Easy to Impress Dessert Recipe: Baked Lemon Cheesecake

I'm a huge fan of cheesecakes and my choice is always the fluffy baked cheesecakes compared to their dense, pudding-like non-baked cousins. Although occasionally I do enjoy the non-baked Oreo Cheesecake, but that's another story.


So yea, talking about fluffy cakes, it reminded me of my first attempt to bake Butter Cake for dad. I came across this blogger who name himself fatboybakes and I remember the outcome of my butter cake was simply amazing - moist, flavorful and of course, fluffy. It was really really good and dad loved it so much. I can't wait to bake some soon!


So it was only natural that I went back to the same blogger looking for a fluffy cheesecake recipe and boy, there it was a Baked Lemon Cheesecake recipe (Link) just waiting for me to pounce on with eagerness to make my own! The result was an A+ hehehe :D The cheesecake was rich, fluffy, lemony, refreshing and just plain awesome. Definitely a keeper, this one. :D

Baked Lemon Cheesecake

To give you a rough idea of the texture:

The texture I was hoping to achieve - airy and light :)

I didn't have any springform cake pan at home, so I used a baking tray of 35cm (L) x 28cm (W) x 5 cm (H) to bake this cheesecake. And it works! So don't over worry about what pan or tray to use, just improvise with what you have. Recipes are meant to be a guideline, so don't be too strict about it. My recipes are meant for those who have done research on their own and are not afraid to experiment and customize the recipe to make it theirs.


Anyways, here is my experiment and adaptation from the original recipe to make my own Baked Lemon Cheesecake :D


Biscuit Base

Ingredients
Biscuit crumbs of your choice (I used Marie Digestive Biscuits because it's easier to crush into crumbs)
Melted Butter

(I didn't follow any recipe or bother to do any measurements because the amount is entirely based on your preference - e.g. thickness of the biscuit base, texture, additional ingredients like nuts is completely up to you. Some recipes add sugar in their base but not for me.)


Step 1: In a bowl, combine biscuit crumbs and melted butter until you get a soft crumbly sand-like texture (you can use a fork or your clean hands to do this task).

Step 2: Line baking tray with aluminium foil and then with baking paper on top. Gently press the crumbs with a back of the spoon or a fork to make the biscuit base on the baking tray.

Step 3: Refrigerate for at least an hour/overnight.


Filling

Ingredients
500gm cream cheese
100g sugar
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons corn flour
400 gm whipping cream (or in Aussie, they call it thickened cream)
zest of one lemon
juice of one lemon


Step 1: Prepare and measure all the ingredients. Put aside.

Step 2: Separate the egg yolks from the whites. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks are formed. Put aside. (Recommended to use the mixer but if you are want to build some arm muscles, go ahead and whisk it on your own. That's what I did. Luckily the pain was worth it! Haha)

Step 3: Preheat oven to 160C.

Step 4: Add cream cheese and sugar in the mixer and beat until the colour is light and fluffy. Add yolks one at a time. Add cornflour and then the lemon zest and juice, mix well.

Step 5: Slowly stir in the whipped cream (you have to whip the whipping cream to make it whipped cream, if you don't already know! >_<)

Step 6: Fold in the whisked eggs whites into the batter.

Step 7: Pour filling into the biscuit base and bake in a water bath for 1 hour or more until set. Switch off oven, take it out from the water bath and let it rest in the oven with the door ajar for an hour or so until it cools down completely.

This was how it looks after it was taken out from the oven

Step 8: Refrigerate overnight. Time to reveal the beauty.....or the ugly!! Lol.

Don't judge me by my looks!

Step 9: Serve with some strawberries and cream if you fancy.

After some trimmings and addition of some beautiful strawberries laced with chocolate. Pretty and YUM :D

That's it! Awesome dessert after a good dinner :)


I can't say it was easy because I whisk the egg whites with my own hands and TWO of my guinea pig's hands too!! Lol! It was the only tiring part which is why I decided the next time I try this recipe again, I will whisk the egg whites first with the mixer and then put it aside to cream the cheese and all. Important lesson learned. But no regrets, all pain was worth it :')


I can proudly say I've baked my first cheese cake and it was awesome!


