On thu, her class will have 'Speech and Drama' class whereby the school invites Vendor from outside to conduct the class. Mrs Ong said Giselle seems abit lost during the class as she doesn't know what to expect.

I had also signed up weekly Art class conducted by KinderArt at her school. It would be on every wed after her school, 11.45am - 12.45pm.

Baking Class @ Creative Culinaire - Lesson 4 (Sponge Cakes)

It was our last lesson today and we learnt how to frost a cake a non-dairy whipping cream. We did 3 cakes this round and they were the black forest, Pandan Kaya and Corn.

The Black Forest cake wasn't nicely frosted but Steph and I had fun applying on the cream and decors on it... Haha.

This course is really worth going and I did learn alot from Chef Judy :)

This photo was taken after her first day at school. We went Raffles Hospital to look for my good friend after her antenatal checkup :)

Giselle was feeding herself lunch and she purposely posed lidat for me to take photo. haha

Last Day at Delcare School... Sob...Sob...

Been telling Giselle that today is the last day at Delcare and her Fairfield school will start next Mon.

She seems receptive of the arrangement and told me she want to pass the presents that I have wrapped for her to her friends and teachers, especially Wang Lao Shi.

Just last night she was telling me that her favourite teacher is Wang Lao Shi and this morning, she wanted to personally hold the present for Wang Lao Shi till the gift reaches Wang Lao Shi's hand. What a sweet girl....

When Giselle saw her, she was abit shy when passing the small gift to her. haha. Adrian said Wang Lao Shi teared in the gym room which I did not see. I know Wang Lao Shi would be very sad to see Giselle leaving the school and hence, I didn't want to pick Giselle up from school today. I told Wang Lao Shi that she will take the school bus as usual.

In fact, I am also relunctant to let Giselle leave Delcare as all the the teachers there are so caring and nice. Her teachers have not made me worried a single second when Giselle was there during the last 2 years.

Would like to say a BIG THANK YOU to all the Delcare teachers, with special thanks to Wang Lao Shi, Dai Lao Shi, Ms Angela, Ms Rose, Yuan Lao Shi, Ms Jesmin & not forgetting the Aunties who bathe her and cooked yummy food for her :)

All of them had given them Giselle's stay at the centre so enjoyable that I could see Giselle smiling happily after she alighted from school bus each day.

All of us at home will be missing everyone of them including her friends there!!!! :) I am not sure Giselle will still remember her friends and teachers there down the road, but I am sure all of them will always hold a special place in Giselle's heart always....

Baking Class @ Creative Culinaire - Lesson 3 (Swiss Rolls)

First time in my life making a Swiss Rolls and the results weren't too bad though my partner and I got the skin of the Tiger Roll burnt partially... hahaha

The yellow skin you see in the photo above was gotten from Chef Judy instead... ;p

Today Chef Judy taught us how to pipe a mouse using whipping cream. Can you see the 3 little mice sitting on the rainbow swiss roll? :)

Home-Made Banana Blueberry Jam

I took the recipe from Baking mum's blog and tried to get my hands on it. It was so easy to make and my friends got thumbs up for it... For myself, I like the banana fragrant very much. Very unique! :)

http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.com/2008/07/homemade-banana-chocolate-jam.html

At Daddy Office....

Her expression after eating a sugar powdered cheese bun from Sun Moulin :)

Further Updates on her Swimming Progress

Giselle has been showing improvement each week as she attends the class. This week, she was able to submerge her head into the water for quite sometime without any fear.

Though it maybe nothing great, but to me, it is a great leap from a little gal who has no confidence in water to some kid whom is not afraid of the water now.

I am so proud of my little princess ! :)

To Renew Her Passport...

First, must take a proper Passport photo of course.... Will this one do? :)

I had a hard time taking her photos for passport. Her smile were all very fake... think this is the best among the 20 over shots I took...

Baking Class @ Creative Culinaire - Lesson 2 (Chiffon Cakes)

We had learnt more things today... that's is the art of making a good chiffon cake!

Today we did 1) Golden Citrus Chiffon (shown in the right pix) 2) Banana Chiffon & 3) Pandan Chiffon. According to Chef Judy, we must bake 889 times of chiffon to perfect the skills. haha. After baking 3 today, I have 886 more cakes to go... :)

I like chiffon very much because it is really soft and light. It is the healtiest cake of all :)

Wetting of her Panties....*Urghh*

Giselle recently has the habit of wetting her panties when she is urgent to pass urine... Sign... Told her so many times it is not nice to do so as she is a big girl now... Think I must think of other ways to train her...

When comes to night sleep, she has been out of diapers for a couple of months. So far accidents has been few, happened only when she had milk late at night...

Giselle's 2nd Visit to the Zoo...

Giselle had been to the Zoo since about 2 years ago... Since I managed to get of the DBS Corporate Zoo pass before I leave this company, we decided to make use of this Pass to celebrate her daddy's birthday as well.




Yesterday we has started telling Giselle that what she would expect to see at the Zoo and straight away she said she want to see "Giraffe". We reached the Zoo at 10.30am and started the expedition by foot all the way.

We managed to see the Elephant show at 11.30am and headed to the Rainforest Amphitheatre for a small picnic.

The weather was very hot, luckily I had prepared some peel cold oranges so that we could eat after taking the ham sandwiches. For Giselle, I had cooked some pumpkin & fish brown rice porridge in watery form to replenish her fluid intake.

She was pretty excited throughout the whole visit and went crazy at the Rainforest kids World, where the new waterplay is found.

This waterplay looked like a small-scale of the Wild Wild Wet at Downtown East where she has been before. Today, she screamed, kicked, laugh and splash around at the waterplay. Kept repeating playing on the slide that she found....

She didn't want to leave that place until i told her it is time for some drinks and fries at KFC. After a short break, we headed our way to the "Wild Africa" world to fulfill her wish of seeing the Giraffes.

We ended today Zoo visit by having some nice Ben & Jerry ice-cream at the cafe near the carpark. Giselle refused to leave the Zoo and kept saying she wanted to see the Elephants again.

After coaxing her to board the car, she fell asleep on her carseat the moment her daddy started driving off... Haha...

Testing with Portrait Lens

Bought a new portrait lens for my dad's DSLR to take more of Giselle pictures.... :)

Giselle in her 1st Uniform... :)

She is going to start her pre-school in Fairfield Methodist Church Kindergarten on 23 Mar 09. Hence I brought her to Eunos to get his uniform. Luckily she likes her new uniform very much as she could "spin" like a princess skirt...

Visit to Animal Resort @ Seletar

Her school had brought the kids to the Animal Resort Farm for a tour today.

All the kids were very excited about today outing and kept talking about it on the bus. Since I am on leave, I joined the kids as well. Adrian also took leave to have some fun with the kids.

When we reached there, the host introduced the animals that she has on the farm. After the short briefing, the kids were divided into groups according to their class. We walked round the farm, feeding different animals like rabbits, goats, geese, guinea pigs, cranes & peacocks before settling down to take lunch and drink water.

The weather was very warm today and there were lots of mosquitoes flying around. Luckily all the kids were dabbed with Citronella oil before the arrival.

http://www.rictedkennels.com/