November 2009 Daring Baker's Challenge

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

As usual, I had fun with this challenge! As I was in the middle of preparing for major exams, I just used the provided recipe for the ricotta filling but will try other recipes in the future! It was a real workout rolling out the dough as it kept springing back in shape everytime I rolled it out and I perhaps did not persevere enough to roll them out flat enough but I think the outcome was pretty decent.

The empty shells after deep frying. Maybe not as thin as they should be.

After filling with the ricotta and pistachio filling. Yummy!

A closer look.

It was a good snack after a long day of studying. Will definitely try it again when I have more time in the future!

November 2009 Daring Cook's Challenge

The November 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was brought to you by Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen. They chose sushi as the challenge.

Sushi (寿司 or 鮨 or 鮓) is much appreciated for its delicate taste and exquisite appearance. Sushi actually means vinegared rice, which is the essential ingredient in every sushi recipe. Sushi is simple and cheap to make at home, needs no special equipment and is an excellent way to use left overs.

Although sushi in various forms has been around for fourteen centuries, the modern version was invented in Japan in the 1800’s where a 'hand-formed' sliced fresh fish and vinegared rice ball was eaten as a snack food. Nowadays, sushi is made with various seafood, meats and vegetables, raw and cooked.

Sushi is one of my favourite foods and this is not the first time making sushi but it is my first time making the more challenging dragon roll and nigiri sushi. I had great fun and the product was yummy and it was a good break from studying for my exams!
 

Dragon roll with unagi. I did not have enough unagi and so I wasn't able to cover the top as much as I would have like to.
 

Close up of the dragon roll.
 

 
Assorted platter of sushi
 

  
Unagi Nigiri sushi, this was a challenge trying to shape the rice and getting it to hold together to assemble it with the unagi and nori.
 

 
Sushi roll with crab meat, cucumber and smoked salmon
 

Cucumber nigiri sushi
 

Spiral sushi roll with cucumber, smoked salmon and avocado
 

 
Kanimayo gunkan sushi
 

Finally, sushi roll with unagi, smoked salmon, cucumber and avocado.
 
I had a blast with this month's challenge with one of my most favourite foods. Looking forward to the next!

October Daring Baker's Challenge

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

I have always wanted to try making macarons and boy was it a challenge! It was a pretty busy month for me and hence I could only do it the day before the reveal date.

The piped macaron mixture.

The baked product. Did not turn out as well as I would have like it to be. They were not smooth and they did not have any feet. Tasted alright though.

I decided to make a dark chocolate hazelnut ganache to fill the macarons. Unfortunately the ganache split after I put it together and I managed to fill a few and they tasted pretty good.

Not a perfect outcome, but I will try making macarons again soon when I have more time!

October Daring Cook's Challenge

The October 2009 Daring Cooks’ challenge was brought to us by Jaden of the blog Steamy Kitchen. The recipes are from her new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.

Chicken Pho

The garnishes

And for dessert, Deep Fried Nutella Wantons

September Daring Baker's Challenge

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Here are the pictures of my first completed Daring Baker's challenge! Puff pastry was intimidating before I made it but it was pretty manageable! Really enjoyed making it and the product was really yummy!

The empty shells.

Egg salad and smoked salmon

Chicken and mushroom

Strawberry fool

Looking forward to the next challenge!

Clare Valley

Went for another road trip on Wednesday to the Clare Valley, another wine producing region in South Australia and bought more wine!! hahaha... It was very fun with breathtaking views from some lookout points.

Taylor's winery, looks like a castle!

George, the resident dog at O'Leary Walker wines Look at all the barrels of wines! Nice Autumn leavesUs infront of the sevenhill church which is one of the oldest wineries around that was started by Jesuit priests and still makes sacramental wine today.

Us at the spring gully lookout

The breathtaking view from Spring Gully lookout

Look what we found in the bushes! hahaha

The view from Quarry Hill lookout

The haul!

Road Trip!

Went to McLaren Vale again today with the Singapore Association people to taste wines and visit a lavender farm where they showed us how they distilled the essential oils from lavender.. It takes flowers from 35 bushes just to distill a small bottle of lavender oil! Drove a minibus there and the engine was so weak.. You could hear the engine groaning and straining when going up slopes.. I could only go 60 in a 100 zone.. Can't wait till I have my own car..

Look at the nice rolling hills with all the grape vines... and look how brown everything is because of the drought.. Tasted some excellent wines and bought some to add to my little wine collection.. haha...
So everyone do drop by Adelaide! There's lots to do and see!!

Pure Heaven

Yummy!!!

Poofed

Woah.. Haven't updated in months.. Wonder if anyone still comes here.. Been so busy with school! starting at 8 everyday and finishing mostly at 5.. argh.... Went for a road trip last weekend to McLaren Vale, another wine producing region.. It was very fun!! with the weekend market and the wine tastings! Bought a plant that looks like a stone, they call it the living stone.. It's so cute! haha will post up a pic soon.. and the expressway to McLaren Vale is so cool.. it is only two lanes and in the morning it goes one way and in the afternoon it switches to the opposite direction! haha..

