Tiny is In the Oven

2020 was an interesting year. Tiny started baking.

Let me explain.

This is C.

C loves the beach.

C also loves eating. 

So, he really loves eating at the beach. 

In other words, he loves a good little picnic at the beach.

             

And so on a mild Melbourne summer's day, off we went to Brighton Beach — the Bathing Boxes — for a good little picnic.

Of course, no one goes to the Brighton Bathing Boxes without taking loads of photos. 

And so, C did.

    

But this trip was unlike the many good little beach picnics we've had in the past.

.

.

.

Tiny came along, in the oven.

Now, of course you get the 'oven' reference. 

But surely you are asking: who is Tiny...?

This is Tiny.

Tiny is a crane from Bob the Builder.

When we first found out that we were baking again, we needed a nickname to refer to the bun. 

So we asked C what nickname we should use.

He said baby should be called "Tiny".

(C: "peace out!")

So yes, Tiny is in the oven!

And we all can't wait to welcome Tiny into our lives.

(C: "Bake well, Tiny!")

Entering 2020 in hindsight

Having not blogged for ages again, I came across last year's new year's draft post. It was a wonderful reminder of what it was like before the year rolled out. It seems like barely anytime has passed and yet so much has happened! My following posts will be filled with looking back at 2020 and what an interesting year it has been. So here is reminiscing how we spent our days exactly one year ago. 

C got really into plane-spotting (before flying became what it is today). In fact, he was scheduled to go on his fav A380 which unfortunately could not happen.

C had also spent a good few months in the Early Learning Centre before the lockdowns began in March. This photo reminded me about the horrible fires in January and the haze! What a difference this January is in terms of the weather. Summer has yet to hit us in full force.

He got up to a lot of painting at the ELC.

My parents also visited right before the lockdown and we went to my favourite place!

More family quality time!

We also ate at Plume for the first time, which has now sadly closed down due to the pandemic. Will miss the rather pricy but yummy wonton noodles.

C enjoyed climbing some trees and pretending to be a koala.

More family visitations! Twinning with the cousin.

Cousin bonding time!

It seems so far away now... the festivities welcoming 2020. If anything, the year has passed in such a surreal fashion. But 2020 was full of wonderful blessings. So much precious bonding and quality time within the nucleus family. Food experimentation which will be my next hindsight post and more surprises than we could have ever imagined! 

Callum's Full Moon

Our little one has turned a month old- while the first week post-partum felt like a year long, at the same time the rate at which he is outgrowing his clothes is astonishingly fast. Here's a little collection of photos to celebrate this munchkin turning a month old!

We didn't think we would be able to partake in the usual full moon festivities given how far we are from home but thanks to Callum's lovely Ngen Ngen, we enjoyed more than one scrumptious full-moon meal as our friends paid visits across two weeks. The best curry and kunyit rice, red eggs and ang koo! The ang koo is a hit and they are so moreish it's impossible to stop after one. We also couldn't resist dressing Callum up in his Christmas attire given to us by Uncle Ped & Aunty Jo. :) Thanks for the bath seat and hangers too! Uncle 'Corn' and 'Tsen Tsen' helping Callum get his handprint and footprint done. Thanks to Aunties Rae,Elaine and Jann for the lovely imprint kit! Thanks Uncle Aaron and Aunty Addie too for the artsy shoes!

Thanks to Uncle Keith & Aunty Jo for the very useful bibs, cutleries & teeth set! Thanks Aunty Cynthia for the elephant!Thanks Uncle Yuk and Aunty Ruby for the teething toy! Thanks to Uncle Kai for Callum's first talking toy! Thanks Uncle Daniel and Aunty May for the baby bath, beddings, and loads of other generous gifts!

Thanks Uncle Ern for the lovely personalised book. Also documented below is Callum's first buggy ride in the park.

Thanks Aunty 'Cucumber' for the lovely book which is bigger than Callum!

Thanks Uncle Michael and Aunty Anny for Shaun and lovely onesies! Thanks Aunty Jessie for the pretty bibs!

Thanks Uncle Corn and Tsen Tsen again for the amazing dino baby gro!

Thank you Ye Ye and Ngen Ngen for the immense time, labour and strength spent on caring for Callum and his parents. 

Thank you also to Kong Kong, Poh Poh and Yi Yi for all the very valuable (life-saving!) advice and precious gifts (not pictured as they are in frequent everyday use!). Kong Kong and Poh Poh's mittens and booties are the best ever as they are the only ones which never drop off Callum! (Thanks Mummy for the Ang Chow and Dom too!) (Thanks Che for EVERYTHING which are too many to list- Callum loves his Yi Yi!)

