Happy Children's Day

Today my little one is all excited about an event that the school is organising for them. She even requested to have more pocket money so that she can buy snacks.

For me, I dragged the traffic jam that comes with it because this means that from Pri 1 - 6, all the parents were be queueing in to pick up their kids. Can you imagine what the crowd is like?

Strangely, when it is just P2 - P6, the jam is always manageable. Somehow when you add on the P1s, it becomes a chaotic mess with cars occupying two lanes out of the three.

I just can't figure that out.

With today's heavy downpour and a bad jam, I was getting frustrated as I can't get close to the gate despite queuing as there are so many cars cutting queue. I don't want to risk an accident because of this.

Luckily I was in my shorts and flip flop, I decided to park at the nearby car park and walk to the school.

With her being home early today, we decided to have some fun in the kitchen and what else is better than baking cookies together.

To add to the fun, we added M&Ms to the chocolate chips. After we done that, I was worrying about the sweetness but I am so sure that my son will love it.

Source: Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home

An invitation

My blog is really not a full pleged food blog as it sometimes document precious moments in my life. So I seriously don't consider my blog as a food blog.

Thus when I was invited by Sharon from Chouzhou Inn to do a food tasting, I was actually taken by surprise.

Of course I felt flattered but I was feeling a little concerned whether I should take up this offer. After all, I am not such a great writer like many of the food bloggers out there.

My hubby was very encouraging. He said that I should open up and explore. The thought of eating authentic Teochew cuisine was enticing to me. Of course, I can always go there on a personal note with my family but being invited is something different.

The owner of this restaurant also runs the Fish and Co which is our regular haunt when we were staying near Novena.

So I was curious to see whether it will become our favourite haunt as I do go to Parkway Parade on a weekly basis.

The restaurant frontage as well as the interior was beautifully done up.







There were three good sized private rooms that allows you to sit from 10 - 12 pax for each room. It can also open up into one and it is upon first come first served basis.



With me, there were Dreamers Loft, Passionate about Baking as well as a member from OMY.

We had dim sum items that Chou Zhou Inn offers as their Ala Carte High Tea Buffet. It has around 28 items for you to choose from.

We had Steamed Spinach Dumplings with prawn and dried scallop @ S$4.50



The skin was incredibly thin which reflects the skill of the chef. There was a nice portion of spinach as the name suggested. The water-chestnuts also brought out the sweetness as well as a good crunch but personally I find that if there were more prawns and dried scallop in the filling, it will be better.

Braised Pork Belly Bun Chouzhou Style @ S$3.60



The texture of the bun has this stick in the mouth feel but the braised pork was beautifully cooked. The first bite has this melt in the mouth feel and then followed by the soft lean meat. This is good as these days, we are more concerned about fats intake. These buns could have been better if it has more sauce to it.

Pan Fried Black Sesame Cake @ S$3.90



These little mochi were served warm. A strong aroma of roasted black sesame hits you before you bite into it. The sweetness of the red bean paste is just nice. A good balanced of red bean with the mochi and a nice crunch of sesame seeds added to it. Definitely one of my favourite.

Double Boiled Old Yellow Melon Soup @ S$8.00



Though I doubt this is part of Teochew cuisine, I would say that the soup was cooked really well. The ingredients were fully infused into the soup.

I like the idea that the pork, mushroom and prawns that were evenly cut into bite size matches the size of the lotus seed and can be eaten together with the soup.

The presentation also helps to keep the soup warm even after a few courses. I think it will look better if the melon is slightly smaller,

For Barbecued Selection @ S$10.00, we had Braised Platter Chaozhou Style. It consists of Braised Duck, Braised duck wings and on a bed of braisd tofu.



The duck meat flavour was intense and reflected a good Teochew braise. The level of saltiness was just nice and the duck didn't have this gamey smell. Thus for those who dislike ducks, you might want to give this a go.

Gizzard on its own doesn't have any taste to it but done with this method, it is good. It would have been better if not overcooked.

I would prefer this platter without the duck's wings as it has more bones than meat.

