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Friday, February 27, 2009

Tangy Tamarind Juice Dipping


This is one dipping that goes well with barbeque fish or oven baked fish or wok fried fish! Tamarind juice with chopped tomato , sliced bird’s eye chillies and sliced shallots and roasted dried shrimp paste powder(belacan ) mixed together to become one mouth-watering dipping that will explode in your ears !!! If you can stand the smell of dried shrimp paste that is. :)))) I think most Asians will love it coz it is mostly used in Malaysian cuisine.

It is a must have dipping for me and Piggy gal whenever we have barbecue fish or fried fish . This dipping is a household item for the local Malays when they have barbeque fish. I love it the first time I tasted it when I had lunch with my Malay colleagues ages back and since then I introduced it to my Piggies and they love it too. The chopped and sliced ingredients blend well with the tamarind juice and aromatic roasted dried shrimp paste powder. The flavor is awesome and appetizing too ! Just writing about it brings back the indelible image of every mouthful of the fish with the fantastic mouth-watering tamarind juice dipping!



Tangy Tamarind Juice Dipping


Ingredients:

1.5 tbsp of tamarind paste
1 cup warm water
(combined tog to get the tamarind juice)

1 big ripe tomato – chopped
5 shallots- sliced thinly
5 bird’s eye chillies – sliced thinly

½ thumb-sized dried shrimp paste
( roasted and grind into powder)

** add lime juice if not tangy enough

Method:

Combined the tamarind paste and hot water to get tamarind juice. Heat up in a pan till it boils. Off the fire and leave it aside to cool.

Meanwhile chopped up the tomato, chillies and shallots. Put into a bowl and leave aside.

Roast the dried shrimp paste in an oven or you can toast it on a non stick pan till fragrant. Ground into powder.

Mixed together the tamarind juice with the chopped ingredients, add in the roasted shrimp paste powder. If you like it to be more tangy , add lime juice to the dipping.


Enjoy!!


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Thursday, February 26, 2009

Fried Sticky Rice Cake Sandwich


This sticky rice cake / nian gao is a must have item for the Chinese celebrating CNY in Asia . For the businessmen it meant prosperity and for the working people it meant they get their promotion every year ;))) Most Chinese love to eat it either steamed and rolled in freshly grated coconut or fried it sandwiched between taro/yam and sweet potato.

A delicacy which my Piggies and I love very much and an item we looked forward to during the CNY. My Piggies never failed to ask “ Mom, you bought nian gao ??? ” A sigh of relief was heard when I answered " Yesssss ":))))

It can be kept in the fridge for a year or so , provided you sliced it first ( easier to cut when it is still soft) and stored in air-tight container . Many of us do that so that we get to eat this sticky rice cake through out the year!

Last Sunday , I fried this nian gao sandwiched between taro and sweet potato as afternoon snack for the Piggies . The oooos and the aaaarrs can be heard when I served these for their tea snack. The crispy outer layer and the gooey sweetness of melted nian gao oozing out was sweet heaven itself, truly a bomb in the mouth !!!



sandwiched the rice cake with taro/yam and sweet potato

the crispy outer layer and gooey sweetness of
melted nian gao inside gives you
a taste of heaven you will never forget :)))


The oooos and the aaaarrs can be heard
when I served these bombs for their tea snack.


Fried Sticky Rice Cake Sandwich

Ingredients:


1 big sticky rice cake /nian gao (sliced into ¼ inch thick ,1.5 inch square slices)
1 taro/yam (sliced into ¼ inch thick ,1.5 inch square slices)
2 large Japanese sweet potato (sliced into ¼ inch thick ,1.5 inch square slices)

Batter:

1 cup rice flour
½ cup superfine flour
½ cup corn flour
1 tsp baking powder
100 ml water
1 egg
1 tsp salt
3 cup oil for frying


Method:


1. Peel ,cut and wash taro or yam,sweet potato and nian gao,set aside.

2. Preheat oil in wok .

3. Combine egg , rice flour , superfine flour , corn flour, salt , baking powder and water in a medium bowl,whisk all ingredients till you get a smooth batter.If the batter is too thick, add in some water, little by little at one time, do not make the batter too watery, coz it's can't hold the nian gao ,taro and sweet potato together. If the batter still have some lump, sieve with a siever in another bowl. Leave to rest for ½ hr.

