Strawberry Tunnel Cake

It was for Lydia's Birthday in 2015.

My MIL was around and will be flying off two days before her actual birthday. So, I made a 'less-cream' cake to suit the taste buds of the elderly family members. I brought the cake over to my in law's that night.

Strawberry Doughnut Cake

Two years ago, Lydia asked for a Doughnut cake on her 7th birthday.
Pink doughnut with sprinkles....
I made the cake earlier in the day. Did the strawberry syrup and reheated it to complete the glaze at night.

The only food colouring on this cake came with the sprinkles.

Princess Belle Doll Cake with Mango

*All photos are taken with my phone Iphone 4s

My 2nd girl, Lyanne was once crazy about all things yellow... and that makes Belle her favourite Disney Princess.

Back in 2013, I made her this cake to celebrate her 5th Birthday.

I do try my best to make cakes without food colouring and the best way to make a yellow princess cake, is to use mango. And the mango slices made a nice frilly dress..... I love the outcome of this cake.

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

My 2nd daughter was going to have a bithday party and she asked for a Mermaid themed party.

As I planned out the menu, I thought of making a finger food menu, food that can be eaten without cutlery. And I will try to incorporate as many homemade food as possible. And most importantly, food that can be prepared in advance and reheated on that day.

One of which I planned was chicken nuggets as dear daughter doesn't eat Chicken, as in chicken, but she eats chicken nuggets. Cooking for her is always a headache as she can happily say no to everything and eat plain rice happily. So, to make things better, I decided to make them myself, in the shape of fish to suit her theme.

Fruit Pie Cake, Frozen themed for my Lyanne

Happy New Year!

A last minute decision to bake. Her birthday was on 31st Dec, just few days back.

I celebrated Lyanne's birthday few days earlier with a red velvet snowflake cake (to be blogged next time) ... and when it was her real day.... I felt bad not making her a Frozen themed cake. She had been asking for an Elsa cake as well weeks before. I had a meeting until 4pm and rushed to the shop to get something related to Elsa or Frozen. I only managed to get these mini figurines at RM18.90. Plastic and so expensive. But thinking they can play with it after the cake was gone, I bought it.

I had 2 hours to get it done.
Now a Frozen themed cake... there must be snow. A quick cake with white snowy look..... so I made this cake that I once made for my niece.

Lydia's 6th Birthday Party

Around 3 weeks back, I organized a small party for Lydia who turned 6. Never before have I done a kid's party that is for kids. Well, I've done her other parties, but it was adult's majority, big majority. So the food had the adults in mind, more. This time, it was for 13 kids (5 didn't come), and a few adults.

I raced for days to clean up the house properly. I am quite a hoarder and it takes time for me to discard things, so this was a good push for me. And tried to bake some stuff that can be done in advance. So many things came to me that week, and each hour was sooo precious.

Mickey Mouse Cake - Kiddy Cakes #3

I know that if I don't make a Mickey cake this year, I won't know when I'll get that chance again. Kids grow up pretty fast.

This Mickey shirt has gone thru all the phases with my kids, yes all three of them. This shirt, although intended for 3M, have lasted until each kid is over 2yo. I won't discard this shirt.. will be keeping it as long as I can. Sweet memories :) It is still in acceptable condition, considering it's been used for almost 6 years., and my kids wear this very very often, as in, weekly!

Reuben's Gallery - Random Sunday

I know you don't see Reuben as much as the girls. He doesn't like the cameras as much as the sisters, plus, well you know, he's the 3rd kid. There will be less pictures, much less, compared to the 1st kid. It's a fact.

So, here are some pictures that I have collaged, Enjoy!

Reuben is 1 today!

Last year on this day, I gave birth to my only son.

It was a prayer answered. I prayed that I will have a delivery in the afternoon because for the 2 girls, I was hecticly rushed to the hospital at 5.30am.

This boy is nicknamed "Kim Soon" in Hokkien meaning gold grandson. LOL. The only male grandchild.

But he ain't going to be pampered, not by this tyrant mom. I promise him he'll wash dishes, sweep the floor when he is old enough for it.

How to make Choux Pastry - Random Sunday

I think this is the recipe that I recieve the most questions about, mostly on technique.
Choux Pastry is the basic pastry dough for profiteroles(cream puff), beignets, eclairs, churros, french crullers and Gateau St. Honore. It just depends on how it is piped and cooked (baked or fried).

