white truffles

a journal of daily inspirations, musings, devotions, cooking, motherhood etc, etc, etc... 
Tags



October 12, 2009

truffles in the kitchen: Apricot Jam Cupcakes

                 

i wasted the whole afternoon doing this!

I say wasted because i didn't follow recipe again and thus the cakes turn out to be not fabulous!
Hence i'm not posting any recipe here!
but i highly recommend the cookbook:  Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery

Why i bake these:

i was hoping to get rid of the apricot jam which i bought to glaze the fruit tart i made for my birthday in september.
I was excited to try out the recipes from my new cookbook: Cupcakes from the PRimrose Bakery (really beautiful and inspiring)!
Yet wanting to bake something that is less sinful (Reduced sugar).

What i did:

I added only 2 tbsp of brown sugar to cream the butter and added 4 tbsp of apricot jam instead of 3 tbsp of strawberry jam and added additional jam in the centre of the cupcakes before baking them instead of pushing the jam into the cakes after they've been baked (as a result of not reading carefully!)

The result:

the cakes are still edible but rather dense and with sunken in centers (guess why!)
My husband frowned when i kept asking him to try one after another!
I ended up eating about 4 cupcakes!
oh dear!

Maybe i should just stop trying to bake super reduced sugar cupcakes and just follow the recipe!!!!

 

Loading mentions Retweet
Filed under  //   truffles in the kitchen  

Comments [0]

October 12, 2009

{ prologue } & JAMS

As usual, i had an hour or so to burn just before picking up lizzie from school.

I ended up at Ion orchard again, but this time, i thought i should explore the shops from level 1 onwards instead.
I went all the way up to fourth floor and discovered this bookstore called {prologue} and a cafe, JAMS, inside.

THe bookstore is nice and neat like Kinokuniya and Page One but much smaller.
There were books down stairs and stationery above which can only be accessed by stairs or from the car park, hence not pram friendly (thus i didn't go up)!

After walking around for a while, feeling a little disappointed, i decided to step into the newly opened cafe JAMS.
I was pleasantly surprised to see lovely cupcakes and a wide variety of bakeries and to be greeted by the friendly owner of the cafe, joanne. 
She quickly and eagerly introduced me to their lovely cupcakes, cheese cakes, brownies and even cookies that she claimed were made from really good, wholesome ingredients with no artificial colourings or flavouring or preservatives.  They use good dark chocolate for their desserts. :)  The cupcakes were also made with organic raw sugar.

I bought two cupcakes, of course, as i am really in the mood for cupcakes these days.
I had a lemon banana for myself and a strawberry one for Lizzie!
Truly, the cupcakes were very moist, and the icing creamy (not laden with icing sugar and hence not overly sweet).  
Perhaps that's why i don't feel thirsty after eating these cupcakes which i often felt with other cupcakes.

There were other desserts that look really good but i guess i really have to practice some self control since i've been baking quite a bit too.
need to watch my waistline!!!! ;p

I will go back there to check out the stationery.

By the way, don't miss the Kikki.K Stationery & Gifts boutique at B2!  It has lots of beautiful swedish designed stationery and gifts!


               

Loading mentions Retweet
Filed under  //   cupcake   interesting places   where to eat  

Comments [0]

October 10, 2009

have a nice weekend!

hope you are all going to have a restful weekend ahead!  most importantly, hope you have a great time with your loved ones!

I am very touched by how Nie Nie (stephanie, a well-known blogger) is living such a brave life as a mom of 4 after a near death plane crash!  Watch an interview with her here about her daily struggles!  i must admit that i've taken health,motherhood, children and hubby for granted most of the time! 

here are 3 beautiful desserts that you may want to try out this weekend:
purple velvet cupcakes (using beet to replace the usual red colouring) from small stump + studio choo
red velvet cupcakes (i used this recipe to make the children's day cupcakes.  i simply omitted sugar to make sugarless cupcakes!  though the cupcakes do not taste very sweet and tend to be more dense due to the omission of sugar, they taste rich and flavourful due to the dark chocolate and dried cranberries.  moreover, after you do the frosting, the cake will taste sweet enough!  I used sweet white chocolate, mascarpone cheese and fresh milk to make the frosting instead.)

Loading mentions Retweet
Filed under  //   favourite reads  

Comments [0]

October 10, 2009

Another beautiful morning at papa palheta

The kids were hungry so we bought teck kee pau (buns) from next building.
Leon was kind enough to make 2 cups of latte for the mommies, 2 long black for the daddies and 4 babycinos for the 4 little rascals!
We must have made him and his helper very busy early this morning.
The 2 older kids really liked the place and watched leon grind the coffee for us in the tasting bar.
as he fill up the packet with freshly grounded coffee, the whole room was filled with lovely fragrance of the coffee. 
beautiful way to spend a weekend morning.

