Self Centred

Recently on a regular visit to the library, I stumbled onto a book, Just Desserts. I was relieved that there aren’t any missing pages. Come to think about it, very often it is the Chinese recipe books that are dilapidated.

Once, I found a full section of pau recipes was missing from a book about dim sum. I just couldn't figure how ungracious these people are.

I should say a good percentage of Singaporean is generally self-centred. Since I started on my swimming therapy, I became a regular in the morning at the club. I begin to notice that members were removing public amenities and taking it to the shower room, oblivious to whether other members needed them.

When I indicate my displeasure, instead of feeling embarrassed, they actually got offended. In my heart, though they are all educated, they are worst off than those who are not.

Now I don't look at them with respect but instead, I see them as a bunch of shameless people. Sometime I wonder whether the campaign on Graciousness is effective on Singaporeans.

I admired the discipline and the graciousness of Western influence. Hate to say; perhaps it is in the Asian genes that we are generally the “Me First” attitude.

Enough of our ungracious society, I longed for a marble cake. I spotted one on Fresh from the Oven and decided to give it a try.

I always intrigued by marbling effect that other bakers accomplished. One such cake that I have yet to try will be the zebra cake (an egg white cake with really beautiful pattern). Nevertheless, mine didn't turn out as vibrant as hers.

Guess perhaps I needed higher quality matcha. Let's hope I didn't do too badly on the marbling. If you are looking for a soft and yet dense cake, this Chocolate Matcha Marble Cake is the one for you.

Personally, we like soft and fluffy cake much more. This one will pair very well with a cup of coffee.



Talking about cooking and baking, Time really flies. We have already settled down in our new home for 3 months! Now that I don't have to spend nearly half a day outside the home, I have more energy to devote time for my passion.

Also because the dream kitchen that I have, I seems to be spending more time there. hehehe...

I love to have my kid at the table studying while I bake. It is really nice as I am able to bake and watch over my kids. That is life.

What you need:

2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant espresso or coffee powder
1/3 cup dutch-process cocoa powder
1 1/3 cups sugar (separate into 1/3 cup and 1 cup)
1/4 cup water
1 whole egg
1 egg white
6 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup low fat yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 tsp matcha powder

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees with rack in the lower third of the oven. Prepared 8 tall muffin cups.

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a small bowl combine the espresso powder, cocoa and 1/3 cup of the sugar with 1/4 cup of water.

Whisk until smooth to form a paste. Set aside.

In another small bowl, whisk whole egg with egg white and vanilla essence. Set aside.

Beat butter for 1 minute to soften.

Gradually add remaining 1 cup of sugar and beat at high speed for about 3 minutes.

Dribble eggs in slowly, about 1 tbsp at a time, beating constantly for about 2 minutes.

Add in 1/3 flour and alternate with half of the yoghurt.

Continue with the same sequence and ends with the flour.

Measure out 1 1/2 cups of yogurt batter and mix into the cocoa mixture. Set aside.

Add matcha powder to the rest of the yogurt batter in the mixing bowl.

Use a large spoon to fill the bottom of the pan with about three quarters of the green batter placed in dollops.

Cover the green batter with dollops of chocolate batter.

Top the chocolate batter with small dollops of green batter spaced so that the chocolate batter shows through.

Use a table knife to marble the batters together with a circular or zigzag motion; be careful not to blend them too much.

For cupcakes, scoop a heaping tablespoon of either green or brown batter into each paper liner, and cover it with the alternate batter.

Marbling the batter with a knife is optional. If you do not marble the batter, you will get a two tone cake instead of a marble cake.

Bake for 45-50 minutes for cake, (20-25 minutes for cupcakes) or until the cake starts to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in comes out clean.

Cool for 10-15 minutes on a rack. Unmold the cake.

Cool completely before serving or storing.

A revisit

My parents dropped by this weekend to finish up some shelving that dad was helping us to install last week.

Dad is really good with carpentry work though he doesn't come from this profession. He just had the flair for hands on stuff.

Due to his perfectionist personality thus his workmanship is considered good.

Initially we wanted to bring them to K box after the "job". Guess it took longer than expected. Of course, my little princess was greatly disappointed with the change in plan as she was waiting patiently the whole afternoon.

Since I got to bake for Cupcake Fantasies, I might as well do a honeycomb cake so that mom can bring some home for breakfast.

I have tried honeycomb cake some years back when I just started in the world of blogging. Sorry, I just couldn't locate the old post but I do remember blogging about it. Perhaps it is in the lot that got wiped out.

During that time, I was really new to the blogging world. I remembered blogs like Jan's Kitchen, My Kitchen, My laboratory, Playing with my food , Shiokdelicoius to name just a few.