Last December, for my 3rd Uncle's 3 year Memorial Service, I was in charge of the refreshments after the service. I prepared 4 items, Kek Batik/ Hedgehog slice, Wholemeal Cha Siew Pau (recipe to be coming up much later), Sambal Bilis Sandwiches and the last item is this. Choux puffs filled with strawberry cream. I chose to make cream puffs because I could make them way ahead.

Kumquat Blueberry Orange Cake and an Elephant for Lyanne - Kumquat #1

Lyanne turned 3 last Dec 31st. Phew! She's 3. Time flies. She's not as chatty as Lydia, special in her own way. Handy in the kitchen, loves podding beans, peeling chestnuts and make cookies! And once she comes in to help, she stays until the end. Sweet girl. She just started Kindergarden, in a 4 year old class, but she's just 3 years and 5 days old. I worried..but I think she's doing fine. She loves school.

She loves elephants. So, I made her an elephant cake. I was hoping it'll be something like Elly of Pocoyo. It wasn't very much like Elly, but haha, a cousin of mine said it's Elly the moment she saw it. So, I think.... I think... I think I am successful .. I think.

Candy Cane Steamed Buns - Red Green Week #1

My girls had a blast with these. They had fun "making" them and had fun eating them.

Macarons with Blueberry Compote Buttercream - Blueberry Week # 2

Last 2 weeks when I went to KL to meet up with fellow bloggers like Swee San, Reese, Sonia, Ann and Veronica, Swee San brought a box of macarons. She knew my first experience with macarons was a nightmare. When she described in her blog that it was sweet til the roots of my teeth, it was actually understated. The fact was, it was so sweet that it burned my throat. She had been hoping that I would one day change my mind about these sugary UFOs. When I took the ones that she made and ate one, I was surprised that it was a lot more pleasant. It was sweet no doubt, but not that that crazily sweet that I can’t swallow. But after that, it was ok. Macarons are meant to be sweet, so don’t go about finding one that is not sweet, just not crazily sweet.

Lydia's Rainbow Cake - Birthday Week #3

Remember I asked Lydia what cake she wanted? Her first answer was rainbow cake. So, I thought of making her an upright rainbow cake. The rainbow will be nestled on clouds on a bed of 'sky'.And the cake will be brought to kindergarden to be shared with friends. Only kids will be able to take on so much 'colours'.

Chocolate Feather Bed for my BIL - Birthday Week #2

The 2nd cake of the week. Yes, I made 3 birthday cakes within 6 days. Lydia's 2nd cake will be posted on Friday. I'm finding time to get the pictures done. Not easy to squeeze time. Which is why my posts are rarely 2 weeks fresh. :p

I made this cake for my one and only BIL, Mike's younger brother Nic. He likes cream cakes, and last year I made him a not so successful Chocolate Banana Cake. His birthday and Lydia's is just 3 days apart :)

Lydia's First 4th Birthday Cake - Purple Sweet Potato Chiffon- Birthday Week #1

 

My dearie Lydia turned 4 last week on 28th. This year she has grown a lot, luckily vertically. A lot of her clothes can't fit already. Turning from one of the shorter ones to one of the taller ones in class.

As usual I make her 2 cakes. I can't let the presense of baby Reuben to change anything. I asked her, what cake she wants... Rainbow cake. 2 weeks later, she asked for Flower Cake. But too bad, I already had something in mind as her first cake.

Meet Mr R??

Hihihi!

First of all, thank you for all the well wishes and concern conveyed. I truly appreciate them.

Secondly, I'm fine, alive and kicking, fed well, resting well and everything's well.

Thirdly, sorry for not posting Mr R's picture for so long. His name is actually............ not confirmed, but then again, I'll still give out the gift according to the original intended name.

The winners are..................... *drum roll*

Elin and Mary Ng. Please email me for mailing address.

Reuben 蔡尚文, that's his name. But my dearie is going to change them, BOTH. Sigh, it's really brain cracking. 
I really loved Reuben, ever since I had Lydia, if she had been a boy, I would've wanted to name her Reuben, which meant "First Son", but she is a girl. So, when I finally got a boy, I wanted Reuben. But alas, few days back, I realized, when combined with his surname, he could be given a very vulgar nickname in Cantonese. Something that I truly want to avoid. So, had to settle for another name. We still have  5 days to dateline to name him and hopefully we will be able to come up with it.


