357: Elections and Me
This will be the first time I’m voting for the upcoming Singapore General Elections because 5 years ago, I was only 18 and most of the GRCs were walkovers. This year, no more walkovers (except for Tanjong Pagar which is helmed by the respectable MM Lee and his team)! 82 out of 87 seats will be contested this year! And today’s Nominations Day for the Singapore General Elections! If it weren’t for the exams, I would be more up-to-date with the latest happenings regarding the GE. Caught snippets of the daily news just now and read off news updates using the Iphone Straits Times GE app.
GE is getting me all fired up and excited. It’s very exciting because this year, I’ll be able to exercise my option to vote. I’m even thinking of going down to the rallies to sit in to hear what they have to say. And yes, the rallies will start from tomorrow on! (: Of all, Aljunied GRC seems the most exciting of them all! Would so love to go down to hear what the “A” team of WP and PAP have to offer and to see how they fight for their votes. No longer apathetic because with age, I’ve learnt that we’ve all got a part to play in nation building. And because I love Singapore. I’ll definitely vote wisely. It’s our future you’re talking about.
356: My Day in Food
Yes, boring. I’m going to sum up my boring day with some boring food pictures. Spent the day studying away and I had little time to prepare something difficult to cook. So it’s (boring) bread again!
For breakfast, there’s Cedele’s cranberry scone, warm with orange marmalade again.
And for lunch, there’s Cedele’s wholemeal walnut bread slice (toasted) with some corn salad (steamed sweet corn, zucchini, cranberries, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds tossed in a light japanese sesame (goma) dressing) and a quarter sliced cheese over the colourful mess!
Yums! 16 hours to freedom! 16 hours later, I’ll bid farewell to uni life and all the lectures and tutorials and lab session and tests/exam I’ve sat through the past 4 years of my life! That aside, I’m happy with my new found (temporary?) ‘freedom’. Looks like I’m not one who likes getting tied down or maybe I’m just afraid to make that big leap. I don’t know. I shall leave all these frustrating problems aside first and concentrate on being happy and free.
There’s a movie, lunch and possibly dinner date tomorrow with the uni clique. And then, there’s prawning, wii and BBQ date the day after tomorrow also with the uni clique. So many things to do after the exams! More baking and cooking and shopping (F21, Kino!) and feasting (Ootoya and High Tea!) and dating the friends out. Oh and we’ve finally decided to book the plane tickets to Hong Kong and Macau for a short getaway (5D4N? 6D5N?) and that’ll probably be in late May! So I need to start planning for the trip – shopping, food and sightseeing haunts! Got to seek advice from my good friends! I’ve never been to HK but out of my 3 good friends, 2 of them have parent(s) from HK and 1 of them was in HK for exchange for half a year. So exciting! And also I’ve to collect my Totoro orgel next week, travel to the CBD area for the health checkup for the new job and yes, Hep B antibody test too. BUSY BUSY BUSY but I’m really excited 🙂 I think you can tell.
355: Lunch (Zucchini Salmon Spread Sandwich)
Another simple open top sandwich to tide through lunch, in this busy exam period. Toasted wholemeal bread with sliced zucchini and salmon spread.
Just conquered the second paper today and it was good! Put up a great fight and I’m hoping I’ll score! I really think I’m going to miss studying PTx! The series of PTx modules are my favourite university modules! One more paper to go on Thursday and it’s going to be goodbye uni life, goodbye school, hello working world, hello society! I’m starting to feel sad. I refuse to let go, I refuse to acknowledge that I’m nearing the end of my uni life. Well, the next time I’ll step in school after this Thursday will probably be convocation day. (Oh oops, kind of forget that I’ve to make an appointment for the Hep B Antibody test soon! That’ll be in the clinic in school too. But well, that doesn’t count!)
Sigh ):
354: Ooh La La, Ootoya!
Yays! There’s a newly opened Ootoya branch at Clementi Mall! This means that I don’t have to travel all the way to Orchard to get my Ootoya fix! I’ve been craving for their mixed grain soy milk porridge for the longest time. I love the food that is being served at Ootoya! 🙂 We’re going to make a trip to Ootoya, sometime after the exams! Yays!
