Happy 1st birthday to Aaron!

Love these family moments. Happy 1st birthday to Aaron! Hope you like how Sze yiyi captured these precious moments of your entry into toddlerhood!

Happy 3rd birthday to Jovan too! How time flies, you two little blessed boys!

 

To the columbarium we go

The last stage of Yeye's passing - putting his ashes inside the columbarium. Hong Kong has a strange system; weeks can pass between the death, the funeral, and the final burial/cremation.

Mr. Jang booked tickets for me to fly back for the weekend, so I was able to join in the short ceremony to seal in the urn.

I thought I had gotten over it, but seeing Yeye's photo made me teared all over again.

It feels funny holding your ashes, Yeye. I feel lost. Where are you now?

After that, we went to the airport for lunch so that we can wait for Gaga to land. Now that Yeye is gone, can Mama and Yipo please keep the harmony at home? Don't fight over trivial things!

Birthday cake endeavor

Made another birthday cake for Mr. Jang this year. Well, last year I cheated and did a 'muffin cake' - basically just poured the muffin mixture into a bigger tin. This year, I attempted to make a sponge cake, just to be adventurous.

Searched for the right recipe online. One that's highly rated. And idiot proof.

I was still marveling at how simple this whole cake baking thing was as I finished whisking the mixture and popped it in the oven. I could smell the sweet aroma as I stepped out of the shower. 

How lovely it looks, I thought as I took it out of the oven, mighty pleased.

Like a proud mama, I took many photos of it and sent them to Mom and Sis for them to ooh and ahh. I was still texting Sis on how I was going to decorate the cake tomorrow after church. 

Fifteen minutes later, when I thought the cake has cooled and hardened, I decided to turn it over and transfer it to a tray for storage.

Nooooooooooo!!!!

My cake, perfect just seconds ago, broke into half!

To cut the long story short, I panicked, contemplated how much time I have before Mr Jang returns from his trip, whether I should waste food, before deciding it's not worth re-doing the whole damn thing. Plus, the content tastes ok despite the awful form.

Crisis calls for creativity. So I smashed up the entire cake, jammed it into a narrower bread tin, popped the entire mess into the fridge, then prayed for a miracle the next day. 

Turns out, the whole thing hardened into a biscuit / cookie like form instead of the normal fluffiness. But that works. So I went ahead with making the frosting and decorating it.

Et voilà! A slice of birthday cake!

Thank God Mr Jang is appreciative of my efforts and still thinks the cake is edible. Therefore, ending the anxiety of my (low) baking proficiency. I promise I will try harder next year. Practice makes perfect.

Happy birthday!! 

When the cat is away...

When the hubs is not home, what does the wife do? Paaaaaaarty!!!

Invited AL and YC over for brunch on Saturday morning. Have been wanting to do so for the longest time but didn't have the opportunity. It was so good catching up with them both, reminscing about the good ol' days at the ministry. Has it been seven years already since we first worked together? Oh boy, it feels like just yesterday - AL and I the rookies and YC the mafia boss. 

And they didn't age one bit! 

Then I had to rush off to Orchard for another gathering- the U.S. Gang. Uber blessed to have met this group during our 2-year stint at San Francisco. And Charlotte was barely a month old when I last saw her. She has sprouted into a dancing toddler in record time! (ok- 10 months). Time flies...