A Barrel of Wishes

It's the time of the year again...


To my child, being born at the end of the year has never been a good thing to him. He has to wait, and wait and wait for his birthday...it is an agony for him to watch the rest of his classmates celebrate their birthdays one after another.


To reward him for his patience, I wanted to bake a cake that would really make him feel that it is worth the long wait. I googled with the key words "cake", "chocolates", "candies"and "birthday". We were blown away by this particular image of a cake that is decorated with lots of M&Ms, and covered with sticks of Kit Kats! I was then left with the task of replicating this Candy Barrel cake.


Without any basic baking tools, I could only bake a cake out of a box. A cake mix would be good, but I read the instructions on the box, I would need to use an electric whisk or at least a manual one. I have none of these with me. So I bought a pack of Betty Crockers brownies mix...Supreme Hershey Walnuts Fudge Brownies instead, since all I need is just a spoon.


In order to get a more cake like texture, I followed the instruction, to use 3 eggs instead of 2. The end result was not too bad, it was quite close to a dark, dense chocolate cake.


This is an excellent cake for someone like me, who can't frost or pipe a cake properly. The candies covered up whatever flaws that I made along the way ^_^"

I baked the brownies in a big pan (it's actually a roasting pan!) and cut out two 5" rounds (yes, it is a very small cake), stacked them on top of one another, sandwiched with a layer of chocolate ganache. I then covered the entire surface with the remaining ganache and 'glued' the kit kat all around the sides. I didn't cover the top with heaps of candies as I think it would be just too much (I used 3 small packs). Instead, I filled up the barrel with lots of wishes for my little one.

Here's a tip: if I were to make this again, I would bake a tall sponge cake, so that it would come up almost to the rim of the kit kat barrel. In that way, I won't need to use lots of candies to create the impression that it is holding tonnes of M&Ms ;)


With a ribbon, a tag (which I brought all the way from home) and a numeric candle (guess how much I got this from Carrefour here?? It costs only one yuan, which is equivalent to S$0.20!!!), I thought I have made the most awesome looking birthday cake, ever! and, this is so fool-proof!

The birthday boy was thrilled when he saw the cake, he gave me a warm hug and a sweet kiss ;)


The cake tastes as good as it looks...chocolaty, rich and dense, perfect for any chocolate and candies lovers.

Quick Fix Meals - Simple and yet Delicious

There are not many eating places within close proximity to this apartment that we are staying here in Beijing. Even though there are a couple of local fast food joints in the neighbourhood, we rather stay indoor than to walk in the cold just to get our daily meals settled. So I ended up having to prepare home cook meals every single weekday even though I'm suppose to be on vacation.

Since we would only be here for a few weeks, I could not bring myself to stock up too many ingredients. Hence, fixing 2 meals a day proofs to be quite a challenging task especially for someone who is not a good cook to start with.

With a rather empty pantry, I could only prepare very simple meals using minimal ingredients, seasonings and utensils. There is no wok in the kitchen, so I can't even cook fried rice as the frying pan that's available is too small and shallow for any serious stir frying!


Thank goodness my kids don't mind having porridge for their lunch here. Back at home, they would definitely prefer having their favourite takeaway food from the hawker centre than to eat the usual porridge I prepare for them. Only barely two weeks, they already miss their laksa, nasi lemak, chicken rice, fried carrot cake, char kway teow and roti prata!


This bowl of porridge is cooked with short-grain rice or what the locals refer to as "大米". Unlike long grains, it is quite sticky and I had to keep adding water to the pot of bubbling porridge. Yet, I still ended up with very thick and gooey porridge, very much like the baby food which I used to prepare for my kids when they were still toddlers.

To make a simple minced beef porridge more appealing visually, I threw in some frozen vegetables to an otherwise plain, mono-tone meal. There were not a single word of complains when I served the porridge with lots of pork floss as toppings ^_^'


It turns up to be a good thing that I have to work within some constraints, otherwise I would never discover that I could actually make roast chicken with just salt, pepper and some butter! These delicious drumsticks were seasoned with a generous sprinkling of salt and black pepper. When the oven was preheated to 200 degC, I rubbed some butter all over and under the skin before popping them into the oven. Less than half an hour, I was rewarded with a tray of roast chicken drumsticks...with crispy skin and tender juicy meat. The trick to getting crispy skin? Just make sure that after cleaning the chicken, pat dry with paper towels...make sure it is very very dry before seasoning with salt and pepper as you do not want to create any steam in the oven.

