教师节快乐 Happy Teacher's Day

明日是星加坡的教师节,当然老师们应放假一天,今曰全部学校都有庆祝活动,最开心的应该是不用上课的学生吧! Britney每年都会送上一份小小心意给她敬仰的老师们,今年决定送上家制的合桃曲奇,希望老师们笑纳!

Tomorrow is Teacher's Day! It has always been a tradition that celebrations are held on Thursday and school holiday on Friday itself. That translates to two days of no lessons, yippee to all the students. Hey, it is hardwork to be a teacher; to nurture the future pillars of our society, three cheers to all teachers.

Britney had decided last week that she will give homemade cookies to her teachers as a token of appreciation. After a few trial runs, she has decided on these walnut cookies which are low in sugar, healthy and taste great :)!

Salutation to every teacher who has taught Britney and Nicky, your care and concern is much appreciated by every one of us in the Tan family ....

消暑佳品 Ice Cream Cake

昨曰跟喵喵,蓝雨和樽樽谈起有什么蛋糕易做又好食,忽然想起在Kraftsfood网页教做夏天甜品,深深被一个雪糕蛋糕所吸引. 唔理肥不肥,整了最多唔食,囝囡一定捧场!

In Singapore, it is hot hot hot round the year. Just talking to Yoyo, Bottle n Mui yesterday on summer cakes and suddenly remember what I saw on Kraftsfood website of this ice cream cake. Just the thought and sight of it refreshes me, of course must make one immediately!

遥远的祝福 Happy Birthday Childlam

在猫网识认了两个很可愛的小女孩,年纪细细就懂得做蛋糕,叻女.真巧两个也是在八,九月生曰添.
今日先是Childlam的生日,祝她永远快乐,学业猛进!

Today is Childlam's birthday, she is one of the two "youthful" friends I have met through Leisure cat. Amazing at such tender age, she can make such nice bread and lovely cakes. Even though I can't send her this cake, hope she likes it as it is made in her honour. It is a Kahlua cream with NY Cheesecake and Brownie!

Happy Birthday, Childlam! GOD BLESS YOU!

久违的鱼子 Fish Roe

曾几何时见过这几大的一片鱼子,记起以前外公在澳门鱼店一定拿几片yip咸给我回香港吃,很喜欢它的口感,好像很多波波在咀中,被我咬破...又三十多年了...

很多年没吃了,回味无穷,另配咖哩鸡,红烧豆腐及鱼头汤,成了昨晚的晚餐!

Have not eaten fish roe for donkey years, who can afford the cholesterol? I remember when I was very young, my grandfather used to own fish trawlers in Macau, so whenever we go back to visit him, he will make sure we have the best and freshest seafood. One of the things he will make us bring back home is salted fish roe, I used to slice it thin and just enjoyed the little eggs bursting in my mouth. How time flies, that would be at least 30+ years ago!

新发现 New Discovery

昨曰一早去买菜,在一间超市竟然有活的竹蚌卖,在海鲜酒家就见得多,但超市居然也有,快快买回来用蒜蓉蒸五分钟,又鲜又甜,正呀! 虽然与西式晚餐一定都不合,但无所谓,人人都吃到笑呵呵!

Live Bamboo Clams I have seen a lot in all the seafood restaurants around town, but can you believe I saw them at Sing Siong Supermarket yesterday? LIVE, SWIMMING ones... wow, incredible considering how expensive they are in Seafood Restaurants. Hubby loves anything live, so he insisted that we buy back some to try even though we were having Western food for dinner.

Great decision, everyone loves this dish as I steamed them for 5 minutes with lots of minced garlic. Au naturelle! Yummmm...

一口搅掂曲奇饼 Bite size cookies

Britney needs a bunch of cookies to give to her teachers for Teacher's Day....and she wants it nice and fast. Trying out recipes and from all the experts opinions, Popo's cookies are the best. So voila!

五彩缤纷的纽约芝芝 Colourful New York

用Popo及咕噜寄来的七彩粉粉来装饰我平平无奇的芝士蛋糕,身份立刻升级几倍,谢谢你们!

菇菇洋葱牛排来配纽约,以西配西. 所以唔敢映那碗人参鸡汤,怕俾人笑甩棚牙!



