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Sunday, August 31, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
All In 1
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
XO Fried Rice
Its the yummy XO sauce night..I have got 25kg of rice to clear and so I think I prob will be cooking alot of rice dishes these days... before the weevils appear...
I had this XO fried rice that time while shopping w the prince... and I ordered this at the HK cafe... it was realy good except that the price was really a put off.... and barely filling.
I ran out of mix vege.. and so I buy some long beans instead since I have got carrots to clear.. not a bad idea to cook this dish as I managed to clear 1 pc of lap cheong in my fridge as well...
Scrambling 2 eggs 1st, follow by the vege and lapcheing, then the crabstick and the XO sauce... with the rice last... I added some dashes of pepper and also some fish sauce... the result??
XO Fried Rice...
LOVELY.... Did u see the streak of scallop fr the XO sauce?
Bet I will make this again... not before I stock up on my XO sauce -)
Monday, August 25, 2008
A Cake for a young Mum
Its Serene's Birthday.. nothg different except that this year she have got little prince Xavier to fight blowing out the candles w her haha... so I thought perhaps I should do a slighly matured theme for her.I was stuck with orders over the weekend...that the big prob... everytime when I need to do cakes for family or personal reason... I will be stuck with orders by others.. haiz and its too paiseh to reject sometime...
I thought prob cupcake will be more of a better choice.. but I think she had cupcake last yr... and Im too reluctant to repeat the same thingy again. Cakes flavour r limited since there is a couple of cakes she doest eat.. and no alcohol either.. haiz... I decided on black forest, despite the fact I know I will not like the cake without the kirsch.. haiz.. too bad...
I frosted the cake before I left for my class this morning, so it was rather chop chop one.. and I forgot to cover my bowl of cream as I was rushing out.. end up.. the cream sort of dry up... and my pipe looks a tit too dryy... or is it I been too used to butter cream?
I try to mimick poppy flowers ont he cake.. Not too sure if I managed to do it well enuff until L msn me and say it looks like poppy.. haha guess I did it =).. I kind of visualised the flower on my perfume bottle hahaa...
Hope the birthday girl will like this...
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Pho Bo
One of our favourite cuisine is Vietnamese cuisine.Becos we love the smell of fish sauce.. the smell of basil... and of cos beef...
Couple of weeks back.. my regular "food supplier" cooked this and gave me some... it was similar to the restaurant type except its slightly mild in taste.. I chomp them down all the same and promised I will cook it again soon...
Today after the AHM... and range... we had lunch w the kids at CP.. and tinking bout dinner sucks. the weather is bad... we cant go much places.. After narrowing down from cooking hokkien mee n etc.. finaly I decided to cook Pho for today since I got another pack of kway teow in the chiller.
Easy stock.. since I use beef cube which is rarely seen in the mart... Kind soul got it for mi from giants... hehe
I was quite ok with the soup thou I know for sure its rather different from the shops one.. this is v light... I added more fish sauce than stated to get the smell... hee..
I use some beef as well as beef ball... cook the beef last... to 70% cook so that it doesnt turn too rubbery aft that.. and pour over the piping hot soup before serving...
The beansprouts are also cook till about 70% cooked.. so that it got a little raw taste.. hehe
Pho Bo
Dear say its yummy but he also added that its diff from outside ones.. sigh.. looks like I got more to experiemnt.. but at least nice lar! hehe
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Korean Eat Out
We went to Novea to stock up some energy gel ahead for tomorrow AHM, and so we decided perhaps we should try the Korean food at Square 2.There is a total of 2 restaurant and 1 korean outlet selling korean delicacy... It did nto take us long to decide which to go... Dear decided on Han Sang (한성) Korean Family Restaurant.
They have 2 diff sitting.. 1 for ala carte food and the other for BBQ.. The old folks were with us today and we decided we should give BBQ a miss since they might not want oily food.
Settling down and deciding what to order for them since its their 1st time to K cuisine... Its actualy quite easy to order for them haa... a ginseng chicken for 1.. and another dish for the other makes the dinner easy... Easier than their fav Jap I guess...
I had a hard time deciding what I want for myself instead!
Oh well here goes...
The starter...
Its actualy some kind of kidney beans marinated... and i tink thats mashed pumpkin n potato followed by the anchovy. .. its yummy... weird that they din giv kimchi thou.. I want my kimchi!
