candied chicken wings

meatball noodles

why?

GBS organised a picnic last Saturday, and it was requested for me to prepare beehoon. To me frying beehoon would be automatically labelling myself as an Ah-Soh!! Of course, I wanted to prepare something close to the request of beehoon but still try something exciting :) So began to pour through all my cook books to find something to cook. I found this recipe in Nigella's FEAST book and as I read through how to prepare the dish I discovered that even when it comes to cooking, there can be an element of surprise and mystery! I bet you must be wondering as you look at the picture above and cannot help but ask "Where are the noodles?" Haha... that's the surprise! The noodles are actually mixed with minced meat to form the meatball noodles!

success?

This dish is so easy to prepare and it definitely got people asking where the noodles are! Yeah, this is really a 'cheap thrill' experience, but I did get a kick out of it! Haha.. It does look pretty as well, but somehow the noodles were not visible enough.

failure?

Somehow Nigella's recipes never turn out great for me at least. On my part, I knew that from my many experiences trying out her recipes, so I already knew I had to tweaked the recipe to add more spices and seasoning but the meatballs still ended tasting too bland for my liking. Yes, the recipe did call for Thai sweet chilli sauce to complement the meatballs, but it should not be bland on its own! And the meatballs could have turned out much worse if not for my added ingredients...Sigh, I wonder if she really did pen down the recipes accurately. I watch her on television and I am more incline to think she has not been as meticulous as she should be :(

saigon baguette

why?

I remembered the first time I had a sample of this sandwich with Rach, we knew we would be back! I brought LR to try it, and he proclaims this is the best sandwich he has ever eaten his whole life! Haha... and it only about time I try my hand at making it. What if the shop closes down? Would we need to fly all the way to Vietnam for our sandwich fix?

success?

LR said it tasted almost like the real thing! I knew I would never be able to produce the real thing because I don't have those ham that they use. I substituted with marinated pork and I used very good Pate that I bought from Cold Storage. On a scale of 1 to 10 of being like the real thing, I would rate it a 7.5 :) I included the recipe, do try!!

Saigon Baguette Recipe

Ingredients

Ciabatta bread (I bought mine from Giant at a steal! $1.70 for 4 small ones)

Mayonnaise

Pate De foie (I bought 100g from Cold storage)

Corriander

White vinegar

Sugar

2 Carrots

1 Radish

2 Cucumbers

200g Lean Pork

1 Lemon grass

Cornflour

Fish sauce

Method(Start at least 3 days before eating)

1. Peel the carrots and radish.

2.Slice the carrots, cucumbers and radish into 3 inch by half inch rectangular shaped.

3.Place the vegetables into an airtight container.

4.Mix 2 cups of white vinegar with 1 cup of sugar, then dilute with 1 cup of water.

5.Pour the mixture into the container with the vegetables and preserve for at least 3 days.

6.The day before, marinate the pork.

7. Slice the pork thinly and marinate with 3 tsp of cornflour, pounded lemon grass, 3 tsp of fish sauce, 1 tbs of sugar and 1 tsp of sesame oil. Cover with a cling wrap and sit overnight in the refridgerator.

8. Fry the pork with some vegetable oil and set aside.

9. Toast the bread and slice into half.

10.Spread some pate, then mayo, put in the pork, pickled vegetables and corriander.

11.Drizzle some fish sauce over the sandwich and you are good to go!!

failure?

The real deal doesn't use pork, but 3 different kinds of ham. Maybe next time, I'll go get some salami and try. I know it isn't regular ham, because the pork taste is much stronger than the common ham we eat.

teochew mui

stewed mushrooms with oysters

hakka pig trotters

why?

My grandma cooked it every year for Chinese New Year, and then my mom took over the reigns to produce this so yummy dish and now that my mom is with the Lord, I have either the option of missing and hoping or I attempt to re-produce the dish!

success?

YUMMY!!!!!!! Of course as the saying goes, nothing beats mom's cooking, but I think my mom would be proud of me! The taste of sourness with sweet pork flavour is like the combination of bak kwa with kecap manis and drinking a cup of lemon juice! Haha... I tried to explain the taste but truly, if you are a huge fan of the confinement pig trotters dish, you would love this!

