I know, have not been updating my blog for 3 weeks...3 weeks, and this is what happened...Well, it's my stomach again. I had that excruciating pain again and this time it's not food poisoning, stomach flu or gastritis...It was so bad I had to go into emergency....I hate going to emergency.... then next day have to go hospital again for ultra sound....and now waiting for results and follow up with Family Doc this weekend....I know this is not the end of it...more tests and hospital visits....that's why so miserable and moody....cannot concentrate on my blog.....so decided to take a break and hopefully to be back blogging again soon...BUT I will still visit and 'kepoh' at every one's' blogs. I must say I have to thank everyone for posting such exciting and interesting blogs and of course for sharing all the wonderful recipes. Every morning after seeing my Son off to school, I'll be at my laptop checking out every one's blog....keeps me going...thanks everyone!!!!!!

Now for some pictures of what I did during these 3 weeks....Ah, yes, two Sundays ago, Hubby and Son can't decide what to have breakfast one morning....so I decide for them. I cook them an All Canadian Breakfast....toasts, seasoned fried potatoes, sausages, crispy bacon, sunny side up eggs and scrambled eggs......here are the pictures.....

Hubby's Breakfast......

Son's Breakfast

And..Ta! Da!...My Breakfast...Organic Flax Plus
Multigrain cereal in fruit juice, since I can't take milk.....Exciting or What!!!

Today is also my sister-in law's birthday. I bake her a cake, recipe is from Anna Olson on her TV show Sugar of Food TV Network.....love her shows.....

This is cake is called Double Chocolate Cheesecake...bottom layer is a chocolate brownie and the top layer is chocolate cream cheese...very, very easy to make.....here is the recipe if anyone is interested.......

Double Chocolate Cheesecake

Yield: 16

Ingredients:

Brownie Layer

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup cocoa powder
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine salt
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Cheesecake Layer

6 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
2 x 8 oz (250 g) packages of cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
2 oz white chocolate, melted

">Directions:

Brownie Layer

For brownie layer, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 10-inch springform cake pan and line bottom and sides with parchment paper.
Melt butter and pour into a larger bowl. Sift cocoa into butter and stir in sugar. Add eggs to mixture, blending well after each addition. Stir in vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt (do not sift). Add to cocoa mixture and blend. Stir in white chocolate chips. Pour into pan and bake for 35 minutes, until firm. Cool completely before filling.

Cheesecake Layer

For cheesecake layer, place chopped chocolate in a bowl of a pot of gently simmering water (be sure bowl does not touch the water) and stir to melt. Remove from heat. Beat cream cheese until fluffy with electric beaters or in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment on high speed. Slowly add sugar while mixing and beat in vanilla. Pour in whipping cream and whip into cream cheese on high speed, until mixture becomes firm and holds a peak. Scrape chocolate into mixture and blend quickly. Scrape filling onto brownie base and spread evenly.
Chill cake for at lest 2 hours before slicing. To garnish, remove springform pan and drizzle top with white chocolate.

Weather is getting nicer here, around the 60's F...lovely...but lots of rainfall though..I guess the old saying...April Showers, May flowers....is true after all....My tulips are in full bloom now..my European Plum tree has lots of young leaves sprouting out. I have finally planted one of my Hybrid Tea rose..it's a dark red very fragrant specie...now I hope to get a dark yellow and a white color rose plant..also Hybrid Tea....All my Japanese Peony trees are pushing out from the ground...so happy to see them again.....Going to the nursery to get some pansies for my boxes in my front porch of my house.

Well, Hubby is still painting away whenever he is off work...he just finished the kitchen. Now we have to shop for colors for the upstairs hallway and the four bedrooms....then the bathrooms and last but not least the laundry room.....I am getting color blind now from looking at so many different colors.....I am glad we won't be painting the house for the next ten years after this....so here are some pictures of my finished kitchen...and the breakfast area...

Now besides painting the house, I find time to do some cooking and baking, of course...I try my hand at baking some hot dog buns and coconut buns..Dough recipe was from Florence of Do What I Like's 65C dough....hey, does anyone remember this coconut scraper or have one at home as well? I bought the metal scraper when I went back to Malaysia and Singapore for vacation years ago. When we came home, Hubby made a wooden stool and mount the scraper on the stool for me, isn't that clever of him....I used to scrape fresh coconuts for coconut milk when I cook curry, but lately I have been using a lot of can coconut milk instead...getting very lazy....Every time I use this scraper of mine, I'll think of the Mak Chiks (aunties) in the kampung back home....

As I was telling Lesly of My Asian Kitchen...I too was making clay pot chicken rice....remembered to take picture when almost finished eating....loser...Son love to have his chicken rice steamed, so I put his rice in a big pot to steam...he said he doesn't like the burnt rice at the bottom of the clay pot. Today is raining again and Hubby have to work in the morning...after Kumon tuition, Son and I went out to breakfast...and on the way Son said he felt like having Fish and Chip for dinner.....So after breakfast we stopped at Costco and got some Cod fish and some coleslaw for salad. Son likes onion rings instead of potato chips and as for Hubby, he likes fish crackers, so I have a bit of everything to please everyone. The batter for my fish is a recipe from the Food Network...I like this recipe because the batter is not thick after deep frying. Here is the recipe:-

For the fries:

1 gallon safflower oil
4 large Russet potatoes
Kosher salt

For the batter:

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Dash Old Bay Seasoning
1 bottle brown beer, cold
1 1/2 pounds firm-fleshed whitefish (tilapia, pollock, cod), cut into 1-ounce strips
Cornstarch, for dredging

Directions

Heat oven to 200 degrees F.

Heat the safflower oil in a 5-quart Dutch oven over high heat until it reaches 320 degrees.

Using a V-slicer with a wide blade, slice the potatoes with the skin on. Place in a large bowl with cold water.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cayenne pepper, and Old Bay seasoning. Whisk in the beer until the batter is completely smooth and free of any lumps. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Note: The batter can be made up to 1 hour ahead of time.

Drain potatoes thoroughly, removing any excess water. When oil reaches 320 degrees, submerge the potatoes in the oil. Working in small batches, fry for 2 to 3 minutes until they are pale and floppy. Remove from oil, drain, and cool to room temperature.

Increase the temperature of the oil to 375 degrees. Re-immerse fries and cook until crisp and golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove and drain on roasting rack. Season with kosher salt while hot and hold in the oven.

Allow oil to return to 350 degrees. Lightly dredge fish strips in cornstarch. Working in small batches, dip the fish into batter and immerse into hot oil. When the batter is set, turn the pieces of fish over and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Drain the fish on the roasting rack. Serve with malt vinegar.