5 Minutes Tofu Dish

Tofu is always one of the best and versatile ingredient found in the kitchen pantry. Since Tofu has very little flavor or smell on its own, you can use it to create all kinds of sweet and savory dishes range from starter, soup, main course and dessert or even in cake and pastry. Today we are going to prepare a less than 5 minutes dish using Tofu and Pork Mince with Bean Paste (肉酱) as the main ingredients.

This is a very simple and yet presentable dish that doesn’t even require any cooking time but perhaps just a few seconds to a minute of re-heating in the microwave before serving. As you know Tofu is rather tasteless so by adding Pork Mince with Bean Paste (肉酱) to it, it actually acts as a seasoning to this dish too. In order to make this dish look and taste even better, I also add in some shimeji mushroom and "century egg - 皮蛋" in it.

Ingredients:
1 Box of Silken Tofu
3 Tablespoon of Pork Mince Paste(肉酱)
1 Century Egg(皮蛋), cut into small cubes
1 Packet of Shimeji Mushroom, optional

Garnish:
Some Spring Onion
Some Chilli

Method:
1. Remove the tofu from the packaging and place it on a big serving plate and try to pad dry both side with some kitchen paper towel.
2. Cut/plug the individual stalk off from the bunch of shimeji mushroom, and give it a quick 30 second stir in a lightly oil saucepan.
3. Removed and arrange on the side of the tofu.
4. Spread the pork mince paste on top of the tofu and scatter the century eggs all over it.
5. Before serving, reheat the tofu in microwave for 30 second to a minute high depending on the voltage of your microwave.
6. To serve, top with some chopped spring onion and chiili as garnish.


So you see, this is a very quick and easy dish that can be served in about 5 minutes time. And if you don't prefer to do any extra washing after stir-frying the mushroom then perhaps you can replace the mushroom by some shredded lettuce, which can blend well with the bean paste too.

Arteastiq Tea Lounge by MARXX

Talking about Mother's Day which falls on this coming Sunday, 09 May. What's on your mind to celebrate or pamper your mum for the time and thoughts that she has spent on you. No matter what is your budget like, I am sure she will appreciate the thought that count. So why not taking this opportunity to pamper mum with some refreshing English Floral-Tea and unique tea-snacks while some time off during your shopping trip.


Arteastiq is a very new tea lounge located inside a furniture boutique called Marxx at the Mandarin Gallery. The place was furnished with colourful designer chairs and sofa that brighten up the area. You can also enjoy good view of orchard road from the tall glass window.

There are a wide range of Tea Menu from English floral teas such as French Rose or Earl Grey to Chinese and Japanese and fruit teas like Pomelo, Lychee or etc. Beside these they also served alcoholic teas such as Cointreau Menta Lemongrass or Choya Pear Tea which is only available after 5pm.

Since both mum and I love floral tea, we ordered both our set from the English Floral Tea menu. The one that I had above is the Earl Grey with Lavender Tea which black tea that is blend with a light scent of Lavender that smooth my mood of the day. Each set of tea served with a complementary snack that varies from set to set which could be dried cranberries or sweet wafer biscuits or etc. Both our floral tea set are comes with almond wafers which mum enjoy so much and yet at a reasonable price of S$6.90 each set.

Mum prefer something light so she order her favourite French Rose Tea which is light and refreshing. The romantic rose scent really add extra fragrance to the atmosphere too. Each tea set is served on a gold-handled wooden tray, with unique design tea pots and cups. Like eg. Mum's rose tea set was served with a rose print tea cup and plate which add extra presentation point to the set.

Along with the tea sets we also ordered one of the recommendation Teasers item known as "Trinity" which offers a taste of three items in smaller servings. Our picks are: Knight Without Armour (crab salad served with volvant), Lust (chilled drunken sakura chicken with wolfberries) and Hot Naked Top (spicy jumbo top shell with chilled mango achar) which cost S$8.90 for any three items. Out of the 3 items mum loves the spicy top shell because it taste great with it's Q texture and the combination of sweet and sour mango achar.

Overall this is a great afternoon tea session for everyone of us. Even my little boy who don't drink tea enjoy the atmosphere and cosy environment of this little cafe that located at a corner of this unique furniture boutique. Em... perhaps next round I shall try some of their cold tea and wagyu beef which we missed out today. So if your mum loves afternoon tea, why not give this a try and let her experience another way of tea-time rather than the usual normal "coffee-break".

2010 Taiwan Trip - Day 3

After a long day of travelling and fun watching of fire-crackers, fireflies and etc we slept around 11pm yesterday night. This was our first time staying over at a village farm. Although the surrounding scenery was great but the room was kind of creepy crawling with flying insects........ But thank God we still managed to have some sleep and replenish our energy for another brand new day.

Breakfast was served in another restaurant near the gathering area. According to the tour guide daily breakfast was specially prepared using organic ingredients which is good for health. Normally Taiwanese love to have porridge, steam bun and side dishes for their morning breakfast. I also tried one of their signature braised minced pork that served with steam oat rice. Overall this is a good memories for us especially, Rey whom has never encounter country life and farm stay before.

After breakfast, we head off to the southern side of Su-ao Harbor known as Nanfangau - 南方澳, a major base for coastal fishing. The abundance of the fish catch here has made Nanfang-ao one of the three largest fishing towns on the island. There are actually three fishing harbors and markets at Nanfang-ao, each with its own unique character. At this harbour you can also visit the famous Nan Tian Gong - 南天宫 which the landmark of Nafangau, and also the center for the traditional religion (Ma Zu - 妈祖庙) of the local citizen.

