Almond Cookies..... again....

I guess it's hightime to embark on my cny baking.... and so I decided to start off with some almond cookies. But these almond cookies are not like the chinese traditional ones.

The recipe is generously shared by Elyn... and the cookies are really really delicious! So good that I made 3 batches! LOL...

BTW, I also made some osmantus cookies... but well, it tasted BLERGHHH... so I din even bother to take a photo of it. The recipe needs improving. If I can find time in between all things happening to tweak it, then u'll get to see it! LOL

2008 Food review #1 - Ah Orh Seafood Restuarant

Besides myself, my mom is also sifting to a new apartment.... for her, she's moving to a new apartment few blocks away. Since she and my bros will be busy packing, it's impossible to be able to cook something tonite. So we decided to visit a neaby restuarant for dinner... and therefore, my 1st food review in 2008. :)

We've heard good reviews abt this restuarant... even tho' we've been living in this neighbourhood for 30 over years, we haven't tried dining there before.

So here we were tonite, trying out the fare. It's known for it's authentic teochew fare... and of course, there'll be my fav, orh-nee as dessert! *happy*

These are the dishes we ordered.... I've not taken many teochew dishes before, so frankly I dunno how authentic the food is... but well, as long as it satiates my appetite, I'm one happy soul!This is wintermelon soup. It's limited -edition soup! LOL... apparently, the resturant only serves a limited number of this soup everyday. Have to order in advance (when you make the reservation) to ensure that you get a serving! The soup tastes very light... and healthy! What revealed when the lid was uncovered was a chokeful of ingredients in the soup... there's snow fungus, wolfberries, and dried squid. When you scoop the soup out, you're supposed to "dig" into the flesh of the melon... yummy start to the meal!Oyster egg omelette ... the oysters were rather huge and fresh. They were also generous with the serving. Quite good tho' u can see from the pix that they kinda burnt some parts of the omelette... BUT when eaten, you dun really taste anything burnt.The yam basket ... over-fried with bits of the yam burnt... however, the ingredients inside were good. the chicken pieces were nicely stir-fried. The yam tasted a little too sweet. I think they added a tad too much sugar to the mash yam.Steamed garoupa... it tasted really fresh, but in my opinion, it's overcooked (or oversteamed). The flesh still tasted good, not tough. Steamed in the authentic teochew-fashion, the accompanied soup-based was good., tho' I'll much preferred taking a steam promfet anytime. :P

Stir-fry kailan... this dish kinda tasted more cantonese. Nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, the stems were rather hard and chewy...Crayfish... This dish is so yummy! Altho' it a little spicy, DS loved it so much that he dun mind the spicy taste... LOL... only meant that he had to down a couple of cups of water after taking this! I love the sauce... so good to go with some plain rice.Teochew style braised duck... and there's also pork and beancurd (dao-gua) in there. I'm impressed that the dish was not oily at all! Duck skin usually contains a thick layer of fats... and this was not evident in the dish. The meat were sliced very thinly and even when eaten with the layer of skin, it did not taste oily at all.The ever child-friendly tofu dish. This is braised tofu (hong-sao). DD loved the sauce alot... with mince meat in it, it tasted abit salty and yet flavourful.Stir-fry dua-tau... I dun find this dish impressive. Slightly spicy, it had DS addicted! he kept asking for 2nd helpings... third and even 4th! And lastly, my fav!!!! ORH-EE!!!! Was told that this is a must-order dish for the restuarant... and it definately did not disappoint! the orhnee was really smooth! Soft, and even kinda fluffy texture when in the mouth. The sweetness was just right and no trace of oil! 2 thumbs-up!

Light Fruit Cake

Well, after the disappointing almond cookies, I decided I shd bake somefin fail-proof to console myself a little. I remembered Florence posted her fruitcake recipe b4 x'mas. Well, I wasn't really a fan of fruitcakes, since I dun really like raisins much. The thing abt the traditional fruitcakes was that it's too dense and sweet for my liking. But Florence was so full of praise for this recipe, that I tot there's no harm trying it out... furthermore, others in the family are raisins and fruitcakes lovers... so I shdn't deprive them of enjoying the cake, shd i?

