blueberry cupcakes

I haven't baked for the longest time. 

After we got our oven finally fixed, I managed to bake cupcakes 3 times this week! 

And the best were blueberry cupcakes! My dad has already placed an order for his birthday. 

Yummy... 

The down side about baking right now is that the heat takes a few days to dissipate, given the dry and hot weather now. My kitchen felt like an oven for the whole week too. If only there was a winter... 

sushi chef

Ever since Bryan made a new friend from Korea in his kindergarten this year, he's been into seaweeds and maki's. It wasn't difficult to get him excited about dinner one night when I said we were going to make maki's. He was very ready to help indeed. 

"I can make sushi's, Mom. It's very easy," he boasted. 

Thus came the challenge after having observed me for a few rounds. 

Yes, you're up, Bryan! 

Not too bad for a 5 yo and a first-timer. 

If only Kristin was into eating maki's too... 

London and eats...

We always put on weight whenever we're in London... 

How not to when: 

1) Bryan ate 4 char siew paus at each dim sum session! 

2) Daddy had ducks for three consecutive meals! 

3) Mommy loved all her dim sum treats and Indian curries! 

4) Kristin... erm, she didn't even finish her milk! But hmm, I think she also put on weight for all the shortbreads she gobbled down. I just had to tell her, This is just butter! 

We didn't manage to go to Yauyatcha. But after hearing so much about Hakkasan, Alan and I decided to go check out this 1-Michelin-Star restaurant. Indeed, we weren't at all disappointed! 

This was our favourite of the day, Scallop Siew Mai with fish roe: 

I thought this Cheong Fun was quite special too, with crispy beancurd skin as the inner layer, wrapping mushroom and bamboo pith: 

And this was Bryan drawing furiously before his Char Siew Paus came... 

Can't say that Hakkasan was better than Yauyatcha since we never been to the other restaurant before. But that will surely be a reason for us to be back in London again, right? :) 

Also... thanks to all those friends who recommended Pearl Liang. I think I just found the world's best duck there (ok, I admit I'm not much of duck fan). Certainly the queue and poor service at Four Seasons isn't all that worth it anymore. Just head over to Paddington for a nice treat in peace and with a lot of space! 

More on London to follow... IF I can find time amidst packing... 

the best cure for a cold...

Isn't a cocktail of paracetamol and pheniramine. It's curry! Even though curry noodle wasn't exactly on my mind as I set out for my lunch date with Alan, Jas and Jacq. 

We have been talking about having laksa for lunch for a really really long time. The first time Alan discovered Magic Wok serve laksa was about 2.5 years ago. What he had in mind was to pre-order assam laksa with the lady boss, Kim. Unfortunately for us, Kim wasn't around last night to take the call. So it was my husband and her husband Wah on the phone. And the result turned out to be curry noodle! 

Anyway, we were pleasantly surprised. 

This evening we had another bowl of soupy udon. 

The kids enjoyed it, while Alan and I were still too full from lunch to eat... 

After two big bowls, I think I'd be rid of my cold by tomorrow morning??? 

what do you read when your kids won't eat?

In my conversation with some of the blogger-moms here over the week, I came to realisation that I never once read anything pertaining to fussy eaters. What have I been thinking? How on earth do I still have fussy eaters to serve at each meal? No surprises there, of course. 

The truth of the matter is I did try, though I wasn't consulting any parenting books on that topic. 

Instead, I have books like "Good Enough to Eat. A kid's guide to food and nutrition." and Annabel Karmel's "Mom and Me Cookbook. Have fun in the kitchen!" I thought, instead of Mommy doing the reading, I should involve my kids in some literature that celebrates the goodness of food. 

It worked for Bryan, however, not so well with Kristin. 

Since these two books, we've come a long way: From studying the human anatomy of the digestive system to counting jelly beans on the table. With time, Bryan has changed from a plain-rice-only eater to an everything-goes boy. But Kristin... she still needs to be coaxed to pick up her spoon. Sometimes, it can really become crazy that she'd rather cry in the bathroom for 5 minutes and then return to the table willingly to start her meal, rather than a "Yes, Mommy, I'll give it a try." Strange thing is she likes to make a scene. Maybe she needs a little drama before she starts a meal. But no thanks, nope... I will not let my kids eat in front of the telly. 

