Showing posts with label Blog Accomplishment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blog Accomplishment. Show all posts

Tuesday 30 April 2013

8th Anniversary of Cuisine Paradise

Today Cuisine Paradise adds another year onto the blog stats where we celebrate our 08th Anniversary. Time flies and it's seems only a few weeks ago when I wrote about our 07th Anniversary flashback post and yet now we are into the eighth years of blogging.

Although there were ups and downs along the way during these 8 years but I am thankful for a group of supportive friends and readers who are always there to show us full supports as well as their kind words and encouragements which makes us grow stronger each year.

Monday 29 April 2013

[i-Love Mama Healthy Meal] i-Love Mama Bento

Photo Credit:- iWeekly (I周刊)
Finally after a few weeks of preparations (like designing and preparing of bentos for approval, practicing, lasing and etc) we managed to complete our two i-Love Mama Healthy Meal recruitment roadshows; 1st (Tampines Giant) and 2nd (Sheng Siong Supermarket) that were hosted by Mediacorp artiste Pornsak and Y.E.S 93.3FM deejay Siau Jia Hui!

Although in between there were some hard times dealing with the coordination and etc but eventually we were all thankful that everything went on smooth and we did have fun to be in part of their i-Love Mama Healthy Meal recruitment roadshows. More photos of the roadshows could be found at our Facebook Page HERE.

Thursday 25 April 2013

[i-Love Mama Healthy Meal] Panda Bento Set

In conjunction with the i-Love Mama Healthy Meal Contest which is organised by Mama Lemon and i-Weekly, I was invited to do bento demo at the recruitment roadshows to promote their upcoming healthy meal contest. To register for this contest, grandmothers/mothers with child aged 12 years and below can team up to create a healthy meal and stand a chance to win attractive cash and prizes worth S$4,000. (more details here)

Doing the Panda Onigiri together with Pornsak (Mama Lemon ambassador)

The host and Pornsak were sharing the nutrition values of the ingredients used while Shiting and I were busying assembling the Bento.

Shiting (Lobsterpaint.com) and I busying at the i-Love Mama Healthy Meal bento demo roadshow

Samples of the Kid's Panda Bento Set during the i-Love Mama Healthy Meal roadshow demo

Adult Bento Set with same ingredients used but without cute "make-over".


PANDA BENTO SET
(i-Love Mama Healthy Meal)


This is my Kid's version of healthy meal whereby a normal homecook meal is being transform into a Panda Onigiri with accompany dishes such as asparagus bacon roll, baked honey chicken, panda quail, steamed corn kernels and some grapes. I am sure this fulfills the 2 servings of veggies plus plus to balance out the nutrition intakes for kid.

Beside you don't have to spend extra time preparing additional dishes for the bento. You could just use your creative mind and re-assemble your daily homecook dishes into something more attractive for the kids. Blow is a quick bento recipe which shows how I turn simple homecook dishes into a cute Panda Bento Set.


(Serves: 1 | Preparation: 15 minutes | Cooking: 10 minutes)

Ingredients:
6 - 8 Thai Baby Asparagus (泰国小芦笋), trim and cut into half
2 Strips of Bacon
3 Tablespoons Of Cooked Rice
1 Slice of Sandwich Cheese
Nori (seaweed) Sheet
Baked Honey Chicken Mid-joint
1 Quail Egg
Some Cherry Tomato
Steamed Sweetcorn Kernels
4 Blueberry / Dried Raisin
Fresh Fruits
Some Fresh Lettuce, optional

Tools Needed:
Bento Box
Side Dishes Food Casing
Heat Resistant Cling Wrap
Food Cutters
Seaweed Puncher (for facial expression)
Food Tweezer
2 Toothpicks
Bento Food Pick (optional)
Small Scissor
1 - 2 Dry Spaghetti Noodle

To Make the Asparagus Bacon Roll:-

1. Blanch the asparagus in boiling water for 20 seconds, remove, pat dry and cut them into half of equal length.

2. Arrange half of the asparagus near one end of  the bacon strip, roll the bacon strip forward to wrap the asparagus then secure the end with a toothpick shown on the photo above.

