Muff-ins
Muffin is always not on my to bake list.. since its original texture seems to be dense.. My family dislike dense cake. I rem my favourite blueberry muffin was at a cafe in Copenhagen, where we use to painstakingly take a 3 hour train ride thr and grab a few back home as comfort snack. I haven got to find a recipe that yield that fluffy n soft interior. It stays soft even in the fridge.
Anyway, this is my 2nd muffin making attempt if I remember correctly. With the 1st getting very lousy result.. it took me realy long before it came into my mind that I want to do it again... Thanx to Deb. I saw her showcasing her muffins n mentioned its very soft n moist.. and I thought with so much good review. it cant be that bad rite? Looking at the recipe.. it seems too easy to be true.. I was worried... lucky she gave me some tips over the phone and there I started baking yesterday morning for a trial batch. I did some with lemon filling and the rest with strawberry slices. Giving away all but 2 muffins to food taste ourselves. The result seems pretty good I must say. Dear even said its cupcake despite I told him its muffin.. cos I told him the difference between the texture of cupcake n muffin. 1 is light n soft while the other is rather dense.
With the good review.. I got out of bed earlier today to bake another batch. This time, with chocolate chip topping as well as blueberries since its the kids I am gg to feed.
Blueberry Muffin
Soft n fluffyI tink the topping with fruit slices be it blueberries or strawberries seems a lack of something.. perhaps thr wasnt enuff tang... I would suggest jam in future... but still its yummy..
Afterall its the texture we are after.. hehe... goes well with some tea I guess
For the future I might jus considering lower the butter amount a little but thats about all.. its PERFECT..
생강차 Saenggang Cha
생강차 (pronounced
Saenggang Cha) its a traditional Korean tea. It literally mens raw ginger (生薑茶) tea in translation.
My 1st encounter with this was at Ju Shin Jung, a korean bbq specialty restaurant where we had our korean BBQ... after our meal we were served this as part of our dessert. I couldnt quite fig out whats in the tea at 1st except cinamon.. Well maybe it tasted too nice, that I thought it needs alot of ingredients. Which korean dish doesn't right?
Thanx to my hard work in my han gul... I managed to fig out alittle bout this tea.. I keep forgetting to try it out.. well ok.. im too chicken..cos it look too easy... LOL
Last week after our meal at Ju Shin Jung.. I was reminded again of this... and well... Dear is down with a little cold today and so I thought its a gd time to try this out... since cinamon is on the heaty side.. so is ginger...
Here I present to u
생강차
Its pretty easy to start with..
Heres how:
about 100g of raw ginger, skinned n slice
20g of cinamon ( I use normal cinamon as I do not have the korean ones)
1 litre of water
Honey to taste
pine nuts to decor (optional)
Put water, cinammon and ginger to boil for about 20 mins in pressure cooker and let it de-pressurised itself.
Stir in honey. and add some pinenuts as garnishing.
Serve hot/cold (we prefer it cold)
I prob was a little too generous with my cinamon.. it got a slight bitter taste.. bit tat can be corrected with more honey n water.
This tea is rather good for people down with cold, or indigestion.. No wonder onli the restaurant that have BBQ serves this. Cos we are always filled to the brim hee.. neeed some of this tea to digest the food.
If u are getting heaty or having fever, this drink is a definite nono. Its very strong ont he stomach and so I read that people with stomach ulcer cant drink this too..
I love this too much.. .I think this tea can replace the traditional red dates tea for confinement.. Since I react quite badly on red dates tea.. what do you think?
I finished my glass of 생강차 as I blog .. I can feel the warmth emitting from my tummy despite I drank the tea with ice.. its definitely comforting to me and my soul... shall I name it @My Soul Tea@
Cabbage Rice
I have never heard of cabbage rice until recently.. many said its easy, simple and nutritious..
Garnered some tips here n thr.. I proceed with this 1 pot meal today since my fridge is almost emptied...
Oh yes..when I went to buyt eh cabbage.. I saw some silver fish.. >I tot that makes a nice topping on the rice if its not saltish enuff... good choice!
