Here.....Kitty...Kitty....Kitty....

Finally got my act together to look into the stuff I bought from Taipei.

Here's the pack of jelly mix I used....

KAWAII neh! Used my Hello Kitty mould and aren't these lovely??? Actually not much into KT stuff, but this mould is too cute to pass. By the way, I saw this mould at Isetan Scotts, selling at ard $13... DUH... I carried this back from Taipei and paid ard $10 plus (NT$220) for it. ("-_-) Also used the silicon mould bought at HANDS... these are really tiny... i think that's why i found it cute too!
This is the fruits series, using a plastic mould "inherited" from my mom....

Double Chocolate Chips Walnut Muffins

Such a mouthful! :)

This is wad I get for adding white and milk chocolate chips with walnuts to a muffin... chocolatey nutty goodness! Best energy food for start of a day.

Basically what I did was modify the strawberries white chocolate recipe I posted b4 ...

Here's the recipe：

What you need

• 200gm plain flour
• 20gm corn flour
• 2tsp baking powder
• 110gm butter (room tempt)
• 100gm sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 50ml + 2 tbsp choclate milk
• 1tsp choclate paste
• White chocolate chips
• Semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Chopped Walnuts

What to do

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• Siift plain flour with corn flour and baking powder together and set aside.
• Cream butter with sugar and salt till fluffy.
• Add in eggs one @ a time.
• Add in choclate paste and mix till combined.
• Fold in 1/2 of the flour mix till just combined.
• Pour in half of the milk and mix till juzt combined.
• Fold in 1/3 of remainig flour till just combined.
• Pour in remaining milk and fold into batter.
• Fold in remaining flour till just combined.
• Fill 1/2 of the muffin cup with batter. Add in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
• Fill up remaining batter till 90% of the cup.
• Bake @180C for 25 mins.

Edited to add : The muffins dun turn out as moist as the strawberries ones. My take is the absence of yogurt... so I'll give this recipe a go soon... and include yogurt in it.

Chewy Little Morsels

I first came across korean bread/bun when I was surfing thru' some taiwanese blogs. Intrigued by it, I looked at the recipes posted and know that I won't be able to find the ingredients needed in sg. "coz in the list of ingredients, there's korean bread flour. So since I was planning a trip to Taiwan, it sorta became my "mission" to find this mysterious white flour!
During my trip to Taiwan, I saw korean bread on sale at one of the convienence shop located within a MRT stn. I bought 2 for everyone to try and they liked it! So I decided to continue searching for korean bread flour but was directed to this instead by the young boss of QUEEN baking supply shop. He claimed that the bread mix is a premix and the same bread can be achieved by this mochi powder. He then offered the recipe to me as long as I buy it. .. Well, I was thinking since I dun travel often and I'll be given the recipe, I shd give it a try... so I grabbed a packet of it and headed for the cashier.

Fast forward to 2 weeks later in sg... I finally found the time and chance to try it out. It turned out to be baked mochi instead of the korean bread I ate in Taiwan. The taste and texture are totally different! DRATS! Guess I've to keep on searching for a recipe on the net that resembles the one I tried.

Here's the recipe of the baked mochi for those who are interested to give it a try.
Baked mochi
(aka korean bread as proclaimed by that young boss of Queen baking supply )
What you need

• 180gm Japanese mochi powder
• 20gm bread flour
• 6gm milk powder (full cream preferred)
• 2gm salt
• 40gm shortening
• 20gm egg
• 20gm veg oil
• 160gm water
• 2 tsps black sesame seeds

What to do

• Measure and mix everything in yr mixer (i used the dough hook with my KA mixer) for abt 5mins til everything is evenly combined.
• Pipe onto baking tray and bake @180C for 20mins.

Chocolate fudge cake

What's a b'day without a cake??!?! Don't know the significance of a b'day cake (for show-off? haha) for kids, but it seems tat it's very impt for them to have a cake. This is the cake I did for my little princess for her b'day today. It's very simply decorated as I was rushing to go to work in the morning and woke up LATE! luckily my baby doesn't mind and she finds the bears very cute! basically it's very similar to the pandan fudge cake i did b4. except now i changed it to chocolate....I'll try to get the "cross-section" view of this cake when my gal cuts her cake in the afternoon.Here's the recipe...

