Christmas Baking

Cream cheese cookies with cranberries

Serious baking has started in our household. I’ve included 4 cookie recipes (including the cream cheese cookies in the pic) for this Christmas.

I will also bake MDK’s all time favourite cake which he calls his “Heaven on Earth.” Now, with all the recipes I’ve used, this is the one recipe (his H.O.E.) that he does not want to share to non-family members. You see, he thinks this recipe is the one that will make us millionaires. That’s how good he thinks it is hahaha.


To add to the the baking frenzy that's happening in the kitchen during the week, we also try to make a gingerbread house. It’s not a very fancy looking gingerbread house but it is extra special because it’s something I make with MDK every year. Although I have to be honest, this year has been quite a challenge convincing him to participate. He even asked why we have to make one this year. And I told him –

“Well because it’s the one thing we do together on Christmas. And besides, I never got to do this with your Lola (grandma) when I was a kid.”

That didn’t require any more convincing. He was like –

“Okay, I’ll join you in 5 minutes. Just let me finish my game.”

I thought that was sweet of him.

So here it is. It’s far from perfect but we love it just the same.

This year's gingerbread house. Far from perfect but we like it very much.

It’s now on display in the dining table. We both think that Santa and the Snowman had too much Baileys coffee thus they couldn't stand still. MDK asked me the other night if he can start peeling off the gingerbread and slowly eat the candies as well. I told him “Sure. But let me take a pic of it first.”

The Magic of the Christmas Garland, Part 2

We weren't planning on putting any Christmas decor outside the new home this year. But it just didn't look right so we decided to put something sparingly. And thank goodness for Christmas garlands, we were able to make quick, cheap, inexpensive wreaths. And our builder was quite nice, they put trees at the front, one of them is perfect as Christmas tree. We strewn it with LED lights and voila we have a little tree outside.

Excuse the splotches on the bricks. It just stopped raining when I took these photos.

Next year, we hope we'd be able to put some more Christmas lights and install them before snow will come. And hopefully, I'll be able to find that perfect (meaning inexpensive) Christmas trees we'll put at the entry.

If the walls in this room can talk...

... they will tell you how hard MDH has worked for his French Language Training. And that the good news of him becoming officially bilingual and getting the required levels for his current position is very well deserved.

MDH's home office -silent listener and witness to how hard he works at something

So yeah, MDH is now officially bilingual. But wait, he speaks 3 other languages too so that makes it 5 which means he's a polyglot, right? So proud of you, MDH! Most importantly, I am so proud of you for being such a good role model to MDK by showing him that learning and (hard) work can be fun and rewarding.

No more waking up so early during weekdays to catch MDH's French classes. It's something we can all put behind us now. And I can see happy holidays ahead before tackling the next challenge in the upcoming year. Yesterday, I had a glimpse at what MDH does at work, and I told MDK, "it's not for the faint of heart" hahaha.

The Magic of the Christmas Garland , Part 1

One of the Christmas decorating challenges we have this season is the lack of Christmas decors. Okay, it’s not really a “challenge.” I’m exaggerating.


I think over the years, we have collected Christmas decors enough to decorate our home, our previous home that is. Since we moved to a home which is over a third bigger than the previous, I thought we’d need approximately a third more of the Christmas decors. But I wasn’t gung-ho on having “a third more” this year really. After all, even on Christmas decorating, I tend to do it in a very minimal way. “Less is more,” a minimalist would say. Then I discovered the magic of the Christmas garland. They’re usually dirt cheap and you can buy the plain ones which pretty much give you the option of embellishing them however way you’d want to.

Okay, so I may have gone overboard this time. You see, the railings aren’t the only ones I decorated using the garlands. Wait until you see the outside. That will be the Garland Magic, Partie Deux post. But because it’s Christmas, I guess we can go as overboard as we want. And that includes MDH who keeps bugging me about putting lotsa-lotsa Christmas lights outside. All LEDs of course. But because they’re a bit pricey, I guess we’ll have to wait for next year (or next yearssss) and see if we can afford to buy lotsa-lotsa LED lights if they go on sale.