353: Green Pumpkin Japanese Bakery
I’m here to talk about my two green buns/breads from Green Pumpkin Japanese Bakery! I had them for lunch today and they were really not bad! I am quite glad that they have an outlet near my place and not at far far Nex. Jurong Point is going to be my new found haunt soon (after the exams) because there’s Green Pumpkin! I can survive on breads for all my meals, seriously. I’m not like the typical Chinese who has to have at least rice as a staple for at least one of my meals, like my Dad (I think).
This was the pumpkin bun! It looks so adorable because it’s shaped like a pumpkin! The green parts are actually matcha flavoured bread, which tasted quite good. I do believe that this is their signature bun!
I was really surprised when I pulled the bread apart because the pumpkin fillings were not like the usual mashed pumpkin fillings. You can distinctly see small cubes of pumpkin, with even the skins on! And they were not extremely sweet at all. The sweetness was from the natural sweetness of the pumpkins. I’ve realised that pumpkin buns from other bakeries elsewhere have added sugar into the mashed pumpkin fillings because they taste ‘artificially’ sweet. It’s good that Green Pumpkin’s pumpkin bun did not (or what I thought so) contain added sugar!
And the other green bun is the anpan bun (or the sweetened red bean paste bun). It’s green because there’s matcha in the bread dough as well!
This bun was pretty ordinary, but the only plus point is you can taste the red beans in the paste (and not like some overly mashed up red bean paste). And yes, the matcha flavoured bread dough!
I’m so going back to Green Pumpkin Japanese Bakery again to try out more of their breads and buy more of the pumpkin breads! I heard from the sister that they have a very interesting variety of breads and the bakery has a very cosy ambience.
352: Dinner (Simple Sandwich)
The parents and the sister were out as I was stuck at home the entire day trying to study for the first exam paper tomorrow. Dinner was a simple sandwich. But it was good old comfort food. 🙂
It made me happy because I toasted the sandwich with my Spongebob toaster although the toast lines were pretty faint. And I had mashed boiled pumpkin and chopped hard boiled egg as the fillings! It was good, so good. I was really satisfied after this simple meal and it made me a happy girl to continue the last part of my revision for the day.
And yes, the parents and the sister came back with breads for me! There’s this new japanese bakery at Jurong Point – Green Pumpkin Japanese Bakery. I’ve read reviews about Green Pumpkin but the bakery was at NEX (and it’s super far! At Serangoon). I had no idea that they have a new branch at Jurong Point!
I’m so glad they bought back 2 breads for me to try! Both my breads are GREEN (which happens to be my favourite colour). According to the sister, one of them is a pumpkin bread and the other is red bean. If they are nice (which I bet they are), I’m going to troop down to Jurong Point many times after the exams! They are green because they contain matcha (green tea)! I CANNOT WAIT TO TRY THEM! They’re going to be my lunch tomorrow before my paper at 1pm! And they bought back a slice of my favourite Coco Exotic cake from Four Leaves Bakery too! That’s going to be breakfast! Haha! Me thinks I’m crazy and easily happy!
Will share pictures of them soon, after tomorrow’s paper! (:
351: Condensed Milk Pound Cake, Again!
Yes, again. I know this is getting boring but I cannot resist baking this AGAIN. As the stress level goes up, I bake! And I’ve my first exam paper tomorrow on a Saturday afternoon ):
And also because this is such an awesome cake. My favourite cake of the moment. I did it the right way as in the recipe by beating in the eggs last and it still tastes the same! Still equally divine (:
350: Wasabi Kit Kat
The aunty gave us each a pack of Wasabi Kit Kat her colleague got from Japan! I’ve always been awed and intrigued by the R&D departments of japanese food and beverage industry. I mean, their food engineers are always so innovative! Always thinking of new novel innovative ideas to integrate into their snacks and food!
I’ve heard of Soya Sauce Kit Kat and I’ve read that reviews were pretty good. Some described it as a salted caramel kit kat. Sounds very interesting? But I was a little apprehensive about this all-green Wasabi Kit Kat. For one, I do not like Wasabi. I don’t like the pungent taste that Wasabi lingers in my oral cavity. But I’m still pretty alright if the sushi chef decides to put a little into my sushi. I wouldn’t throw out the sushi entirely. And I do eat a few pieces of Wasabi coated/flavoured nuts occasionally. I guess Wasabi is pretty tolerable.
