Christmas in Singapore!

I'm back! :) I went to Singapore for 10 days... it was just right! I didnt make it past Takashimaya, and only sat the MRT once, but the good thing about being there for not too long is that the damage on the weighing scales wouldnt be as bad! I haven't been to Singapore since March 05, so it was nice to go back and remember how many shops they had, how MUCH food there is, I even wondered if perhaps there was a ratio of 2 people: 1 restaurant! No kidding, there is just so much food! My q is, if so, why are people still on an average small??? Not fair!

It was nice being in Spore, and catching up with family and friends. We had an asian meal at a Hotel for Christmas, in this private function room that had couches and everything! :) It was nice, and yes it was good to be with family and relatives!

Okay food I ate (I forgot to bring my camera most of the times, so didn't get to take many happy snaps - so imagine!):

James and I - sashimi octopus out of James' mouth and I'm holding a tempura - yum!

1. Japanese buffet - I wish we had it in Perth! The usual stuff, but it was nice!!
2. Sausage wrapped with a roti prata
3. Japanese pancake with red bean inside - yum!
4. Beard Papa - cream puffs @ $2 each
5. Okay this one is great! - Green tea Frappaccino from Starbucks! Oh my gosh! This is heavenly................ craving for it at the thought!
6. Xiao Long Pao - the shanghai dumplings with soup inside - I wanna learn how to make this!
7. Herbal duck - yes herbal duck... yum yum!
8. Japanese pancake balls thing, stuffed with prawn or octopus
   

Okay, I ate more than that, but those are the ones worth mentioning! :) The food in Singapore is just so good - and it is everywhere!!! And shopping - I love how they display it by the colour category!

Met up with 2 of my good friends in Singapore (Thanks May and Jieying!) - had a great time, and yeah was so good! Wish you guys here were - or May would probably say, me move back to Singapore!!! :P

May and I :)


Jieying and I :)

Okay, stay tuned for more posts... I'm attempting Pineapple Tarts and Tiramisu tonight!
Till then! :)

Crumbed and Stuffed Chicken!

Ahhh this was tonight's dinner! Crumbed chicken with pancetta, spinach, sundried tomato pesto and cheese! :) I roasted some potatos for the side dish, and to make it complete, sliced up some cucumber! :)

This was fairly yum!!! A bit of work though, because of the assembling, and also because you had to first coat it with flour, then dip it in the egg + milk mixture, then coat it with breadcrumbs, leave it in the fridge for 30mins, then pan fry it each side to get it nice and brown, then place it in the oven for about 10mins or until the chicken is cooked through!

This is the first time I'm using pancetta... hmmm... I think I may go for bacon next time, because I could hardly feel or taste the effects of the pancetta... however, I think bacon may be a little too strong....

I'm not sure if my picture does justice to the chicken, but it was quite a satisfying meal!

Do have a go when inspiration hits you! :)

'Tis the Season to be Jolly!!!

8 Days to go before Christmas!!!

I love this time of the year! :) The cheer, the festivity, the relaxed atmosphere, the christmas carols, just everything about December! I wish December lasted a little longer than a month... :) Anyway, so I had big plans to bake, and maybe even do a Christmas cake... but with 8 days to go, none of it has happened :( - There will be always be the hope for Christmas 2007.

However, we had a christmas dinner for the YAs, and Janice and I were placed in charge of catering dinner for 60 young adults!!! It was a huge task, at times seemed too large and a mountain too high to climb, but we had so much fun, and Janice is absolutely amazing with her decorations and food ideas! So we had heaps of fun!!!

Thank you to all the wonderful people who helped us out! :) Couldnt have done it without you! :)

Incase I don't see or speak to you guys soon, just want to...
wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a very blessed 2007!!!
May 2007 be an even better year for you, with more dreams coming true and success in everything you do! :)

Thanks for reading my blog - may 2007 bring even more food and cooking inspiration!!! :)

Check out the photos below.........

The beginning of the feast for the night....

Another view of the food... :)

The yummy ham Eulynn roasted....

The turkey I roasted... not exactly the best shot but thank God it worked out well.
Did you know turkey porridge is extremely yummy??? :)

The summer berry trifle that I made! :)
(check out the cool food labels that Janice made!!!)

