sugary secrets

Green with Envy

2009-11-02T14:30:00.009+08:00

It's my off day today everybody~ Green with envy? No monday blues or whatsoever for this mademoiselle in the kitchen:)

Green tea tarik?!

I'm trying out green tea cheesecake today since i would be slacking anyways at home.. (probably going for a jog later in the evening.. or erm.. we'll see how it goes :p) keke~ Anyways, I've always have a packet of green tea powder in my cupboard, not only for brewing tea, it can also serve as a beauty treatment! I used it to make body masks for whitening and facial toner...also for whitening:).. and though it has no scientific prove, green tea has been claimed useful for weight loss management too! Cool huh!

Unlike other baked cheesecakes, chiffon cheesecakes has to be unmoulded immediately after baking or else it'll shrink. A LOT. Which explains why i'm feeling a little jittery now while waiting for the oven to make that 'tee tee tee' cry. Have i lost my touch after staying away from my Ice KitchenAid for the longest time?? Will i be greeted with a cracked, sunken, anything but green cheesecake?~ Oh.. 6 minutes to revealing time..

*6minutes later*

ooOOOoooo~

I frantically unmoulded the cake and i think it sank a little.. but it still looks pretty!! It's now sitting in my dining room slowly cooling from the exuberant heat from the oven.. Muahaha!!! Hope it'll taste okay.. *crosses fingers*

*and many more minutes later*

Yay! the cheesecake wasn't as high as the 101 tower. But! it's yum yum! Hehe~ and now.. for my 8.5K at east coast...awwwwwwww...lazy

BACK.

2009-10-19T10:24:00.021+08:00

Let me check. The last post in my blog was in May and it's now October. OMG! i've officially neglected my blog for 5months... See how workaholic i can get? (kidding) Anyhoo, i got reminded of my blog recently and i thought i should be diligently updating SS again:)

Cream cornet bread from a mobile bread van

Oh well, I haven't been baking/cooking recently:) just a trip or 2 for the past few months. So i thought...i'll dedicate this late late post to my new found good good friends LL and Lynn.. they are my colleagues but are incontestably fun/crazy girls to be with:)

*pause* while i'm hunt-and-pecking.. a cake is being delivered for my dad's birthday. ;) how sweet of them.. Just in time for my post:) PHOTOS!

Fried rice in (lotus leaves?)

Pancake.. Huey style

And so.. back to my post.. I've just visited HCM, Vietnam recently and am still fresh from the experience. As usual, i'll blog about the food we had there. mMMm... I'm fine with what i had in HCM(i'm not sucha food-picker afterall) but i'm quite sure that's not the case for everyone. For instance, they like to use a kind of spice/herb -- i'm not sure.. in their dishes. and this spice/herb has this distinct taste that doesn't appeal to all diners.

My No.1 favourite there would be the french bread/baguette. Since vietnam has been under the french colonial in their history, vietnamese sure adore this (crispy on the outside and fluffy in the inside) grain product. YOU can find it everywhere, anytime of the day can!

their noodle dishes (not pho)

And we had their springrolls in rice paper:) it has "VIETNAM" written all over it! It's a must-try! Not that it's nice(it's fine).. it's like their trademark! just like you have to have hainanese chicken rice when you're in S'pore. And of cos WE had lotsa other foods.. foods we don't normally have.

Portugese Egg tart in KFC!

And i had freshly cooked coconut candy! It's super nice can! I'm really tempted to microwave or steam the candies i've bought.. wonder how it'll turn out to be...........

All in all , i really enjoyed my trip and am looking forward to the next one! oooohhhh~ but for now.. back to work.

Big Big POW!

Elephant Fish (we wrapped in rice paper after this pic was taken)

Day of good stuff:)

2009-05-24T15:52:00.008+08:00

*Just a short entry to sweep the dust off my nearly ignored blog.*

Baked Oreo-oreo cheesecake for a mahjong House visit to MH's crib. The cake didn't turn out the way i want it to be, but ALAS! everything was too late. Me being me, couldn't wait long enough for the cake to cool before shoving it into the fridge.. and what's the outcome?? CRACKS... those thunderbolt-like splittings on the cake just make everything all so NOT right.

Well.. enough of the cracked cheesecake. MH made green bean AND red bean soup! talk about efficiency! and both tasted oh soooooo good:) p.s. and she say it's her first time preparing the red bean soup.. (some people are just born talented <-- that i must agree) hee:) oooh.. and since i was so drawn into my 东南西北 i've completely forgotten to take pictures of the ying and yang... (maybe i'll ask her for pics :P)

Mont Blanc

2009-05-01T09:36:00.001+08:00

This month, i decided to take part in Rosie & Maria's Sweet N Simple Bakes monthly event - Vanilla Cupcakes. I 'think' if i can recall clearly, the first ever 'bakes' that i've baked was vanilla cupcakes, credits to my mum's recipe.. well, it's not any secret recipe, in fact, it's a very easy to follow list of vanilla cupcakes instructions.

As it turn out, i filled the cupcake cups too high up and the batter actually overflowed while baking, forming an elephant trunk-like structure. Nevertheless, it's still edible and i brought it over to Nani's place:) Since, at that time, we were at the period of kitchen testing age, nani suggested that we bake ANOTHER batch of cupcakes.. and yesh... we continued to bake cupcakes for the rest of the week....muahahaha.. cute..

For this 'batch of cupcakes, i made meringue for the frosting instead of butter cream.. because simply... i ran out of buttter.. heeeeee... the product, being quite plain and colourless HAS TO BE DECORATED!.

So, in my effort to add some colours to it.. i dyed some pasta letters and stuck it to my cupcakes... keke.. cheating i know... but.. pretty!

So that concludes my entry for SASB's monthly event. Do visit their blog to see other pretty cupcakes:) CIAO~

Easter frolic!

2009-04-11T21:50:00.009+08:00

ChickenpoX

Did a little cookie deco for this christian festival celebrating the ressurection of Jesus.

Bed of Roses

More importantly, it looked better in my mind than the 'real' product. Hopefully, my skills of executing my idea can improve over time. But for now, i have to make do with what i came out with... *sigh*

I *Heart* U

And last but not least....

Breaking away from recession!

(you have to see it upside down) if u still dun get it.. well.. u're not alone:) Have a very Happy Easter to all of you!

Yo-yos

2009-04-04T11:50:00.000+08:00

Tried baking some cookies over the weekend and it was a pleasant surprise that it turned out well:) BTW, I got the recipe from the "Golden book of pastries" the instructions were easy to follow and the ingredients were.. well.. easy to find in any baker's kitchen~

To me, the cookies looked kinda cute. Made me crave for Mac's burger for a minute there. Anyways, digressing a bit.. i MIGHT be going for a 10km race (not confirmed since i'm only on their waiting list) but i think i should train soon and maybe think of some pasta recipes for my carbo loading..(do they carbo load for 10k runs?)

oh well.. a few spaghetti won't kill the scale right??

Yokoso Japan!

2009-03-21T18:28:00.000+08:00

Well...Not that I'm going to Japan. ( FYI: I don't have the time, the $$ and the 'friend' to go with) The word 'Yokoso' just sprung up when i was thinking for a title for this post.

Anyways, i cooked probably my (most) favourite food whenever i visit a jap restaurant - Agedashi Tofu. It's surprisingingly simple and of high reproducibility with minimum TLC! It's great, really! And according to my mum, it's as good as those found in restaurants.. *dances with glee*

For this particular dish, all you need is Arrowroot powder - no seasoning or whatsoever needed. Only maybe the udonji/tsuyu sauce after you fry the tofu. A must try for all tofu lovers yah!!

Btw, I find no time cooking/baking since i started work.. and with so many documents to apply and collect.. my blog would probably be collecting dust for quite a while. BUT! I'll update as soon as i have the time!.. heehee~ have a good weekend!

KARI->CURRY

2009-03-09T14:13:00.000+08:00

i cooked some curry today. quite a healthy version with funghi(button mushrooms)as the main ingredient. The whole receipe is quite home-made (to a certain extent) as in i made the curry paste myself, and formed my own formula of spices to get my 'curry powder'.

It's quite easy. It's basically adding all your ingredients.. blend it to make ur curry paste. The rest... all up to your imagination. For my case, i sweat the the mushrooms abit, add the rest of the ingredients and finally my curry paste.. and Viola~ savoury mushroom curry (with roti prata as the side).

Come to think of it, it's great that i have the time to cook/bake anytime, anyday and anywhere i like NOW. But i guess my way of idling my time for the past 9months would probably take a new turn coming this 16th. I have plans.. but i'm not sure if i can stick to it. I have dreams.. but i'm not sure if i can make it true. I have flour.. but i'm not sure if i have the time and mood to bake. I have milk in my fridge, and it's expired.. bleah~

Bread+Potatoes

2009-02-28T14:20:00.002+08:00

I am joining this bread baking event hosted by Lien where i am supposed to bake bread with potatoes in the recipe. And since i'm so into TANG ZHONG recently, of cos i'll use this time and tide to test the technique again..

And so! i have to think of a recipe that is bread with potatoes in them (and think of a name for it.) The first part was easy but name? I ran out of creative nomenclatures so why not something that's straight to the point right? HA! BREAD+POTATOES

My version of THE Potatobread, like the name suggests, is not as creative and may even be rather unadorned. The skeleton of my creation is mashed potatoes wrap in bread dough. Though the simplicity, i'm really beginning to like the product of using the tang zhong technique! my bread always comes out soft and yeast-taste-free. 99.99% fool proof guaranteed?

i've added parmesan cheese to my mashed up potato instead of adding salt to give it more taste. and the outcome? to me, NOT BAD AT ALL! haha~

so much on bread baking.. in fact, after browsing my past blog entries, i think i've only been 1.baking and 2.baking.. maybe it's time to use the stove again:)

Ingredients

Bread dough

95g bread flour

45g wheat flour

3g yeast

3g salt

15g castor sugar

6g milk powder

1 egg

30g milk

43g tang zhong

23g unsalted butter

Mashed Potatoes

250g potatoes

50g butter

1tbsp chopped coriander

black pepper

3tbsp parmesan

Method

Bread dough

1. Add all ingredients except butter and knead until dough consistency

2. Add butter and knead until membrane stage.

3. Put dough in a plastic bag with a little oilive oil and let proof for ~40mins

4. After first stage proofing, remove dough, knead for a couple of times, cut dough into portions and let proof for another 40mins

Mashed Potatoes
1. Steam potatoes until soft and mash the cooked potatoes

2. Add the butter and continue until will mixed

3. Add the rest of the ingredients and MIX!

Wrap mashed potatoes in flattened dough and shape well. cut a cross on the top of the bun and add parmesan cheese. egg wash and put in oven(lower rack) at 180 C for 15mins:)

Public Display of Affection

2009-02-16T00:46:00.012+08:00

It's our third year into the relationship, and yes, our anniversary is just 2 days after V-day. In fact I have friends telling me that it's very smart of me (in a way)

So! After Eric's dinner - prepared with love. We're are going to somewhere posh (or i deem likely) to have our 3rd year anniversary dinner--Le Petit Salut located at Dempsey. I'm so looking forward to it:) I'm goin to get loaded with expensive calories! YaY!

