It's been too long since I last made pizza. I don't know what got over me yesterday when I decided to cook for aunt and family who came over to play the xbox. I guess it stems from my love of feeding people.

I made Hawaiian pizzas,


Garlic-based cheese and basil pizza,

using roasted garlic, which I put in oven to roast till soft before squeezing out the flesh and added olive oil and some black pepper to that. I used that as a base instead of tomato sauce.

We also had a dried version of bolognaise,

and a fried pasta dish.

I'm glad everyone enjoyed the dinner. For pizza recipe, see here.

A pressie

My girl has caught the reading bug. I used to have to force her to read. She only wanted to buy many books and store them on the bookshelf. She used to read, but stopped for quite some time. Suddenly, in the middle of her exam period, she sought out her books again. She was reading pretty ferociously. In between doing lots of assessments in preparation for her exams, she would ask for a rest and turn to her reading. I didn't stop her, as I felt she needed a diversion from all that concentration.

I couldn't wait for exams to be over so she could indulge in her current passion, thus I decided to get her an 'end of exam' pressie consisting of books, meringue, and a painting kit. I stumbled upon the 'Ramona' series by Beverly Cleary and she loves them. We're only short of 2 books to complete the series.

Home visits

My social calendar since the last exam paper has been unreal. Since last Friday, I've had guests every day to my home, minus the weekend though. This week alone has seen three days of impromptu visits. One from mum, another one from aunt & uncle, and another aunt and family will visit tonight. A friend commented that I'm celebrating Deepavali, and it almost feels like it. Haha. On a good note, my house hasn't been so clean over a period of a week. It's usually in a mess and it does feel good to have squeaky clean floors, an empty dining table as well as a coffee table not stacked with loads of junk.

We were out with aunt and uncle on Tuesday and since the girl had been bugging for a steamboat dinner, I had to get that out of the way, so after seeing her off in the school bus that morning, I made a trip to the wet market and bought whatever stuff my hands could carry for the dinner that night. I decided to invite aunt and uncle over for dinner as it's more fun to have steamboat with a group of people. They were thrilled to be invited and that made me really happy to have made that decision to include them. They enjoyed dinner very much and it's been a long time since I had seen them eat so much. They have been ill and haven't had much of an appetite. It felt good that I was able to do something for them.

We came home last that afternoon so I had to set about getting dinner ready. It couldn't have happened if I had done it all by myself. Thankfully I had my girl who was ever ready to help out. She made the wantons all by herself. Don't you think she did a great job? I think she did them so beautifully.

We had a simple dinner, but it was the company that made it all special. I wish I could invite them over for dinner more often. We have already made plans. Next on the menu is chicken rice. :D

Halloween 2010

Halloween last year was fun, but in a different way. Fun, as it was a good gathering with the family, spending time together, with cousins and all. My plan then had been to visit Woodlands, to the famous streets where trick 'o' treat was big there and where all the action was. My aunts wanted to go to the Science Centre instead. So, it wasn't till this recent Halloween did we get our wish fulfilled. This time we didn't plan anything with the family, but instead arranged to meet SS and her family at Woodlands. The atmosphere was really good, with many kids dressed up as all sorts of characters. Some of them were very creative, and they made their own costumes from recycled materials, cardboard boxes, and some even wore handsewn ones. It was indeed a feast for the eyes, as well as the tummies of all the kids present there that evening. According to a friend, last year's was better and more houses were dressed up, but there were fewer this time round.

I will let the pictures do the talking...

This is any parents' worst nightmare!

Mango Pudding

I don't usually test pudding mix unless it's been tried and tested. This one I was introduced to at a party two weeks' ago, and I kinda liked the taste. It is cooked with evaporated milk thus there was a nice flavour to it. I added cubed mangoes to push it up a notch. The next time I try this out again, I shall add a few drops of mango essence. I didn't follow the instructions on the package which said to use 3000ml. Instead I cut it down to 2800ml so that the end result wouldn't be too watery like the one I had tasted earlier. I love this firmer texture.

I'm not sure where else you can find this, but I was told that it is sold in Sheng Siong and that was where I got mine. One packet makes a whole pot. You do need a big pot. There are many flavours to choose from.

The picture above shows the plain pudding without addition of evaporated milk. The picture below has additional evaporated milk added just before serving. I made this dessert when my friends came over for brunch today. Right beside the pudding is creme caramel which M brought. It's also made from an instant mix you can get at Phoon Huat. It was a bit too sweet.

Glad that my friends enjoyed their little lunch today and I had fun cooking for them. :)

Cuppies for a special friend and updates

Hello everyone, I'm back! Not sure how long I will stay, though. Over the past month, it's been crazy preparing for Princess' final year exams. I'm glad it's all over, a weight has been lifted off my mind and shoulders. I'm happy that the hard work paid off, and she improved in her weakest subject. I'm glad that I made the right decision in sending her for enrichment class after her dismal results at mid year.

In between exams, I took time out to make some cuppies for a good friend of mine for her birthday. I'm happy that she liked them. There were a few more that I made, but I need to find the photos for them.

I also stopped making bentos. Just lost the interest for making them. Hope to regain it again soon. I did make a simple one for school one morning. In the bento was a ham and cheese sandwich, some homemade croutons, a box of Smarties, cubed dragonfruit and a cherry tomato.

The wonders of baking soda

I have been missing for quite some time, but real life beckons. I have been cooking but been lazy to take photos or blog about them. Wasn't feeling in tiptop shape over the past weeks due to changes to the dosage of my medication. Hope I will adjust to it soon enough.

However, I had this little tip which I wanted to share. It has to do with the very insignificant baking soda.

My aunt has a neighbour who is a fanatic over organic living. She hails from Taiwan and has one room designated to all her organic products. Stepping in, you'd think you had stepped into a mini organic mart. Each time she goes home for a visit, she fills up her suitcases with rice, coconut oil, all the many bottles of sauces, grains etc that she consumes on a daily basis. It was really very interesting to learn about each product as she very patiently took us through on a visit to her home once.

Due to the language barrier, as my aunt isn't very strong in Mandarin and the lady doesn't speak English to well, there are many things that my aunt can't make out. However, she understands enough. The recipe for this baking soda mixture was what she picked up from the neighbour.

She convinced me that it worked wonders so I figured, since I had a big box of the powder in the cabinet, I would put it to use. It's really easy. Just 2 tbsps of baking soda dissolved in 500ml of water. Shake it up and it's ready to use. I put mine in a bottle with a nozzle to spray on, as and when I need it.

It is great on greasy surface, thus cooker hobs are a great place to begin this experiment. I had a glass chopping board which was black in one corner as it was the closest in proximity to the stove. Oil and dust collected over time made it rather dark. When I began my experiment on the baking soda solution, I didn't intend to use it on the board, but rather on the backsplash, and the area behind the stove. A little bit of the solution did drop onto the board and I noticed there was one streak of white. I decided to spray over the entire section of black and everything came off in an instance!

Try it! The right way is to then go over it with a vinegar solution and wipe over. The reason for this is that soda removes the grease while vinegar kills germs. I will check for the recipe for vinegar solution before updating here so look out for it.

An environmentally-safe product good for the Earth as well as for our own health.