Tsukimi Soba 月見蕎麦

Oh how life has changed with D, the little (chubby) bundle of joy, now in our lives! It has been a very long while since I last cooked and of course that causes the posts to lag behind! I’m terribly sorry my dear friends! Nonetheless I did manage to whip up a quick lunch for myself while home with the bub one afternoon and it was a rather ‘spur of the moment’ lunch – just putting together whatever I had available in the kitchen and lo and behold I had myself a bowl of Japanese noodles. I love how sometimes you don’t start out wanting to achieve something but end up pleasantly surprising yourself.

Tags: buckwheat, buckwheat noodles, easy, japanese food, japanese noodles, poached egg, soba, soft boiled egg, tsukimi soba

Ginger Crème Brûlée

Ginger Crème Brûlée

It’s been far too long since my last post! Rest assured I have not retired, but am of late merely tired out! You see, R and I have a ‘bun in the oven’ and we’re expecting his arrival in about 4 – 7 weeks time! we’re extremely thrilled and we can’t wait! But at the same time I tire out easily (I hear some experienced moms saying – it’s only the beginning girl! – I know! I hear ya!) and we’ve been gearing up for the bun’s arrival

Tags: baking, bourke st bakery, creme brulee, ginger, Ginger Crème Brûlée, pudding, recipes, sweet treats

Blueberry, Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake

Got hit by a sudden cake-making cookie-baking wind over the weekend and whipped up a batch of choc chip cookies and this beautiful tea-time cake (actually it’s an anytime cake, cos you’re allow to have cake ANYTIME). Wouldn’t have made this cake if I’d been able to get my hands on tiramisu ingredients at the supermarket. Well it was a blessing in disguise I suppose

It’s a simple recipe that I got from searching the blogosphere for successful tea time cakes and came across this one from joythebaker *yay!* she’d used Dorie Greenspan’s Perfection Pound Cake recipe from her Baking: My Home to Yours book. The cake (having kept it in the fridge for a couple of days) really reminds me of the sara lee pound cakes I used to eat when I was a child, whatever happened to Sara Lee? hardly see them around these days – they used to bombard our tv screens with such feel-good ads

Well now I can make my own pound cakes (take that Sara Lee! haha!) with my own flavours Here’s the recipe for the Blueberry, Lemon and Poppy Seed pound cake I made:

Blueberry, Lemon and Poppy Seed Pound Cake with Lemon Icing adapted from joythebaker and Dorie Greenspan (made some variations on my own)

Equipment
Weighing scale/ measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Mixer with paddle attachment
Large mixing bowl (for dry ingredients)
Small mixing bowl
Spatula
Loaf Pan

Ingredients
200g/ 2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
large pinch of salt
1 tbsp poppy seeds (I used a bit more *hee*)
227g unsalted butter (cut into rough cubes)
190g/ 1 cup sugar (I usually reduce the sugar by about 20%, so here I used about 140g/ ¾ cup)
1 tbsp lemon zest
4 large eggs (room temp)
1 tsp vanilla extract (add to cracked eggs)
150g frozen wild blueberries

For Lemon Icing
½ cup icing sugar
1-2 tbsp lemon juice

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan, place on top of a thick baking sheet. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Butter a 9-x-5-inch loaf pan.  Put the pan on an insulated backing sheet, or on two regular baking sheets stacked on on top of the other.
2. Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Mix in poppy seeds.
3. Mix lemon zest and sugar together until the sugar is slightly tinted (yellow) and fragrant.
4. In the mixer with the paddle attachment (or with in a large bowl if you are using a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar mixture on high until pale and fluffy – approx 5 minutes.
5. Scrape the sides of the bowl and beater and bring mixer speed down to medium.
6. Add eggs one at a time (vanilla essence mixed in), beating for 1 – 2 minutes after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl from time to time.
7. Reduce mixer speed to low and add the flour and poppy seed mixture a portion at a time. Adding more only when fully incorporated.
8. Taking the bowl off the stand mixer, fold in the blueberries.
9. Transfer batter to the buttered loaf pan and smooth out the top.
10. Into the oven it goes, for 75 – 85 minutes! Check back after about 45 minutes to see if the top is browning too much. If it is, you can bring the rack with the loaf pan down from the middle to the next level or cover loosely with a foil tent.
11. In the meantime, let’s make us some lemon icing: in a small bowl, mix ½ cup icing sugar with 1-2 tbsp lemon juice. Depending on how thick you like your icing you add more juice if you like it runny. I liked mine a little runny so added about 2 tbsp of lemon juice. Taste as you go along and add sugar or lemon juice accordingly
12. The cake is ready when a skewer inserted deep into the centre comes out clean.
13. Remove cake from the oven, transfer the loaf pan to a rack and allow it to rest for 30 minutes. It certainly worked up a sweat!
14. Running a blunt knife along the sides of the loaf pan will loosen the cake from its sides. Turn out the cake and turn it right side up to cool on a rack until it reaches room temperature.
15. You may keep the cake in the refrigerator and heat it up when you need it.

