Since the Singh family came back, we have been having eating spree! It started with Melaka’s Famous Chicken Rice Ball, followed by Ayam Buah Keluak, Durians, Cheese Cake, Nasi Lemak, Roti Canai, Lempeng, Pizza, Muffins, Housewarming Party, Nasi Lemak again, Chicken Rice Ball again, Birthday Party and today, Nasi Lemak again!!!
This Friday will be my son’s actual birthday. I am thinking of baking him another birthday cake. And on Saturday we are going for Chinnee’s twins birthday party. If I am not breastfeeding, I will surely need the ephedrine.
Hubby is complaining that his tummy is getting rounder. 
My in laws from Ipoh are back here for the school holiday and one of their ex-CF member is here too. One of their cravings when them come back to Melaka is the famous Chicken Rice Ball. We are blessed with their presence and their cravings because we get to enjoy the Chicken Rice Ball too. Actually arh, the Chicken Rice Ball is quite pricey and we hate to queue to buy food especially during weekends. So we won’t buy unless there are out-stationers coming for a visit.
So, how do you eat your Chicken Rice Ball?
My girl eats it like eating an apple while watching TV. 
Finally! Today marks the 40 days of my confinement period. I can be like normal people again. Tomorrow I will be free to eat whatever I like, bathe cold water, and go out at night without feeling guilty. This is because I did not really follow the confinement practices 100% except not eating those unclean food such as prawns, squids, crabs, see-hum, certain type of fishes etc.
I am going to indulge myself with the food that I miss the most during this 40 days; Sambal Belacan! My lunch tomorrow will be Rice with Sambal Belacan and Salted Fish. Yum Yum.
Next will be Nasi Lemak, Tom Yam, Satay Celup, Beef Steak, Fried Kuay Teow with See Hum, Mee Goreng Mamak, Nasi Goreng Belacan, ABC, Cendol and much much more.
However all of the above I can only take in moderate because I am fully breastfeeding my baby. I can’t take food that is too cold or food that could cause him to have gas (wind in the tummy). The food that I can think of that could cause baby’s tummy to be bloated are coconut milk (lots of Nyonya food uses coconut milk leh… 
) and glutinous rice (lots of Nyonya kuih uses glutinous rice leh… ).
Like that I can only be 100% normal after I weaned baby off my nen-nen. That will be in 2 years time!!!
For many years we bought Dodol for Chinese New Year. Those Dodol are machine made. This year, we decided to make our own Dodol; we are going to “kacau dodol” (kacau = stir) as a family.
Below are some pictures of the Making of Dodol.
It started with the grounded wet glutinous rice (we bought a few packets of glutinous rice from the supermarket and sent it to be grinded) and coconut milk.
Then Gula Melaka is added to it. Once all the sugar has melted, durian and pandan leaves (for nice aroma) is being added.
This is how it looks like after 2 hours of “kacauing” stirring, paddling! It gets stickier and stickier, which means it gets harder to stir. That is when the sweats starts dripping. I wonder whether any escapes and drops into the wok.
This is how their hands look like after 2 hours of “kacau dodol”; full of blister. But the Dodol is not ready yet!
Finally after 3.5 hours, our Dodol is ready. The Quality Controller is MIL. When she said “No” they have to keep on stirring and finally after testing the Dodol for dunno how many times, she said, “Yes”. Phew! It is finally done.
If you noticed, we used gas instead of woods; not 100% traditional. During our grandparent’s time, they uses woods and the taste is so much better.
Anyway, our Dodol tasted soooooo much better than the machine made Dodol. Everyone is very satisfied with their “titik peluh” (literally) hard work.
Shall we do this every year?
This is another kuih that I intend to learn from my mom after CNY and before I pop. The Chinese calls them “Ang Ku” (Red ones) and “Oh Ku” (Black Ones); I think so. 
We, the Baba-Nyonya call them Kuih Ku Hitam and Kuih Ku Merah.
My mom made this more than a week ago when my 2nd sister was around coz she wanted to learn from her. I love hers compared to others that I tried before. You see, she seldom make this kuih because it is not easy to make; that is why I can’t remember how hers tasted like.
My mom’s Kuih Ku is super soft because she uses lots of the leaves (can’t remember the name of the leave) that makes the Kuih Ku black.
One main reason I want to pick this skill from my mom is because my children really LOVE Kuih Ku.
Later when I am really good at this, I can even sell them!
Due to 4 days of non-stopping baking Pineapple Tarts.
So…I am taking 2 days off to let the muscle heal and hopefully it will fully recover by Wednesday then it will be another 4 days of non-stopping baking! Meantime, I need to catch up on the few blogging assignments that I have.
