[Photo Friday] Fruit Melody: Berries and Kiwifruits

[Fruit Melody] Berries and Kiwifruits

When comes to purchase daily fruits for my family sometime I would be rather selective with the available choices. And because in Singapore most of our fresh fruits are imported from overseas country like Australia, USA, China and etc so the price will be slightly higher too. For example a box of cherry (250g) might cost up to S$10++ depending on it's country of origin and this applies to berries as well.

In fact for berries lovers like us, it can easily cost us SG$20++ just to get 4 boxes of assorted berries (blackberry, blueberry, strawberry or cherry) for our 2 days supply. But I guess for the sake of the multiple nutrition values and health benefits some money are meant to be spent in a away. In this post, I would like to share some information of our favourite berries and kiwifruits which are in season now.

[Photo Friday] Dayre - My New Daily Posts

[DAYRE] - A microblog on mobile app

Recently I am hook on "Dayre" which is a new mobile app that allows user to blog on the go without turning out the PC or Laptop. You can easily download this FREE App which available on iPhone and Android and start your first step of blogging anytime of the day using your mobile phone.

This app is great with short post (about 500 characters each post) which enable for user to share their daily encounters, views and etc with the unlimited numbers of media like quotes, photos, videos, stickers and location check-in.

{Photo Friday} Mother's Day Special

Although there are different dates reserved for Mother's Day in many parts of the world which most commonly seen in March, April or May but the majority of the countries do celebrate this special day on every second Sunday of May each year. And since today is Friday, Mother's Day will be just two days around the corner on Sunday, 13 May 2012. I am sure most of you have either celebrated Mother's Day early to avoid the crowds or you have already planned something interesting ahead for your mum or wife.

In this post, I have pick some quick and easy recipe links for your reference if you prefer to cook or bake some warm and hearty for your mum or loved ones during this weekend. No matter you are a newbie in the kitchen or someone who can cooks well, I am sure some of these links below will be able to give you some ideas on how to surprised "Mum" with your new skills and creation in the kitchen.

My boy with his genius thoughts and funny act(s) always makes me feel warm and blessed no matter how difficult motherhood is through his growing years. 

SET MENU FOR MUM

Thai Dishes with Appetizer	Chicken Cutlet with Apple Salad and Soup	Garlic Spaghetti with Pistachio Chicken and Avocado Milkshake
Avocado Chicken Parmigiana	Watercress Soup and Hainanese Pork Chop Rice	Kimchi Tofu Soup And Japchae

SOUP FOR MUM

Samgyetang	Five Nuts Soup	Leek and Potato Soup
Cream Of Mushroom Soup	Cordyceps Herbal Soup	Pork Muscle with Burdock

DISHES FOR MUM

Hong Zao Ji(红槽鸡)	Sizzling Tofu (using Happy Call Pan)	Bitter Gourd and Chicken In Casserole
Salmon with Spicy Sweetcorn Salsa	Stir-Fry Leek with Firm Beancurd	Thai Green Curry

BAKES FOR MUM

Lemon Yogurt Butter Cake	Double Chocolate Madeleine	Chocolate Chiffon with Multigrains
Kiwifruit and Lime Cupcakes	Apple Upside-down Cake (using Happy Call Pan)	Pandan Chiffon Cake (using Happy Call Pan)

DESSERT FOR MUM

Soy Milk Beancurd Pudding	Durian Pancake	Sweet Potato Soup
Bubur Terigu(大麦)	Tau Suan(豆爽)	Steamed Milk with Egg Whites

For more recipe ideas, you can refer to my recipes link HERE.

Lastly I would like to wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day! Remember to love and pamper your mum in anyway that you can. Because "being a mom is the hardest job in the world", they don't get to rest and they work 24hr a week for 365 days. So during this coming Mother's Day, do give your mum a warm hug and a pat on her back to show your love and appreciation for her contribution to the family.

{Photo Friday} Our Bento Dinner

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 featured about 30 quick and easy kid's bento in Cuisine Paradise and here I would like to share with you two sets of our Bento Dinner which we have made recently.

A bowl of simple steamed rice topped with some Winnie the Pooh shaped roasted pumpkin adds some extra flavour to the plain rice.

A little bit of here and there make up a nicely presented kid's portion of our dinner. Instead of piling all the side dishes on the plate itself, I have divided them into small portion using colourful container to make the food look more appetising.

Here is another simple Bento Dinner which consists of Chicken Nuggets and Popcorn Chickens plus Hard-boiled Egg and some fish floss and baked whitebait on steamed rice. Till then have a great weekend everyone! Cheers!