They were wonderful people. It was them that got me really interested in cooking and baking. In fact, one of them even encouraged and taught me how to start a blog.

Now quite a number have since stopped blogging and I do wonder how they are doing now. Some seems too disappeared into thin air. It will be really nice to have them blog again as they was really good at it.

For me I really don't know when that day will come for me to say goodbye. Perhaps one day, just like them, I grew tired or I have another career that needed my attention more. Well, we never really know right?

So here I leave you with a honeycomb cake that I didn't quite get it. Just like the last time.

It was a recipe that I took from Jo Deli forum during that time, yes it was my 2nd forum that I stumbled onto at that time. Apparently the source is from Renee's (Shiokdelicious) which I just happened to see it now. LOLz.

Talking about her, now she is another blogger that I am wondering how she is doing, really hope to see her blog again. Renee, if you are reading my humble blog (I seriously doubt she will), I wish I can reconnect with you.

I don't know why the "tunnels" only appeared on the bottom of the cake. Nevertheless, it still tastes good. Perhaps it is I need to do it another time to get it right?



Makes one 8" round cake
What you need:

210g sugar
240g water
80g butter
6 eggs
160g condensed milk
180g all-purpose flour
2½ tsp baking soda

Method:

Caramelize sugar over low heat in a saucepan until it is golden brown. Stir at all times.

Add water to the caramel. Be careful as the hot caramel will splash when water is added.

Continue to heat until syrup is homogeneous. Remove from heat.

Melt butter in hot syrup. Let syrup cool down completely.

Preheat oven at 180 degC.

In a mixing bowl, lightly beat eggs with a hand whisk.

Add condensed milk and mix well.

Sift flour and baking soda into another mixing bowl.

Pour (4) into flour and mix well.

Add cooled syrup into batter. Pour batter into a greased 8" x 3"(H) round cake pan.

Leave batter aside for 5 minutes to enable baking soda to react prior to baking.

Bake cake with bottom heat only for 1 hour or until skewer inserted to centre of cake comes out clean.

Leave cake in pan for 5-10 minutes before turning it onto a wire rack. Let cool before cutting.

Reference: Credits and appreciations to Renee from Shiokadelicious and her friend MS.

No smile?

When I was young, I remembered having pen pals. I couldn't believe when G, my good old classmate told me that she is still in touch with her pen pal. I found that truly amazing. Now with modern time, we have got cyber friends instead. Guess because of the instaneous communication, we tend to share more about our interest, our likes and dislikes. We get to choose friends that are of similar interests in forums and blogs. We get to know each other faster in that aspect. Through it, I found many firm friendships that based on trust. Of course I have my fair share of heart aches but life goes on. Sometime it works out beautifully and sometime it doesn't. The world of food blogging is amazing. Actually I learnt a lot from recipes that were shared, food styling and photography except writing style. That is something that I can't do well. I don't know how to make it more interesting or captivating. My photography isn't that great though I have improved. I have seen bloggers that improved in heaps and bounds over the years. They are really talented. So when my fellow foodie blogger heard that I am now into pau making and didn't quite get THE recipe. Some have showed me the way "to a good recipe". Thus here is another attempt. Still no smile but tasted much better than the first. Meanwhile I will still continue to experience till I find the THE pau. hahahaha Thanks to those who sent me links and recipes via emails. I will respect your decision to keep those recipes confidential.

Simply cannot give up

After my two last blunders, I am determined to complete my char siew pau trial. The filling has been sitting in the freezer and I really don't want to delay too long. I am curious whether I can really do it too. Perhaps thinking about my kids' love for char siew pau spurs me.

So last night, I went about with the starter dough. Making sure I got the right flour and right time this round. hahahaha.

I needed to be up early to do this trial as my kids are starting their new school term today. So time management must be precise. I timed my starter dough so that it is actually 12 hours to start the process the next day. It was good, because by the time I have completed it with steaming.

I just hit 8:30am! Just in time for my breakfast. hahaha I noticed that my starter dough didn't balloon like as when I was using bread flour. Thus I am unable to tell whether it was a success.

I find that the dough after mixing in the starter dough was a little too dry. I actually added a little more water to it so that it can form a ball. Rolling and filling was really easy. I have no problem.

I based on 40g dough and 20g filling.

I will definitely need to increase it to 30 - 35g next round.

I used an electric steamer, thus I wasn't able to control the heat. Perhaps next round, I will use a wok to steam. I don't know whether it is because of this reason.

The first 6-10 mins of my pau fluff up prettily as you are able to see the pleats. After the 11 - 15mins, my pau's pleats disappeared.

