23May07 Surprise

Had a midnight surprise from my hubby who came back late (now tat I think abt it, he must have purposely come back late, if not I will uncover his "surprise"..hehe)..

1) 12midnite - Presenting a beautiful gerbera packaged in a cool orange box, an Elmo pastry and a card ...note that all the colours match and all my fave colours some more! wah..not bad huh..

2) Close up of Elmo pastry - Itz actually made of marshmallows and placed on top of 2 cookies. Cute!!3) My presents!! :)

Had a great bday lunch at the Bluewater Grill (Perth)..Its a restaurant recommended by a friend who said that this used to be a mental hospital converted into a restaurant. I am so glad I chose my Bday to eat here..Its such a nice peaceful restaurant with a great view!

The food is fantastic...we did not eat a lot though as we had a heavy breakfast....For some reason, I forgot to take pics of the restaurant..sigh..

1) Beer battered Fish and Chips.....this one wins all the fish and chips I have eaten in Perth so far! The crunchy batter combined with the succulent fish is sooo good.*yumz* It comes with fries that is fantastico(I am a fries person so I can judge them realli well) and a garlic cream sauce that is light and tasty.2) Seafood Wood Fire Pizza......the fresh seafood marinated in herbs and chilli baked on the thin and crispy base is great! 3) After lunch, we went to Corica, which is a famous Apple Strudel shop in Perth to buy my bday cake. In Singapore, we have similar ones (Renaldo and Ritz Apple Strudel). The pastry is sooooo nice...must be the quality of the milk here...the cream and custard has a much creamier taste than the ones in Singapore. * drools*

Now I can officially scream....I AM NO LONGER IN MY LATE LATE TWENTIES!! AARGH..:<

Surprise!!

A surprise package arrived for me this morn..bright and early! Here are the pics....thanks to my lovely lil' sis who made the effort and to all my dear family who are far far away for sending my gift one day earlier.....errr are u trying to remind a certain person in case "he" forgets? Wat a brilliant move lil sis!!! * sneaky laugh*

1) Hmmm...how come I get a package in a box that is labelled "Baba's Curry Powder"? Isn't that the brand of curry my MIL uses?!
2) AHHH....here's a cute bear holding bouquet of pink and purple flowers (my fave) trapped in the box! cute huh..like a prisoner..hehehe..3) Here's the card that came w the flowers.....a nice bday wish from my dear family.....whoops Addey and Raven...they spelt your name wrongly. I noticed the florist shops here are different in SG. If u order a bouquet of flowers in SG, the person who receives it will get a computer typed card unlike a hand-written one here in Perth....makes it seem as if the sender actualli sent the card personally doesn't it?

4) Me with my "just woke up but happy face" posing with the bear...its as soft as "ba hu"..I like!5) The Bear's new place......my side table!

Apple Pie Muffins

I have a truckload of apples that was given by some kind souls who bought too much...nah a tuckload sounds too much heh..itz just A LOT of apples for 2 persons. Well, I have been faithfully trying to keep my doctor away by eating apples..but can't seem to finish them! As usual, I try to think of ways to put them into my meals....

I was asked to attempt to make Apple Pie, Apple Crumble, Apple Turnover...but those are boring rite?! I decided to make apple pie filling and put it into my muffins instead! It turned out GREAT! The stewed apples tasted just right...not too sweet...yum yum...will definitely make it again.

Home cooked goodness..

Some home cooked food I made (those that I rememberd to take a photo!)..

1) Home made fluffy pancakes..almost can rival Macs Hotcakes!
2)Mini Chicken Pies ..using a muffin tray to bake! Ingenious idea huh..heh. This time round, the chicken pies are successful and tasted great. Feedback from "testers" were it tastes better than Jesters Pies (famous pie shop in Perth). "grin grin*

3) Chicken Pie Foldover (using the left over filo pastry from the above pies, I pieces them together and tried to form an acceptable shape)..not that bad an effort huh..tasted great too! 4) Laksa Delight! ..made this laksa using a pre-mix of course...a touch of local delight for my hubby..
5) Honey Snaps ... made these using a Donna Hay (famous Australian food stylist) recipe. Alas...tho it looked fantastic, I found it to be realli difficult to eat! meaning, once the honey hardens, its like biting a rock! not joking..onli way to eat it is to heat it up. Not too sure if I did it correctly but the cookies are turned out a lovely brown colour, smelled great but tasted BLAH....will not make these again!
6) Apple Ham Salad ...using crunchy Granny Smith apples, ham, lettuce, hard boiled eggs, I concocted my own dressing using vinaigrette, mayo and sour cream (all low fat of course!). Tasted delicious!

