Meldylocks and her Three Bears

Soy Bean Milk

2010-10-28T00:00:00.000-07:00

I have not been making this as often as I was recently, so last weekend MIL "reminded" me to do it...

Sometimes I like to blend everything--soy beans plus pandan (screw-pine) leaves together. I would get green soy bean milk this way. But as the soy milk cools downs the colour would turn to yellowish green then to yellowish white, as you can see here and also the picture at the top

See? The light green colour which I like:

The method is still the very normal way we usually use to make soy milk, the only difference is I blended all the pandan leaves together. Although my blender doesn't need me to sieve the milk but I still sieve it through a muslin bag as I could still taste some very fine meal inside.

How much water being used is subjective to how thick/thin you want the milk to be. I like my soy milk to be thick, so I usually use 3 cups of water to 1cup of soy beans(soaked)...maybe a little more when I give the meal a second squeeze.

I'm really not an expert when it comes to anything in the kitchen, so you can refer to Wendy or Food-4tots for more explanations. :P

Red Dragon Fruit Jelly

2010-10-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

I've actually lost count of how many times I've made this... I found it on Wendy's blog long time ago and since not only Little Bear but also both my parents-in-laws enjoyed it, I've been making them quite frequently...Especially the first few months ever since I've first introduced it to them.

This time I blended the fruit in my blender coz I read somewhere that the seeds contained calcium (I forgot where). Then when I googled for it, this came up:

"Dragon fruits are high in antioxidants, which help to fight carcinogenic free-radicals from forming in the body. In addition, they are a good source of Vitamin C, and are rich in minerals, especially calcium and phosphorus. They are also low in calories and high in fiber, while the seeds are have high polyunsaturated fatty acids. Aside from its nutritional content, the fruit is also said to help excrete heavy metal toxins from the body and lower cholesterol and blood pressure. Dragon fruits are also known to be a natural laxative."

and also:

"The crunchy seeds have a nutty taste and are high in lipids, although they are indigestible unless chewed. "

So this time I made them like this:

Ingredients:

1 whole red dragon fruit

200gms rock sugar

lemon juice from 2 lemons (About 100ml--I like the flavour of lemon to be stronger)

1 packet of agar-agar strips (about 25gms)

2l water (Depends on how firm you want your jelly to be, actually my packet of agar-agar calls for only1.4L)

Method:

1. Bring 2L water with the agar-agar strips and rock sugar to a boil. Simmer until all the agar-agar and sugar have dissolved.

2. Meanwhile, puree dragon fruit flesh with a blender. Mix in lemon juice.

3. Take the agar-agar off the fire.

4. Mix in fruit puree and pour into moulds to cool down.

5. Chill in the fridge before serving.

These are from my earliest attempt...see the differences of the ones with seeds and without?

The ones using blended fruit will never look as good as these. The crushed seeds make them look dirty.

A Trip to Singapore

2010-09-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

(Sigh...! I know this is so,so, so late... but---okay lah...better be late than never. At least in future my kids would know that I recorded all these for them...)

We went to S'pore for 8 days(4-11 Sept 2010), plus all the travelling to and back. We went to Universal Studio in Sentosa, watched Voyage de la Vie, met up with my sisters, shopping (needless to say...) and lazed around my BIL's new home most of the time...

We did not go to the Zoo as we thought we would, the rain is one of the reasons...no special offer for the tickets is another. But overall we did enjoyed our stay there, thanks to JS and A for being such lovely hosts. I felt so sorry when Little Bear fought with his cousin, G especially...Luckily everybody understood the "Kids are like that" fact.

(Ok, ok...enough said...actually I'm lazy to explain more...here are some pics to show...)

The kids in the stroller rented for $15 at Universal Studio.

Little Bear with Cousin M, munching away.

Trying to make Little Bear stand still in front of Shrek's castle for a photo. :(

Little Bear having fun with Cousins M, G and L at the splash park of IMM.

Even Baby Bear had fun.

Uncle JS and Aunt A bought a cake (and a present too!) for Little Bear to celebrate his birthday earlier.

Champagne Grapes

2010-08-30T12:28:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, when we were browsing through Jusco's shelves, Little Bear had his eyes laid on some very cute "baby grapes". So, I bought some because he was pestering and also I was curious about how Champagne grapes taste like.