Now it looks like tau sar pau instead. :( I am not sure whether reducing the ammonia will affect the quality of the pau but it definitely didn't give up a nice aroma to the pau. In fact, you have to overcome the pungent first sniff to sink your teeth to the steaming hot bun. Only then, you are able to enjoy it.

Personally I find that the texture of the skin is not what I am looking for. Though it doesn't really stick to your teeth, it has that a little tad too dry feel. I like my concoction of my fillings though. Not too sweet and not too sticky.

I am already eyeing on another recipe found in Jo Deli. Let's see when I will feel adventurous again.

These buns sure didn't come easy. hahahaha Note: A day old pau:

After reheating in a microwave with a cup of water inside. The texture of the pau remains same as freshly done ones (soft but still dry feel).

I noticed that the smell of ammonia become less noticeable.



Pau Skin Recipe extracted from My Home Kitchen.

What you need:
Starter Dough:

110g tap water
185g Hong kong flour
1/2 tsp Double Acting Baking Powder (I used Dove Brand)
1/8 tsp instant yeast

Mix everything together in a bowl. Cover with a hot damp towel and let it proof inside oven with no power turned on.

Skin dough:

375g Hong kong flour
200g sugar 23g shortening
75g tap water (might need to increase the amount as I couldn't get a ball stage)
20g double acting baking powder
5g ammonia (I will research and see whether I can reduce this amount)
1/2 tsp vinegar (I used distilled vingegar)

Add all the above ingredients to the starter dough. Using a dough hook, mix on speed 3 for 6 minutes. (Mix till the dough is not sticky and form a ball.)

Take out dough and scale to 40g each. (with 35g of fillings)

Shape each piece into a ball before rolling.

Fill with chilled meat filling and steam immediately at high heat for 10 mins)

Note:

1. Maximum proving time for starter dough is 14 hours. Over fermenting will make your baos sour.

2. This recipe will yield 30 buns if you scaled to 30g each.

3. When rolling dough, keep the edges thinner and the centre portion slightly thicker.

4. For char siew baos, steam for 10 minutes.

5. For baos with raw meat fillings, steam for 15 minutes.

6. If making big chicken/meat baos, steam for 20 minutes.

7. Prepare the fillings after you have made the starter dough and leave it in the fridge. (Chilled fillings is easier to handle.)

For the fillings
What you need:

600g lean char siew, diced small
5 shallots, diced finely
2 tbsp white sesame seeds (optional)

Seasonings:

60ml water
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil 1 tssp sugar
1 tbsp corn flour

Method:

Heat wok with a little oil, sautee onions till soft.

Add in seasoning and stir till it becomes thick.

Add in char siew and mix till it is well coated with seasoning.

Mix in sesame seeds and remove.

Truly blessed

My kids love Char Siew Pau and I wanted to try making it myself. These days, a tiny char siew pau is around S$0.70. Just two bites and you are done with it and I need to get at least a dozen to satisfy my growing son for one sitting. I remembered my mom attempted this before without any success. I researched on the internet and found many versions of making pau skin which is crucial for a good pau. One that doesn't sticks to your teeth, one who is still semi soft when cold and one who will "smile". hahhaha Thus after getting the double acting baking powder (now I know why I recently threw a bottle out because I couldn’t figure why I bought it). I actually done a batch of starter dough but due to poor time management, I couldn't continue to full cycle. Haiz... so last night, after coming home from my "indoor picnic". I went about to prepare the dough. This is going to be a perfect timing coz my parents are coming over. yipee.... Then disaster struck this morning, I was really happy to see my dough proofing well. Just as I was about to start the pau process, damn, I realised that I used the wrong flour for my starter dough last night!! Instead of HongKong flour, I actually added bread flour instead. Trying to savage the damage, I went to buy two packets of Hong Kong flour. Continue with the process and praying that it will works. Mom said the dough don't look right, it was too stiff. After more kneading, the dough seems to soften and became smooth. I took a sample to steam and after 10 mins, I declared the dough is useless. There goes a double portion of flour down the bin. Haizz... talks about shit luck. Twice in a row is bad enough. Forget about bad stuff. My dad has been so wonderful. He has been coming over to help us to do up some fixtures and fittings that we couldn't decided when we were renovating our house. I am blessed with having a dad that is like Mr Handy Mandy. I have never heard or seen a man with so many skills. I remembered he once "dismembered" his car and reassemble it back again. For our first house, he did all the carpentry work including making his own bed. He helped me sew my first bandage when I was in Red Cross. In fact, besides cooking, I think he knows so many things. Having him around is really awesome. Whenever my kids broke their toys, they will said: "never mind, gong gong (grandpa in Chinese) will be able to fix it back". Cool isn't it? Since mom mentioned that she finally found a way to gain weight. Guess what, by eating cakes. I decided to switch to plan B. I tried again the sponge cake that I failed yesterday. This time I also reduced the sweetness as dad doesn’t have sweet tooth. Well, this definitely a good make up for my early morning blunder. Next time round, I will make a bigger portion. My daughter was greedily asking for 2nd and 3rd helpings. Thanks so much for sharing this with me my dear friend.