Now, I am all set and ready to roast a chicken for our Christmas eve dinner ;)

Winter in Beijing

Although it may appear that we are on a long vacation here in Beijing, the fact is, we spend our weekdays carrying out activities just the way we would normally do when we are back home.

It is only during the weekends that we would do some sightseeing and tour around the city. This is partly because the cold weather has been keeping us indoor most of the time, (and it 'sgetting colder each day!), and partly because we have been to most of the 'must-see' spots in this ancient city when we were here during the autumn.

We went to the YiHeYuan or the Summer Palace two weeks ago, since I didn't have the chance to include this place in our itinerary during our last visit.


It was a bright and sunny day...this picture may give you the wrong impression that it must be quite warm. No, we are not looking out of the window from our flat back home in Singapore. This is Beijing, and it was freezing COLD. The temperature was below freezing point. Coupled with the breeze, it made us wondered why on earth we would go to a SUMMER resort for the emperors, during a cold WINTER day?!


The entire KunMing Lake was all frozen.


We took a long walk along the KunMing Lake...crossed the 17-Arch bridge (we counted the number of arches, and yes, there are 17 of them) to the Nanhu Island. Now, you may wonder why they built 17 and not 18 arches along the span of the bridge? We know that the number 8 is a homonym for luck or wealth in Chinese, but, the 9th arch in the centre, which is also the largest, is considered the number most auspicious for emperors. So the emperor or the 'Son of Heaven' (天子) is symbolically positioned in the middle with good fortune (8 arches) on both sides!


One of the four magnificent "guarding angels" at the ends of the bridge...


There are 544 stone lions (and a mysterious Bob) on the railings of the 17 Arches Bridge. No, we didn't count them, I got the number from the web ;)

We tried having a little picnic by the bench at the tiny Nanhu Island...but it was another great mistake we made! It was so cold to sit down to rest. We had to keep moving in order to stay warm, and the sandwiches I made turn dry and hard the moment the toast bread met the dry cold wind. It was a good thing that we brought along some chocolates, it gave us the necessary energy and brought us some cheery smiles from the kids. Well, for someone living in a tropical island, I also found it very amusing to discover that our haversack became a cooler bag!! Our drinks were icy cold, as though we have just taken them out from the fridge.

Despite the ammonia smell, I resort to seeking refuge in the warm public toilet ^.^" I wasn't alone, I found out later that my kids made clever use of the hand-blower in the gents...they managed to trap some warm air inside their gloves.

We would have walked along the Nanhu Lake if the weather was warmer. In the end, we didn't brave the cold and had to shorten the trip and made our way back to the palace area.


A colourful sight of hawkers, hawking their wares...

Even though it was too cold for comfort, the scenery was simply awesome.


I didn't take that many pictures because every now and then I had to thaw my frozen fingers inside my pockets, but I promise, there will be more pictures on my upcoming post.

Cookies from a Box

To satisfy my baking craves, I was contemplating whether to bring some of my baking tools along to Beijing when I was packing for the trip. In the end, there was simply no space left to stuff in that tiny diet scale (yes I use it for all my baking) not to mention the electric hand held beater or even a balloon whisk.

The service apartment that we are staying comes with a handsome built-in oven, it makes my tiny tabletop oven at home seems so miserable. It would really be a shame if I am not able to do some baking with my dream oven. To my delight, I chanced upon boxes of Betty Crockers at this little gourmet store near our apartment. Without much thinking, I grabbed a pack of chocolate peanut butter chips cookie mix.


It was only after I got home that I realised there is no measuring cup in the apartment's kitchen. Since I have no intention to go hunt for a measuring cup, I had to think of a way to measure the amount of oil required to make the cookies.

It happened that I bought a pack of 250ml whipping cream to cook some cream sauce pasta, so I used the empty carton as a reference and was glad to discover that the volume of one of the mugs is exactly 250ml. But, that didn't solve the problem altogether, the recipe calls for 1/3 cup of oil. So I poured one cup of water equally into 3 paper cups and made a marking on one of them. Voila! I made my own measuring cup :)


To stir up a batch of cookies from a box is so simple, quick, and very convenient especially when there are no basic baking tools on hand. I only need to mix some water, oil and an egg with the powder mix, and in a matter of minutes, I was able to pop a tray of cookie doughs into the oven.

