This is not a food related post. It’s going to be a long-winded one. Skip this if you’re not interested.
As I’ve mentioned, my darling hamsters are part of the reasons why I set up this blog, although it’s mainly a food blog. Till now, I really, really regret to only share pictures and stories of them when they were gone. This post no doubt is to commemorate my beloved Kimchi, who left me 2 days before Chinese New Year.
I love the rest of them no less, but Kimchi shares a very special bond with me. You can say it’s a love and hate relationship. We had tissue tug-of-war, massage sessions, hide-and-seek, etc. The countless things destroyed by her multiple chewing, escaping from her tank to see the world out there. Visiting Mikosan for a good fight twice, leaving an undesirable wound on her face, which healed completely later.
Being the most active of them all, a trait inherited from their mother Butterscotch(also Mikisan’s mother), Kimchi is always ready to come out for some fun. Whether she’s sleeping or running on her wheel, once my hand goes in, she will eagerly hop onto my hand. She even clings on to my hands even though I am not bringing her out. She’s affectionate, as well as kaypoh(a word which means inquisitive). She allows me to stroke her even when she’s sleeping, but she will wake up and acknowledge my presence by affectionately rubbing her head against my hands. I sometimes call her the kaypoh queen, because she’s always so curious and determined to find out what my pair of hands are doing, be it holding on to something, or clearing her potty. When I call the others, she will think that I’m calling her.
Kimchi trying to get up my pants
Kimchi chasing after a stick. What a messy desk, how embarrassing….
When it comes to food, she’s adventurous. She’s always the one who readily eats whatever new food I introduced. And did I tell you, she loves durian? It’s an acquired taste. The other hamsters ran away upon sniffing the durian, pushing my hands away (just like how some tourists react when they were offered durians when they come to Singapore).
Why the special bond? She made me feel special on the day she died. I got a friend to board her for almost 2 weeks as I was going away for a short trip. She was getting old, not as active and was skinnier. The day I passed her to my friend, I can sense that she was restless. The night I was back in Singapore, I received the bad news that she might not be able to make it. I rushed down to fetch her home. Her condition got worse the day I left Singapore. She couldn’t eat any solid food anymore. Friends prayed hard that she hanged on till I get back. They told her to wait for me. And she did.
I brought her back to spend her last moments with me. I could hardly sleep that night. She could still respond to me calling her name. She was weak but was still aware of what’s going on around her. There was a moment when she climbed up my hand, indicating that she wants to come out. I held on to her. She struggled. She wanted to walk about on the ground, like she always do. I put her back to a small carrier but she tried so hard to come out of the tank. I let her out onto the ground, she scampered around for a while.
Just before she was gone, she called out so loud. I had never heard any of my hamster does that before. It’s not a squeaking sound they usually made. I don’t know if she was in pain or she was calling out to me. I rushed to her, stroking her, hoping to ease her discomfort, asking her what was wrong. She quietened down. I continued stroking her. I told her, “Kimchi, it’s ok. Just let go.” She was gone a few minutes later.
Up till her last moments, I can feel her love for me. Tears still welds up when I recalled these moments. It’s a bond that can never be replaced. It’s amazing how these litter critters can make you feel. Their innocent expressions and funny ethics, they never fail to cheer me up. Kimchi, you will be greatly missed.
This is the year of the Rat. Many people are buying golden hamsters for good luck. Please DO NOT buy them on impulse. Be responsible, and do not abandon them when you get tired of them. At least, find them a good home. Every year, there are so many abandoned hamsters. You’ll be shocked how heartless and irresponsible some humans are, leaving the hamsters to fend for themselves. Parents, please do educate your children to be responsible for their pets. A pet is for life. Please be kind to them.
What a lengthy post, I apologized if I’ve bored you.
How do you like your pizza? Thick or thin crust? Lots of cheese? Or just full of toppings? I definitely like mine with thin crust, lots of cheese with moderate toppings. As much as I like to try making a pizza base myself, I didn’t had the courage to do it, for fear of failing and wasting the cheese and toppings. From my understanding, to achieve a thin crust, you need a very high heat like a stone oven to toast the pizza fast and yet the toppings gets cooked with cheese melting at the same time. Nevertheless, it will still be in my to-make list. It’s just a matter of when I can strike this item off the list.