Just not a day for ...

SH is getting married soon and we decided to meet up to discuss about her wedding preparation. An arrangement that was made a month ago. It will be so nice to have a picnic as well. Unfortunately, my kids couldn't join the fun as my daughter is starting on her first lesson for Speech and Drama. There after, followed by their taekwondo lesson so they have to give this a pass. Hubby was really sweet. He asked me to go ahead and enjoy myself while he will tend to the kids. Initially was thinking about baking a tray of brownies to bring to the picnic. When I saw Humble Home Baker's Japanese Sponge Cake and hers looks incredibily soft and delicious. I knew that instead of baking brownies, I must do that. Perhaps it was my mistake to turn them into little cakelets. It shrunk so badly that I am too ashamed to share with my friends. Haiz.... going to just pick off some food from the store instead. Anyway, the weather is looking really not a day for picnic. Well, we do have a fall back plan. hahhaha... Perhaps sponge cake is not meant for me.... and this reminds me of my bread experience. Just got to wait for the right moments. hahhaah.. Nevertheless, besides the ugly appearance. This cake is really soft. Back to the drawing board. Well, my day didn't end bad. We had a good lunch of Indian chicken on a bed of root vegetables. I like the mixture of the herbs and the aroma of it while baking. What you need: 1kg of chicken parts (I used tigh) 570ml natural yoghurt 4 tsps ground coriander 2 tsp paprika (I omitted this) 3 tsp fround turmeric 2 tsp sea salt 2 tbsp honey 4 cloves crushed garlic 4cm of ginger (grated) Method Combine all the ingredients and spread it over the chicken. Rubbing it in. Marinate it for 4 hours in the fridge. Pan fried the chicken lightly. Place on grill and cook for 30 mins till skin is crispy. Baste it with remaining seasoning. Note: I used oven for grill at 180 degree.

Is this pretty?

I love Thai food very much. Tom Yam Goong is one of my favourite. Recently I also developed the love for Thai Mango Salad especially this restaurant that I patronised quite often. Thai dessert is heavenly too, of course minus the coconut milk. LOLz.

I love their steamed tapioca but it is always coated with coconut milk. Sometime when I am lucky, they are able to serve without it. Strangely, I am not the only one in the family that doesn't take coconut milk. I can't say it was my parents’ upbringing as they do take coconut. It is only my siblings and I that don't like it. Especially desiccated coconut, no matter how much I convinced myself. I just couldn't swallow it.

Since the cook doesn’t take coconut milk, our family's diet does not have them unless it is curry that is one the dining table. hahaha I am clearing my fridge for fresh supplies tomorrow. Saw a packet of water chestnut. I guess initially I wanted to make wanton but ended up not doing it at all.

Hence when I saw Sugar & Everything's Tub-tim Grob(Rubies in Coconut Milk). I knew we will have this for our dessert tonight.

I love this dessert. I like the crunch as well as the chewiness. I don't think it goes too badly with my version of Tub-tim Grob (Rubies in milk)



What you need:

30 pieces of fresh water chestnuts
1/2 cup water
1 cup tapioca flour
2/3 sugar
food coloring of our choice
2/3 evaporated milk
Pandan leaves

Method:

Peel and diced water chestnut. Less than 1 cm cube.

Place chestnut cubes into a bowl and drop add the food coloring and a teaspoon of water and mix well. I have taken Jo's advice and got my kids to chose different colours.

Drain the chestnuts in a sieve.

Put tapioca flour in a big bowl. Drop the chestnuts in and shake the bowl around to coat the chestnuts with flour.

Drop the coated chestnuts into a dry sieve and shake off excess flour. Put it into another bowl.

Spray some water on the chestnuts with a misting spritzer. Put them back in the flour bowl. Coat them with flour again. If you want bigger rubies, repeat the spraying and flouring.

Boil a pot of water. When boiling, dump the coated rubies in. The cooked rubies will float and turned transulcent. Remove with strainer and put them in ice water bath (this ensure that the rubies won't stick to each other)

To prepare the syrup. Place water and sugar in a small pot with pandan leaves. Bring to a boil till cook this sugar is dissolved.

