Microwave Chocolate Cake

This is one cake recipe which I will keep as long as I cannot find something simpler. Why? If there's any emergency / surprise visits from family, relatives or friends, I can whipped out a simple chocolate cake within 5 mins. Just combine the dry ingredients together - flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt together. In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients together too - brewed coffee, oil  and vanilla essence.  Then, blend everything together. Pour into a microwavable cake pan and microwave on high for 5 mins. If I still have some time before the guests arrive, I will whip out some chocolate sauce and just glaze it.  I am always happy with the results and there's always some wows and yummies from everyone who have tried it.

As you can see from the photo, chocolate cake has always been the best seller...ha!ha! I took this with my handphone while joking about chocolate being girls'  best friends, etc, etc, etc....I guess chocolate is still girls' 2nd best friends. Its so sinful, its just so heavenly. My other half often jokes with his buddies saying "my wife prefers chocolates than diamonds". I read in one of magazines before that chocolate produces a chemical calls phenylethyamine and this is THE chemical that sends out the "loveeeee feeling" signal from our brain and we will feel so loved.  For me, when Aunty Flo comes to town, I will definitely bake or microwave myself a chocolate cake. Hmm....I am hearing Shakira's I am feeling the love........in my head now....ha!ha!

Tamagoyaki Burger

Ever since I found "water roux", I have baked all my bread with this roux. It is indeed so soft and fluffy. Even my 2 kiddos will ask for 2nds. Today, I decided to make myself some tamagoyaki burger.

I am one of those who loves everything simple and a buddy of mine told me that I could make myself some tamagoyaki within minutes without buying a tamago pan. Now...I was all ears.  Its quite simple actually. For the tamgoyaki, the ingredients which I used were eggs, water, soya sauce, bonito flakes and oil for cooking in a non-stick frying pan.  The above photo is the tamagoyaki...see the layers....yummy!!!

Now...the fun part, stack my burger.  Firstly, my lovely soft bread being buttered on both side, mayo, cheese, shredded lettuce, pickles and tamagoyaki. Some love it just the way it is but for me, chilli sauce is a must...ha!ha! So, here's my version of the tamagoyaki burger. Now...where's my green tea........

Asian Cabbage Rice

I love cabbage rice...its something which is so simple and yet delicious. Whenever I mentioned this 1-dish meal to my friends, they will refer it to a South Indian rice dish. I was also very interested to know what's the difference between my version and the South Indian's. From what I can see, the South Indian version uses green peas, tomatoes, green chilli, cumin seeds, coriander powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and coriander leaves. Wow...sounds delicious!  My humble cabbage rice which was passed down from one generation to the next is very very simple. The ingredients are garlic, fried shallots (to sprinkle on top of the rice), cabbage, fish cake and seasonings. Just stir-fry it in a wok and mixed it with "just cooked" white rice.  If there's lap cheong (chinese sausage) in fridge, I will just slice the lap cheong into pieces and add as a topping. My aunt who loves mushrooms will julienne it and stir-fry it together with the cabbage. I guess this 1-dish meal is pretty versatile. When my other half cooks it, he will add chicken or pork slices.

Bread Using Water Roux

This is my 2nd try using the water roux technique.  This time, my other half was full of praises. Tadaa...its really really true. This photo is taken on the 2nd day.  The texture is just amazing...it really like the breads and buns which we get outside. Seriously...I am hooked. From now onwards, I will use the water roux base for all my bread recipes. I read that you just have to replace 25% of the flour with water roux base.  Will try and see....

Fruit Cake

Fruit cakes....when I was young, I only got to eat fruit cakes either during Christmas or weddings. Whenever I asked my Grandaunt why I can't have fruit cakes, she will say its because its only baked during special occasions.  I related this story to my other half and he said that I should just walked into the cake shop and buy myself a piece...ha!ha!  For me, I will bake fruit cake once every forth night. Only during Christmas, I will decorate it with sugar paste and even iced it.  Even though I have a few fruit cake recipes, I still love trying new recipes for this wonderful cake. This recipe is called the Quick Fruit Cake.

ABC Soup

This is the simplest of the simplest soup. My other half and I grew up drinking this soup. Why is it called the ABC soup? I asked my Grandaunt before though and she said that even a child can do this as its as easy as ABC. Well, if that's what the older generation thinks, then I guess that's why its called the ABC Soup.  There are so many ways to make this soup.  Some add in pork bones, chicken bones, carrots, potatoes, corns, button mushrooms, etc, etc, etc. I have seen my Grandaunt adding in dried sotong.  I guess you can add in whatever veggies you like.  This is one soup which my 2 kiddos will ask for seconds...yippee!!!

Rectangular Pizza

"Before Going Into The Oven"

 "Ready To Be Eaten....Yummy!!!"

Pizza is another favourite bread item in my household. As they say, pizza is a round flat bread with tomato paste, cheese and what-ever-toppings you want to have on it. Well, my other half decided that this time our pizza will not be round but rectangular. So...tadaa...here is our own rectangular pizza. When I joked with a friend of mine about our rectangular pizza thingy, he laughed and said there's a similar pizza in Rome which is known as Al Taglio Pizza.

Al Taglio or just plain old rectangular pizza, no worries....we just love pizzas!!!