The Queen of Kitchen Disasters

Kiddo's Potato Patties

2008-06-09T21:06:00.004+08:00

Made some potato patties for my girl - decided to give her a break from porridge :P

I forgot to take some photos of the proper shaped patties, only have some that I mashed up when I was reheating it for dinner!

Anyway, I'm posting it since 2 mummies "raved" about it (quite kind to complement my cooking) and requested for the recipe.

Princess' Patties

Ingredients

1 large potato - peeled and cubed into 1 inch bits

2 small shallots (or 1 small onion) - finely chopped

1 small heap of finely grated carrot (use the smallest holes) (about 2 to 3 tablespoon)

a handful of spinach or other green leafy veggies - washed, squeezed dry and finely chopped

1 tablespoon of meat - finely grounded or mince (I used pork)

1 egg

Method

1. Cover the cubed potatoes with water in a pan and add a pinch of salt. Boiled till cooked. Alternatively, cover the cubed potatoes with water in microwavable bowl, add a pinch of salt, and microwave on high for 8 minutes (or till cooked). Drain and mash. Set aside.

2. Heat non-stick frying pan, add 1 teaspoon of oil and shallots and turned to low heat. Cooked till translucent (not brown). Add meat. Season with a little salt/ light soy sauce and pepper - it should be slightly over salted. Add carrots and spinach and mix well. Fry till cooked.

3. Remove meat and veggies from pan, into the bowl containing the mash potatoes. Mix well. Add egg and stir to combine thoroughly.

4. Hear non-stick frying pan on low heat and use a little oil to oil the pan (use a piece of kitchen towel to mop the oil all over the pan). Add spoonfuls of the egg-potato-meat mixture and slowly cook. You need to flip it to cook it like a pancake. Try not to "burn" it on high heat - we should not be introducing carcinogens to them at such a young age!

Tips: You can add peas, brocolli, etc too. It's really up to you! If you are using fish, cook the fish and then flake it - there's not need to mince or chop it before cooking.

Hope your kiddos like it!

Moving on to Corn

2008-05-01T16:52:00.003+08:00

Babies are not suppose to eat corn till they are 18 months, but I wanted to try it out, since the soup stock I prepare already include corn.

For today, I tried making a "stew" for her. I had the leftover corn cobs from the last time I made the soup stock (frozen), so I thought that I might as well give it a try.

I cut off the corn, threw them into my blender and add some water and blitz it. Wanted to sieve it too, but couldn't find my metal sieve, so I gave up since my puny plastic sieve would probably give way if I tried to extract the corn "juice" from the pulp.

To my 1 cup of soup stock with a piece of frozen carrot, I added

50g of mince pork (chicken if you prefer)

1 finely chopped potato (shred it if you prefer) (the powdery type)

the corn "juice"

I also added a tablespoon of rice to thicken it.

Verdict? She loves it! She was happily eating it with her own spoon too (she's trying to self feed now) so I'm quite happy that my efforts didn't go to waste.

Soup Stock Ingredients
Carrots
Corn
Chicken breasts

What I do with leftover Chicken breasts meat? Shred it, add lemon, pepper, finely chopped onions and japanese mayonnaise. Yummy sandwich spread!

Purple pancakes

2008-04-27T10:23:00.002+08:00

This reminded me so much of my girl's first solids. Then I had bought organic purple sweet potato, and after all the mashing and straining, it looked like purple goo.

Today it was slightly better, I made blueberry pancakes and we both loved it. She had a pancake all by herself. The size of the pancake was probably 6 cm in diameter.

The following recipe would probably serve 4 adults, but if you are making it for non pancake lovers or non berries lover (like my hubby), you probably should halve the recipe. Leftover batter should be made into pancakes and frozen for later consumption.

Blueberry Pancakes

Ingredients
Group A
1 cup buttermilk*
1 pat of butter, about 50g or 3 tablespoon
2 tablespoon sugar
2 eggs

GroupB
2 cups self-raising flour

Group C
1 cup blueberries (I used frozen ones)

Method:
1. Add buttermilk, sugar and butter in a glass or enamel cookingware and heat gently till sugar and butter has melted. Leave it to cool. I cheat by pouring it into a bowl and leaving it in the freezer.

2. Once above is cooled, beat in eggs until combined.

3. Add flour and mix till combined. Add blueberries and mix well. Batter will be thick.

4. When making the pancakes, use the back of the ladle to smoothen out and thin the batter out on the pan. It will be quite difficult to cook thoroughly if the pancake is too thick.

Texture wise, it will be slightly chewy, but fluffy. Perfect for my girl to hold it in her hands to eat without it falling into bits and pieces!

* If you do not have buttermilk, you can use 1 cup full cream milk and 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice. Mix and stir before use. It will curdle slightly.**

** If using lemon juice, consider adding the lemon zest to the batter as well.

I actually can cook fish!

2008-02-15T19:38:00.002+08:00

I had to cook fish for tomorrow's dinner (the guest doesn't eat any other meat) so I went to do some shopping, bought 2 fishes (exactly the same type - sea bream) and came back to experiment on one for dinner (it will be exactly the same fish cooked the same style tomorrow).

To my dismay, the preserved mustard greens I bought (going to do a teochew style steam fish) was SWEET - it wasn't even in the least bit sour. The preserved sour plum? All saltiness with no hint of sourness too. *sigh* The bottle of white vinegar came into good use. I scooped out the required amount of perserved mustard greens and then "marinated" in the vinegar. The fish "stabbed" me with its fin and it was so painful =( I trimmed off all the fins and what nots, slashed the fish 3 times diagonally, then rubbed some salt all over the fish. I then put some sliced ginger in the cavity and the areas which had been slashed. I pour the mustard green over the fish, add some water and some chinese mushroom. I had to use my biggest serving plate and the wok which had been retired for quite some time.

Thankfully the results came out quite yummy I must say. I actually ate 1/4 the fish, given that I don't really appreciate fish. I forgot about the tomatoes and I didn't think my sun dried tomatoes would make it, so luckily the vinegar made up for the sourness in taste.

Let's just hope tomorrow's fish will be a success too!

P/S: This would be officially the 3rd time I actually tried to steam fish since I got married - needless to say the first 2 times were dismal, so well, it's 3rd time lucky!

Upgrading my skills

2008-01-15T23:45:00.001+08:00

I've decided to pursue my interest in baking a bit more, now that we are settling down as a family and I have a bit more time on my hands.

So I went through a cupcake decorating class - fun! It helped that I had company, CH, to attend the class together.

So I had been musing for a while, and I finally decided to plonk down $$ for 2 more decorating class! I signed myself up for a Wilton Cake Decorating Course Level 1 which cost me $270. It will start sometime next month I think. The other class I signed up for was a Valentine Cookies Bouquet thingy. Sounds fun and I hope I will have fun. Hopefully the reciepient of the cookies won't complain about it being ugly!

I plan to do a bit more cooking, rather than baking, since now my girl is on solids. I've already planned her menu and cooking processes I need to do up to make life a breeze. I may be working full-time, but it doesn't excuse me from not preparing food for my girl. It's not difficult, just a little more time spent cleaning up and getting ready the ingredients. But, it will be time well spent, don't you think so?

Prawns done thai style

2008-01-15T23:05:00.001+08:00

Wanted to cook some prawns (saw the recipe in my cookbook) over the weekend so I did my due diligence in getting the prawns, the lemongrass, etc etc.

Then when I was preparing dinner, to my horror, my cookbook was missing. I still had no idea where it went so I shelved the idea for the day, chuck the prawns back into the fridge and did what I could with the rest of the dishes.

The next day, I literally hunt for the cookbook. Alas, it was not even at my facourite place for stashing cookbooks aka the loo. *sigh* So, I search the internet for a recipe, trying to look for something I had already in mind. In the end, I just mish mash the ideas I had from the internet and did my own thing (which probably isn't anything new). Amazingly, it turned pretty good!

Fako Thai Style Prawns

250g prawns (medium to large works best - less cleaning to do!)
- you have to shell (leaving the tails intact), butterfly* and devein them. Drain and leave aside.
* to butterfly a prawn, just turn it on its side, slice along the spine, open up and flatten it.

2 stalks of lemongrass
- peel off the outer layers until you can smell the aroma.
- cut the lemongrass into 2 sections, white and green.
- finely chop the white section - put aside in a small glass/ ceramic mixing bowl.
- cut the green sections into 2 inch lengths - put aside.

4 bunches of coriander leaves
- wash thoroughly, including the roots.
- slice the roots from the leaves. Chop the roots and 2 bunches of leaves finely. Add to the mixing bowl.
- roughly chop the remaining 2 bunches and put aside.

4 chilli padis
- wash and chop finely. Add to mixing bowl.

1 cm knob of ginger
- peel and chop finely. Add to mixing bowl.

Add approximately 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to the mixing bowl. Mix well.

Divide the paste into portions as required - depending on how many prawns you get for 250g!

Take a portion and spread it along the cut spine. Do not use bare hands as the chilli in the paste will make your hands smart! Repeat until all the prawns have been "stuffed". Place in a glass or ceramic bowl/ plate.

There will be some liquid left in the mixing bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of water to the bowl and then drizzle over the prawns.

Let the prawns marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour before cooking it.

To cook:
1. Heat 3 tablespoon of oil and add the green sections of the lemongrass.
2. Fry till fragrant and add the prawns. The paste will fall out of the prawn's spine, but it's ok.
3. Fry till the prawns is almost cooked and then add in the remaining coriander leaves.

I personally will fry till some of the paste turn golden in the pan before I off the fire, but it's your own preference!

Sorry, no pics of the done prawns - the ones that you see above are in my fridge now! The ones I did over the weekend are already out of my system :P I'll see if I remember to take some pics tomm!

Butter Cookies

2007-06-16T20:50:00.000+08:00

I hadn't baked in the longest time, the last "adventure" being my annual Christmas cakes last December.

Before I returned to the daily grind of work, I decided I MUST bake something.

Usually, given that I had the urge to bake, I'll normally choose to bake a cake, since I find it a whole lot easier than cookies. However, since I was pouring over my 3 ingredient cookbook, I found this recipe which seem simple enough so lure me back to the cookie baking business.

The ingredients that were called for:
1 cup Butter (I used SCS salted butter)
2/3 cup lightly packed soft brown sugar (The recipe originally called for golden granulated sugar)
2 and 2/3 cup Plain Flour
Plus Demera Sugar to roll the cookie dough in (I added some edible red glitter too)

I also added 2 teaspoon vanilla essence and some red food colouring (I wanted pink cookies! but they turned out peachy colour :P)

The method? Oh so simple!

1. Heat the oven to 160 degree Celsius.
2. Cream butter and sugar together till fluffy. Add Vanilla essence and beat a little more.
3. Stir in flour and mix into a soft dough (non sticky!).
4. Tear a piece of baking paper and shape the dough into a long roll on it. You can have it round or square or rectangle.
5. On one side of the baking paper, sprinkle a thick layer of demera sugar.
6. Coat the dough with the sugar. Wrapped with the baking paper when done.
7. Put into the fridge to chill for at least 30 mins (I put mine overnight).
8. Unwrap the dough and cut into slices. Place on baking sheet (I put a layer of baking paper on top) at least an inch apart. The cookie will still expand somewhat.
9. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or till golden brown (depends on how big your cookies are).
10. Tadah! Lovely with coffee, tea or just on its own!

Enjoy!

Recipe for Sugi Cookies (Chinese style)

2007-02-05T21:48:00.001+08:00

We finally verified the amount of ingredients for the cookies and figured out some issues, so enjoy the cookies!

Sugi Cookies

Ingredients A
600g plain flour
200g icing sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoon baking soda (You can add 1 teaspoon instead if you dislike the taste of baking soda)
1 teaspoon baking powder

Ingredients B
3/4 rice bowls/ 250ml Corn Oil

Ingredients C
1 egg yolk plus 1 egg lightly beaten with 4 drops of egg yellow food colouring

Method
1. Sift ingredients A together 3 times (VERY IMPORTANT).

2. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, pour oil into the center. Mix well into a crumbly dough. Let the dough rest in the mixing bowl for 30 minutes to 1 hour, covered with a wet towel.

3. Divide and roll into balls. Poke the center with the sharper end of a chopstick. Brush with egg wash. Baked at 150°C for 30 minutes (Preheat Oven for at least 20 minutes before baking).

If the cookies taste floury, it means the cookie is under cooked.

Optional:
Add 200g almonds – toasted/ dry fry in a work till fragrant and coarsely grounded the almonds when cooled. Add a bit more oil if dough is too dry. Additional sugar is not required.

Hi hi for 2007!

2007-01-28T12:08:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Sorry I've hadn't really been bloggin even at the new site. I'm pregnant and I'm due to give birth in April (hopefully she doesn't decide to pop out early) and hence the inactivity for my cooking/ baking blogs.

For the sugi cookies, if you can wait, I'll post up sometime after next week. We are going to make some next saturday and confirm the actual amount of baking soda and powder to be used for the cookies ;P somehow after the process, the amount for everything else was remembered and accounted for, just the raising agent.

And if you interested in the progress of my pregnancy, you can check it out at muminthemaking.blogspot.com.

I'm sorry if everything is so scattered and all over the place, as you can see I'm not the best person to organise your files or papers in your office. However, I do excel in organising things to be done, just get me an assistant to do the cleaning up :P

2006-06-04T17:39:00.000+08:00

Hi Hi ...

updates ...