3. Preheat a frying pan with 1 teaspoon of oil, cook the asparagus wrap over low heat till slightly golden brown in colour (about 5 minutes). Remove and set aside.

To Assemble the Panda Onigiri:-

1. Spoon about 2 - 2.5 tablespoons of cooked rice on a piece of heat resistant cling wrap. Using hand, shape it tight into oblong shape to form the panda body.

2. Open up the cling wrap, wrap a 1cm wide nori (seaweed) sheet near the bottom the rice ball to form a belt (refer to the photo above). Next place the rice ball with nori sheet back onto the cling wrap and shape it tightly so that the nori sheet will stick to the rice ball.

3.With another piece of cling wrap shape 1/2 teaspoon of rice into a triangle shape to form the nose of the panda.

4. Using Scissor, cut out 2 oval shapes from the nori sheet to form the black eye circles of the panda.

5.With either a food cutter or drinking straw cut out smaller oval shapes from the sandwich cheese to form the white part of the panda eyes.

6. Next using a facial seaweed puncher to punch out facial express from the nori sheet and assemble it on the panda (refer to the photo above).

7. To decorate the "belt" below, you can use any small shape cutter like star, heart, flower or etc, cut out shapes from the sandwich cheese and place it on the nori belt.

8. To fix the panda ears, use either blueberry or dried raisin and connect it to the rice ball with the help of the dry spaghetti noodle in between.

9. Above shows the close up look of the Panda Onigri plus the asparagus bacon wrap.

10. When done, assemble the bento box together with the rest of the side dishes and fruit shown above.

For this coming Saturday i-Love Mama Healthy Meal roadshow, I would be doing a similar bento which I hope it resemble the Lion Mascot of Mama Lemon  shown above. Also I would like to delicate this MAMA bento to all mothers on coming Mother's Day and wish everyone a fruitful and healthy Mother's Day! Between if I would to conduct Mother and Child Bento Workshop(s) (like what i did previously here) during this coming June school holiday, I wonder would there be anyone interested to join?

Lastly I would like to thank ShiTing from Lobsterpaints.com who takes her time to come and support plus assist me during the bento demo roadshow. Thanks sis! More photos of the roadshows could be found at our Facebook Page HERE.

Monday 30 April 2012

Cuisine Paradise Turns 7!

Today, 30 April 2012 marks my 2,555 days (7th years) in blogging where Cuisine Paradise turns seven(7). Indeed time flies and it had being 7 years since I started with my 1st recipe post on "Steam Mini Pandan Kueh" with an aim just to share my tried and tested recipes and homecook dishes with friends.

Along the years, I have learn to cook and bake different kind of cuisines, food styling as well as into food photographing.  Despite of the ups and downs during my blogging days, I have get to know many new friends who share the same interest either from cooking, baking or photographing.

And to all readers of Cuisine Paradise, I hope I am enable to enlighten you with more improvements from my post and style of preparing the food(cooking/baking) through different stages of my project themes. Here I would like to sincerely voice out my appreciations and thoughts for those who has supported Cuisine Paradise during all these years. Thanks for all your feedback, comments and thoughts which enable Cuisine Paradise to achieve what it has today. Without all your supports and spread of words, Cuisine Paradise would not able to achieve up to 1.8 million page view (since June 2011 till date) and currently having about 150,000+ visitors per month.

Below are some of the flashbacks from Cuisine Paradise over the years:-


MOST POPULAR RECIPE
Avocado Chicken Parmigiana


With over 110,000 pins via from "Pinterest" and a total of 150,000+ Pageviews till date, this is one of the most popular recipe among readers of Cuisine Paradise. It is so easy to prepare that you only need an oven toaster instead of an oven to handle this recipe. And moreover this dish can be pair with either salad or pasta to end with a complete hearty meal.

If you want to prepare something simple and yet flavorsome to impress your loved ones, here is the recipe.



MOST POPULAR KITCHEN GADGET
Happy Call Double-sided Pressure Pan


It's only a few months back that this "Happy Call Double-Sided Pressure Pan" has finally makes it way into many kitchens in Singapore and Malaysia after a year or so in Singapore. This happens from a Happy Call group known as Munch Ministry which set up by 2 ladies who share their interests and recipes on cooking quick and simply healthy food using  HCP.

