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At The Top

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We have finally reached the top of Burj Khalifa!

For months now I’ve been planning my Nanay Lynda’s visit here in Dubai. We’ve been emailing back and forth on what they want to do.

A little background Nanay Lyn is my mom’s best friend. They argue (& cry) at the same time shouting at each other and laugh like there’s no tomorrow. Nanay, her kids and husband Uncle Lee are basically family to us.

I like having family or friends visiting Dubai because it also give’s us a chance to be a tourist in a city we have learned to love and consider home.

First day highlight is to visit The Top of Burj Khalifa. I’ve purchased our ticket a week before they arrived which advisable since you get it cheaper than buying the ticket the day. Buying ticket online cost 100Dhs while the immediate entry ticket cost 400Dhs. You can view the cost and reserve tickets here.

 

 

You have an option to buy a viewing card you can use for the telescope. The telescope will show you the historic view of the place as well as the present time. V had fun changing views from present Day to Historic. It was a nice  way to show visitors Dubai’s progress.

 

 

We went up the observatory deck at 7:30pm, chose to go up at night so we can have an aerial view of the Dubai Fountain.

 

Here’s a video inside the elevator going down. Observatory deck at 124th floor.

 

 

 

Banana Bread with Streusel

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I stare at four ripe bananas in our table and all I could think of is Banana Bread.

My go to recipe for banana bread is from Simple Recipes which you can find here and my Daddy Nonong’s favorite (he can eat a whole loaf in one day). Every time they came home from Majuro for a vacation he would ask me to bake him some.

Banana Streusel Bread

As much as I adore my usual banana bread I wanted to try something new, add something to spice it up, to make it more interesting to my V (who insists on smothering nutella to his slice).

A day has passed and in the table staring at me, 4 ripe bananas patiently waiting for me to turn them into something yummy.

While nursing Chloe I googled “80breakfasts banana bread” because I remembered reading a post on banana bread. By the way 80breakfast is one of my favorite food blog! Her recipes never failed me and her posts would lead me to new exciting blogs as well. In her banana bread post she described this streusel as high on deliciousness. I just have to add it to my bread as well.

The looney in me didn’t make use of my go to recipe nor did I use Jo’s recipe, I did another search which led me to JoyOfBaking‘s Banana Streusel Bread recipe. The recipe asked for 2 bananas but I had four, asked for walnuts I only have cashew and lastly I don’t have sour cream.

Not having the ingredients the recipe asked didn’t stop me and my lonely bananas. I doubled the recipe and replaced the those that I didn’t have.

The addition of streusel definitely made my usual banana bread happier. I love the added sweetness and crunch.

Banana Nut Streusel

Original recipe from JoyofBaking

Ingredients

4 cups All Purpose Flour
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup Cashew Nuts, chopped
4 large Bananas, mashed
4 eggs lightly beaten
3/4 cup Unsalted Butter, melted
1/2 cup Full Cream Milk
1 tbsp Vanilla extract

Streusel Ingredients

1 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup Butter, softened
2/3 cup Cashew nuts, chopped

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 220C

Bread Procedure:

You will need two bowls for the dry and wet mixture

Mix all dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cashew nuts.

On a separate bowl mix all wet ingredients: mashed bananas, eggs, butter, milk and vanilla extract.

Slowly fold in your wet mixture to the dry mixture just until it’s blended. Don’t over mix as this will lead to a dry bread.

Streusel Procedure:

Combine sugar and flour. With a fork or pastry blender, cut in the butter till it look like crumbs then mix in the nuts. Top this mixture on your bread before baking.
Bake Cupcakes/Muffins for 15-20 minutes & Bread for 40 minutes to an hour until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

 

 

to swaddle or not?

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Sleep has been a main concern when I gave birth to Chloe. Our initial plan was to transfer V to a bed of his own so baby can sleep with me in bed (as I did with V before) but that didn’t happen. On our first week at home, Chloe slept in her crib but she would wake up every 30 minutes and with my C-Section it was hard for me to stand-up and get her in and out. With lack of sleep and discomfort on the surgery I decided to co-sleep with her in bed with me.

Chloe sleeping in a Boppy body pillow

I would get 3 to 4 hrs of sleep when she’s beside me and easier to breast feed her at night as well. One scary night came when I fell into a deep sleep and I woke up to a crying baby beside me with a pillow on covering her! Scared the life of me that I didn’t get any sleep that night. I decided the following night to let her sleep in the crib .

Chloe sleeping in crib

 

It’s the 2nd week since then and I’ve not gotten a good hour of sleep, she would wake up every 30 minutes crying. A twitter friend suggested that I swaddle her so she can sleep longer on the crib. See Chloe can sleep 3 hours straight in her bouncer but not in her crib.