Wanna dine with us?

I am so glad the white leather chairs I ordered for our dining room came in this week. What a great difference the white chairs make. It's as if the room lit up a hundred times and we didn't even have to add some extra CFL lights hahaha.

I love the contrast of the textures and colours in the dining room. Very eclectic which is my kind of thing. But it still ties in with the colour scheme we have in the kitchen which is btw adjacent to our dining room.

The dining room is one of the rooms we put in order after the study and our bedrooms when we moved in.

What I like in our dining room:

• The in-ceiling speakers. Glad that we decided to put a pair in the dining room as well as it is nice to listen to soft music while dining.

• The overall size. Not too huge, not cramped. I was not sure if we could fit the hutch and buffet but when we placed them in the room, there was still enough space to move about.

• The huge window is perfect. It's bright there at daytime. Big difference from what we had in the previous home which only had 2 small windows in the dining room.

• The dining room is adjacent to the living room which is nice especially when we entertain. Guests can choose to sit in the living room while some can stay in the dining area. It still feels like one party :). As for the kids, they do their own partying which is around the house :).

• It is also adjacent to and easily accessible from the kitchen.

• The chandelier that we put. Right size for a not-so-huge dining table which can sit 6 to 8 people. When we have friends over, at least 8 people can comfortably sit there.

What's left to be done:

• The drapes. They need hemming. Although we're thinking of replacing them with something else.

• Accent wall needs to be painted. I am leaning towards a terra cotta colour. But I can't do it at the moment because we have burgundy leather couches in the adjacent living room.

• Paint the dining room (and the adjacent living room) with grey colour.

• Hang some wall decors. Or maybe not. I kind of like that we only have the mirror above the server.

So yeah, that's what you'll see in our dining room if you come dine with us.

"The colour you want is the colour you get."

Does that sound familiar? It's from an ad by Penelope Cruz for a hair colour or something. I thought she sounded so cute (sorry, can't find the right word) in that ad. It became a favourite line in our household for sometime.

"I think I want a white kitchen. White backsplash, white cabinets, white countertop." ~ me

"The kitchen you want is the kitchen you get."   ~ MDH

And MDH says the same thing when I pick for colours for the home. Am I lucky or what?

I'd like to share some of the photos I took that I go back to once in a while because there's something in each of them that inspires me. I hope it will inspire you too. Here they are:

I love French macaroons. My fave is pistachio.

We have enlarged the picture above, framed it, and hung it close to the kitchen area. I like the gray tone of the chinaware and the somewhat restrained colours of the French macarons.

chocolate with marshmallows - perfect for a cold evening like tonight

The one above may be very similar to the first pic but the chocolate bars make the pic interesting. Brown and pastel combo surely wows.

And here's something different from the first two -

I love the earthy colours of the pic above which is something I'd pick in a heartbeat. And btw, this is a candidate photo that I will hang in the kitchen.

And yesterday, while I was contemplating on what bling to make for today's outfit, I was gazing at this -

This was taken during MDH's birthday dinner over a year ago at Perspective Resto at Brookstreet Hotel.This was yum.

The dress was blue-gray. I'll take a pic of the bling some other time, when there's good lighting.

I hope you enjoyed viewing some of my colour inspirations and that hope they'd inspire you too.

Bling it on, Baby!

I love colours but I don't think my love for colours is very obvious in the home pics I post here.  I enjoy experimenting with colours. Just not on the finishes at home that require longer commitment 'cause it can become expensive if we change them often. Going bold with colours on one or two walls is okay. But not for things like wood floor stains. MDH and I must have visited several showhomes over a hundred times because I really, really wanted to be sure that the wood floor stain we'd pick was the one. Okay, over a hundred visits is an exaggeration :). Looking at over a hundred images in the web isn't which was what I actually did.

