Mixed feeling

Today, I am having breakfast with JM and AL, both are my primary school mates. All of us are stay home mom now but yet, we still struggle to find time to meet.

Once awhile, I will bumped into AL when we picked our kiddos. For JM, we do meet up once in a while for our girls to play together and since I will be joining her neighbourhood, seeing her will be easy. But for AL and JM to come together, haiz.... tough. Thus this date needed some effort of co-ordination.

Being Singaporean, we don't really have any hard and fast rules what we eat in the morning but to take prawn toasts as meal is hard to stomache and that explains why today, my kids went to school only with a cup of milk. I seriously don't know what got into my helper's mind but she did attempt to serve this as breakfast!!! Anyway, I hope from now on, after a year, she will understand our lifestyle and preferences better. Enough said about the morning chaos.

Lately, I am having some second thoughts. I am not sure whether I wanted to start another blog to just to document down my precious moments, which will be kept private or to continue with this one that also incorporate my passion and kitchen experiences.

You see, I am very active in Facebook, an outlet for me to catch up and stay connected with all my old friends and classmates whom I don't have the liberty of time to meet up.

I also have bake and cook photo albums there so that I can have another back up should my hard disk failed on me which had already done so TWICE! Heart breaking but .......

As for this blog, yet I am not sure whether fellow bloggers are tapping into the tried and tested recipes as I can't gaudge at all.

I need to weigh the two main reasons on this blog's survival.

1) a way to connect with my hubby whenever he is overseas, which is really frequent these days. The private blog will serve this purpose.

2) a sharing source of tried and tested recipes which I believe if I can do it, you can too. After all, back in 2006, it was blogging that opens up my world...then again, reader will have to put up with my ever struggle and frustraton of being a mom.

Maybe a show of hand whether to stay or to go will help me to decide? I seriously am wondering....



So today I leave you with this fluffy Neil's pancake that I am going to share with AL and JM. You just got to try it, it is really good! If you or your kids love pancakes, this is definitely THE recipe. Search no further.

If I didn't remember wrongly, this recipe was a winner for Bobby Flay's throwndown challenge. Correct me if I am wrong.

Suggestion was to pair it with walnut and bananas. Since I don't have any. I throw in blueberries instead. Let's hope the girls are okay with it.



What you need:

280g plain flour
8g baking powder
78g castor sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 egg, separated
1.5 cup milk
85g melted unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla

Method:

Sift flour and baking powder. Add sugar and salt together into a large bowl.

Whisk yolks, milk, melted butter and vanilla together.

Whisk wet mixture into the dry mixture. Should be slightly lumpy.

Whip the egg white until medium peak. Not stiff. Do not overwhip the egg whites.

Gently fold in half of the egg white into the egg batter with a large spatula. Then gently fold in the remaining egg white.

The batter should be slightly lumpy and have large parts of the egg whites not fully incorporated.

Heat pan and add 1 tsp butter. With a fat ladle, scoop the batter and pour into the hot pan. (optional, you can add your blueberries or chocolate at this stage)

Flip over once brown to cook the other side.

Serve warm.

All time favourite

I haven't been offering pizza to my kids for quite some time. With dad being away, this will be the perfect timing. We usually do simple meal when he is not around as he is a much bigger eater than us. Generally a one dish meal is good enough for us.

Comparing my kids with my friends', I am pretty happy that they are not really considered fussy eaters. I think on the whole, my kids are easy to feed which makes my life really simple.



Like yesterday, we offered pork porridge for lunch and my girl actually had three bowls. Talking about this little one, I think I have to manage her diet properly or else she will grow to be a little hippo like me. Whereas for my son, if given a chance, he will snack on sweet stuff only. With him being in school the whole day, it is quite hard to manage his food intake. Though he is average in height but he is also skinny.

I am such a worrier that they don’t eat well and become scrawny but hubby always ensure me that our son has fat genes (by looking at his baby photos) so eventually he will put on weight.



When my kids learnt that I am going to make Pizza, they were excited. Already my son wanted salami and my girl, lots of cheeses. Even my helper can’t help to contain her excitement and put in her order of shrimps!

I once again used my most trusted Olive Oil dough which gives a very lovely texture. I tried my best to spread it thinnly to achieve that crusty bites. Simply delicious!

As a mother, I am always happy to see my kids enjoying their meals. Do you?

I am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #8 - Bread Seduction (June 2011) hosted by Jasmine from Sweetylicious

Source: Richard Bertinet, Dough

What you need:

15g fresh yeast
500g bread flour
10g salt
50g olive oil
320g water

Method:

Rub yeast into flour to become crumb like. Add in salt, olive oil and water. Mix till you form a dough.

Pour onto the table and knead to form an elastic dough.

Let it proof for 1 hour till it doubles the volume.

Divide dough into three. Shape into a ball and let it rest for 10 mins.

Floured table and take one ball and shaped it into a flat dough, using your heel of the palm and push from centre outwards. Keep stretching till you achieved a round pizza shape of around 20cm.

Life the pizza bases to a floured baking pan and top with your favourite toppings.

Bake at 240 degree for 10 - 12 mins or till golden brown.

A brand new term

Today started a brand new term for my kids. In a way, I am thankful that they went back to school. At least I get to have some quiet time in the morning to sort out my thoughts and to do list. I am also in the midst of updating some data to prepare for next year's class reunion for my classmates. So that took up a big portion of my time but I am happy to do it.

