Merry Christmas 2008

On every Christmas day, my whole bunch of friends will meet out for our Christmas dinner followed by a Gift Exchange program. This year, everything remains except that we have moved our destination out of downtown area to a more heartland environment!

The change was started by me, because I was the coordinator for this year's Christmas program. Every year the downtown area will be flooded with people and it is really hard to get a reservation at any place. Furthermore, we have 2 little kids and it will definitely be a tough chores for both mums to struggle carrying their babies amongst the crowd.

I had a hard time looking for a dinning place because I wanted a place that has a nice ambience and is really cozy. It was such a blessing when I came across this cafe while on a trip and they were featured on the TV as well. I hurriedly called them up for reservations and was really thrilled when we finally visited them!

The whole cafe is really really comfortable and they have vibrant colors that brighten up your mood. Best of all, the owner - Priscilla is such a gorgeous and friendly lady. The whole cafe brings out a very cheery atmosphere and I'm sure kids and adults will love to stay inside for a long long time and yes, they have a nice and interesting name - With a Pinch of Salt by Kyra.

I think I'll save my words and let the pictures tour you around.


The entrance


Nice windows ;)


The Menu stand


Very colorful environment


Kyra the host with her slogan


Besides the usual dinning area, they have a side corner for games and it's quite spacious


I told you it's spacious!


They have very cute and innovative name cards.
We "grabbed" many many of them :P


I have not tried the cakes but they looked pretty delicious


Turkey Caesar Salad
Nice salad! I love the dressings very much~


One of the Christmas course - Teriyaki Salmon set
Very yummy sauce and the fish was cooked nicely. The potatoes were nice!


One of the Christmas course - Beef Tenderloin set
The beef was tender although the sides were a little dry so it was on the average range


French Caramel Pudding
Very milky and delicious! The choco balls around them were really cripsy!

The whole Christmas menu cost $30 nett. (comes with a Salad, Main course, dessert and a cup of red/white wine). Yes NETT, no GST, no Service Charge! How cool can that be!


With a Pinch of Salt by Kyra
297 Tanjong Katong Road
Tel: 6348 2297

Christmas Cookies

Christmas is going to tip at my toes in another 15 days and I'm so excited! It's a season for family and friends and this truly perks up my mood :)

Last year, I wanted to make some Christmas cookies but they failed terribly. I could not even lift up the shaped dough not to say baked them! I guess it's either the recipe or otherwise my skills. I believe it's the latter.

This time round, I bucked up enough courage to try it out again.
IT works and I frosted them with some icings. Though they may not looked as nice as Evan's ones but I'm happy that at least they can be shown to the public now. Hurray!

On a side note, I'm looking for a nice and cozy place for Christmas Dinner.
It'll be good if it's buffet but Ala carte is fine - Not too expensive because you know Christmas is a month of spending! Let me know okay?


Santa Claus is coming to town.!

Hello Hello!

I have been tagged by both Aimei and Ganache-Ganache for the below Meme. Sorry ladies that I actually acted on this till now. Was really busy with my work and you know, I have not been baking for almost 2 weeks! Arghhh...

Here are the rules to observe.1. Link to my blog (tagger) on your blog. 2. Give seven facts about yourself. 3. Tag another seven blogs by leaving a comment on their blog and letting them know they were tagged and listing them (and their blogs) on your blog.

1. I love high carbohydrate food such as Bread, Potatoes and noodles. NOW, you know why I always have to keep a watch out on my intake ;P
   
   
2. I love to bake and cook as much as I love to talk. However, due to my workload, I haven't been doing the 3 much recently! :(
   


3. I'm a very repetitive person who can ask the same questions up to 20 times a day. The first person who can prove for that would be my Prince Charming.
   


4. I'm 5 feet 2 inches tall. Go convert it into Centimeters and you'll get my height.
   


5. I'm lamenting on the fact why did I chose to left my previous company. Sniffs....
   


6. I'm a hilarious and loud person who can laugh at the smallest joke and cry at the smallest mistake I made. Very extreme person I would say but no worries, I don't have any mood swings. My friends can vow for me!

I am not going to tag anyone for this.

Raisins Scones

Makes 13-16
Ingredients	Amounts
Plain flour	3 cups
Butter	170g
Sugar	1/2 cup
Baking powder	5 tsp
Salt	1 tsp
Milk	1 cup
Beaten egg	1
Raisins	1 cup

1. Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a deep bowl. Cut butter into small pieces and mix into the flour mixture. Rub the butter with the flour using your finger tips till crumbs like mixture is formed.
   
   
2. Add milk and beaten egg into the crumb mixture and mixed well. If the dough is sticky, you may add in more flour. Pour the raisins into the dough and knead well.
   
   
3. Roll the dough flat onto a floured surface. Cut the dough into circular shape and bring to bake at 200 degree Celsius for 15 mins or till golden brown.