I'm moving to my blog to www.popoheads.com/blog.

see you there!

Chocolate shopping blitz coming up!

2006-05-08T09:56:00.000+08:00

I have decided to go shopping for the chocolate mould stuff this saturday - thinking how to get rid of my hubby first :P If he tags along, it's going to be difficult to buy what i want (well not exactly need, but if you are in the shop, you would know what i mean).

So B-I-Y it is for me this Saturday! In case you are not sure where is it, here's my directions:

It's located just outside the Newton Circus, buses included 170 and 67 (the rest i don't know cuz I don't take them). You can take the flyover from dunearn road over the Newton Circus, and it's just there on the left hand side, at the busstop before Shell petrol station.

If you want to take the MRT, get off at the Newton MRT and walk towards the Newton Hawker Center. Walk in parallel with the flyover and at the site of the hawker center , you can either use the traffic lights or use the over head bridge to get across.

If you don't see the overhead bridge and you see a school / cairnhill CC just opp you, then you are on the wrong side! Walk back towards the circus and walk towards the CTE, Cavenaugh, Rochor side.

Psst: BTW I'm on the waiting list for cake piping class and the cookie decorations class. I can't wait to go for it!

Lovely Yummy B-I-Y Chocolates

2006-05-07T17:47:00.000+08:00

Went for my chocolate mould demo today at B-I-Y (www.b-i-y.com) - it's a 30 min demo for about 6 to 7 pax ... so I got a really close up look ...

Man ... you won't believe how easy it is to make the stuff ... looks good and really EASY to make ...

I bought some stuff today, but not the chocolate making stuff as I had to rush to pick up Rascal and my new baby from the groomers before closing time. I bought some cookie lollipop stuff and i can't wait to try to out. Oh yes! Caden and Eunice, they do have the bone-shaped cutter too - but only in 1 size :P

Watch this space - soon I will have my step by step chocolate making demo here! it's THAT simple!

Thanks to Cheryl and her Mum-in law - I really had lots of fun and yummy chocolate in my tummy!

Lemongrass & Ginger Drink

2006-05-03T23:29:00.000+08:00

This is a refreshing, calming and just right after a hard day's of work or on a hot sunny afternoon. I like to sip it after I have done some housework on the weekends, or after I come home from work.

Ingredients

4 stalks of lemongrass - rinsed, bruised (use the flat of a chopper or anything to whack it), and sliced into 1 inch sections

1 5 to 10 cm piece of young ginger - cleansed, and sliced (If you want it to be more gingerly, add more. Add according to your preference.)

Water - about 1.5 litre

Sugar

Method

1. Use a heavy bottom pot (like my WMF one), add water and bring to boil. Add in ingredients and leave it on low heat/ flame for about 1 hour. (Note: using a heavy bottom pot saves you gas, cuz a little heat goes a long way once the pot is sufficiently heated).

2. Normally, I make it a bit syrupy - so I add more sugar. But if you intent to drink it as it is COLD, please add more sugar too, so you can dump in the ice cubes to cool it fast enough. If you like it hot, then add just enough sugar to your taste.

3. When sugar has melted, turn off heat and filter (you can scoop up the bits instead if you like) into your drinking or storage container.

4. If syrupy, remember to add water before drinking!

Happy drinking!

Fun coming my way on May 7

2006-04-24T12:05:00.000+08:00

Yipee!!! B-I-Y just called me and I have a slot to watch them do the chocolate mould demo! it's an FOC 30 min "class" that teaches you how to melt the chocolate and then use the mould. Chicken feet to some but *ahem* do read what's my blog is all about ok? I NEED help!

Update later! Have already eyed on a template and will get around to doing it up soon ... let's hope it will be up before my birthday!

Peanut Porridge

2006-04-18T22:18:00.000+08:00

Another comfort food for me - good for weekends when I want to destress, when I want something familiar, and something that "warms" my stomach ...

It's not a vegetarian dish - since I add dried scallops and dried oysters to the porridge base, and occasionally some chicken stock as well. I'm not sure how to make the vegetarian version, maybe just add peanuts? :P

Anyway my version requires "cooking" a soup base first, before adding the rice. So if you have a slow cooker, great! Else, erm, you probably have to so some additional hovering over the stove. What I do is, I do the "soup" in a slow cooker overnight, together with preparing the rice. The peanuts would have been soaked since the morning of making the soup.

Peanut Porridge (Cantonese style)
Ingredients
1 small packet of raw peanuts (about 1.5 ricebowl)
Dried Oysters - 8 medium pieces, rinsed (if you buy stuff from HockHua, it's the $9 tub) (see Note 1)
Dried Scallops - 2 or 3 pieces, rinsed and crumbled
Rice - 1 to 1.5 rice cooker measuring cup
Salt & pepper to taste

Method
1. Soak peanuts in water for 4 to 5 hours. I normally do it overnight together with the rice.

2. Wash rice and drain. Put the rice into a container or plastic bag, add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of oil and mix well. Leave overnight in fridge or 1 hour in room temperature.

3. Boil 1.5L of water (about 4 to 4.5 full ricebowls of water). Drain peanuts and rinse well. Add to the boiling water, together with the dried oysters and scallops. If using slow cooker, leave it on low overnight. If not, bring to a rolling boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 1 to 2 hours. You can add 1/2 bowl to 1 bowl of chicken stock. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. Bring the "soup" to a rolling boil again before adding the rice. There is no need to rinse rice again. Wait till the soup is boiling again before turning down the heat to simmer to the desire consistency (anything from 1 to 3 hours). I'll leave mine in the slow cooker for either 1 full day (eat at night) so I don't have to bother about making the soup boil before turning down the heat. Best is I get the thick, mushy porridge I grew up with! If still not salty enough, add a little light soy sauce!

(sorry pics dun seem to be working still ... it's really getting me a bit off ...)

Note 1: It seems like a lot of people DON'T like dried oysters - the taste or etc etc ... it actually does give a wonderful sweet taste to soups and porridges. What I suggest is, start small. Use the smallest dried oysters (this you can buy from NTUC prepacked ones - like less than $4), so when you cook, you don't get overwhelm by the looks of it. Big ones can look very intimidating - i know! after all i grew up in a pretty traditional cantonese cuisine environment! I dislike eating big ones too, they tend to mask out all other flavours in the dish. So small to small medium ones are just perfect!

excuses to the infinity!

2006-04-17T22:38:00.000+08:00

well, so why haven't I been blogging, esp with all the yummy food that i was cramming down my throat during my trip to japan?

i'm tired - my house is in a mess and just got it cleared (pushed everything into a bedroom) when some of the FBO gals came to visit ... i'm busy actually cuz i just changed jobs and I'm still trying to juggle both (still in transition for the old job) - and there are lots of followup on and deadlines and endless to do lists for the new one, since basically this period is on the rapid upward climb of the peak season. i was told the "breather" period is in september only.

also, i'm on the lookout for a new template to combine both of my blogs - all-in-one solution for me to muse, rave, rage, report on cooking experiments/ projects, recipes, and other things to mind. i'm thinking about kicking off a photography based project that i have been musing over on and off for the past 1.5 years.

so what should i do? blog first, decide later?

i dunno - i'm spending less time with rascal and i don't want to spend more time on my computer (even my warcraft game is seriously neglected these days) and less time with him. i'm to the point that i have outsourced my weekly bathing ritual to a grooming shop. it's costly but it saves me an hour per week to shower him, and in that hour, anger, frustration and energy to shower him, and worrying that i didn't rinse him enough, if the soap will get into his eyes ... but it comes to a point i have to get back onto it, else my bills will MOUNT and my hubby starts asking about the doggy expenses again!

there you have it ... weekends are spent pouring over the new work, and glancing at the old ones, and basically just trying to catch up with lost sleep.

i promise to get around to it soon - the longer i drag the longer i'm never going to get around it =b time to have a TO DO LIST *shudder*

i must be in heaven!

2006-04-06T11:20:00.000+08:00

passed by this store on the way to work previously, meant to check it out on the website and forgot about it until recently ...

for baking nuts, or even beginners to make something edible, this will be a wonderful store to browse in.

check it out here at http://www.b-i-y.com/

i'm not responsible for you spending money there =)

who wana go with me!

eating and eating

2006-03-26T20:49:00.000+08:00

geez i think the way we have been eating we will each put on 10 kg when we return!

hope all the walking is not in vain though - just to burn some fats at least from all the food we have been happily eating!

today breakfast was cool! we bought it from the family mart at the hotel lobby, walked to one of the parks in Shinjuku (not the Goen one), visited a temp children mini temporary zoo (shall not say if they were display cruelly :P), then walk to the main park .... then we went to this spot with 2 lovely cherry trees that were already fully bloomed (IN PINK!), pick a spot and eat our breakfast facing the trees ...

it's really fun (hadn't been to the park to have a meal with with my hubby for a long time) and certainly memorable ... my dream to see the cherry blossoms have finally been fulfilled!

Strawberry Cake

2006-03-25T18:40:00.000+08:00

If you didn't know, I'm am a sucker for Japanese style strawberrycake - the one with LOTS of cream with strawberries inbetween 2 sponge layer and more cream on top, the extremely sinful one ...

just bought one from the Odakyu food hall and spend 367 yen on one small piece. Hubby have agreed to buy the bigger one (at least 6 pieces of the size we had) which is going for about over 1000 yen> can eat it over 2 days *YUMMMM* can't wait ... tt's why no photos - just dug right into it!

Old Cucumber Soup

2006-03-24T21:01:00.000+08:00

One of my favourite soup - easy to prepare and delicious tasting! ' Old Cucumber Soup' or "lao3 huang2 gua1 tang1' is a clear light soup that supposedly clear heat from the body system. Good for hot weather or when you are 'heaty'.

Made with only 3 Ingredients, and best of all, you don't even have to peel the skin from the fruit!

Made for 2
1 old cucumber, clean well and rinsed, cut horizontally into 4 or 5 pieces, depending on how big your cucumber is.
300g lean pork, rinsed with boiling water
a handful of red dates /5 or 6 small dried oysters / 3 pieces of small scallops (about 20 cents coin in size each) - rinsed quickly

For slow cooker, just dump in everything, cover with 4 bowls of boiling water (about 1.2 liters of water - normally i boiled the required amount in my eletric kettle which has a "measurment" side or just boil 4 bowls of water) and cook for at least for 4 to 5 hours on auto mode. ADD SALT TO TASTE JUST BEFORE SERVING.

For normal pots, dump everything in 1.2 litre of BOILING WATER (remember to rinse the pork with boiling water first - else boil some water, put the pork in for 1 minute or until brown scum form on the surface and discard water, and rinse with clean water before using it). Wait till it comes to a rolling boil, before turning down to low flame and let it simmer for 3 to 4 hours. Can't wait? Then turn down to medium flames and let it boil for 1 to 2 hours. _BUT_ the soup will be more tasty the longer you boil it. ADD SALT TO TASTE JUST BEFORE SERVING.

The soup in the picture is made with dried oysters cuz I ran out of red dates. Still, if you have red dates, for a richer soup, you still can add in some oysters or scallops. Note however dried oysters and scallops are salty, so do add salt only before serving.

Besides, adding salt right in the beginning prevents the soup from obtaining the max flavour from the pork. It's the same theory, while marinading any meat that calls for sesame oil, add the sesame oil last or at least 1 hour after the rest have been mixed. This is because the oil will prevent the meat from absorbing the flavours from the rest of the seasoning.

AND THE MOST IMPORTANT TIP OF ALL - never peel off the skin from the old cucumber. This is because the flavour that comes from the old cucumber is from its skin! Please learn from the errors of my ways!

kimchi noodle soup

2006-03-21T22:48:00.000+08:00

been waiting to post about what I have been cooking recently - wanted to share some recipes that I've learnt from my colleagues as well as simple hand me down soup recipes, and not to mention cravings from my cantonese soul.

anyway, i'll prob do bit by bit over the next few days - not much pics so I guess you just have to visualize it.

I had made over the past week:
1. kimchi noodle soup
2. old cucumber soup with pork
3. black chicken herbal soup
4. peanut porridge (not vegetarian style)
5. sliced pork with lotus root shavings in spicy bean sauce

so let's start with the item 1.

well, simple for me since I already have over salted kimchi (my bro says chinchalok is very salty), so i just needed to add water and boil! But i had to boil long enough for the saltiness to be diffused with the water, so take about 30 minutes to boiling, when normally 5 minutes of boiling will suffice! So once boiling, just add noodles (i took the noodles from a maggi mee pack), boil for a further 2 minutes and it's ready to eat!

I heart books!

2006-03-17T16:50:00.000+08:00

Today went down with my colleague to Kinokuniya during lunch time and he had 6 of the 20% discount coupons. Wasn't sure what I wanted to buy but as I browse the shelves, I ended up with 5 or 6 books in my arms and I couldn't decide which to buy! Some books were a real find - in fact i was so amazed!

