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Friday, December 31, 2010

Swarovski Pearl Necklace

Continuing  the documentation of  my beading pieces, I found this  swarovski pearl necklace, bracelet and earrings set  I made for my daughter.  The photo does not justify the beauty of this swarovski set as it does not show the sparkling effect of the swarovski and pearls.  Great to wear to dinner occasions.

I also gave a set of these to Yuen May who is the daughter of Susan for her birthday when I visited them earlier in the year in Melbourne.  She was very pleased with it and I can still remember that she wore them to a dinner date with her boyfriend.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Banana Walnut Muffins

Left with 6 ripes bananas, I decided to make some banana muffins.  This time I used a recipe which I have never tested before though it is written down in my cookbook.  I have no idea where I got this recipe from.  It could be from one of those TV cooking shows.  They turned out delicious and very easy to make.  I added in some chocolate chips.

Here is the recipe if you want to try.

Banana Walnut Muffin  (Makes 12 big muffins)

6 ripe bananas (mashed)
240 gm self-raising flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
100 gm brown sugar
100 gm walnut
180 ml milk  or 180ml orange juice
2 eggs (A)
120 melted butter
1/4 tsp salt

1)     Add cinnamon powder, salt and sugar to flour
2)     Add eggs, milk, melted butter and mix
3)     Add in mashed bananas
4)     Mix the above together but do not overmix.
5)    Spoon into muffin pan.  Add walnut on top and bake 20-25 mins and check  with a skewer.  If the
          skewer comes out clean, then it is done.
    

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Layered Chocolate Cheese Cake



Having found a block of cheese near expiry date in the fridge, I decided to make a layered chocolate cheese cake.  Found this recipe from a food blogger Mary Moh and as mentioned in her blog, this cake is rich, moist and tastes good. Thanks Mary for sharing the recipe.   Having saved a big piece for my son, the rest of the cake is almost finished.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Aquamarine Necklace

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This aquamarine necklace is one of my earliest pieces.   Like it too much to part with it.

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Turquoise necklace for my daughter.

blu earrings  A pair of earrings for my dancing teacher, Ms. Ran.

Lai Lai Swarovski Necklace


Blue Swarovski Necklace for my sister-in-law, Dawndee.



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         Lai Lai Swarovski Necklace

It was a pleasure creating this necklace for a relative Susan who is my husband's
cousin.  She commissioned me to make something for her to wear for her son's
wedding and I am honoured that she wore this piece of jewellery on such a big
and important occassion.  After that I made a few more of different colours for
other relatives but Susan was the  first one to wear it and hence the name "Lai
Lai necklace" being her status when the son got married.


Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Enzyme - Lemon and Grapes

Enzyme 1

I was given a bottle of fruit enzyme by my good friend Josephine and after tasting it I had to make a bottle myself.  So here it is:   Lemon and grapes enzyme.  Pile a layer of grapes and lemon into a clean dry glass jar.  The fruits need to be washed and let dry beforehand. Cut grapes into halves.  Cut away the skin of the lemons together with the white pit.  Slice the lemons.   Put a layer of brown sugar on top.  I used those rectangular type of brown sugar (peen tong) that we use to make 'thong yuen' filling.  It is sold in a packet of  5 pieces. Continue the layers until you fill up the jar.  Close the lid and wait for it to ferment.  Shake the jar a bit every day to wet the top part of the fruits so that it would not go mouldy. It is ready after  3 weeks depending on how strong you want the enzyme to be.  I kept mine for more than 3 weeks and I love the taste.

3 weeks

This is how it looks after 2 weeks. 


This is after 3 weeks and ready to be consumed.  Sieve the liquid into a glass bottle and store in the fridge. Tastes better when cold.  It can be kept for a long time.  Below is the final product.


Final product

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Moist Chocolate Cake


My daughter came home for the holidays and I made one of her favourite moist chocolate cakes.  Don't be fooled by the appearance of this cake.    It tastes fabulous and is very easy to make.  Top it with chocolate ganache and it's even more yummy.  A lot of my friends ask for the recipe after tasting it and I gladly share it with them.

This recipe is from my sister-in-law Vivien who is a good cook and also bakes delicious and beautiful cakes.

Moist Chocolate Cake

6 3/4 oz. plain flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp sodium bicarbonate
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 oz cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
12 oz. caster sugar
8 oz. corn oil
8 oz. evaporated milk
8oz. hot water and 3 tsp. nescafe  -  mix and let cool
2 eggs

1)    Mix all ingredients together and use only hand whisk to combine them.
2)    Batter is very watery.
3)    Line the pan with baking paper and brush with butter.
4)    Bake it in 9 1/2" pan at 160-170 deg. C for about one hour.  Check your cake after 50 mins. by testing
       with a skewer and if it comes out clean then it is done.  It would be easier to bake the cake in 2 separate 
      7" x 3.5" cake tins.
5)   Make sure the cake is complete cool before you overturn the cake otherwise it will crumble.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Full Rose


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This is the pink edible rose made of gumpaste that I made during the class on Saturday.  Not very nice though and the teacher said I put too much colour on it.  Will need a lot more practice to perfect it.   It definitely takes a lot of patience and time to do it and I can imagine the time it takes to make enough flowers to decorate a cake.
