Ingredients

2 kg of pig trotters chopped into pieces (get the butcher to do this)

1 kg of white radish, peeled and chopped into big pieces (see the picture)

5 hard boiled eggs, deshelled

20 dried chillies, soaked for 1hr and drained

10 cloves of garlic, minced

3tbs of chinese cooking wine

5 tbs of light soya sauce

5 tbs of dark soya sauce

200g gula melaka

1 big bottle of white rice vinegar (add depending on ur preference of sourness)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Blanch the pig trotters in boiling water for 5 min

2. Dish up and rinse well

3. Heat up 1 tbs of cooking oil

4. Saute the garlic and dried chillies till fragrant

5. Add the pig trotters and fry till slightly brown

6. Add the light and dark soya sauce and wine and fry

7. Add in 2litres of water and bring to a boil

8. Add the gula melaka to dissolve

9. Pour in 300ml of white vinegar and add seasoning

10. Add in the radish and stir

11. Simmer for 1 hour

12. Put in the hard boil eggs and let the dish cool completely over the stove

13. Refrigerate for at least 2 days but make sure that all the radish, trotters and eggs are submerged in the sauce

14. When ready to eat, bring to boil and add more seasoning or vinegar till desired taste. I actually use up an entire bottle!

failure?

Mommy, you are not here to give me your comments :)

Gre-int cake

why?

A birthday cake for a special lady in my cell group. Also, LR expressed how much he really loves those japanese light and fluffy sponge cake. So I searched the internet and came across a japanese green tea cake. Sounds exciting enough for me try it! But why the name Gre-int? Refer to 'failure' below for a better explanation :(

  

success?

Sigh... it was a disaster, read below for the details.

failure?

The recipe calls for green tea powder which I could not find. However, I did not want to give up, so I went to the beverage section in the supermarket, hoping to find something similar to green tea powder. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I found a box of ice green tea drink mix in powder form and at that point it seemed like a really good substitute. I got home and followed the recipe religiously. When the cake was baking in the oven, I decided to reward myself with some ice green tea. I took out a sachet, mixed the contents with iced cold water and as I took a sip my face turned green. I simply could not describe what I just tasted. I picked up the box, checked the expiry date and that was fine, then I saw a small fine print of the words "mint" next to these words "Iced Green Tea". OH NO!! But confusion quickly turned to anger. Angry at the manufacturer! Where is the green tea? All I could taste was mint, mint and all mint! Seriously, there was absolutely no green tea at all. If anything, the manufacturers of this drink should change the label to "Iced Mint Tea". I was duped!!!!! And what was more disgusting was I had no idea how the cake would turn out! A mint cake?? Hence the name Gre-int. Sigh... needless to say, the taste of the cake was weird and I think my decorating muse left me too, I don't know what came over me to simply scatter silver balls around the cake. The cake looked like something out of twilight zone and it should stay there and never return!

O0ooooreo cheesecake

why?

I had another priviledge to bake a birthday cake!! I initially was going to bake a strawberry cheesecake, but the strawberries at the supermarket looked yellow and withered. I guess I would probably bake one when the season comes around!

success?

WOW! I mean I would definitely boast that THIS IS THE BEST cake I have ever made! Firstly, it looked so gorgeous, I learnt the technique of 'dripping' the chocolate on the surface of the cake from Nigella's FEAST and the mini oreos by the side added a touch of cuteness to the oh-so-sophisticated cake! Secondly, the texture of the cheesecake was soooo smooth and the bits of oreo cookies not just from the crust but the middle of the cake gave such a crunch to each bite. My only concern was that the cake would turn out too sweet, but the marriage of the oreos and cream cheese was perfect. I was really impressed at the taste and texture! Haha... I told LR, after we left the restaurant that I was supressing my immense excitment and joy the whole night. I wanted so badly to shamelessly boast but I guess I would have to settle for shamelessly declaring the wonders of this cake here!

Oreo Cheesecake

Ingredients

200g oreo cookies, with centre cream removed and crushed

100g unsalted butter, melted

55g soft brown sugar

910g cream cheese, softened at room temperature

250g white sugar

80ml whipping cream

15g plain flour

1 tsp of vanilla essence

4 eggs

160g oreo cookies, crushed with the centres

400ml sour cream

100ml whipping cream

50g white sugar

1 tsp of vanilla essence

100ml whipping cream

200g dark chocolate

1 tsp vanilla essence

mini oreo cookies for decorations

Directions

1. Combine 200g of oreo cookies, melted butter and brown sugar. Press firmly the mixture onto the bottom of a 10-inch spring form pan. Bake in a preheated oven for 5 min at 175 degrees.

