When are you going to bake lasagna?

SonZ had been pestering and pressurizing me to bake lasagna for many weeks already. I finally had to stop preparing my presentation materials todayh to bake it for dinner, although the master chef had returned. I cheated by using prepared pasta sauce and dry lasagna sheets, added minced meat, button mushrooms, cheese slices, ham and Mozzarella cheese.

Overly-baked cheese and Overly-red Lasagna
BTW, it didn't taste as bad as it looks!

Pardon me, I don't even know that lasagna is the fat, orange cat's favourite food. When I was looking high and low for lasange sheets at the supermarket, the aunty at the supermarket asked if I'm looking for Garfiield's favourite food? Even SonS could let me know what Garfield's favourite food is. Hmmm, why I never knew?

The after-meal durian milk shake is yummy-delicious. So good, there's not time for picture taking.

4 big and 9 small

4 big and 9 small? No, it has nothing to do with buying 4D!! It's the number of durian muffin I decided to bake a few nights ago, after 10:30pm, after picking some durians while fetching SonS from his night class. It's also my way to de-stressed... so much to catch up with my office work!!

How did I fare? Well, to tell you the truth, let's check[ed] the following:-
[X} Did not use the right type of flour
[X] Did not save half of the durian plup but add wet ingredients
[X] Did not mix the dry ingredients at all before adding the wet ingredients
[X] Did not just mix, but over-mixed when combine wet and dry ingredients
[X] Did not understand the functions and controls of the oven (anyone knows where's the manual?)

Anyway, I managed to bake these barely edible durian muffins and by the time I'm done, it's way past midnight. I brought some to torture my lunch mates the next day while we celebrated the one year older, but not wiser, Chu2. :p

Durian Muffins

Yes, there were nine.

A Feng Shui email appeared in my mailbox today. His answer to a popular question posed by the media was how to survive an expected to be very tough Year of the Ox is "Be like the OX. Work hard, be persistent and make down to earth decisions!"

My decision?

"I will attempt durian muffin again!!"

Don't have to wait until Olympics afterall....

Not in the distant past, I was disappointed with my first "muffin baking encounter" and hoped that I do not have to wait for the next Olympics before I could make some decent muffins. Well, I don't have to, not even Youth Olympics in 2010!! And, they are not from pre-mix!! :D

I worked from home today, and managed to take my simple lunch and complete these muffins in less than one and a half hour, including cleaning and photoshoot. I'm glad this baking session was uneventful (i.e. no disaster like the last) as I had strict time restriction to catch my next meeting.

Banana Walnut Muffins

This very simple and manageable recipe requires no electric mixer or blender - my kind of recipe. Although it should make 6, I only managed 4 - as I read that instead of 1/2 or 2/3 full, we should filled it up to nearly full to have high(er) domes. Well, mine didn't turn out too bad (I'm entitled to my own opinions), although some batter overflowed.

Credits:
Paper muffin cups, courtesy by SitiZ
SonZ's home economics book

Why time not enough?

While browsing the various food blogs (mostly local) to search for simple, yet yummy recipes and admiring the amazing skills of others, I came across some tagging activities going on in blog space. I do not know how it all got started, but bloggers will share 7 facts about themselves (known as meme), and then tag 7 other bloggers to share about themselves. I read today's Sunday Times and discovered similar tagging activity going on in Facebook as well. Instead of 5, they have to share 15 things about themselves and then tag 15 others. It's no mean feat! All these activities will keep folks busy, won't they? I do not have a Facebook account, do not plan to have one, as I know that I could not afford the time (not my priority), and most importantly, do not want to be addicted (hmmm, makes me wonder what I am doing right this moment....) Well, time really no enough!!

For more dessert actions, I came across the Tropical Bloom Smoothie recipe in SonZ's home economics book, and decided to give it a shot with the new blender I received for subscribing Straits Times. Instead of bananas, I used mangoes instead. And, another boo-boo, I actually forgot to add milk!!

Mango Smoothie, my frozen sippers
SonZ prefer it without cinnamon and nutmeg, and as usual, he gets it his way...