But as much as the title is concerned, i'm not much of the person who parades PDA. I'm too shy to flaunt my feelings on the world-wide-web.. soooo...

a little something i've prepared..

Happy Anniversary~

Love Is In the Air

2009-02-14T03:18:00.015+08:00

Love is in the air~~ ooo~~ Love is in the air~~ YYYYYY

V-day! The day when the significant other and myself decide not to eat out and let wily restaurateurs break into our purses.. keke~ He's goin to cook! UCOOK! FYI for the third year in a row. I can still remember the very first time he cooked for moi.

~He decided to prepare steak~

E: *looking excited* MN! How would you like your steak?

Me: Like as if i say i want 'medium' u'll give me 'medium' like that..

E: HEY! Don't look down on me K!

Me: Okay then... I'll have 'medium well'..

E: OKIE!

~After 10 minutes~

Me:*trying to cut thru a very well-well-done steak* \(m--)m

I'm NOT complaining! really. In fact i'm glad that he's the way he is because he will on no grounds (ever) to criticise MY cooking..hehe

OOO! and i made chocolate truffles for V-Day btw. Earl grey and Green tea. Just so happen to find the 2 Teas in the kitchen.. why not right:) I'm not a big fan of Earl grey.. but green tea?! not bad:) sounds healthier too~ ( i don't know why it sounds healthier to me. I'm not making sense anyway)

Anyways. Happy V-day to all! may all couples and couple-to-bes have a wonderful wonderful Valentines DAY!

ERT

V-day msg: dear xx, when are you goin to make it official with xxx?!?! (Ignore msg if you're not xx)

UPDATE! : Dinner prepared by Eric

What's in your Bread Basket?

2009-02-09T16:48:00.011+08:00

baseball in the form of banana bread

I've been experimenting with breads recently.. i still can't capture the "essence" of proofing.. so i tried recipes without yeast. Then again, things just don't happen the way i want it to be. One of the recipes i tried was using yogurt, cream and baking soda as the 'fluffing' agent. But the bread turned out hard and still HARD! (it can double as a baseball and make a hole in the wall if i want to..) well.. but i need to confess, the recipe states that if the bread is too hard add more cream/milk, but i find it really beyond impossible to shape the dough after adding all the liquid ingredients. And so i threw the recipe out of the window

Green Tea Bread

BUT! *with grin* i've found a method of bread baking called 65˚C 汤种-tāng zhŏng-. It's fantastic! the bread turned out fluffy, it's almost fool proof and most importantly there's no yeasty taste. I Y it!

Green Tea Bread-Tearing

Anyways, with the 汤种 i baked cinnamon roll and green tea bread.. muahaha~ and i was so very satisfied with the results.. SIMPLY EXCELLENT! I'm goin to bake more breads in the near future.. simply because i still need to fine (/major) tune my technique of bread baking..

Scurries to my 面包宝典 (Book of 'BREAD' War)

Chinese New Year Treats

2009-01-22T23:27:00.009+08:00

It's Chinese New Year! to meng, CNY is the time where you have free flow of gassy drinks, tons of pineapple tarts and when red is the new black. No more LBD.. more of RO.. (Red Overalls). OH! and other than the red packets (aka ang bao) there's also the CNY treats! I've made a few chocolate cookies for this festive season.

The first is the choc cookie with dark choc spread, sprinkled with hundreds and thousands.. so sweet, so cute.. (targeting the kids)

Followed by marshmallow and raspberry jam sandwiched between choc cookies and finally dipped in flowy creamy choc. sinful sinful.. but nothing sould be healthy on CNY.. keke..

Lastly choc mud cake sandwiched again between choc cookies. it's my fav btw, it's very chocolatey but not as heavy.

It's been a long day with all the chocolate melting and shopping with Christine. I need a rest.. but I'm goin to make more CNY treats soon and this time it'll be choc-free:)

p/s. I've just found out that the pair of heels i got from Zara is both of the same side (right foot). OH NO! They clearly reminded me that there'll be no exchange/refund watsoever. I hope they will let me change one shoe :(

10 things to nom in Korea

2009-01-11T10:42:00.003+08:00

It's the "10 things" that i've put together after each trip again. This time Seoul, Korea " Soul of Asia". It's a wonderful experience especially travelling with a bunch of great friends:) *winks to Christine* and by a happy chance, they are all unshrinking eaters:) I'm so glad i got to try both popular local dishes and cringe-inducing "delicacies". Well, i'm definitely starting to miss the weather (and food) in Korea BUT! you can't have too many of the good things right.. I'm no greedy person, maybe another trip back after 10 years? haha...

1) Wet BBQ

Anyways, we had lotsa BBQ food in Korea (mostly pork) and when i say "lotsa" i actually mean many DIFFERENT types of BBQ. There's the wet BBQ (pork) where you heat the meat a little and add water too it.. and chomp! (wrapped in vege AND KIMCHI).. it's delicious! i really like their bean paste btw. Did i mention that it's FREE flow?

2) Ginseng Chicken Soup

Korean ginseng aka Gao li Ginseng/Tai Ji Ginseng is probably the most applaud tonic known to men, Chinese especially. But don't be too happy when you gulp down your ginseng soup. It's cooked with 2 year old ginseng that has been cast out in their first inspection. Well, not that they have no nutritious value at all, there's still the "chicken" part in the ginseng CHICKEN soup. The chicken is stuffed with red dates, glutinous rice and other tonics. In all it's really really a very self-indulgent dish:) i love this too btw.

3) Abalone Porridge

MMmmmmm... tasty tasty tasty. Sorry to the Cantonese out there. I used to think that Cantonese (and my mum's) have the best porridge until I dipped my tongue into this bowl of gold! so good, so nice and sounds soooo expensive. It's mmmmmmm.. p/s. Mama i'll still enjoy your homecooked porridge.. don't be mad:)

4) Spicy Rice cake and KIMCHI dumplings

Must try! cos your in SPARKLING KOREA! It's like going Japan to have sashimi or pizza in Italy. Chek yong didn't enjot it a bit though.. he was complaining that he was fooled by it's crabmeat appearance and only to find out later that it's a piece of rice "thing".

5) SILK WORMS!

Credits to Eric for buying this cup of innocent looking worms. 10worms=1egg without the cholesterol. Nutritious and yulks.. Some statistics: Chek Yong - 1 worm, Christine - 1 worm (i forced her to eat it), Me - 2 worms, Eric - about 5 worms, Dustbin - the rest.

6) Bibimbap/Stone Rice with seafood pancake and raspberry wine

Another healthy dish. Basically it's a mixture of side dishes and rice mixed with bean paste. Nice, filling and satisfying. We had a few variations, one in a metal bowl, one in a ceramic bowl and last in a stone bowl... come to think of it, we have quite a big appetite, threatening to become a pit:) p/s. the raspberry wine is a must try. It's the wine that is being served to Mr Hu Jing Tao in APEC 200X.

7) Black Bean Paste Noodles aka Ja Jiang Mian

This is another commonly ordered local dish in Korean Dramas. The actress would usually have a really really big serving and would slurp the noodles with utmost satisfaction. The next scene? Black bean paste all over her mouth. Cute! Since Chris and mee had some form of etiquette training, we kept the sauce within the premises of our oral cavity. HA! Nevertheless another delicious dish which is nothing like the instant ja jiag mian you find in supermarkets okay.

8) Seafood pot

I think this is Chek's favourite. He/We actually counted the number of clams.. a whopping 43 clams can! if i remembered correctly, it's about 5500 won.. which is around S$6.50. SO WORTH IT! Btw we had this with the Ja jiang mian at aroung 11pm/12am? We're not hungry to start with but we still finished everything, every noodle, every clam.

9) BBQ beef with soju

Probably the only regret. This is not the BBQ beef we were expecting. We were hunting for DRY Bbq beef, but with all the protest over US vs Korean beef, it's quite difficult to find what we're looking for. However, we still had beef, only it's the wet version (very wet actually, i think it's more like a steamboat). The soju? yulks.. i'm never gonna have another sip of that liquid. It made me more thankful that coca cola was invented.

10) KIMCHI!

AH! of cos KIMCHI. What's a Korea trip without KIMCHI. KIMCHI, which was voted one of the top 5 health foods, has never dropped out of sight from our dining tables. It's good that i can take spicy foods and don't mind KIMCHI at all. Infact i still continue to see KIMCHI on my dining table even when i'm in Singapore NOW. There's many variations to KIMCHI btw, there's the more common cabbage ones, radish, beansprouts, black bean and even seafood. You can make KIMCHI dumplings, KIMCHI soup (which i had at the airport) and KIMCHI cake. Surprise? Don't. Koreans try to fully utilize their KIMCHI as much as possible. WHo knows you might see KIMCHI latte someday too:)

Digressing. I think this turned out to be quite a long post.

Well there's more than 10 foods to try seriously.. there's still the mushroom pot and chicken steamboat blah blah blah.. and many many more.. Well in short, Eat all you can! because you would be surprise that you didn't gain that much weight as what you've expected. The foods are really pleasing to the taste buds with reduced calories.

Last Dinner of 2008

2008-12-29T11:30:00.000+08:00

With friends that is...

Continuing with the busy busy month of December, I'm ending this month or this YEAR with a post-Christmas pre-New Year dinner at my place yesterday. I thought i could manage to finish preparing everything by 2pm BUT, apparently reality doesn't go as planned. One thing is the incredible huge loads of ingredients to prepare. You thought you've chopped up everything you need and when you turn around, you see a yellow post-it note that says you still have this much to slice and cube! OMG.. but on the brighter side, i was done preparing when the guests arrived.

I would say, the food turned out the way it's suppose to be on paper:) , but i think i should improve on the portion (of the food). REALLY. sorry guys for the uber diet-friendly meal:) keke~

And well, as much as i want to share pictures (well..maybe some:)) from the dinner and our gossips and how i chopped away my day with a knife, i really have to pack for my trip tonight.. HAHA! I.AM.SO.EXCITED.