2.Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Gradually mix in 250g of sugar, 80ml of whipping cream, flour and 1 tsp of vanilla. Beat in eggs, one at a time.

3.Pour half of the mixture on into the pan with cookie base, then gently sprinkle the 160g of oreos and carefully spoon on the top the remaining mixture.

4.Bake at 175 degrees for 45 min at the centre rack and at the bottom of the oven, place a roasting tray with water.

5.Mix the sour cream, whipping cream, sugar and vanilla essence. Remove the cake after 45min and carefully spread this mixture on the top and bake for a further 7 min.

6.Turn off the oven and allow the cake to 'rest' in the oven for 1 hour.

7.Combine the whipping cream and chocolate on low heat to melt then stir in the vanilla essence.

Using a spoon, spread the chocolate mixture in a horizontal direction then vertically to form a pattern as the picture above.

8.Decorate the cake with the mini oreos.

9.Refrigerate at least 8 hours before serving.

failure?

This cake failed in the affordable department! The cost of all the ingredients came up to just over $40 and I spent 4 hours making this cake. Gosh, if I ever had to sell this cake commercially, it is going to cost ALOT.

hainanese chicken chop

why?

I brought LR to Colbar once and from that day on, we started sharing this unexplainable love for this seemly old-fashion fusion dish. I decided to try to whip it up by 'feel'.

success?

This dish is terribly heart stopping. The potatoes and chicken are deep fried. But we can comfort ourselves to say the usual "once in a while, it is ok" and also we used white meat, chicken instead of red meat, pork! Any excuse to gorge! Haha

Ingredients

300g chicken / pork fillet

1 medium white onion, sliced

1 cup of frozen vegetables

2 bowls of breadcrumbs

1 egg

2 tbs of milk

salt and pepper

2 local potatoes cut to resemble french fries

4 tbs of tomato ketchup

1 tbs of sweet chilli sauce

3 tbs of sugar

1 tbs of light soya sauce

2 tsp of sesame oil

1 tsp of cooking wine

2 tsp of corn starch

some water to dilute, depending on how thick you want the gravy to be

Directions

1.Season the meat with salt and pepper.

2.Heat up cooking oil in a pot for deep frying. Check if the oil is ready by dropping some breadcrumbs. If it is ready the breadcrumbs should start 'bubbling'.

3. Deep fry the potatoes and remove on a kitchen paper to soak up the oil.

4. Mix the egg with milk. Dip the meat into the egg mixture, then the breadcrumbs. Repeat this again.

5.Place the battered meat to deep fry and turning only once when 1 side browns. Remove onto a kitchen paper to drain off excess oil.

6.Scoop 3 tbs of the oil into a frying pan and saute the onions till slightly brown. Do not overcook the onions, you want them to remain crunchy.

7.Throw in the frozen vegetables and fry for another minute.

8. Mix the ketchup, sweet chilli sauce, sugar, light soya sauce, sesame oil, cooking wine, cornstarch and some water together.

9.Pour into the frying pan, have some water on hand to dilute to the consistency of gravy you desire.

10.Place the french fries and battered meat onto the plate and spoon the gravy over to serve.

failure?

I would probably try pork. Chicken just isn't the same! The next time, I might add some white vinegar to add a slight tinge of sourness to the sauce.

low fat chocolate cake

japanese katsu rice

fish lasagne

french herb bread

minestrone soup

why?

Too many turkey bones which came from too many turkeys as a result of too many parties! It's either porridge or soup. We already had porridge twice from the stock, and I think it's time for variety within turkey bones of course. Such irony! Haha.. Oh and the bread was made because it rained :)

success?

I really didn't have a recipe and I pretty much threw into the stock whatever I could find in the kitchen coupled with vague past experiences of drinking minestrone. So what did I find and add?

Ingredients

Turkey bones

Celery, 4 stalks, diced

Carrots, 2 medium, diced

White onion, 1 large, diced

Pasta, given to me by Weilong / Jeffery from their Standard Chartered Marathon

Tinned whole tomatoes, squashed with a fork

Tomato ketchup, 3 tablespoons

Fresh rosemary and dill (from my balcony garden)

Salt and pepper to taste.

