The blessing of my brother and sister...

I'm reflecting on the year that has just gone by. Even though my family is far from perfect, and the Veterans have the typical dysfunctionalities of person their generation, I'm very thankful that I also have two very great siblings who have been the source of many blessings to me.

Amongst all my friends, it seems few, or none of them are actually close to their siblings. So I don't take it for granted that I can talk to Cosmo about anything under the sun (especially those gross things like what happens when you get L.S.), and call her up at crazy hours (and vice versa) and that Airport is always so kind with little favours and lending a hand with everything - from babysitting Little Pixie so that we could go have a foot reflexology session, watch a midnight movie, and buying groceries, and most recently, letting us take a holiday to visit Cosmo with his free air miles.

And without Airport, I could not have come up with the most recent cheesecake "creations".

Take this wonderful oven. I only realised after recent trips to the shops that at 42L, it's almost twice as large as most of the ovens on sale now.

Cosmo bought it for me as a wedding gift 5 years ago. I had no idea then what a good deal it was, seeing that we had ordered it in some sleazy neighbourhood shop on the recommendations of an "auntie" friend. What's more, I didn't even know a thing about baking 5 years ago, and didn't know a cupcake from a muffin, or flour from cornstarch.

5 years down, and a Little Pixie later, it has become one of the things I absolutely can't live without in my kitchen - next to the washing machine. It is THE most important kitchen cooking tool for a lazy, smoke-averse cook who also happens to hang her laundry in the kitchen! And I am not the only fan of the oven. So is Little Pixie who runs to the kitchen each time something edible comes out of the oven.

Thank you Cosmo and Airport!

My Cheesecake Cracked & Cheese Cupcakes Exploded!!

It was Little Pixie's 2nd birthday. I had wanted to make little muffin-sized cheesecakes with an Oreo cookie each for the base - using a no-bake recipe by Annabel Karmel (and inspired by some suggestion in David Tutera's Party Planner on Discovery Travel & Living), and the classic New York-style (this is my 5th run) to give away.

Airport was kind enough to help me out as the cleaner lady was coming and unlike half a year ago, Little Pixie is now old enough to be interested in a career as a baking assistant. She watches and tries to get involved as much as she can.

So Airport did all the mixing, pouring, and cleaning up - all I did was interprete the recipe & give out instructions.

Unfortunately, I made a crucial error in the no-bake version - as you can see. After many hours, it had still not set - and in desperation, I put one of the 3 trays I made into the oven. Well, the cheese-cupcakes-with-Oreo-base puffed up nicely, exploded and then collapsed all over my oven!!

A separate version had all the Oreos floating up into the cheese batter!

Of all the cheesecakes I have made, only the first one seems to be crack-free. And get this: I baked the first one in a blur, before consulting all those expert books on how to get the perfect crack-free cheesecake and baking the subsequent ones.

I am still mystified as to what caused all my subsequent attempts to crack!

Kitchen Horrors!

Not sure how many of you read this, but I wish they'd publish the names of the offending restaurants! Now I'm filled with these horrid thoughts whenever we eat out thanks to this article!

And I think I can guess at least one restaurant that's guilty. Check out the highlighted description (in red):
One 20-year-old, who used to work in the kitchen of an American chain of restaurants, said he would go to work in the morning to find cockroaches inside the giant mixer that the restaurant used to mix batter for its muffins. Hardly surprising, then, that at least three customers have returned with half-eaten food with feelers hanging out.

There are only that many American chains here, and there could only be two possibilities. One is predominantly dessert-based. The other one stands out for its famous YUMMY MUFFINS (comes in only one flavour) !!! Which Tin Hang Zai and I love!!!

When I related the story to Tin Hang Zai this morning (he hadn't read the article), the first thing he said was "XXXXX" and he guessed it right!

I'm going to start making my own now. Urgh!!

Sunday Times 16 December 2007
Kitchen Horrors
More food outlets have been fined this year - and the unsavoury items served up in eateries include cockroaches in muffins and dental floss in kaya toast

LACK OF HYGIENE is a major problem in food kitchens, with more outlets being fined this year by the National Environment Agency for filthy premises, rodent infestation and contaminated food. And to add to the mix, food is sometimes salvaged from the floor and thawed meat is put back in the freezer.

WHEN Ms Carol Yap ordered a kaya toast and coffee combo at a cafe recently, she wasn't counting on biting into anything more than hot kaya spread and a slab of butter on crispy bread.
There was something chewy and stringy in her mouth - it was a piece of dental floss and it wasn't hers.

This wasn't the first time the 36-year-old has made an unsavoury discovery in her food. A few years earlier, she thought her noodles at a Chinese restaurant might have been overdone until she spat out a 1.5cm piece of wire.

'Luckily I didn't cut myself or break a tooth,' said the shocked secretary.

Most people could probably cite at least one encounter with foreign matter in their food - maybe a strand of hair or a small dead bug.

The recent PrimaDeli food poisoning case, when more than 100 people became ill after eating the bakery's cakes, has put food hygiene in the spotlight.

In fact, more eateries and hawker stalls have landed themselves in the soup this year than the past three years, mostly for filthy premises, rodent infestation and contaminated food.

Offending food outlets fined by the National Environment Agency (NEA) so far this year numbered 2,148. This is up from 1,307 last year, 1,524 in 2005 and 1,857 in 2004.

NEA puts the high number down to stepped-up checks and more tip-offs from the public.

But just what goes on behind kitchen doors? Heard those stories about underpaid, overworked chefs spitting into your food? That's not an urban myth.

Although kitchen staff say it hardly happens now, waitresses at one Japanese food chain were known to have done that to picky customers.

But the most common transgression, it seems, is not washing hands after a visit to the loo.

Lack of hygiene
FOOD handlers say that in their rush to get orders out, they sometimes forget to soap up. And even though gloves are a must when it comes to handling cooked food, not all use them.
A chef who has been in the business for more than 20 years says he has seen it all: from the spitting to the scratching to the sneezing.

'When I catch them scratching their oily scalps and go back to preparing the food, I'll scold them and ask them: will you eat this food yourself?' he said.

Chef Ang Song Kang of Canton Wok by Chef Kang said: 'It's about personal hygiene. If you can't even be clean with yourself, how can you expect to serve others?'

Cooks in Chinese kitchens, especially, think nothing of handling raw and cooked food with the same set of bare hands.

One 50-year-old waitress, who has done the rounds in Chinese restaurants, readily admits she and her colleagues sometimes use their bare hands to arrange food on a plate, such as the cold dish served at wedding dinners.

At a top-end popular Chinese restaurant here, tea leaves are left exposed and vulnerable to cockroaches.

