Chinese New Year Flower Fair - 新年花市

Usually during a month or so before Chinese New Year, there will be a lot of places selling all kinds of imported flowers or plants from China and the neighbouring countries like Taiwan, Malaysia and etc. Flower nurseries/gardens will bring in all kinds of auspicious flowers/plants to welcome a new head start of the year.

Every year for about the past 5 years or so, there is always a mini "Flower Fair" which showcase more than 50 different types of flowers/potted plants from the neighbouring countries. And each year the whole market area will be crowded with people of all ages who comes to admire or buying these plants. And only on occasion like this we are able to see all kind of festive flowers that brings up the atmosphere of the surrounding with their multi colourful petals.

So sorry that I can't named all the flowers/plants that appears in these photo because I am also not sure of their actual name. But all these beautiful flower can't resists my intention to share with all the readers on the coming Chinese New Year mood.

From this photo, you can see some of the common Chinese New Year plants that can be easily found in most household during New Year visit. "Pussy willows - 銀柳" which is in the middle are well known for it white or silvery buds that are silky and when they blooms it will emerald green leaves sprout that gives it a new lease of life to which it will symbolise a new beginning, prosperity and signs of growth. These are usually sold in bunches of different length or colour which will look great in a long vase.

Next you can see pots of, "Mandarin Oranges - 柑" that comes in different sizes. Some belief that the bigger it is , the bigger it represents bigger opportunities, it also speaks of sweet success too. During Chinese New Year, everyone who goes to house visiting/greetings will accompanied with a pair of oranges which is a traditional practice among the Chinese. It symbolises "Gold" and all the good wishes for the new year.

Other than the two main plants, you can also see "Red Radish" which symbolised "Good Luck - 好采头" and "Lucky Bamboo - 开运竹" which represent a harmonious balance of all the five elements of nature -" water, fire, earth, wood and metal".

Other than the usual Chinese New Year plants, some businessman or folks also love to get Pomegranate plants which some believed that they can use it's stalk of leaves to cast away evil spirits or bring them "Good Luck". And a pot of 3Ft or above Pomegranate plant might cost up to S$100 during this Chinese New Year season. But so far, I don't really see they bear any big fruits of those kind that is sold in the supermarket. Next popular on the flower might be the "Orchid" plants around the flower fair but I am not sure what special meaning it has for the New Year. Maybe those of you know any clue on this can drop me a note to share with us.

Other than the flower fair which is near our area, we also visit the "Flower Nurseries" along Thomson Road area. Everyone of us feel so excited with the Chinese New Year atmosphere with all these colourful New Year flowers/plants. There are at least about 4 nurseries along the stretch of road, so do drop by before Chinese New Year which falls on 14 February 2010 to embrace yourself with all these wonderful sight.

Look at this set of combination, I love those pots of "tiny daisy" which look like little smiling faces that can easily brighten up your days. I am not sure what is the name of the colourful flower that is shown on the bottom left. This pot comes with a bunch of very colourful tiny flowers that really caught my attention at 1st sight. And when you take a closer look, you can also find the a pot each of the red and white cherry blossom from the photo.

From the 1st picture on the left, you can see the "Nepenthes" being decorated with New Year decorations. But Rey was much more interested on the wall of "Ferns" which comes in different colour and types. Along the way while admiring those potted tangerine, we spotted 3 interesting plant. The one shown on the bottom left look like a "huge hand" which is called the "Yellow Lotus Plant". Second on the row, is the "Ling Zhi - 灵芝". At the first glance, we still thought it is not a real plant because we hardly see any real Ling Zhi around in Singapore. And this pot of Ling Zhi cost around S$90+. As for the last picture on the right, it has a very unique name which called "Nipple Fruit" which is similar to tomato family.

So... why not join in the Chinese New New countdown and immersed yourself in the festive season Flower Fair.....

Birthday Treat @ Sakae Sushi Part III

This is our 3rd visit to Sakae sushi in the month of January. As we are all busy with work and etc during the weekday where my Birthday falls on, we decided to make it up for a weekend dinner instead. While flipping through the menu, we are struggling on whether to settle for Teppanyaki or Ala Carte Menu. And after some voting, we decide to get one item each from our favourite section.

First, we have a plate of this Bamboo Clam from the Teppanyaki Menu which cost about S$8.99. The bamboo clam is fresh, springy and nicely infused with garlic bits that enhance the overall flavour of this dish. I recommend to eat this dish with steam rice so that you can enjoy the yummy gravy with it.

It has being long time since my last tried on this "Agedashi Tofu" from the menu. I remember I used to love this dish a few years back and I even tried a few recipes on making this dish at home. I love the tofu which has a crispy outer layer, when bite the center is so soft and silky. This tofu goes well with it's special Tentsuyu broth which is make with Dashi, Mirin and Soy Sauce.

Tempura Ramen is something new to us today compare to the usual Tempura Udon or Ten Don(天丼) that we usually ordered from the menu. So far I notice that most of the Ramen in Sakae came in a very "HUGE" serving bowl which will give you a fright on the content in it. From the photo, you can see that the Ramen is served in some cloudy white colored broth, with soft-boiled egg, kamaboko, spinach and etc. And it is also served with a pair of deep-fried tempura prawns. We don't really like the taste of the Ramen broth which we find it rather salty.