About 10 years ago, I was in Maui for work and I remembered very distinctively this restaurant I had dinner at. Me and my girlfriend are basically small eaters and we weren't sure what we wanted. The coolest part was that (ya i know i very suaku) the menu was recited by the waiter. How cool is that! And since we weren't sure what we wanted, the waiter (who was very friendly to us) suggested us to try this chicken with white wine sandwich. When it came, we were WOWed over. It's actually a open sandwich, but the chicken was so moist and delicious! We basically mopped up every single bit! I don't know why, but I remembered that experience at the restaurant, which is called Longhi.

http://www.hilohattie.com/images/7201.0977.jpg

Today, I found this recipe book written by the owners of Longhi Restaurant (the only copy on the shelf!) and memories of that particular trip came flooding back. It was such a nice surprise to find something that could evoke such pleasant memories of the trip. The book is shrink wrapped but YES I BOUGHT IT!!!! I couldn't resist it and since I had the 20% discount voucher, it means I HAD THE PERFECT EXCUSE!

Tonight, I will lovingly caress this book and dig out photos from my trip to Maui.

I AM THE FASTIDIOUS GOURMET

2006-03-15T23:30:00.000+08:00

Here's your personality profile!

THE FASTIDIOUS GOURMET

With a mind that's as sharp as a sushi chef's knife, you invariably reach your desired destination faster than your less disciplined colleagues. Your organizational skills are superb. Truly a practical 'take charge' type, you tend to feel most comfortable when you're in full control of the menu, the itinerary and your own remote control.

You rationalize small setbacks as golden opportunities to learn and grow. Adversity never fazes you - it whets your appetite for challenge. Rather than allow others to push your buttons, you sagely strive to understand your own psyche. That deep self-understanding usually gives rise to fast-track career advancement.

Romantically, your ideal partner is a delicious dish who will happily salivate with you over... a delicious dish. You would rather visit your favourite black pepper crab place for the hundredth time - this year - than take your chances at a trendy new eatery that hasn't yet earned its stripes. In every sector of your life, you opt for reliability over hit-or-miss experimentation.

So said the Discovery Travel & Living Channel about me!

Taiwanese Porridge

2006-03-12T10:23:00.000+08:00

I was suppose to post the kimchi verdict a few nights ago (Thursday to be exact) when first I got distracted by a puppy whose neurons are firing off a lot of new urges, then when my hubby came back, he offered to take me out for dinner.

So we decided to go to Chun Tin road, and then decide which stall to eat from when we are there.

When I saw the Taiwanese porridge, I wanted to have my dinner there, since I like porridge and I wasn't very inclined for a ultra full meal even though he's offering to treat me. Anyway, he agreed and after quick scan of the menu, we ordered the following:

1. Plain porridge for him and sweet potato porridge for me
2. Chow Lala (some kind of clams)
3. Sambal kangkong (our favourite - we try to order this wherever we go)
4. Mince pork steamed with salted egg yolk

Verdict:

Sambal kangkong $4

The sambal kangkong is simply delicious! With the right amount of chilli, wetness and just nicely cooked kangkong, it was yummy and goes very well with the porridge.

Steamed mince pork patty with salted egg yolk $5 (i think)

The steamed mince pork patty was extremely good too! With the right amount of fats and pork, the pork patty was not over crumbly - definitely not hard and over cooked! The salted egg yolk was a marvel, I wondered how they managed to get it flattened out and cover the pork patty so nicely! Yummilicious!

The chow lala however was a letdown, this about $4 to $5 also, but not worth ordering at all.

Porridge wise, forget about the sweet potato porridge. It comes nowhere close being even 1% near to my majie's standards.

verdict on my kimchi

2006-03-12T09:06:00.000+08:00

Well, finally got the chance to taste the kimchi myself and have some peace in the house - Rascal is out to attend his "life skills level 1" at West Coast Park this morning.

There are a few bit of things I wanted to post too, but I guess I'll get along to it in due time, if I remember what they are about!

Ok, verdict on my kimchi:

Good: With or without the Chinchalok it still taste GOOD - just like the kimchi you can buy off the shelves.

Bad: It's too salty - haha yes I forgot to do something while I was making it again. Although my hubby likes it a lot (and he insist that the kimchi must be COLD), I have to take into account he loves over salted food. It's strange though, I thought with the additional ingredients of the carrots, radish and chives it would reduce the saltiness from the salted veggies somewhat but it didn't. I guess adding the chinchalok also up the saltiness factor a bit. Anyhow, under salted food is a lot easier to compensate for than overly salted food!

So what did I forget to do? Only one of the kimchi recipe I've read mentioned about this and I think it's GOOD advice since I've already done it and forgot about the advice.

IMPORTANT TIP WHEN MAKING KIMCHI:

After you have finish soaking the veggies in the salt water, take a piece (the thicker part of the leaves if using the chinese cabbage or a piece of the radish if using radish) at taste it. Meaning take a bite and swirl it around in your mouth. IT SHOULD BE AS SALTY AS YOU REQUIRE IT TO BE. If it's not salty enough, soak longer.

If it's TOO salty (like my case), drain immediately, squeeze as much liquid out as possible and soak in a pot of cold fresh water. After every 10 minutes, check on it. When it's just the right saltiness, drain and proceed as directed as listed in the recipe.

Also, if you remember in my earlier post that I took it out to "ferment" out of the fridge? I left it out from Sunday night to Tuesday night in one of my cupboards - pick on room or cupboard of which no direct sunlight hits any of its wall - that should be the coolest spot than under your bed.

Then check on it time to time, release the gas if the cover (a container with a good tight lid is IMPORTANT) seems bloated outwards.

To refresh your memories, the recipe is located here.

kimchi and more humping

2006-03-09T20:52:00.000+08:00

was going to post about how my kimchi tasted but i got distracted by Rascal who, in the absence of my hubby's ankles, has decided to use my elbow as a makedo for ankles.

My arm is pretty scratched up, not to mention my hand is pretty chewed up - in his confusion why the sudden urge to hump something, he is probably to feed off some of the drive by chewing my hand, not that it will give him the same satisfaction.

I cannot wait for my hubby to be back, so that I can write my piece about kimchi in peace.

coffee and the act of humping

2006-03-08T21:15:00.000+08:00

I made a cup of coffee with some toffee syrup for my hubby earlier ... not sure if the smell was a turn on for my Rascal, but it's the first time I see him try to hug my hubby's ankles and trying to hump it!

So far, it's been 4 or 5 times since we started noticing it (my hubby complained first about his ankle being humped) and we are now staring at him everytime he makes a move on my hubby's legs ...

My baby is growing up way too fast!

fizzy kimchi?

2006-03-08T14:22:00.000+08:00

Not sure if my Kimchi is edible – ended up leaving it in my cupboard for 2 whole days (says dark cool place so that is probably the best place to put it). They did also say will have built up gas, so to release from time to time (my cabbage one a lot of more gas than my radish one – but my radish is giving out more water. Why?!?!).

Anyway it’s now back in the fridge before it explodes in my cupboard (I cannot imagine the scene – will it be like my first encounter with the chinchalok?) and I’ll probably ask the official tester to try it tonight.

And why I say fizzy is because according to the recipe / comments by the chef, the contents will SETTLE. Looking at my kimchi, they seem to be on the verge of exploding (can see lots of air bubbles between the leaves) – the lid is pretty arched outwards.

Gladware boxes are pretty handy and secure for this experiment! Maybe I can give up on my Tupperware obsessions and stick to Gladware – cheaper and though no as lasting as Tupperware, it so much easier to clean and less heartbreaking if I scratch it!

My Kimchi recipe

2006-03-04T00:46:00.000+08:00

I cannot guarantee you will not suffer from diahorrea if you try this - so it's a calculated risk you have to take.

Ingredients for Group A - The veggies part
2 to 3 lbs (900g to 1.4kg) of chinese cabbage or white carrot (radish)
1/2 cup of salt

Method for Group A
1. for Chinese cabbage, remove the outer leaves or any part that looks spoilt, dented or mouldy. If you are not sure, just get rid of it.
2. Quarter the entire cabbage lengthwise. Just cut it into half along the length, and then cut the half into half along the length again.
3. Cut off the bottom root portion (the part that holds all the leaves together) and slice into smaller pieces (make 1 inch to 1.5 inch cuts width wise along the length).
4. Rinse and drain well.
5. For radish, peel the skin and remove the head and bottom. Cut into 1 inch cubes. Rinse and drain well.
6. Add water to the salt to make a solution. Stir until all the salt has dissolved.
7. Add the veggies to the salt solution, cover with a plate to weigh down the floating bits and leave it for 2 to 5 hours (I leave it overnight).
8. When time's up, take a piece of the thickest veggie part and taste it. If it's just the right degree of saltiness , drain and rinse the veggies well. Squeeze dry the veggies (don't have to use all your strength to do it, just give a QUICK hard squeeze) and set aside. Else Drain it overnight. If it's TOO salty, drain immediately, squeeze out as much liquid as possible, and soak in fresh cold water. Check on every until to the desired saltiness.

Ingredients for Group B - the Kimchi seasoning part
1. 1 small to medium white carrot (radish) (if you are using radish for the main veggies, you can omit this)
2. 2 carrots
3. 1 bunch of spring onions
4. 1 bunch of chives (In cantonese we call it "kow choy")
5. 4 cloves of garlic
6. a small piece of ginger (enough to give u 1 tablespoon worth of grated ginger)
7. 2 tablespoon of sugar
8. 4 to 6 heaped tablespoon of chilli powder (more if you like spicy)
9. Optional: 2 tablespoon Chinchalok (or anchovy paste)

Method for Group B
1. Peel and shred coarsely the radish and carrots.
2. Remove any withered parts and roots for the spring onions and chives. Chop finely. See below

3. Mince garlic finely.
4. Grate the ginger finely.

From left: Grated ginger and Minced garlic

5. Mix all the ingredients together and set aside.

Now for the final Kimchi prepartion bit.
1. Mix with the kimchi seasoning as detailed in Group B.

2. Store into a container with a tight fitting lid and leave it at the room temp for 1 to 3 days for fermenting. Pick a spot - a storeroom or a cupboard where there is no direct sunlight. make sure none of its walls are being hit by direct sunlight too. Else the room will be way too warm and you prob need to check on it more frequently.

I use Gladware 1.89L box. After the 3 days is up, chuck it into the fridge. It's ready for eating after 3 days in the fridge.

If it's not salty enough, you could always sprinkle some. It's quite difficult to "rescue" "It's too salty" kimchi, else use it to make soups which I plan to do so.

Project Kimchi!

2006-03-04T00:00:00.000+08:00

So now you know what secret project I've been working on :P

I've been looking through various recipes - recipe books, recipes on the web ...

Yes, that's where the term "julienne" came about ...

Anyway I finally decide to get down and do it, hence the explosive Chinchalok. You must be wondering, "Chinchalok with Kimchi? Huh?".

Well, based on my research as well as kimchi conversations with Liangxin (he spent quite a fair bit of time based in South Korea), I believe that the "better tasting" kimchi comes with a secret ingredient in the process - seafood. Some state prawn paste, oysters and anchovy paste.

As for the salting process, I decided to go with the brine method. It would provide an even distribution of salt and besides, all I needed to do was to make the salt solution and dump the veggies in, then cover with a plate to keep the veggies down. I think it was easier than trying to toss the veggies with the salt to distribute evenly or to painsakingly sprinkle salt in every layer of the veggies.

Since at least 2 of the recipes stated prawn paste which is same as salted prawns, I figured I could use Chinchalok instead. Reason being 1. Chinchalok ingredients are prawns and salt (therefore = salted prawns right?) 2. I would be very squeamish about salting raw prawns and mixing into the veggies to ferment together - fear factor images come into my mind! Chinchalok would be considered the safe choice it's already processed food.

As for the taste, hehe, sorry I won't know yet. It's worse than the 72 hours wait for the Kueh Lapis. This is going to take about 1 week.

It's strange though, when I mix the kimchi marinade/ seasoning without the veggies, it already smelt like kimchi. Though it smelt a bit strange after adding the Chinchalok!

For vegetarians, you can skip the prawns bit. Most of the packaged kimchis sold doesn't contain meat of any kind.

It wasn't very difficult to do. Serious!

My kimchi recipe (if you DARE to try) is in the next post with some pics.

Chinchalok and expiry dates

2006-03-03T14:41:00.000+08:00

Ok, Cold Storage didn’t sell me a expired bottle of Chinchalok … and how did I know?

I went down to Carrefour last night and bought the same brand again (only one brand of it anyway) and I noted the numbers on the bottle. Same numbers but this time round, on the label, they have a HUGE expiry date marked there. So fine with me, I can only hope this bottle don’t explode on me too.

There were a few bottles so I thought I’ll pick a bottle without any of the shrimps pushed to the top. Yes! It didn’t explode on me this time when I was grappling with the bottle.

I will reveal tonight what secret project I’ve been working on that required the Chinchalok … keep your eyes peeled!

How will you live your life?

2006-03-02T12:43:00.000+08:00

Nope I'm not going to answer that for you.

Want to figure it out? Check it out @ http://quizfarm.com/

Enough quizzes to shut down those "what ifs" voices in your head. By the way, it's probably the "me" that's doing the talking in your head.

Link discovered by courtesy of Lostsis!

Disaster strikes again

2006-03-02T00:04:00.000+08:00

*grrr* this is probably one of the few times I'm actually mad with Cold Storage. Why? Because I believe they sold me an expired bottle of Chinchalok.

I was trying to open it and basically it just EXPLODED like a bottle of vigrously shaken bottle of champagne. Imagine the baby shrimps flying out and then oozing out like the bubbles. I had to clean myself, my kitchen walls, my washing machine, my kitchen floor, my yard floor and my cabinets! *ARGH* and they all STINK! I had to do a wipe down, spray detol, and wipe again ...

It's JUST so disgusting!