Even though I have one of this Happy Call Pan (HCP) for more than a year plus, I did not really fully utilize it until I was influence by this HCP group in facebook. After which I have develop interest in trying different recipes using HCP from dishes to bake. Below are some example of my HCP cooking/baking project. For the full HCP recipes menu, please refer HERE.

Baked Sweet Potato

Sizzling Tofu

Claypot Rice

Pineapple Upside-down Cake

Muah Chee

Pandan Chiffon Cake



OUR FAVOURITE BENTO


Making Bento is one of our weekly or at least twice a month mother and kid bonding activities whereby my boy and I will agreed on a theme to work together to assemble his bento.  Up till date I have about 30 quick and easy kid's bento featured in Cuisine Paradise and inSing.com, below are some of our favourite among the rest.

Easter Chicky Bento

Penguins Bento

Red Angry Birds Bento



PRODUCT REVIEWS


As a homemake and someone who loves to explore new kitchen products, I love to try new food or kitchen products whenever I spot something interesting during our weekly marketing trip. And from time to time I would also received product samples from media to be featured in Cuisine Paradise. Below are some of the product review posts and you could also read up more on this link HERE.

VOGEL's mueslis

Easy Thai Cooking(cookbook)

Zespri Kiwifruit Recipes



CURRENT PROJECT
Korean Cooking


It has never come across my mind to learn how to prepare Korean cuisines at home. And it's only due to my recent interest in Korea drama that I am starting to love how to appreciate Korea dishes in another view. Before starting on this cooking project, friendly speaking I am not a fan of even their well-known appetizer; Kimchi(김치) nor Korean Rice Cake (Tteok - 떡) which can be used to cook soup, stewed or noodles. But now with their easy to prepare and delicious dishes I am keen in exploring more Korean cuisines with the help of my new Korean friend. Thanks Daphne!

Below are some samples of my Korean Cooking Project post. If you are keen to read up more on this project you can click on the link HERE.

Kimchi Tofu Soup

Korean Rice Cakes with Ramen Noodles

Sangyetang (recipe coming soon)


Lastly I hope my passion for "food" on this blog would be able to commit for another 7 years or more but till then I really needs all your supports and feedback in order to maintain this blog and continue to strike for better improvements. And if you are new to cooking/baking, I would like to welcome you on board and sincerely hope that my recipes collection would be able to help you cookout some quick and easy dishes for your loved ones.

Tuesday 21 June 2011

Penguins Bento and Bento Making featured in ZaoBao(联合早报)

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Recently my boy was fascinated with "The Penguins of Madagascar" showing on #kto(here) every Monday - Thursday at 6.30pm. He loves those 4 crazy Penguins known as Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private who rule the roost at their Central Park Zoo home with thier all-new adventures together with King Julian. And with his favorite show he has always wanted to make a Penguin Bento.

So finally last Sunday, I managed to come up with this Penguins Bento which is similar to his favourite Madagascar Penguins using Charcoal Bread(read more HERE) bought from "Lavender Bakery" at City Square Mall, Johor. He was so excited when we cut out the penguins shape from the charcoal bread using the cutter and assemble it featured with cheese and carrot. I am sure no matter who you gave this Penguins Bento to the receiver will definitely be thrilled.

This photo shows the tools and steps on how to assemble this cute Penguins Bento.

Ingredients:
1 Slice of Bamboo Charcoal Bread
1 Slice of Sandwich Cheese
2 Thin Slices of Carrot
1/4 Portion of Sweet Corn
Fresh Fruits of your Choice
Some Prawn Crackers
Nori sheet
1 Toothpick

Method:-
1. Blanched Sweetcorn in boiling water for about 2 - 3 minutes, removed and add in the carrot. Cook for 30 seconds, remove and set aside.

2. Using a Penguin shape food cutter to cut out two penguins from the bamboo charcoal bread.

3. Next with the same cutter cut out another two penguins from the cheese and using toothpick and drinking straw to cut out the stomach, mouth and eyes of the penguins.