Divide the rubies into equal portion and place them in serving bowl. Add half of the evaporated milk and half of the syrup. Serve cold.

I am sold

I just needed to have another go at it after my last success in bread making. Just to be sure that my success has nothing to do with luck. This time round, I made Sesame Bread with chocolate. Sounds yucky? Well it was supposed to be Double Sesame Bread recipe but because we had nutty bread the other day. I wanted something sweet this time round. Decide to blend in chocolate instead of sesame paste. Aiyo, wrong choice. My chocolate paste is not exactly chocolate paste because I just melted some chocolate bar available in the fridge and added in extra nutella for that hazelnut punch. Bad move. Well, all is not lost. The texture of the bread was simply divine. It is soft and fluffy. I am definitely sold on this 17 hour low temperature pre-ferment dough method. I read about the good review the 65°C TangZhong (湯種) method is but I think for a new beginner like me. It takes a bigger push to experience that as getting that temperature right is critical. Just like when I was attempting Italian Meringue Buttercream, it always gives me a sense of nervousness to get the temperature correct. Even now! The 17 hour low temperature pre-ferment dough method yields a soft, fluffy and chewy texture. It also stays soft when cold and the next day. I have yet to test as to how many days though. I am so happy with the result that a dream to own a bread machine is no longer "a nice to have" for me anymore. To those out there who are like me, do try it. This is definitely a good book to add to your collection. The author's instruction (bilingual) is very clear and concise. Now making bread is no longer as alien and I will be happily churning out home made bread when I feel like it. Amidst my excitement, I totally forgotten to take a picture of the loaf of bread that I churned out. I was eagerly slicing some for hubby to bring to the office. In the meantime, I will definitely have to practise my shaping skill. It is definitely flung with a big fat zero. Adapted from Natural Bread Makes Easy What you need: Pre-ferment dough 449g bread flour 256g water 6.5g yeast 6g sea salt 13g milk powder Dissolve the yeast in water. Add bread flour, sea salt, milk powder and knead till soft. Cover the dough with cling wrap and chill to let it prove for 17 hours. Dough 192g bread flour 19g milk powder 6g sea salt 64g sugar 130g water 58g egg (approx 1 egg) 3g yeast 51g unsalted butter 51g black sesame powder Black sesame paste (sweet) White sesame seed Method Knead all ingredients together except butter till smooth. Add in the pre-ferment dough (small piece each addition). Knead well after each addition. Once dough is smooth, add in butter and knead till it passed the window pane test. Put the dough in a bowl, cling wrap and proof for 20 - 30 mins. Divide the dough into 6 portions. Flatten each portion with your hand to drive out the air. Shape into a square and cover the dough in cling wrap. Proof for another 20 mins. Punch out the air again and roll the dough into a rectangular sheet. Spread the black sesame paste on top. Fold about 2cm from all edges. The width dimension should be the size of your baking tin. Roll the dough up from one end. Spray water onto the loaf and sprinkle white sesame seed. Place the dough into the tin. Cover with cling wrap and further proof for 30 - 40 mins till dough in size. Bake for 170˚C for about 30 - 35 mins.

Mini

I had a sms two days ago to say that my daughter's godma will be in town. Boy, am I happy to see EB. I befriended EB while we were working in the fashion industry. She is a very hardworking girl and I just love the way she handled stuff. She is someone who dare to speak her mind and yet tactful enough for other's respect. I still remember her first pregnancy. Now her two kids are all grown up and I am still struggling with two tiny tots. hahaha... That is the benefit of starting young. Whenever EB is in town, it was also a very hurried one. There isn't time for much catching up. Despite her invitation to Jakarta for a visit, I simply don't find the opportunity to do it. Bad isn't it? Well perhaps after son's PSLE, we might make a trip up. Good to allow my daughter to spent sometime with her godma. With the kids at home creating so much noise, I seriously have to mood to plan for dinner. Thus we will be dining out at a nearby restaurant. I did find time to bake her some cuppies. With the help of my daughter's we crafted out some mini rose buds. My daughter is in charge of the leaves and I think she is getting really good at it. . Let's hope godma likes it.

Once again

Once again, the school holiday is here. For March and Sept short break, we usually spent it in Malaysia. This time, we opted not to travel. Actually it was because the last holiday we had, we were informed that son needed to go back to school for classes after we confirmed our holiday booking. I felt bad that he was unable to attend then.

So this time round, we decided to stay put but we didn't get any notice for extra lesson this time round. haiz. This means that I have to draw up some plans for them so that they will not be bored. Actually a week is really easy to pass.