Here is another appetiser I ordered...
Kimchi Pancake
Mum had this
Samgay Tang... aka Ginseng chicken soup
And for Dad
Grilled Mackerel
And Dear's...
Beef Rib Soup...
It seems like he order beef rib soup everywhere he goes!!!! I really must learn how to do this!
Accompanying the fish dish and the soup was the hot stone rice...
See the topping of sweet potato, carrot n pumpkim?
At the end of the meal, the residue of the rice bites were stuck on the stone bowl.. the lady boss kindly came over n told us in korea, people will put in some plain water intot he bowl.. let steep for a few mins then scrap out the yumy rice to eat... obviouly the 2 men did that!
And fo rmyself.. it seems like there was a lack of choice of food for me... Havign high expectation of food.. I did not dare just point to any on the menu.
BiBimbap
Yes that was what I choose.. Only good bibimbap goes into my tummy.. those lousy foodcourt ones never made it successfully into mytummy haha.. and obviously today;s bibimbap finaly makes the mark... =)
The Lady Boss gave us free dessert.. I tink most korean restaurant offer free dessert. No? That was what I encounter thou...
Home Made Rice Cake Ball
Actualy the 4 gluttonny us chomp down the dessert the moment it was serve..until the last ball was left then I scream that I haven snap a pic haa.. dad laugh... and dear showed the last of the ball.. slightly saltish.. yummy!!!!
I doubt I will go bk to this restaurant thou.. cos they dun serve kimchi as much... Back to Ju Shing Jung... LOL
Ben10
I never knew what is Ben10 until I saw that bento box haha.. din know its such a popular program for kids.A mummy ask me to do a Ben10 cake for her dear son.. An icing image one.. She chose a chocolate cake.. Oh well.. its a simple n yummy cake =)
Ben10
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"A" sms-ed me today to tell me the cake was well received. she said the cream was melt in the mouth ...
so glad to hear that..hope I got chance to do her bb full mth cake hehe
Cup-cakes
A young lady email me for these cupcake orders. Thou its only 12 pieces..but still it make me happie making them... I admitI been feeling lazy lately and rejected quite a bit of orders.. I just dont want to do things tat I have no mood to... else it will not turn out nice...She had requested for roses for her bf...
And fairies for her pals... what a sweet friend =)
I got 1 more cake to rush for tomorrow.. I brave my Zz monster this aftnoon trying to do 1 part...
Got 2 challenging orders coming up ahead... and its at the priod I dread most... I notice everytime I got somethg major to celebrate I will be stuck with order... it din happened just once or twice.. it happen at every celebration... haiz... I am bucking myself up to be more hardworking.. year end is busy time for me...
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Fish Beehoon
A healthy meal we always like is fish beehoon. Be it fish head, or just fried fish meat. Due to rising food price, and inflation, the hawkers selling these have greatly reduce the portion of fish n other food stuff AFTER rising the price of the food items. It puts us off since int he 1st place such meals are not exactly filling.. with a smaller portion now.. it never quite fill our tummy.Thats why I started to cook more often then ever. Whats more.. I can add more ingredient...
I have some threadfin fish head in freezer waiting to be clear.. and I been making papaya fish soup for the past few months for confinement.. It occurs to me..the sweet swwet soup in fact could be used in fish beehoon dish... Thou the commercial one are a little on the salty side... but I decided to give it a try anyway. Finaly i managed to get some fish fillet fr the mart. I got some garouper fish fillet... it cost me a whopping $14 for 2 pcs.. *GASP*... well well ok... if that makes a wonderful dinner.. why not??
Unfortunately.. NTUC dun sell sole fish.. I thought it will make the stock better.
I was rummaging thru my ever so filled up fridge.. and I managed to find 1 last piece of sole fish... YAY!
I deep fry the fish and use half incooking the soup, blendng the other half into powder.
Cooking the soup was a breeze.. just pan fry the fish head with some ginger.. add in water, red dates as well as papaya and let simmer for half an hour.. the soup is slightly whitish. Salt is added to bring out the sweetness... Yes salt.. strange.. but salt makes wonder when it comes to bringing out other flavours.
I lightly marinated the fish with some salt n pepper and shao xing wine, coat it with tapioca flouur and fry them till cooked.