And why I think the bottle is expired? I was checking the bottle of expiry date and the only numbers printed on the bottle was XXX23XX05. I was like "WHAT??? EXPIRED????" There was no other numbers or date of expiry printed (SingLong was the brand of the chinchalok). So my guess would be the expiry year is 2005!

And I BOUGHT IT ONLY 2 WEEKS AGO!

Versatile Salmon Mayo Mix

2006-03-01T22:19:00.000+08:00

You can even call it Salmon Mousse if you do it another way! Anyhow this is my version, served on a slice of cucumber.

As in my previous post, all it requires is 4 ingredients (excluding the cucumbers - I'll explain later).

Raw Salmon (Sashimi grade), Japanese mayonaise, prawn roe and Chilli oil (La You).

Sashimi grade Salmon can be bought from Takashimaya or Bugis Junction, within the Cold Storage. I bought mine from this retail shop operated by a Japanese restuarant in Ginza Plaza.

As above, you can purchase from the same stores. There are 2 types of roe sold, one which is slightly bigger in size than this (not the huge Salmon eggs). I prefer this as I find the other a lot more fishier in taste.

This is the Japanese Chilli Oil, you can buy it from most supermarkets.

I don't have a pic of the Mayo, but it's quite common, with a baby in front. Ok, I am borrowing an image from Amazon for your easy reference.

They also have a healthier version which you can use - 50% fat of the original I think. Availbale at most supermakets - Cold Storage is fail proof in case you do not wish to try your luck.

The quantity is up to you. Basically i threw in everything as below and stir and mix. If it's not hot enough, I add more chilli oil. If it's not sourish enough, I add a bit more mayo. The prawn roe will give the salty taste.

This is my version with Salmon Cubes. By the way, I saved a bit of the prawn roe and when it's done, I sprinkle them on top to make it look prettier.

Now, you can actually make Salmon Mousse with the exact same ingredients. Only change is you need a blender - toss in the salmon, mayo and chilli oil. Process by pulse method (press and release) so that you still have some pieces of visible salmon meat. Take out and mix in the prawn roe. Serve it as a dip with plain corn chips (those nachos type) or with ritz biscuits. It will also go well with toasted bread (any type).

Personality reading from your handwriting

2006-03-01T11:39:00.000+08:00

Don't say I keep the good things to myself =)

This is good stuff ... click this and try it for yourself.

Most of the feedback I've gotten is 80% accurate and they were pretty amazed. Hmmm maybe I should ask them for some endorsement fees!

Chocolate Fondue Recipe & Pics

2006-02-28T03:48:00.000+08:00

HmmMmmmmMm ... looks yummy ya? It should be, the chocolate fondue is made from Toblerone Chocolates!

And all you need is:
1. Fondue set
2. Bittersweet Toblerone Chocolates - 3 X 100g bars (the black one)
3. Milk, cream or half & half - 2/3 cup (your choice depending on how "fat" conscious you are)

Method:
1. Break the Toblerone into pieces and let it remain at room temperature (don't keep in the fridge)
2. Heat liquid in a heavy base pan on low heat. When it's beginning to boil, tip the toblerone in and whisk continously till everything is dissolved. Turn off the heat, and scoop wat's needed into the fondue pot and serve.

Tip 1 : Halve the recipe if it's for 2 persons and you had a full meal already.

Tip 2: If you prefer your chocolate fondue to be thicker or thinner, adjust the liquid contents accordingly.

Tip 3: if you are interested to make it a bit more "adult", you could add 2 tablespoon of alcohol/ liqueur to the chocolate fondue. Most of the recommended liqueurs are 1. Amaretto 2. Kirsch 3. Chocolate Liqueurs. However, I believe you can add brandy, dark rum, kahlua, tia maria to it as well. Peppermint Schnapps would make it like After 8 but I doubt I'll like the taste on my strawberries. Add before the chocolate is full dissolved in the liquid.

Tip 4: Yes, I'm coming to it, you can certainly change to any chocolates of your choice. Just remember different chocolates have different "consistency" so you probably have adjust the liquids content according to your preferences.

NOTE: Typically chocolate fondues recipe I've look at puts 225g to 285g (8oz to 10 oz) of chocolate to 1/2 to 3/4 cup of liquid. Do take note that Milk is thinner than Cream so you can start off with less liquid first then add more if you think you prefer it thinner. The chocolate will also slightly thicken once it's taken off the heat.

The fondue set shown above was bought from Robinsons during a sale. Got it for $12! Good thing about this set is that it's pretty solid, and comes with a tealight candle!

As for what goes with the chocolate fondue other than strawberries? Did a quick search and came up with 1. bananas 2. cakes 3. biscottis 4. Venezuela fingers 5. marshmallows

But since my hubby doesn't like bananas, I wasn't too keen on marshmallows and I couldn't find fresh raspberries (the tartness would have gone very well with the chocolate), I settled for strawberries and cake. The biscottis weren't planned but since we popped into Coffee Bean for his fav BlackForest Ice Blend, I remembered that it was on the recommended list, so I got 2.

I wanted Sara Lee's Coffee Pound Cake(I believed I've seen it before), but they only had some other flavours and I chose the best of the lot - Strawberry Swirl Pound Cake. I took half of the cake and cubed it.

The above is the Espresso Biscotti from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaves ($1.50), broken into bits by hand.

The above is the Almond Biscotti from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaves ($1.50), broken into bits by hand.

The final ensemble! The only person upset by it was Rascal, since he couldn't partake in any of the delicious smells he's been sniffing in the air for at least 1 hour!

What am I doing at this time posting this? I can't sleep! Rascal woke me up at 2am and I can't sleep! *help!*

Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate ...

2006-02-27T19:01:00.000+08:00

A male colleague is trying to impress his to-be-confirmed girlfriend and is asking me for chocolate recipes or to teach him to make chocolate stuff.

Just during lunch, I was talking to another lady colleague who asked me to tell her when I'm baking cookies next.

Flattered? You bet. Time consuming though, because before I embark on a next project aka recipe, I do quite a fair bit of research.

Why? There are many types of recipes out there to make really yummy stuff but my slogan is "There has got to be something easier!" so I will find the easiest recipe to make whatever I want. If the easiest recipe don't work, then I will see what ways I could shortcut. Great for beginners but serious cooks/ chefs will probably hate me.

I'm looking at chocolate cakes =) I used to have a favourite recipe but am looking at a few recipes to compare now. How long before I actually try to bake? Ask my body - been feeling flu-ish lately again. Anyway, chocolate fondue recipe up later, complete with pics!

Personality Crisis ... I think

2006-02-27T14:36:00.000+08:00

Passionate (www.dictionary.com)

1. pas·sion·ate
a. Capable of, having, or dominated by powerful emotions: a family of passionate personalities.
b. Wrathful by temperament; choleric.
c. Marked by strong sexual desire; amorous or lustful.
d. Showing or expressing strong emotion; ardent: a passionate speech against injustice.
e. Arising from or marked by passion: a teacher who is passionate about her subject.

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth EditionCopyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

2. passionate
adj : having or expressing strong emotions [ant: passionless]

Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University

Ruled by head rather than heart

PersonA is ruled by her head, not her heart. She is a cool, collected person who is usually unexpressive emotionally. Some may see her as unemotional. She does have emotions but has no need to express them. She is withdrawn into herself and enjoys being alone. The circumstances when PersonA does express emotions include: extreme anger, extreme passion, and tremendous stress. If someone gets her mad enough to tell her off, she will not be sorry about it later. She puts a mark in her mind when someone angers her. She keeps track of these marks and when she hits that last mark she will let them know they have gone too far.

What I say ...

Hmmm ... I'm a passionate person about what I like/ love. But yet, I make decisions based on head, rather that heart. So the above statement gets it wrong by 1 bit - i am not unexpressive emotionally. I will rage, I will scream, I will show my blackface - but I will make the decision based on facts, not my emotions. Now you look at it, does seems like contradictory doesn't it? But I never had the issue of mixing personal with business - difficult but it can be done if you lay down all the ground rules from the beginning. If it really has to come to that, I will run. I just don't like conflicts with friends within a working/ business environment. if it's not friends? The it's business as usual, afterall it has to be in the company's best interest right? I'm not paid to be politicking away, and besides I HATE office politics.

And it did seem strange to commented on that I can be hostile during working environment, yet friendly after office hours. I'm just not mixing personal with business, don't they get it? It's just not widely practiced I assume, although the phrase is on almost everyone's lips.

pics and more ... personality stuff

2006-02-27T14:11:00.000+08:00

Finally got around to uploading the pics from my camera last night but was too tired to go through them to make into a proper step by step recipe for here. I'll try to get around to it tonight or so, provided I stop feeling so tired (think the flu bug is acting up).

Anyway lostsis intro this and I was like, "sounds fun!". Problem is, it requires me to write in "cursive" or longhand, which is alien to me. I never got the hang of cursive writing and printing is a lot easier for me (and especially typing *haha*). Anyhow, I tried my best and surprisingly, it has samples to match to my cranky cursive writing.

As for the results, I was pretty amazed. It's almost 80% to 90%, cuz + or -, there are somethings I never knew about myself or that explained my "behaviour" to me.

If you are in a self-discovery mode like me, do try it. It's really pretty amazing! It might even help me to evaluate how to be less disastrous in my kitchen hehe.

Birthday Dinner for my hubby ...

2006-02-26T00:04:00.000+08:00

I wasn't too keen to spend a few hours to fuss over the dinner preparations and to sit down for a candlelight dinner ...

so I suggested that we cook the food and eat it, along the sequence of
1. Soup
2. Appetizer
3. Main
4. Dessert

We started about 5:45pm, given that we didn't have any breakfast or lunch (I was busy out doing shopping for food items - went to a. Dover market for my stockpile of pork b. Ginza Plaza for Toberone and my sashimi c. Cold Storage at 6th Ave for the rest of the barang).

Soup wasn't too adventerous - just canned Campbell Select Clam Chowder. Spilt into 2 portion, put a slice of Kraft cheese in each bowl, add some black pepper and hit the start button on my Microwave oven.

Appetizer was made from 5 ingredients - Salmon cubes (sashimi grade - wanted it to be minced but apparently they didn't understand what I wanted), Jap mayonaise, Jap La You (chilli oil), er, I think it's prawn roe ... those orange small balls, and Jap cucumbers. It was taught by Unisa, and it's a simple yet yummy recipe (even for someone like me who is not interested in Salmon). Basically just mix all of the above except for cucumbers. The cucumber is justfor me to console myself that I'm eating some form of veggies =)

Main was even simpler. I have a tub of garlic+herb+butter mix in my fridge already, so all I needed was to heat it up, add in some pacific clams, and then mix with some pasta (did linguine cuz he likes that). I'll post the recipe for the butter mix, it's great for garlic bread too.

Dessert was Chocolate Fondue - used toberone chocolates and a leftover orange dark chocolate bar in the fridge with half and half. I had strawberries, biscottis and Sara Lee's strawberry pound cake to go with it. And we finished it about 45 minutes ago?

It was a good pace to cook and eat the food - much more enjoyable =)

hmmm ... my personality type?

2006-02-23T15:20:00.000+08:00

My Bloginality is INTJ!!!

As an INTJ, you are Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Judging.This makes your primary focus on Introverted Thinking with an Extraverted Intution.
This is defined as a NT personality, which is part of Carl Jung's Rational (Knowledge Seeking) type, and more specifically the Mastermind or Scientist.
You aren't as openly affectionate as some of you NT counterparts, and this may cause other bloggers to assume you aren't as friendly. Your ideas and actual applications for these ideas are brilliant, however, and you might be more likely to create something masterful on your journal.

Really? Read this too. And see how I will turn out to be a parent here.

*chuckle*

Hubby's Birthday Menu

2006-02-23T11:50:00.000+08:00

Ok I’ve planned out the menu and decided to make it a “simple” dinner.

For Soup – Campbell’s Cream of mushroom or Instant Miso Soup … hmm … n fact I can even try to make onion soup *ponder*

For Appetizers – Baked Escargots (buy the frozen type) or Pan Fried Scallops or Sashimi

For Salad – Cherry Tomatoes, japanese cucumbers with some shredded lettuce – dressing: Thousand Island or Seared Scallops with Veggies

For Main Course – Spaghetti with my herbie butter (almost like Aglio Olio)

For Desset – Chocolate mousse or Chocolate Fondue

If I get around to doing it, I’ll post the pics and recipes for those I actually get around to making it =)

Pic of that pasta

2006-02-22T23:50:00.000+08:00

rem some time ago in Jan i was posting this recipe of a quickie pasta?

Anyway here's the pic of it ...

forgot one very important tip, try to get those vine ripen tomatoes - they are more expensive but the taste is worth it =)

a new word for me - julienne

2006-02-20T15:20:00.000+08:00

Today I learnt a new word - julienne when i was searching for a particular food recipe (secret food research *hee*) and I was like *huh* what on earth is it.

I guess since the writer is a chef, it is probably a common term.

Anyway I did a goggle search and this helpful explanation with photos came up here.

If I wrote the recipe and being the lazy me, I would have said "shred carrots coarsely". I'm really lazy, ain't I? But Julienne-ing an item really takes quite a bit of extra efforts ... not to mention my love-hate relationship with my kitchen tools =P

BTE pizza

2006-02-18T12:15:00.000+08:00

B = Bacon T = Tomato E = Egg

Sounds like a simple recipe doesn't it? It sure looks simple to prepare to, when you watch Jamie Oliver do it on TV.

