~ Flower crab feast ~

Hubby had a sudden craving for crabs and so he bought 5kg worth of fresh flower crabs! We brought it over to bbil's house where the crabs were steamed. No seasoning and sauces were added, the crabs are so fresh that the meat tasted very sweet on its own. It's super yummy delicious that I actually ate 5 of them! I wonder if there are any left-overs for tomorrow. ^_^

~ Tuna Mayo Sushi ~

It has been awhile since I am in a mood to 'cook'. Since the powered sushi mix is going to expire soon, I thought I better make some sushi before it goes into the waste bin.

There are some cans of Tuna Mayonnaise left in the house and it is the easiest to make Tuna Mayo Sushi. I was able to make about 12 sushi with 3/4 cup of rice. Doesn't look too bad and I think it taste better than my previous attempt (due to the tuna). hahahah.

~ Love for Donuts! ~

Did I ever mention Denver and Gladys love eating Donuts? Well, basically the kids enjoy all sorts of sweet, yummy, tasty food. Donuts is one of them. Whenever we pass by a shop selling donuts, Gladys will bug me to buy 1 for her.

Tonight, we have a special supper treat. Compliment from Hubby's good friend. A box of 12 donuts from Donut Factory! Denver and Gladys are SO HAPPY that even though they brushed their teeth and it's their bedtime, nothing will stop them from taking a bite. They choose their favourite donut flavour and even 'reserved' which donut to eat tomorrow. Daddy and Mommy have to take the 'unwanted' pieces.

Can you guess which one they chose? ^_^

~ Steamed Cheese Cake ~

Despite being angry earlier, I felt a bit bad and decided to make a cake for the kiddos. No oven in the house so I can only go for steam cake. Again, I must emphasize that Mummy is not a good cook. I can only picked what seems to be the easiest from the recipe book and whatever is available in the house on a rainy afternoon.

Ingredients:

3 eggs

100g sugar

4 slices of sliced cheddar cheese

125g milk

80g butter

220g flour

1 tbsp double action baking powder

Method
1. Whip the eggs and sugar together till the sugar dissolved and slightly thicken
2. Cook cheese, milk and butter over double boiler until cheese melted.
3. Add the melted mixture into the whipped sugar and eggs.
4. Fold the sieved flour into the mixture until it is well-blended.
5. Pour into a greased and lined 20cm round mould. (I only have a square one)
6. Steam for 30 minutes. Set aside to cool.
7. Spread a thin layer of butter on top of the cake and place some grated cheddar cheese on top.

It took me awhile to whip the eggs and sugar while the children gather around me noising me that they want to help too. In the messy situation, I also forgotten to sieve the flour and line my tin. Arghhh..

Luckily the cake rises pretty well.. before I get to set the cake aside to cool, the children gather again for a round of smell test. Sniff sniff.. MMMM... Smell Nice. :) They couldn't wait to eat!

Actually there are cracks and the cake breaks as I cut it. Still, the children didn't mind it at all and they pick up the bits and pieces and put it in their mouth.

Each of us has a piece of cake for our tea break with extra cheese toppings. Hubby says its too sweet for his liking but the children seems to like it. Denver finished it all and Gladys 90% of it.

Extra slices of cheese toppings for the children.

We still have some left over cakes for tomorrow. Breakfast anyone?

~ Durian Durian ~

I am having my night teleconference as usual and guess what are the other members of the family doing? Clustering themselves in the kitchen and indulging in their supper - DURIAN! Although I don't dislike the strong smell, I am not a Durian lover. Luckily, the children are like their Daddy and enjoy the fruit a lot. This is one of the things that I am not able to join in with them.