Coincidentally, another mommy-friend sent me this link to an article titled "6 Food Mistakes Parents Make" in NY Times.  Clearly, we are comrades in the same struggle... everyday, three times a day! 

What do you do/read when your children won't eat? 

what a great day to start the week...

What do a Bolivian woman, a German woman, an Iranian woman and a Singaporean woman have in common? 

They all had lunch together at my place today! Hee... a UN food convention! Lunch was such a resounding success that it was discussed promptly when and where the UN delegates could reconvene. ;)

Our similarities, however, extend beyond our interest in food. We are all mommies, we all have at least one child in the American preschool here, we are all originally not from Frankfurt. 

Told ya, Frankfurt has such a huge international community. 

Though we talked about many things over lunch, some topics invariably came back to our kids but with a bit of twist. That's why I like these moms so much. 

So one of the moms recounted that one day she accidentally walked in when the teacher was giving some kids time-out. The teacher sort of gave a "glare" like "Don't talk to them, these guys are on time out here." She left quickly. By the way, the kids concerned here were actually our kids... and guess what? We had such a good time laughing and one of the moms even cheered: Yay, serve the fella (referring to her son) right! Ok, it's not my intention to portray her as the mean witch mom here. And I know for a fact that she loves her son dearly. But what she wants is a good structure in her son's preschool years and she hopes for harder discipline! Wow... completely different from moms from my part of the world. I'm full of respect for this mom! Imagine a Sg mom marching into the school and interrogate the teacher in front of the whole class, demanding "So what crime did my child commit? How could you this and that blah blah blah... Are you sure my child was the culprit?" 

Also, we didn't complain how much stress our kids are under, nor scared ourselves silly about sending our children to thousands of enrichment classes... although we did wish that our kids had more homework. Btw, our kids love homework here! Maybe it's the lack of it that make them crave for more. Recently we've been given some flash cards to help our kids sound out the words at home and then tick off a checklist... yes, that's all, so simple. No worksheets to complete, no spelling lists to memorise, nothing to count! So with this kind of attitude, our subject quickly returned to where we could take our kids out for fun, e.g. Lochmuehle, Taunus Wunderland, Disneyland or Legoland.... 

What a pity that this kind of stress-free school-life is almost at its last chaper for us now. Soon we'll be dumped back into the cauldron of stress, rat race and paper chase in Sg... sigh! 

Wait a minute, this post is supposed to have a positive tone... ok, I got to psych myself up again for the great week ahead of me. The kindergarten class has a field trip at the end of this week. I'm gonna convince the teacher to let me tag along to take pictures, yay! 

And talking about pictures, here are what we had for lunch... sorry just leftovers... we were too eager to start that we didn't take any pictures at all! 

Clockwise from top: Rendang... (blurred out coz it didn't look as good as the one in Lilian's), bee hoon and my favourite salad to go with the curry!

Again, yummy and pretty cakes from the famous Siesmayer Cafe in Frankfurt. Thanks, Mania! 

And little cupcakes made by Fatima's lovely boys! Thank you, little darlings! 

It would have looked so much better if I had a white teapot, teacup, saucer and plate... 

P/S Representatives from Moscow and London could not make it for lunch today. Their flights were cancelled... :( 

pretty food

We've been out all day since 10 am! Somehow the plan to dine out this weekend did not materialize...

thus the usual fast food from my kitchen. Whenever I have only 30 minutes to cook, this is what I serve. Nothing deep-fried. And it's a completely balanced meal when it's served with some white rice. 

Easy to prepare: 

Champignons chopped, asparagus chopped, tofu cut in cubes, tomatoes diced, egg, water, sesame seed oil, soy sauce. Place the dish in a microwavable steamer, then pop it into the microwave oven for 12 minutes on high. 

What's not to like when the kids finish up the plate quickly and they do not even have to know what sort of vegetables they are swallowing down! 

Above: In the microwave, 12 minutes later. 

When Alan came into the kitchen, he teased, "Oh! Pretty food again?" 

Bryan cheered, yay decorations again! 

Kristin thought, I'm pretty, so I get pretty food! :o) 

Here's my second attempt to make my food look presentable. :) 

Now over to your kitchen, what's for a quick-fix tonight? 

spaghetti rojak...

Instead of going to a tapas restaurant for dinner tonight, this was what we had at home. Something I whipped up last minute because Bryan had come up to me for the 5th time, asking me what I was going to cook for dinner. Someone was obviously hungry. 

