Melbourne trip 2011 Part One & Banana Oat Pancakes

Melbourne, capital of the state of Victoria in Australia. One of the places that I have eyed on for awhile to visit. My family and I finally made a trip there and it was a wonderful experience and a nice get away indeed! Mid November's weather is like Spring to Summer season, so the temperature was really nice too! In our stay, we got to experience both the colorful city life in Melbourne as well as some quiet stay in the nearby seaside cities which is only a couple hours drive away. However I realize  I didn't really capture many nice pictures this time....perhaps I was too busy taking care of my kids, lol! Anyway, bare with me and hope you will still enjoy viewing them. ;)

Flinders Street Station is the central railway station of the suburban railway network of Melbourne.

(GPO) General Post Office Clock Tower, one of the prominent buildings in the CBD area.

One of the highlight in Melbourne is a visit to their famous Queen Victoria Market.

An abundance of fruits all over the market. Not only that, it sells all sorts of stuff over there too! I even heaved back a 10 inch pie dish, 4 ramekins & a 24cm cast iron roasting dish! Why? Because it was so cheap...the cast iron roasting dish only cost me AUS$24.90! Ok ok, will show you all once I cook up something with them. After I returned to the hotel then I realised that I've forgotten to take pictures of the store. It's located in the far end corner of the market. Haiz...gotten too excited about my purchases!

A showcase of Artisan breads there. Looks good isn't it, but I didn't get any since I decided to eat this instead....

How good does this look?! I realize that Aussies love their bacon and ham...I have at least one serving of bacon or ham every other day...:P Yum!

It wouldn't be right if you don't get to see a real koala when you are in Australia. In fact that is basically what my kids wanted to see most of the time while we were there. (*_*)"

It took me so long to get this shot. Some koalas simply just shy away from the cameras and it seems ages before they move an inch. :P

Since this trip was a visit to a koala conservation center, the animals are always at a safe distance from the visitors. So seeing them through my camera lens is as"close" as it gets. :P

Look at this cuddly cute baby koala bear! It's sleeping so comfortably in it's mummy's arms. (^_^)

I'm sure anyone that had been to Phillip Island before knows about the "No photography" rule on the penguins when they do their "penguin march" back to their young on land. But we were so lucky that we spotted one baby penguin the day after! Good thing it was bright day light, so no flash was used, heehee!

The Nobbies, one of the most breathtaking spots we visited.

Caught my little one gazing out into the blue ocean. Wonder what she is thinking...

These eye catching and colorful boat sheds are at the lovely beach in Mornington, a small seaside town. I love how quiet this place is, there are only a handful of people at the beaches there on a weekend afternoon. And those 3 are my husband and kids!

We are practically the only people there. (^_^) Finding such a nice, clean, quiet beach is like finding a treasure...I love it!

We even found small starfishes near the beach sides! No worries, no sea creatures were harmed in the "making" of this post, hehehe..

On our ferry ride from Mornington to Sorrento, Queenscliff, we actually saw dolphins swimming along side the ferry! It's too bad I didn't have my camera with me. (-_-) Sorrento is yet another small quiet town with many gracious old buildings, definitely a nice place to get away from the hussle and bussle of city life.

We stop at this really nice place call The Pear Cafe for lunch. Love the ambiance there. 

Warm toasty bread with steak ham and juicy tomatoes plus gooey mozzarella....a simple and satisfying lunch.

Best of all, with a cup of Mocha. Frankly speaking, I'm not a coffee person, but this cup of Mocha is super yum! It's creamy rich, fragrant and chocolaty (yes, chocolaty). Hmmmmm!

Before I keep going on with more photos of my trip, I think I should save it for my next time. Else this post will be super long! More photos will be posted next time with scenes from the Great Ocean Drive! So stay tune!
What's a food blog without any food?! So here it is; I want to share with you all a simple, delicious and healthy breakfast that you can easily whip up for you family; Banana Oat Pancakes.

