Buttery Moist Banana Cake

I think all of us at some time or another, accumulate way too many RIPE bananas somewhere in the kitchen. Well, that just happened to us and I decided to bake this family favourite which I had not in YEARS!!

This is an easy and yummy recipe, the cake is rich yet moist and soft! I used the paper loaves which I bought from Daiso that came in a set of 3. In less than 30mins coming out of the oven, 1 loaf was GONE! Mostly devoured by hb and Kimi. I was a happy mummy & baker! :)

Cat, here goes my 'secret recipe' as you call it! Haha! No secret lah.. u so drama! :)

Recipe (makes 3 smallish paper loaves which I bought from Daiso OR 1 9" round)

• 260g self-raising flour
• 220g caster/fine sugar
• 180g butter
• 260g banana
• 4 eggs
• 30ml milk
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method

1. Preheat oven at 170 degrees celsius
2. Mash banana and stir into milk, set aside
3. Cream butter and sugar at medium speed till light abd fluffy.
4. Add 1 egg at a time till combined **
5. Add essence
6. Fold in sifted flour and soda till combined
7. Pour into desired tins/moulds and bake for 60 to 70mins or until pick comes out clean

Notes

** As this is a high fat cake, when adding the eggs, sometimes it may curdle. On the 1st sighting of the mixture curdling, add in 1 tsp of the pre-sifted flour and continue till all the eggs are added. Adding of a little flour helps to stop the curdling.

Adjust timing according to size of baking tins. Lesser time for smaller moulds, etc

Name Calling

Kimi has MANY way of calling/addressing us. And it's all dependent on his moods. I know Estelle has special name for her daddy so 'name-calling' I know is not uncommon! Haha! Here are what he calls us.

For me:

During his serious, needy ways, he will call me MAMA. But when he is playful or did something naughty, he will call me MUMMY. And when he feels cheeky &/or grown up, he will call me MOM.

As for hb, Kimi will call him PAPA. Playful time Kimi calls his PAPPY. (pronounced as puppy as in Spanish for Papa).

Rather creative for a 2+ year old (he started last year) don't you think? Keke! What and how do your child address you? :)

Kimi Speaks

I'm so upset that I have TONS of back-dated posts to do! Not that I was procrastinating, I was really just too tired after a long day to blog. I really missed blogging and yes, I will not stop and don't intend to do so for the moment.

Well, I will still post my back dated posts as they are important to me, to us even if it's old news for my readers and/or they may not be keen. I need to document (what's left that I can remember!) so that Kimi can read them when he's older.

Overheard:-

1)
Normally hb will prep Kimi and tell him he's going to work so that Kimi will not whine esp if he wakes and realises Papa has left for work.

Papa : Kimi, Papa will be going to work later.
Kimi : No, I will make a lot of money so you don't need to go to work. You and mama can stay at home.

Then, 30mins later, during shower, Kimi wanted to sit on his throne. After some time, I hurried him.
Me : Kimi, have you finished? Hurry up. It's very late already, Papa needs to go to work (he ONLY wanted Papa to wash his behind after his biz).

Kimi : I want to be late, I don't want hurry up. So Papa can be late and then he don't need to go to work already.
(Then he started smiling cheekily)

2)
We were watching an advertisement that has Fann and Chris having dinner and Chris whipped out a diamond ring.

Kimi : Mama, next time I make alot of money and buy a diamond for you!
Me : ok, thank you!
(we had only told him that a diamond is very expensive the night before, nothing else!)

3)
Finally after so many months and now that Kimi is more 'articulate' he told us the reason why he didn't want to go to school...

We saw Kimi's school bus and he quickly exclaimed that it was his school.

Kimi : Mama, the school, Kids.. Kids... where Teacher CT, what's the name?
Me : Oh, it's Kids Kingdom. What is the name of your school now?
Kimi : (shouting) DS!
Me : Kimi, do you like to go to school?
Kimi : YES!
Me : How about KK?
Kimi : No.
Me : Why not?
Kimi : Cos it's so boring!
Hmm, is that really the reason? Sometimes I can't really trust what he says cos Kimi has an over-imaginative mind.

4)
After school one day ...

Me : Kimi do you like your teachers? Whom do you like beta? Mrs R or Z laoshi?
Kimi : Mrs R!
Me : How abt Z laoshi?
Kimi : No, I don't like her. She is fierce like a Tiger! (then he gave me a roar and used his hand to imitate a paw-swing)

5)
One morning after Kimi climbed into our bed and plonked between us.

Kimi : Papa, I want to kiss you. (he then planted a kiss on papa's forehead) Kiss your forehead.
Papa : Thank you.
Kimi : Papa, where is my three-head?
Hb & Me : LOL!!!

Seashells by the Beach

Kimi enjoys going to the beach and he has been bugging us ever since he started Pre-Nursery as his kindy is just a short distance away.

I had some ideas for craft so thought why not bring the little one for short walk before dinner? I told him we needed to pick shells and some sand...

