Food review 2007 #02 - PAU

I L.O.V.E char siew baos! it's one of the items that is a MUST HAVE whenever i go for yum-cha. and of course, besides having to go to the chinese restuarants that serve dim-sums, char siew baos are also readily availables in some stalls/shops. Today, i'll let to highlight this stall that i frequent for their char siew baos. Enuf of toking... lemme show u the bao instead and let the picture do the talking!
Salivating oredi? haha.... here's where the PAU shops are located...

Open sesame...

It's been some time since i did a swiss roll, so i tot why not this weekends. This is a black sesame swiss roll, using grounded sesame seeds. i was very curious as to how sesame seeds will taste in a cake... and now i know.... frankly, it tasted very different from my imagination. a tat too dry, but it has a nice sesame seed fragrance. hmm.. maybe it's abit overbaked and i shd've slapped on a thick layer of buttercream! Here's the recipe:

What you need

• 5 eggs
• 50gm corn oil (i used canola oil)
• 80gm milk
• 85gm castor sugar
• 76gm cake flour
• 17gm corn flour
• 20gm grounded sesame seeds
• 2gm baking powder (i used 1/2 tsp)

What you do

1. Add corn oil to milk and warm them up (abt 20 seconds in a microwave oven).
2. Sift the cake flour, corn flour and grounded sesame seeds tog. set aside.
3. Beat the eggs till white and mousse-like.Fold in the sifted flours. Combine it well.
4. Fold in the milk and oil to the batter. Mix well.
5. Pour batter into prepared tin and bake at 180C for abt 20mins.
6. When cooled, spread on butter cream and roll up.

Marbled Green Tea White Choc cake

Quite a mouthful, eh?

Besides the cookies i tried out today, decided to bake a cake for tea. Looking at a fellow blogger's cake, i want to try the recipe out. It looked rather yummy and also i wanted to use green tea powder that has been sitting neglected in my cabinet for a very long time... However, the cake turned out rather dry. The green tea taste is apparent, while the white chocolate is totally lost in the cake... and all i can taste is the sweetness.... but i guess next time i'll just use my butter cake recipe and add green tea powder to it.

Tryout for CNY....

As promised, i baked cookies today. Sad to say tho', i only managed one type of cookies. Going thru' the many recipes i've collected, it's really very hard to select one cookie to bake. However, Yochana's seaweed cookies caught my eye as i was browsing thru'. This cookie is pretty special to me as it's seaweed and salted! i've never tasted a seaweed cookie, and a salted one at that! So i decided to give this recipe a try. It did not disappoint me a single bit. Simply delicious! thanks yochana! It's crunchy on the exterior and simply melt-in-the-mouth texture. Alot of good reviews for this cookies and of course, there's always some who dun like it. but well, wad's impt is that i've finally tried this cookie and i still think it's rather special.... here's how mine turned out....

Getting into the CNY mood...

There's only less than 1 mth to Chinese New Year!


As DH is still not back from his working trip overseas, I decided to bring my kids shopping at Chinatown... to de-stress and also let them enjoy picking their new clothes! Like most of the pre-schools and primary schools in sg, there'll be a day where the school celebrates cny beforehand. With that in mind, I decided to go to chinatown to buy a set of chinese costume for each of my kids. It maybe still early to really feel the electric atmosphere of cny at chinatown (when the nite market really comes alive the last 2 weeks to cny), the children still had a good time nevertheless today.


These are the clothes we picked up today. The black and red trousers set for DS, the bright red skirt set for DD, and for myself, a samfoo (dunno if it's correct to call it samfoo) top. Actually this is the 1st time i'm getting a top like this. Used to balk at wearing somefin like these in the past -_-lll ...

sigh... guess i'm really getting OLD! when now i actually LIKE this top very much! hah

I'll be trying to do some baking this weekends to gear up for cny... hopefully i'll post abt it tmr! stay tuned! :)

Singing the blues....

Don't worry everyone... not another post of complaints! ... I'm actually feeling much much better now that I've let it out and getting advices from many (I'm really so touched and appreciate that very much! thanks again :))

To de-stress myself and try out the new toy I got (a silicon mould I got from PH), I decided to make some cupcakes. DD tried Lucy's cupcakes the other day at a gathering, so I asked for the recipe from her. Thanks to her generosity, I managed to bake some today for the family. I halved the recipe and also added almond essence and blueberries I picked up from the supermart today. I hope DD will love these...

It's getting to me....

DH had left for his 2nd working trip to China... leaving me with the kids... he's only been gone for 4 days but it seemed forever.


Everyday I had to bring DD across the island, from the east to the west, for her to attend preschool, and me, to work. While DS is with my mom, gng to Pri School in the afternoon. This travelling everyday is making me really tired... It's no fun getting up so early in the morning and rushing to catch the bus and then the MRT and THEN the company feeder.. all within an hour! I pity my poor DD who has to go thru' this routine with me every morning. It's times like these when I wish that I have my driver's licence as the car is now sitting prettily at home while I battle with the daily public transport. Some of you may think that I'm too spoilt... hehehe... but if I'm alone doing all the travelling, I'm totally fine with it... bringing a 5yo into the picture is a totally different matter. The bus journey to the MRT station is actually ok, as we usually get seats. But when we arrived at the MRT stn, the trains are usually so packed that poor DD has to stand thru'out the entire journey.