Have you? ;P

I Must Have Breakfast! (Part 2)

Goooood morning!!! Rise n shine peeps, and have some breakfast! :D


It's always good to start the day with good breakfast. As for me, I try to make sure my breakfast contains a good balance of protein, carbs and colours :)


Yea, colours! Colours in my food is very important. It doesn't just make the food more appealing but also a great way to ensure you always have a good balanced meal.


Breakfast 1: Tuna Ciabatta

I could just slab some tuna in my ciabatta and call it breakfast! But the colours would be blah. So I added some red from the tomatoes and greens from the cucumber. Pretty and YUM. :)

Toasted Tuna Ciabatta with tomatoes and cucumbers

Breakfast 2: Avocado Ham Cheese Tortilla wrap

Again the colours from ham and cheese would be too blah. So I added some greens from avocado and cucumber, and of course my red always comes from my favourite tomatoes. :)

 

Avocado Ham Cheese Tortilla Wrap

Breakfast 3: Cheese Kransky Pastry

If you are interested to make pastries, do check out my earlier post about puff pastries! (Check out the post here: Playing with Puff Pastry!)

Cheese Kransky Pastry with cherry tomatoes and spinach leaves

Breakfast 4: Cheese Kransky and Baked Beans Pastry

Unfortunately, no more greens in the fridge. :'( If you are interested to make your own Tau Sar Piah looking pastry, check out my earlier post here: Puff Pastry Part 2!)

Giant Tau Sar Piah for breakfast. LOL.

How you like the colours in my breakfast?

Can you spot a common item in the photos above? Yes, that's the cup of Milo I can't live without every morning! Hahaha.

I will explore more options to add other colours in my breakfast. But that's all for now! :D

Have a great day ahead! :)

Easy Snack Idea: Grilled Corn with Butter

4pm. The stomach is growling.


Feels like I am smacked right in the middle of the day when lunch is too late and dinner is too early. Trying hard not to touch that bar of chocolate in the fridge or that bag of chips on the counter top! >_<


Luckily, I have some corn in the fridge!


Great idea for an afternoon snack! Something I would find it hard to resist if I see it selling in the streets! Omg, the holy smell of corn! >_<


This is extremely easy to prepare - just throw it on a grill pan, season it with some salt and serve with a nice cube of butter :D Yummmm....just enough to fill the tummy until dinnertime :)

Extremely Easy and Delicious Afternoon Snack

Extremely easy, but we don't often think of making it at home. I wonder why.

Oh well, I love this one, hope you do too!

Ciao! :D

Simple Breakfast Recipe: Awesome Fluffy Pancakes

I've been thinking of making my own pancakes at home for a very long time. Why pay more for a pancake when it's so cheap and easy to make at home?


So finally, the day arrived. It was a beautiful Sunday morning. Found a pancake recipe by Nigella Lawson (Link).  And I thought to myself, wow, if this recipe is from The Domestic Goddess, I can't possibly fail this one, can I? >_<


Guess what, I didn't! The pancake was thick, spongy and fluffy just as described in the website. The BEST pancake you can make at home! :D It was super easy, only involves throwing everything into a mixer, cook and eat! Serious!

Eat it while it's warm so that it's crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside! :D

Here's the recipe to make for 3 person (Nigella said 4. They must be really small eaters. We can eat 3-5 pancakes each! Lol):


Dry Ingredients
225g plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of white sugar

Wet Ingredients
2 large eggs (beaten)
30g butter (melted and cooled)
300ml of milk

Some butter for frying


Step 1: Prepare the wet ingredients - beat eggs, melt butter and prepare the amount of milk needed. Put aside.

Step 2: Throw in all the dry ingredients in a mixer and gently stir to mix with a spoon. Make a small well in the middle and add the wet ingredients and blitzzzz away (Nigella said throw everything in and blitz. But I was quite skeptical, so I added eggs and butter first. And then slowly add in the milk.)

Step 3: Heat a small pan and start cooking your pancakes already! (I use a small round pan which makes normal sized pancakes and butter to fry but that's optional)

Step 4: Serve with butter and maple syrup. Or honey. Or banana and nutella. And nuts! Strawberries would be great too! Well, any berries would do. Especially blueberries! Or blueberry jam, omg! What about vanilla ice cream? ;D Endless possibilities.


And that's it! So easy to make and soooooo good!