Another waitress said: 'When we're busy, we just use our hands to grab the tea leaves. Or if a plate is stained, we just wipe it with our fingers.'

A part-time kitchen helper at an American-style cafe said her manager even told her not to wear gloves when dishing out food, as it was easier and faster to work with bare hands.

'All the food got embedded in my nails. It was disgusting,' said the 18-year-old polytechnic student.

Food suppliers are just as culpable when it comes to lack of cleanliness. They are known to drop their uncovered fresh produce deliveries such as meat and vegetables on the greasy kitchen floor.

But sometimes, the problem has less to do with sloppy humans than pesky insects.

One 20-year-old, who used to work in the kitchen of an American chain of restaurants, said he would go to work in the morning to find cockroaches inside the giant mixer that the restaurant used to mix batter for its muffins.

Hardly surprising, then, that at least three customers have returned with half-eaten food with feelers hanging out.

The culinary misadventures of Singapore's kitchen keepers also extend to the all-important E word: ethics - or the lack of.
Don't expect cooks to throw out food articles past their expiry date. The rule, it seems, is: it's still good for another six months.
'As long as they don't smell bad, the expiry date can always be prolonged,' said one kitchen helper about sauces, seasoning and canned food which routinely get a new lease of life.

And just because your fruit tartlet doesn't look mouldy doesn't mean it wasn't before.

A caterer says it's not uncommon for food handlers to slice off mouldy bits on these tarts and continue to serve them as if they were fresh out of the oven.

Unwashed vegetables, food that is salvaged from the kitchen floor, thawed meat that gets absent-mindedly stuck back into the freezer: when the going gets tough, so do frazzled kitchen staff.

Pinning the responsibility
COOKS' greatest defence for most things unwashed and unclean: the heat from the stove will kill the germs anyway.
Serving and kitchen staff put the responsibility on their management. 'If they don't care, we don't care. If something goes wrong, it's their responsibility, not ours,' says one seasoned waitress.

At some kitchens, that responsibility is not taken lightly.
In the central kitchen of Bakerzin at Harper Road in MacPherson, a CCTV camera watches over food handlers. The company has three quality assurance officers who do daily rounds in the kitchen, said chief executive officer Daniel Tay.

It also routinely does hand, table and equipment swabs to test for cleanliness. Those who fail the hand swab test have their names pinned on a notice board.

'We want to build a culture of good, personal hygiene and that's not easy,' said Mr Tay, who hopes to model his kitchen after those in Japan where 'it's almost like a clean room'.

The same goes for Crystal Jade, which has 29 restaurants and 10 bakeries and one confectionery factory servicing the bakery outlets.

Workers caught flouting its hygiene policies are given a verbal, then a written, warning. Three strikes and you're out!

All unsold buns at its outlets are thrown out at the end of each day, while the shelf life of cakes is 24 hours.

The Agri-food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), which regulates all food manufacturers, conducts surprise checks on these factories as often as twice a month.

It has imposed 42 fines - of between $300 and $1,000 - so far this year on manufacturers who used unapproved additives, sold mouldy food and had dirty premises.

But for all the unappetising culinary secrets this well-known food paradise keeps, you are still much less likely to need an iron stomach now, thanks to strict government regulations that require all food handlers to go for typhoid jabs, wear protective gear and attend a food hygiene course.

In fact, the number of food outlets that have earned an A cleanliness rating from the NEA has risen from 18 per cent five years ago to 33 per cent this year.

Even the nasty episodes that Ms Yap had to endure haven't put her off eating out, which she does at least five times a week.
'I'm too busy to cook so I have no choice,' she said.
'Just don't let me see it.'

The day I hurt a Brat...

I really regretted inviting Gremlin for a stayover. But I did learn a thing or two about humility and the power of saying sorry.

An excerpt from a 3D2N experience with a disengaged 8-year-old.

Gremlin: A. Pixie, what are you going to do for me? What programmes have you planned for me? How am I going to get entertained?

Canton Pixie: I thought we agreed that we'd do cookies & the icing thingy, and then after I finish my household chores we can do other things, if we still have time.

Gremlin: But I AM VERY BORED! I AM SO BORED! Don't you have any thing for me to play? What's there for me? What's there for me?

[CP does some work on her laptop, replies some email, then quickly rushes to kitchen to hang laundry]

Gremlin: What are you doing?

Canton Pixie: Hanging laundry

Gremlin: Why can't we go to West Mall NOW?

Canton Pixie: I need to finish hanging the laundry so that I can do the next load.

Gremlin: Why can't you do them after I am gone? Why were you on the computer just now? Why couldn't you work on your computer after I'm gone? Why do we have to wait for Little Pixie to have her nap? Why can't you take me to West Mall and leave Little Pixie at home to sleep alone? I want to go to West Mall NOW!

[CP: Gets really irritated]

Canton Pixie: Look, why don't YOU play your computer games after you go home? Why must you play them now?

[Gremlin falls silent, speechless].

Gremlin: A. Pixie, your house is very messy you know? Why don't you clean it up?

Canton Pixie: Have you ever wondered who is the one picking up after you when you eat, bake those cookies, drink water? If I have to choose between cleaning up the house till spick & span and spending time with Little Pixie, which do you think I'd rather do?

Gremlin: I have people to clean up after me - my grandma, my ma, my maid. I don't have to do all these things.

[CP rolls eyes]

This Gremlin has loads of dietary restrictions. The only vegetables he eats are canned mushrooms & potatoes (yes, I looked this horrified when I first found out).

Canton Pixie: I bought you carrot cake for breakfast.

Gremlin: Not eating

Canton Pixie: Why?

Gremlin: Cuz I don't like the garnishes on top.

Canton Pixie: So what do you want?

Gremlin: Instant noodles

[CP cooks instant noodles, trying not to recoil at the amount of junk that this little boy is feeding on]

Dinnertime
Canton Pixie creates some Thai-style fried kuay teow for all, and Airport bought some cereal prawns for everyone.

Tin Hang Zai: Why aren't you eating the prawns?

Gremlin: Because there is no one to peel the prawns for me.

[Stunned silence round the table]

Airport: Gosh! Welcome to Boot Camp.

[Tin Hang Zai patiently tries to teach Gremlin how to peel the prawn].

After 3D2N of this, I just about had enough. But I felt guilty too, because I had been harsh with my words. So this is what happened on the last morning:

[Gremlin wakes up]

Canton Pixie: I'm so sorry Gremlin.

Gremlin: For what?

Canton Pixie: For being so harsh with you.

[Gremlin bursts into tears and sobs and cries for what seems like half an hour, but is actually about 15 min. The awkward Pixie runs to the kitchen in between, checking on his instant noodle breakfast on the stove and giving him pieces of tissue paper, not knowing what to do or say]

Canton Pixie: Er, so what did I do that hurt you so much?