Don't they just look like fireworks??? I mean the decoration on top of the cheesecake, I think they are just LOVELY, don't you? They were sent by Popo and Louisa, all the way from HK, muack muack!

To go with the dessert, tonight I served Ribeye steak with mushroom & onion sauce... I am not going to tell you what I served as soup, you will laugh your heads off!

木糠蛋糕 Macanese Pudding Cake

今朝一早送完Britney返学,就赶回家做今晚的甜品...

自从在澳门食过正宗的木糠布丁后,回来念念不忘,今日就整俾家人吃吧! 当然晚餐也要配西餐,不然唔三唔四,成何体统! 鱼柳配薯条,可以吧!


This morning made this Macanese Pudding cake for tonight's dessert. Ever since I tasted the real thing in Macau, have always wanted to make it for my children who didn't go to Macau with me. When i bought the pudding for my colleagues to try in Macau, they all loved it so much, really yummy!

To complement this Portuguese dessert, made Fish & Chips for dinner! Can't say I didn't put enough thought to it!

香蕉鬆餅大制作 Banana Muffins anyone?

老公说很喜欢食我做的香蕉鬆餅,今曰放工后立刻开工,要做双份添,因囡囡要拿六个回校跟同学分享,忙忙忙...

Seldom my hubby will ask for anything specific to eat, and he has mentioned how much he likes to have my banana muffin for his breakfast. Finally, today after work, no matter how tired I was, still roll up my sleeves and made a double batch of banana muffins; some for my hubby and most for Britney to bring to school to share with her friends. That actually is a greater compliment than my hubby's... heeee...

肉丝炒面伴鱼汤 Fried noodle with fish soup

又是星期一,整个weekend唔系整批就是煮蟹,今日就吃清一点的鱼汤及炒面,加了很多菜芯及红萝白添!

Monday dinner is always a headache! After cooking n baking for the whole weekend, the kids sure want something different for dinner tonight. With that, a simple fried noodle with fish borscht soup will suffice!

薄饼比萨 Pizza

这是星期六晚餐的一部份,用饼干塔派的食谱做的.

原本分量:
高筋面粉250g,糖3g,牛油7.5g,牛奶125g
我要做大pizza,所以双份,但再加85g牛奶才可. 本以为会很硬,因没有用酵母,但又不会,可能是牛奶吧!

This pizza was part of Saturday's dinner, using the same cookbook that Blue Rain sent me. I used double portion as I wanted to make a big one; but I added another 85g of milk to make the dough. The result was better than I thought, a bit doughy but not as hard as I expected it as the recipe didn't call for yeast. Oh well, Britney, Bryan and Nicky enjoyed it, so no complaints there except could have put in more sausages according to Nicky ;)

开饭啦 Dinner is served

成个下午都在整批批批,不如连晚餐都食批吧,这个是蘑菇烧鸡批,顺便整个比萨,也是跟蓝雨那本食谱做的,没有用酵母,以为会好硬,但又唔会,一定是那些牛奶...

How do you like our dinner? Since I have been making chicken pies whole afternoon, might as well make a big one for dinner. For this pie, I used roast chicken and mushrooms as filling and used the lattice pattern for the top. Besides the pie, followed the pizza recipe from Blue Rain's recipe book and made this sausage and mushroom pizza.

鸡批到 Chicken Pie

蓝雨,你睇下这些鸡批得唔得呀? 师傅Ter,你话pass 唔pass 呀? 似唔似呀?

Blue Rain has been asking me to try making pie, pie, and more pie; and of all things she sent me that great recipe book on tarts and pies as you saw earlier. Of course, not to disappoint her, must go and grab the pie mold from the store and bake bake bake... Followed Ter's recipe and here they are, what do you think?

Nicky的晚餐 Nicky's Dinner

昨晚Britney 说要吃粥做晚餐,但是我知Nicky一定投诉,因他不大喜欢明火白粥,无辨法,祗好另做一碟豉油鸡脾河粉给他好了.

Britney special requested to have porridge for dinner tonight, but that is definitely not Nicky's cup of tea. In order to make both of them happy, take a soy sauce chicken drumstick and put together with some hor fun for Nick's dinner. Even I won't complain about that, will you?