What you needFor the sponge cake

• 5 eggs
• 100gm sugar
• 100gm plain flour, to sift
• 100gm butter, melted and cooled.
• 1 tsp chocolate paste

For the filling

• 500ml water
• 100gm sugar
• 50gm butter
• 2 tsp agar-agar powder
• 550ml chocolate milk
• 90gm hoen kwa flour
• 1 tsp chocolate paste

What to doPreheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease and line a deep 8 inches round baking tin.
For sponge cake :

• Beat eggs, 100gm sugar, choclate paste for 10mins till thick (mousse like)
• Fold in sifted flour and then add in melted butter till well incorporated.
• Bake @180C for abt 35mins.
• Cool cake and cut into 3 layers.

To make filling:

• Boil water with sugar, butter and agar-agar powder.
• Mix tog chocolate milk, hoen kwa flour and choclate paste in a separate bowl.
• Add to boiling sugar mixture and cook till thick.

To assemble:

• Place 1 layer of sponge cake in a 9-inch round springform baking tin. Pour in abt 1/3 of the cooked filling and spread it out.
• Place in the 2nd layer of the sponge cake. Continue with another 1/3 of the filling and spread it out evenly.
• Finally, place in the 3rd and last layer of the sponge cake and pour onto of it the remaining filling. Even it out. (got to work fast as the filling cools rather fast)
• Cover and chill the cake.
• Decorate as desired.
• Serve chilled.
  

Sorrie for the lousy shot of the inside of the cake. Was busying taking pics of my gal and suddenly when i turned back, the teacher had oredi started "dissecting" the whole cake in all directions! .... no time to make it "nice nice" lor. haha

Cherilynn turns 5 today.

My little princess is 5 today... time really flies.... still remember the day when i discovered myself pregnant again when DS was only 6mths old. Went to buy the pregnancy test kit and hoping that it's not true! haha... BUT i can say that not once have i regretted having her. She's a BABE!
Happy 5th Birthday, my little princess! YOU rock my world..... hope your days will be filled with joy and happiness....

MORE food pics!!!!!

OK, I LIED. :P How can one get tired of more food right? hehe, esp those on a see-food diet....

Corns can be bought almost everywhere we went. It could be steamed, boiled, or even grilled. Some are purple, white and the commonly seen yellow.

We were strolling along DAN SHUI old street and came across this shop called JIN TAI YANG (golden sun). It's like a zi-char shop. It's a double-storey, where u can opt for (DIY) bbq food on the 2nd storey where it's open-air. After looking at the menu, we found that the prices are very reasonable.. so after strolling till the end of the street, we turned back and decided to have our dinner here.

Salt and Pepper Prawns. GOOD.

This is stir-fry wild boar meat. The meat was sliced very thinly and stir-fried with some spring onions, ginger and chilli. This is the 1st time we're trying wild boar meat... tasted very chewy, but delicious, nevertheless.Sweet and sour fish. Cost only NT$300 (ard SGD$15). A very good deal as it's live fish... one moment it was in the fish tank behind us, the next moment, it's presented like this! But I dunno wad kind of fish this is tho. The fish is black in colour and the skin is quite thick and leathery. Fried rice for the kids. Nicely seasoned.Fried noodles. Mom liked this!This is the menu cum bill. We just have to tick wad we want on it and then pay up after totalling the bill.

Food in Taiwan (part 5 - last part)

Last lot of food pics... i promise.... :P

Shaven ice.... and the portion for 1 person is HUGE.
Yup... chicky butts! hahaha.... and NO, i didn't try that.

Deep-fried chicken chops... GOOD! 2 thumbs up! After all the feasting... fruits!
and fruits juices...

Food in Taiwan (part 4)

Shi Lin Nite Market - a food haven!

Peanuts brittle and ice jelly...
Guan-cai ban (literally means the cover of the coffin). Actually is deep-fried thick toast, and then the boss made a cut on one side and she will stuff some ingredients inside. You can choose from lamb, beef or seafood. Some mayonnaise is spread on the bottom, then some shredded cabbage and topped with the meat you chose. Finally some thick sauce on it and it's ready to eat. YUMMY. Da-bao bao xiao-bao (small bun wrapped with big bun)... we were so curious as to how this looks and taste... a big DISAPPOINTMENT. Actually it's juz some deep fried crispy dough, all crushed and then a big crepe/pancake-like wrap. Taiwanese love their cuttlefish... ALL kinds of it... and grilled with some sweet sauce.
One cannot leave Taiwan without having a taste of their fried oysters. And lemme tell u... it's totally awesome! They also love thick cuttlefish broth (you-yu gen). NICE.