On the way to McLaren Vale..

A reverse hump.. haha

Grape vines as far as the eye can see

Lavender Farm..

Adelaide is also freaking crowded now... the World Police and Fire Games are on and there are so many police and fire men in town now for it I think Adelaide is the safest city in the world now haha.. Also saw the contingent from the Singapore police force roaming around the city.. The Fringe is also on with lots of buskers around every corner..

'Adelisa' drawn on the pavement of Rundle Mall

Eternal Embrace

Isn't that sweet? It's a little morbid but I think it's a really touching picture.. A couple locked in an eternal embrace for 5-6,000 years.. Wish there was a way to find out their story. What brought them together like that and all that.. Oh well..

Multiple personalities disorder

Just went to watch Multiple personalities disorder by Hossan Leong and it was damn funny! It's been a while since I've been to the theatre and i've missed it! I remember the first time i went for a theatre performance 10 years ago, 5 men on stage singing a capella.. haha was the most boring performance i've been at.. maybe we were 13 then and did not know how to appreciate their kind of music yet. haha
Anyway, Hossan Leong was hilarious, first time i've seen him live.. his costume changes were lightning fast and i especially like him as Joseph Extra'da.. haha.. really funny.. everyone should go watch this!

Taste for salt can begin at birth

NEW YORK - Some people with a penchant for salty snacks may have been born with it, a new study suggests.
In a study of 41 children and teenagers who'd been born prematurely, researchers found that those who'd had low sodium levels in their blood at birth had a particular fondness for salty food.
In tests where the children could choose from salty or sweet snacks, those born with low sodium levels reached for a salty snack more often. They also consumed substantially more sodium each day, based on interviews with children and their parents.
The study also found that children with the most severe sodium deficiency at birth weighed 30 per cent more, on average, than their peers born with the highest sodium levels.
High salt intake is considered a marker for the risk of obesity, possibly because it signifies a person's consumption of calorie-dense processed foods.
It's too soon, however, to say that sodium deficiency early in life is a risk factor for obesity, according to study co-author Dr Micah Leshem of the University of Haifa in Israel.
'There is insufficient evidence for parents to take a preference for salty food resulting from early sodium loss, of itself, as a predictor of weight gain in their children,' said Dr Leshem.
All of the children in the study had been born prematurely, which increases the chances that a newborn will have low blood sodium levels.
Low birth weight itself is thought to promote excessive weight gain later in life, Dr Leshem pointed out, and this may offer a 'better explanation' for the link between early sodium deficiency and childhood weight.
He and his colleagues report their findings in the American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative, and Comparative Physiology.
Premature newborns are at greatest risk of sodium deficiency at birth and soon after. -- REUTERS

create your own visited country map
or check our Venice travel guide

I'm need to travel more and make my map redder!

Whew

Exams are over! Chilli crabs here I come!

22

Well, it was the 1st anniversary of my 21st birthday 2 weeks ago and I wanna thank everyone for their messages! Thanks Gerald for the cheque book and the Tshirt! I already cashed in the cheque but the money haven't come it yet leh can you check it on your side? haha..

Mid Autumn Festival

I miss mooncakes!!! It was the mid autumn festival last week and we had this small gathering at the field outside my place and we drank tea, ate mooncakes (from Singapore!!) and stared at the moon. haha.. We were like a bunch of homeless people sitting on the grass in the middle of nowhere.

We had mooncakes from crystal jade and snowskin mooncakes from raffles hotel with chocolate in place of egg yolks! Yum!
Exams are coming up so soon and I haven't started preparation! Argh! Plus we haven't found a new place yet and time is running out. Found this perfect place in the city which is so near school and we're waiting for the reply. Praying that we will get it.


One of the churches in the City of Churches.
I miss winter too! It's only spring and temperatures are reaching 35+ degrees! The world is ending! Global warming is destroying the world! I want winter to come back! Wouldn't mind another ice age. haha..

Bolly Bollywood

Living in a small city like Adelaide is quite happening haha cos you get to see everything that happens in the city. Now they're filming a bollywood movie in Adelaide called Love Story 2050.. haha.. Does that mean Adelaide now is India 50 years later? haha.. Saw them filming in a house the other day with Priyanka Chopra, apparently a former Miss World.. but didn't see anyone dancing round coconut trees.
I'm becoming homeless soon! Our house is being sold, so we have to look for a new place to move into.. Apparently the rental market now is very bad as well. sigh.. and so many things to do in school also.. with exams coming and all that.. Hope we can find a suitable place soon..

Sigh

Who can lend me $700,000??

Spring Time

Went around the neighbourhood today to take some photos of flowers!


This is my garden with a small bush of flowers.


Close up of the flowers


Another close up


This is my neighbour's house with a bigger tree of flowers.


Look like sakura flowers!


Nice flowers at the carpark behind my house.


Lavenders. I love the smell!