Initially I wanted to bake a cake for tomorrow's breakfast but I changed my mind as I didn't want too much sugary stuff for my son. He had been given a doctor’s appointment on 6th July. Most likely he will be put back onto Ritalin once again to control his disorder.

If you have child attached to Child Guidance Clinic, your file will be wiped off if you deferred for a year. I wasn’t told and I took it too lightly that his data will be in the system. Thanks to the school, now I don't have to re queue and be waitlisted in the never ending queue. I pray that this will work out better for him and able to help or teach him how to handle his life.

I am slowly finding peace within myself. Perhaps, now that I know he has got ODD. I kind of give him that benefit whenever he opposed what I told him to do. I am learning and I hope our relationship will heal.

Well, now let’s go to the kitchen for some fun. I still have nearly half a bag of rye flour so I went on to make two loaves of Rye and caraway seed bread.



While grinding the caraway seeds, the fragrant from this spice was simply captivating. The sense is really strong in a pleasant way. I didn’t add on raisins as I wanted it to pair with something savoury.

Ever since I bought this book and learnt the method, I find that bread making is becoming much easier. I believe I am getting the hang of it especially recipes taken from the book.

The texture is really nice. Next round, I will give a few spray of water before I put in the dough to create a crust. Overall, I am very pleased with the result.



I have tried quite a few recipes from Richard Reinhart’s book and to those who are like me, new to bread making and clueless, I strongly recommend you get buy this.

Now I can bake my own artisan bread at half the price. Yea!

I am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #8 - Bread Seduction (June 2011) hosted by Jasmine from Sweetylicious

What you need:

400g bread flour
100g rye flour
10g fresh yeast
10g salt
350g water
1 tbsp caraway (pound to release flavour)

Method

Mix the two flours together.

Rub in the yeast with the flour.

Add the salt and water. Mix to form a soft dough.

Pour onto a floured surface and knead till it is not sticky.

Add caraway seeds and do the final knead to distribte it evenly.

Round it into a ball and placed it in a floured bowl and proof for one hour or till double in size.

Punch down and divide dough into two. Shape into a ball and let it rest for 10 mins.

Now shape the ball into a loaf shaped. Let it proof covered for another one hour.

Preheated oven of 250 degree. Turn down to 220 degree and baked the dough for 30 mins.

Last weekend

Tomorrow the kids will be starting school. In preparation for my little girl's lunch box. I asked her whether she wanted muffins or bread. In the end, she opted for bread.

This next half year will be a challenge as my boy will be sitting for his streaming exam. I pray that he will find clarity before it is too late. Also he will be put on the program in CGC soon as he was just diagnoised with ODD (Oppositional Defiance Disorder). Actually my heart sank when I heard this. Now not only I have to deal with ADHD, I have another one more on my list. Haiz..... I pray my soul and well being will able to conqueror all.

Whatever it is, there is only so much I can do for him, the rest is really up to he himself who wanted it. If he has to take the long path, then so be it.

I wanted to bake something for my girl as now she is having braces on to straighten her front tooth. Thus she is unable to eat solid food at this moment. Initially wanted to bake her some soft bun to bring to school but she opted for porridge instead.

Wanted to do something together in the kitchen and we chose cake pop as we haven't try this before.

It was great fun as I roll and she dipped. So here is our first attempt on Cake Pop. Thanks Passionate about Baking for sharing the recipe.



Next, I added a dash of rum to create some Rum Balls for hubby. This reminded him of his childhood. Happy to hear that he likes it.



So after today, it will be back to routine. Am I happy? I seriously can't tell. In a way, I am happy that I will be having quiet moments in the morning but on the other hand, the challenges ahead can be a handful to handle.

So are you looking forward to it?

What you need:

400g Chocolate cake sponge, broken to pieces
100g Semi-sweet chocolate, melted
3 tbsp Whole milk (I used 5 tbsp)

Melted chocolate to coat

Method:

Using a food processor, blend the chocolate cake with the milk till it resemble damp crumbs.

Add in the melted chocolate and blend again.

The crumbs should come together nicely. If not, add a little milk or melted chocolate.

Roll it into balls. Chill for 10 mins.

Stick a candy stick into it and dip into melted chocolate and coat with colourful sprinklers.

Chill till ready to serve.

Variation: replace 1 tbsp of milk to rum to make rum balls. More if you like it more intense.

Last few days

The term school holiday is nearing to the end. Surprisingly I actually can see my kids grown during this time.

To share another good news was that my little one passed her piano exam and will be doing her grade 3. I am very happy with her achievement. In fact, the result actually surprised me, for these days, she is left with very little time to practise as she is engage in tuition on most days. Prior before her exam, I found out that her scales were still not up to standard, thus I actually expected her having to redo the exam. I promised that I will get her a new piano when she passed and I know she really wanted that.
Well done baby.

To wrap up this mid year school holiday, I think it is about time I get some ME time. After all, my days have been evolving round the kids these past weeks.

With AC back from France for a break and as promised during her last trip, she lugged back bottles of Bordeaux red wines and foie gras. Perfect time for rounding up some classmates for a makan session.

It was really good as some of us haven't seen each other for last 29 years! Amazing isn't it? We had so much fun and laughter catching up on our lives. We were like a bunch of little girls all over again. Even my hubby couldn't resist a grin from eavesdropping on our conversation.