Perfect Mini Fruit tarts!

Heyhey!!! Yes I know, it has been so long since I last blogged! I just realised there were NO entries in November! I have been pretty busy, didn't bake all that much actually, on reflection. But promise there will be a few more entries coming up! Okay for the first time ever, I made proper custard.... this is called pastry cream, and it was really good! But I want to modify it next time... I'll post the recipe below and write little notes at the bottom on how I would modify it. It was really delicious, a little bit too sweet (which is why i would suggest the following modications), I used real vanilla instead of the essence... it was a pastry cream hence if you want it a little firmer, you prob should add in more cornstarch. But this certainly beats the box custard! So try it sometime! :) No, I didn't make the shortcrust pastry - bought the mini tarts (Pampus) brand - follow instructions, real simple and totally yummy! I brushed some gelatine over the top of the fruit.

Perfect summer treat especially when chilled!!! :)

2 cups half-and-half (mixture of milk and cream)
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated white sugar
A pinch of salt (1/8 tsp.)
5 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Heat the half-and-half, 6 tablespoons of the sugar, and salt in a saucepan until the mixture simmers. Stir occasionally to dissolve sugar.

2. Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks in a bowl until smooth. Whisk in the remaining sugar (2 tablespoons) with the egg yolks. Whisk the mixture for about about 15 seconds. Whisk in the cornstarch and keep whisking for about 30 seconds.

3. When the half-and-half mixture is simmering, gradually add the the hot milk/cream mixture to the egg yolks, only a little at a time. Return the mixture to the pan and simmer until the mixture is thick and shiny, about 30 seconds. Turn off the heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla. If you prefer a smooth pastry cream, strain the mixture through a sieve. Refrigerate the pastry cream for at least 3 hours, until it is cold. You can keep it for two days!

Source: http://kokonuggetyumyum.blogspot.com/2005/05/biggest-disappointment-ever-strawberry.html#111638886260095363

*Liz's modifications: Here is what I would suggest for next time - mind you, I havent tried this modified version, just some thoughts I had after tasting it - it is fairly sweet, so I would cut down the sugar by 1/3. I would perhaps add in an extra tablespoon of the cornstarch*

Shortbread varieties!

After dinner tonight, the perfect square of butter in the fridge totally distracted me! Days ago, I was thinking of baking plain shortbread with chocolate shape print in the middle, so totally eager to make these perfectly shaped cookies, I headed straight into the kitchen after dinner.

I made choc chip shortbread, plain shortbread and "double decker" shortbread! My initial idea of those shortbread with cute patterns in the middle disappeared after I tried doing it, too much work, far too delicate and for some weird reason, my dough tonight seemed to be a bit drier than I remembered it was previously!

Anyway it turned out well! So here I am, 2 hours later, kitchen cleaned, shortbread baked, waiting for it to be cooled before packing it away! Tomorrow is the first day of the month, busy time @ work - hopefully these cookies will bring some sense of comfort to us in the midst of urgent journals, accounting issues and tight deadlines! :)

Have a happy mid-week everyone! :)

More Apples!!!

Entry on Sunday: Yes yes yes! More apples! Weekends seem to be getting busier! After a REALLY busy Saturday, today seemed like a holiday :) I even managed to do my laundry and watched "The Break up" too - I had heard mixed reviews about it. My quick review of it: dialogue was VERY realistic, and shows the different ways in which guys and girls work! Ending was a bit ermmm... iffy.... if there is such a word! It was perhaps a "blah" movie... in which you cant really comment on for more than 2 sentences! :)

A couple of weeks ago, I bought the Nov 06 issue of "Food Idea" and saw a recipe for a "Apple and Custard teacake" - that seemed interesting enough! Seeing the huge basket of apples that we still had and liking custard, this seemed like the perfect recipe to try!

Taste verdict: Not bad! Although I think the previous apple cake was a better recipe! That one had an incredible fluffy texture! But this one was definitely really nice and moist because of the custard. The cake formed a slight apple and custard layer at the bottom.

An Apple a day keeps the doc away? :)

Yes of course! :) So what better way to consume your daily prescription of fruits than in a yummy Apple & Cinnamon teacake?! Haha! Well, ok this probably wouldnt be what a doctor would prescribe, but nevertheless there are real fresh apples in this cake!