Before I serve.. I blanched some veggies and tomato... added some evapourated milk into the soup.. and top it with the fish as well as many spring onions not forgetting the powder sole fish... It makes a great meal.... The fish taste great.. slightly sweet with firm meat.. I guess I did the right thing on cooking this for dinner tonight.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Beef Horfun
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Aston
We went to Aston last night for dinner since we will pop by Chinese Swimming Club after that... Since it been having great reviews on their steak which happen to be our fav meat, i quicly make reservation.. It seem slike they have got 2 branch at Joochiat. 1 doesnt take reservtion. and of cos I choose the one that takes. We passed by the one that doesnt need reservation... the queue was crazy.. no way am I gg to stand by the road side waiting in that manner.Parking was a breeze since we opt for the per entry parking.. more ex.. but faster.
On our order was a shrimp cocktail, I had wanted to order their portebello mushroom as well but I got a feeling I cant finish the food and so.... no mushroom for me!
Shrimp Cocktail
Its crunchy and well.. plain..
the salad came w a dressing of a mixtureof perhaps ketchup n something else... cant make out what is it.. bt definitely will experiment it out at home...
Dear got himself a prime ribs which by standard should be v nice. The steak should be tender and juicy.. The exorbitant price helps when he decided to order that since it makes no cow sense if somethg so ex doesnt taste good rite?
I had a 10 oz ribeye. and we add on a side dish of potato skin each.
Potato Skin With Bacon Bits
We love our steak medium rare and so that was our request
While we are serve bread with the appetiser... we waited patiently... but my patience seem to run out... after a good 40 mins, finally the steak came...
10 oz Ribeye
The ribeye is realy a huge serving I must say... I have never ever been unable to finish any steak.. for once.. I cant fin this... some what the taste wasnt realy there .. so the large mass of meat din help ...
Heres how we like our beef to b done.. with raw bloody center...
Dears rib wasnt as good.. it seem more medium well instead of medium rare.. and the taste is a bit off... even the sauce doesnt help in lifting the taste
Not forgetting it was actualy quite tough to chew... needless to say dear din enjoy his steak...
No way he is going back there again I guess.... He would rather I cook them at home... looks like its another dine out that gone wrong
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Bread Talks
Its sports day as usual for tomorrow and I racked thru my brain thinking what to bake or cook as usual.. we r hook on eating by the poolside now hehe.Since I froze some cook otah leftover during the recent BBQ session.. I thought otah bun will be nice... and I do want to try out a new recipe posted by Mrs Kuo... and so...
Silly me.. I onli defrosted 6 otah... I duno why.. but somehow I thought enuff tomake jus 6 bunx..actualy its enuff for 10... oh well... here comes other flavour.. ham n cheese will be perfect for the kids tomorrow...
My Bread Talk
This recipe actualy uses the 中种 dough method.. which involves a starter dough mix into the basic dough ... its something I have not tried but I have heard of review saying that bread that uses starter dough yield a softer bread which is exactly what my family wants... they all like bo gay.. need soft bread... and outside soft bread will probably be loaded with bread improver which is some chemicals.. So I am game to give this a try.
It seems rather easy except that I need to do the starter 1st. I used the breadmaker to do the starter dough since it needs proofing. When mixing the basic with the starter dough, I use my mixer instead of the breadmaker.. Afterall I bought this mixer cos of its power to knead bread and so its just a good excuse to use both the breadmaker as well as the mixer rite... just need to do some extra washing.
Final Proofing takes me onli 45 mins.. not 90 mins as instructed.. and I bake it for a full 15mins at 190 degree...
The bread felt a little hard once out of the oven.. I was worried... but 10 mins later when it cooled down... oh well... let the picture do the talking...
Ham & Cheese Bread
Otah Bread
I topped the bun with some japanese 5 spice chilli mix for the spicy taste.
The bread was soooo soft n fluffy.. I think I can fool my sisters that this are fr the bakery indeed.
I had 1 bread each while I blog... can u imagine how good it is? I got a feeling I will make these again tomolo... this time w more otah LOL..
Thank You Mrs Kuo for the recipe... =)
Perhaps next on my list, I shall try 汤种 method which also is said to give fluffy n soft bread texture.. lets wait till next week and we see how... Prob we can do Breadtalk alike pork floss bread.... since I am dying to try out the transparent mayo too
Bread Talks....
