Tough cookie

When I had my first born, he caught bronchitis from me at the age of 4 months ago. From then onwards, his lungs were very weak and soon developed asthma.

Initially I put him on nebuliser every fortnightly till I found out that the steroid actually retards growth.

Being a mom, I immediately withdraw him from such treatment and then upon my mom's advice, turned towards Chinese medication.

He was banned from having French fries, citrus juice and air con room or direct fan blowing. Eventually, his attack grew lesser and lesser. When he was 6, I enrolled him for proper swimming lesson as well.

Ever since, touch on wood; he is now a stronger, healthy and active boy.

As for my daughter, she was born a tough cookie and a strong survivor.

As a second child, mommy is no longer a paranoid mom. I learnt through experience of what to give and what not to. She grows up with a good resistance, and I am proud to say that she is hardly sick.

When I see my active children looking withdrawn and tired, I knew something was not right and that was the symptom yesterday.

Towards the evening, little princess developed a fever. Though not high, I am still concern with the rising cases of hand, foot and mouth disease.

By night fall, I decided to cancel my tea party with J and it is better for her not to go school the next day. So my baking plan was halted.

This morning, the weather was great. A cool day so I decided to go ahead to bake what I had in mind.

I haven't been baking muffin for a long time. A bunch of banana was yelling for me. Thus I went ahead to bake a Banana Oat Muffin. Healthy choice for our breakfast tomorrow.



I really lost touch with baking muffins. Nevertheless, these were really good.

What you need:

125g plan flour
80g oats
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
80g chopped pecans
250g mashed banana
125g unsalted butter
90g brown sugar
1 egg

Method

Preheat oven to 190 degree. Prepare muffin pan.

Stir in flour, oat, baking soda, salt and nuts. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat banana and butter until mixed.

Add in sugar and eggg and beat till completely mixed.

Add in the dry ingredients and stir till just blended.

Spoon into pan and bake for 15 - 20 mins.

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

Next, is a Moist Chocolate Cake that I learnt a long time ago and never really get down to practise it?



I find that the fudge takes a long time to set and it is of the runny texture as well.

As for the cake, I might have overbaked it a little.

Let's see what boss has to say tonight about our dessert. And lastly, I finally found my lost recipe! Yes, I just took the class on Monday and by Tuesday, the recipe was missing.

I remembered distinctively that I was holding it and wandered into the kitchen and from then onwards, everything was a blank.

We searched the whole house in vain. I gave up.

Towards evening, I finally saw it. Tucked under my printer. Haiz... I only can blame it on my age.

Getting old and senile.

Perhaps I should take up Sudoku or Mahjong. So here is my Cream Puff with the left over fudge that I had done for the cake.



Prince said I should have pipe in more fudge. Personally I don't know why it is not "tall" but I can't really complain as my previous attempts really sucks. I am going to dress up the other half batch into something that I love very much tomorrow.

Great as snacks. I think I baked enough to feed a party of 6! And thinking tomorrow is the last working day of the week, I am really happy as finally, the kids are going for their grading test on Sunday. They sure been working hard on this.

March is fun

I realised that I hardly bake any cakes for family consumption this month. Partly I was having a fun filled March playing with sugar dough. In between time spent with my kids and my own free time. I done these .... I am happy to say that at least now I am more confident creating whole cakes. Though I still love cupcakes, but designing whole cakes give me more room for improvement. Thanks to all my friends who supported and trusted me. This was a very last min request by a good friend. Her daughter done very well for her "A" level Chinese. J wanted this design that I have done previously for a teacher's day event. There are gaps as I needed to insert a "60" number tag to it prior to the celebration. Was afraid that it will fall off. This was for a little boy who loves Transformer Bumblee. I am glad that it turned out well. I done these toppers for a friend to celebrate her doggie's birthday. Cake is not baked and decorated by me. I think she did a great job. Perhaps I should branch into baking cakes for doggies. A swimming theme for a two years old who adores many cartoon characters. I tried my best to incorporate all the requested "celebrities". Any feedback for improvement will be greatly appreciated.

