sunflower cookies

Success:
They are simply so gorgeous!! I just had to put the flower next to the cookies to snap a shot :) It was quite hard work with the mixing, rolling, cutting, putting the choc chips in the centre gingerly and finally slashing the dough to enhance the petals look.

Failure:
Taste wise, was just so-so and the cookie being quite thick and big reminded me of a hard cake.

ngoh hiang

Success:
It looks like the real deal! Actually I made the fillings and LR did the wrapping, and what a good job! The fillings were still juicy while the outside was crispy. The prawn, pork and chestnuts were left chunky due to laziness after the hard work of cleaning it, but surprisingly it added more texture and flavour as you can taste each individual ingredient rather than a paste.

Failure:
The skin is really quite salty, and I would definitely not use any salt or soy for seasoning in the filling and the skin should be wiped off with a damp towel several times to get rid of the salt. Also it's not easy to wrap tightly these ngoh hiangs, and when frying the 'poofed' up like puffer fishes, though when cooled it went back to what it should look like, but I felt that perhaps not wrapping them tighter in could have compromised on the juiciness of the fillings. So my ngoh hiang could have been juicier!

lemon sponge cake

Success:
It was light and fluffy. Buttermilk in cakes is a MUST! The recipe yielded 2 cakes and I couldn't help but think about how huge Sara Lee's profits are! My ingredients costs are barely $5 for 2 cakes, but of course I am once again reminded by LR that my labour is not cheap (so sweet). But honestly, I wouldn't call it labour at all, more like a hobby or love for it :)

Failure:
I should reduce the sugar significantly and I would definitely whip in more lemon zest and juice. Perhaps I should even do a variety of citrus fruits ( orange, lemon.. can't think of any at this moment) I also wonder if I did put lemon slices at the bottom of the cake tin and bake would that be too wet? I'm always trying to improve on my presentation and progress from this home-made look where I can get away with anything ugly.

Reflections:
Interestingly enough, yesterday I was watching an episode of Jamie and there was this whole issue of simplicity and sometimes we complicate our cooking too much. Hopefully this principle of simplicity does not just translate into my cooking but with my life too that I can be simple and contented in Christ.

" I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound" Phillipians 4

honey wholemeal bread rolls

Success:
The first bread I baked, that is like bread! My previous attempts resulted in either too heavy, too yeasty tasting or didn't rise bread. I toasted the rolls for breakfast and smeared on cream chesse, and the honey from the bread and rustic texture of the oats and wholemeal made my breakfast this morning so special and gasp! Complete. I'm all ready to be geared up for work :)

Failure:
I didn't read the recipe clearly and I was actually suppose to let flour, yeast and honey to triple in size after proving before adding in all the other recipes. I will definitely attempt to bake this again and hope after this lesson there'll be more fluff in the rolls. Also, since the bread used very little oil, I should flour the baking sheet more as the rolls were quite reluctant to leave the sheet.

AM cake - banana chocolate cake

Success:
It was the day that I decided to take a step of faith - baking a birthday cake. Birthdays are funny, some people want to forget it others want to celebrate it. So baking a birthday cake for 2 friends and bringing the cake to a posh restaurant (in a plate and with a cake box that doesn't fit!), could be potentially setting myself up for a A LOT of trouble. But if you never step out of the boat, you would never know if you could walk on water. So what was the verdict from the 2 birthday babies? They loved it! They ate the left-overs 2 days later and SMSed me to tell me that it's as yummy. So sweet... think I scored! (one of them was watching soccer) My take? It was so moist and the freshness of the bananas(I decided against cooking them) with the chocolate was an absolute perfect match. I was totally clueless about how the cake would look, but I really just went 'bananas' with my sliced bananas.

Failure:
I was too eager to slap on the whip cream to sandwhich the cakes with bananas that I forgot to let the cake cool down significantly first. It was a rescue operation in the lab as the cream started to melt and pour down from the sides like rain. Panicking I began to soak up the cream with kitchen towels ( with LR's mom looking on with a very worried expression). Thank God I managed to stop the meltdown and it really was a blessing in disguised, as without the whip cream the cake was light and even after a hearty Italian dinner, everyone at the table finished their slice of the cake :) Hope it wasn't to be polite but that it was really worth putting on more calories.

watermelon salad

Success:
This is my 2nd time whipping up this yummy salad and again it turned out awesome. This is quick, easy and cheap (using my mint plant). This time round I decided to put in a bit of effort into the presentation as well and it looks gorgeous !