Birthday Joy

This year, my husband's birthday week coincided with us getting over our jetlag. So, it was decided that the best thing to do was to take it easy and enjoy a low-key day together. No trips to Central London, in other words.

I made breakfast for the birthday boy: 

An Egg, Grilled Ham and Cheese, Tomatoes, and Bircher Muesli ala Debbie.

After that, we headed out whilst the sun was shining to pick out some new sports shoes for him. This would be my gift for him to replace his torn shoes. When asked what he would like for lunch, the answer came: 'Koay Teow Th'ng'. We dropped by the Asian market and bought some supplies and I made a wicked KTT for the first time, if I say so myself. It tasted pretty close to Penang style KTT.

 I made a Neo-Chocolate Cake the day before and got him to blow out the candles Malaysian time. :)

 Finally, for dinner, he tasted his first piece of homecooked steak with asparagus and parmesan. 

A simple celebration but a memorable one.

A Surprise Trip back to Malaysia

Recently, we had the amazing opportunity to go back home for a quick visit. My husband had a teaching assignment which coincided with my father-in-law's birthday. As soon as we found out close to half a year ago, we set the plan in motion to surprise him. My husband's cousin was in cahoots with us as we needed a ride over to the house. He in turn decided to surprise us by sneaking my husband's grandma down from Penang. 

We flew the A380 for the first time and I am not impressed. Despite the rave about its stability and size, we found that it was overcrowded and did not fare well in the night turbulence after all. I threw up on board. There were families having nasty rows behind us about curse words and a man in front yelling at the air-stewardess when the special pre-order meals were being served. He did not understand the concept of pre-ordering at all. The air-stewardess had to explain that diabetics, vegans, children etc needed to be served first. But I do feel some sympathy for him because the entire service was very delayed given the 800-pax they had to move through. The stopover was not pleasant either for me as we tried to catch some snooze-eye on a lounge chair and a large Malaysian makcik just sat down on my leg! I jolted right up and she was so big she did not even realise she sat on me. :( On the second leg, we flew in a smaller plane and I was comforted. 

After two long and exhausting plane-rides, we finally arrived. We hid around the corner of the road and waited for my mother-in-law to finish her tuition class. Meanwhile, cousin took grandma in for Surprise Round 1. We snuck into the garden as my mother-in-law turned to go back inside. We managed to make it into the tuition room and my husband poked her out of her conversation with a student's mom. Surprise Round 2 achieved! (Although, my mother-in-law had an instinct that somehow we were flying back!) Next, we snuck in through the adjoining utility room to the kitchen where his dad was cooking. Surprise Knockout Round 3 achieved! (My father-in-law later told us since the surprise, a pain he had been having with a nerve behind his throat had disappeared. My husband happily takes credit for scaring the nerve straight. :D)

My mother-in-law managed to rustle up a delicious and healthy dinner for us complete with a new feature: beetroot vege oat soup. We gave him a pre-birthday gift. The next day, we lunched at Levain which had a painting that reminded us of England.

That evening, we had a celebratory dinner at Canton Kitchen and a birthday conference call with the other birds overseas. We really enjoyed the durian cake from Tong Kee which my husband had painstakingly ordered from afar. (The customer service was quite abysmal eventhough he ordered in both Cantonese and Mandarin). Nonetheless, the cake was very tasty (even for a non-durian-o-phile like myself). It had real chunks of durian in the cream. My mother-in-law and myself got to sit in my husband's lectures. He was fantastic. I wish I had him teaching me during my undergraduate. Brilliant tips and so clear. We later surprised my father-in-law with a gift from the whole family- a trip to Cherating.

We stayed at Swiss Garden and had one of our dinners at Pak Su.

An adorable cat we met amidst our exploration of Chukai. We stopped by for lekor and learned that they eat the lekor freshly steamed rather than the fried way that we are accustomed to. We also had a meal at Muar E Kopitiam which served otak-otak and an interesting stir-fried abacus-like dish. We also managed to try an amazing Nasi Kerabu and Nasi Lemak which my champion husband brought back by scouring the road early in the morning before the warungs closed after breakfast time.

The next day we tried out a place recommended by a food blogger for stuffed crab but was sorely disappointed. Nothing special at all about the food and horribly overpriced. 

The true enjoyment came at Hai Peng Kopitiam where we loaded up on coffee, roti bakar and nasi lemak. One evening, we spotted a sign for a Birthday Surprise Dinner in the hotel. They were offering discounts for the entire party corresponding to the age of the birthday babies in the month of April! Surprise Bonus Round 4 was inevitable. We booked a table for a seafood buffet dinner and the concierge told us they would decorate the table with balloons and we would have party gift-bags to boot. How wonderful! The evening after we casually headed downstairs for dinner and surprised my father-in-law again with our sneaky plan.