Was reading through a new library book I loaned last week. I never had a chance to borrow NEW books from the library and I was really pleased to see and feel the clean crisp pages. It is so nice to read a book fully intact.

What pisses me all the time was a nice book that got pages torn out, missing recipes and pictures. I will curse and swear under my breath each time I encounter this. I just wonder why Singaporeans are so ungracious. Getting it photocopied is not expensive at all!!!! Why are these people so inconsiderate? Strangely, majority of time it is the Chinese recipe books that got "DISFIGURED". Guess, for us to become gracious is really difficult.

Just like yesterday, I was down at Ikea. I noticed that people are not keeping trays anymore. When the campaign was on, I do see improvement. Somehow, we Singaporean perhaps have short term memory. Anyway, I chose the wrong day to bake bread.

I actually done the starter dough yesterday as it need 17 hours to proof. When I awake this morning, I was pleased with the weather but ..... darn.. I am going to bake bread and this weather definitely won't help with my proofing.

Haiz, since I have already gotten all the ingredients ready. What the heck, but to go with the flow.

Let's hope Lady Luck is with me today. Guess my lucky star is shinning on me. Despite the gloomy weather, my bread making experience today is awesome.

Everything went as planned. I even did a quick drive up to Hougang to collect my helper's passport. By the time we are back, my bread had risen beautifully. I was really excited because this is my first time seeing bread well proofed.

Then again, before the final stage, I was hoping that it will come together beautifully and I was praying hard. hahahaha. This is definitely a keeper. I love the aroma of this

Assorted Nut Bread perfumed round the house while baking. Awesome.

Recipe adapted from Natural Breads Make Easy.

What you need:

Pre-ferment dough

385g Bread flour
205g water
5g instant yeast
5g sea salt
5g milk powder

Method

Dissolve the yeast in water till it bubbles. Add bread flour, salt and milk. Knead until soft. Cover the dough in cling wrap and chilled for 17 hours.

Dough

153g bread flour
15g milk powder
5g sea salt
143g water
3g yeast
41g unsalted butter

Grind

77g walnuts
26g ground sesames
61g almonds
77g pine nuts
77g hazelnuts
60g sugar

Method

Knead all ingredients of dough and grinded nuts together (except the butter).

Add preferment dough piece by piece. Knead after each addition till soft and smooth.

Add butter and continue to knead till it pass the stretch test. Cover with cling wrap and prove for 25 - 30 mins.

Divide the dough into 18 portion (approx 70g).

Flatten the dough with your hands to drive the air out and round each piece of dough. Cover with cling wrap and proof for another 20 mins.

Flatten the dough with your hands to drive the air out. Roll the dough with your hands into long strands with tapered ends. Lightly dust with flour.

Braid six strands repeatedly into a loaf. Cover with cling wrap and prove for about 30 mins till double in size.

Brush with egg wash and sprinkle flaked almonds over it.

Bake for 30 mins at 170 - 180 degrees.

Picking up pieces

After a major accident that resulted me losing half of my Precious Moments. I was feeling really rejected. Strangely I didn't go into an angry mode. Instead of crying over spilled milk, I was feverishly trying to find back all my past postings especially those with tried and tested recipes. It is extremely a slow process but it is slowly picking up the pieces. I won't be expecting a full recovery though. Usually I will be so heart broken that I will break into tears. I will picked up the phone and ring hubby telling him the "crisis" at home. I am relatively surprised by my own behaviour. This time, no drama at all. In fact, I took it really cool. Guess C is right, this will gives me a better reason to try even more recipes. hahahah.. SD was really sweet and forwarded me some of my postings he collected from my blog. Thanks so much SD. Anyway, despite my best effort to "locate" all my past history. I couldn't really do much at this point of time except to resign to fate. Whatever it is, this is the SECOND time such stupidity strikes me. I really have to practise the Golden Rule. Back up!!!!!! Since I can't turned back the clock, I will have to move on. Life is too short for me to mull over it. I better focus my energy on somewhere else.

How I wish - a magic wand

This is going to be one hell of a bad news. I am digging deeper and deeper into hot shits. Yes, the most dreaded news!!! I LOST HALF of my blog. Yes nearly 300 posts went into thin air. Whossh.. just like at. (I am thinking about all my recipes that I have tried and tested) *in tears now* Worst to come, I haven't been backing up my blog since August last year!!! I now am at a lost. To continue to blog and move on from here or just shut it down. To continue, even with 2007 and part 2008 back up, I will be struggling to cut and paste and link back all my pictures. Damn damn damn. I wish I have a magic wand right this moment. Guess this is the most dreaded news a blogger can have. What a day.

Time and Tide

I am getting listless these days. Partly I am still suffering from that irritating rash. Consulted so many doctors and none can really give me a remedy to my problem.

