And Now It’s Time for Lunch

And yes, I change my blog template once again. Why? I just want it to be white, and wider. Now that I’m uploading my pictures on an external host, I want to find a template that allows me to just link the pictures directly without having to keep resizing the images, it can really be very troublesome. But it seems changing the template has taken a toll on the header (the quality of the header is… eeew). Not to worry, I’ll get it fixed over the holidays! (:

After taking a photo of the plate of food above, I realise that I need a big plate. At least a bigger one. The plate looks so overcrowded, don’t you think so? At least I think so. I guess this is a sign indicating that it’s about time I make a trip down to IKEA during the holidays (or maybe I’m just trying to find an excuse to go shop for more stuff, oooops).

Okay, back to about this dish. This is another dish that I like to make for lunch when I’m at home. It can be easily doubled and it looks nutritious, isn’t it? There’s salad made using Jamie Oliver style, French fries that are baked not fried and a deliciously yummy drumstick that is baked and roasted towards the end for a crispy skin. Well, at least it’s healthier than eating fast food, right?

And it’s not that difficult to make either! Hmmm around 5 to 6 ingredients, basic seasoning, an oven and some patience. There’s just some pre-marinading and oven-baking time that you’ll have to wait before you have a scrumptious meal. Trust me, the wait is worth it. (:

Cooking Porridge for a Cold Cold Day…

It’s the examination period again, thus I have been lagging in updating the blog. And why am I here? Hah. I’m taking a self-proclaimed break from all the studying.

December is coming round the corner and the monsoon season is arriving. The weather has turned chilly and the rain kept pouring every now and then. It is such a fantastic weather to sleep… Aww. Ooops, back to the topic. Such a cold, soothing weather simply calls for comfort food to be made. The top comfort food that I will always choose will be this simple yet nutritious Chinese dish – porridge.

This pure comfort food has a variety of ways to call it. Porridge, congee, jook (chook)… but they all mean the same thing – rice cooked in a lot of water.

I love porridge. My mom used to cook one big pot of soupy plain rice porridge and then whipped up a few small dishes to go with it. Nowadays, as I cook for myself only, I prefer to cook the one-pot porridge, where all the ingredients go into one pot.

Porridge is an extremely simple dish to cook, anybody can cook it, and I mean it literally. It is something that you can taste on-the-go, and that there are so many variations available, you can just throw in any ingredient that you want and can still get a delicious bowl of comfort food.

Don’t believe me? Watch!

Biscuits, Brownies and Cheese

I actually started writing this blog post about a month ago, at that time I felt no inspiration. What story should I share to make this post interesting? I guess there never is really a story in all of my posts, it’s just about the food, about the experience and about the love for all these small little cakes, brownies, cheesecakes… that can make my life feel so perfect for such a tiny moment, in the midst of all the hectic schedule of quizzes, tests and homework.

After my final quiz for this semester, I finally found myself sitting down in front of my laptop and start typing out this blog post. It is embarrassing, for I have not been posting stuff at all for the past one month. Every week is the same for me – study from Monday to Friday; go back home on Friday evening, staying at home for only Saturday and Sunday before moving back into hall on Sunday night. Weekends seem to be the only days to bake right now, however, with the extremely lazy moi, I often wasted it away sleeping or watching all the drama series. I don’t bake as often anymore, but I still cook. Funny though, I don’t really have the habit to take photos of cooked food. Maybe because I don’t’ know how to make them look presentable and pretty, unlike cakes and other baked goods – there are a lot of ways to make them look presentable, cute, lovely and yummy all at the same time.

I baked this cheesecake for my friend’s birthday (once again). I am in this phase that I don’t want anything that is too overly chocolaty. Chocolate cakes? No. Chocolate brownies? Nay. Chocolate, chocolate chocolate? No, nope, nah. I still love chocolate, mind you, but I do not want to bake something that is wholly chocolate. Only parts of it. I think this phase is passing and I will be back to baking chocolate baked goods. While I am out of the chocolate phase, I am into the cheesecake phase. It’s funny, how a cheesecake-disliker like me gets wound up into loving cheesecake so much. Did I tell you how I got that ‘enlightenment’? Haha. I still remembered clearly that it was on a Primary class gathering at our friend’s house. And one of them brought a cheesecake made by her brother. It was so delicate, not overly sweet, light and luscious all at the same time.  It was a no-bake cheesecake, with graham crackers as the base, and then layered with various fruits and then the cheesecake batter is poured over the fruits and then refrigerated into perfection. That’s the first time I have eaten a cheesecake and at that moment I know I am in for something good.

Cheesecakes sold at bakeries and cafés are normally big, fat and tall. The crumb crust is normally thin and the cheesecake batter is so overwhelmingly too much that sometimes I find it hard to finish it, especially when they are rich and creamy. This cheesecake that I baked was a very short cheesecake. They are only about 2 inches tall, and I think 4 inches in diameter, crumbs and all, but I think they offer a much better balance than traditional cheesecakes. And obviously, they are much cuter to look at!

What I Love to Do……

…… When I made some chewy, sticky and deliciously chocolatey brownies:

I’ll let you know soon why I baked some brownies over the last weekend, I promise!

Baileys® Chocolate and Cream Cheese Brownies

It was my friend’s birthday almost half a month ago (yes I know how late this post is…) and he’s a huge fan of Baileys® and brownies, so I decided to bake something that have all of these components in one recipe. I didn’t have any recipe on hand that involve Baileys® and brownies, only Baileys® and cake. So I did a little Google-ing and ended up with numerous recipes to choose from. After much sifting, I’ve decided to opt for a combination of both recipes, one by Peabody and one by Zink.

But I cannot believe my absent-mindedness.