seafood stew in pumpkin

I learned this 'Seafood stew in a pumpkin' dish from a Korean cooking show recently. It is like serving seafood stew in a steamed pumpkin instead of a serving plate.

BM milk loaf

Ever since I received a preloved Zojirushi bread machine, I have been baking homemade bread regularly. The bread machine is very compact and as it doesn't take up too much space I have left it permanently at the corner of the kitchen counter. With it so visibly in sight, I am constantly reminded to bake a loaf of bread every other day.

Chinese style Mee Goreng

Pardon the less than satisfactory image quality in this post as the pictures were taken with my mobile phone. I have no plans to blog about this dish, but since it turned out really good, I thought I should capture my moment of glory and leave a trace in this humble blog ;)

mille feuille nabe

This is my first attempt at Mille Feuille Nabe, a Japanese hot pot that is made with layers of Chinese cabbage and pork belly slices.

table for one

Before I could even bake a batch of pineapple tarts, the Chinese lunar new year is already over!

This year, I was terribly late in preparing for the Chinese new year. I couldn't even complete my spring cleaning chores. Nevertheless, we didn't miss any of the family gatherings and feasting and were never short of any new year goodies.

我家的聚宝盆 Our Treasure Pot

I don't know what has got into me, but just a few days before the Chinese lunar new year, I decided that I should try cook Poon Choi this year. I am never a good cook and I wonder why I could step out of my comfort zone to prepare this challenging one pot dish.

BM wholemeal bread

I was given a preloved but almost brand new bread machine a few months ago. It came just in time, as my own bread machine refused to work right after the newcomer arrived, 一山不能容二虎 (literal translation: there can't be two tigers in one territory) ;)

This Zojirushi bread machine is very compact in size, much smaller than my China brand bread machine. It doesn't take up much space and doesn't stick out like a sore thumb on the kitchen counter, in fact it is slightly smaller than my rice cooker!

matcha yoghurt chiffon cupcakes

These matcha yoghurt chiffon cupcakes are put together with leftover egg whites from making some hollandaise sauce; the ever available low fat plain yoghurt in the fridge, plus a new can of matcha green tea powder.

After having tried the Plaster Blaster prata (prata served with ham, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce) at the Springleaf prata place, my elder son has been pestering me to try our hands at making our own hollandaise sauce. He even picked up this cookbook 'Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking by Michael Ruhlman' which I borrowed from the library to learn how to prepare the sauce. This is probably the very first cookbook he has read. I suspect the title must have caught his eyes when I left the book on the coffee table. You see, he likes or rather love mathematics, and of course he enjoys good food...it doesn't have to be an expensive gourmet dish as long as it tastes good or suits his delicate palate. I won't elaborate on our hollandaise sauce experiment here but he did manage to pull together his own version of plaster blaster prata with frozen pre-made prata, his newly acquired skill on poaching eggs with cling wraps, and the resulting not too bad (but still lacking something?) hollandaise sauce.

festive indulgence

Brownies are one of my family's all time favourite baked goods. They take very little time to prepare and are so simple that anyone can bake a batch with ease.

They are excellent homemade Christmas treats to giveaway to any chocolate fans.

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It's the time of the year again when I start to crave for holiday treats!

Here's my first Christmas bake, a batch of simple wholemeal banana cupcakes...easily prepared with just a few quick stir using a manual whisk and a spatula.

Korean Style Tofu Salad

This Korean style tofu salad is an easy side dish that I will put together whenever I have some leftover salad mix.

easy okonomiyaki お好み焼き

Okonomi-yaki (お好み焼き) is a Japanese savoury omelette or pancake like dish, which literally means "grill (yaki) what you like/want (okonomi)". As the name suggests, it is a very versatile dish that has many adaptations and various topping options. There are however two distinct types of okonomiyaki...the Kansai (or Osaka) style and the Hiroshima style.

Halloween Pumpkin Bread Buns

I made these pumpkins look-a-like pumpkin bread buns with pumpkin filling on a whim since we don't celebrate Halloween.

Burger with oven baked sweet potato croquettes

I was reading The Experimental Cook's latest post on archar when it hit on me that, in a few years time, we will soon be two old folks at home too (^_^!)

In fact, we are already living like two old folks, especially on a weekday during school terms. Whenever my better half is at home for lunch, I will put in some extra 'effort' to prepare a decent but quick meal...just like this burger, made with store bought wholemeal buns ;p
The extra work went into making some baked croquettes which I had meant to serve as a side for dinner that evening.

curry buns

I have been in a bread making frenzy lately. There's this something about bread making. If you ever take a break from making bread, you wouldn't want to bake any, but once you retrieve a tray of freshly made buns from your oven, you wouldn't want to stop at just one batch. It's so addictive that I keep wanting to make a fresh loaf of bread or a tray of buns everyday!

onigirazu

Just after I wrote about chigiri pan or pull apart bread buns in my previous post, I came to know about onigirazu, another (not too new) food trend in Japan.

I was at the local bookstore browsing the shelves of cookbooks when the text "不用捏饭团" on a book spine caught my attention. The Chinese text means rice ball or "onigiri" that is made without having to shape or squeeze.

pull apart sandwich buns

I can't remember how I stumbled upon this site, Japan Info, but I am glad I did as I got to learn about a new bread making craze in Japan. Since I am not into facebook or instagram, I am really very slow when it comes to following the latest food trend.

From a post on the 'Japan Info' site, I got to know about chigiri pan, chigiri refers to pull apart while pan refers to bread. Besides transforming the pull apart bread buns into adorable cartoon characters, chigiri pan can also be served as sandwich buns.

Easy Teriyaki Salmon

I seldom post recipes on home cook meals since I started this blog with the intention of sharing my baking experience. Furthermore, by the time I am done cooking, the lightning condition becomes unfavourable for me to take any any decent photos to share them here. Unlike baked goods, I can take my time or plan it in such a way that I could photograph them under natural lighting, I am not able to do so for cooked dishes.

Recently I started documenting my home cooked dishes with my mobile phone, mainly for my own reference or send them to my better half to show him what he missed out on when he was away ;)

I find it so much easier to take snap shots of the food with a phone camera as I can get it done within a couple of minutes before serving the meal. Some photos turn out not too bad, that is, if they are viewed on my phone ;) The images would appear grainy if displayed on a bigger, high resolution screen. Sometimes, the colour turn out a bit off. Nonetheless, I would still like to share my daily home cooked meals here whenever I am able to take a clear image of the dish and most importantly, when I get really excited with a delicious dish that is quick and easy to prepare.

Mango Salad, two ways

I have a few large mangoes which although taste sweet but they are not that juicy and the flesh is quite firm. Usually we prefer to eat mango on its own, but this time, I used some to make salad.

cafe food at home

I am guilty again for the long absence. I have no new posts as I have not been baking that often. Instead of baking, I find myself getting more interested in cooking.

Unlike baking, I do not always follow recipes to the t when it comes to day-to-day cooking. I tend to replace or substitute ingredients freely and I could get away with eyeballing the amount of ingredients or seasonings I put in the dish. As such, I find it difficult to share cooking recipes especially when I am not a good cook to begin with.