Friday, September 30, 2016

Foodie Read: 轻松易学的手工面包 : 即使没有烤箱也能在家做的面包! 饭田顺子著 ; 左瑞瑤译

If you have been wondering why this blog had been so quiet . One of the reasons I had blogged lesser because I am committing myself to read more. Not only for myself but for Little One as well. Not just that I had also committed to learn new skills. I have been tatting, sewing and painting.

What have I been reading?
Voices under the Rising Sun - Fiona Hodgkins ( a review on it was written in the blog)
Alice's adventures in Wonderland ; &, Through the looking-glass
Finally, this 轻松易学的手工面包 : 即使没有烤箱也能在家做的面包!

My review:
Regarding the recipe book, it's a pity that they do not have English translation. I believe this book would be a hit! The Japanese author, Iida, Junko, is very creative. She had written a couple of recipe books for baked products including macaroons, bread, pastries, cakes, pies and desserts. This is her first cookbook that I have read. I say she is creative because in this particular book, she made bread using non-stick pan. She also had another book on making cakes and snacks using non stick pan. However, I am interested in another book which she wrote. It includes recipes for making cakes and pies in rice cooker. I had just bought a rice cooker which can bake. Hence, it will be great if I can lay my hands on this book.

This particular book teaches you mainly how to make bread, you can also learn to make simple thin crust pizza, naan, bagel and muffin. It also guide how to make your own cottage cheese , jam and butter.

The recipe book is split into various parts
1) making simple bread with low protein flour
2) making simple bread using pancake mix
3) making bread using yeast and high protein flour


All recipes requires low heat and covering of the pan while cooking. Total minimum cooking time is about 25 minutes. The resulting bread looked exactly like what you would have found in a bakery.

I tried make banana bread but I do not have a non -stick pan with a lid. Hence I used a normal pan instead, resulting a charred bottom bread even though I used baking paper. However, the bread still taste great (We discarded the bottom) !  Personally I think I can improve the next try out by making smaller bread instead of covering the whole pan.

My failed  "masterpiece" 


Linking with:
Foodies Read 2016

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Jade Rabbit and Mid Autumn Festival

When we talk stories about Mid Autumn Festival, we tend to tell the story of Chang 'e, goddess of the moon. Well, do you know about the Jade Rabbit? It is the companion of Chang'e and it makes immortality elixir. There were a few legends about the Jade Rabbit. One of which is that Chang'e brought the rabbit together to the moon.
Chang'e lantern in Chinatown this year

The other story involved a beggar begging for food. The monkey gathered fruits from the trees and the otter collected dead fish from the river bank, while the jackal wrongfully pilfered a lizard and a pot of milk-curd. The rabbit, who knew only how to gather grass, instead offered its own body, threw itself into a fire the beggar had built. The beggar was actually a deity in disguise. Touched by the rabbit's sincerity, he chose the rabbit to teach it to make immortality elixir and  brought it to the moon.

Mooncakes and an embroidery.
 Mooncakes is a must have during mid autumn festival. This year, we had chosen to buy from The Peninsula. We bought 8 mini mooncakes with 2 flavours - the traditional brown lotus seeds mooncake and the egg custard mooncakes. We love mini mooncakes as they are small enough to be consume by oneself.  If I were to buy the bigger ones, I would have to cut them into small pieces and slowly consume them because my family is not a great fan of mooncakes. And yes, I would gain plenty of weight during this period of time. Peninsula's egg custard mooncakes taste great. We were told that this particular flavour was out of stock in Hong Kong! The reason we bought duo flavour is because my mom still prefer to eat the traditional ones.

Rabbit admiring the moon
I was glad I managed to register for Susanna Lo's classes in the library. Personally, I love the things she created. She has a facebook page named "Stuff Susie Made" where she showcases the crafts she had made. I believe she was inspired by Jade rabbit to come out with the idea to sew an embroidery consisting of 3D rabbit viewing the moon with a lantern . She embroidered some flowers and grasses too. After sewing all the stuff, I decided to test my embroidery skills by sewing more flowers on it. I guess it went tad bit overbroad.

Linking with~




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