For once my food looks presentable... :) 

Yep, I have a few things/people to thank: 

1) My husband who bought me a DSLR! 

2) My new DSLR that allows me to focus on the colourful noodles and blur out the untidy background of my kitchen counter. 

3) My son who helped me decorate, I mean garnish, the plate with a bit of sprinkled parsley, chilli powder and cheese. His eyes lit up when he heard that his mom was actually allowing him to decorate dinner tonight! 

4) My daughter who spilled parsley all over the kitchen floor... wait a minute, why am I thanking her for this mess? 

5) The white plate... that's why the food stands out... and that's why good restaurants always use white chinas! 

So what did we have? 

I know some people had grilled lamb and were all stuffed up to their throats at a dinner party tonight... (ok... you got it? kacau-kacau only :p)

Our plate was something pretty modest, put together with whatever ingredients I could find in my fridge. You must be thinking I stock up well... Yes, I just refilled my groceries this afternoon! ;) 

So presenting spaghetti mista: 

For the sauce, we had carrots grated, baby asparagus finely chopped, champignons sliced, bacon strips, spinach all stir-fried with shallots and then with gorgonzola cheese and cream added. What rojak! But it was delicious...

"Tell me Bryan, does Mommy cook better than Vapiano?" (Vapiano is the children's favourite pasta joint.) 

"O yes, Mommy. It's yummy!"

There... I solicited a compliment from my son... 

Aren't kids just sweet? All they wanna do is to please us parents! :) 

fried bee hoon

I vividly remember the panic I was in the day before my home economics practical test when I was in Secondary 1. I was absent when my home ec teacher taught and demonstrated fried bee hoon. Being only 13, I was tear-stricken when I found out that we had to fry bee hoon for our practical test. My mom just calmly told me that she would show me how to prepare the dish the weekend before the test. "It's really simple, nothing you don't already know!" was what she consoled me with. 

Yep, I passed my home ec practical test alright! Guess all those years of chopping garlic and helping out in my mom's kitchen taught me some tricks here and there. 

It's Saturday... somehow, fried bee hoon has always been our family's weekend dish. Maybe because my mom didn't want to cook much on weekends? 

Anyhow, Chinese veg, chicken breast meat (marinated), mushroom were already sitting in my fridge. So fried bee hoon it was for lunch today! 

Verdict: 

Kristin: Mmmmh, mmmh! I like this noodle. (She said she didn't like bee hoon, but she liked the noodle. Clearly, this girl doesn't understand a single bit of dialect!) I think she likes her noodle/bee hoon al dente! Maybe that's why she prefers fried bee hoon to pumpkin rice. 

Bryan: Yummy... Mommy, can we bring this to school for lunch? 

Daddy: .... (I don't remember him saying anything, but he had three plates!) 

Phew... one dish that pleases all! Note to self: Never forget this one. ;) 

pumpkin anyone?

 

Autumn is here and pumpkin is in season. 

When Bryan saw the Hokkaido pumpkins on display at the farm the other day, he couldn’t resist. “Mom, can you make me some pumpkin rice? It’s my favourite! I haven’t had it for a very long time.” 

So it has been on my menu for almost a week now and I finally plucked myself from my usual laptop CSI dose and diligently prepared dinner while the kids napped yesterday afternoon. 

Bryan was delirious when he saw what he’s served for dinner and cleaned up his plate quickly. Kristin, however, did not like it a single a bit at all... understand my frustrations? That’s why I’d rather not cook!!!! It’s so hard to please both. 

Pumpkin rice 

chai tow kueh...

Not too long ago, Stacy dropped by with her sons for a play date. The kids had a great time as usual, while mommies were happily chatting away, catching up. Stacy also brought along some home-made chai tow kueh because she knew we would miss this special kueh-kueh from home.

I had no idea how much Bryan misses this kueh. The next day, when I pan-fried the chai tow kueh for lunch, my son couldn't stop until he had had his 5th helping! It then dawned on me that this was on his weaning menu and he's been eating carrot cake and pumpkin cake as young as 18 months when he was back in Singapore. Of course, Kristin didn't grow up with such comfort food, so needless to say, it wasn't so much for her palate either. 

Anyhow, I dug out the recipe that my mom wrote to me when I was still a student. The last I made chai tow kueh was probably 8 years ago... but it can still do! So here's my version of carrot cake. Anything for my kids, I'll cook... :) 

audrey cooks...

