Egg Tarts

My craving for egg tarts started when I found out that the KFCs in Matsumoto were unable to obtain the stock from HQ due to over popularity. This afternoon, I went through my recipe book and decided to bake since I had all the ingredients required in my fridge.


INGREDIENTS: (8 tarts)
Pastry:
110g flour
50g non salted butter
20g sugar
2 tablespoon of egg mixture

Custard Filling:
3 egg yolks
110cc water
15cc evaporated milk
20g fine sugar

Pastry : Rub in butter into the sifted flour,sugar,egg mixture until it forms into a dough. Roll the dough into a large ball, cover with wax paper and refrigerate while preparing the custard filling.

Custard : Heat 100cc water in saucepan and add the fine sugar. Cook until the sugar has melted and allow to cool. Lightly beat in the eggs and stir in the evaporated milk.

Roll out the dough and cut out circles. Fit the circles into the tart shells.
Pour the custard filling into the greased shells.

Bake at 220 degrees in preheated oven for 8-9 mins until the crust turns slightly brown. Cover the tarts with aluminium foil and continue baking for another 5-6 mins. Cool before removing the tarts from the shells else the custard will sink. ENJOY!

Lesson #4,5,6

I have completed all the 6 lessons in Stage 1 bread baking. Most of my classmates will be continuing with Stage 2 but I`ve decided to take a break as I probably won`t have enough time to complete all the lessons before my baby`s due date. Here`s an update of what we baked.

#4 Pizza & Wholemeal bread

Wholemeal breads are healthy but I don`t really fancy the texture.

#5 Pullman Loafs

The pullman loaf is a square-edged loaf also known as the "sandwich loaf". According to Wikipedia, the name is derived from a resemblance between the loaf (or its pan) and the Pullman railway car.

#6 Butter Rolls

We also made some egg mayo salad to go with the rolls. Had 3 of these for my lunch after the lesson.

Dinner and a not so successful chiffon

I had two pieces of pork tenderloin and some leftover mini tomatoes in my fridge.

I marinated the pork with salt, pepper and coated it with bread crumbs for frying. Then, I decided to whip a quick tomato sauce to go with the pork. Diced half an onion and stir fried with olive oil till golden brown. Added in the tomatoes,1 tbs of ketchup, a pinch of salt, a dash of black pepper and dried basil, 1 tsp of mayo and worcestershire sauce. No exact recipe here.


Earlier in the afternoon, I baked an orange chiffon cake.
The taste was light with a citrus smell, good enough to call it an orange chiffon.

Unfortunately, I made some regretful mistakes. The recipe stated that I should add in 2 tablespoons of grated orange peel but greedy me didn`t want to throw away the rest and threw in double the amount of peels actually needed. The result is a cake full of orange peels causing a big hindrance to my lovely cake. Sigh..I need to perfect this chiffon because I want to serve it to my guests someday. Gotta find another day to practise baking it again.

Exact measurements are very important in baking unlike cooking. A little too much or too little will cause stupid mistakes. From now on, I will follow my baking recipes religiously.

Dessert Cravings

I have developed a craving for sweet stuffs compared to pre-pregnancy days. Other bizzare cravings include oranges, watermelons, chocolate, soda and coke ! These are foods that I don`t usually consume. I am wary of the extra calories intake but I guess its okay to indulge moderately once in a while.

Here are some of the delicious desserts that I have savoured in the past few months.


Entree 1
I shared this mini dessert platter with my husband last Saturday. Can`t remember exactly what we ate but we had mini chiffon cakes, green tea mousse, apple and grape sorbet etc.

The mini desserts are served in small sake cups and the whole presentation looks like a lovely piece of artwork.


Entree 2 - Santa Cafe

We had the vanilla ice cream in a puff pastry and pumpkin mousse cake.

The pumpkin cake was delicious! It had a light texture with a pudding like consistency .

This cafe also serves the best strawberry shortcakes that I have ever tried.


Entree 3

Fresh whipped cream parfait with chocolate ice cream and bananas.

This restaurant never fails to surprise us with their creative parfait decorations.

However, there was too much whipped cream. It took a while for us to reach the chocolate ice-cream.

Lesson #3 + Extra Lesson

Every Tuesday is my bread baking day. In lesson #3, we were taught how to bake loaf breads. Loaf breads are definitely more economical and healthier than store-bought because I would know what was in it. If you noticed, most store packed loafs are added with preservatives for a longer shelf life.

There will be no lessons next week due to the Golden Week holidays. I will probably try to practice baking the raisin loaf while my memory is still fresh.

Standard English Loaf
Raisin Loaf

Royal Milk Tea Loaf

Extra Lesson

I took an extra lesson after lesson #3 last week. Though I was feeling a bit tired after the morning lesson, I didn`t want to miss this. It was a bit troublesome fixing the parts of the bear`s face but this bread will put a smile on anyone`s face.