Now, since he will not be called Reuben, Let's call him Di-di, which meant little brother in Chinese, until he gets his name.

Di-di was good to me. The day I was supposed to be induced, June 1, I was dilated and having mild contractions(detected on the CTG), very very much to my delight! The doctor wanted to burst my water bag and put me on drip to induce me. I told him, "No". Being a third timer, haha, I knew what I want. I told him, I want to wait since I'm already dilated and contracting. And so, he only inserted a tablet in me to help with dilation and allowed me to wait...... it was 830am.


3pm, Doc came and checked my dilation, going on very well. He wanted to burst my bag again, I said no! I was having contractions, every 5 minutes. Still bearable. I want the pain to slowly build up rather than come too fast too soon too quick for me to handle.


4pm, I told my hubby to call the nurse to give me Pethidine. The pain seemed to be getting worse, and I'm not holding it well. Nurse then asked me why I didn't allow doc to burst my bag at 3pm just now. She said, it might take a long time until I get into labour and will be in pain for a much longer time. 


430pm, the Pethidine seems to be not working. I told the nurse. I wasn't groggy, the pain is still the same.


445pm, I asked for Gas. Pain is getting stronger.


5pm, 8cm dilated. Absolutely groggy with gas. Midwife found that my membrane was missing, so I have actually burst my own bag sometime ago. Well as you all know, I was low on water. How would I know. I wasn't wet at all. I might have had it gone when I went to the loo.


5.21pm, Di-di came to meet the world in his birthday suit with 2 pushes! One push less than both sisters. He's 3.16kg, with his father's nose and lips.


June 6, I went back for a check up, Doc said, "Wow, everything came so smooth and quick."
I told him, "Actually the few days before I came, I ate all the forbidden foods. Watermelon, papaya, fennel, and fenugreek, all foods that will cause contractions."
Doc laughed and said, "No wonder you were 3cm dilated when you came."


Maybe it was a coincidence that I dilated. Maybe not. I was so scared to be induced by drip that I induced myself first with foods that are supposed to cause early labour. To me, it's ok, since I'm already full term, so what's with early labour? I want to go on labour!


Haha... so, that the story. I do not know if I will get complains on this article like I did for mine on Lyanne's birth. I was told behind my back that I shouldn't have written that on my blog and it was unnecessary. But then, for those who said that, Ooooopps, I did it again! LOL.

Some of you might want to know the sisters' reaction. Whether there is any sibling rivalry or jealousy.
There is none. They both love him to bits. Sometimes too much. Lyanne always want to lay her head next to Di-di, rubbing her face against his. I just worry that she'll bang her head on him, as she is famous for her "tit tou goong", which meant, steel head kungfu.
Lydia will always want to carry Di-di. So, I asked her to sit down on the couch, firmly sitting deep with back rested, and place Di-di on her lap, teaching her to support him with her arms. But one thing I do worry is that she attempts to carry him from his bouncer whenever he cries. 
But so far, they both show deep affection for him, which is great.

Both pictures taken the night that I came back with Di-Di.

I'm back!

Sorry for being MIA for so long.

Initially I thought, I'd be moving, I mean, moving major stuff the following week after my announcement. But one of my contractors delayed me for a week, and then finished off the job 2 weeks later (he said he'd complete the job within 4 days, but took more than 2 weeks to do so). During this time, I was running to and fro the old and new house many times in a day and it was very tiring. I only started sowly transfering my stuff over when the cabinets were finally completed. The old and new place were just 10 minutes apart, but going few times in a day during 3rd trimester is no fun.

I was lucky to have my in laws helping me clean up the new place. My FIL did my garden for me and most of the drilling. My MIL did most of the new house cleaning. If it's not for them, I'll be dead meat doing all these. Where's my hubby? Haha, diligently working of course and becoming my driver. He didn't allow me to drive much during this pregnancy. Well, I've been having mood swings this time and it sure does scare the hell out of him, hahah!