4. Place 1 slice of sticky rice cake /nian gao between a slice of sweet potato and and a slice of taro/yam. Dip the sandwiched sticky rice /nian gao into the batter and fry over slow medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on paper towel before serve.


Enjoy !


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Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Braised Bittergourd With Salted Black Beans



Not everyone will love bittergourd or bittermelon. Slightly bitterish yet it has a stunning aftertaste . You either love it or hate it. Thank God , my Piggies love it which surprises me indeed :)


I braised it with chicken and salted black beans .This dish is common among the chinese families in Asia. The aroma redolent of the salted black beans filled the kitchen while it was braising in the wok. A mouthwatering dish that will leave you to want more helpings :) The bittergourd absorbed in the flavorful gravy tastes so good that you will start to miss it an hour later after dinner :)))

A very easy and simple to prepare dish that can be served with hot rice.



The photos above are for my Piggies to drool
whenever they miss this dish
Piggy boy will be back to college this Sunday
to start his 3rd semester and I know for sure
he will miss homecooked food ^ *



Braised Bittergourd With Salted Black Beans


Ingredients:


1 large bittergourd - cut into 1.5 inch strips
½ chicken – cut into pieces
(marinated with 1 tbsp light soy sauce
and 2 tsp of cornflour)

(A)
1 tsp salted black beans – washed
1 tbsp fermented soybean
4 pips of garlic- chopped finely
3 bird’s eye chili – seeded

1 tsp of sugar
1 tsp of dark soy sauce

2 tbsp of cooking oil

Thickening:
1 tsp cornflour
2 tbsp water

Method:

Heat oil in the wok, add in (A) and sautéed till fragrant. Add in the chicken and stir fry 5 minutes, add in the cut bittergourd and continued to stir fry till well mixed. Lower the flame , cover the wok and braised the bittergourd till the bittergourd and chicken pieces are properly cooked. Add in the dark soy sauce and sugar. Do not add water for the bittergourd and chicken will give out liquid. Add the thickening last. Dish out and serve with hot rice.

Enjoy!


Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Sushi Delights


Sushi making is not that hard a task after all. For a first timer, of course it is hard to roll the vinegar rice with the fillings in it but after few tries , the sushi turned out to be more presentable looking :) Practice makes perfect as the saying goes!

I had a wonderful time making these delicious sushi for the Piggies last Saturday. It was something I enjoyed doing all by myself and the joy derived from making them was unmeasurable. Pior to making them, I got some tips from Gertrude of MyKitchenSnippets when I met up with her in KL , on how to make the vinegar rice and what to add to the rice while cooking it. She took me around the supermart showing me the type of Japanese vinegar to buy and the most important tip, she told to add in the konbu ( a type of japanese kelp ) which gave out a nice fragrance to the rice. Thanks Gert , for taking me around and showing me those stuff for making sushi :)))

While the Piggies were having their afternoon nap, I quickly set out to prepare sushi for their afternoon tea treat. I meant to surprise them and I got them thrilled with these delicious and beautiful sushi . It took me 2.5 hours to get everything done :)



Making the omelette for Omelette Nigiri was fun alright. Patience testing all the way! While the rice was cooking, I set out to make the omelette with my crepe pan. I was pleased with the result coz I managed to make quite a presentable one :P

Sushi Rice ( adapted from Sushi Tales by Roger Wong )

250 gms short grain rice
500 ml water
1 piece 10cm x 10 cm konbu ( kelp) * optional

Seasonings:

20 g fine salt
75 g fine sugar
100 ml Japanese rice vinegar

Method:
1. Mix salt, sugar and vinegar in the pot and simmer over heat till mixture is dissolved. Set aside.
2. Using both hands, wash rice gently for a few times till rice water becomes perfectly clear then drain. Add some water and soak the rice for 30 minutes. Drain and add 500ml water. Cook for 15 minutes in a rice cooker. When the rice is cooked, let it stand in rice cooker with covered lid for 15 minutes before removing lid.
3. Transfer cooked rice into a wooden rice tub, pour prepared seasonings mixture evenly over sushi rice and stir well with wooden lade . Use a fan to cool the rice for 5 minutes. The rice is ready for use.