안녕!

Christmas Buttons

2008-12-22T00:20:00.017+08:00

BUSY. One simple world and yet fully describes my last month of 2008. There's the canceling of my student pass (so i'm officially not a student now), Baby shower, Eric and other December babies' birthdays and not to mention the number of pre-Christmas 'Christmas parties' which also resulted in many failed diet attempts. It's pleasant with all the warm fuzzy feeling of togetherness.. but well.. it's one hectic month. I was planning ( and let me mention again "PLANNING") to make Christmas cookies, you know the ones that are decorated with colourful royal icing, shape with Christmas themed cookie cutters and whacked with edible glitters.. but well, there's JUST. NO. TIME.

Anyways, in my effort to at least update my blog a little (the choco cake had gotten it's fair share of attention) I've made cookies. *See the Title?* btw, it's just normal cookies shaped into buttons of multiple colours (got the idea from women's weekly) and since it's made in the Christmas month, no harm adding 'Christmas' to the title right.

So, to everyone reading this message! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! WOOHoo~

p/s. to all guests coming to my place on 28th, i'm still working on the menu...it's unbelievably nerve-racking can~

Chocolate Cake SHOWDOWN!

2008-11-28T23:03:00.003+08:00

VOTE FOR ME!!

It is the time of the year where tinsel tinged malls have erected their giant fir trees that have been put in mothballs for the past 12months and restaurants planning for dinner 'promotions' that will filch away couples' purses. It is the time where colour combinations of red, green and white IS THE à la mode. Yes. With just a little more than a month, the world will be celebrating Christmas!

Other than putting up pictures of our famous Saint Nicholas, chocolate cakes would be the definite must buy/bake/gorge during christmas. Though they usually loom in the form of log cakes, they are nevertheless made of chocolates. Btw, the best chocolate cake ever would be my first chocolate cupcake, baked by my mum, eons years ago. That was probably also the cause of my first toothache and puberty weight gain. Then again Mcdonalds' might still be the culprit (for the weight part)

Anyhow, what i want to blog about is that.. I partook in a chocolate cake bake off. I'm supposed to bake>decorate>photograph>blog>send in, easy as that. Since it's my first challenge, I really want to do a good (bake), dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's!

My Gustatory cells nearly died of happiness~

I'm not a great fan of buttercream, so i melted chocolates with (lite) sour cream instead for the filling, it's not as heavy and can pretty well used to frost the cake. For the deco I piped chocolate ganache over the cake to give a more desirable look. And for the sponge i've added ovalette to give it a smoother and softer texture.

I was actually introduced to Myers Rum by my baking tutor. i heard that the CEO of bakerzin Daniel Tay is also a great fan of that rum. It really satisfied my olfactory system, i would definitely recommend this to every baker.

Even in the pantheon of cocao, this is one helluva chocolate intense cake. From the sponge, filling to the fudge, i admit, it's quite a choco rich bake. All chocoholics would just find it all soooo lovely.

p/s. The winner gets a box of chocolate flown all the way from the other side of the hemisphere!

p/p/s. i'm not sure if it's goin to be a voting event. But if there is, VOTE FOR ME!! if you wanna share the chocs with me!:)

Ingredients

Sponge cake
4 eggs

105g caster sugar

110g flour

20g unsweetened cocoa powder

60g melted butter

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ovalette

1 tsp vanilla essence

45g low fat milk

Rum

Chocolate Frosting

160g 60% (bittersweet) chocolate chopped

160g milk/semi-sweet chocolate chopped

1 1/2cup lite sour cream

Chocolate ganache

80g semi-sweet chocolate chopped

100g heavy cream

Method

Chocolate sponge cake

1. Beat the eggs and milk at low speed.

2. Add the dry ingredients and ovalette, and continue beating at low speed for 1 min then swith to high speed and beat for 6 minutes

3. Add vanilla essence and melted butter to mixture and beat at medium speed until well mixed

Chocolate Frosting

1.Melt chocolate in a double boiler/heatproof bowl over barely simmering water.

2. Beat in the sour cream until well mixed.

Layer cakes to about 1cm (my preference) divide frosting accordding to the number of layers you are planning to set. e.g 3 layers, divide frosting into 4 portions. 4 layers>5 portions so on and so forth.

Dot a little rum on each songe cake layer before spreading the frosting. Use remaining to frost top and sides of the cake.

Chocolate ganache

1. Heat heavy cream to boil.

2. pour heated cream over chocolate and mix until homogeneous.

3. Let it cool a little, and pour over cake. (You can choose to cover the whole cake with the ganache. But be warned, it's goin to be very rich!)

4. Chill for about 15mins.

5. ready for devour

Stawberry Cheesecake

2008-11-25T12:12:00.000+08:00

This is going to be the first blog after my little baby niece had come into the world.. OMG!} I'm all antsy over this little cherub's arrival, yet cautious. Did i mention that i don't dare to carry her? one simple reason > the newcomer looks so soft and fragile.. the job of cradling her and rocking her back and forth, from side to side will be left for my mum, sister-in-law and the confinement lady.

There's nothing much i can do actually.. i have no knowledge of what and what not to eat for the new mother in our family (Though I've attempted to get hold of the "Confinement for Dummies" book) Frankly speaking, i have a feeling that my status in the whole tribe seems to have dropped by a few ranks.. BUT! i'm not complaining.. me being out of everyone's way is probably a way of helping everyone out. I just can't wait for the baby to call me GuGu-auntie in chinese!(sounds old) but who cares!(actually i do..) OOOooo! Identity crisis! i'm no longer the youngest in the H!

Anyways, i thought of updating my blog since i've neglected it for quite a bit. Something simple that needs minimum TLC, yet pleasing to the eyes.. all thanks to my silicone mold (i should have gotten the rose pattern one too!) I tried to make this a little healthier by bringing all ingredients as low fat as possible, but since nobody in the family is in the mood to try out my little creation other than smooching the baby, i think the low fat part would only.. ultimately benefit MYSELF:)

Btw, my mum made pumpkin Kueh Lapis.. OoOoOoO i can imagine the taste of coconut milk melting in my mouth..

Chocolate Lemon Roulade

2008-11-12T18:14:00.032+08:00

Last month I had a bottle of lemon peel mailed to me, i nimbly cached it in my cupboard and completely forgot about it.... It was until yesterday, in my attempt to clear my cupboard that i saw that cute bottle sitting in a corner. The bottle were dusted off and ready for use - Lemon Cake. To be exact, lemon sponge cake layers. I did a little twist for the layering, instead of the 'one above another method' I rolled the lemon sponge cake in a roulade fashion sandwiched in 2 layers of chocolate sponge. Nothing special with this cake accept for the spongeeesnesss.

Btw, the lemon peels originated from France ( in case the words on the picture were too faint) but i bought it from hong kong. This particular store in Tuen Mun sells all kinds of bakery products! I left it with my sis and she mailed it to me last month. It's really unlike those mushy/sticky peels you find at the supermart and btw, you'll only be able to find fruit peels off the shelves (in Singapore) and they are all cut up and mushy. I think the only place that you can find quality peels are from baking stores.. or.. make it yourself.. which might give you a migraine for the long cooking and threaten to burst your gas meter.

I used chocolate ganache for the lemon sponge layers and butter cream between the sweet pastry, chocolate sponge and lemon roulade to 'stick' them together. And lastly, frosted the cake with the leftover buttercream:). One side note, marmalade can be used as a substitute for the buttercream to 'stick' the layers!

It'll take sometime to do the roulade effect but the product is just SO worth it.. For the report, it took me 4 hours to put together the cake.

cut cut~

When rolling the cake, the idea of 'butterfly effect' came to me.. so i scurried to the fridge, found some strawberries, and tried to knife out a butterfly... keke~

Ingredients

Lemon Sponge cake

4 eggs

105g caster sugar

110g flour

10g milk powder

60g melted butter

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ovalette

1 tsp vanilla essence

50g lemon juice

1tbsp lemon peel cut into small pieces

Chocolate Sponge cake
2 eggs
50g caster sugar
55g flour
10g unsweetened cocoa powder
30g melted butter
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ovalette
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
25g low fat milk

Chocolate ganache
80g semi-sweet chocolate chopped
75g heavy cream

Sweet Pastry
100g Butter

50g Icing sugar

1/2 Egg

220g Flour

Butter Cream

50g Water

1oog Sugar

1 tsp Lemon juice

500g butter

Method

Chocolate and lemon sponge cake
1. Beat the eggs and liquids at low speed.
2. Add the dry ingredients and ovalette, and continue beating at low speed for 1 min then swith to high speed and beat for 6 minutes
3. Add vanilla essence and melted butter to mixture and beat at medium speed until well mixed
4. Bake in a 9' cake tin for 35-40mins at 170 degrees celsius

Chocolate ganache
1. Heat heavy cream to boil.
2. pour heated cream over chocolate and mix until homogeneous.
3. Let it cool a little, and spread over lemon sponge strips.

Sweet Pastry

1. Cream the butter and and icing sugar.

2. Add the egg and continue to cream until light.

3. Add in the flour in a few batches and mix until a dough is formed

4. Bake for 10-13 mins at 190 degrees celsius

Butter Cream

1. Combine water, sugar and lemonjuice and bring it to boil. Set aside to cool.

2. Beat butter until light. Then add the liquid mixture and continue beating until light and fluffy.

Layer cake: sweet pastry>buttercream(thin layer)/marmalade>chocolate sponge>buttercream(thin layer)/marmalade>lemon roulade>buttercream(thin layer)/marmalade>chocolate sponge>frost>deco

Time Machine

2008-11-08T14:06:00.011+08:00

Felt a sudden nostalgia for the warm hometown of mine this morning.. Ever had something when you're young and you can't seem to find them now? well i have.. A LOT. Where i came from, according to many Singaporeans, can be considered a kampong.. and there are just so many foods that i want to taste again but can never find them in Singapore! Like the agar agar made by the auntie next door or buy breads from mobile vendors that tour the neighbourhood in the evening. I craved for my mum's (and friends') lunchboxes that were prepared for me on schooldays. Though they are not fancily decorated or have gazillion kinds of eats squeezed into one metal box, i still miss them..

Malt sugar cracker sandwich

I guess it's the simplicity and the blissfulness that i was hankering for. Y

Halo! Halloween!