I'm glad I gave it a shot. The texture is very light! Just as what Florence had described it to be... However, due to my greediness, I added extra alcohol to the cake and also made some modifications to the sugar.... the verdict? it's definately a keeper... gonna make one for my mom and also for a relative's potluck this coming cny! Well, I do get a review that the alcohol is abit too much... well, if the kids are not drunk of consuming this cake, I think I shd just let it be. LOL...

It's still not what I'm looking for....

There is an interesting discussion in one of the local cooking/baking forum abt chinese almond cookies. With CNY is round the corner, and I guess everyone's trying to locate recipes that maybe useful.... i remember sourcing for the recipe to these cookies 1 year back and in the end, I was left clueless. So when there was a request for this recipe, it immediately caught my attention! Coincidentally, I was browsing at the bokshop y'day and came across a recipebook and there's the recipe staring at me! Without thinking, I just grab a copy and headed for the cashier... I set abt trying the recipe out this afternoon.... the texture and taste turned out totally different from the many types of chinese almond cookies I've tried.

I'm terribly disappointed...

The process of the preparation is very similar to kueh koya which i had attempted b4... this is how the cookies looks like...

May life be a bed of roses....

It does look like a bouquet of roses, doesn't it? I made some cuppies to share with my colleagues today. It's vanilla cupcake with buttercream frosting. The pink ones are strawberry buttercream, while the brown ones are chocolate.
I decided to try using the "star" tip to pipe after seeing some bloggers using that and the resulting design looks like a rose. It's really beautiful.... so i digged into my piping tips and found somefin similar and hopefully be able to replicate the same design. Somehow the piped rose din turn out as what I wish it'll look. Still it looks like a rose right???? *stubborn streak showing* I did not add on any other decorative stuff on the frosting as many of us dun have a sweet-tooth (or rather, watching the waistline! LOL)... furthermore, I think it's pretty enuf as it is.... and one last point... who eats the cream anyway??? except for kids! :P


Hope everyone will enjoy eating these cuppies...And I wish that our lives will be a BED OF ROSES....

Edited to add : I'm sorrie, Reena and Chanchao... I've accidentally deleted yr comments. Reena, thanks for the kind words. :) Chanchao, if you dun mind, pls leave yr comments again.... I din get yr email addy.
For Xan, you wan to know how the tip looks like, here's a pix.As for measurements, the top tapering part, it's abt 1cm across and the bottom base is abt 2.3cm across. Hope that helps. :)

I'm BACKKKKKK!

I've finally got myself settled down (well, sorta, LOL) and my hands itched so much... not from wanting to play mahjong... but to BAKE!

Actually wanted to bake 2 nites ago, but silly me can't remember the weighing scale and flour were packed in which box... so I was playing the guessing game for 2 nites, trying to locate all the necessary stuff for baking. :P

I was all set last nite and went about selecting a recipe to bake. Finally settled on brownies as it's simple and fast.

This recipe produces a fudgy brownie, very unlike the recipe I used often from the Hershey site, which results in the cake-like type of brownies. I always wonder how to get that "crackling" top I always see in some photos.... and when I chanced upon this recipe, I knew I just have to give it a go. I also read that usually, the sugar content in such brownies is quite high... only then that kind of crusty top can be achieved. But too much sugar is not good... since I often bake at nite and it means that I'll taste the food after it has cooled down and then pop to bed! LOL.... *shakes head*... In the end, I still decided to reduce the amount of sugar stated in the recipe by 1/2 a cup. The end results? It's still yummy! I tried so hard not to eat more than 1 slice but well......

A short update...

Hi folks!
Sorry that there's not been any new post of late. I've been bz getting my new place done and plan to move into the apt b4 the chinese new year... which means i'm left with less than 1 mth! *gulp*


I promise to get into my baking as soon as i'm settled in, k?

Till then, take care everyone!