Little Joy Factory

  Participated in New Year Delights 2013 organised by Sonia, I am happy to "meet" so many bloggers who have passion in baking.  Browsing through their attractive posts as well as their blogs, I am like a book lover who is in a library :  running my fingers along the spines of books, stopping to pull titles from the shelf and reading them diligently.  I have saved several recipes from this event and plan to try them someday (click here for the post I submitted for this event).  Several of my cookies jars are empty now, but I have no time to bake more.  Seaweed Fish Fillet caught my eye as it appears in several posts , and it's easy to make!  I decided to bake this snack to top up my empty jars. They turned out as nice as expected. Crispy with slightly salty and spicy taste, seaweed fish fillet is a great snack you can eat when sitting on the couch and watching T.V.  Since it's not deep-fried but baked, maybe it's a relatively healthier choice than potato

This morning, I went to my daughters' school as a parent volunteer to support Chinese Mother Tongue program.  I was tasked to manage Quiz Corner. Teachers have prepared some quizzes related to CNY. Girls are required to pick one question from a box, and answer in Mandarin. The reward is a sticker. It's interesting to see the girls queueing for the quizzes, trying to figure out the meanings of the Chinese words. Some of them gave the answers in English or dialect spontaneously rather than in Mandarin. Seems girls don't use common Chinese words such as “柑”, “压岁钱”，“元宵节 ”，“除夕”，“春联”, “腊肠” etc so often at home.  It's said that almost 80% of the pupils in this school come from English-spoken family.   I am proud that Mandarin is my mother tongue, also my daughters'.  Even if it's not, it's an asset if we have a good command of a language like Mandarin, which has nearly one billion native speakers. Some people belittle Mandarin simply because it's not

It's a tradition to have nian gao (steamed rice cake) during Lunar New Year. It has an auspicious meaning of promotions or prosperity in work and life year after year (年年高升).    Baked nian gao brings a nice change to the traditional steamed one. Garnished with generous amount of walnuts,  it's crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Sugar is omitted in my recipe as red dates have natural sweet smell. In addition, I spread a layer of red bean paste in the middle, which enhanced the sweetness of the rice cake. With fresh milk, eggs, and vegetable oil, every bite of  baked  nian gao  is like an explosion of flavor in your mouth.  Absolutely sinful!   I served this baked nian gao to family and friends during today's gathering.  It's indeed a popular snack that no one wants to give a miss. BAKED RICE CAKE (NIAN GAO) INGREDIENTS: Batter: - 2 cups glutinous rice flour (160oz) - 1 teaspoon baking powder - 1/2 cup vegetable oil - 1/2 cup fresh mil

  Don't have sweet tooth for traditional CNY cookies? Try Mozzarella cheese cookies! They are easy to make yet addictive. Soft and fluffy with pure cheese and butter taste make them another must-have during Chinese New Year. I made two batches of them yesterday after work. It took me less than an hour to prepare the dough, cut out the cookies and send them to oven. When the first batch came out of the oven, the whole kitchen smell heavenly. My daughters kept running into the kitchen for another bite while I was busy baking the second batch.  Eventually, I could barely store one jar of these cookies out of 60+ pieces I baked. Hope there are still some left on new year's day, which is just 3 days away from now. Unlike other cookies, Mozzarella cheese cookies do not have added sugar in it. This is definitely a bonus point for people who concern about blood sugar level, especially during festival seasons.   With these savoury cheesy cookies, my new year goodies box