Girls, I had a blast. Thanks so much for such a wonderful evening.



Didn't really have time to prepare a full course dinner but instead, we had Dry Mee Siam. I have always wanted to try dry mee siam and this one which I plucked out from the internet was good. It is a healthier version as well.

Souce: The Sunday Times. Mdm Sakinah Jamin’s recipe
Serves 6 - 8

What you need:

6 eggs
350g fresh prawns, shelled and deveined
10 Tbs cooking oil
400g of firm soya beancurd, cubed
15 dried red chillies, seeded, soaked in water till soft then drained
5 fresh red chillies
6 cloves garlic
15 shallots
100g dried shrimps, rinsed, soaked in water till soft, drained and coarsely pounded
6 tbsp fermented soya beans (taucheo)
400g dried rice vermicelli, soaked in water till soft, then drained
350g bean sprouts
100g Chinese chives, cut into 2cm-long strips salt to taste
6 limes, halved

Method

Boil the eggs, then leave to cool before removing the shell and cutting into thin slices. Set aside.

Steam the prawns for 5 minutes until cooked. Set aside.

To a hot pan, add 2 Tbs of oil and stir-fry the soya beancurd cubes till golden brown. Set aside.

Blend the dried chillies, fresh chillies, garlic and shallots in an electric blender on medium speed until a coarse paste forms.

To a hot wok, add 8 tbsp of oil and fry the chilli paste for some 5 minutes until fragrant.

Add the dried shrimps and fermented soya beans and stir-fry until well incorporated.

Add the rice vermicelli, mix well and stir-fry for about 10 minutes until the vermicelli is cooked. If necessary, add 1/2 cup of water to the noodles to prevent them from drying out.

Add bean sprouts and Chinese chives, mix well and stir-fry for another 3 minutes.

Add salt to taste.

Transfer the noodles to a serving plate.

Top with steamed prawns, fried beancurd cubes, and egg.

Before eating, squeeze the limes over the noodles and toss well.

*******



For dessert, I prepared some ice cream choices for my guests.

I love citrus especially after seeing Batter Baker's blog post and I had all the fruits on hand, I decided to churn some Citrus Sorbet. Just love how refreshing it taste especially after all those for foie gras that we ate.



Next was Lemon Ice Cream. Oh gosh, I love this one so much. I paired it with Lemon Caramel Sauce and believe me, the combination is just so heavenly.



Of course, how can I missed out not serving Chocolate Ice Cream right? The girls love these as well.



So now you know how much ice cream I am having of late. We just couldn't stop! Nothing beats homemade.

Citrus Sorbet

What you need:

3 cups of freshly squeeze citrus juice (1 grapefruit, 1 lime, 3 oranges, 1 lemon)
150g sugar
zest of grapefruit, lime, orange and lemon

Method

Mix about ½ cup of citrus juice with the sugar. Stir till sugar dissolved.

Add the remaining juice.

Chill the mixture and freeze it in the ice cream machine.

Add in the zest last.

***
Source: Perfect Scoop

Lemon Ice Cream

What you need:

2 lemons zest
100g castor sugar
½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 3)
2 cups whipping cream
pinch of salt

Method

Zest the lemons directly into a big cup.

Add in sugar and lemon juice and stir till sugar dissolved.

Blend in the cream and salt.

Pour into the ice cream maker accordingly to manufacturer’s instruction.


Lemon Caramel Sauce

200g fine sugar
1 cup water
2 – 3 tbsp lemon juice

In a large saucepan, spread the sugar in a even layer.

Pour in ½ cup water and a few drops of lemon juice.

Bring to boil. DO NOT STIR. Swirl the pan gently if the sugar is cooking unevenly.

Once the sugar begins to smoke and become deep amber. Remove from heat and add the remaining ½ cup water. BE CAREFUL of caramel splattering.

Let steam subside and whisk the caramel until smooth. Once it cooled it will thickens.

Stir in the remaining lemon juice.

Not giving up

I wasn’t detered by the failure of my Rye Bread, instead I went on to bake some cookies. The Buckwheat Butter Cookies that I tried not too long ago was really good. I decided to make these again and put them into gift packs for my classmates who are coming over for our pot luck dinner tonight.



Next I also tried a Malted Milk and Oat Cookies that D shared with me. This one another interesting chewy oat cookies recipe that uses Barley Flour. I had a hard time finding Barley Flour. In fact, I went to three supermarket before finding it. So today, I took a ride down town and bought it in an upmarket supermarket. Was pretty happy that I didn’t go home empty handed after all the trouble.



The smell of the cookie dough was simply irresistible. The cookies turned out beautifully on the second batch as I didn’t watch over it on the first and resulted in a little over the brown tone.



Note: I used a small ice cream scoop for this. Just scoop and do not flatten as this dough spreads.

I always wanted to try this

When my old email went into the graveyard, I lost many of my chit chatting msn kakis. Also these days, I hardly had time to chat as I spent many hours outdoor (waiting for my girl to be done with her tuition). With this reason, I also hardly make new cyber friends to share my passion.

Lately, via facebook, I realised that I have many classmates who enjoy baking and I am thrilled. It is also nice to have friends who shared the same passion as you. Exchanging ideas and recipes are so fun and of course, drooling on their bakes that tantalise your taste bud and nudging you to get into the kitchen as well.

I love such adrenaline!