** ( I used only 3/4 of the vinegar mixture )

Omelette Nigiri ( adapted from Sushi Tales by Roger Wong)

Ingredients:
1 piece roasted seaweed sheet
400g sushi rice

Omelette

12 eggs
70g sugar
2 tsp salt
40 ml Japanese rice wine (sake)
180 ml fresh milk
1 tbsp cornstarch

Method:
1. Combine all omelette ingredients and bet evenly.
2. Heat up some oil in a square pan. Swirl the pan to ensure the whole pan is glazed with oil. Pour in about 90 ml of omelette mixture and cook over medium heat till 90% done. Fold it up to the side with a thickness of about 6cm using chopsticks.

3. Heat up some oil again on the empty part of the pan and add more omelette mixture. Lift up the omelette slightly at the side to allow the newly added omelette mixture to flow underneath. Cook till 90% done then fold it up again and set it on top of the previous omelette.

4. Repeat the steps until all omelette mixture is used up. Square omelette with a wooden block and remove. Leave to cool.

Cut omelette into 20 slices. Cut roasted seaweed sheet into 20 strips of size 10.25cm X 1 cm
Mould sushi rice into 20 rice balls. Place a sushi rice ball on top of each slice of omelette and press each rice ball into rectangular shape. Flip over and press a few more times till omelette is secured to the sushi rice. Wrap rice ball with a roasted seaweed strip and serve.

This Maki Zushi was quite difficult to roll for beginner
like me at first :)but after few tries it was not that hard to roll at all.
fillings : avocado, zuchinni and ready made seasoned octopus

These are the not so presentable Maki -Zushi :P

These are the futomaki-Zushi which did not turned out well..
my first sushi roll :(
fillings: squids and zuchinni and omelette

That is the Inari-Zushi ( Beancurd Bag Sushi) on the right
fillings: sushi rice and topped with seasoned octopus & chopped avocado

These are Octopus Gunkan-Zushi , finger pressed sushi
is the easiest to make and Oiishi no doubt!

My Piggies were thrilled to bits when they saw these on the table, all ready for them to devour when they woke up from their nap. Daddy prepared the wasabi for us. We had a wonderful homemade sushi treat for our afternoon tea! I was amazed that I could get all these done in 2.5 hours and to my utter disbelieve that we chomped down the lot in just 20 minutes!!! Dessert was Green Tea Ice Cream...huh I wished my mom had made all this for me when I was young and pampered me too like how I pampered my Piggies :P
To my Piggies : Remember to count your blessings always! :P :))))

*********

Friday, February 20, 2009

Savoury Tofu With Japanese Seaweed Topping


Ever since the day I discovered that precious recipe from Flavours food magazine on how to make homemade tofu , I have lost count on how many times I have make this wonderful Japanese Silky Egg Tofu. I really can’t stop this recent craze of tofu making thus this is another delicious tofu that I have made for dinner last night. I whipped it out in just 20 minutes. Believe it or not, it is truly a yummilicious signature tofu dish that my Piggies love. Lucky for me my Piggies love anything tofu ! This dish is good for all ages and has lotz of nutrients for growing kids especially my Piggies ^ * Easy to make and one can make variant gravy to go with the tofu. Just let my creativity runs free and I ended up with this delicious and savoury tofu dish in just minutes :))

Easy to make silky japanese egg tofu
my creativity - has chopped chinese sausages & chillies in it!

Garnished the top with shredded carrots
and shredded roasted japanese seaweed


When ready to serve, pour hot gravy on the
savoury tofu..mmmmmm yum yum


The silky texture of the tofu plus the
yummilicious gravy and seaweed warranted
some oooO and the aaas.... from my Piggies :)





I used the same basic tofu recipe but this time round I added some chopped chinese sausages, a tsp of chicken stock powder, dash of pepper and chopped red chillies for extra flavor. I steamed it for exactly 12 minutes over low flame and this time , the tofu turned out silky smooth.
I garnished the top with some shredded carrots and roasted Japanese seaweed and poured over with hot gravy which is simple to make when ready to serve.

Gravy ingredients:

1 tbsp of oyster sauce
some dried cuttlefish - shredded type ( soaked for 2 minutes)
1 pip of garlic - chopped
a drop of black thick soy sauce * optional
1 tsp of olive oil
1 tsp of cooking wine
3/4 cup of water

Thickening:
1 tsp of corn flour
2 tbsp of water

Method:
Heat up the wok and add in the olive oil and garlic, saute a minute, add in the dried cuttlefish and stir fry till fragrant, add in the rest of the ingredients and when it boils, add in the thickening. Pour the gravy over the tofu when ready to serve.


