Pumpkin loaf with Cheese and Walnuts

I made this soft pumpkin loaf quite some time ago, using water roux starter. It was quite soft and fluffy. This recipe is from Tangzhong Pumpkin Loaf. However, instead of pepitas, I garnished with cheddar cheese. I have also added some toasted walnuts in. 

Recipe

Ingredients:

110ml milk
50g whisked egg
120g tangzhong starter dough, my previous post on how to make this starter dough can be found here
100g pumpkin puree
40g honey
12g milk powder
1/2 tsp salt
350g high protein flour
2 tsp instant yeast
25g melted butter

A handful of toasted walnuts

3 pcs of cheddar cheese for garnish

Method:

1. Add all ingredients, except for melted butter and cheddar cheese according to the above sequence into the breadmaker.

2. Select the dough function. When all the ingredients has come together, add in the melted butter.

3. At the end of the first cycle, add in the toasted walnuts. Once the bradmaker has complete its full cycle, remove the dough into a clean surface and divide it into 3 equal portions. Cover and let it rest in room temperature for 15 minutes.

4.Roll out each dough into an oval shape. Fold 1/3 from top to the middle and press. Then fold another 1/3 from bottom to the middle and press to seal.

5. Turn seal downwards and roll flat. Then turn the seal upwards and roll it into a cylinder.

6. Once done, place it into a greased Pullman tin with the seal facing downwards. Repeat step 4 to 6 for the remaining dough.

7. Let it proof for another 45 minutes, till it is double in size.

8. Brush with egg wash and garnish with cheddar cheese strips.

9. Bake in preheated oven at 170ºC for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer onto wire rack to cool.

10. Store in airtight container.

Lunch with My 3 Little Girls

This is a very old post. It was drafted earlier but I have yet to post it. These were taken beginning of this year, around mid of January. I brought the girls out for lunch by myself for the first time. We had pizza, baked rice and spaghetti. We had really enjoyable time together. :-D

Pumpkin Chiffon Cupcakes (A Wordless Post)

Baked Honey Chicken Wings

I made these succulent chicken wings for dinner back in January but didn't manage to post this up until today. The taste was awesome. The children love them. So does dearest hubby.

The chicken wings were marinated overnight with honey, oyster sauce, sesame oil, light soy sauce, ginger juice and pounded shallots. Then, they were baked in the preheated oven for roughly 25 to 30 minutes. I basted them 3 times with the remaining marinates over the duration of the baking time. The result? Very flavourful chicken wings!!

Big Bowl Ice ....Again?

I find it quite hard to find time to update my blog lately. There are still many outstanding posts in my draft which I have yet to complete. I think I must really set aside some time to clear off all these drafts. Since today is a holiday, I will be updating as much posts as possible. The first to go on a hot and sunny day like this would be a post on some icy cold desserts.

We have been frequenting this place called Big Bowl Ice recently. One feature that attracted us to this place is the fresh fruits used especially mangoes. Every time we are here, the  crispy spring onion pancake is a must-have item that we will order.

Lychee Prawn

Before I start with this post, I just want to share this photo that I took from my backyard. I was intrigued by these ladybirds on my lime leaves. They were like forming a formation on the back of the leaves. I have never seen anything like this before.

Oh, by the way, I have some additional thing to share. I have not been to Pizza Hut for a very long time. My friends suggested for us to meet over lunch and we thought Pizza Hut would be a great place. I just found out that other than pizza and spaghetti, Pizza Hut had started to offer other variety of meals that is not just confined to pizza or pasta. I ordered this Flaming Prawn Rice and it was quite nice. 