Bonding time

My son's school organised a workshop for mom to bond with her son. It was a nice event and the turn out was pretty good. After a quick discussion, we decided to do a family theme despite his sister and dad weren't there. Since my son is good with his "big head" drawing. We concluded we should draw something towards that theme. Unfortunately, my son wasn't used to drawing with acrylic paint. He wasn't very pleased with his result and somehow, half through, he gave up attempting his best. I too on the other hand wasn't really pleased with mine too as it seems so "kinder-ish". Come to think about it, it has been ages since I pick up a paint brush to paint. This definitely helps me to pick up my interest once again. Nevertheless, we had a great time. My little girl was so jealous and she too wanted me to do one such session with her. So stay tune to my princess' masterpiece.

In love

I am not sure how many of you can remember that there was this tiny stall in the old Tiong Bahru market that sells Crystal buns (水晶包). Though I don't dine there often but I will buy their crystal buns each time I am there. My hubby prefers the savoury whereas I like the sweet version more. Last year, I found the same store in Alexandra Village but they were preparing for closing. They told me that they will be moving out as the place they were currently in, will be going through renovation. Bet on my memory, I now totally forgotten where they will be for the next two years. So instead of cracking up my head and to recall where their new location is. I decided to make some on my own. Using the homemade red bean that I have, I turned mine into a sweet crystal bun. I was also curious of egg custard. So often, when I have dim sum, I not once venture into this. Somehow egg custard bun doesn't entice me till I saw a picture of this in a recipe book. The see through of this yellow egg custard crystal bun look pretty enough for me to try it but I was pretty disappointed by the overall. My experience didn't turn out as good. The skin is not that crystal and texture wise is not soft as I have expected. The egg custard is definitely something getting used to. If you have any nice crystal bun recipe, hopefully you can share with me.

A brand new term

School started today. We will once again be back on a routine. To add "excitement", the new term is actually a preparation for the mid year examination. After that, yoo hoo ... we will be having a one month break as if we are going away for holiday. Till now, still unable to make plans. Sad, but hey I am trying to be positive on this. The last one week was well spent. The kids get to enjoy outdoor activities alot. Despite hubby being away for half of the week, I was able to balance my work as well as with the kids and still find time to squeeze in two baking classes. Not bad achievement and I am pleased. It is really nice to see that the kids all geared up and looking forward to going back to school this morning. They got up really early and already done with breakfast by the time we woke up. I always take this as a good sign because I just can't imagine my kids dragging their feet to school. Surprisingly I was really tired after sending son off to school. I couldn't keep my eyes open while checking on my mails. Thus I took a nap and then later on to pick up my new toy which hubby bought for me. My kids were very excited about this toy for the last 3 weeks and so am I. To show my appreciation, I bake a Chocolate Fudge cake for him as he is a chocolate lover. Thanks hubby for being so wonderful.

