Go Karting

There was one last birthday surprise for Graham and we figured we would do it during the week after school was over. So that meant later in June, and right before LA county reopening!  We definitely didn't want to mingle too much with the crowd.

Graham and Charlie were definitely excited!

We bought wristbands for unlimited rides in 2 hours.  Woohoo!!!

After checking out the few rides, the boys started with the bumper cars:

I would probably get whiplash from this!

This ride was a one and done.  Maybe it would have been more fun with more people???

Next one... drifting!

Charlie couldn't quite figure it out but Graham was definitely trying it out!  He crashed a couple of times and had to be pushed back out onto the track:

They looks so cute in those little cars:

Graham was really getting the hang of "drifting"!

Here's another video: https://youtu.be/NT4en0GlTb0

Graham is in the red cart and Charlie is in the yellow one.

There was only one other track that the boys were tall enough to ride the Go Kart:

We could view them from the bottom track, through the fence here.  It's a bit loud! And they weren't even going too fast here as it was their last lap:

... Or go up the stairs and see them on the top track:

I'm glad I made them wear their big hats.  It was hot!

Bobby and I decided to sit everything out so looks like the boys will have one more chance to do Go Karting again before school reopens in the Fall.

Here's a video of them on this track: https://youtu.be/FEx_XfaVzK0

Obviously not a lot of people!  Maybe we'll have to invite a few more friends next time.

Okay, time for a few arcade games before heading out:

Charlie loves to shoot stuff!

And Graham is always so tempted with these "claw" games. When is he going to learn that the chances are so super slim in getting a toy!

The boys did walk away empty handed but not before going to Ikea nearby and getting some meatballs and a cinnamon bun.  Ha!

Another successful outing!  And there will be plenty more now that school is officially out and Bobby will be free starting next week too! :-)

Attempt at Chocolate cake

It's been a while since I last baked a real chocolate cake.  Especially with its own chocolate frosting as well.  But I figured since it's the only way my good friend will accept payment for taking me shopping for my birthday, it's the least I can do!

There was actually another chocolate pie that I wanted to bake but somehow, I couldn't find the recipe.  So my next best was this rich chocolate layer cake. At least that's how it looked in the photo in my cooking magazine and hopefully it will turn out, as this is my first time making it!

I definitely need to clear up my kitchen for some more counterspace!  That combination of dark chocolate and Dutch-processed cocoa powder was so yummy :-)

Okay, into the oven! 

I had to poke it a few times to see if it was done.  I'm suppose to use 2 round 8" or 9" pans but I didn't really want a round cake.  So I thought of just using a rectangular one and cutting it into half:

While the cake is cooling, it's time to make the frosting. I totally needed a refresher course on my food processor. Ha!  The only thing that I didn't like about the frosting was the use of corn syrup.  It did call for light corn syrup.  Somehow I don't remember using that for any other frosting before.  Either way, the frosting turned out yummy too! I used some semi-sweet chocolate instead of milk chocolate chips:

Those are Charlie's hands by the way, doing the "Ta da!" for me.  Since I wanted to really try how it tasted, I had to just cut off the edges on both sides.  One side for me and other side for the boys. Looking pretty good!

I guess that's the only thing about baking isn't it... you have no idea what it tastes like until spending all that time putting it all together and then baking it:

YUMMM!!!  So come to find out, the very edge was a bit dry but when you poke into the inside of the cake, it was really nice and moist.  I hope my friend enjoys this!

I'll have to work on my presentation skills and also frosting skills.  Probably need to get a better plate too. It was the only one that was big enough that I had available at the time.  

Looks pretty similar to the one in the magazine??! He he...

Since it looked pretty bland, I thought I'd throw some blueberries on top.  Ya, again - need to work on my presentation skills.  Ha ha!

Charlie already said that he wants this same cake for his birthday. Well, I have plenty of instant espresso left that I bought online! :-D

Creating Batik

The boys and I had a chance to create some "batik" recently.  It's actually an artform that is very popular is Malaysia.  Coincidentally, it's one of the subscription projects that came in the mail for us!

So first, we have to "wax" our pattern onto the piece of cloth.  It was a bit difficult to control the flow of wax coming out of this gadget:

This one is Grahams - very simple:

Charlie on the other hand, got really complicated with his design!

The painting or more like dying process was a bit simpler than drawing with wax.  Basically, the dye will soak in on the areas that are not waxed.  Charlie is super happy with his work!

I'm just glad there were no spill ups:

Ta da! These two boys couldn't be more different:

I decided to draw a peacock - actually the one that I saw at the Getty Villa:

Remember this one?