But ... why doesn't my BTE pizza slides off the pan as easily as his does? *sob*

Anyway, this "pizza" makes a yummy meal, as supper, brunch or dinner. It's healthy too. right? It's got eggs, bacon and the veggies group is represented by the tomatoes (well, you could argue tomatoes are fruits, and mushrooms are not exactly vegetables either, but you can't argue they are "healthy" food!). As my frying pan is quite small, i usually make 2, a smaller one for me, and a bigger one for my hubby.

As for the ingredients, Jamie Oliver uses mushrooms too, but as you know fresh mushrooms in Singapore (those brown button ones) are not exactly cheap and they don't keep well either. As such I seldom have them ready in my fridge unless I plan to do this ahead.

Ingredients

Ripe tomatoes - at room temperature, halved (anyway u like)

Bacon - JO has his in complete intact strips, but i cut up mine into smaller bits to fit into my pan.

Mushrooms - JO says brown button mushrooms are more flavourful, so don't bother getting the white ones. Clean with minimum water else drain thoroughly (i think he just brushed it). Slice it. (Which in this post is missing)

Eggs - as many as you like but minimum you need 2

Bread - have it toasted just before u plonk the BTE on it

Method

1. Put 1 tablespoon oil into a non stick pan, roll it around. When slightly heated, place tomatoes in one corner, cut-side down (more oil if your base is bigger - i think my base is only about 15 cm?). Leave it over low-medium flames.

Which as you can see I don't do that too, I just place them in a ring - have to adapt to my pan's base =)

2. If you have the sliced mushrooms, in another corner of pan, add them and let it brown on its own.

3. Add the bacons.

4. When the bacon has browned, move the tomatoes, mushroom and bacon around so that you have an even distribution. Crack and drop the eggs over the BT stuff, so that eggs form a layer on top. See below. It will help to hold the seperate bits into one piece so it will look like a pizza. Sprinkle with coarsely grounded black pepper.

5. Toast the bread now!

6. Notice I never mention any salt? Well the bacon is normally pretty salty and I give them only a quick rinse, it should provide enough salt content to flavour the eggs. If your bacon is freshly bought, then you don't even have to rinse it (that's how much I trust Cold Storage stuff).

7. When the eggs are cooked like sunny side up, loosen the sides of the "pizza" and slide it over a bed of toasted bread. Mine's ... er ... kinda disgured. I still haven't gotten around to buy a new non stick pan although I have the permission to replace it.

7. Eat it as a open face sandwich or a gigantic "burger"! Enjoy!

Food at Cappadocia Cafe

2006-02-16T22:10:00.000+08:00

Ok it's a mixture of pics I found in my old and new HP, so it would look slightly different from what they are serving now ...

First of all, the YUMMILICIOUS Hummus

Then followed by my favourite Segara Boregi (of which I've hunted down for it's recipe off the web and will be attempting it some time soon! but I made a slight mistake in my previous posting, it's filled with feta cheese and pasley, not spinach!)

My favourite main course, the lahmacun. I've also found the recipe off the web, and will attempt with a Pita bread instead of trying to make the thin base. I've not that confident! In fact, I think I can even try it with a Prata base!

Ok tt's all for now folks. Yes I know it's only a few pictures but I'm still recovering from my illness. I promise more to come =)

Yummy Frozen Pizzas!

2006-02-15T17:12:00.000+08:00

Remember I was talking about some pizzas i bought from Cold Storage some weeks ago?

I went back to Cold Storage to take a look and it's Dr Oetker brand. See their webpage here.

We tried the Mozzarella, the Funghi (mushroom basically) and one more which i cannot remember (has yummy spinach!).

All 3 is good, with a nice thin crust and comes out from a oven 1o to 15 minutes (straight from the freezer) later, with a nice golden brown crust and none of that frozen food taste.

Try it sometimes! It cost about $7 to $8 i think, enough to feed 1 to 1.5 pax =)

Ya! Photos will be back on line again!

2006-02-15T15:30:00.000+08:00

Provided my card reader works … just bought 1 from Sim Lim Square – only $15!

Later going to upload some pics, if I have time to touch them up first =) Look out for them!

Talk about disasters – after being sick for 1 miserable week, now I am desperately trying to recall what I did the days I was sick and was in office. Needless to say, I have missing documents and documents that I am wondering if I did them or I was dreaming? So basically have to do everything from scratch. Then, I lost the rubber heel to my new shoes =( later hopefully can hobble to a cobbler in time to get it fixed …. Very very comfortable pair of shoes from URS … too bad it’s a discontinued model (but I bought 2 more pairs at full price before the shoes were gone!)

Ok time to take my medication and get back to work … going to eat yummy Turkish food later *I can’t wait* *SLURP*

3 Carrots Soup

2006-02-11T20:33:00.000+08:00

One interesting trivium about this soup - apparently my sister-in-law always makes 2 carrots soup only because my brother always never gets it right with buying the "green carrot". He always ends up with 2 radish instead. Why? Because he never tried asking the stall owner for the green carrots even if he cannot tell it apart from the radish! Unlike me, cuz I frequent the wet market so rarely, even the stall owner recognise me as the ultra blur one and will offer me assistance no matter how busy they are.

This soup was passed down by my family - either my ma-jie or my mum, but the purpose of this soup is to "detox" your body from "gas poisoning" from eating food cooked over a gas stove.

It's quite a simple recipe - 3 carrots refer to 3 types of carrots - white carrots (radish), green carrots (no idea) and the normal orange coloured carrot. Peel and dice the carrots and cook with meat (i normally use pork). The soup will sweet enough without the need of adding salt or any MSG. I suppose you could boil it for 2 hours over low heat over a gas stove but I normally make soups with my slow cooker (crockpot), set it on Auto Mode and leave it for on for half a day, or if I am working, the whole day while I'm at work.

Today I used about 1.3L of water (4.33 bowls of water) with 1 large radish, 2 small green carrots and 2 normal carrots. I think I probably used about *scratch* 300g to 400g of pork? Not sure about it's about $4 worth of pork from the wet market.

Good thing about not using salt - I took some of the carrots and pork and mashed it up as treat for Rascal.

Nigella Lawson

2006-02-11T18:52:00.000+08:00

I'm so excited! Just went to the library and borrowed a book of Nigella Lawson - Feast. Am going to spend next week's evenings pouring over the book.

I first got to know of her when I was watching a programme off Travel & Living, where she presented a Honey SemiFreddo. To be honest, I never heard of "semifreddo" but since she was explaining that it's easier to make than ice cream (don't have to buy an ice cream machine) and it is flavoured by honey, it got me very interested. I never had succeeded making ice cream since I was a kid, and so if this special "ice cream" is foolproof, I just had to try it! So this is the recipe and method as I furiously scribbled while she was doing it on the show. I tried it and the review were very good! I hadn't had the chance to try mixing other flavours but will get around to it some day!

So meanwhile, enjoy some lovely homemade semi freddo (it's actually softer and melts faster than ice cream - so if u don't like HARD ice cream, this is for you!).

Honey Semifreddo Recipe (Nigella Lawson)
1. 300ml double cream - whipped till stiff peaks are formed

2. Combine 100ml amber honey, 1 egg and 4 egg yolks in a double boiler. turn on heat and whipped the mixture till frothy and yellow.

3. Pour egg mixture unto the whipped cream and combine gently.

4. Line a loaf pan with cling wrap. Pour mixture into the loaf pan and cover with another later of cling wrap. Put in freezer overnite.

5. When serving, cut into slices and drizzle honey over it and sprinkle toasted pine nuts.

My Fav steamboat place

2006-02-10T10:54:00.000+08:00

*sob* the price of being sick!

The office is going to have the CNY lunch (with the yusheng thingy) and they are likely to end up in my favourite steamboat place - 2nd Mini Steamboat Delight.

It was introduced to me by Kelly (who introduced a whole host of other yummy food - will talk about them some other time), cuz we both LOVED tom yum steamboat.

Long time ago, I liked Coca Steamboat, but their standards seem to have dropped, and some of the food wasn't that "fresh" ...

Among the food served (other than the raw stuff), they served

1. a very deliciously crunchy "chong you bing" (onion oil pancake/ biscuit) - it's not the normal thin crispy one. This one is THICK and CRUNCHY and has seafood too (don't remember trying their plain onion one).
2. delicious flavourful chicken feet salad (ya i know not everyone's into chicken feet like me) - it's a cold salad done thai style - spicy and sour *OoOooo* *slurp*
3. lime juice with a sour plum - very refreshing especially when your lips are burning!

Lunch is the best deal - set lunch for one is at $13+++, 2 pax is $24+++, 3 pax onwards is 10+++ EACH. Included is sotong, tofus, prawns, scallops,. veggies, crabsticks, cuttlefish, pacific clams, fishballs, and a bowl of rice/ beehoon / tong fen.

If you going wiht a party more than 4, then just order set lunch for 3 and order other food =)

Address : 273 Thomson Road #01-04 NOVENA GARDEN Singapore 307644
Tel : 62550600,62548596
Fax : 62434909

Cappadocia Cafe Restaurant

2006-02-09T20:33:00.000+08:00

been sick for the past few days - was on MC since Tuesday afternoon, went back to work today, and came home with another 2 days MC. It's now officially flu, with fever and viral symptoms of headaches (first time I heard of it). Previously before I had fever, the doctor thought it was due to my nasal cavity being stuffed with mucus again (had it long long time ago with i was in Uni).

Been craving for snacks - savoury ones and my fridge is empty of that ... my cheese had but dried up and I tried making chilli mayo tuna ... was so-so but did nothing to ease the craving ...

then now the craving for chocolate mousse has hit me ... so am surfing in all.recipes.com to look through the various recipes ... and of course drool over the pics ...

Don't think I'm up to cooking for Vday so I think I will just bug him to take me for the turkish restaurant we frequent.

This friend of ours, Boon Tun, gave us a birthday treat at Cappadocia Cafe Restaurant quite a few years back when it was located at Unity Walk, Robertson Quay. They since have moved to Rail Mall, my good fortune =)

See the cute birthday _boy_ below.

It was the first time I had hummus and it was so delicious.

So now when we eat there, we will order hummus as well as my favourite ... er I think it's called Segara B something, basically it's like deep fried spring roll filled with feta cheese and spinach.

My main course is usually the lamb dish (dun remember it's actual name) or lahmacun which is a very THIN crispy "pizza" with a thin layer of beef and some fresh veggies on top, while hubby's fav is Moussaka. I'm starting to get hungry now (yes I haven't had dinner yet - hubby's playing squash and I'm waiting for him to buy dinner back ... it's almost 9pm ... oops i better finish this quick and feed Rascal!)

Dessert is nothing special - usually we are too stuffed on their appetizers (we sometimes order up to 3 appetizers for both of us and we order 1 main dish to share). However, their Turkish Apple Iced Tea is a must try. Wonderfully refreshing and and delicious to drink!

Pricing wise is not too expensive. The Lahmacun is less than $10 and is easily enough to satisfy me for a main course (normally i give 1/4 of it to my hubby). The appetizers are about 10 each - can you try their appetizer sampler which is quite good too! The main courses are below $20 I believe. Prepare to pay about $30 to $40 each, if you going to order 1 main and 1 appertizer each =)

Be prepared to wait though. Weekdays they have only chef cooking (I believe is the owner and he helps out with the serving too). Weekends are slightly better wuith 2 cooks.

Address : 390 Up Bt Timah Rd Singapore 678045
Telephone : 6314 9244

Pei Dan Chok (Century Egg Porridge)

2006-02-07T14:16:00.000+08:00

I was suppose to eat the pasta for dinner yesterday but I had a craving for soup - but with not much stuff in my fridge and I didn't want to take a 30 minute walk to the cold storage, I decided to make pek dan chok.

Of course, it's nothing like the thicky gooey porridge my ma jie makes, but it will suffice to satisfy my cravings.

There's a trick to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot when cooking. So here's my quick recipe for pei dan chok.

Pei Dan Chok (Century Egg Porridge)
(Serves 2)

1 cup of rice ( the cup I used is from the rice cooker)
2 tablespoon of glutonous rice (optional)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil (I use corn oil)

Wash and drain the rice. Add salt and oil to the rice, mix well then some water - about 2 tablespoon water. Leave it to stand for 15 - 30 minutes, longer if possible (if you could prepare it overnight, put the rice mixture in a plastic bag, seal and chuck it in the fridge).

Prepare
some pork, sliced thinly, season with salt and pepper and cornflour. Let it marinate for at least 5 minutes (if you could prepare it overnight, put in a plastic bag, seal and chuck it in the fridge).
1 rice bowl of chicken stock (I use Swanson chicken broth)
2 or 3 century eggs, cut into small pieces (note: if u like ur porridge white, add it just before porridge is done)
1 salted egg (optional)

Add the chicken stock and 3 bowls of water to the soaked rice, bring to boil, stir in the salted egg and add the rest of the ingredients. Bring it to boil again, then turn down to low heat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 30 to 45 minutes. Mash the salted egg yolk if desired. Serve.

When I cook porridge, i usually put 1 chopstick at one end and put one edge of the pot cover on it. It helps me to do less cleaning up because the porridge is less likely to froth over the pot. Although my hubby claims that it will spoil the chopstick eventually, so use a long satay stick if you have.