The weekend is here again, I might just make some! You should too, enjoy!! :D


Note: There were some slight bitter taste in my pancakes due to the bicarbonate of soda but it didn't bother me much because it was easily masked by the maple syrup/honey. Read more about baking powder and bitter taste here.


Pancakes becomes the reason to wake up on a lazy day ~ Emily 

Simple Dinner Recipe: The Best Homemade Bak Kut Teh Recipe (肉骨茶)

I'm not kidding - I'm a huge Bak Kut Teh fan and this is by far one of the best I've tasted. Dad would be so proud of me :')

Yup! Self-proclaimed "The Best Bak Kut Teh" with nods and thumbs up signs from my guinea pigs :D

Bak Kut Teh or 肉骨茶 literally translates as "meat bone tea", which is basically pork simmered in a broth of herbs and spices for hours until the meat is soft, tender and easily fall of the bone. Additional ingredients like mushrooms, fried tofu puffs, vegetables and offal can be added to the dish to make it a complete meal. I love my Bak Kut Teh soupy instead of the dry version, with significant taste and smell of herbs but not too over-powering. In summary, "light but flavourful", is to me what makes a good Bak Kut Teh. A good Bak Kut Teh does not have the oily aftertaste that makes you laden with guilt nor does it have the bitter aftertaste that makes you want to scrap your whole tongue off. It has to be light with a good balance of flavour to make you smile the entire day :)

Additional Ingredients I added in my Bak Kut Teh :D

How to make a good Bak Kut Teh experience better? For me, I love it simple with normal white rice soaked in the soup. No thanks to yam rice, oily rice or whatever fancy rice you have to offer me. Just plain white rice would do so I can taste the original flavour of my precious Bak Kut Teh soup. And if you have fresh youtiao (Chinese deep fried dough fritters) which are still nice and crispy, I would take a double serving anytime and give you additional 3 stars! Heh! Oh, and don't you forget the important condiments which are crucial to enhance the flavour of a good Bak Kut Teh - chopped garlic or chilli padi (bird's eye chilli) in soy sauce. Now, put all that combination in your mouth and just wait for the awesomeness to kick in!! YUMMMM! :D

Important condiments to go with your Bak Kut Teh :)

If your love for Bak Kut Teh is the same as mine, then this recipe is a must-try! :D Absolutely easy to prepare at home and to impress your guinea pigs.


Here is the recipe to cook for 4 people:


Main Ingredients:
1 packet of Bak Kut Teh Herb Mix (Recommended Brand: A1)
Pork Ribs, chopped to pieces and cleaned
1 packet of Enoki Mushrooms
1 can of Whole Button Mushrooms
Iceberg Lettuce
A few cloves of garlic
Optional: A handful of red dates and ginger

Seasoning:
4 tablespoon of Light Soy Sauce
2 tablespoon of Dark Soy Sauce
2 table spoon of Oyster Sauce
Salt & White Pepper

Condiments:
Chopped garlic
Chopped chilli padi
Light Soy Sauce


Step 1: Following the package instruction for the amount of water needed, bring the pot of water to boil. Once boil, throw in the herb mix, red dates, ginger and garlic. Let it simmer for at least 30 minutes.

Step 2: (Optional) To remove the "porky" smell of the ribs, I blanched it in a pot of water with ginger before I rinse it slightly with cold water.

Step 3: Add the pork ribs into the pot of herb soup and allow it to simmer for at least another 30 minutes before adding the seasonings -  light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Let it simmer for another 30 minutes (the bf likes the soup peppery, so I added more pepper. You can adjust the seasonings to your own preference).

Step 4: Add in the Enoki mushrooms, button mushrooms and iceberg lettuce. Stir well and cooked until the lettuce are soft (but still crispy) and serve with a bowl of hot white rice :) Don't forget your condiments too! >_<


And that's it, another easy recipe for you to try (takes longer to cook but shorter preparation time)!

Dinner's Ready!! :D

It's really really yummy and I highly recommend the A1 Brand, for only $4.50 a packet I bought from Boxhill Centro - inside the packet, there were fresh herbs which I rinse slightly with cold water before cooking it and also a small tea-bag of grounded herbs which you can just throw into the water. Overall, it was very flavourful but not bitter. The ribs, red dates and lettuce definitely helped to sweeten the broth :)

Recommended Brand: A1 Herbal Soup

Hope you like this one!

