Teachers' Day 教师节

Teachers' Day 教师节is around the corner. World Teachers' Day is celebrated across the world on 5 Sept, however official school holiday in Singapore falls on 1 September.

Our good friend, Diana offered to bake some cupcakes for our princess as she has received some orders.
Diana baked the cupcakes and we offered to decorate the cupcakes.  Both Diana and Ling's kids brought these lovely cupcakes as Teachers' Day Gift to their respective teachers.

When the parents collected the cupcakes, they were amazed with the decorations. Some parent and teachers even commented : "It's too lovely to eat" (太漂亮, 不舍得吃!) ~ LOL!

More photos can be viewed here

~~~ Yummy Poppyseed Cupcakes ~~~

2nd "workshop" on Snow Skin Mooncake 冰皮月饼

After the 1st trial of making the snow skin mooncakes, Karen's colleague shared another recipe with her.
We made pandan flavour snowskin mooncakes today, using this new recipe.  The taste and texture were much better, nicer than the 1st trial we made. 

Most of us like this recipe best as the taste were nicer.
We bought some new "character prints" and they turned out great too, some prints were not visible ~ sigh!

 

We even tried in on "egg" & "konnyaku" moulds!   LOL ~ it works!

Click here for more images on flickr.com (some not too visible on its print)

Another round of Vanilla Butter Cupcakes

Vanilla butter cupcakes seems like a "popular demand" these weeks, so we baked again today.  We used some new cupcakes liners for this round which we bought from Phoon Huat.

Salad & Fruit

After sending my god-daughter to school this morning, I decided to prepare a very simple salad for breakfast with the leftover red capsicum, Japanese cucumber, carrots, red cabbage and sweet corns. 

Today, I used one new 'nori puncher' which Ling bought from Cake DIY, Hong Kong during her recent trip.  They are unlike other nori/craft punchers, didnt give a complete cut as mentioned by Karen.  I tried using the "crispy" seaweed, somehow it turned out "ok" with little 'hiccups'.

A Fruitful Day back to school on Friday

While I was browsing through Tona's blog 3wks ago, I learnt that Shannon's Blog has various charaben bento lovers' blog links.  I have only managed to join in week 11 & 13 so far.

I was cracking my head what to submit for Hapabento B.O.M.B for August entry ~ "Back To School".

My god-daughter has yet requested bento for school past weeks.  She loves the fruit tarts that her mom baked last evening. 

She'd a lousy day after school yesterday (lots of homework to be completed), so I thought of making a "fruitful morning" the next day.  I packed the fruits tarts, small mandarin orange, her favourite apple flavour Yakult and some "fish" shape biscuit for her  to bring to school.   She said to me "I'm sure, today I will have a "fruitful" school day!" and she left for her lessons early in the morning. 

Unfortunately, I was late for the submission :(

Fruit Tarts

We have always loved fruit tarts, so today Ling is baking one.

This is her very 1st try on fruit tarts from baking the tart shells to the custard fillings.

The Verdict ?

The tarts are simply refreshing! *Her mother-in-law loves it.

My saliva is drooling simply by looking at it.  Especially, the ones with heaps of mangoes on it :) Hmm... yum yum... and when it goes into my mouth, it's simply Heaven!

Strawberry Short Cake

Today is Ling's mother-in-law's 71st birthday. 

Nowadays, Ling will try to bake instead of buying from a cake shop.  Remember, she has a new oven?  Trying to make full use of it :) 

Finally, she decided on a Strawberry Shortcake with Chantilly Cream.  This is her 3rd tries on the cake.  1st time, our dear friend, Diana baked the cake using her own oven, so the cake turned out beautifully.  Ling did the frosting for the cake and everyone loves it.  2nd time, Ling baked the cake herself using her microwave oven and it was a total flop.  Her cake came out half cooked.  The top part was alright but the bottom was not cooked.

This time round, she was quite confident that the cake will come out alright since it's going to be bake in the new oven (Fingers crossed).  And YES, the cake did come out beautifully although it did sink a bit after cooling. Ling then chilled the cake overnight in the fridge.  The next day, she frost the cake and decorate it. 

Here is the finished product!!

The verdict? Mother-in-Law loved it and so does everyone else.  Texture of cake was soft and the fresh cream also complements the cake very well.  This cake is "Super Yummy"

Ling didnt miss out the traditional "red hard boiled eggs" 红鸡蛋 for birthday celebration.

Snow Skin Mooncake 冰皮月饼

Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节) is traditionally celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month and it's the 2nd most  important festival after Chinese Lunar New Year for Chinese people. 

Getting the traditional mooncakes or snow skin mooncakes are rather costly from the various bakeries.

Our good friend, Karen had an idea to hands on the snow skin mooncakes, so we went to Phoon Huat and get the necessary ingredients after browsing through several online recipes.

For the 1st trial, we referred to Amanda's recipe. Thanks Amanda, it's really easy with simple steps.  A friend of mine, Nicole made good mooncakes, she gave a tip to add a small drop of banana essence and it's really tasted good.  Thanks Nicole. 

We had a small workshop at Karen's place, it's fun!  We 'charaben' the traditional mooncakes using our bento tools and filled them with red bean & lotus paste.

Vanilla Butter Cupcakes

Ling has been looking for a good vanilla butter cake recipe - an easy and fuss free recipe.  Finally, she's found it at Precious Moment.  Thanks again Edith for yet another wonderful recipe. The cake turned out great, simply moist and soft too.

She wanted to give them a "Mini Animal Makeover" ~ This is Ling maiden try on an animal theme. So, that explains why we have a Lion that looks like a Sunflower,  Tiger looks like a Cat and a Monkey looks like a ... hmm??  Maybe a Bear?

Overall, she had fun decorating with help from her 9yr old girl, sticking the eyes and ears of the animals.  Ling will definitely improve with more practice.

 

Piggy & Bear Pancakes

As mentioned, 2 days of school holidays. 

Ling prepared breakfast for all this morning.  It's a great pancakes (compared to the one I made sometime last week - 天渊之别 far apart as heaven & earth! Take a look on these lovely piggy and bear.  She used the same brand, White Wings Shaker Golden Syrup Pancake Mix.  No character moulds this time ~ Freehand!

We ate with butter spread, ice cream and even Macdonald's hotcake syrup.  Delicious ~ Thanks Ling, it's great!

Little Twin "Stars" Sandwiches

Once I got back home, I ate both fillings of ang ku kueh bought earlier. Yummy!

Full of inspiration (like real).....

My god-daughter and god-son were still sleeping, 2 days of school holiday.  I made Little Twin "Stars" sandwiches for both of them. They both woke up right after I have completed 2 kyaraben sandwiches.  What a good timing!

Bought these 2 Little Twin Stars lunch boxes early this year.

Ang Ku Kueh 红龟糕

Ang Ku Kuih 红龟糕 is one of my favourite "kuih".  It's one of the nyonya kuih which traditionally has various fillings - grouded peanut, green bean paste, salty bean paste, etc.

It's been years ago I have not tasted this kuih and kinda missed it so much, so I decided to drive to 吉祥食品 (Blk 1 Everton Park, Singapore; 8am-5pm daily, Sundays & PHs - closed).

It's only 1/2hr after the shop opened early in the morning and there were only 2 types of fillings (grounded peanuts & green bean paste) available at that time, so I grabbed enough for home and our good friend, Diana.  She's not tasted ang ku kuih from this shop and she likes the green bean paste filling.

Probably one of these days should learn how to make our own ang ku kuih and various nyonya kuih.

Both looked alike! Find the difference - look at the pandan leaves.  The 4 edges which have been trimmed is green bean paste filling.

Vanilla Cupcake

Ling baked this vanilla butter cupcakes for a first trial today.
Simple and yet yummy!

Chocolate Bread

Bought this chocolate bread from a neighbourhood bakery stall over the weekend.  It's soft and taste good but it's too plain for my god-daughter.

After school, the usual activities is to complete her homework.  "Boring" session for a active girl like her, so I made this simple sandwich for her "tea break".

Simple Meals of the Day

After the great meals yesterday, have decided to make pancakes for breakfast. 

Last evening went to FairPrice supermarket, WhiteWings Panjacks Pancake Mix caught my eyes as it indicated as "Just Add Water".  Well, I need something easy & fast as I have to manage other activities on Sunday. 

The pancakes didn't turn out in 'good appearance' but they are very tasty!

Used the 焼き型 silicon moulds bought from Daiso, they are pretty easy to use compared to frying eggs.

 

Stir Fried carrots, french beans & bean curd and steam egg with minced pork for lunch.  As for the steam egg with minced pork, didn't add enough water and too much meat.... sigh :(

Bought this triangle sandwich cutter recently and I made used of it to prepare these egg mayonnaise sandwiches for my god-daughter to share with her friends after swimming lesson in the late afternoon.

We were invited to our good friend - Karen's house for dinner.  Thanks Karen!