Gremlin: You told me not to touch anything at your mom's place.

[CP: Stunned. So the harsh words did nothing to him at all! Goes on to explain why Gremlin shouldn't be touching things without being asked at strangers' homes. Gremlin understands.]

[CP & G proceed to chat about baking, about ovens, about Gremlin's mom and grandma. Suddenly, Gremlin bursts into tears again]

Canton Pixie: Why don't you ask them to buy you an oven so that you can bake yourself at home?

Gremlin: *sob sob* They won't buy for me. They'll say 'no'. All they ever do is to say 'no'.

Canton Pixie: Have you asked them before?

Gremlin: I don't dare to ask them. But they will say no. All they care about is that the house is not messed up. Everything I do has to be done on newspapers laid across the table so that things are not messed up. *sob sob*.

[CP: Gulps. Recalls that everything that Gremlin had done had always been labelled as 'useless' by his caregivers]

[Gremlin's mom calls and CP is glad to end the episode on good terms with Gremlin].

The experience was thought-provoking for me.

Are these the inevitable products of the modern-day dual-income family that just wants the 'best' school, the 'best' tuition centre, the 'best' enrichment programme for their kids?

Demanding, self-centred kids who are always expecting things to be done for them?

Unable to sit still and be at peace with themselves, even for a while?

Unable to self-entertain, always expecting and waiting for TV programmes, computer games, etc to be downloaded into their otherwise-blank minds and idle bodies? (he gets tired after 10 mins at the playground, preferring instead to exercise his fingers on the joystick)

What will these kids become in future? Disengaged individuals lacking ambition, lacking even the desire to at least give their dreams a shot? Individuals destined for a life of mediocrity because they have never been given a chance to dream their own dreams?

Money can't buy everything. Certainly not fortitude of character, and certainly not values or life skills.

P.S. We made 2 batches of cookies - this batch (with icing) and Baking 911's Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. Gremlin refused to take any of the latter because "not crunchy". *roll eyes* I already SAID they were CHEWY cookies!!

Easy-Peasy Foccacia

You won't believe how easy this is. This is from Suzanne Dunaway's "No Need to Knead: Handmade Italian Breads in 90 minutes".

Ever since I'd had the allergy attack, I'd been unable to eat wheat, and resorted to using wholegrain spelt flour. Bakers will know that using wholegrain flours can make the end-products heavy and dense, but this was GOOD!!!

For every 2 cups of flour , do the following:

- Dissolve 1 tsp of active dry yeast in 1 cup of lukewarm water in a large mixing bowl (large enough for the total amount of flour you intend to use).

- Stir till completely dissolved.

- Add in half the amount of flour, plus 1 tsp of salt. Stir well, for 2 minutes.

- Add in the remaining flour, stir for at least two minutes, until the flour 'comes together' and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

- Cover bowl with cling wrap, and place into refrigerator overnight (for at least 8 hours). If you wish to skip this step, you could let it rise at room temperature, for a shorter time.

- 2 hrs before baking, take the bowl out, and let it double in size (the dough, I mean).

- Preheat the oven to 500 deg F.

- Once the dough has doubled in size, carefully pour the batter onto a non-stick, greased baking sheet.

- Use your fingers to make dents in the dough.

- Brush the top with olive oil and sprinkle with herbs and coarse salt.

- Place sheet into oven - and immediately turn down temperature to 450 deg F.

- Bake for 15-20 min, until golden brown.

YUMMY!!! (Tin Hang Zai and Little Pixie love this)

Dried Fig Muffins

I really have to thank Happy Home Baker for this recipe on her blog.

Ingredients:(makes 12 muffins)

• 375g dried figs
• 90g unsalted butter
• 250ml apple juice
• grated zest of 1 orange (omitted due to laziness)
• 315g plain flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 125g granulated sugar
• 60g dark brown sugar (simply used all demerara sugar, all that's left in my pantry)
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract/essence
  

Method:
Remove the stem and cut dried figs into quarters.
Heat apple juice and butter in a saucepan over low heat until the butter is melted.
Remove from heat and add in the figs and orange zest. Leave to cool until the figs are softened, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 190 degC. Grease muffin cups with butter or line with muffin liners.
In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugars, salt and baking powder.
Make a well in the centre and add the cooled fig mixture, eggs and vanilla. Stir until just combined. Do not overmix, the batter will be slightly lumpy.
Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling to the rim of the cup.
Bake for 20 ~ 25 mins, until golden, and toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Transfer muffin pan to cooling rack and let cool for 5 mins. Unmold the muffins and let cool completely.

Verdict

The muffins taste extremely exquisite - Tin Hang Zai & Little Pixie & the Veterans finished the whole bunch, together with his colleague Flower - even though he's completely irked by the idea of eating these strange-looking things by themselves.

Cookie Making with Gremlin

It's been a long while since I've last blogged - lots have been happening on both sides of the extended family, and I've been sick with allergy for more than a month.

8-year-old Gremlin is here from yesterday (ok, sorry for the bad grammar) till tomorrow. (Phew!!!)


He belongs to the "me-me-me" generation. In his world, things get tidied up by invisible house-elves (you know, those things that wear pillow-cases in Harry Potter movies), and these are the ones that clear up after him when he eats, drinks or messes up the place, whatever.

I've realised that these "Me" kids really expect to be entertained all the time. And I mean, ALL.THE.TIME. They are quite incapable of self-entertainment. Then again, what do you expect, when they've been brought up on a daily diet of 8 hrs of TV, doing nothing but waiting for the next show to make them laugh??

I really believe that TV deadens the mind.


I have to say I wasn't too pleased about being his house-elf for these 2 days. Look at the products, and try to imagine the hours spent cleaning up.

P/S - besides those featured here, we made another batch of Baking 911's Chewy Chocolate Chip cookies which had me washing up till 11pm at night!

The recipes were from Nigella Feasts 'Fun Foods' episode. I must say, I was impressed by their simplicity and ease!

Cut-Out Cookies
Ingredients

• 1/3 cup / 90g butter
• 1/2 cup /100g sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cup / 200g flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

• Cream the butter and sugar, adding the vanilla when fluffy.
• Add 1 tblspn of flour, before breaking the egg into the bowl.
• Continue the creaming, and gradually add in all the flour, a tablespoon at a time, baking powder and salt.
• Get the dough into a ball, add more flour if desired.
• Cover with cling wrap, and chill for half-hour. (I didn't bother sticking to the half-hour, I went jogging and then took a walk to West Mall before continuing).
• Preheat oven to 350 deg F / 180 deg C.
• Shape with cookie cutters.
• Bake for 10 min (I had to bake them for 15 min) to desired colour.

