Meet My New Babes – Ms Miserable Oaty, Ms Sweet and Sour and Little Ms Corny

It was a busy weekend as usual. But the highlight was my three new bakes. This time round, I scored 2 out of 3, an improvement over the pathetic 1 out of 3 two weeks ago. These were all new babes, uh.. bakes, I mean -- oat bran muffin, lemon squares and sweet corn cup cakes.

As the name says it all, Ms Miserable Oaty failed miserably. I’m still not sure why… somehow, my lucks with muffins have not been good recently. I followed the recipe to a T but the sides and top were burnt and the inside just couldn’t be baked fully. It was edible but just didn’t look good. Maybe next time I’ll add some flour since the recipe only called for oat bran, egg white, sugar, oil and applesauce. Or maybe I think I may have set the temperature wrongly – an absolutely no no for any baker.

Anyway, let me move on to happier bakes – yes, my first attempt at making lemon squares while not perfect, was nice (the real verdict will be out when I get the guinea pigs in my office to try them). But Ms Sweet and Sour (left) can certainly do with a makeover or some stitching up. Parts of the topping cracked and some parts were too ‘wet’. And even though I cut down the sugar by 30%, it was still too sweet. I realised I should have waited for the base to cool down before I put the white chocolate chips so that they will not melt and result in the topping being too wet. Or I could add a bit more flour.

The last bake is sweet corn cupcakes. This was supposed to be a corn swissroll. But I was too lazy and decided to just pour the batter into paper cups – and voila, Little Ms Corny (below) was born. To confess, I’m a terrible baker, I couldn’t fold in the flour properly and didn’t stir the melted butter evenly so much so that there was too much butter at the bottom of the bowl. But through the mistake, I realised those at the top with very little butter tasted much better and lighter. This means I can cut down on the butter by at least 30%.

Even though I’m really tired, I’m really happy. No time to try new bakes as I’ll have to concentrate on baking cookies for Chinese New Year ; )

Mad About Salad

Two years ago, I chanced upon Carol Vorderman’s Detox For Life cookbook and it was unlike other detox recipe where all you eat or should I say drink is water, juices and nothing else.

While meat is not recommended, there are some recipes with fish which you can eat for maintenance. And that’s when I started falling in love with salads. Since I’m perpetually trying to lose weight to no avail, and ‘cos of health reason, I usually don’t put any meat in my salad.

There are two types of salads that I particularly like – grilled and raw salad.

1. Grilled/roasted salad – you can use mushroom (button or portebello) eggplant, zucchini, capsicum, beetroot, sweet potato, potato (though not encouraged in a detox diet). Cut the veggie and put them into an oven proof dish, and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle some dried herbs (I usually use basil, rosemary or oregano) and add a dash of ground black pepper and salt to taste. Put them in a preheated over (200 – 220 degree C) and roast for 30 min for softer veggie like zucchini and 60 min for roots such as beetroot and potato.

2. Cut raw salad – This is really easy to make. Simply cube half a Japanese cucumber, small carrot, one stick of celery and an apple. (I like my salad to be colourful so if there’s no carrot, I’ll use red or yellow capsicum instead.) Put the cubed food on a bed of Romaine lettuce or baby spinach leaves. Sprinkle cinnamon and squeeze 2 limes into salad. Mix well and top up with nuts or mixed dried beans, and dried fruits such as raisins, dried figs or apricots and voila! A super healthy salad. Sometimes, I add two tablespoons of unflavoured low fat yogurt if I need the extra carbo. Or I mix my own salad dressing – Juice from two limes, 2 tablespoons of low fat milk, 1 teaspoon of honey mustard, some pepper and salt, mix well and pour onto salad.

My latest love is wasabi coleslaw (pix above). Finely shred two purple cabbage leaves, 1cm thick of green radish, 1/3 carrot, half an apple or shinjo pear. As the dressing goes well with seafood, sometimes I’ll add shredded crab sticks (or you can add steamed prawns if you like). And as usual, I’ll add my favourite dried fruits of raisins and wolfberries as well as some toasted black sesame. For the dressing, mix 2-3 tablespoons of lime or lemon juice and half teaspoon of honey with one teaspoon each of mayonnaise and wasabi paste (I used Japanese mayo and S&W wasabi paste sold in supermarkets and some Japanese restaurants). Add to salad and mix well.

If you like salad, there are really lots of variety and options that you can try. And some vegetables can help people with health problems. For example, celery is wonderful for people with high blood. Fennel and asparagus are great for those with water retention. But people with gastric and flatulence should avoid too much raw food, especially cabbage and certain root vegetables which may aggravate the problem. Whatever it is, consult a doctor if you are unsure and never never stop any medication without doctor’s approval.

정말 좋은 주에 이에요 (A Really Great Week)

No, no, it’s not because I met my Prince Charming (or Korean Dream Guy?) or because I’ve struck toto. I just felt that it’s been a great week and wanted to count my blessings.

Great #1: The weather was much better… well, at least it behaved itself when I went for my runs. I clocked 59.5km this week (partly ‘cos I’m desperately trying to lose weight but it’s tough when you try out new bakes or dishes every week), played tennis for 2.5hours and had 3 yoga sessions. That should have burned at least 6,000 calories this week ; )

Great #2: My two-week leave for my Korea trip has been approved - yes! Even though the trip is in March/April, it’s great news ‘cos I can finally book my tickets and firm up my plans. My friend and I can’t wait for the trip… wish I’m going next week. But I'll have to study very hard or I'll end up drawing so that I can communicate with the Koreans (especially in the more remote villages and not so touristy places).

