Little Joy Factory

Basil grows very well in my balcony as it gets almost 6 hours of full sun daily.  However, I don't harvest basil often as I only use a few leaves on bread or pizza.   Just a couple of weeks ago,  I discovered a  recipe for basil oil sauce, which can be used in many ways: drizzle over salads, on top of grilled meat or fish, mix it with rice for a delicious basil garlic rice, etc. So , I harvested 2 cup of basil and made a jar of basil oil sauce. It's fantastic ! Now the humble chicken thighs get a major upgrade with this sauce .

If there is one basic bread recipe that is suitable for making savory buns, I would say it must be Master Baker Wu Pao Chun's toast recipe. Wu Pao Chun 吳寶春 is known for his “Champion Breads” of Red Wine Logan and Lychee Rose Royal bread which used premium ingredients such as rose petals, dried lychees and millet wine. With huge chunks of dried lychee bits and an abundance of roasted walnut in the bread, every bite we took exploded with zestiness.

When I was in Shanghai , I frequently patronized XibeiYouMianCun 西贝莜面村 , a stylish northwestern Chinese restaurant.  It serves healthy and delicious Chinese food ranges widely from soup Xiao Long Bao filled with mutton, to oat noodles with tomato sauce. There are also Mongolian beef which is very popular too, as well as steamed vegetarian dumplings to try out. I simply can't have enough of them. How I wish this restaurant open a branch in Singapore !

This cheese loaf was a hit with my family. I've made it almost every week. The crust was crisp, but the bread was soft with awesome cheese flavor. I usually make the bread to go with some tomato or mushroom soup, and it was the perfect accompaniment. 

Sea bass is the most sort after food-fish in Singapore. Locals calls it Jin Mu Lu. Sea bass has low calorie, low cholesterol, high protein and omega-3 fatty acid content, it's the fish equivalent to chicken breasts. Sea bass is often used for steaming in Chinese cooking.  I never thought of grilling the sea bass until I saw a photo from " beitaichufang ", a gourmet lifestyle and food magazine based in China. The grilled fish looks so delicious !

2015转瞬即逝, 2016 也已过半 ，已经整整一年没有光顾我的快乐工坊了！忙啊忙，都市人的通病。。。 终于有时间坐下来写点东西， 思绪不禁飘到去年7月份。 去了趟欧洲出公差，当地人文、历史、古迹和风景，深深地吸引着我。和美国的粗犷壮丽相比，欧洲精致小巧，犹如一幅古画。遗憾的是，由于大量移民的涌入，社会治安问题堪忧。 即使今年二月又去了一次，也因心有余悸, 很多地方都没能光顾。或许是在新加坡这个小岛上呆得太久了，安全意识淡漠,  难免对自己生存能力是否退化产生疑虑。新加坡之外的世界也许才是更加真实的。希望女儿有一天也有机会去别的国家求学、工作或者生活一段时间， 锻炼一下思维，开阔视野，让自己的人生更丰富。 8月开始，为布置新家，一头扎进淘宝，漂洋过海地从中国买家具和各种“神器”。不仅仅是价格的因素，对于我这个宅女来说，能避开新加坡的人潮，随时随地在网上讨价还价，吃顿下午茶的功夫就把宝贝买到手，很有满足感。更何况 同样的产品，选择如此之多,  真是受宠若惊呢。 如今中国魅力四射，内心对她既熟悉又陌生。随着离家越来越久, 情感上的归属感也越来越模糊。在外二十载，不知不觉中, 已是“边缘人”。然人生没有“如果”，从不喜回头看，唯有前行。无论选择了哪一条路，都会有不同的风景，有不同的人相伴而行。无所谓好与不好，一切皆是上天的安排。 今年又赶上孩子小六毕业考，很难专注在“小悦工坊”里。烘培一放下，就是一年了。如今，毕业考在即，孩子也在自觉地做最后的冲刺。在陪读间隙，拿起以前的食谱，烤了这个肉桂苹果蛋糕面包。喜欢这款蛋糕因为它用吐司盒来烤， 很别致。烤的时候，肉桂的香味飘满厨房和客厅。很久以前烤过一次，没想到时隔这么久，挑剔的小女儿竟然把它列到最想吃的食物的第一位。觉得有必要分享一下。也许很久没有开炉，孩子们竟然一口气点了好几样她们以前吃腻的东西。想想之前每次都是我主动征求意见，现在两个女儿竟然要猜拳来决定先做谁点的食物，感觉自己“美食博主”的地位瞬间高大上了。 Cinnamon Apple Fritter Bread Ingredients: 1/3 cup brown sugar 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 cup white sugar 1/2 cup butter, soft...

I baked this flaxseed sourdough bread with my whole wheat sourdough starter yesterday. I noticed sourdough starter made with whole wheat flour is much more active than the one made with all-purpose flour.

最近，我迷上了西式的酸面包。用自己培养的天然酵母引子(sourdough starter) 成功地烤了 普通酸面包 之后，我上周又接连烤了几个核桃果干酸面包。果干是以前就一直用朗姆酒浸着收在冰厨里的，现在派上了用场。刚出炉的酸面包, 芳香四溢，外脆内软，有嚼劲。 面香、酒香、盐香、果香、乳酸香, 沁人心脾!