Kit Kat has outdone itself with another new flavour of Kit Kat. I was really surprised by how alike the Kit Kat finger tastes like Wasabi (erm yes, what else?). The first taste that hits is the sweet white chocolate. And then, your tastebuds are greeted by the taste of Wasabi. It has that familiar Wasabi taste. But the sweetness of the white chocolate softens the pungent taste of Wasabi. The taste lingers a little in my mouth and then disappears as the Kit Kat finger slides down into my esophagus. It’s quite awesome a product, I must say, although I ain’t a fan of Wasabi nor Kit Kat.
349: The End or The Beginning?
I like this quote by Winston Churchill.
This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
348: Turning Tables
I’ve been listening to Adele a lot these few days. She has a really great voice and is truly a musical gem. I agreed with someone’s comment that Adele doesn’t need autotune or backup dancers to make her performance exciting. You just need her on stage with a simple piano accompaniment and she can wow and touch millions with her voice and her songs! I did read that she did the recording of “Turning Tables” at one go. So essentially, the album version is a live version. Amazing (:
I love this song “Turning Tables”. Love her voice and the piano and strings accompaniment!
I learnt that Gwyneth Paltrow did a cover of “Turning Tables” on Glee (on which she was a guest star). And I was really surprised by her cover because it was really not bad!
Lyrics
Close enough to start a war
All that I have is on the floor
God only knows what we’re fighting for
All that I say, you always say more
I can’t keep up with your turning tables
Under your thumb, I can’t breathe
So I won’t let you close enough to hurt me
No, I won’t ask you, you to just desert me
I cant give you, what you think you gave me
It’s time to say goodbye to turning tables
To turning tables
Under hardest guise I see ooh
Where love is lost, your ghost is found
I braved a hundred storms to leave you
As hard as you try, no I will never be knocked down
I can’t keep up with your turning tables
Under your thumb, I can’t breathe
So I won’t let you close enough to hurt me, no
I won’t ask you, you to just desert me
I cant give you, what you think you gave me
It’s time to say goodbye to turning tables
Turning tables
Next time I’ll be braver
I’ll be my own savior
When the thunder calls for me
Next time I’ll be braver
I’ll be my own savior
Standing on my own two feet
I won’t let you close enough to hurt me, no
I won’t ask you, you to just desert me
I cant give you, what you think you gave me
It’s time to say goodbye to turning tables
To turning tables
Turning tables, yeah
Turning ohh
347: Craisin Scones
I’m scones crazy! My attempts at baking the scones the past year(s) or so haven’t been really successful. Haven’t attempted many recipes but they all fall short of my ‘ideal’ scone. So I resorted to satisfying my scones cravings with store bought scones from the local bakeries (like Oishii Bakery or Four Leaves) and Cedele. I’ve thrown out flat scones, scones that taste disgustingly flour-y/dough-y and just weird scones.
I decided to try this recipe by Gregoire Michaud because the scones are so beautifully tall and they look just like my ‘ideal’ scone. I’m so glad I haven’t given up on my search for the perfect scones recipe or in trying to perfect my scones making/baking skills. I’ll just need to perfect the way I cut out the scones to get those perfect round scones!
My scones were not as beautifully tall (with those lovely caps!) or pretty or perfectly round just like those featured in the blog of Gregoire Michaud but they smell and taste absolutely wonderful! I’m not kidding! The scones still smell so lovely 7 hours after baking them, in the container I’ve stored them in. I can’t help just lifting off the lid to take in a few whiffs of the lovely fragrances of the scones while studying.
Scones Recipe from Gregoire Michaud
Ingredients
- 500g flour
- 95g sugar
- 25g baking powder
- 125g butter
- 2 eggs
- 100ml milk (or cream if you dare!) —> I added cream because I’m brave! Haha! (:
- 60g sultanas (optional) –> I added a mixture of cranberries and sultanas/raisins!
Method
- Mix the flour, sugar and baking powder together with the butter until it resembles a crumble mixture
- Add the eggs and milk (and the sultanas last if required and mix in quickly)
- Leave the dough to rest for 10 minutes, then roll out to about 15mm high
- Cut into rounds and brush egg over the tops
- Bake at 200°C for approximately 20 minutes, until nicely golden brown
And NOW, I cannot wait for my breakfast tomorow. It’s scones for breakfast on Wednesday (and possibly, Thursday and Friday too)! Warm scones with orange preserve! I love 🙂
346: Another Scone for Breakfast
After the really delicious orange blueberry scone from Cedele, here’s another scone from my favourite local bakery, Four Leaves. It’s their cranberry scone! It looks really dry but I tell you, the microwave oven does magic to this one! Pop it in the microwave oven for 30 seconds and you get the soft crumbly cake-like scone!