I forgotten where I got this recipe from ( sign of aging *sniffs*) but I wrote that down and stick it onto my fridge, so when I was cracking my brain what to prepare for breakfast, I saw that and was happy since I got all the ingredients on hand, plus I was craving for scones after I ate that at InterContinental Hotel.

This is the second time I'm attempting on scones and the last time, Prince Charming complaint that he does not like fluffy scones so I was crossing my fingers that this is not something that he would fuss about. Quite a relieve that Prince Charming commented he likes this much better than the previous attempt :)

Serves this with your favourite jams and it'll make a good breakfast or high tea ;)

Late night supper @ The Roti Prata House

I almost forgotten all about our late night supper only when I found these tempting pictures lying in my folder! Gosh, is that a sign of aging? :(

Prince Charming and I headed down to Thomson for our late night supper while on our way home. We decided to go for pratas since the aroma was really strong and its practically dragging our feets there.

We ordered 2 kosong pratas (plain) and 2 egg pratas, 1 mee goreng and 1 Teh cino to go along.
The pratas were really crispy and nice! I love how you can bite the crisps off the edges and munch it down your throat. Awwww... thumbs up for the prata. Mee goreng on the other hand was not too bad and with a good point - they were not as greasy as the common ones we get anywhere.

I did not get to taste Teh Cino because I don't like to consume caffeine at night so according to Prince Charming's statement, he said that was the most flavourful Teh Cino he has tasted and it was really smoothing and nice. Total cost - $10 in exact. I have no idea how much each individual cost so I'll check it out the next time.

Anyway, I am staying so near to Jalan Kayu but both Prince Charming and I will rather prefer to take a ride down to Thomson for their pratas than walking over to Jalan Kayu. We both felt that Jalan Kayu's pratas are a little over-rated and they were not as nice comparing to the ones at Prata House. I suppose its up to individual to decide.









The Roti Prata House
Thomson Garden Estate
246M Upper Thomson Rd
Tel: 6459 5260
Mon - Sun (7am - 1am)

English High Tea @ InterContinental Hotel

Prince Charming and I went down to InterContinental Hotel at Middle Road today for my advance Birthday celebration. Our initial plan was to visit Equinox after viewing Evan's post . A pity the reservation hotline confirmed that it was fully booked but they did commented that we could make a walk-in to try our luck.

I was really keen to go Equinox but looking at the slim chances of getting a place, I decided to go for High tea. We were browsing online and decided on Intercontinental Hotel's High Tea at The Lounge.

It was a 4-Tier High tea cuisine that comes with Fried wings, Caesar salad, Scones and cakes. I love the dried tomatoes in the salad cause they tasted really like baked bacons! The scones were really nice and the strawberry jam were amazingly tasty. I think that's the best jam I've tasted so far ;)

Frankly speaking, I would prefer to go for an international buffet because the high tea is not re-fillable. In other words, what you see is what you eat.













InterContinental Singapore
The Lounge
Reservation Tel: 6825 1046
Price: $35++ (15% off UOB Credit Card)

Stuffed Wings

Serves 2~3
Ingredients	Amounts
Minced Pork	300g
Corn flour	2.5 tsp
Spring onions (Chopped finely)	2 stalks
Salt	2 ~3 tsp
Sesame oil	3 tsp
Sugar	2 tsp
Pepper	1 tsp
Vegetable Oil	Sufficient for swallow frying
Chicken Wings	5

*Chicken Marinades: Salt, Pepper, Sesame oil and Soy sauce ( Each 2 tsp)
** Deep frying ingredients: 1 beaten egg, flour and bread crumbs

1. De-boned chicken wings by cutting of the joints and slowly crapping off the meat from the bone. Break off the bones from the chicken and you'll get a boneless wing.
   
   
2. Marinate the chicken overnight. Combine minced pork, spring onions, pepper, salt, corn flour, sugar and sesame oil and mixed well.
   
   
3. Stuff the minced pork mixture into the boneless wings and bring to steam over medium heat for 10~ 15 mins.
   
   
4. Roll the steamed wings in beaten egg and pat with flour and breadcrumbs.
   
   
5. In a wok, pour in the oil and heat it upon medium heat. Swallow fry the wings till golden brown.

There's a stronge tint of Thai essence in my kitchen today. As you see, I made Shrimp toasts this afternoon and later in the evening, I made stuffed wings! Prince Charming was beaming with joy since this is the 2nd time I am doing it. (The last time was 3 yrs ago!)

