Sunday Lunch Fiesta

Parents in law had some visitors over for lunch today, keeping Ah Yee busy whole morning. As usual, i contributed nothing other than these two cakes (old typical me).

Nothing special, nothing fresh, nothing new; same old Baked Cheesecake and Hearty Carrot Cake.

Classical Day with Cut Out Butter Cookies and Rum Raisin Slices

I can never get baking out of my mind. I read my recipes everyday, figuring out what to bake next, and Hubby would stand there, shake his head and say 'wo fu liao ni le lao po'. Hehe, am i addicted? I tried to find something else to do, like learning my mandarin and stuff, but it seems like i can't stop thinking of baking; i can sit there for hours and wonder what makes my cake this and that; or how to improve and stuff. I think more when i see kids, coz i love kids, and of course would be more than glad to bake them goodies.

The feeling is hard to describe. It just enlightens my heart when i see kids munching my goodies or their sweet cute reactions when i surprise them with a chocolate cake or a cookie. Super super adorable!

I met David and Joshua in a home church (sort of like a cell group) last month, when we decided to join mom in law on Sundays. David is 4 years old, and he talks super sweetly, with a 'manja' tone that goes ye ye.. ee.. ee.. Joshua, his brother, is only a year old, with big blue eyes and a cute chubby face. He talks baby language, and only ngum, ah ah ah, or ma ma ma.

I fell in love with the both of them instantly at first sight, as if Cupid's arrow just struck me (ai-seh). Do you know that mixed blood kids are super super good looking? Yup, their dad is an American married to their Chinese mom.

If you have read to this far and are wondering what is the link between today's title and David or Joshua, well, I finally finally achieved my goal to bake them these classic cut out cookies!! Hubby bought the cookie cutters for me not long ago, but i actually forgot i had them until i saw some pictures online. And today is the day, firstly coz i will spending only two more sundays here before i fly home, and secondly, we decided to go to another church on the 7th Dec, which makes tomorrow the last day i'll be seeing David and Joshua before New Year 2009!

Five shapes in total: Piggie, Bunny, Angel, Bear and Kitty

Drizzled with Cowpea Choco

Got the cookies for them and our neighbour kids, i also baked rum and raisin slices for no valid reason, other than for mine and the family's hunger treats!

Rum and Raisin Slices (with the help of Bacardi RUM)

The Chinese Dumpling Jiao Zi/Shui Jiao

Another day over again. It's amazing how time can actually fly, especially when happiness and joy is around. Previously people talk of one minute, now, it's more of a day thingy; today it's this case, and after today, the scenario may not be today's case anymore, not to mention next week's case. Confusing huh? Not at all; it's just life.

What i did today, is one question i normally ask myself before i doze off every night. And, believe it or not, although i aimed to do something better the next day, it's never the case and i would still feel i have wasted another day.

Well, today is a bit bit different (as you can see from the title), but before i proceed on, let me justify why the images are so much poorer this time. I know i shouldn't blame God's wonderful creation, the sun, but no matter how hard i look, it seems to be MIA almost the whole day today! Gone with the wind?? Doubt that, coz it was so windy that all the trees nearly went botak. The sky was dull and white greyish; simply the signs of winter.

Just in case you think i'm bluffing, here are two evidences: the first pic was snapped yesterday. Clear beautiful blue sky; LOVELY. (apart that my fave yellow tree is botak di :'-( ).

And, same second pic snapped today: Lacking blue sky huh?

Ya, so that was the reason. Now, back to why today is different, hehe, coz i assisted mom in law to make Jiao Zi! No cakes, no tarts, no baking business but Jiao Zi!!

Jiao Zi or Shui Jiao is a traditional Chinese food. According to my personal research, the Chinese characters for "Jiaozi" actually refer to the arrival of the Chinese New Year at midnight. "Jiao" means "join," while "zi" is a reference to the first and eleventh hour (branch) of Dizhi or midnight on the Western clock.

Jiaozi is basically ground meat and/or vegetable filling wrapped into a thinly rolled piece of dough, which is then sealed by pressing the edges together or by crimping. Chinese dumplings (jiaozi) may be divided into various types depending on how they are cooked:

1. Boiled which we normally know as shui jiao or literally 'water dumplings'

2. Steamed; zheng jiao (steam-dumpling)

3. Shallow fried; guotie (dry fried) or what we refer as 'wo tie'

Common dumpling meat fillings include pork, mutton, beef, chicken, fish, and shrimp which are usually mixed with chopped vegetables. Popular vegetable fillings include cabbage, scallion (spring onions), leek, and Chinese chives. Dumplings are eaten with a soy sauce-based dipping sauce that may include vinegar, garlic, ginger, rice wine, hot sauce, and sesame oil.

Despite that CNY is two months away, here's our version for today's lunch:

Kneaded dough from scratch; just mix flour with water until firm dough is formed.

Fillings include minced pork, spring onion, egg, white cabbage and scallops (seasoned with salt, soy sauce etc).

Wrapped Jiao Zis ready to be boiled. It's important that each jiao zi be wrapped securely, or otherwise the skin may break during boiling. The jiao zis will float on top when cooked.