I got this recipe from the special edition of "The Australian Women's Weekly Christmas Entertaining 2011" magazine. I usually love to buy the local food magazines whenever I go traveling, and Women's Weekly is definitely one of the good ones to get.

These pancakes are so so good! You would think that oats will make the pancakes heavy, but no, oh no, they are light and creamy, almost melt in your mouth! Really! I was a little worried my kids will shy away from them because of the oats, but luckily, they each had 4 pancakes...doubled what they usually have. ;) I did slight modification to the recipe, here is my version:

Ingredients for Banana Oat Pancakes: (serves 4 adults)

375ml fresh milk

80g unsalted butter, cut small

100g quick cook oats (original calls for 140g)

60g plain all purpose flour (original calls for 50g)

40g brown sugar (original calls for 1 tbsp)

1.5 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

pinch of cinnamon

2 egg,s separated

1 tbsp cater sugar

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

3 small bananas, about 150g (original calls for 340g)

cooking oil or butter

butter, maple syrup and fresh fruits to serve together

• Combine the milk and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until the butter melts and bubbles appear around the edge. Remove from heat and stir in the oats. Set aside for 10 minutes.
• Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into a medium bowl. Whisk egg yolks and vanilla extract into oats mixture; add flour mixture and stir until just combines.
• Mash bananas; fold into the pancake batter. Beat the egg whites with 1 tbsp of caster sugar till stiff peaks, then fold into the oat mixture until just combined.
• Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat; spray with cooking oil to grease. Drop 1/4 cups (60ml) of the batter onto the pan; cook for 2 minutes each side or until cooked through and browned both sides. Remove pancakes from pan; cover to keep warm. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve while still warm.

I love oats, so these pancakes are perfect for people like me. :) I'm not exactly a health freak, but if you are...better still, you'll love it! It's that nutty, creamy taste from cooked oats that's just so good! You gotta try this out and you will know what I mean. And I am very sure these pancakes will be on my breakfast plate very often from now on. :)

Okay, hope I didn't bore you all with my super long post! Have a good weekend all and stay tune to my next post. ;) Cheers!

Hokkien Festive Glutinous Rice

As long as I can remember, there is this special dish that is almost always served in my Hokkien Family during special occasion, or simply on a weekend when everyone is around. Whether it is on Chinese New year, Birthdays or even baby's 1st months, this dish is never left out. I practically grew up eating this. Its none other then the Hokkien Festive Glutinous Rice.

If you are a true blue Hokkien like me, I'm very sure this is not a foreign dish to you. :) Apart from the numerous delicious Hokkien dishes I know, this one is by far the most comforting and with the most nostalgic memories for me. :) The best memory I had was when my MIL was in California to help me with my first confinement. She made this Hokkien Festive Glutinous rice on my child's 1st month celebration. At that moment, being so far away from home and for so long, (plus going through post delivery blues), to be able to have a taste of this delicious rice, is like a taste of home....it was so memorable and priceless. *emotional* So at some point, I made a promise that I must learn how to make these traditional dishes so I can pass them down to my kids. :))

I have to admit my version of this wonderful dish is probably not be as good as my mum's or my MIL's. Somehow it lacks that special "kick" or something. But no worries, practice makes perfect right? And furthermore, my husband and kids enjoyed it very much during lunch...that is good enough for me. ;)) Anyway, here is my version:

Recipe for Hokkien Festive Glutinous Rice: (Serves 4 adults)

600g glutinous rice (soaked overnight)

120g shallots, peeled and sliced thinly

8 thin slices of ginger and sliced into very thin strips

150g fatty pork, sliced (I used sliced roast pork)

50g dried shrimp, soaked

50g dried Shitake mushrooms, soaked and sliced

6 tbsp vegetable oil

600 to 700ml water (this amount includes the soaking water from the dried shrimp and mushrooms)

Seasoning:

3 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tsp chicken seasoning

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 tbsp sugar

Method:

