Big K turns 5:: A Peppa Pig Party

Yup, it's real. The kids are growing up wayyyyy too quickly! Big K just turned 5 last week and I am thankful that i was able to organise, yet again, a small scale thematic party for her. As much as I'd like to invite more friends and excite her a little bit more, i have always kept it within the immediate family and school. Namely, it is an excuse to bring together the family who otherwise would not find time to meet up as often. As well as to thank them for all their help and support. Without a village, it would have been impossible for me to achieve this much. But also, undeniably, as much as I'd like to, pushing it to a larger scale would also break an arm and a leg! Haha

This year's theme was Peppa Pig. I love dressing up a party. I mean how many years would your kid want to celebrate their birthdays with you and for that matter dress up the entire place in Elsa and Anna or Peppa. So i really treasure this process despite it being a bit of a hassle. Unfortunately for the last couple of years, we mainly held our parties in restaurants. Particularly because the hubs did not want the fuss of cleaning up and also, our house was in a perpetual mess. It still is. But this year i insisted on doing it at home. Why? Because we have just moved in our newly renovated home! It's so nice and cozy so this is definitely my first choice! Also, often when i hold it in a restaurant, what would happen was that right after cake cutting, the fil and bil and my dad would all disappear. Fil isnt someone of great patience at the dining table and dad and the bil would head out for a puff. No one bothers eating the cake. No one bothers even waiting for the kids and i to have our cakes. In fact, it would be best if we had just blew the candles and pack up. If i were to be lucky, they would try a small slice and end up complaining that the cake was way too sweet for their palettes. It is really tiring managing everyone's requirements. 

So this year, the plan was to order a small boring cake for our home party. I had my eyes set on the pretty swiss roll baked by a certain homebaker whose business name started with J. I do not wish to point her out lest i am giving her more traffic. About a 1.5weeks before the event, I contacted her. She agreed to bake us a customised swiss roll and some nutella blossoms. A few days later, the hubs announced that he might have to fly on that date and I had to push forward things by a day. I discussed with the baker who agreed to deliver a day before. No firm timing was given till a day before she said I could collect the cake between 4-5pm that fateful day. Thinking that party would only start at 6pm, I thought i would  be in time. The day before i asked for an exact time and address as well as mobile number umpteen times but after 24hrs, there was still no response. An ominous feeling loomed. All the way till noon on party day i did not hear from her! Imagine my panic! I was tethering at my wit's end! At 245pm she finally replied my private message claiming that there was some techinical fault with her system such that she wasn't able to reply me and that she wanted to inform me that her fridge could not start up! Major horrors! I was frantic and despite not being a baker, I knew that with only an hour to delivery, it was impossible to set a cake even if her fridge was working. She requested for 10minutes and i was still hopeful. I waited but after 10minutes, it was still silence. I gave a chaser and fate was sealed, we had no cake! Immediately i spammed my resourceful mummy friends as my brain was completely busted. I couldn't think straight. Thankfully lots of ideas poured in and I finally managed to calm my nerves and get a cake from Flor Patisserie. Why didn't i think of that place earlier instead if driving aimlessly for half an hour. It is just a stone's throw away! Where was the hubs all this while? Napping away! He told me to chill even if there wasn't a cake as it wasn't Big K's actual day! Does that even matter?? A cake is a cake. What is a birthday without a cake! So anyhoots, I was just glad I made it in time and managed to get a refund after 24hrs and after persistent pestering, with me issuing a threat to report the matter to the police before she finally made the refund. She claimed she was busy running around doing deliveries. Wow! So suddenly her fridge was working the very next day? Nice. It was thereafter that several friends came forth to share that this baker has a bad name on a certain baking forum on fb! Who would have known! Especially since I engaged her after seeing an ig mummy raving about it. Just my luck i guess. 

