New Look!

New Look!

May I present you, the New Look!
It's a bit late. I think I've already changed it like a couple of days back. But I have been trying to deal with the picture for the banner. For some reason, it just refuse to be sharp.
In fact, the problem has yet to be resolved, but I can't wait anymore.

As to the reason why I have to include an shot of the Look?
Well... I do notice while reading other blogs, that although the author would occasionally mention changes in the banner, the design, etc, you don't really see them because it was already in the past.
I mean, wouldn't it be nice if you are able to see what the author was talking about, even when it was already a long time ago? I do read through the archives of the blogs that I really enjoy (which reminds me, I really need to get that review done! Ugh!), and so I learn.

As happy or as unhappy as I am with whatever current look that I have, I think it would be great to have a reminder of how it used to look like.
Just a humble opinion of mine.

Holiday!

Nice, swanky hotel

Right up to start the year with a bang, the Little One was 'invited' to visit the grandparents while they attend a symposium in Singapore. Being too young for traveling alone, of course the invitation was 'extended' to include the Mama as well.
And so we got ourselves a couple of days of holidays in Singapore, staying in a swanky hotel, eating some fantastic meals (mostly because they are not available at home), meeting some old friends and doing some shopping (for stuff which again are not available at home).

It was, all said and done, a great holiday.
And so now we shall settle back to the familiar routine, but not before just a wee few highlights of the holiday...

Doing some touristy stuff

Meeting friends/family and doing some shopping

Enjoying some good food

And lastly, getting a nice surprise toy, which hopefully will help in improving this blog. Ha!

Click!

Welcoming the New Year 2011

With bright hopes, new ideas, cheery outlook... let us welcome the New Year 2011.
It's been great year, including the start of this very blog.
But we will look for even more exciting new things in the upcoming year!

More Holiday cooking

Well... I did warn you that between this last post and Christmas day, we might still be able to squeeze in more cooking, and so we did.
But first off, here's another look at the Turducken I mentioned.

Turducken leftovers

Let me start by saying that yes, I do realize that I provide barely sufficient documentation of this masterpiece. I plead guilty.
So when second chance came along to take some pics, I went on and use it.

Ahem, obviously one fat Turducken is WAY too big for just four adults and two toddlers to finish (humph, they barely touch the thing, actually), so.. come another night, we have it back on the table, this time with the layers all exposed.
You can see the white meat right in the middle (chicken) followed with a layer of darker meat and weird stuff (duck and some stuffing) before finally the turkey as the outer layer.
A masterpiece. A Yummy one too!

My version of Nutella Pinwheel

You might have noticed these cookies in the jar behind the Turducken in the photo above.
Having ran out of cream cheese (oh yeah, baby, those Rugelach are real heavy weights), I settled for these Nutella Pinwheel from The Purple Foodie.
The almonds, ahem, are supposed to be scattered on top of the Nutella layer before rolling them, but I actually forgot(!) to put them in before rolling. So... on top they went.

They are still great, by the way. More crumbly that the Rugelach (well.. different dough, ya) but good. It was a good success with the Husband, but not with the Kid.
Man, when I finally gave in to her pleas for the cookie, she went on to take off every single almond sliver she could get her hands on, broke the cookie onto several pieces, dropped a few pieces everywhere, left a trail of crumbs everywhere before finally taking a tiny weeny bite and hiding the rest of the piece in her cooking toy.
These cookies are not for kids. Not. for. kids.
Or maybe just not for MY kid. Ah well.

Xmas lunch

Last item, the Brontosaurus ribs.
Hehe... kidding. It's beef, uncut. I think usually the butcher would cut the ribs to shorter pieces for easy cooking. But the Husband was obsessed with these ever since he saw them in the store.
And I couldn't help myself, I was so humming/singing the Flintstones tune all the way home from the store.
Seriously, those bones are big enough for the Kid to use as a fake sword!

Just like the Turducken, this was very much his cooking. I did not help him at all except for shouting the location of various cooking implements that he needed while he was cooking.
I am afraid that this one was not quite a hit with me.
I don't know why. For some reasons, actually after eating this, I had a real strong urge to eat something totally vegetarian. Maybe it's too meaty.
In any case, I think the Husband enjoyed his fruits of labor.

And of course, after the meal, we have one very happy Dog.

One happy Dog with her REAL bone

Merry Christmas!

From this Mama and her family, as well as the StudioKancil, Merry Christmas to you all!
May you find joy and blessings, beautiful memories and great food, meaningful traditions and reasons to give thanks.

Catching some sunlight

Not that there is any special need for me to do that, what with us living in tropical climate over here.
But the other day I caught this on my laundry room door:

Shadows of... grass?

Yeah right, grass? That tall? I have no such thing in front of the house.
It turned out to be patterns etched on the old film on the window. Not quite a pattern as signs of age.
But it was pretty. And I was just inspired to see where else the sunlight falls in the house at different time of the day. That can only happen when the sun is low enough, so that would either be in the early morning (where I would most probably be sleeping) or in the early evening (perfect opportunity!).
And so I went around to catch some sunlight. And here's what we got so far, the better ones, at least.

Sun on my kitchen floor

Sun on my kitchen table

These two must be the result of my lovely kitchen window. I am getting more and more in love with that window. I might consider having that kind of window should I plan my own house.

Sun in the room upstairs

Not many for upstairs yet. Need to get better photos first.

Sun on my Kid

I think the sun mostly come in from the front of the house. There's a pretty big tree next door at the back that blocks the sun from getting in from the back. In a way it's good as it makes the house somewhat cooler. In any case, it's not like the house is dark. So I'm happy.

We'll try to get more pictures of the sunlight and share it here. Isn't it good to know where the goodness get into the house?

**note added 9 Jan 2011
Uhmm.. the first picture, pattern schmattern! I just realized today it's not because the film is old. The film has been scratched over and over by the Dog whenever she barked excitedly at whatever things in front of the house (usually strangers). well... but at least it's still pretty.

Christmas Cooking

It's not that we did a whole lot of special Christmas cooking. In fact, I think there were only 2 'specially for Christmas' cooking.
The first, these Rugelach Pinwheels from smitten kitchen.
They were awesome.
Yes, were. They're all gone by now, and it's not even Christmas yet. Maybe I should make another batch.
Of course, as usual, I made quite few changes according to the ingredients that I have on hand: raisins, almonds and mango jam instead of.... well... you can check out the recipe yourself here.

Those were the few left barely a few days later. We are greedy bunch here in StudioKancil. Especially the Kancil. haha...

The other special Christmas cooking was this Turducken that the Husband made. It was Turkey stuffed with Duck stuffed with Chicken.
I believe it's also often known as Royal Roast, a few birds stuffed into one another, with variations of the birds used. For our case, we used the ones available at reasonable prices.
I believe that the hardest thing was actually finding the proper equipment, like the oven thermometer that was proudly sitting in the oven. The rest was a whole fun learning experience.

Here's how the resulting dinner table looked like:

I have to say that after smelling that big dead bird roasting away for a good couple of hours, at dinner time, I was barely motivated to take a few obligatory photograph before sitting down and demolishing that bird.  It helps as well that we had some good friends coming. So I am afraid this is it, the final photo (as of now) for our Christmas cooking this year.
Of course, Christmas being still 4 days away, there is always the possibility that I would cook something else.

In the meantime, I do hope you all have similarly wonderful Christmas specials, with great company to help you share the burden of finishing the meal.