{Photo Friday} Red Velvet Cupcakes Using Beetroot Powder & Puree

A Red Velvet Cake is a popular cake with it's unique colour varies from dark red, bright red or red-brown depending on the ingredients used. It is usually baked and topped with a creamy vanilla icing or the popular cream cheese icing. This reddish-brown color cake was originally from a reaction of the cocoa powder with an acidic ingredient such as buttermilk but however, "red food coloring"(as much as 2 tablespoon or more) is often added to achieve that unique "red colour effect".

But for this recipe that I am sharing with you today, my friend Celes did not used any "red colouring", instead she replaced the colouring with healthy ingredients such as "Organic Beetroot Powder" and "Fresh Beetroot Puree" to achieve it's natural red colour texture.

RED VELVET CUPCAKES
using Beetroot Powder And Beetroot Puree

From the photo above, you will notice that the texture of the cupcake is moist with a bit tender crumb due to the adding of buttermilk and when you have your first bite you would also experience a mild beetroot aftertaste in between the cocoa flavour cake.

Recipe adapted from Celes of Celestial Delish, HERE.

(Make: 12 medium cupcakes | Preparation: 15 minutes |    Baking: 20 - 25 minutes)

Ingredients:
260g All-purpose Plain Flour
4 Tablespoons Beetroot Powder
1 Teaspoon Salt
3 Tablespoons Natural Cocoa Powder
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
250g Caster Sugar
1.5 Cups(300ml) Vegetable Oil
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 Large Eggs, room temperature
1 Teaspoon White Distilled Vinegar
1 Cup(200ml) Buttermilk, room temperature
1/2 Cup Beetroot Puree, blend from 1 medium beetroot

Method:-

~ You can refer the steps on making the above red velvet cupcakes plus cream cheese frosting over at Celes's post HERE.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
250g Cream Cheese, room temperature
113g Unsalted Butter, room temperature
215g icing sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Method:-

~ Steps on making the cream cheese frosting can be found HERE.

Overall I have learnt something new while making this Red Velvet Cupcakes as I have never tried whisking oil and sugar together with eggs in a cake batter before folding in the dry flour ingredients. And Celes told me this method is a good way to achieve soft and yummy cupcakes too but most important steps is not to over mixed the batter or else the cupcakes texture will be dense.

{Photo Friday} Easter Cupcake Baked In Egg Shells

(photo credited to Celes from Celestial Delish)

Hi everyone, hope you have a wonder Good Friday! Today's post is slightly different as it consists of Photos, Guest Post(from Celestial Delish), and team recipe. Since Easter is this coming Sunday, Celes from Celestial Delish ask whether I am keen to do a Easter Cupcake Project together with her. And my answer is definitely "YES" when she brief me on the plan. So without hesitate, we start sourcing the necessary ingredients and as well as testing some of the egg dying process before the actual baking.

And guess what! After almost about 6 hours in the kitchen starting off with draining the eggs from the shells, washing and drying the shells, preparing colours to dye the eggs, getting the egg batter and filling ready. Finally you can see what we have achieve at the end of the day from the photos shown in this post.

{Photo Friday} Homemade Banana Fritters

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I fell in love with this Banana Fritters during one of my brunch invite over at Maameemoomoo's place.  Indeed Sherie is a fabulous cook plus baker who can turn simple ingredients into restaurant standard and styling food. And if you remember she is also the one who inspired and taught me quick and simple method on making homemade bread. (you can read more on my homemade bread ideas and recipes HERE)

You cannot imagine how delicious these fluffy banana treat taste like until you sank your teeth into one of these. I still remember vividly that I had about 5 pieces of these over at Sherie's place. It's simple so irresistible with the extra honey, butter and banana slices. And both of us agreed that these banana fritters taste quite similar to Kueh Kodok (Deep-Fried Banana Balls)

HOMEMADE BANANA FRITTERS

Finally, Sherie posted her recipe last week and now I am able to make this yummy treat on my own whenever I have some extra banana in the pantry. Moreover this recipe also makes a great idea as snack anytime of the day.

Recipe adapted from Sherie of Maameemoomoo, HERE.

(Serves: 2-3 | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 20 minutes)

Ingredients:
150g Plain Flour
1.5 Teaspoon Baking Powder
60g Brown Sugar
125ml Buttermilk
1 eggs
2 Ripe Bananas, mashed

Toppings:
2 Ripe Banana, sliced lengthways
Unsalted Butter
Honey
Fresh Berries, optional

You can refer the steps on making these yummy banana fritters from Sherie's post HERE.

OUR FAVOURITE BANANA RECIPES

Banana and Oreo Muffin	Blueberry Banana Jam	Double Chocolate Banana Cake

Have a great weekend everyone!