DS takes the school bus everyday to and fro school. So after work, I'll make my way to my mom's place with DD in tow (of course). Mom stays in the south of sg, which wasn't too bad for me as it's along the way home. We have our dinner at her place, then I catch up with DS rdg his school life and homework. After making sure that everything is ok, me and DD will start our journey home to the east.


We have exactly 1 more mth to go for this routine... I really dunno if I can pull this thru'... Actually I'm trying very hard not to think abt this much so that I dun feel so depressed. But this morning DD posed a question. She said "Mommy, are we gng to do this everyday?" when I said YES, she answered "I dun think I can take it".... my heart sank when I heard these words....

Anyone can tell me what to do?


PS : sorrie for the rantings... just tot I shd document this down. If anyone has advice for me, pls feel free to leave some comments....

Powerpuffs....

I made puffs today! Brought some to a gathering at L's place and also for the family. Tho' this is not the 1st time i've made puffs, but this attempt is a much more successful one than the last. My children really love it.... hope i'll have more time to make it again in the near future...

Chocolate cream puffs

Durian puffs

Food review 2007 #01 - Superdog Fastfood

Well, well.... decided to do food review in this new year! Good idea or not? we shall see....

Actually my idea is just to document some of the food joints i go to, i maybe a frequent visitor or trying out the food for the 1st time. Since this is my 1st food review, i've chosen this food joint, SUPERDOG. SUPERDOG is a new joint and it's the 1st time i'm trying the food there too...

It's a crowded place, maybe 'coz it was the public holidays when i decided to drop by viviocity at harbour front with DS to do some shopping... we walked for some time and decided to grab a bite. I'm attracted by the nice decor and furnishings this place offered and i tot since it's a fastfood joint, food shd be fast lor....

The service
The queue moved quite fast and i was surprised... but then when it was my turn, then i realised that all they can give me was my drink... my fries and hotdog are not ready. i was given a number tag and told to grab a seat and my food will be delivered to me. no wonder they cleared the line fast... NO FOOD! The person taking my orders dun seem very friendly. I can't help but wonder if it's 'coz she needs to work on a public holiday while all her customers are having enjoying the holiday. anyway, i tot they need more training on service. she din speak loud enuf and have to repeat her words as i really can't hear wad she was saying. furthermore there dun seem to have enuf smiles to go ard... it think there was a ration.

The price
By the way, i ordered the super value meal which cost me $12.10... erm... i dun think it's "value" in any way.... the superdog alone cost $7 plus. the value meal was supposed to come with the fries and a drink. supposed to add $3 for both items but the gal recommended their best-selling chilli fries to me which i tot shd be worth a try. so it suddenly become $12.10 when the value meal was supposed to cost $10.

This is the superdog i ordered... frankly speaking it's quite good. the bun is fresh and soft... the hotdog is huge and nicely spiced. it was lying on top of a huge piece of bacon...topped by a tomato-based sauce with some diced onions and cheese. As the posters declared, the beef used are all fresh and not frozen...

Now we come to the chilli cheese fries... having been a fan of mcxxxxxx's fries (well, maybe i shd say used to be a fan, after i heard of how the fries are actually produced... but then tat's another story...), i like my fries a tiny lil'bit greasy, salted and crisp on the outside while still soft inside... tat said, the fries offered by superdog really disappoint. while they say they are proud of their chilli, it's not a new or innovative idea to add the chilli sauce and cheese on top of the fries. the chilli sauce does not give me any kick and there was too little cheese! the worst part was that the fries are very dry. i do not enjoy the fries at all... even with the chilli and cheese, it tasted dry... imagine if i had just gotten the plain fries!

Verdict
I dun think i'll be a frequent visitor of superdog... maybe i'll pop by 6 mths later, just to see if there's any improvement on the service and food... or unless anyone has a HUGE craving of hotdogs!

Chocolate cut-out cookies

My 1st post in 2007!

How had everyone's new year celebrations been? I hope everyone had fun. For me, it's more of resting and recharging. And also thinking of what I shd be doing more of in this new year. 12 new mths awaits me... and I'm sure it'll be full of pleasant surprises!

Anyway... back to the cookies....

These cookies are nice and crisp... and I used it for the new years cuppies. The "HAPPY NEW YEAR" cookie cutters were sent to me all the way from Penang! I figured that if i dun use it for the new year, I seriously dunno if it can be used for other occasions! haha....


Here's the recipe for those who wanna give it a try. Of course any other cookie cutters can be used....

What you need

• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 1/2 cup plain flour
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

What to do

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar tog until pale. Add in egg and vanilla essence and beat till fluffy.
2. In another bowl, sift together plain flour, cocao powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Add sifted flour mix into the creamed butter gradually. Fold in till well combined.
4. Chill dough in fridge for at least 1 hour and firm enough to handle. Preheat oven to 170C.
5. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface and cut out desired shapes using cookie cutters.
6. Bake at 170C for 10 mins. Cool slightly on baking sheet then transfer to cooling rack. Cool down cookies completely before storing.
7. Cookies can be frosted/decorated using icing.