Enjoy and have a nice day :)))


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Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Tasty Choice Belly Cut Beef Soup


Cooked this delicious soup for the family last Sunday and it was so yummilicious that Piggy boy requested that I cook this again for him before he goes back to college. Haha, I love this type of homecooked soup coz they are nutritious and tasty without ajinomoto in it . The natural sweetness of the soup comes mainly from the belly cuts, sea salt and the red dates. The white radish absorbed all the sweetness making the radish even tastier and the radish itself has a nice fragrance when boiled which adds flavor to the soup. This soup takes about 3 hours if cooked the conventional way. But with a pressure cooker, it will takes about ¾ hour.

This soup can be taken as a soup itself with warm rice or as a soup base for the dried mee…. My Piggies love it eaten with a packet of mee for breakfast, lunch or even dinner if I permit them to eat every meal of mee :))) They finished every drop of the soup.


The chinese called this soup 'Ngau Lam Thong '



Tasty Choice Belly Cut Beef Soup


Ingredients:
500 gms choice belly cut beef – ready-cut ones from the butcher

1 thumb-sized old ginger
a few chinese red dates
8 white radish – cut into 1.5 in chunks

Sea salt to taste

Method:
Fill up a soup pot with water till 2 inches to the brim and when the water boils, add in the belly cuts , ole ginger and red dates. Lower the flame to medium and continue to boil till the belly cuts are soft. Add in some hot water if the liquid has gone down in level. Add in the radish and boil under low flame till the radish are soft and the belly cuts are tender.

When ready to serve add in the sea salt . The amount of salt to put in depends on individual taste .



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Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Braised Chinese Cabbage With Dried Scallops


I have been scratching my head lately as to what to cook for our dinners @___@ I have half a chinese cabbage left in the fridge and I was looking at it for sometime and thinking how to cook it…guess what ? I braised the chinese cabbage with the dried scallops that I have in the fridge..haha trust me, this dish was good and surprisingly the family loves it. Easy to prepare and yummiliciously good. Piggies love these dried scallops whether they are in their soup or in chicken dishes, they have no objections as to how they are being prepared. They love scallops whether fresh or dried form ^____* thus making it is easier for the home chef then!


In less than an hour, I have the dish ready for dinner. The essence from the dried scallops blended well with the cabbage and now this dish has become Momsie’s signature dish :P


Braised Chinese Cabbage With Dried Scallops

Ingredients:
1 chinese cabbage – cut into halves ( do not cut the head )

50 gms dried scallops – wash & soaked for 5 minutes in hot water
8 big button mushrooms – cut into halves
1 carrot – cut into slices

2 pips of garlic – chopped finely
2 tbsp of oyster sauce
1 tsp of dark soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1 cup of chicken broth / water

Thickening: (combined)

1 tbsp of corn flour
3 tbsp of water
Salt to taste

3 tbsp of oil

Method:
First soak the cabbage in salt water for 15 minutes. Do not cut off the cabbage head. Wash the cabbage leave by leave as to remove the sand that is still lodged between the leaves. Dripped dry the cabbage.

Heat up the oil in a wok and put in the cabbage and oil fry it till it is half cooked . Take out and leave aside. Remove the remaining oil from the wok.

Heat up wok under high flame, add in the chopped garlic and stir fry till fragrant, add in the dried scallops and carrots and continue to stir fry for 5 minutes. Add in the oyster sauce, dark soy sauce and cooking wine , 1 cup of chicken broth or just water into the wok and cook till the broth boils . Add in the cooked cabbage and braised under low flame till the cabbage is tender soft. When ready to dish up, add in the thickening and add salt to taste . Dish up and serve it with white rice.


Enjoy!


Monday, February 16, 2009

Valentine's Cupcakes II






These are the rest of the cupcakes that I made for Valentine’s Day for my loved ones…a wonderful day spent together just eating and watching movies. I had a wonderful time with the loved ones despite all the baking and the fun time spent on piping the cuppies !

Chocolate Cupcake With Vanilla Icing

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
4 ounces (1 stick), room temperature
1½ cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners and set aside.
3. Sift together the cocoa powder, flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl.
4. Using a mixer, preferrably with paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar about 2 minutes until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time until mixed.
5. Stir half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, then add milk. Finally stir in the other half of the dry ingredients.
6. Divide the batter into a prepared cupcake/muffin tin with liners. About 3/4 fulll.
7. Bake about 20 minutes, or until set. Let cool completely before icing.

