Chilli Crab Kitchen

Chillicrab and the mysterious 冠头移

2012-02-06T20:08:00.007+08:00

Monday morning. Chillicrab notices that a few colleagues are “missing” from the office - they are all home nursing the ‘flu. Looks like Chillicrab isn’t the only one in the office who collided with the big bad bug!

During lunch hour, Chillicrab is picking out fruits in the supermarket (with the ‘flu bug going around everyone in the office could do with a dose of Vitamin C) when an Auntie approaches Chillicrab and enquires, “请问冠头移在那里?” Chillicrab thinks the ‘flu medication is making her dense because Chillicrab has zero idea what "冠头移" is!

“移！移! 冠头移!” Auntie gestures in exasperation until Chillicrab is almost certain Auntie is after some kind of fish. At this point, a supermarket attendant finally intervenes and tells Auntie, “罐头鱼放在前面第二排.” Auntie gives a huge sigh of relief and thank attendant profusely, while Chillicrab wishes she could crawl (sideways, of course) into obscurity.

Kissed by the sun

2012-02-05T21:01:00.009+08:00

Doesn't it look as if the afternoon sun came in and gave this bread a huge embrace? The durum flour has a Midas touch - it gives the bread a golden hue. I super love it!

I've been suffering from a sore throat and running nose since Friday. When I tell people about it, they - colleagues, friends and family alike - say the same thing, "It must be due to all the good food you ate during CNY!"

The sore throat gradually transformed into a scratchy one, bringing on a dry cough every now and again. It was most irrtable, I hardly slept a wink! I had looked forward to attending a gathering of ex-classmates over at Pek Ling's today but decided to give it a miss. I've also started to sneeze repeatedly. I'm quite certain that my friends wouldn't be glad for my company today.

This afternoon I decided that I simply cannot lie in bed all day, so I finally got moving and made some bread. Not that I feel 100% better but I had already bought the yogurt since last week and I don't believe it will keep well. There was also the Duelio flour waiting to be to used up. You know how it is with flour, you keep them for a few months and the Evil Weevils move in and play Happy Family. I'm not going to let it happen to my flour, especially since I carried it all the way from Taipei.

These Almond Twists are inspired by something I saw in the Nordic Bakery Cookbook but I didn't use the recipe in the book. Instead I used a recipe for yogurt bread that I meant to try out for ages. I also made an almond filling from Nick Malgieri's recipe in bake.

I still have a very small quantity of Midas flour left. I wonder if it would be sufficient to make me some noodles!

Off to bed early. Hope to feel better tomorrow!

Wanted: Terminator 请杀手!

2012-02-02T19:06:00.012+08:00

Awoke at 5AM. Badly needed to pee. Sat on the toilet bowl, still half asleep. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw it! Rubbing its feelers together gleefully and grinning at me from the towel rail in the vilest manner. I was suddenly awake as fear gripped me and I told myself, "Quick! Finish peeing and get out before it comes any closer!"

Mind you, even at five in the morning I was able to plot my next move(s): flush, wash hands, (no, don’t even bother to switch off the bathroom lights!) then make a dash for the safety of my bedroom. Close the door and all will be well. It must have read my mind because it lifted its wings just as I starting running. Before I could shut the bedroom door fully it already followed me inside! I gave a terrified yelp and leapt outside! At that very moment, my mother appeared in the darkened hallway and, by the faint light emitting from the bathroom, watched the animation without amusement. “It’s only an insect," she observed. “It’s a COCKROACH! And it’s in my room!” I squealed.

She switched on the lights and surveyed the bedroom. My mother is courageous in the face of evil. “It isn’t here anymore.”

Convinced that the vile creature is still well concealed and lying in wait, I quickly gathered my pillows and went to sleep in my parents’ room. :)

I need an exterminator! 我要请杀手!

How do cockroaches make their way up to my 35th floor apartment? My globetrotting French boss had a theory once upon a time. "You know they don't fly direct, don't you?" speaking like a true frequent flyer. "They make stopovers. First they fly to the 6th floor, rest, then up to the 15th floor, then 20th floor, etc .." Maybe he is right.

Let the festive feeding frenzy - be over!

2012-01-24T19:45:00.007+08:00

My cousins came over to wish my parents “Happy New Year” this morning. My niece is so cute, is she not? She’s growing up fast. Very soon she’ll be leading the boys in a game of chase.

Tomorrow we go back to work. So ends the 5-day lunar new year weekend. 今年春节与家人，同事，共”捞起”了好几次，每顿山珍海味。吃得太多好料，竟然有点怕怕。知道这样说的确很过分。有些贫穷国家的人民，每日难得一餐温饱呢!

But seriously, three “lo hei” (捞起) dinners are more than enough for anyone who is looking for a year of 风生水起。 Let's not over do it. Ever heard of 物极则反?

There is so much food in the house, it’s crazy! Not exactly an indusive environment for dieting. Every I turn there are 肉干, chocolates, nuts, dried fruits and several bottles of cookies lying in ambush. My father’s friend made us a large orange chiffon cake. We’ve only eaten half of that steamed radish cake.

In fact, my parents got so tired of the rich soups, seafood and meats that they decided they needed a break. We had canned sardines with bread for dinner tonight.

I'll need to invite more friends over to the house to help with the CNY goodies. Otherwise I don't foresee myself baking anything until March!

Bring it on, Dragon!

2012-01-22T21:00:00.013+08:00

My family is ever so ready to usher in a brand new year!

The apartment is spick and span - we cleaned the floor in every room once on Friday, twice yesterday and, at my mother's insistence, one more time this afternoon. (As soon as the shops reopen next week, we'll buy a new bottle of floor detergent!) All the windows are squeaky; new curtains in place. The new sofa has arrived!

What's Year of the Dragon without some fierce decor?

It's kind of a CNY tradition in my home to have radish cake. My mother usually makes a mean 萝卜糕 but she prefers to take things easy nowadays - actually she spent all the time cleaning ;) - so we went and ordered one from a restaurant.

Radish cake from Crystal Jade

In a few hours, we'll be riding with the Dragon so let me wish you a very successful and prosperous Year of the Dragon. Eat well, stay healthy and be contented. For with contentment comes happiness. 希望你每天都能笑口常开!

Holiday reading

2012-01-20T11:00:00.003+08:00

Brought these home from the local library for some holiday reading.

With Chinese New Year only three days away, it'll be a busy weekend. My parents are getting on in age and its only natural that they expect me to take up most of the spring cleaning chores at home. My mother is a neat freak who spends hours each day cleaning a different part of the house. As the festive season approaches, she becomes particularly obsessed. So when she spotted me with these books, she flipped.

"When will you find time to read these?" she wanted to know. "Don't you have cleaning to do?"

I quickly assured her that I would be able to manage my time very well.

I think I better go tidy up my room now. :)

Surprise!

2012-01-20T09:31:00.001+08:00

A surprise gift from my very charming French boss! He wants to show his appreciation for his assistant of six years. "How sweet!" the ladies in the office cooed.

It is indeed very nice of my boss. What a great start to the Year of the Dragon! I love its festive colour!

On the right track

2012-01-12T22:10:00.015+08:00

I’m making a conscious effort to consume less processed foods and MSG.

It is hard, very hard.

Growing up, lunch staples were salted fish, luncheon meat and pickled lettuce from a can. Frequently it was instant noodles, topped with a sunny side up. Until a few years ago, my mother’s favorite cooking companion was The Gourmet Powder (佛手味精). I’m not saying that my grandmother and mother were bad parents because I’m in love with those foods myself and made no effort to avoid them even in adulthood. Potato crisps, bacon, Sichuan pickled mustard, salted egg, hotdogs bought from the frozen foods section – such are the foods that provide comfort and keep my spirits up.

So difficult to break away.

I’m so heavily addicted to sodium and MSG that around Day 7 or 8 into my diet, I encountered withdrawal symptoms. I was unaware they existed! There were butterflies in my tummy and an unexplained anxiety nagged me. I was on the verge of hysterics when my mother drilled me to no end over a darn piece of chicken. I had trouble sleeping. My mouth felt blend (not dry - but blend). I needed a drink of water every hour!

The colleague sitting next to me has 3 bottles of homemade cookies lying on the desk. I couldn’t keep my eyes off them! She politely offered them to me and I courteously declined but each time she leaves her chair for a few minutes, the thought would cross my mind, “If I take a cookie now she wouldn’t notice.”

I resisted.

Today at Day 10, I feel decidedly better about myself. For one thing, my skin complexion has improved. I have fewer hunger pangs. I no longer feel bloated and aged. Most importantly, the pain in my left knee seems to have forsaken me!

I’m on the right track.

Foreboding

2012-01-10T22:10:00.019+08:00

Since Christmas Day, I’ve been troubled by a sense of impending doom. I attribute it to the stress of being cooped up in the same house with my parents for 11 days during the Christmas holidays.

I feel that something bad is about to happen but I don’t know what it is. I go to bed in the night with butterflies in my tummy. I’m unable to sleep soundly through the night. I start to get anxious about stupid things like whether I’ve booked the correct date for our family’s Reunion Dinner, about whether or not the new sofa will be delivered in time for Chinese New Year.

Yesterday morning, I pan-fried a piece of chicken breast to bring to the office as lunch. The relentless questioning began the moment I stepped into the kitchen:

“Do you know how to turn on the stove? Move aside. Move aside. I will do it."
“Have you washed the frying pan?”
“How are you cutting the chicken? Are you slicing it or are you dicing it?”
“Why didn’t you dice the chicken last evening instead of this morning?”
“Are you sure you’ve marinated it enough? From the looks of it, it doesn’t taste very good.”
“Are you using olive oil to fry it?”
“Have you cut the potato into half?"
“Do you think this box is large enough to hold the chicken and a pototo?"

Are all mothers this annoying? I could barely keep myself from screaming audibly.

Box Of Memories 回忆

2012-01-07T18:57:00.002+08:00

On New Year’s Day I cleaned out my storage room and rediscovered a treasure box filled with wistful memories – letters from Tammy dating back to 1991, a bunch of cards from friends and ex-colleagues, handmade birthday cards from my aunt and a some photos.

Tammy’s letters were frequent. Sometimes two a month! Cindy sent greeting cards – one for my birthday, one for Christmas – for 3 years in succession. Anna shared photos of her trip to Australia and one of her niece - a smiling toddler in a bathing suit. Just yesterday, I opened an email from Anna and POOF! That toddler isn’t a toddler anymore but a drop-dead gorgeous young woman. Such a shock it gave me!

Going through all the old mail made me miss the days of the snail mail, when queuing for stamps at the Post Office was fashionable. You craft the letter on your best stationery, race eagerly to the nearest mail box to drop the letter inside it. Then followed by weeks of sheer anticipation.

Please Mister Postman, look and see

If there's a letter in your bag for me …

They say it’s a sign of old age when you start to feel nostalgic.

The way we're working

2012-01-01T21:09:00.001+08:00

Can it really be? Are we already in a brand new year? 52 weeks have slipped by silently. What have I achieved? I hope being able to make bread successfully count as achievement!

A friend mentioned to me this morning that his New Year resolution is to try and spend more time with his family and less hours at work. He was getting so used to staying late in the office that on the days when he is actually able to leave the office by 6PM, he actually feels burdened by a sense of guilt. “I felt like I had surely missed out something important.”

I think he speaks for many of us. Will we allow ourselves to change though? Here's something to think about:

The way we’re working isn’t working.

No matter how much value we produce today (whether it’s measured in dollars or sales or goods or widgets) it’s never enough. We run faster, stretch out our arms further, and stay at work longer and later.

All this furious activity exacts a series of silent costs: less capacity for focused attention, less time for any given task, and less opportunity to think reflectively and long term. When we finally do get home at night, we have less energy for our families, less time to wind down and relax, and fewer hours to sleep. We return to work each morning feeling less rested, less than fully engaged, and less able to focus. It’s a vicious cycle that feeds on itself.

We’re guided by a fatal assumption that the best way to get more done is to work longer and more continuously. But the more hours we work and the longer we go without real renewal, the more we begin to default, reflexively, into behaviors that reduce our own effectiveness – impatience, frustration, distraction, and disengagement – and take a pernicious toll on others.

The ethic of more, bigger faster generates value that is narrow, shallow, and short term. More and more, paradoxically, leads to less and less.

Extracted from The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working by Tony Schwartz

Happy Christmas!

2011-12-25T11:36:00.002+08:00

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

‘Tis a cold and wet Christmas Day morning. It had been raining through the night and still raining. I can hear the pitter patter of rain against my window. A wind howled occasionally. Great weather to stay indoors to read, watch Bones Season 6 and blog. I’m now listening to 訴心事家庭 on Hong Kong Radio One. I love this program and try to catch it every Sunday morning.