Not quite exactly the same, but figured I'd mix it up a little bit:

And then I couldn't figure out how to color it.  We were only given 4 dye colors:

And here is mine. Not too shabby :-)

And the final step is to get rid of all that wax.  This was such a messy process.  We had to put the cloth into a bag that's filled with water, and then put that into the microwave for about 3-4 minutes:

Charlie had so much wax in it I had to double "boil" in the microwave!  Look at all that leftover wax in the plastic bag:

And then you had to be careful not to over-boil so to speak because then the dye might run into your entire work.  Yikes!

After the "boiling" process, I had to rinse it out with lukewarm water.  I was so concerned about the access wax getting into the drain.  We obviously don't need to clog up our drain again. So much wax residue everywhere!

Phew! Finally... after a few more washes, it is all done!

We may have kept it out in the sun for too long as the color faded a bit more than what appeared here.  Graham's is super cute.  I kept asking if he would just color it all in, but he was just happy with the blue splatters like that:

And look how complicated Charlie's turned out.  Ha!  That's this kid for you:

My peacock drawing might need some help but I thought the colors turned out ok :-)

What a fun project! Although that wax removal process was a pain in the butt!  We still have a lot of wax and dye left so we'll see what other batik we can make later this summer. We've already done the one camp that I had signed up for, so there's lots of time and summer left!

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's been over 2 weeks since my birthday and I haven't even had a chance to post about it yet!  The boys had golf camp last week and I guess that really took up a lot of time.  Although, it was really just a half-day program, so I'm not exactly sure where all that time went?!

We didn't do too much for my birthday, which was fine as we had just spent an afternoon at the Getty Villa the day before.  It was a nice day at home and we ate a lot of food and there were lots of presents to open.  So what's in the huge birthday bag you ask??!

It's the Life boardgame!  Hmm... I'm not exactly sure if this one was for me:

I know I always ask for Polynesian sauce when I'm at Chick-fil-a, but what am I going to do with an entire bottle of it without the chicken sandwich?  Ha ha!  This was obviously Bobby's idea :-P

A lounge floater! Hmm... probably something else the boys wanted for their trip to the swimming pool?  Ha ha!

Okay, here we go - an LA Kings t-shirt:

A new pair of sunglasses!  Purple... my favorite color:

Bobby also bought me a nice pretty necklace:

And a pretty wrap dress!

Unfortunately, the dress did not fit and I tried to return it, but since it was a sale item - the store would not take it back!  Booo... now what? Looks like I'll have to figure something else with it.  I do love the pattern and fabric.

The boys also bought me a nice smelling candle.  Perhaps it will help with all the stress they give me. Ha!

Love the cards, especially with Charlie's butterfly drawings.  He's been drawing them like that since our days in Abu Dhabi:

I mean how cute is this:

Looks like we're spending part of the day playing "Life" today:

And while we play, Bobby is picking up some brunch from our favorite diner.  I even got a birthday note from them.  Too cute!

Yummy pork carnitas with an over-easy egg, smothered with a yummy sauce and beans, and a side of hash browns.  There's also a couple pieces of tortillas buried under all that.  No wonder we are getting more "round" these days.  Ha ha!

As if brunch wasn't enough, it was time to get some cake and tea at a local bakery:

We were going to drive into downtown LA to try out a bakery that we saw on a TV show, but after yesterday's long drive to and back from Malibu, we figured it would just be something closer today.

Unfortunately, my matcha latte was a bit cold but these little fried red-bean doughy balls were super yummy! They reminded me of the ones we got from my hometown growing up in Kota Kinabalu (in Sabah, Malaysia):

I'd say it was a pretty successful road trip for cake.  Plus, I even got a neck massage on the way home, courtesy of Charlie in the backseat :-)

I thought these flowers were dead but look, they are finally blooming today!  A plus for my birthday:

And also received some gifts from my sister - a nice gift card and also a paint-by-number! I'm not sure if I'm going to thank her for that yet.  I ended up with a headache the next day when I started working on it one night!

Last but not least, dinner (take-out) from our favorite Chinese restaurant:

I love my noodles and braised beef soup!

And only way to end a birthday is to blow out a candle on another red-bean bun :-D

Phew! That was a lot of eating in one day!  

And my good friend Linda showed up a few days later and gave me my own little yogurt maker! 

I haven't had a chance to make any yet.  Will keep you all posted on that!  

Another fun birthday!  I can't complain. Or maybe Bobby does owe me that trip around the Porsche race track next year ;-P