It was SUPER DUPER EXPENSIVE!! RM16.90 for 1 pound (which was not even a Kg)!! I don't think I'm going buy this again...not even if Little Bear tears down the whole Jusco with his screams...!

The grapes were quite sweet (though there were a few sour ones) with softer and thinner skins than regular grapes. I think Little Bear wanted to buy them just because the grapes looked cute...although he was very excited to try them but he stopped after eating a small bunch. I admit that it was quite tiring to pick the tiny grapes one by one and to pop them into one's mouth...but it was nice to feed them to Baby Bear because I didn't have to worry about him choking on the seeds or bigger pieces of flesh. Plus that little fella enjoyed them too!

Little Bear trying to pinch some grapes while I was trying to photograph them. I noticed that bloggers with small kids have this problem...sigh! :P

Strawberry Jelly

2010-08-06T08:14:00.000-07:00

Isn't this beautiful?? So red...so shinny...BUT THIS IS NOT MINE.... :(

This is from Wendy's blog, a long, long time ago...

Mine...? Oh, ok...here goes the funny looking strawberry jelly I made (Last year or earlier this year, can't remember)

Don't ask me about the orange colour...it beats me, til now. I didn't put in enough sugar too (Didn't follow Wendy's recipe exactly) so it was sour when you eat the fruit.

So, as usual Little bear just ate the jelly part and spat out the fruits... :(

I don't think I'm going to make this in near future, not until I can get nice, ripe, sweet strawberries.

Little Bear's White Beard

2010-08-02T04:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, after we came back from Jusco, Little Bear insisted to have that cream bun for "supper". So, this is the result....cream on the face...cream on the nose...cream on the hands...cream on his shirt...plus on his baby brother because he went to hug him....sigh...!

Anyone fancy a kiss from me???

Blueberry Ripple Yogurt Ice Cream

2010-08-02T03:53:00.000-07:00

This was finally made successfully on my second attempt...thank you so much to Wendy's call in the middle of the night (2-3.30am)...If not this will be another disaster...

Actually this is quite an easy recipe only if you are familiar working with the whipping cream...My 1st attempt resulted in the cream turning into butter---I over-beat it!!! ( So, I froze the blueberries and the syrup separately, then bought another new box of cream to start all over again)

Anyway, this is exactly from Wendy's:

(A)
100gm blueberries
2 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp sugar

Cook these in a saucepan over medium low heat until you can see the water turning into a blue colour. Do not stir, only swirl the pan with the handle. Remove from heat. Let it cool. (I defrosted the blueberries

(B)
1tsp gelatin
2 Tbsp water

Place water in a microwave safe or heatproof bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over water. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
Either microwave on high for 20 seconds or double boil until gelatin melts. Set aside to cool.

(C )
250ml low fat plain yogurt (I used Nestle, 2 cups of 135ml)
200ml whipping cream
80gm sugar

1/3 tsp gelatin (for use only after ice cream has hardened)

1. Chill mixing bowl in the freezer for 5 minutes.

2. Remove from freezer and pour in cold whipping cream.

3. Beat on low for 1 minute then raise the speed gradually to high and whip until it is almost soft peaks. Put in sugar gradually and whip until soft peaks.

4. With the mixer on, pour in the cooled gelatin mixture (B) and mix until incorporated.

5. With a spatula or spoon, mix in the yogurt. Mix well.

6. Put only the blueberries (A) into the ice cream mixture. Leave the syrup behind and keep it chilled until time of use.

7. Fold the ice cream twice, not too much, you want the ripple effect. Take care not to break the blueberries.

8. Pour ice cream into a 1L capacity loaf tin. (I used a disposable 4cup/1L capacity loaf pan) Freeze until hardened.

9. When it’s almost time to serve, sprinkle 1/3 tsp of gelatin into reserved blueberry syrup and let it sit for 5 minutes. Microwave on high for 20 seconds. Let it cool down.

10. Unmould ice cream onto a chilled serving platter. Drizzle blueberry syrup over ice cream loaf.

11. Slice ice cream to serve. Do not use a scoop.

After slicing it up, the interior was nice. The taste is nice as well, the only complain I had was the texture...I can still taste some ice in it...not very much, but some fine ice particles in the middle...surely it's my fault... as I remembered that I wasn't too sure whether the cream soft peak or not??? :P

Ginger Milk Curds...again!!

