[Wordless Wednesday] Chinese New Year In Singapore

[Chinese New Year Flowers] Cherry Blossoms

[with recipes] Homemade Chinese New Year Bakes

Are you ready for the Chinese New Year feast! Here we are counting down 3 days to the year of Sheep (Goat/Ram) which falls on this Thursday, 19 February 2015. I am sure by now most of you have already done your new year shopping; completed your bakes and left with last minutes grocery or fresh food pick-up before reunion dinner on Wednesday.

Likewise for the past few days we had being busy churning up new year goodies as gifts for relatives to show our appreciations and blessings to them. Below are recipes on some of our favourite bakes for this year including 2 recipes using air-fryer to "air-fried" crab sticks and arrowhead chips.

Double Chocolate Pound Cake with Peanut Butter Glaze

Double Chocolate Pound Cake with Peanut Butter Glaze

Apart from our favourite chiffon cakes, pound cake is another choice which often appears on our baking list. Although most pound cake recipes called for an equal amount of butter, sugar and flour in “1 : 1 : 1” ratio, this recipe is slightly different because more butter is being used than usual.

[3 recipes] Homemade Asian Noodle using Philips Noodle Maker (HR2365/05)

Spinach Wanton Noodle - 菠菜云吞面

In this second part (refer to part I here) of homemade noodles write-up, we continue to explore more recipes using Philips Avance Noodle Maker together with fresh vegetable and/or fruit juice to make delicious and fuss free Asian noodle dish in 30 minutes or less. Each flavour of noodle tested  in this post has its unique taste that blends well with the recipe which I hope it will suits your preference too.

[3 recipes] Homemade Pasta using Philips Noodle Maker (HR2365/05)

Baked Pumpkin Fettuccine

Have you tried making your own pasta or even Asian noodles like Japanese Udon or thin noodle for Stir-fry Chow Mien (recipe)? Our family is a big fan of noodles and now with our new Philips Avance Noodle Maker, I am able to make customized fresh noodles (with/without egg, choice of flour and etc) such as egg noodle, penne, fettuccine in 15 minutes including preparations.

In this post I will be sharing 3 types of noodles made with this noodle maker using natural ingredients for its colour, flavour and texture well as a few quick recipes plus tips on it.

[recipes] Pandan Chiffon Cake - 香兰戚风蛋糕

Pandan Chiffon Cake - 香兰戚风蛋糕

Nothing beats a slice of comfort homemade Pandan Chiffon Cake (香兰戚风蛋糕) to cheer up my boy whenever he is moody or stress over school work. This old school sponge cake is flavoured  and coloured with gorgeous jade green colour juice obtained from pandan leaves (pandanus / screwpine) . Besides this cake also has an unique aroma and spongy texture which reminds you of home especially for those Singaporean residing overseas for years.

[5 Recipes] Back To School Lunch Ideas With Perfect Italiano 4 Cheese Melt

Back-to-school Lunch Ideas

It's a brand new year and welcome to 2015 folks! With new school term starting I am sure most of you with kid(s) like us who is going back to school it will be another year of brain cracking time to prepare their lunch and/or tea snack. Likewise our boy who is in higher primary this year will most probably be spending more time in the school or rushing for after school enrichment classes. So preparing some quick lunch/snack such as sandwiches, muffins or hot food (baked rice/pasta) will be a great choice to fill up his hungry tummy until dinner.

Recently Perfect Italiano has launched a new addition; Perfect Italiano 4 Cheese Melt to their existing ranges exclusive only to Cold Storage supermarkets. This delicious blend is perfect for melting and grilling which is a bonus to turn simple tasty meals in minutes. Below are 5 recipes tested using this new blend of cheese to whip up some quick cheesy meal.

Looking Back to 2014

Time flies and in another hour or two more we will be stepping into 2015 which is a brand new year ahead. Although I don't blogged as regularly when compared to others peers due to my personal commitments but I do hope to maintain this website and keep up my blogging passion in coming new year.

Here I would love to thank everyone for your supports in walking though the years with us. Thanks for reading our posts as well as trying /sharing the recipes. Below are some recaps for 2014 which I would love to share it with you again.

Garden Vegetable Frittata

Garden Vegetable Frittata

My family is a big fan of eggs especially when they are prepared in either scrambled, boiled or fried. And recently we are in love with baked frittata which can be easily prepared by throwing in couple of root vegetables such as carrot, potato, onion and etc together with eggs and cheese before popping the mixture into the oven.

