Saturday, 30th January 2021

Dear Diary,

How to start? I have stopped writing my diary loooong time ago, when I was still single.  

I have been blessed with a nice husband and healthy children, have a roof on top of our health, did work from home for awhile and went out working for 2.5 years before I feel something is wrong with my left elbow and on both shoulders.  They have been aching since early 2020 but me being me, I just ignore the pain thinking "They will go away, probably just muscle pull".  But no, the pain is still there.  It did go away during lockdown (covid-19) because I didn't work as much but after lockdown is finished and I go back to work again, the pain came back.  In October 2020, I had to go to see a doctor who told me don't work too much (being a cleaner, I used to work up to 27 hours a week).  In November 2020 I went to get an ultrasound and x-ray, found out I have tendonitis on my left elbow and supraspinatus substance tear on my right shoulder.  My last work of 2020 was on 23rd December 2020, the last 2.5 week of work was a big struggle and 1.5 week before my last day of work, I didn't work much hour at all.

This makes me think about myself, my body, my mental health, have I really like REALLY taking care of myself?  No... no I have not.  It is never too late.  That is why I chose health first and resigned from my job.  My dreams is working from home where I can still take care of children.  I don't want to loose moments with them, I want to be there for them, I think all Mothers are.  Blessed All Mothers (all beings, human or non human).

I have been following my friend: Poppy Glejita's Instagram @glejita_yoga for a while, seeing her becoming fitter and fitter, lifting her body weight easily, seeing her become muscly and even her journey in Yoga.  In 2 of her posts: 1 post was showing how to bend properly and 1 post was showing how to align our spine properly before doing squats.  Those are interesting!!!  I have followed and even bought fitness program from IG people but None of them are showing this.  This is very important not just to avoid back pain but also for posture.

From our short chat on Wednesday, 27th January 2021, I found out that my shoulders are not symmetrical, my left shoulder is a little bit higher than my right.  Without me telling her the full details of my health, she asked me if my right shoulder is the aching shoulder.  I was so surprised!  So I told her what happened and asked if her LYT Yoga method can assist me with this (aching and unsymmetrical shoulder), she said "Yes".

So I have been practising how to get my posture correctly when I am sitting, driving, standing and even now as I am typing this.  

I will have 2 physiotherapy sessions next week and will also -hopefully- connect with @glejita_yoga via zoom.

Looking forward to the process of getting back to healthy again.

My favourite mantra, I learned from Late Louise Hay: "All is well in my World".  I know no matter what happens in my life, everything is going to be alright. Another diary post on Louise Hay.

Thank you for spending time reading this.

All is well in Your World 🙏 💓

An Update on 22nd December 2020 ~ 3 days until Christmas!!

 Hello Peeps!!

Thank you for stopping by 💝

Well this blog has been neglected for quite a long time 😃

All because, I have been posting all of cooking on my facebook
and then on my cooking YouTube channel: Lena TB.
If you like Asian cooking, mostly my Mother's recipes, please check it out.

I also have another YouTube channel for my crafting videos: Made by LT.  

My 2 newest uploads are:

Video on Making Felt Hydrangea Brooches.

and

Video on Assembling Cute Felt Crow.

I will be uploading more videos after Christmas 2020 😉

so stay tune 💝

Stay in touch via 

Facebook: LTs Little Shop

Instagram: made.by.lt

YouTube channels Made by LT for crafting video tutorials

and  Lena TB for cooking recipes.

If you make any of my cooking or crafting,

please leave a comment, I would love to hear from you 😊

Please subscribe to see more of my Cooking and Crafting videos.

Thank you for watching 💜💛💚💙

Stay Well and Stay Safe 💗

Baked "mac" Cauliflower and Cheese

Mac and cheese without macaroni!

There are lots of recipes out there.  This one was adapted from Jamie Oliver's 30 minutes meal recipes.