Great #3: I cooked kimchi ramyeon finally. I’ve had this craving for a few months but never got down to it. Partly ‘cos instant noodles are really fattening and high in trans fat. Even though I’m trying to lose weight, I decided I needed the extra calories after my long run. Furthermore, I didn’t bake the new oat bran muffin and chocolate cake as planned or as I rationalised ; )

Great #4: I got very good results for a project that I was working on and it received front page news – felt like jackpot.

Great #5: I won some money – it’s not enough to buy a suit from G2000 but nonetheless I’m still happy since it’s something that need not happen.

Let me end off with pixes of my homecooked kimchi dishes… enjoy ; )

Mad about Kimchi

More than one year on, my craze for Korean stuff has not abated. In fact, it has become worst. As my friend says, 我中毒很深 （the poison goes deep）. I can’t agree more but I’m sure I’m not the only Singaporean with such an ‘illness’. I think the worldwide craze for Korean VCD dramas and so on will make a very interesting behavioural case study for psychologists.

Now I cannot go by a week without eating kimchi or Korean food. This is quite ridiculous given the fact that I’ve never even tasted Korean food before I started watching any K drama. Well, as Korean food is not cheap in Singapore, I’ve started cooking Korean dishes. And I think the best thing and most basic ingredient one needs for any Korean meal has to be kimchi. You can eat it as it is, or cook kimchi soup, kimchi ramyeon, fried kimchi with beancurd etc etc.

So, I went in search of kimchi. In the past, I usually buy packaged kimchi (see pix above) but these are usually quite sour as they would have aged quite a bit. Now, whenever I go to a Korean restaurant, I’ll ask if they sell kimchi and how much. This is where you can find good kimchi if you’re a kimchi fan like me:

1. Restaurants – Jushinjung @ Pasir Panjang; Hyang To Gol @ Amara Hotel; New Seoul @ Tanjong Pagar; Auntie Kim’s @ Upper Thomson The price can range from $13 to $25 a kilo; and $5.50 to $13 for a box. I like Hyang To Gol’s best.
2. Food courts – Most places sell them for $3 for a box. So far, I think the best buy is from the Korean eatery at Food Republic, located at 5th level of Wisma Atria. It only cost $6 for a box which I think is definitely more than 500gm. And the quality is quite good too.
3. Selected Cold Storage and Korean supermarkets – $3.80 to $4.20 for a 200gm pack.
4. Isetan Supermarket @ Scotts – freshly made kimchi flown in from Korea - $3.20 per 100g – I bought the radish kimchi but didn’t quite like it as it was a bit bitter. It could be due to the type of radish used.

Unfortunately, most places only sell the common cabbage kimchi. If you want cucumber or radish kimchi, you’ll have to try Isetan Supermarket or buy the packaged ones which come in 500g or 1 kg pack with cost ranging from $10 to $18 depending on the variety chosen.

Look out for the next posting on Mad about Korean Food where I’ll list and rate the Korean restaurants I’ve visited in the past year ; )

Mad about Baking

Valentine's Day comes early this year... these heart-shaped shortbread shows how crazy I am about baking now ; )


Recently, I’ve been very inspired by a friend, a homemaker who got hooked on baking, and a few bloggers who seem to be full time bakers! What they post on their blogs were really nice and looked so delicious… so much so that I also went a bit crazy and baked three new things this week. This is something which I’ve never done on a working week except during festive occasions or the President’s Challenge where I usually sell my bakes. [One of my new year’s resolution is to cook or bake something new every month. I’ve far exceeded my target for this month, having baked/cooked 8 new items!]

Unfortunately, only one of the new bakes turned out nice. My new shortbread. And I made it heart shape with some raspberry jam in the centre in celebration of my hot hot passion for baking ; ) Well, it’s not perfect yet. The dough was too soft but it tastes buttery enough and it’s not too sweet. This is the third shortbread I’ve made and the only that’s ‘successful’ even though I’ll probably put a bit more flour in future. Shall try using rice flour which some books claim to help improve the taste.

The other two bakes I made were chocolate banana muffin which was not moist enough. I think it’s because I tried to marry two recipes for a chocolate muffin and a banana muffin and it was a mismatch! Plus I probably overmixed the batter, resultig in many holes in the muffin. Fortunately, it was still edible. Next time, I will add more oil and milk to improve it. As I’m very weight conscious, I usually try the ‘healthier’ recipes or low fat options which requires very little oil or butter and eggs. Unfortunately, things that are delicious are usually unhealthy with more butter and fats.

I saved the worst bake of the week for last. Yesterday was a disaster – spent 40minutes kneading a bread that turned out inedible. Wasted my whole afternoon and got a scolding from my mom for wasting ingredients and my time. Sigh… My recent encounters with bread has not been good. Last week, I tried to make foccacia which also turned out to be a failure which I had to throw away. Maybe I need to attend a one month course on bread making. But it’s pretty expensive and since I’m planning to start my kids’ yoga class again on Saturdays, I will not have any time for baking classes. Nevermind, I shall try again next week and see if I give up baking bread forever.

When I took these chocolate banana muffins out of the oven, I thought they smelt and looked good. Alas, looks can deceive. But I'll certainly try again ; )