For all you absolute foodies out there, 

this is a pure banquet line-up: 

Audrey cooks... 

Salivating... 

Having fun with hor-fun...

I never really appreciate simple hawker food until I'm overseas. One can buy simple dishes like char kueh teow, fried carrot cake or hor-fun easily at any hawker centre without thinking much of the preparation process. 

In my student's days, I had my share of experimenting in the kitchen. I used to stay up late at night working on a carrot cake (not the sweet cake!) recipe from my mom. Or I was always an eager player when someone needed help to make guotie or jiaozi. During one of Alan's birthday in Berlin, I remembered we made lots of finger food, e.g. curry puffs, po-piahs and pan-fried carrot cake. 

However, that's all history now. Those were the good old days where there were no children in my life. Nowadays, I'm not so BIG with kitchen experiments anymore. Cooking/Food isn't really a big thing now. The only BIG thing on my mind during each meal time is HOW CAN I FEED KRISTIN QUICKLY! 

Last Sunday, we decided to give the Chinese restaurant in Bad Homburg another try. It was disappointing the last time we ate there. But I thought it was because of the street festival crowd, thus the busy restaurant couldn't come up a decent hor-fun dish. Yet, dinner on Sunday was equally disappointing. I don't think we would be back again. 

Actually I had in mind to do char kueh teow for lunch today so that I could freeze some of it for dinner tonight. It would be an easy dinner since we have swimming for the evening on agenda. 

Then I thought, I could try for a hor-fun lunch instead.

It turned out pretty well. In fact, Bryan said it was his best lunch ever. (By the way, he uses the superlatives when it's something he likes). He hasn't quite tasted the original hawker hor-fun yet. In any case, it's better than what the restaurant served - that's what he said! 

Looks like I haven't quite lost it: A group of friends (2 from Munich and 2 from Berlin) once came to visit and cook hor-fun for me when I was a student in Kassel. Though it happened eons ago, the recipe is certainly still fresh in my head. So are the good old days... 

Ok, this was lunch: 

The fried kway teow...

The sauce... 

The dish... 

The verdict... 

farm-fresh strawberries... part 3

Alright, there's no need to scroll down for part 2. Part 2 was last Thursday - a spur of the moment decision after the kids and I had ice-cream with my brother and sister-in-law, plus some tai-tai's in Frankfurt. We didn't know what to do. So instead of loitering around in the city centre while waiting for Alan to knock off work, I thought picking strawberries would keep the children busy out at the field and the adults relaxed and happy. Ha... did I sound like I was making my kids pick strawberries for me? No, I meant to say their energy would be well expended. Bryan would be hopping around from rows to rows, picking only a handful of strawberries, while Kristin would be too busy eating whatever she could lay her hands on.

Anyway, yesterday was part 3. Alan was in Berlin and I had the car. Forecast had it that it would be raining by Thursday... and rain? The good strawberries will be gone! And this is considered the high season! So what are we waiting for? Harvesting strawberries after I picked up the kids from school was the only thing on my mind. Another spontaneous idea, yet again without my Lumix!

We came home with 6+ kgs!
And I have been having
1) crushed strawberries with cream - yum!
2) strawberries on butter cookie with whipped cream - see the pic? Yum!
3) strawberry on cream pudding on cake - yum! Had to make plenty of these to give away in school.
4) strawberry + banana milkshake - yum!

I think crushed strawberries with sweet red wine (served chilled) would be next!

Bao: You gotta go pick some this weekend before it starts raining again.

first farm-fresh strawberries

Today marked our first visit to the strawberry farm for the season. We'll definitely be back for more! Didn't think we were going to pick berries this afternoon. Didn't bring my Lumix with me. Sigh!

But these were taken at home:

a little sweet secret..

This one is for my friend, Ivana!

Here's my brownies recipe for novice bakers like myself.