Not many people know this but my allergy to dairy has taken its toll on me. I face breaks out into ugly spots whenever I eat dairy products. My lips also start to peel in a very unsightly way. Once I sit down to make a list, I realize that all the foods that I love – butter cookie, pastry, cheese cake, cream soup, ice cream, chocolate, black pepper steak, 牛腩面 – relate to The Cow! I'll also find ways to use less butter, sour cream and buttermilk and more olive oil in my food from now on. Wish me luck! :)

The dermatologist I’m consulting also warned me against MSG and preservatives. Again, such foods that I like – bacon and hot dogs, salted fish and egg, canned luncheon meat – are a big No-No.

While this may sound like bad news, cutting down on some of the above may actually be good for my weight problem! I confessed my weird predicament to Moon and said “All I want for Christmas is a nice, clear complexion.” Moon understood me immediately.

For Christmas she got me a book of bento, suggesting that if I could stick to a home cooked diet (even at work) for a few months my skin condition would improve.

It's great to have a friend who understands what I'm going through.

10 days before Christmas

2011-12-15T12:30:00.010+08:00

Early this morning I read an email reporting an elevator accident at our company's headquarters in Madison Avenue, New York. Someone was killed.

I never knew the victim but I'm shocked and saddened by this sudden tragedy.

What was God thinking when He whisked away Suzanne Hart so abrubtly from her loved ones? Just 10 days before Christmas.

Buttery, crumbly and melt-in-your-mouth

2011-12-11T16:38:00.004+08:00

I do enjoy a good sausage roll once in a while. Sure they lack the sophistication of French pastries but something about these rustic sausage rolls always manage to evoke the widest smiles. I’ve brought them to the office, picnics and housewarming parties and they are a big hit every time.

French butter and Atlantic sea salt play a big part in making the shortcrust pastry oooh so crumbly and addictive. And frankly, who can resist sausages from the Pan Pacific Hotel deli?

Fun's Shortcrust Pastry

200 grams flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dried oregano

100 grams chilled salted butter, cut into 2-cm cubes

4 to 5 tablespoons iced water

Egg wash

How to make the perfect shortcrust pastry? Read it up here and here.

Farina Per Pizza

2011-11-27T16:16:00.004+08:00

Last weekend, while I was catching up on Bones Season 5 in my study when the TV suddenly spit, "POOF!", gave off a little smoke and blacked out. Since the set was 15 years old its sudden demise didn't come as a big shock. Frankly I had looked forward to buying one of those flat screen babies which would allow me to do more than just watch dvd.

This morning, while waiting for the new LED thingy to be delivered I made pizza using the Italian Tipo 00 Flour For Pizza which Tammy got for me from il Bel Paese in Hong Kong.

What is Tipo 00 flour? Italian flours are classified by how finely they are milled, from the roughest ground "tipo"1, to 0, and the finest 00. There is a tipo 00 flour to suit every baking need – tipo 00 farina per dolci (type 00 flour for cake), per piadina (for Italian flatbread) and per pasta. Then, of course, there’s tipo 00 farina per pizza.

It is interesting to read that with Italian flour the baking strength of the dough is indicated by the letter "W". A higher "W" value, the stronger the flour. It is also important to know the "P/L" (the relationship between the tenacity and extensibility) of the dough. Flours with a high "P" value tend to have a high gluten content and absorb a relatively large quantity of water. "L" represents the extensibility of the dough or its ability to rise.

Gran Mugniao Farina “00” Per Pizza has the following specifications:
W = 200-240; P/L 0.40-0.65

I managed to use up to 65% hydration. The dough was quite a challenge as it was sticky, sloppy and elastic. I pressed the dough out thin, almost transparent. Even so, it did puff up quite a lot during baking. The crust (though not crispy) is rich in flavor and delightfully chewy.

I love the uneven holes.

Domesticated

2011-11-13T18:30:00.000+08:00

During weekends, I waste an incredible amount of time online researching nerdy stuff like poetry, books, photography and recipes.

My friend, C, is a little concerned when she found out that I spend my weekends blogging and baking. Recently liberated from an unhappy marriage, C is in the process of rediscovering herself. When I met her last week she declared proudly that she attended a concert on her own, something she has never done in her entire life! This year she spent her birthday weekend with friends in a beach resort, enjoying whole-heartedly for the first time in ages. “I fell asleep while listening to the sound of the ocean,” she said beaming, eager to express her new-found freedom.

C thinks that I need to go out more.

What C doesn’t realise is that I’m at the opposite end of her life stage. During the 16+ years that she was busy maintaining a marriage and family, I had been hanging out plenty. Now I feel happy to come away and be touch with my domestic side.

It’s been years since I made 云吞. This afternoon, it took me a while before recalling how to shape the dumplings!

Slighted

2011-11-11T21:09:00.002+08:00

One night in the middle of October, a drama took place in my household involving: severe nose bleeds, my mother and an ambulance. Afterwards mom earned herself two appointments at TTS Hospital: one with an ENT specialist for endoscopy to ensure she doesn’t have a tumor; one for blood test to rule out hemophilia and other disorders. I’m happy to report that she passed on both counts. After conducting a brief memory test the doctor was quick to rule out dementia. Too quick, in my opinion, especially after she answered an affirmative “No” when asked if she has any children. Considering I was sitting next to her at the time, I think I have the right to feel slighted.

Testing out a new bread flour

2011-10-28T18:45:00.009+08:00

This is bread made with 'Duelio' flour from Nisshin(日清製粉), bought during my visit to Taipei in August. Compared to other brands of bread flour, this one is develops gluten much faster. The flour feels like cornmeal, its colour a nice pale yellow. The Ham & Cheese Loaf smells heavenly and so natural. A good flour produces flavorful breads. I understand now.

I can still recall the first time I made Ham & Cheese Bread. After 20 minutes in the oven, the dough was still white as sheet and very much uncooked. It also smelled weird. My parents made faces (who could blame them?) and wouldn’t touch it. I gave a slice to Moon, who told me quite bluntly, “Fun, you're my best friend and I love you but I’m afraid I don’t have the courage to try this!”

I have no talent.

Who was it who said that "Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy"? Talented fellow blogger, Christina,once told me (when I commented on her beautiful homemade baguettes), “Yes you can if you have the will to learn.”

So here I am. Who would believe that the girl who failed Home Economics in school is now writing a food blog!

Footnote: The morning after. Saturday, October 29, 2011. Last night, I double-wrapped the remaining bread in clingfilm and left it on the dining room table. It is still soft this morning!

Forgotten treasures

2011-10-26T16:41:00.002+08:00

I don’t often make muffins but I liked how those apple ones turned out. I already thought about using dried mangoes or pineapples the next time I bake. Then Maki suggested that I should make my own dried fruits! I might have to toy with the idea a bit longer.

It pays to clean out the fridge every once in a while as there are bound to be forgotten treasures waiting to be rediscovered - like some Tim Tam Whites, just a few slices of dried mangoes and a packet of dried cranberries, still unopened. There's also a lonesome lemon. These will do very well indeed for my next muffin. It'll be like taking all kinds of jewels and combining them into the batter.

Tammy got me some nifty scalloped molds from Hong Kong about 2 years ago when I told her I wanted to try a hand at making Paper-wrapped Sponge Cakes 紙包蛋糕. Look Tammy, I’m finally using them today!

Cookie and Cranberry Muffins

Makes 9 x ¾ cup-capacity muffins

300 grams all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
120 grams caster sugar
240 grams sour cream
2 eggs
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
80 ml sunflower oil
80 grams chopped dried cranberries
40 grams chopped dried mangoes
5 pieces Tim Tam White, roughly chopped

Preheat your oven at 180 degrees C. Line 9 x ¾ cup-capacity (180 ml) moulds with non-stick baking paper. To ease unmolding later, make sure the paper is about 5 to 6mm above the rim of the tin.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add the sugar and stir to combine.

In a separate bowl, combine the sour cream, eggs, lemon zest and oil and whisk together. Stir through the flour mixture until just combined. Carefully fold in the dried fruits and Tim Tam and spoon into the lined moulds.

Bake for 25 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.

Seize the day

2011-10-22T18:36:00.017+08:00

Enjoy yourself it’s later than you think

Enjoy yourself while you’re still in the pink

The years go by as quickly as a wink

Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself it’s later than you think

This song comes to mind quite frequently of late, probably due my parents’ failing health and they are in and out of hospitals often. It drives home the message that we shouldn't keep putting our lives on hold. We must seize the day, every day.

There are times when I flip through pages of a cookbook and say, “I want to try this recipe for chocolate cake!”

But hang on a sec, I can’t. I don’t have sour cream. Maybe I should try a hand at making brioche. No wait, it won’t work again because the recipe calls for dried pears and I don’t have any dried pears!” So I hold the idea off for weeks, stubbornly seeking out dried pears.

Does the same happen to you too?

Like this morning I wanted to make apple muffins. It’ll have diced Fuji apples cooked in butter, brown sugar and lemon juice, I told myself. And raisins. Wait, I don’t have raisins! Oh no! Should I run out under the heavy rain to buy them? Maybe I should put it off to next weekend.

On second thought, I guess nobody is going to die if I omit the raisins. Seize the day while we're still in the pink, right?

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Adapted from this recipe by Debbie

Makes 17 x 5½-cm mini muffins

200 grams cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

100 grams buter

100 grams brown sugar

2 eggs

120 ml milk

For the filling

2 large Fuji apples

Juice of ½ lemon

10 grams butter

30 grams brown sugar

30 grams water

½ teaspoon cinnamon powder

Butter some mini muffin cups and set aside. Preheat your oven at 190 degrees C.

For the filling: Peel, core and dice the apples into 1/4-inch cubes. Place apples, lemon juice, butter, brown sugar and water in a small saucepan and cook on medium heat until liquid has reduced. Set aside to cool.

For the muffin: Whisk together flour and baking powder. Set aside.

Beat eggs and brown sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs a little at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the milk. Add the flour, then stir in the cooked apples.

Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the centre of the muffins comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Happy Space

2011-10-09T20:12:00.029+08:00

After an exceptionally busy work week, I'm glad to retreat home to Chiili Crab Kitchen. This is my Happy Space. In here I think happy thoughts and do only the things that I enjoy most.

Serena got me a beautiful bottle of olive oil while vacationing in Italy. I knew it would work magic in a focaccia.

I made focaccia before but it was dry and dense, possibly because I was inexperienced and I baked it way to long. Before my new friend Wen Jia went home to China to visit her family she offered to buy cookbooks from her hometown. "Because books cost so much less in China, " was her advice.

Today I’m using the focaccia recipe from 面包新语 - a book that Wen Jia bought. It's written by Kyoto-born pastry chef Nishikawa 西川功晃.

This may look pale but it is by no means undercooked.

Its insides are moist and fluffy.

As with all bread dough, I started by beating the crap out of it (for about 6 minutes). When I attempted to release it from the mixing bowl onto the countertop the dough, as if afraid of further abuse, clung on for dear life and refused to leave the bottom of the bowl! And when I tried to coax it into letting go I got dough stuck to the spatula, my fingers, and then the countertop. I was like King Midas except everything I touched turned into dough, not gold. I was horrified, “Oh no! There’s too much water! I'm so in trouble now." Fortunately it cooperated beautifully after the first proof.

Before long, the kitchen air was filled with the fragrance of herbs and olive oil. "好香！好香!" my mother said repeatedly. She couldn't wait to try the bread.

The focaccia came out of the oven just in time for dinner and the 3 of us had a simple meal of ham and cheese sandwiches. My dad was curious to know what expensive, high-end flour I splurged my money on this time because the focaccia turned out so much better than my previous attempts. The secret is to use a mix of all-purpose flour and cake flour in equal proportions. Of course all that hydration helped. Sure, the dough was very sticky in the beginning but with a pair of lightly floured hands and a little patience, it all worked out well.

This looks nice and golden but I feel it's slightly overbaked.

The insides are drier and heavier.

当我们同在一起 Cherish our friendship forever

2011-09-12T08:00:00.021+08:00

These pink roses were baked specially for my childhood friend Wai Leng, who celebrates her birthday today. Wai Leng and I have been friends since we were in kindergarten. We even shared the same classrooms in primary, and most of secondary school. Not many friendships make it this far. I cherish what we have.

When I was in Taipei last month, I bought a book by Pierre Herme, In it is a recipe for Cake Ispahan. As soon as I saw it, I knew it would be perfect with my new Nordic Ware Sweetheart Rose Cast Aluminium Non-stick Muffin Pan.

The startling combination of raspberries and scent of rose petals make my little sponge cakes clear winners. I wonder, however, if the book was really written by Pierre Hermé himself because the Cake Isphan in the PH Paris website resembles nothing like the one featured in the book!

A side story: I was whisking egg whites at the dining room table when a fairly large wasp, obviously attracted by the scent of rose essence, flew into our apartment. Curiously enough it only hovered close to my left shoulder for about 2 seconds then moved into the living room where it was spotted by my parents. My mother went up in arms, rolling up the magazine she was reading, baton-like, to hit the poor thing with. The insect, sensing impending doom, fled through the living room window. It its haste to get way, it didn't fly out. Rather, it kinda slid off the window ledge and plunged outside. I hope it won't ever make its way back up 35 floors!