I do not know how to make the dipping sauce, so we ate it with Tabasco sauce. It was nice but I think with the dipping sauce it would be excellent. Anyone has the recipe for the dipping sauce? :P

Shrimp Toast

Serves 3-5
Ingredients	Amounts
Fresh prawns	500g
Corn flour	2.5 tsp
Spring onions	2 stalks
Salt	2 ~3 tsp
Sesame oil	3 tsp
Sugar	2 tsp
Pepper	1 tsp
Vegetable Oil	Sufficient for swallow frying
Bread	Half a loaf

1. Cut the edges off the bread and slice the edgeless bread into triangular shapes.
   
   
2. De-veined the prawns and minced into paste form. Cut the spring onions into little pieces and mixed into the prawn paste.
   
   
3. Season the prawn paste with salt, corn flour, pepper, sugar and sesame oil. Mix well.
   
   
4. Spread the marinated prawn paste onto the triangular shaped bread.
   
   
5. In a wok/frying pan, add in oil and allow the oil to cook over medium heat. Place the Prawn pasted bread into the hot oil and fry till golden brown.

Thank goodness it's Deevapali today, I finally had time to make these shrimp toasts! I have been yearning for public holidays and weekends since I stepped into my new job. I wonder if I should be happy that at least I managed to slot out some time for my kitchen or just moan over the fact that I am not making much foodies.

These Shrimp toasts were truly AWESOME! I bet you can munched on them non-stop once you started. It'll be good to snacked on them when they are pipping hot but well, really greasy I would say. They can be eaten without any sauce but Prince Charming likes them with Tabasco sauce and I like them with some mayonnaise. They make a good party appetiser and I can foresee making them for my Christmas party. Tee hee hee...

Pan-fried Yam Cake

Makes two 6" cake pan
Ingredients	Amounts
Yam, diced	300g
Rice flour	500g
Water or Stock	1.8 litres
Minced chicken	200g
Salt, Pepper and 5-spices powder	As desired
Dried shrimps (soaked and chopped finely)	50g
Spring onions (Chopped finely)	2 small stalks
Vegetable Oil	2 .5tbsp + 1 tbsp
Sweet sauce	As desired
Corn flour	Gauge accordingly

1. Heat oil in a frying pan and bring the diced yam, minced chicken and dried shrimps to cook over medium low heat. Scopped the cooked ingredients and set aside.
   
   
2. In a big bowl, pour in the rice flour and add in some salt , pepper and 5-spices powder. Add 1.8 litres of water into the mixture and blend well. Make sure that it does not get lumpy.
   
   
3. In a deep wok, add a little oil (approx. 2 tsp). Pour 1/4 of the flour batter into the wok and bring to cook over low heat. Add the cooked ingredients into the batter.
   
   
4. Pour the remaining flour batter into the wok and cooked till the mixture gets thicken.
   
   
5. Scooped the thicken mixture into cake pan and bring to steam over medium high heat for 30-40 mins. Allow cooling before slicing it up.
   
   
6. Pat the sliced yam cake with corn flour. In another frying pan, heat up 1 tbsp of oil and when ready, bring the sliced yam cake to fry over low heat till golden brown.
   
   
7. Sprinkle some spring onions over the yam cake and drizzle some sweet sauce over.

I made this yam cake for our breakfast on Tuesday. The cooking method is somehow similar to HongKong style Radish cake except that this is a simpler version. The original recipe calls for roast pork but well, having yam cake for breakfast is heavy enough, imagine having a roasted pork yam cake will be far too greasy for us.

As you know, it's been really long since I last hand-made some breakfast for my Prince Charming. The yam cake really makes his day, so its all worth while even though I'm really tired from work :) I'm getting better with my working environment now, so I hope I get to present more food entries here!

Crystal Jade Korean

Hello everyone, I'm back! Sorry for the long hiatus since I was really busy with my work. I don't really have the sufficient time to sleep, don't even mention about baking/cooking. Work have been piling since my 1st day and it has never stop since then :(

I hope when I get more adapted to my new environment, I'll get to bake and cook like I used to be. I am crossing my fingers here! Anyway, Prince Charming took me to Crystal Jade Korean at Centerpoint for our 5th Anniversary celebration. How time flies, just a wink and 5 years have passed.

I was the one who requested for Korean Cuisine since I always like Bibimbap. We used to frequent Picnic food court at Scotts for their authentic Bibimbap, a pity the food court is no longer around. I wonder where would the stall been relocated to cause I think they served the best bibimbap I've ever eaten! Stopping my talkative-ness and let the pictures drool your appetites ;)


Marinated Spinach


French beans


Marinated Bean sprouts


Ginseng Chicken Soup


Bibimbap


BTW, we ordered a Set menu for 2 that cost about $79++. It also consists of Grilled Saba Fish and Stir fry vegetables and beyond that we ordered another Ala Ca-rte Seafood Pancake. Total damage = $90. With that amount of food, I think it's more suitable for 3 ~ 4 consumers cause we were ultimate bloated! :P

I would say the food is generally good but not as authentic. It would be good if only the side dishes were refillable! Do they?