When I saw F, my classmate baked a rye bread not too long ago. I know it is about time, I take my baby step. As if it is a signal for I bought a pack of rye flour while shopping for cake supplies during my last trip in Kuala Lumpur!

I always wanted to bake a loaf of artisan bread. You see I love artisan bread. This love was started when this poor back packer was back packing in Europe 19 years ago.

Till to date, whenever I travel, I usually go for the bread first on the buffet table. Definitely not those white loaf slices!

I have many books on bread but the thought of making the starter or poolish daunt me. So anyone out there who enjoys making artisan bread, do you want to take me as your disciple or break making kaki?

So here I am, attempting a rye bread. Unfortunately, I failed in my mission. Against my instinct, I went on to try the recipe from the same book that I done for the Little Butter Bun. It was a book that I loaned from the library, I should have tried F’s recipe first instead so that I know the exact texture it will yield.



I am not sure whether I wasted the whole 500g of rye flour or not. As you see, the second proofing wasn't that successful. It was also very sticky and I had a hard time making a hole inside or even shape it nicely.

Nevertheless, I still went ahead to bake it. The bread turned out heavy and it might not have baked thoroughly judging from the texture.

Latest update: My classmates tasted it and all said was good. So I guess it wasn't a failed attempt. LOLz.



It tasted more like a kind of German bread that I ate before. A little damp and heavy but goes very well with quark but I have yet to find quark in Singapore or try to recall the name of that bread.

Well you win some and you lose some. There is also a bad experiment.

I am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #8 - Bread Seduction (June 2011) hosted by Jasmine from Sweetylicious

Source: Nordic Bakery

What you need:
Yield two loaves

7g instant yeast
450ml lukewarm water
400g rye flour
1 tsp sea salt

Method:

Mix yeast with 200ml of lukewarm water and a couple of tbsp of the rye flour (I used 400g). Stir well and cover with cling wrap and leave it overnight.

Mix in the salt and remaining fye flour with enough warm water to make a soft dough.

Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for a few min - it will be soft and sticky.

Cover and prove in warm place for 1 - 1.5 hours or double in volume. (mine didn't)

Punch down the dough, divide into two portion and roll into a ball. Flatten and make a hole in the centre to form a ring. (i had difficulties as the dough was really soft and sticky still).

Place on tray and leave to prove for another 1 hour.

Bake for 30mins at 220 degree.

Backing off

After a tormenting week, I have made up my mind to back off. Back off from hovering around my son and let him be a little young adult to experiment life. I am going to let him control his own destiny from now onwards.

I wanted to thank all of you who dropped by with your life stories, your experiences and your words of encouragement. It makes the pain less painful, the mind clearer and hopefully I can continue with it with some determination.

I realised that I am not so alone in dealing with such a difficult phrase after all.

Then again, I think my route to parenthood still has a long way to go and at each stage, I learnt something new.



Whatever it is, I pray that he will turn out to be okay and a good person.

I didn't bake any cakes or prepare any special meal on Father's Day as I was totally exhausted after going through that one week ordeal and some cake orders. One good thing that turned out was that this particular cake. I was really happy to get rave review from my client.



So for Father’s Day, we went out for a nice dim sum lunch with my dad on Saturday and caught up with a friend on Sunday.

Boring? Yes but I think I will make that up with hubby another day.

But I did churn out another two batches of ice cream. I reduce the sugar on the durian ice cream and make a batch of raspberry ice cream with some left over frozen raspberry. A mistake, I forgotten to sieve out the puree and thus, it ended up with seeds which my son said he didn’t like it.

Sorry too late for any pictures by the time I had time to post this up, as it was gobbled down by son who apparently loved it - with seeds or without.



Kneading bread is a good outlet for me to let go the inner frustration and thus I baked some Little Butter Buns as an excuse.

This is a very interesting bun recipe as it uses Cardamon powder. The method is also new to me and it was because of this reason I chose this bread. Unfortunately, the instruction isn’t very clear and precise. Like “adding a little flour”, how little is little? I had to use some estimation during the process.

Like any rolls, the texture is soft when it was fresh out of the oven or warm. Hubby commented that the butter filling should be more and I couldn’t disagree on that. Next time, I will indent a bigger hole for more filling.



What I like is that it has this buttery taste like a brioche. It feels heavy but yet it was like a dense bread.

Baking at 200 degrees seems to hot as my first batch got nearly burnt. So next round, I will lower it back to 180 degree instead.

Overall, this isn’t too bad. If you are keen on a new method of bread making, perhaps you are game for this.

I am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #8 - Bread Seduction (June 2011) hosted by Jasmine from Sweetylicious

Source: Nordic Bakery
Yield : 20 buns @ approx 45g each

What you need:

250ml milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
85g castor sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cardamon powder
7g dried yeast
500g bread flour
75g unsalted butter, softened

Filling (I will increase another 20% of the filling next round)

50g unsalted butter, softened
25g castor sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten (glazing)

Method:

Heat milk in a large saucepan until lukewarm. Whisk the egg with a little warm water and then pour the egg mixture slowly into the warm milk whisking as you go along. Add sugar, salt and cardamon to the milk/egg mixture. Mix well.

Mix the yeast and flour together. Add a little of the flour mixture to the saucepan (I used approx 100g) and whisk well to incorporate lots of air into the dough. (might be too much flour as I find that there isn't air pocket that I saw - so reduce this to 50g and whisk well).

