Egg Tarts (2nd attempt) on 19 Oct 2013

My little chef kept pestering me to bake more egg tarts for him!!! That's why I made a 2nd attempt with a little bit of fine tuning to the recipe by cutting down the sugar content by 20% and turned the oven temperature down a bit but baked the tarts a bit longer, hoping that the tarts won't turn out looking like Portugese ones.

Here's the results with the fine-tuned recipe:

The verdict - the egg tarts tasted better as they aren't as sweet as those I made in my 1st attempt, and well, they definitely look a lot better, not that Portugese, haha!!! However, I think there's still room for improvement as the tarts are kind of wobbly unless they are stored in fridge. Hmm... how to make the pastry a little bit harder or firmer?

Egg Tarts (1st attempt) on 12 Oct 2013

I finally bought another microwave oven after the last one spoilt so that I can resume baking (inspired by Angela Chia!). As I need to test out if the oven works, I went to buy tart tins and the ingredients for making egg tarts. I decided to make egg tarts as these are my son's favourites! 

I'm using the recipe from Angela's friend at https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151599496124858&set=t.573243023&type=3&theater.

This is the new microwave oven with the egg tarts baking inside.

This is the outcome... Don't think it's supposed to look like Portugese egg tarts, so I shall fine-tune the temperature or timing for subsequent attempts to see if I can get better looking egg tarts.

Hubby and I tried them out, but my little chef (son who insists in helping out although it's late) went to lalaland while waiting for it to cool down. Our review is that it's too sweet to our liking, so we shall fine-tune the recipe to suit our taste buds, and of course, don't let the children eat too sweet stuff. Overall, I still pass (I guess!) although there's parts look burnt, they don't taste burnt! The pastry part is crispy. I shall see when I have time to make another attempt since this is my son's favourites and hubby likes them as well.

Building up Immunity for the Young Ones

I'm sharing this based on what I've learned from other mummies and what I'm giving to my 2 children (aged 6yo and 18mo as of Oct 2013). Hence, this is very much my personal views as there could be other equivalent supplements as well. While some may not agree to give supplements to children, I do find that the supplements I'm giving to my children do help them build up their immunity and fall sick less often, which is so important as they are in childcare centre.

Scott's Emulsion Cod Liver Oil - this can be given when the child reaches 1yo. I would advise to give the original one; don't give the orange one as the latter does not have DHA & can cause phelgm. 

Childlife Colostrum with Probiotics, Orange/Pineapple Flavor - this can be given when the child reaches 6mo. Colostrum is nature's first food for the immune system. ChildLife uses the finest bovine Colostrum that has been naturally harvested and especially prepared with Probiotics to enhance the health and vitality of your child's immune and digestive system. This is sold at local GNC at $78.50, VIP price $62.80, but don't buy from local as you can spree from US that costs about 1/3 of the VIP price, depending on where you purchase it from and the promotion from time to time. I prefer to order from Vitacost as it's cheaper than iherb. Both Vitacost and iherb have international shipping to S'pore, which you can upfront know the shipping cost before checking out the cart. However, to make the purchase more worthwhile, you have to join spree or gather friends to spree, so as to share out the shipping cost.

Rhino Multi-vit Gummy Bears - this can be given when the child reaches 2yo. This comes in handy if your child doesn't like to take cod liver oil since it's kind of fishy, so use it like some kind of "reward". The bottle of small Rhino gummy bear on the right of the pic, contains 60 gummy bears, which is sold at local GNC at $29.95, VIP price $23.96, but you can get from Vitacost at less than S$10, abt $8. The big bottle of Rhino Multi-vit Gummy Bears, contains 190 gummy bears - http://www.iherb.com/Nutrition-Now-Rhino-Gummy-Multi-Vitamin-190-Gummy-Bears/7911, is what I spree from iherb. There is no cost comparison with local GNC as they don't sell this but this is more economical as it costs slightly more than S$20 for triple amount of gummy bears. My son prefers the big bottle as it's not sour type of gummy bears. 

