Baking Molten Lava Cake

We were sitting at home on Saturday wondering what to do. We did not go out as I was not feeling too well. As the girls were having their afternoon nap, hubby and I were searching through YouTube. We were hungry and thinking about food and what to cook. Hubby got the idea to search for Molten Lava Cake. So we watched a video on how to make it and was surprised at how easy it was to make it. So when the girls woke up, we went to Giant Hypermarket to get the ingredients.

When we told our eldest daughter what we were going to make, she got pretty excited. She is very interested in cooking, baking and everything else. So I gave her a shopping list and she helped pick out the ingredients we needed. Once home, I enlisted eldest daughter's help to put the chocolate and butter into a bowl. Then I melted the butter and chocolate over the stove. This I had to do myself as dear daughters are too young to be handling fire.

After the chocolate had melted, I left it to cool for awhile.

I got the other ingredients ready so that my daughter would only need to put them in the bowl and stir.



Auni adding the egg.


Next the sugar.

Ulfa saw what we were doing and wanted to join in the fun. So she helped put in the flour while Auni stirred.


Ulfa then got her turn to stir. After that, we put the batter into aluminium cups (coz we couldn't get any ramekins) and baked them.



They came out just right and we topped it with vanilla ice cream and voila.


The girls enjoyed it and another Saturday well spent!

Here's the video where we got the recipe from.


Happy baking!

On Being Down With Stomach Flu

My dear Ulfa is down with stomach flu. She woke up at 3am in the morning on Saturday and suddenly vomitted all over the bed. Thereafter, the vomitting continued. Took her to see the paediatrician at 9am in the morning. Pd prescribed Hydralyte, anti-vomitting med and smecta. By late afternoon, the vomitting stopped but the diarrhoea started.

I hate it when children fall sick. You feel so helpless coz there is nothing much you can do to take away the pain. Today she seems better though I can see that her appetite has not returned fully. She seems a lot smaller than usual due to the weight loss from vomitting and diarrhoea.

My dear sweetheart, Mummy really hopes that you'll recover soon. I hope that the bug will not spread to your elder sister. Indeed, this period of time is a trying period for us all. I just want to see you recover and be healthy again.

Infidelity - What about the kids?

Recently, a friend's marriage was on the rocks. After 10 years of marriage and 2 kids, the husband cheated on her. Had an affair with a girl in her twenties. The affair had gone on for 2 years before the wife found out.

Like any other woman, my friend was devastated. And so I thought she would do the most logical thing to do - dump the scum. But she surprised us all by choosing to forgive him and working things out. Of course you might say that she's doing it for the kids. But is it really so? How do you work things out with your life partner when something as big as cheating takes place, especially when you already have kids together?

I do not blame my friend if she really wants to work things out with her husband because she does not want a divorce to affect the children. BUT, this guy had the cheek to say that he now finds their children more of a hindrance to the relationship with the wife. Well, the thing about kids is that, once you have them, you have them for life! How could you, as a father, choose to chuck your children aside after you discover taking care of them is not as easy as you thought it would be?! I bet it is just an excuse you use so that you can leave your wife with the children because you rather spend time with your twenty-year-old fling.

People often say that affairs of the heart are difficult to understand. You can never choose who to fall in love with or fall out of love with. But when there are kids involved, how do you know what to do or what not to do? Is my friend being fair to her kids by asking her husband to stay with her in the marriage? Will he be able to accept the kids as they are and not find them a hindrance to the relationship he is trying to salvage with the wife?

A divorce can affect a child negatively. At the same time, if the relationship is not working out, kids are smart enough to notice that. I guess if a divorce really needs to take place, then you should talk it out openly with the kids. Let them know that even though mummy and daddy do not feel the same way about each other, mummy and daddy will still love you guys as much. Of course, the mummy and daddy need to work things out and try as much as they can to be civil to one another for the sake of the children.

I know it is easier said than done. I wouldn't know what to do either if such a thing should befall me *touch wood*. But I really hope that whatever my friend and her husband does, they are doing it for their kids.

Our virgin trip to Fidgets @Turf City

I took the girls to Fidgets on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year. Fidgets is located at Turf City.

Adults and children below 1 year old enter FREE
Under 2 years - $8
2 to 10 years old - $15

Fidgets Is open every day from 9am to 6pm and stayed open on Chinese New Year too!

We decided to check the place out since we've heard much about it but have not been to the place before. I would say that the place is a little out of the way especially for those without their own transport. We were wondering how on earth we were going to find the place since Turf City is a big area. Thankfully there were Fidgets signboard displayed to lead us to the indoor playground.

Upon reaching Fidgets, we notice that majority of those there were expats and their children. When we went to the counter, we had to sign a form. We were also given a card to hold on to. You make purchases using the card. At the end of the day when you are leaving the place, the card will be scanned and it will give you the total bill that you need to pay (entrance fee plus any food or drinks purchased from the shops within Fidgets). By the way, you have to bring your own socks to enter Fidgets.

As soon as you enter, you see the rest and relax area with cafes right in front of you. On the right, it is the smaller children's play area. On the left is the bigger children play area. I took my smaller girl to the toddler play area. I thought that it was good that they indicate the age group that a particular play area caters to. However, as there was no one monitoring whether the rule was being adhered go, a lot of older kids also end up playing in the toddler's area. So parents of younger children will still need to monitor their toddler to make sure that they don't get trampled by the older ones.



Hubby took my elder girl to the older kids' play area. The area is much bigger. What I like about it is that it has like an obstacle course for the kids to go through as they play there.



There is also a rest area for parents and kids to chill and have a bite. There is a tv monitor showing surveillance of the play area.

Overall, my girls enjoyed it there. My take is that Fidgets is smaller than Explorer Kid at Downtown East. There are things that they can improve on like having a staff to monitor that kids play in the area designated for their age group (if not, might as well remove the sign and let anyone play anywhere they like). They should also have a locker for parents to store their belongings. More surveillance cameras needed if kids are going to be left playing on their own as I saw two kids strangling each other (with their parents nowhere in sight!) and I had to tell them to get off each other. The price is affordable and ultimately, you can relax while your kids enjoy!

You can check out Fidgets at http://www.fidgets.com