• In a frying pot, add the 6 tbsp of vegetable oil and start the heat at medium. Add the sliced shallots and fry till golden and crisp. Remove from the oil and place in bowl for later use.
• Add the sliced ginger into the same oil and fry it at medium fire till golden brown. Scoop out and leave on paper towel for later use.
• 

• In another bigger pan, add in about 2 tbsp of the oil used for frying the shallots and ginger. Add in the sliced pork and fry till slightly crisp, dish up (I skipped this step because I used roast pork). Then add in the soaked dried shrimps and dried mushrooms and fry till fragrant. Dish up.
• Drain the water away that is soaking the glutinous rice. Add the glutinous rice into the big pan and start to fry it. Add in the seasonings and half of the water. Fry it till the rice thickens, then add in more water as per needed. When the rice is almost cooked and very thick and sticky, add in the dried shrimps, mushrooms and pork in. Stir fry and mix well. Lastly add in half of the fried shallots and stir in well.
• 
• Add in the last bit of water if needed if too dry or the rice is not completely cooked. Cover and let it cook for another 3 to 5 minutes at medium low fire. Once done, dish up and pile on in a dome shape in a big bowl.
• Sprinkle on the rest of the fried shallots and ginger on top of the rice. Serve when still warm.

I simply love the sticky and chewy texture of this rice dish. And the wonderful aroma from the mushroom, dried shrimp, fried shallots and ginger works together with the glutinous rice like magic. Do remember that the fried shallots and ginger is key ingredients here. :)) BTW, My husband ever said he can eat this everyday and I believe him. ;D

Being a Hokkien and married into a Hokkien family, I feel that I should really put an effort to learn the traditional dishes from both my mother and in law. And I also urge one and all to preserve this tradition and heritage, so our future generations will get to enjoy all these wonderful food, just like us!

My younger child saw me shooting and came over requesting to take with it. Yeah...that's her thumbs up for her lunch, lol!


I am submitting this post to Heritage Food Trail hosted by Edith of Precious Moments. Thanks Edith, for hosting such a meaningful theme. :) Have you submitted yours? Well, its always a good time to find out more about our own heritage, so why not start today?

Got to go, you folks have a great day!

HoneyBee Swiss Roll Cake

I have finally did it! Something I have been wanting to do for awhile...another Swiss roll cake decoration!

 Doesn't this picture just cheer you up a little? It almost seems like a little kid doing a new kind of art work, lol! Since my last couple of attempts with the Pikachu Mango Swiss Roll and my MIL's birthday cake, I promised myself that I must do it again. :) I knew I had to do a picture with a bee in it, heehee.

This time I followed the recipe given in my cookbook. And mind you, its in Japanese and I am half guessing the words and trying to translate it online, lol! And the best part is I actually modified the recipe and so as to increase the volume to fit my bigger baking tray...scary right, lol! :P Anyway, the recipe calls for a simple vanilla cake using egg separation method, almost like chiffon cake technique. Here is my recipe, translated by yours truly (use it at your own risk, heehee) :

Ingredients for Vanilla Swiss Roll ( 10 inches by 14 inches cake tray) :

Egg Yolk Batter:

4 egg yolks

40g caster usgar

75ml water

50ml vegetable oil

1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract

100g Cake flour

For decorations and drawings

• (A) Four separate small bowls with 1tsp of above batter placed in it(for red, pink, yellow & brown food coloring) Note that I use 1 tsp of cocoa powder instead of brown coloring
• Add 1/4 tsp of cake flour into each bowl and mix well (Next time I will omit this as I find it hardens the batter a little and thus separating the decoration from the Swiss roll)
• (B) Another bowl with 2 tsp worth of above batter place in it (for green food coloring) Note that original recipe calls for green tea powder but I used green food coloring.
• Add 1/2 tsp of cake flour to the bowl and mix well.
• 1 egg white beaten with a pinch of cream of tartar & 10g caster sugar till stiff peaks. Take 1/3 of this egg white and mix in (B) mixture while the remaining 2/3 is divided equally among the 4 bowls in (A) and mix well.
• Place your desired picture on the baking tray and place a greased parchment over it and grease it again. Preheat the oven to 165C.
• Pipe the decorations on the parchment as required and bake in the preheated oven for a minute. Repeat till the whole picture has been piped out and baked except for some of the outlines which will require black food coloring later.