Sambucol (not in the above picture) - this can be given when the child reaches 1yo for the UK version and 2yo for the US version. Besides the age limit difference, I'm not sure if there's other difference, and if there is, what's the difference(s). I've bought the US version as it was easier to spree since I can get it from iherb. I've personally taken it when I was having a bad cough, especially at night when my throat was so itchy that I kept coughing non-stop. I felt it works even better than my cough medicine as the medicine couldn't stop me from coughing and I can't sleep, but this actually helped to stop my coughing and get back to sleep. 
US - http://www.iherb.com/Sambucol-Black-Elderberry-Immune-System-Support-Liquid-For-Kids-Berry-Flavored-4-fl-oz-120-ml/16697?at=0
UK - http://www.chemistdirect.co.uk/sambucol-for-children_1_12228.html

If you would like to spree from iherb and/or Vitacost, you can use the following discount code or referral link to get some discounts: -
iherb - use discount code "BUN642" to get USD10 off your 1st order of USD40 & up, or USD5 off on smaller orders!
Vitacost - use referral link "https://www.vitacostrewards.com/9G9SduF" & get US$10 referral discount code off your 1st order of USD30 or more!

If you need to learn how to spree from iherb and/or Vitacost, feel free to leave a comment with your email address so that I can contact you. :)

Keeping Fruit Fresh in Refrigerator

I bought some kiwis on 3rd Sep, and asked the seller if I could keep them till I come back from Genting on 9th Sep. The seller shared few tips to keep the fruit fresh. He advised me to keep the kiwis in an air-tight container and put the container into the fridge to preserve them. He also told me not to put fruit such as apple, banana and pear in the fridge as they emit quite significant amount of ethylene gas that would speed up the ripening process and may cause other fruit and vegetables to rot or yellowing faster.

I did what the seller suggested, and the kiwis are still fresh after a month when I just tried it today.

Hence, I did a little bit of research on fruit emitting ethylene gas and found few websites (see below) that provide some useful information, hope you benefit from reading these websites.

http://shelflifeadvice.com/content/ethylene-and-produce-friends-or-foes
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/fruits-vegetables-storage-conditions-d_710.html
http://www.polarfresh.com/_files/How%20Ethylene%20Gas%20Affects%20Your%20Produce.pdf

Fried Carrot Cake on 27 Sep 2013

This is a continuation from my last post on http://jenniferphua.blogspot.sg/2013/09/carrot-cake-on-25-sep.html.

I fried the condiment - garlic and chye poh, which smells so nice!!!

I fried the carrot cake with the garlic chye poh condiment, prawn, and egg, sprinkled some spring onions and added a dash of pepper. Having fried the garlic chye poh condiment first before adding it to the fried carrot cake tastes better than what my mum does, which is simply adding the washed chye poh to the carrot cake and fries together.

Overall, it's a successful first attempt to steam carrot cake and fry it, but definitely room for improvement as I find the carrot cake a bit soft, so I'll probably have to adjust the recipe a bit to add in lesser water. 

Carrot Cake (1st attempt) on 26 Sep 2013

My mum has been a great cook, and she's been steaming carrot cake for the past many years. I did not learn from her how to do so, but I've been wanting to learn to do it for quite some time. Since I've been into a cooking mood lately and found this appetising looking recipe on http://ieatishootipost.sg/2013/05/carrot-cake-chai-tow-kueh-recipe-with.html, I went hunting for the ingredients and finally made it. Hopefully it tastes nice as it had smelled nice!

The raddish that I bought was much bigger, weighing approximately 750g. Hence, I adjusted the recipe accordingly, and the amount of mixture that I got was just nice to almost filling up a 10" by 3" round tin pan.

The steamed product (not the final product yet as it still need to be put into fridge to set it overnight and fried it):

Hopefully, I have time to fry the condiment - garlic and chye poh tomorrow. I would not be putting pork lard though as it's better to be a bit health conscious, especially cooking for my young ones. After frying the condiment, hopefully I can fry the carrot cake and taste it! 

To be continued...

Muah Chee on 24 Sep 2013

Not sure why but I've been into a cooking/steaming/baking mood, so I tried out making some muah chee, with help from my little chef again.

The recipe is from Angela Chia, which you can find it from http://chiaangela.blogspot.sg/2013/09/easy-home-made-muah-chee.html?spref=fb and https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151723670424858&set=a.10151385916854858.1073741828.607144857&type=3&theater.

The final product:

The preparation was easy. The challenging part was actually removing it from the pan as the cooked dough is so sticky! If you would like to make your life slightly easier, can oil the pan before putting the uncooked mixture in for steaming, but to be a little bit health conscious about oil, just take up the challenge, lol! 

It's a rather big portion for my husband, my 6 years old son and me as my little 18 months old girl was asleep by the time this was done, but even if she was awake, doubt we could finish up this big plate of muah chee without my hubby stuffing himself with it, haha... I would probably adjust the menu a bit to make it "just enough" for us. :)