Happy Future Planning

Those who had been reading my blog regularly or had read my recent Phuket posts would know that I am engaged.

For the past few months, my hubby-to-be (HTB) aka dd had been making small plannings for our future. It won't be so soon, cos' we intend to have our customary wedding after our house is ready next year. We'll take it one at a time so that things won't get so rushed, and most importantly is our budget.

I have just set up a wedding website where I can blog about our wedding preparations, with features for us to plan and keep track.

I don't think I'll be able to update regularly since I'm already so busy to have time for my blog. I'll keep readers here updated whenever I have more new updates in the wedding blog. ;)

Here's the webby address:

http://www.mywedding.com/weiguoandaimei/index.html :D

Bouquet of Surprise

Today was dd and my 2 years 5 months anniversary. ;) We don't celebrate our monthly-versary actually.

dd however surprised me today by sending a big bouquet of 24 roses to my office! I was so surprised and touched! I love it!

Thanks my dear... you never failed to cheer me up and be there for me no matter how stubborn I can be and how an imperfect girlfriend I am. :)

energy bar

If you are someone who likes to grab an energy bar on the go, this recipe is the one for you. As for me, well... I don't usually buy any granola bar or energy bar as I usually have proper meals so I don't need anything for an instant "energy".

This recipe however, is worth a try since I thought it would be better to make this than buying snacks and junk food. So far most granola bar recipes that I've come across are loaded with oil or butter but this recipe does not use any oil and there is minimal sugar as the sweetness comes from raisins and cranberries. And it's real simple to make!

I didn't follow the recipe exactly. I just used whatever nuts and dried fruits I have in my baking pantry. I do have not brown rice syrup hence I replaced with yoghurt and apple juice. The bar did turned out a bit yoghurt-y. ;P

Ingredients:

30g walnuts
70g brown rice syrup
50g sugar-free apple juice
30g pine nuts
20g pumpkin seeds
50g dried raisins
20g cranberries
60g rolled oats
60g wholemeal flour


Method:

Toast walnuts at 150°C for 15 minutes withut preheating. Leave to cool, then chop into small pieces and set aside.
Combine brown rice syrup and apple juice in a bowl and mix well. Add walnuts, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, raisins, cranberries and oats. Mix until combined. Add flour and fold in.
Transfer mixture to a freezer bag. Using a rolling pin, roll mixture out to a 13x24-cm rectangle. Place in freezer to chill and set for 1 our.
Preheat oven to 150°C. Using a scissors, cut open the freezer bag, then cut mixture into 6 bars and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake bars for about 25 minutes, remove from heat and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Store bars in an airtight container.


Recipe Source: "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida

soya bean chiffon cake

Seems that I've been MIA from the baking world? Nope I'm not! Even though my work has been getting real hectic these days, having to work (overtime)on weekday nights, I still have to bake something even if it doesn't require any mixing such as these granola. It's a great recipe and a way to make me eat my oats. I can just munch on the baked cripsy oat flakes as snacks anytime. ;)Back to this soya bean chiffon cake, it's another recipe from "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida. I can't help but have to rave again how much I love this book. Her recipe usually involves some additional steps which I do believe is certainly worth it.

This soya bean chiffon uses kinako (soya bean powder). Surprisingly it tatses like ground peanut instead of soya and i simply love the smell and taste! Kinako flour is not so readily available in our usual groceries and I managed to find it at Meidi-ya at Liang Court.



The cake didn't rose as high as i expected but the texture was good. I dare not say it was perfect for a chiffon cake because it was slightly denser than your usual chiffons (not as airy) but it was soft and light nevertheless. I remembered xian leaving a comment in the soya milk chiffon post how she would love to try it. Her words gave me the inspiration that I gotto bake it for her. ;)

I chose to bake it on the day I met my dearie gals so i could pack some for them. Unfortunately dd forgot ALL about the slice I packed for him and he left it in his bag for days till it turned bad! Its your loss then. :P *LOL*

============================
soya bean chiffon cake

Ingredients:

50g pastry flour
5 egg yolks
20g brown sugar
60g water
60g canola oil
50g kinako (soya bean powder)

(Meringue)
5 egg whites (about 180g)
90g castor sugar
10g corn flour or rice flour

Method:

Preheat oven to 160°C. Sift flour once.
Combine egg yolks and brown sugar in a bowl and mix well. Add water and canola oil and blend together. Add flour and mix until batter becomes sticky, then fold in soya bean powder.
Make meringue. Combine sugar and rice flour/corn flour. Beat egg whites until foamy. Add half of sugar and flour mixture and continue beating for a few minutes, then add remaining sugar and flour mixture and beat until egg whites are glossy, with stiff peaks.
Add one-third of meringue into egg yolk mixture and fold in lightly, then add in remaining meringue and fold to incorporate completely.
Pour batter into ungreased chiffon cake tube pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes. When cake is done, remove from oven and turn it over, leaving it to cool.