And as usual, I had this scone with my orange marmalade (or simply any jam/preserve), warm. This scone wasn’t too bad, it was slightly drier than Cedele’s or my usual Oishii Bakery’s. But it was not bad. Oh yes, I heard that TCC (The Conoisseur Concerto)’s scones from their tea set are pretty good, would love to try them someday.
And yes, to continue with the scones craze! I baked some craisin (yes, cranberries and raisin) scones this afternoon! They were OMG delicious! They don’t look that pretty or tall (I’ll roll them out thicker the next time round) but they taste quite delicious unexpectedly. I haven’t had many successes with scones and this will be my best attempt thus far. Will blog in the next entry (:
345: Make You Feel My Love
By Bob Dylan (Also by Adele)
When the rain
Is blowing in your face
And the whole world
Is on your case
I could offer you
A warm embrace
To make you feel my love
When the evening shadows
And the stars appear
And there is no one there
To dry your tears
I could hold you
For a million years
To make you feel my love
I know you
Haven’t made
Your mind up yet
But I would never
Do you wrong
I’ve known it
From the moment
That we met
No doubt in my mind
Where you belong
I’d go hungry
I’d go black and blue
I’d go crawling
Down the avenue
No, there’s nothing
That I wouldn’t do
To make you feel my love
The storms are raging
On the rolling sea
And on the highway of regret
Though winds of change
Are throwing wild and free
You ain’t seen nothing
Like me yet
I could make you happy
Make your dreams come true
Nothing that I wouldn’t do
Go to the ends
Of the Earth for you
To make you feel my love
344: Books, Brains, Food
It’s the last intensive mugging week leading up to the exams. As I rack my brains and dive through the books and the notes, the food (the energy for my brains) is merely simple convenient easy-to-put-together meals.
Lunch was a simple lean ground beef spaghetti bolognese.
343: To-Bake List
I want to:
1) Bake condensed milk pound cake, again (I’m sorry but I cannot resist).
2) Bake “everything” cookies. Baked “everything” cookies based on an awesome recipe from Foodgawker for a friend just today. The secret ingredient was the cinammon and the overload of ingredients (think roasted hazelnuts, cranberries, raisins, sunflower seeds, mixed nuts muesli). Just so divine because the smell while the cookies were in the oven was just crazily amazing!
3) Bake a french apple tart. This has been on my to-bake list for ages since the day I acquired a metal tart tin. I’m going to make one soon.
4) Bake a tofu (bean curd) cheesecake.
5) Bake some awesomely fudgey chewy chocolatey brownies (with roasted hazelnuts or walnuts or almonds).
It’s the week before the exams, the week I have to push on before I conquer the final exams of university. It’s home home home home for the next 11 days before I officially break for the holidays! And the holidays means more time for baking and a short getaway (I’m hoping Macau and Hong Kong but nothing’s for certain now since we haven’t gotten down to booking it yet) and plenty of shopping and tea. Got to enjoy the last 6 weeks before work commences and that would be possibly hellish! Oh wells, for now, the exams! I can do it. You can do it, Rina (: FIGHTING!
342: Cedele (Rail Mall)
Cedele, is by far my favourite dining place! I’m so in love with the food at Cedele! Fell crazily in love with Cedele from the very first mouth I bit into my Beetroot Avocado burger. The other good reason is that there’s a branch that’s only a 5 minutes’ walk from my place.
Met up with a few of my friends just last Friday for Cedele. The friends are all Cedele converts too! We ordered a few dishes to share. We had the grilled vegetables chutney sandwich on a rustic white with sesame bread and a mushroom overload burger on golden pumpkin bread. We had pumpkin soup and boston clam chowder to share, along with free flow of bread. And something sweet to end off, we had the famed Cedele carrot walnut cake.
Didn’t take much pictures because we are all too hungry and filling our tummies was the primary objective!
