Loooooooong MeMe

OH! I've been tagged again...so here goes!


1. Name one person who made you laugh last night? hmmm.... too sick to laugh. :(

2. What were you doing at 0800? On the way to get some b'fast.

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Reading at Ching's blog and realised that I've been tagged! LOL

4. What happened to you in 2006? I turned a year older.

5. What was the last thing you said out loud? I'm just ignoring you (to a fellow coll! LOL)

6. How many beverages did you have today? Had cups of plain water and a cup of soya milk.

7. What color is your hairbrush? Grey.

8. What was the last thing you paid for? My lunch today.

9. Where were you last night? On my bed, trying to get some sleep.

10. What color is your front door? Brown.

11. Where do you keep your change? Wallet.

12. What’s the weather like today? Warm....

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor? My fav chocolate.

14. What excites you? Having something to look forward to everyday.

15. Do you want to cut your hair? Been there, done that (just got my hair cut SHORT! 2 weeks ago)

16. Are you over the age of 25? Yes. (unfortunately)

17. Do you talk a lot? I dun warm up easily, so I'm a quiet person to many.

18. Do you watch the O.C.? No.

19. Do you know anyone named Steven? Yes. at the moment, 3.

20. Do you make up your own words? Yups.

21. Are you a jealous person? You're looking at a green-eye monster rite now.

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’. Adeline.

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’. Keith.

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list? DH.

25. What does the last text message you received say? "Sure!"

26. Do you chew on your straw? Nope.

27. Do you have curly hair? Nope! But I used to wish I have natural curls.

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to? Going home after work....

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life? Dunno.

30. What was the last thing you ate? Sugar-coated soda biscuits from the pantry.

31. Will you get married in the future? Errrr......

32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks? What movie?

33. Is there anyone you like right now? Yes.

34. When was the last time you did the dishes? I can't remember.

35. Are you currently depressed? Nope.

36. Did you cry today? NO. and hope not for the rest of my life!

37. Why did you answer and post this? 'coz Ching has been a very sweet and nice virtual friend of mine. :)

38. Tag 1 person who would do this survey. (think 1 is enuf lah!) Elyn

Peach muffins

Since the peach egg jellies only used up abt 2 halves of the canned peach, i'm still left with 3/4 tin of it. so I looked thru' my stash of recipes and decided to make some peach muffins. This recipe was shared by Lucy. Thanks Lucy!

Everyone love this muffins. It's very cake-like texture is a real crowd pleaser. I reduced the amt of sugar to 180gm for this muffins. It still turned out ok.

Egg jellies again!

Since acquiring this lovely and fun toy, i can't help but make more of these jellies. (and of course, to justify the cost of these molds!)

This time, I din wan to go thru that  layering process of different colours and decided to add fruits to it. I cut the peach into small cubes and pushed it thru the tiny hole where the jelly mix is supposed to go. And here's how it looks.
tedious

Like it? :P

I know I do! LOL

Headless chicken!

This is the 1st time I've been tagged! and i really have no clue to what i'm supposed to do... so I decided to cut and paste the same stuff Ching did and then figure things out along the way! LOL....


Thanks Ching for tagging me and giving me this "MeMe" experience....

MeMe: Five Things

Found in my room:

1. My beloved deskstop PC
2. Stacks of baking books (I leave them just next to my bed and read them when there's nothing interesting going on the TV... and of course, bookmarking recipes that I intend to try... LOL... but mostly, the books are there to gather dust!)
3. TV (facing the bed! i know... this is bad ;P)
4. My wardrobe (overdue for a cleanup!)
5. Lamp (at the bedside - i hate to stumble in the dark)

I have always wanted to do:

1. Be a lawyer (dun laugh.... it din happen and will never happen now)
2. Stay at home (not necessary, as a MOM... i just love lazing around at home, instead of gng to work! LOL)
3. Travel (without a care in the world! the list of to-travel countries is catching up with my to-bake list!)
4. Sell my bakes (it's happening right now!)

Found in my bag:

1. Mails! (yes, it may sound weird to you, but I keep my mails in my bag.... I go thru' my mails on my way to the office... )
2. Keys (and still I often can't find it)
3. Mobile phone (I can't imagine my life without it!)
4. Pouches (one for makeups, one for the coins, one for the wallet etc...)
5. Lozenges (I left 1 pack in my bag mths ago and till now it's still there!)