Enjoy! :D

Easiest Breakfast Idea - French Toast

This is the thing - I love french toast and it's extremely easy to make, not to mention super yummy too. But, it seldom cross my mind to make it for breakfast! WHYYYY? >_<


So, because of that, I must write this post to remind myself and all my readers out there to make some french toast for brekkie!! :D


You know, for more than 2 decades, I've always make my french toast with only 2 ingredients - egg and sugar. And only recently, I found out from a friend that the original recipe (well most people) add milk or cream! >_< Anyways, it was my first time adding milk in my french toast and I absolutely love it! LOL. Maybe one day I should make both versions and test it on my guinea pigs!! Hehehe :P


Here's my super simple and yummy breakfast:

Fluffy Yummy French Toast

The bread alone is already very yummy. But you can always add toppings to jazz it up a bit e.g. honey, butter, jam or fruits.


Now, go make some already!

Enjoy! :D

The Best Mango Dessert @ Dessert Story

 I'm a huge fan of mango desserts and when a friend brought me to Dessert Story, I fell in love. 

Dessert Heaven on Earth :)

Dessert Story, as it's name suggests, is a dessert heaven, offering a broad range of cold and hot desserts commonly found in Taiwan and Hong Kong. They are a franchise operating a growing number of outlets mainly in Victoria (Link to stores in Vic). Besides desserts, they also offer a selection of Taiwanese Hot Food series ranging from fried dumplings to braised pork rice and beef noodles! But, who goes to a place which is obviously a dessert bar for heavy meals? Not me! >_<


Anyways, back to the desserts! :D


I was really amazed with the Mango Snow Ice. For $9.90, I was presented with a tower of smooth ribbons of milky snow ice, drizzled with thick mango juice, surrounded by chunks of mango and generous amount of juicy mango pearls! Slurp! Just imagine how each bite in your mouth explodes into a heavenly flavor of mango goodness!! :D Don't try to be greedy though, the portion is quite huge and enough to be shared among 2-3 people.

Milk Snow Ice With Crystal Jelly and Mango Juice with Popping Pearls

Both times, we went to their outlet in Glen Waverly. From the outside, the shop looks quite small, but surprisingly though, they are able to fit about 10 small tables (for 4 person) indoors and a few tables outdoor as well. The ambiance is very warm and casual (although it can be quite noisy if there were large groups in the shop) which is perfect for large group gatherings, girls day out, casual first date or a perfect hangout place after Sunday brunch. That's what we did...twice! Heh! :D


We tried their Black Sesame with Red Bean soup too (which is a hot dessert) and honestly, not too impressed. Maybe because we can easily make them at home...if we are not lazy. Hehe.


In my personal opinion, their Mango Snow Ice alone is enough for me to go back again and again and again...and again! Heh! :D


I can't wait for the weekends again!


See you in dessert heaven! Ciao!

Salad Recipe - Olives, Feta Cheese, Lettuce and Red Capsicum

I haven't mentioned to you yet but there's another Masterchef at home, aside from my boyfriend. Heh!

Imagine how stressful it is to cook for these guys! >_< But, luckily they are kind enough to enjoy my cooking too. Hehehe.

Anyways, I would love to share his salad recipe because it was very refreshing to me and I really really love it. Mainly because there were olives in it (my absolute favourite)! And it's also because it was my first time having red capsicum in my salad. Very sweet and crunchy! I love it! :D

Ingredients:
Chopped lettuce
Chopped red capsicum
Crushed Feta Cheese
Olives
Olive Oil

Step 1: Add all the ingredients in a huge salad bowl. Toss and serve. Done. Lol. I love salad! :D

Crispy red capsicum hiding underneath :P

I have to give credit to the olives because it was really good.

Yummy Olives

Hope you like this one!

Enjoy! :D

Puff Pastry Part 2!

I just got myself a new packet of Puff Pastry! ^_^ Looks like I'm getting quite addicted! And I'm not the only one! Haha...the bf has been requesting for pastries too! Lol.

I got my puff pastry from Woolies. Don't look down at homebrands - it's actually quite good (for newbies like me!) and I have no complaints about it. :D

Cheap but Good :D

Anyways, I accidentally cracked the last piece of puff pastry I had in the freezer:

URGH

But! I'm the kind of person who sees the glass as half full! So, thanks to YOU, you ugly cracks because you inspire me to try something new! Haha! :D

So what I did was I added more damage to it, shredding it into smaller pieces and line them in ramekins!