When I first read about the sourdough bread, it reminds me of  Chinese old dough  mantou  (老面馒头), a steamed bun with wild yeast starter before commercial yeast was commonly used. Growing up in northern China, I have been eating old dough mantou as an alternative staple to rice during my childhood. 

I love homemade bread, I always do. Under such a hot weather like today, it's the perfect time to bake bread at home.  The yeast is activated easily, and dough rises really fast.  I plan to try a different recipe, and I am glad I did.

Entering April, the temperature in Singapore has been hovering over 30°C for a week.  A meal cooked on a hot stove has become a challenge for me.  Anything quick and easy for dinner?  This Salmon recipe from Canada Living  seems a perfect choice. 

Wechat 相当于中国的Facebook, 在华人圈子里很火, 你知道吗？我在偶然的机会里，在2013年才和Wechat结缘，认识了来自大江南北的朋友。Wechat 信息丰富，四通八达, 成了我在网络上最喜欢"逛"的地方。如果说，Facebook 主要以英语为媒介，那么Wechat 则以华语为主导。连我70多岁的妈妈也在Wechat 上和我们作日常的交流。一句话，Wechat 势如破竹，锐不可当。 最近在Wechat 美食群里，结识了一班美食爱好者。大家切磋技艺，让我受益匪浅。 群里的姐妹们最近都在鼓捣面食。要知道蒸花卷馒头可是我这个北方人的强项啊。我特意做了这个玫瑰花卷来凑热闹。它看起来难，做起来非常容易。赶紧把它学起来，真的很可爱啊!

在所有的美食中，我还是觉得烘面包最轻松，又有满足感。从第一次做面包起，从没有遇到面团发不起来的问题。一方面食谱很重要，另一方面，要归功于这里的气候。炎热潮湿特别适合面团发酵。我这个喜欢DIY美食的北方女子，最终爱上了新加坡这个热带岛国，可以说面包也是“功不可没”的。

What will you do with minced beef? I have made beef ball and beef lasagna before. Yesterday was Good Friday, I was in a mood to make a special dish with exotic flavors. Chili con carne sounds gorgeous to me.  While the origin of this dish remains controversial,  many food historians agree that chili con carne is an American dish with Mexican roots. Chili con carne means "chilli with meat". Though there is no one recipe for this dish, the basic ingredients are more or less the same: spicy chili with ground beef, red kidney beans, tomatoes, onions and garlic. 

March school holiday is a short break for both students and parents. It feels good to rest in the middle of school terms and get fully charged before new term starts. Travelling abroad has not been in my agenda for some time, not even to the neighbouring countries. There are already so many things to do in Singapore, we are spoiled for choice. Going slow, exploring local attractions, and enjoying home-cooked food are my family's holiday theme of this March holiday.   During holiday,  we eat brunch at home before set off.  I like brunch as I have enough time to prepare a few dishes and serve before noon time. Stir-fried fish fillet with ginger and spring onions (scallions) is one of the dish I usually cook for dinner, and now I serve for brunch.  The cooking method is similar to  stir-fried chicken .  The fish fillet is marinated and lightly fried till almost cooked. Then, cook it with ginger and spring onions. Actually, the marinade is origin...

To prepare for Chinese New Year reunion dinner, I have been trying Chinese recipes for the last few months. It's been some time since I last cooked western food. My daughters start missing butter and cheese.

Stir-fried chicken with cashew nuts is a timeless classic dish with gorgeous colors and tastes - it's quick and easy to make,  perfect for a weeknight dinner.  This dish is popular among Chinese people also because of its symbolic meaning.  It means "a bumper grain harvest" -  wǔ gǔ fēng dēng (五谷丰登) in Chinese. Another saying is, cashew nut (腰果) resembles gold because the nut's shape symbolises the ingot of ancient times. So, we cook this dish during Chinese New Year in a bid to get wealthy.

I accidentally created these crunchy and fragrant peanut cookies last week.  It's not the traditional melt-in-the-mouth peanut cookies,  nor the peanut butter cookies made with peanut butter spread. It's made of real butter, ground peanut, and peanut oil. These are taste-bud-pleasing peanut cookies. By combining butter and oil, you end up with cookies that have the great buttery flavor and the soft crumbly texture that you ever could with pure butter or pure peanut oil.  I call them my "happy little surprise". Brought some to the office, everyone loved them and requested for more. Before I tell you how I came up with the recipe,  I have to say I don't like the cookies with peanut butter spread. With its added emulsifiers, sweeteners, and hydrogenated oils,  they are too artificial to me.  I don't like shortening and margarine either. Did I tell you what happened to the can...

爱上了烘焙，就好象在我原有的生活空间里打开了一扇明亮的窗。透过它，我看到了外面色彩斑斓的美食世界。也是透过它，我才知道马来西亚有这么多擅长烹饪的高手。 这源于马来西亚是东南亚风味美食的聚集地，传统美食在当地得到了很好的传承。尤其是槟城和怡保，无论是当地人还是游客，说起那里的美食都啧啧称赞。 食物，还是旧时的美味啊。

Do you love to buy food and groceries in bulks for your family? I do. I loved the Costco experience during the stay in U.S a few years ago. When I heard Fairprice Warehouse Club follows the model of Costco, I was very excited and could not wait to visit it . With the high cost-of-living in Singapore, buying quality goods in bulk definitely helps to reduce cost. Since its opening, I have patronized the warehouse club twice and have spent a few hundred dollars there.