2008-10-28T16:05:00.015+08:00

*slurp*

Halloween is coming and i'm preparing for it! i still don't understand why is pumpkin such a big deal during halloween.. maybe i should wiki to find out why but do u know that they are selling pumpkins the size of your fist at *cha-ching* $5.40 at cold storage?! MADNESS!. Anyways, while saving my $5.40 i've spent $5 or less on 1kg+ of pumpkins(un-cute kind) for this halloween.. and here I present Mengni's PUMPKIN Feast! Actually maybe not a feast because there's only 3 diff edibles.

First in line is my famous (or i suppose it's famous cos everyone likes it) pumpkin soup. this recipe can be used interchangeably with the carrot soup. And i say it's my famed soup because many many many people had asked me for my recipe... HEE:) no one except Mr pumpkin head will have any problems with this zuppe.. (well there's one but i chooose not to remember his name. Hee:) Anyways, like always, it's an easy recipe = cook everything blend everything.. only this time instead of the traditional juice blender that sits solidly on the working counter, i had a hand held blender from Braun. NEW TOY! it's much less hassle for the reason that i dun need to transfer this to that and back from that to this.. i just immerse the blender>push button and VAa LAa~ warm hearty pumpkin soup for Halloween:)

I couldn't resist adding the speech bubble. I was clearing my bowl and suddenly i heard a squeak...

Btw, i dun celebrate Halloween. In fact there's no one friend that i remember celebrates Halloween. I guess it's just not in our culture:) But here at my apartment, the Caucasians and Indians are really onz man.. the kids would wrap themselves with rolls of Kleenexes (surprisingly they didn't suffocate:0 wow!)

In any event, i thought of baking a pumpkin pie but of cos i didn't in the end.. instead.. *drum rolls* brown sugar pumpkin mochi! heehee:) mochis are always fun to make, it doesn't take the whole day, it's pleasing to our taste buds and easy on out teeth! definitely the food to have for people with dentures.. hee:) *chomp chomp*

Btw, the mochis refuse to stay round... damn..

And the last would be the anti-ageing pumpkin soya bean milk/juice <- identity crisis.. Pumpkin has huge amounts of beta-carotene, Vitamin C and Vitamin E that can combat free radicals and other anti-oxidants. Soybeans are considered by many, to be a source of complete protein. Btw, a complete protein is defined as one that contains significant amounts of all the essential amino acids that must be provided to the human body because of the body's inability to synthesize them.(all thanks to wiki). So drink more, and you'll hold back your young cells. and chase away those wrinkles keke~ Happy Halloween!~

Sausage Flowerpod

2008-10-14T19:21:00.008+08:00

Flowerpod- got the idea while chating with chris. Since i'm so free aka unemployed STILL, and have just finished watching golden bride (yes i have access to its vcds), i guess it's back to my blog:) *Points to the bread beside moi* i think it's a pretty creation.. and easy too.. maybe i can sub the sausages for fruits or chocs!

Anyway, just use any bread dough recipe for the bread(duh!) Mine isn't fixed, as in i add water slowly until it's of the consistency that i like. Some days i need more and some maybe just half a cup, i'm quite sure it's because of the weather and the 'age' of the flour that i'm using. Flour that has been opened and placed on the shelf for a long time will absorb moisture and consequently, less water is needed:)

I'm not really the expert when it comes to proofing/fermenting the dough. Firstly, i'm not a great fan of the yeasty taste, so it's pretty hard for me to add the "right" amount of dried yeast. I know that the longer you proof, the more it'll taste yeasty. So taking Singapore's hot and humid weather into consideration, i don't proof for more than 20mins.:) Therewithal, we can use yeast inhibitors like salt and sugar. As a scientist, -EXPLAINS- yeast inhibition is due to the high osmotic gradient caused by high sugar and salt concentration surrounding the yeast cells. That's why low sugar breads like the french can expand frenzily.

More recently, i've found out that vanilla essense can mask the yeasty taste! Try it! it works! Btw, after many attempts to remind myself to add the essence including tying a ribbon on my index finger, i did drip that BIG ingredient in. BUT i forgot to eggwash my bread.. DAMN! I KNOW! I'm kicking myself now..

Anyways, though my bread is not shiny or eye-blinding, it's delicious! no yeast taste! YEAH!

花好月圆

2008-09-14T16:26:00.010+08:00

Happy Moon Gazing Festival!

I met Chris a few days ago and we were gossiping and stuff. I forgot how we got to the mooncake topic.. but here is how it goes..

Chris: Why don't you bake your own mooncake?

Me: Huh! soooo ma fan.. can buy mah.. furthermore i dun have the "tok tok" mold, how to bake?

Chirs: Go and buy lah!

Me: i dunno where to buy lor..

Chris: i think ^%$&%$ sells those "tok tok" molds

Me: eehh.. see first lah..

As expected, i didn't buy any mooncake molds.. First reason: it's bulky and i don't have any space for it. Second being plain laziness.. my lazy worms are multiplying like crazy.. but as you have already expected (if not why would i be blogging right?), me being me, i tried baking mooncakes, not the traditional ones, certainly not the snowskin and with no one crumb or trace of lotus seed paste. drumrolls please....

Meng ni's half yolk-yam paste-moonpuff.

Let me describe how i came up with the name.... drum rolls again please....

Half yolk: salted egg yolks are high in cholesterol and thus doesn't make it a very healthy makanan... and if i were to put a whole yolk in my moonpuff, it will no longer be the cute bite size festive food.. it'll be a cholesterol overloaded, humongous diet wrecker.

Yam paste: cold storage has ran out of lotus seed paste. but i guess it's a blessing in disguise, my home made yam paste is fat-free (well, not really but definitely healthier) and i can control the sweetness!

Moonpuff: i dun have the "tok tok" mold, so puff would be my answer.

Yeah! and so the half yolk-yam paste-moonpuff was born:) I think it's passable as a first attempt. Not so sweet, halal and diet friendly:) i should put a price tag to it man...

p/s. it's halal because instead of lard, i used vege shortening

p/p/s. i suggest buying salted eggs from the wet market, they seem to have a better (bright orange) colour than the ones u find in supermarkets. Mine was from the supermarkets, so some of them actually turned out yellow.. eeee.. no QC

Say "Apple Cheese"!

2008-08-28T09:17:00.006+08:00

Another bake before i leave for Bali. This is quite a peculiar recipe to me at first- Apple Cheese Pie. As much as i wanted to try to bake that cheesy pie, I was worried that instead of a yummy old cottage style, it would turn out to be a RUINED apple pie. So when in doubt, search Wiki! Yes, i totally dig that website, it brings forth everything you need to know! who needs an encyclopedia? But a friend of mine, i forgot who, told me that the website has some false information regarding I-can't-remember. Hee:)

Anyways, a click on Wikipedia, shows that cheesy pie is actually a very very old recipe! And Apple Cheese Pie a has a proper name-Yorkshire Apple Pie (just Like apple pie with ice-cream is called apple pie ala mode.) Cool! So even if i didn't like the weird cheese with apple combination, i know, somewhere in the world, the English, would like those pies! Heehee! so excited (btw, i'm blogging while my pie is burning in the oven. good use of waiting time i would say)

Digressing. I tried baking chiffon cake yesterday. But it didn't turn out the way i expected.. it's short and stout. and it's so densed that i thought i'm eating sponge cake rather than chiffon.. Any tips?! Maybe i should try again when i'm back. NEVER SAY DIE!

And finally, (drumrolls please..)

The pie turns out quite flavourful. It certainly doesn't taste like the traditional apple pie.. it's good! This recipe is worth a try. It's tedious and simple at the same time.. it requires a couple of bakes(blind-baking, bake with filling, final crust bake) that's the tedious part. Other than that, the ingredients are easy to find and prepare! just make the dough and lay the flan a day before and everything will be done in an hour the next day. :) Bali! Saya akan datang!

Heartiest of Appetites-Minestrone

2008-08-21T15:32:00.001+08:00

Invasion of the veges!

Minestrone was traditionally known to be a very humble dish -- a dish for the poor in medieval ITALY. It fills the stomach and the ingredients could be anything from fresh legumes of the season to leftovers in your fridge. That's why there's no such a thing as a fixed minestrone recipe. It's simply a rojak of vege, pastas and sometimes meat cooked together in a tomato based liquid. While some likes their minestrone brothy and some prefers a heavier consistency. I like my minestrone somewhere in between the two.

I cut all this, Because my maid was hiding somewhere and i couldn't find her! arghhh~

Meat-based broth such as chicken/beef stock can be used to prepare Minestrone zuppe. But i'm using vege stock (or rather vege stock cubes) for this receipe. And these are not any stock cubes that u can find in any mamashops/supermarkets... It was flown all the way from FRANCE OKAY!(or i assume, since it has french written all over it) hehe:) Lovely Huifang got it for me from Europe! Although she went to Germany first, i theorize it's from France lah huh.. makes no sense to sell something in french in Germany when they don't speak or understands french right...or do they?

Anyways.. it's none of my business..

On the right: vege stock cubes Hf got me. On the left: smart tomato paste packaging from cold storage.

Like I've mentioned earlier, the box has french written all over it. I took it out when i reached home after blowing a goodbye kiss to Huifang. I was studying the box for a whole minute and then.... I looked down on it with an air of smug self-satisfaction. Muhahaha! I understand 90% of those font size 10 words! Muahaha~ a year of french studying followed by 3 years of rusting hasn't left me to be a french illiterate! I'm ecstatic!

It's no way i'm going to let it sit in my cupboard since it made me flushed with excitement! I'm goin cook it! Or snack on it if i could. keke.. Thanks Huifang! You've made Mengni a very happy girl! Btw, I found this box of tomato paste packed in sachets of about 50g/2tbsp each.. so cool lor.. i won't have to worry about wasting ingredients this way.

Ingredients

80g macaroni
1tbsp olive oil
1 leek, cubed
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 carrot, cubed
2 potatoes, cubed
1 courgette, cubed
2 celery stalks, cubed
100g green beans, cut into short lengths
400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 litres vegetable stock
2 tablespoons tomato paste
400g tin cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
shaved Parmesan cheese, to serve

Method

1. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, add macaroni and cook for 10-12 minutes, or until tender. Drain. Sink into ice water for a few seconds. Drain again.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large heavy-based saucepan, add the leek and garlic and cook over medium heat ofr 3-4 minutes.
3. Add the carrot, potato, courgette, celery, green beans, tomato, stock and tomato paste. Bring to boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.
4.Stir in the cooked pasta and cannellini beans and heat through. Spoon into warmed serving bowls and garnish with parsley and shaved Parmesan.

