have a little merry x'mas!

being downunder, we were ready for a hot hot hot x'mas...
instead, the very english weather descended - including bucket loads of rain for the farmers (yipee) & a gloom and doom overcast (best reserved for video / hot chocolate days)
no matter... we did think of having a steamboat, but instead, had something deviating just a little from the tradition - i repeated the 90-degree slow fillet of beef roast...
which was yum to the max...
fillet was $30/kg and tasted much better than the $150/kg wagyu...
we had christmas pudding, custard and all (with too much brandy)...
we also opened our pressies!
this year... i got from santa(s)...
(as i have requested... excellent read, i am only on pg 10-15 or something... but v v good!)
something comfy for the feet...
something to make more cards / packaging with...
much needed software for my little and med laptops...
cookbooks from the fareast...
chocolates chocolates and more chocolates!
this is not a chinese new year red packet... it is a "golden packet" for x'mas!

the making of the x'mas pressies

wishing everyone a merry fizzily fragrant x'mas!

my little gifts of x'mas - DIY bath bomb packaging

now i have bath bomb in hand... i need to package these little fragile bursts of fragrance safely and attractively... worthy of being part of the gift display under any x'mas tree...



first they have to be individually wrapped to seal in the essential oils - both the fragrance and the oiliness of it...
i need oil proof paper - baking paper is the answer
after much experimentation with the paper shape... i finally settled on the pentagon...






the neatly packaged triagular bath bombs are each sealed with a cardboard name tag... much has to be improved on the tag-graphics...

then it is time for the box/ bag holding the bath bomb trio... after much experimentation (again)... this is the template i came up with...

this will be how the sides are to be held together... 2 slits on 2 triangles...



it works...
a ribbon for the handle and to make it look gift-like...

bombs are in...


"may all your worries of 2009 melt away..."
"wishing you a happy & relax 2010!"

now i just have to make a dozen or more or them...

nin nin yau yue - homemade coconut fish nian gao

happy new year!
nin nin yau yue - a year of plenty...

nian gao is delish and not too hard to make... just alot of steaming... and steam.. and heat...

why spend $10+ on a fancy looking but hard as rock nian gao when one can whip one up at home for peanuts?!
8 easy steps to coconut fish nian gao
1)180g white sugar + 150 mL water -> bring to boil until sugar dissolves and let cool
2)200g glutinous rice flour + 100g wheat flour (tung mein) + 25g rice flour -> seive
3)all flour together -> stir in 400mL coconut milk let it rest until no lumps
4)stir cool sugar solution into flour mix -> stir in 1 tbsp oil (no lumps)
5)take 1/3 cup of above mixture and mix with orange food colouring
6)grease plastic fish mould -> dot with orange mix -> steam over high heat 3 min
7)orange mix semi set -> top up fish mould with white mix -> steam for 1 hour
8)invert coconut nian gao out of mould -> let cool and YUM!
and there was enough batter / mix for 2 extra mini nian gaos too! it does help if one has a plastic fish mould though (i got mine from shanghai st HK - best place for kitchen gadgets)

tis the season to make a DIY x'mas tree

tis the season again...
and this year... even in the sleepy neighbourhood of the north...
there is action... there are moving lights...

WOW!

and this year, we are continuing the recycling / bargain hunting tradition...
no... we did not spend $10 at coles to buy a heavily discounted dead, chopped down x mas tree...
we just saved up a branch of winter pruning from the garden...
add last year's (and the year b4 that) x mas deco...
and here it is...

full bloom at floriade

a hot sunny day, busloads of people and
the lovely flowers at floriade...

time for mooncakes again

unlike last year, i've learnt to start the mooncake making process early...
1 1/2 months ago, i started salting eggs in brine (not in salt and ziplock bag this time)...
and out of 18 eggs, i got 14 good yolks (that was 18 minus 3 bad ones that went off and one testing egg a month in)
the yolks were golden and rock solid

there was also streamlining of the filling materials into 3 simple types instead of 5 last year...

this year's red bean green tea snow skin mooncake

and the vanilla green bean snow skin mooncake

i stuffed up the traditional mooncake skin big time, so this became lotus paste skin mung bean mooncake

i still made some traditional skin lotus paste mooncakes each with homemade single salted yolk embedded...

and the result this year: approx 20 mungbean / red bean snowskin mooncakes + approx 20 traditional mooncakes with lotus paste and yolk + lots of stress (due to failed traditional skins / 1st batch snowskins)

but overall verdict: good 2nd batch snowskin result, great fillings - lotus paste, mungbean paste, redbean paste

time spent in making mooncakes: the equivalent of 2 full days

money spent on ingredients: approx $35-40

- eggs approx $10

- lotus seeds $6.50

- olive oil $7.00

- red bean / mung bean $6.00

- flour / sugar / others under $10

excellent value should labour cost not taken into account... i saw mooncake onsale for an av $7.50 each (the reputable ones like kee-wah), the really cheap ones approx $5 (unknown brand name, with questionable sources of ingredients)... so to yield 40 cakes with $40 = $1 each! bargain!