Yes, antihistamines did work for me but after taking it for nearly 2 years, I think I had enough. Though it allows me to sleep well but I feel really shitty the following days.

Now with Chinese herbs, the frustrating part is that they are not supposed to provide fast relief but rather a slow and steady wins the race approach. Oh gosh, how I wish I can see IMMEDIATE effect.

The weather isn’t helping much. Sometime it is cold and sometime it is so hot, like today.

To distract myself, I started to do a blog colour change. I also wanted to add a nice header to my naked blog. Unfortunately, the more I messed with it, the worst it gotten.

After going round and round in circles and still with no favourable result for days, I decided to close my blog. Taken me by surprise was the number of emails I received. I always thought that mine is a "low traffic" blog.

Who wants to come and read about some old housewife's nagging about life, kids and what she eats. hahahaha...

Thanks so much for the comforting and concern emails that I have gotten. You all had indeed given my confidence a boost. Rest assured that this blog is here to stay unless something drama really happened to me.

So to ease my frustration on the stupid html codes, I decided to cook. Today, after my swim, though sleepy from a restless night and yet feeling frustrated with the blog, I am still in a mood to cook.

Thus, I decided to do my grocery shopping as I am going to cook something new.

These days, I also started to cook. Partly my helper is totally hopeless in the kitchen. The amount of oil she uses is pretty scary. In short, she just doesn't have the senses and passion for cooking.

I have offered my "library" for her to get inspiration but she would rather go around aimlessly and waiting for instructions daily. Sometime I wonder what her parents eat on a daily basis because she claims to cook for them.

Surprisingly for a person who likes to eat (believe me, more than my hubby's intake) and knows about good food, I finds it strange that she doesn't have passion to cook.

To be honest, I was really tempted to hop into a Burmese restaurant last weekend.

Unfortunately the menu doesn't really entice us thus we decided to give it a skip.

From the banner, it looks too much like Chinese food. LOLz.

While I was down at the supermarket, a very sad incident happened. Apparently an old folk couldn’t control his/her bowel and dirtied the floor. The whole supermarket was starting to smell. I should applaud the staff for their quick actions. They were great.

At the back of my mind, I really hope that when I aged, I will be stress free for my kids. Thus, I better take care of my health as well as my family.

Back to my dinner. Supposedly to have a vegetarian pilaf but I read the recipe by mistake. So it is now a plain pilaf to goes with my beef mysore. LOLz. (you won't believe it, I read only HALF of the recipe. blur me).

Now… here is our dinner that I churned out for the family. I was taken by surprise how easy this dish is. Really fuss free and tasted really good. Enjoy.

Just like that ...

I have known CK when she was only 19. How time flies, she has blossom to become a mother to now a teenage daughter, C. Though she is a few years younger than me, we clicked on extremely well.

I remembered we spent our younger days partying like crazy. Now as we had grown, we mellowed down to quiet dinners, tea and just a glass of wine or two (or should I say bottle).

From a young adult, C has developed to become a really glamorous lady. Perhaps being a young mom has more energy to nurture a child than me.

Thus to all my friends and readers, please start young. It definitely has its peaks especially when you go shopping with your kid. *wink*



C is a great philosopher, to be exact; I really think she has this maturity beyond her years. I guess it is because she is an old child. LOLz.

I like her insights on how to deal with my son. I like her reasoning thoughts. In fact, I found her way of bringing up a child really cool and totally out of the box.

A good example and deeply ingrained on me was she won't call assessment books by subjects, she gave them names, so that her daughter won't feel it is a stress to do that but rather like having "dates" with her friends.

Her daughter is also showing maturity beyond her age. She is very sensible and just like her mommy, going to turn out to be a fine young lady.

Nevertheless, we haven't have dinner together for quite some time and was nice to have her over for a cook out session. While we went out dicing, slicing and sipping wines, we were laughing over little things in life. My daughter was having a good time too, helping out.

Though a small dinner affair, it was filled with lots of laughter, joy and most importantly love.

Cheers to you C, to friendship that meant so much to me.

Thanks for dinner mate, we must definitely do this more often.

A trip to the zoo

My little one is having a little excursion to the zoo today.'

Definitely not the first time to the zoo but it will be a nice experience for her as a class. She is really excited and had been talking about it for two whole days. She even insisted on a new bag for her trip.

She has grown so much lately. Her speech development is terrific and somehow she developed this sense of humour in her. I really pray that she enjoys school and won't find it too challenging.