Continue to add the flour mixture first by whisk and then by wooden spoon if it get thick. (I used a balloon whisk and then a k beater to do the job).

Add butter and knead into a dough, making sure the butter are fully incorporated.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 mins or elastic and no longer sticky.

Return the dough to the bowl and cover with clean towel and leave to proof for 1 hour.

Punch down and knead it for a few mins. Divide into 20 balls approx 45 - 47g each. Shaped into a ball on a baking sheet.

Proof for another 30 mins.

Preheat oven to 200 degree (I will use 180 degrees).

Prepare the fillings of adding the sugar to the butter. Mix well.

After 30 mins, indent a hole on the bun with your thumb. Add in the fillings and glaze with the beaten eggs.

Bake for 10 mins or till golden brown.

Interested?

Last week, I was approached by Wiki about their latest project – MyCityCuisine.

The project's goal is to help travellers discover local foods from all over the world. Food is an integral part of the local culture so naturally tasting local food is high on most traveller's to-do list.

However until now there has been no single comprehensive source for this information. Thus, MyCityCuisine project aims to fill this void

As a Singaporean, I am proud of my food heritage. The quality as well as the variety it offers especially seafood is something that I always missed when I travelled.

A simple fare like fish ball noodle, I just can’t seem to find the right texture of this fish balls elsewhere or the broth of prawn noodle. The list goes on and on.

When Ms Emilie McDonough of Wiki, informed me about this project, I immediately saw us, Singaporeans, as a contributor. A chance to showcase our little island's favourite past time – food especially one that reflects our heritage.

Thus if you like what you see, I hope you can be a contributor, helping to spread this food culture worldwide to aid to this free resource and benefit many other foodies across the globe.

Contributors definitely don't need to be professional writers. They are just looking for people passionate about food to add some of our favorite local dishes to the site.

Here is a link to a page that goes a bit more in depth about what to write.

As for the photos, they can be of home-made local dishes or local dishes that you have sampled at eateries. They accept any photo that accurately reflects the dish and that is in keeping with copyright law.

To learn more, please refer to here.

So my fellow food blogger, go for it, bring out your camera or tell us your favourite. Spread our food heritage!

I need to get out

This whole week, the tension at home is unbearable. I am trying so hard to keep both my eyes and my mouth shut tight.

As I don't have a big house, it is near impossible to keep on ignoring those irritating behaviour but I psych myself that I have got to.

My body is slowly being destroyed and if I don't get out of the house, I think my sanity will be too.

D once told me that she admired how some mothers can handle their teens coolly as they are oblivious to it. No matter what nonsense the teens threw at them, they took it as if nothing happened. I wish I can have this will power as well.

Just because he couldn’t get what he wanted, he is set to break and retaliate to all house rules? Do I have to give in to all his demand, abide to his rules whereas for him, he can do whatever he likes and against all house rules that had been set since he was a baby?

Does it meant that he can get away with it because he is a teens?

I just couldn’t figure that out. I remembered when I was in my teens, rules are rules, and it can never be broken. If not, punishment is what I get.

Somehow this doesn’t work anymore. Does it mean that if this doesn’t work, we just give in? How much more I have to do this?

Whatever it is, the tunnel of light is getting dimmer and the hope that I am clinging on so desperately is diminishing slowly.



So I am getting out of the house to get some fresh air! I am meeting a classmate with a young child. Hopefully seeing them can renew my faith in parenthood and rekindle some fond memories of my son when he was a young child.

Since we are going to have tea at her place, I baked Black Sesame chiffon. Let’s hope she enjoys it. I have long wanted to try sesame chiffon as I love sesame.



Note: I might have to lower down the sugar as I find it a little too sweet.

Modified from : Okashi

What you need:

70g cake flour
5 egg yolks (60g)
20g brown sugar
20g black sesame paste
60g water
40g canola oil
15g black sesame seeds (as I wasn't sure whether I like that bite)

5 egg white
90g castor sugar
10g corn flour

Method:

Preheat oven to 160 degree. Prepare a 20cm chiffon tin.

Whisk egg yolks, brown sugar and black sesame paste. Add in water and canola oil and blend them well. Add in flour and whisk till it is thick. Fold in the black sesame seeds. Set aside.

Mix sugar and cornflour together.

Beat egg white till foamy. Add sugar mixture into two batches. Beat egg white till stiff.

Add one third of egg white to the yolk batter. Blend well.

Fold in gently the remaining egg white to batter.

Pour into mould and bake for 40min - 1 hour.

Remove and cool upside up.

Unmould when the cake is completely cool.

Cooling off the heat

Not too long ago, over the radio, I heard the phrase.

Raising teens raising blood pressure!

I couldn't agree any lesser. Though now he is much taller than me and of course stronger. His mind is still at such kiddy stage. Just before the school holiday, we were invited by the school to have a brief of what to expect for Secondary 2 onwards.

In fact, this year the kids will be streamed after their final exam. Either they go to all pure science, sub science or arts related classes (very much the same as what I went through).

The catch is that, my son is exempted from Chinese. The bad news is that he is very weak in all his core subjects. His English is only borderline pass, unbelievable, as he reads extensively; Science (could have done better if he tries but unfortunately no) and the worst is his Maths (he scored below 30%).

Without this three subjects especially Maths, he will have a hard time fitting into a class. Gauging from his interest, the only class that is suitable for him, he will have to take an external subject, outside of school as they don't have it in school to make up for the absence of Chinese.