Happy birthday, Wai Leng! How many friendships truly last a lifetime? 我们要把友情进行到底，好吗?

Bewitching Brioche

2011-09-04T19:21:00.021+08:00

Ever since I read Carole Walter's recipe for Brioche Buns with Dried Pears and Camembert I was decidedly bewitched. I couldn't get the combination of creamy Camembert, toasted walnuts and candied pears infused with orange and cardamom out of my mind. I think about making the brioche everyday but I cannot.

I don't have dried pears.

In our local supermarket there is abundance of dried mango, pineapple, banana, cranberries and once I even came across dried kiwi fruit but where on earth are the dried pears? I looked for them everywhere - in Fairprice, Cold Storage and Carrefour - to no avail. The darn pears were driving me crazy!

Soph and Venna finally bought a pack from Sydney in July. So before the precious dried fruit goes pear shaped (Hahaha!), I used them to make Dried Pears and Camembert Loaves.

Looking back at some of my early attempts to make bread, I have made progress. Even the photography has improved somewhat!

肉松蛋饼 - a Taiwan snack

2011-08-21T12:30:00.007+08:00

今早做了肉松蛋饼，就像在台北延吉街吃到的那种。老爸老妈都没机会吃过，所以自己做点给他们尝尝。面皮是昨晚杆好，一张张煎成淡金黄色，用保鲜膜包住备用。鸡蛋今早才煎，放肉松后用面皮卷起。

肉松是在淡水老街闲逛的时候买，脆脆的不错吃。

虽做得不是很起眼，但我有很用心去做哦。看得出老爸老妈有被感动到，边吃边点头，嘴里直念着"好食，好食!"

奇怪，为何杆不出圆型的面皮呢??? 是因我用的杆面棍太短吗?

台北也有溫泉 Hot Springs in Taipei

2011-08-19T20:00:00.017+08:00

Sunday morning up with the lark

I think I'll take a walk in the park

Hey hey hey it's a beautiful day

OK, so I didn't wake up with the lark on Sunday but I did have a song in my head as I got out of bed. Headed out to Beitou after breakfast.

北投 Beitou

You don't have to travel far to enjoy hot springs in Taipei. Take the MRT to 新北投站(Xinbeitou Station) and you'll find yourself in Taipei's hot springs district.

People wanted to know if I went bathing in the one of the hot springs. The answer is "No!" Are you kidding me? I felt the sun baking me slowly as I walked on the streets, ok?! I'm not jumping into any hot spring in this weather.

Cute train to Xinbeitou Station 新北投站 ...

A pretty long train ...

Beitou is nestled among the mountains. There are hot spring hotels all over town.

Hot Spring Valley - the faint scent of sulphur is in the air.

Behind this lush greenery ...

... is a "steamboat" in which you can cook eggs.

Can you see the steam rising?

Even the creek is bubbling.

淡水老街 Danshui Old Street

A few stations away from Beitou is Danshui. I've been here once previously with Tammy and Jee Sien but we didn't cover all of Danshui then. It was pretty warm weather back then as well. I remember Tammy was screaming murder because she was dying under the hot sun and we cut our trip short and escaped to 天母(Tienmu).

So many shops seling 阿给(Ah Gei). Which one should we pick? One offered us "Air Conditioning Upstairs". Sold! We are easy to please.

We'll drive on and follow the sun

Making Sunday go on and on

Hey hey hey it's a beautiful day

吃喝台北 Food Glorious Food

2011-08-18T22:00:00.019+08:00

Before I set off for Taipei, I listed out several things I would (and would not) do. I will eat in a Japanese restaurant. I will not visit Jiufen, Danshui or Shilin Night Market because I've already done so.

But how often do things always work out the way we plan, right? As it turned out I didn't have a single Japanese meal. And, I did revisit Jiufen and Danshui and Shilin Night Market. Actually I ended up in 3 different night markets - 士林(Shilin),臨江(Linjian) and 师大(Shida). In a way, I feel blessed. If not for my friends' vigorous appetites, I'd never have the opportunity to sample such a wide variety of foods on my own.

Taipei is a food lover's paradise. Good food come in various forms from fine dining restaurants to hidden gems inside the city's narrow alleys.

Fortunately Sally loves food as much as I do and she is willing to walk long distances to locate good food. Like 明月汤包for instance. It's about a 15-min walk from the MRT station but she persevered, and I followed, huffing and puffing under the intense summer heat.

The one we went to was probably 明月老店on 基隆路。It had only 6 tables. There is another shop with the same name just around the corner on 通化街(Tong Hua Street) which looked newer and bigger. We ordered only 2 dishes.

All 6 tables were fully seated when Sally and I arrived.

绍兴醉鸡 Drunken Chicken - I really like this cold dish. The fragrance of the wine is too intoxicating for words. The chicken skin is crunchy, reminding me of 猪脚冻。

小笼汤包 - Delicious steamed pork dumplings. Even better than the ones we had in 鼎泰丰(Ding Tai Fung)！

I'm loving Taipei more and more. :-)

一日游Day Out

2011-08-17T14:01:00.017+08:00

We had beautiful weather on Saturday morning! Kevin from our Taipei office took us out on a day trip to Shifen and Jiufen. The sun was blazing. Everything looked amazing!

十分好玩 Shifen Waterfall

又见九份 Jiufen Old Town

"I'm not asleep. I'm in deep thought."

Oooh the sweet, sweet scent of pink guavas!

Hello! 台北

2011-08-17T13:21:00.015+08:00

On this 2nd visit to Taipei I thought perhaps I could have afternoon tea at Paul but when I arrived at the restaurant I found it packed with patrons.

I didn't want to wait 30 minutes as advised by the restaurant manager. A 15-minute walk landed me in the much talked about Hello Kitty Sweets restaurant. As one might expect, everything inside is like a fairy tale -very kawaii ... deathly sweet and deadly pink!

If you happen to be a Hello Kitty fan, this restaurant is to die for. If you're not a fan, the sweetness of it all could very well kill you!

There's a minimum spending of TWD300 per person. The food doesn't taste as great as it looks. The berry juice tasted like something out of my medicine cabinet!

Well, at least I saw the place for myself.

早安台北

2011-08-17T13:14:00.004+08:00

Here's something that wasn't on my to-do list in Taipei: having a breakfast of 豆浆油条。Sally had a craving for it. The hotel staff pointed us in the direction of 延吉街。It looks like we've come to the right place!

Quite a Q

Soy milk TWD15, 油条TWD13

肉松蛋饼TWD35

葱饼with egg TWD30

Rolling out fresh dough

The place stays open 24 hours. The 山东大饼, 萝卜糕 and 烧饼 all look pretty amazing. It's a pity I can't stomach them all in one seating!

A recipe for general good health

2011-08-09T15:26:00.017+08:00

I think the key to general well being is undisrupted sleep.

Soon after my dad's 80th birthday, he seem to sleep a great deal. He would return home from his daily morning coffee with friends, slouch comfortably in his favourite couch and before long he’ll be snoring away until lunch time. After lunch, he’ll promptly fall asleep again in front of the TV. If something happens to take him away from this routine he becomes spaced out. His incoherent speech and strange behaviour would scare the living daylights out of my mother and me.

A few weeks ago, dad became sleepless after waking up with a cough in the middle of the night. Then a friend dropped by and he missed his afternoon nap. The tiredness led to a running nose, then fever and then a full blown ‘flu. Medication from the doctor at the polyclinic made him drowsy and as he put it - “heavy in the head”. He could hardly walk to the bathroom without help. Already a pessimist by nature, depression began to set in. He gave up his walk to the coffee shop to chat with his friends in the mornings. He lost his appetite. He wanted to make a will! Good thing my aunt suggested a trip to the Chinese physician.

TCM really did the trick! Three days after he visited the physician at Eu Yan Sang, he showed signs of progress. He coughed less during the night, slept better and as genki slowly returned, he started to smile again.

Last Sunday, we were able stroll to a coffee shop across the street from our apartment where he wolfed down 2 half-boiled eggs, a slice of kaya toast and half a cup of black coffee.

When one of us in the family is unwell, we eat simply. For lunch today my mother cooked some Dried Vegetable & Pork Rib Congee. It may not look like much but it contains tons of flavour and goodness. My dad polished off an entire bowl! Yup, he is definitely on the road to recovery.

My mother doesn't believe in jotting down recipes. “Observe and learn” is her motto. “That was how I learnt how to cook,” she told me time and again. When I asked her how much rice she needed for the congee she answered, "大概七分满杯." (Huh?) So I forcefully place everything on a weighing scale, much to her disbelief.

Dried Vegetable & Pork Rib Congee

菜干排骨粥

100 grams rice

25 grams dried vegetable

250 grams pork ribs (about 6 pieces)

About 2.5 litres water

Salt and pepper to taste

Wash and drain the rice. Mix in a little salt and oil. Set aside.

In another bowl, soak the dried vegetable in water. A small amount of dried vegetable will go a long way.

Prepare the pork ribs my mother’s way: First exfoliate the ribs with a generous amount of salt. Then rinse off under the tap. Bring a small pot of water to the boil. Put the pork ribs into the boiling water, stir around for about 30 seconds and remove. This ensures that the dirt and grime hanging on the ribs are thoroughly removed. Drain.

In a large pot, bring the 2.5 litres of water to a boil.

Wring dry and finely chop the dried vegetable. Add the dried vegetable and pork ribs into the boiling water. Cover and leave to cook over medium flame for 1 hour.

Add the rice and continue to cook further for about 1 hour. Once the rice softens, the congee is ready.

Scoop into individual bowls and serve hot.

In case you are wondering, the Chinese Dried Vegetable is actually bak choy that has been dried under the sun for months. The dried vegetable is tasteless on its own but it will take on the flavours of accompanying ingredients such as meat or stock. Rich in vitamins A, B, C and fibre - dried vegetable can prevent scurvy and dry skin. It also eliminates access heat from our inner body. Great for general good health.

Melaka

2011-07-17T12:40:00.006+08:00

Because Tammy fell in love with The Little Nonya, she felt she had to visit Melaka to experience the Peranakan culture. I've already been to Melaka several times but was happy to show her the sights. Our first stop was the Baba Nonya Heritage Museum. This is my third time joining the one-hour guided tour of the place but I'm not yet tired of it.

Melaka is no longer the quiet little town I came to love a decade ago. My favourite chicken rice stall on Jonker Street has flourished into a busy restaurant. A modern shopping mall has established itself right next to Hotel Equatorial. Frankly, I don't like the progress at all. I much prefer to capture the sleepy side of Melaka.

Double Surprise

2011-07-02T20:19:00.021+08:00

Three weeks ago when I was sick like a dog and had to take a day off work, D. appeared at my doorstep bearing chocolates. He had been away in Sydney and wasn't due back until August! If wasn't down with that terrible cold, I'm sure I would've hugged him. I like chocolates with 70% cocoa.

When I returned to work the next day, another surprise awaits. Maki had sent a mystery package! I think my cold got slightly better just by looking at the financiers selection from Joel Robuchon! Then there was the very cute Laduree lunch bag. (I'll show it to you in my next post). I just couldn't stop smiling for the rest of that day. Somehow, she also managed to fit in some Imperial Matcha into the box that was already bursting with goodies. Tsk! Tsk!

With 2 fine ingredients in hand, it would be a waste not to bake something with them. Better still if I can combine both. So D. and Maki, here's my Double Surprise for you - creamy Chocolate and Matcha Tea Cakes that turned out looking more like a scoops of ice-cream than cake.

Double Surprise Tea Cakes

The original recipe can be found here.

115 grams unsalted butter

80 grams chocolate

3 large eggs

150 grams caster sugar

180 grams all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

½ teaspoons sifted unsweetened cocoa, diluted with 2 tablespoons cold milk
½ teaspoons matcha powder

Preheat your oven at 180 degrees C.

Melt the butter and set aside.

Melt the chocolate and set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Beat the eggs with the sugar until white in colour. Then add the melted butter and mix well. Add flour and baking powder and salt.

Divide the batter into 2 halves. In the first half, add the matcha; in the second, add the melted chocolate and cocoa mixture.

In each muffin cup, pour in the chocolate mixture, then top with matcha mixture. Bake for about 10 minutes (tea cakes) - 25 minutes (Hello Kitty).

A big "Thank you" to my friends D. and Maki - and dear Ah Moon who bought the Hello Kitty moulds from HK last year. You guys rock!

Restored

2011-06-11T10:51:00.004+08:00

This beautiful 1950’s cabinet (above) was given a new lease of life by the folks at Second Charm. They salvage what others deem as junk and restore them to their former glory. This piece now sits proudly in my study, holding my growing collection of cookbooks. I’ve been eyeing similar pieces of vintage furniture since January but my mother was determined that no book case was coming into our home until after the Chinese New Year for the simple reason that the word “书” (book) sounds the same as “输” (lose). LOL!