Chocolate Lava Cakes

I wanted to bake chocolate muffins initially but chanced upon a chocolate lava cake recipe.

I am not good at cakes and wasn`t sure whether I could create the `lava` effect in the middle. Surprising, this cake was very easy to make, and turned out to be incredibly moist and rich. The most important factor is not to overbake.


This is the recipe that I used(Makes 5 cakes)

Ingredients
70g bittersweet chocolate (85% cocao)
70g milk chocolate
4 eggs
60g sugar (the recipe stated 130g)
80g all purpose flour
100g unsalted butter

Preheat oven at 180 degrees.
1. Break the chocolate in small pieces and melt over small heat with butter. Stir occasionally until well combined. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
2. In another bowl, beat the eggs with sugar and mix with flour.
3. Slowly fold in the chocolate butter mixture.
4. Divide the chocolate mixture in lined muffin tins.
5. Bake at 250 degrees for 9-12mins. The outer will form a crust but the center should remain as a thick chocolate liquid.
6. Serve hot with whipped cream or ice cream.

Lessons learnt : The cake was sweet enough though I have reduced the sugar by 50% from the original recipe. For health purposes, I think I can still cut another 20g since the chocolate lava itself is sweet enough.

Overall, the cakes tasted sinfully good but beware of the high calories. Its okay to indulge occasionally but remember every 100g of this evil cake will add 347 calories to your diet!

Cream cheese buns

I made cream cheese buns today using the recipe and all the methods that I have learnt in my baking class.
Though it was time consuming, (took me more than 2 hours) the shape, texture and taste were almost perfect for an amateur like me.
I feel a great sense of satisfaction and adore the yeasty aroma that filled my kitchen.

Lesson #1 and #2

I have officially signed up with the cooking school, paid 20,000yen (S$260) and completed Lesson #1 and #2.

There are 6 students in my class and the teacher is a polite lady in her early 40s. In the class, everyone makes their own bread by themselves, from kneading the dough to shaping. We also get to chat and eat our freshly baked breads with tea after the lessons.


I have been baking bread at home with mixed results. By attending the lessons, I hope to learn the correct kneading method that will yield consistent results.

In Lesson #1, we baked sausage rolls and a kind of German breakfast bread called Brotchen. Brotchen is a plain chewy bread with a semi hard crust. It goes really well with cream cheese.


In Lesson #2, we made 3 different kinds of bread - cheese, green bean and red bean buns. The kneading went well and I am satisfied with the results.

My husband is skeptical on whether I can produce the same results at home. As such, I am going to experiment with the cheese bun recipe tomorrow. Will I succeed without my teacher`s help ? Stay tuned....

Spring has finally arrived!

Last weekend, I went around practising my photography skills with D40 again.

Spring has finally arrived in Matsumoto and the sakuras were in full bloom.

I have once again survived the harsh winter and felt happy to stroll comfortably outdoors after 4 long months.

The temperature on Saturday reached 18 degrees, absolutely perfect for sakura viewing.



The colours in this photo had a warmer tone because I was playing with the white balance function.

Lots of trial and error are still needed to understand this function fully.

My husband also experimented with the portrait mode.

The photo turned out sharp, flattering my skin tone.

Glad that my money is well spent on this new camera. :)

Fiddling with my new toy

I finally bought the digital SLR camera that I have been eyeing on for a long time. Its a Nikon D40!

I am still in the experimenting stage and having a great time learning to use it along with a 100+ page manual.


With my new Nikon camera, I am entering into an entirely new world of ISOs, shutter speeds, aperture control etc.


I still have to figure out how everything works and hopefully I will be able to post some great shots in the blog soon.

Homemade Bread Trial Lesson

This Sunday afternoon, I attended the homemade bread trial lesson conducted in Matsumoto. I have always wanted to learn bread making from the fundamentals and this was indeed a great opportunity.

I asked my bread lover husband to join me so that we can experience the joy of bread making together. The 2 hour lesson was cheap, only 500yen per participant!

We made two kinds of bread with 150g of bread flour - sesame custard and cheese bread. They looked and tasted absolutely delicious.


Hopefully, I will be able to produce the same results with my home oven.

I have already decided to sign up for the 1st step of homemade bread course (6 classes) conducting on every Tuesday. The school`s flexible system will allow me to change the lesson to Friday if I couldn`t make it on Tuesday.

Really looking forward to my first class starting on April 10th.

Japanese Snacks

On Sunday, my husband came home from Osaka with lots of goodies.

Before this business trip, I specially reminded him to buy "Ajari mochi", a Kyoto specialty which can be bought only in Kansai area.

