Little Joy Factory

Try this oven-baked matchstick potatoes. It's fast and fabulous!  I baked them this morning before preparing our Sunday brunch.  It's a great snack and a much healthier choice as compared to traditional french fries. With olive oil, you don't have to worry about the calories. Healthy and delicious! I used 800g Holland potatoes bought from supermarket, peeled and sliced.  Tossed with olive oil and salt.  Baked for 30 minutes, added 2 sprigs fresh rosemary. Continued for another 5-10 minutes. Rosemary gives off herbal and subtly menthol fragrance, smells so fresh! Research said the smell could boost your memory and enhance the ability to remember events and to complete tasks at particular times. No wonder I texted a group of friends for the upcoming Christmas gathering, in the midst of baking these lovely matchstick potatoes! The memories of those days working in the training field kept flashing in my mind this morn...

Yesterday, we watched two movies in a roll. One is The Hunger Game: Catching Fire , chosen by my elder daughter. Another one is Frozen , chosen by my younger one. Initially, I tried to convince them to watch only one of the movies. However, they both preferred the one they chose, and did not want to give in. Since it's school holiday now, I decided to watch both movies, and really glad we did that. "Fire" and "Frozen" are equally fantastic and entertaining! No wonder they set worldwide box office record.   Speaking of entertaining,    I Heart Cooking Clubs also set Easy Entertaining as the theme of the week.  It's to cook a dish that is perfect for serving to guests but, easy to prepare.   Coconut and Prawn Soup recipe from Donna Hay's website caught my attention as it calls for red curry paste. I bought a jar of red curry paste and cooked Thai Red Curry Fish not long ago.  Thought of cooking the same dish again ...

The weekend is finally here,  and it looks like it will be a beautiful one as I am "going" to a potluck party at I Heart Cooking Clubs !  This passionfruit syrup Bundt cake is the one I will "bring" to the party.   I started to appreciate passionfruit recently after I learned how to select ripe passionfruit. A friend told me that ripe passionfruit is the one with wrinkled, dimpled and dented skin, not smooth skin. What?! This is the first time I heard people perfer wrinkles :). Seems passionfruit is an ugly duckling. It tastes intensely aromatic, richly fragrant. No wonder it has an alluring Chinese name “百香果”, which means "fruit with hundreds of fragrances". Furthermore, passionfruit is rich source of antioxidants, vitamin C and fiber. I eat it every other day now. Can't wait for them to ripen. For those who still don't know how to appreciate passionfruit, here is the secret : Choose passionfruit that looks plump despite any wrinkles. If...

November is known as one of the Monsoon months here in Singapore. It rains almost everyday, sometimes with thunderstorms. I hope it won't rain today as we have Family Day at Sentosa later in the afternoon,  an event organized by my company to promote family bonding. This is the 2nd time we participated Family Day after I joined this company. The last time was in 2009, when we just returned from U.S after one year assignment in Utah.  Kids have grown up from preschoolers then to preteens now.  The years are flying by!  Whenever I look back, I do share the feeling that the days are long, but the years are short.  So, let's get the most of life and enjoy every moment with our family. Right now, I enjoy myself very much in cooking and baking for my family, especially with friends from  I Heart Cooking Clubs . This week, we are baking tarts and pies, which are a fantastic way to celebrate any occasi...

Singapore is situated near Equator ,  no distinctive seasons. So, what's in season now?     When I Heart Cooking Clubs put In Season as the cooking theme for this week, I am rejoiced at the abundant choices I have.  With only raining season and dry season , everything seems fit for this theme.  However,  I chose to settle with Beetroot, which is a vegetable available all year round, but is totally unfamiliar to me. Hope I can learn a new dish and bring to my family.

Sandwiches are one of the simplest stables we have at home during morning rush hours. Grab two slices of bread, sandwich with one fried egg, one lettuce leave, and a slice of cheddar cheese. Heat up in microwave for 15 seconds, pack and go! When I Heart Cooking Clubs announced Sandwich Sensations  as the theme of the week, it offered a good opportunity for me to prepare a "deluxe" sandwiches for my family. The first step is to choose the bread. Since we always use store-bought bread for convenience, it's time to put in some effort and bake my own soft and rich bread.

My family have always been a big fan of eggs in all their forms, steamed, boiled and fried. We consume almost 3 dozens of eggs evey week. The most common home-style dish is stir-fried eggs with vegetables such as spring onion, garlic chive, capsicum, tomato. We don't usually add cheese to the eggs except for omelette. Frittata is an Italian omelette with cheese and vegetables with or without meat. It's partially cooked on the stove top then grilled in the oven. The idea of making a frittata at home came from Donna Hay's Roast Vegetable Frittata recipe . Since I don't have a pan that can be used on both stove top and in the oven, I decided to bake it in the oven.

Today, it's the last day of final semester exams for my daughters. Though there are 3 days till weekend,  and one month till year end school holiday, we are already in the holiday mood. So, what's for dinner tonight?  

1-2 dishes and soup is the common way to serve our dinner.  Sometimes we get a bit bored , that's when my weekend cooking kicks in.  On Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, I would try to cook something different from the daily meal, such as dumplings , baozi (steamed buns) , pizza , pasta , steamboat etc. In a more relaxed mood, we often have brunch and high tea instead of the normal 3 meals during weekends. I made this delicious breakfast bread as our brunch last Sunday.  To me, it's similar to pizza,  but tastes more flavourful.

Today is Hari Raya Haji , a festival celebrated by Muslims.  It's also a public holiday in Singapore. I love holiday in the middle of the week, it makes me feel more relaxed than Saturdays cos there is no enrichment class for my daughters.  With alarm clock turned off, everyone just sleeps until awake naturally. Slowly get up, and then starts to think what's for breakfast. On this lazy morning, I chose Chicken, Tomato and Mozzarella Pasta Salad from Donna Hay 's breakfast menu. My family don't have the habit of taking salad in the morning. It simply gives me a "cold" feeling.

Fish fillets are quite popular in my house. My mom often uses "Happy Call" double pan to grill them, while I make breaded fish fillets occasionally.  Baking fish fillets in the oven is a wonderful alternative to fried or grilled fish.  Donna Hay's baked fish fillets beautifully displays array of colors with tomatoes, garlic, lemon and capers. I have all the ingredients in my pantry except for capers. Well, it's not difficult to find it from local supermarkets like Fairprice Finest.   The healthy baked fish fillets taste so unique. It's an explosion of sweet, savoury and sour flavor that we have never tried before. I am glad that my family love the fresh taste. Through this dish, I get to know that capers have long been a favourite in the Mediterranean region. The small, green herb buds lend a piquant sour and salty flavor to salads, dressings, sauces, vegetables and a variety of main dishes. ...

Yesterday was Singapore Children's Day. As a working mom, I did not take one day off to celebrate with my daughters.  Instead, I baked this Apple Slice early in the morning,  as a post-Children's Day gift :). The recipe is adapted from Donna Hay 's website.  I Heart Cooking Club   is introducing this Australia leading cookbook author as a featured chef . Members are encouraged to cook up her recipes for the next six months. Both IHCC and Donna Hay are new to me.  Since I decided to bake something for my daughters,  I browsed Donna Hay's website and opened the category " For Kids ". All her recipes look gorgeous with beautiful photographs.  My daughters happily chose Apple Slice . I like simple recipes. Donna Hay's recipes are simply prepared, all the ingredients are easily accessible.  This Apple Slice tastes flavorful, absolutely a wonderful dessert to lighten up our Saturday mo...