Anyway, it has finally arrived!

In the recent years, I've grown increasingly intriuged by vintage furniture. Each piece has its very own character and story. I especially love furniture made of solid teak, like this retro art deco piece with U-shaped legs (below), which was a wedding gift to my parents from their friends. It'll remain a treasured piece in my home for many years to come.

I like to think that by using recycled furniture, I'm doing my tiny bit to help the environment.

Summer love

2011-05-22T15:40:00.014+08:00

When you see lemons in abundance, you know that summer has arrived. I love lemons! They are especially plump and juicy this season.

It's time once again to make a Lemon Yogurt Cake.

It's hard not to fall in love with this cake. Just how good is it? My parents gobbled up 3 slices even before I had time to take out my camera. It's that irresistable. One cake isn't going to last very long.

So how about four Lemon Yogurt Cakes?

Glazed with a lemon syrup for that extra sheen. Lovely!

Baking Session at Steph's

2011-05-01T19:16:00.020+08:00

Steph fell in love with this Matcha Azuki Financier from Japan. So we made tried a hand at making it today. To cope with the big turn out over at Steph's home this afternoon, we tripled the recipe. At first I was secretly doubtful if we would be able to cope but I shouldn't have worried. Everyone eagerly contibuted in her own way - shopping for ingredients, measuring them out, greasing baking tins, whisking the 12 egg whites, melting and filtering butter, spooning cake mixture into tins ...

In Steph's kitchen, the saying "Too many cooks spoil the soup" doesn't apply. In fact, the many heads provided more solution to problems. For instance, when the melted butter was taking much too long to cool someone suggested, "Let's put the saucepan in a bowl filled with cold water!" "Add ice into the water!" chipped in another. (I wish I had thought of that earlier. Duh.)

I used the Financier recipe from Bea's. Do check out her blog where she shares the most amazing recipes and photograhy. Some people call these little cakes Financiers, some call them Friands. No baking powder is used. The rising agent is egg white, which we whisked until foamy, but not firm. We didn't have the proper financier molds so we made used of whatever baking tins we had on hand.

The 1st batch was overdone but I love the colour and the crispy crust.

The next batch has a softer centre. (At first we debated whether the insides were undercooked. However, I came home to check Bea's photos and her financier appears to have a soft centre so we did do things right!)

Next up: Mini Cha Siew Buns. I wanted a bread dough that is soft and rich so I chose the recipe from Page 58 of 孟老师的100道面包by 孟兆庆。The ingredients are:

100 grams bread flour

50 grams all-purpose flour

20 grams caster sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon instant yeast

20 grams egg

80 grams milk

10 grams unsalted butter

The dough was hand-kneaded, mostly by Diane. When I told everyone, "The bread dough should rise in a warm environment" someone offered "Shall I warm up the microwave oven then push the dough in?"

See how beautifully the it has risen? Once again proving that many cooks in one kitchen can spark off some really great ideas. I'm so going to use the warm microwave method in the future!

The buns were well received. People were wolfing them down and exclaiming with every bite, "Oooh these are SO good!" It must be because of the wonderful cha siew filling, handmade by Jane! It has the right balance of meat, fat and sauce. Yummy!

Jane is a great cook who has endless cooking tips to share. All you need to do is ask. She also makes a mean roasted pork (烧肉) - the kind with the crispy crackling. I hope she will teach us to make it some time.

Bao: A first attempt - 第一次做包

2011-04-23T18:35:00.025+08:00

今天试做蛋黄香菇肉包，非常成功！赶紧选几个似摸似样的秀一下。

This is my first attempt at making bao. There's definitely room for improvement but I'm really pleased with the result.

I used the same dough as my Chinese Muffin. The filling is made up of 400 grams of minced pork (that has been marinated a few hours before), 1/3 of a salted egg yolk and a small braised mushroom. I was able to get 18 bao in all.

The first batch of bao looked too goofy but with time my confidence grew, the pleating got easier and the bao slowly took shape. Much to my own amazement (and relief), one or 2 actually started to look like a proper bao!

蛋黄香菇肉包

I didn't realise that bao is so easy to make!

Now there are 9

2011-04-17T17:16:00.013+08:00

There was a little dough leftover from last week's baking, which I kept frozen. This afternoon I stirred in white chocolate bits to make Triple Chocolate Cookies!

Fresh from the oven -- 10 beautiful cookies with a soft, chewy centre. Mmmm ... I already wolfed one down as I was taking photographs.

9 beautiful cookies with a soft, gooey centre. For the Cookie Monster who drops by unexpectedly (you know who you are!) to look in on my parents while I'm away at work.

Even the sky mocks

2011-04-10T18:27:00.007+08:00

Double chocolate cookies may taste fantastic but aren't exactly attractive to look at. They are far from easy to photograph - brown on brown and not at all photogenic. I salute the food stylists who are able to transform a boring brown disc to something that actually looks very delectable!

I was glad that the living room was drenched in sunlight this afternoon. Natural lighting would help the photos turned out better, I thought. Then just as I pulled the last tray of cookies out from the oven, the sky turned gloomy and the rain came pouring down. So the shoot had to be done under white fluoracent lighting.

Why, why doesn't the sky give my cookies a chance to look good?

For my Japanese friends

2011-03-20T18:11:00.003+08:00

Tammy and I had looked forward to visiting Tokyo next month. It would be my first trip to Japan! I would finally meet Maki and Michiko. Maki even got in touch with renowned Japanese cookbook author and baker Iida Junko (饭田順子). We were going to take a private lesson on bread making at Iida-san’s home in Nakameguro! How cool is that?! And then we would visit Kappabashi, take that scenic train ride in Hakone(箱根町), shop at Genevieve Lethu and Emile Henry, enjoy French sweets in Laduree, Pierre Herme, La Maison du Chocolat, Sadaharu Aoki … and of course, stuff ourselves silly with Japanese food!

We had dreams, people.

Who would’ve expected disaster to strike Japan so suddenly last Friday (March 11th)? I need not describe the magnitude of the devastation. You’ve all seen it for yourselves in the media coverage throughout the week. Like Tammy and I these people had dreams too - and a car and house and more - but everything was washed away in the blink of an eye.

I dedicate this post to my Japanese friends, Maki and Michiko. I’m very relief to know that you and your loved ones are all safe! I would like to convey my well wishes to Ms Iida. My prayers go out to her family.

The inspiration for this soba salad comes from Makiko’s blog. She also writes for Japan Times. I took her advice on how to cook and rinse soba noodles: After the noodles are cooked, you don’t just plunge them into cold water. You have to actively rinse them under running water to get rid of the starch.

I don’t suppose anyone would need any tips from me on how to make a salad. Just cook the noodles, rinse and strain them. Once the noodles are cool, add whatever ingredients you might like. My salad has zucchini, seasoned seaweed, and drizzled with a simple lemon-sesame sauce adapted from Makiko’s article.

I was afraid my dad’s delicate stomach might not take well to the cold salad so I also made a soba in hot soup.

As it turns out, he prefers the one with the sesame sauce.

Chicken & Mango

2011-03-19T08:04:00.003+08:00

The sign above the mangoes read “$1.99 for 3”, attracting about a dozen housewives and Aunties all with an eye for bargain. They gathered around the crates, elbowing one another, frantically grabbing the fruit as if they were free of charge. Like a flock of hens, their feathers ruffled, squawking. As though some unknown catastrophe was fast approaching and they were scrambling to peck the last grains off the supermarket floor.

Kiasuism got the better of me. I dived right in, dodging vicious beaks (ouch!) and menacing claws, and snatched away what I believe to be 3 of the plumiest fruit – all in under two minutes.

Fruits of my labour

My worst fear has been confirmed. I am an Auntie!

Sunday afternoon snack

2011-03-06T15:06:00.006+08:00

Years ago, my mother learnt to make begedil from a Malay hawker who sold nasi padang. When she made them today, I stood close by to jot down notes. Mom cooks by a kind of instinct that all experienced housewives possesses so there's no use asking her for measurements.

"Take 3 large potatoes," she began.

"How much do they weigh?" I asked. She glared. So I kept my mouth shut. Still, I could not resist taking out my digital scales when she wasn't looking. :p

Potato Patties

Makes about 20

3 large potatoes (approx 500 grams when mashed)
Salt to taste
100 grams filling
1 egg. lightly beaten
Oil for frying

Filling
We used a mix of minced pork and hay bee (dried shrimps). You can use any you like - mutton, bacon on luncheon meat.

Prepare the filling. Stir fry the minced pork and dried shrimp. Set aside.

Slice the 3 large potatoes and deep fry them until slightly brown. Drain then add salt and mash. Mix in the filling.

Using your hands, shape the potato mixture into round patties, about 5-cm in diameter.

Coat each pattie lightly with egg and fry on both sides until golden brown.

Drain on kitchen paper before serving.

Addicted to Grand Wedding

2011-02-27T15:50:00.024+08:00

Everyone enjoys a Grand Wedding. Melt-in-your-mouth and lightly scented with mango and peach. No one can resist biting into these luscious shortbread cookies.

The recipe differs slightly from my other post. I replaced 50 grams of the all-purpose flour with rice flour to give the cookies are slightly crunchy texture.

Grand Wedding Shortbread Cookies II

250 grams all-purpose flour

50 grams rice flour

5 TWG Grand Wedding® teabags (about 12 grams of tea leaves)

1/3 teaspoon salt

225 grams butter

125 grams caster sugar

In a bowl, whisk together flour, tea leaves and salt. Set aside.

Cream butter until smooth, add sugar and cream a little further. You don't need to beat ferociously. Fold in dry ingredients.

Form the dough into a cylindrical log. Wrap and refrigerate overnight.

When you're ready to bake, preheat your oven at 160 degrees C. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Unwrap the dough log and, using a very sharp knife, cut the chilled dough into ½-cm slices. Place the slices on prepared baking sheets, spacing them well apart.

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes then rotate the tray and bake for further 2 mins. When the cookies are baked, rest them for a few minutes before transferring them to wire racks. Allow the cookies to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

I think the cookies can do with less tea leaves so next time I'll probably put 4 teabags instead of 5. And I prefer shortbread with icing sugar so much more than caster!

A Chinese Muffin

2011-02-06T17:07:00.021+08:00

How would you say "葱饼" in English? I confess that I have absolutely no idea! So I'm going to refer to them as Chinese Muffins because, just like their English counterparts, they are yeast-based and cooked over a skillet.

三星葱饼
Adapted from 阿芳的3杯麵粉72變 by 蔡季芳

Makes 10

Dough
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1½ teaspoons instant yeast
1¼ cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil

Filling
Approx 200 grams spring onion
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil

Flour for dusting

Place flour, sugar, yeast and 1 cup ( a little more) water into a large mixing bowl. Using a pair of chopsticks, stir ingredients together. After the water begins to be absorbed, use your hands to gently knead into a dough.

Add the oil and knead until dough becomes very smooth.

Cover the dough and leave to proof for 20 – 30 minutes.

While the dough is proofing, wash and dry the spring onions. Cut finely. Marinate with salt, black pepper and olive oil.

Gently turn dough onto lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into 10 equal portions. Roll out each into a tongue shape.

Fill each with spring onion filling.

Let the 2 long sides meet and pinch edges together.

Form into a snail.

Dust your palm with a little flour and press each piece to flatten.

Cover and leave to rest for 5 minutes.

Heat some olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Uncover the muffin rounds and gently transfer them to the skillet. Cook both sides of the muffins for 4 - 5 minutes until the bottom of muffin turns golden brown.

Enjoy them while they're warm. They ought to turn out slightly flatter - like a 咸煎餅- but each time I press them down, they bounce back quickly. Ah well!

揚眉兔氣 in the Year of the Rabbit

2011-02-02T22:00:00.003+08:00

The Cottontail eagarly welcomes the arrival of Spring.

在新的一年祝大家兔年大吉，

兔耳沖天！動如脫兔！
Wishing you all an energetic and
productive Year of the Rabbit!

Work has taken off to a hectic pace right from the beginning of 2011. "Just like a rabbit!" quipped Chew Ling, when I whined about the amount of work.

Friends felt my silence lately. The work load was one of the reasons. Also both my parents are not in the best of health. And as if that wasn't bad enough, my IM is down and I became this lonely soul, cut off from the rest of the world.

As the work slowed down yesterday afternoon, I chatted with Tammy about the things we could do if we make it to Tokyo in April.

Sightseeing and sashimi are on the agenda of course. "And udon and ramen and lamb chops!" I wrote excitedly. "Fun, you're really back!" Tammy's reply came almost immediately. For several weeks now my reply to her emails were one-liners. Engrossed in my own affairs, I left little patience for much else. Now that I'm chirping about the stuff dearest to my heart - mainly food and travel - you can safely say that I'm back to normal again. Tammy knows me so well lah!

