A SATISFYING DAY IN THE KITCHEN

Yesterday was a a slightly busy but satisfying day in the kitchen, and a day when my Sharp Healsio water oven was well made use of.  It was also a day that I could finally feel a little relaxed after working for 5 consecutive days, and feeling much better from my flu.

I baked blueberry muffins in the morning and steamed Chinese radish cake (a.k.a. Cai Tao Kueh in Hokkien) in the evening.

Fresh blueberries and plain yoghurt

Mixtures of wet ingredients – plain yoghurt, egg, canola oil (again, I omitted pure vanilla extract)

Blueberries tossed with a spoonful of mixed dry ingredients before being added to the batter

All ready to be baked!

Do they look good?  Thanks to the recipe from Joy of Baking.

I would say this was yet another successful attempt although DS still prefers banana muffins over these.  A friend of mine who was “lucky” to be my guinea pig said she liked that they were not too sweet.

I bought a radish from Old Airport Road wet market over the past weekend.  There was no special reason why I bought it from there since there is a mini market very near where I live.  It just happened that DS and I wanted to go to the Old Airport Road hawker centre for breakfast, so we took the opportunity to check out the wet market located nearby.  A friend of ours goes to that hawker centre every week, and he had recommended us some nice food there.

Making of radish cake is pretty simple, in terms of ingredients and preparation.

Transparent-looking grated radish, after steaming.  Leave aside to cool before mixing with rice flour solution.

Mixture of flour solution and steamed grated radish, before putting into the oven for steaming.

And here’s my satisfying dinner tonight – healthy home-fried radish cake!

Ingredients used to fry the radish cake – steamed radish cake, prawns and squids, chai poh (dried pickled radish), chopped garlic, spring onions and chives.

Thanks to the recipe from Rasa Malaysia.

In between blueberry muffins and radish cake, I also completed the cleaning for two precious sea cucumbers from Xiamen.  I started to hydrate them since 10 days ago.  These sea cucumbers came all the way from Xiamen but I didn’t buy them during my recent holiday.  They are from my mum.

Preparing dried sea cucumbers for cooking

Time to think of how to cook them to make it a special dish this Chinese New Year!

Cooking and baking can really be fun and enjoyable, when one has an interest and the luxury of time for it.  And of course, to have people to share the fruits of your labour.

MY YOUTUBE VIDEOS

Thought I will start my first entry for year 2012 with a video clip of a nice exhibition which DS and I went to in December 2011.

A Moving Masterpiece- The Song Dynasty Living Art a.k.a Qing Ming Shang He Tu @ Singapore 清明上河图

This was one exhibition which DS and I missed during the Shanghai World Expo in 2010.  It was the highlight of the China Pavilion which had drawn unending huge crowds throughout the event.  I was deeply disappointed that we could not get in despite spending three full days at the Expo.  It is certainly great that we could finally see it here in Singapore!  After the Expo, this exhibition was also held in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan before coming to Singapore.

Talking about video clips creation…

The above is my number 65th video posted on Youtube since September 2007, and that works out to be an average of 15 clips per year. The total views so far has exceeded 300,000.  Not bad, isn’t it?  Considering the fact that I am not an active blogger or user of Youtube.

Interestingly and surprisingly, my video on “Peeling Dragon Fruit” which was posted in June 2008, has become my most popular video with more than 54,000 hits, and more than 200 comments to-date.

Perhaps there are lots of dragon fruit lovers out there!  I like dragon fruits but my favourite fruit is still bananas!  Recently I have fallen in love with passion fruits!

Enjoy your weekend and have a lovely 2012!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It is this time of the year again – Christmas – time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

In about 8 hours’ time, DS and I will be heading up north for a cold but not white Christmas in Xiamen, China.  This is one very rare time that we decided on a trip within a day, and going to depart within 3 days’ after booking our flights.

Earth Tower aka Ke Jia Tu Lou @ Yong Ding that we plan to visit during our trip.

Our Christmas dinner this year was an early and simple one at home – roast chicken with green salad, assortment of sushi and a bottle of red wine!  We hardly had turkey for Christmas as it is way too big for the two of us, and I don’t really fancy that. This year, I did not put up my 5-ft Christmas tree, neither did we get a log cake.

One of our most memorable Christmases was the one spent in Japan in 2009 – a delicious traditional Japanese meal on the eve, and a fun-filled day at the Universal Studio Japan.  Hopefully Christmas in Xiamen will be yet another special one too.

For all readers of this blog, here’s wishing you a joyous Christmas and an abundantly blessed 2012.

For Unto Us A Child is Born in Handel’s Messiah, my favourite oratorio in Christmas season.