More obstacle after as he won't be eligible for Junior college (without Chinese) and Poly (if he continues to fail his Maths).

After the briefing and my hubby’s further explanation, I thought he will understood better especially coming from his principal and dad and not from his naggy mom.

I was so disappointed that it has no impact on him. He still functions as if he is on cloud 9. It got worse with his new found attitude.

Being a mother, staying home all day, seeing this progress, I am at a lost. I can see red alert screaming at me. It is already third weeks into the school holiday. He makes no attempt to brush up on his weak subjects. Time is an essence but he failed to see it. I don’t know how else to guide him.

To make matter worst, he is addicted to his phone! Day in and day out, the phone never leaves him. It is always with him, sleeping, eating, "studying", pooing and even bathing!

Worst to come, hubby is feeling the strain when I tell him. Gosh, what am I to do? Shoulder this solo? He felt that he is losing his good guy image, I supposed.

I am losing my son and will I lose my hubby as well? Should I just focus on his well being and be totally oblivious to his behaviour? If not, the relationship will strain even further. Can a mother really have to see her son failed so that he learnt? It is such a painful decision.

After his over sea school trip, his attitude seems to magnify. Had another outburst and we, the parents, decided to back off. Guess what, with no one telling him to study, he spent the day lying on bed, listening to music, looking at You Tube on his phone (as I have confiscated the sim card, he can’t text). Snacking in his room and leaving all the wrappers around.

I am trying to control real hard not to notice these and keeping my cool. Seriously, I really don't know how else to handle this!

To channel my negative vibes, I decided to make ice cream! Yes, my hubby dearest bought me an ice cream machine. I had been eyeing on it for the longest time but somehow, never had the courage to invest as it was costly. But last week, I decided to visit a new baking supply shop and they were having a promotion!

After testing the sample ice cream, my hubby was sold! So I am a happy woman. See he doesn't need branded bags or diamonds to make his woman happy. hahaha...

Gotten some durian as and went on to make some Durian Ice Cream. Should have adjusted the sweetness as the durian was already sweet.



My helper kept praising that this is so shiok. :) and I am in total agreement. Much better than all those ice cream parlours' that people raved about. Seriously nothing beats home made.

And since I had a punnet of strawberry that was a tad too sour to eat fresh, I made into Strawberry Ice Cream.



Pretty isn't it? and I know that at least it was wholesome goodness in it with no flavouring to it.

Taking shots of ice cream is really difficult in this humid weather. Unless I have a kitchen with air con..... mmm... will be nice isn't it?



Now I am so happy that I am able to churn out gourmet ice cream and can't wait to share this with hubby when he is back.

Another kitchen experiment

These days, my girl and I lunch out twice a week for she has tuition right after school.

Months ago, we found a new (at least to me) Japanese restaurant in one of the shopping mall near my girl's tuition place. We both had ramen. One of the side order that came was this very interesting hard boiled egg. I can't recall what they called it but somehow, I found a forum member sharing this recipe.

I immediately KIV it for I know I will want to attempt it. I am not fan of hard boiled egg. I find the hard boiled egg yolk hard to swallow, it has this cakey powdery feel thus I always asked for half boiled eggs or soft boiled eggs.

Anyway, Ajitma (糖心蛋) as I found out, is a hard boiled egg with soft egg yolk. I really like it very much.

So when I saw cute small eggs available in the supermarket, I knew this will be perfect as our finger food. I bought two dozens.

Unfortunately because the eggs are smaller, I think my timing to cook the egg was also off from the instruction.

I didn’t get the orangey egg yolk but it was that far off either. I am sure if I fine tuned it a little, I will get it right.

Thanks for sharing, for now you have changed my perspective of a hard boiled egg.



Source: M4M, Ma li

Yield 15 small eggs (I used 53g)

Method:

Boil some water in a saucepan over medium fire. When it starts to simmer (little 'bubbles' appearing on side on the saucepan), gently place the eggs (preferably room temperature eggs) into the water.

**Too hot to put in, then place egg on a spoon & into the water.

Time for boiling the eggs is 6mins 30secs. (for smaller eggs, cut to 6mins)

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce for marinating the eggs.

What you need:

1/3 cup of soya sauce (Kikkoman Naturally Brewed),
3 tsp brown sugar
1 cup of water
2 tbsp bonito flakes, *(optional)
½ tbsp mirin

Boil the above to a light simmer, turn off heat. Let it cool slightly.

Prepare a container filled with iced water. Put in lots of ice cubes.

When eggs are boiled, discard the hot water, place the eggs into the iced water.

It'll be better if you put the whole container into the fridge. Soak the eggs for 20 minutes. Start peeling the eggs slowly, patiently (the egg white might be a little delicate to handle).

Use a tall container if you have, if not, glass bowl works as well. Place the cooled soya sauce mixture & eggs into the bowl. Cling wrap and let it 'sit in' for at least 4hours (if to be eaten on that day) or chill in the fridge overnight.

Welcome home

My teenage prince left home on Tuesday, during this period. The house was really peaceful and quiet. For me the greatest joy was that I don't have to nag and nag.

For the helper, I think she was also enjoying this break as she doesn't have to be constantly picking stuff after him.

As for my princess, she got all the attention that she needed from us! Awesome!