Hanoi

2011-01-26T16:36:00.031+08:00

So here I am, back from a 5-day conference in freezing Hanoi. I enjoyed my stay at the charming Metropole Hotel - French culture preserved alongside Vietnamese culture. "Bonjour Madame" the staff chirps cheerfully to me as I pass. Didn't enjoy the cold weather though. Thankfully, it was nice and warm inside the hotel, which is a huge blessing if one has to be stuck indoors 98% of the time.

Metropole Hotel - a white oasis in the midst of hectic Hanoi

As night falls

I did manage to sneak out for an hour to walk around the romantic Hanoi West Lake

Lanterns on trees and their reflection in the water create fairy lights

Peach blossoms up close

On my last day in Hanoi, I stumbled upon a mysterious doorway.

I was first drawn by the old iron gate - and led in further by hanging lamps which, entwined with the vines above, seem to literally grow out of the trees

This shabby debris is stark contrast to The Metropole Hotel that is only about 50 metres away

My oh my, it's somebody's courtyard!

I find the roads of Hanoi somewhat noisy and polluted. It was difficult to cross a street without running into a motorcycle or two. The honking never ceases. That was why The Metropole seemed like such a santuary. Nevertheless, that very early Saturday morning was quite peaceful.

Street vendors on the move

The End.

Next year is only a day away!

2010-12-31T15:08:00.025+08:00

This post marks the end of 2010. I don't know about you - but I'm very much looking forward to the arrival of a brand new 2011 and hopping forth towards the Year of the Bunny.

Cheese Crackers

Adapted from 烘焙新手必備的第一本書: 106道超簡單零失敗的幸福甜點 by Carol 胡涓涓

Yields 30 crackers

125 grams all-purpose flour

60 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature

30 grams caster sugar

35 grams grated Parmesan cheese

1 egg

Sieve flour. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together. Stir in egg in 4 - 5 additions. Incorporate Parmesan cheese, then flour. Form into a soft dough.

Pat dough into a log. Then wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to harden.

When you're ready to bake, preheat your oven at 160 degrees C. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Unwrap the dough log and, using a very sharp knife, cut the chilled dough into slices about ½ cm. Place the slices on prepared baking sheets, spacing them well apart.

Bake the cheese crackers for 15 - 18 minutes, turning the baking sheet around once to ensure crackers bake evenly. When the crackers are baked, rest them for a few minutes before transferring them to wire racks. Allow the crackers to cool completely before storing them.

If you prefer Cheese Sticks over Cheese Crackers, Kuriositätenladen has the recipe. Here's to a cracking good year.

Lunch - and a crumbly cake

2010-12-28T18:52:00.022+08:00

No, this isn't a UFO. It's a chocolate cake in a bundt pan. ;-p

Today I had the good fortune of having Jenny, Sally and Serena over for lunch. Even though they didn't stay very long (since Serena had to return to work) and lunch was only a humble affair of plain porridge with four simple dishes, I think it is safe to say that everyone had a great time. It is, afterall, not everyday that we have so many GPs sit around the lunch table all at once.

For dessert, I made a cake from Flo Braker's Baking for All Occasions: A Treasury of Recipes for Everyday Celebrations.

Chocolate-Sour Cream Pound Cake with Cheesecake Swirl

Cheesecake Swirl

225 grams cream cheese at room temperature

50 grams caster sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
15 grams ground hazelnut
2 tablespoons dried sour cherries (I used orange-flavoured dried cranberries)

Chocolate-Sour Cream Pound Cake
65 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
180 ml warm water
260 grams cake flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
170 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
300 grams caster sugar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
170 grams sour cream

Place a rack in the centre of your oven and preheat the oven at 180 degrees C (or 165 degrees C if the pan has a dark finish). Lightly butter and flour a 10-cup Bundt pan.

For the cake batter, whisk together cocoa powder and warm water in a medium bowl until well blended. Set aside to cool. Have all of the remaining ingredients at room temperature.

To make the Cheesecake Swirl: In a medium bowl, the cheese with a rubber spatula just until the cheese is smooth and creamy. Beat in the sugar until blended. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined and creamy. Stir in the nuts and cranberries until evenly distributed. Set aside.

To make the Chocolate-Sour Cream Pound Cake: Sieve flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter until creamy and smooth then add sugar, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl. Continue to beat until the mixture is very light in colour and texture.

Add eggs very slowly, about 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue beating until mixture is fluffy and pale ivory in colour. Add the vanilla and sour cream to the cooled cocoa mixture and stir to combine. Add flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with the cocoa mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing after each addition only until incorporated.

Spoon half of the batter into the prepared pan and spread it with the rubber spatula, working from the centre outward to create a slightly raised ridge around the rim. Carefully spoon the cream cheese filling over the batter, trying to contain it within the rim. The idea is to keep the filling from touching the pan so it will remain concealed when the cake is finished baking. Spoon the remaining batter over the filling and smooth the top.

Bake the cake until the top springs back when pressed lightly and a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out free of batter, 60 – 70 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 10 – 15 minutes before turning the cake out of the pan.

The cake would've been perfect if not for the crumbs. I've no idea what went wrong! As we ate, we left crumbs on the plate and crumbs all over the table - and on the floor even! The GPs, being people who focus on the big picture, didn't fuss about the crumbly stuff. Instead, they made very nice comments about how wonderful the cake tasted and how great everything was. Really, I couldn't ask for better friends.

Catching up

2010-12-25T15:46:00.008+08:00

I cannot believe that I haven't posted anything since I return from Sydney. After the vacation, I dived right back into work. One major event was the office move. I packed 18 cartons single-handedly (and I mean every word when I say this because I was suffering from an inflammed boil under my right arm and it hurt terribly).

On Sunday right after the move (Nov 28th), Suit Mooi hosted us in Pebble Bay. Each person brought something edible.

Is it me, or is everything brown and green?

There's no use denying it - even after 30 years, we're still gorgeous.

A momento from our gracious hostess. Thanks, Suit Mooi!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

A week in Oz

2010-11-14T16:00:00.030+08:00

The one-week in NSW Australia doing close to Nothing went by much too quickly. Instead of dashing around town like we did last year, we took this holiday slow and easy - sleeping in late for two days in a row (which suited me just fine). It's Tammy's first trip to Sydney (and Australia for that matter) so we began with some tourist spots.

Circular Quay

Darling Harbour

But most of our vacation time was spent in the Central Coast.

Sun, sand and sea in Terrigal

Pelicans at The Entrance

The beach at Biribi Point, Anna Bay, stretches on for miles and miles ...

I love spending time with my aunt and uncle in their Central Coast home. Each night I slowly fall asleep to an insect concerto and awake to the song of birds - and freshly squeezed orange juice!

My aunt grows her own vegetables in the garden.

Whenever I visit, my uncle would cook up a storm! Unfortunately, Tammy was taken ill and missed out on the sumptuous spread.

All in all, it was a mighty good vacation. Even though this is like my 5th visit to Australia, there are several firsts to this trip: this is the first time I didn't go about chasing down koalas and wombats and wild shopping, and the first time I actually bought something from Hunter Valley. This is also the first time I visited a medical centre in Australia (Poor Tammy! Please get well soon.)

Cheese!

2010-10-24T15:52:00.022+08:00

A gift from Susan, this timer travelled from NY to Singapore.

This week I made a Cake Salé using a recipe by Takaaki Nishikawa(西川功晃). Nishikawa is Consultant to Singapore's Bread Society and author of several books on the subject of breadmaking. Some say that it isn't easy to master Nishikawa's bread formulas because of the high level of hydration.

Nakashiwa's Cake Salé recipe consists ingredients such as sun-dried tomato, pickled carrot, pancetta and balsamic crouton. I stuck with the simple ham and cheese because I wanted a direct comparison between this cake and the one I made previously.

Unlike other Cake Salé recipes that uses only baking powder, Nishikawa's loaf calls for both baking powder and yeast. The dough is allowed 40 minutes of proofing time before it goes into the oven, resulting in as a loaf that is more sponge-like.

咸蛋糕 La Cake Salé
Adapted from 美味44變: 麵包料理的搭配新技法 by 西川功晃 Takaaki Nishikawa
Makes two 6.5" x 3" loaves

3 eggs
150 grams all-purpose flour
10 grams baking soda
2 grams instant yeast
50 grams olive oil
50 grams milk
150 grams ham, diced
150 grams Cheddar cheese (half coarsely grated and half diced)

Place a rack in the centre of the oven and preheat your oven at 180 degrees C. Generously brush loaf pans with butter.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, then add the olive oil, milk and yeast and mix together using a spatula.

Sift the flour and baking soda together. Add into egg mixture.

Add the rest of the ingredients. Mix until just combined. Pour into lined loaf tin.

Leave to proof for 30 – 40 minutes.

Bake in a preheated 180 degrees C oven for 25 minutes.

New Heart

2010-09-30T20:34:00.008+08:00

I didn't blog for several weeks because my laptop suffered a heart attack. Last weekend I finally brought it down to HP for a health examination and just as I had expected, it needed a hard drive transplant and could not come home for 3 days.

Fortunately, unlike my laptop, my father passed his CT scan with flying colours today. He's definitely rosier and is talking about a family holiday!

Went to HP this afternoon to bring my laptop home. I missed it so much! I couldn't resist checking my emails as soon as we got home, and found 49 new messages waiting for me. Tsk!

I really need to a get a life.

Sunshine in my life

2010-09-01T22:46:00.019+08:00

Whenever I gaze upon a painting by Canadian artist Coplu, I'm reminded of sunshine and Happy Feet.

My favourite Coplu painting depicts a lone man playing the violin to a heart-shaped balloon that seems to be floating away, and he is trying to woo Love back with a serenade. "Oh, so lonesome!" I cried when I first laid eyes on it. At least that was how I interpreted it.

It is in a gallery called Ode To Art that I first came across the whimsical artworks by Coplu. I fell in love with the vibrant colours and cartoon-like figures (usually of a couple or a man) all paying homage to Dreams and Love.

When my work day ends, I enjoy strolling by the gallery window, where the latest and most prominent pieces are displayed, and smile at each Coplu artwork. Occasionally one of the pieces would disappear and my heart would sink a little. I would then move to the gallery entrance and peer inside hoping to catch sight of the missing piece. “Ah it’s still there!” and I my heart does a little tap dance. Most of time, it meant the painting had been sold and my heart would weep a little. Unlike Coplu who is selfless when it comes to love, I am unable to let go.

You see, I later learnt that the painting that I like is entitled "Emanticipation of Romance". "Emanticipation" means "relinquishing control". So in reality the little man was setting Romance free, bidding goodbye graciously with a D Major. Truly heartwarming.

I dream that I would one day bring Coplu home. In the meantime, 晴晴 (true to her name) brought the sunshine with her when she arrived last month.

After some prompting, the promising young artist shyly affixed her signature. Some day in the near future she’ll be as sought after as Coplu. (Go, girl!)

But remember, you saw it here first!

Quick Bread

2010-08-19T22:19:00.018+08:00

My father hasn't been in the pink of health lately. I took the day off work today to accompany him to the hospital. They've now fixed him up for CT colonography early September.

We got home a little before 3 this afternoon and I made savoury loaves. I must say they turned out very nicely. Everyone should try a hand at making it, it's too easy. You can bake them in little muffin tins if you like.

The original recipe calls for Gruyère and ham but I used Cheddar and luncheon meat, which I had in the fridge.

Savoury Loaf Cake

Adapted from this recipe in the NY Times website

Makes two 6.5" x 3" loaves

250 grams all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

3 large eggs

1/3 cup milk

1/3 cup olive oil

170 grams luncheon meat, cut into 1/4" dice

170 grams Cheddar cheese, half coarsely grated and half cut into 1/4" dice

Place a rack in the centre of your oven and preheat the oven at 180 degrees C. Generously brush loaf pans with butter.

In a large bowl, whisk flour with baking powder, salt and pepper.

In a medium bowl, lightly whisk eggs, then whisk in milk and olive oil.

Using a rubber spatula, fold wet ingredients into dry until barely mixed. Fold in luncheon meat and cheese.

Scrape batter into loaf pans and smooth top.

Bake loaves until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 30 to 40 minutes.

Transfer to a rack to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Run a knife around edge to release. Turn out loaves onto rack to firm up before slicing, about 30 minutes; using a serrated knife, cut into slices.

Sweet Thoughts From Japan

2010-08-08T10:10:00.004+08:00

Several years ago, as I was reading about the renowned Matcha Opera Cake at Pâtisserie Sadaharu AOKI, I had a strong urge to fly to Paris or Tokyo just for a bite of it. Then one day I heard that Mr. Aoki has opened shop in Taipei. Frankly I'm a little bit jealous of the Taiwanese. They already have Paul and Boite de Bijou and now they have AOKI.

