Cuddles and Crumbs

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Fondant Fun at CakeJournal

Published by Abigail

I’ve been reading a whole lot of cake decorating ever since I was pregnant with Vierte. I was excited about his 1st birthday cake and it was my dream to make a handsome cake for him. Sadly I havent done one fondant cake for his birthday. Now that he will start preSchool and I really would want to have some income baking cakes and designing them as well I am once again slowly learning how to work with fondant.

One favorite cake site that makes designing fondant real fun is Louise of CakeJournal. All basic things you need to start enjoying cake/cookie making and designing is explained well with photos. Don’t we all just love kid friendly tutorials? Yes we do!

Louise for some time now have made her tutorials printer friendly by having pdf files of each tutorial featured on her site. The more exciting news is you can get all the tutorials for FREE! Yup you read it right free. Kid friendly pdf tutorials for free!

What are you waiting for go ahead and spend a day or two over at CakeCentral learning new tricks on cake decorating.

Vegie.Chicken.Mash

Published by Abigail

Baked Brocolli, Fried Chicken and Mash Potato

Baked Vegies

Chop brocolli and capiscum in bite size then drizzle with olive oil season with salt, pepper, and paprika.

Fried Chicken

from Chef and Steward

Mash Potato

from PioneerWoman

Blogging in Dubai

Published by Abigail

I’m craving for soup and my son requested for some crispy chicken. I’m lazy when it comes to making just soup that’s why we buy those packed soup mix that you just add on boiling water.

Both my boys love soup. I searched the net for some recipes (Asian Soup) found lots but then most of the ingredients are not readily available and I don’t drive. Googled again but this time within Dubai pages only.

And viola! I found the following Dubai base bloggers

Miso Soup by Sandier Pastures
Kimchi Udon Chicken Soup by OutandAbout
Fried Chicken of Chef and Steward

I still have 1 packet left of ready mix soup and would finish that today for dinner with some fried chicken and left over mashed potato.

Lemon Bars (circle for us)

Published by Abigail

“I want some pie” … it has been weeks and I just ignored V’s request. Tonight I was craving for something with lemon. Lemon Squares!

This squares were my favorite when I was still pregnant with V. Ohh and you may have notice from the photos that what we did was more of a pie since we use a round pan (my square pan had rust in them that’s why).

Back home in the Philippines I didn’t use lemon to make this tarty treat instead I used calamansi which produce almost similar taste to lemon.

I got this recipe from JoyOfBaking but I added a little bit more sugar to the filling.

Lemon Squares

source: JoyOfBaking

Crust:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
Lemon Filling:
1 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoons grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons all purpose flour

Garnish:
Confectioner’s sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Butter, or spray with a non stick vegetable spray, an 8 x 8 inch (20 x 20 cm) pan
Crust: In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until creamy and smooth. Add the flour and salt and beat until the dough just starts to come together. Press onto the bottom of your prepared pan and bake for about 18 – 20 minutes, or just until lightly brown around the edges. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool while you make the filling.
Lemon Filling: In your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the sugar and eggs until nice and smooth. Add the lemon juice and zest and stir to combine. Fold in the flour. Pour the filling over the shortbread crust and bake for about 17-20 minutes, or just until the filling has set. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
Cut into squares and dust with powdered sugar. These are best eaten the day they are made but can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for a day or two.

Learning to cook once again.

Published by Abigail

I’ve always loved cooking though I’m not an excellent cook I try my best to learn everyday by reading, watching videos, and series like MasterChef (currently we are learning from kids of Junior Masterchef Australia). If you haven’t seen one episode go and look for one for sure you’d be challenge to enjoy and learn cooking.

I started my kitchen adventure at a young age always task to first get the ingredients, then promoted to cutting, measuring and finally preparing a food all by myself.

My first big baking event was on my Lola Mering’s 80th birthday. With the help of my mom and sister we baked 5 dozen each of brownies and chocolate chip cookies both recipe’s I got from a Hershey’s cookbook which I borrowed from an officemate. It was a hit! All of the guests asks to bring some baked goodies home.

Years passed…I have a family of my own and now living far away from home. Cooking is now part of my daily routine. Everyday I try my best to prepare healthy yummy meals for my two boys.

Thankful for food blogs (you will see a list of blogs I visit on the right) I am slowly learning.
From this day onwards I will try my best to share our kitchen adventures.

Stay at Home Mom not an easy job after all.

Published by Abigail

Deciding to quit my corporate job 2 years ago was an easy decision. I want to Vierte to grow up with his Dad around and I don’t want to continue having to worry about unanswered calls and messages. Friends would say that I will have sort of an easy life being out of the busy life of an 8hr job. I thought so too…but boy they were wrong! Days come and go and I would think that I have not accomplished much and definitely a few “me” time that would most often times lead to an hour or so of drama.

My housework starts at…
530am – prepare breakfast and packed lunch
630am – have lovely breakfast chat with C
700am – clean up kitchen, C off to work
800am – house cleaning (if V’s still asleep)
900am – V have his breakfast
1000am – get back to cleaning while V watches his cartoons
1100am – V bath time, playtime with him, read books
1200pm – prepare lunch (V and I usually have left over meat and grilled veggies)
0100pm – clean kitchen, clean bathroom and bath time for me
0200pm – some tv time with V while surfing the net
0300pm – worksheet with V and nap time for him after
0400pm – start prepraring food for dinner
0500pm – cook dinner
0600pm – dinner time and C is back from work
0700pm – clean kitchen
0800pm – movie time / jog at the park
0900pm – movie time
1100pm – sleep time

that consists my daily life and soon it will change when V starts school. I am continously working on my time management skills and most of my “me time” happens inside the bathroom. And ohh btw surfing the net time happens in between housework like now I’m writing while giving V his breakfast.

Am I still happy with the decision I made 2yrs ago? YES I am! Housework may not give me a fix income but having to see my V grow up infront of me every second of the day is truly rewarding.

So being a stay at home mom is no easy job after all. I salute mom’s who can manage corporate and house work all together!