Restless

We have been really busy for the past two days. So after doing our grocery and done with our Japanese Curry lunch today. We just don't feel like leaving the house. The weather is really nice and cool. Actually best to sleep in but I was in no mood to sleep. I was feeling restless, not the TV, not the internet, not the new collection of books can appeased me. I was yearning for some snack but I wasn't sure whether it is a cake, a pudding or something else. In the end, I know what I wanted. I was yearning for mochi bread. As my search wasn't successful in the past, I settled for the next best alternative. Though it is still not close but I think this is what I am going to settle for, in the future. Gave some to my neighbours and they love it. Have some please if you are like me, adores this little munchies. Brazilian Cheese Bread Tried coating some with soy flour which is my all time favourite. Recipe adapted from Chucrute com Salsicha and translated by Simply Recipes. What you need: yield 58 pcs 500g tapioca flour 500g potato, cooked in water and mashed 125ml milk at room temperature 125ml vegetable oil 1/2 tablespoon salt 225g hard cheese, grated 3 eggs Method: Mashed the potatoes after it has been cooked. Put the tapioca flour in the mixer. Add the potato and mix with a hook. Add salt. Mix very well. Add milk and continue working the dough. Add vegetable oil. Continue working. Add the grated cheese, and at last the eggs. The dough needs to get very silky and be moldable. Let the dough rest for 10 min which I finds it easier to shape. Bake at 200 degree for 20 minutes or till golden brown. Note: The dough can be frozen. ************** My dear prince had been telling me to bake him some White/Dark chocolate Macadamia Nut cookies. I recalled my last attempt was back in Nov last year as I remembered bringing it along on our holiday. I couldn't locate the recipe that I used so let's hope this one is better than the last. I also replaced half portion to dark chocolate chips as I ran out of white chocolate chips. I am disappointed that my nuts and white chocolate seems to disappeared. Perhaps next time, I will sprinkle more nuts and chocolate before baking. Recipe adapted from Field Guide to Cookies. What you need: 283g plain flour 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 170g unsalted butter 171g light brown sugar 100g castor sugar 1 large egg 1 egg yolk 2 tsp vanilla essence 245g white/dark chocolate chip 135g chopped macadamia nuts, roasted Method: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Beat butter and sugars together with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Beat in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add the flour mixture until combined. Mix in the white/dark chocolate chips and macadamia nuts until incorporated. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop and space them 2" apart. Bake for about 15 minutes or till golden brown. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes, then serve warm or transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

The start of a week

Today begins a week long of school holiday. When hubby told me that he will be travelling again, I sighed. Even though my older one is already in Secondary 1, he is still very much like a baby when it comes to play. Since both my kids are really hyperactive. The noise level will definitely increase when the two are together. Just imagine, from morning to night, I will have to put up with it. Yes, we are all early riser so it means our day is generally longer. My precious moments of peace and quiet in the morning will be delayed for a week. I am planning to keep them away from the TV and computer. Thus I am bringing them outdoor as much as possible. Let's pray that Mother Nature will be assisting me with lots of sunshine on all the mornings, just like today. Already in the pipeline is a day out at the beach (already accomplished this morning), extra taekwondo class (preparation for grading test as they took a 3 weeks break around Lunar New Year), cycling, swimming and a picnic with other kids,. Lucky for me, this time round, hubby is just making a short trip. At least then he gets to entertain the kids in the evening for the other half of the week. So I need to stock up on snack and dessert for this whole week as my kids are always looking for food when they are restless. I have been reading a book from Harumi's Japanese Cooking. She is supposedly to be the Japanese version of Delia Smith. A recipe that captivated me was Macha Jelly. I don’t think I was successful in creating this. I am not sure whether the texture is supposedly to be firm or soft. Mine didn't set to a firm texture which I preferred. I also done a batch of home made red bean paste as I find those store bought is really tooth aching sweet. Cooking red bean is not as easy as cooking green bean as it takes much longer hours softening the bean but at least I am unable to control the level of sweetness that suits us. Despite my jelly not firm enough, I quite like the combination on the whole. It goes really well with the red bean paste and a drizzle of cream. I am sharing this recipe just in case you like me, loves matcha desserts. Do drop me a note whether you had a similar problem as me. Enjoy What you need: (serves 4) 5g gelatine powder (I added 8g instead) 1 1/3 tbsp macha powder (I added in 2 tbsp as I like it stronger) 4 tbsp castor sugar 1/4 cup boiling water 1.5 cup tap water The milk sauce: (I just drizzle some whipping cream) 1/2 cup condensed milk 1/2 cup milk Red azuki bean Method Put 1.5 tbsp water in a bowl and add the gelatine powder and mix well. Cover and microwave for 10 secs till the gelatine fully dissolved. In another bowl, mix the macha and sugar. Add in the hot water little by little to make a paste. Then add in the tap water and mix well. Add the gelatine liquid to the tea and mix it quickly. Pour into mould and chill. To make the milk sauce. Combine condensed milk and milk. Once the jelly has set, serve with milk sauce and azuki bean.