Homemade Strawberry Jam

It's been quite sometime since I last updated my blog. I have been really busy with my new job and thus, explain the lack of post here. Anyway, it was the wedding of my BFF's Elder sister on Friday. I couldn't make it due to work committment, so I decided to DIY some gift for her.

I hope she like this wedding present :)
The strawberries were really fresh and so the jam tasted really good! I hope to make more of them the next time.

Swiss Rolls

Swiss rolls have always been one of my favourites, though I really have so many favourties to list out. I always like buying sugar rolls from Polar because they were always yummy even though left after a day.

I supposed it's almost 1 year since I did swiss rolls. As usual, I have this packet of cake flour with me for quite sometime and I thought I REALLY NEED TO USE IT UP! So, here comes the Swiss rolls. I made 2 flavours - Ocha and Classic. The recipe was adapted from Kiki and it was the recipe that I used for my Mango Swiss roll.

Yummy! There's finally breakfast for Prince Charming and me!




Classic Swiss rolls





Ocha Swiss rolls

Puff "Prata" Sausage

I was reading through my usual frequent flogs when I came across Happy Home Baking's post on Prata in a Bento. I was truly truly attracted to it. It just came to my mind that I must do this NOW!

So, without much further hesitation, let me present to you Happy Mrs Kwok's version of the Prata sausage. Well, my version were not as nice as HHB cause I think I'm not gentle enough >.< Nevertheless, these darlings tasted real real real heavenly! Try it out, so easy and so delicious!

Cookies & Cream Ice Cream

Makes 1 Pint
Ingredients A	Amounts
Egg yolks	4
Caster sugar	25
Oreo cookies filling	7
Ingredients B	Amounts
Heavy cream	200g
Ingredients C	Amounts
Non-dairy Whipping cream	250g
Vanila essence	1/2 tsp
Crushed oreo cookies	As desired

1. Beat ingredients A till a pale and yellowish egg mixture is revealed.
   
   
2. Bring ingredients B to boil and add it slowly to the egg mixture. Mixed well.
   
   
3. Bring the mixture to boil over low heat till it thickens. Remove from heat and allow cooling.
   
   
4. Whisk non-dairy whipping cream till stiff. Add into the thicken mixture follows by crushed cookies, vanilla essence. Stir well.
   
   
5. Pour the mixture into a container , sprinkle some crushed cookies over and bring to freeze overnight or until set.

As per request by my buddies, Gwen and Tracie, here's the recipe for the cookies and cream ice cream. I'm gald that you girls love it and wish to attempt it yourself :)

Pork Floss Bun

中種面團 Starter Dough
Ingredients	Amounts
Bread flour	167g
Water	100g
Instant yeast	1 1/2 tsp

主面團 Basic Dough
Ingredients	Amounts
Bread flour	167g
Water	67g
Butter	40g
Sugar	40g
Skimmed milk powder	15g
Egg	20g
Salt	5g

Fillings: Pork Floss

1. With the help of a Breadmachine/Mixer, mixed the ingredients for Starter into a dough.
   The dough may be slightly dry and sticky but that is okay. Allow the dough to proof for 90 mins.
   
   
2. Combine ingredients for Basic dough (except butter) and knead into a dough. Tear the proofed Starter dough into small pieces and add into the above. When the doughs gets mixed thoroughly together, mix in the butter. Allow kneading till dough is smooth and elastic (Try stretching the dough to determine)
   
   
3. Cut the ready dough into 60g each and roll them into a ball-liked shape. Allow the dough to relax for 10 mins. When done, roll each individual dough into an oval shape and allow another proofing of 45 mins. (You may proof the doughs in the oven with 38 degree celsius set plus a bowl of warm water)
   
   
4. Bake the dough at 190 degree Celsius for 12~15 mins. Allow the buns to cool.
   
   
5. Spread Transparent mayonnaise onto the bun and topped it over with Pork Floss.

I finally took out some time for baking! I cannot imagine that I have not been baking for, I supposed at least 2 weeks :( I just hate it when work's piling so much that I do not have my own time to do things that I really like.

Though I was home rather late (OT-ing as usual), I decided to bake some bread for breakfast! I felt kind of guilty since I haven't been baking any snacks/breakfasts for my Prince Charming lately. I still have 1 and 3/4 packets of Pork floss to go, complimentary from my Mil cause she knows I love pork floss. I decided to make my own Pork Floss buns!

The Transparent Mayonnaise that I made the very last time were chilled in the fridge, so I heated a portion of them up and they were back to the sticky texture again. Prince Charming just love these mayonnaise so much that I applied a super thick layer for his buns. LOL.

I love how soft the buns were, even though left overnight, very fluffy too. I baked a total of 9 buns and only used 3 for Pork floss. Guess I'll be using the rest for other flavours, perhaps Tuna?