 

So the above two cakes were the ones I got from Flor. They pride themselves for their Japanese-French inspired pastries. The Cocoa Royal cake was chosen coz it resembles the muddy puddle which Peppa and George love to jump on. I was hesitant to get a chocolate cake in all honesty coz we all know how sweet that would be. However, I took the risk and surprisingly, most of the guests tried! There were also hardly any comments from them except from the FIL who commented that it was sweet after chomping down 2 large slices. The second sliced cake, Bara, was a moose cake. The MIL's birthday was actually just 2 days away from Big K's hence I had to get her a little something too right? Especially when her own 3 flesh and blood do not do much (if any at all) to celebrate for her. This, despite the fact that she isn't a big fan of cakes. So I really hope she appreciates this gesture of mine!

Next, I gotten some brownie popsicles from Garden Slug. I thought it was pretty cute and got a couple. Took out one to serve as a cake to another birthday boy -- the SIL's husband. yeah, once again, I go the extra mile for these people who don't really give a hoot about birthdays. 

On decorations. This year's effort was pretty minimal. The buntings were bought from Taobao and the rest were either printables that are easily obtainable on the net, or stuff we've already have at home. I was pretty pleased with the outcome. :)

My birthday girl, all grown up. Awwwwww....

Everybody's birthday is their birthday!

Baked cheese green mussels with Thai sauce

Food packed from a nearby Zichar store. 

Cereal prawn

Claypot rice

Herbal Chicken

Food glorious. Another tricky thing with the oldies. You see, my dad is a pretty fussy person and not a very adventurous one. He only eats Chinese. My in-laws are very critical and would comment about how bad the food is instead of pouring compliments. In addition to that, we had a small crowd. Most buffets catered to a minimum of 15 pax. I was this close to taking on the task of cooking myself which THANKFULLY I did not! How would I have been able to pull off everything plus cook? So I googled around and was glad to have found Stamford Catering. They had mini party sets catered for 8-10pax! That was awesome as we were expecting a crowd of 9 adults and 2 kiddos. Perfect. The food arrived on time and the standards were more than satisfactory. The number of receptacles given plus the whole presentation was amazing! I got to keep the claypot which came with our claypot rice! As well as a wooden container which came with our Double Boiled Herbal Chicken. All these were packed in an insulated bag which again, was mine to keep! So aunty! I don't even know when I'd have a chance to use such a big bag! The quantity of food however, in the hub's opinion was a little too little for 10pax. In fact, upon unpacking, he immediately sent me down to pack extra dishes and rice! End of the day, we had leftovers. 

So that was Part one of our little celebrations. 

On to Part two -- Celebrations in school. Even though it was a mere school party, I tried to make it as pretty as possible as well. My own obsession mostly. Big K was very excited to share this day with her friends so I had to make it as memorable as possible for her right?

Starting with the all important cake. I had waited for 2 years before Susanne from LovingCreations4u agreed to bake me a cake. Our timings somehow never seemed to gel, hence the long wait. I love how she is able to turn a simple chiffon cake into a 3D creation. In addition to that, she uses natural food colourings. It was a hit with the kids and the teachers alike. Our form teacher even emailed me later to say that she overheard the teachers raving about the cake. I was initially a little worried as the kids just had a birthday cake the day before and it was the typical creamy fondant cake. You know how kids and sweets are? They are inseparable. However, the little mashmellow surprise plus the taste of the cake went well with the kids. Many asked for seconds!

I even went to the extent of dressing up my Vitagens. haha..the kids named it Peppa-gen.

This year's party packs were of minimal effort too. I always seem to be DIY-ing something for their packs but this year, they were all bought instore and put together. A lot of thought was put into it though. Like how the girls should get a pink bag and the boys a blue. I wanted the bags itself to be useful too, and was mighty happy that I managed to source for a drawstring bag. 

So that rounds up our little celebrations for my big girl. Sigh, I can't help but wish that time would freeze! Baby, may you grow up to be a fine young lady with abundance joy and wisdom! 

Happy Birthday my apple cheeks!

On turning one and recipe for Eggless milo tiramisu, almost

I'm no Nigella Lawson but i was mighty proud of what I've made for Small K on his first birthday which was just over last weekend. For those of you who don't know, I can't bake for nuts; I don't own any fancy baking kitchen aids; i don't know the difference between folding and mixing; i use a hand whisk and I'm secretly fantasizing that I'm a whizz and can bake pretty sweets. However, truth be told, ever since my younger days, I've never been successful at baking. They mostly turn out rock rock hard or burnt.