Pretty smart huh? LOL.

And then add my favourite ingredients - cheese, kransky and baked beans. :D

Add more broken pieces on top to cover it. Brush some egg wash before throwing them into preheated oven at 180C. Sit back, relax and wait for the magic to happen! (About 20mins)

And then....TA-DA! Perfect brekkie with my hot Milo :)

Throw in some cherry tomatoes for some colour :P

Another close-up photo to show you how flaky and yummy it was! Hehe...

Looks more like Tau Sar Piah (mung bean pastry) huh? LOL

The moral of the story is - Always find opportunities in difficult or challenged situations! It may lead you to something better :) In this case, a yummy pastry which looks like Tau Sar Piah.


Damn! Now I'm craving for Tau Sar Piah!! Cryyyy... T____T

The Blaming Game

I'm sure there are people out there who can understand the frustrations, the anger and the disappointments many of us have to go through in our daily lives. But it's not our fault, is it?


It's not our fault that our life screw up. It's all their fault. Who? Everyone. The boss who make our days miserable, the mother who nags, the husband who is irresponsible, the wife who cheated, the best friend who left, the useless government, the tea lady who makes horrible coffee, the dog that poop in your garden everyday, the slow internet, the cheap hard disk that crashed, the stupid car that breaks down every now and then...well, you get the idea. It's always their fault.


Oh, I'm not done yet. I've seen some amusing things in my life. Parents hitting and scolding the table for hurting their child. Parents who slap the shoes for causing their kid to fall. Blame the dog for eating the cat treats because they left it on the edge of a table (yup!). Blame the guy who cause a massive traffic jam in the morning (why must his car break down in the middle of the road?? why???!) Blame the sky for raining on the day you left the umbrella at work. Hmm while you are at it, blame the parents for bringing you to this horrible world, the world that rains on the day you didn't want it to rain. Who created the world? God? Well, blame God for creating the world and ALL the miseries that come with it. Yup, that's right, it's all their fault.


It's so easy, isn't it? To play the blaming game. It gets addictive, too.


Oh, how we love the pleasure to say to the next person (or an inanimate object!), "It's all your fault." It's almost therapeutic, isn't it? *let out a happy sigh* :)


I didn't do much today and it's almost noon. Stupid clock for ticking so fast. I should go out for a walk but stupid weather, I think it's going to rain. Stupid TV has nothing interesting on. Maybe I should play some games on my tablet...but oh damn that stupid tablet just ran out of battery! Sigh.


Hmmm...what else can I blame for a boring day like this?

How to make Tamago or Japanese Omelette

Wiki always explains it best. Tamago or Japanese omelette are basically grilled egg, which is made by rolling together several layers of cooked egg.


If you read my post on Teriyaki Chicken (Read the post here: Teriyaki Chicken), you may notice I made Tamago or Japanese omelette as one of the side dishes.
 
Here it is if you can't recall:

I love my Tamago salty so I usually avoid the Tamago sushi which is usually sweet. >_<

The bestest tamago I've tasted so far was in a famous shabu shabu restaurant called Restaurant Junidanya at Kyoto, Japan.

We were actually walking around Gion trying to spot a geisha when we saw a long queue outside the restaurant. We thought since there was a long queue, it must be good! So being kiasu, we happily joined the queue. :P

Restaurant Junidanya @ Hanamikoji, Kyoto, Japan

The food is pretty pricey but definitely worth the splurge. The shabu shabu was really good but what really impressed us so much was the tamago. It was really the best I've tasted so far - the layers of egg was so soft and delicate. It's really hard to describe but all I can say is it was amazing!

Unfortunately, I don't know why I didn't take a close up photo of the tamago but this was my awesome beef shabu shabu I had that night:

 

Ever since then, I've been wanting to make my own tamago at home and this was actually my first attempt:

Not too bad huh?

Well, of course it can't beat the bestest tamago I had in japan but I was surprised at how easy it was to make and succeed at first attempt! I need to practice more to make the egg layers thinner and softer. Yosh!


Anyways, if you are interested to make your own tamago, I learned it from Cooking with Dog at Youtube:

Have fun while you are at it!

Enjoy! :D

Lazy Sunday Lunch Idea - Instant Noodles!