Friday, August 15, 2008
Penang Re-visited
When people talk bout penang... I think of their laksa... afterall thats my favourite...I can eat it at least once a day when I go to Penang....
The core ingredient apart from the gravy, is actualy the shrimppaste.. it certainly give the soup a very different flavour when its added to it prior before eating.
I haven had a decent bowl of laksa for 8 mth.. the last time I had a bowl to satisfy my craving... it was really lousy..so tats not counted. Dear said he wun mind flying up to Penang with me to eat the laksa.. but its a bit exegerating right?
Anyway we did buy some Penang Laksa premix back to SG... but the thg was I forgot bout the famous shrimp paste... and after so many months I haven go tmy butt down to making the laksa... until this fateful day where I can no longer tolerate the craving..
Using the play cheat method of canned sardine in tomato sauce... I used 2 canned instead of 1 since I was worried the soup will b diluted. . also I did not use the specific amt of water.. I used less than required. .. I was told to drain off the tomato sauce .. just add in the sardine..but aft tasting.. I tot sth is missing.. so I decided to add in the sauce.. oh well... it did wonder....
Less than an hour later... I got what I wanted... Penang Laksa... I had 2 bowls of the soup with the sardines before dinner.. that shows how much I love this yummy dish...
Penang Laksa
Using the thick beehoon, I topped off the dish with some many many slices of onions, chop pineapple, mint leaves, not forgetting the shrimp paste.. it provide us with a satisfying meal.
Althou I doesnt like pineaple, but in this dish the pineapple give the nice sweetish taste in the spicy n sour gravy. So its a definite must have..
This premix is so good and ingredients are so easily available anywhere in the world. I cant resist but send my gf in Sweden a pack to try... yes jus a pack in case the custom confiscate it hee
If the Oxtail Soup is fit for the King... then I guess this must be fit for the Queen then... hee
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Oxtail Stew
Pigtail is one of my fav porky parts almong my dishes... i like them in my har mee as ell as in bak ku teh...Oxtail.. however.. doesnt havemuch influence in my life.. Maybe for a start I wasnt brought p with beef in my life.. i onli started having beef 7 years ago while on my attachment in Korea..
The other day we went to Werner's Oven.. and dear had ox tail stew.. he enjoyed it thoroughly. but its freaking ex.. cost near $20 ... but he loves it.. and he asked if I know hw to do it...
Ok.. I dont want to disapoint him.. so I say I will try..
Seeing some beef tail on offer at Market Place.. I thought it will be nice to make him some to try...
Obviously I have no idea how to go about doing it.. thanx to Josh.. he gave me a rough idea what goes into the stew.. and well.. there I go..
As I was cutting up onions, garlic, carrot and potato.. I realised I used up my tomato paste ... darn... I ran down to buy..lucky the mart is jus 2 mins away... ...
After 45 mins of boiling in the PC... then let it sit till it depressurised... finaly dinner was done... its the 1st tiem I had cook that long on a PC.. since I am very mindful of whether the oxtail is soft n tender enuff anot... Mister bo gay will spit all out if its too tough...
Well.. the verdict..
I made it! YAY!!!!
Oxtail Stew
And before I forget how I did this.. let mi briefly jot it down.. all by eye power onli
1 pack of oxtail
1 big onion, diced
some garlic, chopped
carrots, diced
3 potato, halved
1 can of tomato puree
1 can of tomato
4 bay leaves
some dry thyme
1 beef cube
1cup red wine
some water
dash of pepper
Method:
1. lightly fry the ox tail... set aside
2. add in onion, garlic, carrot and fry till light brown
3. add in the ox tail...
4. pour in both can of tomato and add in the beef cube
5. add water.. a little more doesnt hurt cos u gg to stew it for quite a while...
6. add 1 potato and bay leaves... add in wine
7. cook on pressure cooker for at least 1/2 hour to 45 mins, then off fire and let it depressurised.
8. open lid, by now..the gravy is v thick cos the potato all disintegrated.. I choose to do this step cos I do not want to do a roux.
9. add in the remainder potato boil for further 15 min.
10. I added brocolli at the end to maek sure we had some veggie in the diet... add pepper before serving.
Serve warm with bread.
this may not be the proper method of doing a stew..but nonetheless it taste good... yum yum..