Found in my wallet/purse:

1. Credit cards
2. Notes and coins
3. Name cards (of my DH's, the banker's, friends' etc)
4. ID
5. ATM cards

I am currently into:

1. Blogging
2. Trying new recipes
3. Planning a diet plan for myself (I dunno if this will happen tho' )
4. Planning an exercise routine (this is supposed to go with no.3)
5. Picking up new skills in the office

5 Candidates to tag:

1. Elyn
2. Edith
3. Happy homebaker
4. Patricia
5. OvenHaven

All girlish...

I've not been posting for the past week 'coz my DS is gonna have his year-end exams soon. I know I shdn't be so nervous abt it, afterall he's only in his 1st year in pri school. But sometimes, I just can't help worrying as he doesn't seem to have a sense of urgency or timing. Someone told me that even if he did badly in this exam, it's not gonna have any effect in his life later on as no one looks at the results in P1.... Frankly, it's not his results that worries me, it's his attitude towards learning.

Anyway, after making him go thru' all the practise papers he brought home from school for one whole week, I decided it's enuf. My hands are itching too much! LOL... no... not itching to play mahjong! but to BAKE!

I can't help but pick up a punnet of strawberries that was on sale on friday while grocery-shopping .... yeah, subconsciously, I'm already have in mind to bake something with it. After running thru' my mind what bakes is suitable.... I recalled seeing a butter cake in Ching's blog. It was also strawberry! So, I went to her blog and copied the recipe down.

I used strawberry paste(emulco) instead of essence, which explained the slight pinkish colour and I think the strawberries had been chopped too finely, which after baking, it seemed to have "disappeared". I somehow always associate strawberries with being girlish... furthermore, the cake is PINK! This recipe is definitely a keeper! The cake is moist and soft. The texture is very very fine and the crust is really thin! (in fact, i think this is the 1st time i achieved such a thin crust for butter cake!). I absolutely love this cake.... yummy! Thanks Ching for sharing this lovely recipe.

Quickie b'fast

I chanced upon this idea of a quickie b'fast when I joined a local mother's forum. It's amazing how many new things one can learn when they get introduced to a different world of ppl! I am so happy and grateful being able to be part of this forum... where everyone shared their knowledge and views so generously and openly.

As most of you will know by now, I've this thing abt loving anything that's fast, convenient and yummy (hey! who doesn't????).

It did not take me long to try this recipe out. And since the 1st try, I've been making this b'fast for as many as 2-3 times a week!

The frozen uncooked pratas really tasted like puff pastry when baked! And my kiddos love this! I guess pratas and sausage combi will never go wrong. Of course, you can try different fillings, like tuna or sardines... which I intend to give a shot soon! Till then, sausages remained the favourite amongst us.

In case anyone of you should ask, I baked these rolls at 180C for nearly 40mins. What I did was take out the frozen pratas to thaw for a while and I set the oven to preheat. Made use of this time slot to washup.... Then when the pratas felt soft enuf to wrap/roll, I placed the sausages in and rolled it up. Make a few slits using the knife and in the oven it went. Set the timer to 40mins, and went abt doing the rest of my morning routine.

40mins later, viola, it's ready and it goes into the food container and we're out of the house.... i just love these sausage rolls!

See the layers of pastry? ooohhh so crispy!

Food review 2007 #8 - Jumbo Seafood Restaurant

We had some close relatives who came over for a good 1 1/2 mth stay in sg. And as a farewell dinner, we decided to eat out. Known to many Singaporeans, the stretch of seafood restaurants at the East Coast Park, has many singaporeans (and tourists as well) flocking there to enjoy the food. Another benefit was being able to enjoy the sea view and breeze at the same time. And me, like many food-loving singaporeans, decided that that venue will be a good choice for a farewell dinner. After many discussions, we finally settled on Jumbo Seafood Restaurant, out of the many restaurants there. I had eaten at Jumbo Seafood Rest on one occasion, and it was many years ago. The food and ambience left a rather good impression.

I had called and asked for a reservation, asking for a table in the air-con environment on the 2nd level, but was told that that level was fully booked. So in the end, I was allocated an outdoors table. However, when I finally reached that place, I was rather taken aback. the place is rather huge and it was really really packed! The table was located at the side of the bldg and the tables are really close to each other. Still I decided to make the best out of the nite and have a good meal... afterall, the dinner was held in honour of my relatives, wishing them a good and safe journey home.