Deb's Cookhouse ♨

2008-08-12T12:27:00.032+08:00

♨ Deborah(newly known as bobo) texts to invite all of us to her ۩ cos she's cooking!!!

♨10/08/2008: All of us charged to bobo's cookhouse...heehee...

Guess who is driving us there *why so serious?*

i've always remembered deb's house to be one of the corner houses.. so right after i came out of the lift, i turned, dashed all the way to the end while crying out "YOKE! YOKE! BOBO!" at the same time... There i see a maid innocently sweeping the floor, while i continue to call out for bobo and peiyoke. I think the maid was terrified lah, and roy/eric mentioned that that may not be the right house because there's no shoes outside.. before i could calm down and asked if that was deb's house, I was greeted by this half naked man.. SAI LAH! definitely not deb's house! i wanted to just disappear, but since i'm not Hancock.. i couldn't.. i could only apologize and hope that i will never again see those nipples.. damn! If only peiyoke told me the floor level AND to turn to the other direction.. i wouldn't be so paiseh liao.. PEIYOKE! ALL YOUR FAULT!

anyways.. back to deb's food.. it's very nice lor.. but jeannie and peiyoke say i'm very fake... sai! what fake? fake is not in my dictionary! i put the food in my mouth, taste, chew liao then say nice what.. not like those makan shows.. food only stayed in their mouth for 0.00001s then they say "it's soooooo goooood!" <-- that is fake lor.. so... deborah.. with my deepest and beguiling tone ♪♫ your cooking is first-class! mine is second-lower.. i had NUS to print it on a piece of paper and the dean to sign it..

pictures of deb's table.. my motto is " zoom in! the food will look nice that way"

hehehe.. i liked it a lot.. roy says he'll be next.. and maybe i'll do a house warming soon too.. but let's pray hard that i get a job first.. ٭prays٭

Mediterranean Fish Soup

2008-08-08T00:14:00.007+08:00

As requested by dear eric, this entry will be on SOUP! *He thinks he's in a restaurant and started ordering different kinds of soups* <-- SIAO! so we settled with Mediterranean fish soup (MFS) first. No butter/cream/milk was used in MFS, so i guess it's kinda healthy. Went to check online and yes.. a regular serving is less that 300kcal~ can act as a meal for me since i'm on a serious diet.

IMPT! I just found out that Ceasar salad is not as "low fat" as i think. Besides, i splash lots of dressing to my salads because it's impossible for me to choke down dry mélange... so, i'll order less of ceasar now~

Back to my soup, it's mediterranean.. duh!, so definitely not something my dad will like (he likes local stuff like wanton mee, bak kut teh, ..., ..., ...) but he still tried the soup

Dad: Good! very nice! will taste better with chilli! (it's a tomato based soup)

Me: *Runs to get sambal*

Dad:*Adds sambal* get me some limes

Me:*Runs to cut limes*

Dad:*Adds lime* wah! very nice! taste like thai soup!

Me:*faints*

Anyway.. taste good then okay lah.. be it mediterranean or thai~ nice can liao. hee:)

i can't wait for Beijing Olympics Open Ceremony to START!!

Hong Kong GO!GO!GO! - Ananas comosus.. what?

2008-08-02T17:12:00.015+08:00

Yes.. I'm messy most of the time, but it's sparkling clean now!:D

More commonly known as PINEAPPLE (ananas comosus is it's binomial name). This fruit has more benefits than what the humbler potions of society (like me) knows. I had the most pineapple during my final year, all thanks to Huifang. "Pineapples can help to loose weight!" as i quote. What happens next is totally predictable. We had pineapples practically everyday during lunch, and they are all honey pineapples, the way the pineapple guru prefers!

And that's not all.. my second pineapple guru says that pineapple helps to ease cramps during girls' MC. She mentioned other "perks" but my brain retains information selectively. So if anyone is interested, go to christine.. she did a project on it. (the 2nd pineapple guru)

So much on pineapple but it wasn't brought into play today. HAHA! Perhaps the name? Polo bao otherwise known as pineapple buns don't seem to incorporate pineapple in its recipe in anyway. Conceivably it's called that way because it has the pattern of the pineapple peel? hmmm.. sounds convincing yah?

It doesn't look very nice yah? i should try harder next time!

If you haven't known, meng ni is back from hong kong! and brought back a few of the local cakes/desserts/dim sum recipe! And polo bao is the 1st. I'm not a big fan of polo bao until i tried the ones in sai kung! it's simply delicious!!!! The first bite is the crucial moment in time, your teeth will first break the crusty crust and starts sinking in to the fluffly bread.. and then u can just gobble everything down.. goes really well with their milk tea by the way.. HAHA! i didn't take any picture of the bakery, because i was busy queing for the bun obviously. Anyways, you won't miss it if you go to sai kung, it's the only bakery that has a que! there are 2 directions to sai kung. you can either take the mtr to caihong (rainbow station) and then take a minibus that has the saikung name on it to saikung. Or for my case, i took the minibus from mongkok near fife street, same thing, the minibus will have saikung on it so please use your eyeballs at all times and ask ard if you need to. *end*

Anyways, am back to Singapore and i have this long list of 'things to do'. Galdly, one of it is 25% done. it's always hard to plan a trip with Deuterated Tungsten and Tungphorus (a tungsten and phosphorus alloy that i made up).. names were kept secret to avoid conflicts hehehe.. anyways, it always start with everyone excited about the trip.. then somehow something happens, and the trip will look 90% dead. At this point, tocopherol and ascotrium (a drug that has L-ascorbate and Yttrium that i made up again) will jump in and do CPR to the 90% dead trip and make it breathing again! YAY! Meng ni is goin on a trip again!! ♪♫

Yah i know it doesn't make any sense, i'm bored and feeling lame...haha~ Ciao!

p/s: i just realized i left something with christine, something i hold very dear to me, something that is close to my heart...eeeee.. sounds lesbiany.. eh! give me back leh!

p/p/s: ONG LAI! may the polo bao bless my mj games to come.. pls pls pls pls pls

Peanut butter cookies

2008-07-14T16:26:00.011+08:00

"An average of two rodent hairs per one hundred grams of peanut butter is allowed."
No. 20. FDA Government guidelines

After a night of mascaras, blobs of foundation and cans of hairspray! It finally marks the end of our graduation dinner.. Not to mention the mahjong game after that which a certain someone ~~Jia en~~ took away meng ni's $2.10! leaving meng ni with peanuts which explains why i'm making peanut butter cookies today:( I want to 上诉! tsk tsk..

Anyways, i'm joking lah huh.. (but serious about the 上诉 part).. heehee.. I just so happen to visit the supermarket today, went to the jam/spread isle and saw SKIPPY! and decided to bake peanut butter cookies, last bake before i leave Singapore.. i'm definitely goin to send out resumes this time and look for a job when i get back! If not, i'll change my name to GISELLE! ( i think only christine will get the joke).

Back to my cookies.. easy to make! done and ready to eat in about 30 minutes? i really liked the texture, but my mother said that the peanut taste is not distinct enough for her.. hmm.. maybe i should add 1 more tbsp next time?

Since Jeannie's back, i'll let her try if i get to meet them tonight.. or maybe keep the cookies until half a month later for them.. HAHA~ in my Perfumes and cosmetics mod, the lecturer says, vitamin E can act as a preservative, maybe i should spray some on my cookies.. that way, the cookies will be well preserved and the person eating gets to have some kind of supplements when they gobble down my cookies!! Yeah~ smart smart~ *spraying*

Ingredients:

250g plain flour
50g corn flour1tsp double action baking powder
150g unsalted butter
100g castor sugar
2tbsp chunky peanut butter for this recipe, you may add more if you like
1tsp vanilla essence
1egg

Method:

1. Cream butter, castor sugar, peanut butter and vanilla essence until light and fluffy. Add in egg and beat well.
2. Fold/use triangular looking hook to add in sifted flour mixture and mix well until a soft dough is formed
3.Drop 1/2tbsp of dough on lightly greased baking trays.
4.Bake in oven at 180 'C for 12 to 15 mins or until golden brown.
5. decorate with melted chocolate if desired.

p/s. Huifang, i forgot to chase you for my cooper Tee!!

Coconut kisses

2008-07-09T17:17:00.007+08:00

Poof! I'm gone, back, gone again,back again, clocked a total of 600hrs of tv and gulped down 10kg of fats and here i am, ?? kg fatter (i'm trying very hard to shed some weight btw) just before my GRADUATION DAY AND DINNER.. yah, i think i'll look great in the pictures *in denial*

Anyways, to celebrate my convo in 2 days time, i've baked some coconut cupcakes. I do remember i've pre-celebrated ??-times, but i guess it's time for me to add new entries to my dust-collecting blog.. keke~

It rose just perfectly, i had to take a picture

Lets digress.. I've been practicing throwing my mortarboard at home, trying to achieve the perfect projectile. Btw are you suppose to catch it or let it fall to the ground after you throw it huh? i dunno, maybe the better i throw it the faster i'll find a job? Like the better you throw your loose tooth up the roof the better the next one will grow? HAHA~ anyways, i think the happiest bunch of people will still be my parents, i can already picture a tear drop flowing down my father's cheeks and he'll be mumbling to himself "I'm so glad that i don't have to pay for my ever money-leeching daughter's school fees again" and at this very moment, i'll run up to him "Pa, can you register a no-limit supplement card for me so that i can buy the Birkin Bag?" haha, kidding lah.... maybe the MIU MIU bag/dress? keke~

Hai.. no more bags until i find a job man..

Back to my coconut kisses.. i got the recipe when i was in hong kong, its a big book of all meng ni's favourite things! but nothing goes perfectly, i totally destroyed my white chocolate ganache.. damn.. i think i whipped it for too long and it starts to split..and i have to throw everything away, what a WASTE! Oh! and i couldn't find coconut essence anywhere, so i used coconut cream powder instead. The cupcake itself wasn't bad, but it can look prettier if i had those GANACHE! damn..

i can take pictures, if only i can fully understand how to use photoshop

To end this, meng ni is goin to hong kong again on the 15th, i've taken lots of orders to buy SKIIs, cosmetics, branded stuff and such. Please call me if you need anything from hong kong (not too heavy please). And because R.Federer lost the Wimbledon (i stayed up all night to watch) meng ni is not in a very good mood and i've been goin yoga (to calm down) alone these days because our dear christine sprained her poor back (i though it only happens to old people). My regards to you dear, my not very young friend.. give me a call when u're better and we can go yoga together and watch our fats dissolve away *trance mode*

Green Apple Bread Pudding

2008-06-09T23:33:00.008+08:00

"Slack" a simple word, yet it can fully describe Meng ni's past ten days.. I'm going to continue my legacy for the next 10.. but in Hong Kong~ yoohoo!! and maybe send out my resumes from there? Haha~ anyways.. i have been watching a lot A LOT of tv. Somehow SCV decides to unlock the asianfoodchannel (channel 69) for my family... ??... i seriously don't mind their decision lor haha~ more channels for me to scroll.. But my point is, there's actually an asianfoodchannel website and they have all the recipes that have been/are showing on the channel itself..