A promise’s a promise. The long awaited school holidays were here again. We baked chocolate chip cookies last National Day. The intention for this session was to make rolled cookies. I even got the cookie cutters ready. But I gave them 2 choices. So it’s gonna be pizzas or cookies? Pizza sounds delicious and fun to have, and so they decided on making pizzas instead.
Store-bought frozen pizza crust isn’t that bad. In fact, it’s quite decent and affordable. And you can have free-play to use whatever toppings and cheese you like. You can spread a layer of tomato sauce or puree on the base of the pizza. As I had a jar of tomato-based pasta sauce in my pantry, I used that instead. Next, is to grate a layer of mozzarella cheese on the tomato sauce, followed by the toppings you’ve prepared. I used ham and fresh button mushrooms. Lastly, grate another layer of mozzarella and sprinkle some dried parsley on top. And they were ready to go into the toaster! It’s that easy!!
The 2 girls had fun preparing for the pizza, mainly cutting up the ham and mushrooms. These pizza crusts are of personal pan size and takes only 12 to 15 mins to toast. I love to watch the cheese melts and turn brown. Gosh, I am drooling at the of thought that while typing this post.
These pizzas are really not bad tasting! I am quite pleased with the results. My niece said it looked ‘real’. What she meant was the photo of the pizza looks pretty professional. Haha… I thought pizzas are not filling enough for them. So I made some wild mushroom soup for them to go with the pizzas. What a nice auntie I am. Hehe… But my effort was not wasted. They LOVE the soup and gave me both thumbs up!
Sorry for not posting this entire month. I didn’t had the mood to blog as work keeps piling up. I have so many things to blog about!!
“Bagel, bagel, yum yum bagel, yum yum pumpernickel, pumpernickel bread! I have a bagel and it’s delicious. Would you like a bite?” I came to know of this song from the popular kid’s show, Barney. Although I have no kids, but I am quite familiar with the songs in the show, singing along and dancing around with my nieces.
Mini bagels is what I made some time back. My first try handling dough and yeast. These bagels are really small, only 5cm in diameter. I made them plain as I forgot to buy seasame seeds for the toppings. The first time I saw these cute little bagels at Evan’s blog, I thought they were donuts. Haha..
Bagels are know to be hard, dense and chewy. It is a popular choice of bread in the US. You can add various types of toppings such as poppy seeds, seasame seeds, onions, cheese, garlic, etc. When making bagels, you need to bathe them in boiling water. Depending on how hard or soft you want your bagels to be, the time they spent bathing in the water is varied. Want them harder, longer in the boiling water. Prefer them softer, reduce the water bath duration.
As the bagels I made are really small, they were very chewy even though I followed the recipe. The next time I make them, I will either reduce the time further, or make bigger bagels! Plain bagels are so versatile, eat them with cream cheese, cheese, or the blt way. I had mine with ham, cucumber and tomatoes for breakfast. 3 of them and I’m stuffed!
I am somewhat satisfied with my first experience handling dough although there were some hiccups during the process. My dough didn’t seemed to doubled in size and I kept peeping. Haha.. I realized that I should make them during the day where temperature is higher and warm, as the dough needs to be in a warm area to be able to rise nicely. But it’s nice to have fresh homemade bagels for breakfast the next day.
This is the last day of year. I hope 2007 was a good one for you. Let’s look forward to 2008 together! See you soon and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
How often does one consume fresh blueberries in Singapore? Not very often, I would say, at least for me. These berries don’t come cheap here in Singapore. One small punnet sets you back by $6.50. The organic ones cost about $10.50 per punnet. By the way, this post is way overdue. About half a year back, the cost of fresh blueberries was reduced to almost half their usual price, $3.20 per punnet! I was an elated woman when I saw the price tag. My initial thought was, my hamsters were in for a treat. They love these mildly sweet blueberries! Lucky little rodents. Without further hesitation, I quickly grabbed 2 punnets home.