Instant noodle is bad for you.


But! If you have it once in a while, it's OK! Lol. Especially on lazy days...well specifically Sundays! >_< Influenced by dad who has always been against instant noodles, I try to avoid it too and even if I had to have it, I try to make it as "healthy" as possible. If that makes sense. Haha.

Anyways, here are some tips I would like to share with you:

(1) Reduce wax in the noodles - Boil water to the amount equivalent of cooking for 2 bowls of noodles. Once boil, transfer half to a bowl and put aside. Cook noodles in the pot until soft. Transfer noodles only into the bowl which was put aside earlier (containing hot water).

(2) Never cook the seasoning in boiling water - That is what I read online and hear say from people. Plus I never cook my seasonings in the pot anyways.

(3) Only have it on lazy days - Instant noodles for me are only for "emergency" days when I'm extremely lazy. The advice is once you have instant noodles, you should not have it for at least the next 3 days.

(4) Drink plenty of water - Well, it's only natural to feel extremely thirsty after due to high salt content in the seasonings. But always try to drink more water after to remove the excess salt in the body.

(5) Make it a complete meal - Add vegetables, eggs or meat to complete the meal. :)


Here's my lunch last Sunday prepared by the boyfriend. Hehe. :D We didn't have any greens left in the fridge and I thought it was very brilliant of him to make use of the extra nori sheets we had from the sushi dinner the other day (Read the post here: Sushi Dinner)

Super yummy lunch prepared by the bf <3 Korean instant noodles complete with perfect poached egg and nori sheets.

The moral of the story today is - Be creative! Always make use of what you have! In this case, to avoid food wastage! :) 

Happy Sunday ya'll! :D

Chinese Herbal Soup Recipe: Ba Zhen or 8 Treasures Decoction (八珍汤)

*This soup is specially for ladies only! 


Born in a Chinese family, my parents have always been strong advocates of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Especially Mum. I love ALL her soups she has prepared for us since young. It's always so full of flavor and so yum. I hope to be able to cook yummy soups for my kids too in the future! Hahaha...but that's too far ahead! >_<

Anyways, this Chinese herbal soup called Ba Zhen is actually my least favorite soup of all times! It's always super bitter and I can fall sick if I get too "heaty"after drinking it (this soup is very "heaty", so make sure you drink loads of water!). But as I grow up, I begin to understand why it is important to make sure we have nutritious soups regularly so we can stay healthy and strong. So a bit of bitterness it's worth it in the long run. :D

Ba Zhen Soup is very nutritious and has a lot of health benefits for women. Yes, it's only for women! Haha! My boyfriend asked me why boil a soup he can't drink! Lol! But on a serious note, the reason is because the soup is too "heaty" for guys and it's just right for us especially right after our menses when our body is "weak/cold", hence we are able to tolerate the heatiness and in fact, we need it to make our body strong again. So, ladies, the BEST time to take this soup is right after the monthly menses to nourish the body and help replenish the blood lost during menses.

I've heard many times from friends how awful this soup taste and that's how my parents used to make it for me too. So I agreed with them! It was thick, gooey, bitter and just extremely yuck. Urgh. But!! Due to advance in technology (heh!), these days I can scout for good recipes and advice online!! :D Trust me, this soup is nothing close to bitter....it's extremely yummy! All you have to do is add a bit more water and "sweet" ingredients e.g. chicken, pork, red carrots, red dates, wolfberries, red beans etc...I saw this recipe at Happyhomemaker88 and got inspired to add hard boiled eggs in my soup too! Lovely!

Here's my version:

Ingredients:

1 packet of Ba Zhen/八珍 (bought from Asian store)
4 chicken drumsticks (skin removed)
2 hardboiled eggs (shell removed)
A hand full of red dates (seeds removed. **Tip: Always buy red dates with seed included because red dates sold without the seeds are rumored to be recycled and has milder taste)
A hand full of red beans (because I have no wolfberries at home! >_< But red beans are generally good for blood production! :D)

Step 1: Lightly wash all the herbs under running cold water. Drain and put aside.

Step 2: Add water into a pot and bring to boil (Refer to packaging for the amount of water required. You can add more water later as it boils, if the soup gets too thick)

Step 3: Add herbs, chicken drumsticks, eggs, red dates and red beans into the pot (basically throw everything into the pot. Cannot get any easier than this! Haha). Turn to low heat and let simmer for at least 3 hours. (Make sure to always keep an eye on it, stir it occasionally and add water if needed).