I finally moved in and had my first night in the new place on 30th April. It sure does feel good that I can finally rest assured that I won't be stuck at my old place when my baby arrives. It's not that I don't like my old place, but it's so bare in the end, and my butt was still there was what scared me. It's no fun sleeping in an almost bare place, with only necessities like my kid's milk supply, TV, Milo and biscuits. We didn't move everything but only the smaller stuff which is like 90% of what we owned. The new place's big stuff were mostly new, like major electrical appliances and furniture, as we have already anticipated to move since 4 years back.

After I moved in, only then I started preparing for my baby's arrival. I packed my hospital bag, collected baby clothes from my cousin, washed them, dried them, folded and kept them in a clean plastic drawer. It took a while to prepare the temp baby room(for confinement lady and baby) as I needed to wait for the tiler to do something there and then get some of the old stuff moved in. And it's finally done now. Another moment of relief.

Now, it's the time to do final arrangements in the house, with all the excess in the store room, still in bags, boxes or whatever to be arranged and put at the right places. I can slowly do this part as there's no rush for it.

Relieved, yes I am. And I can finally blog again....but my laptop is not in good condition now. I had to do a repair thingy everyday before I could luckily turn it on. Hubby's planning to get me a desk top. Well, actually it's an excuse for him to get a desktop so that he can start his games again. LOL. He hasn't been playing much computer games since he got laptops for himself and I.

Last Fri, I went to see my doc and my baby. He's at 2.6kg now. At 38 weeks, it's quite small. Small in comparison to my girls. Lyanne was almost 4kg when she was born! Yikes! So far, I've gain only 3kg. Yes. 3kg ONLY. The least so far. Both Lydia and Lyanne's time were like 5kg only. Yes, only 5kg. Haha. I'm weird, where people gain weight and size during pregnancies but I shrink. I have always been heavy, yes, very heavy. And during pregnancies, one can see my arms and thighs shrinking. My family and friends have always found this to be humourous. Some even like to look at my still deep belly button and laugh at it, saying "Oh, u still have belly button". LOL. Whenever I go to buy herbs for my confnement, I always get asked, "Why buy so early? You still have a long way to go.", But I'm oredi in my 9th month!!! So, you can actually guess how I look now. I only look like 5 months preggers, according to most ladies telling me.

Ooohhh... I've been talking so much. Maybe it's been so so long since I've shared anything.

We only finalized our boy's name lately. The Chinese name was selected by my hubby with the middle name following the family's poem. And the Christian name was shortlisted by me and selected by Lydia.

********************

Now, a little fun.
Correctly guess the name of my boy and I'll send u something. A can of Nestle Dulce de Leche (only for Malaysians as postage is very expensive) or 3 pods of Tahitian Vanilla Beans (anywhere in the world).  One gift for the first correct answer for each name.

Tips:
Christian name starts with "R"
Chinese name has less than 7 strokes. The middle name is 尚. Ask your friends if u know NO Chinese. It's a common word that is easy to write.

If u get both names correct, you get 2 gifts from me.

Happy guessing and the answer will be given when you see his face on my blog :)

Simple rules to the game:
1. Giveaway is open to anyone from anywhere.
2. Two Chinese names and one Christian name per person. Any extra guesses and the whole submission will not be counted.
3. Absolutely anonymous guesses will not be counted. Leave me a name.
4. Closing date is.... before I announce the answer.

I won't be posting daily anymore, but I'll try my best to post weekly trios.
I promised pics of my new kitchen, that'll have to come later, I've not fully settled everything.

 : )

Eggs baked in Ham and Potato Hash - Potato Week # 1

A week of school break passed by so quickly. Now that Lydia is in kindergarden, I do feel the spirit of school holidays, the breath of relief that I do not need to wake up that early to prepare her, hahahaha!!

Well, I didn't go anywhere except back to my mom's for a few days and meeting up with Lena over for lunch. I didn't take any pictures with her, except that to tell you, she's a very nice lady. She came to pick me up at my mom's as I didn't drive that time, wasn't allowed to! We chatted for almost.... 4 hours. Hahaha, if it's not for the rain, it'll be even longer. Thanks Lena for the tarts, my nieces walloped every piece except for one that I ate. Hahah!