While the cookies were baking in the oven, I suddenly remembered that there was no cooling rack in the apartment. At that point in time, to end up with a tray of soggy cookies would be unthinkable.


After some quick thinking, I came up with my improvised cooking rack...a set of chopsticks which I brought along came in handy!


While the cookies were cooling off, the boys couldn't resist the sweet aroma, so they kept 'wondering' into the small kitchen, hoping to steal a cookie from my 'cooling rack'.


For the rest of the week, I was able to enjoy my afternoon cup of coffee with some homemade cookies. They are not as bad as I thought. In fact, I didn't expect them to taste so good...crunchy on the outside and a little soft in the inside, way better than those I had tasted at some cafes. These are just a little on the sweet side, but once I dunk it into my cup of latte, the sweetness was just right. Till we get back home, I must say I am very satisfied with these homemade cookies, from a box.

A stroll...

There is this nice little park at the apartment we are staying. It is very well maintenance and has got a nice landscaping design. There are a couple of garden mazes, a small playground, pretty porches, several fountains (although they are not operating at this time of the year), beautiful pebbled paths and the park is dotted with many shrubs and trees. Whenever the weather is 'warm' enough, I will bring my two kids for a stroll.


Come, join me for a walk in the garden...


There were many pretty roses when we were here in autumn, now most of the flowering plants have been pruned down. It it inevitable for me to take notice of the evergreens instead. This close up picture reminds me very much of the tip of a milk bottle brush ;)


There are several species of pine trees in the garden. I spotted this one, which looks exactly like those artificial Christmas trees on sale at shopping malls back home. It is known as Pinus Armandii Franch or Armand Pine. This conifer has got leaves that grow in clusters and branches out to make them look like pom-poms. The tips of the needle-like leaves are tinted yellow...this makes the pom-poms appear to glitter and glow.


When I first saw these trees, I thought they were Pussy Willows, those decorating plants the Chinese love to deck their halls with during Chinese New Year.


Those flurry flowers? or buds? feel just like the catkins of the pussy willows, but they do not have long branches.


I have this habit of collecting pine cones whenever I go to temperate countries. I searched around, but there were none on the ground :(


So, I can only satisfy myself with pictures of these cones which are still pretty much attached to the branches. (Yes, I tried plucking it! I know, I am being very naughty ^_^")


This is part of a structure of a giant fountain...


filled with plenty of pebbles...I am sure this spot would look awesome during a summer night.


More trees along the way...





the leaves were all gone, I don't know what are these plant parts remaining on the branches...are they buds? fruits? or flowers?


Are you able to spot the strange 'claw-like' branch in this photo?


This is something interesting for us, since we don't own any pets. It's a trash bag dispenser, for pet owners to 'pick up' after their dogs.


Another interesting tree with unique patterns on the tree trunk, just like the prints on army uniforms!

At the end of our short walk, my hands were all frozen after exposing them in the cold for so long. I hope you have enjoyed this photographic 'stroll' as much as I do.

Pasta Made Easy

Do you like pasta?

I love pasta. My family loves pasta. Plus, it is so simple to prepare, especially for a lousy (and lazy) cook like me. I take great advantage of my kids...the fact that they are not fussy eaters, I could feed them with pasta for lunch or dinner, anytime of the week. Sometimes it could be a 'lavish' seafood marinara pasta for dinner, but most of the time, I serve them fusilli with meatballs in tomato sauce, or a simple plate of angel hair with bolognese sauce.

My boys' favourite pasta meal got to be the chicken and mushroom spaghetti in cream sauce.


I have cooked this pasta dish using various methods. I have to confess that during those early days when I first started cooking for my family, I used canned mushroom soup as sauce ;) It was much later that I learned from some cookbook the proper way to make the white sauce...stir fry butter with some flour, before adding milk or cream. However, I could never achieve a consistent taste. Sometimes the sauce would be way too thick (and 'floury') and most of the time I had problem trying to dissolve the lumps of butter and flour mixture with the milk. If the sauce ended up too thin, I even tried adding cheese slices to thicken it! The best method I have since adopted is to simply cook the sauce using just dairy cream. Depending on what's available, I may use heavy or thickened cream which will yield a very creamy and rich sauce, but I prefer single cream (eg Nestle pouring cream) which is lighter or rather, closer to our Asian palate.