It was a short walk but we had a wonderful time! The great thing about outdoors is that you get to learn as you have some fun too! Kimi picked and touched dead crabs (yikes!), saw crab holes, picked different kind of shells. It was all touchy-feely!

See how eager Kimi is? He brought his trusty bucket and a small friend, Ducky for company. :) Finally, at the beach! Look at his face! Beaming!
When I was growing up, I lived next to the sea and I could find loads of nice shells easily on the beach. It was rather sad that we walked the whole stretch to find only few shells. Clearly, pollution has rid alot of sealife. :( Here, Kimi found his first shell and he was esctactic.

Kimi, not giving up.... still looking for more shells The sea was nice and blue and I had wanted the 2 boys to take a pix. But Kimi was not co-operative as usual. See the little ducky by his side? He said he needed to put ducky nicely so it can take a pix too.
Finally managed to coax him to wave 'hi' albeit still not looking in the camera and very unwillingly...
See? When I asked him to show me what he picked? He pushed the bucket in my face, refusing to look in the cam. What's with taking pix that he dislikes so much? I pray that this stage will pass soon... it's been like that since he was 13 months!!
Some of the shells we picked

Kimi is 3! A Weekend of Celebration!

We started with a mini celebration at SM class and as usual, Kimi wanted a Pirate theme. And he also told me he wanted a cake with an elephant pretending to be a pirate. Ok, I told him, mama will try her best. :)

We decided to do a whole weekend of celebration and let Kimi have loads and loads and fun - that's what Birthdays are all about ya?

We ate so much cake that really, enough is ENUFFF! I, er, we need to rest our systems a little. I was also tired cos besides all the going out, etc... I still had to bake and bake and bake. But it was all fun!

I decided to make cupcakes with a Pirate theme so it will be less messy and instead of using just icing frosting, I used cream cheese frosting with choc chips in the cuppies. I made the little pirates and Captain Pirate a few days earlier as it took a few days to dry out. Then I printed out some pirate flags, stuck them on a pick and away it went! Ahoy!

Fondant pirates

Kimi's classmates at SM

My little Pirate! How cute!!!

Eating his cuppie

Our little pressies for his friends

After class, we went home for a nap before bringing Kimi to the Night Safari - Kimi's first and he loved it!

Kimi giving me a hi-5 while waiting for dinner

Fish & Chips for the boys

Pepper Bongo Burger - looked great but tasted rather bleah....

At the souvenir shop

Since our plans were to let Kimi do the stuff he enjoyed most, we decided to do away with the eating session with our family and instead bring Kimi to see his most anticipated Dinosaurs Show at Hollywood Dinos and watch a IMAX movie. There were many good reviews for the show, Under the Sea so decided to give it a go!

This was about the only pix I took cos Kimi was screaming and said he was scared although he knows that dinosaurs are extinct and those were fake. Oh well...
So, he enjoyed playing and looking at the ducks and swans at the entrance of Jurong Bird Park best.

At Omnimax Theatre. Kimi although enjoyed the show, he almost fell asleep towards the end cos we had allowed him to skip his nap. :(

In the end, he fell asleep on the way home and we ate at the field at Punggol while enjoying the cool breeze and many kites!

After Church on Sunday,we went home as we wanted to bring Kimi for a nice dinner and he really needs his nap. Skipping it can sometimes be like a walking time bomb - sometimes he will be ok while most times he will be whiny and grouchy and unco-operative.

Once Kimi slept, I quickly baked and then iced the cake. By time I had finished, it was 5.45pm and Kimi didn't want to go out, preferring to stay in.

So we headed to Chomp Chomp and bought lots of yummy food and stuff ourselves silly! It was so fun!! After dinner, our neighbour Wayne came to give Kimi a pressie and they had lots of fun catching up and playing, er, I mean fighting together. Haha! Nah, they still played together lah..

Kimi's request for an elephant-pretending-to-be-pirate cake.

Kimi's favourite - candle blowing!

Papa, Kimi and Wayne

Ha! This time I finally remembered to take a pix of the cut cake

Wow... after so many days of non-stop baking and celebations, I was becoming rather weary. Today (Mon) we will be doing a mini celebration in Kimi's school and he could choose what he wished to wear and of course he chose ELEPHANT and his favourite camouflage pants.

Pressies for his little friends

Decided to make simple mini raisin cupcakes with a dollop of cream cheese frosting with an animal theme. Didn't have the time and energy to churn out fondant animals so I just made these animal picks using bento barans.

Kimi always looks forward to candle blowing
Teacher asking Kimi to make a wish before blowing his candle - aiyo, see how cute he is with his eyes closed? :)

Group photo before we leave

After a weekend of celebrating and fun, our wish for Kimi is,

"Darling, may you always be happy and healthy. To put God first and always look to God for all your needs. May the Good Lord always hold your hands, leading and showing you the way and giving you the wisdom to live in accordance to His Words. Papa and Mama will always stay by your side and give you all the support and love in whatever you do. Happy Birthday Darling!"

Happy Blessed 2010!