I am not sure whether taukwa is usually used for such braise but for Chouzhou Inn, they used silky tofu. It goes really well with the sauce.

Steamed Pomfret Chouzhou style @ S$12.00



For this price, the fish is really value for money. The clear broth is a good balance between sour, sweet and salty. The fish's flesh is really thick. The broth shines in this dish!

Battered Fried Oyster @ S$8.00



The batter is what you can find in Fish and Chip. As oyster cooks really easily, it is hard to bring out the juiciness of oysters. I suspect the addition of strong pepper and salt was added to mask the taste as some people might not like oyster.

Chao Yang Four Treasure Vegetables @ S$9.00



This was cooked with a combination of straw mushroom, beancurd, cabbage, lotus seeds and gingko nuts. The cabbage added sweetness to this dish and I think it will be nice to have silky tofu instead of taukwa. Having the stem removed from the gingko nut will not leave a bitter after taste to the mouth as well.

Pomfret Porridge Chaozhou style @ S$12.00



It came in a tall clay pot. I think the fish was done rather well as it was not overcooked. Bits of flat fish further enhanced the light clear broth. Overall, it was very flavourful. Another of my favourite.

For dessert, we had 3 selections.

Yam paste with gingko Nut and Pumpkin @ S$4.90



I loved this. First of all, it was not tooth aching sweet and I didn't see any thick layer of oil floating round it. Best of all, it was not dosed with coconut milk which made me love this smooth yam paste even more.

This Sweet Potato Paste with pineapple @ $3.20 is Chouzhou Inn latest creation. Unfortunately, it was extremely sweet. I sensed a hint of dairy as well and it was confirmed that butter was added to it to give it a smooth texture.

If the sugar was omitted, I am sure it will make a delicious dessert as it was light and smooth.



Homemade Soya Beancurd @S$4.50/2 pax, S$7.00/4 pax



This is served in a little wooden bucket. The texture was very smooth which I liked and there wasn't a hint of gypsum to it. A bottle of syrup was served together with this and thus you can adjust the sweetness to your own liking. It would have been great if the syrup had more pandan infused taste to it.

Chouzhou Inn also has a Lunch Special. At S$6.90 for a main and a soup, this is really a good deal. Currently on their menu, they have:

Steamed Rice with Spare Ribs
Steamed Rice with Sesame Chicken
Steamed Rice with Chinese Sausage & Waxed Meat
Steamed Rice with Salted Fish & Minced Pork

Soup changes on a daily basis.

For this week, there is Steamed Rice with Spare Ribs and a Wintermelon soup.



I find that the spare ribs has this slim feel as it is coated with too much starch and a tad too salty to my liking but I do admit that the sauce goes really well with the rice.

For the soup, I expected a stronger taste of wintermelon than carrot. Nevertheless, the sweetness of the meat did a good job for this soup.

Overall, I am pretty pleased with the food. Will definitely bring my Teochew hubby and family to try this out again.

Chouzhou Inn Restaurant
80 Marine Parade Road
B1-84D
Parkway Parade
Singapore 449269

Tel: 6346 6617

Long time ago

Long time ago, I worked in town but yet it is not easily accessible to any other food outlets except a small cafe and a food court.

Only when bosses are not around and we have colleagues who drive, then we get a treat. If not, we lived with the only food source available and that is the food court. Not a big one but good enough for all.

Come to think about it. Though it is small, food served there were pretty good. My hot favorites were the chwee kueh, mee rebus, soto ayam and nasi padang. I know the rest were good as well but right now, I can't recall. My Filipina colleagues will swear by the chicken rice. Some of them can eat it on a daily basis.

I introduced these little Asian cuppies to my kids not too long ago and they have since loved it and never failed to order them if given a choice.

So today I am giving this a go with homemade Chwee Kueh.

Verdict: Not up to what I expected. I need to fine tune it as I find the texture not soft enough. Also the radish toppings will be nice without the dried shrimps.

Thus, if you have a better recipe, please feel to buzz me. Thanks.

Recipe adapted from Jas's Kitchen.



