Steamed Cakes

I have never seen my eldest brother bakes. All along I knew he doesn't mind to spend some time in the kitchen to whip up a meal or two for us. He prefers to handle everything on his own whenever he is in the kitchen. He is a man of few words but a nice guy. I love him for the way he is but I wish if he could open up a little more to me and his siblings so that we could know him better.

 

I was in awe when he asked me how to operate the oven in our mum's place as he wanted to try out some recipes. Without second thoughts I grab the chance to communicate with him my favourite subject. I showed him how to operate the oven, took out some of the baking stuff in the drawers and taught him how to use them. I copied the recipe and explain to him in detailed. I like his spirit of learning and wanted to know-how in areas that interest him though he isn't highly educated.

 

He is experimenting a lot nowadays in chinese pastry which using steaming method.  The pictures are the products of some of his experiments. He made 'Prosperity Cake' or 'Fa Gao' in Chinese and 'Red Tortoise Cake' or 'Ang Gu Kueh' in Hokkien. Both were made with no written recipes, no reference to books, websites or videos but based on his observations of taste and some small talks he had with the cakes seller in the market. It is so amazing and I am very proud of him!! If given guidance and opportunity I am sure he can go far in baking. 

 

China Food Scandal

I am listening to one of Jeffery Michael's album while writing this post. Overlooking at the dining room's window to get a fresh greenery view of the little patch of jungle about a kilometre away from my house. Can see the top branches of the tree swaying gently and softly when the wind blows....Need to seek some peace of mind. My mind just swung to the many scenes of crying babies suffering from kidney stones and kidney failure due to the recent food scandal in China on the melamine tainted milk/ diary products. For babies and toddlers whose life have been impaired due to permanent kidney failure at this tender age even before they can really experience what life is about, it is really heart rending!

I took a deep breath and thank God that our children here are not affected directly. Hopefully the relevant authority will tighten the food safety and security system and most importantly I really hope that China government will come out with some comprehensive continued care plans for babies who lost their kidney functions permanently due to this.

Clare, my daughter took quite a lot of the 'Take One Baby Bites' since young as this is her favourite biscuit! It is a product of China with a big Caucasian baby's face in the front label of the box. I admit that I was misled by that picture and also the fact that many babies on the street are eating it, i thought it is safe. I threw all the Take One biscuits that I have.

Now I take effort to read labels and the nutritional facts for the products I buy and I try to do more home make snacks for her like muffins and biscuits at least I know what goes in her stomach!

Special Column : Goodbye to Baby Angel..

It was 20 minutes before 9am and my husband was hurried to leave for office. About a few seconds before he stepped out we received a call from a closed family friend. It was a bad news. My closed family friend has a miscarriage yesterday night. We were both in shocked, worried and sad. We quickly dressed up our gal and sent her to the nanny. I always try not to bring her to the hospitals to prevent her from catching any bugs. My husband decided to take a day off as he felt that the grieving couple, my closed friend needed help in one way or another. I am so touched by his kindness and generosity for going extra miles.

We were in the Mt. Alvernia Hospital alas. The grieving mother was crouching on the bed covering her head and body with a white blanket, refusing to talk but sobbing all the way. She was not emotionally stable. The Husband was trying to comfort her though he was bearing tremendous pain and sadness himself masking it up well by his tall and muscular built. Lucky that there are always counselors called religious sisters in a Catholic Hospital who are always ready to send comforting words of God to patients who need them most.

Tiny Baby Angel was just about 8 weeks old. But then the hurt and sadness was tremendously felt by the grieving parents. It wasn’t the matter of whether 8 weeks or 8 months for a parent to grief for the loss of a child. It was the pure and strong love and bonding the parents have had for Baby Angel as early as from the time of conception, a time when life was already granted to the tiny baby in the womb of the mother by God. How can one says that there is no life to an unborn child when heart beat already can be heard and traced and love has already been developed?!

Baby Angel was just a tiny little clot of blood but Baby Angel was alive for 8 weeks though unborn and before God decided to take Baby Angel away with Him. Baby Angel is now under the good care of God and the reasons why Baby Angel was taken away remained as a painful truth for the parents, family and friends to accept.

We had a Catholic ritual prayer to baptise Baby Angel and to bless the soul and the family. It was a simple but solemn prayer. Everyone in the room was crying, sobbing and grieving. Nobody can explain how amazingly this little tiny baby has touched all our life! We know that Baby Angel has returned to the Lord and is in good hands. In that little room, we sense the love and awesome of God and His grace in controlling everything in our life! Our life on earth is only a pilgrimage journey towards eternal life.

We had the car accidents together about 2 months ago and we kept on praising God for saving our life, allowing us to continue living for there are life missions that we need to fulfill on earth. How fragile our life could be and how helpless we are before the Lord. Is being successful in life important when we meet God one day? Yes God never called us to be poor but in the expense of chasing after our self-claimed ‘success’ or a better or more comfortable life do we really need to trade off the significances that are closed to our hearts and souls. I am asking myself the same questions each day…

Our prayers go to Baby Angel, the grieving parents and the family always. As a mark of respect in this grieving period, there will be no post on baking or food for this whole week.