7) Garlic Bread ...buttery warm garlicky bread....yum!
8) Minestrone Soup .... wanted to make a healthy soup filled w Veg so decided to make this soup to complement the garlic bread.
9) Burritos.....discoverd tortillas was something both my hubby and I liked so I decided to see the different ways I can make diff dishes/fillings with it. Wen warmed in the oven, with melted cheese..the tortillas are fantastic!
10) Lamb Ragout - had lamb leftover from a BBQ so decided to make a ragout (similar to a stew)...yummilicious!

Sour Cream Butter Cake

I bought a tub of sour cream for baked potatoes, a dip for french fries and for my tortilla chips (yum!). I was clearing stuff from the fridge and noted that the expiry was nearing..aargh!Why do I always buy such a large tub?! It was a cool coincidence that I came across a recipe for a Sour Cream Butter Cake. I was a little apprehensive but decided to try it..so that I can use up the sour cream asap. heheh..I also halfed the recipe , just in case it wasted weird. I altered the recipe and put dark chocolate in the cake similar to a marble cake. Hmmm.. sour cream in a cake..interesting...


I started off putting the batter in cupcakes then I realised how tiring it was swirling the melted dark chocolate into each tiny butter cake mixture..it was even worse as I was using mini cupcake liners! Being a teeny wenny lazy, I decided to pour the rest of the mixture into a loaf tin.


Here are my pics- Surprisingly, the cake tasted smooth and buttery. The dark chocolate I used was a great contrast. Too bad I halfed the recipe ...now my hubby is asking me to make it again!! *grin*

Raisin Cookies

Cookie request from Cookie Monsters to make more cookies!

I decided to try another recipe (what's new!) and alter it a little..the original recipe asked for walnuts and choc chips but I added raisins and choc chips instead. I am not sure how this affected the recipe as mine did not look like the picture shown in the original recipe.Well, I gather it may be the raisins but thank goodness it still tasted great..as reported by the cookie monsters!

Carrot Cake..ang moh style

I love Carrot Cake..both the western and eastern type. Going to Dimsum to eat the steamed radish cake or having tea in a cafe eating Carrot Cake just lights up my day. *drools* Doesn't take much to make me happi eh? well, lest you tink that all I tink is FOOD .. the reason why I am attempting to make this cake is becos there is a sale at Coles! The Carrot Cake mix is half price! * whoops u can see my 'aunty' signals going off*

This is one of the mega supermarkets similar to Carrefour in Singapore. The two other huge supermarts in Perth are Woolworths and IGA. It's soo fun to walk around and see the aisles of food...I know I am not the only girl who loves going to supermarkets to window shop the food items..but at least I am brave enuff to admit it! :) hahaha..

Well this is one of those "cheater" cakes where I use the cake mix. I decided to alter the cake a little by adding walnuts, raisins, choc buttons and grated apples. I did not make the icing on the top as I was not too keen on it. The cake turned out ok...The grated apples and raisins made the Carrot Cake moist and overall the taste is good...but not to the standard of Cedelepot(cafe in Singapore) yet...I guess I must make the recipe from scratch to see if there is a difference. But I must say using a cake mix is such a breeze...esp on the washing!

Here are my pix of the Carrot Cake:

Going Bananas over Fried Bananas

It's a banana experiment again. Went to Fremantle Market and bought a cheap pack of bananas which are ripening. My housemate has a craving for the malay snack Jemput-jemput Pisang (Fried Banana Balls) so we decided to try it out. It was surprisingly easy to make as the ingredients just required plain flour, baking powder and sugar. I also added Vanilla essence for the added taste. It was not easy making the "spherical" ball shape so the first few looked weird. Its a great recipe ..the only bad thing is the wastage of oil...but will definitely make it again! :)

Vanilla Choc Chip Muffins

I am on the prowl for more muffin recipes. It is difficult when you only have that amount of ingredients and you have to make different stuff. I guess u just need to be a little more creative and patient in surfing for ideas.

