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Thursday, March 25, 2010

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

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

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

Saturday, March 20, 2010

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.

Friday, March 19, 2010

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.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

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

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

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.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

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.

Monday, March 15, 2010

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

Friday, March 12, 2010

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.

Friday, March 5, 2010

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.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

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.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

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.