Backdated: Of cheese cakes and tuna puffs

Was invited to go over to Li Ping & Kin Mun's new pad for steamboat. Brought them a lemon cheesecake. Since I was in the baking zone, decided to try out those puffs pastry i bought the other day. After a lil trial and error... i got these...

New Years' Day Bake

Happy New Year 2011!

It's a brand new year, a brand new start to everything. Well at least everything. I have not written down my 2011 resolutions yet. It's quite a cliche to do so, however, I guess it works like a motivation for us to achieve certain things in the next 365 days. Hrmm, there are quite a few at the back of my mind. And it brings a smile to my face to know that many things will be achieved by us.

It's nice and sunny outside, and a good day to stay home and be fully domesticated ! It calls for some baking ! Made some cheese tarts with the tart shells that Aunty Wendy gave me, baked a marble cake for darling, and some muffins :)

Backdated: I baked again

Yet another attempt at a marble cake for the potluck party at Venus' place. Did a last minute decision to make a quiche too.

And then I tried egg tarts the next day,

Backdated : Marble Cake

On a Sunday morning, I woke up just to find myself home alone. As I rummaged through the fridge, I have a block of butter, 4 eggs, and self raising flour. Hmm, it triggered my baking nerves. Put them all together, and after 2 hours, ta-daa... Marble cake.

Backdated: Dishes from my kitchen

Pasta bolognaise

Garlic parsley potatoes

Green Salad with Hot n Spicy Chicken

Pasta Bolognaise

Mom is away on a holiday, and we have been eating out on most nights. Last night, I rummaged through the fridge and I found - a slab of pork, carrots, and onions. Just the right ingredients to cook bolognaise sauce, so that was what I did for lunch today. As I look in the pantry, I found conchiglie, spirals and penne. Penne being my least favourite type of pasta, I've decided to finish that up first. My aunt who came back from Canada for a holiday, gave that bag of penne to me. Given a choice, I will never ever buy penne !

So, I present you Penne Bolognaise...

Another day at home

This is my last week of unemployment! Yay... Will be starting work on Monday, and for the first time, I am actually looking forward to it! Oh yea, very much.

Yesterday seemed like an eventful day, had breakfast in the market with Mom, and stocked up on some greens. But I felt so guilty for not bringing the basket or an eco-bag, cos we kept collecting plastic bags with every purchase! Tsk..tsk.. tsk. That just can't do, will definitely remember the next time we go to the market!

We had a Mcdonald's treat for lunch cos Abby got her SPM results , so it's her treat! As I had a heavy breakfast, I only had a strawberry sundae. Then I spent all day on Facebook, was expanding my farm and busy editing food pictures for upload. Speaking about food, I made dinner last night, and tried out a new way to cook chicken wings. Found a recipe for Buffalo Wings, it requred Tabasco sauce and butter. I have them both in my fridge - Perfect! Bro said it was good, but sissy find it a lil spicy though. As for me, I did not have any of it, as I was having a terrible gastric, could only force down a bowl of soup with a lil rice. *Sob*

Buffalo Wings Amanda's style !

Long beans with Egg.

Baking day

Sissy is so bored sitting at home, and then she decided that today is the day! To bake her chocolate chip crunch that is. Well, it's actually a recipe I found, and the original recipe called for cashew nut, white choc, and oats.Well, she omitted all these once, and so it became her 'cookies'. She rummaged through the drawer of all my baking supplies, and got everything out, from the scale to the baking tray! I was there to mock and tease her, after all, I'm the expert. (as compared to her of cos !)

Behold, the finished product !

Decided to make a batch of Anzacs as well. Sent them hot n fresh to YL later.

Nien Gao

Nian Gao, a sweet snack that almost every Chinese household will savour during Chinese New Year. The Chinese have preserved this traditional food for 3000 years. Learn a couple of simple ways to cook Nian Gao in this video.
http://thestaronline.tv/v/5120

I have been reading this excerpt on the side panel of my TV guide for the past few days. Been meaning to check out the video on thestaronline, but my Internet was down for the past few days, so I never did. This morning, the technician finally came by to have a look at our connections, it turned out that the problem wasn't in our house, but on their end. Oh well, what's new?.

Had a heavy breakfast of Nasi Lemak, so we all skipped lunch. As I opened the fridge to look for a snack, I spotted the Nien Gao that an aunty gave me. Hmm... so I whipped up a simple batter of flour and egg, and fried a few pieces of the sweet cake. It did not turn out as expected, but hey, it's still Nien Gao! I don't remember the last time I had this sweet bite, must have been at least 2 years ago, as I definitely did not have any last year. Back in my uni days, I always had some really yummy ones whenever JM went back to Malacca. His aunt would sandwich them with sweet potato and yam slices. And of cos, I would always pick out the yam, not a big fan of yam cooked this way. Ooh, I wish I can savour one of them right now!

This is how my attempt looks like. Again, do not judge it by the looks, it was actually quite yummy. I'll try it again once I have watched the video on the star.com, and maybe with sweet potato slices this time!

Backdated: Yong Tau Foo night

One of the days last week, mom cooked "Yong Tau Foo". This is not your usual plain fish paste YTF, it's the Guang-xi style YTF, that requires so much slaving over! The filling is made from a combination of fish paste, pork and chives. And, to get the ideal texture, the pork is carefully diced into small pieces - both the fat and lean meat . You may also subsitute it with minced pork, but it won't taste as good. This is a proven and tested theory! Being the filial daughter (ahem!), I spent the entire hour cutting up the meat, and the chives. Mom did the mixing and seasoning, corn flour or oil is also added to create a better texture.

Our favourite is the white tofu, followed by the 'tau foo pok'. As we couldnt get hold of the usual Bentong 'tau foo pok', the local ones will do. Mom also bought bittergrourd, so we had a yummy pot of soup with it.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Food for thoughts?

Went downstairs to snap a picture of my 'flower cookies' and caught my bro in action. One of his late nite quirks.. and this time dad was involved too.

Dad's bowl of noodles...

Just another day..

I woke up groggily from the weirdest dream I've ever had, just to realise it was 12.30 in the afternoon. There goes half a day, this waking up late habit really has to go, it's not me at all.

Loiterred around all day, surfing jobstreet.com and applied for some jobs. Then it was lunch time. at 3.30pm? Oh dear..
Took the English Assessment Test on Jobstreet.com and scored 35/40. Darn, cos I scored 37 during the practice. See what unemployment does to your brain? It was then raining cats and dogs, I got into a baking mood. Baked some 'Highlander Cookies" from Nana's recipe... it turned out to be.. different. With the cookie cutters and a lil icing, it looked alrite.

Made dinner, washed up and was glued to the tube for once.. Watched Ghost Whisperer, Gossip Girls, and Timeless Season. Just another manic day.

A quiet weekend..

Since it's a long weekend, and also Boy's birthday on Monday, I've decided to cook up a meal to celebrate his birthday before he goes back to Malacca. Was dragged out of my coma at 2pm, and went out with Mom for lunch and groceries shopping. After 1.5 hours of slaving in the kitchen, the results are voila !! And it was yum !

The table is all set

Cheesy garlic prawns

Garden salad with Edam cheese

Roast Chicken with boiled veggies

I baked..

I opened the fridge and saw cream cheese, butter and a pack of digestive on the table.. I knew what he was up to - baked cheesecake. Since I have the time, I seized the opportunity to do some baking. After 2 hours of baking, and a night of chilling, ta daa ....