Recipe came from the "Good Taste" Sept 06 magazine! I have been starring at it for ages, and was hoping to bake it on the weekend... but didn't end up baking it. So tonight, after a loooong day @ work, I was STILL thinking about the cake... and was going through the "should I or should I not" thought process, and then BANG! thought why not! How long would it take me anyway?! And so in less than an hour, it was sitting very nicely in the oven... 40mins later, the aroma filled the kitchen, and shortly after, here it was! Taste was really quite lovely! The texture of the cake was nice and fluffy and very light, yet moist! A very even textured cake :) Apples were nice and sweet and it was all just right! I increased the milk a bit just to make sure it would not be dry, but other than that, I didnt change the ingredients!

Hor Fun

One of my friends asked why I didnt mention his name in my blog when he was part of the "blog action"! Haha! I told him I would devote a whole entry to him then - so here it is, this "Hor Fun" entry is for you - hahaha! To someone who is entertaining to watch eat, always likes savouries, who doesnt like sweets, and only enjoys about 2 desserts in the whole world!!! (that has to change one day! haha! :P)

A few weeks ago, I started cooking this dish - I'm sorry I dont have the recipe - Im being like a typical asian cook and just adding this and that to the dish to taste! - I now understand my Mum! :) It's basically white noodle sticks (Kway Teow) - that you buy fresh from the asian shops and you fry it with oil and garlic, and to make it brown, simply put a bit of the dark sticky black sauce! You then cook the egg sauce and once completed, you ladle the sauce over the kway teow. This was dinner tonight - my family enjoyed it - phew it passed the high quality food control family testing! :)

A trick to make the egg sauce - crack the whole egg in and swirl it very quick and only a couple of times, otherwise the sauce looks too eggy like scrambled eggs! :)

Best eaten with the green pickled chilli, but we forgot to buy some, so ate it with some hot red pickled chilli instead!!! :)

Green tea cupcakes!!!

Green tea green tea green tea! It has a very subtle fragrance! :) I'm not sure what it is about it, perhaps the thought that it may ermm have a healthy element to it that makes it appealing? Nah not really! Hehe! Anyway, I finally got round to baking these "different" sort of cupcakes - thanks to the Cupcake Bakeshop @ http://cupcakeblog.com/! Check this blog out, it is all inspiring!!! :) Takes the idea of a cupcake to a whole different heavenly level! :)

I once thought and still do think that green tea has a bit of a fish food flavour to it, and I remember my friend once asked if I had actually tasted fish food! No! Of course not, but really, you have to admit it does have that type of flavour to it... :)

On that ermm interesting note, here are the fruits of my oven labour this afternoon! :) Very good - a recipe to keep! This is not your fluffy airy type of cupcake - it is one that has a fairly solid feel to it, and you can definitely taste the green tea - it's subtle but it's there. For those who dont like a strong taste of it, you'll appreciate this, and I love the fact that these cupcakes are green! :) Kinda different! :)

I cut down on the sugar to 1.5cups of sugar instead of the 2 cups... refer to the Cupcakeshop blog for the recipe :)

Enjoy all! :)

I am alive!!!

Hello hello hello!

Okay, so it has indeed been awhile since I wrote or updated this blog! Sorry! Things have been so busy! :) I have though been cooking! Just havent been taking snaps and writing it up here! I've been exploring and cooking more savouries - I figured I should invest more time into this area, although more useful and tasier, not as fun or pretty as desserts! :)

Anyway, thank you for those who are still checking in once in awhile - in approx 2 weeks this blog should hopefully be more alive! I'm dying to try out the green tea cupcakes that was in someone's cupcake blog - looks fab! So that shall be happening soon - plus I still need to try the Spanish Roast Chicken by Jamie Oliver... talking about Jamie Oliver, his Sticky Toffee Pudding is awesome! Love it love it love it! Simple to make, so moist and well... delicious! :)

A couple of annonymous bloggers have dropped in to say Hi! Thanks! and Hi back! :) For the person who asked for the Raspberry Donna Hay cupcake recipes - I will post it up in about 2 weeks if that is ok? Please check in from time to time! :) You'll love it! :)

Okay till then, happy eating everyone!!!

Cheers, Liz :)