Between you could also mix and match your favourite ingredients to make asparagus, potato and bacon or even chorizo/sausage frittata depending on your family preference. Here we have a meatless version by using garden vegetables that I sliced effortlessly with my Bosch kitchen machine (you could refer to the picture below).

[recipes] Perfect Italiano Food Fixes in 15 Festive Menu

Perfect Italiano Food Fixes in 15 Festive Menu

Arriving in the last month of the year meaning Christmas is around the corner where we could slow down our pace and spend some quality time with family and loved ones. Although this year we are away for a long vacation to USA in December but the atmosphere and urge for preparing festive dishes are still within us. So with this scheduled post we hope to share some quick fix festive dishes that can be easily done in 15 minutes so that you don't have to avoid restaurants or worry about preparing festive menus.

Singaporeans’ Favourite Foreign Cuisine(s)

Authentic Korean Cuisine

With the blooming of food industries over the years, Singapore has also become a food paradise that brings in international cuisines from countries like America, France, Italy, Japanese, Korean and etc. So beside our local food such as Chicken Rice, Char Kway Teow, Bak Chor Mee (minced meat noodles) and etc (read more here) we can also enjoy many other international food from high end to family oriented restaurants.

Black Sesame Bun with Azuki Bean Paste

Black Sesame Bun with Azuki Bean Paste

Yeah! Finally after the stressful year end examination it’s time to sit back and enjoy the long 7 weeks school holiday. So now we would have more time to prepare and enjoy international breakfast (some breakfast ideas here) in the morning as well as getting into some bread making sessions with the boy because he loves to help up with shaping the dough.

Furthermore bread making has become a breeze ever since I am using my new BOSCH MaxxiMUM stand mixer to prepare the dough.

WORLDFOODS International Fusion Recipe Swap Challenge

Fusion Thai Food using WORDFOODS Sauces and Marinade

These days there are a lot of fusion cuisines blooming up with fresh ideas waiting to be discovered. And with the variety of ready-made sauces and marinades which available in most supermarkets also make it stress less to prepare International cuisines such as Moroccan Chicken, Thai Tom Yum Soup, Singapore Fried Noodles and etc. In this write-up I would like to thank WORDFOODS for organising such International Fusion Recipe Swap Challenge to try out their products and as well as sharing (guest post) our recipes with another “penpal” from the other part of the world (my “penpal” is Anita-Clare & Caro from Lover Of Flavours in the UK).

[30 Minutes Meal] 7 Express Cooking Recipes

Quick meal in 30 minutes

Hi everyone, time flies and it’s mid-week again! If you are short on time to prepare weekday dinner after a hectic day at work, here are 7 express cooking recipe ideas for your reference. To speed up the cooking time you could even prepare some of the ingredients beforehand so in way you could save at least a good 10 minutes on cutting and preparation. Between our ideas of express cooking are still within the topic of preparing proper one-dish meal which includes meat and vegetables that is done in 30 minutes or less.

Top 10 Express Eats In Singapore

10 Express Eats

I am sure most of you have eaten quick meal (as in choice of food) especially during weekday evening(s) when you need to work overtime till late hours or before catching up a movie date? But I am just curious what are the choices that would appeared in your list; could it sandwiches, fast food, local snacks, instant noodles or perhaps movie snacks like popcorn, hotdog bun or nacho chips? No matter what is your options I think anything that is fuss-free and easy to munch on would be a great choice.

[Fall Recipes] Mini Apple Cheesecake & Pumpkin Parmesan Scone

[Fall Recipes] Pumpkin Scones, Pumpkin Madeleine and Mini Apple Cheesecake with Salted Camera l Sauce

Every year during the month of October, we love to get our hands on some Fall Recipes such as "pumpkin" related bakes like Pumpkin Scones, Pumpkin Chiffon Cakes, Pumpkin Pie or some comfort casseroles for Halloween Party as well as Thanksgiving dinner. 

This October we are featuring two pumpkin related recipes over at Bake King recipe website which are Mini Apple Cheesecake (serve with salted caramel sauce) and Pumpkin Parmesan Scones.