Since I can’t keep these berries for long and my hamsters won’t be able to eat much, I surfed around looking for some nice recipes where I could make use of them. What a coincidence when I went to Cherly’s food blog, her latest post was on Blueberry Muffins! Woooh, the way she described how the blueberries burst in the muffin, the thought of it made me drooled. Alright then, the remaining berries would all go into my blueberry muffins.
As I wanted these muffins bursting with the flavour of blueberries, I reduced the amount of sugar slightly. The word ‘streusel’ for this muffin simply means toppings that form a crumbly top on the muffin. Muffins are one of the easiest to make but make sure that you don’t overmix the batter, else you won’t get the dense texture a muffin should be. Prepare the toppings after you’ve prepared the batter. I made a mistake preparing the toppings first and the butter had already melted a abit, resulting in the not so crumbly, but lumpy look. When preparing the toppings using the rubbing-in method, you have to really do it quickly using only your fingertips(heat from the palm will melt the butter).
The aroma in the kitchen when the muffins were baking in the oven was wonderful. Eat them fresh on it’s own, or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a glass of milk. Perfect for breakfast or tea.
Blueberries are low in calories and packed with anti-oxidants. They are a very good source of vitamin C, manganese, and both soluble and insoluble fiber like pectin. Blueberries are also a good source of vitamin E.
How to Select and Store
Choose blueberries that are firm and have a lively, uniform hue coloured with a whitish bloom. Avoid berries that look dull in color or are soft and watery in texture. They should be free from moisture since the presence of water will cause the berries to decay. Ripe blueberries should be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator where they will keep for about a week. They will be freshest if consumed within a few days. Always check berries before storing and remove any damaged berries to prevent the spread of mold. But don’t wash berries until right before eating as washing will remove the bloom that protects the berries’ skins from degradation. If kept out at room temperature for more than a day, the berries may spoil.
Tips on preparing blueberries
Fresh berries are very fragile and should be washed briefly and carefully and then gently patted dry if they are not organic. Wash berries just prior to use to not prematurely remove the protective bloom that resides on the skin’s surface.
There are many ways to enjoy blueberries other than eating on it’s own. Add them to your breakfast cereals. Use them in your cheesecake, pies, tarts and muffins. Or you can make blueberry pancakes and waffles.
I wonder if the price of fresh blueberries will drop again. Hee.
Blueberry Streusel Muffins
Recipe from Williams-Sonoma Muffins
Makes 12 muffins.
For the muffins:
7 tablespoons (3½ oz/ 105g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup (6oz/185g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2¼ cups (11½ oz/ 360g) all-purpose (plain)flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (8 fl oz/ 250ml) milk
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract (essence)
1½ cups (6 oz/ 185g) fresh blueberries or frozen unsweetened blueberries, unthawed.
For the topping:
¼ cup (1½ oz/ 45g) all-purpose (plain) flour
2 tablespoons each granulated sugar and firmly packed light brown sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces.
Preheat the oven to 375 Fahrenheit (190 degree celcius). Grease 12 standard muffin cups with butter or butter-flavoured nonstick cooking spray.
To make the topping, stir together the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, cut or rub the butter into the dry ingredients just until coarse crumbs form. Alternatively, combine the dry ingredients and the butter in a food processor and pulse just until coarse crumbs form.
To make the muffins, in a bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each edition until blended into the butter mixture.
In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in 2 increments, alternating with the milk and vanilla. Stir just until evenly moistened. The batter will be slightly lumpy. Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold in the blueberries just until evenly distributed, no more than a few strokes. Take care not to break up the fruit. Do not overmix.
Spoon the batter into each muffin cup, filling it level with the rim of the cup. Sprinkle each muffin with some topping.
Bake until golden, dry, and springy to the touch, 20-25 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin should come out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Unmold the muffins. Serve warm or at room temperature.