After the lovely birthday celebration week, we headed back to Penang to catch up with my family. We celebrated my parents' anniversary which also fell in April. After some avid Googling, we managed to come across this Nyonya food place which looked interesting. None of us really dined at a Nyonya restaurant before so we had Assam Prawns, Ikan Masak Tiga Rasa, Fish Maw soup, Chicken Kapitan Curry and Popiah. For dessert they served purple rice. The food tasted delicious albeit quite pricy in the end as you had to add money for the fish on top of the set price. 

We were hyped up to go to Sitiawan to get some Gong Pian and Red Wine Chicken. We took a day trip and came back with two bags of Gong Pian. What a dream come true. 

We got to see how the Gong Pian is made. (Note to self: never look at how things are made again especially in M'sia. Hint: flies! *shudder*) 

I must say this has dampened my love for Gong Pian quite a bit. 

My parents' friends were kind enough to have us out for a seafood dinner one evening. Oddly enough, this time around my love for seafood has drastically diminished. I no longer pang for prawns or coo for crabs. I think the long stay in UK is finally converting my palate to the love for bread, cheese, pies and tomatoes. My favourite dish of the evening was actually the small plate of Fried Mee Mamak that our hosts ordered as a side dish! 

We had a mission to load up on coconuts too. Given the hot weather, it was the perfect antidote. It was also my first time tasting Pandan Coconut. Yum! My husband managed to persuade my dad to bring us to Balik Pulau. He had Google Earthed the place and thought it was beautiful. We went there for breakfast one morning. I hadn't realise how near BP was to us. A mere 20 minute drive away. The Koay Teow Th'ng was yummy. We also drove around and saw the church and bought a durian for my durian-deprived husband. On the way back, I recollected the times I used to hike up Bukit Jambul with my mom and my husband decided to do it himself later that evening! Kudos to him and his poor mosquito-bitten self. He made it to the top and the view was spectacular.

Here are some other foods we got to catch up with. I very quickly hit my favourite Duck Rice shop and Muar Chee stall in Island Glades quite a few times because I love them so much. This love is incurable. What these dishes are to me is what Roti Kaya Pisang and durian are to my husband. He did his fair share of return visits to Mamak stalls this trip too. My father-in-law had made this amazing dish he calls the Dragon. It's eggplant stuffed with pork. He also took us to Bangsar Banana Leaf Rice which is another one of our all-time favourites. Absolutely love banjir-ing the rice and the vegetable dishes. I'm salivating!

We also caught up with Penang Chicken Rice! I missed Malaysian style roasted chicken very much because the Hong Kong and China style is very much sweeter, greasy and fatty. They also chop their chicken in giant bony chunks. I love the thin skin and small slices offered by Malaysian Chicken Rice sellers. The yau fan (oiled rice) and the clear soup that come with the dish are also unparalleled to my mind. I caught up with Wantan Mee once but my love for noodles had dwindled too. Sigh. I didn't end up going for the old hits of Hokkien Mee etc. However, I found that I was pining for Nasi Lemak and Laksa a-plenty. Very unlike myself. On the last day in Penang, my mom had introduced me to nasi lemak from a sundry shop near our home. I wish I had found out about it earlier as it was exactly what I had been pining for. The good old triangle RM1-type with super fragrant rice, egg and sambal. 

Next up on the agenda was celebrating my husband's grandma's birthday which also was in the month of April! She turned 80! Yes, this trip ended up being a celebratory trip of all sorts. Thanks to 2 other places being shut, we ended up having one of the best dinners at Soon Lai. It was so reasonably priced yet mouth-wateringly tasty! Highly recommend this place. We had a good time catching up with the extended family. They are always so warm and caring. 

We also got to catch up with this superb bunch of friends. Thanks for coming out to meet us given the tight schedule we were on. I got to catch up with James Foo Western Food too which I am so thankful for. I miss Malaysian style western food so much! Chicken Gordon Bleu! Malaysian style Tartare Sauce! Ahhhhhh!

We also were introduced to the Best Koay Teow Th'ng in Penang by my husband's ex-lecturer. This iconic metal bowl KTT did indeed live up to its reputation and waiting time. It was so good that after we came back to London I tried making KTT for the first time to satisfy the cravings for this. After a short but mighty eventful trip, we were on our way back to ol' England.

Until we meet again!