And oh, did I say I am easily affected by the colours around me? I am. I remember one time, we had to paint our family room twice in one weekend. I picked the colour I like but realized after MDH finished painting the entire room, I didn't like it on our walls. I was so bothered I couldn't sleep and I didn't want to step in the room. So no choice but off to the paint store we went and picked another colour. We picked a neutral colour.  Beige actually. BM's Alexandria Beige if you're curious :)

So where do I inject colours? Mostly in home accessories. And blings.Yes, blings.

I made the necklace above. Burgundy and lime green necklace worn over a gray cashmere sweater and a pair of jeans was what I wore for casual Friday this week. Then I remembered, I had to do an interview. Good thing you do interviews sitting down so the pair of jeans wasn't too obvious.

And speaking of blings, I've started making some for Christmas gifts. Mostly for our godchildren. Only for the girls, of course. I hope they'll like them. We still have to think of something for the boys.

Eager Beaver

... for December

We decided to place the Christmas tree in our living room which is adjacent to our dining room.

It will be our first Christmas in the new home. And I am so excited. So excited that as soon as the following events were over, MDH and I started bringing out boxes of our Christmas decors:

• Thanksgiving
• Halloween
• Housewarming

We're in Canada so our Thanksgiving was celebrated weeks ago.

The invitation we sent out

And yup, we had our housewarming last Saturday. Over 60 dudes and dudettes came to celebrate with us and we partied 'til 2 am. Clock was set to standard time so we had an extra hour of partying. It was fun. As usual, the kitchen was where most of the adults congregated. The kids, however, were all over the house which made it extra fun :).

So yeah, expect to see more Christmas pics in this blog. Here's one more -

Fireplace in the Family Room

My Not-so-LOFTy Pics

We've finally painted the 2 walls in our loft. Colour blocking is probably the least expensive an inexpensive way of putting umph in a room. And that's what we did for our loft. We used Prairie Lily by Benjamin Moore for the paint. It feels very cozy!

We've installed a white desk and white shelves to designate a work area. Love, love the contrast of the walls and the fixtures btw.

Not to scale :). I had to come up with a rough drawing to show to the boys.

For the pics above the desk, here are the pics I came up with. The dominant colour is white. Again. What else is new :). I also made use of the knick-knacks we have around the home as photo subjects. Needless to say, I like how they turn out.

I took the pics, made use of the stuff we already have around our home.

Here are the pics, up close:

BTW I call the loft walls my "happy walls." They make me happy every time I stare at them. Colours do have an effect on me.

Next on the list to do: paint the master bedroom and ensuite. The colour will be the exact opposite of what we've picked for the loft. Grayish blue is what we're planning to use in our bedroom, grayish brown for the ensuite.

The Hub of our home

The kitchen is the hub of our home. It is where most of the family activities inside the home take place, where we entertain close friends and family members. It is where most of the action takes place.

We've equipped our kitchen with 2 ovens, 3 if you count the microwave oven :). Gone are the problems we had of trying to schedule which ones to cook first because there was only one oven to cook in. This Christmas, while the turkey will be cooking, I can take my merry time whipping up my dessert 'cause I can have my oven anytime.

And speaking of ovens, I was so happy the holes below the wall ovens were finally replaced with 2 sets of drawers. After 5 months, the ugly holes are gone. Phew! One item being crossed out in the to-do list.

It goes without saying that we don't want anyone going hungry or thirsty. Not in our kitchen. Most importantly, household members can pretty much take comfort in the fact that they are free to be themselves, learn things, make mistakes, and have fun. Well, it’s pretty much how we run the entire household.

The kitchen is probably the part of the home that we’ve put most of the things that we really want. I wanted a white kitchen, MDH was kind enough to consent to this.

I think overall, a white kitchen will never go dated. And it looks divine whatever fruit you put on the island. The colours pop, don't you think?