This entry's recipe is obviously from that website.. and the bread pudding turns out really good!. It's not very sweet according to my sis (which she liked very much) and i think it's a lot better then the ones you see/taste at Buffets. More importantly, it's easy to prepare and ingredients are easy to get (from all supermarkets). I bought my baguette from delifrance, which was fresh from the oven i must say, it was warm to the touch and that made me a very happy Meng ni:)

OH! a note for those who are trying out this recipe. This bread pudding is not as soggy as those you find Buffets.. i think it really boils down to personal preference lah.. my sis didn't like the soggy soggy kind, so she preferred mine. For those who liked a more pudding texture, maybe add more of the cream mixture? another note.. the recipe on asianfoodchannel is a little vague, it states half of a large baguette.. eh.. how large is large huh?? haiyah.. anyways i cut the whole stick of baguette in.. so won't waste any food lah hor.

Fresh from the oven!

Ingredients:

About 50g unsalted butter, melted ( I agar agar one...from exp?? heehee.. bhb.. or the original recipe states 5 tbsp of unsalted butter.) btw, i like president's one.. french butter.

1 delifrance baguette, cubed

1 green apple, peeled and diced

3 Tbsp raisins (agar agar lah~ no need too precise.. u like raisins? put more lor)

2 egg yolks

2 whole eggs

1/3 cup caster sugar

1 ¼ cups whipping cream (president)

1 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 Tbsp Irish cream (optional) sugar for sprinkling (i didn't add)

maple syrup for brushing ( i like!)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F/175°C in fan assisted cooking. Brush the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square baking dish (or oval pyrex glass dish which i used) with half the melted butter. Toss bread cubes, apples and raisins together with remaining melted butter and spoon into baking dish.

2. Whisk together egg yolks, whole eggs and sugar. Whisk in cream, milk and vanilla. Pour over bread cubes and press down gently on bread to help soak in. Let stand for about 15 minutes. If you wish, drizzle with Irish cream.

3. Place baking dish in a water bath and sprinkle top of pudding with sugar. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the center of the pudding springs back when pressed.

4. Remove baking dish from water bath. Brush maple syrup over surface of pudding. Serve warm. Congrats!

my sis say she take until very artistic.. so MUST put it up

10 things to do in Switzerland...

2008-05-30T04:58:00.013+08:00

yay~ just back from my trip and i'm missing the long coach rides, the below average european-chinese food(not really) and the scorching sun during the last two days in Rome!(definitely lying).. Anyways.. Europe is FUN FUN FUN! i didn't go to many countries in Europe but Switzerland and Italy is really 2 great places to visit! Italy was more of the shopping haven.. so i shall just blab on my Switzerland trip... Here are the things Meng Ni recommends when u're in Switzerland!

1. Chocolate shopping!

just look at how pretty they are..

wah lau.. chocolates damn nice lah... dunno what they feed their cows or how they grow their cocoa trees man.. i was popping chocolates every now and then.. and before i know it.. i finished two boxes of chocs that was meant for chris and nani.. muahaha~ sorry gals~ the pralines were calling out to me! i can converse with the chcocolates!! Anyway.. i went to Läderach .. according to my mum.. it's a famous and good-quality brand.. and yesh.. their chocs are really good..

2. Swiss-made Watch shopping

i didn't get any watches while i was there.. But without doubt, the swiss watch is suppose to cost a lot a lot less there.. brands like Rolex, Longines, Audemars Piguet .. still cost a bomb over there.. maybe a few hundreds cheaper? Anyways.. i was more interested in chocs, so i had not set aside money for the time pieces. i bought a swiss knife though.. with the least significance in my shopping list.. and i still got it.. because it has this cute little swarovski's crystal on it and more imporatantly i can't stand watching eric shop without spending some money myself... i gave it a cute engraving too~~

3. Visit Jungfrau.. Top of Europe

Highest mountain in Switzerland. or rather in the whole of Europe! i got to Jungfraujoch.. i think i would have to trek to the top to reach Jungfrau.. damn the scenery is nice.. breathtaking.. literally.. because the air is thinner up there. HAHA! Taking its tram up cost around 175 Fr. if u have the Euro pass. it'll be 110Fr. yep.. it's not cheap but definitely worth the $$.. how often can u be at the highest point in Europe right? unless u're on the plane...keke

4. Cheese fondue anyone?

Cheese fondue

For those who can't stand the smell of cheese.. my condolences to u.. it's sooo nice lah.. to me.. but i've heard many people didn't like the cheese fondue.. but should at least try right.. local food leh!! cannot have laksa and chiken rice everyday also mah...

5. Titisee aka "Black Forest"

It's not in Switzerland but it's next to Switzerland in Germany.. it's aka the black forest.. and guess what they are famous for.. black forest cake!! yum yum.. they are damn good man..and i tried their white choc drink!! nothing like the normal hot choc u get.. it's really nice and more refreshing.. i carried a whole tub of white choc powder back... do visit my place for some really good self-made choc drink.. heehee:)

6. Local food...

We actually visited this restaurant next to the casino in Switzerland... it's cheaper then what u get from other restarants.. and it's local food!! nice nice.. yum yum.. we actually saw the exact same menu in the hotel restaurant we stayed in that night.. damn it..it costs twice as much leh.. and i don't think they are any nicer lor.. so do visit this restaurant if u're near the casino.. u may even try ur luck and win back ur trip's spendings!

7. Their bakeries

wah~ all their bakeries are excellent! i tried this ball like churros on my way back to the hotel in Zermatt.. lip-smacking.. i can't really remember it's name.. start with Q-something.. it looks like the banana bomb but definitely better than a banana bomb.. should try lor.. damn nice.. it's not heavy on the taste, i can actually munch down another 5 more balls if i'm back there now.

8.Cheap food

There's no cheap food there.. so u can forget about it.. if u're considereing fast food.. please don't! Mac meal is 12~13Fr. which is around SGD15? and u'll need to pay for their ketchup and other sauces. Sigh.. why not top up a few more dollars and have some nice local food/chocs/cheese man..

9.Bucherie at Berne

We (Eric et moi) were happily strolling when we saw this nice little house that has the name "Bucherie" on it.. it's french but i really couldn't recall what it meant.. anyways.. we thought it was some butcher thing and thought we could get salami or something. Turns out that it's a restaurant and when you open their main door you will be welcomed by a wall full of awards. We didn't get to lunch there which i pretty much regret now(the coach was waiting for us).. Anyways... i'm still very very very curious of that place.. anyone visiting switz soon? go there and tell me how is the food can?!

10. Visit your friend who is studying/staying/married there

Rory and Eric

muahaha~ yep.. our good old friend all the way from sec sch.. RORY.. with that.. let's have a minute of silence for the demise of eric's camera.. may it rest in peace.. Amen...

i just realized my blog for swiss is 80% on food.. i like to eat! which explains my never thin size..everytime i succeed in a diet/exercise scheme i'll balloon right after.. anyways.. eating is fun and being hungry is definitely not a nice experience.. with that in mind.. let's not forget about out fellow chinese in sichuan and please do whatever we can do to help.. donating money can help the associations to get more maggie mees.. or if u would prefer.. u can donate can-foods.. Here

Da..Da..Daifuku

2008-05-16T18:18:00.008+08:00

One last post before i fly all the way to another continent!! "Daifuku" otherwise known as XL mochi.. Easy to make and delectable! The Strawberries that i used were a teeny sour though, but it is completely covered by the sweetness of the red bean paste! Damn! i'm sooo getting fat with the constant attempts to make fattening foods..

Anyways.. Daifuku are selling at $2~$3 at japanese cafes/supermarkets like ISETAN. In my opinion.. it's way to expensive for a japanese confection that uses cheap ingredients and have relatively fast preparation time.. so i would suggest making daifuku yourself to go with your afternoon tea/coffee? Best if you have girlfriends coming.. it's sweet, presentable and definitely yummy when eaten fresh!..

Oh! a side note.. Marsudi/Max/Mitch (he has many many identities.. i suggest asking him personally.. it's very funny *laughing while typing*..) made a pasta appetizer this morning for xuexin, eric, himself and of cos meng ni! Seriously it's really good, it's healthy, tasty and presentable.. my camera went flat when i reach his place.. so photos of his creation will only be updated after i return from my trip or if marsudi/max/mitch decides to email me the photos straight away.. like this millisecond!

Okay back to MY daifuku..

Daifuku were originally called Harabuto mochi (belly thick rice cake) because of its filling nature. Later the name was changed to Daifuku mochi (big belly rice cake). Since the pronunciation of Fuku (belly) and Fuku (luck) is the same in Japanese, the name was further changed to Daifuku mochi (great luck rice cake), a bringer of good luck. By the end of 18th century, Daifuku were gaining popularity and people began eating them toasted. They were also used for gifts in ceremonial occasions.

This is the perfect snack to make before i board the plane later tonight.. i sure need lotsa luck! Bon voyage to myself! And Now.. I shall pack my luggage.. i've learnt the art of last minute packing from our dear Jeannie BTW.. Credits to you gal!!

Xiao Long Bao

2008-05-15T00:15:00.008+08:00

Nani: So which xiao long bao do you like better?

Me: You mean do i prefer 鼎泰丰's or some other places one huh?

Nani: Yup:)

Me: [PAUSES] * i was in a deeep thought *

Nani: *Giving meng ni the "what is taking her so long? Is she okay?" look*

Me: I prefer Crystal Jade ones

Nani: huh?! *Giving meng ni that look again*

Yesh i agree that 鼎泰丰 is famous for their 'xiao long bao'. And double yesh.. their xiao long bao is delicious. But having first tried the ORIGINAL 鼎泰丰(and i do mean the very first store) in Taiwan, it was sooooooo much better than the ones in Singapore .. I can't really point out what the problem is.. i always see the chefs weighing every single dough pieces so there must definitely be some kind of QC going on. Probably it's the stock, you know how most of the old restaurants have pots of broth/stock that has been cooking for the past 20 years? And since 鼎泰丰 is relatively young in Singapore, so maybe their broth/stock hasn't age enough yet?!? hmmm..