What you need:

180g rice flour
25g corn flour
800ml water
2 tbsp oil
½ tsp salt

Method:

Add the two flours into a bowl and with 300 ml water. Mix to form a smooth batter. Strain.

Bring remaining (500ml) water, oil and salt to boil. Reduce to low heat.

Pour in batter and stir constantly till it thickens. Stir constantly to remove as much lumps as possible.

Grease a few chwee kueh moulds. Pour the mixture into each mould and place it on steamer. Steam over rapidly boiling water for about 10 minutes.

Remove from mould and spread topping over it.

Serve hot with radish topping.

Radish topping

What you need:

200g chai poh
50g dried scrimps, grind
7 tbsp oil1 whole garlic, minced
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp white sesame seeds. roasted

Method:

Soak the chai poh and scrimps separately for 10 minutes. Rinse and drain well.

Heat oil and sauté the garlic till golden brown.

Add in the dried scrimps fry till fragrant.

Add in the chai poh and stir-fry till dry.

Finally add in the sugar and lastly the roasted sesame seeds

After the vroom, what is next?

After the vroom vroom last weekend, the next big event will be EXAM FEVER! At least for us Singaporean parents.

Time zapped by faster than the microwave. We are so near to the end of the year. I bet many parents are busy ensuring that their kids are keeping up with school work and getting them ready for the exam and I am no difference from you.

I wonder whether you have read the weekend article on tutors earning big bucks and the follow up replies in the forum today. For me, I think it is our school system has this big opportunity created for these tutors. Those that I read on papers are not the only one that gave up teaching profession and turned private tutors. I have known many ex teachers who decided to changed profession. After all, with the qualified background, they can even demand high fees. Much better than the stressful environment that they have to deal with like meeting the school and parents' expectation.

Well, I will leave this topic for another day.

I am definitely looking forward to seeing the last paper. Unfortunately, my girl will have another week to go after her brother ended his. I will have a big headache keeping them apart and ensuring the other is focused.

Well, let's see whether I can sign him up on any sport activities that I can keep him away from his little sister.

In the meantime, I will leave you with this Stir fry potatoes with anchovies and peanuts. Definitely goes well with a bowl of hot porridge on a rainy day.



Adapted from Curry Flavour

What you need:

100g anchoviews (cleaned and deep fried)
100g peanuts (roasted and skin removed)
200g potatoes (cooked and deep fried)
3 stalks dried chilli (clean with damp cloth)

1 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp lime juice

2 red chilli
2 clove garlic

Method

Heat up 3 tbsp oil and stir fry red chilli and garlic till fragrant.

Add in brown sugar and lime juice and stir till sugar melted.

Add in the rest of the ingredient and stir till it is coated with the syrup.

Serve either with rice or porridge or it can be a snack.

My favourite place

I was already running out of idea how not to cook meat on a Friday. Thus last Saturday, I spent the time at the library while waiting for my kids to finish their Taekwondo.

Since young, my mom always brings us to the library to borrow books. I enjoyed the structure of the old National Library. The high ceiling and the natural light that streamed in. When I heard that they wanted to tear it down, I was literally cursing. Can’t we maintain some heritage? Why must be we always be so realistic? Anyway, nothing much we, as Singaporean can do, isn’t it? Once a decision is made, nothing can change it so that beautiful building now makes way for modern ones. Haiz.

So I grew up enjoying being in the library. I remembered I even studied in the library because I needed that peaceful environment when I was staying in Marine Parade.

I am glad that I cultivated my kids to like library too. They will ask me to bring them there after a long absence. Kids these days are so tied up with school and activities that they don't really have that chance anymore. Thus when my son knows that I am going to the library he will always asked me to grab a few books for him.

Due to poor eyesight now, without my reading glass I am practically blind when comes to reading. Thus I have stopped reading novels and rely on baking and cooking books for reading pleasure as the fonts are generally a little bit bigger and pictures speak a thousand words.

Okay enough of my blabbering, here is a Colourful Fried Eggs that I picked out from the book. My daughter strangely likes century eggs and the combination of these 3 types of eggs churned out a really tasty dish and I am sure will cook this again.



