Cuisine & Culture the Chinese Family Way
May is a great time for Spring cleaning as the weather is getting warmer and the days are longer. I have been busy cleaning the outdoors with the Karcher K4 pressure washer and now I am freshening up the house using Zoflora with the help from OXO Good Grips mop!
Have you wonder why do restaurants’ meat and poultry are always so tender and easy to chew? The secret is that they tenderise their meat and poultry beforehand. Some will use powdered/liquid tenderiser (made from papaya or pineapple) and some use a meat tenderiser. By doing so, it breaks down the connective tissue to make the meat thinner and flatter (not with the powdered/liquid tenderiser).
This coming Mother’s Day, I decided to bake and make this mini Cake Bouquet. I have a sweet tooth and I can eat cake all day long. This is perfect as a Mother’s Day gift or even breakfast with tea!
This Valentines day, OXO Good Grips set us a new challenge – to cook a 3 course meal for our loved ones. So I decided to make crispy duck pancakes for starters, duck breast with cranberry sauce for main and waffles with strawberries for dessert.
In order to help me with this challenge, I have picked the 3 piece large bowl & colander set, mandoline slicer and 9” tongs with silicon heads to use along with all my other OXO Good Grips kitchen accessories.
Baharat is a spice blend from the Middle East. Recently, I have received the spices from Seasoned Pioneers to try out. I used a small quantity of the Baharat spice blend to rub into a whole chicken for roasting. It is such a rounded earthy spiced flavour with peppery notes. It is a great in tomato-based sauces and soups as well as meat and vegetable stews. You can also use it in a dip with mayonnaise.
This December, OXO Good Grips set bloggers an ultimate Christmas challenge to bake a gingerbread house, letting our imagination run wild with all the possible ways we can decorate it. They have also teamed up with Stork to provide us this challenge. We have received a baking bundle including Stork margarine, OXO’s new bakers 8 piece silicone decorating set, compact food scale, measuring spoon set, 11” whisk and a medium silicone spatula.
Last year when I tried to bake my gingerbread house, the whole house collapsed with cookies breaking off as I didn’t have the proper tools and maybe because I used too thin icing. So this year, I am challenging myself again to make a house that won’t crumble!
OXO Good Grips is setting us yet another interesting blogger challenge! This time around they are challenging us to do a winter warmer recipe. I had so many ideas running through my mind like cooking Fish Head curry, Tom Yum soup, chicken stew and many more. Then I thought to myself that I like baking and making my own pastry. Recently, I had learnt how to make Choux pastry. So I am very keen to learn how to make a nice pastry for a pie and make creamy chicken pie. It is one of those simple but delicious foods that is ideal for this recent inclement weather.
We were thrilled to take part in #OXOHerbsAndMore Kitchen Magician project to try out OXO’s new range of Herbs & More flavours as well as using their recipe magic cards! OXO Herbs & More are all about the perfect pairings of herbs and flavour reductions, conveniently sealed into little pots for freshness to add to your family meals.
We have received five different products: lemon & thyme, rosemary & red wine, roast garlic & parsley, tarragon & chive and rosemary & thyme.
This winter, Kikkoman is challenging bloggers to create an innovative, tasty ‘one pot’ or ‘one pan’ recipe using Kikkoman’s famed naturally brewed soy sauce. Kikkoman Soy Sauce is much more than a stir fry or sushi sauce. It is also a fantastic universal seasoning for all kinds of dishes like soup or roasted chicken or soya sauce chicken. Kikkoman is made with four pure ingredients – soybeans, wheat, salt and water. It is slowly brewed for several months.
This year, we are doing things slightly differently with our pumpkin and making it pretty unique. Ms C’s favourite colour is pink and so we decided to paint our Halloween pumpkin pink and call this girly pumpkin Emma.
Last week while both kids were in school, I went to the supermarket and bought a large pumpkin. Always remember to check the surface of a pumpkin for holes or mould, making sure it is firm and not soft.
This week is the National Cupcake Week (15 – 21 September) and I am very pleased to join in to celebrate it with OXO Good Grips and Sugar and Crumbs. I have received OXO Good Grips’ new cupcake corer (RRP £6), cupcake icing knife (RRP £4.50) and baking duster’s wand (RRP £10), along with chocolate cherry powder and pistachio icing from Sugar and Crumbs.
OXO Good Grips have recently launched a new colourful range of spatulas that helps brighten your kitchen and colour your life! They are made from silicone and are heat resistant up to 315°C, meaning that they won’t discolour, warp or melt. Each spatula features a soft, comfortable, non-slip grip and are safe for coated or non-stick cookware and bakeware. However, the downside is that the handle does attract dust though!
Recently, OXO Good Grips had set me a new challenge to make a salad dressing using their herb mincer and little salad shaker along with a bottle each of Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar.
Since I am from Singapore, I wanted to bring in an oriental blend into Italian food. Mango is one of my favourite fruits. My granddad used to have four mango trees and two rambutan trees in his garden. We always go to his house to pick fresh mangos. Nowadays in supermarkets, it is quite hard to get fresh mangos as they more often than not sell them them pre-sliced in packets. This is my Oriental Mango Dressing recipe.
Today is National Cherry Day. I am so pleased to team up with OXO Good Grips to celebrate the day and bring you this simple recipe.
Whenever Wimbledon is on, you always know that berry season is here! I love how shops lay out all the berries and cream next to each another. I always get at least two packets of various berries at a time. We love eating it with honey or use it as ice cream topping.