Yes still no pictures, hadn't got around to buying the new cable. *sigh*

quick pasta!

2006-02-06T14:09:00.000+08:00

I had some colleagues over and decided to do cooking instead of ordering in pizzas.

I still kind of cheated – I bought 3 frozen pizzas to bake. The pizzas are good! Will be buying them for further consumption for sure … just let me dig out the boxes and post it here.

I made potato salad as well as pasta. Potato salad was pretty simple, just boil the potatoes, eggs, and peel and chop up the veggies and some ham. Then put some yummy mayonnaise (must be Japanese type – the one with the baby on the packaging), sprinkle some black pepper and it’s ready to serve! For variations, add peaches or honeydew and put cooked shrimps instead ham (omit the eggs).

Before doing the potatoes, I was preparing the sauce for the pasta – the recipe came from my 3 ingredients cooking book.

Ingredients required

6 small ripe tomatoes
500g pasta (any sort but I used penne for easy eating)
a small handful of fresh basil leaves

From your cupboard, 3 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.

I didn’t quite follow the method prescribed, I just threw all the ingredients minus the pasta into my hand held blender, processed it and put into the fridge for 2 hours. Take out and allow tomato mixture to return to room temp. Cooked the pasta as per instructions, mix and serve.

But I did make one extra batch but I followed the recipe instructions.

Cut the tomatoes into halves and light crush till juices start to run. Mix with olive oil. Tear the basil leaves into bits and add to the mixture. Add salt and pepper to season and chill for 2 to 3 hours.

My tomato mix is currently overnight. Intend to use it tomorrow so let see how it goes =)

Fresh basil leaves are available from Cold Storage.

talking about scallops ...

2006-02-03T11:07:00.000+08:00

I found this recipe off Donna Hay's website ... looks simple enough to handle and not too much time to prepare too ... decisions decisions decisions *sigh*

I thought her slogan is nice ... turn simple into special ... =)

anyway this link is for you to check out her Scallops recipe and do your own research on your special menu!

http://www.donnahay.com.au/Story.jsp?storyid=2222863&sectionid=818

Research for Vday's Dinner - dessert shortlisted!

2006-02-03T10:39:00.000+08:00

OoOOOoOoOOo every since I saw this picture on AllRecipes.com I couldn’t stop drooling! I finally found the recipe corresponding to the picture, but the reviews were pretty mixed.

So I dug around a little more, and found something I can do the day before and the reviews were mostly 5 out of 5 stars. Cool eh … I don’t have martini glasses but I do have some wine glasses, so those will have to do =)

So this is the recipe for Death by Chocolate Mousse (I only grabbed the mousse part).

Servings for 2

Ingredients

1/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 (12 ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips = 3 ounces of semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 pinch salt

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon white sugar

Method

1. Combine 1/4 cup cream, chocolate, vanilla extract, and salt, in the top of a double boiler. Heat until chocolate is fully melted and mixture is smooth.

2. Alternatively, if you have a food processor, you can blend mixture by placing chocolate, vanilla extract, and salt in the processor bowl. Bring 1/4 cup cream to a boil on stovetop, then slowly pour cream into processor with blade running. Continue to process until mixture is smooth.

3. Pour chocolate mixture into a bowl and cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.

4. In a large bowl, beat 1/2 cup chilled cream with 1 tablespoon sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form. Fold whipped cream into chocolate mixture. Pour mixture into serving container. Chill for at least 6 hours before serving.

Tip: Cover the top of the container with cling wrap to prevent the mousse from drying out.

jamie oliver scallops with veggies

2006-02-02T22:34:00.000+08:00

I'm sure Jamie Oliver would have given a better name than me, but I was scribbling on a piece of paper while watching the show and trying to acknowledge the presence of my hubby's friend at my place. By the way, I WANT TO GO TO SCOTLAND TOO!!!!

Here goes ...

Ingredients
Scallops
Salt
Pepper
5 spice powder
A knob of butter
2 tablespoon of olive oil
Fresh rosemary and marjoram leaves
Half a lemon
Baby leeks
Asparagus

1. Boil water with 1 teaspoon of salt. Add baby leeks and asparagus. Remove after 1 minute, drain well.
2. Clean and drain well the scallops. Score one side of the scallop with criss cross pattern.
3. Sprinkle some salt, pepper and some 5 spice powder on top of the scored scallops. How much depends on personal tastes.
4. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan over medium flames, and put the vegetables in. sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.
5. After 1 minute, push the vegetables one side of the pan. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, put the scallops in, scored side down. After 1 minute, flip the scallops and add a bit of butter.
6. Throw in a handful fresh rosemary and marjoram leaves over the scallops.
7. Put the vegetables on the plate, with scallops on top. Squeeze half a lemon over the scallops. Serve.

Research for Vday's Dinner - first item shortlisted!

2006-02-02T17:40:00.000+08:00

Remember I said that I’m going to start shortlisting recipes for Vday?

I just found the first one! I couldn’t stop thinking about this scallop dish by Jamie Oliver that was shown on the TV. He met up some friends in Scotland, and they showed his friends diving and catching the scallops! It was so amazing to see how the scallops trying to escape!

But most importantly, it was the way he presented the dish, simple and yet looked so mouth watering (yes it’s the lemon factor again).

Anyway I just found this recipe, it looks so simple and yet sounds really yummy! And yes again, I will probably change the lime to lemon =) Not sure if I want to serve it as appetizer or main meal yet. But I know where to get the scallops! Read that Meidiya (correct?) stocks fabulous Japanese seafood (who can forget those seafood on Iron Chef?). Will just be doing the scallop meat without the shell ... cannot imagine how expensive that would be!

Will try to dig out the Jamie Oliver recipe and post for comparison. Yum!

Grilled Scallops with Basil and Lime Butter

Ingredients

9 king scallops, shucked and cleaned
salt and black pepper

Basil and Lime Butter:
85g (3oz) butter, softened
2 x 15ml spoon (2 tablespoons) fresh chopped basil
juice and rind of 1 lime

Method
1. Preheat the grill

2. Remove the coral (or roe) from each scallop and set aside. Slice the scallop in half and set aside.

3. In a small bowl mix the butter ingredients together and set aside.

4. Spread 40g (1 and one half oz) of the flavoured butter onto a grill pan.

5. Add the scallops to the grill pan 5cm (2") apart. Dot with the remaining butter and cook for 3-4 minutes, turning occasionally. Transfer to a serving dish.

6. Spoon the juices from the pan over the scallops and serve with sliced new potatoes and salad leaves tossed in a little vinaigrette dressing.

Serves 3 as a starter

Recipe from: http://www.seafish.org/plate/details.asp?catid=2&recipeid=375

The Apples of my eyes

2006-02-01T18:03:00.000+08:00

I always loved apple pies, and even more so apple crisps.

My sister made it once when she returned from US and she made one during her short stay with us. Only thing was, I think she forgot to put the sugar in the crust and it was so sour! But still very yummy (just top up with some honey or ice cream to go with it).

Anyway I was bugging her for ages to pass me the recipe (she still owes me the red wine vinegar chicken recipe too) to no avail. Then one day, my allrecipes.com e-newsletter came in with a weekly highly highlight on apples. So i surfed through the recipes, read through all the reviews and selected one to try with the advised modifications.

It was very good! The topping is very crispy and kinda healthy (it has oats it in!). The apples is nice and soft(tarty too!). I have the pictures somewhere but I can't seem to locate it. Anyway, after this, I'll be researching on recipes for V Day =) so watch out for it.

APPLE CRISP

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING
10 green apples
1/3 cup white sugar
2 tablespoon plain flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup of raisins (more if you like)
Juice of 1 lemon (reduce if you don’t like it tart)

INGREDIENTS FOR THE TOPPING
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup self-raising flour
3/4 packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted (1 block SCS 125g salted butter)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 175 degree C for at least 20 minutes.
2. Peel, core and dice the apples. Toss with lemon juice immediately,
3. Combine the white sugar, 2 tablespoon plain flour and ground cinnamon, toss with the apples and raisins.
4.Place the apples on a baking dish (Mine’s 20 X 20 X 6cm I think).
5. Mix the oats, flour, brown sugar and add in melted butter. Crumble evenly over the apple mixture.
6. Bake at 175 degrees C for about 45 minutes.

Tip 1: If you like your apples softer, cover the top with foil and bake for a further 15 minutes.

Tip 2: Up the cinnamon if you like. I do it with 2 teaspoons for the filling and sprinkle some for the topping.

the alcohols in my life ...

2006-01-30T23:20:00.001+08:00

For people who know me, sometimes I tend to enjoy alcohol a little too much ... but hey, I'm past the wild days of "youth" and besides I was sipping wine way before it was the "in" thing to drink these days! Basically, alcohol is no stranger to me, for almost my entire life.

I started young ... probably by 4 or 5, i was onto Tia Maria and Kahlua (courtesy of my mum). In fact, I liked it so much, I was swigging it from the bottle ... IN SECRET. Apparently I would hide behind the big armchair in the study room before bedtime, and quickly chug down a few mouthfuls and appear innocently and go to bed. The cool thing was, stories books and the bottles of Kahlua were placed side by side BEHIND the armchair. So that explains to those who was curious how I managed to acquire the "sweet" taste of Kahlua neat or on the rocks that start and end my drinking session.

Then as I got slightly older, the variety I got was much wider. Brandy (Loius XIII anyone?), red wine, white wine (my dad used to buy a crate or 2 and share with my uncle Macolm - supposedly from Provinage's father), Baby cham and ... Boones Strawberry wine (we did try Bailey's one of the year but it was never drunk again within the family).

Boones Strawberry wine was something we (my siblings and me) looked forward to, since we only get it during Christmas. Not sure what it is? Go to http://www.lovotti.com/brochures/Boones%20Farm%20Strawberry%20Hill.html. The packaging is quite different from what we get here. Along the way, it dropped out from our list of drinks, not sure why though.

Then some 10 years ago, I tried it again and the taste seems to have changed with the revamped packaging. Didn't taste as nice as before and so, of course I was quite disappointed. Kinda an "end" to my childhood memories.

However, an ending always begets a new beginning. So, I discoved Sun Peak Peach, which is GOOD! And as with all alcohols in my life, it celebrated good and bad times with me, as well as bringing me fond and not so pleasant memories.

Whatever they are, I treasure them in my heart. For that, I propose a toast, "to all the alcohols in my life, thank you for being with me." Yes I'm sober and No I'm not an alcoholic.

Psst, by the way, it goes well with desserts, in case you are wondering what it has to do with food ;)

overdose of cookies

2006-01-25T23:20:00.000+08:00

my goodness ... went shopping for clothes today and i couldn't wear so many things!

1. free size ain't free size to me =(

2. "sorry mam, we are out of XL" (should i take comfort in that fact other people are also buying XL?)

3. clothes that look good on mannequins, that has my size, makes me look like a PREGNANT woman ...

*argh* this comes from gorging on the CNY goodies i guess =(

anyway yesterday went home and made somemore cookies with my sister and my auntie (my cousin and bro helped out too). Rascal was busy vacumming the floor and hence he had diahorrea this morning. Serves him right, but poor me, I had to clean up all the goo!

We tried a few recipes - the peanut cookies (but taste different - must rem wat my hubby add to the ingredients!), Sugee/ Semolina cookies (so so), Almond cookies (adapted from Skinny Epicurean's Cashew Cookies - not that fantastic *sigh* guess it doesn't work with almonds. We figured it will taste nice with those red and green cherries - experiment another time and let you know), my mum's sugi biscuits (which is vegetarian since no egg is used). We also dug out some of her older recipes and will try another time. It was VERY tiring cuz turns out most of the baking equipment at my mum's place is MIA, so i had to drive all the way home and pick up my mixer (the smaller kenwood) as well as my baking sheets, mixing bowls, flour shifter, etc ... I'm not leaving anything to chance since I don't want to drive to and fro (even though it's a 15 min drive away).

The best of the lot? My mum's sugi biscuits - plain sugi or with almonds. We decided not to waste my almonds and quicky toasted and coarsely chopped them, then add to the remaining sugi dough. The moment I held the Sugi dough in my hand, I went "this feels like it man! That sugi I used to eat!" When we were kids, we helped out with the rolling of the balls, and poking it with a chopsticks. We weren't allowed to eggwash the cookies :P

We took only a few pics (think my cousin) and i was already quite shack ... in fact, after everything was done and 80% was washed and cleaned, I flop unto the sofa and slept till my hubby came to pick me up (about an hour). I am still so sleepy. Going to call it a night and I'm looking forward to Friday - not for CNY but cuz they are making carrot / yam cakes! another of my FAVOURITES *slurp*

The Apprentice!

2006-01-23T23:51:00.000+08:00

I hereby award the "The Apprentice" title to Aya, who is my one and only tudi! haha!

Here's some pics of her efforts to make her pineapple tarts! And I must say she is better than me cuz till now, I am still afraid to do the pastry by myself!

Isn't her pineapple tarts beautiful? =)

bottled up ...

2006-01-23T23:15:00.000+08:00

my finished product =) I like the bottle cuz it makes it look so cheerful!

psst! I added some vodka infused blackberries into the jam *rofl*

what's that bloody looking lemon slice?

2006-01-23T11:48:00.000+08:00

Aya’s so smart =)

Ya … it is strawberry jam. I couldn’t resist making it after the compliments and the request for the recipe. Anyway I had to try it for myself since I’m doing it without the breadmaker!