Walking around

I have been walking round the house trying to find my inspiration to build a concept round a Transformer Bumblee cake for the past few days. As I am not good with internet surfing, this can be quite a tiring job. I wish I have the patience to go through page by page on all those links. When JT first approached me to bake her son a cake, I really took it without a second thought. Why? Because JT is such a nice lady. My brief was an Optimus or Bumblee theme. Of course I know who Optimus is. My son and hubby had been viewing the DVD countless of time. On the other hand, I was thinking how on earth Optimus blend in with Bumblee (as in the bee?). I was clueless who Bumblee is till I accidentally chance upon it while researching on a picture on Optimus. I was like "Oh my gosh!". I am really behind time. Yes, though I have a son, he was never really into Transformer toys or was it mommy that never given him this opportunity? I am lucky as I don’t have to do mad rush to buy those limited edition of Transformers like YM used to do. YM and her family are die hard Transformer fan. You won’t believe how many they had collected over the years. I never understood such feeling. Anyway, I wanted to do more rather than just a face that JT proposed (I guess she knew my limitation). I took this as a challenge for a boring housewife whose job is really very mundane a day to day basis. So while I am still getting my inspiration, I was also feeling the urge to make some "cooling" dessert as weather of late is really unbearably hot. I am not a big fan of green bean but I was told that green bean can actually neutralised the “heatiness” in your body. So for my family sake, especially when hubby is hitting the road again, this is the best way to "cool" our body so that we can keep cough, sore throat and ulcers at bay. I decided to add in sago pearl too as this will definitely create that smoother texture in the Green Bean soup. Having failed many times trying to cook sago, I was a little jittery. Tried to research but all they give is recipes. Initially I thought I burnt the sago again as it was sticking to the pot. Somehow, it was blessing in disguise when I left it alone for a few mins. The “burnt” sago actually soften and blended it with the rest. So now I know the trick and fear no more. Next I will try Sago pudding. In the meantime, here is my Green Bean Soup with Sago for this evening dessert. What you need: 240g green bean (soak, wash and drain) 7 cups of water 5 pandan leaves 50g sago gula melaka to taste Method Boil green bean and water till bean soften. In a pan of boiling hot water, put in sago and boil for about 10 mins. Stirring once a while. Continue to cook till sago become transparent. Turn off heat and cover pan for a few mins before draining it in tap water and subsequently put it over ice bath. When green bean has soften, add in sago and bring it to a boil. Add gula melaka to taste and stir till sugar dissolved. Serve either cold or hot.

Glue stick

Of late the weather is so humid that I am literally sticky all day long, just like a glue stick. It is disgusting.

As I have fairly dry skin, showering too many times is not good for my skin either. After slapping on the lotion, I will feel sticky all over again.

Even though my place is windy but it can't escape the humidity. This is the time whereby I wish I am in a colder country. I was told that this weather will prolong till May.

My goodness, will I last that long? I feel like melting! With such hot weather, I wasn't really motivated to bake, cook or blog.

I reckon since I have nothing to talk about except me being in front of the TV, with my finger busy with the sugar crafting, I just don't want to bore anyone who comes by. Talking about this, I always wonder whether anyone come by to my boring blog as it is so quiet.

Sometime, I feel like my blog is like a "ghost" town and I have to remind myself that I am writing for my family so it doesn't really matter.

Can't blame as I am not an interesting writer, no interesting recipes and my photography is equally unflattering. Enough of the heat, I have been thinking about Squid Ink Pasta a lot.

Since I bought my pasta machine, I haven’t really gotten into making home made pasta. I can’t even recall why I bought it. Anyway, in order not to make that a white elephant, I decided to try my hand at making squid ink pasta.

Sometime back, I was out dinner with I and tried this Black Ink Pasta at a restaurant and was captivated by the beautiful taste.

Making pasta sounded so easier initially. Got my act together to prepare the dough, assembled the machine and I thought like a magic wand, Voila. Unfortunately, I had a bit of struggle. My dough was "sticky" and I didn’t dare to dust too much flour. I couldn’t do it without jamming the roller.