Ingredients:
1. 100 g Butter
2. 200 g Milk Chocolate (those thick blocks for cooking)
3. 75 g sugar (Not so sweet, right? Gotta watch the waistline, ladies, or gentlemen!)
4. 1/4 tsp Salt
5. 3 tbs cocoa powder (unsweetened)
6. 2 Eggs (medium sized)
7. 125 g Flour (Type 405, plain flour)
8. 1 tsp Baking Powder
9. 3 tsp Sour Cream

Steps:
1. Preheat oven at 180deg C.
2. Melt butter and 100g of chocolate in a bowl in a hot water bath.
3. Mix salt, sugar, eggs and cocoa powder. No need for an electronic mixer. Just a spatula will do.
4. Add in flour and baking powder.
5. Pour in melted butter and chocolate. Mix well.
6. Pour the batter into a 20x20cm baking tin. Remember to grease your tin!
7. Bake in the oven at 160 deg C for 25 min. Middle level.
8. Cool brownies in the tin for 5 min after removing it from the oven. Then remove it from the tin and continue to cool it on a rack.
9. Melt remaining chocolate. Same method as #2. Then add in 3 tsp of sour cream.
10. Spread the frosting on the brownies.

rhyming is the name...

Please do not adjust your screen. Yes, I was swirling the grapes in a bowl.
Anyway, if you've ever eaten with my family before, you'd know that my children and food aren't great combinations.

For some time, my cooking skill was in doubt. But trust me, I don't think that's the cause. The teachers in school have given away a portion of my children's lunch to other kids whose parents apparently forgot the lunchboxes. And guess what? The other children cleaned up the plates! And I was tasked to mash potatoes from scratch at a friend's dinner party. Out of seven children, 5 ate their mashed potatoes heartily, but my kids didn't even touch their portions.

My children just don't like food. They eat because they need to live. They aren't the sort that live to eat! Oh no, correction there. They eat because their mommy force them to. Ok, I know some would advise that I should let them starve. Well, I tried. Works for Bryan but certainly not for Kristin. I think the fact that she's still a tiny dot is quite self-explanatory.

Anyhow, so much grumbles and grouses on my kids not eating, not liking food etc.

So one evening, I was reciting this rhyme that I made up then and there just to get my kids' attention to eat grapes:

Ten little grapes,
Swirling in a bowl.
Oops, it's too crowded,
Now one must go!

And yay, they ate the grapes! I was elated!

I gave the kids some snacks today when they got home from school. Again, some mommies might think why I serve snacks between meals if the children don't already eat well during meal times? Well, actually, I checked, they didn't eat their lunch. So correction again, I was serving lunch at 2.30pm.

Bryan was eating his snacks while swirling his bowl and reciting this little poem he made up:
Three little cookies,
Dancing in a bowl.
Oops, it's too noisy,
One must go!

And pop went a cookie into his mouth!

So while rhyming is the name, eating is the game! :)
For as many games as one can cook up for the benefit of eating, I think my kids would probably be a tad more willing to feed.

trying to shed some pounds?

Then please skip this post!
I was sharing a quick Cheesecake fix with a friend. So here it is:

All you need is:
1) A slice of rusk or toast;
2) Plain Cream Cheese, e.g. Kiri (Spread generously);
3) Jam

And you're in for some sugar rush!

wait a minute...

Both my kids are never interested in food.

So what do we do at home? We feed the children. Actually, we feed them too when they're out dining with us.



When my mom was feeding Kristin last night (btw, hurrah! My parents are here and they are a great help!), Kristin told her to wait a minute.

She was fumbling her toy, which was essential at dinner table to distract her to open her mouth so that we can just shove food in.



Yeah... spoon-feeding is what we do. We certainly do make sure that our children won't starve. You should have seen the many recent cases of children being neglected and starved to death in this country, yes, even in this part of the world. If only my kids knew when Mommy talked about Lea-Sophie of Schwerin, she wasn't making up stories.



Wait a minute, girl. It's time you eat!

fancy food fad... food fad fancy... fad fancy food...

My new cupcake recipe book arrived this morning through the post! Hurray!
Now you can definitely see more pictures of cupcakes filling out this dull blog. :) Can't wait to try out a few more recipes... but gotta hit the book first and start my research.

Baking is as much a science as it is an art. Don't you think? Gotta weigh out each ingredient with accuracy, take extra caution not to add in fluid unnecessarily, beat the mixture at the correct speed to the correct amount of time. Then come the various pretty cake adorning techniques. Oooooh... what labourious effort! But the whole process is really FUN! Especially so when you see the smiles on people who're sampling your bakes. :)

By the way, I knew I had to get this book and take advantage of the free delivery service by amazon because for this same book, I would have to pay SGD 55 at the store Bake-it-yourself. 12.95 EUR was quite a good deal, wasn't it?