I had about ½ of the required strawberries sitting in my fridge (was going to make alcoholic strawberries conserve :P) but I ran out of plain vodka, so while waiting for someone to donate me a bottle, the strawberries are just _sitting there_.

So *ahem* it was pretty quick, did it within the hour so it’s now sitting in a pretty Daiso bottle in my fridge!

It’s not as watery as the previous time, probably because I didn’t try to rub off all the seeds on the strawberries. The natural pectin required for it to set is contained in the skin, so this time I guess there was enough pectin to help set the jam properly.

A nice ending to the weekend J

Scroll down for the amended recipe. It’s in one of the post titled “Strawberry Jam”.

what on earth ...?!?!?! Part II

2006-01-22T19:36:00.000+08:00

Wana guess what it is? =)

What on earth ...!!!

2006-01-22T19:26:00.000+08:00

Are you wondering what this is? Are you taking a double look and thinking to yourself, "does this look like a P*****?"

Then are you wondering, "Are you sick in the head, you pervert!"

Well, first question, Bingo, you got it correct. Wait, don't cover your eyes or rinse it with bleach yet!

Traditionally, when we make kok zai (mini puffs with peanut, sugar, sesame seeds and some stinky bug smell-alike leaves), we make some that looks like the male reproductive organ. This will be given to married couples, to symbolise the "gift" of a baby boy. They call it in cantonese a nicer name "Chee Gu Ting" which is actually the name of a plant's bulb.

Anyway, we also make some "treasure boxes" and the normal puffs. So, remember, you don't have to rinse your eyes with bleach!

Sorry, I went there too late to get the "secret" recipe of the peanut sugar filling!

From left: "Treasure Box" Kok Zai, "Chee Gu Ting" Kok Zai and the normal Kok Zai.

Tadah! Kueh Lapis from my oven!

2006-01-21T21:22:00.000+08:00

Not quite perfect but I'll say a decent first attempt =) Taste wise it's quite quite good, but some part were yuckky ... i guess it was the water logged section :P silly me, i forgot which side was the part the water had seeped in. So i cut away more of the sides just in case...

here are the pics ... remember 1 scoop/ ladle ... not 2 or 3 at 1 time!

Should I sigh with relief?

2006-01-21T01:00:00.000+08:00

Just went to poke the cake ... the edges seems 'crispy' so good thing is ... it's prob not water logged anymore ... but i hope it's not overcooked and become dry and yuckky ...

does that mean i have to buy another 30 eggs to have a go at it? pity my poor back =(

I certainly deserve the title of "the Queen"

2006-01-21T00:11:00.000+08:00

of DISASTERS (yes in caps) ...

why?

well good news and bad news about my kueh lapis ...

good news is for all of you... the recipe works and it taste really GOOD (I can't help but scrape off the sides and eat it).

the BAD NEWS? my cake tin pan is NOT waterproof ... and so what? well ... see the recipe says to let it cool completely overnight right? I decided to put it inside my oven, but I am having an antsy problem lately so I decided to sit the cake pan on a bed of water ...

so now i have WATERLOGGED kueh lapis! thankfully or not, only half of the cake is affected ... so sigh ... I decided to pop it back into the oven on low heat (110 degrees celsius) for 1 hour to drive out some of the moisture ... hope it works =(

so remember what I did ... DON'T repeat it!

pics and pics ... part III

2006-01-20T22:46:00.000+08:00

This is how my Kueh Lapis batter looks like, after adding in the egg whites and flour.

Please be forewarned. When adding new batter for the next layer, the heat from the bottom layer will cause the batter to melt (see below). It's ok i guess, just try to spread to the corners and let the heat take care of the distribution.

That's all for now folks!

pics and pics ... part II

2006-01-20T22:35:00.000+08:00

Beating the egg whites ... don't add the sugar yet! and make sure there isn't any one speck of oil or egg yolk in it!

When it looks somewhat like this, add the sugar. The final product is below:

Can see how "stiff" it is on the spoon?

This is when I got tired of trying to fold in bit by bit and decide to dump the last half of the egg white into the egg yolk mixture! Don't follow me!

pics and pics ...

2006-01-20T22:22:00.000+08:00

ok selected some pics to show you the process of doing it ... so at least you have some kind of mental preparation!

Greasing the base of the square tin pan. The greaseproof paper is on top of it.

Now that the greaseproof paper is over the first layer of the butter, smooth out any bubbles and apply another layer of butter over the paper.

My ex colleague taught me the technique to seperate the egg yolk from the egg white using the egg shells - she swears that it's the easiest and best way to do it. I'll say less hassle and cheaper too! No need to be an egg yolk seperator! But it has it own drawbacks, especially when i accidentally hook a portion of the yolk sac over an sharp edge ...

So, here's 20 egg yolks! More or less intact ;P (to be precise 18 intact yolk sacs and 2 broken ones).

to be continued ....

what is a kueh lapis press?

2006-01-20T21:16:00.000+08:00

I knew you were going to ask that!

Anyway it looks like this

I got mine from Phoon Huat (again yes but I happen to be a member so I get like 5% discount on my purchases).

Also my baking equipment

From left: my Kenwood Chef Classic, my Braun handheld mixer, and my Kenwood mixer (I have it for about 10 years).

Better place to view them in all product marketing glory

Kenwood Chef Classic at here

Braun Handheld Mixer at here

My kenwood stand mixer ah ... I don't really know ... it's been such a long time! Sorry!

Kueh Lapis Recipe

2006-01-20T20:44:00.000+08:00

Got this off a magazine which I really don't remember which one - only have the page that's torn off :P

Why I picked this recipe over others that I've found on the internet? Because:
1. It only required 20 egg yolks
2. Method of preparation I'm somewhat familiar other than the egg white bit
3. It comes with photo illustrations!
4. It gave some basic tips so I'm comfortable to try it out

Recipe for Kueh Lapis (adapted somewhat from my research)

Baking items required
1 Kueh Lapis press
1 25 X 25 cm square tin pan (i used 8 X 8 inch square tin pan)

Ingredients
500g butter
220g caster sugar
4 tablespoon condense milk
1 tablespoon rempah kueh (lapis spice) (I bought mine from Phoon Huat)
20 egg yolks
150g plain flour
6 egg whites with 90g caster sugar

Method
1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celcius.
2. Line the base of the cake tin with grease proof paper. Butter the base before laying the paper, and butter again on top of the paper.
3. Cream butter, sugar, condensed milk and lapis spice till fluffy and pale in colour.
4. Add egg yolks one by one (I had a pulse function on my kenwood chef classic so i used it when i added an yolk - really cool!). Beat on high speed when adding the egg yolk to prevent curdling. Set aside.
5. Using a clean stainless steel or glass bowl, whisk egg whites till glossy (with soft peaks forming). Add sugar slowly while whisking on high peak. Stop when the egg white is thick (can form stiff peaks). See *
6. Fold egg white into the butter mixture, followed by the flour.
7. Spoon one ladle (I used my soup ladle) of batter (it will be thick) unto the base of the tin and spread evenly. Bake at 170 degrees Celcius for 10 minutes or till surface is brown.
8. Remove cake tin from oven. Switch oven to grill mode.
9, Spread another ladle of batter on top of the first layer and grill top till brown (place on the rack nearest to the top - i used my 2nd rack since my tin won't fit into the first rack).
10. Remove cake tin from oven. Press the cake with the Kueh Lapis press to remove any air bubbles.
11. Spread a ladle of batter on top of the cake and grill. Repeat till the last layer.
12. The last layer should be slightly thicker than the rest - about 1.5 ladle full.
13. Grill till brown, remove cake tin from oven. Switch oven back to baking mode (top and bottom heat) and lower the temperature to 160 degree Celsius.
14. Cover the top of the cake tin with aluminium foil. Return cake tin to the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
15. Allow the cake to cool completely in the tin upright for ONE day.
16. On the second day, turn out and invert the cake. Keep in a box and stand for another day.
17. On the third day, invert cake and it's now ready to be eaten!

Note: I notice that while grilling, some of my bottom layers weren't getting "cooked" properly. So one of the layers, I put it on the 3rd rack (from top) and grill it. When no more liquid was oozing out after that layer, I returned back to the 2nd rack. I also baked the cake at the end for 20 minutes at 150 degree Celcius. But you have to wait for 36 hours before I can tell you if the cake is any good :P hang in there!

* if using plastic bowls, it tends to retain the oil very well. So you have to really clean it very very very well - no oil or any form of grease. Also make sure there's no speck of egg yolk in it too! otherwise it will not rise!

Strawberry Jam

2006-01-20T19:02:00.000+08:00

I once made strawberry jam to give away to my colleagues and friends at work for Christmas a few years back. While they were very nice and appreciative that I made something for them, I thought they probably chuck it down the bin when I wasn't around.

Personally, I used my jam to make strawberry lemonade. Reason being it was very gooey/ watery - unlike traditional jam which is "solid". Also, I'm a "tarty" freak - as usual, i added much more lemon juice than called for in the recipe ...

Then, yesterday someone asked me for the recipe. Apparently his daughter liked it a lot! Wow! I feel so GOOD!

Anyway, for "prosperity's sake", I'll post the recipe here. I adapted it from my breadmaker manual, which had a jam making mode. So, if you have one like mine, just throw in all the listed ingredients and leave it do the work.

Else, just do it the manual way!

Recipe for Strawberry Jam/ Preserve

900g fresh strawberries
400g to 500g sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)
Lemon Juice – 1 tablespoon to 1 whole lemon (tartness based on personal preferences)

Method
1. Remove stems and hull the strawberries. Lightly crush 1/3 of the strawberries. Process the rest in a blender using pulse method or mash them (a potato masher comes in handy).
2. Place in large, heavy stainless steel or enameled pan over moderate heat. If using non-stick Teflon pan, clean thoroughly to ensure no residual oil. The presence of residual oil will spoil the taste of the jam. Heavy pans ensure the heat is evenly distributed over the base of the pan.
3. Let it boil and then add sugar. Stir and add lemon juice.
4. Turn flames to low heat and stir constantly till mixture thickens (approximately 30 minutes). Heat further if you prefer thicken constituency.
5. Let boil for 30 seconds.
6. Remove jam from heat and leave undisturbed for 10 minutes.
7. Pour into containers and let it cool.
Cover and Refrigerate.

IMPORTANT TIP: Choose strawberries which is firm and just ripe. Ripening reduces the pectin content of the fruit, which adversely affects setting of the jams. Wash the fruit as little as possible. If washing is necessary, drain thoroughly. Remove any damaged or mouldy fruit as some mould spores can survive the cooking

Tip: I used glass cannisters bought from ikea to store it. Clean and pour boiling water to "sterilize them". Else, I fill the cannisters1/3 full with water and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Drain well and air dry and use immediately. Daiso has prettier ones at $2 each.

the making of kueh lapis ...

2006-01-20T00:26:00.000+08:00

it's actually not too bad ... though the fact that the recipe required me to whip egg whites and fold into the butter mixture was quite intimidating ... i've actually never ... NEVER ... done egg white before ... and to fold it in ... that's even worse ... i dun actually recall having to fold anything into a mixture before either ...

anyway i had 2 mixers ... and i decided to use my smaller one for the egg whites. it's plastic bowl so i had to take extra precautions ... cleaning and cleaning and cleaning ... making sure there's no speck of oil on the beaters or on the bowl ... and remember that i should only add the sugar after the egg whites look satiny or glossy (which by the way i can't really tell the difference!) i managed to make it!

the fact it's taking me slightly more than 3 hours doesn't mean that i'm making really many many layers ... i made a boo-boo ... i thought my scoop was small, so for every layer i made it 2.5 scoops ... so it's now a 6 layer kueh =P

it's now baking away in my oven ... hopefully it will turn out nice ... it's 20 egg yolks for goodness sake! here's a pic for you to drool over ...

more pics up later ... now i have sore arms and BACK ...

and i still want to make sugee biscuits tomorrow ... *howwwwww*

time for kueh lapis ... and more!

2006-01-19T15:36:00.000+08:00

I bought the necessary ingredients for my kueh lapis, including this tool to press the cake down ... so will work on it tonight and cross my fingers, that it will come out right ... the recipe is from Simply Hers (I think) last January edition ...

I've also bought semolina flour, and that goes into my sugee cookies (planning for tomorrow). Found this recipe and hope it works ... the reviews says crunchy but I don't seem to see any other recipes for melt in the mouth (i saw one in this cook book but it says to bake for 1 hour?!?!?! anyway i tried it and it was horrible).

my hubby's out tonight so no one's going to help me =(

Coming up next ... Kueh Lapis ...

2006-01-17T13:58:00.000+08:00

I should start planning for my kueh lapis... I’ve already bought 30 eggs (recipe calls for 20 egg yolks and in case I accidentally break some), the spices and the square cake pan … what’s left I think is the butter (needs 500g which my fridge is currently only stocking 1X250g piece.

Oh darn, it means either I give up clubbing on Wednesday or pray my eggs will still be nice and fresh :P My fridge can’t take in all 30 eggs currently (it’s full of JUNK) … so *argh* need to decide soon … you must be mad if you think I’m going to try it tonight …

my guinea pigs ...

2006-01-17T13:41:00.000+08:00

tested one batch of the almond cookies on my colleagues and apparently they like it! either that or they just trying to suck up to me *rofl*

someone just gave me 2 bottles of homemade cookies too ... the almond sugi cookies look really v good ... no way am i going to share with my colleagues!

kitchen gadgets!

