Progress

UPDATE 26 Feb: -


UPDATE 23 Feb: -



The first sunflower is getting larger and along with it are 2 smaller ones :)

And now there are two!

The first sunflower is growing larger and it now has a companion! :)

Sunflower

Update 17 Feb 2011: HERE WE ARE!




My very first sunflower is on the way! After quite a long time tending to it, making sure it has enough to drink and does not get blown over by strong winds, I think I might have a flower coming up. This is the largest plant I have planted so far! :)

More pretty flowers

Got these at the market today because I really liked one of the colours. Guess which one? :)
These flowers never cease to amaze me when I see how they develop.

Update:
Now I think these are dahlias, not chrysanthemums!

Apricot & oat cookies

For some reason, I felt like rolled oats cookies on the way home so I got some rolled oats, found a recipe and tested it out. :)



Ingredients: -
1 1/2 cups (140g) rolled oats
2/3 cup (140g) brown sugar
200g pkt diced apricots (I used dried cherries and currants)
1 cup (150g) plain flour
2 tbs golden syrup
1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
125g butter, melted, cooled

Method: -
1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
2. Combine the rolled oats, sugar, apricots and flour in a bowl. Place the golden syrup, bicarbonate of soda and 1/4 cup (60ml) boiling water in a small heatproof bowl. Stir until well combined. Set aside for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the butter.
3. Add the golden syrup mixture to the dry ingredients until well combined. Set aside for 10 minutes.
4. Roll spoonfuls of the mixture into balls. Place on the lined trays about 4cm apart. Bake, swapping the trays around once, for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining mixture.

They are yummy!

Galettes

Got some puff pastry recently to try out a Strawberry Galette recipe. Turns out that having the pastry handy is great since I can whip up a nice snack really quickly.



Just some apricot jam spread onto the pastry, put on the fruit, glaze edges with milk and bake at 200C until nicely puffed and golden.



I tried it with canned pineapple also and it's yummy too!

CNY presents

Received my CNY pressie from Mammo and Mathilda yesterday! Lots of nice little goodies for me :) Yay!

Got myself a couple of nice things today

We went to Camberwell market this morning as shoppers for a change and I spotted these really cute chrysanthemums. I am not usually a fan of chrysanthemums but these pompon ones are just so amazing! I spotted people admiring them on the street too. Hehe!



When I saw this biscuit tin at David Jones, I really couldn't resist either! Rose biscuits and beautiful tin. What a winner :) The biscuits are fantastic! Studded with almonds and scattered with French crystallized rose petals. Ooohh.....

Green tea panna cotta

Been seeing so many panna cotta recipes around I decided to give it try. This is adapted from all the different recipes I've seen.

Ingredients: -
* 4 leaves gelatine
* 50g caster sugar
* 1 cup milk
* 1 cup cream
* 1 1/2 teaspoon matcha powder
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method: -
1. Place the gelatine leaves in a bowl and cover in cold water. Stand for 5 minutes and once soft, using hands squeeze out all excess liquid.

2. Combine the sugar, milk and cream in a small saucepan over a low heat, add the vanilla extract and matcha powder and allow to simmer for 4-8 minutes. Add the gelatine and continue to whisk to create a thicker smooth mixture. Cool slightly.

3. Pour the mixture into small ramekins and place in the refrigerator for about 6 hours or until set.

What I wake up to

A little fella waiting for me to come and play :)

New teacup!

New year, new cup to drink from =)
Love how cute little red riding hood is!

Honey fruitcake

I've tried this recipe from Martha Stewart a couple of times now. It is good - much healthier than the store bought ones probably. Although the recipes makes a dozen muffin sized cakes, I've done mine as a whole cake each time just so it seems even more like a Christmas fruitcake. I used a 20cm x 20cm square tin. I also added all kinds of other dried fruit like currants and ginger too! I dropped making the glaze because I think it tastes great on its own already :)

Ingredients: -
* 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon coarse salt
* 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (about 170g)
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1/3 cup honey
* 1/4 cup apricot jam
* 2 large eggs
* 1 cup ricotta cheese or 3/4 cup whole milk
* 1 cup pecans or almonds, toasted and ground
* 1 cup coarsely chopped dried apricots (5 ounces)
* 3/4 cup chopped dried cranberries or cherries (5 ounces)

Method: -
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and 1 teaspoon salt.
2. Beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in honey and jam, and then eggs. Add flour mixture, and beat, alternating with ricotta/milk. Beat in nuts and dried fruit.
3. Press a square of parchment into each cup of a standard muffin tin to create a liner (you can also use baking cups). Divide batter evenly among liners. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. I baked the whole cake for approximately 45 mins to 1 hour. Transfer tin to a wire rack. Let stand for 10 minutes.

First swap ever!

