Oatmeal Fish Porridge

If you have being following this blog, you can find another similar Savory Oatmeal Porridge which I had shared the recipe a few years back. I still remember that recipe was taught to me by my ex-boss wife who always include it in their breakfast menu. And since we can easily purchase either Instant/Quick Cook Oatmeal from leading supermarkets and they both works well on Sweet (recipe) and Savory (recipe) dishes, hence oatmeal became one of my favourite pantry ingredients.

OATMEAL FISH PORRIDGE

This Oatmeal Fish Porridge can act as a great idea for weekend brunch or you can even serve it for dinner too. The idea of using fish slices is because I wanted to create something similar to Fish Congee but with more nourishing ingredients like carrot, wolfberries, gingko nuts and egg. But then it is still up to individual to mix and match with the ingredients that you prefer.

(Serves: 2  | Preparation: 5 minutes | Cooking: 15 minutes)

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup of Quick Cook Oatmeal (Quaker brand)
750ml Chicken Broth
150g Mackerel Fish Slices
1 Egg, lightly beaten
2 Stalks Spring Onion, cut into sections
Some Diced Carrot
Some Gingko Nuts
Some Wolfberries
Some Chopped Spring Onion

Method:-
1. Lightly marinate fish slices with salt, pepper and sesame oil, cornflour and set aside.

2. Preheat a saucepan with some oil, lightly fry the diced carrot and spring onion till fragrant, add in soup broth and gingko nut, simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes until carrot is soften.

3. Next add in quick cook oatmeal and continue to simmer till almost done (if the mixture is too thick, add extra 150 - 200ml of hot water/soup broth to dilute), add in fish slices and wolfberries.

4. When fish is cooked through, switch off the heat, drizzle beaten egg and give it a quick stir.

5. Ladle oatmeal into serving bowls, top with some chopped spring onion and fried shallot, serve immediately.

I guess for a change, this is not a bad idea for rice replacement as it look and taste somehow or rather similar to congee. And if you prefer more dilute version, add in either more chicken broth or reduce the amount of oatmeal. For me, I prefer a sticky texture if I am looking for some comfort food during cold weather.

SunnyHills 2013 CNY Special Edition Pack

Welcome to 2013 and I wish everyone a fruitful year ahead. As you know Chinese New Year (CNY) is approaching in roughly a month's time and you can also notice most of the bakeries and shopping malls are all getting ready for new year too.

Recently we have received a complimentary box of Pineapple Cakes from SunnyHills as a snack preview of their 2013 CNY Special Edition Pack. I love their CNY edition pack which brings in colours of spring that cheers up your day and makes you feel that CNY is around the corner.

As usual their pineapple cakes taste great like what we had previously and it is definitely made with real pineapple fruits without any artificial flavouring. And also with its buttery crust it goes well with the generous amount of pineapple fillings which enable to satisfy your craving for a good quality of pineapple cake.

Moreover these buttery pineapple cakes also resemble "Gold Bars" from it's shape and colour which are auspicious for Chinese New Year gift. If you are considering to get some, below might be some useful information for you. These pineapple cakes are available in boxes of:-

~ 10 pieces per box @ S$25.00
~ 15 pieces per box @ S$37.50
~ 20 pieces per box @ S$50.00

There will be FREE delivery (to one location) for orders above S$100.00 or a delivery fee of S$8.00 per location. But if your order is above S$350.00 they will be free delivery plus 10% OFF.  To make orders or queries you can either email: service@sunnyhills.com.sg or call/send SMS to (65) 8522 9605 between 10.00am to 6.00pm.

SUNNYHILLS AT RAFFLES HOTEL
Raffles Hotel Arcade
328 North Bridge Road
#03-05
Singapore 188719
Telephone: (65) 8522 9605
Facebook site: http://www.facebook.com/SunnyHills.At.RafflesHotel

Opening Hours:-
Tuesday to Saturday - 11.00am to 8.00pm
Sunday and Monday - 11.00am to 6.00pm

Pumpkin Granola Bar

My family loves granola and our my favourite granola supply come from "maameemoomoo" who always surprise us with her innovative flavoured granola like honey, pumpkin and chocolate. And since we have missed out Sherie's pumpkin granola during Halloween orders, I decided to try making something similar to satisfy our craving. So with a twist and some research which I Google, I manage to bake some decent Pumpkin Granola Bar instead.