Needless to say... all was gone..
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Happy Birthday To Singapore
Its National Day.. a big day for all of us.. our dear country is now officialy 43 year old.. still young.. with a long road ahead...I had invited some friends over for a mini party as usual... We planned a picnic to watch fireworks but end up we chg our mind and tink its a lucky thing we did chg our mind becos its raining out there!!!
I am tasked to prepare the food of cos... while Angie bought the wine n cheese... I did some oven bake chicken wings which tasted almost like fried ones.. some fusion salad... and a siemmai look alike dish... well shall we call it Singapore Siewmai since its our dear Singapore Birthday....
J showed me a photo of the siew mai.. and she tot its a good idea for lunch.. and well I thought its a good way to make up for the starch dish during party.... the different thing bout this siewmai is no minced pork is used. its all rice.. glutinous rice to be exact. The pic showed a green pea as topping... but I thought I want it to realy look like siew mai.. and its a birthday party.. we need something red red right? so well I use some cavier since I always have them in my fridge ...
Here goes
Its pretty easy to make.. just need to steam the glu rice, then pan fry soem ingredients which U have in fridge.. I use lap cheong, mushroom n dry shrimps... oyster sauce, pepper and soy sauce is used to give it some taste...
Wrap it up with wanton skin, top with the cavier or anythg u wish.. I brush the siew mai with some oil after that as I intend to let it chill till when I need then steam them. the oil will help to keep the wanton skin moist and not dry and hard.
Steam for 10 mins and serve warm.... it was a good choice to use cavier..becos my guest realy thought these r the real siewmai =)
Oh yes.. I did a durian cake too... but no photos since its a regular on my list liao.. and also I did not decor it a single bit.... its a botak durian cake LOL.... and well my dear sis ate soem too.. she haven touch durians for years but she realy give face.. and dear Angie..she had 2nd serving!! now I onli have 3 left meant to bring to the club tomorrow.... yummm
Happy Birthday Singapore =)
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Onigiri again
We ran out of idea for dinner again.. and I asked dear what e wants.. he say onigiri.. not a too good idea.. since I just pack all mybento stuff nicely n stashed it away... but no choice... big boy wants this for dinner LOLI debone some drumlets, mariante w sesame seeds and teriyaki sauce.. lightly fry it with some spinach... for the onigiri filling.
The rice wasnt sticky enuff today.. guess not enuff water but they still hold up nicely. With some furikake mixed into the rice... in they go into the rice mould... I still find the round mould too big... seems like the filling cant go in much.. tsk tsk...
And yes. with my new toy.. the nori cutter... I punch out 2 pattern.. the star and the cute face...
Heres hw they look like...
Smiley Face Onigiri
oh yes.. I use the other round triangle mould too...
Starry Onigiri...
Im too tired to do other design.. so settle for this 2 1st.. hehe.. punching out the nori isnt easy in such humid weather....
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Almondy Jelly
I love the smell of almond... which my mum always describe it as the 'cockroach small'.. obviously she hates it.. im the true opp of her.. anythg she dislike.. I love them...I rem having almond jelly when I was young at a hor fun restaurant in my old home. The smell of the almond floods the whole fridge... alongside with the jellys are of cos longans. A fruit which is never on my favourite list becos its always sweet.... I hardly want to touch longan ..unless its in the almond jelly... becos of the smell of the almond of cos.. and its diluted..not so sweet.
I been searching for almond jelly recipe thats is made from scratch with agar agar powder for months... finaly I stumbled upon rose recipe and decided to giv it a try.. no harm since i got loads of agar agar powder at home. And I can bring it to the pool side to nib while chatting w friends. Kids will like it too...
Oh my.. its real easy... I added extra Amaretto liqueur in the syrup.. Threw in some left over can peach which I used for fruit tarts earlier on to get some colours...
Almond Jelly
Heres how:
7g agar agar powder
4 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp almond essence
5tbsp evapourated milk
Method:
1. Bring water, agar agar powder to boil. Add in sugar. Stir till dissolve.
2. Add in milk n almomnd essence.
3. stir n pour to mould or bowl tolet cool n set.
4. cube the set jelly up to desire size, add in a can of longan and some water to dilute it.
Oh yes.. dont forget the amaretto if u love almond smell...