Little Joy Factory

难得周五遇到公共假期，可以好好享受一个长长的周末。 昨晚就把闹钟关掉，早上睡到自然醒。准备了两个清爽的小菜作早餐，简单可口。自从有了NESCAFE PICCOLO， 每逢周末，早餐后泡杯摩卡或卡普奇诺，悠闲地坐在家里享受早上的时光。好惬意啊！ 要知道这份恬静在平日可是可望而不可及的。每天六点闹钟一响，就开始和时间赛跑，早餐都是在车里吃的。送了孩子们去学校，就直接驾车去公司，晚上到家已经7点了。。。“日出而作，日落而息”? 现在连小学生都做不到，更何况你我这样的上班族？ 不过，工作着，还是幸福的。在职场上摸爬滚打了十多年，经历过升职加薪的喜悦，也经历过公司倒闭裁员的无奈。任何时候，都要和自己说，这就是生活，有苦有乐，有得有失。正所谓“塞翁失马，焉知祸福？”　 想想最开心的还是第一份工作。同事们都是刚出校门的学生，单纯，热情，心无芥蒂。也有竞争，也有压力，可是那时的笑容是最真诚的。 即使现在大家各奔东西，友谊依然深厚。因为我们一起度过了人生最宝贵的年华，记忆里珍藏着彼此青春的模样 。碰巧看到下面的句子，觉得有点触景生情，贴出来和大家共勉： Friendship means understanding, not agreement. It means forgiveness, not forgetting. It means the memories last, even if contact is lost. 好了，言归正传，既然是周末，当然要好好犒劳一下自己和家人了。做了这个琥珀核桃零食，又香又甜，吃下去，真的停不了口。我喜欢这个食谱，因为核桃没有经过油炸，相对健康一点。当然外面也有卖的，罐装的，可是哪有自己做得新鲜又经济实惠？ 至于孩子们，她们又要求 Famous Amos 曲奇 ，已经在烤箱里啦！每次她们都会带一些去学校，和好朋友分享。一来这是她们最喜欢的饼干；二来，她们也想向朋友们“炫耀“她们妈妈的手艺。还好，每次都好评不断。我开玩笑说，改次学校嘉年华会或者慈善义卖，我就做这款饼干，比起棉花糖，爆玉米花之类的，多少健康一点，又好吃，保证大卖！ HOW TO MAKE CARAMELIZED WALNUTS (3 MINUTES VIDEO) CARAMELIZED WALNUTS （琥珀核桃...

  Last year,  I received "World's Best Mom" award from my younger daughter as Mother's Day gift. I post the "certificate" on the wall in my office. I joked that it took almost 10 years for me to receive this award. It's indeed a tough yet rewarding journey bringing up babies. Looking ahead, parenting a teen would be more challenging. Hope I receive another "certificate" in 5-10 years' time... This year, Mother's Day is just one-week away.  While anticipating "priceless" gifts from my children,  as a daughter,  I have been shopping around for a perfect gift for my mother.  She has brought up 3 of us, and now still helping me take care of my children... No matter what gift I buy for her, I know I am not able to repay her unconditional love to me and my family. I was at Marks & Spencer in Orchard last week. Did not find the perfect gift there, instead, bou...

Today is Labour Day, a public holiday in Singapore.  May all the workers here, the blue or white collar, young or old, local or foreigners, happy at work and receive fair treatment. To celebrate, I baked this rich moist Lemon Cake for my family. My daughters like it so much that they would like to reserve two pieces as their breakfast tomorrow. It's an easy-to-make cake, just like the Walnut Cake , simple and yummy. With lemon zest and lemony glaze, this cake is sweet and buttery with fresh citrus taste. I got the recipe from a blog. However, I did not save the link. If you happen to see this recipe from the web, please let me know so that I can link back to the original recipe. I followed exactly the original recipe except for the glaze, which I made slight modification. LEMON CAKE For the cake - 2 cups all-purpose flour - 2 teaspoons baking powder - 1 teaspoon salt - 250g unsalted butter (softened) - 3/...

不知道从什么时候开始，我变得很“宅”，自诩为“宅女”。开始很少和朋友们联络，更别说聚会了。以前籍由某位共同朋友的婚礼，大家还能见面叙叙旧。现在朋友们都过了适婚的年龄，婚礼的机会基本没有了。大多数时间在脸书上“碰面”，交换信息。其实也不是忙得不可开交，只是缺少了一种必须见面的契机。有时在街头偶遇，匆匆寒喧之后，不忘记叮咛一句：“记得在脸书上更新消息啊！"  我有两个十几年的同学，都在新加坡。一个一年见一次，还是托孩子们的福，拜年的时候才见到。另一个更是只有简讯和电邮，大概有几年没见了吧。上次见面还是因为远在加拿大的朋友来新加坡，把我俩召集在一起。不见面不是心里没有朋友，实在是。。。“宅“ 啊！但是我不得不说，她们始终是我最好的朋友，随时可以一个电话打过去，不会有丝毫的隔膜。   更多的时候，我在自己的空间里庸庸碌碌的过日子。有网友调侃 “岁月犹如一把杀猪刀”，笑过之后，不得不承认它的精辟和犀利。 这把刀在每个人的心里都留下了一些痕迹，不可避免。  惟有珍惜现在的每一天， 找到自己最自如的生活方式。 “宅”也好，“不宅” 也好，愿大家都能有亲情友情的相伴，怡然地度过悠悠岁月。。。 “宅女“昨天做了这个巧克力奶酪蛋糕。上次做 Famous Amos 曲奇 的时候，买了一公斤的烹饪巧克力，现在又派上了用场。很少做巧克力的糕点，看来以后可以多做些了。 我用了 “零失败” OREO 奶酪蛋糕 的食谱，只是以融化的巧克力取代OREO，就成了这个巧克力奶酪蛋糕。做之前查了很多方子，可是我发现，有些在奶酪里加牛油(butter)，有些加奶油 (heavy cream)，还有些加炼乳(condense milk)，有点太腻了。我的这个食谱，以低脂鲜奶取代上述那些材料，相对来说更健康一些。更主要的是，口感也相当顺滑细致。身体是最最重要的资本，希望朋友们在享用美食的同时，也想想食材的选择。 既要美味，又要健康。这也是我爱上烘焙后最大的收获。 CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE INGREDIENTS For Crust - 300g digestive cookies - 150g butter (melted) For Fillings - 500g cream cheese, sof...