December 1, 2007 at 11:10 pm · Filed under Food Reviews
Donuts, donuts everywhere! Gosh, they are everywhere now. The bubble’s gonna burst sooner or later. Till then, I shall indulge in them now. Yes, donuts are deep fried and unhealthy. But I always believe in eating everything in moderation, be it the good stuffs or the bad ones.
If you remember, I blogged about J.Co donuts I brought back from Batam a few months ago. They tasted quite good, but we didn’t like the rancid taste of the oil they use. A couple of weeks ago, I passed by Donut Factory at Velocity@Novena Square. They have a sit-in café where you can enjoy a cuppa or coffee with your favourite donuts just like J.Co in Batam. I like the idea, simply because I wouldn’t indulge too much by buying half a dozen or more donuts home and get too fat. Must control you know, haha…
This is my first time eating their donuts and I really like it. It’s nice, soft and fluffy. As it was newly opened, we got 2 complimentary glazed donuts to bring home. The Double Chocolate was good! Woo, bite into it and taste more of the dark chocolate filling inside. Yum, yum! Okay, I admit that I may be biased because I love, love, love chocolate. The Orange White Chocolate was nice too. The chocolate coating was sweet, but not overly sweet. It’s after all a dessert (as I would call it, instead of a snack).
I’m glad they opened more outlets and you don’t need to queue that long for the donuts (I wouldn’t queue more than 20 mins for that). Try their donuts at the café, it’s really nice and relaxed (depends on the crowd though).
December 1, 2007 at 2:52 am · Filed under Food Reviews
Astons Specialties. Does that ring a bell? You might have read about this popular restaurant at East Coast Road from local food blogs. A place that serves good western food at a very reasonable price. You may think that it’s just like any other western food stalls at the foodcourt or hawker centre, but Astons offers a lot more choices, with more sides to choose from as well.. A new outlet was opened at Serangoon Gardens and I’ve been wanting to try their food for the longest time. Every time I am there, I see a long queue. In fact, all the tables at the coffeeshop are occupied by their customers in the evening. I get turned off by the queue of course and that is why I didn’t had a chance to taste their food till recently.
You have to get there early if you’re going on weekends. Be prepared to wait for your food. If you are not going to spend about 15 minutes queuing to order your food and another 20 to 25 minutes before your food is served to you, then forget it.
We ordered a soup and 2 mains. The mushroom soup was served hot with very nice crusty garlic bread (although they’re a bit charred). I like the soup, neither too bland or too salty, just nice. B finds it ok only. Well, perhaps I was too hungry?
B had his Pork Chop and it didn’t pass the test. The meat was kind of tough. Not many places have nice tender pork chops. But a new stall near our place has their pork chop nice and tender. Most importantly, it’s cheap. So, too bad for Astons.
I had the Hickory BBQ Chicken. It’s basically chicken chop with bbq sauce. The chicken was tender and juicy but the bbq sauce is too sweet for my liking. The sides we chose were not too bad, coleslaw, onion rings and pasta salad. I like the pasta salad. You can choose 2 sides of your choice such as baked potatoes, potato salad, fries, mashed potatoes, salad. There are a few more to choose from, but I can’t remember all of them. Other than the chops, they have other standard mains like pasta, burgers and steaks.
So is it worth the time queuing? B says no. He doesn’t like to queue. Oh well.. I was hoping to try their lamb chops.
This is one easy dessert I’ve been wanting to make since last year. The recipe just got ‘buried’ deep down in my digital recipe folder. B and I had a nice mango pomelo dessert at a friend’s wedding dinner. We wanted more and so we went to get some mangoes the next day. But it wasn’t the mango season, the mangoes we bought were not very sweet. Honey mangoes were not in season then. Anyway, we went ahead with it.
The hotel’s version didn’t have cornstarch added and was more watery compared to the ones I had at the dessert stalls, which is of gluey texture. B sulked when I followed the recipe by adding in the cornstarch to acheive the texture, which he didn’t like. Oh well… note taken. This dessert would have tasted much better if honey mangoes were used.
One thing I realised is that the mango fibre tissues can’t be blended smoothly. Does anyone knows how to solve this problem? Or was it the mango?
