Welcome to Leonny's site! If you're new at Everyday Things and you enjoy the site, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. This way you'll be notified whenever there's a new post! Thanks for visiting!

[Second attempt on making a car out of fondant. Tried a different approach and I was happy with this one! Oh btw, that's 'V' for 'Vai' on the car's rooftop! Haha]

Gee. I really have NO idea how to start sharing this.

Especially since this post is SO long overdue!

…

OK, let’s me start by saying this:

[I've got a strong feeling it'll be a LONG post. Get ready for this!]

For those who are new to my blog, my son just had his 4th birthday two weeks ago.

I decided to make him a birthday cake, using fondant. Errr … which probably is seen as a little mad by some because I’m a total beginner when it comes to baking anything, and I have never made anything out of fondant.

You see, about 2-3 weeks before Vai’s birthday, I thought to myself, if the birthday cake is covered with fondant, it’ll look ‘nice and neat’, so why not give it a go anyway! (Especially since I’ve experimented on using fresh cream on Anya’s 6th birthday cake earlier this year!)

[Our one-month old oven]
And so the week before Vai’s birthday I experimented on making chocolate cakes. After checking it against a few ‘taste buds’ (adults’ and kids’), I settled with one particular chocolate cake recipe.

I then went to Phoon Huat store to get some alphabet cutters and stuff. When I was checking out, I asked the store assistant if they have any ‘fondant packets’ or something (at the time I had NO idea what to look for or how the ‘package’ looked like). She replied, ‘I don’t think we have any left’.

[Making my first marshmallow fondant!]

On my way home, I remembered about seeing a Youtube video on marshmallow fondant, and I thought, ‘I should just make my own Marshmallow fondant then!’ I stopped by a supermarket and bought 5 packs of ‘mega marshmallows’ and a few packets of icing sugar.

Now you see, this was how that birthday weekend was going to be like:

Friday, 20 Aug : Actual Birthday

Saturday, 21 Aug : Off to stay overnight at Holiday Inn Hotel by 11.30am

Sunday, 22 Aug : Return home by 2.30pm, leave home at 4pm for church WITH the cake as Vai’s birthday celebration was at 6.30pm

…

[My arms and fingers did feel a little sore from all that kneading and folding. You can tell how I SO need to exercise regularly!]

So, looking at that busy birthday weekend schedule, I knew I had to plan ahead and make my fondant and birthday cake EARLY.

So this was the plan which I actually carried out:

Monday, 16 Aug :
Made Marshmallow Fondant. I made my first fondant ‘creation’, ie. THE blue-coloured Dinoco Lightning McQueen and a few ‘balls’ (that will go around the sides of the cake)

Tuesday, 17 Aug :
Made yellow-coloured car and ‘cut out’ a few stars and shapes, the alphabets (L, E, V, I) and made a few more ‘balls’

[Anya helped and spread some butter on the baking pan]

Wednesday, 18 Aug :
- Made chocolate cake (bottom tier) at night, wrapped it in cling film and put it in the fridge.
- Made a ‘traffic light’ and a little ‘boy’ figurine!

It’s supposed to be ‘Vai’ wearing his blue top, hehe. It was my first time making a ‘person’ out of fondant, and It took me a LONG time. But I was very happy with the result! I went to bed in the wee hours, but with a big, satisfied smile! Haha!

[Keep fondant at room temperature, wrapped in cling film and stored in an air-tight container. Do NOT refrigerate as it'll melt!]

Thursday, 19 Aug :
-  Found the ‘wires’ I needed (to stick the fondant stars onto the cake) at a neighbourhood hardware store! Phew!
- Cut the wires into shorter bits, and made more ‘marshmallow fondant’

[I marked the shape first before 'slicing' it out with a knife]

Friday, 20 Aug :
- Made the number ‘4′ (above photo)
- Made buttercream (to go all over the cake, before you place the rolled fondant over it. After I put buttercream all over the cake, I covered it with cling film and put it in the fridge)

Btw, as you can see, my chocolate cake ‘crumbled’, and was all over the buttercream! I was like, ‘Uh oh! I don’t think it’s supposed to look like this, but ah … it’s going to be covered with fondant later, anyway!

