Kids Arts Village

Today we visited the first kids arts village, which is part of the Singapore Arts Festival. If you have not caught it, you have until 5June to check it out. It is located at Esplanade Park, a short walk away from Esplanade, Theatres on the Bay. To learn more about it, read this link. Meanwhile, enjoy the visuals.

This art installation can be seen within Esplanade.

We were greeted by these colourful leaves at the park. They carry the thoughts of those who have visited the exhibition thus far.

While waiting for our turn to watch the drama, she decided to play on the blackboard.

We did some crafts with plastic. This is an octopus lantern made using a plastic disposable bottle.

Some very lovely decor lining the exterior of the craft room.

Cute characters made with wires.

Beautifully-painted pebbles.

Artwork that was seen in the scrapbooking room.

Outside the Esplanade, we came across these cute inflatables. Couldn't resist taking a photo. :)

Holiday home baking class

I had arranged for a cleaner to come in today. At the last minute, she did not turn up. I had no plans and thus did not know what to do. The intention was to go to the hairdresser's, but as it was still early in the morning, I decided to bake some muffins and cookies with my girl.

During most of her school hols, I like to occupy her with activities. While looking up cooking classes for kids, I found a lot of them tend to be very highly-priced. The stuff that were interesting, she wouldn't like to eat them, and the basic ones were too boring. I thus decided that I should teach her on my own. My cousins are already on the list for the next couple of weeks. Their mum wants them to pick up some cooking and baking skills and I've been arrowed to teach them a lesson or two. Once it's not done in my house, I'm happy. :D Did you already know I hate cleaning? Well, I really do. Cooking and baking is fun but cleaning and dusting, not my forte. I clean because I need to, not because I want to.

So well, having recently done a volunteer session of baking with the girls at school, I had a tub of yoghurt leftover, and not wanting to waste it, decided to let her bake using the recipe I had gotten from here. I did not follow the recipe, just used it as a base. Oreo was the substitute for Nutella and peanut butter.

Here you go, princess' first muffins all done by herself except that I had to help her place and remove tray from oven. Mummy's fault that it was too brown as I had set the oven to bake fan-forced. Yikes!

There was plenty of time left so we decided to bake cookies as well. The girl had requested for soft and chewy chocolate chip muffins and I remembered watching Anna Olson on tv one time, making just those cookies. A quick google and I found it easily. I did not cut down on sugar and am glad that it was just a nice sweet. However, the Valrhona dark chocolate chunks I had used were a bit bitter, they are fine once you get used to the taste. I suggest sticking to the original recipe. It is perfect as it is. Crispy on the outside and soft chewy on the inside.

When we were finally done with everything, a big thunderstorm started and we got stuck comfortable at home. In the end, we didn't get our hair done, but we spent a most enjoyable day at home doing nothing. :)

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut into chunks

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F (I used 165 deg C)
   
2. Cream together butter and sugars until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and blend in.
3. Stir in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chunks.
4. Drop by tablespoons onto a greased baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden brown around the edge.
5. Let cool slightly and enjoy.
   

Melt in your mouth ribs

I'm glad to be able to blog tonight. It's been quite a while and I have missed the freedom of having time to blog like I used to. I've missed my friends here, but real life beckons. I'm back to share a recipe that I absolutely love, and am happy that I don't need to visit Tony Roma's to get my fix.

I've tried a couple of times to make great-tasting melt in your mouth-textured ribs, but have not been successful till I tried out this recipe shared by a friend. There is no turning back.

Baby back ribs are about the only pork I would eat besides minced pork, and sweet and sour. This one is super duper easy to do, but you must really have the time and patience. Sharing with you the recipe...

Ingredients:
2 slabs of pork (unfortunately I'm not able to gauge how heavy they weigh) - do not cut up into smaller pieces
1litre of coca cola (it is best to buy the 1.5litre one as a standby in case you need more coke to cover all the ribs)
4-5 cloves
6-8 star anise segments (not sure how to call them)
a stick of cinammon
salt and pepper
tomato ketchup

Method:
Place coke, spices and pork into a pot and boil for a couple of hours till meat turns tender and soft. Remove from stock and slather some ketchup over the top of slabs and place them in the oven to grill and crisp. When it turns a lovely brown, it is done.

Enjoy!

NB - It's great for bbq's too.