Beadings

Recently a friend of mine is into bead rings & that re-knead my past interest in breading. Few yrs back, I was asked to help out in my co’s charity event to make beads accessories. It was fun back then & we grp ard making lanyard & hp accessories. So now, out came all my left-over beads from back then, & along with some books borrowed from d local library, am ready to try out my long-forgotten skills in beading again.
Here’s what I mgd to figure out within 9hrs (btw 3days) with my limited beading knowledge.
Not too bad for someone who has not done a bead ring be4. ^_^

this is what they called a Angelina ring






This one is called Flora
These 2 r called 5 Petals

Chicken Broth - Jamie Oliver's

Have been making my own ckn broth & this time, I decided to give Jamie Oliver’s version a try.
End result – so much tastier than my old version. I cant believe adding herbs & a rasher of bacon can made so much diff!

• 1.5kg ckn
• 2 carrots
• 2 sticks celery
• 1 rasher of smoked bacon
• 2-3 sprigs of fresh Rosemary
• Handful of shitake mushrooms
• Port of sea salt
• Olive oil

Put ckn, carrot, celery & bacon in a pot cover with water. Bring to boil. Low heat & simmer 1¼ hr, skimming white residue off top now & then.
Add Rosemary & mushroom only in d last 10 mins.
Season with salt if desired

Poached Ckn - Jamie Oliver's

At 1st, I don’t quite understand what ‘poaching’ really meant. Then when I saw this recipe in Jamie Oliver’s book, I went online to have a better understanding of ‘poaching’.
Turn out ‘poaching’ is a process where food is gently simmering in liquid. To me, isn’t this just like cooking in d slow-cooker? So does this means that I have been ‘poaching’ all this while whenever I used d slow-cooker?
End result – very tasty soup esp with d nice smelling fennel.

• 2kg ckn
• Handfull of flat-leaf parsley
• 4 bay leaves
• 2 handful new potatoes
• 2 handful baby carrots
• 2 handful baby turnips/radishes
• 1 blub fennel
• 2 handful peas
• 2 handful broad beans
• 1 handful of spinach
• 1 tsp salt

*stuff herbs into ckn, cover ckn with enough water by abt 1inch. Scatter in potatoes & bring to boil. Cover & simmer 20mins.
Then add carrots, turnips/radishes, & fennel (herby top remove & reserve). Simmer another 30-40mins.
Remove ckn & add peas, beans &spinach. Cook 1 min & serve with ckn, sprinkle fennel top & olive oil.

Coconut Stewed Ckn

Weather is really heating up! Really need something to cool down! Coconuts! Yes! Had this recipe for d longest time & cant really remember where I got it from. I think it might have be from a Chinese mag.
End result - tasty enough for Hayden to asked for 2nd helping!

• 1 young coconut
• 1kg ckn
• 1 stalk lemongress (cut into section)
• 6 bowls water
• 5 slices ginger
• 1 stalk spring onion
• rice wine for taste

cut upper part of young coconut, pour out juice & scoop out flesh
Rinse ckn. scald Ginger, spring onion & rice wine in boiling water. put in ckn, scald for a while. remove & drain.
Put ckn, lemongrass & coconut flesh into coconut, pour in juice & water, bring to boil.
Switch to low heat & stew 3hrs. add seasoning be4 serving.

Banana Honey loaf - Jamie Oliver's

Since am not allow to feed Hayden d Layered Focaccia loaf, I decided to try out another Jamie Oliver’s recipe – banana honey bread.
End result – bread was not soft enough for me & I cant really taste/smell d bananas at all. Maybe d sizes of d bananas were not correct. I’ll still post d recipe here in case anyone is interested to give it a go.

• 1 basic bread**
• 6 banana
• 8 tbsp runny honey
• Handful of almonds (opt)

**30g yeast + 2tbsp honey + 625 ml banana mixture + 1kg strong bread flour + 30g salt

Peel & purée banana. Top up mashed mixture with water to 625ml.
Put basic ingredients binto d bread maker.
Add half d honey w/nuts @ d start of dough making.
Be4 baking, drizzle rest of honey over d dough top to caramelize.
Bake in preheated oven @ 190c 20mins.

Stir-fry Corn - Jamie Oliver's

Another super easy recipe from Jamie Oliver – Stir-fry corn.
End result – a very, very tasty dish! Thumbs up!

• 400-500g corn kernels (abt 3 corn)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp chopped Ginger
• 1 tsp chopped chili (optional)
• Handful chopped parsley
• 1-2 tbsp soy sauce

Stir-fry them together till cooked, abt 8-10mins

Layered Focaccia loaf - Jamie Oliver's

Another Jamie Oliver’s recipe – Layered Focaccia
End result – a very cheesy loaf! Hubby find it too salty & advised me not to let Hayden try. So in d end, I had to freeze it up & had it for my BF for 1wk. But I loved it! D herbs really give it a very fresh unique taste. it might not look good (cause I replaced 1cup flour w/raw wheatgrem), but good enough for me.

• 1 basic bread recipe **
• 170g parmesan cheese, grated
• 200g fontina/cheddar, grated
• 140g mild gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
• 2 handful rockets
• 1 handful fresh marjoram, leaves picked
• Olive oil

**(30g yeast + 30g honey + 625ml warm water + 1 kg strong bread flour + 30g salt)
Put basic bread ingredients into bread maker & select dough function.
Roll out & fold/tuck rest of d ingredients into d dough after 1st prove.
Rub top with little olive oil & rip over some fresh sage/thyme.
Allow 2nd prove.
Bake in preheated oven @ 180c 25mins.
Let it sit for 25 mins be4 eating.