Egg White Batter:

5 egg whites
40g caster sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

• Beat egg white till foamy, add cream of tartar and continue to whip. Gradually add in the sugar and continue to beat at high speed till it reaches stiff peaks.
• Fold white into the reserved main egg yolk batter gently in 3 separate portions till all is incorporated.
• Pour batter over the baked decoration and filled up the baking tray. Level it nicely and then place in preheated oven to bake for about 12 to 14minutes till the top is golden brown.
• Remove from oven and let cool completely before removing from tray and peeling off the parchment.

This is how it looks like once all the decoration has been baked on to the cake and yet to be rolled up and outlined. Note that outlining the picture should only be done after you have filled and rolled up the Swiss roll. Simply just use some food coloring with 1/2 tsp of water and a fine tip brush will do.

Please pardon some of the "untidiness" you can spot from the Swiss roll. It can be really hard to control the cake batter to make it perfectly the way you want it to look like. I'm sure those bloggers that have attempted this will know what I mean. :P There were a few mistakes I made while making this, biggest one was forgetting to grease the parchment and causing some of the batter to stick! *sigh* Anyway, I am still happy with the end result...even thought it took me a whole 3 hours to complete it! ;P

I have filled the cake with simple whipped cream and fresh sliced strawberries, plus a thin layer of chocolate ganache...which explains why there's this brownish color on the inside. :P

My kids loved the cake...taste wise that is, they don't really fancy much of mummy's "art" work. :P The cake is indeed very soft...and no cracks when rolled. Shall make it again with other flavors next time.

Thanks for staying and reading my long post. And hope my explanation is clear enough for those who wants to try out. :P

Needless to say, I'll be submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #9 - Swiss Rolling Good Times hosted by Obsessedly Involved with Food.

Have a good weekend folks!

A little get away & Almond Marble Bundt Cake

A week back, my hubby and I had to make an urgent trip back to California. As urgent as the matter was, it however only took us a morning to settle and the rest of the trip was free and easy. We caught up with a couple of good friends, renewed stuff, dine at our favorite restaurants and settle more stuff. It was a nice get away but I just wish that it wasn't so short. But I can't leave my kiddies with the family too long, had to get back to them ASAP. It all seems like getting back to reality. :P

If you ask me, it ain't easy leading two lives...one in States and one in Singapore. But the truth is, it is even harder to give it all up. So I guess you can say we are taking all possible chances to keep things going the way it is now....so eventually if we do have to make a move again, it won't be so tough.

Anyway, I would like to share with you folks my little journey back to California ...again. It also serve as a "record" for me, so I can reminiscence about it when I see this post next time, lol! I will post mostly photos and write less. Please be warn of a super long post ahead. :P

Is it just me, or the sky overseas is just a wee bit more beautiful to look at? Call me dreamy if you want, but I love staring at the skies, the mountains and the plain fields there...kind of relaxing if you ask me.

I have to say Spring is my favorite season. You literally get to stop and smell the flowers...because it is everywhere. This flower bed is from our friend's front porch. Lovingly taken care by his parents, heehee. :)

A simple yet delicious breakfast at our favorite bagel joint, Noah's. Nicely toasted with a generous spread of our favorite cream cheese spread. ;)

Although this year's temperature seems a little lower then normal, it was still nice to enjoy the cooler weather there. And would I miss checking out the local farmer's market while I'm there, of course not! :D

Seems a little quiet for a market isn't it? Well, we were there pretty early so the crowd has yet arrived. I actually enjoyed it. :)

Besides the colorful array of Spring vegetables, it was still a little early in the season for fruits there this time. But there was one stall that caught my attention the whole time when I was there...even when I walked away...I wanted to go back to the stall again, lol! What's so captivating? See for yourself!