2010-07-13T12:15:00.000-07:00

I saw FIL bought another type of milk which I haven't tried before...so, here goes...

Tonight, I made too much ginger juice. So not to waste them I used 20ml instead of 15 ml.
The outcome was quite watery curds...but the taste was still as great!

The texture:

Then I suddenly had a thought: What if I can do it with my Anmum Lacta?? I remembered how I hated ginger during my confinement month...(Now I wondered why I bothered to try with it...I don't plan to have a third confinement...!!)

Here, again I used 20ml of ginger juice to 130ml of Anmum Lacta ( I followed instructions on the box: add 4 scoops milk powder to 200ml water , then I boiled the milk)

It was a total failure, I would say...But I find it weird to see one third of the milk at the bottom became curd, but the top part just remained watery:

The taste of both curds are different due to the milk, but with the ginger...I like both!

But I really am scratching my head over the different results...Did the fat content affect it? Shouldn't be, right? Ah, bother...let it be the chemist or nutritionist or even the chef to find out...I just wanna savour my milk curds now...

Ginger Milk Curd 姜汁撞奶 (More Experiments...)

2010-07-08T12:12:00.000-07:00

I made these again...the week before last...and found out that I actually should use more ginger juice to my 150ml of milk. Then Baby Bear got sick and that made me worried + busy + exhausted to think of more Ginger Milk Curd. When he got better, he developed rashes on his face and body due to the antibiotic he'd taken. But luckily the rashes subsided in 2 days.

Then I made some of the curd for Papa Bear last Friday. I waited for his first mouthful and he said: "Mmmm, this is yummy...what is it?" After all the explanation, he said: " Good, so this is something yummy and healthy."

...and I'm just glad that he liked it. (So that he can help eat more of my experiments...hehehehe...)

From 2 weeks ago:

I used Farmhouse fresh milk this time:

(pasteurised and homogenised milk)

1st bowl

150ml milk + 15ml ginger juice + sugar

>>>>>>>>>very soft curd just like the first time I did with the Farmhouse Omega milk, BUT the curd passed the spoon test!!

2nd bowl

150ml milk + 22ml ginger juice + sugar
>>>>>>>>>real success at last!! The curd is more firm, more taufufah-like...So I should have followed Wendy's recipe after all... :p

Friday's Curd (This is just to show off a bit... :P)

30ml ginger juice

220ml fresh milk (Yup, I used little Bear's milk bottle to measure) + sugar to taste

...taa-dahhh!

The spoon test...

The texture...

I think I'm a bit hooked on making this... :P

Ginger Milk Curd 姜汁撞奶 (Experiment No.1)

2010-06-26T12:23:00.000-07:00

Ah...look! Wendy... the curd looks quite OK right? Here goes the spoon...

It was floating for about 3seconds, then it went sinking... :(This is after 6 seconds...*sob*.....

Sigh! But I actually did predict that it would fail....why? Because I used low fat milk...plus omega some more...! Never mind...I'll try the other one--the fresh milk tomorrow...

Oh...this milk is pasteurized and homogenized...

Sorry, for those who are scratching your heads on what I'm talking about...I'm actually answering to Wendy's call to experiment with all kinds of milk to make Ginger milk curd. Although I've never tasted this dessert before but since Wendy made it looked so easy , well...I might as well give it a try. ...and boy, I must say that preparing this does make me feel like I'm back in my secondary school lab, with beakers and Bunsen burners...hahaha...the only difference is now I'm eating my experiment!

Oh yes, by the way...I kinda like this milk curd actually! Sweet, spicy, milky...and why didn't someone make this for me during my confinement after giving birth to EeChao?? This should help when I feel so cold constantly for the first two weeks after childbirth. (But now, I just hope that the ulcer behind my lower lip would not get worse tomorrow... :P )

Before I started, i actually googled on it and found that YouTube has videos on how to do it...here's the one I find helpful...and this one too, and a few other sites which I read and forgot to bookmark them.