I wanted to try the other vegetarian alternative sandwich, which is the grilled vegetables chutney sandwich. I have ALWAYS (yes, every single visit!) been ordering my good old boring Beetroot Avocado sandwich only because it’s so delicious and just SO SO SO good. Decided to try the grilled vegetables chutney sandwich and it was good. The grilled vegetables were so sweet, love the red capsicum and the pumpkin! Think what’s so special about Cedele is the spices they use in their food, the chutney used in the sandwich made the entire do-up very unique. But well, this was a good vegetarian alternative! But give me my Beetroot Avocado sandwich ANYTIME!
And we had the yummy carrot walnut cake. It was as usual, good. There were so many beautiful cakes in the little cake refrigerator. I was particularly extracted to the Pink Beet Cake for the most obvious reason. BEET, BEETROOT! (: It’s adorably pink with beet strips, I think. I read some reviews online and realised that it’s kind of like the red beet/beetroot version of carrot cake. How adorable! I’m going to try that the next time round. And yes, the chocolate pistachio cake was tempting too, I read that the layers are flourless. I love flourless cakes (think fluffed up egg whites and spongey layers, woohoo).
And how could I resist the breads and pastries? Bought 3 home! And I had this for breakfast on Saturday morning. I just popped the Orange Cranberry Hot Cross Bun into the microwave for 30 seconds and tah-dah, delicious breakfast. It was not too bad, Easter’s near so hot cross buns are popping out like Easter bunnies.
And yes, I love my scones. I love scones. I LOVE SCONES. Need I say enough? I tried the cranberry scone the last time, I think. Decided to get the Orange Blueberry scone and this was breakfast for Sunday (which is today). Again, I just popped the scone in the microwave for 40 seconds and tah-tah, moist soft fluffy scone for breakfast. And that’s not it yet. I spread a layer of orange marmalade between the scone and the warm scone will heat up the preserve and the fusion is just divine! The warm scone and the orange marmalade were terrific together! So good (:
I bought a small roll of my favourite organic wholewheat raisin walnut bread. I need to find an opportunity to eat it too. Breakfast for Monday?
341: Portuguese Egg Tarts
The portuguese egg tarts which I baked with the recipe online were not to my expectations. They look quite pretty but they were just not there yet. There’s probably something wrong with this store bought frozen puff pastry. I thought I would give this puff pastry a second chance. The first time I tried to make some peanut butter chocolate puffs with them, the pastry did puff up and brown on the top but the base still had the floury doughy taste which I didn’t like. This time round, after maxing out the baking time, the base of the egg tart was still pale and floury and doughy.
I don’t know what went wrong with the puff pastry.
But the texture of the egg custard was pretty close, but just way TOO sweet. The recipe called for too much sugar! I used less sugar already but it was still too sweet.
Oh wells, the experiment with portuguese egg tarts shall remain as it is for now. I’ll be holidaying in Macau after the exams, during my break before work commences and I think I would definitely want to satisfy those portuguese egg tarts cravings of mine then! They serve much better (or is the best?) portuguese egg tarts there since Macau’s famous for them!
340: The Last Chapter
It’s going to be the last day of school tomorrow. This entire week, friends around me have been whipping out their digital cameras, taking every opportunity to take some photos with friends, with lab partners whom we have spent time with for the past 4 years in university. I simply cannot believe that school is ending. And tomorrow’s going to be the last day in school.
I’m feeling quite sad. I thought I would be happy that I’m graduating and I really think I might miss school. I cannot believe I’ve survived 4 years in this ever-competitive course of mine. There were MANY points in time when we get all stressed up with all the deadlines, all the tests, all the workload. My coursemates have told me that they think our course is one of the heaviest in Singapore, of which I have to agree. Friends from other faculties and schools have told me at some point in time that they were stressed but somehow, their ‘stress’ and workload cannot be compared to ours. Sometimes, I just find myself listening to them as they complain and whine about their school life and just reassuring them that they’ll do fine. And often, there is no need to give my own input/personal experience because me thinks comparison just brings us nowhere. But I cannot believe I’m graduating! I cannot believe that I’ve survived this horribly rigorous course of mine! I cannot believe I’ve come so far.
The feeling is very very surreal. I’m sad that school is ending. In a few months’ time, I’ll no longer be a student. Finally a working adult, ready to step into the working world. I cannot believe I’ve come so far.
Thanks to the friends I’ve made through the 4 years in university. If not for them, I wouldn’t think I would have survived thus far. Thankfully, our field is a pretty small one so we’ll definitely get to see one another really soon, probably at some conference or seminar etc.
