Play date fun at the beach - Palawan Beach

21 July 2012


We had a play date with little S to Palawan Beach at Sentosa today!

This was my girl's first time at the beach though we have been to Sentosa a couple of times for various reasons. And it was her first experience playing with sand and sea water.

I brought along the sand/ water play set we bought from the Pasar Malam spree.

We decided to take the Sentosa Express to the Sentosa as the beach is located right at the other side of the  popular island resort. We alighted at the Beach Station.


As it was around 11am by the time we reached there, we decided to eat our picnic before we get ourselves dirty with the play.

Snacking away

Mommy E brought some sausage buns while I brought some egg tarts. Our little ones have their own food.

Then, the fun begins!

I tried making a sandcastle

My girl started to play with sand while Little S went to hit the water with mommy E.
My girl enjoyed pouring sand into the watermill. She didn't even try to make sandcastle after I showed her the way to do it.

Soon, she was bored with playing with the spade and watermill. She wanted to join in the fun little S was having.

Sandy feet

 Below are pictures of her playing in the water.

She enjoyed being hit by the waves that
she refused to look  up when I asked her to.

 I could tell that she loves water play more than sand play. She squeals with delight whenever the waves hits her. She doesn't even mind getting her clothes wet or her legs sandy. That is something which I am glad of.

Activities to do at Palawan Beach

- picnic 

- swimming (swim between the red and yellow flags)

- playing with sea water/ waves

- sand playing

- water sports (canoeing and kayak-ing, no motorised watercraft allowed)

- sun tanning

- Visit Singapore's first Kids' Club at the beach! Ports of Lost Wonder

- Adventure on Segway® Eco Rides 

- birthday celebration

- Explore Southernmost point of Continental Asia

Directions to Sentosa, Palawan Beach

- Alight at Beach Station if you are taking Sentosa Express

- Take the Blue line Bus

- or take the Palawan - Tanjong Beach tram

A mug cake for my hubby from the non baking wife

These are my steamed mug cakes. How do they look? 

I have never baked before. Neither do I have an oven or microwave at home. My hubby and I happened to browse a book on the subject on steaming cakes. I took a look and why not just do it? Coincidentally, my facebook friend also sent me a chocolate cake recipe but it's baking in the microwave using self raising flour for 3 minutes. So I searched the internet for more recipes.

A lot of recipe calls for baking powder but I only want to use baking soda which I already have. I didn't want to invest in baking powder and have nothing to do with it till it expires. So, I substitute baking powder with baking soda and trace of fresh lemon juice

As a first timer making a cake, I find the recipe in Just One Cookbook easy enough. Nami, the writer of the blog even allow her kids join in the fun of caking making! This is one activity which I intend to do with my little one someday!

Chocolate Cheese Mug Cake

                                        Recipe modified form Just One cookbook!

  

Attached in the recipe which is slightly modified :

Ingredients:

• ½ cup (75g) all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda + trace of fresh lemon juice (1/2 tsp)
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp. milk
• 1 sugar cube, grind to powder (note: I didn't want too much sugar)
• 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil ( I used olive oil )
• ½  cup shredded cheese (I used cheddar cheese)
• 1 ½ Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2-3 Tbsp. chocolate chips ( your preference)

Ingredients. Opps! Butter is not used in this recipe. 

In my excitement, I shredded 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese instead of the recommended 1/4 cup and decided to carry on with it since I like cheese. And I made a blunder by pouring in 1 table spoon of baking soda! I hurriedly scoop the excess off when I re-read the recipe from the web. 

I oiled the mug by pouring some olive oil and oiled it all over. You can use a brush for doing that. Otherwise, you may use the paper towel to oil the inside of the mug.


Procedure:


1. Set up the steamer and boil the water over medium high heat
2. Mixed the flour, baking soda and cocoa powder in the big bowl using fork. 
3. Then beat the egg, milk, sugar, olive oil , lemon juice together. 
4. Combine the two mixture and fold in the cheese and chocolate chips.

Combining both the egg mixture and flour mixture together

Add in chocolate chips and cheese

5.Scoop the batter into the mugs, load them into steamer (make sure the water is boiling) and steam for 10 min (depending on size of the steam cake, it can be anywhere between 8 min to 10 min)
6. Use a toothpick or skewer to test whether the cake is ready.
7. Once it's done, take the mugs out and allow to cool.
8. Run a fork or knife along the side of the mug cake if you wanted to take it out or you may choose eating straight from the mug.


My steamer can only accommodate 2 mugs. So, I scooped the batter equally into the 2 mugs and steamed for about 10 minutes.

Put into steamer

The resulting cake is a little salty, probably due to the extra cheese added. It's not very sweet. This is something which I like about making your own cake. You can control the level of sweetness!

Eating straight from the mug

And my guinea pigs responded quite well though. I was a little worried that they wouldn't like this slightly salty cake.
My hubby said it doesn't taste very sweet while the little one asked for more.
My little one told me that the cake is not sweet, neither is it salty. But she said she likes the black colour stuff in it. That's the chocolate chips. Maybe this is the reason she asked for more?!?

Taking the cake out

With this great start, I am looking forward into making steam cakes for the little one since she is a little picky with eating orange vegetables.I shall probably blog again on cakes using orange vegetables.

If you have any pointers to share, please do leave a message on my blog. I look forward into improving my cooking skills.