This week, Maki took great pains to ship me a Aoki's green tea goodie - a Matcha & Azuki Bean Cake - all the way from Tokyo! How did you read my thoughts, Maki?

You can tell from the lovingly wrapped package that such pride is put into every item that leaves the premises.

Of course, the thoughtfulness and sincerity of the giver cannot be ignored. I only hope these photos will do the gift justice!

Let me assure you that it tastes as good as it looks!

I was expecting the matcha to be slightly smoky and bitter in taste but there was none of that. I also thought the azuki beans would be extremely sweet but they weren't. I had no idea it would be so light! Yummy!

Chilicrab and the Cookie Mix

2010-07-25T14:59:00.009+08:00

Once upon a time, Chillicrab lost her job. It was a low point in Chillicrab’s life. No lah, it wasn’t the end of the world. On the contrary, during this time not only did Chillicrab learnt the importance of being around family and friends friends, she also learnt that running a business is no mean feat.

Running a business? While waiting for a new job to fall from the sky, Chillicrab decided to sell Cookie Mix in a Jar. It seemed easy enough to do. Simply weigh out the ingredients and layer them inside a glass jar. Then tie on it a tag containing directions.

But it was tougher than it seems, especially when the orders for Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Mix started pouring in. Every week, Chillicrab had to purchase the ingredients needed for the Cookie Mix. Losing her day job has turned Chillicrab into Scrooge! She refused to spend money on bus fare and delivery. So she takes a 20-minute walk with her little shopping cart to the nearest supermarket. Then she walks back home with her full trolley.

Then, there were glass jars to purchase. The most suitable jars were sold at IKEA, which is a long way from Chillicrab’s home. At first it was easy enough to lug 6 or 12 glass jars on a bus. As more orders rolled in, Chillicrab could no longer carry 36 glass jars up the bus so she had no choice but to take a taxi. Even then managing 3 large cartons of jars proved too difficult for Chillicrab. Fortunately, Chillicrab has a wonderful cousin who was willing to contribute free labour.

Chillicrab’s mom and dad weren’t very supportive of the home business at first. After a while, Papa Chillicrab appeared impressed as he watched how hard Chillicrab at work to fulfill orders. With all those jars queuing in the ‘production line’, Mama Chillicrab became excited too. Every evening after dinner, she would take a few empty jars out at a time and painstakingly scrubbed each one squeaky clean.

Chillicrab's friend, Joanne, bought the very first jar of Cookie Mix from Chillicrab. Then Kenneth bought 12 for the girls in his office. M. Thomas bought 30 to give away at a Christmas dinner. Chillicrab’s aunt took orders from her friends at church. Even if there was only one order, she happily drove by to pick it up from Chillicrab’s home.

Chillicrab is very blessed to be surrounded by good, helpful souls who are good at lots of things. Just like Olivia!

Yesterday while Chillicrab was cleaning out her pantry, she found a little less than half a packet of rolled oats, just enough for one jar of Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Mix!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Mix in a Jar. From bottom: Flour mixture (all purpose flour, ground cinnamon, baking powder and salt), raisins, rolled oats, brown sugar and fine sugar

Simply add butter and a slightly beaten egg to the Cookie Mix to form a cookie dough.

Bake at 180 degrees C.

Shortcut Biscuits

2010-07-10T21:10:00.013+08:00

When I was growing up, a muffin was a disk-like bread similar to the McMuffin, until I went to Sydney, ordered a blueberry muffin for breakfast and was presented with a cupcake. That threw me off - for about 2 seconds - before I proceeded to devour the entire giant muffin.

Then there 's the biscuit. To me, the biscuit is a cracker. Not long ago I discovered that the biscuit can also be savoury and scone-like similar to the warm, buttery biscuit at Popeyes.

A search for the ultimate biscuit recipe online led me to the miracle Bisquick. I've seen Bisquick on supermarket shelves and thought it was simply a pancake mix. Little did I know it also makes biscuits (and waffles, pie crusts and shortcake!)

Butter Biscuits

Adapted from a recipe on http://www.bettycrocker.com/

Makes 9 x 7-cm round biscuits

75 grams butter, cut into 1/4 inch cubes

2.5 cups Bisquick baking mix

2/3 cups milk

The secret to very short, flaky biscuits is to have everything chilled. This is especially important in humid climate such as ours. Work quickly when mixing ingredients together.

Start by putting your mixing bowl in the fridge and the butter cubes in the freezer for about an hour.

Place Bisquick baking mix and butter cubes in mixing bowl. Toss around quickly. Add milk. Stir just until milk is absorbed.

Turn dough onto surface dustd with Bisquick mix. Knead quickly 5 times. Roll into 1/2-inch thickness. Cut with round cutter. Place on baking sheet and return to fridge to chill for 30 minutes.

When you're ready to bake, preheat your oven at 220 degrees C. Bake about 9 minutes.

I enjoyed my biscuits with a spot of Christine Ferber Rose Confiture - a treat which Maki got someone to bring all the way from Tokyo!

The Pig That Won't Fly 明附其实的猪仔包

2010-06-20T21:21:00.009+08:00

Dear GPs,

I'm afraid Piggy cried wee wee wee today.

So many things went wrong. I had intended to give Piggy wings but had a hard time sculpting them. Piggy's snout also kept slipping off! At one point, I contemplated on using the stapler. In the end, I used Super Glue. (Kidding!)

Then I got distracted by mom making fishcakes and failed to watch the clock. As a result, Piggy got badly burnt in the oven.

Since last week's fish-shaped buns were filled with tuna, I felt that it be apt to fill Piggy with a pork filling. My initial thoughts were on Mushroom and Bacon, or Ham and Cheese. Serena suggested luncheon meat whilst Moon felt bakkwa would give Piggy that Singaporean edge.

Then, during our morning stroll on Tuesday, mom asked me, "What kind of bread will you be making next?"

"How about Char Siu (BBQ pork) Bun?" she continued. Wow she read my mind. Scary.

"I'll take care of the filling, you make the bread." That threw me off a bit because Mom and I seldom see eye to eye on culinary affairs. I guess you can say we're both pig-headed. She cooks Chinese, I bake Western. She doesn't interfere with my baking, I stubbornly stay out of her kitchen when she cooks. Now she wants to collaborate with me on a pig project. Wow!

With the exception of Piggy, who turned out looking like Brown Bear, the rest of the char siu buns turned out wonderfully. All is not lost afterall.

How to be a Guinea Pig

2010-06-18T21:39:00.003+08:00

On weekends, I look for willing food tasters to try my baked goods. Most of the time, they are my parents and few colleagues. Not long ago, I also roped in a childhood friend. I can't be certain if she is a willing Guinea Pig (GP) but I didn't give her a chance to decline the honour.

Recently, my colleague Serena has expressed her desire to sign-on as regular GP.

In order for you to qualify as a GP, you must

(1) preferably work with me in the same office or conduct activities close by my home. (In the case of my childhood friend, she attends pilates classes in the community centre across the street from my house)

(2) live within close proximity of a GP (in this instance, I mean a good doctor)

(3) be brave in the presence of creativity

(4) be able to give constructive comments after you've tried out the said creative foods

(Words like "lousy" "awful" "like Styrofoam" are not constructive comments and will result in immediate disqualification)

Only those with strong stomachs and undefiable courage need apply.

屈原卖粽

2010-06-16T19:00:00.004+08:00

五五端午节。雨。

屈原为何投江自尽？因被朝廷冷落而患了忧郁症吧？

如果屈原地下有知，看到今天的粽子五花八门，里面包的是鲍鱼和海参，粽子商机那么旺，会想: 当年何必投江？辞了政去卖粽子也很好啊！

What the fish! - revisited

2010-06-13T16:28:00.016+08:00

I'm afraid those fish-shaped buns on my last post received an incredulous amount of ridicule.

"Why haven't they got tails?" being the most popular question.

"They look like pineapple tarts!" said Serena of the photo. I could almost hear her chuckle over IM.

Maki must have secretly rolled her eyes when she saw the 'fish'. ("Maybe Fun doesn't know what a fish looks like!") Since it is not in her sweet and polite nature to call me a fool outright (which I downright appreciate), she gently suggested I take a peek here. Even if you don't understand Japanese, you won't be totally at sea. Step-by-step photos demonstrate how a 'fish' is formed.

Both my mother and Serena complained that there was too little filling. So this time I used two cans of tuna!

Fish-shaped Buns with Spicy Tuna Filling

Spicy Tuna Filling

2 cans tuna flakes in water, drained

2 small red onions, chopped

Olive oil

Mayonnaise

Dijon mustard

Anchovy paste

Dried chilli flakes

Bread Dough

270 grams bread flour

30 grams all-purpose flour

30 grams caster sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

3 grams (3/4 teaspoons) instant yeast

1 egg (about 60 grams)

130 grams water

30 grams butter, softened

Finish

Eggwash

To make the Spicy Tuna Filling: Mix all the ingredients together. Set aside.

To make the bread: In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with dough hook, stir all ingredients (except the butter) together on low speed until everything comes together.

Then mix in butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and knead dough until smooth, elastic and comes away from sides of bowl in a ball. Dough should be soft and pliable.

First proof. Shape dough in a boule fashion place in lightly greased bowl. Cover with clingfilm and leave in microwave oven to proof. To create a warm environment for successful proofing, put a mug of hot water beside the dough. Close the oven door and leave to proof for one hour.

Using your index finger, make a hole in centre of dough. If indentation remains, dough is ready for next step.

Divide and rest. Gently deflate dough and divide into 12 equal portions. Form each into boule fashion. Cover with wet towel and leave to rest for 15 minutes.

Now fill and shape.

Second proof. Lay the “fish” on baking tray. Cover with wet towel and leave to proof for 40 minutes or until the “fish” double in size.

Bake. Meanwhile, place a rack in the centre of your oven and preheat the oven at 200 degrees C. Before baking, brush each “fish” gently with egg wash. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes until light golden.

They have tails - and its all thanks to Maki! Now people are complaning there's WAY too much filling. Really, you simply cannot please everyone!

What the f***

2010-06-06T18:38:00.025+08:00

In case you are wondering, these are tuna buns in the shape of fish! Surely they look like puffers than a regular fish because they lost their tails during proofing :(

Inspiration for these cuties came from a book I recently borrowed from the neighbourhood library. Nowadays I no longer purchase a new cookbook for the sake of 2 or 3 recipes inside. At the risk of sounding cheap, I like to check out a library copy first to determine if it’s worth buying.

Last week, while I was browsing in my favourite section in Kinnokuniya Orchard, I came across a woman who had an array of cookbooks laid out on a table before her. In doing so she managed to cover most of the New Arrivals that were occupying the table in the first place. Oblivious to incredulous stares from shoppers around her, she fervently copied recipe after recipe from the cookbooks onto a writing pad. And as if that wasn't despicable enough, she started to dictate (quite loudly, if I may add) to a friend using her mobile phone!

It makes me feel kinda relief to know there’s a cheaper someone out there.

I've been dying to spin my new toy since it was delivered last week. The KA works like a dream when it comes to kneading bread dough.

Tuna Bun
Inspiration for fish-shaped bun from <<日式麵包>>by邱勇靈 / 屈禮芬
Bread dough by Carol

Tuna Filling
1 can tuna flakes in water, drained
Mayonnaise
Dijon mustard
Anchovy paste
Lemon juice
Salt and pepper, to taste

Bread Dough
270 grams bread flour
30 grams all-purpose flour
30 grams caster sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
3 grams (3/4 teaspoons) instant yeast
1 egg (about 50 grams)
140 grams water
30 grams butter, softened

Finish
Raisins
Eggwash

To make the Tuna Filling: Mix all the ingredients together. Set aside.

To make the bread: In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with dough hook, stir all ingredients (except the butter) together on low speed until everything comes together. Then mix in butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and knead dough until smooth, elastic and comes away from sides of bowl in a ball. Dough should be soft and pliable.

Using your index finger, make a hole in centre of dough. If indentation remains, dough is ready for next step.

Divide and rest. Gently deflate dough and divide into 12 equal portions. Form each into boule fashion. Cover with wet towel and leave to rest for 15 minutes.

Fill and Shape. Roll each dough portion into oval disk. Fill each portion with tuna filling and form into desired shape. Raisins form the “eyes”.

Second proof. Lay the “fish” on baking tray. Cover with wet towel and leave to proof for 40 minutes or until the “fish” double in size.

If you want to try a hand at making these fish, be sure to roll the tails flat during the shaping stage. Otherwise you'll end up with tail-less fish like mine!

Homemade Fishcakes - the prequel

2010-06-06T12:19:00.007+08:00

This is a prequel to my post in February on Homemade Fishcakes. Here are some shots of my mother making fishcakes from scratch.

Fillet the fish - a Yellowtail is best

Remove flesh from skin

Add salt water as you mince. Keep going. It will come together in a cohesive mass.

Pick it up and smack it on the chopping board about 10 - 15 times.

