Eggplant Brownie - Guilt Free Pleasure

Sneaky sneaky...that's what I thought of this month's Sweet Adventures Blog Hop : Cake and 3 vegetables.  The only vegetables I know used regularly in desserts are pumpkin, carrots and maybe a sweet potato or two.  Hmm... perhaps something a little more challenging?  How about eggplant?  And no butter or shortening of any kind?  Flourless?

Old Fashioned Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

There's something very old-fashioned about fruity cakes, and the pineapple-upside-down cake is no exception.  It has been quite a while since I saw an upside-down-cake.  Remember those pineapple rings studded with the red maraschino cherries?  Throwback to the eighties where watermelon baskets and pineapple porcupines were the rage back then and every Tupperware party had one or both.  Ouch, that was a painful statement to make - actually confessing to growing up in the '80s...

Kaya Bread

The 1st Bread-Bake-Out was a humongous success and hopefully inspired some more bread making amongst the Singletons.  We were still pretty divided over bread-machines and elbow grease, but that's ok.  And that's the beauty of bread-making.  You can choose either and it doesn't need much TLC.  As we are all busy multi-tasking career-women, something that Monster Mom said during our 1st Bread-Bake-Out made me think of this. 

My Mother's Homemade Kaya

My mother's kaya is something that I grew up with.  Kaya slathered thickly over buttered bread for our morning breakfast.  She's made these regularly through the years, and I still remember how she would keep the eggshells for us to draw cartoon faces on.  This was the easiest way to get almost-whole eggshells as she could make a small hole on the base and let the eggs flow out slowly for the kaya.  That's why we looked forward to kaya making days.  Eggshell faces...Simple pleasures.

Fluffy Pancakes

Ever since I sunk my teeth into my first McDonald's Hot Cakes,  I've been hooked on what I term American-style pancakes.  Thick and fluffy with a hint of vanilla, served with salted butter and drenched in golden maple syrup.  All that sweet salty flavours combined together to make a truly indulgent breakfast.

Arugula Corn Pasta Salad with Lemon Dressing

When we do one of our jaunts down to Singapore, pizza at Peperoni Pizzeria is always a must-have.  The pizzas there are the thin-crust type which I prefer, and they even have a humongous 21 inch "family size".  Big Dog's fond wish is to one day be able to order the family size.  *glutton*.  One of our favourite pizza toppings is prosciutto topped with a simple arugula salad.  It always felt healthier especially when we usually over-indulge whilst on holidays.  Haha.  Healthy pizza is oxy-moronic, don't you think so?

Merdeka Day and Teh Tarik

31 Aug 1957

Happy Merdeka Day to all Malaysians here and abroad.  Today marks our 55th year of independence from British colonial rule.  My feelings about Merdeka Day and its associations run the gamut, from apathy to optimism.  As a child, Merdeka Day meant 'yay-it's a holiday-no school-so yippeeyay'.  As a student abroad, Merdeka Day was just another day in the calendar marked in the Overseas Students' Union (if we bothered to look).  Now back in Malaysia after living abroad for some years, it reminds me that I live in a wonderful country.  Wonderful, yes.  Perfect, no. 

Orange Swirl Bread

This week's bread project works off from the layered bread theme a few weeks ago.  Instead of layers, how about swirls?  Beautiful large loopy swirls spiralling around a sweet loaf.  Swirl breads are a somewhat indulgent treat at breakfast because it's made with a sweet bread dough.  Throw in some citrus zest and we have ourselves an orange swirl bread. 

Simply Nutty over Banana Nut Muffins

It's been a pretty crazy week at work.  Missed deadlines, last minute requests and late nights conspired to drive me barmy and I'm shattered.   Fortunately, the weekend brings some respite from the madhouse aka The Office.  So, I thought it would be apt that this week's bake out choice landed at bananas and nuts.  A banana nut muffin.  Going bananas and driving me nuts, get it?  Haha. 

Brandied Cherry and Nut Chocolate Cupcake

As a child, happiness was biting into a bar of Cadbury's.   Peeling back the purple wrapper and foil to sink your teeth into the luscious dreamy chocolate squares.  Mmm....My favourite Cadbury chocolate is the Fruit and Nut - the one with the raisins and almonds, and remains that until today.  I still buy huge slabs from London holidays to give away (after keeping some for my personal stash, but of course).  There's something about biting into the contrasting flavours and textures of the milky chocolate, plump juicy raisins and crunchy almonds that goes so well together.

Nuts about Almond Nut Butter

User discretion required : highly addictive.

Yesterday, I made almond nut butter.  Yup, from almonds.  From scratch.  Homemade.  And, guess what?  It's easy!  It's delicious too!