Vanilla Frosting:



Ingredients:


Confectioners Sugar ( About 4-5 cups ), Sifted
Pure Vanilla Extract
1-2 Tbsp. Milk
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup vegetable shortening

Directions:

Cream together butter and shortening in mixer, with paddle attachment on medium for about 2 minutes.
Add 1/2 cup powdered sugar and beat until smooth, Add another 1/2 cup. Add about 2 tsp or more vanilla, to taste.
Add gradually the remaining sugar and add milk until you reach the consitency you desire. A little bit thicker for piping would be best.
Continue to mix on medium until smooth.
Using a large star tip, pipe frosting onto cupcakes.




Saturday, February 14, 2009

Valentine's Cupcakes


Wishing all my loved ones, friends and 
my blog readers a wonderful Valentine's Day.
May we all receive love not just on this day but
also for everyday of the year!!!


I spent the day baking small cute cupcakes for my loved ones on this auspicious day. Needless to say, I enjoyed myself tremendously. Showering them with extra love with this chocolate cupcakes. I have been showering them with love everyday by baking and cooking nice food for them but today I took the extra miles by frosting the cake with more love and sweetness from the vanilla icing and topped them with strawberries cut into heart shape. The chocolate flavored cupcakes were yummiliciously good and the vanilla frosting was goodness itself. The combination was absolutely fabulous :) :0 ;)))



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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Curry Leaves Fragrance Buttered Shrimps


This is one yummy dish and I personally prefer the shrimps prepared this way. The pairing of butter and curry powder and the curry leaves blends really well with the shrimps and the aroma that filled the air while cooking this dish brought my Piggies to the kitchen with the ooos and the arrrrs :)))

Btw this is also one dish that will not stop me from chomping the shrimps down in quantities. The cutest part was the counting of the numbers of shrimps’ tails on my plates throughout dinner by my Piggies :0 ;0 . Reason being shrimps are high in cholesterol and not good for my age to be taken in large quantity :P


Curry Leaves Fragrance Buttered Shrimps


Ingredients:
500 gms shrimps – cleaned and deveined (leave head & shell intact)

2 sprig of curry leaves
1 tbsp of curry powder
1 egg - beaten
1 pip garlic – chopped finely
½ tsp sugar
Salt for taste
1 tbsp of butter
Oil just enough for frying the shrimps

Method:
Lightly fry the shrimps in hot oil till it turned red and a bit brown. Dish up the shrimps and drained off the oil. Keep aside.

Add 1 tbsp of butter in the wok. In high flame, fry the curry leaves and garlic till fragrant, add in the cooked shrimps , curry powder, salt and sugar and stir fry till the ingredients are well blended. When ready to dish up, pour in the beaten egg and continue to stir fry till the eggs are crispy and in shreds. Dish up and serve with hot rice.


*******


Friday, February 6, 2009

Pan-Fried Prawn Paste Tofu Patties




Since knowing how to make my own egg tofu, I have been trying out many tofu dishes for my Piggies , the Pan fried Prawn Paste Tofu Patties was another favourite one I cooked during the festive holidays. These patties have a crisp golden brown skin and a soft interior flavoured with prawn paste. We used to order this tofu dish from the restaurant whenever we eat out.

They tasted just as close as those from the restaurant , much to the delight of my two Piggies. They love tofu and anything related to tofu :))) . Serve it with thai chili sauce dipping or wasabi....after taking the first bite, I thought I had died and have gone to heaven. One word to describe it....HEAVENLY !!! Piggy's boy exact words " this is darn good " ^ *

This recipe is taken from the food magazine ‘ Flavours ’ March-April 2008 issue and I am now hooked on that particular issue becoz it has lots of tofu recipes which I am going to try them all out :P .







I tweaked it a bit. Instead of using dried scallops, I used minced meat and added carrots and bird’s eyechillies for extra oomph. The original recipe has oyster sauce poured over the crispy tofu but I do away with the sauce . My Piggies preferred them with dippings so that they can enjoy the crispness of the pan-fried prawn paste flavoured tofu patties.