Then things start to change, a sense of emptiness, a tinge of missing out something and suddenly, it wasn't that nice feel anymore.

I guess absence makes the heart grow fonder and this saying is so true, isn't it?

Even as a married couple, sometime I take my hubby's absence as a blessing. For it allows us to have some time alone for ourselves. By the time they are back, everything seems to be back to the lovey dovey stage. Isn't it wonderful?



To welcome my son home, I made this lovely Sour cream Chocolate cake. It was initially with peanut butter frosting. Even though I actually went out to get a bottle of creamy peanut butter, I didn't have enough time or energy to make the frosting. So in the end, I just melt some chocolate, pour in the cream and did a ganache.

Despite its dense look, it is not a heavy cake. The texture is really moist and lovely. It is has this "melt in the mouth" feel.



I will definitely attempt this again and go through the whole recipe of using peanut butter frosting. I am sure it will be heavenly.

Have a good weekend folks.

Source: Sky High

What you need:

136g plain flour
210g sugar
37g cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup canola oil
128g sour cream
192g water
1 tbsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg

Method:

Prehaet the oven to 180 deg and grease and lined a 6" round pan.

Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Add in sugar and whisk till combined.

Add in oil and sour cream and whisk to blend it.

Gradually beat in the water, vinegar adn vanilla.

Next whisk in the eggs and beat until the batter is well mixed.

Pour into pan and bake for 30 mins or cooked.

Let it cool in the pan for 20 mins and invert onto wire rack to cool completely.

Frost.

Going away

Son was chosen to be part of the team that will have a friendly match in Kuala Lumpur.

DC was asking me whether I feel uneasy letting him go. Actually it was no because some years back, he already tried travelling without parents. He went on a trip to KL with his taekwondo team and then he was much younger.

Therefore, we were pretty chilled and relax about his trip. To encourage him to be independent, I didn't even bother to check how he packed his bag. It is time for him to grow up and learnt some independence.

Today, I am getting a neighbourhood tour from B as well. I only stepped into this estate once when I went to do my hair upon I’s recommendation. During the election, this area was called a slum so to be honest, I was really curious why such labelling. Guess where am I heading?

I thought it will be nice to bring her something as well as for son’s long bus trip. Knowing him, he will feel uncomfortable without something to munch along the way. Thus, I baked a big batch of Dorie's Chocolate Chip cookies.

I know my son will definitely enjoy it as it has chocolate chip but let’s hope B will do too.

Left over

I wonder how many of you out there especially those who bake, always having to throw left over baking ingredients away.

Having baking as passion, sometime can lead to wastage. Attempt to try new recipes always ended up with left over of whipping cream, sour cream, yoghurt and blah blah blah. The list is pretty endless. I am not sure how you feel, but to me, it is a heart pain throwing them away.

Then again, the mood to continue to try another recipe by using up the left over might not be there. Happy baker equate to successful bakes. For me, I always wait for the mojo to come before I bake.

Anyway, remember I made buckwheat pancakes some time back? Well since my last attempt on the buckwheat pancake. Though it was a nice experience but that was not my kids' type of pancake that they will fancy having it again. Thus I have nearly a full bag of buckwheat in the pantry, not knowing what else I can do with it that the taste will not be apparent to my kids.

Initially we wanted to go on a cycling trip but with the downpour this morning, the plan was shelved thus I ended up chatting with DP this morning, my classmate who is also a good baker. Besides making soba noodle with it, I told her that I really wonder what else I can do with it and she quickly forwarded me a link and I wasted no time in making these as tonight, I am meeting my girl's godma, E for dinner and I would love to give her something that she can bring home to.

It will be her last time to Singapore. After that, God knows when will I see her again as she is uprooting with her family from Jakarta to Toronto.

So thanks to D, I went about it almost immediately.



The texture Buckwheat Butter Cookie with chocolate chip is crunchy. It has a lovely nutty taste to it. I knew I brought some cocoa nibs but I just couldn’t locate them! (these are the moments I wish my helper will not touch my stuff). She always ended up re arranging my stuff and she can’t remember where and I can’t find it. Arrrgghh!

By adding in the chocolate chip, I am so glad that the kids didn't even realise that it was buckwheat. So kind of blessing in disguise isn’t it?

This recipe is definitely a keeper as a healthy choice cookie.

Source: Alice Medrich’s Pure Dessert

What you need:



1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
¾ cup buckwheat flour
½ lb. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
¼ tsp. salt
1/3 cup cocoa nibs
1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter with the sugar and salt until smooth and creamy but not fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the nibs and vanilla, and beat to incorporate, scraping down the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the flours all at once, and beat on low speed until just incorporated. The mixture will seem very dry and pebbly at first, but keep beating, and it will slowly moisten and darken (as the buckwheat flour is absorbed) and come together. You’ll know it’s ready when it pulls away from the side of the bowl. The dough will be very thick.

Form the dough into a long (12” or 13”) log about 2 inches in diameter. Because the dough is so thick, I find it easiest to do this by pinching off hunks of dough from the bowl and lining them up on a large sheet of plastic wrap to form a log, then massaging and pressing them together to seal. Wrap well and refrigerate at least two hours, or overnight.

If you have refrigerated the dough overnight, remove it from the refrigerator 1 to 2 hours before you want to bake the cookies. (It’s a dense, rich dough, and once it’s very cold, it takes a little while to soften enough to slice without shattering.) Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven, and preheat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.