Chocolate layered bread - mad about layers

I like layers - layered cakes like kek lapis, layered jellies, mille feulle etc  The visual contrast between the layers can be stunning.  But making layered cakes is a very tedious affair, heck making anything with layers is tedious.  Long hours slaving over the oven waiting for each layer to bake out or set before doing the next one. 

Steamed Pumpkin Muffins

 On a recent trip down to Singapore to visit my adorable nieces, I noticed a lot of steamed muffins being sold.  Aha....this must be the latest food fad in food-fad-mad Singapore.  This is one uniquely Singaporean trait - be it apple strudel, bubble tea, doughnuts, ramen, or Hello Kitty plush toys - come the latest fad, you will find Singaporeans queueing for hours to purchase the product and proudly sharing their find (spoils?) with all and sundry.  Then you'll find restaurants and kiosks sprouting up like lallang after the rain, all selling the same stuff.  And just as sudden as the next thunderstorm, it'll die down when the next new kid on the block comes along.  Economics 101, the law of supply and demand; real-life demo.  To be fair, you do get the same behaviour in Malaysia, but somehow just not as intense and frenzied. 

Beating the haze with a Lemon Yogurt Cake

The haze is back with a vengeance this year, with the API readings at unhealthy levels again.  It makes my nose itch terribly, and the air smells vaguely burnt.  Other than lighting up scented candles or fragrance oils to counter it (which isn't so smart since its already so hazy),  perhaps baking a cake will help.  There's comfort food, and there's comfort smells.  A baking cake in the oven is the best of both worlds - comforting, safe.  Ahhhh....

Fruit Compote in Ginger Honey Syrup

Breakfast is usually a rushed affair for me and means something quick with my morning coffee.  It's not quite grab-and-go as I hate eating on the run.  However it does mean no cooking and it has to be strong enough to kick start the day alongside the coffee (and believe me when I say I need a good kick-start to get going especially when I'm as fast as molasses on a Monday morning).  Since making my own yogurt, its been a regular breakfast staple.  To save on washing, I confess to eating it straight out of the bottle.  Oops.

Udderly Delicious Homemade Yogurt

Two cartons of yogurt walk into a bar.  The bartender says to them, "We don't serve your kind in here." One of the yogurt cartons says back to him, "Why not?  We're cultured individuals."  Badabam.  Haha.

Bad puns aside, I happen to be watching River Cottage on AFC one day, and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall made yogurt.   From scratch.  Without a yogurt machine.  I’d never thought of making my own yogurt.  Never one to shy from a challenge, I set out to understand the process better.  It’s all and well to follow a TV show but because this deals with milk, I was a little concerned over the food safety aspects of making yogurt.  But I didn’t have to worry.  It is very easy to do, as long as you remember the basics. 

Chai tea cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting

I love a good cup of chai ( or better known as masala tea here) and really learnt to drink it from my ex-boss.  His wife served me masala tea when I visited them in London and I was hooked from then.  And there's nothing better than chai as an after-dinner drink especially after a heavy Indian curry dinner redolent with spices.  I find that chai settles the tummy and helps with the digestion.  Making chai is easy; nothing more than bringing a pot of milk to boil with the tea and spices, simmering the milky tea for about 10 minutes or until the spices release their aromatic oils and infused the tea concoction.  Simple, really. 

The best wanton noodles in Bangkok

"You must try the wanton mee near Platinum Mall guaranteed more than 1 bowl"  - so read the message I received as I landed in Bangkok airport.  Huh? The land that gives us tom yum, green curry and pad thai, and I'm to go look for wanton mee?  Okaaayyy.... trusting the messenger, I verified this with the local guide and he kindly offers to take us there for lunch.  And it was a good thing too since my texted directions consisted only of "turn right at hotel, walk towards McDonald's and turn into a side lane".  Wah, very helpful.  Do you know how many side lanes or soi there are?

Rustic Honey Oat Bread

Just look at how soft it is

and how rustic it looks

Once in a while I crave for white bread, the soft white of the supermarket variety.  At times, all you want is to sink your teeth into some soft white and not bother with all that chewing that comes with whole-grains.  I know, white = bad in these enlightened times.  Refined carbs = bad carbs that go straight to your thighs.  Then I found what I was looking for.  Honey Oat Bread. 

Soft  

White    

Healthy  

High fibre

Heart friendly   

Shrek muffins aka sweet potato muffins



green ogre vs green muffins



Shriek!  Shriek muffins?  Shrek muffins?  Bright green muffins!   How on earth did purple sweet potatoes morph into green muffins which resembled a certain Disney Dreamworks ogre? I swear they started out as purple-gray batter.