Food in Taiwan (part 3)

Spent my last nite in Taipei walking ard XiMenDing. And of course, looking for more food! haha

This is a MUST-EAT when in Ximenting. Ah Zhong Mian-Xian. This shop is supposedly the "grandfather" of all mi-suah stalls in Taipei. And it really did not disappoint. The mian-xian serving comes in 2 sizes. And the mian-xian is nice, slurpy and soft, yet it doesn't break easily. There's bits of da-chang (pig intestines) in the bowl, which gives a very chewy texture. Only fall-back is that there's a long queue (which doesn't seems to end, altho' the queue moves pretty fast) and there's NO SEATS available. Everyone has to stand and eat outside the shops and along the corridor. The cordiments (like vinegar, chilli sauce and coriander) are placed on the left side of the shop and you have to help yrself to it. And after u finished yr food, you have to put the bowls in one pail and the utensils (only spoon is provided) in another. An interesting experience... and i think it's a very good idea as it makes us (the customers) finish up the bowl of mi-suah really fast! This is grilled mochi. Very chewy and nice. You can choose from the different toppings like cheese, peanuts, sesame seeds, etc...
One of the many shaven ice shops in XiMenDing. This is one shop which you must not miss too! Taiwanese love their ru-wei (braised food).... This is where I finally got to taste brasied duck tongues I often see in taiwanese shows. See the pic at the bottom right hand corner? looks obscene? hahaha.... well, it taste yummy! Of course the shop offers other stuff like duck wings, chicken feet (I noticed that Taiwanese also love this!) and some other "organs" of the chicken and ducks!

Food in Taiwan (part 2)

These are the various snacks/foods found in JIU-FEN. It's a "market" located in the hilly areas, at the suburbs of Taipei. I like this place very much... very cooling and nice, esp the scenery up the hilly roads. This place reminds me very much of Stanley market in HK. But then, I'll prefer Jiu-Fen to stanley market. :P

Ru-yuan (meat balls) - meat marinated with hong-zhao and then covered with a dough. Cooked by immersing into hot oil. It's seen floating in hot oil when you order. Served in a paper bowl, with sauce and coriander. I dun really like this as i find the hong-zhao taste is too strong. Ru-rou fan (braised meat with rice), drunken chicken cooked in shaoxing wine, and briased bamboo shoots) - a nice meal. portions of the rice is really small.One of the shops along the streets selling plums. The name of the shop captured my attention. very cute pun. This is a snack which there's 2 scoops of ice-cream (different flavours to choose from), wrapped in a fresh popiah skin that is sprinkled with ground peanuts and chopped coriander). Nothing to shout abt taste-wise.
Yu-yuan - chewy balls of doughs flavoured with yam, sweet potatos and wad-nots. Can choose to have red beans soup as a base, top with ice (for cold orders) or just red bean soup (for hot orders). Not too bad taste wise.
Maltose candies sticks - very cute with all kinds of cartoons faces... somefin sweet to end the day in Jiu-Fen.

Food in Taiwan (part 1)

There are so many bakeries in Taipei! People there are simply spoilt for choice. and the designs on the cakes are beautiful too, dun u think so?This is somefin that I like... Pepper biscuits. Pretty spicy, as they really use a liberal amt of pepper in the seasoning... but then since it's called pepper biscuits... oh well.... Was walking towards the MRT stn (Taiper stn) and saw this tibits store... These are really HUGE. it's bigger than the size of my palms!

Guo-tie (pot-stickers)

Did these today for dinner. Good reviews from everyone.... Thanks Lee Lee!

My loot... ;)

Finally back from my Taipei trip... it's been really tiring, running from place to place, hoping to cram the many places of interest into 4 days. By the 3rd day, I was already giving up, planning to just sleep and rest in my hotel room!

Me and my family were in Taipei for 5 days/4 nites for a free and easy tour. And not having exercise regularly (i'm basically a potato couch :P) really is a very bad idea! Imagine we were walking most of the time to get frrom place to place. I was just so exhausted.... but then i just have to make use of the short time there and cover the most places. still there are places that i missed out.

Well, being a baking fiend... heeheee... i just can't miss out of the baking supply shops in taipei. here's my "loot" from taipei....

These 2 books were on offer at a bookshop at SHONGSHAN mrt stn.Jelly mixs and jap mochi powder from various shops.These are from City Life (Sogo dept store)
There are from HANDS. Aren't the moulds cute? These cookie cutters are from Queen. The cookie cutters comes in a set, costing NT$250. Managed to get the store manager to give me a discount. In the end, he charged me NT$180/set.