Failure:
Before I make this I should check if anyone doesn't eat feta, olives and even parsley! LR doesn't touch the feta and olives but it would compromise with the taste if I had ommited them out.

Here goes my bit of reflection -
For our plans to be fufilled or even turn out great, it doesn't mean that everything about the plans is according to our liking. Sometimes God has a funny way of fufilling His promises and making His plans great. It could that in the process of His will, we encounter some bumps and difficulties or even disgusting yucky moments(like feta or olives, for some) but if we trust in the end result and know it would be awesome (like yummy watermelon salad), why stumble over the little bit of moments? Another way of looking at it is, if we see feta and olives as inconviences and if these inconviences could make someone else happier (I have friends who are obessed with olives) that's love. I would want to be able to love above myself anyday.

peanut butter cupcakes

Success:
The use of yogurt in the cupcakes made them so fluffly and chomping them down while they were still warm was an absolute bliss.

Failure:
There was a nuclear explosion in my lab! The cupcakes flowed like larva crazily in the oven while baking. Each one turned out ugly and likened to a has-been volcano eruption. I really didn't want to take a picture, but thank God the middle ones in the tray had not much space to 'explode' except upwards, so I had 3 decently 'normal' ones to present them sheepishly here. Perhaps I was too generous and overly excited with the use of yogurt. So should I compromise with looks for fluff? I'll try again but this time using tall muffin cases to give the 'explosion' more direction. :)

farewell cookies

I do hate goodbyes but to make it less painful I decided to inject a little sweetness for my dearest kiddies. Hope you all liked it and do keep it touch! :)

Success:
It was really easy to make and I love the cinnamon, raisins and oats. Reminds me so much of Subway cookies. Oh and I also got to use this lovely dessert dish that was given to me by my dearest friends.

Failure:
Too much tears in the dough :(

zone meal

I read a bit about this Zone diet and thought it might be good to create a meal with the concept. No carbo. Think healthy. I baked chicken breast with lemon and tomatoes. Made a salad with balsamic vinegar and basil.

Success:
It sure did taste healthy! Aka a little bland.
Salad was yummy!

Failure:
Probably only repeat it if I really wanted to lose A LOT of weight!

tomato and spinach quiche

Success:
It looks so pretty(yes like the bacon and mushroom quiche), but would it be salty and terrible? Anyway, what's my rationale for making this? It's just that while I was buying the ingredients to make the B&M quiche, I was getting extremely stressed out by the amount of fat that goes into the quiche, so much so that I convinced myself to compensate with a vegetable quiche! Haha... I added the same amount of salt as the failed B&M quiche but the salt level was barely noticeable. In place, was the nice sourness of the tomatoes and aroma of rosemary that I added. Oh did I add that this one had no recipe too? Maybe I really can't follow plans... is God telling me that I need more faith and to eat more vegetables? Haha...

Failure:
I made this together with the B&M quiche, so am not too thrilled with making quiches.

bacon and mushroom quiche

Success:
Looks good only :(

Failure:
It was EXTREMELY salty *sigh* I need to remember next time when I am cooking bacon and I do NOT need salt. Oh yeah and remember to use unsalted butter too.

rice cooker bread

Sometime ago, LR and myself were hooked on watching this Japanese Anime about bread and this was a recipe incorporated into the show. We told ourselves that we would try it and we finally did after LR mustered enough energy to download the episode, copy the recipe and got his hands dirty!

Success:
I love it! Maybe it's because LR made it, I could be biased but there was really this subtle sweet butter and milk taste that was really quite addictive. I ate a huge slice with cheddar chesse. YUM! Good Job LR! And the best part... he's going to make it again.

Failure:
LR started making the bread at 9pm and after weighing all the flour, butter etc, he discovered that he would need about 4-6 hours for the bread to be ready for consumption. He went ahead anyway, I think in the process of the 'experiment' he got too excited with the yeast and added too much water with it. The dough became quite sticky and we had to add quite a lot of flour. But really, it was the closest to a baby's bum I've ever encountered in my laboratory. Finally after much proving and waiting we put the dough into the rice cooker. It was almost 12midnight and I was too sleepy so I decided to go home.

