Hakeem's First Cake

Hakeem has for a long time been interested in cooking but we never layan coz he's too young yet to be meddling in the kitchen cooking. We don't mind if this is his chosen career nanti but it's still early days so we shall see where this leads to. At first we just let him help out with the preparation which he said ...borrringggg. His first attempt was making mushroom omellete which he did brilliantly. Then since last week he has been pujuking Mama nak buat cake pulak. So when he found a Puffle cake recipe in his favourite Disney Club Penguin website, dia pun merengek nak buat jugak2x.

Natives to the wild Club Penguin, puffles are small, round furry creature. Several different species have been discovered and each colour has its own unique personality. The Blue Puffle that Hakeem chose is mild tempered, content and loyal...just like him! The other colours are red (adventureous), pink (active and cheery) , black (strong and silent) ,green (energetic and playful). yellow (artistic),purple (happy), white (gentle), orange (curious) and brown (super smart but errrr....dia ni takut belon!).

The recipe looks dodgy but we just let him try it just for the fun of it. Surprisingly the cake turned out very nice and moist although a bit on the heavy side. he sure was one happy boy the day he made the cake.

PUFFLE CAKE

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup milk

2 cups self-raising flour

1 stick butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup cake icing in your favourite puffle colour

1/4 cup white icing

Food colouring

Directions:

Mix the sugar, eggs and flour in a large bowl.

Melt the butter in a microwave then slowly stir in the milk. Add this to the mixture.

Grease a 9-in pan. Pour the mixture into the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until the cake looks done. Let it cool.

Cover the cake and leave in the refrigerator overnight.

In the morning, cut small pieces out of the cake to make it look like the puffle's hair.

Frost the cake with your favourite puffle colour. Don't forget to use white icing for the eyes.

Done! Enjoy with friends and family!

Tra..la la la la la la la laaaaaa....

This is our 3rd winter here in Germany. Too bad we've hardly got any snow this year with temperature reaching double digits towards the end of December, ala ala autumn pulak as compared to the last 2 years when the snow accumulated till knee high. Sungguh syok watching snow fall while sipping hot chocolate or coffee in front of the fireplace. Hopefully we'll have some snow later in January or February next year. Notwithstanding, Christmas came and went with much festivities for the Germans although the white Christmas remain only in the song.

The boots filled with chocolates, candies, mandarin oranges and small tokens was given by my colleague in conjunction with the German Sankt Nikolaus Day. In Austria, parts of Germany and Switzerland, Nikolaus is said to bring gifts for children on Nikolaustag on 6 December. On the evening of 5 December, children place a boot or shoe outside their bedroom doors, hoping that Nikolaus will fill it with presents.

We only had 1 day of snowfall and even then it was too warm for it to accumulate.

The entramce to the Christmas Market in Hannover

Cute chopping boards on sale at the Christmas Market

Decorative cookies on sale

Gluhwein is the traditional brew of hot wine combined with spices enjoyed by many at the Christmas Market. They have a non-alcoholic version for kids called the Kinder Punch made using apple juice and spices.

We were invited to Beate's house on the the last weekend before Christmas also called the 4th Advent when the last candle on the Advent wreath is lit up.

The Advent wreath with the 4 candles

Homemade Chrismas fare baked by Beate

This is the traditional German Bratapfel or Baked Apple which is normally baked during the "Adventszeit", the 4 weeks before Christmas. These had marzipans in the middle.

Heavenly with generous pouring of custard sauce

The girls entertaining Beate's only child Robin....main dress-up dolls pun jadi la walaupun dah tua bangka....

These hedgehogs were found in Beate's garden and since they're still babies Beate was worried they would not be able to survive the winter so she took them in and keep them safe in her basement.

Melawat Ziad after his knee surgery

These Spare Ribs from an Iranian restaurant near Ziad's house are out of this world. Seriously! Sehingga menjilat jari! They came highly recommended by Ziad and Cik Tan and now we're hooked. Sanggup rasanya drive 3 jam ke tempat Ziad to have these again in the future.

Jaja completed her A1 German language course and these were her classmates

We made this to jamu Jaja's classmates as a sampling of Malaysian kueh and they loved them. Since kat sini the dapur is hotplate and may not heat the acu kueh cara well, these were baked in the oven.

Day 7 - Captivating Carcassonne

On our way up north from Barcelonawe stopped at an ancient walled French town of Carcasonne. It has a collection of drawbridges, towers and atmospheric cobbled streets. It's like a village behind the walls with the castle in the middle. Exploring the shops along the cobbled street is pure pleasure. The kids also love this place. Syirah berangan2x nak buat wedding dia kat sini coz the setting so romantic. Kalau dapat Frenchman best jugak.

Bird's eye view of the town outside the Cité from above

These are handmade soap in various colours and smell

Colourful choc coated almonds in the shape of olives

Waiting for the nutella-filled crepe

Lepaking in the son while sucking on a cola lollypop bought at the traditional candy store

So beautiful

French version of halwa

Shelf upon shelf of handmade French chocolates and candy

These lollypops are so sedap!

The girls exploring the area...habis semua ceruk kena panjat

Butter cookies in various flavours anf fillings

They put these delicious morsels at the counter for customers to sample for free....most end up buying them after tasting as they're rather addictive.....crunch...crunch...crunch