Bamboo Water Chestnut drink

Was walking ard d local supermkt when I chanced upon some sugar-cane. That’s when I remembered I have just bought some water-chestnut ytd for soup. But with d weather so hot, some sugar-cane + water-chestnut drink shd be better. & I even mgd to locate a recipe online which is quite similar to my recipe.

• 15 - 20 water-chestnuts
• 10-15 sticks palm-length sugar cane
• 1 branch pandan leaves, washed
• 100 gram of rock sugar

Remove water-chestnut’s skin, washed & soaked in clean water for 1 hour or longer in order to get rid of d bacteria/micro worms that are hidden inside d flesh.
Scrubbed sugar cane & peel off d skin.
Put all (except rock sugar) into d slow-cooker & simmer for abt 1-2hrs on low heat. Switch off d heat & put in d rock sugar. Allow to dissolve be4 serving it warm or chilled.

Beef Stew - Jamies Oliver's

This recipe is from 1 of Jamie Oliver’s cookbook. Need I say more, super easy, simple & fuss-free recipe for working mums. Ingredients list might look long but most items can easily be found in any-one’s kitchen, with d only exception of d parsnip. As I was not able to find parsnips this rd, I replace it with corn kennels (which gives a better color to d dish).


Ingredients

• Olive oil
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 onion, peeled & chopped
• Handful of fresh sage leaves
• 800g stewing beef
• Some flour to dust
• 2 parsnips + 4 carrots + 1/2 butternut squash
• 500g small potatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• ½ btl red wine
• 285ml veg stock
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Handful Rosemary, leaves picked
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped

Fry onion & sage w/ butter 3-4mins.
Toss meat in flr, add to d pan w/ all veg, purée, wine & stock. Stir together & season. Bring to boil, covered & simmer 3-4hrs till meat is done.
Mix zest, Rosemary & garlic together & sprinkle be4 serving

Asparagus Omelette

Was @ d local library browsing through some recipes books when I came across this v simple asparagus omelette recipe & decide to give it a try. Problem is – I copied down d recipe but forgotten to incld chef’s name! Thus, if any of u remember or have seen this be4, pls do drop me a comment so that I can credit this back to d correct chef.

End result – both Hayden & MIL had 2nd helping!

Ingredients

• 2 eggs + ½ cup milk
• 2tbsp grated Parmesan
• 200g asparagus

Mix d eggs & milk in a bowl.
Slice asparagus into small bits, leaving only d top part. Then boil them for abt 8mins, or when they turn bright green. Drain & set aside.
Heat up d non-stick pan & spoon in ½ cup egg mixture. Roll it rd d pan to spread out into a thin layer be4 adding asparagus. Sprinkle it over with parmesan & remove from pan.

Cream Cheese loaf, again

Friend passed me some bal flours to use up & it’s all in small qty. So, I decided to use all for another cream cheese bread attempt.
End result – not too bad an attempt but loaf is not as soft on d 3rd day.

• 160g water/fresh milk + 1tsp lemon juice
• 250g flour (25g cake flr, 115g APF,110g bread flr)
• 60g cream cheese
• 20g unsalted butter
• 15g sugar
• 3g salt
• 3g yeast

Put all into bread maker on fast loaf cycle. If u prefers soft crust, do not remove from bread maker after cycle ends. Just leave it there overnite

FrogLeg rice w/Lily bulb

In my previous attempt on d frog legs rice, I bought d wrong ingredient. So for tonite, I mgd to get d right fresh lily bulb鲜百合for testing. However, after reading d instruction on d package, I understand that fresh lily bulb is best eaten raw for its goodness. If cooking is required, try keep at d minimum. So, for my frog leg rice, I actually only added d lily bulb 1min be4 rice cooker timing ends.
End result – d fresh lily bulb added a very nice crunch to d dish! Even Hayden took a few slices of it with d rice! MIL loves it too! Hurray!

Ingredients same as previous, just replaced d lotus seed with d fresh lily bulb.

Apple & Pear dessert

On d very same nite, I also made some sweet dessert in order to used up d bal apple & pears be2 they get spoiled. I decided to use this apple/pear soup recipe but change it by replacing d meat with rock candy (冰糖) instead. Even with d modification, I understand it’s still very effective for soothing throats & removing phlegm.
End result – too sweet for me but both Hubby & MIL loves it.

• 1 apple, peeled & de-cored
• 2 sand pears砂梨, peeled & de-cored
• 4 candied dates蜜枣, washed
• 10g sweet & bitter almonds南北杏, washed
• 1l water
• 400g lean meat (replaced with 25g rock candy冰糖)

Put all into slow cooker & cook over low heat for 3-4hrs. Better effect if serve warm but can be drink chilled.

Water Chestnut soup

Another soup therapy which is supposed to be good for soothing cough & remove phlegm. This 1 tasted more like a soup as compared to d罗汉果soup. Hayden loves it.

• 10cups water
• 12 water chestnut
• 8 red dates
• 1 big or 2 med carrots
• 500g lean pork

Put all into d slow cooker & cook over low heat for 2-3hrs.

罗汉果西洋菜汤

Hayden started coughing again so I decided to try out this soup therapy which is suppose to effective in soothing throats & removing phlegm. It has d nutritious of d watercress too.

End result - a very sweet soup! Thus, will reduce d LHG by half next time.

1 LuoHanGuo罗汉果

500g lean pork

200g watercress西洋菜

2 candied dates蜜枣

1.8l water

1. Rinse LHG, wrap in a bag & smash. Rinse pork & cut into big pieces. Separate watercress leaves from stem & rinse.


2. Pour water into slow cooker. Add stem, pork, LHG & dates & cook over low heat ½hr.


3. Lasrly, add leaves & cook further ½hr.