Besides the cream, the other important ingredient for this dish has to be the mushrooms. There is a vast difference between canned mushrooms and fresh button mushrooms. I would only prepare this dish when I have fresh mushrooms. Although I prefer the more earthy and rich flavour of brown button mushrooms, white button mushrooms are just as great. I have also experimented using a mixture of button mushrooms and fresh shiitake.

Most cream sauce recipes would only require salt and pepper as seasoning. I am not sure whether it is due to our Chinese way of cooking, I will also add light soya sauce. I know, it sounds like a weird combination, using soya sauce in a western dish. But I thoroughly enjoy that split seconds of my life, when my kitchen is perfumed with this savory, earthy aroma that is released the moment soya sauce hit the pan of sizzling mushrooms. I am also convinced that soya sauce will bring out the rich flavours or umami of the mushrooms. Yes, mushrooms are capable of delivering plenty of umami, or so called the 5th taste. So that is why, I can omit the chicken in this dish but not the mushrooms.

There is no surprise, with a rather sparse pantry, I am still able to whip up this simple everyday meal thousands of miles away from home. So here it is, my easy pasta recipe from this tiny kitchen in Beijing to yours. Bon Appetite!

Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Spaghetti

Ingredients
(serves 3)

150 ~ 200g spaghetti
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 ~ 3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 chicken thigh, skinless, debone, cut into bite size
200g fresh brown button mushrooms, thickly sliced
1 tablespoon light soya sauce
1 cup (250ml) whipping cream (dairy)
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a rolling boil (I use only about 1 teaspoon for 3 ~ 4 ltrs of water). Add pasta and cook for about 8 ~ 10 minutes (or according to the directions on the package) until al dente. Stir occasionally to ensure even cooking and to prevent it from sticking. Check occasionally to see if it's done.

2. While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic, stir fry for a few seconds. Add chicken and stir fry until no longer pink. Add mushrooms to the pan, stir in soya sauce and saute till mushrooms become soft, about 1 ~ 2 mins. Gradually stir in cream. Simmer for about 5 mins, until sauce is slightly thickened and the chicken is cooked through. Season with salt and pepper.

3. By now the pasta should be ready. Drain the pasta. Immediately toss cooked pasta until evenly coated with the chicken and mushroom mixture (add 1 ~ 2 tablespoons of pasta water if the mixture appears too thick). Serve immediately, with a sprinkle of freshly grounded black pepper.

Beijing Revisted

This is the second time I am visiting Beijing. Unlike the previous trip in autumn, it is freezing cold during this time of the year. Temperatures can get below freezing point during the early mornings and late in the evenings.

While we enjoy the cool room temperature (not more than 22 degC, since I don't turn on the heater at all), it can be quite a daunting task just to step out of the apartment. It usually takes us 10mins to get dressed! Although I only need a sweater and a outer jacket (I have got an extra layer of fat to protect myself from the chilling wind!!!) , I still finds it very troublesome! I really appreciate how easy and quick for me to get out of the house back at home...in t-shirts and shorts and a pair of slippers ;) Over here, I wish I have a few extra pairs of hands just to juggle with the kids' gloves, hats and even scarves! It is just so 'lay-chay'(which means troublesome in Singlish)!

It is much 'warmer' (back home in Singapore, we won't call it 'warm' when the average outside temperature is 5 degC) during the early afternoons. So I plan our days such that we go for a stroll at the park after lunch, or go get groceries at the nearby local supermarket. It is really no joke having to lug bags of groceries and walk in the busy streets with two kids in tow, in the cold.


The service apartment that we are staying comes with a fully equipped kitchen. With my dream built-in oven, microwave oven, electric stove and even a dish washer. Just for the record, this is the first homemade lunch I made when we first arrived. It was just simple ham and egg sandwiches with some fruits and yoghurt. Incidentally, I noticed the people over here seems to like yoghurt a lot...I was very surprised to find so many different brands of yoghurt at the supermarket shelves.


The above photo was not taken at the supermarket...it was taken at the park. I wonder what's the name of this plant? It looks just like some cabbage to me. Don't you think so?!


There is also the red version...


Pretty isn't it? I wonder whether these are edible, I bet they will be really great for salad?!

This is a rather short post, will blog about a more decent home cooked meal soon.