What better gift for a birthday girl and the perfect dessert for a Sunday Church Luncheon tomorrow if not a yummy cake? If I had not secretly whipped this pink darling up in the kitchen , Henry would have attempted to devour all the little coloured pearls. Sam was of course thrilled to bits and squelled to know why I have not included her in this baking project. Richard, as quirky as ever, demanded his usual request, " I want to eat cake, Mooooom ! "

21/07/08 9pm. Tomorrow will be a busy morning as I promised Soon Siang to conduct a preschooler baking lesson at Championkids Kindergarten and I can't wait to see the children's thrilled little faces. An excellent teaching opportunity to expound on the origins of their flour, sugar, eggs and butter ! ( No, Henry, flour is not talcum.... )

Tonight's experiment would hopefully guarantee an impressive attempt tomorrow.

Recipe For Butter Cream Frosting

Ingredients ( 12 cup cakes)

150 g Butter - softened

250 g Icing sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

2 tsp. Hot water

Method

1. Beat together the butter and sugar with an electric beater.

2. Once well combined, add the vanilla and hot water. Beat until smooth and creamy.

3. Decorate the top of the cup cakes as desired.

Idle hands and boredom took a toll us just before midnight and as imaginary supper menu was brewing in the children's mind, I searched high and low for the 'secret recipe' , last tried and tested to prepare some for a Boardgaming Ladies Night. By the time it was found, the children couldn't contain their excitement at the potential of creating a storm in the kitchen. Their Storm!

This much craved pastry is very easy to bake, basically a concoction of sugar, butter, eggs and flour ! You will find this an easy feat of delicous desert to impress your boss 'ehem', mother-in-laws, lovers (boys, don't be shy to display that hidden talent) .You may even make mini ones for children's parties or a high tea at home .

Recipe
Ingredients (Pastry)

1 small egg
125 g butter
50 g icing sugar
250 g plain flour

Method

. Mix the icing sugar and butter until white.

. Add the egg and flour until it forms a dough. Fold the flour in 2 parts to enable an even mixture. An electric mixer will work wonders if you have one.




. Brush the tin moulds with a light coat of oil or butter to prevent the pastry from sticking to the moulds. Press the dough onto the mould.

.Preheat the oven at 180oC for 20 min, then bake the moulds for 20 min.

Ingredients ( Filling )

100 g sugar

5 eggs ( remove two egg whites )

200 mls water

Method

. Melt the sugar in 200 mls of boiling water. Allow the sugar syrup to cool .

. Beat the eggs and add to the sugar syrup.

. Stir and pour into the baked moulds.

. Then bake egg tarts at the same temperature for 20 mins.

I chose the easy way out of baking both the moulds and eggs at the same time in an aluminium wok (suitable for baking ) for 15 mins only. Caution : keep an eye not to overdo the eggs or burn the bottom.

Voila! Success

Needless to say, my tarts were like magic. The brood of rugrats ( dad & kids) performed the disappearing act before I can recite A to Z !

For more egg tart recipes http://allrecipes.com/recipe/hong-kong-style-egg-tarts/detail.aspx

A hand went up in the back of the room. 'How can he do that?

'Who do what?' asked Miss Gates patiently.

'I mean how can Hitler just put a lot of folks in a pen like that, looks like the govamint'd stop him,' said the owner of the hand.

' Hitler is the government, 'said Miss Gates, and seizing an opportunity to make education dynamic, she went to the blackboard. She printed D E M O C R A C Y in large letters.' Democracy, 'she said. 'Does anybody has a definition?'

' Us, ' somebody said.

I raised my hand, remembering an old campaign slogan Atticus had once told me about.

' " Equal rights for all, special privileges for none! ", I quoted.

'Very good, Jean Louise, very good, Miss Gates smiled. In front of DEMOCRACY, she printed WE ARE A. ' Now class, say it together : " We are a democracy ".'

We said it. Then Miss gates said, ' That's the difference between America and Germany. We are a democracy and Germany is a dictatorship. Dictatorship. Dictatorship,' she said. ' Over here we don't believe in persecuting anybody. Persecution comes from people who are prejudiced. Pre-ju-dice, ' she enunciated carefully. 'The are no better people in the world than the Jews, and why Hitler doesn't think so is a mystery to me.'

An inquiring soul in the middle of the room said , ' Why don't they like the Jews, you reckon, Miss Gates ?'

'I don't know, Henry. They contribute to every society they live in, and most of all, they are a deeply religious people . Hitler's trying to do away with religion, so maybe he doesnt like them for that reason.'

Cecil spoke up. 'Well I dont know for certain,' he said, ' they're supposed to change money or something', but that ain't no cause to persecute 'em.They're white, ain't they?'

Miss Gates said, ' When you get to high school, Cecil, you'll learn that the Jews have been persecuted since the beginning of history, even driven out of their own country.It's one of the most terrible stories in history.

........I said, ' I wanna ask you somethin' .'


' Shoot.' He put down his book and stretched his legs.

'Miss Gates is a nice lady, ain't she?

'Why sure,' said Jem. 'I liked her when I was in her room.'

'She hates Hitler a lot....'

'What's wrong with that?'

'Well, she went on today about how bad it was him treatin' the Jews like that. Jem, it's not right to persecute anybody, is it? I mean have mean thoughts about anybody, even, is it?

'Gracious no, Scout. What's eating you?'

'Well, coming out of the court-house that night Miss Gates was - she was going down the steps in front of us, you musta not seen her - she was talking with Miss Stephanie Crawford. I heard it's time somebody taught 'em a lesson, they were gettin' way above themselves, an' the next thing they think they can do is marry us. Jem, how can you hate Hitler so bad an' then turn around and be ugly about folks right at home - ?'

Harper Lee left us a legacy. A legacy to jolt and impose awakening from the prejudices we perceived to be innocuous , that we may postulate behind our religious mask not very different from a Pharisee.

What do we want to do about that? That lost of conscience deemed right by our peers, our colleagues, our society at large? 'So what, everybody thinks like that?' attitude.

Not me.I will refuse to be a MISTAKE.

TO BE CONTINUED...