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Thursday, August 25, 2011

Of bumblebees and noodles

Things have really been heating up (hur hur) in the kitchen lately, what with the constant stream of cupcakes, cakes and whatnots to make. This week alone I've made 2 wedding cakes, and about 100 cupcakes, including mini ones!!

Phew!

And Aidan's turning 4 in a couple of weeks, and what does he want? A TRANSFORMER-BUMBLEBEE cake, like this one:



The only thing I could say to him was "SIAO AH?!!"

He's been such a great kid lately, helping me with my baking and generally not getting up to too much mischief so I can get work done. And he said, "Mama, you're the best Cooker!" Hmm...a pressure cooker maybe?

Anyways, in light of all this baking, I thought I'd post something different. A couple of weeks ago I made seafood hor fun and it garnered a bit of attention from friends on facebook asking for the recipe, so I thought I'd post it here.

Seafood Wat Tan Hor Fun (adapted from May's Favourites)
1 pkt fresh hor fun - at room temp. at loosened
250g medium green prawns
100g choy sum (chai sim)
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4-5 tbsp cooking oil
2 tbsp cornflour mixed with 4 tbsp water
2 cups chicken stock
White pepper to taste

Sauce Mix
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp chinese cooking wine
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar

Method
1. Rinse, peel and devein prawns, leaving tails intact.
2. Fry hor fun over a hot wok until fragrant and slightly burned. Use a little (1 tbsp) cooking oil if necessary. Transfer cooked hor fun to a serving dish.
3. Heat wok with 2 tbsp cooking oil and fry garlic lightly.
4. Add prawns and fry til they turn pink.
5. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil.
6. Add choy sum and cook lightly.
7. Add cornflour mixture, then reduce the heat.
8. Add Sauce Mix and stir, then slowly pour in beaten egg and stir again lightly for the "dropped egg" effect.
9. Pour sauce over the fried hor fun, sprinkle white pepper to taste and serve with green chillis if you like.


For more baking hijinks, visit http://www.buttercup-bakeshoppe.com





Wednesday, August 10, 2011

The boy who cried wolf

THE MOST HILARIOUS THING HAPPENED YESTERDAY.

It was just a typical Monday, filled with soccer practice, Chinese lessons (me teaching him 1 to 20 in Mandarin, and drawing out the characters; he picked it up pretty quick I must say, he can recite it all! Must be all the repetition before bed when EG pats him and counts to 20 in Chinese...anyways, I digress...) and the usual household errands.

We'd just returned from the park and I decided to fill the tub so he could have a bath rather than a quick shower. His "swimming pool" as he calls it. And I ducked downstairs to start preparing dinner.

All of a sudden, I heard cries of "Mum! Mum! Muuuuuum!" and I rushed upstairs in a panic, only to have him shout "Mum, the water, there isn't enough!" Hmph. So much for an S.O.S. I filled the tub with a little more water then left.

Ten minutes later, another cry for help. Again, I rushed up, only to have him tell me "Help! Help! The water is draining away!"

"No, it's not, there's still enough water in the tub for your to play in. And have you heard the story of the boy who cried wolf? I am NOT coming up again, I have to cook dinner, and no more cries of help!! Because I'm not coming up again, do you understand me?!"

*Pause*

"Are you going to tell me the boy and the wolf story?"

!!!!!!!

I went back downstairs. Five minutes later, I hear crying. REAL crying. Not wracking sobs, but teary enough to warrant another trudge up the stairs...sigh...

I entered the bathroom to see his tear-stained face and asked what happened. "Sniff...my...my....nan-nan." he sniffed, clutching his chest. "My fish bit me."

Turned out his fishy bath toy had accidentally clipped his nip, and I'm so terribly sorry, I'm a bad mother but I BURST OUT LAUGHING and then quickly kneeled by the bathtub and hung my head so he couldn't see me fighting the giggles while I tried to comfort him.

"Oh you *gasp giggle* poor thing... *choke chortle* are you ok? Does it still *pbbbttttHAHAHApbttt*... hurt?"

And inside me I was thinking, Talk about karma!