Step 4: Serve in a nice bowl and enjoy the comfort of hot, nutritious soup! :)

Because I'm the only lady at home, I will be drinking it for the next few days! Hehehe!

SO YUM! :D

That's all, ladies! So simple and it's so good for you!
 

Take care always! :D 

Drop-by Drawing @ Federation Square

One fine Sunday, after brunch with a group of new found friends, a group of us decided to check out a free drawing session at Federation Square.

It was my first time drawing in a public place. First time drawing in an art gallery with a crowd of random people. And my first time seeing a live model! >_<

It was a very refreshing experience, I wished I had stayed a little longer. And I also discovered something...I have a looooooooooooooooooooooooong way to becoming an artist. Hahahaha.....

Quite close to the real thing huh? LOL.

Well, most importantly, I had fun. :')

Hope you have a great day ahead and have fun! :D

Playing with Puff Pastry! :D

Oh Puff Pastry! One of the best invention by human race. :') LOL.

Anyways, so I got myself a packet of puff pastry and have been having so much fun playing with it! The crust is amazing, so forget the idea of making your own!


We have been having a lot of sandwiches for brekkie lately, so I decided to jazz it up with some puff pastry.

Tip for newbies like me: If it is cold where you live now, the fast way to defrost your puff pastry is simply putting it in the microwave with a glass of hot water. Close the door and wait for about 5mins or so. Done!

The steps to making your own pastry are basically the same:

(1) Prepare ingredients and line them on the puff pastry.
(2) Cut/Wrap to any shape you like
(3) Brush some egg wash
(4) Bake in preheated oven at 180C for about 20mins or until pastry turned golden :)

Here's what I did:

1st Attempt: Hawaiian Pizza Inspired Pastry

The Result: Taste better than it looks! Haha!

This is really what I did >_<

Turns out prettier than expected! LOL.

Ugly But YUM! :P

2nd Attempt: Baked Beans Puff Pastry 

It was more like I had a can of baked beans and puff pastry left, so let's make some Baked Beans Puff Pastry! :D Nothing can possibly go wrong with baked beans, ham and cheese!! >_<

The ingredients

So easy, you have gotta try this!! SOOOO YUM!

Brekkie for bf :D I have to say 2nd attempt was the BEST! My fav! Definitely making this again!

3rd Attempt: Cheese Kransky Pastry

Honestly, this feels like a cheat. Basically wrap puff pastry around cheese kransky, egg wash, DONE! LOL.

So, what do you think? Look pretty good huh? Taste just as good too (always toast before serving)!

My vote goes to the baked beans puff pastry while my bf said he votes for the chesse kransky but he loves the baked beans too...hmmm and also the pizza pastry!! Lol. ^_^

Well, I hope you will have as much fun as I did! 

Enjoy! :D

Simple Dinner Idea: Sushi (Tuna, Cucumber, Avocado and Tamago/Egg)

It's too simple, I wouldn't even call it a "recipe". It's an idea! :D


It was one of those days when I'm feeling all lazy and all I really want for dinner was something "light and simple". And sushi came to mind! Nothing fancy - just some tuna, cucumber, avocado and egg.


One thing I like about this dinner idea is that I have the choice to allow my guinea pigs to assemble their own temaki or hand roll which makes my job easier and makes dinner so much more fun right? But unfortunately, we had to rush to go out that night, so I made norimaki or nori roll instead.

Can dinner be anymore easier than this??? :D

It's my first time making nori rolls...and without a sushi mat! Lol. But I guess it worked, as long as I stuffed everything in and it taste great. Forgive me for the horrible looking sushis, I was in a hurry so I had no time to make it pretty! >_< 

Alert! Ugly Sushi!! (Left plate) Good looking ones for the housemate (only 7pcs made it! LOL), (Middle plate) Super ugly ones for ME and (Right plate) Not too bad looking ones for the boyfriend. Hehehe. I secretly fed him some ugly ones while he was driving!! :P

As you can see closeup, the pretty ones were ugly too. LOL. I need to practice more and make sure the ingredients are in the center of the roll next time!! >_<

Anyways, so there you go! Simple dinner idea for the lazy days. Ciao! :P