看到了没有? Nice and jiggly. Now wet your hands before shaping into fishcakes.

The Shop of Desires

2010-06-01T07:00:00.011+08:00

Today marks my 7th anniversary with the company I work for. Not many employees stay more than 5 years in an ad agency. What can I say, I'm a rare breed.

Just recently my very nice French boss presented me with a cheque for $1000 which was meant to be my 5-year long-service award. However, an unwritten company policy (I wonder which 笨蛋approved it) dictates that the employee would receive her 5-year award only at the end of her 6th year (duh!)

If you have $1000 to spare, what single item would you splurge it on? Desire posts this question as she lures me into her charming little shop. Here's a woman truly after my own heart. Every object that I’ve ever dreamed of owning is here!

A gorgeous bracelet catches my eye. I want to try it on but it sits regally on the upper-most shelf that is way beyond my reach.

Oh look, the Ferragamo bag that I like! And isn't that the camera I’ve wanted for some time? There they lay on a tall shelf, side by side, beckoning me. Surely if I stand on tip toes, with fingers outstretched, I would be able to attain them! Alas no, I’m still a little short.

So many fabulous things, too little cash! I was fishing for my credit cards when Reality steps in. He grabs my arm and drags me roughly aside.

“Hey!” I protest. “You hurt me!”

“I do that sometimes,” he admits but offers no apology.

“What do you want?” I hiss, folding my arms across my chest. He reminds me that the Bvlgari B-Zero bracelet, Ferragamo tote and Canon 500D will all have to wait. He is right, of course. I know I need to face him squarely.

With Reality in check, I begin to lower my sights to focus on the objects that are truly accessible. He finally allows me to walk away with this:

KitchenAid KSM150 Mixer in Apple Green. Usual price: S$899. Available at TANGS for S$699 and a further 10% reduction during the promo period. Free delivery. Citibank cardholders earn 12% rebate on the card.

He keeps me grounded, this Reality. At times I’m grateful that he's by my side. Desire ignores me completely now. I watch and she seduces another wide-eyed customer with her dazzling smile. I tell Reality that Desire resembles Temptation very much in looks. He nods.

“Cousins,” he grins, and marches me out of Desire's lair.

Beating the heat

2010-05-23T16:08:00.026+08:00

Ever since Tammy and I shared a chocolate profiterole in agnès b. le pain grille last month, I had wanted to try a hand at making it.

The recipe for my Chocolate Choux is taken from Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard. After I chanced upon the book at our local library I couldn't put it down. I'll definitely be making more recipes from this book in the future.

I know I should make a pastry cream to complete my profiterole but I the thought of labouring over a hot stove was too much to bear. Our little island has been hit by severe heat wave recently. Yes there is occasional rain but it doesn't help cool us down. I crave for ice cream - lots of it - to go with my chocolate choux. I wanted it so badly that I made a special trip to the supermarket this morning, braving the intense heat and scorching sun.

To combat the severe heat and humidity, I placed a large stainless steel mixing bowl into the freezer before I dashed to the supermarket. Afterwards, I scooped the Ben & Jerry’s into the chilled vessel, then let it remain inside the freezer for a few hours. Just before eating, I placed the choux puffs on top of the ice cream and drizzle with chocolate sauce.

Chocolate Pâte à Choux
Adapted from Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard

Makes 23 smalls puffs

50 grams unsalted butter
Small pinch of salt
125 ml water
85 grams all-purpose flour
15 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
3 large eggs
5 grams baking powder

Place a rack in the centre of your oven and preheat the oven at 220 degrees C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sieve flour and cocoa powder in a bowl. Set aside.

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine butter and salt with water, and bring to a boil. Add flour, then reduce heat to low, and vigorously mix ingredients with a spatula until dough starts to come together in a thick paste and no longer sticks to the sides of the pan.

Remove dough from heat and transfer dough into a mixing bowl. Add eggs one at a time. Do not add an egg until the previous one is completed incorporated. Mix until dough forms a smooth mass. Add the baking powder.

Pipe the Pâte à Choux on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 8 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 190 degrees C, and continue baking until choux are puffed and golden, and feel dry, about 10 minutes. Let them cool on the baking sheet before freezing.

Icy cold chocolate choux puffs and lovely with ice cream! Mom and dad ate 3 choux puffs each with their ice cream. I had 2!

Smart Ass

2010-05-01T23:55:00.012+08:00

Kellyn and I have never met in person but we email each other occasionally through the course of our work. Recently she sent me this:

I told her that I liked it and especially so, since I'm extremely smart.
"No! You're kidding!" came her answer, which was immediately followed by a 2nd email:
"What I meant was, I've no doubt you're smart but surely not all the way to the bottom. I think I'd rather not be that smart!"

Distressed by comfort

2010-04-25T16:31:00.022+08:00

Most visitors to the 太平馆 rave about its Signature Roast Pigeon, Swiss Chicken Wings and Giant Soufflé. I wonder why not people many mention the out-of-this-world 海鮮焗飯(Baked Seafood Rice). Rice and fresh seafood bound together by a smooth, creamy Béchamel sauce, served piping hot. Amidst this savoury combination was a huge tiger prawn, which some of us mistook for a mini lobster (maybe it IS a lobster!)

Baked Rice is the ultimate comfort food and I could never get enough of it.

Yesterday I tried my hand at making baked rice. Unfortunately my mother was cranky. We had only fish and scallop in our fridge and when I wanted to buy some shrimps, she didn't like the idea“不要用虾和苏东！我不喜欢!” (Don’t add shrimp or squid! I don’t like them!)

So I used scallops, sliced fish and some left over pork from lunch. While waiting for the top of the baked rice to turn golden, my mother grew impatient. She stood beside the oven with her hands crossed over her chest and practically screeched, “到底还要烘多久!?” (How much longer is it going to take!?)

I was getting fed up by then and removed the dish from the oven somewhat prematurely. On seeing its colour, mom had something else to say, “白白的，一点都不好看. 去加点葱花点缀一下吧." (It looks pale and unattractive. You should garnish it with spring onions.) Not a word of encouragement. Just complaints after complaints! >:(

Dinner didn’t go well. Everyone was in a foul mood. Dad threw a tantrum because he found a bone in one of the fish slices. Then of course Mom claimed the rice was awful because nothing I cooked ever pleases her. She wants to be the Queen of the Kitchen.

I'm afraid the ultimate comfort food caused the family some distress yesterday.

Inspired again

2010-04-22T21:53:00.016+08:00

In the beginning, I wasn't very excited about going to Hong Kong. I booked the trip simply because I on most days I felt like a hamster on a wheel and simply had to get away. Little did I expect I could have so much fun! All thanks to some great friends who refused to leave me alone throughout the 5 days. They tempted me with wild shopping trips (for shoes and more shoes!), new eating places, home-cooked dinners and yummy temptations (think 猪扒包, giant soufflé and French pastries). I'm inspired to cook again!

On our first evening out, we went to 太平馆. Dining here was a new experience for me. At the same time there was also something vaguely familar about the place. Dimly lit booth seats; a very unique Western menu in local cafe setting; elderly waiters in waistcoats over crisp white shirts; black and white images of a bygone era. Something tells me I've been here before, yet I'm sure I haven't. Déjà vu?

I suggested we came to this restaurant partly because of the nostalga that surrounds it, but mainly for its Giant 梳乎里(Soufflé). Like the 瑞士雞翼(Swiss Chicken Wings), this soufflé is the restaurant's Signature dish. I've never seen anything like it. See how large it is?

Ally claimed she could eat one on her own. "I think one isn't enough for all 5 of us," Tammy was quick to add. (Have they forgotten we already had 2 rice dishes, a pig trotter, Swiss chicken wings and broccoli beforehand?!)

We ordered 2 anyway! Muahahahahaha!

And they were excellent! (Oink!)

Hong Kong

2010-04-16T09:39:00.039+08:00

For those of you who have been asking about photos of the trip, I'm afraid I took very few. Here's the view from my room at the Hotel Panoramic, TST. I was allocated a corner room on the 31st floor. The fog lends melancholy to the early morning.

Bumped into Chocolate Rain whilst wandering alone in TST. The next time I visit HK I want to check out their shop in Central. I love quirky designs!

Fancy a patchwork teacup to sit on?

I saw these while walking aimlessly around in TST. At first glance I thought they were real bread.

I don't know what these rubber buns are for but I love their expressions.

I really should've taken more photos but you see, each day was filled with trips in coffee shops and restaurants and you know me - the moment I encounter good food, I forget everything else.

Time away

2010-04-09T18:36:00.028+08:00

It has been 7 weeks since my last post. Friends wanted to know what I've been up to. You know what, I have NO idea! I was a rat racing around in circles in the office. Some days I just want to scream and burst into tears.

I needed time away before I lose my mind.

I was so happy to be in Hong Kong during the Good Friday weekend! I had originally intended to sneak in and out of the country without telling a soul so I can spend much alone time hiding in my hotel room to feel sorry for myself. I'm glad I didn't do something silly like that afterall.

As it turns out, each day was packed with activities. Friends turned up with enthusiasm - and dinner invitations. It was too hard to turn down their company, the good food and great conversations - everything I need to relief me temporarily of my insanity.

Tammy sacrificed much of her bank holiday dancing all around town with me and showed me her favourite haunts. Even her niece drew pictures to cheer me up. I simply must show them off to you here. Isn't 晴晴 a talented little girl? Step aside, Coplu!

Chinese Ravioli

2010-02-17T14:19:00.012+08:00

Once upon a time, my Taiwanese friend, Joanne, taught me to make jiaozhi. Since then, mom and I would make a batch every Chinese New Year. Traditionally we fill our dumplings with chives and minced pork. This year - horrors of horrors! - chives were completely sold out at the wet market which my mom frequents. (I blame the influx of China expats. They must've bought up every last strand!) So we made do with pork + Chinese mushrooms + finely chopped water chestnuts. Delicious! - and great comfort food. I gobbled up 7 in one seating.

Grand Wedding

2010-02-07T15:07:00.051+08:00

I experienced my first Grand Wedding at the St Regis and wonder how the black tea - infused with the flavours exotic fruits - would turn out in a shortbread or a tea loaf? This afternoon, I turned notion into action and made Grand Wedding Shortbread Cookies.

The cookies baked, emitting such lovely fragrance. I couldn't quite place it. Light, sweet and fruity - is it mangoes or promegranade? My mom, who had just stepped into the kitchen, took a whiff of the scented air, "我嗅到桃子香!" (I smell peaches!)

Grand Wedding Shortbread Cookies

280 grams all-purpose flour

5 TWG Grand Wedding® teabags
¼ teaspoon salt

95 grams confectioner’s sugar

225 grams butter

Whisk flour, tea leaves and salt in a bowl small bowl; set aside.

Cream butter until smooth, add sugar and cream a little further. Fold in dry ingredients.

Form dough into a log. (I find it easier to form a rectangular log than a round one.) Wrap and refrigerate overnight.

When you're ready to bake, preheat your oven at 180 degrees C. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Unwrap the dough log and, using a very sharp knife, cut the chilled dough into slices no thicker than ½ cm. Place the slices on prepared baking sheets, spacing them well apart.

Bake the cookies for 8 - 10 minutes or until they are lightly brown. When the cookies are baked, rest them for a few minutes before transferring them to wire racks. Allow the cookies to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Homemade Fishcakes

2010-02-07T14:36:00.010+08:00

Every once in a while, mom makes fishcakes from scratch. Dad fries them.

Done! 22 fishcakes in all.

Merry Focaccia

2010-01-27T11:01:00.024+08:00

When Hwee Mian asked me over for a bread making session on Christmas eve, I was thrilled. We had talked about baking something together for a long time.

We made focaccia. Mian and her 7-year old niece, Jackie, took turns to smack the dough onto the table top. I think they actually had fun! Mian was downright amazing! Here she was making bread and behind her was Christmas dinner for a family brewing merrily over 3 stoves.

Now, I have to tell you that Mian is a fantastic cook. As word got around that Mian was 'Head Chef' that evening, the “just a few members of the family” quickly grew to “close to 20 people”. Every time the phone rang, it herald additional guests. Aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews … everyone wanted to turn up for Mian’s Signature Chicken Curry and Sweet and Sour Prawns.

Mian wasn’t the least bit flustered. With each phone call, she added a cup of rice into the electric rice cooker. We left the bread dough proofing in a warm oven and drove out to Sheng Siong for more groceries. Before long Mian was back in the kitchen working like a pro, single-handedly whipping up Christmas dinner for a fast growing community.

I’m ashamed to admit that I was of no help to Mian. She is aware that I’m no Domestic Goddess! Thankfully, the focaccia turned out beautifully and appeared to be a hit. That’s why I made it again today. This time it appeared a little dry. Don't worry, folks. I'll keep on experimenting.