Then here's what l did:

3 tsp ginger juice (15ml)
150ml milk
1 heaped tsp sugar

1. Put ginger juice into setting bowl.
2. Slowly bring the milk and sugar to a boil in a saucepan turn off the heat .Let it cool down to 85C. (I swirled the milk in the sauce pan for about 10 seconds, then guess that the temperature's just right)
3. Pour milk from 6 inches above bowl.
4. Let the curd set for 5 minutes
5. Ready to be served warm or cold.

See how it resembles EeSync's sour milk just like it was being left on the table for a few hours.

2010-06-15T07:45:00.001-07:00

Simple Steamed Cakes from helium.com... no pics though

Steamed Egg cakes from Bits of taste...It's a traditional steamed cake, plus a cheesy steamed cake too!!

Steamed cakes cooks.com

Strawberry & Milk Steamed Bread from kokken69

Coconut Sweet Potato (Steamed) Cake from The Little Teochew

All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth...

2010-06-11T11:05:00.000-07:00

Baby Bear Ee Chao's got his two front teeth now!! In fact, he has four!! I've just gotta get some of his funny grins...his look is going to change after this...no more babyish. (sigh!)

I think he has grown to resemble his brother quite a bit, unlike when he just came to this world...

They look funny when sleeping together...

Sweet moments....

fun moments...

(Sigh...! I know that I should enjoy these precious moments...)

book mark

2010-06-09T07:24:00.001-07:00

Ang Ku Kueh

Orange Pilaf

Spaghetti Aglio Olio with Sautéed Mushrooms from Wendy's

Mushroom Aglio Olio and Spaghetti Aglio Olio from The Little Teochew

Steamed Moist Chocolate Cake

2010-06-04T10:59:00.000-07:00

Today was Little Bear Ee Sync's last schooling day for the semester, and as usual they had a class party which lasted for about 2 hours. I was not sure of whether to make these or not...(I was thinking maybe jelly is enough) but on my last thought: since he likes this so much, don't bother whether it is suitable or not lah.

This is not the 1st attempt actually, the 1st time i used 2inch muffin cups(or 2 1/2 inch) in diameter. This time smaller cups--only about 1 inch in diameter...and this made it easier for ES to eat them, He ate so many pieces, and even before I could count actually how many pieces I've made! But oh, it is not me who made it so yummy, It's the recipe....It's failure-proof ! So easy...nobody would know that actually my batter was lumpy. :P Ah yes...I forgot to mention: I really hated scooping the batter into the mini cups...so tedious!

The recipe? I got it from here...but later i found out there's another blog with the similar recipe...Looks like everybody is sharing good recipes! :) (Ju, here it is:)

Steamed moist chocolate cake

(A) 180 g butter, 160g caster sugar, 200 g full cream evaporated milk, 1/2tsp vanilla extract & 2tbsp of rum (optional)
(B) 2 eggs, slightly beaten with fork.
(C) 100 g plain flour, 50 g cocoa powder, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda.

1. Combine (A) in a saucepan. Stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved and butter is melted, turn off the fire and keep warm.

2. Add (B) into (1) and stir till well mix.

3. Sift (C) into a large mixing bowl, then pour the eggs mixture (2) over the flour and stir till well mix (cake batter should be runny).

4. Heat up the steamer.

5. Lined 8 inch round baking pan. (I just scoop into muffin cups...lazy)

6. Pour the batter into the lined pan and place the pan into the steamer.

7. Cover the top of the pan loosely with a piece of aluminium foil.

8. Steam over medium heat for 45 mins.(Mine's done in 10-15 mins)

9. Cool the cake in pan before turning out for further decoration.

Wanna see some ugly cup-cakes? Towards the end, I was too lazy to fill another cup so these were full tho the brim...Ugh!! Hideous!

My New Toy...oops, I meant New Blender

2010-06-03T02:55:00.000-07:00

I bought a new blender a month ago, similar to the one I'm eyeing for months. There were two options for me: 1. The one from Buffalo with cost RM1,399....and 2. M-Plan's (another direct selling company) blender costing RM1,099. ....Oooh, and I was clinching tightly to my purse while wanting to get one as soon as possible.