We celebrated New Year with family members over popiah which I made and to sweeten the coming year, a Strawberry Fresh Cream cake.

Again, totally forgotten to take pix of the party and the cut cake. Age IS catching up.

Submarine

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

A submarine greeted me this morning! Kimi said this was a special submarine that was also a fighter jet. :)

Bounce Bounce Bounce

Today we went on a playdate with my neighbour's son, Wayne. The boys had so much fun running, jumping, climbing and bouncing on the Bouncy Castle at T3 that before sleeping, Kimi said this to me :-

Kimi : Mama, thank you for a fun day at the Bouncy Castle!

Me : You are most welcome! (*Beaming from ear to ear*)

Sometimes Kimi CAN be sooo sweet .... :)

This Bouncy Castle is on at Changi T3 daily from 12pm to 10pm and limited to 15mins per child. And best of all??? It is FREE!!! Available from now till 4 Jan 2010!

I'm sure we will be heading there again! :)

A shot before attacking the castle! And this is how you do it - Kimi's style. Climb without using the stairs on the left ...
Slide down in style ignoring EVERY instructions laid out to him earlier by the play guides ...

Or, when more familiar, try the norm too ... just to show that he too can listen to instructions ....
And then, jump into the ball pit with aplomb and repeat cycle again! Haha!

Look at how tiny Kimi is against this huge musical ball. Every 15 or 30mins, it will open up and release lovely x'mas tunes. During scheduled times, (7pm onwards on weekdays and 12pm onwards on weekends) balls will roll out from the tubes and you can redeem it for toys, sweets, etc. How nice right? See my Kimi waiting dutifully to catch something? But nothing came as it was not during the scheduled time. He was so sad! All these are FREE too! We went to Forum after that thinking that the Green Sheep was still on but it had ended on 6/12, the kids were so disappointed! But Toys'r'us saved the day!

Just For Me

This is what I LOVE to eat...I don't even mind eating it everyday! :) Cold cold salad drizzled with Japanese Sesame dressing and top with warm, juicy salmon! BLISS!!

I'm so happy with the quality of this salmon I bought from Fassler. June and I went to its factory and bought LOADS of fish and seafood.

I was still complaining to her that it wasn't very much cheaper but hey, I'm a total convert! And Yes, I will drive all the way there to buy my fish cos it is sooo much fresher and worth every penny! So for the taste and freshness, yes, it is cheaper!

Snow

We went with Julian for snow play at Tanglin Mall today and Kimi has loads of fun!

It's on everyday from now till Jan 2, 2010. Get snowed or wait till next X'mas!

The calm before the 'Avalanche'

Here come the avalanche! The kids scrambled towards this big washing machine! The FUN begins!

Happy!
Then it snowed blissfully ...

Kimi's First Whale Drawing

I came home from a short outing and Kimi showed me his masterpiece! Wow!! Kimi said it was a whale. Wow! What a beautiful whale it was! At least in my eyes!! I felt so proud!

I've Got An Award!

A fellow bento blogger passed on this award to me in a bid to encourage me to keep up with the blogging. Isn't she sweet? Many times, we 'meet' people, other moms online and we don't even know them personally yet they can make your day, literally!

A biggie THANKS to Javapot. Do visit her blog for cute and awesome bentos for both adults and kids!

So, here's my turn to pass the award on. The rules are simple. Just pass on this award to 15 new to me blogs. Hmm, maybe difficult for me cos I'm normally a 'silent' reader... not sure if I just pass to them will they pick it up? Anyway, I will have a mixture, old and new. Like Javapot, I hope this award can sweeten their day and encourage them to never stop blogging cos they have such GREAT blogs which I absolutely enjoy reading !!! :)

1) Sweet Mini Mango
2) Catch 40 Winks
3) Especially For Will
4) Little Prince
5) Our Precious Memories
6) Why Not
7) World of Little Lucas
8) Jireh & Je t'aime
9) Kayla & Kieran's Lil' Big Moments
10) Mamabliss' Treasured Moments
11) Cuisine Paradise
12) Baby Hiroshi
13) Memories of Growing Up
14) Our Pride & Joy
15) Snippets of Joy

Our Friday Dates - Boys @ Prive

Most Fridays, Charmaine and ourselves (when the hb is out of town) will meet and we will have dinner and let the boys run amok. More often than not, we head to T3 - lots of space there for them to run! :)

Fridays are precious as the boys can catch up while the mummies can gossip, grumble and spend girly time together. I love Fridays! Cos we can just pig out! Haha!

I hope that Kimi and Ju will grow up to be best friends and be as close as now. :)

The boys at Ikea - I was there to pick up my side-table as I had forgotten to buy it the day before! Kimi having ice-cream and Julian, a hot-dog.
Instead of just hanging out at Ikea, we decided to drive ALL the way to Prive to let the boys catch some beautiful night lights, boats and yummy desserts! The boys in the lift which wafted of aroma oil blends of Ylang ylang, vanilla and strawberry - delicious!