Tin Hang Zai preferred the more browned version (15 - 20 min) whilst Gremlin preferred the pale-looking cookies that were baked for only 12 min.

Icing

• 1 1/4 cup / 150 g icing sugar
• 2 tblspn hot water

Mix, and colour as desired. You need to buy only the primary colours (red, yellow, blue) - the rest can be made from these 3.

Creative Input

• Get from the gremlin or whoever you are baking with.
• Obviously if you are the house-elf, you are going to be too tired to have any creative juices flowing out of you at 11pm at night!
  

Health is really wealth...

Goodness me, I've been sick for more than a month!

A seemingly innocent trip with Little Pixie to the Botanic Gardens did me in. I came down with what I thought was flu - but the doc said it was an allergy.

I had it bad. Cough, post-nasal drip, couldn't breath!

I was almost getting better - and then had a 'relapse' after eating homemade sandwiches!!

I'd forgotten that when you have an allergic reaction - you have to stay away from ALL possible allergens - even if you're not usually sensitive to them in the first place! For me, this turned out to be bread.

It turned out that my relapse was due to the HUGE amounts of wheat and yeast I was eating - because I'd been in a bread-baking frenzy after getting to know Happy Homebaker.

Indeed, health is really wealth. I don't think I want to stinge on food anymore - the amount of money I saved from buying cheap, lousy food in an effort to be a better household budgeter was pittance compared to what the 5 doctor visits cost me this time round!

Thankfully, I also found another blogger who has experience in all these food intolerances etc!
Check out Main Main Masak Masak for all these fantastic healthy ideas!

Families and Illnesses....

The Gnome had been in hospital for a gruelling month or so, got out, and then went in again. The 2nd time, it was for his surgery on the brain, which took over 12 hours. From what I could decipher, it involved opening up the brain, and then inserting some battery over his heart to be powered or something like that. Sounded very frightening to me, given his age.

They were also having problems with Wati - a good maid-turned-bad.

Over the course of the last couple of months, the Goose seemed to have aged a lot.

Chronic illnesses take a terrible toll on families. The Goose insisted on rushing daily from TTSH in Novena to home in Yew Tee to cook for the Gremlins. I felt like boxing the Gremlins and giving them a piece of my mind because the purported reason was that the Gremlins refused to eat Economic Rice bought from outside - because they "looked like vomit". I don't know where these kids get their perspectives from . But you have to know, this Gremlin takes 2 hours to eat dinner because he is simultaneously watching CartoonNetwork, has to reheat his soup 4 times in the microwave because he dislikes cold soup, and can't hear you while he eats dinner.

The Gnome's temperament had gone haywire. After the operation - he seemed to have lost his emotions and took out all his frustration and anger on the Goose. I think the Goose finally stopped trying to cook for the Gremlins.

Two weeks ago, I brought Little Pixie via MRT from Bukit Batok to Novena. I burnt off an entire day's worth of meals just carrying her 3.5kg stroller on one shoulder, 5kg bag on another shoulder, 9kg Little Pixie on one arm, and swiping the MRT card on the other arm.

Once at Novena, I was rather miffed because people at the 2-way gate refused to give way to me, a stroller-toting, baby-carrying mother. They, the single commuters without any wheelchairs, prams or what-have-yous as excuses to use the 2-way gate, just kept swiping their cards at the opposite direction, preventing me from getting out of the freaking station. I had to jump in and pounce on the swipe whilst there was a split-second gap between 2 SINGLE commuters rushing to use the 2-way gate, before the gate would turn in my favour and I could finally get out.

This is what real grape juice looks like

Airport juiced a bunch of grapes which looked like Red Globe but didn't have seeds. Compare the rich colour and cloudiness with the processed, additive-rich, preserved juice-like drinks you find in the supermarket shelves!

Kenny Rogers Corn Muffins

Kenny Rogers Corn Muffins

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup frozen yellow corn

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cream together butter, sugar, honey, eggs and salt in a large bowl. Add flour, cornmeal and baking powder and blend thoroughly. Add milk while mixing. Add corn to mixture and combine by hand until corn is worked in. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan and fill each cup with batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until muffins begin to turn brown on top.

Verdict
The Goose said that of all the muffins that I did up till this time (she hasn't tasted the banana ones or Nigella orange ones yet) - this was the best. However, I would use real cornmeal (I substituted this one with my organic coarse cornmeal which made the muffin crunchy.) - because I felt that this one tasted more like a honey muffin than a corn muffin.

Hanabi Trip

Sashimi Sampler

Lasik and Timberlake were very kind to celebrate my birthday with me at Hanabi. I had been wanting to visit this place for the longest time - and going with Tin Hang Zai wasn't a good idea because I eat so little of everything - and he gets repulsed by rawness, and the aroma of seaweed and stuff. Bless the Pink Couple!

Anyway, despite the service being rather lacklustre - we had a great time talking. The food was VERY fresh - and the variety was amazing. It was quirky because it's not a REAL Japanese restaurant - waitresses were mainly from China and I think a couple from Myanmar or something - not all of them understand English.

Overall, I'd give this place

8/10 for food quality - if you want a value-for-money buffet and ultra-fresh food (which is critical in Japanese cuisine) - this is the place to go.

4/10 for service - it's brusque at best. One waitress preferred to converse in 'item codes' whilst another insisted that we order by 'item name' instead. Another could not understand simple English. We were also 'chased out' 15 min before closing time so that they could all go home in time. For sure this is not a "real" Japanese restaurant.

Awesome Banana Muffins!

Good Ol' Banana Muffins

I must say that I have never been a fan of banana-stuff because it's considered too "cooling" for my constitution in TCM. Plus, I do not have a sweet tooth.

My ultimate food fantasy is a mountain of keropok, not some sweet dessert. Most of the stuff I make or bake is for Tin Hang Zai or Little Pixie or friends or family. However, these muffins were so good that I could not resist finishing a couple for myself.

I let MZ try some, and she said they were good enough to sell!! (MZ is a self-confessed picky eater who has very high standards for desserts).

As usual, this recipe is from a pretty reliable source - the Joy of Cooking. Check out a similar recipe here. These days, I try to stick to tried-and-tested chefs rather than odd recipes scrounged from the Internet - the results are far more consistent if you stick to a chef, IMHO.