This year I decided to take part in a Christmas swap organised by one of my BLU friends Erica. I got paired up with one of her friends, Chiara from Italy and we sent each other handmade goodies, craft supplies, beads and fabric. Here is what I got. How lovely! :) Love the babushka necklace & felt brooch!

Coconut M&Ms

I've been passing these at a candy shop at the train station for many days so I thought I would have to try it.
At first, they taste a little weird but it does grow on you and after a while, just tastes like M&Ms. Apparently I smelt like coconut after eating the pack :P

Fresh garlic

I've never seen garlic so fresh that there are green stalks attached so I got these at the market on Saturday.
They look good don't they?

Gingerbread men

I saw an article about ninjabread men and this really inspired me to make some gingerbread men because I really do like to eat them anyway.


But since I don't have those cutters, I had to make normal men.

Ingredients: -
150g butter, chopped
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, sifted
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon ground ginger, sifted
1 teaspoon mixed spice, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
3 cups plain flour, sifted
milk chocolate bits, to decorate

Method: -
1. Place butter, sugar and honey in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil. Remove from heat. Stir in bicarbonate of soda. Transfer to a large, heatproof bowl. Cool.
2. Stir in egg, ginger, mixed spice, baking powder and flour until combined. Divide dough in half. Shape into discs. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.
3. Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Grease 3 baking trays. Line with baking paper. Roll 1 dough disc between 2 sheets of baking paper until 3mm thick. Cut shapes from dough, re-rolling dough scraps.
4. Bake, 1 tray at a time, for 8 minutes or until just firm to touch. Stand on trays for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.


Here are my gingerbread men.


And a gingerbread ghost. Hahaha!

Market flowers

Got a giant lot of nice flowers from the market on Sunday. Three large bunches for only $5! They smell great too!

Onde-onde

Second attempt at onde-onde today. It is actually quite easy to make and this time, I've got a batch done in about 15 mins (with some leftover gula melaka from the last round). The toughest bit was actually scraping the gula melaka together into little balls to be put in the centre of the glutinous rice balls. I've got no colouring at home so they are not coloured but they still taste good.

Ingredients (makes about 12):
½ cup glutinous rice flour
70ml water (cool to room temperature is fine) OR coconut milk
Palm sugar (gula melaka)

Method:
Shave palm sugar by slicing thin slivers off the block and then chop roughly. Pinch small amounts together and roll into small marbles. Freeze.

Knead glutinous rice flour with water or alternatively, coconut milk till a ball gathers and the dough is slightly moist. Add water gradually so that the dough does not get too wet. If the dough seems a little dry add a teaspoon of water or coconut milk and knead till incorporated.

To stuff the dough, pinch a small portion of the dough, toll roughly into a ball and squash so it's about four to five millimetres thick. Place palm sugar into the centre and gather dough around so the stuffing is covered, then pinch away any excess dough. Roll in palm of hands till you form a perfect ball.

Fill a medium to large pot with boiling water. When the balls are cooked, they will float to the top. Scoop out with a slotted spoon and transfer to sieve to drain for about five seconds. Don't leave for too long or they will get sticky and unmanageable.

Tip balls into desiccated coconut and roll till completely covered. Rest on paper towel to catch access moisture from balls as they cool.

Sujee Biscuits

With cooking shows and celebrity chefs being all the rage now, Shawn got into the spirit of things and wanted to make some local food. We've now got a bunch of recipes for yam cake, onde-onde, chee cheong fun and sugee biscuits. We got most of the ingredients after work today and here is the first thing we tried out. Most of the recipes can be found here.

Ingredients
230g butter
150g castor or icing sugar (icing sugar creates shorter texture)
300g plain flour sifted
1 tsp baking powder sifted (you can omit this which results in a slightly more dense texture)
100g ground almonds/almond meal
1 tsp Vanilla or almond essence
Red glazed cherries, cut into tiny pieces for decoration

Method
Set oven to 160° C.
Cream butter, sugar and vanilla or almond essence till pale and fluffy.
Add flour and baking powder and mix with a wooden spoon.
Add almond meal and mix till combined.
Line baking tray with parchment. Roll dough into circles the size of large marbles about 1 inch apart. Top with a piece of cherry and squash down a little.
Bake for about 10 mins or till pale gold - these are not meant to be golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.


They are quite yummy!

Another year older

It's my birthday today and I am on leave to spend some time with myself :)
Since the Good Food and Wine show this year starts on the same day, I thought I would go and have a look and at the same time see my favourite Masterchef judges live. It is amazing that so many people are going to the show on a weekday too. Spent about 3 hours at the show. Lots of food samples to try and of course bags of stuff to buy. Here's what I got.



Here are the presents I've got this year too from Mathilda, Mammo and Godma. Thanks!


Flowers from Shawn.


Got to do a little bit of gardening when I got home which was nice because the plants aren't looking too good with the cold weather and hopefully some TLC will perk them up a bit.