And yes, this time we have a bigger island compared to the previous home. It's 4 ft by 5.5 ft. I wanted a different wood colour for the island but decided to go with white (chalk white, to be specific) as our furniture pieces are dark. And so is the floor.

Overall, I like the contrast.






I picked most of the fixtures - Moen faucets, Kindred sinks. The faucets were all installed by MDH. No leaks so far. Yay to that!

And in case you  want to know, the countertops are Kashmir White granite and the backsplash is honed Carrara marble in mosaic rectangular strips.

Share the Care

My share for this year's Cancer Awareness Month

Be Aware. Be Proactive.
Quit smoking.
Eat well.
Be active.
Get screened.


Fast Facts:

• About 1.2 million cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed this year worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

• About 75% of breast cancers are found in women over age 50.

• The chance of having breast cancer for a woman in her fifties is about 1 in 50.

• The chance of having breast cancer for a woman in her nineties is about 1 in 9.

• About 80% of women diagnosed with breast cancer have no family history of breast cancer.

• Men also get breast cancer, however, men account for less than one percent of all breast cancer cases - breast cancer statistics.

For the Loft of Music

This is what you'll find in our loft - MDK's drum kit and some.

One of the things we share as a family is our love for music. And naturally, when we planned for things that we'd like to put in the new home, we made sure that music will become an integral part of it. The long term plan is to put a music/entertainment room in the basement. As of today, the basement is still unfinished. No work has been done in it and it has become one big storage area for our things that we brought with us from our previous home and we still couldn't find spots for them in the new home.

But...but...we asked a dear friend who is quite a very good architect to draw up a floor plan for our future basement. I am not a big fan of basements but as soon as I saw the floor plan that he came up for us, I fell in love with it and I couldn't help but get excited. I am hoping that next year, we'll be able to start some work for the basement.

For now, we're using part of the loft as the music area. It can be pretty noisy especially when either of my boys (MDH and MDK) start banging the drums but I really don't mind. MDK is into creating music as well. He has a mixer midi pad control unit in his bedroom which eventually will be placed in the basement. MDK has created some pretty cool stuff with it. One time, I was pretty amazed at how he came up with the reggae version of Tracy Chapman's Fast Car after listening to it. And it didn't take him very long to create it.

We will put shelves and a desk as MDK's work area in the loft. But before we'll install them, we will paint the 2 walls. I'm hoping this week, we'll be able to pick the right colour and start painting the walls. We are looking at red-orange colours, all by Benjamin Moore.

Here are the colour samples up close, with a close-up bonus shot of MDK's drum. I think either one of the paint colours will go well with the colour of his drums hahaha.

Stay tuned for some updates of our kitchen. One major item in the to-do list in our kitchen was crossed out this week. I'm one happy camper this weekend!

For guests only

We have the barest guest bathroom but I love it.

Cabinets in Espresso
White Marble countertop
Huge rectangular vessel sink
And the paint is Balboa Mist by Benjamin Moore

And here it is one more time -

I hope our guests will love this bathroom. We do.

Today is a four-cookie day

MDK helped made these cookies

It's a thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. Officially, thanksgiving day is tomorrow, Monday. But some families celebrate it on Sundays. We do.


Aside from being a "turkey-day" today, it is a "cookie-day" as well. I am grateful. Not just for cookie/turkey days like this but any other day.

Some days are cookie/turkey days. Many are not. Sometimes our plate has nothing but vegetables. It can be a week of carrots, celery, broccoli, etc. Oh some even are bitter-melon days. Some days we have a bit of everything. Some vegetables may be hard to swallow, some are not. They can be healthy but dull. But we all know we can't live on just cookies and turkeys. Ooh those cookies, "they do little for our nutrition, but a lot for our attitude."