I wish...just wish I can try every single one of these breads! Lol! Every loaf, baguette and buns were nicely baked to perfection and the smell...oh how do I tell you about the heavenly smell, hahaha!

This particular bread stall is call Bay Bread. So if you ever see the stall itself, don't miss it, try out their delicious bread, you definitely won't regret. My hubby and I tried their cheese baguette and hazelnut chocolate croissant....it was super delicious!

I even bought 4 different varieties of bread back to Singapore and it was still very good (flaky, crunchy and soft inside) after toasting it in the oven. Super yum! Okay okay, moving on....shopping!

Ahhh....Los Gatos downtown. Gotta be one of my favorite places in California, hahaha! Although a quiet little town, it still has it's charms in it. Not only it has my favorite burger joint there (Read about it in my previous trip back), it also has 2 major kitchenware stores and several great boutiques there (yes, Banana Republic). :) Which kitchenware stores? Sur La Table and William Sonoma of course! I think I spent a good 4 hours shopping there. ;)

Showing some of the stuff I manage to scuffle back this time. If you haven't notice, I'm a real sucker for cookware / bakeware and cookbooks...don't we all? Lol! I especially love the Nordic Ware® Quartet Bundt Cake Pan. I bought it mostly because I couldn't decide on the shape I want, so getting this 4-in-1 is perfect. I tried it out immediately with a simple pound cake recipe from one of the cookbook I got.

I baked a simple Almond Marble cake. Unfortunately I didn't do a good job and not doing justice to the cake pan. *sigh* Out of the four small cakes, I think only this shaped turned out most decent. BTW, notice the honeybee plate? It's a set of 4 desert plates. Heehee, that is also one of them "presents" I brought back for myself, hahaha! Oh come on...it's HoneyBee!

The marble cake still turned out very fine and delicious, my family liked it. :) I will attempt it again, but perhaps with some simple changes to it. For those that are still interested, here is the recipe which I got it from my new cookbook 点心烘焙白科。　

Ingredients for Almond Marble Cake: (makes 4.5 cups)
Plain batter:
125g unsalted butter, room temperature
175g caster sugar
1/8 tsp salt
3 large eggs
250g cake flour (I used 100g plain + 150g cake flour)
2 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp fresh milk

Chocolate almond batter:
50g semisweet (65% cocoa) chocolate melted
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
30g almond meal /powder

Method:

• In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar together till it's creamy. Add one egg at a time till well combined before adding another. Then add milk and combine.
  
• Add in flour and baking powder to the mixture and mix well.
  
• Divide the batter equally into 2 portions. Set one aside while the for other portion, add in all of the ingredients for the chocolate batter. Stir well till just combined.
• Using a bundt pan of your choice, alternating the plain and chocolate batter, scoop into the pan till it is 3/4 filled. Then use a chop stick, swirl it around a couple times to create the marble effect.
• Bake in the oven for 25 mins for mini pan or 35 for bigger ones or till the tester comes out clean.
• Remove from oven, cool in pan for five minutes before unmoulding. Slice and serve when cooled completely.

Hey all, thank you for dropping by to read my post today. Oh yes, before I forget, just wanna show you all that 10 chiffon I baked up last week...well in case you wonder did I pulled it off. Yes I did! *phew*

10 chiffons in less then 11 hours, sounds a little crazy but it's doable. :) The trick was to bake 2 chiffons at one time. I just double up the recipe for a 20cm tube pan and repeat it 5 times. 3 different flavors, Orange, Strawberry and Oreo. Kindly refer to my past posts for recipes. ;)

Okay all, hope you all have a good week ahead! Cheerio!