E turns 4!

 We just celebrated E's birthday over CNY. He was requesting for a rainbow cake and i decided to accept the challenge! I studied several recipes since January and finally decided on one. It took me an entire morning and afternoon to make 6 layers with 2 cake pans. I was popping in and out for other errands in between so i was super stressed. I never made buttercream successfully before either so i was really worried it wouldn't turn out well. Whilst trying to level one of the layers, the knife slipped and shaved off the skin and a small part of nail of my right thumb. 😣 it was a bit hard to stop the bleeding. I was so worried the cake won't be done on time. Alas, i am happy to announce i did it!!

Seeing the smile on his face and how happy he was, every ounce of sweat/stress/blood was worth it. He was beaming so proudly. 😊😍 Time flies, i cannot believe he's 4. He's growing up too fast. He is such a blessing from the Lord.

The weekend brought unexpected weather changes too. It snowed crazily on friday and we had a nice walk on saturday in the park. Really beautiful... Probably the last snowfall we will see for a long time. But a season for everything, as it says in Ecclesiastes. I pray i may learn to let go and embrace the changes that await.  

CNY in Geneva

 This will be our second CNY here. Missing the CNY snacks at home and company. Tried my hand at more CNY snacks this year. I'm proud to say that most were edible and people really liked the almond cookies! It was nice bringing smiles amidst the gloomy atmosphere of winter and worsening COVID rates.

Almond cookies

Crispy Nori snack

Fried crabsticks - but not really crispy

Looking forward to receiving the special food parcel from home! 💖😃

2 weeks ago, France decided that people who enter need to get a PCR test done. So the day before we rushed to get our CNY food from the asian grocer and stood in line for 45mins to pay! Thankful that our SG neighbor also has 2 refrigerators so we could keep the food there. Sigh! When will this madness end?? Thank God for His providence, the promise of His presence and His perspective. Wishing all you lovelies a happy and safe lunar new year. 

The start of 2021

 I decided E needed a haircut before school opens... #mybad 😭😱😲 He squirmed a little but the final part when I shaved off half his fringe was because i became too ambitious. M was horrified. So was I. I could not look at him for awhile, waves of guilt wash over me each time he grins at me... I am the worst mom ever, I think to myself. He looks like a kid with tinea capitis (fungal infection of the scalp).  

Poor kid, still doesn't know what has happened...

Made this for New Year's dinner with our friends, nasi lemak!

We made some good friends here and they will be returning to SG in April... Will miss their company for a few months. Each time we meet up for dinner and talk about the impending return, it's a bit sad. They had to run some errands that day and left their kid with me for the morning. We made minion cupcakes together- it was not too chaotic. PHEW!!

Holiday feasts

 On Christmas eve, we had some friends over and we are happy to announce that we can make our own baked ham and roast beef! We spent the week stressing about the dinner and we even got a thermometer probe to get the cooking right. I was in charge of the ham and M did the beef. It was good. Haha but when I get back to SG, chances are I would just order it from Cold Storage!! 😄

My ham with apricot glaze, like the deco??

M's roast beef

Krispie Christmas Tree!

Spaghetti meatball ring

We also went to the Asian supermarket and bought stuff to make our own HK Cha Chan Teng 😂. We had a crazy time laughing as we joked and heated up all the ready made dim sums and set the table. All to the sound of chinese restaurant music (instrumental guzheng type, you get what i mean!).

So that was the holidays for us. We were home mostly but it was nice. My in laws sent us a Christmas present which kept M and i busy for almost a week. It was difficult because the resolution was poor. We had to give up eventually because of the white bit of sky on the top left corner- every piece looked the same and it was impossible to fit everyone of them perfectly!! So frustrating!!

It was a cool gift though- a picture of the 3 of us in Vatican City

COVID can't steal Christmas!

The month is flying by... This year, we got ourselves advent calendars for entertainment. Never heard of them before we came to Geneva. Then last Christmas, we saw these cute little things that help to count down to Christmas but it was too late then. So this year we got some and i think we overdid it a little. 😂 It seemed like yesterday we opened Day 1... It's now Day 22. 

  It was fun doing them together with E. It was our family bonding activity every evening.

Next week, it'll be new year. However, this month I've already started to try and figure out what's happened this year and where i am spiritually. The start of the month brought some turmoil as i struggled to believe that God was really enough for me. However, God has not left me to deal with the deceitful feelings of my heart alone. Thankfully, in His great love and mercy, before i acknowledged i needed Him, He gave Jesus to save me (Eph 2:4-5). My heart will still ache at unanswered prayers and i am struggling from time to time to believe He is enough. Yet, to know that He knows how much i struggle and yet still loves me... 

Christmas is way quieter than it was last year. However, COVID ain't taking Christmas away because it can't take Jesus away. In a way, i'm thankful for COVID stealing away what Christmas is not supposed to be about- parties, christmas markets, etc.

Amazing puff pastry!!

The last few weeks i suddenly had some rush of inspiration again! With puff pastry. 

Mille feuille

Fruit puff

Char Siu Soh

Puff pastry is the best!! I'm so going to miss it when i go home... 

December and the Christmas tree

 Yesterday was the start of December. It's scary thinking of how time flies. I know i've said it many times but i still feel compelled to say it again. Last weekend, we went to get our real Christmas tree and spent the day decorating it. When we were at the shop, i reminisced about how i was so reluctant to get a real tree last year since we never had one before- how we were gonna keep it alive for a month, if it would attract some bugs into the house, how to dispose the tree blah blah... This year, i was really excited. I'm a convert. Plus i told M, it's our last Geneva Christmas so let's go all out. Then he looked at me and said "it may not be..." I glared at him. We are due for home next year and M has been talked to by bosses on each side about the end of posting. This has been on our nightly prayer list, that God would make straight the paths so that we don't have to go through the agony of deciding what to do. 

Anyhow, the tree was put up and we had so much fun decorating it! E was particularly well behaved until sunday night... Actually it wasn't completely his fault. He was just being a kid. M was in the room attending cell group on Zoom. I was cooking dinner and E was playing on his own. He was really excited about the tree so he stood up on the Poang kids' armchair and pretended his reindeer soft toy was munching at the leaves. I was busy and my back was facing him. I could only hear him saying "Mama see the reindeer loves the leaves so he is eating all of it... crunch crunch crunch..."

And then DISASTER. THE TREE FELL OUT OF THE STAND. It's 1.85m, taller than me and pretty heavy. It came crashing down, shortly missing the dining table. I panicked because i knew M would flip. On hindsight, i was ashamed that i didn't thank God first that E wasn't hurt. I was just so mad with the kid. Poor thing, at first he laughed but he started to cry when he saw how mad i was. He got the vacuum and helped clear the fallen leaves. Thankfully too, the fragile glass ornaments fell on the carpet and nothing broke. They were all collected from our travels.

What was hilarious was how good he was for the rest of the night. He stayed away from the tree and M put the tree back and quickly returned to the Zoom meeting, promising to return at dinner and give E a good scolding. E was so worried and i told him that if remained good till dinner and let me cook in peace, i would put in a good word for him later when his father returned. He kept bugging me and telling me he heard footsteps and that Papa was coming (all imaginations of his mind). I almost went mad telling him not to freak out and that i will help him. This kid... so maddening and yet so lovable at the same time. 😖