Dust to Dust

Did it occur to you that as you grow older you are less house proud? I did not realize it until I received an email from Darlene (my step daughter’s mum) one morning. This was what she shared with me. I thought it is worth sharing so please spend sometime to read it. This is SO TRUE! My house is more dusty now, I have figured it out finally, have you?

QUOTE:

"A house becomes a home when you can write 

'I love you' on the furniture .  

I used to spend at least 8 hours every weekend 
making sure things were just  perfect - 
'in case someone came over' 
Finally I realized one day that no-one came over; 
they were all out living life and having fun!

NOW, when people visit, I don't have to explain the 'condition' of my house.

They are more interested in hearing about the things I've been doing while I was away living life and having fun.

If you  haven't  figured this out yet, please heed this advice. Live is short, Enjoy it.

But  wouldn't it be better to paint a picture or write a letter,   bake cookies or a cake and lick the spoon or plant a seed,   than ponder the difference between want and need?

Dust if you must, but there's not much time....

with wine to drink , rivers to swim and  mountains to climb ,   music to hear and books to read, friends to cherish 
and life to lead.  

Dust if you must,

but the world's out there with the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair, a flutter of snow, a shower of rain.  This day will not come around again.  

Dust if you must , but bear in mind, 
old age will come and it's not kind...

And  when you go - and go you must - you,  yourself will make more  dust!

It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what  kind of life you have lived."

So now, stop dusting and go bake yourself a carrot cake. It is so simple to do.This cake is rich and moist. The grated carrot with nuts, raisins and spices give the cake a great flavor and when covered with a tangy and sweet cream cheese frosting, it taste DIVINE! Have a slice with a cup of hot coffee or tea. Relax and ENJOY!

The recipe was posted last year and I believe many of you have missed it. When we had a bloggers gathering early this year at my home, Sonia of Nasi Lemak Lover and her kids, Reese of Reese Kitchen and her daughter, Swee San of The Sweet Spot and Pei-Lin of Dodol Mochi all have tasted my carrot cake and loved it.  Sonia of Nasi Lemak Lover baked this cake sometime this September with some modification to the cream frosting and she was very pleased with the result. Recently, Mel of Through the Kitchen Door baked this too and said she finally found THE carrot cake recipe after trying a few others. For those who are still looking for a tested and tasted easy carrot cake recipe, seek no more, this is it!

Bake if you must, click on the photo below to get the recipe. 

Carrot Cake 

Women can talk all night long!

These were the gifts from my cheerful blogger friends.  Many thanks for the thoughtful gifts and an enjoyable day! 

Last Saturday I invited my blogger friends to my house for lunch and I started cooking and baking on Friday afternoon. Those who came were Swee San of The Sweet Spot,  Reese of Reese Kitchen and she brought with her a basket of fruits, Sonia of Nasi Lemak Lovers, she gave me the dried blue flowers which can be used to make a kind of nyonya kueh.  Not forgetting Pei-Lin of Dodol Mochi came with two big bags of her HUGE American Chocolate Chips cookies.   Do check their blogs out for they have lots of yummy recipes and eye candy food photos! 

Sonia and her kids were the first to arrive. As her kids need to go for tuition, they got to have lunch first without the others. However, I am glad to meet her kids and we had a nice visit. Her eldest son seemed to love my garlic butter mushrooms.  Next came Reese and her cutie daughter Cheryl. While Reese and I visited, Cheryl entertained herself playing games on my iPAD. She is a great kid. Oh, Reese and Cheryl love my lemon curd mousse. Finally, we had Swee San and Pei-Lin and they managed to catch up with Reese for a short while before she had to leave to send Cheryl to her swimming class. These are what mothers do when their kids are young. They always put their kids' interest before their own.

So left the three of us, Swee San, Pei-Lin and me.  Swee San said she likes the grilled vegetables and Pei-Lin, what did you say you like?  LOL! We ate and chat the whole afternoon till late night. Yes, it is not a typo, "till late night". You must be wondering what is there to talk about when we just met not long ago and hardly know each right? I was surprised too because our age different is huge. Both these lovely ladies can be my daughters but we seem to have the same wave length. Well, we touched on many subjects and one is about "FEAR" particularly, "Fear of gossip".  I remembered I read a book about human's eight basic fears and how they ruin our life.  If we can overcome those fears, we will be a much happier person.  I can proudly say that "Fear of gossip" is one that I have overcame long time ago.  To me, the best way to deal with it is to ignore it and let it die a naturally death.  There are many other subjects we touch on and time flies when our mouths are moving. LOL! We did not realised that it was 11pm until Swee San said “Oh, we better go.”  Can you believe that? No wonder men say women can talk all night long. I agree with them.  We can share almost everything with our girlfriends. We get comfort out of talking and usually female are better listening than male, do you agree with me?   I have many girlfriends who are dear friends to me. I have those who share my passion of dancing and eating. Another group are my classmates from kindergarden to high school. We meet and catch up always and now I made a new group of friends from the food blogging community who I can learn a lot from about cooking, baking and food photography. Best of all, I get to meet the local bloggers in person.  Isn't blogging amazing? If possible, I would love to meet in person with all of you someday. Are you now curious what we had for lunch? There you go!

The Menu for the lunch:

Garlic Butter Mushroom (click to get the recipe)

Cold Frittata (click to get the recipe and just put in the fridge for 24 hours before serving). You can be creative with the ingredients.

Grilled vegetables (click to get the recipe)

Roasted pumpkin with rosemary & thyme 

Mango Shrimp cocktail 

Herb pork sausage in spicy tomato sauce 

Lemon Curb mousse 

Unfortunately I have no time to take photos or write out the recipes for above but I promise it will be up soon.

Carrot Cake (Click to get the recipe)

Carrot Cake - Featured at Bakeolicious on 10 Nov 2010

This is an all time favorite cake of my family and friends. My dear friend Diana asked me for the recipe last week and I just got to bake this cake today and here it is:D


Carrot Cake

Ingredients:
3/4 cup granulated sugar.
2 cups sieved all purpose flour.
1 tsp. salt.
1 tsp. Cinnamon, ½ tsp Nutmeg
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed.
1 tsp. baking powder.
1 tsp. baking soda.
3 cups finely shredded carrots
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil.
2 tsps. vanilla.
4 large eggs.
1/2 cup chopped nuts (walnuts are good, but any nut will do).
1/2 cup raisins.


Method:
1. Grease and flour or lined with baking sheets a 8” x 3” round tall pan.
2. Stir together dry ingredients.
3. Squeeze out some of the juice from the shredded carrots
4. Now add to the dry mixture, the carrots, eggs, oil, and vanilla.
5. Beat about 2 to 3 minutes until well mixed.
6. Stir in the nuts and raisins.
7. Bake at 325 degrees for about 50 to 60 minutes.
8. Cool on a wire rack.

Cream Cheese Frosting with Sour Cream

2/3 cup icing sugar
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
½ cup sour cream

Seive the icing sugar and set aside.  Beat 1/2 cup sour cream and cream cheese in large bowl until well blended. Add  1 tea spoon at a time the icing sugar.  Spread frosting over cooled cake.