It’s the last chapter of my schooling life. I realised I’ve been studying the past 16 years of my life. 16 years of being a student. It’s time to move on. They say it’s the end of school. Me thinks it’s JUST the beginning. With all the knowledge gained, in the working world (and especially at my practice setting), we all start from ground zero. It’s learning all over again. And I’m going to miss school. I’m definitely considering a further degree because I don’t want to remain where I am now. In my profession, we’re learning anytime, we’re learning everywhere. Until I decide to get a further degree, I’ll want to work a few years to gain the experience first. And hopefully, I will be good enough to get a scholarship or sponsorship to study again!
Alright:) I’m feeling sad and emo already. I don’t want to end school. I just feel so old all of a sudden.
339: Good Old Pound Cake
I’m currently in a pound cake baking frenzy! After the really good, delicious and popular condensed milk pound cake (which I discovered to my disappointment that they disappeared from the cake box on Monday! I’ve pound cake thieves at home!), I told myself that I needed to bake another to satisfy those pound cake cravings of mine!
I was lazy to leave home today (under the super hot sun, please!) just to get a can of condensed milk. And yes, condensed milk is ultra sinful as well. So I’ve decided to just experiment with a simple pound cake. Just some flour, milk, eggs and most importantly, butter and my precious bottle of pure vanilla extract.
I’m using the recipe from Joy Of Baking. The recipe is adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Cake Bible. I did a simple google search on Rose Levy Beranbaum’s pound cake and the reviews were pretty good. There were people who mentioned that the pound cake was moist and dense. And most importantly, what’s so different about this recipe is that it does not use the usual creaming method.
I’m quoting from Joy Of Baking.
Instead of the more common ‘creaming’ method where the butter and sugar are creamed together first and then the eggs, followed by the the flour and milk are added, this recipe was what we call the ‘one bowl’ or ‘quick method’. This means all the dry ingredients are first put into a mixing bowl and then room temperature butter, together with the liquid ingredients are beaten into the batter. This method reduces the gluten formation in the flour and produces a cake that literally seems to melt-in-your-mouth and it has a very moist, dense and velvety texture.
Sounds so interesting right? But make sure all ingredients are at room temperature and that you follow the exact instructions (especially the time and speed of the mixing)! You do not want to overmix the batter!
True enough, this recipe yielded a really gorgeous pound cake! Really cottony and moist! It’s super light and fluffy too! I feel like I’m describing the clouds in the sky. But hey no, I’m loving this recipe too. But It’ll have to be placed #2 in my heart for now until I found something else to displace the #1 in my heart (which is the condensed milk pound cake). I’m thinking that the key to my heart is the condensed milk. Haha oh gosh, fat and sugary and all things unhealthy!
Recipe from Joy Of Baking
Ingredients
3 large eggs, room temperature
3 tablespoons milk, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (150 grams) sifted cake flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar
13 tablespoons (185 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter or spray with a non stick vegetable spray, a 9 x 5 x 3 inch (23 x 13 x 8 cm) loaf pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and butter the paper.
In a medium bowl lightly combine the eggs, milk, and vanilla extract.
In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar) and mix on low speed for about 30 seconds or until blended. Add the butter and half of the egg mixture. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for about one minute to aerate and develop the cake’s structure. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Gradually add the remaining egg mixture, in 2 additions, beating about 30 seconds after each addition to incorporate the egg and strengthen the cake’s structure.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake for about 55 to 65 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If you find the cake browning too much as it bakes, cover with a piece of lightly buttered aluminum foil after about 30 minutes.
Remove the cake from the oven and place on a wire rack.
338: Talking to the Moon by Bruno Mars
I know you’re somewhere out there
Somewhere far away
I want you back
I want you back
My neighbors think
I’m crazy
But they don’t understand
You’re all I have
You’re all I have
At night when the stars
light up my room
I sit by myself
Talking to the Moon
Try to get to You
In hopes you’re on
the other side
Talking to me too
Or am I a fool
who sits alone
Talking to the moon
I’m feeling like I’m famous
The talk of the town
They say
I’ve gone mad
Yeah
I’ve gone mad
But they don’t know
what I know
Cause when the
sun goes down
someone’s talking back
Yeah
They’re talking back
At night when the stars
light up my room
I sit by myself
Talking to the Moon
Try to get to You
In hopes you’re on
the other side
Talking to me too
Or am I a fool
who sits alone
Talking to the moon
Do you ever hear me calling?