Mango Sago Dessert Recipe from The Lazy Chef which was from Zu’s Kitchen which doesn’t seems to be around anymore)
Serves 4 to 6
600g mango (abt 2 honey mangoes)
400ml mango juice (Peelfresh or any other similar brands)
125ml evaporated milk
80g sago pearls (original uses 300gm pomelo, split into small pieces)
250ml water
2-3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cornflour/tapioca starch (optional)
1 tbsp water
extra 100ml water
Method
Boil 250ml water and sugar till sugar dissolves.
Mix cornflour/tapioca starch with 1 tbsp water and pour into the syrup and stir over low heat until mixture is smooth.
Take syrup and cornflour mixture off the heat and leave it to cool.
Cut the sides of the mango and cube them.
Scrap the remaining mango and put in a bowl, add 100ml of water to blend, put aside.
Add blended mango, cubed mango, mango juice and evaporated milk into the syrup solution (from 1) then stir.
Add sago pearls and stir, if too thick, add abit of cooled boiled water or more mango juice.
Chill before serving.
Preparation of sago pearls
Boil about 3 cups of water in a saucepan. Add in sago pearls and bring to boil.
Once it boils, cover saucepan and turn off heat. Leave for 20 minutes.
Remove the lid, stir the mixture, turn on the heat and bring it to boil again.
Once it boils the second time, cover again, turn off the heat and leave covered for 10 minutes. The sago should be cooked by now.
Drain the sago from the hot water and rinse. Soak in cold water (to stop it cooking further). When completely cool drain again and set aside.
Avocado the Fruit. I can hardly think of avocado as a fruit because of it’s rich and creamy flesh. The first thing that came to my mind was guacamole, a creamy dip I use for my plain crackers or as a sandwich spread, and also an essential ingredient in the california maki handroll.
When I first bought avocados, they were not meant for me but for my hamsters. They love it because they know avocados are good for them. If you are planning a fattening programme for them, you can feed them some avocados every fortnightly. And since they can only eat so little of the whole avocado, I’ve gotta finish the rest. And mind you, avocados don’t come cheap, so don’t even think of throwing them away.
Many researchers feel that avocado is a fruit you don’t feed to your pets as they believe the cardiac glycosides(toxic compound/natural steroids) is in it. The cardiac glycosides is found in the avocado plant, the leaves, seed and skin but not the fruit. Please don’t feed unripe or overly-riped avocados to them. Click here and here to see some info on the effects of avocados on pets. I wouldn’t say feed at your own risk. But if you’re unsure, just leave out avocados in their diet.
I first had my first avocado milk blended at Alexandra food centre. I thought it was nice, but both B and I had a stomach upset after that and we didn’t touch that drink since. And now that I have a blender, I decided to convince myself to drink it again. And best of all, I can easily use up a whole avocado after feeding my hamsters.
This drink is just like any other blended drink you make at home. Simply just blend the flesh with some milk and honey. It’s best to drink it chilled with either blending the drink with ice cubes or leave it in the fridge for later consumption. I like it creamy and thick. It’s up to your own preference, if it’s too thick for your liking, just add more milk and blend again, till you get the consistency you want. As for the honey, like it sweet, add more. If you have gula melaka, it will taste even better!
Nutritional benefits of an avocado
Avocados are the most energy dense and nutrient rich fruit per calorie.
Each calorie is packed with the goodness of:
folate (eaten uncooked, avocados retain the benefits of folate)
antioxidant vitamins A, B6 and C
monounsaturated fatty acids (the good fat which helps lower blood cholesterol)
potassium. Avocados contain around 50% more potassium per 100 grams than bananas
protein. Avocados lead all fruits in their protein content
low in salt, yet high in fiber
contain NO cholesterol
Selecting & Ripening
Select avocado that yields to gentle pressure. As it ripens, the skin colour is of a greenish brown. To ripen an avocado, simply leave it in your fruit bowl at room temperature. To speed up the process, place it in a paper bag with an apple. Watch color closely. Once ripe, store the avocado in the refrigerator to make it last longer. A ripe avocado will last about 3-4 days in the fridge.