Reminder to self: the next time my plate has more broccoli than cinnamon rolls, I will remember who prepared the meal and be thankful. And the next time my plate has some portions that are hard to swallow, I'll talk to Him. He listens but most of all, He knows what's best for me.

For now, I'm telling Him how grateful I am for these four cookies on my plate.

Comfort Food

Today, I pulled out an all-time favourite recipe from our recipe collection. It's one of the first recipes I learned from watching different cooking shows on TV, when I was left on my own, while MDH was in grad school. It was our first year as married couple. It was also the beginning of the many trials and errors I did in the kitchen. It helped that I have a very supportive, encouraging housemate a.k.a. MDH. I was never afraid to try things in the kitchen 'cause everything I prepared was always well appreciated. It still is up to now btw.

I can't exactly remember which show did I learn the recipe. It was an Italian cooking show, sometime in the mid-90's. I'm sure it wasn't Caprial's Cafe 'cause I think she only did cakes and pastries in her show.

Tonight, over meatloaf and mashed potatoes (and apple juice :)), we reminisced our first year in Ottawa, in the first apartment that we rented, in the first kitchen where I learned to cook for the 2 most important boys in my life. The apartment was MDK's first home btw.

So here's the recipe. Hope the wafting smell of the meatloaf will bring comfort in your kitchen same way it does in ours.

Ingredients

* 2 pounds lean ground beef (I sometimes use a mix of ground pork and beef or ground veal)
* 1 cup milk
* 2 eggs
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1 medium onion, chopped
* 1 celery, sliced into small pieces
* 1 medium bell pepper, sliced into small pieces
* 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1 cup bread crumbs

* 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
* 1/2 cup ketchup

* bacon strips


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a rectangular pan. (I used an 8 X 12 pan)
2. Saute the onions, celery, and bell pepper.
3. In a mixing bowl, mix thoroughly the sauted veggies and the other remaining ingredients, except for the brown sugar, ketchup and bacon strips. Shape the mixture into a loaf on the rectangular pan.
4. Arrange the bacon strips on top of the loaf.
5. In a separate bowl, mix the ketchup and brown sugar. Spread on top of the loaf.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour or until juices are clear.

Chicken Parmigiana, anyone?

I have been having so much fun trying out some recipes of the foods that we love to eat. Last night, it was Chicken Parmigiana served on spaghetti. No kidding, it almost tasted like Mamma Theresa's (our favourite Italian resto here in Ottawa) hahaha.

And to multiply the fun, I'm sharing this sumptuous find. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

* 1 egg, beaten
* 2 ounces dry bread crumbs
* 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
* 3/4 (16 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
* 2 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
* 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a medium baking sheet.
2. Pour egg into a small shallow bowl. Place bread crumbs in a separate shallow bowl. Dip chicken into egg, then into the bread crumbs. Place coated chicken on the prepared baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until no longer pink and juices run clear.
3. Pour 1/2 of the spaghetti sauce into a 7x11 inch baking dish. Place chicken over sauce, and cover with remaining sauce. Sprinkle mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses on top and return to the preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Source: Chicken Parmigiana

Again, I slightly modified the recipe:

•  I marinated the chicken with pepper and garlic powder before I coated them with eggs and breadcrumbs;
• I put some Italian seasoning on the breadcrumbs. If you have some Italian breadcrumbs in your pantry, then I guess you don't need to add the seasoning;
• Get the best sauce you can find. I used ready-made marinara sauce from a favourite brand;
• I used Kraft shredded mozzarella cheese and put dashes of Parmesan cheese before I served them.

MDH and MDK devoured them. I got another BIG hug. And the best thing, I was excused to do the clean-up of the kitchen after dinner.

And if you'll excuse me, gotta go and have the leftovers for tonight's dinner. I made a huge batch.

Our Favourite Art Pieces

Our favourite art pieces, up close

We have decided to put a console table in the main hallway, close to the mudroom. This is more of a necessity rather than for aesthetic reason. But because I don’t like to plunk in something anywhere in the house without making sure it is visually nice (for me and for my boys at least), we have carefully picked the area to put it and how to ‘display’ it.