Playing too hard?

After a weekend of playing so hard, my little pricess was like having jet lag the next day. Went to bed about 10ish on Monday night and she didn't get up till 12 noon the next day. After that she complained that she has a sore throat.

I too was getting a sore throat, perhaps because of the BBQ and many vodka drinks that I had plus my girl was kicking really badly last night. Thus I didn't really get a good night of rest. As the Chinese's belief, not enough rest gives a "heaty" body, so perhaps that explains my symptom.

The only person that seems to be functioning normal is son. His energy is superb. Sometime I wonder where those come from.

I can see that my little one was really tired but she opted to still go for her tuition. I always admire this little one's perseverance.

That night, she developed a fever. After giving her Paracetamol, she felt better and in fact, her throat was less painful.

Still she wasn't behaving like a normal kid. When kids are not well, the first tell tale sign will be their restlessness.

I quickly went to brew some cooling drinks for her. Seeing her so down, I told her that I will bake her some SPAM® buns.



We were first introduced to Spam® when we visited M in Perth. This is pretty similar to Luncheon meat but since they reintroduced it to Singapore after the ban. I felt that the quality is no longer the same and thus, ever Spam® is on offer, I will load up a few cans.



So this is the best opportunity to try out Kokken's recipe. As you know, I hardly had a chance to attend class and it is through this means that I am able to learn more. Thanks for sharing.

I was adventurous, I double the recipe as I wanted to create a non spicy and spicy versions.

Remember the Shrimp Sambal that I made, well I still has them in the fridge and I have been craving for Sambal Bun. Taking the lead by Kokken, I made myself some. Guess what, with or without sore throat, who cares.



I’d done some Cheese Bun for son who is a cheese lover. This time round, I learnt from my previous experience not to incorporate the cheese into the dough as it creates a wet texture.



The dough is rather sticky as compared to other recipes that I used. As I was afraid that I will burn the motor of my Kitchen Aid mixer by mixing at Speed 4 for 15 mins, I took no chance. Instead I went on to hand knead it. Comparing the last bread experience that I had, this is harder to manage but strive on.

The process was pretty long but guess what, the effort really paid off. I am so delighted with the texture of this bun recipe.

The texture is very soft and light. I am now totally in love with this recipe. I strongly urge you to try it if you are a bread lover.

Thanks S for sharing such a wonderful recipe.

I am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #8 - Bread Seduction (June 2011) hosted by Jasmine from Sweetylicious.

What you need:

Water Roux

50g bread flour
75g boiling water

Bread Dough

6g dry yeast
160g bread flour
40g plain flour
50g sugar
2g salt
50g water
1 egg 1
40g softened butter

Method :

In a mixing cup, mix water roux ingredients together in a bowl. Cover with cling wrap and store in fridge for 12 hours.

With a break hook, add flours, yeast, sugar, egg and water in a mixing bowl. Start mixing at slow speed for 2 mins.

Add salt and continue to knead until dough lifts from the wall of the mixing bowl.

Add water roux mixture and continue to knead for 3 mins. (Kitchen Aid speed 2)

Add butter and increasing kneading speed to speed 4 (from here, I hand knead)

Continue kneading for 15 mins on speed 4 until dough is no longer sticky and does not break when pulled to perform window test.

Place dough in a slightly oiled bowl. Cover with cling wrap and leave to proof in a warm area for 45mins.

With lightly floured hands and table top, knead (6) to form a smooth round ball. Divide dough into 12 balls - about 40g each.

Roll each small ball into a round ball and leave to proof for 10mins.

Flatten each ball and roll out to a circle with a rolling pin. Place 18g of shrimp sambal filling in the center of the dough and wrap and seal the edges of the dough to form a ball.

Leave to proof for 1 hour.

Brush with egg white and decorate (I used beaten egg)

Bake at 185ºC for 8-10mins until brown.

Remove immediately and cool on rack.

Recommendation

Note: I am still not able to leave comments on some of your blogs. I don't know why and hopefully it will mysteriously solved by itself.
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My mom used to grumble that it is difficult to cook on a daily basis, especially two meals a day. Of course, back then, I wonder what is so difficult when you are cooking daily.

It didn't occur to me that what she meant was not the cooking process but the menu planning part. Especially with a fussy eater like my dad, life definitely wasn't easy for her.

Thus, I learnt from my parents and when I have kids, I made sure they weren't picky or fussy eaters. It was really easy for me to lay this rule for my wonderful hubby is such an easy pleaser. He eats anything food that sets on the table. Believe me, for years, he ate my mom's cooking without complaints. Not that my mom is a lousy cook but she is not as heavy handed as his mom when it comes to salt and sugar. Thus for him, everything was bland.

Then he married me, of course, he needs to adjust his taste bud for now I am the one feeding him and not his mom!

Anyway, my helper is a good cook too but it can be quite uninspiring with the taste. With different helpers, I get different requirements on my grocery list. I remembered there is a period, I always need to load up oyster sauce and another one is tomato sauce and for this one, it is salt and cornflour!

Thus, if I have the time, I usually like to experiment with cooking so that at least we have some form of change.

I have heard about lotus root stuff with minced meat as a dish but I have yet to try this. Saw some in the market and decided to recreate this dish based on what I hear.



It has a nice crunch to it I think I need to eat one to be able to made a comparison. So friends, any recommendation of eating place that I can go to, to experiment this dish?