- Made more chocolate cakes (a small, round one for the 2nd tier, and another small cake for Vai to cut and share with his friends that day, since Friday, 20 Aug was Vai’s actual birthday)

On that same day (Friday, 20 Aug), I put some buttercream on the chocolate cake, rolled out the green-coloured fondant and put it over the small rectangular cake.

Vai LOVED how the cake turned out, the car and everything that was on it! He could NOT wait to bring out the cake that night and share it with his friends!

*Mommy was very happy that the birthday boy was SO happy!*

…

[Those two cars - bottom left - are REAL TOY cars. We put them on Vai's cake just before we brought out the cake at Sunday School]

By the time we all left on Saturday morning to stay overnight at the hotel, all ‘necessary materials’ to make the bigger cake on Sunday were done and prepared.

It was like, ‘Wow! I don’t need to RUSH like I usually do!’

Errr … but then again, things were different from what I expected when Sunday came.

We got home from the hotel at about 2.45pm, and within 1.5 hour, I was supposed to:
- get myself and both kids ready to go out again
- take out the 2 buttercream-covered cakes from the fridge
- roll out the fondant
- decorate it

And I was rushing like MAD.

[Soon after, the kids left the house with Daddy so I could concentrate - and RUSH - better. Thanks Daddy!]

Oh btw, I didn’t know that I apparently needed SO MANY MORE balls to go around the two tiered cakes!

And so I rushed and made as many balls as I could!

After making enough to cover the smaller cake at the top, I decided to just make a ‘blue ribbon’ to go around the bottom cake!

After all, by that time I HAD to get everything ready within just TEN minutes, ie. before our friend came to pick me (and the cake) up!

[Really, the RUSH was unbelievable!]

Finally, I got it all as ready as I could!

I was so relieved.

And happy!

*smile*

[Took a quick shot of the cake before heading out!]

I didn’t have any big enough box for this cake, btw!

So I carried the cake as steadily as I could throughout the car ride (Thanks to our friend who drove the car real smoothly too!)

…

Finally it was 6.30pm and it was time to bring out the cake.

Oh how I remember seeing Vai’s surprised and SUPER-HAPPY face!

Really, right at that moment, all the effort and time spent in preparing and making it happen felt so worthwhile!

I was a happy mommy!

[So happy too that our chocolate cake was lapped up by everyone!]
…

I must say, this whole experience was again another adventure for me.

A learning journey.

And I’m just so thankful to God that I have a hubby who was supportive from the moment I told him I wanted to try something new for Vai’s birthday.

I’m thankful for the many friends who shared their inputs and baking advice with me (So glad that these days we have the internet and heaps of insightful youtube videos too!)

I’m glad I went ahead with this ‘attempt’ to make Vai’s cake using fondant too, despite my total lack of experience.

Because again, I get to share with my two little ones - by doing - how we should never say we can’t do something IF we’ve never given it a good try.

…

Really am just thankful for everything.

Share This Post on Facebook

… is that you get to capture the everydayness of life that we treasure.

Without feeling the ‘weight’ very much.

…

Btw, just wondering … do you ‘always’ bring along your camera when you go out? Or do you normally rely on the camera on your mobile phone?

Share This Post on Facebook

In a world where ‘having lots of money’ is often perceived by many as ‘necessary’ in order to ‘enjoy life better’, it is undeniable that the search for money and material comfort has somehow (consciously or unconsciously) taken precedence over … family.

I’ve heard and read about couples who said, ‘We’ll leave the kids to mostly be taken care of by someone else right now, especially since we need to concentrate on our career. Our business / career is taking off at the moment. And when we both have saved up quite a bit of money in a few years time, we’ll slow down and spend more time with the children. We’ll all get to enjoy the money that we’ve worked very hard for. We’re doing all this for our children’s sake. We want them to have a better life. We want to afford better education. We can even travel together as a family to far away places!’

…

Both Wilson and I attended a series of parenting classes recently, and there’s this general principle that I will always remember : Relationship is built OVER TIME.

A close relationship between parents and their children where there’s trust, love and respect can never be achieved WITHOUT the investment of time.