Basically, I just boiled the bones for about an hour, added the celery, carrots, onions and herbs to bring to a boil and lowered the heat to simmer for another hour. Next, add the tomatoes, ketchup and salt and pepper to taste. Finally, according to the time it takes the pasta to cook, add a cup in before serving. I sprinkled some parmesan cheese for richness.

failure?

LR's mom said it was not sour enough. I guess if I had fresh tomatoes I would add them in and that should help to make the soup more sourer. I checked allrecipes.com and most recipes suggest adding tomato paste as well.

turkey pie

TURKEY!!!

why?

It's Christmas!!! And I had a party for my dear YWAM classmates as they would be spending Christmas out in the mission field. What's a Christmas party without the gigantic bird?

failure?

I was utterly mad to buy a bird that is 6kg and expect to prepare it and finish roasting the turkey within 6 hours! I started preparing the turkey at 2pm but the turkey was only ready for the oven at 3pm. I weighed the turkey after the stuffing and it came up to a whopping 11kg!! I was stunned and after calculations, the turkey would need 7 hours of roasting. Of course I was worried that the turkey wouldn't be ready when everyone got here. Thankfully, the turkey was sort of done when we were ready to eat. I say 'sort of' because nearing the bone areas were still raw. But, the turkey was so huge that for the 15 of us, the 2 legs, wings and a quarter of the breast filled us up. We didn't even get to the 'raw' parts of the bird. It was only after everyone left, LR and myself started to shred the meat and pack the bones that we came upon the raw bits. So into the oven for just another hour to be packed and ready for left-over recipes to come.

success?

I had a lot of fun preparing the turkey with the help of my classmates. What I particularly liked about this Jamie Oliver's recipe was that the stuffing instead of going into the cavity, was distributed under the skin of the bird. Really an unusal touch that produced a surprisingly juicy and well flavoured turkey meat. Slicing the breast meat brought immense satisfaction as well as the meat with the outer layer of stuffing mimics that of really pretty terrine that I only see at expensive restaurants! The stuffing was a mixture of dried apricots, minced meat and celery with herbs and seasoning. Super yummy, I would definitely roast my own turkey next year with this recipe but with a much smaller turkey.

Cordon Bleu

Carrot Cake

why?

I wanted to make something to bless my classmates at YWAM(Youth With a Mission) and of course an excuse to bake. Why not? Haha

failure?

I should try to make my cakes thicker like those sold in the shops. Purely asethetic :)

success?

Wow, even I was surprised at how moist and yummy this cake came out! I should have baked more. I baked 2, stored 1 in the freezer, took it out a week later, thaw and heated it in the microwave for 2 minutes, and amazingly, it was still 'juicy'. This one is a keeper, so here is the recipe that I tweaked a little from allrecipes.com.

recipe...

Ingredients

4 eggs

177ml vegetable oil

118 apple sauce

200g white sugar

200g brown sugar

3 tsp vanilla extract

250g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3 tsp ground cinnamon

330g grated carrots

120g chopped pecans

1 can of crushed pineapples (drain out the liquid and use a food processor to blend briefly)

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Grease flour and pan.

2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white and brown sugar and 2 tsp of vanilla.

3. Mix in flour, baking soda and powder, salt and cinnamon.

4. Stir in carrots and pineapples.

5. Fold in pecans and pour in the pan.

6. Bake for 40-50min. Cool in a pan for 10min and then unto a rack to cool completely.

Frosting

1. Beat -

115g of butter, 225g of cream cheese, 300g icing sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla.

Packed and ready to bless!

Silent Night

Santa and trees

Silverbells

Gingerbread Galore!

Mommy

" Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severly, if anything but death seperates you and me"
Ruth 1:16-17

The book of Ruth is close to my heart, because everytime I read it, I am struck by how the relationship between Ruth and Naomi is so similar to mine and my mom's. My mom's life was never easy like Naomi, through it all, as mother and daughter, we clung on to each other. It was not just each other that we clung on to, we clung on to God together to find much joy through the sufferings.

On the 8th of November 2007, we were seperated. On that day, God decided that it's about time that I continue my journey on earth without clinging on to my mom. It was, is and will be tough to manage, but I place my hope in the God that I cling on to and I know He never leaves nor forsake me.

Rolled plum pork