Then I saw THIS. They were having a demo at Jusco with all kinds of fruits and vegetables and herbs...and the price?.....RM598 !!!!!! So there it is now, in my kitchen. (you should've seen FIL sticking out his tongue when I said that I was going to buy it) I don't know what exactly are the differences between this model and the other dream models, but I know that this one is from the same brand as the Buffalo model. (贵夫人--生机精华萃取机)

I'd wanted to blend fruits and veggies juices for Papa Bear since he hardly eats greens. This darling blends almost everything into powder form, so all my juices taste like juices except that it's thicker. Just add some ice to crush with the fruits and vegetables and you'll get smoothies.

The blender comes with a recipe book for soups and juices (very basic recipes but as a reference, OK lah...)

...oh, and I have been using it almost everyday...For example, this is an apple + 1 leaf of cabbage + a few grapes.

But still, I can't change my Papa Bear into a herbivore yet...he gives the "I-drink-this-because-it-is-good-for-my-health" look instead of "I-love-fruits-and-veggies".... :(

....and Little Bear Ee Sync still won't drink it. You ask him, he'll say: "Nice." But he just won't take another sip. Not even when a lot of honey is added. But those commercial cordial, he'll drink lots of them....

...sigh....! What are little boys and men made of? Why most of them are carnivorous?

Sardine Potato Patties

2010-06-01T08:59:00.000-07:00

This was made months ago, no chance to show you la, Wendy...

From your Tuna Potato Cakes...I "changed" it into this... Errm...not really good lor, because Sardine has a strong fishy taste. I think I should've added some onions in it...and I even forgot to put pepper...sigh...!

Oh well, there'll always be a next time...But I really don't know when...

See...? They are not golden brown... :(

Soya Bean Milk Jelly

2010-06-01T08:13:00.000-07:00

When I was pregnant with Ee Chao, I had these cravings for jellies...so I made some myself. Wendy's blog has been a great source of ideas and recipes with step by step instructions given. Being a novice in the kitchen, I find it very,very helpful indeed (besides "savouring" her pictures la :P) This is from her blog too. She calls it longan tofu. But mine's just jelly, so jelly be it.

1 level Tbsp Agar-agar powder (8gm)(Didn't have powder, so used 1 packet of strips--25gm)

1L water
250gm sugar(I just estimatedly poured some half a packet of rock sugar)
2 blades pandan leaf, tied into a knot(Kesian, i didn't have these too..)
1L thick unsweetened soy milk
150ml evaporated milk(I used 3 tbsp of condense creamer because I have to help finish the few cans given by visiting relatives during the time when FIL were bed-ridden)
150ml canned longan syrup (from the longan can)(I omited this)
Canned longans

1. Prepare containers / jelly cups. Place 2 longans or more into each container.
2. Cook sugar, 750ml water and pandan leaf until water boils.(I used 500ml water)
3. Mix agar-agar powder with 250ml water and pour into (2). Bring to a boil again, simmer for another 2-minutes. Turn off heat.(I boiled the agar-agar strips with 500ml water til all strips desolved before adding in the sugar mixture)
4. Put in soy milk, evaporated milk and longan syrup. Mix well.
5. Pour soy mixture into prepared containers.
6. Let them cool down and set. Chill in fridge before serving.

Don't know why this one turned a bit curd-like:

This one I made the jelly again, this time with the longans. Its sweeter, but Ee Sync spat out the longans

Little Bear's 1st day in school

2010-05-26T11:32:00.000-07:00

3rd May 2010...ah...a big day for Ee Sync... a good day to start school...
(Marks the day of "a-little-freedom-for-myself" too... :P)

Here's Ee Sync...
(Funny Headmistress didn't like us to stay too long at the school, "shooed" us out after about 30minutes...
...so these were the the only pictures taken...)

...all ready for school...

...blending in straight away...

My First...

2010-05-26T02:24:00.000-07:00

Finally! After more than a month, this is my first post...! Maybe I'll post on the recipes that I wish to try...no matter soon or sooner or later or don't know whenever that is...Let this act as my bookmark la...

Here's one...steamed Gula Melaka cakes...from here...

steamed banana cake, from the same blog...here...

Wendy's Pak Thong Koh looked so nice...

...her Apam Beras Eno makes my hands itch...so colourful...

There are more...especially Wendy's recipes...but later la...