[We all know of (too many) cases out there where children grow more and more distanced from their busy parents as they grow older, and by the time the parents wish to know more about their children's lives, they choose to spend their time with their teenage friends away from home instead. And that's where many family conflicts begin]

…

I tell and remind myself all the time that in the eyes of my two little children, I’m just a mom.

They don’t care about how much (or how little!) money we have in our bank, how many branded goods we have in our wardrobe (or if we had none), or, how much their toys and clothes cost.

What they long for is, our time spent with them.

Whether we listen to their stories and giggle when they go silly.

Whether we play catch with them.

Whether we have a routine and spend time regularly each day, like reading them stories before bedtime.

Whether we genuinely appreciate their drawings or LEGO brick creations.

…

One’s childhood will be over sooner than we think.

Time will fly.

And there’s nothing we can do that can turn back time.

So.

While we still can, and while we still have time, let’s remind ourselves to treasure our children and their growing-up years (however tough and often challenging our moments with them are).

Because really, there are just way too many things in life that money can’t buy.

And one of them is, time.

…

What are your views and thoughts on this?  I’d love to hear from you.

Share This Post on Facebook

Saturday night.

Daddy cooked the main meals.

The first time he experimented on these menus: Baby potatoes sauteed in butter, grilled lobster with garlic, and buttered prawn.

Mommy prepared dessert.

The first time she experimented on making chocolate soufflé.

Kids helped with setting up the table, food preparation and ‘vegie distribution’.

Brother-in-law and his girlfriend came to join us for dinner.

It was one saturday night get-together we treasured.

…

I don’t think we’ve ever done or had something like this before.

But isn’t it great that when we choose to, life can always be a sweet journey of many firsts?

Share This Post on Facebook

I tried, tested and liked this chocolate cake recipe. And so I made this for Vai’s birthday cake the other day.

If you’d like to test this one too yourself, here’s the recipe.

Hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients

250 g cake flour

1 tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup (69 g) unsweetened cocoa

380 g sugar

170 ml vegetable oil

240 ml hot coffee

240 ml milk

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg Celsius

2. Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa and sugar in a large mixing bowl

3. Add the hot coffee, oil and milk and mix it for about 2 minutes

4. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the eggs and vanilla. Beat for 2 more minutes. The batter will be quite ‘runny’

5. Pour batter in prepared pans and bake for approx. 30 minutes. It’s ready when you poke with a skewer and it comes out clean

…

Notes:

- You can’t taste the coffee at all, btw. It’s just supposed to simply ‘heighten the flavour’ (Anyway, I used very little coffee powder for my cakes)

- The oil is supposed to keep the cake soft and moist, even when you’ve just taken it out of the fridge.

This btw, was the reason why I chose to test out this recipe. You see, Vai’s birthday celebration was on a Sunday, and because we stayed at a Hotel the night before, I needed to bake it on Friday (2 days in advance), keep it tightly wrapped in the fridge, bring it out when I reached home from the hotel (ie. at 2.45pm!), get it covered in fondant and decorated in 90 mins, and leave for church.

[I'll write a blog post on Vai's birthday cake preparations soon!]

…

Anyway.

I thought the cake was a little ‘porous’, ie. crumbles rather easily. Now, if you know the reason WHY, or HOW to make it ‘more dense’, please share with me! I’d love to know and learn from you!

Thanks all! Happy experimenting!

Share This Post on Facebook

The four of us went to the closing ceremony of Youth Olympic Games (YOG) 2010 at Marina Bay today!

It was our very first time watching such a big event LIVE!

We so looked forward to being in the crowd, watching the performances and fireworks LIVE, and watching the many young athletes from all over the world get together for the last time in Singapore!

I took quite a bit of photos with my Canon Powershot S90 and I’ve shared some on my Facebook.

Click HERE to view the photos!

[Shot was taken by Wilson!]

…

Btw, when it comes to YOG, some people did ask me, ‘Why would you guys want to go and bring the kids to the Youth Olympic Games anyway?’

And here’s my usual answer:

The Youth Olympic Games is a big-scale event where young sportspeople from all over the world get together and do their best. And it happened to be held HERE in Singapore, where we currently live! (ie. We don’t have to fly overseas to watch the games). It’s something that will probably not happen again in many decades to come!