Preheat fan forced oven 180 C or 200 C for conventional oven.

Ingredients:

1 cauliflower.

3 carrots.

2 knobs of butter.

2 garlic.

3 button mushrooms.

A small package of nitrites free bacon.

Dried oregano and thyme.

2 Tbsp of plain flour.

500 ml milk.

Salt and pepper.

Steamed: cauliflower florets and chopped carrots.

Toast: wholemeal bread, or any bread of your choice.  I used 4 small sizes, different brand have different size of bread.  Then i cut them using butter knife, set aside.

Sauce:
In a hot pan add 2 knobs of butter.
Cook until melted, add chopped bacon and cook for few minutes.
Then add chopped garlic, cook until fragrant.
Add thinly sliced mushrooms, cook briefly.
Add plain flour, mix well.
Then gradually add milk and mixing it in at the same time.
Add steamed cauliflower and carrots, add cheese of your choice.  I used mozzarella because that's what's available in my fridge.  You can use cheddar cheese like Jamie Oliver.
Into baking tray.
Top with chopped toastef bread.
Bake for 45 minutes.
Done.

My family loves this, my children got loads of vegetables in their "system".

It may look weird but we love the crunchiness of toasted bread on top of this "mac and cheese" wannabe.  

One thing i forgot to add chicken, protein is important!  

I would cook chopped chicken thigh fillets first without oil or butter until it's almost cooked, then add butter and follow the rest of the steps.

Next time i will make this using Jamie Oliver's broccoli sauce!

Until then, Happy Eating!

Halloween Cookies 2016

Last year, apart from Halloween Cat Cupcakes and Ghost Fashion Cupcakes,

I also made these Halloween cookies and I forgot to post it.

 

They were vanilla sugar cookies decorated with fondant.

Thank you for looking (^_^)

How I make Rose Leaves

A reminder for me how i made rose leaves in the past.

Green gum paste and leaf veiner.

Cut to size and veined.

Here it is on my hand, love the indentation.

Smear a little sugar glue on floral wire then insert it into the leaf.

Here they are.

Use fondant modelling tool to create the edges

by pulling them out.

Use confectioners glaze so they look shiny.

I made some with wires, some not.

Here they are with extra large rose on a wedding cake.
Pretty!!

Thank you for looking (^_^)

How I prepare 12" Square Cake

Another photos to remind me on how I prepare large 12" square cake.

Have cakes ready, trim the tops.

See some left over plates? yuuummm!!

Clean the cake board properly then clean it again with vinegar, then with alcohol.

Make chocolate ganache in advance, then heat it up in the microwave, be careful to not over-heating them.  You can see how I store my chocolate ganache here, trouble shooting for over-heating chocolate ganache here and white chocolate ganache here.

Prepare simple sugar syrup.

Brush syrup on each cake layer before adding ganache.

Ganached square cakes.

These are not cakes in the above photo.

I didn't have the final ganached cake.

I had this on my files.

So the 12" square cake was bought by Hilary's husband, Matt, for her 40th birthday.

How romantic...

When I made this cake, cellphone doesn't take good photo quality, so here it is small size photo and a bit blurry.

The next year, Matt ordered another birthday for Hilary, another big cake!

Thank you for your trust, Matt!!  :)

Thank you for looking (^_^)

How I save White Chocolate Ganache

So found this old photos on my computer.

Thought I share them here, as a reminder for myself if I ever step into caking world again.

I remember was making white chocolate ganache but multi-tasking, doing something else at the same time.  I thought I was very good in multi-taking....not!!

This is the photo of overheating white chocolate ganache.

you can see caramelly bits on it. 

I couldn't throw them into the bit, the chocolate was expensive.

So I try to strained them.

 They come out perfect!! 

They are freshly made, so I left them "rest" overnight before use them tomorrow on cakes.

Always let chocolate or white chocolate ganache "rest" overnight before using.

Thank you for looking (^_^)