2006-01-17T09:23:00.000+08:00

I happen to be surfing for pineapple tarts moulds (in particular wooden ones - anyone knows where i can still buy them from?) when i came across this.

Just thought it was particularly interesting since i'm nuts about pineapple tarts now ...

http://www.pastrychef.com/Catalog/pineapple_corer_3152825.htm

sigh not quite the perfect cookie

2006-01-17T01:15:00.000+08:00

ok this is the results of today's baking ... i somewhat envision it to be puffier .. but ah well, the ultimate judge is my mum, since i made this cookies especially for her ... if she likes it, then i'll post up the recipe ... else, it's back to the hunting game for a new almond cookie recipe ...

I must be mad ...

2006-01-16T22:28:00.000+08:00

I am so tired ... YET I couldn't resist the lure of more biscuit ... my almond cookie dough is now resting in the fridge, while I hide in the air con room ... I made a silly mistake ... I added in HOT almond meal to my butter/sugar mix and so it went*splat* ... *sigh*

The weather is not helping either ... I'm grateful it's finally sunshine after so many days of rain ...but it's terrible ... there's not even any slight breeze tonight!

Thinking if I should go ahead with the baking or just take a break ...

Ok... gotta heat up more soup for my hubby ... it's herbal soup I made yesterday, so he's finishing up the leftovers for dinner (horrible aren't I :P)

the fruits of a 8 hour labour ...

2006-01-16T00:18:00.000+08:00

spent 8 hours at my mum's place making pineapple tarts today ...

i must declare one thing ... the recipe we had for the pineapple tarts pastry ONLY works with SCS salted butter ... today we tried with Anchor salted butter and it was horrible! Somehow it didn't give enough moisture to the dough, so we sent our aunt out to buy 6 blocks of SCS butter ...

after that, the dough was back to the normal dough ... so much better to work with!

Anyway, just a quick one before I dash off to dreamland, these are the 2 versions of the tarts we did today.

The open pineapple tart. The heart shaped decoration are handmade!

The pineapple tart ball (closed version) with a clove. This combine with the egg yellow colouring we added to the dough makes it look like "kumquats".

ok tt's all for tonight folks ... I'll show you the pics of the hums i had just before I posted this tomorrow!

Sacrifice ...

2006-01-14T18:03:00.000+08:00

hee ... I had to sacrifice my quest for a smaller waist to bring you this picture ... in case you were wondering what the heck is a pineapple tart ball =) these were made without sticking a clove on the top. They were just brushed with eggwash.

Breakfast with Love ...

2006-01-14T17:56:00.000+08:00

I made the ham sandwiches this morning for my sweetest hubby ... who has been working hard, and yet still have to assist me in my current madness for pineapple tarts ... Today as a reward, i let him sleep late and I woke up earlier (still it was about 10am...) to feed Rascal and bring him for his quick morning run ...

It was done on the spur of the moment, when I was lamenting what to do with the excess bread (we had the loaf in the fridge for almost 2 weeks!). I thought it would be sweet to do it as a gesture of gratitude.

Yes he's happy with it! Specially that I made coffee for him too ...

Crazy for Pineapples II ...

2006-01-13T23:00:00.000+08:00

ok the details about cooking pineapple paste ...

from this at 9:45pm

to this at 11:30pm

to this at 12:00am. it's almost dry ... notice the amount of liquid bubbling at the center?

then i add in the sugar and start the constant stirring over medium heat ...

See how nicely it caramelised? This is about 20 minutes after I've added the sugar.

This is my greedy puppy, Rascal. Guess what's on his mind?

and he's decided to set up shop here in case he gets any goodies falling accidentally out of heaven ... he actually pullled his rug over!

and my poor hubby who had to helped me out, because i was complaining about my arms aching like mad ...

and the final end result the next morning? (Psst, this has been already somewhat air dried in the fridge!)

yawnz

2006-01-12T14:50:00.000+08:00

I finally finished making the pineapple paste at about 1:30am … will post up the pics later … right now just trying to keep my eyes open!

A few additional tips for making the paste:
1. When frying the paste, the perceived wetness of the paste is different when it’s hot and when it has cooled down. So stop when you are not sure, otherwise if the paste is too dry, it’s not very nice.

Note: If it has plenty of liquid still, it's NOT done yet ,,, back to the work for you unfortunately ... will try to post up the pics later ... was fast asleep last night - too tired to blog.

This has been cooked till sticky but still it's too wet ... the liquid in the center appeared in the paste the next morning i popped it inside the fridge. So I microwaved it on low heat for 20 minutes to dry it up a bit, stirred it well and back to the fridge for another session. This pic taken is of my 3rd batch (i went to buy 3 more pineapples!).

2. If it’s still too wet when it has cooled down, spread it on a flat plate and pop it overnight in the fridge to dry it somewhat. Then store into a covered container to prevent any further loss of moisture.

3. My sister was telling me that when using unripe pineapples, it leaves a “cutting” taste on the tongue. Hence the need to cook it longer over the stove, but I was really too sleepy to cook it over a low flame. If you have sensitive skin, do take note. My hands were itching after cleaning and cutting the pineapples.

Additional tip: When rolling the paste into balls for the tarts, wet your hands first. It’s much easier to roll into balls as the jam doesn’t stick to your wet hands.

Crazy for pineapples ...

2006-01-11T22:40:00.000+08:00

I bought on impulse 7 pineapples from the market today ... It's much cheaper than what I paid for the last round ... $7 for 7 peeled pineapples ... Got my colleague to help me lugged back to office and my hubby came to picked me up after work ...

I started working on the pineapples about 930pm. Due to a sore right arm and a tendency to take short cuts, I decided to core the pineapples and use my handheld blender to do the job. I roped in my hubby to help work the blender while I core and chop up the pineapple ... Of course I threw in a sweetener ... More of the chocolate tarts I made, and more to come this weekend ...

It was pretty fast, within 30 minutes, all the pineapples were crushed and is boiling away in my 40cm tefal wok ... Update later again =) think it's going to be a sleepless night ...

Family Fun!

2006-01-11T10:43:00.000+08:00

It was really fun to make the pineapple tarts yesterday as it was a family affair!

In fact, we even set up a little counter for my 4 yr old nephew, Asher, to help roll the pineapple paste into balls!

I lugged my mixer and all the ingredients over. Thank goodness I had 4 blocks of butter with me, we used up 3! And we couldn't make the open tarts because we couldn't locate my mother's ancient baking items (but we did find a really really old recipe sheet, dated 17/10/77 ... yeah 1977! for some nonya cooking recipes - will post it up later). So we made covered ones, pineapple tart balls! And *giggles* we didn't have milk powder, so we used pedisure vanilla child formula instead. Saved us the hassle of adding in the vanilla essense too!

All in all, the following family folks were helping out:

my brother helped to make the pineapple tarts balls, arrange them on the baking tray, brush with egg and watch over them while in the oven. At one point we all got too excited over the kids and we had 1 batch slightly burnt, but hey! It was really very crispy so it was quite yummy!

My sister in law helped to make the perfect pineapple balls (mine was exponentially increasing in size).

My sister made the pastry and taught me how to wrap it into balls (took me about 30 minutes to get the hang out it). She's the one who provided the pastry recipe too and it was really good!

My ma jie, the expert in making all things, helped out in everything, and in between cooking dinner for us!

Me ... well i did make the pineapple paste, and I did get around to learn how to do the pastry and wrap the paste into ball shaped ... so mine was more of a learning experience!

Last but not least, Asher, who helped out a bit before he got bored!

We were supposed to try 2 recipes for the crust but in the end, we just stuck to the one my sister had. So here it is!

Pineapple Tart Pastry (good for melt in the mouth and crispy version)
250 g / 1 cup salted butter (we used SCS brand) - softened
4 tablespoon caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence or vanillin powder
2 and 2/3 cups cake/ plain flour
2 tablespoon milk powder
1 egg yolk

Method
1. Preheat over to 200 degrees celsius (180 if u are using fan assisted).
2. Mix butter and sugar together, with a wooden spoon or mixer. Add vanilla and continue to mix till mixture is white and fluffy.
3. Add the flour bit by bit (i used 1/3 measuring cup), and mix with butter mixture after each addition.
4. When adding the last cup, cut the flour into the mixture with a wooden spoon or by hand (make it crumbly). Add the milk powder and mix well.
5. Add egg yolk to bind the crumbs into a soft dough. If the dough does not hold (too crumbly), add some milk by per tablespoon till you get it to hold together.

To make pineapple tart balls
1. Take some dough and roll it into a ball.
2. Press your thumb into the center till you get the thickness you desire. Then using the thumb and the index finger, press the dough into a bowl shape and add pineapple paste inside.
3. Fold and cover, pinch off the excess dough and patch up the seams with your finger.
4. Gently roll the ball inbetween the hands to achieve the roundness.
5. Press a clove on the top and brush it with egg yolk. Done!

Bake it for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the size. If you like it crisper, then you have to bake it longer, and turning down the tempature to about 180 degrees celsius (160 if fan assisted).

Notes:
1. I had used 5.75 pineapples to make the tub of pineapple paste, and we need 2.5 amount of the pastry to make all the tarts. We made about 300 tarts I think?
2. If you have left over pastry, just cut out some dark chocolate squares or chocolate mint and wrap it up. It tastes yummy too!
3. If rolling the dough out to make open face tarts, you can used the shortcrust pastry method, which is to cut the cold butter into small pieces, then cut in the sugar, followed by the rest of the ingredients in order as listed. Egg yolk to bind so use hands. Else the same method as above, but put a damp cloth over the bowl containing the dough and put into the fridge for 30 minutes before using it.

Have fun!

Where is the recipe for the tart pastry?

2006-01-08T18:44:00.000+08:00

Er for those who are asking me about the pastry ... I have yet to try it out ...

the problem is ... I like it crispy, my sister likes it melt in the mouth ...

I have 3 recipes on hand but we will do 2 only.

After we have tried it out, I'll post the verdict on the pastry as well as the recipes.

Wait for it =)

Recipe for Pineapple Tart Paste

2006-01-08T11:42:00.000+08:00

Ingredients
100g of sugar to one pineapple (need about 6 pineapples - but can spilt into batches)
1 stick of cinnamon, 1 star anise and a few cloves (for each batch of grated pineapples)

Method
1. Grate the pineapple and keep the juice.
2. Boil pineapple and juice on high heat with cinnamon, star anise and cloves, until it is almost dry (don't let it get burnt).
3. Add in sugar and stir continuously over LOW heat to prevent burning, until it dries up into a wet paste.
3. Cool the jam down and keep it in the fridge for one night to dry it sufficiently to be rolled into balls for filling of the tarts.

Tips
1. Get unripe pineapples to get the tarty (sour) taste. If you like it sweeter, add 20g extra per pineapple. If using sweet Sarawak's pineapples, test before adding sugar, you may need less.
2. If fruit stalls are available, get the ready cut ones if you want less hassle to cut and clean the pineapples. Tell them you want the local ones and not so ripe ones. I rather pay a bit more than to clean up after the mess and with sore and cut hands (i tend to be rather clumsy and accidental prone). Note: I was just told that the fruitseller in the wet market does the peeling of the fruit, and will cost only about 70 cents per peeled pineapple.
3. Grate the pineapple and save the cores. Don't grate the cores as well as it will add lots of hard fibres in your paste! Juice the cores (squeeze if you want less work) to obtain the juice and add to the grated pineapples.
4. I use a non-stick pans to do the frying, so if using otherwise, you have to cook it over medium heat and keep stirring.
5. Make sure the cooking utensils are FREE of residual oil. Any residual oil from previous cooking will make your pineapple paste taste rancid!

Smell the New Year ... Resolutions!

2006-01-08T11:12:00.000+08:00

After 10 years of ... er ... sleeping, I've decided to make a "come back" to my few real passions in life - Baking.

One of my resolution for the new year was to document down all the yummy food I have been eating at my mother's house for all these years (my ma jie is the actual cook, and my mum is the actual baker). I want to keep an archive of both homemade dishes, as well as traditional dishes.

As for baking, I was searching for pineapple tarts recipe (just for fun actually) when I stumbled upon The Skinny Epicurean's blog (http://skinny-epicurean.blogspot.com/). It suddenly reminded me how much I used to love baking - taco breads for my late dad, prune butter cakes for my sister, crunchy gingerbreads and my notorious Black Death (chocolate) cookies.

In my early years, no one - NO ONE - ever wanted to eat the stuff i made, except for my loving dogs (and only one of them ate it). Along the way, I got better because I LEARNT how to read recipes. And I had more "willing" food testers. Now, I have a ready one at home, my hubby (the greedy one too), so I'm ready to start!

And the first smell for the new year - pineapple paste for pineapple tarts!

Spent 4 hours making the paste from 5.75 pineapples (2 batches) and so far so good. The taste is just what I like - tarty, not too sweet and a hint of spices (cinnamon, star anise and cloves). This tuesday I'll be making the actual tarts with my sister ... I can't wait!

Next on my list - almond cookies. Why? Because my mum loves them, and I used to make them for her (no artificial almond essence - they taste of cockroaches!).

Then maybe peanut cookes - we modified this recipe from a website and we love it! And it was my hubby who made the changes accidentally - I hope he remembers what he did!

and and ... chocolate cakes ... chocolate tarts ... and and ... oh! I should start making a list!