We served the cake with a drizzle of lemon icing and a scoop of Very Berry Ice Cream from a local ice cream shop (Island Creamery) – it’s a vanilla ice cream with berries delish!

Tags: baking, blueberries, blueberry lemon and poppy seed cake, cake, lemon, poppy seeds, pound cake, tea time cake

Sydney Brekkie

Hello there Mate!

When you are Down Undah, it’s all about rising and sleeping early – with the most important meal being Brekkie/ Brekkers/ Breakfast Our trip to Sydney this time was one of the best holidays I’ve ever had – taking each day as it came not planning what to do and where to go WAAAY in advanced and it was really refreshing to holiday like that. Hey R, we have to do this more often yea? So let’s see what early morning treasures we uncovered in Sydney

Tags: bills, bourke st bakery, bread, breakfast, brekkie, chocolate ganache tart, coffee, food, ginger brulee tart, harry's pies, hot chocolate, pastry, pies, single origin roasters, sushi roll, sydney, tarts

Bali Hai…

Hello everyone! It’s been a while! My apologies for the long leave of absence! It has been a whirlwind 2 months – travelling and work and preparing for new challenges in life More details later in the year!

Recently a whole bunch of friends trooped down to Bali, Indonesia! One of my (and R’s) favourite places in the world! Despite a no. of hiccups we encountered (flaky pple) and the crazy traffic (when did Bali become so crowded?) – explains the sigh of ‘Hai…’ of this blog post’s title – it was still a great time spent with friends!

Here are some highlights from the trip:

Akashi

One of my favourite Japanese restaurants in Singapore, it’s been around for many years and still stands the test of time and the introduction of Japanese conveyor belt sushi chains in the 90s  (this I feel really brought Japanese dining to the masses).

The pictures below are from a recent staycation R and I had in February.

Akashi Japanese Restaurant

Tags: akashi, beef udon, gyuniku udon, japanese, japanese food, japanese restaurants, japanese restaurants in singapore, singapore, udon

Ramen and Praying for Japan

– In light of the devastating situation in Japan, this seems rather frivolous, talking about indulging in food, when many in Japan have none. But this post is a tribute to the people of Japan and a testament to their resilience and dedication to everything that they do including their food. Links on where and how to help are at the end of the post. –

I’ve had a love affair with Ramen when I first heard about it and subsequently tasted my first bowl in Nan-Ten (a Japanese restaurant tucked in the basement of a building in the heart of our Central Business District), which might have been back in 2007. I once thought of doing a ‘Best of the Best’ Tonkotsu Ramen 豚骨ラーメンHaunts in Singapore, and after visiting 11 authentic Ramen places in Singapore  and 2 chains. I definitely have my favourites!

I’m sure everyone has different criteria to what makes the best ramen, it could be the creaminess/ tastiness/ richness of the soup, the springiness or thickness of the noodles, the gelatinous-ness of the egg, the tenderness of the char shu, the variety of condiments or the no. of Japanese patrons in the restaurant. I’m 100% a soup(er) girl, 80% noodles and about 70% egg (it kinda gets me down when I see a FULLY cooked egg in my bowl of ramen).

So let’s see where  Charlotte’s Best Ramen Haunt Hunt has ventured? (listed below in no order of merit)

Sticky Date Toffee Pudding

At long last! After years of trepidation and pure laziness and only wanting to eat Marmalade Pantry’s Sticky Date Toffee Pudding, I decided OK it’s really time for you to GET UP AND DO IT!

Thankfully I found me a fantastic recipe in one of my donna hay magazines and I made some for a tea party with old school friends and turned one into a birthday cake for one of them (trick candle and all *wink*, old-school style). Anyways here’s the recipe adapated from donna hay and my own ice cream recipe for you

A ♥-y Breakfast



Honestly, nothing says “You’re loved” like a hearty breakfast made by a loved one.

From the breakfasts of porridge made by my grandmother, to the toasts with fruits made by my mother and now my husband who makes me anything I fancy really

A Breezy “Easy Peasy Simply Japanese-y” Cookyn Party

A great big ARIGATOU ありがとう to all who came for the Easy Peasy Simply Japanese-y Cookyn Party! And thanks to the Cookyn with Mervyn team for letting us mess up their kitchen!

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Tags: chawanmushi, cooking class, food, ice cream, matcha ice cream, mentaiko pasta, ponzu steak