Friday 15 April 2011

7 random things

We had this sweet treat on a Sat afternoon when the three of us were winding down from the activities earlier in the day. I had a tub of plain yoghurt that was going to be expired soon, and so I thought why not make a simple dessert out of it.



There was this almost over-ripe mango sitting on the kitchen counter so I married the two and made a simple mango yoghurt parfait. The mango was very soft and juicy so I could easily mashed it up a little without having to use a blender. I layered the yoghurt with the mango puree and topped it with some chopped mango and strawberry pieces. I plucked some mint leaves from my pot of striving mint plant, and used it as 'garnish'. The dessert looked so appetising that my kids actually let out a 'wah...so nice!'. I am glad they find the taste is as good as the food presentation :)


I feel very honored to receive this "One Lovely Blog' award recently. Thanks to Jes of Jes's Deli Corner, Esther of x3Baking, Beanie of Beanie Kitchen Diary , Edith of pReCious MoMentS and Janice of Home Cook Baker for passing the award to me. Here's a cup of my mango yoghurt parfait for each one of you ;)


There are some rules to abide in order to accept this award and they are:

1. Post linking back to the person that gave you the award
2. Share 7 random things about yourself
3. Award 15 recently discovered blogs
4. Drop them a note and tell them about it.


I would like to dedicate this awards to:

A Little Bit of Plum Leaf 李葉
Cathy's Joy
Cook With No Books
Chunky Cooky
Eat and Be Happy
Engineer and an Oven
Fong's Kitchen Journal
j3sskitch3n
Linden Tea
Not The Kitchen Sink
Sotong Cooks - Cooking it my way!
The Sweet Spot
Wen's Delight
'爱'生活 My Life
启动生命的旋律



and here are the 7 random things about myself:

1. I do not have a facebook account. I doubt I will ever sign up since I don't really have that many friends. My kids do not have facebook accounts too. Yes, I know kids are not supposed to sign up, but most of their friends and all their cousins are on FB. My elder kid is facing some pressure from his friends to sign up since he goes to secondary school. I'll see when he will give in ;)

2. Although I blog in English, I speak almost 100% Mandarin at home. I read Chinese books, magazines and even the Chinese papers. I speak English only if the other party is not able to understand Chinese at all. But I do use a mixture of English and Mandarin when necessary...especially when there is a need to scold my children...somehow, I feel that certain English phrases are very good and effective to drum down my message onto them.

3. So far I have never taken any photography course. I really do not know much about photography. I could only use the auto-mode and the macro-function of my camera. My photos are all point-and-shoot.

4. I am still using this point and shoot camera we bought in 2004. It is starting to get very old lately, as the battery cannot be charged. I have to use the camera with an ac adapter :'(
My elder son has joined photography club as his second CCA in school. He has started to learn how to use a DSLR, and he brought home a Cannon 550D yesterday as he needs to cover two events these two days. They have to cover at least 5 events a year...no one can join the club just for fun. One glance at the DSLR has already made me see stars...I can never get it right with the 'f', aperture, etc. I think I will do myself good by sticking to an idiot proof camera.

5. I have yet to attend a baking class, although I did watch a free cooking demo at a departmental store ;) So, do beware when you feel like trying out the recipes I have shared here. I am no professional baker, I am still a novice!

6. I like photo editing! It comes close to baking.  I enjoy desktop publishing kind of work...when the www first came to us, I even thought of learning the html so that I can do web designing! But it is all words with no actions, not very different from my dream of opening up a small shop to sell cute stuff or be a librarian so that I can read books the whole day, or becoming a barista when starbucks opened its first outlet here.

7. The thing that I don't really enjoy about blogging is answering questions. Don't get me wrong. I will answer any queries, and from answering them, I get to know even more about baking. The only thing that I do not enjoy is, after answering whatever questions, I usually do not get a reply. I would say only 2 out of 10 will come back with a response. I looked forward to a response as sometimes I do not know whether the person understands what I have written, or whether I have misled anyone with my answers. Sometimes I do not have an answer to the query, but I will try to provide useful sites so that the person could refer to it, so I was silly enough to think that the person may come back and tell me that the problem has been solved. I used to wait for a response, but I know better now, there is no point expecting a response. So, I am always in dilemma...whether to answer that query, especially when I suspect the person may not even come back to the page or may just ask for the sake of asking. I don't want to sound offensive, but it is not a nice feeling when you are treated like a help desk? Or is it just me feeling that way??