睇下我收到什么 Look what I got

开心开心,开心的我!

唔怪得蓝雨这两天问我有无tart模啦! 鬼马又细心的蓝雨寄了这本饼干塔派食谱给我! Yeah yeah yeah! 感激,多谢,吖呀,你知我想讲什么哪!

Look at what Blue Rain sent me all the way from Macau???? YES, a recipe book on pies and tarts, as well as pizza.... how sweet of her... I really really really appreciate it and LOVE IT. I am going to try it this weekend. Now is to go and get the pie mold, the detachable pie mold as she instructed.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH, Blue Rain !!!

米奇米奇 Mickey Mouse Mouse

表弟从香港来开会,成年半没见,很开心地一路谈话家常,一路食印度咖哩鱼头.
他也带来香港迪士尼的米奇老鼠,好得意呀.谢谢Ricky!

Cousin Ricky came to Singapore for a two days seminar, and this is his first trip here; so must bring him out to eat something that HK doesn't have. That really is quite a problem as HK has all types of cuisine and they taste better too. Fortunately, Ricky likes curry and Indian Curry Fish Head is one of the must try items in Singapore. Little India here we come!
For 5 of us, I ordered curry fish head, chicken masala, mutton briyani, murtabak, masala thosai,onion prata, mee goreng and wash it all down with masala tea/ginger tea. Needless to say, we couldn't finish all the food but the variety was great.

Look at what Ricky brought for us from HK, isn't Mickey the cutest mouse you ever see on earth?

海鲜拉面 Seafood Ramen

本来全家被邀请到朋友家食饭,但囡囡有很多功课未做完,最后决定不去,留在家读书做功课,没辨法,立刻煮碗拉面给她做晚餐,加了鱼,尤鱼,金针菇和西生菜,搞掂!

The whole family was invited out for dinner, but suddenly Britney realized she just had too much homework and couldn't go. How about her dinner? Just throw whatever there is in the fridge and whip up a bowl of her favorite Korean ramen with seafood and vegetables. Should be quite a balanced meal, at least she enjoyed it!

心心の蜜语 Chocolate Truffles

请睇下那些可愛的心心,是Popo从香港寄来给我的...用这个浓浓的朱古力蛋糕来配搭,隆重个绍我愛你的心心.... 心心の蜜语 !

Besides Nicky & Bryan, another chocolate fan is Popo; this truffle cake is specially made for Popo's HEARTS, yes, the hearts on top of the cake. Can't see them very well because of the cocoa powder, but whenever I think of her I think of truffles; so it just can't be helped. Popo sent them to me from Hong Kong; and besides that, lots of other lovely colour sugar too; but that is another story!

Thanks Popo, don't they look lovely?

小可愛 Hannah

Hannah 是个六岁小妹妹,我好友的女儿,她同我在同一日生曰.自从去年做过一次益力多西米蛋糕给她吃后,次次见到我就会告诉我她喜欢吃...那么的捧场,当然要识做哟,特别做一个给她,多谢她欣赏!

Little Hannah shares my same birthdate, something that I always treasure; another special asset of hers is her very sweet nature. Last week when she saw me, she said,"Aunty Sophie, I love your Yakult Cake." Hmmm, that was one of the first cakes I have ever made since I started my cake journey and I haven't done it for months. But she insisted that she likes my yakult cake and yakult cake only. Well, in that case, must make one JUST FOR HER. Decorated with her favorite little silver balls in her favorite pink colour, she showed her approval by finishing her big serving in record time.

Muack Muack, Hannah!

蛋糕装饰的一课 Cake decoration

一路都想学多一些蛋糕装饰的技考,但这里很少人开班,有也太懒去,从cheerfulkiki的网页,看到她上decoration班,又花又花篮,很美...试下她花篮的weaving,勉强可以.最驚奇是Britney看到,要试做,竟然立刻上手,你们看看她的成品!

What do you think of this cake decoration? It has always been my dream to make BEAUTIFUL decorations on my no fuss cakes, but with the hot weather here and other obstacles, always a problem. From Cheerfulkiki, saw the method of making weaved basket, something I have always wondered how to do. With the attitude of "never try, never know", try my hands at it in the aircon room.