I had been sewing and sewing during the school break. 14 windows and glass doors needs to be adorned with curtains, which brings to 14 pairs of curtains and 13 pairs of screens, which comes to 27 pairs = 54 pieces of curtains!!! Crazy? Yes. My SIL asked me, why didn't I just pay to get it done. Gosh, if you have invested in a good sewing machine and yet pay thousands to get the curtains... then the machine would've gone wasted. I only used less than RM600 for 54 pieces of curtains. Less than 10% of what I would've been charged to get it done.

Many years back, I bought a book at Doulos. If you have no idea what Doulos is, it’s a ship that sells books. Yes, you go on the ship and buy books!!! It was only RM10 for a 256 colour filled country kitchen cookbook. A steal, so I didn’t really look through.

That time, I wasn’t exposed much to western food, besides what fast food outlets offer or, Steak houses(The Ship, Victoria Station, and the rest), so called western food that are all steaks, potatoes and boiled vege. When I flipped the book when I got home, I was only interested in 1 recipe, Duck Casserole with Chestnuts. The rest seemed unappetizing to me. Casseroles and everything jumbled up in one pan is not my thing that time.

Now, as I grew older, and as my cooking knowledge increases through blogging and surfing, I seem to go beyond the looks and look into the recipes.
Few days back (or months back), while chatting with Pei-Lin, I flipped through this book again, and I just found myself mesmerized by so so many of the recipes in a book I once made a white elephant.

Here’s the first recipe I tried from this white elephant that will now be made a treasure trove.

Eggs baked in Ham and Potato Hash
Recipe source: Country Cook's Companion by Liz Trigg
Servings: 4

200gm cooked ham (I used ham chips, and requested for the thicker chips)
200gm cooked russet potatoes (2 medium sized ones)
1 can of corn nibbles (the large one, I added this, because it's on the brink of expiry. It wasn't in the recipe itself)

3 pieces sliced cheddar cheese (That's the only cheese I have)
1 medium sized onion (about 70gm)
2 Tbsp Ketchup (I forgot to put, and it'll definately taste better with this)
200ml whipping cream (I put this in last minute because I was worried about the dish being dry)
4 eggs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
50gm butter
1 heaped tsp chopped fresh rosemary (I had a pot of this, had**)
Some parsley for garnish

Method:

1. Dice ham, potatoes, cheese and chop the onion.
2. Preheat oven at 160/180
3. In a pan, melt half the butter and and pour the butter into a 8 inch baking dish/4 small dishes. Swirl the butter around and pour back into the pan.
4. Put in chopped rosemary and let it heat for few seconds. Pour rosemary infused butter into a bowl, Set aside.
5. Melt remaining butter and cook the onions until soft.
6. Pour the onions into a large bowl and put in ham, potatoes, cheese, and ketchup.
7. Taste. If not salty enough, season with salt and pepper.
8. Spread the mixture in the buttered dish/dishes.
9. Make 4 wells in the dish/dishes (picture above), drizzle in the whipping cream and bake for 15 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and pour egg into the wells and and drizzle the rosemary infused butter over the dish.
11. Bake for another 15-20 minutes until eggs are set.
12. Garnish with parsley and serve.

My kids loved this dish. Especially Lydia

Picture taken months ago, they do look older now.

Steamed Pumpkin Muffins

For mothers out there, pregnancy is a wonderful experience. The changes that one goes thru thoughout the pregnancy is sometimes weird and unanticipated.

I've heard of people eating toothpaste, eating shoe polish or some find clay to be tasty. Disgusting, right? But I've only heard about such incidences where those people actually consume a limited diet, and they might be malnourished in some way and the body makes then comsume something that in nature contains the nutrient that the mother so needed. I've never heard of funny stories from people who lived in town, or consumes a veriety of food and never impoverished.

In one of the schools I worked in before, the school cleaner once chatted with me, about how she survived all her pregnancies craving for toothpaste, consuming only cream crackers with chilli paste and drinking only tap water for 9 months!! The rest are all, yucks to her. And she was the one who told me stories about people who eat funny stuff, and those people are relatives of hers.  Hard to believe? But I guess it could be true. Just that we are too privileged to be in contact with people who are never deprived of proper food.