4. Place the cut out cheese features on the prepared bread (give it a gentle press to stick the cheese on the bread), before securing the legs(you can use a flower shape cutter to cut out semi-circle from the carrot) of the penguins using carrot and thin spaghetti strips.

5. Lastly, assemble the sweetcorn, fruits, crackers and penguins bread into the bento box and serve.



FEATURED in 21.06.2011
ZaoBao(联合早报), Family Page


Here is a screen shot of our bento making featured in today's ZaoBao(联合早报), Family Page which might be an encouraging article for working parents to create a bonding time with kids by making bento as a food art and educational theme for them.

Although bento making in Singapore is not as popular as in Japan and Taiwan but there are still a lot of bento makers and bento item collectors in Asian countries. And my bento journey starts with a group of bento friends whom always inspired me with their creative ideas where you might be interested to take a look and read-up their fabulous bento from their blogs shown below:-

1. Mothering Corner @ http://motheringcorner.com/

2. Bentolicious @ http://www.mybentolicious.com/

3. Susan Yuan @ http://susanyuen.blogspot.com/

4. Hippomum @ http://www.wretch.cc/blog/hippomum/11108126

5. Tona Mummy @ http://ourfirstbabykimiboy.blogspot.com/


Monday 13 June 2011

[Singapore Blog Awards 2011] Rally Post!

As usually every year during voting and rally period for the Singapore Blog Awards we would have to either record a 2 minutes video or a blog post to thanks our supporters and etc. For me as being the lucky winner for 2009, Best Food Blog Award, it actually widen out my blogging life in different aspects. And also from there I get to know more friends that share same interest such as "cooking, baking, food hunting and photo shots". On top of that, there are also some very supportive blog readers whom often exchange cooking/baking tips with me via blog comments/facebook page. With all these bits and pieces I would like to say "Thank you" to each and everyone of you who gives me your supports and friendships throughout all these years. Without all your kind comments, feedback and support, Cuisine Paradise will not have gone so far with all its' achievements today. So friends and readers, please continue to cast your precious Vote(s) for this 2011 Best Food Blog Awards because your supports are pillars of this blog.


Voting starts from 06 June 2011 - 03 July 2011, for more details click this link HERE for voting instructions. Thanks for your support.


Wednesday 8 June 2011

Finalist Of Singapore Blog Award 2011

Time flies, this is the 3rd year "Cuisine Paradise" being shortlisted in the Top 10 Finalists of the Singapore Blog Awards category under - "Best Food Blog" host by "OMY.sg". This year we have 10 fabulous food blogs from different categories(written in English and Chinese) with good contents of information from "tested and tried recipes", "local and overseas food reviews", latest food trend, mouth drooling food photographs and etc where you can take a look at all the finalists from their blog URL HERE)

So friends and readers, please help to cast your precious Vote(s) for this event. Voting starts from 06 June 2011 - 03 July 2011, you can starts your "DAILY Vote(s)" today with only ONE vote per day for each category. Below are the steps on how to start your voting:-


Click the link for FOOD BLOG CATEGORY @ http://sgblogawards.omy.sg/2011/category/?cat=food. Scroll down the page you will see Cuisine Paradise/Ellena Guan which is 3rd in sequence.You can help to click "Tweet", "Facebook Share" or "Like" in order to share this voting link. And most important thing is to click on the pink colour "VOTE NOW!" icon on the avatar.

You need to "Login" before casting your vote(s) so if you are a registered member login with your ID and Password if not proceed to the "Register Now" link.

To vote you have to register for an Omy.sg user account which similar to this format. For overseas voter, the NRIC/Fin No can be passport number.

When you have done with the login or the new member registration. Click on VOTE NOW! to vote for Cuisine Paradise. (please help to tweet, Facebook share or Facebook like too!)

For this year, Voters also stands a chance to win any of these fabulous goodies when you cast your valuable vote(s) for the finalists. So starts your daily vote today till 03 July 2011. Your votes and supports are the most precious encouragement and acknowledgement for this Cuisine Paradise. Thanks everyone! Have fun voting and good luck for all the Voters and the rest of the 9 Finalists together with me in the Best Food Blog Category!!!

Once again, the voting link for Best Food Blog Award is http://sgblogawards.omy.sg/2011/category/?cat=food


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