[recipes] 5 Fuss-Free Homemade Pizza Using Perfect Italiano Pizza Plus

Fuss-Free Homemade Pizza using Perfect Italiano Pizza Plus

Have you ever tried making pizza at home where you could add in your favourite toppings like more cheese, ham, mushroom and etc. Or you just prefer to pick up the phone and dial for a home delivery to save the hassle on preparing the necessary ingredients or time spent in the kitchen.

For our family, we prefer to make our own pizza at home because we love to work on the dough as well as the ingredients. Furthermore homemade pizza smells fantastic when they are baking in the oven and we after which we get to eat hot and fresh pizza with oozing cheese when compare to those home delivered pizza.

[30 Minutes Meal] Express Meal Using Lee Kum Kee Menu-Oriented Sauces

Have you ever tried preparing a decent "3 dishes + 1 soup (三菜一汤)" meal within 30 minutes (excluding preparation of ingredients and marinating)? In this post I would be sharing some tips and recipes on how to cook-up four delicious home cook dishes and get them ready on the dining table within 30 minutes.

Since this task is part of the criteria from Lee Kum Kee MOS Blogger Competition which I am taking part, I decided to put myself on a test to see whether am I able to complete the assigned task within the time frame.

[Fall Recipes] Pumpkin Madeleine - 南瓜玛德琳蛋糕

Pumpkin Madeleine

This week we will be sharing another fall related bake (more recipes here) using pumpkin to make Pumpkin Madeleine which is a fusion recipe between American and French. Since my family prefer lighter version without adding of too much of those usual spices like nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, all spice and etc; I only toss in a decent amount of cinnamon powder to lift up the taste.

[Fall Recipes] Pumpkin Apple Bar - 南瓜苹果蛋糕

Pumpkin Apple Bar

I love Autumn especially with its comfort food like casseroles and pies which warns the body when the weather is getting cooler. And with pumpkin hogging the limelight in October, we would love to share some related recipes featuring this seasonal ingredients too. Between from the selection of pumpkins available, our favourite are the Blue and Butternut pumpkin. What about yours?

[New Cafes in Yishun & Sembawang] Holy Cow Creamery, Mootime, RoyceMary Cafe and The Daily Scoop

[Holy Cow Creamery] Waffle and Ice-Cream

Finally the wait is over because for those living in the North, especially Sembawang and Yishun, there is a new hipster cafe plus three creameries opening in these two areas. And with their convenient locations in the neighbourhood within schools, offices and residents, crowds will be coming in anytime of the day to chill up with friends or just enjoy a cup of coffee while reading a few good chapters in the afternoon.

In this post I would be sharing our dining experience and reviews after visiting these cafes but since three of them are still pretty new I think a second or third visit would be great in order to justify their service and food.

Oreo Cheesecake (OREO 芝士蛋糕)

Oreo Cheesecake

In celebration of Children's Day which falls on Friday, 03 October this year, I made a surprised Oreo Cheesecake for the boy as this is the only flavour of cheesecake that he loved. This cheesecake is slightly different from the usual creamy version with a lighter taste (adding some sour cream to tone down the strong cheesy flavour) and cotton soft texture which similar to the Japanese Baked Cheesecake (cow print cheesecake recipe) that I made earlier.

[recipes] Huiji Waist Tonic (汇集补腰精)

Steamed Ginger Chicken

No matter you are a new mother on confinement or just someone who wants to whip up some herbal dishes for the family to nourish the body.  I am sure you have tried some of those  pre-packed herbs, spices or even tonic drinks which are available in the stores. In this post I would be sharing a few ideas on how to prepare nourishing dishes with the help of Huiji Waist Tonic which could easily prepare for ourselves and kid(s) especially during exam period.

Cow Print Japanese Cheesecake

Cow Print Japanese Cheesecake

If you are craving for some cheesecake perhaps you could try out this "light version" (less cheese + without using any oil) over the weekend. This cake has a light lemon fragrant with soft and moist texture that makes you probably go for second helpings without feeling too guilty.

Homemade Granola - 格兰诺拉麦片

Homemade Granola

In the recent years, Granola has becomes a popular breakfast choice or snack food around the world. This healthy snack consists of rolled oats, nuts and honey which usually baked until crisp then  add-on with dried fruits mixture. You can either have it on its own or combine with yogurt, honey and fresh fruits such as strawberries and bananas. Beside that soaking them in cold milk or use as topping for desserts like ice-cream or parfait are great ideas too. 