Recipe:
Dry Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour (I used unbleached organic flour from NTUC)
1/2 whole wheat flour / wheat bran (I used leftover wholegrain spelt flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon (of course I was too lazy to add)
1/8 tsp nutmeg (of course I was too lazy to add)
2/3 coarsely chopped walnuts (omitted so that Little Pixie could enjoy it)

Wet Ingredients
1 large egg
3/4 cup packed brown sugar (I didn't bother to pack, and used only 1/2 cup)
2-3 mashed ripe bananas - I used 3 ripe, Del Monte ones
6 tblspn vegetable oil (I substituted with melted butter - cuz I had extra)
1 tsp vanilla.

Mix according to the usual Muffin method. Baked in a preheated oven at 375 deg F, for about 15-18 min. Makes 12. Rack should be in centre of oven.

Foolproof Cheesecake!

Side View

Isometric View

This is from Annabel Karmel's Feeding Your Baby and Toddler.

It's unbelievably easy.

Ingredients

Base

• 250g digestive biscuits (I used Marie, don't try Jacobs, the taste is just odd)
• 125g butter
• 60g caster sugar (optional - this is an addition from the Phoon Huat class I attended)
• 60g honey (optional - this is an addition from the Phoon Huat class I attended)

Filling

• 225g caster sugar (as usual, I replaced with brown sugar)
• 3tblspn cornflour
• 675g cream cheese (from Phoon Huat)
• 2 eggs
• 1tsp vanilla essence
• 225ml whipping cream
• 75g sultanas

Here's how:

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• Crush biscuits, melt butter, and mix with honey and sugar (if used).
• Line a 9-inch springform tin with baking paper and GREASE the sides Note: If using a different-sized pan, please reduce the batter accordingly, else results might differ. Greasing is compulsory - else your cake might crack in the middle while baking.
• Pack the crumbs into the tin - and chill for at least half-hour (or freeze 15 min). I used a potato-masher to pack.
• To make the filling, mix the sugar and cornflour, and then beat in the cream cheese till smooth.
• Add the eggs and vanilla essence. Beat till smooth.
• Slowly whisk in the cream until mixture thickens slightly. Stir in sultanas, if using.
• Pour into cake tin. Bake for 1 hr.
• Chill overnight before eating.

Reviews:

Tin Hang Zai's colleagues loved this. Koala and her mom and sis did too!

Canola is not all that good!

Every other day, you read that something you've been using in your food for ages is toxic.

There are plants that give oil - coconut, palm, peanut, sunflower, what have you.

Have you ever wondered if there is such a plant called canola? There isn't. This thing is a GMO product!!

Please check out this article.

Daddy and his Little Girl

Isn't this just beautiful?

Nigella's Lovely Chocolate Muffins

Nigella's Chocolate Chip Muffins

• 250g plain flour (roughly one cup)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons best quality cocoa
• 175g caster sugar
• 150g chocolate chips (plus more for sprinkling later - I was lazy and didn't bother to sprinkle any)
• 250ml milk
• 90ml vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 200C and fill a 12-bun muffin tray with paper cases. Weigh out the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Pour all the liquid ingredients into a measuring jug. Mix both together – it will be a runny batter - then spoon into waiting muffin cases. Sprinkle more chocolate chips on top then cook for 20 minutes or until the muffins are risen and springy. Makes 12.

These turned out very nice - as nice as the orange ones. Remember not to over-mix! And, less milk may help - makes the batter more lumpy and supposedly lighter.

Nice Char Kway Teow @ Outram

I hadn't eaten this in a long time - even though it's one of my childhood favourites (next to white chicken skin and black carrot cake).

But when we walked past this stall at the makeshift Outram hawker centre, the aroma was... AWESOME!!!

It's called Hill Street Char Kway Teow. Look out (I meant, sniff out) for the aroma. And I gobbled up all the lard!

60s' Live Seafood

View from 60s' Live Seafood

Seeing that the Gnome was in poor spirits and the Goose couldn't stop her grumbling as a result, the Pixie Family decided to take the G-Folks to this nice hangout.

Are all Cantonese critical? Ever the critical Cantonese folks that they were - they didn't like it at all. Gremlin and little Goblin were making such a din - they got scolded by the Pixie.

The Pixies still love this place. And Lasik and Mr Ching Wan-Timberlake got hooked too.

Baking Class at Civil Service Club

The Pixie decided to take the affection-starved Gremlin to a Baking Buddies Hands-On Baking Class at the Civil Service Club for an afternoon of bonding and undivided attention.

Gremlin was so excited about it that he fantasised about the class constantly for the one month before the class.

It turned out to be a very fun experience. For $38 per adult-plus-child pair, the two of them got to bake this Monster Cookie just in time for Father's Day. Tin Hang Zai and Little Pixie both got very cute cookies at the end of the session - whilst Gremlin took the Monster Cookie to share with the adults-who-ignore-him-and-keep-putting-him-down.

The Pixie got her chance to finally ask Judy Seah (the lovely little girl who was the 'teacher' for the session) some burning questions like:

• There is no way to substitute vegetable oil for butter in a cookie recipe. The effect's just not going to be the same.
• Brown sugar makes cookies soft - white makes it crisp. Adjust proportion to taste and preference.
• Addition of more flour to the recipe makes the dough less sticky and easier to manipulate - but the cookies will be crisper. Adjust to preference.
• Dough can be frozen for future use.
• Eggs make the cookies rise.

This was definitely a better value than the Phoon Huat class - but then again - this is hands-on, the other was a demo class. Can't compare apples with oranges. And of course, this is in a different league from the Imp's type of classes.

Judy's good with kids. (Gremlin kept talking non-stop - and she never lost her patience with him.) And she has her own website! Check this out - Baking Hobby Club.

Baking Classes at Phoon Huat

Desperate to learn from the experts 'once and for all' on how to make proper muffins, the Canton Pixie finally succumbed to signing up for a baking class at Phoon Huat.

The menu for the day was Cranberry Muffin and New York Cheese Cake. She was probably the only attendee there for the muffin. The other 43 people were there for the cheese cake.

The Phoon Huat experience is definitely highly recommended for an afternoon of cheap laughs. At $10 per session, redeemable for Phoon Huat products, it's a real steal!

Francis (the chef) speaks in really broken English ("nebber mind lah, got no white sugar, blahhun sooger also can. If no cake crumbs, just use biscuit crumbs. Anything will do, cheap cheap") and his Mandarin is peppered with lots of English words.

The Pixie was astounded. There were people of literally all shapes and sizes! From petite teenage girls to full-fledged rounded Aunties, my goodness! There was even a guy who came with his mother!

One Auntie kept shouting instructions to Francis. "Francis ah, if you beat the egg longer, I think your cake will be softer." "Francis ah, must add more water else not moist enough". "Francis ah, blah blah blah".
You so clever then be the chef lah!

One woman was rushing to catch the 4pm flight! (Class was from 2 to 4pm). There were more than 10 digital cameras zooming in at any one time. One woman even used her handphone to video the whole process. (Can't you bozos refer to the Internet!?!?!?)