Anyways, Crystal jade ones are definitely delicious too:) I don't know if they are better than 鼎泰丰's (i'm biased in some sense)

So, i tried making my own xiao long bao. I shall call it "Hii Inc's Xiao Long Bao"-HIXLB in short. The whole process took 2 days! Day 1 is to prepare the aspic, which is the jelly-like thing that gives the " soup oozing out " effect. *SLURPS*. It took freaking 5 hours to get the concentrated stock from constant simmering Pig's skin, chicken bones and chicken feet in water. (I need to check my cholesterol level after this)

The jelly-like aspic

2nd day;today, is the mixing of all the fillings and making the dough, it's definitely less hassle than making the aspic except for the part when i really have no idea how to make pretty xiao long baos like the ones i see in the restaurants, probably a year of training in shao ling temple's kitchen might help. oh wait do they accept females?

HIXLB may look ugly and uh.. 70% of the xiao long bao actually broke after steaming.. but it still taste good.. especially the ones where the soup is "retained". heehee:)

Stats:

number of xiao long baos: 50

money spent: definitely less than $50 but i'm not sure how much

number of days spent: 2

Conclusion: I think i'll go crystal jade when i wanna have my dose of XLB. Unless i want to gobble all 50 XLB all at once.

L'heureux Fleur

2008-05-09T22:03:00.004+08:00

Oui. L'heureux Fleur, a direct translation would be " The Happy/Fortunate Flower" LHF, if read carefully, has the same initials as Liang Huifang! muahhaha~ Happy Birthday girl! This cake is named after you! (pardon the tacky name.. that's the best i could come up with my very very rusty french.)

My original plan was: bake the cake (it's actually an angel food cake) in the morning and deliver it to HF somewhat in the afternoon.. BUT! guess what! my first batch literally went down the dustbin!.

1. It tasted "Bluh-eeeeeh"

2. It's not edible even if i dip the whole cake in a pool of chocolate.. nothing can save it!

so having done a year long project, it has really taught us "STUDENTS" (not free labor) to understand why the reaction fails in the first place..

So i went back and tasted all my ingredients and it was obvious.. it's the cream of tartar.. with a closer look.. it has long expired.. 2 years to be exact.. and it was bought just THIS AFTERNOON from the minimart! what the ****! i should have suspected it when the plastic tab was broken when i first used it.. *sigh* i felt so stupid.. if only my brain could process what i saw faster then i wouldn't have wasted all the effort and time..

And VOILA! no surprise for dear HF.. muahha~ i continued to slack till late late evening when i decided to make a trip to parkway to get my fresh batch of cream of tartar.. and there~ the angel food cake aka "L'heureux fleur" done and out of the oven at 9pm singapore time, and the next scene is meng ni gorging down the pretty and "un-bluh-eehh" creation.. sorry HF~ you can imagine and lick the cake off from your screen. It was too late to look for you after all the bluh-ehhing

p/s. don't worry huifang, i have another gift for you that i think you will prefer MORE than the bluh-ehh cake..

p/p/s. dear chris, i've uploaded ur bdae pics by the time you see this msg, i know i'm a slow poke, but u must understand that i'm not as tall as you and thus have shorter legs than urs. it'll take me 1.2X the time needed for an average person..heehee:)

Bdae Cakee

2008-05-04T00:23:00.008+08:00

yeah~ BIRTHDAY CAKE for my cousin. Happy birthday GIO! and let's not forget our dear christine's birthday too~ we were havocking last night.. spending our $$ on alcohol that seems never to end.. BUT we all enjoyed ourselves i guess:) It's also the first time i visited clinic at clarke quay.. eh.. didn't turn out the way i thought it would be.. it's just another pub with funny "containers". Anyways.. we continued the night @ dlO ( i think that's what i saw) .. okay.. we did have lotsa of drinks~ but i was still sober enough to wash my face and do the daily routine of toner, lotion, essence and eye cream.. wah~ i think i'm good! peng san after that..

So woke up real early the next day (or the same morning) to bake my favourite little cousin a birthday cake.. it didn't turn out the way i designed it to be in my head.. probably due to the still high alcoholic content in my blood.. i can't seem to cut a perfect square! DAMN!

*side view*

I made choc cake btw and covered it with marshmallow fondaunt.. did a little decoration.. my target was to make it as sweet as possible.. BUT! it still didn't turn out the way i wanted it to be. i wanted to add more colours to it.. but was too lazy and tired to knead in other colours..(yesh i'm sluggish the whole morning) muahhaha~ I did give her some fondaunt to play with.. and she did.. shaped something out.. *please scroll down*

We had fun, and a terrible headache..

So i'm now here blogging on my lastest creation.. not fantastic to me.. i need more birthdays to practice my deco skills! And i really need that collagen drink from shufang to compensate my skin from that crazy nite :(

Gio's Prof. Teddy

Power Curry Puff!

2008-04-30T16:09:00.010+08:00

Yeah~ It's curry puff day. Was preparing to make curry puffs since adeline and jeannie intended to come my house.. But, it was cancelled.. Anyways, since my relatives from bali are arriving today, i went ahead with the puff plan :) Went shopping this morning alone, since my mum is enjoying herself somewhere else..

I targeted the vege section first, but i couldn't find my POTATOES! (somehow they've changed the layout at GIANT, making it very hard for my to find anything) but, how big can the supermarket be right, i finally found my potatoes and i thought i saw "USA Budget Potato".. why would they want to budget their potatoes??? i thought it's the rice that is depleting?? anyway with a closer look, it turns out to be "Russet" not "Budget" haha~ (can go have a look if u have nothing else to do..) Hmmm.. so I got my potatoes and the rest of the ingredients and headed home-->

I'm waiting to be fried!!

I was struggling whether to make my own or buy the ready made puff pastry. *Meng Ni looks at her schedule(blank) and decides to make her own!* So.. more kneading and Ta dah! unfried curry puff in no time~ Actually, it took a while lah... cos i was carefully pinching and shaping the sides of the puff CAREFULLY. *Please eyeball up by 3 degrees* looks okay right..

The rest was easy.. heat oil > drop puff > fry puff > drain oil.

Look at my golden skin~

Remember Singapore's government encourage their people to prepare more potato based dishes in place of rice? I think they should get me to be their ambassador.. muahaha~ only that it's a bit unhealthy...

It was easy and fast to make (fast if i can *pinch* the sides faster) so.. good for picnic parties i guess..:) Now i need to pick up my relatives.. Happy puffing!

馒头 ♪♫ mán tou (Part II)

2008-04-27T19:36:00.007+08:00

Had another try with the steamed buns today. I've substituted half of the flour with mashed sweet potato this time.. on top of that i've doubled the kneading time, trying my best to make my dough as smooth as possible.. I've also increased the setting time by 5 mins..

Took much effort to make everything as homogeneous as possible, as pretty as possible.. and the product? NOT BAD AT ALL! the buns tasted sweet (of cos! i've added sweet potatoes) the colour is a nice yellow and the texture.. GOOD! heehee.. i'm flushed with excitement.. got itono to taste it and it was confirmed.. it's good.. muahaha~

How i wish my skin could be that smooth and glowy.. damn.. i'm jealous of buns

~yummy yumyum~

馒头 ♪♫ mán tou

2008-04-26T22:15:00.013+08:00

I was asked by someone when i was younger.. probably during elementary school, "Ever wondered why most inventors are westerners?" my answer was "uhhhhh..huh?" The person then told me his version of the answer--> because ang mos are very lazy people making chinese the hardworking bunch.. and so he went on.. "who invented the tv?" (Philo Taylor Farnsworth - an American Inventor) an ang mo.. because he is too lazy to walk to the theater to watch a show.. so he invented something for him to have his dose of entertainment in the comfort of his home. On the other hand, chinese being the diligent group will walk 100miles over the mountains and the seas (i'm exagerating) to watch the chinese opera.

It sounds like a plausible reason for me at that time.. so he went on with more examples.. "and the remote control?" (Robert Adler) another ang mo. You see, they are too lazy to walk to the tv to change the channels and so the remote control was born! Chinese will never think of one because they wouldn't mind making a few steps to the tv every now and then, (they have already saved the time climbing mountains and swimming across seas with the earlier inventions!)

It's just something someone told me about.. BUT! what i made today is going to prove that person right.. not that ang mos are lazy, but that chinese do have indefatigable energy. Today I've attempted to make 馒头 otherwise known as steamed bun.. it goes well with chilli crab but traditionally they are prepared as breakfast.

First i mixed all my ingredients and started kneading (and there's a lot of kneading involved) to get my dough:) and indeed i got my pretty dough (and small muscles developing) after an hour (including time for the dough to set)

Then i need to knead somemore and cut my dough into the desired size. It's the first time i used a food steamer, it's a little too small but still usable. The final product? ▼

i think they look ugly:( but mr. bro said that the taste is okay but not fantastic:( *sigh* i think i should add something to it next time.. maybe mashed sweet potatoes? overall, it's quite fun! only that it took me 2.5 hours altogether.. hmm.. so if i want to have steamed buns for breakfast at 10am i'll have to start preparing at 7.30am! Wonder how long it'll take to make an all day american breakfast.. (scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, harsh brown) probably 5 mins... just buy it from Mcdonalds' hee...

By the way, Man Utd lost to Chelsea today.. feeling very down.. probably, that's why my buns looked so ugly.. *sigh* So! No more food experimenting on Man Utd match days!

Last note: I am really really really x 100 disgusted by Avraham (Avram) Grant. He Sux!

Ultimate Chewy Double Chocolate Cookie

2008-04-26T00:39:00.015+08:00

(It's a tiring Friday)~ Got my new mixer this morning-Kitchenaid. By word of mouth, it's more powerful and suitable for heavy duty mixing such as bread dough or other tougher dough. Ha~ and the more important part is that i got it at a promotional price.. saved $300 by the way.. keke. So with the help of my new machine, i baked double chocolate cookie!!! I personally swear by Valrhona Chocolate, so went to do some chocolate shopping before going to clementi to meet Chris to buy the organometallic text. Seems like oragnometallic is a never ending story by itself. First the review, then the lecture notes/textbook/syllabus to study for exams and finally 2 literature studies which i haven't even downloaded yet. What is dear Ms Zhao thinking? We are not doing our masters' or whatsoever, so why the overloading?!?! *Sigh* I really have no mood for it.