The next morning, LR confessed he went to bed too! Haha... so he continued cooking the bread only this morning. We took out the bread, it looked burnt! And LR forbade me to take any pictures. However, after we both took a slice (see success) I sensed that there would be no issues with displaying LR's first experiment on the blog. The next time, LR vowed to start making the bread much earlier and put in a lot less water :) I'm so proud of him!

sweet and sour chicken

Success:
It filled the whole house with the fiesty flavours of roasted peppers, chillis and onions and sweet fragrance of the pineapple. The chicken was juicy and succulent coupled with the good massage of the ginger and basil to create this amazing twist (think roasted chicken, chicken rice chicken). Blending half of the veg and pineapple with balsamic vinegar and sugar as a complementing sauce wasn't overpowering and was light enough to have the meal with rice or noodles. Fantastic! LR loved it and said he would pay $15 for the meal! Haha... I spent barely $10 including a big bottle of balsamic vinegar.

Failure:
More like room for improvement, I might try to add in some corriander to blend the sauce in future and if I wanted a fuller meal could have whipped up some mash potatoes :)

basil with minced pork

I went to the nursery on Sunday and bought a Thai basil plant for only $5! I figured even if the plant dies after a week and I cooked at least 2 dishes with the leaves I would definitely still have been justified buying the plant (as cold storage sells a small packet for about $2 ). So of course I had to put my new plant to good use and decided to try making this dish. I tried it the last time with chicken and without fish sauce ( I know that's bad... Thai food without fish sauce is like bangkok without shopping!)

Success:
It was fabulous! The funny thing was, I really didn't have a recipe to follow and I cooked with 'natural talent'? Haha... and it was so yummy... So I reflected on this and thought about how sometimes in life we have a plan and we hope that it turns out well, but sometimes things go wrong and we go back to the plan and try to troubleshoot. The problem is we can get so caught up with our mistakes that we don't move on. For me, life is the same, we try to control life with plans and yet we get disappointed when it doesn't go according to plan. And when we don't have a plan, it can turn out fabulous and more often than not way beyond out expectations. What I'm trying to say is, maybe we don't know everything and we often don't plan for the best. Let's trust someone who knows.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"

Jeremiah 29:11


I thank God that my plan is not always the best but His plans are and trusting in Him I will ever be satisfied :)

Failure:
none... Yippeeee

thai pomelo salad

My mom left me with a huge pomelo after her mid-autumn party on Sunday and warned me that it is going to be too ripe to eat after Monday, so I decided to use it as a dish for dinner!

Success:
It looks so Thai! Swadeeka.... It was really refreshing and I liked the added crunch that the peanuts gave to the salad.

Failure:
I couldn't find Thai lime and had to use big limes instead, and it was really a compromise on the taste. LR and myself did think that it wasn't sour enough. Also the pomelo was indeed ripe and very juicy, so after tossing the salad, there was swimming pool of 'soup' which I honestly didn't mind as I was happily slurping it down.

banana honey bread

Success:
The bread rose and I did not kill the yeast! Was initially very worried and because I used up ALL the yeast I had at home, I almost made my LR run down to the stores to get me more.

Failure:
For some reason, bread recipes and me have not connected yet! Soldier on I tell myself. Firstly, after kneading the dough, it's not smooth like a baby's bum...hmmm.... I really don't know why but I know that hinders in the proving process as the cracks lets out the air early. Secondly, I couldn't divide the dough up equally and the result is very uneven looking bread rolls! Should I weigh them individually like BreadTalk? Way to much work.. leave it looking 'homemade' is probably the lazy option! Haha... Lastly, I need to flour my baking sheet A LOT more, as when I drizzle the honey over the bread, they streak down by the sides and stick to the sheet after being baked. So my LR had to manually peel of the paper, very unprofessional! Haha.... so definitely needs more tweaking once again :)

chocolate orange pudding

Success :
Looks as pretty as the picture in Jamie's Happy Days cook book and tastes extremely sinful and very much like a brownie. I was initially surprised that I had to steam it for 2 hours and gave my oven an off day :)

Failure:
It was a little damp for my liking and the butter did overpower the taste of the orange. I would definitely prick my 'boiled' orange a lot less times and ease up on the butter. But when I asked my LR(lab rat) the verdict, he said :" more tweaking".

Honestly, I really have no idea what I'm getting myself into. But I guess that's what I am all about 90% of the time. The funny thing is, there always is a plan and it's the process that is unpredictable, vunerable but yet extremely exciting!