I chanced upon a food blogger who has made Vanilla Choc Chip Muffins. The method of making the muffin is different from the way I always make mine. It is similar to making scones where you have to crumble the butter into the flour.

I decided to take the risk ..Risk becos if it is done wrongly, I may have to discard all the muffins. I am quite a perfectionist and will not hesitate to throw away if the recipe turned out weird so u can imagine how much $$ I have wasted!It is also becos I do not have any basics in baking so some terms used by these bakers are a little foreign to me. Well, I have discussed with my hubby and decided that I will take baking classes to improve what I know and learn new stuff. Hey it's a long term investment..I cant keep throwing away food rite..hehe..

The Vanilla Choc Chip Muffins turned out great! As I ran out of muffin liners, I improvised and cut squares of baking paper and stuffed it into the muffin pans. Quite an effort cos the paper kept popping out but it works! The vanilla taste of the muffin is not too strong ..i guess itz the low quality of my vanilla essence! hehe..no choice...on a budget leh..But the muffins were moist and crumbly..my choc chips melted beautifully inside. Another great recipe discovered..yeah..*grin grin*.

Ingredients:

300 gm. self-raising flour

1 tsp. baking powder

50 gm. butter

80 gm. caster sugar

150 gm. chocolate chips

2 eggs - lightly beaten

230 ml. milk

1 tsp. vanilla essence

Method:(1) Mix the flour, baking powder and sugar into a large mixing bowl.(2) Add in butter and rub until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in chocolate chips.(3) In another bowl, mix together the eggs, milk and vanilla essence and then pour into the flour mixture. Mix briefly until just combined.(4) Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups, dividing equally. Yield about 12 to 13 nos. of muffins.(5) Bake at 200C for about 20 mins. or until well risen, golden and firm to the touch. Cool in the tin for 5 mins. then turn out onto a wire-rack.

Cornflake Cookies

I am one person who can have Muesli, Coco Pops, Corn Pops, Cornflakes or Nutrigrains for breakfast everyday! It is best eaten with cold milk and topped with raisins or fruits. I can even eat these with yogurt instead of milk. Gross rite? My hubby says I am a real "ang-moh"(westernised) wen it comes to my brekky (breakfast slang in Australia). I couldn't imagine how ppl can eat noodles or fried stuff for breakfast (unless it is Mac's hash browns!) for breakfast until I met my hubby. That's why I am so happie to be here in Perth...the milk here tastes fantastic! Dunno how to explain..it just has this creamy, milky taste that is just yummy to the max! I drink the low fat version of the milk and the same type of milk in Singapore just tastes bland. I just read somewhere that drinking milk won't make you fat and instead prevents osteoporosis in women...so drink up y'all! moooo....

As I have a ready stash of cornflakes and came across a cornflake cookie recipe in the web, I decided to try my hand at it. In Singapore, we normally eat cornflake cookies during Chinese New Year. It is like a staple you will see at most pple's houses...together with pineapple tarts and BBQ pork.

Here is my effort at it...feedback is that it is really good. How do I know? My 2 housemates finished all my cookies really fast and asked me to bake more! hehe...My hubby did not eat too much of it cos he felt it tasted too "healthy" and he prefers chocolatey ones. The cornflake cookie turned out crunchy and crumbly...and not too sweet too. It is great that there are more cookie monsters around me..so I can experiment with more stuff!

Ingredients:

110g butter (room temperature)

50g - 60g castor sugar

less than 1/4 tsp salt

1 egg yolk

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1 - 1.5 tsp orange zest

150g cake flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp baking soda

50g cornflakes

Raisins or cherries for garnish (optional)

Method:1. Sieve flour together with baking powder and baking soda.2. Cream butter with sugar and salt till creamy.3. Add in the egg yolk and vanilla esssence and cream till well combined.4. Stir in the orange zest.5. Fold in the sieved flour mixture and cornflakes. Mix till you get a soft dough.6. Divide dough into equal pieces of about 12g each, shape into flat rounds.7. You can stick a raisin into the middle of the cookie before baking. (This step is optional).8. Bake at 175C for 18 - 20 minutes or till golden brown.