The muffins (remember - this is a "cheap laugh" kind of baking class) were actually cakes in disguise. Urgh!!!

However, the cheese cake was GOOOD!!! And Phoon Huat sells Anchor butter at half the price of Shop n Save.

Tong Shui Cafe (TSC) @ Changi Airport Terminal 2

Gold Fish Dumplings in Nasty Soup

It has been a hectic month for the Pixie Family and connected Veterans. The Veteran had a knee operation - and Airport and the Canton Pixie had been stressing out trying to provide homecooked lunch and dinner for the whole of TWO WEEKS.

Tin Hang Zai has travelled thrice this month - and whilst picking him up from T2 past Friday, the Pixie Family decided to have dinner at this quirky place that looks high-class but serves Hong Kong street grub.

Hungering for hot soup - we ordered Gold Fish Dumplings in soup. The soup smelt like goldfish water!!! I bravely attempted a spoonful, and nearly spat it out! (Not that I have ever reared goldfish or gone near them - but the soup smelt and tasted as foul as I imagined goldfish water would smell and taste.) Urgh!! The dumplings were made of some cheap-tasting orange-coloured fish meat with bits of carrot and suspicious red cubes for its eyes. I couldn't stop laughing because this was such a funny experience!

The fish and chips (OK, I think this place obviously doesn't understand the concept of "core competencies") were drenched in some TSC-special "red and white" sauce - which turned out to be ketchup and mayo! Urgh! This felt like a high-class Pasar Malam fish-Ramly. And the battered fish smelt extremely fishy. (*gag*)

French Toast with Strawberry Ice Cream

Highly amused, I decided to give the desserts a try. This was ok (I mean, you can't go wrong with French Toast and what tastes like Magnolia ice-cream, can you??).

Overall - I gave the experience 8/10 for the quirkyness and the laughs (there were workmen carrying wheelbarrows of soil in and out of the restaurant through the tables at 7pm on a Friday night)

Food-wise
The usually lenient Tin Hang Zai gave the dumplings a 2/10 and the ghastly soup a 0/10.
Fish and Chips - 2/10 (for $9.88++ I'm sure we can find a better-tasting deal elsewhere)
Dessert - 7/10 (I can do this myself)

I'd probably go back just for the laughs

Fancy Stuffed Potatoes with Chicken, Mushroom and Onion!

Awesome Banana-Nut Bread!

I've made many of these quick breads before but they were all badly risen and generally blah. (I got all those from Allrecipes)

This is just awesome. I got this from The Joy of Cooking, lovingly given to me as a wedding gift by the 2 Women-of-God that I look up to most - beautiful middle-aged-but-forever-young-and-joyful Bamboo Poles. And this is the very 1st time I'm using this after 5 long years!!

Awesome! Soft and just right, not too sweet and not too salty!
Now, to wait 24 hrs and see if they remain soft....

Bingo!! They do!

60s Live Seafood

On an expat friend's recommendation (this is certainly embarrassing, an expat recommending local stuff to a local), we checked out this interesting tze char place at the Green Fairways Club.

The journey there is nondescript - I don't even know how to describe trying to find this tiny little roadsign covered with algae which leads you into a long, winding road across beautiful meadows (sounds very Enid Blyton right? But the only Pixie around was riding in the Pixiemobile) and you can see stables and horses around, with no traffic lights at all!!

Anyway, there are quite a few angmohs hanging out here. But the food is ABSOLUTELY GOOD.

The bittergourd soup is superb ($10 for a pot for 5). Forget about the nasty stuff they serve you at the market tze-chars - full of fish cakes and MSG. This one's full of eggs, REAL seafood and yum!

The rest of the food (baked crab, chilli crab, deep-fried baby squid, butter prawns) was so amazing. Everything was just fresh. And gasp! Good!

We're definitely becoming regulars here.

I give this a 9.9/10. (Perfect scores only found in heaven)

Marvellous Soft Muffins - I DID IT!!!!

Orange Breakfast Muffins by Nigella

Honestly, after umpteenth failed attempts, I had about given up. But then, Cat Angel introduced me to this recipe from Nigella.

• 75g unsalted butter
• 250g self-raising flour
• 25g ground almonds
• half teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 75g caster sugar (I just used brown sugar)
• zest of 1 orange (omitted)
• 100ml freshly squeezed orange juice (I used Ceres packet)
• 100ml full-fat milk (I used my home-made brown rice milk)
• 1 egg
• 12-bun muffin tray lined with 12 paper cases

Preheat the oven to 200 deg C. Melt the butter and set aside. Combine the flour, ground almonds, bicarb, baking powder, sugar and orange zest in a large bowl. Measure the orange juice and milk into a jug and whisk in the egg and then the cooled, melted butter. Now pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing with a fork as you go. The batter will be lumpy but that's as it should be: you want everything to be no more than barely combined. If really too dry, add another tablespoon of milk or orange juice (I did). The whole point of muffin mixture is that it must never be overworked. Spoon out the mixture equally into the muffin cases and cook for 15-20 minutes. Remove, in their paper cases, to a wire rack and let cool slightly (but not completely) before devouring.Makes 12.

This is the VERY FIRST TIME my muffins have turned out non-hard!!!
P/S Tin Hang Zai says it's not sweet enough for him - but it was for me - and this is supposed to be eaten with jam.

Doc Green Gourmet Salad

This place serves grills, sandwiches, soups and salads.

Nothing out of the ordinary - but for $14.90, I had a quarter chicken, quarter-slab of BBQ ribs, and the best salad I've ever had.

Tiny tangerines, grapes, cranraisins, sliced almonds and baby spinach leaves tossed in a tangy orange dressing. Yum!

This place is blah

The Canton Pixie, Miss Intellectual and Lasik checked out this vegetarian place at Beauty World for a girls' outing today.

Green+On+Earth was supposed to have had some good reviews in the press for supposedly being able to churn out salt-less, MSG-less, totally health-freak food that was supposed to taste superb.

When Tin Hang Zai heard where the 3 stooges were huddling at, he went 'Gross!'. Lasik said that Ching Wan-Timberlake would have had the same response.

Lasik agreed that this Pixie is really a food CRITIC - but this place deserves a 5/10! Urgh! My olive fried rice - I can't remember tasting any olives - and it didn't taste fried, and had tasteless bits of carrot, yam and overcooked-celery mixed in it. With a side dish of kelp - urgh!

Coming from someone who can stomach oats cooked in water (no milk, no sugar, nothing!) for breakfast EVERYDAY, I think this place really deserves a blah rating.

I didn't bother taking the name card - so no further details.