When Britney saw what I was doing, she just took over and completed the cake decoration. Amazing, I just did about few rows of the basket and 80% was done by her, and she did the top too. Wow, blow me down, not bad if I may say so myself.

Well-done, Britney!!!

恭喜你! Congratulations Bryan for passing your O level Chinese

感谢主,Bryan的O水准中文合格!真的放下心头大石,可专心攻其他七科的考试,加油Bryan,我们永远支持你,为你祷告,努力,奋斗!
What a relief it is to hear Bryan has passed his Chinese O level...something SO many of us worldwide has been praying for and thank God for answering our prayers.


太开心,煮一餐海鲜宴慰劳各老师 (老公和Britney)及考试的Bryan;再加一个假Oreo Cookie蛋糕添! 我太喜欢布朗尼和芝士蛋糕,这个就是两全其味的方法!

In honour of such happy occasion, had a seafood dinner! First of all, I cooked: clockwise from front, Tendy's save green Sharkfin Soup, Chilli Crab, Crab Vermicelli, Spinach with mushrooms, and braised Tofu.

开估了 And the answer IS.....

昨天贴出南瓜的照片，是盖住的，结果妹妹和Winniepooh立刻质问它的内心秘密，哈哈，答应在下一个post开谜，tata, 只不过是泰国绿咖喱吧了！用金瓜来做雕刻真好好玩，更可利用外壳来做食物容器，颇精致吧！

Disappointed?It is only green curry inside the pumpkin...cehhh...and you thought it was something grand??? Heee, actually I needed the pumpkin pulp to make the prawn dish and remembered someone used the pumpkin shell to hold beef stew which looked beautiful. So I tried my hand at carving the pumpkin, and make it a rehearsal for this year's Halloween Jack O lantern! Not too bad, right?

Thai Green Curry with Chicken
Ingredients:

chicken fillet 500 g, diced
green curry paste 3 big tbsp
onion 2, minced small
Thai brinjal 200 g
coconut milk 125g
rock sugar 3 big cubes, to taste
lemon grass 3 stalks, bruised
basil 5 stalks

Method:
1. Season chicken with soya sauce, sugar, sesame seed oil and pepper.
2. Fry the green curry paste with oil till fragrance, add in onion and fry for awhile. Add in rock sugar, lemon grass and fry till smells nice; if too dry can add a bit of water.
3. Add in chicken and cook till almost done, then add in brinjal.
4. Add in basil leaves and coconut milk and adjust seasoning to your taste.

Notes:
1. The spiciness of this curry depends on the brand of green curry, so adjust the amount yourself.
2. Paste tends to be very salty so quite a bit of rock sugar might be needed, taste test.
3. You can replace coconut milk with milk or evaporated milk, of course it won't be as nice.

用新玩具整饼 :) Happy Birthday Aunty Yai

昨曰是国庆,放了一曰假,也是好友妈咪的寿辰,当然抓紧机会试那个四方模,做一个生日蛋糕做派对的拌手礼.

难得与国家分享同一曰乞曰,就决定做个国旗做形的Cranberry Mousse Cake, 因想要红色做旗身,可惜白色星星和月亮不显眼,唔紧要,见到所有小孩说喜欢吃就开心满足了!

再一次祝伯母寿比南山,主保守你每一个步伐!

Yesterday was my friend Cindy's mom's birthday, how nice, she shares the same birthday as Singapore. Not many people can say everyone in Singapore gets a holiday with firework on her birthday bor!!!

Great opportunity to use the square mold that Louisa sent to me all the way from Hong Kong, and appropriately TRIED to make a Singapore flag cake, but the decoration was totally disappointing because the cranberries that I used didn't give the red tint that I wanted. Oh well, fortunately the taste compensated the look, so at least that is a little consolation!

金子满国笑哈哈 Golden Nuggets

今日是新加坡国庆，四十一周年纪念，很热闹！昨晚特别设计这个新菜式，来庆祝新加坡的生日！

Happy Birthday, SINGAPORE!! Singapore has been my home for the past 21 years, the longest period of time I have stayed in any of the four countries I have spent my entire life in. Thank God for her stability, her freedom of religion and her security!

