Moments in My Life

Do you know we are currently experiencing the lowest mortgage rates for real estate? If you are planning to get cash out or refi or if you want to buy any property, this may be the time. Remember to stop by AAXA to check out their lowest mortgage interest rates and program.  I find their website full with information that every borrower may find useful.  They have different programs that you can compare and read about before deciding which one to choose.

Real estate prices have fallen quite a bit since the last quarter and there is an increase in foreclosures too. If you have enough cash flow, you may want to invest in real estate as this is the time to buy.

We have quite a bit of equity built up in our home.  In near future we may consider of refi for cash out.  We can use the cash to invest on a second home in a better school district, or may be getting ourselves a new car.  We’ll see how the market goes.  If the real estate price goes down more, we may go ahead and use it as down payment for our home.

This is the second time I made coconut agar-agar. First time was a failure. I halved the recipe from here but didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to be. So this second time around, I mingle with the ingredients and got the texture I wanted. 

This is my recipe:

100ml coconut milk
400ml water
50g sugar
1.5 tsp telephone brand agar-agar
pandan leave for flavor/fragrant

1. Add coconut milk and water to the pot.
2. Add sugar.
3. Add agar-agar.
4. Throw the pandan leave into the mixture.
5. Turn on the heat and let it boil slowly while stirring.
6. Strain the mixture into the mold (I used the pyrex 8×8 pan).

7. Chill it before serving.
8. Use cookie cutter to cut the shapes you want.

Time: 10 minutes (not including chiling time)

My home is an old home. It was built back in the 1950s. The exterior walls are not insulated so the heat escapes easily. We have central heating but the temperature always falls back lower after a little while. Every morning we wakes up, I feel so cold. I wrapped myself with several layers of robes and towels before the central heater warms the whole house.

At times like that is best for me to have one of those portable propane heaters to warm up a small area or room since there are only two persons in the house during the day time.  We spend most of our daytime in the dining and kitchen area. Rather than turning on the whole central heater to warm out the whole house, I can save the energy and money by using the portable heater.

Here were the food I made for Brandon’s birthday party at the park.

I baked a dozen of mango cupcake the day before the party and decorated them early in the morning. The topping was chocolate buttercream, and top with two slices of strawberries and a small mango slice. Then I sprinkled the stars confetti on the side.

We bought seedless red grapes and green grapes, oranges, strawberries and one mango for the fruit bowl. I cleaned and washed all them the day before. I cut them and mixed them the next morning before the party.

We also got some mini croissants and deli meats from Sam’s club on Friday. Then we went to the Korean market and got tomatoes as well as the green leaf lettuce, and Mozzarella deli cheese from Albertsons. After I finished with the fruit bowl, I made these mini croissants. It is easy to make and they are delicious too. I cut the croissant using a pair of scissors. First layered with lettuce, then with the turkey and ham meat, then the cheese, then with thin slices of tomatoes and top with some Japanese mayonaise.

The last thing I made that morning was these egg Teddy Sandwiches for the kids. I cut the bread with a teddy shaped cookie cutter and decorated the eyes and mouth with pieces of carrot. Then individually placed each in the aluminum foil liner.

The night before I also made some rainbow jellos and coconut agar-agar with sago which I cut and served individually in aluminum foil liner. But these weren’t that popular as I think it was too cold in the morning.

While baking the cupcakes the evening before, I’ve come to realize that I won’t be able to bake that many cupcakes since Brandon was giving me a hard time working in the kitchen. So at 5:30pm I called Torrance Bakery to make sure they are still open and went down to place an order for an Elmo Chocolate cake for the party. Initially, I was planning to bake at least 20 mini cupcakes (marble) and 24 regular cupcakes (12 vanilla, 12 mango), but only able to finished a dozen mango cupcakes. Luckily, I was still able to place the order for the next morning pick up. Love this cake. Too bad, I didn’t have more than I wanted to because I came down with the cough and the sweetness in this cake just made me cough more. This is a 1/4 sheet chocolate cake with buttercream filling and buttercream topping. It cost $39.00.