Author: Dr Donna Chow

Home Bake Birthday Cake

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Mindon on his second birthday

I haven't posted for a while. Not since Ah Bee's 10th birthday celebration - on which we ordered a custom birthday cake for him. For the past 4 weeks, there seems to be a renewed interest in home baking as a lot of us (myself included) have more free time on our hands. Therefore, I will be sharing my simple cake recipe for baking a birthday cake at home. It is by no means the most delicious chocolate cake but it is worthy a try if you are running short of time and need a simple beginner cake recipe. I have roped in my little chef for this cake project. He was rather excited donning a chef hat Click to read more

Ah Bee turns ten

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10 golden years

In the blink of an eye, Ah Bee is now officially 10 years old. If you have owned a dog, you would probably know that one year of a dog's life is almost equivalent to 7 years of human's life. That would mean that our dear Bee, whom we have raised since he was a three month old puppy, is now a grandfather of 70 years. He has spent most of his life waiting for us to go home, play with him and take him out for walks. It isn't easy to be him. He can't find his friends when he misses them, he can't make decisions for himself and his whole life revolves around nobody but us. So, to celebrate his Click to read more

Mindon celebrates One

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Happy First Birthday, Mindon!

It took me a while to post an update. For the past few months, I have been busy decluttering the house, caring for the little ones and coping with a job change. Glad that I have finally found some time to post an event which happened quite some time back - Mindon's first birthday celebration! As mentioned three years back in my earlier post on Kandon's first birthday, one year old parties are often a major celebration for most mummies, myself included. I hope to make it as memorable as possible for Mindon even though he may not recall much of what has taken place on this day. Photos will be a Click to read more

Our trip to Bali Safari Park

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At the balcony of our hut

Before having kids, I have never thought about searching for farm stay or visiting the zoo. Life has become less of a "me-only-complex" since the arrival of children. Nowadays, our holiday destinations are more geared towards family friendly resorts and places which are able to accommodate children and their needs. And we found out about this hidden gem in Bali, Indonesia - Mara River Safari Lodge where we will be staying in close proximity with the Safari animals. The elder boy was all hyped up about the trip when we told him he would be seeing elephants, zebras and lions. The flight Click to read more

Chicken Buttercream Sponge Cake

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The completed chicken cake

I have been very busy for the past few months; hence the lack of update on this blog. My little boy is coming to 40 weeks old. In a matter of 12 weeks, he would be celebrating his first birthday! Therefore, I have been trying to bake a new cake just for him.  I have been looking at Google for inspirations of a simple, easy to bake and decorate cake. I am glad my persistence has yielded me some good results after many failed attempts. This was one of the most decent sponge cakes I have baked. You can find another version of the Green Tea Rosette Sponge Cake here. I have since tweaked Click to read more

Lactation cookies recipe

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My cookie monster waited to chomp down the cookies

It is common for breastfeeding mums to eat lactation cookies to boost their milk supply. These cookies are often available for sale by other home bakers who made them for a profit or mass produced and commercially packaged such as this. I am never a cookie fan myself. But hearing all the positive reviews for boosting milk supply with these, I decided to order from a well established online store to try it for effectiveness. The cookies were tasty, albeit expensive. A 600 g pack costs me $42 thereabouts and only lasts me for a good 10 days - I ate 4 to 5 small cookies during my lunch break. If Click to read more

My second breastfeeding journey

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My trusty Spectra S1 and Boppy nursing pillow

When my first son was born, my milk supply was extremely low and I struggled to pump breast milk for him. Breast feeding does not come naturally to me. Not everyone is blessed with abundant breast milk supply and has surplus milk to store in the freezer. As a friend puts in aptly; God has created man (and woman) unequally for a reason. He blesses us with different abilities so that each of us can achieve different things in life. As a first time mum, I have always assumed that latching a baby is a natural instinct, and pumping breast milk is fairly straight forward. I attended antenatal Click to read more

Simple Pandan Chiffon Cake Recipe

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Pandan Chiffon Cake

Eversince my baking lesson with Susanne Ng, I have been intrigued by the world of chiffon cakes. It is one of the most basic cake you can master and one of those which calls for the least number of baking ingredients. There are plenty of pandan cake recipes online; I am sure you will find one which you will like. I am sharing my recipe and experience of making my own version of pandan cake here. I like to keep my cake recipe simple. The lesser the number of ingredients the better; that way I do not need to invest in buying too much perishable items. For the cake batter: you will need; Click to read more

Bringing baby to Taiwan

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At the Shoushan zoo entrance

Recently, we brought our baby, now an active toddler, to Taiwan in early September. The trip was a last minute decision to fill in an excursion for his school holiday, and also an outing with him alone before baby arrives next year. Before the trip, I had several bouts of complications from my current pregnancy and almost had to cancel the air tickets. Luckily in the end, we did make the trip and it proved to be the most memorable one for us! Since our boy is officially 2 and a half years old, it is time to get a seat for him on our flight to Taipei. He was exceptionally cheerful and Click to read more

Shopping for a new baby: 10 lessons from a second-time mum

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Shopping for new baby

As a first time mum 3 years ago, I was completely overwhelmed with shopping for baby #1. I sourced for checklists online and bought "almost" everything I could find. And I was so worried about missing out anything. But now, with #2, I have become more chilled and relaxed about shopping, especially when my first trimester was rather complicated. I started looking around the baby stuff only in the second trimester, around 24 weeks, when I was more certain that things would be looking brighter. This time round, I am also more cautious about the "over-buying" phenomenon and strategise on my Click to read more