GODBLESSYOU, SINGAPORE！！！

In her honor, I have created this dish to commemorate the occasion, guess what exactly is it? The clue is in the picture itself!

古铜色的纽约美女 Brown NY Cheesecake a la Popo

美女的肤色应该是美白或是古铜色呢？真是见仁见智，各有所好。纽约芝士蛋糕也有同一问题，我发觉香港的是棕色，但美国的是浅黄色的。不管应该是怎样，我就做不出棕色的出来。宝宝有见於此，就寄来枫糖，一定有色了，真利害和有心呀！ 第一时间交功课先,不然有枉Popo的诚意 :)

Last week, Popo made me promised her NOT to make any more cheesecake till the TIME has arrived, what time? Time that her love parcel arrives from Hong Kong. That was so nice of her to send me all those goodies which you saw in the earlier post.

I asked my maid to look out for the postman and call me in office once it arrives; why? So I can rush home to make my first brown NY cheesecake. The call came at 3pm yesterday, and at 5 on the dot, rushed out of the office and went home to tear apart the love box and look at that magical ingredient. Oh, it is molasse cane sugar, how clever of Popo!

Haven't eaten it yet as it is chilling in the refrigerator, but it sure looks like the ones that all the Hong Kong Leisure Cat friends have been churning out with sourcream and all that. What do you think, everybody?

飞来的開心禮品包 Gifts from Popo & Louisa

快的来睇,睇下宝宝和咕嚕寄左很多鵝毛俾我呀! 唔系我叫这些爱心礼物做鵝毛，系宝宝讲的，傻猪猪，开心死我了！防潮糖粉, 看也未看过。那排巧克力糖，从没有看见过，听说蓝雨也很爱吃，希望孩子们不同我争吃！

那个唱歌（Opera) 的模子,是细心的咕嚕知道我不知它的真面目，干脆买一个给这个大乡理！

谢谢你，宝宝和咕嚕, 我好中意所有的鵝毛， 哈哈！

Look at all the lovely things Popo and Louisa sent me from Hong Kong! Every item has a story behind it , I think I better start with chapter 1 TOMORROW !!!

Thanks Popo and Louisa, I love the gifts very much, muack muack!

海鲜批 Seafood Pie

昨晚和老公去朋友家吃饭,忽忙中做一个海鲜批给孩子们做晚餐. 连批皮都成n年未做过,好彩找到芙芙三文鱼批的食谱,快快赶工！

Due to a dinner appointment at Cindy's, has to fix up a quick dinner for the kids. They always want to try something new, so thought of making an easy seafood pie for them. I did not even get to see the final product till I got home from dinner, so this is a piece of leftover.

就用这刚做起的榴梿蛋糕做手信，饭後一试，真的很好味，吃得皆大欢喜！

Must thank my courageous friends who dared to try my first durian cake; even I don't know what to expect. The moment of truth comes and fortunately they all liked it. Did not bring a camera so can't see the inside, but it is two layers of durian puree with sponge cake in between and topped with cream. Quite easy to make!

青春常驻, 友谊永固 Happy Birthday Serene

不知不觉又十六年,记得第一曰上班,在电梯口有一个靓女看着我,我微笑回礼,又巧的是去同一层楼,去到人事部又再撞见她,这次她开口问我是谁和做什么的.想起都好笑,十六年的友谊就从那天开始.到现在,做不同的公司,但是做了我的粼居,曰曰她的车都经过我门口,这不是缘份吗?

Every year, Serene and I will remember each other's birthday and hers is tomorrow. Knowing her love for durians, made this durian cake for her, praying hard that it turns out ok. First time that I try to make durian cream cake, spent almost an hour to get the flesh out from 12 durians to make the durian mousse. It smells very fragrant, hope it tastes as good as it smells.

16 years has gone by so fast, and that is the number of years I have known Serene since the first day of work at Phillips. What a great gal, our eyes met at the downstairs lift lobby and didn't even know that we would become colleagues and then good friends; now we are neighbors. Incredible!