Before i had the opportunity to snap a good pic of the freshly cooked Jiao Zi, the camera battery went dead. Only managed to do so afterwards, in the early evening when it was about to be dark, and hence this poorest quality.

Wedsy's treats: Chocolate Walnut Cake and Sausage Cheese Buns

Got myself into baking mood today, after all Monday muffins were savoured with nothing left just within a day!! A huge encouragement to bakers like me, who hope nothing more than people loving their goodies. Unspeakable joy giving me the burning desire to achieve better results :-)

Ok, now back to 'what i did' today, i decided to try some new recipes instead of redoing same old stuff like tarts, this cake or watsoever pastry, so, i browsed through my old recipe books and saw this chocolate walnut cake which was purfect since i have walnuts and chocolate chips. Moreover, having a simple cake at home is what Hubby and the rest like; some sort of like a 'rescue kit' in times of hunger. Hehe. Especially at night. Ever since mom in law decided that the family should go on a nightie diet regime, we were only allowed to have porridge, veges and fruits for dinner. Rice/Meat-free meal, which makes our tummies go 'kroo kroogrooooo' at 9pm.

Just a week ago, i suddenly had this special intention to make some buns despite the troublesome and tiring kneading process. Not knowing why myself, but i got Hubby to buy me some nice sausages, and today, i finally got myself into the exercise! Kneaded this dough for nearly an hour and proofing of more than 2 hours yet still not enough! The texture is not as spongy as i had hoped and the look of it, hehe, like some old muffins stuffed with burnt sausages and red cheese! (Pardon me, since i don't have a suitable pan/tin for this purpose).

Definitely more improvement needed!

Know what, I'm starting to enjoy the process of making bread from scratch; a good exercise for people who don't bother to thumb up and get a sweat like me.

**P/S: To comfort myself, i actually reasoned to Hubby that the buns are good enough di, since they are kneaded by someone who's only 100lbs, in comparison to Italian Chefs who weighed more than 200Ibs!! :-P

Good old muffins for a hassle free day!

I tried snapping a few good pics of the muffins i baked this morning, but somehow i couldn't get that ray of light into my way. All the backgrounds seemed to be dark and gloomy, although it was a beautiful morning, and the sun was smiling so extensively. :-) Hubby claimed my imprecise judgement could be the culprit, somehow, he thinks i often snap on the wrong angle which blocks that glorious light.

My first try was this:

So wrong direction after all, it looks like the sun has set althought it was actually very bright.

Second try:

Bright enough? This was snapped on the opposite side of the first picture through the living room glass window.

Without hessitation, i tried to focus the devil bowl of muffins on this direction but somehow, they look like a batch of 'hangus' muffins waiting to go into the bin.

Giving myself a second and third chance, here they are on the same spot:

Still not bright enough! Unsatisfied, i decided to move to another spot bright enough to show off these devourous muffins (ai-seh seh).

Well, enough of angles or watsoever light, these muffins are simple plain old vanilla flavoured added with blueberry preserves, Nut Nut Tel La, and O-Ooreos. Nothing special, just some good old muffins for family tea breaks and snacks etc. And because they're for internal consumption, i couldn't be bothered with how they look as long as they're edible!!

Fruity Flan Cake

Another early bird today, as Hubby has a class at 8.30am. Initially made an agreement with mom in law to go to the market together, but she had gone with dad in law to hill climbing before sunrise so i was home alone with Ah Yee in the morning.

Hubby had reminded me to use up all the fresh fruits, especially the strawberries last night so i thought it would be best to bake them all in a batter. Less troublesome and healthy. Furthermore, the fruits are no longer 'freshy' and baking them would be much safer. Particularly when u have a husband and dad in law who have sensitive digestion units.

So what else, nothing is more suitable than a Fruity Flan Cake itself, which i managed to throw in all the leftover strawberries, blueberries, kiwi and dragonfruit.

Very fruity indeed and i love it! Plain normal butter cake with fruits on top. Something like pineapple or peach upside down cake. And of course, with some chocolate drizzle on top, it looks 'pur-fect'. Even more with a cup of coffee.

Pineapple Paste

These two days had been pretty hard. Hubby's maternal grandpa passed away all of a sudden, and the atmosphere at home was filled with sadness and chills. Grandpa is 88 years old, and had been staying with the family ever since Hubby was only 1 year old. Having no paternal granddad since young, it is explainable why Hubby has explicit close ties with this grandpa and his gone must have been pretty hard on him. Nevertheless, i'm proud that he remained strong so that he could bring comfort and consolation to mom in law, not only that, but taking care and making sure i'm ok at all times.

Just yesterday, i managed to steal a bit of time to make pineapple paste in the effort to save this pineapple from rottening. Hubby bought this for me about two weeks ago, when we were deciding which pineapple is best for the cabbage cake, and in the end, we came back with both the fresh and canned ones.

The super ripe pineapple smelling very pineapplish

This time, the paste was still a bit wet, despite being cooked for nearly an hour which was due to the ripeness of the pineapple having more juice. I added very little sugar and some lemon juice so as to bring out the sourish taste. Some recipes call for spices like cardamom and cinnamon, but since they are not my tastebud, i couldn't be bothered to add any of them.

Will look for some time to make pineapple tarts before i fly back to KK.