Supermarket Stress

I must say I find supermarket shopping quite stressful nowadays.

I was at Market Place, and only wanted to buy less-unhealthy snacks.

Read: Trans-fat-free, preservative-free, artificial flavouring/colouring-free, yeast-free, soy-free, lactose-free, MSG-free.

Result: I spent 1 hour searching and this is all I bought:

1. Kettle's Brand Organic Corn Chips (Sesame-Blue Corn)
2. Mountain Bread flat bread (more worth it than destroying my wok trying to make torteeyahs.
3. St Dalfour Jam (ok, just found out that NTUC sells the same thing at $1 per jar less than Shop N Save and Market Place!!)

Healthier Scruffy Murphy's Breakfast

Nowadays, Scruffy Murphy's is too far for our comfort, and the last breakfast we tried at Breko's was just awful.

My last attempt at this was using AMC - and I thought the luncheon meat looked so gross. So I'm so happy that this attempt turned out so nice - using the Goose's seasoned Chinese wok.

The recipe is a no-brainer. Heat wok. Pour oil in. Cook everything. Salt, to taste. Oil, to taste.

Doesn't this look pornographic!?!?!

Airport asked me to collect this from his demure-looking friend who works in Fei Yue. This is actually a bicyle gel-pad - AKA Jewel Protector!!

I didn't know that such things exist!

Nice visitor to Pixieville!!

Earth Rain

I seldom recommend stuff, but I bought this Earth Rain CD out of desperation for Tin Hang Zai's insomnia.

And, I'm now addicted! It's SGD30.00, and I must say, it's worth every cent I paid for it! It makes us both feel relaxed, I DO sleep better and so does he!

And sometimes I just 'sun' myself with the Gnome's expensive sunning machine, listen to the CD and drift off to bliss...

You can get it here at Ben Kim's Website.

RGS Banter

Lasik and I had a good laugh over the following:

1. We both have the 'irritating' (as described by Airport) RGS accent. (please don't ask why, because both of us are from Mandarin-speaking homes).
2. We both perpetuate the 'brainless girl' stereotypes because our favourite computer game is that Bubble Game. (Miss Intellectual, another fellow RGS girl, is not impressed by this!!)
3. Everyone who is not a girl is considered a "non-girl".
4. Both our SAHMs have bought all the stuff that only guillible SAHMs seem to buy - AMC and that Japanese U-Like Steamer.
5. We both can't stand people lying on the bedsheets in outside clothes.
6. We both like corny jokes.

MILO Godzilla

Pixieville hosted another Prison Group gathering last Friday.

We were extremely honored to have Mr Timberlake grace us with his presence. Sans paparazzi. I decided that Timberlake reminds me very much of Lau Ching Wan. So Lasik, it's Timberlake-Ching Wan. :)

I made everyone Tin Hang Zai's trans-fat free version of the McDonald's milkshake. Despite using stuff like corn oil, REAL milk, and non-stick cooking spray, Timberlake-Ching Wan and Lasik felt it tasted like a sorbet, and more specifically, a MILO-Godzilla!!!

I still can't figure out what caused the sorbet-texture.

Night-time Coughs

To stop nighttime coughing in a child (or adult as we found out personally), put Vicks Vaporub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime then cover with socks. Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief.

Not sure if it works, but I thought it's interesting to put it up here.

P/S Cosmo, it's from Merilyn!

What are your values?

The typical Pixie image was that of a busy bee, running around like a headless chicken, feeling stressed out doing lots of things and accomplishing nothing.

After I read this book, I understood that the feeling of mounting desperation about not spending time on 'things that matter' (despite functioning like a hummingbird) was because the activities I used to splurge my time on weren't really reflecting my values.

So here's the template I followed:

• What issues do you get on your soapbox about? What values do they reflect?
• What makes you cross? What value is being violated to make you feel this way?
• If you asked your family and friends to describe you, what words would they use? How do these descriptions reflect your values?
• What is something that you would never do, lines you would never cross? Which values would you be violating by crossing those lines?
• In the past, when faced with tough decisions, what actions have you taken? What values did these actions reflect?

Sneak Peek:

Tidiness is NOT one of my values, but I think it IS one of Lasik's.

Epicurean (but NON-Ascetic!!!) pursuits is definitely one big value of mine. The Sun, the Sea, the Stomach and the Shops.

Smashed Pomfret Rice Set

Can't resist blogging this. Lasik's look-good-but-lousy lunch at Marina Food Court. Urgh!

Easy-Peasy Scones are Easy

Recipe:
225g self-raising flour (sorry, this was from a UK book)
50g butter
150ml milk (lactose-intolerant - I substituted with home-made brown rice milk)
1 pinch salt (can be more)
1 tblspoon baking powder
Any amount of dried fruit or cheese you like - I used raisins.

Preheat oven - 180 deg C
Sift dry ingredients (if you don't know which are dry - you'd better not bake at all)
Rub in butter (learnt in Sec 2 Home Econs)
Add in milk gradually, stirring with knife until mixture comes together.
Knead lightly, roll out to 2cm thick and divide into 9-10 portions
Bake for 12-14 min (I think I ended up baking them for half hour).

Little Pixie just loved them. Tin Hang Zai said they tasted good with cream cheese. They are my first baking success - my muffins are still cookie-like.

I burnt my Chinese Wok!!!

Oh man. So much for trying to make my own gluten-free, additive-free, wheat-free tortillas. (which, thanks to Miss Intellectual, I learnt that they are pronounced "tor tee yas" and not "tor tee lahs".

I followed some dumb instructions and tried to fry them dry by lining my wok (lovingly seasoned by the Goose earlier) with corn flour. The flour got welded onto my wok, I tried to scrub it off and now the patina is gone!!

I tried to put the patina back, but the re-seasoning process caused all my laundry (hanging in the kitchen) and the whole house to stink of corn oil, and as a result, I had to do damage-control by boiling a pot of vinegar for half an hour.

Duh!!!

I finally found Thunder Tea Rice Recipe!!!!

Thanks to my information-bank The Imp, I finally found this!!

Recipe from The Star

Ingredients
20g ikan bilis, fried till crispy and chopped
30g baked groundnuts, chopped
30g sesame seed
15g Kuan Yin tea leaves (or any superior grade tea leaves)
5g chopped mint leaves
1 tsp salt
3l water

Side dishes (stir-fry with a bit of oil; add salt to taste except the pickled radish)

• 4 pcs beancurd, cut into small cubes and deep-fried
• 25g leek, sliced
• 250g dried shrimp, soaked, chopped and divided into three portions
• 300g French beans, finely sliced
• 300g pickled radish (choy poh), finely chopped
• 300g potato shoots (see chai choy)
• 300g asparagus, finely cut
• 300g cooked rice
  

Method

To prepare thunder tea soup: Use grinder or chopper to chop up ikan bilis, groundnuts, sesame seed and tea leaves until very fine. Pour in hot water and mix well. Return the soup to a pan and bring to the boil. Ready to serve.Add this soup to your cooked rice when you’re ready to eat.