Cause every night
I’m talking to the moon
Still trying to get to you
In hopes you’re on
the other side
Talking to me too
Or am I a fool
who sits alone
Talking to the moon
I know you’re somewhere out there
Somewhere far away
336: Condensed Milk Pound Cake
Foodgawker is a terribly evil site but I love it. I introduced a friend to that site on msn one day and she told me that her expression went from -_- to O_O when the site loaded on her web browser. When I’m bored and have nothing to do online, Foodgawker is the site to visit.
I had the leftovers of the can of sweetened condensed milk from making the teh tarik ice-cream and this recipe came in handy. Condensed milk pound cake! The pictures of the blogger’s pound cake were really gorgeous and I was already sold when I saw the pictures. I told myself then that I had to make the pound cake and bookmarked the recipe. And this was the perfect time to do so since I have leftover condensed milk!
I have absolutely NO regrets making this pound cake because this is the BEST pound cake I’ve ever BAKED. The texture of the cake is unbelievably soft and moist and fluffy! The combination of the condensed milk, vanilla extract and butter is a lethal combination! I love this cake!
I adapted the recipe from the blog, Honest Vanilla. I was a little uncomfortable adding my eggs last to the batter so I added in the eggs right after beating the butter and sugar. I’m not sure what the difference it makes. It could probably be to prevent overbeating of the eggs since overbeating will result in a tough cake (that is not as light and fluffy). Perhaps I’ll try the right ‘documented’ way the next time round I bake this pound cake.
Condensed Milk Pound Cake
Adapted from: The Sweet Spot: Asian-Inspired Desserts by Pichet Ong and Genevieve Ko
Ingredients
- 1⅓ cup plain flour
- 226 grams of unsalted butter
- ¾ cup condensed milk
- ½ cup sugar
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Directions
- Preheat oven to 160°C and generously butter the loaf pan.
- Sift flour and baking powder and set aside.
- Whisk sugar, pure vanilla extract, butter and salt until light and fluffy.
- Pour in condensed milk and mix until well combined
- Add eggs (beaten) slowly, preferably in 3-4 additions into the mixture and mix well.
- Add sifted flour and baking powder bit by bit while continue whisking until completely incorporated. Scrap down the sides if necessary
- Pour batter to the loaf pan and bake for 1 hour.
- Cake is ready when the top is dark golden brown and a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the cake.
Sliced thinly and packed away neatly in a tupperware! Possibly breakfast for the coming week, the occasional afternoon tea with Earl Gray and maybe a few slices as gifts for the cousin/aunt.
335: Chicken Miso Ramen
One rainy evening, I made chicken miso organic ramen with buttered corn, onions, seaweed (nori) and yes, a ramen egg (ni-tamago) look-alike. I don’t exactly fancy eggs but there’s something about that dark yellow flowy yolk centre of the ramen egg that’s so intriguing!
Yummy 🙂
334: Teh Tarik Ice Cream
At the request of the sister, I made her teh tarik ice-cream. Got inspired from the recipe from Almost Bourdain.
Adapted the recipe and this is my version of teh tarik ice-cream! The ice-cream is REALLY good and creamy. The exact same taste and flavour as Island Creamery’s and I’m not kidding or praising my own ice cream. Used a 2:1 cream/milk ratio as this has worked perfectly well for me the past many times with David Lebovitz’s ice-cream recipes! Sorry for the ugly blobs/lumps on the ice-cream. I’m not too particular about the surface being ultra smooth as all I wanted to do at the moment was to FREEZE the ice-cream!
Teh Tarik Ice Cream
Makes 1 quart
Ingredients
500 ml cream
250 ml milk
9 Lipton tea bags (or any red/black tea)
5 egg yolks
6 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
Method
- Add cream, milk and tea bags in a saucepan and gently heat until just below boiling point.
- Remove from heat and let tea leaves infused for 30 minutes.
- Beat egg and sweetened condensed milk with an electric mixer until color turned pale.
- Add the milk mixture and whisk until combined.
- Pour the mixture into a double boiler and simmer slowly under the mixture thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon.
- Cool the custard mixture and churn in ice cream maker.
Maybe the next time round, I’ll infuse the tea for a longer period and add in just 1 more tea bag!
Rina's Silly Musings 