*i omitted the bean bean cream*

Phuket Trip (last day)

For our last day at Phuket, we signed up another half-day package to coral island.

While driving to the jetty, our bus passed by Kata beach and Karon beach. Unlike Patong beach, Kata and Karon beach are more quiet and laid back. They are definitely less vibrant than Patong beach but if you want a more relaxed holiday, i believe its a nice beach to stay as well. The beaches are more beautiful as it was not so commercially packed with rented beach chairs.

We arrived at Coral beach. It is just another island, nothing much to do and see but the water is clear. Good for a relaxed afternoon swimming, snorkelling and sun-bathing. We were so excited cos' our package includes a para sailing but that day's weather was too windy thus they had to cancel it. :(

We had nothing much to do except snorkelling, munching on tibits and dd taking a 'beach portfolio' of mine. They were not too good to be shown here (cos' of his poor photography skills and not me!) :P

Hehe... The sand was fine and beautiful, perfect for engraving. :P

We saw this really cute boy who was stark-naked. We couldn't resist taking a photo of him and with him, with his parents' consent, of course, whom i believe will be more than happy since they have such a cute boy. ;)

Better to have the photos sensored. Opps! :P

Our dinner back at Patong beach. :D

Phuket Trip (Part 3)

Part 3 of my phuket trip! I'd better keep up with my blogging of my phuket adventures in case i procrastinate further and forgotten some of the details... like the names of beaches i went. My memory is failing... like during the course of my work, I could forget what I spoke about over the phone after a day if i didn't minute it. Even when my mom asked me to do something and I can forget about it the next minute! anything food that can boost my memory?

Alright... Day 3 was another package that dd and I signed up. We went for the ATV ride, water rafting and elephant ride. They also brought us to visit a waterfall and money land. We totally enjoyed the activities. I would highly recommend going for these activities if you visit phuket. ;)



This was the first activity stop where we had our ATV ride. Look further down if you do not know what's an ATV.

This photo was taken when we finished our entire route. As usual, they would took snapshots of us and sell it at the tourist rate later on. Haha i think both of us look damn serious cos' we were driving all by ourselves for the entire 45 minute journey along their planned track, past humps and roads along with other vehicles

The ATV looks cool doesn't it? Being the lousy driver, I couldn't control the ATV at the beginning kept bumping right into the bushes while driving in the practice route. That was exactly those times when I used to play car or motor racing in arcades but it was the real thing then. The guide had to rescue me many times by pulling me out of the bushes. :P

I thought of giving up and ride on dd's ATV with him but it was too late. Before i could get down, they'd started the engine for me and I had to quickly follow the rest of the group out to the track otherwise I would be left behind. But oh i was glad I went for it cos' the real route was much smoother than the practice route. My hands were numb from having to prepare for emergency brake but I totally enjoyed the ATV! It was real fun!

After the ATV, we were up into the van where they drove us to our next activity site for water rafting.

Yeah that was water rafting. we had to wait for the water at the man-made dam to start running before we could start the activity as the flow of water depended largely on the man-made dam in order for the water to flow swiftly. There were actually many boats around so we were like playing bumper boats in the river, deliberately pushing and splashing water. haha...

This was the waterfall area. The water was real cold...

Elephant ride. It was quite scary when the guide got down the elephant and let us control the elephant by ourselves.

Monkey Land. I wasn't that fascinated with this place cos' the monkeys were snatching food and running around you. That was our last stop for the day package.

The tour guide drove us back to our respective hotel.

Then comes the proposal. :D

Had our dinner at Subway.

Followed by street snacks - grilled corn and banana crepes.

After dinner, we had a good long bath and rest before going for Thai Massage. That was my first time trying out a thai massage and it wasn't as painful as i thought it would be. I guess probably their technique is still not so traditional. Anyhow it was good man that i'd fallen asleep.

Our supper - chicken noodle soup with a stick of grilled chicken (like Singapore's satay).

Black Sesame Pudding

Another Recipe from "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida. If you love black sesame paste dessert, you'd love this sweet pudding. I bought this black sesame paste specially for the black sesame chiffon cake recipe in this book. I made it successfully but did not feel like posting because the pictures taken of it was awful. *lol* I was lucky to have found this in an organic store around my neighbourhood where I live. I couldn't find black sesame paste anywhere else.

The paste are rather sticky and in big clumps. I had to wear a glove to separate the clumps!

My parents and dd doesn't seem to appreciate something more extraordinary. *lol* I lke it anyway. It has the texture of a red bean pudding that I had in a Chinese Dim Sum restaurant.

Have a go at it if you like. ;)

Ingredients

300g fresh whole milk

50g store-bought black sesame paste

35g castor sugar

5g gelatine sheets, soak in ice water to soften

40g whipping cream
black sugar, chopped into bits for topping

Method:

Combine milk, sesame paste and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.
Add softened gelatine and whipping cream. Mix well. Pour mixture into the prepared cups and chill in the refeigerator until set.
Serve jelly topped with black sugar bits. Combine milk, sesame paste and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.