Brought Back Some Sweet Memories

In between sipping homemade smoothie and browsing the travel guide (yes, planning to go somewhere in June), I recalled some of the things I did when I was younger which is not too long ago :p (must be triggered after reading the article in ST about connecting with old pal).... In my primary school days, I used to run up a down moving escalator and vice versa (imagine our horror if our children do it now!), standing handsfree and balance on buses (I need to hold those railings for my dear life when in mrt trains nowadays), and in secondary school days, how we save $$ by calling and hang up exactly after 2 rings to signal our classmate it's time to come down and walk to school (sorry, no SMSes then), and the oh-so-fun and exciting times when playing catch by appearing from under table tennis table at void decks to tag those standing and screaming above (wonder why one of the neighbourhood have to replace their under-utilized table tennis tables frequently, but if I'm not wrong, 'ours' were made of cement). Oh, if only we just turn back the clock by JUST A FEW YEARSSSSS to re-live those days again....

What a disaster!

I am curious if anyone store their pans, trays, takeout containers and other barang barang inside their oven when it is not in use? I am equally curious to find out if anyone forgets and went ahead to preheat the oven before removing the stuff? I am extremely curious to know if anyone had the opporunity to see and smell melted plastic in a hot oven? Hmmm, and how does one get rid of those goo??!!

Well, I have my reasons to be curious - I happened to be one of those 'anyone' who did just that! Hopefully, not the only one (otherwise, could I register myself with any organization, being the first?), but the last!!

I was happily struggling with my marbled cream cheese brownie when I switched on the oven before removing my stored-away stuff in the oven. By the time I discovered, it already at the preset temperature of 180. I quickly removed the top, followed by the bottom tray. One of the takeout container fell, landed at the base of the oven, and instantly melted. OMG! OMG!

At first, I tried to remove the sticky goo, but stopped after a while as the oven is too hot and reckon it is not the right way. After a while, some parts turned whitish, and hardened, and I managed to peel and scrape them off. I decided to quicken the cooling process by rubbing 2 ice cubes over the area and managed to remove most of it. I scrubbed with detergent about 8 times before I preheat the oven to bake my brownie. I'm still wondering if the brownie is safe to eat and not 'intoxicated' by the fumes.

Marbled Cream Cheese Brownie

I had a fun time swirling the brownie despite my earlier disaster. I think I've 'over-swirled'.

Done
I much prefer the pre-baked look.

Worth the trouble (disaster)?
Well, at least it's well-received.

Credits: Small Small Baker

I simply love quick and simple recipes

After the egg tarts episode, I simply love recipes that do not need lots of ingredients and procedures, even better if no elaborate equipments are required and non-greasy.

Egg in toast
It's easy to prepare, and I could sandwiched anything in between, be it cheese, sliced ham, or anything I fancy. This is already my 3rd attempt and I've gotten the thumbs up from SonS.

Strawberry Pudding
Here's my attempt to make layered strawberry pudding with diced strawberries in one and mangoes in another. Lesson learnt - pudding is too soft to be layered - at least for mine. :p

How creative could I get?
It's more baked rice for our weekend lunch. Well, kids love it.

Kitchen on loan

Time flies and surprisingly, I've blogged (and still are at this point) for slightly over a month already. While I only just started to blog, I happened to read an article that considered blogging so 'old school'. Blogging has been declining steadily since a year ago, and previous bloggers have since swtiched to Twitter and/or another service I just couldn't recall at this moment (something very alien to me). Looks like I need more effort to keep pace with new trends and technology...

As much as I would like to try new recipes, I need to catch up with my high volume of work, so I loaned my kitchen to 2 bodies who wished to experiment with the Portuguese egg tart recipe from a newly bought cookbook (and mess up my kitchen in the process, said one body). The incentive, I was first served with mushroom cream soup.

Mushroom Cream Soup

with mushrooms (of course), butter, bacon, garlic & milk

"C'mon, give it to me now!!"

Although I was not involved in the making of the egg tarts, I could tell it''s a lot of work and oh-so greasy and therefore, extremely extremely sinful. I don't think I will attempt this on my own - simply too tedious for me.

Portuguese Egg Tarts

Although not pretty but definitely pass-able for a first attempt!

These were from the very first batch of 12. Some of the subsequent tarts looked more decent.

OK, it's back to work for me now.