the waiting game

glitter-graphics.com

As much as I love being pregnant (what with the extra attention I get, people & strangers being extra nice to me, the compliments that I receive for having that 'pregnancy glow', hubby being extra nice & attentive to me, having strangers look & smile at me for no reason, having people being concerned about me) it will soon be over in about a week (plus minus) or so.
On Tuesday during check up, the baby's head has yet to engage so we shall see when the baby decides to make her debut into the world. Whatever it is, i just hope that when it happens, I am at home or at least with Hubby. I've been walking a lot as it is known to help ease delivery. I plan to go for a normal delivery and see if i can tolerate the pain without the aid of medication.
I will still be working next week as I intend to let nature take its course and wait until the very day. I've informed my Boss about this and I told him I intend to stay at the office. I mean, you can't expect me to drive all the way to Shah Alam Courts in my 39th week, right?
Whatever it is, we can only plan, pray & hope for the best and that is all I can do, am doing and will do. Allah is great and He has decided everything so come what may.

raya project part 2

one fine raya evening, i was bored and thought of making something. i raided the freezer and found a puff pastry which was bought a long time ago. checked the expiry date and it was still ok so i decided to make something out of it.

puff pastry

i read the pastry's instructions and it said to put in any fillings that you want, which includes chocolate chips. so i raided the kitchen cabinet and found chocolate chips and almond nibs which was supposed to be made into chocolate chip cookies.

i mixed the two ingredients in a bowl.

then i stuffed them into a puff pastry and folded them into such a shape.

i am sure you noticed that they are not of the same size. this is because i simply did it. i baked them in a preheated oven until they are golden brown.

there was some leftover chocolate icing in the fridge so i melted them and poured them onto the pastry. i also dusted some icing sugar on them.

as for the rest of the puff pastry, i decided to do something savoury so i boiled some sausages in the microwave and cut the pastry into halves, diagonally.

after the sausages are cooked, i cut them into half and rolled them into the puff pastry and arranged them on a tray. i then brushed them with egg.

bake until golden brown.

tea time snack. one is sweet, one is savoury. next time i want to try a different filling.

try as you may

i am a contest junkie and as long as there are contests out there, i love to enter. be it online, in newspapers, in magazines, on radios. if i am interested in the prizes and i think it's not that difficult to win, i will try my best to win. sometimes i win, sometimes i lose.
recently i entered an online contest organized by Cadbury. the grand prize was a trip for two to London & Paris, with spending money. hoo boy. i submitted but i did not even win the consolation prize. never mind. no luck there.
then i entered a contest on mix.fm and won myself RM150 Subway vouchers.

another contest that i entered online was held by Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa on their fb page. i won 5th prize, which is a buffet hi-tea for two at Atrium Cafe. of course i was hoping for the top three prizes because they are hotel stays but at least i did not walk away empty handed. i've received a call from Sunway Hotel's representative to confirm my details and i hope i get the buffet hi-tea vouchers soon (or at least before i deliver).
sometime before raya, i stumbled upon a blog and the blog owner held a contest for a custom-made minted cards. i simply submitted and hey, i won! check it out on the link below.
http://shaelaiza.blogspot.com/2011/08/minted-giveaway-winner.html
you see, once you start to win something, you will be more and more interested and eager to enter more and more contests. yeah i entered a Dutch Lady contest, a Nescafe contest, Tropicana Twister contest. you name it, i probably have submitted my entry. no harm in trying, right?

raya project part 1

for this year's raya, i decided to try something different. apart from baking the usual carrot cake for raya, i decided to make trifle.

at first i wanted to make creme caramel but i already bought the ingredients to make trifle. so creme caramel shall be put on hold. trifle is really easy to make. i made it on the eve of raya.

first, mix 3 tablespoons of custard powder with 2 tablespoons sugar and 3 cups of fresh milk. cook on low fire until it thickens. make sure to stir it constantly to prevent it from curdling.

at the same time, prepare instant jelly. there are a lot of brands out there. prepare it according to the instructions. i used strawberry flavoured jelly.

go to your nearest bakery and buy a swiss roll cake. it is up to you to use whatever flavour you want but i'd prefer vanilla than chocolate or pandan or orange. but that day, only chocolate and pandan was available so we bought chocolate.

fruit cocktail. after you have arranged the swiss roll cake in the dish, drench the cake with the syrup.

then pour the custard mixture evenly on the cake.


*edited-after you have poured the custard mixture, scatter some of the fruits on the mixture.

repeat the process until you have used up all the ingredients and lastly pour the jelly on top.

it is best that you use a see through dish so you can see the layers (even though they may not be that neat/pretty). cover with cling film and refrigerate before serving.

trifle served on the first day of raya. i did not get to eat much of my trifle on the first day of raya because i was too busy entertaining and cleaning up and whatnot. i only managed to taste a bit, which was given by my lil bro. lil bro also loved it and requested me to make it for the second time. this time, i bought a butter block cake to substitute with the swiss roll cake because i could not find a vanilla swiss roll cake.

today can eat puas-puas!