Durian is a seasonal fruit and typically, the season for durians is from June to August in Malaysia and Singapore. (Same as mangosteen)... so usually around this period, we'll see many stalls selling them. Hubby has been 'complaining' that he did not see as many stalls selling Durians this year. The season is almost over and he has not been eating much of it yet. Lucky for them, bbil brought some over last night and I think they are very happy enjoying their supper without Mummy. hehehe

~ Tamago Sushi and Octopus Hotdogs ~

Last week, I tried to make Tamagoyaki and hence following the instructions online, I used 4 eggs, 2 Tbsp of sugar and a little bit of soya sauce for my sweet egg omelet. I did not have a rectangular pan and have to depend on my circular saucepan to make my tamagoyaki. It's kinda difficult to flip the eggs but I managed to make the egg omelet succesfully. ^_^

Cutting the eggs into thin slices and I made my very own Tamago sushi! I also make a few crabstick sushi too. The only downside is I did not manage to master how to make the sushi rice taste just right. Maybe it's because I did not use the tradition Japanese short-grain rice... if not, it could be the mixture that went wrong.

Gladys is very fond of the Octopus hot dogs which I made during our picnic last week. So I made some again on Saturday. I guess she finds it cute and has a bigger appetite to finish them all. :) How the food is displayed is really very important. That is why Japanese Bento are popular, good to look at and appetizing.

~ Reunion Dinner ~

Hubby made some agar-agar for the Chinese New Year today. Earlier we bought some instant agar-agar packets from NTUC (Red and Green) and made 2 sets as desserts for the family.
Later in the evening, after prayers and completing our cleanup, we went back to have Reunion dinner with my in-laws. Every year we'll gather around the table and enjoy the sumptuous hotpot (aka steamboat) including fish, abalone, meat, prawns, duck etc.
Seeing all of us so busy, Gladys also wanted to give a helping hand in setting up the table. ^_^. The children enjoy putting the fish balls or crab meat into the hotpot and watching it getting cooked. By 630pm we have finished our dinner, washed up and ready to go to River Hongbao for a walk!

~ Meaty Fried Rice ~

I have been eating Instant noodles most of the time when I work from home. Cos it's easier and faster to cook and clean.. Today, I am in a 'cooking' mood and decided to make Fried Rice. (My 2nd attempt since November last year :p)

Mince pork, luncheon meat, carrot stick, eggs and plain rice. Put some soya sauce, stir fry and that's it! Not very fantastic but it is surely easy and quick to do too. ^_^

~ 冬至快乐 ~

Yesterday was 冬至 (过小年). It usually falls on every 22nd or 23rd of the 12th month on the Lunar calendar. Every year, we will eat Rice Balls (汤圆) - made of glutinous flour rolled into small round balls. "圆" means "团圆" and "圆满"(Reunion). So, it is a Chinese tradition and a must eat during this day.

My inlaws hand-made the rice balls while Hubby and I bought instant ready-made ones for prayers and offerings.

Yummy Sweet 汤圆

Later in the night, we went to the Airport to send Zhen off who is going on a tour. There is a Big Magical Ball at Terminal 3 where there will be Musical Performance every half hourly. We just missed the time where it will give out free balls containing sweets and goodies. Nevertheless, it was nice to see the Giagantic ball opening up slowly, colourful lights, pingpong size balls rolling down with the Christmas tunes playing at the background.

~ Fried Rice ~

This year has been a big achievement for me as I am finally starting to learn how to cook. In the past, I was not able to cook at all and never tried. The only thing I'm good at is Instant Noodles. As the children are growing, I figured it's time to start.

I am not a good cook and still not to the mark. So, I am trying to practice when I have the time. Testing on my own first before I 'poison' others. hahaha. Denver has been my most supportive sampler so far as he will always try my cooking and most of the time says its Fabulous. :p

Last week, I attempted to cook Fried Rice for lunch. Did not have any idea on how to go about doing it. Read some cooking blog and instructions and went ahead! Rice, hotdogs, peas, carrots, corns, eggs, crabmeat.... and the outcome is Not Bad for a first-timer. :)

~ Sushi ~

I have always love Japanese food and so have been thinking of making my own sushi. As the Japanese rice (short-grain) is more expensive and I'm not exactly sure how long my determination will last, I made my first sushi using normal long-grain rice and minimal materials.

Finding whatever is left in the fridge, I took carrot, crabmeat and hotdog. Cooked my rice, added the seasoned vinegar and started rolling using my bare hands.. (I didn't even buy a bamboo mat to help me with it.)