Yesterday was Sunday and I thought I will get extra hand (hubby) to help me with the baking of my Nyonya Pineapple Tarts at home so I brought everything home from my mom’s. I was disappointed that NO ONE was available to help me. Hubby painted the verandah ceiling, maid helped MIL with the Love Letters and my children helped their daddy doing don’t know what and then play water. Only my eldest helped me a lil while by putting the jam into the pastry hole…put only, I have to press them in nicely. 
Earlier, I got so frustrated with the dough until I got gastric attack; too upset! I think working with manhattan it consulting is less stressful that this.
My dough was too soft (I added too much margarine) and it kept sticking on the mould when I tried to push it out. I can’t call my mom because she was at a Malay wedding luncheon (sure noisy one). I remembered she told me to add flour; I did, twice but it still sticks. I was at the verge of throwing the dough away then I remembered I must deliver the Pineapple Tarts that hubby’s friend ordered. So I left the dough and head to Melaka Sentral to meet her and her Japanese friend; that de-stress me a lil bit and save the dough.
When I got home, I gave a call to my mom and she told me to add one more egg, together with the egg white. It was like magic and the dough does not stick anymore! I wish she would have taught me about this earlier.
Due to the extra ingredients, this batch of Nyonya Pineapple Tarts is super nice; soft and yet crunchy. Even my fussy dad said so.
Kiasumum, you are so blessed to get this batch. 
Thanks to hubby’s friend from KL, my sister’s friends and some of my blogger friends, I have started my “Baking Pineapple Tarts” marathon since last night.
Since my preggy body can’t do more than 150pcs of Nyonya Pineapple Tarts a day, I have to do one batch everyday (my mom can do 450pcs a day!).
That will keep me busy for the whole of next week. If more order comes which I really hope they will, I will be fully occupied until the weekends before CNY.
Besides the Nyonya Pineapple Tarts, I am also selling the Rolled Pineapple Tarts at RM15 per container; quantity around 35-40pcs. It is hard to get a consistent jam size. This type is much much easier to do than the Nyonya Pineapple Tarts. No need to decorate the tarts with the frills/string.
Time for bed already! (8.30pm!). I am really exhausted.
12.30am – Just back from my parent’s place.
Around 8pm, received sms for 200 pcs Nyonya Pineapple Tarts instead of 100pcs. I only have 150pcs in hand. Called my mom (my sifu) to get her to knead the dough for me but she did not answer her phone. Then I recalled that she is attending a wedding dinner. Looks like I am on my own this time. Pack my stuff, kids and maid to my mom’s since MIL is at the same wedding dinner too.
Well, my sifu taught me well. My dough looks just like hers!
While waiting for the dough to sit. I make my Pineapple Ball.
My maid helped to get my children away from me while I prepare the pastry base. Once that is done, I get her to help me fill in the pineapple jam. Around 10pm, another helper came…
Hubby! He helped with the filling of pineapple jam too. Once that is done, he volunteered to cut the string for me while I fill in my hungry tummy. However, he was around for an hour only because our son fell asleep; so I told him to bring the maid and our son home while my girls continue watching cartoons on Astro!
My mom came home just before hubby left. She helped me with washing!
The Pineapple Tarts are not bake yet. My mom will only bake them this morning around 7.30am. I will go there early too to help her out.
Today, I was not alone like my first time. My dad helped me to fill in the pineapple jam. Thank God that he helped, I finished very fast today. It’s 1.30pm, 150 pcs of Pineapple Tarts is ready to be consumed.
I was surprised that he helped. Maybe someone who reads this blog told him about me blogging about it. Maybe it was raining just now and he can’t go out or watch TV. Whatever it is, my mom did tell me that he used to help her when she bakes.
Today, I minimized sitting down when preparing the tarts. When pressing out the base, I did not sit down at all and that speeds up the process.
Ok, I need to go buy more containers now and take a nap after that coz I only had 5 hours of sleep just now.
Hubby is not working on New Year Day so I was thinking that finally we can have a family outing today. So I was thinking maybe a trip to Pedas Water Park would be fun for the kids and good for hubby’s skin coz they have the hot water spring there. Unfortunately, the dark cloud came in. So we decided to just stay at home.
This is what we found in our bedroom on New Year day; a huge centipede on the ceiling. Thank God I spotted it before the kids come in our room. Can’t imagine what will happen if it drops on our head!
While I was taking a nap, hubby was busy scraping out the old paint from the ceiling. I wonder when will he have time to re-paint them.
My 2nd daughter and my son went over to the neighbour’s house to enjoy some cartoons on Astro and ice cream plus sweets. Now I know why they like to go there!
My eldest has a peaceful time eating potato chips and watching Madagascar 2 for the umpteenth time!
We really need time alone to talk about our New Year so we left the children home to have dinner at Restaurant Sri Percik.
I really hope and pray that this year won’t be gloomy as how it started.
