Happy Birthday to Me!!!!

Last night, i read an article about life. There's a quote...."There's one birthday for each of us every year...and we celebrate it. But come to think about it, there's 364 unbirthday days...why didn't we celebrate it?"

Got you thinking ha?!??! hehehe...

Anyway, Daddy took us out for a craby dinner on Saturday and we had 3 plates of crab cooked in different style, a plateful of squid, a plateful of Vege, a plateful of Man Tau and a plateful of Fried Vermicelli (did i spell correctly?) with Lala. We left the restaurant sweaty and smelly....but with a HAPPY TUMMY@!!! Thanks daddy!!

To my lil bro, who again, missed this celebration....here are some pictures for you to enjoy. Opps...too hungry to snap food pictures...end up only snapped the leftover shells from the crabs...kekekek

Vegetables Pau

I've been drooling over Sue's Char Siew Pau for ages! But i never get to try out her recipe until last weekend. Reason because I just can't seem to allocate some time to make Char Siew. Yeap....that's right....i wanted to make my own Char Siew...and then my very own Char Siew Pau...hehe...wait till one fine public holiday, i'll get my saggy butt up and make my own Char Siew Pau.

Well since i can't make my Char Siew for the time being, i decided to make my very own Choi Pau....kekeke...

Sorry for the ugly plaiting of the Pau...but hey...it's the taste that matters!!! I must say....Oh MY GOD....thanks for Sue's Recipe....the Pau...is sooooooo soft!!!!! Mommy, Wifey and Girlfriends out there, THIS IS A MUST RECIPE IN YOUR COOKBOOK!!!

French Toast & Tong Sui for Dinner

Last week had not been a good week for me. Why? Cuz *cough cough cough * non stop. People say cough cough cough can firm up the muscles around ur tummy...but why mine still flabby 1? keke...anyway...cut the BS here.

One fine day, i just decided to have something sweet for dinner. Rang my mom up in the office and told her i want Lin Chee Kang (Lotus Seed Dessert) for dinner. Being the Kam Po LO (golden pineapple --> precious child) in the family (for the time being....since bro is away in the US), mom immediately took off from work and bought all the ingredients to make Lin Chee Kang...ngek ngek ngek...

To compliment my Lin Chee Kang, i made myself some French Toast. I topped my toast with chunks of Grape Jam and spread a generous amount of baked beans. With one big bite, mmmm.....yummy....So easy so good and messy-less.


Ingredients:

• 6 pieces of 9 days old bread (haha yea...i kept my bread in the fridge...so it lasted that long)
• 3 eggs
• some milk
• dashes of cinnamon powder

Method :

Heat up a non stick frying pan. Beat eggs, milk and cinnamon powder together in a bowl. Soak the bread in the egg mixture for 4 seconds...ensuring both sides of the bread are well coated. Lower the heat of the pan to medium level. Fry the bread on the pan till golden brown. If you prefer a buttery fragrant french toast, you may melt some better on the pan and fry the bread on them. I had mine oil-less, butter-less. Still yummy.

My freshly fried French Toast w/ mommy's yummylicious Lin Chee Kang...see the amount of Longan she added...woo hoo...dun be jealous....hahaha!

Chocolatey Swirl Vanilla Pound Cake

Me : Wake up! Stop snoring! Come out on Friday night for a drink. Don't eat also nevermind. Sama sama diet...keke!
Fair Banana : Am not snorin. Tryin to get me with your baking again? Hai yoh. Fine. But then it has to be somewhere where can just sit n drink.
Me : What do you want? Cookies, brownies or cake? Choose 1. Don't be greedy.
Fair Banana : I almost want 2 say all. Erm i think cake. Thanks.
Me : Made you a chocolatey swirl vanilla pound cake.
Fair Banana : Oh great. Telling me what it is has gotten me thinking 'bout it more.

This is how i always bribe a good friend of mine to come out for a meal or drink. Haha....yea....she's a freak consumer of breads, cookies, brownies...all sort of confectionary goods. Anyway, i had actually intended to bake a simple marble butter cake...but then I don't always get to meet this good friend of mine. So may as well, just spend a lil more time and bake something better. So i dug out my King Arthur recipe book and found a vanilla pound cake recipe. I tweaked the recipe a little to make it into a Chocolatey Swirle Vanilla Pound Cake.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of butter
• 1 cup of granulated sugar (DB used only 3/4 cup of sugar)
• 3 tbsp of brown sugar
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 1 tbsp of vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1 + 3/4 cup of all purpose flour
• 4 large eggs (DB used 5 small eggs)
• 3 tsp of cocoa powder
• 3 tsp of milk

Method :

Preheat oven to 180 DC. Cream butter, sugar, baking powder, vanilla extract and salt together for about 2 minutes. Add in flour and continue mixing. Mixture will appear somewhat paste-y in texture. Add in eggs one at a time and ensure well mixing after each addition of egg. Allocate 3 tbsp of the cake batter into a small bowl. Add in cocoa powder and milk to the small bowl and mix well. Pour half of the vanilla cake batter into a prepared baking pan. Add in dallops of the cocoa cake batter onto the vanilla cake batter in the baking pan. Be careful not to crowd the chocolate cake batter in the baking pan. Top the chocolate cake batter in the baking pan with the remaining vanilla cake batter. Smooth the surface of the cake batter with a scrapper. Using a chopstick, twirl the cake batter to create a swirl effect on the cake. Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes.

Verdict : Simply delicious! Moist and Yummy!

Orange Butter Cake

Saturday was a super rushing day for me. I had to work from morning till late noon...rushed back and gotta take a quick shower before I took my parents and bb out for dinner. Wait a minute....oh no!!!! Cake??!??! I have not baked a cake on Friday!!! Gosh....

That's it...i have no time to bake everything from scratch....so...my short cut way...ummm...yea...the Pillsburry Butter Cake Mix

Haha....aiya...no time ma..plus hor, this cake mix is really delicious...but a little too sweet for my family though. The cake mix i have has its buttery flavor, however, plain butter cake for dad's birthday? uhh....too plain!!! SO i squeezed an orange to extract its juices and pulps to compliment the flavor of the cake. Quick and Easy!!

Ingredients :

• 1 packet of Pillburry's Butter Cake Mix
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter (about 120g)
• Juice + pulps of an orange + enough water to make 1 cup of orange juice
• A handful of almond nibbles (optional)

Method:
Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl with a low speed mixer for 2 minutes. Pour batter into a lined baking pan and toss in some almond nibble on the surface of the cake batter. Bake the cake in preheated oven of 175 DC for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean

Verdict: Tangy Butter Cake!!!!!!! Pillsburry...never fail us :) MMmmmm Yummy

Bb's photography skill

Look how spongy and moist is the cake...is your saliva dripping now?