So it never really occurred to me that i should and would bake for da boy. However, the boy has a mild allergy towards eggs and eggless cakes cost an arm and a leg! Hence i was determined to unleash this "talent" of mine. And i succeeded!!

Here's sharing my recipe for Milo Tiramisu:

Ingredients (Makes a 9 inch cake)

• 400ml of whipping cream
• 500g Mascarpone cheese, bring to room temp
• 3 to 4 tbsp of condensed milk (you can reduce or increase depending on the level of sweetness which you'd like)
• ladyfinger biscuits (i lost count but i must have used at least 50 to 60 pieces?)
• 1 cup of milo. I did not add any sugar to it
• 2-3 tbsp Milo powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Whip the whipping cream until stiff, adding the condensed milk halfway. 

Do not over whip. Approximately 5 minutes will do. Once you achieved a soft peak, Stop.

Put the mascarpone cheese into another mixing bowl and slowly fold in the whipped cream.

Dip the ladyfinger biscuits into the cup of milo and arrange them neatly. Don't oversoak as they will turn soggy easily. Also, need not worry about the little gaps in between. It will be filled up with the cream.

Smoothen on a layer of the cheese mixture and dust on some sieved milo powder. Repeat this for the next 2 layers. I did 3 layers in total but you can always adjust accordingly.

Put it into the fridge for approximately 1 to 2 hours and take it out to place the biscuits round the circumference and pop it back into the fridge again. This is to allow the whole cake to set. It needs to be refrigerated for approximately 6 to 8 hours but due to the lack of time, i only managed to have it in for 4hours. Luckily it didn't turn out too bad.

Tie a ribbon round the cake as a form of decoration. If you are looking for a totally eggless one, you might need to bake the sponge cake yourself. 

Tadah!!! my end product! Mighty proud of myself! The in-laws and those who ate were kind enough to say that it was nice. Not too sweet. Yay! N you know what? I gave Small K a few bites and he didn't break out in rash!!! guess the eggs in the ladyfingers weren't that potent! Yippee! 

It's really quite insane how time flies..cliche i know. But with two, everyday seems to be a rush. This is especially so when I'm mostly a one man (or woman) show. We have no helper and though the mother-in-law helps, she generally takes over in the afternoons after 2pm. Am thankful for that arrangement as it allows me to head out to bring some bacon back but then again, it means no quality time with each of my children. The guilt has been gnawing me for a while. I used to do so much with Big K. By 1yo she was rattling off so many words. But with Small K, i can see a significant difference. The difference is so startling that recently my hubby has asked me why haven't i done any homeschooling with the kid. By this age, I've already brought Big K for playgroups but with Small K, the only playgroup is probably with the neighbour which happens only once a month perhaps. Apart from time, to be honest, money is a factor. Education for young children is so damn expensive! And the burden lies on me because the dear husband doesn't believe in paying money for such stuff. He feels that kids will naturally learn by going to the playground or by playing marbles with the neighbors. What he doesn't realise is, he doesn't bring them to the playground all that often! And even if he does, he'll be leaving them to their own devices while he engages in a battle on mobile. Yes, his addiction to mobile games is getting to me. Recently, my father-in-law also asked if I've been teaching the boy! Gosh! These men don't used to be so anxious! In fact, they think that is natural progression and the kid will automatically know their ABCs by the time they reach Primary 1! So yes, i really should get my act together. These days whenever I've pockets of time, and we are only talking about 10mins here or 20mins there, I would either be pumping and catching up on half an episode of my drama or surfing the net. Social media and the Internet can really be evil but yet again, it's necessary to keep in touch with the world. To me at least. 

So dear son, please give me some time, I'm sure I'll get something done for you. Slowly but surely. Meanwhile, turning one is really awesome and I'm so blessed and happy to have you in my life. You are my miracle child and my happy pill. I pray for your good health and may life be filled with lots of blessings!