Focaccia

Adapted from various sources

300 grams bread flour

4 grams instant yeast

2 grams sugar*

5 grams salt

170 ml water

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 grams dried Italian herbs

3 tablespoons olive oil for drizzling

Salt for sprinkling over

To make the bread: Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Salt and yeast are not friends so please place them on opposite ends of the bowl. Using your hand, mix all the ingredients together. Keep kneading until the dough comes away from the sides of the mixing bowl.

Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface. Lifting the dough by one end, fling it on the table top as hard as you can. Stretch and fold dough and rotate it 90 degrees clockwise. Repeat the process – fling, stretch/fold, turn – about 250 times – until the “chewing gum effect” is achieved. (Hop over to Carol’s blog for a video demo of this foolproof technique.)

First proof. Fire up your oven to 60 degrees C, then switch it off. Shape dough in a boule fashion place in lightly greased bowl. Mist top of dough with water to prevent from drying out. Leave inside warm oven to proof until it doubles in size (about an hour). Using your index finger, make a hole in centre of dough. If indentation remains, dough is ready for next step.

Pan. Lightly oil a 31cm x 23cm (12” x 9”) pan. Remove dough from bowl. Gently deflate and press over bottom of prepared pan. It’ll be slightly elastic. If dough resists, let rest for one minute, then resume coaxing it to cover bottom of pan.

Second proof. Place the dough in the warm oven again until it doubles in size (about 40 minutes).

Dimple. When dough is done rising, drizzle additional olive oil over the surface and dimple it in. Sprinkle some sea salt over the dough.

Bake. Meanwhile, place a rack in the centre of your oven and preheat the oven 200 degrees C. Bake for about 20 – 25 minutes until light golden.

Buon appetito!

*I'd use castor sugar but there wasn't any around the house so Mian used muscovado sugar instead. And it still worked! A small amount of muscovado doesn’t affect the taste of the foccacia.

All you need is patience

2009-12-13T19:09:00.024+08:00

My father loves fishing. After he retired from the workforce, he fished almost every weekend with a group of friends who shared the same passion. They'd hire boat which took them into the deep waters of Malaysia or Indonesia. On good days they return with a big catch. Once, he even caught a lobster. On some days they come home with only a bucket full of squids. Even then dad had never expressed disappointment. He enjoyed the time spent with friends.

Whenever I tell my friends about dad's love of fishing, most would jump to the conclusion, "Wow, your father must be a very patient person!" I suppose that's the way many people see the sport: you sit there holding a rod and you wait. And wait. And wait, sometimes for hours. Contrary to general perception, however, dad isn't a patient man and I’m so much like him in this aspect. We both like to get things done fast.

Unfortunately "breadmaking" and "fast" do not go hand-in-hand. The breadmaking process cannot be rushed. Fermentation and proofing take time and require patience, a virtue which I clearly lack. First, I'd get fed up because the dough doesn't come together in a smooth dough (I've been kneading it, like, forever yet it still sticks to my hand!). Then the dough has to be left proof till double its size. After shaping the dough, it has to be left to rise a second time (Oh man!). While the bread is baking I'd stand by the oven door, elbows crossed and tapping my feet. As if I stared hard enough, the bread would be encouraged to cook faster.

Patience is virtue but this time I went overboard ... the tops of my Cranberry and Cream Cheese Buns are blistered! Oops, overcooked!

Conquering yeast

2009-11-23T22:31:00.020+08:00

Yesterday, we were actually able to eat the bread I made! After 4 failed attempts, I finally conquered the beast (I mean, the yeast). It was a proud and glorious moment. My dad beamed with joy. I think my mom cried. At long last their days of feeding on semi-baked dough are over. Saved by Carol.

The secret in breadmaking lies in the kneading. The more you stretch the dough, the further the gluten develops, resulting in light, fluffy bread. But we all know that kneading dough by hand is hard work. Carol's method doesn't require extensive kneading. Rather, it involves flinging the dough on the counter-top no less than 250 times. This technique works for me. It's a great way to relieve stress. (And I have been under some pressure at the office lately due to the sudden surge in workload. A strange pimple/blister/ organism has started to appear on the tip of my nose. Colleagues have dubbed me Rudolph.) Imagine you're executing the judo-throw to a loathesome client or vile colleague. HAIiiYAK!!!

Once I've mastered the bread kungfu, the rest of the breadmaking process is plain sailing. I fired up the oven to 60 degrees C, then switched it off. The dough is then shaped in a boule fashion and left inside the oven to proof until it doubled in size (about an hour). I divided it into 9 equal portions, filled each with canned chestnut spread, formed each into boule again and left to proof one more time. In his book The Bread Baker's Apprentice, Peter Reinhart tells us that "the whole exercise of giving loaves this (boule) shape is based on creating a tight surface tension to allow the loaf to rise up and not just out; the tight skin causes the dough to retain its cylindrical shape rather than spreading and flattening."

The result were some healthy looking buns. I'm aware that there's much room for improvement but at least I'm confident that I can do it now.

More this weekend!

Happy to be found

2009-11-01T16:13:00.030+08:00

Two weeks ago, I sent Chew Ling an email telling her I’ve been snowed under in work and that “I don’t see the snow melting anytime soon.” Without missing a beat she promptly answered “Well, let me know after the avalanche.” That’s so Chew Ling. Even when we were colleagues she was the one with the brains, wit and best retort.

Chew Ling and I shared a special affinity. We were comrades at work and best of friends after office hours. We saw each other for dinner, caught movies (usually cartoons or animation) and shopped for shoes. Stores often put smaller size shoes on display. As her feet are larger than mine, Chew Ling would make me try the shoes out first. Only if she liked how they look on my feet would she ask the sales attendant for assistance.

Once, we even went on a trip together to Genting Highlands. And then Chew Ling got married and became engrossed with family life and new baby. I changed job and became involved with new challenges. We slowly drifted apart and lost contact. I never forgot the good times. Neither did she.

Chew Ling tells me that her search for me began the year she enrolled her elder daughter into the primary school that I used to study in. The young lady is now in secondary school! I feel so old! That said, I’m happy to be found.

If you saw us in Crystal Jade Kitchen in May, you wouldn’t have guessed that Chew Ling and I were dining together for the first time after 13 years. I was surprised at how quickly we picked up where we left off. True friendship can truly withstand the test of time. We lost touch but we never lost each other.

Back in those days, I didn't have a knack for baking or cooking. Chew Ling, I bet you're surprise now!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from this recipe by Jacques Torres

I halved the recipe because I didn’t have enough chocolate for the full recipe.

Makes 19 cookies

120 grams cake flour

120 grams bread flour

Slightly over ¼ teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon salt

140 grams butter, softened

140 grams light brown sugar

115 grams caster sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

240 grams chocolate, chopped (I used 72% cacoa Valrhona dark chocolate as that's all I had)

Sea salt

Sieve flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add egg, a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate overnight.

When you're ready to bake, preheat your oven 180 degrees C. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Scoop 45 - 48-gram mounds of dough (yes I weighed each one) onto prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, about 12 minutes. When the cookies are baked, rest them for a few minutes before transferring them to wire racks. Allow the cookies to cool completely before storing them.

It's a Chouxkie!

2009-09-27T19:52:00.040+08:00

Even though the choux puffs I made last week didn't look that great, I know I can do better.

I love this Cookie-topped Choux Puff from Junko Iida's book. So what do you call a cross between a cookie and a choux? Some call it a Cookie Choux, others call it Cookie Puff. I named mine Chouxkie. Actually, it kinda reminds me of a 菠萝包. My friend Ah Moon thought it was a Melon Pan!

Choux-gar and Spice

2009-09-20T23:50:00.028+08:00

When Jo and I met for breakfast some months ago, she arrived bearing gifts – items she had acquired on a recent trip to LA – a Beach Graffiti wrist pouch by Coach, two jars of expensive-looking face cream and a set of pastry nozzles (yippee!!). Jo, who knows me well, showed no surprise when I took keener interest to the nozzles than to luxury stuff.

The star-shaped nozzle was put in good use when I made choux puffs. The recipe came from 我愛泡芙, a book written by Japanese baker 飯田順子(Junko Iida). What intrigued me was that someone had devoted an entire book to the making of the choux. As it turns out, Ms. Iida has some rather creative ideas. In this version, she spikes her choux puffs with curry powder and cumin and fills them with a simple potato salad.

The recipe for choux pastry uses a mixture of high and low-gluten flours, which helps the choux puffs hold their shape even after several hours.

I'm looking forward to trying out another recipe from the same book.

Marble Magic

2009-09-07T20:26:00.033+08:00

When Lee Ling came over to my place for her belated birthday dinner last evening, I felt it apt to bake a cake. A firm believer that one doesn't need an elaborate cake from a fancy pâtisserie in order to awe, I chose the Mocha-Almond O'Marble Cake from Flo Braker's Baking for All Occasions: A Treasury of Recipes for Everyday Celebrations for its simplicity.

I followed the original recipe on Page 88 closely but added matcha (I like!) and replaced some of the all-purpose flour with cake flour (because I want a lighter cake to accompany the delicate green tea flavour). Generally, I do not like matcha marbled cakes because the green on beige reminds of the fungus on mouldy bread. However, brown on green is acceptable. I'm weird that way.

Mocha-Matcha O'Marble Cake

Adapted from this recipe by Flo Braker

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

1 tablespoon hot water

3/4 cup Hershey's chocolate syrup

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

260 grams all-purpose flour

130 grams cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

225 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature

300 grams caster sugar

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon matcha

Place a rack in the centre of your oven and preheat the oven at 180 degrees C. Lightly butter and flour a 10-cup Bundt pan. Have all ingredients at room temperature.

In a small bowl, stir espresso powder with hot water until dissolved. Stir mixture into chocolate syrup; set aside. Sieve flour, baking powder and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter until creamy and smooth then add sugar, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl. Continue to beat until the mixture is very light in colour and texture.

Add eggs very slowly, about 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue beating until mixture is fluffy and pale ivory in colour. Add flour mixture in 3 - 4 additions alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing after each addition only until incorporated.

Transfer 2/3 of the batter into a bowl. Stir in the matcha. Spoon batter into prepared pan, and spread evenly with a rubber spatula.

Stir baking soda into chocolate syrup-espresso mixture, then add mixture to the remaining batter in bowl. Without delay, pour chocolate batter on top of batter in the pan.

Bake the cake until the top springs back when pressed lightly and a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out free of batter, 65 – 70 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 10 – 15 minutes before turning the cake out of the pan.

Unfortunately, the green tea flavour didn't come through. I wanted more green! Ms Braker tells us (in page 88 of her book) that the heavier chocolate batter will "flip positions with its lighter counterpart" while in the oven thus forming the marbling inside the cake. This is not true. Nevertheless, it's delicious!

I also made a cold soba salad and Lee Ling's favourite comfort food - the Shepherd's Pie. Thanks, Lee Ling, for being a willing guinea pig. It's truly enjoyable to cook for someone who appreciates the simple pleasures.

Dad celebrates 80!

2009-07-16T21:53:00.031+08:00

On Wed July 15, my father turned 80. We enjoyed a quiet celebration at home, followed by lunch at his favourite chicken rice restaurant afterwards.

The birthday cake is in the form of a peach. To us Chinese the peach symbolizes longevity.

Beaming Birthday Boy ...

... makes a wish

Cake-cutting requires concentration ...

... and help from spouse.

Giant Raisins For Giant Cookies

2009-07-05T18:26:00.036+08:00

On my last evening in Taipei, Alice let me in on a bit of info: there is a shop in Yong Kang Park that sold Giant Raisins! I told her that I'd very much like to lay my hands on some "to make Giant Cookies!". She took my words very seriously and went around the next day to get me some. By then I had already left Taipei, she still managed to get them to me in Singapore. Talk about resourcefulness!

The raisins are enormous. You could've mistaken them for prunes! Alice, thank you so much for your hospitality and thoughtfulness. I made these giants in your honour.

It is raining cats and dogs outside as I type this. I like an occasional rain. The cool weather is perfect for baking. I took a recipe from Sherry Yard's Desserts by the Yard: From Brooklyn to Beverly Hills: Recipes from the Sweetest Life Ever for reference.

Oatmeal Cookies with Giant Raisins

Loosely adapted from Sherry Yard's President Clinton’s Oatmeal Cookies recipe

Makes about 35 cookies

200 grams all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

200 grams butter

200 grams granulated sugar

200 grams brown sugar

2 large eggs

300 grams rolled oats

1½ cups Giant Raisins

Plump the raisins by soaking them in hot water for 15 minutes.

Preheat your oven at 180 degrees C. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Sieve together flour, baking soda and ground cinnamon.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gently fold in sifted flour mixture. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl, making sure all the ingredients come together nicely. Mix in rolled oats and raisins.

Using a tablespoon, scoop the dough onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for about 12 minutes. When the cookies are baked, rest them for a few minutes before transferring them to wire racks. Let the cookies cool completely before storing them.

Enjoy!