It took awhile to find the console that we like. We wanted something simple that can go with the rest of the décor in the house. Nothing curvy, nothing fancy. Just simple, straight lines.

Minimal decor is what we are going for, just like what we have in the Family Room. Minimal decor means less clutter and easy on the pocket :).

Our family room which is still a work in progress

So after scouring at my favourite stores (there aren’t that many here btw), going back and forth hoping that it would finally show up, we finally saw “the one”. Of all places, we found it in Costco.

Finding it in Costco isn’t really unexpected. If you haven’t visited any of their stores and their online store and decide to check them out, you’d be amazed at the stuff they sell there. Free delivery (it used to be “white-glove” delivery too) for online purchases and if you don’t like your purchased item, you can return it to any of their warehouses. No questions asked.

In the hallway close to the mudroom entrance is where it is. And going in the house by the main entry, you can see it. We initially considered putting a mirror but finally decided to put our favourite artworks instead. We used to display them on the wall by the staircase in our previous home.

They’re inexpensive art pieces, each one is special. Most of them are from Australia and the Philippines.

I got all the Australian aboriginal art pieces back when I was in Sydney for a “short” business stint. Short means 7 months. They were sold at Paddy's market which was one of my favourite places to go to when I was there. I lived by myself in a one bedroom, fully furnished apartment/condo. During weekends, if I wasn’t spending some time with our very good friends or socializing with my colleagues, I was on my own doing the touristy things.

Every time I gaze at these Australian art pieces, it reminds me of our time in Oz. I say ‘our’ because MDK and MDH stayed with me there for over a month. We managed to visit other parts of Australia while they were there. Our favourite was our trip to Cairns. It was where I did the bravest thing I’ve ever done hahaha – we went snorkeling amidst the Coral Sea, on over 30 ft deep water and I didn’t even know how to swim. The wet suit kinda helped.

The other art pieces are from the Philippines. Two of the pieces are from a huge piece of Tinalak fabric we have. I cut portions of the fabric and framed them. For the curious, Tinalak is a hand-woven cloth made from the abaca plant.


And speaking of art pieces, remember this post? Well, we finally had the pics printed, framed and hung on the wall. Here they are:

View of our Family Room from our loft in the second floor

They couldn't be any more special than these. I took the pics and framed them, MDH hung them on the wall.

Autumn is finally here

My poncho on my ghost chair

There is no stopping it. Autumn is finally here and I am quite excited about it.

Today, we started to bring out the stuff that we need for the coming cold weather, including my poncho :). Pretty soon, it will be thanksgiving, then Halloween. And before we know it, we'll be very busy preparing for the Christmas Holidays.

One thing very good about Autumn is the colder weather. Summer brought fun things but weather wasn't one of them :(.

I peeked outside this morning (just peek 'cause we're busy doing stuff inside the house) and I saw the leaves starting to change colours. Another God's masterpiece is about to show. So beautiful.

Photo taken 2 years ago at Andrew Haydon Park here in Ottawa

As sweet as sticky cinnamon rolls

I’ve always wanted to learn to make cinnamon rolls. It is one of MDK’s favourite baked goods and one of MDH and my small indulgences. I say ‘indulgence’ because we are trying to cut down our sugar intake and wolfing down these sticky breads doesn’t exactly help in the cutting-down-the-sugar endeavour.

I stumbled upon the recipe on the internet which after reading some of the encouraging reviews, convinced me to give it a try.

It’s an easy recipe and anyone who is equipped with a breadmaker in their kitchen can do it with the least amount of work. And if you don’t have a breadmaker at home, despair not. You can still make the dough the old-fashioned way.