No choice, I started to dust more flour and the rolling got easier. Then I was wondering how I turned the flatted dough into fettuccine? Quickly I refer to the book and realised that I need to attach another part to the roller.

Okay, should be easy right? No, the machine didn’t cut the dough into neat ribbons. It was horrible. Back to the instruction manual and then I realised that my dough is not dry enough for it to cut neat. More dusting and more flattening and finally, I got my fettuccine.

Thanks to my dear prince who came to the rescue, if not, we will be having supper instead of dinner. I am pretty pleased with my first attempt. Next round, I will make sure that I buy enough squid to make that two tablespoons of squid ink so that my pasta will come to a nice deep black.



What you need:

350g plain flour
3 large eggs (room temperature)
a pinch of salt
1/2 tbsp of olive oil

Method

Place the flour and salt in the mixing bowl and create a well in the centre.

Put in the beaten eggs. Slowly draw in the flour to the eggs. Till you get a wet dough.

Start to knead like you do with bread. Till the dough is elastic and smooth.

Cover and let it rest for 20 mins.

Assemble your pasta machine and follow the instruction manual.

Fresh pasta only needs approx 3 mins of cooking time.

Heat wave

Over the months, I have gotten enquiries asking me why my recipes category leads to a blank link. It prompted me to get off my comfort zone and focus on this new assignment. Thus I have been painstakingly reposting some of my lost blogs bit by bit. For some, it is lost forever.

It was such a tedious job to trace the date, the recipe and pieces of my life back. I also regrouped my photos by the date rather than in one whole mess. Thus for some existing blog post, the picture become non existent and I have to re link them back. I reckoned that I better do it now that later.

Anyway, my new helper has been good (for now). At least she is in auto gear and doesn't really need much supervision. Thus, I am able to have some time for this little project of mine.

The heat wave also didn't do good for me as I was constantly having migraine attacks. I didn't really want to take too much medication as I am already on antihistamine often for my rashes but sometime the pain become so intense that it is horrible having to drive out under the hot sun to pick up my kids.

This is the time whereby I wish my kids are old enough and independent enough to make their way home on their own.

Anyway, with such hot weather, having ice cream will be the most ideal to cool down the body. Since my basil plant is blooming, it is the best time to nip some to make Thai Basil Ice Cream.

I have chosen this recipe as it uses invert sugar as one of the component. It is supposedly to reduce the "ice" feel in the ice cream.

For my trial, I feel that it is still icy. Perhaps because I didn't chill my ice cream bowl as there wasn't enough space in the freezer and I went by the manual method of chill, whisk and chill. This is a unique tasting ice cream. Either you hate it or love it.

A refreshing change to the usual ones we had.



What you need:

360g whole milk
360g heavy cream
25g fresh thai basil, chopped
125g granulated sugar
37g light corn syrup
10 large egg yolks
20g invert sugar

Method:

Put the milk and cream in a pan and bring to a simmer over med high heat.

Add the basil, turn off the heat and infuse for 30 mins.

Mix thoroughly with an immersion blender and puree the basil. The milk should turn pale green.

Strain through a fine strainer, pushing down on the solids.

Set up an ice bath

Return the infused milk to the pan and add the 2 tbsp granulated sugar and the corn syrup.

Bring to a simmer over med heat.

Whisk the yolks with the 1/2 cup granulated sugar and the invert sugar in a med bowl.

When the milk is simmering slowly whisk about 1 cup into the yolks for about 1 min to temper them. Keep the pan off the heat while you do this).

Then scrape the yolks into the pan and cook, stirring pretty much constantly until the mixture reached 180 deg F.

Keep an eye on the colour of the foam on the surface, when it turns the same colour as the mixture you are very close to the right temp.

Strain into a med bowl and set into the ice bath. Chill completely, stirring often.

Then cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight for the flavours to mature.

Mix again with an immersion blender then freeze in an ice cream maker.

Freeze for at least 2 hours.