Recipe loosely adapted from Cooking with eggs

What you need:

4 eggs
1 salted egg
1 century egg
2 tomatoes
2 stalks coriander (I didn't have this)
a dash of fish sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Boiled salted egg, deshell and diced.

Deshell century egg and diced.

Remove seeds of tomatoes and dice.

Beat eggs and add a dash of fish sauce and a pinch of salt. Add in century and salted eggs and the coriander.

Blanch tomatoes with a little oil.

Add beaten eggs to the tomatoes. Give it a quick stir and fry till it is cooked.

Serve with rice.

Will life change after?

Yesterday starts a 6 month parenting course that I signed up. Yes, it has reached a stage that bad that I need to sign up a course to learn how to be a good parent.

Initially I wanted to go along with a friend who encountered similar experience as me but last minute her hubby wasn't for the idea. Thus I ended doing it alone.

The timing for the course is perfect because it is in the time frame that I am free. The only thing that I foresee is that I won't be able to hang around after class as I need to rush home and then go and pick up my kids. Luckily the journey home is only about 15 mins. Though it is 6 months long, it is actually a 3 months course minus those public holidays as well as school holidays.

The founder is a nice lady with vast experience in handling kids. Thus after a first session, I think I should learn something by the end of next year.

Seems like my classmates are all nice people and I actually can't wait to know them better.

Okay, enough said about the latest happening in my life. I was craving for Ang Koo Kueh for the longest time. In fact, I made some mung bean paste and I do have some leftover peanut mixture from my Ban Chan Kueh. The setback was I had a hard time finding banana leaf. Geesh, I really missed those days that I can just go into the garden and tear one off the tree. My helper was commenting that here in Singapore, we need to pay for leaf, over in Indonesia, she can just go to the yard and get them. Well that is city life I guess.

Anyway, enough said, here is my Ang Koo Kueh that I got the recipe from Florence's blog. (I just adore her blog as her recipes are so reliable, definitely for sure I won't waste my ingredients trying out pretentious ones).

Yum yum.



Since I still have sweet potatoes left, I decided not to keep it as most likely it will end up in the bin anyway. So I churned out some Deep Fried Sweet Potato Balls that I used to eat when I was a kid. Many years, I have done a recipe on this but I think it is among the lot that got wipe out when my hard dish crashed.

So I have to attempt this based on gut feel and I am so happy that the end result is much better than the last. Even the tutor, who loves this, also commented that it is nice because of its chewy and crispy texture.

So I shall named this Edith's Deep Fried Sweet Potato Balls. I couldn't resist popping these munchies one after another when it cooled down.



In the meantime, though I don't have any mooncakes to share as I can't find my photos. Nevertheless, I want to wish all readers a Happy Mid Autumn.

A beautiful night to bring your kids out for a walk.

What you need:

500g sweet potato
225g glutinous rice flour
10g corn flour
10g rice flour
170g castor sugar (adjust to your taste)
100ml water

Method:

Brush and clean sweet potato, cut into quarter and steam till soft. Scoop the flesh out and discard skin. Mashed while it is hot.

Add sugar. Mixed thoroughly.

Add in all the flours and water. Knead till it forms smooth dough.

Weigh about 14g each and roll into a ball.

Heat oil in wok and fry the balls to golden brown.

Cool and serve.

P/S: I wanted to apologise to those who tried this recipe and didn't find success. I missed out the water portion and had since amended it. So sorry.

Experiment No 3

We have been staying home on a Sunday pretty often these days. Partly because during the weekday, we were so busy that by Sunday, we just wanted to stay home to relax and do nothing.

Even though we, very much would love to catch up with some sleep but with my little chatty princess around. It is near impossible.

She is always talking about something. Now that she discovered that my new helper is more conversant in English. If she knows that she cannot "disturb" her parents, or her brother, she will find my helper and chat.

Due to her hearty nature and loud voice, gosh it mission impossible to seek peace when she is around. You will be hearing constant hearty laugh and her voice buzzing round the house. This is the time we wished for a bigger house.