Depart from the fish harbour, we head off along the beautiful "Suhua Highway - 苏花公路" which a portion was built alongside very steep cliffs high above the Pacific Ocean - 太平洋 that it is a dangerous but yet scenic drive. It's such a pity that I didn't managed to take any photos during the journey because the winding road has made me so giddy and nausea. If you have to cruise along the highway you will agreed with me it's breath taking scenery.

About 2 hours or so, we reached Hua Lian - 花莲 whereby we stop over at an Organic Restaurant that is at the foot of "Taroko National Park - 太鲁阁国家公园". All the dishes shown above are all organic including the pork and poultry. Although the food look and taste great, but I am too sick(suffer from motion sickness) to have my lunch.

"Taroko National Park - 太鲁阁国家公园" has a few stopover stations for tourist to take photos and enjoy it's natural beauty. Taroko Gorge and its surrounding area are well known for their abundant supply of marble, leading to its nickname, "The Marble Gorge". The rock now seen in Taroko began over 200 million years ago as sediment on the bottom of the ocean.

We visited two of the most-visited attractions at Taroko National Park which are Yantzukou - 燕子口 and the natural wonders along the Tunnel of Nine Turns Trail - 九曲洞步道. Since rockfall is extremely common in these parts, we had to put on safety helmets. In the photo above, you can see the Keelun river and the “Fish leaping across the dragon gate” natural structure. The rock formation is supposed to look like a fish trying to swim upstream.

After admiring all the mountains and cliffs and follow by another hour plus of travelling journey we reached "Rei Suei Leisure Farm - 瑞穗牧场". They also has a open air cafe that sell their very own homemade milk ice-cream, cheesecake and steam milk bun which is one of their signature item. A souvenir store that sell all kinds of products with cow prints or design. This farm is sure a great place for kids to roam around enjoying feeding or milking the cows.

Since we came all the way to this farm, we must ordered some of their famous items for our tea-break. Mum love their "Steam Milk Bun - 鲜奶馒头" which is so soft and fragrant to taste. Rey on the other hand love their homemade milk ice-cream.....em... this ice-cream really taste like "cold milk" no wonder Rey love it so much that he don't even want to share his share with us. For me, I took the hot milk with cheesecake whereby the milk is freshly cook upon serving and this taste so different from the usual fresh milk that we bought from the supermarket in Singapore.

Finishing our tea-snacks, we head off to Chipen - 知本 which is about 20 minute's ride southwest of Taitung - 台东. Passing the village towards the mountains, though, the road leads to one of the most popular tourist destinations in southeastern Taiwan: Chipen's hot springs and resort. Hot springs are extremely popular in Taiwan because of their reputed benefits to the skin and to general health.

For dinner today we will be having in the restaurant located in our hot spring resort. The dishes are more or less the same as the usual meal where they served steam chicken, prawns, stir-fry pork, steam clam and fish, green vegetables and herbal soup. After dinner, we went out for a walk along the streets not far from the resort where there are some souvenir stores, mini market, restaurant, karaoke bar and etc.

Upon returning to the resort, we have our hot spring bath to relax our body and soul before bedtime in order to have a good rest and prepared ourself for tomorrow's program.

Hearts ‘IN’ Hearts

This coming Sunday 9 of May - "Mother's Day", will be a great day for every mothers' or mum to be. I am sure no matter which categories you fall into you are bound to enjoy this wonder moment with your love one. So for this post, daddy and little one can help to prepare this hearty breakfast to reward mummy for all her handwork.

Western breakfast is always the most easier to prepare as most of the ingredients such as Ham, Cheese, Bread and Egg can be easily found in the supermarket. Since this is prepared to reward all the lovely mummies, we use assorted hearts shape cookie cutters to stamp out different sizes of hearts using bread and cheese.

Ingredients:
2 Slices of Thick Bread
Butter
1 Egg
30g Shaved Ham
1 Slice of Sandwich Cheese, optional
Assorted Size Heart shape Cutters

Method:
1. Use a Medium heart shape cutter or knife to cut out a heart shape from the center of each slice of thick bread. (In this recipe, I use the thick bread with cranberry, which can be easily found in most local bakery)
2. Spread some butter on the surface of the cutout bread then pop them in the toaster oven together with the 2 heart-shaped cutout and toast for about 5 – 7 minutes till their slightly golden in colour.
3. Remove and set aside.
4. Heat up a small frying pan or saucepan with some oil, saute the shaved ham for a few second, removed and set aside.
5. With the same pan, add in 1 teaspoon of oil, swirl the oil around the pan, place one of the toast bread in the pan, slowly break the egg into the heart-shaped hole, cover the pan and cook the egg over low heat until the egg white turns opaque, about 3 minutes or so.
6. When done, slowly transfer the bread to the serving plate (careful not to break the egg) along with the heart-shaped pieces of cutout bread, which is prefect for dipping into the yolk.
7. Lastly, fill the 2nd piece of hollow heart-shaped bread with shaved ham and top with heart-shaped cheese cutout.

Serve this hearty breakfast with mum’s favourite beverage during this Mother's Day weekend to pamper her sight and taste bubs. I am sure she will be overwhelm by these Hearts...... Here I wish all the mothers and mother to be a Happy and heartwarming Mother's Day!!!