Christmas Decoration @ Changi Airport

Tangs @ Orchard Road

Big-small eye Santa @ Harbourfront Centre

Orchard Road

This giant Christmas tree with a mini viewing platform is a hit this year.  Many queue to go up!

Thanks too, to my friends who regularly visit this blog.  This shall be my last entry for year 2011, and it is also my 172nd entry since July 2007. 

See you next year!

20th WORLD ORCHID SHOW & PREVIEW OF GARDENS BY THE BAY

I was hesitant to post this entry about the 20th World Orchids Show 2011 (themed “Where New and Old World Orchids Meet”) which was held at the Marina Bay Sands Exhibition and Convention Centre last month.  However, in noting that there have been quite a bit of online search (therefore interest) about this event, even after the show is long over, I have decided to share here my photos about this event.

Singapore had the privilege and honour to host this event for the second time now.  The first was 48 years ago, in 1963.

Floral designs along the walkway leading up to the event halls

Lobby area of the event hall.  It made me feel like I was in a fairyland!

Having been to the past biennial Singapore Garden Festivals in which the Singapore Orchid Show was part of the event, I must admit that I was actually not very keen on the 20th World Orchids Show even by the time the event started.  However, I was keen to be one of those early ones to have a preview of the Flower Dome in the Gardens by the Bay which was opened during the 20th World Orchids Show, for public preview.

Thanks to my childhood friend and her mum who, after watching the news report about the 20th World Orchids Show on TV, had come to the event all the way from Malaysia.  Her mum loves flowers, enjoys gardening, and even plants green vegetables at home.  So, I went to the event with them.  There was certainly no regret about it, but I actually regretted not joining my friend from the morning, so that I could have more time at the orchids show before proceeding to the Gardens by the Bay.

It was very interesting to note that taking photos using iPad2 has become a trend!  In my short 2-3 hours at the show, I noted quite a number of people (men and women) using it at the show. But I don’t think this is something that I would want to use for photography even if I have one.  Am I being backward?  I also overheard some male orchid enthusiasts who talked so fondly about orchids, and exchanged knowledge and information with each other at the show.  Most of them were either middle-aged or elderly uncles.  It is surely nice to have some sort of interests to keep us occupied and make life a little more interesting as we get older.

The centre-piece for the 20th World Orchids Show which is a design representing 5 major continents in the world.

MY ONLINE ALBUM ON THE 20TH WORLD ORCHIDS SHOW

MY ONLINE ALBUM ON THE FLOWER DOME OF GARDENS BY THE BAY

Supertree Grove that features the largest vertical display of plants ever presented in a garden.  At the moment the plants are not fully grown yet.

The fully air-conditioned Flower Dome which showcases changing floral display and plants from the Mediterranean climate such as olive trees, palms, baobabs etc.

Large variety of cactuses on display.  These cactuses bring back fond memories of my pleasant visit to Kew Garden in London in summer 2000!

Amongst the plants, there were also sculptures, woods carvings etc.  Can you spot those wood carvings in this shot?

A huge and nice one!

Looking down from the viewing platform, another lovely orchid show was being held in conjunction with the 20th World Orchids Show

A nice view of the Marina Bay Sands landmark from Gardens by the Bay.  It was getting dark by the time we make our way out.

 Supertrees were lighted up too!

Oh, I love the Flower Dome at the Gardens by the Bay!  I imagine Gardens by the Bay, when officially opened in June 2012, will further boost the name of Singapore as a Garden City, and become another major attraction of the country. It will also be a lovely place for family outing, especially flowers and gardens lovers.

MY FIRST MUFFINS

What a nice way to enjoy a quiet and seemingly gloomy (due to the weather) afternoon – A cup of beautiful English rose tea (present from my dear friend in Malaysia) and self-baked muffins!

This was my first attempt on muffins and being one who loves bananas, banana muffins became my obvious choice today.  And thanks to JoyofBaking.com website for the recipe.

I had chosen the banana with white chocolate muffin recipe with slight modifications made – instead of white chocolate chips/chunks, I used cinnamon powder, and I did away with the vanilla extract.  They still turned out good – DS had three in one go and I like the fact that they are not too sweet (perhaps due to the reason that I did not use chocolate chips?).

The wet ingredients – mashed bananas, melted unsalted butter and lightly beaten eggs

Well mixed dry ingredients in a big bowl (for ease of mixing with wet ingredient) – plain flour, granulated sugar, fine brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon powder.

All ready to go into the pre-heated oven but I could only do one tray at a time because of the size of my oven

It is always a thrill to watch the progress of baking

And finally, the satisfaction when all turned out beautifully!

Surely there is no way we are going to finish all the 12 muffins in a day.  So, more muffins the next two days!