Then again, we can’t complain as we are happy that she is a happy child.

For lunch, I proceed on to do my third recipe and thanks to Jo who took the trouble to scan a few recipes to me, I have chosen this because it is not a meat dish or should I consider so because there is fish paste in it.

Initially I tried getting fish paste in the supermarket but with no luck. Then I thought perhaps I should try the Yong Tau Foo stall in the wet market and I was lucky.

For 300g of fish paste at only S$2.00, I think it is not too bad. At least it saved me the hassle of churning fish paste from a whole fish.

My family and I enjoyed this and I hope you do too.

Sit back and enjoy

This week, my son actually has his Home Economic exam. On Thursday, it was one of my worse days ever. I got a call from him at 8am! His teacher, Ms Lee informed me that they are actually having Home Economic exam for his class and he didn't bring a single item for it. His reason was that he forgotten about it.

It was near impossible for me to run to the market to buy the beef, boiled the potatoes and bring all the items to school within the next 45 mins. At that point in time, I was prepared for him to get a BIG FAT ZERO.

The teacher understood my dilemma and was so graceful to postpone this test to next week just for my son. I was so relieved to hear it and I couldn't thank her enough.

Thing wasn't so smooth sailing because I have yet another call 1 hour later. I shan't know talk about that or else my blood pressure will shoot up again.

Nevertheless, after some tongue lashing and hopefully, he will soul searched himself, he was well behaved for the two days.

In fact, he told me that he will change his menu from Shepherd Pie which he practised the other day to Baked Rice.

He was pretty eager to cook this. With all ingredients on hand, he went on to cook Baked Rice for our dinner. I was pretty impressed with him because the recipe he researched was not the same he used. At least he knows how to improvise and added some vegetables.

He was his own judge and I am happy that he was also willing to take feedback and to improve the recipe further.

So my helper and I had a day off today preparing dinner. More to come? I hope so.

Experiment no 2

Since my last post on bean curd, I was really busy with kids. I took up Shirley and Jo's offer of providing me with bean curd recipes as I really have no clue where to start with after my last attempt locating library books.

Anyway, this one came on time for me to test it out today since it is generally a no meat day for us on Friday.

My brain cells haven't been working really well these past few days. After glancing at the recipe and taking note of all the ingredients I needed to get. I dashed to the supermarket to load up before picking up my son.

I still was clueless how this recipe will turned out till I started cooking it. Geesh, this dish is so much similar of how my mom will prepare beansprouts! except that this one include taukwa to it. So I quickly modified it a little.

For presentation, I separate the bean curd with beansprout. It should be either beansprout laying on a bed of bean curd or mixed the beansprout and bean curd together.



Thanks Shirley for taking the time out to forward me this recipe. Tomorrow I will attempt another two that Jo forwarded.

Stay tuned.

Serve: 6
What you need:

4 pieces of Taukwa
400g beansprout with roots removed
5 stalks of spring onions, cut them into same length as beansprouts
2 no of chillies, cut into half and slice width of chillies thinly.
30g salted vegetables
1 tsp minced garlic
50ml chicken stock
Splash of Hua tiao wine
Soya sauce and pepper to taste.

Method:

Soak taukwa in salted water for 5 mins. Drain and cut them into long thin slices.

Rinse bean sprouts. Set aside.

Soak salted vegetable for 10 mins. Drain and shred thinly. Set aside.

Heat 6 tbsp of oil and pan fry taukwa till golden brown. Remove and drain off excess oil. Set side.

Heat 2 tbsp of oil and fry garlic till fragrant. Add in salted vegetables and fry briefly.

Add in beansprout. Give a splash of Hua tiao wine. A quick stir and add in chillies and stock. Stir and bring to a boil.

Season with pepper and soya sauce. Add in spring onion and taukwa. Give it a quick stir.

Serve.

Dancing Queen

Today I volunteered as a parent volunteer for my daughter's dance rehearsal. Starting from P1 to P2, these little ones will get to perform in their school Dance Fest.