My dependable sidekick in the kitchen

Cinnamon Roll Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup margarine, melted
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened

1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
2. After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
3. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
4. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.
Source: Clone of a Cinnabon Recipe

If you have some time, read the comment/review section. It's a treasure trove of ideas.

I followed almost everything in the recipe, made some slight modifications.

(Steps 2, 3 ) For the filling, I mixed all 3 ingredients (butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar) and spread the mixture on the flattened dough instead of spreading the butter first and sprinkling cinnamon and sugar next. Not too messy plus it helps to spread the filling as evenly as possible.

Step 3) I used glass baking pans and lined them with the more gooey version of the butter-cinnamon-sugar mixture. I added more butter. I didn’t measure.

(Steps 1, 4) I used a convection oven so the oven setting was 350F and I baked them for less than 15 minutes.

Cinnamon Roll version 1

Overall, I am quite happy with how they turned out. I got a big hug from MDK and his very encouraging “I’m proud of you, Mama. Are you proud of yourself for learning something new today?” And the kicker –

MDK: “Hmm this is way better than Cinn-- (our favourite brand)”

Mama-not-the-Martha-Stewart-wannabe: “And what makes it better than Cinn--?”

MDK: “You made it.”

Next step, as MDH suggested – find a good cinnamon powder I can use for the next batch. And I will have to modify the filling a bit to make it a bit moist. That will be for version 2.

Sep 20, 2010 @ 21:13

My Corner

Here's another one of my fave corners in the new home.

Chef I am not. But because I am the luckiest gal in our household, I get to call the chef's desk "my corner."

Taken at night. That's my favourite lens beside my computer. I make sure it's accessible when I'm in the kitchen.

When we considered renovating the kitchen in our previous home, I made a list of things I'd want to have in our kitchen. Other than having a bigger island/breakfast counter, I wanted a chef's desk. Unfortunately, the real estate of the previous home wouldn't allow a desk. I had to use the dining room as my work area which was a bit inconvenient and not a pretty sight whenever we passed by the room. So when we decided to look for a new house, I made a mental note to include it in my nice-to-haves.

So here it is in the new home, located close to the breakfast nook, and quite accessible when you're in the kitchen.

This is where I do some fun work amidst the wafting smell of garlic, onions, baked bread, cookies and cakes. And if it's a better day, I also get to listen to DH playing the piano and sing his favourite worship songs while I tap my keyboard. Yes, today is another better day.
This is mostly my work area. And hopefully where I will work on the projects I'm planning to do in the very near future. I have finally decided to challenge myself a bit more on my photography.

Sep 15, 2010 @ 23:51

The Family Room

So this is how our family room looks like now. There are still things to be done but overall, it's close to how I'd like it to be - no unsightly wires and no things on the floor :).

My boys listening to MDK's favourite album while talking about stuff a teenager likes to talk about. I live for moments like this.

View of the Family Room from the Loft on the second floor

The family room is the second most used place in our home, the kitchen being the first. Just like the previous home we had, the family room is adjacent to the kitchen. It's a very convenient layout because the family room is also an entertainment room so once in awhile, we can watch our favourite shows like Michael Smith's Chef at Home while our in-house chef a.k.a. MDH and his sous chefs a.k.a. MDK and moi whip up something in the kitchen. Yes, we do love to cook as a family. I think the family that labours together, savours together. I made that up hahaha.

Okay, I digressed. Let's go back to the family room.

One of the things we love to do as a family is to watch movies together, not in theatres but at home. Personally, I prefer to watch at home because I can pause it, replay it, fast forward it anytime I like. Not to mention, I can watch in my pajamas.

There are still quite a few things I'd like done in the FR like adding some architectural photos atop the TV. I think they will fill up the big space above it. Time for me to dig my photo archives. We still have to put up the drapes on the windows. And lamps. And then that LOLA sectional from EQ3 will be a nice replacement for the 5 year old seats we have. I know, the list goes on and on and on we'll never see the end of it

Sep 13, 2010 @ 0:16