Heart Attack on a Tray

You know that feeling of, omg I must have some heart attack on a plate?

That yummy, too rich and I can only eat one small square of that? So where do you turn to? American recipes collections of course!!

Who is more American than Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree. Her rich and fancy Mac n Cheese is to die for. Not to be confused with that blue box of Kraft stuff, this thing packs the punch.

Before using her recipe, I had not heard of adding egg yolks to a white sauce. I can pack pasta away like you won't believe but not this fancy mac n cheese! A little square was all that I could take. There was so much cheese in it, caramelised onions and crispy bacon. As Ree would say I will weep now. Dig into it as did Pork Chop (D). D's fav is pasta and man did he lap it up.

Creative Odyssey My Love for Sewing Books

I have this crazy thing of buying and browsing sewing books.

And I must admit that I am ashamed to say that I have not made used of them. I have bought and sold an Amy Butler book... wahhhh... and I have in my hot little hands this one which I think is a gem. I just took a picture live from my bed, with blogger screen behind the book. This is because I sleep next to the book. It is a constant reminder that I have done NOTHING with it.

I have no valid excuses either, I have not one but TWO sewing machines. I think my friend has used my Janome more than I have. :( And I have owned my brand new Janome for about 19 months now.

This book is brilliant because it uses One Yard of fabric in all the projects. Of course it only has clothes for little girls and luck would have it that I would have two boys and there is nothing in there for them. In my cupboard is a box of fabric just mocking me as well. So on this creative odyssey, I have decided to make it a mission to do at least one project from this book.

Something small that does not require much in terms of haberdashery. Otherwise it would result in yet another reason to procrastinate. Also the excuse of I have two babies under the age of 2 might be a more valid excuse. Watch this space and I shall return!!

On another note, it is possible to go on holiday with 2 under 2. It was both wonderful and horrific at the same time. Never again until they are at least 6!!

Phone call this afternoon!!

And it was my gorgeous high school friend Meilinda... by the way this LA fashion writer is a star alright! She had a speaking role in Lost. LOST!!

Anyhoos, Meilinda calls me Hwei Ling... and I'm like erm.. who could this be? Her American accent is gloriously excited and rattling off her Thanksgiving menu to me. It includes Wolfgang Puck, Jamie Oliver, Rachel Ray ... And I asked ooh what are you making? Wolfgang Puck -> fancyyyyy. She said she was making Baked Apple Pouches.

Oh this could be good, I tried to google and it sounds interesting. Apple in egg roll skins and baked. I had to admit that I had to google "what is egg roll skins". The shame of not identifying a Chinese cooking ingredient. But it is the American name that threw me off. The recipe is on Wolfgang Puck's website how eggciting! I want to make this and it is a shame that I cannot find a picture of it. I hope to get a good picture before we wolf it down.

She rang me to ask if my little L still fits in 3months sized clothing. I said it's ok, it's American sizing, I will squeeze him in it!! I'm feeling lots of love from my friends lately. So many overseas and old friends have been visiting, calling and communicating. Loves it.

Hate these bits of cooking!

I love cooking.. well I don't mind it. I love eating more so someone's gotta cook.
That someone has been me recently since Mick's new working hours suck eggs. Things I hate doing when cooking ...

1) Cutting pumpkins, is there anything worse than fighting with a big chunk of pumpkin? I have decent knives too, so I am not sure what I did before getting said decent knives. I think I was hacking them apart with a big cleaver!

2) Deep frying, I love fried food. Hello fried chicken soaked in buttermilk mmmmm... but I hate doing it. It's always so gross, so tedious and so annoying. Then what the heck do you do with that pot of oil after???

3) Washing up afterwards, I am not sure what I did before I had a dishwasher. Pray tell!? What did I do?!? I remember our little one bedroom flat, tiniest kitchen sink and I had the biggest pots!

4) Stirring risotto, my arms.. they hurt. I love risotto, hate stirring it.

What are some of the stuff you hate when cooking?

Wedding Gowns - What do you do with them??

A friend of mine who is recently engaged said that she wants to buy her gown instead of doing what Singaporeans usually do and hire one. So I told her to take mine instead. She looked all excited and held the dress against herself and kept looking in the mirror. I felt so happy looking at the dress again. I have not taken her out of the bag since the wedding. She said she is Sz 8/10 and will not fit in the dress but I told her to alter it to fit. I mean it's been hanging in the wardrobe since the wedding. Surely if it makes someone else happy, they should take it!

So here's the challenge, who wants to bet that after two kids, I can still fit in my corset wedding gown? Please leave bets and challenge in comments. I have bought the images from my wedding photographer. I should really upload the full res images as the ones he originally gave us do not do it justice.

And back to the subject, what have you done with your wedding gown?

Friends!

I got really excited when an email dropped into my inbox. A friend of mine from when we were 18 from Singapore!! She said that she is in Gold Coast with her new fiance and she is going to come down to Melbourne to meet up with me! Just for me!! And she is leaving him behind in GC and coming down by herself. It's awesome!!

This makes me think and wonder if I have ever gone the extra mile for a friend. So I think I better start looking at who I have not visited lately and make an effort. :)

So look around you and think who haven't you caught up with lately and perhaps try to make the effort. I guarantee you that it is appreciated!!

My big boy is 18months old ..

Wow I truly win worst mother award. On Thursday, someone in my mothers' group asked if Pork Chop was 18months. I said no not yet.. I thought he would be 18months in December. MY BAD!!! It was the 4th this month, which was Thursday when they asked me.

This means -> weigh in for big D so I finally get to find out how much this boy weighs! I don't know where he shoves and keeps all his food. This coming Thursday, I have to take both boys to the child health centre. This should be scary and interesting as most people would know I seldom go out with both boys. Only in dire situations where I had to take both of them to the GP with me for Pickle's 6 week checkup.

By staying home for a few months with Pork Chops and Pickles, Porky has somehow got closer to me. We have our own games that he only plays with me. Poor Mick is really upset that he doesn't get to play what we call Where's Daniel. He will run away from me and I call out.. Where's D? Where's DD? And he turns around looks at me with the biggest smile and I yell out. THERE YOU ARE!! There's DD. And he runs towards me and hugs me. It is the sweetest thing.

There are days when I think what on earth am I doing with 2 kids and the oldest is only 1.5years old. Now that the return to work date is so close. I am starting to feel sad. My boys need me. Pork chop used to not play with me before this. Now we have secret things that I do to make him laugh. And Pickles is still going really really well with his breastfeeds. I thought by now he would be on formula. The guilt is getting to me. I am bordering on PND being at home and most days I do not go anywhere. Little wonder why I am vitamin deficient. But my boys are so adorable that I just really wished that I could be a stay at home mum and be happy being one.

Anyway, enough of the sappy sad stuff. Happy 18mths to Pork Chop. My little gorgeous boy!