I guess it was the exposure that her kindergarten gave her. Since playgroup, they were trained to perform in front of a big crowd. Thereafter, her exposure with a music school was the same. Thus I guess why my little princess doesn't get stage fright. In fact, she enjoyed it so much and was always the smiley one in all her performance photo.

I was pretty impressed by last year's Dance Fest. Each class has its own theme. Though it is just a few minutes of dancing, the girls were dressed in full gear. The details were amazing. From head to toe, everything co-ordinates.

Since I enjoyed it so much, this year, I signed up without hesitation. Unfortunately, my hubby won't be able to witness her final year Dance Fest. I am sure little princess will be even more delighted if daddy is there.

I prepared some moonies to share with DW and CN as I know they will be there to help out as well.

Being out half the day, I knew I need to settled down quickly to work. But I got carried about by some admin work and then I decided to bake some curry puff for the kids. Yes, lately my kids are crazy over curry.

Since I had some puff pastry in the freezer, I might as well used it up to free up the space.

The fillings was prepared by my helper which isn't really my cup of tea but the kids were lapping it up quickly. If it is good enough for them, I can't complain. Can't I?

Vegetarian?

There will be an event coming up in October and my role is to find a tofu recipe. This "job" was long overdue for many reasons. First my computer crashed, then I fell ill, followed by the school holiday. I didn't get a chance to go to the library till Satursday.

Thinking I will definitely find the answer there but I was so wrong. First, I can't find any resources from the English section. Since the target group will be Asian, I thought I should try the Chinese section cook books. I was wrong again, it was so tough. Though I didn't fare badly for Chinese during school days. It was so difficult to locate a book on tofu. In the end, I tried the vegetarian category and only found one pathetic book. Even that, there were only two tofu recipes in it.

I tried out one today as the rule for the recipe is simplicity. Crispy Tofu 香脆豆腐is great if it is eaten hot but unfortunately I doubt this will be a good recipe to use for the event.

Thus, I quickly sent an sms to J asking for help as she said she has a book on tofu.

I modify the recipe a little to add more taste to it and also done some changes to the dipping sauce as I find the taste weak.

Enjoy.



Recipe source: 时尚中式蔬菜

What you need:

2 beancurd, cut into 12
1 egg, beaten
180g plain flour
stalk of spring onion (optional)

Seasoning

minced garlic
3 tbsp soya sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
chilli padi

Method:

Blanch the beancurd with hot water for 1 min. Drain and dry.

Add them into beaten eggs and then coat with flour. Shake off excess.

Deep fried for about 3 - 4 mins till golden brown. Remove and drain off excess oil.

Serve with dipping sauce.

Carnivore

I can never be a vegetarian. Though I am not a heavy meat eater but I love seafood, chicken and beef! Maybe I can skip pork but I doubt I can do away with meat.

I always think that cooking ribs is not easy and it is rather time consuming. Thus I rather eat out than to prepare it myself. A recent trip to the supermarket, I spotted some good deal and I couldn't resist not buying two racks to bring home for experiment.

I should have it marinated the night before but then again, this long weekend was just lazing around doing nothing that I got bored out of my mind and just playing Bejeweled most of the time while hubby was feverishly working on his presentation for his week long seminar next week.

Sudden thought, if I don't cook it now, hubby will not have a chance to eat with us for the next two weeks.

So I kick start my engine and got to work.

By night fall, my little one was rumbling with hunger. Geesh, this holiday she eats so much that I can see her bum getting as fat as mine.

Hubby was cautiously warning me that we have to control her diet soon. Don't need to two hippos trumping round the house. LOLz.

I am glad that it didn’t take long to cook my Honey Baked Ribs. The ribs were juicy and thick with meat that my helper and I couldn’t even finish our portion.

I got a thumb’s up by hubby and the kids. Yea!

Thus you see, cooking is much easier than baking. Baking is about precision and science whereas cooking is about instinct based on our five senses. For those who doubt themselves as to whether you can cook. You will be surprise. Just like me, I didn’t think my ribs will turn out and liked by my family.