For me, I am getting cold feet on her Chinese. Ridiculously tough. How can a Primary 1 student need to study a few pages of text for Chinese Spelling? It really baffles me as I have no clue how to coach her. There are simply too many words. There isn't a list of standard words as what we will usually get.

I do recall that my son is also given a list to learn even till this date as a Primary 6 student. We, as parents need to sniff through and make sure the kid knows each and every single word from those pages.

Amazing.... what is our system trying to do? Kill the interest?

Anyway, I am not going to let it gets into me after all; my little one is only in Primary 1!!! At this moment, she should be enjoying the process of learning and not stress out by getting 100%.

I decided to make mini blueberry muffins for her to bring to the zoo as snack. Now, let’s hope she remembers to share. Note: Should reserve some berries to put on top after fillig in the tin. Mine all hidden.



What you need:

250g plain flour
155g castor sugar
2.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
250ml milk
125g corn oil
2 eggs
125g blueberries

Method

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Prepare muffin tray.

Stir and toss together flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk together milk, oil and eggs until smooth. Add dry ingredients to the milk mixture. Stir till just blended.

Add in blueberries and stir till evenly incorporated.

Spoon onto prepared tin and baking for 15 - 20 mins.

Cool on rack.

The Finals

When I was working in a publishing company, my chances of meeting many great photographers didn't spark off any interest on photography though I enjoys looking at great photograph shots.

I should have picked it up then because I am sure I will find great mentors. I still pinched myself for letting go of an opportunity when my company took on a project for the Royal Family.

I had a chance to connect myself with 100 odd famous photographers round the region during a working stint in Brunei.

Photography wasn't a love at first sight for me. It kind of slowly grows on me when I started travelling and grew even more when I have kids. I love taking pictures of kids’ flawless and innocent faces. Just love it.

I hate to read the inches thick manuals and have no clue for technical terminology. I am always intrigue by the "eye" as what GL told me.

Though my current gadget is not the super high calibre type but it does allow me to take decent pictures. I was told that sometime you don't need super duper gadget to take great shots but an eye for special moments.

GL and I talk about me picking this hobby seriously but I doubt I have the time to join the kakis on their round of "missions".

BTW, GL, my dear primary school classmate is totally awesome. Not only is she self taught but her "EYE" for colours and moments are very cool. She is also part of the photographer team that does the school yearbook too.

When I saw her equipments the other day, I know in a way that I can never do this. The bag is definitely bad for my back. LOLz. Enough said, this morning, while waiting for my kids to finish Sunday school. I was amusing myself with my toy. Such lovely weather ....



Starting next week, it will be yet another tense two weeks. Yes, time of the year again.... what else but tests and examinations.

In order not to feel that stress out, I just suddenly thought about it. Instead of looking at half empty class, why not see it as half filled glass.

Just a flash, I was thinking ... geesh... this is going to be my dear son's last CA1 test. This year he will be doing his last SA1 and last CA2 hahahaha... great isn't it?

Now I have to brainwash him to think like such. *wink*

With hubby not around, the fridge low on our basic necessity but I am simply too lazy to fight with the weekend crowd in the supermarket. A “lonely” Sunday afternoon was inching me to bake.

I wanted to bake Cafe of the East's Steam Cheesecake since last week. Now it was perfect because all the ingredients listed, I have.

Though I am from Singapore, I didn't have a taste at this cake from my favourite bakery. Guess I was too obsessed with mochi to notice that till now. It also didn't strike me to grab these when I was down at the bakery on Sat. Haiz... thus I too have no clue how this taste like till the next time.



Nevertheless, these little Steam Cheesecake is really light and tasty, very soufflé like. My daughter initially rejected it went for a second helping during tea time.

What you need:

125g cream cheese
60ml milk
40ml canola oil
3 egg yolks
40g caster sugar
20ml lemon juice
30g cornflour, sifted
3 egg whites
70g caster sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 150°C. Line muffin trays with cupcake liners.

Place a large tray of hot water inside the oven just below the shelf where the cheesecakes are to be baked.

Soften cream cheese with milk and oil in a bowl placed over simmering water.

Whisk until smooth, remove from heat and let cool until lukewarm.

Beat egg yolks with 40g sugar until combined, beat in lemon juice.

Gradually whisk in cheese mixture to combine. Lightly whisk in sifted cornflour, mix well.

Beat egg whites until foamy. Then gradually beat in 70g sugar, spoonful by spoonful, until firm but just under stiff peaks stage.

Fold 1/3 of the egg white mixture into the cheese mixture until thoroughly mixed in. Repeat two more times with the remaining egg white mixture.

Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each cup nearly to the rim.

Place the muffin tray on the shelf just above the tray of hot water.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the tops of the cheesecakes are lightly browned.