Weekend is here...to all my weekend baker pals, enjoy your weekend, and happy baking!!!

31 comments:

CaThY said...

Thanks for the award HHB! =)

j3ss kitch3n said...

such a beautiful dessert! thanks HHB for the award!

Edith said...

Nice to get to know you better.

Joceline said...

很感谢你的奖励和鼓励。。。。。。谢谢!
咱们一起分享,一起学习吧!看了你的7点,开始对你有更深一层的认识。很开心能遇到你。愿你开心,快乐每一天。

Angel @ Cook.Bake.Love said...

I like your point 7 HHB.

I do encounter the same thing and I share the same sentiment.

Happy weekend ahead!

Unknown said...

Hi, thanks for your lovely award. I was nodding along when I read your points 2 to 4 ^_^

hanushi said...

Hehe, I think I share a few same similarities as you.

Although I blog in English, I speak almost 100% Mandarin at home.
>> In fact ALL my friends talk to me in Chinese, even though some are English speaking normally. I can hardly speak or express myself in good English when it comes to conversing. But when it comes to writing, English is my natural language. I guess it is due to the education system in Singapore that I was brought up where all the subjects are conducted in English.

I could only use the auto-mode and the macro-function of my camera. My photos are all point-and-shoot.
>> Same here... When my friends talk to me about setting exposure and whatever terms when we are taking group photos, I goes @-@ and blank. I think I am really an idiot when it comes to photo.

Librarian, do you know that that is my childhood dream... Hehe... even though it is still a dream to this date.

Answering questions, I understand what you mean. I always make it a point to thank the person when I am asking questions. Well, it is my way of expressing appreciation for all the trouble they take to answer my questions.

Have a nice day, HHB. I think this is the longest comment that I have posted so far... :)

Elyn said...

I like your point 7! Not to mention a response and most of the time you do not even get a "thank you" :(

peiszong said...

Oh, I am sorry. I once asked a question, read the answer but did not feedback again. But I did try out the recipe and the information provided was useful.

Thanks.

And I am one of the silent loyal reader.

Small Small Baker said...

I find that we have a lot of similarities, except that 我中FB的毒很深! :)

原来你我和hanushi都一样. I also speak Mandarin at home and to my friends, read Chinese newspaper/magazines, listen to Chinese songs and watch Chinese TV programs. My English sucks, writing is worse than a primary school kid, speaking is more like Singlish. Yet I find it easier to blog in English. Any other Mandarin-speaking friends here? :)

And one last thing, I'm guilty of the last point, I never reply to 'replies to my comments' that I left (though I always check back to see if they reply). However, I seldom ask questions in comments, I only praise.

Swee San @ TheSweetSpot said...

Hi HHB, thanks for the award. The angry birds and pigs are so cute!

The Experimental Cook said...

Thank you for the award. Coming from you, it is a tremendous encouragement for closet bloggers like me.

martina said...

Hi HHB, even if you're not a professional everything I tried from here it has been a success! And I like your presentation, too. I totally agree with your point #7, I often think how people has forgotten to behave properly on the net. Until today I thought I was "old" (I'm 32 btw) and I didn't understand the new media. At least now I know I have good company :)
Have a great weekend with your boys
Martina

sotong said...

WAH! your dessert sure looks appetising!
Thanks for the lovely award! :)

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

Eventhough i am not in your award list, but I still like to leave a comment here, hehehe. Now I get to know you more, nice to know you via blogging. And I very impressed with your good command of English eventhough you did not speak/read much of English.Have a nice weekend too.

Wen said...

Thanks for the award! I really enjoyed reading your random things!

Happy Homebaker said...

hanushi, I actually volunteered to be the school librarian when I was in primary school, and I read almost all the Chinese books in that old little library.

I wasn't even expecting a thank you, I just don't know whether I should answer the query if I suspect that the person is not going to check back.

SSB, I thought all along you knew I am a Chinese helicopter, lolz!

Elyn, that is why sometimes I feel that I am just like a 'machine operated' help desk, lolz!

peizhong, no worries, sometimes I forget about the question I asked other bloggers too and had to check back ;)

The Experimental Cook, what closet bloggers? I read your blog regularly even though sometimes I really do not have the time to leave you a comment.