Trust your instinct and start cooking today. You might turn out to be better than what you thought. Go for it.



Now, let’s embrace this new term and the start of the final year examination preparation.

Like what my friend L said, All is well.

End of the long week

Time and tide wait for no time. This phrase is often quoted by my hubby when he lectures our son on time management.

It is so true. This one week zapped past so fast. It was a very turbulence one week but I am glad that a brand new week is coming.

Though exam is just round the corner but at least, the kids are back into a routine and so am I. I had taken my last asthma attack as a sign to take a step back in "grooming" my son. From now on, I will let God take over.

I am looking forward to the new week. Besides fulfilling Cupcake Fantasies' commitments, I am having some girly time with V and then follow by an invitation that I will talk about it later.

At least I have some "ME" time and some peace at home in the morning.

I do feel guilty not fully utilising this week long holiday with the kids. Besides bringing them out for a day at the beach, and a little swim in the pool with my little one. We basically holed up in the house for the whole week. Thankfully, hubby is around to "entertain" the kids in the evening.

Initially wanted to make some Ang Ku Kueh but I totally forgotten the sweet potatoes that I needed to buy. Thus this idea is shelved. Talking about this, I had a hard time finding banana leaves. I really missed those days when I was staying in Seletar. Plucked from the wild and into the kitchen.

Next on my list is Ban Chan Kueh. I used to live in Marine Parade when I was 9 - 17. I love walking to the hawker centre to get my freshly made Ban Chan Kueh. I usually asked for the edge portion as it is crispy. Unfortunately this type of food business is no longer a common scene these days. Now it is run by franchise which is all prepacked and the peanut filling is more like peanut paste than the authentic ones.



So here I am preparing something that I cherish during my childhood which was so simple.

I was sure about this recipe thus I actually cut it by half. Next round I will follow exactly to create a thicker pancake.



Sorry, I didn't take down the book title for this but it is a locally produced book by seahorse.

What you need:

340g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
3 tsp sugar
2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp alkaline water (avail in baking supply shop)_
2 cup water
1 cup milk

Filling
50 sugar
100 roasted peanut (coarsely chopped)

Method

Mix all ingredient except the fillings with whisk to get a smooth batter. Let it rest for 15 mins.

Heat up a non stick frying pan and add a ladle of batter. Spread evenly. Batter will start to bubble and sides starts to crisp.

*Once cooked, removed from pan and onto cutting board. Spread fillings and fold into half.

Serve hot.

*Note: Alternatively you can sprinkler sugar into batter and cooked till sugar dissolved. Add in ground peanut and fold into half.

Selamat Hari Raya

I didn't really have a very good night sleep last night. I encountered some breathing problem. It has been ages since I last had an asthma attack so I don't really know whether I had one last night. All I know was that I was grasping for air and it feels that my lungs were collapsing. A frightening experience and this reminded me to get a brand new inhaler.

Thankfully, it is a public holiday and we are able to sleep longer.

The weather is really nice today. Cloudy, breezy and I felt lazy but I wanted to do something. A blog post and a recipe that I read last morning and I know I just had to do it.

Yes, it was from Florence's blog. She made Dou Sha Shao Bing and I knew I had to make that because it was something that I will always picked up when I visit Hong Kong.

Since I can't bring it home as it tasted much better when freshly eaten so I did a batch this morning for my hubby to try.

It is such an easy recipe that you can churned out in no time. Happy to know that hubby thinks it nice as well.

Thanks Florence, definitely brought back some fond memories of my last holiday.



To all my Muslim friends/readers, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

Is this the attitude?

This morning, I woke up with good mood as my girlfriend, L and her daughter are coming to play. I couldn't decide whether to cook a simple lunch or just dine out. Perhaps some time to bake some cookies too. Nevertheless, I know I will have an enjoyable time with them.

Since I didn't have many eggs left, I decided to make a trip to the vendor. Now that my son knew that I am getting some fresh eggs, he wanted half boiled egg for his after breakfast snack.

I couldn't go home directly as I couldn't get some ingredients that I needed and with a tray of eggs, my son went home first.

