Queen of Kitchen Disasters

making mooncakes actually …

I had the good fortune of Caden conducting a hands on session for a few of us on how to make the snow skin mooncake. So fen, ayako and myself had the opportunity to see her 2 lovely GRs, and to mess up her place!

It was a pretty fun session, basically my hands were too “hot” and my dough was actually warm by the time I was done with it - everyone’s else was COOL but ah well, at least my dough was pink! Oh ya, then since my hands were so warm, they are very good for “warming up” the filling (I used white lotus paste) so that it gets more “fragrant”. In fact, the paste was so warmed up by me that it was practically leaking oil from my hands!

The hard part was making the skin thin enough, and yet not so thin till that it breaks upon stretching. The mold we all shared was the yellow “pressable” one (not the traditional molds). Reason being that the pattern is “deeper” and looks prettier … and we all took turns to squash our mooncake balls into it!

Pics are available at Caden’s blog and I’ll link it up here so that you can see the results!

We had a family session at my place the very next day, and we have the 3 kids, my family (includng my 5th aunt and my cousin) trying out the recipe and method I learnt from Caden!

We had lots of fun, basically we had 2 coloured dough, pink and green (I was too lazy to mix up 2 more batches) including a traditional pastry dough which we made into the piglets.

Pics … er hang on … still with my brother hehehe … I forgot to bring my camera that day …

Anyway, if you are interested in knowing how to make the mooncakes and piglets, the recipes are available at:

Snow Skin Mooncake available @ Candenzes

Tradtional Pastry Dough available @ Do What I Like

I hope you have some fun too. Seriously, it’s not that hard to make and I had really lots of fun (I made 2 more batches of mooncakes after the sessions mentioned above!).

I was listening to Class 95 the other day to FD and GO and they were saying that the latest trend in UK were teenagers wearing scents that their parents use to. The term for the trend? Heritage scents (i think). Sounds good eh …

Then FD asked what were the scents we remember, when we were young … and … I SMSed in to FD … 4711! I bet you just went “huh”?

Actually I have very much forgotten about it (my memories of childhood is almost blank - I have the worst memory bank among all my siblings!) until one fine day in Germany (not sure if it was Berlin or Cologne) when I was on a windwhirl trip of Europe. I saw this very familar looking item from the cornerof my eyes and it turned to be a huge wall (painted) advertisement of 4711! Wow! I remember that glass bottle, designed to look like some crystal bottle, that we kids were secretly splashing on our face and neck! Sometimes, it’s funny how childhoon memories get awaken and then it’s forever occupying a space in the readable memory bank.

FD and GO were even better than me! They could actually sing the jingle for 4711! For once, I’m actually impressed with GO!

Oh and the smell of 4711? Er … don’t remember actually =)

As long as I have cooked and stayed in this place, I’ve never ever deep fry anything. I’m worry about the oil splashing out, I’m worried about all the cooking fumes, but I gave in to my craving today and did it for the first time - deep frying by myself!

I was craving for fish fingers - you know that Bird’s Eye thingy … think of it being crispy and hot and eaten with a sprinkle of lemon juice *sigh* I finally cave in and I made it for lunch, and dinner too. In between I fried some potato slices and ate those with salt, pepper and lemon juice (my take on vinegar and salt ;P). Yes I’m still burping out my lunch and I’m wondering what I can drink to help flush out all that oil in me! I did blot with the kitchen towel as much as possible but deep fried stuff, how much oil can you really remove anyway?

Anyway, I fnished all 16 of them (I shared with hubby) and it’s time to get more =) While being splashed with hot oil is not fun (i had a few splatter on my face =~{) but it’s still ok, I can live with it =) Just have another excuse to buy more kitchen gadget’s that’s it *rofl*

Inspired by the recent advertisement on the CP whole shrimp wanton dumpling, I decided to make my own for dinner today. So instead of smashing the prawns into paste, I’m reserving some to put in as a whole for my hubby (I’m allergic to prawns).

So this morning, since Rascal’s obedience class was postponed due to rain, I made the quick dash to the Dover market on the pretext of buying breakfast and happily went shopping for pork, wanton skin, fresh yellow noodles, $2 worth of prawns and some chinese spinach. The stallholders were going “Wah! Haven’t seen you for a long time!” - I guessed they remember me since I am always one of the blurrest customers (I cannot see what I want even though it is right infront of me!). Oh yes, of course I got my hubby his chai tao kway (black type).

I’m cooking the soup stock now, basically 400g of pork meat with some black peppercorn, 2 cloves of garlic and 2 small shallots. I just put enough water to cover the meat and my pot is medium size so er… I am harzarding about 500ml to 700ml of water (I parboiled the pork in salted water for about 10 minutes first before draining and rinsing).

So what goes into my wantons?

1. Prawns - some smashed, some shelled and deveined (about 260g prawns with shells - more if you like it)

2. Water Chestnuts - I have about 10 peeled and chopped coarsely (how I hate peeling them!)

3. Mince pork (about 400 gram)

4. 1 egg

5. Salt, light soya sauce and pepper to taste

Mix all the above together and then place a spoonful on the wanton skin. Normally I just place on the skin, and fold into half. That’s it, no need water to seal up the “lips”.

I made about 60 wan tons and my ones are the FAT types, so halve or reduce the quantity of the ingredients to what you need.

Was I a pig today =( at 11:30 i grabbed a polar curry puff and chomped it down and then we went immediately to purvis street to eat beef noodles. Alas, thanks to the IMF, it’s closed *grrr* so in the end we had to settle for chicken rice opposite - Chin Chin Eating House (estb 1935). Well it’s passable, nothing fantasic but I don’t know why I was so hungry. I basically finished 80% of the rice (most people who know me would be shocked - i normally finish 1/4 to 1/2 of the rice given). I guess with the addition of black sauce and chilli (was pretty good), the so-so rice did perk up a little. However, all that rice isn’t agreeing with my stomach. I’m still burping out the gas now and I’m wondering if I am suffering from indigestion since my tummy hurts a little and I’m simply not hungry =( But that doesn’t stop me of thinking about food ;P

I am craving for my ma jie’s turnip cake - she gave me some the other day, but we finished within 2 days. 1/4 for our breakfast and 1/4 went for my lunch 2 consecutive days. I didn’t even get a chance to pan fried it till chow tar (I love the crunchy black bits) this time round!

Maybe I should just learn how to make it one day …