After like many moons... I finaly use my rice cooker again.. I always use the stove to cook rice since thr is onli 2 of us at home... luckily its still working fine hehe
Cabbage riceAfter an hour.. my cabbage rice is ready.... it smell nice.. but i tink prob i did not realy add enuff seasoning so it was rather bland.. lucky for the silver fish topping...
Before I forget how I roughly did this meal.. let mi recap...
1. Brown some chopped garlic, add in mushroom and dry shrimps... fry till fragrant.
2. Add some pork or chicken pieces, add some pepper.. i notice pepper is v impt.. give the rice a peppery flavour which I like.. add a dash or 2 of cooking wine.
3. cut up the cabbge into large chunks.
4. Rinse the rice and put the usual amount of water req.. I made a mistake bout the water.. added a bit too much so my rice was quite mashy...
5. Spoon all the filling into the rice cooker, drizzle with some sesame oil and cook till done..
6. serve warm witht eh silver fish topping.. I think fried garlic will b nice too =)
dear suggested adding meat ball next time.. .. surely its a nice dish.. will do it again =) with more seasoning of cos ...
Time to dig in the remainder for supper ...
Cupcakes AGAIN
I have done so much baking this week that I am getting blur... and dear asked today why do I have so much order this week.. ehhh.. how I know ah? haha
I have churn out at least 4 recipe of buttercream.. did like more than 6 recipes of cupcakes... running out of idea what design to do...
Luckily I got the mushroom to save me ...ewww... mushroom rocks! remind me of super mario...
Heres the cuppies for Pearlyn's best friend =)
Floral cuppiesMy camera is still not back with me yet... .. all these are taken with my hp camera sicne I return my sis her camera already
Now... just as I thought I can stop baking.. seems like I cant... while im sick of buttercream, and sugar paste.. now.. I need to do fruit tarts... 100 or more.. ehh.. I still cant fig out how to transport them properly as yet.. I got a major catering to do aft next week... and the work starts now!.. gosh... the grocery list.. the baking procedure... logistic on how and when to do what... for 1 person to cater to 60.. I tink.... I think... realy i tink I can! hehe.. give mi some support yeah...
I just hope I no need to do any sugar paste for this catering... I am keeping finger crosssssss.
Meanwhile.. I have promised Audrey that we will have some home made food next weekend at the club after our golf session.. and so.. Im tinking of baking some muffins... lets see how it goes =) very soon its gonna be a weekly thgy at the club w our food hehe
Tiramisu
A forum friend had requested for tiramisu as she had some cravings for it. Well.. its a good time for her to have tiramisu.. since she is yet to get preg.. once she is preg.. she cant eat tis anymore =)
am glad to take on this order...
the next happiest person isi caca.. cos she get to eat my extra tiramisu... not forgetting dear love it too.. and i am gg to share w my dear neighbourhood friends =)
Heres what I done for my friend
TiramisuI thought this design suits her best.. since she is prob int he mood for love... hehe
Princess Tricia
No I did not disappear into thin air.. i beenf aithfuly cooking n baking but I dont have my camera with me all this while.. I cant snap a single pic...
forget bout the hp camera.. I tink it just make mi feel giddy hehe
Couple of weeks back, Serene's friend wanted some cupcakes for her girl, Tricia, 6th birthday party. The request was princess with flowers.
While I do not have a camera but I badly want to snap some pics.. thanx to Caca who lend it to mi hehe.. and of cos Kel who brought it over to mi late last nite.. thanx boy...
Heres what I managed to make
Tricia Princess FantasyMy 1st timemoulding a 'princess'.. last rnd K helped me but I decided I should learn how to do it.. and hey.. its not that hard haha.. but K def did it better than me...
I like this.. thou its not v well made.
Using my new silicon veiner... I did tis flower
Whats a garden without butterfly rite?
P also asked me to do the cuppies for the class party. She tot about customising with names.. and so here goes..
Many thanx to KH who show mi sample of the little faces... else I probably dun dare to do such a design.. cos I can onli mould flowers hehe
We were busy writing the names that day while Xavier was busy fussing at his fav spot in the living room...
Many thanx to my pal L who lent me her edible marker hehe ( I dunno where did mine end up!)
And Kind soul lent me extra muffin pans.. else I prob will take 10 hours to bake hehe
