Christmas updates....PART 1

CHRISTMAS UPDATES_PART 1

Oooohoo! it's been about a month since i last updated my blog....well...it's been a busy term but still i managed to steal some time out to bake, explore recipes, meet up wif my buddies to eat and crap! Who says crapping is a waste of time?! To me crapping and chatting rubbish is a way to relax...haha! =P

well...today's christmas! but no program for me! some of my frens are at overseas. it's ok...i shall stay at home to finish up things i have not been doing..like...clearing up the mess in my wardrobe and shelves, and watch korean dramas, day-dreaming etc etc! heehee! hmm...i shall enjoy singlehood for as long as i can! haha!

hao de...these are my footprints for the past two months.......

I tried this recipe in my kitchen. It was meant for my FSM lab. This is a Thai dessert known as Mango Glutinous Rice. Glutinous rice is mixed with coconut milk, sugar and salt, and steamed. The sauce is made by caremelizing the brown sugar. Thai mangoes were supposed to be used but i lived too far from golden miles, so i decided to just substitue it with the normal mangoes found in NTUC supermarket. The mangoes are peeled, sliced and placed on top of the steamed glutinous rice. Lastly, the caramel sauce is poured over it and ready to be served. hmm...i find the glutinous rice too hard...expected because i do not have much understanding on glutinous rice and it was my first time preparing it...hee! I also realized that the most difficult part of this dish is preparing the glutinous rice. You have to get the right amount of water to be added, look out for the timing, fire and holding time in order to get a glutinous rice with the right moistness and softness! Cooking is indeed a test for "alertness" and patience!


Below are the Cinnamon Raisins Bread Roll i baked three weeks ago....after seeing the juniors making them in the FPP for the TP Applied Science School Open House, i had the urge to get into some breadmaking! Apart from the bread baked with my team during Food Processing Lab in year 2, this was my virgin attempt to make bread! haha! I do not have much understanding and hands on in bread making as i'm more into cakes. Therefore, i have decided to explore more on this area during my free time! (Ingredients were bought from Poon Huat: Bread flour, shortening, dry instant yeasts, raisins, cinnamon powder, bread improver (sweet breads) and brown sugar.) Since i was at Poon Huat, i also bought icing sugar, butter, chocolate rice and cocoa powder. These are for making chocolate cake for my sis who is a chocolate lover!!

My mum and I loves cinnamon and raisins a lot! Thus, we gave our thumbs up for the breads..hee! However, my mum and sis felt that the bread was slightly tough and dry. It could be due to the proofing and fermentation conditions which could have caused excessive loss of moisture. One disadvantage of making bread at home is that there is no proofer with the right and controlled humidity and temperature for proofing and fermentation. When breads are left to proof at room temperature in the kitchen, problems most likely to arise are insufficient fermentation due to inappropriate temperature which would result in bland tasting bread without much flavor. Another problem is having dry bread crumbs due to excessive loss of moisture when dough is left to proof at ambient conditions. Although the outcome of the bread was not as perfect, considering it was my first attempt, i'm quite pleased with it. My mum and sis have been very encouraging too...always there to give me feedback on the food i prepared. They always tease me by saying that i can earn a living by selling bread and cakes...haha! ya...in my dream! oh for goodness sake! My baking skills are still not up to that standard!


Below are pics i took when i met up with my sisters after term test! We went to KBox Marina Sq to sing (too lazy to blog down my dissatisfaction with the management there!), had potato salad at Long John for lunch (the mustard sauce was nice!) and Grilled dory fillet at Hans (not bad! does not have the fishy smell!). We accompanied amanda to esplanade to collect the bday cake for her father! It was a black forest cake worth 30 over bucks but i feel it was worth it as the packaging was so lovely! Took some pics of those art pieces...super creative isn't it...they used wires to shape it into human figures....