When I got home, I found 4 eggs boiling in the wok. I don't know how long it was left boiling in the wok but I definitely know it will never be soft boiled eggs.

True enough, it was semi hard by then and when my helper served it, my son refused to eat it!

His attitude was so bad as if the whole world owed it to him. I just loose it and started lecturing him. A lecture turned into a quarrel and fight. How clever he turned and twisted my words and started using it against me. Geesh, I was about to slap him when I realised that he can overpowered me if he wants to.

I was hopping mad and broke down. Right timing, my friend L arrived. L is such a cool dude. She was really calming me down. Told me to get a shower and give me an essential massage. What a nice friend isn't she?

Though my heart is still heavy but at least the pain in the head and heart ease off. Yes, I have a tendency to get a headache when I am too upset. This is not good sign as it might affect my blood pressure as well as stroke.

Being a parent to a teen is really tough. For me, I don't know how to be one. Everyone is telling me to leave him alone. Then again, what about discipline? What about mannerism? What about attitude?

During my time, if I were to talk to my parents in such manner, I think I will be rolling out of the house. These days, parents are at the mercy of the children and we have to suffer in silent?

He really had me doubting whether I have been a good mother. If I am one, then why is my son grew up to be like this?

I am seriously thinking how my life will be like in the next 8 years.

I know it is bad of me to have such thoughts but I do feel so frustrated that I had made a choice that I can't reversed. Arrgh!

On the happier note, after I calmed down with some really good massage by L. We, the girls, went on to bake some cookies.

It is an extremely easy recipe and I am sure you and your kids can do it too.

Since I had some sprinklers on hand, I thought the girls will love to have it on their cookies.

And this is what they had done.





The texture is a little chewy and I love the buttery taste to it. We all think that it is nice and definitely will try it again.



Thanks L for being here for me. You have helped me to learn how to love myself a little more.

What you need:

170g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
85g unsalted butter
120 brown sugar
90g castor sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
180g chocolate chips

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degree. Lined baking pan.

Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together.

Cream the butter, sugars till light and fluffy. Add in beaten eggs and vanilla essence. Beat till everything is incorporated.

Add in chocolate chip into flour mixture.

Add flour mixture into batter and fold in till it forms a soft dough.

Using two small teaspoon, drop batter into the baking pan.

Sprinkle colourful sprinklers (optional).

Bake for 10 - 15 min till cookies is golden brown.

Cool slightly on tray and transfer to cooling rack to cool further.

Store in air tight container.

Missing in action

For one solid week, I was living in a world without a computer. I felt listless. Not that I have updates for my blog but I was in a foul mood. I questioned why mankind is so dependent on technology.

You see both my phone and computer died on me on the same day, over the weekend, I was in total foul mood. Due to sitting for long hours, I also developed a severe back pain.

On Monday, I dragged myself to go down town to the agent to fix my computer but to have the service staff telling me that my hard disk crashed. I was upset as it is only about a year and a half and I have already sent this stupid machine into the workshop three times! To make matter worst, I was told that usually life span of hard disk is around 5 years and it was just my luck that my machine is so.

After I left the service centre, my next task is my handphone. You see, my son meddled with my phone and I lost the wifi function. Went down to Epi Centre and I got the most unfriendly service staff there. They told me to call my service provider instead.

Got home and called the service provider. Luckily the technical staff was nice ad helpful but she couldn't solve my problem and I have to finally call the wireless company but they told me that they can't help me if I have NO computer!

After a long wait, I finally bought a new toy (thanks hubby) during last week computer fair. It took me quite a few days to get settled down into my new toy as I lost all my favourite links.

I need to speed up because I have a long list of things to do and I am way behind time.

Hubby bought some avocado and since we both like Avocado milk shake, we had this after our dinner. Rich and creamy. Yum.



Since I am sure my kids won’t like this, and having some banana sitting on the counter, I make a batch of Banana Milk shake for them. They hardly had milk shake thus they were not very excited by this.



Now I need to give a good shake and get the lazy bug out of me.