 

sleeping in her bouncer

 

I’m slowly introducing swaddling, for the first 3 days I wrap just her body and legs and tonight I’ll start wrapping one of her arms and will continue to do so for 3 days. During nap though I swaddle her with both arms wrap and she manages to sleep for an hour the most. As my twitter friend Armineh said the key to swaddling is to not give in.

swaddled & sleeping in her crib

 

How did you manage to get a good night sleep with your newborn?

 

 

Macaroons – a coconut dessert

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I’ve been baking these yummy treat for two days straight last week  as a thank you treat for friends.

Coconut Macaroons

To make these macaroons you only need desiccated coconut, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, sugar, and butter. Chewy on the outside, soft and moist inside. When you start popping a piece in your mouth you just can’t stop, it’s addicting!

Coconut Macaroons

2 cups desiccated coconut/sweetened coconut
1 can (250ml) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)

Procedure:

In a mixing bowl beat eggs and add the rest of the ingredients.

Fill each mini cups with the coconut batter until 3/4 full. Bake in 180C oven for 30 minutes or until the top are golden brown.

Cool for 10 minutes.

No school just yet

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No yet!

V was snoozing by 8pm for his first school day. Me despite of the lack of sleep was up at 5:30am to prepare his snack.

By 7am all five us (including Chloe) all ready to bring V to school.

Lola Let, Baby Chloe and Kuya Vierte ready for school

We arrived and there was no students on the KG building so we thought we were too early but it was already 7:20am then the one of the teachers approached us “Is he in KG? They start on Tuesday.”

V all alone inside his classroom

 

We left Vs school laughing.

 

We have to do this all over again on Tuesday.

Chloe Isabelle is 2 months

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We welcomed baby Chloe’s 2nd month with a visit to her Pedia for her scheduled vaccines. She had 3, one injection in each thigh and the last one taken orally. I was breastfeeding her during the vaccination hoping she won’t feel the pain but boy did she cry while looking at me as if saying “It hurts mama.”

Days before her baby wellness check we had vomiting incident of more than a cup full which made me worry. According to her Pedia as long as she doesn’t get any fever her spitting out after feed or during burp time is normal and even commented that she could be overfed. I was advised to feed her every 3 hours and burp her really well.

Kuya V was quite sad that I didn’t bake any cake for Chloe’s 2nd month. The reason why we didn’t have any cake was fever, baby girl had fever for 2 days after her vaccine and she demanded to always be carried and won’t even settle even when I carry her in a sling. She want some bear hug from Mama.

V absolutely adores her sister but would sometimes get jealous and tell us that nobody is playing with him or would often request that I give her baby to my MIL so I can sleep with him and read stories. Daddy C has been doing a good job in giving V the attention he needs. I do spend quality time with him when the baby sleeps.

Happy 2 months baby love!

WorldFoods: Chili Crabs

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Remember when I posted about the hamper I received from WorldFoods? I finally had a chance to create something delicious to serve my family – Chili Crabs.

 

I was craving for some mud crabs that I use to eat back home but since that kind is not available here in Dubai we settled for blue crabs. The recipe I’m sharing is really easy and made much more easier with the help of WorldFoods Malaysian Chili Coconut Marinade.

1 kilo Blue Crabs, cut in half
1 medium Tomato, diced
1 medium Onion, diced
1 thumb Ginger, strips
1/2 cup Malaysian Coconut Chili
1/4 cup Water
1 tbsp Oil

Procedure:

Saute Tomato, Onion and Ginger in oil till it renders juice. Add crabs let simmer for a minute then add water and WorldFoods Malaysian Coconut Chili. Cook for the next 5 minutes.

Serve with steamed rice.

 

Believe me when I tell you that the sauce is addicting and you will need lots of rice. The marinade is spicy but it gives you the kind of spice that make’s you taste and enjoy the dish.

Check out what other UAE bloggers prepared using World Foods.

Grace prepared Masaman Chicken Curry

 

 

Baby wearing: The BabaSling

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We are slowly discovering the joys of baby wearing.

I had a chance to wear Vierte when he was about 3 months old and became a must have whenever we went out since he didn’t like to stay in the stroller. For V I used the baby pouch and ring sling.

Before Chloe was born I was already searching for the best carrier available and was already interested in buying the Moby Wrap and BabaSling. Just before we were about to purchase either a surprise came when Grace and her daughter Pristine came to visit bearing gifts and one of them is a BabaSling.

 

BabyWearing Chloe in TheBabaSling

 

I’ve been watching TheBabaSlings how to videos and been reading the instructions for days and finally managed to wear Chloe comfortably in the sling, even managed to breast feed her in it.

 

Worn her twice while we were in the mall and we’ve got a few stares and praises on how cute she is inside, once I heard someone commenting that the baby might be having a hard time inside. Rest assured she is happy inside and once I hear her grunt or when she cries we take her out.

I have two other carriers Moby wrap & Ring Sling, I’m still practicing on how to comfortable wear them before I use either when we go out.