Resource:

http://justonecookbook.com/blog/recipes/steamed-cake/

You may want to view other mug cake recipe. I didn't managed to google this site until now.

http://kirbiecravings.com/category/recipes/mug-cakes 

Pasar Malam :- Why I love it

Pasar Malam refers to night market in Malay. The Pasar Malam in Singapore however is quite different from those in Hong Kong and Taiwan. I would say it's not as robust, probably due to the reason that it's a lot smaller and also it is a makeshift market. They will relocate to a new venue in about a month's time. A variety of  items will be sold. Very commonly are cooked food, fruits, home accessories, cooking wares, handphone gadgets, vases, toys and clothings and accessories.

I had always like to frequent Pasar Malam for food. I used to love the food such as candy floss, popcorn, steamed corn and boiled peanuts when I was a kid. When I was a teenager, the must buy list is Taiwan sausage, Chinese Tea Leaf Egg, Fried Chicken Wings (assorted flavours), Ramli burger and boiled peanuts still. Now, I am even older, these food no longer attracts me as I find them too oily and unhealthy. I'll go for Kueh Tutu if I find one. Occasionally, Ramli burger. Recently, the Pasar Malam I saw even sold kebab and fried quail! I went for the kebab wrap as I have never eaten one. It's quite nice with mayonnaise. I didn't have the chance to try the fried quail because we were quite full after eating 3 wraps. 

Still, I like to frequent Pasar Malam as there are some cheap and interesting finds there. My shopping  spree this time.

This tree is supposed to grow ! @ $1

I choose to buy this item because I thought it would be interesting to let my girl watch it grow. 

The below 2 items are meant for crafts and sorting for my little girl. Also to fine tune her motor skills and maths skills. I have yet to start on them.

Assorted buttons at $1.20

Assorted beads @ $4

3D puzzles(14-15pc) @ $4 for 2

Above puzzle is bought because she loves the characters. If I am not wrong, they will double up as piggy banks.

And the the item I love best?

The below water or sand play set!

A fork, a spade, a watering can, watermill and 2 moulds for sand or water playing.

Water or sand play set @ $6.90

Layang Layang Kite Flying Fun @ Marina Barrage 2012

8th July 2012

Layang means Kites in Malay. I happened to know about this event on Facebook. Remembering the fun time I had flying layang with my siblings,  I guess it will be great to introduce this fun activity to my little one. 

In the past ,we didn't have a fun place called Marina Barrage then. Neither did we know of  any open fields which we could fly kites safely. * Oh yes, people during my generation seemed to fly near the beach more, or is it? :P *My siblings and I are not good with kites. *I used 'are' coz we still 'are' not at good it. :D* We would fly plastic bags along the corridor near our flat as my mom wouldn't bring us to play downstairs. 

My girl is much fortunate. She has a place called  Marina Barrage to fly kite and a Dad who knows how to fly a kite! :) This was her third visit.

We arrived and received a free kite from NTUC Income. However, we could not start the fun as yet. My girl fell asleep during the journey. 

Here are some shots I took while she was asleep.

Kite Making workshop and Eco Wind Garden (Windmill) Workshop 

4 Floor Puzzles - teaching on how to save water

My girl finally wakes up. We brought her to the Windmill workshop and we got the below windmill done. I did all the work while she looked on.

Aren't these lovely?

Lady Bugs Lazing Around

Windmills made from plastic bottles

Having fun flying her kite with her Dad's help. She was waving her hands left and right.

She was having so much fun with the kite that we were actually forbidden to touch the kite. Once she lost her grip and her kite nearly flown into the water.

Next it's an activity specially for kids! Lolli- Drop! I read that over mini 100 parachutes with sweets will be dropped. The kids could catch the parachutes and keep the sweet attached! Sounds like fun for the kids and I wonder how they are going to drop it. 
Take a look at the following photos on this activity.

Teddy Bear brought up into the sky.

Yes , right! They actually fly a kite so as to bring the teddy bear full of lollipops into the sky. Such an innovative idea!  See the bunch of eager kids behind the teddy bear? They are waiting for instructions as to when to catch the lolli-drops!

The 1st Lolli-drop. 1st Parachute

Mini parachutes flying in to sky

This time the wind was stronger and brought the bear higher into the sky

More Lolli-drops please!

We ended our evening of fun with the Lolli-drop and headed for dinner. There's actually a Mega Kite Flying Display but we did not stay to watch. We dropped by Gardens by the Bay which was just a bus stop away.

Activities to do at Marina Barrage

- kite flying 

- picnic

- water play for children

- visit Sustainable Singapore Gallery to learn about how our Barrage works.

- drop by to our pretty garden, Gardens by the Bay

Directions to Marina Barrage

Take Bus 400 from Marina Bay MRT station.

Alight at the 5th stop. (It's one stop after Gardens by the Bay)

More information about this place can be found here

Revamp... my blog!

Hello, what a beautiful Sunday! Great for outdoors!

I have been missing in action for a long time due to several reasons. Not to dwell on those.
But since I decided to revamp this blog, I must seriously do the following:

Revamping procedure:-
1) Since I did not post much in the past 5 years, delete those that are outdated.
2) Give my blog a new refreshing look. This is taking time!
3) Post in a more organised way.
4) Add more photos if possible.
5) And try not to be lazy and blog more often if possible. At least once a week?

Chaos! Revamp starts!