Anyways, we went to clementi bookshop and couldn't find the book that we wanted. So we have to go all the way back to NUS to get the text. The text is not cheap, and it's really not worth it thinking that we are graduating soon and we really have no interest in organometallic stuff unlike Jiaen. So, we performed some magic *it shall remain as a secret between us.. hee..* and got what we wanted for $5. How did we do it? THINK!

Satisfied with our evil *accomplishments* we went back home and i started preparing for my COOKIES! It's not the traditional kind.. it's suppose to be chewy and soft. My recipe was from a collection of America's Premier Chocolate Maker. I didn't really like the way they list their ingredients. e.g. 1 cup of packed all-purpose flour. hmm... see the problem? my definition of packed may not be the same as theirs... so to me it's not baker friendly. i would prefer them to state the weight? grams? ounce? anything.. but lightly/tightly packed? ermm... as a chem student we read our burette to the 2nd decimal place leh!

*sigh* and the worst part is after recalculating the ingredients that i need.. ( i'm planning to use 1 packed of chocolate plates but recipe requires 1.5 times.. so i have to scale down the ingredients) i realize that i need 2.3 eggs. Darn.. i'm not going to put 2 eggs.. cos that will make my cookie dry and i'm certainly not going to waste 0.7 egg(s).. for the reason that many people are starving now.. (actually i shouldn't even be stating any reason.. wasting food is BAD!) plus 0.7 egg(s) is not worth the time to heat another pan--> scramble--> remove from pan --> clean pan.. so i added all three eggs into my mixture.. turned out that my cookie became too soft.. *sigh* i had a bad feeling about it.. and yes.. it was confirmed by sheena.. BUT! looking on the brighter side, it's really chocolatey.. the way i like it.. haha! i'm a chocolate fan! i think most girls are..

By the way, this series of photos were taken with a lousier camera. The one that i like to use was taken by my dad to a forest to take pictures of trees...tsk tsk.. Good cameras are really a cook/baker wanabe's best friend. It can make mediocre appear delicious and okay food look like delicacy of the year. Not that my cookings rely on good cameras, they really have standard one k~~

Hmmm.. But i guess i shouldn't be complaining. at least there are still pretty pics that i can use right.. keke..Btw, I'm going to have a new "toy" tomorrow.. look forward to my next post!! Now... to study for my organometallic

p/s. Now that i know that there are actually people (other than eric and my anonymous bro) reading my blog.. i really feel motivated to blog more.. heehee..

p/p/s. Dear Chris, we forgot to pay for the grad dinner.. wah lau~ what's wrong with us huh? i thought we mentioned it twice in the morning and we still forgot about it.. Damn..

Vanilla, Pear & Cinnamon Crumble

2008-04-20T22:38:00.019+08:00

Took a break from my organometallic review (see last post) and thought of whipping up something sweet. This recipe was taken off a shelf in Paragon's supermarket, i love that place, i can spend the whole day there:) Anyways, apparently the recipe is by Curtis Stone, host of Discovery Travel & Living's popular TAKE HOME CHEF series. I actually found it amusing that they introduce him as "one of the sexiest man alive voted by US People Magazine" instead of "the greatest chef on earth!" or something. In any case, i was preparing the ingredients and eric came:) So i thought why not make it a couple couple thing and make something together.. sweet things!

Well, as i was showing off my amateur-ish photography skills, eric commented that all my photos look the same-->they are all close ups. Okay, i do agree to a CERTAIN extent (they look nice what).. so i threw him the camera and asked him to show me how pro is he.. and this is what he got..*scrolls down*

okay lah... i agree that the lighting is quite nice, creating this mysterious look. But who the hell will know that it's a pear right! looks more like an orange to me. So after a short meaningless argument, we had decided that we should carry on with the recipe. bleah~

Now allocating who should do what, i gave him the easier job of measuring all the necessary ingredients and Meng Ni will do the harder task of cutting the pear and cutting the extremely hard butter into cubes. The part that i was doing the harder job was proven right after i got a cut on my finger and have to retire from all the "action" to be the "mentor". Eric was doing a pretty good job and without much waiting, the pears were ready to be baked!

I photographed this while applying pressure on my wound.. I learned the art from a jedi

sprinkle on the crumbs *Eric sprinking* ( sprinkling is such a sissy word)

And the pears were ready to be baked! Btw, I added another 50g of flour and reduced the butter by 30g. How can it be possible to make crumbs from so little flour and so much butter?!?! *sigh* it's probably possible since he's voted the sexiest man alive.. Darn!

Mama frying her improvised tomato scrambled eggs while eric was busy sprinkling..(what's taking him so long?)

After baking for 40mins, we can finally call it a day and taste our product:) Btw again, the recipe says bake for an hour, but my crumbs were browning like mad threatening to be burnt anytime, so i took it out at the 40th min.

I was having doubts about this recipe at first, but it turns out pretty nice, it's really not too sweet and the crumbs are really crispy and tasty:) Probably the sexiest man alive do know how to cook and be sexy at the same time with a little change here and there. If anyone comes across this recipe, i've added 3 sticks of cinnamon sticks and sprinkled on grounded cinnamon to make the taste stronger. I've also used muesli mix with raisins instead of the old-fashioned oats. They're premixed and i think it's tastier that way:)

now, back to my review...

In favor of Curry Flavour \(^-^)/

2008-04-20T06:37:00.001+08:00

Weekend! It's the time of the week that I can relax, think of nothing and sink into my newly arrived tilam. BUT some lecturer/"new" prof decided to give us an assignment to do--> a review on some organometallic stuff that i really really really have no interest in doing.. (did i mention it must be AT LEAST 10 pages long?) *rolling my eyes* So why did I take that module in the first place? * think.. think.. think..* Ahhh.... That's because Chris is taking and Meng Ni being a super duper "good" friend can't possibly let her take that mod alone right. (yah right.... more like I don't want to take any other mod alone)

Anyways, i was flipping thru my big box of lecture notes and unexpectedly, i found a cookbook! It's hamlyn all colour cookbook-200 curries by Sunil Vijayar. Flipping thru the pages. i've decided. I'm making curry today. Chicken Kofta Curry to be exact.

Chicken meatballs:) they're a little big though

I always like curries. Jap, Indian and especially my mum's! yumyum. *drooling while stirring in the curry paste* But fear not, the curry was not contaminated.

* Please shift ur eyeballs up by 3 degrees * And my morning's hardwork! (can anyone teach me how to make superscripts?) HAHA~ but this is not the end. Everyone knows that we can't have curry all by it's own. So i made naan to go with my curry - from scratch. Note: they are not the ones that you can buy from cold storage, they're a teeny bit salty to me.

It's a plain naan. I think i should make it flatter. But if anyone want's to try. It's really simple:) I used self raising flour, butter, salt, sugar and milk. Done. But I became all nostalgic when i was rubbing the butter in, i thought of the days in Broadrick home econs class. I think we were making pizza crust or something, that's when i first tried to rub butter into flour, i can still remember caroline, charmaine, lilyana (deb wasn't in our econs group) and we were all happily rubbing the butter in.. Ahhhh.. those days...

Anyways, to make different flavoured naans just add the extra ingredient in the first step. e.g. for garlic flavoured naans, add 1 clove of garlic. For coriander naan, add coriander.. so on and so forth. Maybe i should try chocolate naans.. *idea* :)

The curry was a success only that the chicken balls were a wee too big and the flavour didn't really seep through. Darn! the naans? it's okay... plain.. tasteless but great with the curry. I'll seriously try chocolate naans next time.. muahaha! Back to my ORGANOMETALLIC review...

The Story Begins with... Creamy broccoli Soup

2008-04-13T13:37:00.001+08:00

Being done with school and too lazy to apply for jobs.. I am literally rotting at home.. so i thought.. why not blog? haha~

Anyways, while pondering what to be on my first blogpost, the spirit of my honours project started swimming in my mind ( I still have a final presentation this tues!!). And this gave me the idea of my first post..keke ==> Since my project is based on a cancer suppressant, i thought.. "prevention is better then cure" right... so I looked up the internet and found several anti-cancer food.. and one of them? the BROCCOLI! aka Meng Ni's most hated vege.

I never liked crunchy vegs and certainly not this stalky, tree-like plant. But! There's always a first right.. Of course i'm not goin to just boil and consume it without any processing lah. So I thought of making soup out of it! haha.. and the creamy broccoli soup was born! I spent the whole morning preparing and cooking and this is what I've got!

I think it looks okay.. and the taste? I finished two bowls! muahaha~ I feel a healthier now! nah~ Back to my presentation slides~

A little infomation i found online:

Broccoli's deep-green color signals the presence of plenty of beta-carotene. This precursor to Vitamin A is known as an antioxidant. In the body, antioxidants put the brakes on molecules called free radicals, tough guys who wander about causing invisible damage that eventually leads to aging and increased risk for chronic diseases like cancer.

In addition to its vitamin content, Broccoli boasts at least four kinds of phytochemicals, cancer fighters in food that are neither vitamins nor minerals. With names like sulforaphane, phenethyl isothiocyanate, monoterpene, and indole, you might not believe that these are natural ingredients. But in fact, these tongue-twisting, health-enhancing compounds are abundant in nature.

Unproved speculated benefits

Protects against pollutants.
Protects against radiation damage to cells.
"Detoxifies" body.
"Purifies" blood.
Protects against cancer

sugary secrets

Green with Envy

BACK.

Day of good stuff:)

Mont Blanc

Easter frolic!

Yo-yos

Yokoso Japan!

KARI->CURRY

Bread+Potatoes

Public Display of Affection

Love Is In the Air

What's in your Bread Basket?

Chinese New Year Treats

10 things to nom in Korea

Last Dinner of 2008

Christmas Buttons

Chocolate Cake SHOWDOWN!

Stawberry Cheesecake

Chocolate Lemon Roulade

Time Machine

Halo! Halloween!

Sausage Flowerpod

花好月圆

Say "Apple Cheese"!

Heartiest of Appetites-Minestrone

Deb's Cookhouse ♨

Mediterranean Fish Soup

Hong Kong GO!GO!GO! - Ananas comosus.. what?

Peanut butter cookies

Coconut kisses

Green Apple Bread Pudding

10 things to do in Switzerland...

Da..Da..Daifuku

Xiao Long Bao

L'heureux Fleur

Bdae Cakee

Power Curry Puff!

馒头 ♪♫ mán tou (Part II)

馒头 ♪♫ mán tou

Ultimate Chewy Double Chocolate Cookie

Vanilla, Pear & Cinnamon Crumble

In favor of Curry Flavour *\(^-^)/*

The Story Begins with... Creamy broccoli Soup

In favor of Curry Flavour \(^-^)/