OK, it is time to go back to our intended subject matter. We shouldn't wander too far away . Hahaha!! This is the lychee prawn that I made back in January. I used 12 shrimps, seasoning, some egg, cornflour, breadcrumbs and a can of lychee for this. It is very easy and fuss-free to make. First of all, mince the shrimps till it turn into a paste. Add some pepper, shaoxing wine and salt to taste. Then stuff the paste into the lychee. Coat the stuffed lychees with cornflour, followed by beaten egg and finally the breadcrumbs. Then fry till golden brown. I served this with some mayonnaise-based sauce. I feel that as snacks, these are nice but not so suitable as a dish in any main meal. 

This is how it looks like on the inside.

Night Out with Friends

It has been quite a while since I last had any outing with friends. After having children, my priority just like any other mother is on my kids. Being a mother is a full time job, requiring 24/7 of our time. Going out with friends is considered as luxury. So, it was great that I get to spent some time with friends during the beginning of the year. We went for dinner at Al Dente in Taman Merdeka Permai and followed by coffee at That's Coffee.

I ordered set dinner which consists of pork loin in some kind of tangy orange sauce, a bun, creamy pumpkin soup and apple juice. 

A friend ordered this quite unique-looking Chicken Cordon Bleu.

After our dinner, we went over to That's Coffee for more chatting. 

I ordered hot chocolate.

Some of them ordered this lava cake.

It was definitely an enjoyable night for me. At least I am able to have some "Me" time away from the children. I hope I can slot in more social activities like this in the future.

Celine is in Primary 1!!!

Celine started her formal education in 2015. It is another milestone in her life. She has started to go to nursery-kindie since she was 1 1/2 years old. So, this progression is easier for her. We saw many kids crying but she looks quite confident. 

These were the photos taken during her orientation day on 31 December 2014:

This photo is taken on first day of school of 2015:

2014 Penang Trip

We went to Penang during the 2014 year end school holidays. Our main purpose was to go and see our pretty niece for the first time. She is such an adorable baby. Since dear hubby couldn't take too many days off from work, we can only spend a night there. Hence, we decided to depart very early in the morning so that we could have 1 1/2 to 2 full days there. We departed at around 5.45am and reached Penang at around 10 something. As it was still very early, we drove around to take some photos with the many wall arts in Penang.

We drove and saw some wall arts in Nagore Road. So we stopped by to snap some photos.

While combing the area for more wall arts, we stumbled across a cozy little place called Mon Delice Patissiere. If I am not mistaken, dear sister seems to like the cakes from here very much. She is so fond of the Mango Charlotte. So I decided to give it a try while taking a rest from our walking.

Then we drove around again for more wall arts ;

Half way through our photo-taking session, our stomach started to growl. So we went to Hot Bowl to taste their famous white curry. We ordered White Poached Chicken (Hainanese Chicken) for the girls. We also ordered some side dishes; Lor Bak and bean sprouts. The white curry turned into red when the chilli paste is added into the white broth. 

After filling up our stomachs, we continued with our photographing mission.

We drove to our hotel around evening. After taking our shower, we went over to see Baby Jillian, the star attraction of our trip here.

It is a pity that we only managed to see her for a while as it was already dinner time. We called it a day after dinner and went back to our hotel for rest. The next morning, we went to a nearby coffee shop for breakfast. Then we headed straight to the "Made in Penang Interactive Museum".

The kids were intrigued by the coin-making machine. Although they do sell ready-made coins, dear hubby decided to let the girls tried making their own coins. 

We had rather late lunch on that day as we went to several recommended places but none of them open. In the end, we saw a shop selling duck rice at Jalan Cheong Fatt Tze that was quite crowded even though it has already passed lunch time. We had our lunch there. The duck rice is quite nice.

Initially, we thought of going to see Baby Jillian again after lunch but it was getting late. So we decided to travel back to Melaka straight after buying fruit rojak. We tried the Macallum Street Rojak. The sauce is thick, gooey and sweet. On top of the usual crushed toasted peanuts, they also added dried shrimps in. Hmmm quite yummy. After buying the rojak, we headed back to Melaka. We purposely took the second bridge back although it was further as we have never use it before and reached Melaka around midnight.