Plus, we’d like our two young children to experience and see for themselves the many young people out there (who are not that much older than them!) who train very hard in what they do (and in this case, it’s a sport).

We’d like Anya and Vai to feel the excitement, and to see for themselves the many young people from around the world doing different sports, and how despite the difficulties and physical challenges they all face during their many hours of training, they persevere and they keep on going.

You see, THIS is the spirit that we hope our two kids learn and pick up too!

While we’re watching the games or during the closing ceremony, we also explained to our kids that it’s NOT about winning, nor about being number one. It’s NOT about being ‘BETTER than my peers’.

We share with them how it’s more about exploring what we can do and about not giving up though things get tough.

AND, even if after giving our very best, other people are ‘better’ than us, it’s totally okay, because we know we’ve given our best according to our capability.

[Watching Gymnastics at Bishan Sports Hall. We're there early!]

…

So, if someone were to ask me, ‘Will bringing your kids to the Youth Olympic Games change your kids’ perception towards life and sports?’

I’d say, ‘Frankly, … we don’t know.’

There’s one thing we know for sure though, and that is, as parents we both will try to teach and expose our children to what we feel and hope can inspire and make a positive difference in them.

Share This Post on Facebook

It was 4.40pm. And the sky was getting darker by the minute.

Thunderstorm seemed to be making its way towards us.

The kids’ swimming lesson was coming to an end and when I saw them getting out of the pool and walking towards another right behind their coach, I quickly grabbed my camera and captured the moment.

I like this shot.

Share This Post on Facebook

We had a simple celebration at Vai’s Sunday School two days ago.

And, I went ahead with my plan (read: experiment!) to make him a car-themed birthday cake using fondant.

(Note: everything on the cake was home-made, except for the two blue car toys in front: Mater and Dinoco Lightning McQueen)

I know, ordering a cake will be fuss-free, and very much professional-looking … but I’m somehow determined to just give it a go anyway. To make something that the kids will see as ‘their own’.

I’d like my kids to see how their mommy learns new things too, explores and tries her best in making things happen.

Anyway.

I’ll share more photos, how it all went, my preparations and all in another post real soon!

For now, here’re two photos of our little guy, our VERY happy birthday boy who SO looked forward to his 4th birthday, birthday cake and celebration at Sunday School!

Ah. Really. Seeing him THAT happy and enthusiastic about everything really made it all worthwhile!

…

Our little note to Vai:

We all love you. Very much.

But remember, that God loves you even MORE.

His grace and blessings are always beyond what we’ve ever asked for.

And we pray that you grow and love HIM more and more too everyday.

Share This Post on Facebook

Oh I haven’t shared this one with you!

It was when the four of us were invited to join the Coke Bus in making way for the Youth Olympic Games’ Torch Relay across Singapore!

It was such a blast!!

I shared heaps more photos on Facebook!

Click HERE to view my YOG photo album on Facebook!

Anyway.

For now, here are some of the shots we took that day!

[It was loud on the bus, but the kids had fun!]

[Amazing crowds, amazing enthusiasm, amazing experience, amazing view!]

[With some of the Happiness Team!]

[With THE torch and the hard-working men who kept everything in order during the YOG torch relay!]

Share This Post on Facebook

Courtesy of Holiday Inn Orchard City Centre, we enjoyed a weekend getaway right here in Singapore.

So happy. So grateful.

And to have it when one of our family members is having his 4th birthday makes it even more of a treasured experience!

Thanks Holiday Inn for the great family experience, the many treats and surprises!

We all had great fun!

[Birthday surprises inside our hotel room! And this is us with the friendly hotel staff who gave us a very warm welcome]

…

Btw, I’ve shared MORE photos and stories on my Facebook.

Click HERE to view the photo album.

You’re most welcome to ADD ME on Facebook too! I post live updates and photos there!

…
Here’s one particular shot I’d like to share with you.

I just participated in a photo contest and submitted this photo I took of Anya bouncing off the sofa inside the hotel room! I love this shot!

If you like it, you can VOTE for me once everyday *smile*

Click HERE to enter Holiday Inn’s Facebook Photo Contest Page to vote.

AND btw, you can enter the photo contest too!! Read more about it on their Facebook Page.

Share This Post on Facebook