We love Unagi, especially the Unagi Don, but today we would like to try something new so we pick up this "Unagi Tamago Toji" from the Hotplate section. Imagine, combining the yummy Unagi with Tamago Toji(eggdrop soup) on the Hotplate and served piping hot together with a bowl of steam rice. Wow.. isn't that great for a hearty meal where you can enjoy fish, egg, vegetables and mushroom all in one.

I used to love this deep-fried sushi which is coated with a layer of batter which makes it taste crispy and fragrant. Fried Maki is one of the colour plate item found under the Side Order Menu. I have not tasted this for about a year or so and today we find that it is rather not the same taste as what we used to have before. Maybe is the ingredients or somehow rather something is different from the past.

Almond Cookies - 杏仁饼

Because of my colleague Rebecca who loves to eat "Almond Cookies", she asked me to help her google some reliable recipes that will produce those melt-in mouth type of texture which she is looking for. But when she tried the recipes that I gave her, the result was not what she expected. And since I also can't find the recipe that I used for making the Almond Cookies for her two years ago. I decided to pick one from the web (which I google for so long, seems harder to find almond cookies compare to the rest) which I think might work well from the ingredients and photo shown.

Most of the Almond Cookie recipes call for either melted butter/oil or both. Some use a little as 1 Tablespoon of Ground Almond whereas this recipe that I try from Malaysia Best website, she actually use equal amount of ground almond to flour. But instead of following her using Caster Sugar, I thought maybe I can swap it with Icing Sugar which is similar recipe to the Peanut Cookies that I did earlier. I also replace the freshly roasted and grind almond with those pre-packed ground almond meal for this trail bake.

Ingredients: (24 Cookies)
100g Ground Almond
100g Top Flour/Wheat Flour
50g Icing Sugar
30g Butter, cut into small cubes
70g Peanut/Corn Oil

Egg Wash:
1 Egg Yolk + 1 Teaspoon Egg White, beat well

Method:
1. Mix flour and sugar in a mixing bow and rub in butter till resemble bread crumbs.
2. Stir in the ground almond and mix well.
3. Next slowly pour in the oil and knead till it form a dough.
4. Set a set to rest for 20 minutes then roll into marble sizes.
5. Brush it with egg wash and bake in pre-heated 175 degree oven for 15 - 20 minutes.
6. Leave it on cooling rack to cool completely before storing in air tight container.


I don't know how come my Almond Cookies seems kind of flatten like those Westen type of "Almond Cookies".... Em... I think aparts from the swappig of items from the original recipe, I did add in like 1/8 teaspoon of baking powder to the flour mixture... Wondering will this affect the outlook of the cookies? But despite on the different of the outlook from the usual almond cookies that is sold for Chinese New Year. The one that I made here, look kind of like those "Traditional Flat Almond Biscuit" sold in those old bakery shop. Em... I shall let R tried a few of this when I get to see her at work next week......But for me and my family, we find this cookie is rather towards the crispy type compare to those those melt-in mouth texture.

Peanut Cookies - 花生酥

After resting for a week or so, I have some discussion going on with my colleague R regarding on what to bake for Chinese New Year. She was telling me that she had a few packets of chopped peanut being left over from the instant "Tangyuan - 汤圆" that she bought during December 2009 "Dong Zhi - 冬至".

Since I have not make any "Peanut Cookies -花生酥" before, I decided to do a google search for some suitable recipes, but some of it don't really look appetising from the photos. So after some mix and match on the recipes that I settle on one that I feel is easier to prepared and will yield good results based on the comments given.

From some of the recipes that I google it didn't really mention which type of peanut to be used for the recipe. So in order to save time for the trial baking, I bought the pre-packed ground peanut powder which most people used it for dessert purpose. The peanuts are finely grind into powder like texture and mixture of caster sugar based on the packet ingredients stated. So in this case, I have to cut down the amount of sugar used so that it is not too sweet due to the extra sugar in the ground peanut mixture.

Ingredients: (makes 36 marble sizes)
100g Ground Peanut Powder
100g Top Flour/Plain Flour
1/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder
50g Icing Sugar
60g Roasted Salted Peanut, finely chopped
70ml Peanut Oil/Corn Oil

Egg Wash:
1 Egg Yolk + 1 Teaspoon White, beat well

Method:
1. Mix flour, baking powder, ground peanut and icing sugar(sieved) together in a mixing bowl.
2. Next toss in the chopped peanuts and mix well.
3. Slowly add in peanut oil (you might required slightly 10 - 15ml more) to mix the flour mixture into a dough. (after stir in the oil with the spoon, use hand to knead and mix the dough will be much easier)
4. When the dough bind together, shape the dough accordingly to your preference size and shapes, brush with egg wash.
5. Bake in preheat 170 degree oven for about 15 - 20 minutes(depend on the sizes) till golden brown.
6. Set it aside on cooling rack to cool completely before storing it in air-tight container.


This is one of the most easier to prepare Chinese New Year cookies based on the short-cut that I have taken for the ingredients use :p But if you have the time for doing the preparation, I encourage that you might want to spend some time to roast the peanut till fragrant then grind it so that it will produce a even more fragrant and melt-in-mouth effect.

But no matter which type of methods/recipes your prefer, below are some interesting links that you might want to read about on their recipes/tips on making peanut cookies which I personally think is very useful:-

1. Malaysian Best - Peanut Cookies
2. Happy Home Baking - Cookie Galore
3. Do What I like - Chinese Peanut Cookies