Happy Birthday Serene, may all your wishes come true and GOD BLESS YOU !

酱油鸡+炒拉面 Soya Sauce Chicken & Yaki Ramen

酱油鸡是，哈哈，我另一个最爱。认识我的朋友们也知道我很多不同的最爱，不要见笑！话说回来，又极其美味可口！！

When I was in the University, soya sauce chicken is one of the most frequent dishes I cooked. Why? Because with that one pot of sauce, can use for many MONTHS if kept well. For a busy student, that is one of the best asset besides it being tasty.


炒拉面，又容易煮又好吃。加入很多蔬菜，又是丰富晚餐的一分子。

Didn't feel like having rice with the soya sauce chicken, just do a simple yaki ramen with vege so can skip making a vegetable dish too. Shortcut shortcut, heee....

吉列鱼柳 Fish Cutlet

不要说我的囝囝喜欢吃各样炸的食物,其实我也一样. 真的香口又不油!

To lessen my guilt over the fried fish cutlet, have an extra big serving of coleslaw to balance up the meal; it goes well with the sphagetti too or mashed potatoes will be fine as well.

白汁海鲜焗饭 Baked Seafood Rice

今晚又是读书夜，赶快从公司回家煮孩子们的晚餐。很久没有吃这焗饭，幸好家人也喜欢，你呢？

As you can probably tell by now, I have MANY favorite food. As one of my friends commented, just tell me WHAT you don't like, it will be much easier... Heee... that is true, I am just NOT fussy, that's ALL！！！！

海南鸡饭 Hainanese Chicken Rice

开饭了,今天试一下在海南岛食唔到的海南鸡饭,就好似只有在香港才有得食的星洲炒米一样.加一份令人莫明其妙的感觉... 不管它,最重要是好食!

Hainanese Chicken Rice, something that you won't be able to find in Hainan Island, China, itself. Everyone who comes to Singapore will definitely eat this dish, and must say that it is very good and fragrant. Don't under-estimate that dish of chilli sauce, the x factor can well be in that little dish.

叫得做鸡饭,只鸡就是最重要的主 角吧.我用走地鸡来煮,因喜欢它较多的鸡味,又有较多的口感,最重要是以较少脂肪,食多两件都不怕...信不信就由你了!

Of course the most important part of this ensemble should be the chicken itself. Most of the restaurant will use 2kg big chicken as they will be more tender, but I prefer to use Kampong chicken because of its leanness and its bite; not to say about its nutritional value and better taste. I always feel that when it comes to healthy eating, some sacrifices must be made.

饭是当然少不了的,贴士是在煮饭的配料上,比煮鸡更多工夫,要加香矛,蒜头，姜，班兰叶和鸡汤来煮，少一不可。
How to complete the dish without its fragrant rice? The trick is actually in the loads of garlic, ginger, lemon grass and pandan leaves that is used when you cook the rice with chicken stock. I skip frying the rice with chicken fat as it goes against my principal of healthy lifestyle. It tastes just as good and in fact less oily is more palatable to me.

海南鸡

一只 走地鸡,大约斤半重
二片 老姜

1. 煮滚一大窝水,水要盖过鸡
2. 放入老姜及一小匙盐
3. 放入清洗好的鸡
4. 让水煮滚, 转细火煮十分钟
5. 盖要盖紧,关火
6. 让鸡留在内一小时
7. 斩件, 淋上小小麻油及蒸鱼豉油(随意)
8.放上青葱丝

花园的一角：番鬼荔枝 Custard Apple

In my tiny backyard, there are a few fruit trees for the purpose of providing shades. One of the trees we planted when we moved in is this custard apple plant, one of my childhood favorite fruits.

你们参观一下我的后院！几年前，爸b我爱你用一粒番鬼荔枝种子栽种这棵果树。猜不到它很茂盛，又容易处理！




Surprisingly, the harvest is quite bountiful; the plant flowers all year round and fruits also quite a lot. When it gets to be certain size, my maid will use plastic bags to wrap them till ready to pick so to avoid birds eating them.

果实累累，非常意想不到！






See how nice the flesh is, and very very sweet too!

好甜的，也是有机肥料栽种出来，非常好味道!