Pan Fried Prawn Paste Tofu Patties– 4 servings

Ingredients for the patties:
1 Grade A egg

1 roll (150gm) of Japanese egg tofu
–mashed
100 gm prawn paste
5 gm coriander, finely chopped
5 gm dried scallops, shredded
1 teaspoon plain flour

** I added a bit of minced meat, carrot and chillies.

Oil for pan frying
( * * If eaten without sauce, add some salt or chicken stock powder
on the tofu patties mixture before frying them for taste
)

Sauce * I omitted the sauce
200 ml superior chicken stock
1 tbsp oyster sauce
½ tsp sesame oil
10 g tapioca flour, mixed with a little water
4 stalks siew pak choy - cooked

Method:

1. To prepare the tofu patties : In a large bowl, combine the egg, mashed Japanese egg tofu, prawn paste, chopped coriander, dried scallops and flour.
2. Mix thouroughly. For a springy texture, throw the paste at the side of the bowl a few times.
3. Heat a wok until smoking hot, then add oil for pan-frying. Using a oiled spoon, scoop the paste into the hot oil. Pan-fry on both sides until golden brown.
4. Remove and drain on paper towels.


To prepare sauce:

Heat wok over high heat; add chicken stock, oyster sauce and sesame oil. Add the tapioca flour mixture, bring to a boil and remove from heat.

Arrange the cooked siew pak choy on a plate around the fried tofu patties and pour the sauce over the patties and serve.





Enjoy and have a nice day :))


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Thursday, February 5, 2009

Dragonfruit Shrimps - ' Udang Buah Naga '


I was browsing through my colleague’s food magazine ‘ Rasa ’ the February issue and I came across this recipe which intrigued me to try it out. I find it light and refreshing after those heavy meat stuff we took during the recent festive season. It is called ‘ Udang Buah Naga ’ in our local language, translated it meant ‘ Dragonfruit Shrimps ’ :) savoury yet has a natural fruit sweetness from the dragonfruit. Knowing me I will never let this pass without trying it out and I was glad I tried it out. A healthy & savoury salad-like dish. A new dish to start the Ox-picious year :)))



The recipe does not have Japanese cucumber and button mushrooms, I added them coz I have some left-overs in the fridge. I gave it a tweak and added those to the dish :) . It somehow gave the dish a colorful look. I love it and Piggy gal loves it too but not the guys in the family. Daddy is not adventurous at all . He said he prefers the dragonfruit taken as a fruit and not as a veg dish :( Piggy boy not keen at all but he ate some so as not to offend me, I guess :P


Dragonfruit Shrimps

Ingredients:

1 dragonfruit – diced

200 gm shrimps – shelled and cleaned

(A)
30 gm carrots – sliced thinly
30 gm red capsicum – diced
30 gm green capsicum –diced
20 gm straw mushroom - * I used button mushroom- cut into two

10 gm chicken stock powder mixed with 3 tbsp water
2 tbsp olive oil

Method:

Heat up wok, add the olive oil and stir-fry the shrimps till just cook. Dish up and keep aside. Lightly stir-fry the rest of the ingredients (A) separately and dish up. Mixed all the ingredients together in the wok , add in the chicken stock mixture and dragonfruit and sitr-fry for 1 minute and dish up.


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Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Dressing Up Cakes Can Be Fun :)

Dressing/frosting/decorating up cakes can be so much fun especially doing it together with Piggy gal. None of us really know how to deco a cake properly so we both pretended to decorate up the cake like a pro :) Covering up the flaws was fun, patching here and there with the whipped cream. Trying our best to decorate the cake with our creative minds...like the saying goes, two heads are better than one :P  These are our first masterpieces for the year 2009  
                             
Our 1st masterpiece  
    Fresh Fruit Cake        
                            

Our 2nd masterpiece
Carrot Cake With Cheese Frosting 
& Top with Chopped Walnuts
( notice the generous amount of chopped walnuts )
^ ___^


our 3rd masterpiece
Chocolate Genoise Roll 
With Fresh Fruit & Cream Filling


I am glad that Piggy gal has finally shown interest in baking and it is a good start for her and I am sure she will love it juz like the Momsie...especially when she loves cakes and pasteries  :) I am looking forward to the 3 months when she is back home with us starting 5th of Feb....yahoo...lotz of baking and watching dramas together. Juz imagine the bakings we could do together...  ** Momsie can't stop smiling ** 



These pieces of cakes paints a happy picture :)  Momsie and Piggy gal were happy baking and dressing them up. A baking project we hope to do together again in the near future. Piggy boy's project was to happily chomping them down :P 


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May God's richest blessings be upon you both today and 
throughout the year - and may those blessings flow through you 
to touch the lives of everyone you meet.
~ Gary Smalley And John Trent ~