To prepare side dishes:

1. Stir-fry leeks with deep-fried cubed beancurd (tau kon).

2. Fry the chopped shrimps until fragrant.then add finely cut french beans and lightly stir-fry.

3. Soak the pickled radish. Chop finely.lightly stir-fry.

4. Stir-fry potato shoots with chopped driedshrimps.

5. Stir-fry finely-cut asparagus with choppeddried shrimps.

6. To make baked groundnuts, toast groundnuts in the oven and remove skin after they have cooled.

7. To make fried ikan bilis, heat oil and fry ikan bilis until they’re crunchy.

To serve: Invert a small bowl of cooked rice into a large bowl. Scoop portions of the accompanying side dishes onto your rice. Pour hot soup over this and mix well before eating. You can add whatever side dishes you wish

My very first Almond Yogurt

Honestly, I don't know if this was a failure or not. It tasted sour alright, but I've no idea if this is yogurt-sour or just-gone-bad sour, since I'm lactose-intolerant and don't take yogurt!

ALMOND, FILBERT OR MACADAMIA NUT YOGURT
Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup whole, RAW blanched almonds or RAW blanched hazelnuts (filberts) or RAW macadamias
• 2 TBL clear honey
• Water
• Yoghurt starter (ProGurt by GI ProHealth) (I simply used fresh yogurt from here

Step-by-step instructions

1. Put all things you need on a tea towel on the kitchen table:blender, a fine sieve, some tea towels, the nuts, honey, two tablespoons, whisk, water, yoghurt maker + yoghurt container. Get the probiotics out of the freezer only when you need them.

2. Put nuts into blender

3. Add enough cold water to get a total of 4 to 5 cups / =1 litre

4. Add 2 tablespoons of honey

5. Blend for 10 minutes (use a stopwatch)

6. Pour about 1 cup of the nut milk through the fine sieve(You can squeeze out more liquid if you use a teacloth and twist it firmly.)NOW take your probiotics out of the freezer

7. Add 1/8 tsp of ProGurt yoghurt starter to the milk, per 1 quart of yogurt.

8. Stir well with whisk, add the rest of the milk, with back of spoon press out all liquids

9. Stir well and place container in yoghurt maker

10. Ferment for 8 hours.

11. Place in the fridge overnight or at least for 5 hours (overnight is better)

12. Get a bowl, put the sieve on the bowl, put a cheesecloth in the sieve

13. Pour the yoghurt in the cheesecloth so that it can drip

14. Drip for about an hour, or longer if you'd like the yoghurt thicker

15. By pressing the dripped yoghurt further, you can make something that resembles cheese.

The fermentation process takes place at about 105 Fahrenheit.As you see, I do NOT cook or heat the milk. After blending, the milk should be lukewarm, not warmer than 105F. If you heat more, the milk will separate and the fermentation will not take place.Try to find RAW nuts that have been through minimal processing. Deep frying them may be very tasty, but it will negatively affect the outcome and it is also a bit unhealthy.The sieve is such, that if you pour orange juice through it, there's no pulp in your glass.This nut yoghurt is a nice and safe alternative when you cannot tolerate goat's or cow's yoghurt (yet). Go for it!

Conclusion

Experimentation with yogurt-making over. I'm not crazy about it, neither is Tin Hang Zai and I doubt Little Pixie is going to inherit any cravings for yogurt from us anytime soon. We'll stick to acidophilus supplements.

Trans-Fat Free Instant Noodles

OK, so I love the IndoMie Mee Goreng flavour - and decided to switch to Koka Brand just to be safe. (This feels like the devil and the deep blue sea).

However, the MSG-free seasoning tasted quite terrible. So I tried concocting my own and Tin Hang Zai seems to prefer it to the Koka seasoning.

Here's the recipe. Drench your noodles in them.

• Oyster sauce
• Sweet Soy Sauce (there is only one brand selling this in the supermarkets, and this is NOT sweet sauce)
• Ketchup
• Sesame oil
• Chilli Powder (optional)

Everything is done to-taste. Hence, I didn't bother leaving exact quantities. Enjoy.

This Subway sucks!!!

Subway is the Pixies' choice whenever we crave junk food and don't want to go the full-trans-fat way of McDonald's or KFC.

Usually we go to the one in Holland Village but I think we won't go there anymore!!!

Canton Pixie: Can I have my cheese packed separately?
Waiter: NO
Canton Pixie: huh? *shocked look cuz never had such a response before*
Waiter: We don't allow cuz not in our operating procedure.
Canton Pixie (firm voice): No, THAT's not true, cuz the last time I came here you did it for me!
Waiter: *shrugs* ok, actually not allowed
Canton Pixie: *rolls eyes*
Waiter: Why do you want to separate the cheese?
Canton Pixie: Because I want to eat it separately? *sarcastic tone*
Waiter: *sniggers*

This place really sucks. I've seen the male boss before - never smiles at anyone, never serves customers even when there is a long queue and all his staff are busy. Just stands behind them and stares. Even put up a sign reminding all customers to help them by clearing their own tables.

I succeeded at YOGURT!!!!

My yogurt recipe finally succeeded after 3 tries!!!! Here's the final one:

1. Use PAUL's or Nestle plain yoghurt. (I used Nestle cuz it's much cheaper)
2. To begin your own batch, use 1 tablespoon for every 500ml of milk.
3. Scald milk to just bubbling and steam appearing.
4. Let cool to lukewarm - when you can stick your finger in and leave it there without feeling painful for 10 seconds, it's the right temperature. Alternatively, if you have a thermometer - when it reads 40-44 deg C.
5. Stir a bit of warm milk into the yogurt in a separate container and ensure the yogurt 'dissolves'.
6. Gently mix this into the main bulk of the yogurt-to-be.
7. Put into conventional oven, and set the temperature at 40 deg C and allow to set for 8-12 hours. Leave uncovered and door shut.
8. Yogurt is ready when it "feels" like yogurt (I could tip the container over and it was thick and creamy!! Yippeee!!!).
9. I monitored the temperature every hour or so (with my thermometer left inside the oven).
10. At 40 deg C, setting takes approximately 8 hrs.
11. Chill in fridge once done.
    

If you have no thermometer or oven - put the lukewarm yogurt-t0-be into a thermos or whatever container that will keep its temperature in the range 36-44 deg C for at least 5 hrs.