Here's how it looks after my 1st attempt. Presentation: OK, but the Taste: Blend.

I made another attempt the following day. This time with Carrot, Luncheon meat, Crabmeat and Egg. I guess the thing with rolling a sushi w/o a bamboo mat is the ingredients is not tightly squeezed with the rice. I can still see gaps in between. In terms of taste, definitely much better than my 1st attempt. Still, it's not good enough. Probably I'll try Tuna, cucumber or mayo next time.

~ Weekend with the children ~

After spending a night at inlaws' place, I took the children back home for the weekend. Denver started to miss his Daddy and cried in the night. :( Although they gets to 'see' and talk to hubby over the video call, nothing beats the physical prescence of their father.

To cheer him up, I promised to make him a nice breakfast and lunch. Breakfast was hotdog, bread and cake. As for lunch, I made soup (Carrot, corn, toufu, meat, egg) and long beans fried with luncheon meat. Not exactly a fantastic meal but I guess can make do with. :)

We spent the whole day at home... watching TV, doing homework, playing games etc.... I took the children out to Rivervale Mall for dinner at the foodcourt. Denver wanted Ramen.. he has taken a liking of eating Ramen lately.. (don't know why.. Hmmm). Then I bought bubble tea for them, walked around the mall and we walked back home together later. It was a tiring day for me... taking care of them and doing the housechores. I do miss hubby....

Sunday's activities are planned.. I'm going to take the children out to Compass Point (Macdonald) for breakfast. Send Denver for his class at 10am at SKCC, then bring them to my mum's place for lunch after his lesson. After that, we'll visit Owen at his home.. It has been awhile since we last went over...Denver wanted to play the PS2 games. :) I guess it'll keep him entertain so that he don't feel too bored at home. Evening time is going to be back at my inlaws place for the next few nights until hubby is back.

~ Durian Season ~

It's the time of the year where hubby and the family (Except me) will indulge in DURIANS! I never like Durians since young (and never will!!).. I can accept the strong scent but cannot appreciate the mushy, slimy after taste of the fruit. Tried a few times and really dislike it.

Anyway, that does not mean my love ones cannot enjoy it. Hubby's car will always smell of durians after buying them back home. Denver and Gladys love it too and they have no problem finishing 2 seeds. Luckily I do not detest the smell.. so I don't really mind them kissing me after eating it with their hands and mouth smelled like durians. :)

~ Cakes!! ~

It's a cake making week! My yogurt is expiring soon and hence I made a No-bake Chocolate Swirl Lemon Jelly Cheesecake this time. I was doing it in a rush and hence the end result its so-so. No chocolate effect as I added very little amount of chocs and the cheese and lemon is too over-whelming.

I made 2 steam cakes too - Steam Sponge Cake and Banana Cake

I followed the recipes from "cookbakelegacy" and "amandalwh" respectively and reduced the amount as I didn't want to make such a big portion since it's my first try.

Steam Sponge Cake

==============

250 gm top flour

250 gm caster sugar

2 tbsp milk powder

6 large eggs

60 gm corn oil

1) Sift flour and milk powder together.

2) Beat the eggs and sugar together till light pale in color and the ribbon stage. (If you lift the beaters up and do a figure of eight on the batter, the figure of 8 must be visible for about 3 secs. before disappearing).

As I was using a hand whisk, it took me really long before the Ribbon effect came out.

3) Gradually fold in the flour mixture and oil and batter till well mix using a spatula.

4) Pour batter into a 8" square baking pan lined with greaseproof paper and cover the top with aluminium foil.

5) Steam on high heat for 30 mins and check if skewer comes out clean.

The sponge cake is a bit dry.. I think maybe I didn't follow the measurements correctly when I halved it plus I accidentally put more milk powder. Still, the cake is fine. I guess not too bad for a first timer.

Steam Banana Cake
==============

Ingredients: (6 big muffins)
2 Eggs
100g sugar
2 ripe bananas, mashed (200g)
150g Self-raising Flour
1/8 tsp Baking Soda
75g oil (any flavorless oil)

Steps:
1) Sift together self-raising flour and baking soda, set aside.
2) In a mixing bowl, whisk together Eggs and sugar till ribbon stage.
3) Mix in mashed bananas, beat till combine.
4) Gently fold in flour mixture and Oil, taking care not to deflate the eggs and sugar mixture.
5) Pour Batter into muffin pan, lined with muffin cups.
6) Steam over high heat for 15mins or till an inserted skewer comes out clean.