Sunday, November 14, 2010

Lady's Fingers

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Lady's Fingers
After I came back from my Singapore trip I am amazed to find that my lady's fingers plant has given me results and  I am happy that one of them is quite big. I measured it and it is 9" in length. Again this one might to be old to be eaten and I will keep the seeds when it dried up. The flower is pretty too. I was told that this is the bigger variety and the small ones would taste better.  A few lady's fingers have also sprouted out and this time I will keep an eye on them because I want to eat them!   After seeing the lady's fingers I am now even more encouraged to grow other vegetables though my bitter gourd was not successful.  I have bought a packet of the red variety of the lady's fingers and we will see how it will turn out.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Logan Tau Foo Fah

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Chocolate Cake

It was my husband's birthday and I make a chocolate cake, a mini cheesecake and logan agar2 all in one day.   The cake is nice but a bit hard and I should not have put the cake in the fridge.  Now I have to take out the cake for a few hours to let it soften before eating it.  I have yet to find a really good moist chocolate cake recipe.   The roses are store bought but soon I will be able to make my own as I have signed up for a class to learn how to make them.



This is a very solid cheese cake I made especially for my daughter who asked for it.  Solid in a sense that it is mainly cheese and egg which has no cream in it.  My husband got this recipe from his friend during his university days in Melbourne.  Recipe under Bistro Cheesecake.



This logan agar2 taste like soyabean jelly and it is very easy to make.  Recipe is from a colleague P K Chan's mother.  You can always make half a recipe.

Logan Tau Foo Fah

(A) Boil             a)   Agar2 - 20gm
                          b)   Pandan Leaf – a few pieces
                          c)   Water - 8 rice bowls  (2 litres)
                          d)   Sugar - 3 scoops according to sweetness

When (A) has disolved, sieve (A) into another big pot.

(B)      Add into the pot of Agar-Agar

    1. Yeo’s soya bean - 2 litres
    2. Evaporated Milk - 1 tin
     
    (C)     Logan - 1 tin (without juice)

    Add (A) + (B) + (C) and scoop the agar2 into cups. Put into fridge to set.

    Enjoy.

    IMG_0049 Made these with the extra batter from the chocolate cake batter.
        Little Chocolate Cupcakes

    Saturday, October 30, 2010

    Long Bean

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    Long Bean
    This is my long bean plant and there is only one long bean!  Not enough even to feed one person ha!ha!  Maybe my soil is not rich enough.  I can see more flowers at the top.



    Basket weave Cake

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    Butter cream cake
    Here is my butter cream cake I decorated yesterday.  I have been baking cakes for so long but never attempted to do any make-up for them and finally I have done it.  Though not perfect, I am happy with the result.  Tomorrow I will take it to the office to celebrate a colleague's birthday.



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    Birthday Boy Jonathan

    This is one happy birthday boy!   He is so pleased that he is the only one in the office whose birthday falls  in November and thus gets to cut the cake.  Everyone said the cake was very nice but when they bit into the cake,  argh! it was so super sweet.  Well, it has to be because it is icing sugar and butter ... very rich indeed. Certainly goes down well with a cup of coffee.




    Saturday, October 16, 2010

    Cutie Pots

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    Aren't they cute?  Pretty little pots of  daisies that can be eaten.  Made them during my class on Thursday.

    I was fascinated by the beautiful and cute cakes  that I saw in those cake books and that made me sign up for a fondant cake decorating class.  Glad I did.   Now I know why these cakes are so pricey.  It takes a lot of patience to make the little flowers and leaves one by one.

    Thursday, October 14, 2010

    Loh Mai Farn

    PA094063Here is the loh mai farn I made on Saturday morning after I came back from my Yuanje exercise.  I followed my sister-in-law Pat's simple recipe and it worked.  I have to steam it for one hour.  Another half an hour if you want the texture to be softer.   The whole tray is only half a kg of glutinous rice which is quite a lot.

    Beef Rendang

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    Made beef rendang for dinner.  Also a first time doing it and was glad it turned out well too.  I have no exact measurement of ingredients though.  Got the ingredients from watching Chef Wan's Hari Raya cooking show  on TV and also some tips from my line dancing friends who are such good cooks themselves.  The only complaint from my daughter was the beef should be cooked longer to make it a little bit more tender.  I used Australian beef.  Anyway I am satisfied with the outcome and that the family rated it an 8 or is it just to please the Mama??  We couldn't finish the whole lot and I kept half in the freezer.

    Butter Cake

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    This is the second attempt of baking an almond butter cake. I used the normal pound cake recipe and added 125gm ground almond.It received good comments from my colleagues who tasted it. It is delicious when eaten warm. This cake reminds me of the kind of plain butter cake that we used to eat when we were young.

    250 gm butter
    210 castor sugar
    4 eggs - slightly whisk
    230 gm self raising flour  -  sieve
    125 gm ground almond
    8-9 tabsp milk
    1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

    1)   Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.
    2)  Add in eggs one at a time and continue to beat at a low speed.  Add in vanilla essence
    3)  Add in flour, ground almond and milk alternately.  Pour mixture into a 8" buttered pan.
    4)  Bake at 180 deg C for about 50 mins.    Check with a skewer and if it comes out clean, it is done.