June school holiday is approaching. It's  the best time of the year to travel. Not only children need a break, parents also need a getaway from the monotonous routine: sending children to school, go to work day after day. We have decided our travel destination - my hometown. It is a small beautiful city located on the border of China and North Korea, marked by Yalu River.  Don't be surprised when I say I am from a small city with population of 2.4 million. Yes, it is considered relatively small by population in China.  Do you know Beijing has 20 million urban people and Shanghai has 23 million?  It's been two years since my last visit.  I am a bit excited when I think of this trip. The only thing worries me is the H7N9 bird flu as we need to transit from Beijing.  In addition,  hope North Korea , south Korea and U.S keep cool and reach an agreement on the nuclear weapons.  So...

上周妹妹来家里说，能不能做最简单的传统蛋糕，就是小时候常吃的槽子型（方型）鸡蛋糕。她说，现在国内的小市场上也有人在做。你只需自带面粉和鸡蛋，他们帮你加工，只收加工费，大概少过5元人民币。 做出来的鸡蛋糕又香又甜，口感绵软。很有小时候的味道。 说起鸡蛋糕，我想起小时候每次去姥姥家，姥姥都会拿出来招待我们。那时候，鸡蛋糕和沙奇马，江米条，月饼是我最最喜欢的糕点零食了，怎么吃都吃不够。长大后，来到了热带岛国，想的还是同样的糕点。除了江米条，其余的这里大多也吃得到。可是，怎么也找不回童年记忆里的那种味道。回国的时候，每次都大包小包买很多美食，可是，吃的时候，却没了从前的感觉。也许“时过境迁”，”斗转星移“，“物是人非”，写的就是这种心境吧。 不管怎样，妹妹的提议也得到妈妈的支持，我就上网查找食谱。出乎我的意料，食谱超简单。只需要鸡蛋，糖和面粉。那还等什么，我是一个兴趣来了，马上行动的人。 当天就做了一个蛋糕。用了六个鸡蛋，一点面粉和糖。结果蛋糕有点太甜，发的也不够，拿出烤箱就回缩了，更别说传统蛋糕的味道了。失败！ 昨天，我又好好琢磨了一下失败的原因，可能是鸡蛋打得不够发，烤的时间有点过。至于味道么，应该是食谱没找对，因为没有老式蛋糕的味儿。我又特意参考了一段视频，据说是某著名面包店的师傅发的。这次，我不疑有它，照着方子，用了九个鸡蛋，面粉和糖各半斤。结果呢，哈哈哈， 出炉的整个一鸡蛋饼子，实心的！好心疼那九个鸡蛋，直接进了垃圾桶。 之后又做了一次，虽然还好，不过，蛋糕组织太过细腻。不像记忆中的老蛋糕，粗粗的，软软的。原因是从头到尾都用电动机搅拌，以及用了低筋面粉。虽然可以吃，但不是我想要的。没想到这么简单的配料， 做了三次还没成型。真的很考验耐心和基本功。 今天，决定总结经验教训，从“心” 出发，又换了一个方子，这次只用了两个鸡蛋。妈妈吃了第一口，就说：“就是它！” 。终于成功啦！真是“梦里寻她千百度，蓦然回首，那人却在灯火阑珊处“ 。。。我想如果找得到方型蛋糕模具的话，烤出来一定更像老式蛋糕了。 TRADITIONAL CAKE ( 传统 蛋糕) INGREDIENTS -  2 eggs (~130g) - 130g castor sugar - 130g plain flour - 1 tabl...

Told a friend of mine that I baked copycat Famous Amos cookies , she says she loves Subway chocolate cookies more. I remember I tried  Subway cookies once. They are big, flat , sweet, soft and chewy, quite different from Famous Amos cookies. Out of curiosity, I searched for the recipe, and saved one that looks good. No time to try until today.    The recipe calls for bread flour instead of plain flour. It says bread flour makes the cookies firmer. Brown sugar contributes to the chewy texture. As usual, I reduced sugar by almost 80gm so that the sweetness is within my acceptable level. I baked them in late afternoon, and ate a few pieces of these big, chewy chocolate chip cookies with a glass of milk. End up, that became my dinner. No room for other food. As for the similarity of this homemade cookies and Subway cookies, based on the recipe source, it should be at least 70%. Maybe I should buy one piece of Subway cookies someday, taste a...