I first tried this mochi based cake with red bean filling in January and fell in love with it immediately. The texture of the skin is chewy and the red bean paste goes very well with hot Japanese tea.

Highly recommended if you are going to Kansai area. You should be able to find it in major departmental stores like Hanshin.


Besides the mochi, my husband also bought a variety of seafood flavoured rice crackers (senbei) as he knows that I don`t fancy the traditional hard type with soya sauce. These thinly sliced crackers were perfect for my afternoon tea.




Lastly, I have to mention these delicious madeleines baked by my mother in law. She woke up early on Sunday morning to bake these before my husband boarded the 8am bus from Osaka.

I bake madeleines too but hers were so moist with a pleasant lemon aftertaste. Looks like I still have a lot to learn from her.

Hina matsuri, Doll Festival

March 3rd is also known as the Japanese Doll Festival or Hina matsuri.

On this day, families with young daughters celebrate this event at home wishing for their daughter's future happiness and prosperity.

They will decorate platforms with red cloth and display a set of ornamental dolls representing the Emperor, Empress, court ladies, attendants, five musicians and warriors in traditional court dresses of the Heian era.


These dolls are usually an heirloom of the household, handed down from generation to generation.

During the festival,they are displayed for a few days.After March 3rd, parents have to keep the dolls in their boxes as soon as possible because there is a popular superstition that says if they don't, their daughter will not be able to find a good husband or will marry late.

We got to know in the news that the World Folk Doll Museum in Suzaka City is exhibiting more than 1000 hina dolls collected from all over Japan specially for the doll festival. Hence, we took the opportunity to visit this museum today.

We were glad to know that this museum also houses more than 2000 traditional dolls from all over the world. Here are some of the photos which I took.





The highlight was of course the 1000 hina dolls and other ornaments displayed on 30 platforms.

This is the first time the museum is exhibiting these dolls and it took 20 staff 2 whole days to complete displaying all of them.

The 6m high platform was an extraordinary sight.

Aromatherapy bath salt

Last Sunday, I attended the second part of `Aromatherapy for Living` conducted by a trained aroma therapist. We were taught which kinds of aroma essential oils are therapeutic for relaxation, sleep, boasting confidence etc.

Let me share part of what I have learnt :

For relieving dry skin : rosewood, frankincense, palmarosa

For well being of respiratory system: teatree, peppermint, yukari
For relieving muscle ache pain: juniper, chamomile,rosemarry
For a good night sleep : juniper, lavender

After learning about the different properties, we could choose our favourite oils and add a few drops into the bath salts provided to create our own aroma bath salts.

Aromatherapy bath salts are a wonderful way to turn a simple bath into a spa-like experience.Dissolved in a hot bath, it is absorbed through the skin to replenish the body's magnesium levels. This can help to relieve stress and create relaxation benefits.

After sniffing more than ten different types of oil, I finally decided on a combination of Lemon and Ylang Ylang aroma oil for my bath salt.

Lemon - I love the delightful refreshing aroma nearly similar to the fruit itself. This oil has rejuvenating properties and helps to uplift the spirit.

Ylang Ylang - also known as 'flower of flowers`. This exotic sensual oil has soothing properties. The flower fragrance is also believed to produce sensual delight in both women and men.

Lastly, I added a handful of dried rose petals for a romantic touch.

Its Bath Time!

Sunday Brunch

Weekends are usually spent indoors since it is chilly outside.

Recently, we spend most of the time keeping ourselves warm and enjoying good food in cafes.

On Sunday afternoon,we went out for brunch at one of my favourite cafes.


I had the seafood spaghetti while Takashi had the classic house pizza.

The pizza was handmade individually and grilled in a wood stone oven.


We love the light and simple pizza crust.

For desert, we shared a parfait.

We usually order the assorted ice cream parfait but I went the health conscious route on Sunday and ordered the yogurt parfait with apple, grapefruit, kiwi, banana, whipped cream, vanilla ice cream and blueberry yogurt.

A wonderful sweet and sour combination.

Dinner on Friday

We have two important events to celebrate this month, our 3rd wedding anniversary and my husband`s birthday.

Since we have splurged on the French restaurant during my birthday, we decided to celebrate these two events together at home on Friday night.


I asked Takashi what he would like to have and his only reply was `corn soup`. Hence, I decided to whip up a Western themed feast.

First, we had the cream corn soup with home-made french bread.

For starters, I made some prawn and scallop rolls. The dip was tomato based with a tinge of lemon and tabasco.

Our main dish of the day was roast beef with baked potatoes.

I invested in a good chunk of quality Japanese beef which costed 800yen (S$10) per 100g.

The roast beef was a total success.

There was no desert to complete the course because I was simply too lazy to think of any.

We didn`t exchange any gifts or presents. Just sharing a quiet moment together and toasting to our 3 years of blissful marriage.