When I was pregs with Lydia, from week 5 onwards, I was binging. Eating meals, not snacks every 3 hours. I gained 4 kg in just 2 weeks. Mike looked at me in horror, to see the way that I'm eating.I told him, I can't help it, my tummy is growling furiously.  But when week 7 came by, my appetite dropped drastically. I could eat nothing except fruits. Food made from rice were the worse. From congee to vermicelli, they all smell yucks! I could look at a burger, just look. I don't feel like picking it up. And if I pick it up, I won't feel like biting. And if I finally bit into it, I don't feel like chewing. After chewing, I don't want to swallow it. The whole eating process is just a torture to me. But if I see fruits, I can eat and eat. I dropped 7 kg throughout this difficult period. Which was 3 kg less compared to pre pregnancy. If I wasn't binging during early pregnancy, I'd lose even more.

Actually that time, my hormones were all crazy and I was having bad constipation. Constipation during pregnancy is due to the increment of progesterone. It's the way that my body reacted and helped me to overcome the problem that I was facing by rejected all foods except fruits. Taking in whatever that is needed to help the mother. When the constipation stopped at week 14, my appetite came back, in a snap! Even now, I totally believe in listening to my body. Eat when it tells u to, and don't eat when it doesn't tell u to. So, if I crave, there's no excuse for not eating. That's one pretty good excuse. Hahahaha!

This time, the pregnancy affected not my appetite, but my kitchen mojo. It hit me so bad that I don't want to wash my cup. I didn't want to touch the sink, didn't want to cook anything at all. I didn't bake anything out of fun, but only out of neccesity. I was craving for something with coconut milk, so I made and oil-less pandan chiffon. It was Mike's birthday and  I made him Chocolate Enigma Cake. With the extra cream from the cake, I baked another cake (I'll post that within this week) And I did a sponsored post with a health product that I've promised way before my pregnancy. I didn't cook a proper meal for almost 4 months!! We were eating out daily. Now that I'm at week 22, I'm pretty much the old me now. Not all there, but almost. Still not cooking 3 dishes 1 soup, but one plate meals mostly, like noodles, pasta, fried rice, and congee mostly. Won't call them one pot meals as cooking rice uses one pot and frying uses another wok. LOL.

Funny right? Hard to believe? I was still posting daily, right? hahaha! What you are seeing were usually posts so stale that they were made months ago. Haha! I still have lots of back logs to last me til I move in March.

So now, if you think that this bun in me is a sausage roll, which explained the different pregnancy experience, nah!!! Even Lydia and Lyanne weren't the same. Being pregs with Lyanne was a breeze. I loved food, especially white plain rice during the first 3 months, whereas I hated rice when I had Lydia. Both were burgers, and yet, different. Even now, both girls are very different. One is lingustic, the other technical and artistic. Haha.

Enough pregs talk, let's food talk.
This is the first thing I made, right after I got back my mojo at week 16. And I attempted this recipe twice.

First attempt flopped bad time. Simply because I read in one of the comments that aunty Yochana said the baking powder has to be double action baking powder, whereas the recipe itself called for only baking powder. My first attempt used DABP and weirdly the muffin was super dense and tasted sourish. I’ve encountered this when I simply substituted regular baking powder with DABP and my baking results were always less than acceptable.

So, with some pumpkin left, immediately I did my 2nd attempt with just regular baking powder. The results were wonderful, all smiling happily and they were all soft and fluffy. I’m now wondering how the taste will be with coconut milk… maybe next time.

Steamed Pumpkin Muffins

Adapted from Aunty Yochana

Yields12 steamed muffins (I used egg tart pans)

125gm steamed pumpkin flesh

1 egg

120gm sugar

100gm evaporated milk or coconut milk

30gm corn oil

180gm cake flour

20gm rice flour

1.5tsp baking powder

1. Prepare your steamer and bring the water to a boil

2. Put steamed pumpkin flesh, egg, sugar, milk and oil in blender and whizz for 30 seconds.

3. Sift cake flour, rice flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl.

4. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour the blended ingredients into the well. Mix until well combined.

5. Spoon into lined steaming cups and steam on high heat for 15 minutes. It will bloom by itself, no need to make a cross with oil.

Verdict:

I love this. My kids love this. My hubby the pumpkin hater said nothing. But please don't ask me if this taste like Fatt Gou, I have no idea. I've never eaten a proper fatt gou in my life, except once, a very very dry yucky one. The muffin stays soft the next day, not as soft as fresh from the steamer, but acceptable even when cold.

See Lydia's thumb????

LOL