As I did not have baking soda at home, so I used Baking Powder instead. This time the Banana cake is soft. Not as dry as compared to the Sponge cake. Hubby said it is too sweet.. I'll probably reduce the amount of sugar next time if I'm making it again. Still I think it's not really his kind of cake. I guess my only audience is Denver as he will always eat the food/cake that I made so far. :p

~ Ribena Marble No Bake Cheesecake ~

Happen to see this receipe from Happy Home Baking's website a couple of days ago and it looks really interesting! I have most of the ingredients left from my last attempt with the Oreo Cheesecake except for Ribena. So, Hubby bought 1 bottle back for me to try this out at home.

I waited for the kids to sleep before starting. *It will be really stressing if they are around. :p The base of the cake is really easy for me to do now.. the only tricky part is the filling. I followed the measurements and my heart started to sink seeing the cheese filling kinda watery.. (even after adding the Gelatine mixture). I went ahead and spilt the fillings into 2 portions. The other half of it got even worse after I added in the Ribena. Completely WATERY! :( Argghhh.. feel like throwing the whole product away.. but it'll be a waste of food. So I continued and put the cake in the fridge overnight.

Here's how it looked this morning.. urmmmm.. the marbling is Disastrous.

I went to cut the cake and it looked better. :p As for the taste.... hmm.. not v ribena cos the flavour of the cheese overcome it. There was suppose to be a Ribena Jelly layer on top but I did not do it because I was too disappointed with the results last night. It should taste more Ribena if I have added it. Ah well... I wonder what went wrong.. hmmm

~ 'Ketchup" Rice ~

Getting tired of having normal rice for lunch lately and so I tried to make something different..Tomato rice.. Hmmmm.. but since I don't have any tomatoes at home, so I use Ketchup instead :p. I steamed my rice as per normal. Using another small saucepan, I put Ketchup, chopped hot dogs, carrots, crab meat, a bit of water, salt and pepper together and cook. After that, I mixed the ketchup sauce with my cooked rice and here is my "Ketchup" rice.. hahahaha :p. Taste not too bad la. Next time should get some greenly vegetables/peas.. will be more healthier and colourful.

~ No bake Oreo Cheesecake ~

I had a couple more attempts on making other flavours of no bake cheesecake some time ago.. Tried pandang jelly and it doesn't taste as nice.. then I put peaches with the lemon flavoured cheesecake and felt something is missing. hmmmm..

Anyway, this time I made another attempt with Oreo. :)

The receipe is pretty much similar except I reduced the amount of sugar (since the cream within the Oreo is pretty sweet) and tried increasing the amount of Gelatine to make the cake firmer.

Steps:

1) Separate the cream from the Oreo biscuits. (I used about 14 cookies)

2) Crush the Oreo cookies into fine crumbs.

3) Mix melted butter with Oreo cookies crumbs. This will be the base of the cake crust.

4) Press biscuit mixture firmly onto the base of your container. Store it in the freezer.

5) Put cream cheese, yogurt, sugar, cream from Oreo cookies and dissolved gelatin into a large deep bowl. Beat mixture with electric mixer at low speed until well blended and smooth.

6) Separate the mixture into two portions.

7) Coarsely crush some Oreo cookies with cream inside and mix with the first portion of the mixture.
8) Take out the container from the freezer. It should harden by now. Spoon filling over crust. Use the back of the spoon to smoothen the surface of cake.

9) Let the mixture set for awhile before applying the 2nd portion of the mixture on top of it.

10) Optional: you can add finely crushed Oreo cookies crumbs in the middle or on top of the mixture.

11) Cover and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours, or until firm.

Tata! Final output.. :) Not bad for first time attempt. hehehe.. The kids love it! Hubby says he prefers the lemon flavoured one. I like it both. :D