             

Loading mentions Retweet

Comments [2]

October 10, 2009

make taste not waste with bodum but...

i think i made more waste than taste!!!!

we are always craving for the delicious coffee at papa palheta nowadays.
so this sat we brought our neighbours there and bought a packet of freshly grounded coffee (terra firma) to make milk based coffee at home as i decided to give my bodum coffee presser one more chance.
but i still can't make good coffee out of it!
i guess i still have to rely on my nespresso coffee machine and visit ppp more often! ;p

Loading mentions Retweet

Comments [3]

October 7, 2009

The Doodle Book by Taro Gomi

our cousin gave Lizzie the doodle book by taro gomi and we really love it!!!!

This is a great book for children!
Thank you aunty Ching Yee!
see more of Taro Gomi's stuff here!

         

Loading mentions Retweet

Comments [3]

October 7, 2009

stationery: present and correct

love these stationery from present and correct


       

Loading mentions Retweet
Filed under  //   paper goods  

Comments [0]

October 7, 2009

otokomae (handsome man) tofu???!!!!!

after tasting the sesame tofu at enso kitchen, we are always searching for sesame tofu at different supermarkets, hoping to find a similar one.

this morning while walking around at Jasons Market at Paragon, a japanese chef recommended me this tofu when i asked him if they have sesame tofu (he didn't understand what is sesame so he recommended me something else!)
he told me that this is a very popular tofu in japan and that every japanese knows about it.
so i bought a couple.
The tofu is the best i've ever tried!!!!!
slightly sweet and very creamy!!!
taste really good on its own when chilled! :)
i checked out the website, googled about it and found out that otokomae means handsome man in japan!!!! it's so goofy!
i wonder if hot dudes are supposed to taste like this tofu!!! funny.

Loading mentions Retweet
Filed under  //   truffles in the kitchen  

Comments [0]

October 6, 2009

truffles in the kitchen: meatballs and spaghetti

           

this is my favourite meatballs recipe adapted from tessa kiros' apples for jam. :)

ingredients for meatballs:

40-50g of soft crustless white bread, torn into chunks 
4 tbsp of milk
200g of minced pork
200g of beef
2 tbsp of chopped parsley
1/2 tsp of ground cumin
1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
1/2 small red onion grated or finely chopped
a good pinch of salt and black peppercorn for taste
light olive oil for frying

ingredients for sauce:
2 tbsp of olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and squashed
1/2 red onion chopped
400g of tinned diced tomatoes (i prefer a lighter tomato base so i used 200ml instead and added about 1 cup of pasta cooking liquid)
3 to 4 basil leaves, torn (i used a bunch and added the sprig without tearing so that i can remove it after cooking as my children don't like to eat it!)
salt and pepper to taste

method:

cook the pasta in boiling salted water following the instructions on the packet or till al dente.  then drain and toss thoroughly with olive oil or butter and set aside.

to make the sauce, heat the olive oil and add the garlic cloves and chopped onions, saute till fragrant or soften.  then add the tomato.  season with salt and pepper, add basil leaves and simmer for 15mins. add some pasta cooking liquid if you like a thinner sauce.

soak the bread in the milk and break it up with your fingers.  then put all the ingredients for meatballs together and knead the mixture thoroughly with your hands.  form meatballs according to desired size or into the size of large cherry tomatoes.  fry the meatballs with olive oil in non-stick pan till they are golden and crispy on the outside.  shuffle them by holding the handle of the pan and giving a good flick with your wrist.  if not use tongs to turn them.  when they are done stir in the pasta so that it gets all the flavour.  then stir in the sauce and grate some parmesan cheese on top.  serve with fresh basil leaves if you like.

 

Loading mentions Retweet
Filed under  //   truffles in the kitchen  

Comments [0]

October 5, 2009

favourite read:

1) kashiwa mystery cafe from cabel's blog lol
read about this mysterious cafe in japan where you don't get what you ordered but what the person before you ordered!!!!!! so weird! i wondered why i didn't encounter this when i was in tokyo!

2) the most controversial magazine covers of all time via cup of jo and swiss miss

if you are interested in going to penang or just looking at what you could eat there, you should take a look at this!
beautiful photos of penang food and more!

find out more about produce to the people a san francisco non-profit that works to distribute backyard-and-community-grown produce to low income individuals and families free of charge.

Loading mentions Retweet
Filed under  //   favourite reads  

Comments [0]