Although my granola bar might not taste as good as Sheri's but at least I happy with the end result and also it's a challenge for me to bake something with such a long ingredients list too.

McDonald Birthday Party

I am sure many of us loves McDonald from it's Hotcake to Big Breakfast or Double Cheese Burger to Filet-O-Fish Meals.  No matter which is your choice there is always something for everyone in the family. My kid loves their McChicken and Chicken McNugget meals which often comes with hot and yummy fries plus a regular drink.

Since McDonald is one of his favourite meals, we decided to hold a McDonald Birthday Party for him last weekend to celebrate his Birthday.

Upon discussing with the staff in-charged of the party, we were told that the McDonald's Party included things like:-
~ Choice of Happy Meal (Cheeseburger or Chicken McNuggets)
~ McDonald Design Party invitations cards (minimum 12 pieces)
~ Exclusive gift for birthday child
~ Gifts for invited guests
~ Game prizes
~ MINIMUM booking for 12 children per party package

*A deposit of S$14.40 (non-refundable) which is also known as the surcharge is required upon confirmation of booking

And as you see from the list above, McDonald required at least a MINIMUM of 12 children for the party package so even though if your invited kids are less 12 pax you still have to pay for the 12 sets of Happy Meal at S$9.00 (including surcharge) per child which is about S$108.00. I find this criteria is NOT flexible for those who do not meet the minimum requirement of 12 kids, perhaps they could allow/consider some swap or combination of kid and adult meals for some situation.

For your information, in order to bring in Birthday cake to the Party the cake has to be ordered from one of these Halal certificated bakeries shown above.  So when you are hosting a McDonald party for your kid(s) or friend, remember to double-check with the staff in-charged.

Since my boy is old enough to write his own invitation cards, I leave the task for him to in-charge of his invited guests list.

As an Angry Birds, Green Piggy fans my boy decided to use green piggy themed design tags for the guests to write their names for the lucky draw.

These are some food stuffs and stationary that we prepared as lucky draw gifts as well as goodie bags of sweets and chocolates for the guests. 

Upon arrival of the Birthday kid and invited guests, the staffs in-charged would assigned the sitting arrangement for the kids and get them to write down their name on the party hat in order to address and recognise them while serving the meals later.

All Happy Meals for the party comes with choice of either Cheeseburger or 4 pieces Chicken McNuggets together with a regular drink (coke, milo, ribena or milk) and side (cup corn or fries). While the kids are having their meal, the serving staffs at Yishun Safar McDonald are very patience and helpful by taking the imitative to make sure that all the invited kids and host are well taken care of.

15 minutes later, everyone almost settled down with their food orders and the kids also started to mingle among themselves with fun, laughter and food. 

After the meal, the serving staffs do a quick clear up and get ready to gather the kids around to participate some simple games for about 15 minutes before cutting the Birthday Cake.

Although the games might be simple due to the space constraint, but the kids definitely have a great time among themselves.

The last 10 - 15 minutes of the party are usually reserved for photos taking and cake cutting where everyone would gather around for Birthday songs and group photos with the birthday kid.

Angry Birds Space designed cake from Polar Puffs And Cakes Pte Ltd which is one of the bakery in their suggested Halal bakeries list shown above. 

Invited Guests received extra gifts like McDonald themed pencil, drinking straw and etc on top of the usual Happy Meal toy.

Birthday child received an Exclusive Birthday gift on top of the items in the Happy Meal goodie bag.

This is the actual Birthday Cake which my boy requested and I managed to order and custom made by Wai Fong from Fong's Kitchen Journal and if you are interested you could also read more about how she assemble this cake at her post HERE.

As you can see above, this is a 3-layer Chocolate Sponge with Dark Chocolate Ganache filling because my boy only loves chocolate cake but due to his favourite King Pig is green in colour we have to cover the chocolate cake with green coloured butter cream. Overall the sponge cake is fluffy and the ganche is great too but just that perhaps a little bit too sweet on the fillings.

Lastly we would like to thank everyone who came and joined us for the party last weekend. Thanks for all your lovely gifts and thoughts. Hope everyone of you have fun!