[recipes] Honey Tempura Prawns + Tips On Using Honey

Honey Prawns are a popular Chinese takeaway / take out dish in most western countries such as Australia and United States. But do you actually this dish can be easily prepare at home with just a few basic ingredients that are available in your pantry? Moreover this delicious dish can also be serve as a party food or together with some steamed rice for quick week night 1-dish meal.

Be Good To Your Gut With VITAGEN

Assorted Flavour of VITAGEN Less Sugar

Stressful workload and irregular meal hours many often lead to ingestion problems such as constant abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhoea or bloating due to skipping of meals or having it late. But besides that, don’t forget “overeat” is also another common factor among most people in Singapore especially when we are always surrounded by several temptations of food which acts as one of the main cause that put pressure on the digestive system.

Pocket Friendly Lunches in Singapore CBD Area

Pocket Friendly Lunch Deal

In recent years with the high raising living cost in Singapore, most of the food outlets had increase their food pricing in order to accommodate the overheads and expenses. So at time we do wonder are there still any pocket friendly meals to cater for those working in the Central District area such as Raffles, Marina area or etc. For example: Can you still grab a decent lunch for S$5.00 or you are willing to increase your budget with a few dollars higher and set them in air-conditioned food court, cafe or restaurants?

In this post, let's look at a few budget friendly food centres in the central district area such as the newly revamped Lau Pa Sat, Hong Lim Food Centre and Chinatown Market which I am sure they sounds familiar to those who often patrons these places.

[recipes] Homemade Mooncake Part II - Jelly Mooncakes

[Homemade Mooncakes] Chocolate Jelly Mooncake

After the first post of our Homemade Mooncake Recipes, here is the second part which features non-baked Jelly Mooncakes using agar agar powder (or you can replace it with konnyaku jelly powder) which makes into refreshing jelly dessert that resemble mooncake in a lighter version. Although making these jelly mooncake might seems a little time consuming due to the different layers of colour but when you get the hang of it, the steps are actually quite straightforward to follow too.

[recipes] Homemade Mooncake Part I - Traditional Mooncake vs Snow Skin Mooncakes

Assorted Homemade Mooncakes

Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节) is just another two weeks from now. This year due to a mooncake project I made some variety of homemade mooncakes ranging from those traditional ones with lotus paste that are wrapped with melon seeds and salted egg to refreshing Jelly Mooncakes that are made using agar agar powder with flavour such as rose and lychee.

National Day Limited Edition Tiger Beer Giveaway

[Photo Credit] Tiger Beer Singapore Facebook

Yeah finally it's mid-week meaning weekend is approaching in another two more days. Here we have a giveaway to perk up your week with some limited edition items. This year to celebrate Singapore 49th National Birthday, Tiger Beer has unveiled this limited edition Tiger Beer can with red and white outfit instead of its usual blue.

Win A Trip To Paris With Purchased of Laughing Cow Products

Recently, The Laughing Cow is running its Travel Around the World campaign for all the Laughing Cow's loyal supporters and cheese lovers in Singapore. From now till 07 October 2014, with every purchase of The Laughing Cow 8 Portion Cheese customers will receive exclusive sticker collectibles with iconic landmarks in six different countries: France, England, Egypt, Italy, Mexico, and USA. In addition to that, customers also stand a chance to win limited edition The Laughing Cow toasters and strollers plus eligible for the luck draw with grand prize; a trip to Paris for two.

Happy 49th Birthday Singapore!

Happy Birthday Singapore

Happy 49th Birthday Singapore! This year lady luck is with us because I was fortunate to win four National Day Parade (NDP 2014) tickets through the balloting. We were very contented even though it was only the preview tickets on 02 August 2014 and furthermore it was also our very first time attending the National Day Parade. And we waited eagerly for the big day ever since we collected the tickets a month before hand.

[3 recipes] Thai-style Steamed Pomfret, Seafood Tom Yum and Thai Basil Minced Pork

Seafood Tom Yum and Thai Basil Minced Pork

Most of us who loves Thai cuisine are usually fans of spicy and sour food. And in Thailand, Tom Yum Talay (hot and spicy seafood soup) is known for its health benefits and is often equivalent to the chicken noodle soup which we used to have it when we are not feeling well. Moreover this delicious one pot soup is also pretty easy to make once you have all the necessary ingredients.

In this post, I would be sharing 3 common homecook Thai dishes which you can easily prepare them at home with ingredients that are available from leading supermarkets or Thai grocery stalls.