The menu looked pretty impressive. There was a huge variety of food and the photos looked really enticing.

We finally settled on 10 dishes..... Steamed bamboo clams with tang hoon, garlic, spring onions and some sauce. This is the most expensive item in the meal. The clams were of a good size but a pity tho'... they were a tad overcooked.Deep-fried beancurd and braised with mushrooms. This is a child-friendly dish and everyone love the mushrooms. The beancurd itself tho' soft, tasted rather bland.Satays. We ordered the beef and mutton ones. The meat was rather well-marinated. But's nothing out of the ordinary. Oh... and I wanted Ketupat but they don't have it. *pout* Stirfry venison with ginger and spring onions. This dish was rather well-done. Love the tenderness of the venison slices. But some pieces are rather chewy.
Some vegetables... this is stirfy baby kailan. Main reason we ordered this was 'coz my relatives can't take spicy food. Did not really enjoy this veg.Know what dish this is? It's cereal prawns. When the dish was placed on the table, I could not figure out what it was! The amt of cereal! My goodness... the prawns were literally drowned in it. The prawns were rather small and also overcooked. Cereal pranws are supposed to be fried first and then butter added and then curry leaves and finally the prawns and cereals. But the fragrance of butter was apparently missing here. The children enjoyed eating the cereals.This is the prawns... haha... I had to dig into the pile of cereals to get to it!Scallops in yam ring. I was captivated by the photo in the menu and had to order this dish to try it for myself. However, it's quite a disappointment. While it seemed a rather good idea and the appearance of the dish looks really nice, after tasting it, it just did not deliver. The scallops were grossly overcooked while swimming in the oil waiting for the yam to turn a good yellow. It tasted oily too.I guess this dish is my favourite. Deep-fried baby squids. It was done rather well. The crispiness of the squid and I really love the sauce! The use of har-zheong (prawn paste) was a nice addition and made this dish stand out from the others I tried. I can really taste the prawn paste here.Remember my mention earlier abt my relatives not being able to take spicy food? Well, chilli crabs was out of the question and we settled on a non-spicy way of cooking these crabs. This is butter crab. And it turned out very different from what I imagined it to be. Sadly, the butter fragrance is not distinct (and so, why call it butter crabs???). The waitress screwed up and gave us 1 crab, instead f 2 which we had ordered. *relief* Basically the crab was deep-fried after being coated with a very thin batter than had contained VERY LITTLE butter. And the crab does not taste sweet... in fact, the flesh tasted rather bland. Overall, I think Jumbo had not delivered. I don't think I'll patronise this restuarant again. Altho' the bill did not come up to alot, but I seriously think that there's many restaurants out there that can do a much better job! It really makes me wonder why they are enjoying such good business... Do we singaporeans have so little choice? *puzzled*

Egg jellies

These egg molds took a super long time to reach my hands. When it finally did, I can't wait to get started. Many ideas ran thru' my mind. I believe gelatine was the recommended ingredient for these molds, as it was manufactured by Krafts and they also have a range of jellies. Anyway, I decided to use Konniyaku jelly instead. Texture is much similar to gelatine (jelly-o). So I think it shdn't go wrong.

The results were very pleasing and good! I love the colours and the stripey look of the eggs.... but it was a rather tedious process, so I guess lazy me won't be trying this stripey look anytime soon. :P

Cornflakes muffins

Been feeling really lazy lately. But of course I've been baking to fulfil some orders. So since it's the same stuff, so I did not post abt it.

Anyway, I baked these muffins since the kiddos have gone for their outing to Sentosa and were not back yet. Left me some free time to myself to try this muffin recipe that I've bookmarked for sometime. I believe the kids will take to these muffins as they love the crunchiness of cornflakes. I've added 3 handfuls of chocolate chips to up the yummy factor.

The recipe as follows:

What you need

• 70gm cornflakes
• 130gm plain flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 100gm butter (melted)
• 100gm caster sugar
• 2 eggs (beaten)
• 100ml milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• extra conrflakes for garnishing

What to do

• Preheat the oven to 170C.
• Blend 50gm of cornflakes till fine, crush the remaining 20gm.
• Sift plain flour with baking soda and baking powder. Mix in the cornflakes.
• Stir in sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla into the melted butter and mix well.
• Fold into the flour mixutre, till well combined.
• Spoon mixture into muffin liner. Sprinkle with extra cornflakes.
• Bake at 170C for 20mins.