Whether slicing, mashing or dicing, to retain a fresh green color, avocados should either be eaten immediately or should be sprinkled with lemon or lime juice and covered in an air-tight container.
If avocado turns brown on the top after storage, simply discard the top layer.
Avocado Milk Blended
1 whole avocado
1 cup of milk
1 tbsp honey
3 to 4 ice cubes (optional)
Click here to see how to remove the pit from the avocado. This method is really easy but please be very careful with the knife and don’t loose your fingers. In the blender, add avocado cubes, milk and honey. Blend till everything are properly puréed. Taste and adjust the amount of milk and honey according to your own preference. Serve chilled.
November 4, 2007 at 6:14 pm · Filed under Recipes: Soup
Oh, it’s the lovely mushrooms again! As promised in the previous post, here’s a yummy soup recipe. For those who adore mushrooms will love this to bits, well, not all, but at least for me. I literally wanted to lick my bowl clean. It was that delicious to me.
This is a wholesome thick soup for those who are watching their diet. Just replace the knob of butter with olive oil instead. But for those who can afford some fats in their diet, use butter, as it’ll be more flavourful. I read somewhere that adding potatoes will help thickened the soup, thus I omitted the cream completely. But if you like, you can add that dollop of cream during cooking, or simply just stir them in before drinking. If you can make your own stock, that will be even better. I used Knorr’s vegetable stock cube for the broth.
It was a virgin blend for my spanking new blender. I should have gotten a blender earlier to make soups like this. My next few soups will be something like, pumpkin soup, roasted bell peppers soup, etc.
I made some modifications to the original recipe, basically replacing certain ingredients. This recipe is definitely a keeper.
Wild Mushroom Soup Recipe adapted from Gourmet Food at About.com
Serves 2 to 3
40g butter
1 medium shallot, peeled and diced
250g fresh mushrooms (I used Portobello, white and brown button), sliced
600ml water
1 vegetable stock cube
1 potato, medium size, peeled and diced
1 tsp dried parsley
1/4 cup white cooking wine
salt and pepper, to taste
Add the butter to a large pot and melt over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook until soft (about 5 minutes). Add the mushrooms and cook for another 5 to 7 minutes. Add water, stock cube, potatoes and parsley. Add white cooking wine.
Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for about 15 minutes.
Puree the mixture in a blender or food processor. I leave about 200 ml of mixture un-pureed, so that I can get to eat the mushroom chunks. Return mixture to the pot. Season with salt and pepper, and stir. Enjoy it with toasted bread.
Focaccia (foe-ca-cha) is an italian flat bread, traditionally baked in a wood-fired oven. Focaccia dough is similar to pizza dough and can be used as a pizza base as well. A simple focaccia bread is brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with salt before baking. There are many toppings you can add to make it more flavourful with ingredients like tomatoes, herbs, cheese, olives or garlic. You can use the bread as a side, eat it with your soup or use them as a sandwich.
A few years ago, Gardenia’s focaccia bread caught my eye in the supermarket. I could smell the nice olive oil and herbs aroma, so I bought a pack to try it out. It’s so good that I can even eat it on it’s own. All you need to do is to toast it lightly and spread some butter or olive oil on it. Yummy!
Since we were still in our ‘lazy weekend’ mood, we bought some focaccia bread, cheddar cheese, tuna and butterhead lettuce. We took a can of potato leek soup to go with our sandwich meal. This is a very easy, fuss-free sandwich. I mixed in some lemon juice and olive oil with the tuna (water drained) flakes. Sliced some cheddar cheese, prepared the butterhead lettuce and tomatoes. Sandwiched all the ingredients nicely on the toasted focaccia bread, and viola! We ate them with the potato leek soup, which was thick and nice.
I’ve yet to try baking focaccia but I am so tempted after seeing Camemberu baked her cheese focaccia. There are a few recipes sitting in my computer folder. I might try baking it soon, or maybe not. Hehe…
Stay tuned for a yummy soup recipe that will go very well with a sandwich meal or even on it’s own.