Sonia, I used to study both English and Chinese as first languages, but I am actually never good in any one, haha!

Gertrude said...

I really like all of your photos - your love of photoediting really shows! I have been reading your blog for over a year now i think, and i am glad you are back from your hiatus! don't worry, you do not need to answer my questions, just keep blogging, your sons are so cute ♥

sherlyn said...

ok, I can conclude that SSB and HHB and me quite similar.
(SSB : My "FB poison" also very deep. LOL)
We speak mostly chinese but blog in english (for me it is cos convenient, cos writing in chinese take so long).

HHB, sometimes I did not check back cos I forgotten I asked. Sometimes I only say thank you without commenting much abt the information I recv is helpful or not cos I may not have finish reading the links shared. Sometimes I just dun want to add bulk to the already long list of comments so did not say anything after receiving the answers.

真的佩服你能做到“家有甚麼材料,你都能做出好料理”。
SSB and HHB ... 等我孩子明年都是上午班,我們一起出去暍早茶好嗎?

Alice said...

hi HHB, congratulations on the award! :)

wah,your pics have been so professional! never thought u never really study about photography :)

for your point 7, i must admit i often do that
so keen with the recipe but not sure abt something, and then asked question, but forget to check out the reply (especially when my list of blogger friends getting longer hehe...)
until the day i try out the recipe and read the comments then i see the reply
after reading your point 7, i realize that's not a nice gesture - thanks for reminding me about this
will make the effort to check out and get back to all replies for my comments, especially those with answers to my doubts
:)

Maria Baluyut said...

hi hhb! your creations are beautiful! do you mind sharing what oven do you use?

all my love! xoxo

Janine said...

thanks hhb for the award :) and for a point and shoot camera, your photographs are already salivating inducing already! i can't image the havoc you'll wreck on my tummy if you had a dslr!

and i understand where you come from in your point 7 - for me, I usually make sure I subscribe by email to any comments or questions I leave so that I know when there's a reply so that I can follow up - I think it's only manners since someone is willing to reply you and especially since I'm usually the one with a ton of questions! :)

Anonymous said...

HI HHB

oh dear, i am guilty of that too...i will usually check back for answers when i posed questions , esp if i need the answers desperately but there are a few times when i forgot about it, esp when i am busy at work...will try to remember, perhaps by writing the queries down...btw, it can be quite frustrating too when i pose a question but never get any reply. which is why, i have stopped asking questions in some blogs but yours, i know for sure, i will get a response :) which is why i am a loyal fan of your blog:)and sometimes, i pose a question but the reply came many days or weeks later so that type a bit hard to keep track leh....(not your blog of course, u are always prompt.)

octopusmum

The Pink Chef said...

Hi there! Congratulations on the award! :) And I do empathise with you on #7. Totally understand where you're coming from.

Not to sound callous, but I guess sometimes it just comes back to "Don't expect anything in return for whatever you give out or expect disappointment.'

Just do whatever that makes you happy! Keep it up! Looking forward to your future posts.

thecoffeesnob said...

Hi HHB, thank you for the award!

The mango parfait look so refreshing! And your photos are certainly proof that you don't need the best equipment to take gorgeous photos! :)

daphne said...

Hi HHB! I came across your blog through Lena's Frozen Wings blog. Loving what I see here. congrats with the award and that is one pretty and healthy dessert u got there- my kind of thing!!

Jes's Deli Corner said...

Thks for the mango dessert. How i wish i can taste it. I like your point 2, i used to mixed up 2 languages to scold kids too :o)

Happy Homebaker said...

Gertrude, thanks for following my blog :):)

Maria, I just bought a new oven this year, Bosch HBN331E2J, in the past I used this small table top tefal oven.

The Pink Chef, thanks for your kind words and encouragement :D

daphne, thanks for dropping by :)

Jes's Delic Corner, yes yes, I will use the best phrases from both languages, lolz!

createwithmom said...

congrats on the award
wonderful delicious looking dessert

Angelic Heart~ said...

Thanks for the award ~ :D

Vinitha said...

I may not comment very often on ur blog....but would like to say that urs is one of the most detailed and helpful baking blogs ever. Anytime I have an ingredient I want to use, your blog is one of the first I check!! And I also loved this post for its little peek into the wonderful person behind the blog! U have made me and my family very HAPPY thanks for sharing these wonderful recipes :)