Vongole !

There are times when I'm so desperate for clams that I went searching through supermarkets for the canned variation. Even higher-end supermarkets like Tong Hing & Merderka don't carry clams in a can, I've tried a local brand of clams in brine but that tasted awful, just clams in some very salty water, definitely not clam juice ! The only brand that I've tried in KK is Snows that Lintas Superstore carried some time ago, their minced clams in juice is fantastic, so full of clam juice with that sweetness, I've used it many times to make my favourite Manhattan Clam Chowder, I'll happy to have just bread & the chowder the whole day, nothing else !

So when my friend called me this morning that she bought for me a bag of clams weighing at 1.3kg, I was so happy & surprised cos' I've basically given up hope searching for clams whenever I have cravings for linguine vongole or clam chowder. I've tried searching for these beauties at the KK fish market & have even went all the way to the Donggongon 'Tamu" on Thursdays to look for them, well I've been lucky once at Donggongon ! I'm not sure about the varieties of clams available but these that my friend got for me look clean & pretty & there isn't much grit in the big bowl that I soaked the clams too ! I've place these in the fridge, they're going to be my lunch tomorrow, can't wait..........

Hokkaido Milk Loaf (北海道牛奶土司）

These loaves are baked today, at 3pm

The texture of the bread, so soft I was pulling it like shreds of cotton wool !

These loaves were baked yesterday afternoon


We had Hokkaido milk loaf (北海道牛奶土司）for breakfast this morning & as we couldn't get enough of these wonderful loaves, I baked some again this afternoon for tomorrow's breakfast ! I found this wonderful bread recipe in a Taiwanese blog quite some time ago & fell in love with this tang zhong (汤种） bread. The characteristic of this method of making bread yields soft & cottony bread, no softener is used. The original recipe is in Mandarin, such a long recipe to type in hanyu pinyin so here's the link to the recipe !

I'm seriously not good in shaping my loaves, I made double recipe yesterday, we had 2 loaves, the other loaf I gave it to a friend. Today it's only 1.5x recipe but I made them into smaller loaves in 1 pan, still not very happy with the shapes !

Hubby & the girls like to have the bread with butter & preserves but I prefer it plain, with a cup of coffee for my breakfast...........

Strawberry & Mango Cake

My sister just called me this morning to tell me she's 8 weeks pregnant. That's great news she has finally decided to start a family of few years of marriage & and my sister-in-law is due to deliver her baby in October too, wow baby boom in my family !

L has been making my life miserable lately, so I bake to make myself happy.....
Baked a vanilla sponge cake this morning, wandering if I should fill it with strawberry or mango, haha ended up a layer of each, my own concoction !!
I enjoyed a slice of cake in the afternoon with a cup of coffee, my way of reliving stress from whoever......... and of course to congratulate my sister !

Strawberry Shortcake

It's hubby's old friend, Chris' birthday on Monday, his sister called to order a cake for him, also for tonight, since my schedule is not very tight today, I said ok.
This cake is popular with my family too, hubby had this for his birthday,
so did CJ !
It's a vanilla sponge cake filled with 2 layers of freshly whipped double cream & sliced strawberries.

A Cake For Alan !

The birthday boy Who turns 36 next week is born in the year of Rat & the family is celebrating over dinner tonight. Once again my kitchen is filled with the fantastic aroma of this durian cake. Amy wanted the greetings to be in Mandarin & if a little mouse can be drawn onto the cake, luckily the words are in 简体中文 ! I think my 'designer' did a good job in writing & drawing.......

Express Pizza

While waiting for the dough of the whole wheat pretzels to rise yesterday, I whipped up another batch of pizza dough. I've been using this recipe that I got from Super Food Ideas :

8g Instant dried yeast
1/4 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar
3/4 cup Warm water
2 cups Flour
2 1/2 Tbsp Olive oil

In a mixing bowl fitted with a dough hook, combine flour, yeasr, salt, sugar & water, mix well, add olive oil & continue to mix on medium speed for 10 mins until smooth & elastic. Leave in a warm place, cover & let rise for 30 mins or until doubled in size. . Punch dough & mould into a round ball, stretch dough thinly onto a greased pizza tray.


I've forgotten to buy pineapple this time so went through the freezer to see what I can find in it. Ended up with sausages, pepperoni, home-made tomato sauce & I still have some cherry tomatoes in my fridge, so everything went onto the pizza followed by shredded mozarella cheese.
Bake the pizza at preheated 220 degree oven for 15 mins or until golden & crisp. Since three's no greens on the pizza, I steamed some broccoli to serve with the pizza, one express meal done......

* I've prepared 1.5x of the dough to make 2 pizza base, the other portion is in the freezer for our next pizza meal. To avoid an oily pizza, I used a greaseproof paper to line the pizza tray.

Whole Wheat Pretzels

The girls have been bugging me to let them make some whole wheat pretzels in their " My A to Z Recipe Box" that I got for them from Borders in February. The recipes in the box are very simple, kids friendly but still an adult's help is required, after all they are just few year old kids !
Our pretzels didn't quite looked liked pretzels, I was hoping for something like our favourite Aunty Anne's Pretzels ! Sad to say, I've never done well in my Arts class in school, always just managed to pass with a 'D', so our pretzels turned out like I don't know what, I'm not telling who made which among the three of us !!!!
In case anyone might be interested in some dough twisting during the weekends or holidays with their kids, this is an easy recipe to try :

1 1/2 cups Flour
1 tsp Salt
11g Instant yeast
1 1/2 cups Milk
1/4 cup Brown sugar
2 cups Whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp Oil

Milk for brushing pretzels
Course salt, sesame or sunflower seeds

In a large bowl, combine flour, salt & yeast, mix well.

In a pot, heat milk, brown sugar & oil, heat gently until warm (not hot)

Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture & beat with the electric mixer for 3 mins, then add the whole wheat flour & mix well.

Shape the dough into a ball, cover & let rise for 1 hr.
Punch dough down, pull a handful of the dough & roll it into a long snake. Twist the snake & tie in into any shape you like. Place pretzels on baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Brush each pretzel with milk & sprinkle with coarse salt, sesame seeds or sunflower seeds. Bake in preheated 475 F for 20 mins.

* I halved the recipe & made 8 pretzels, each pretzel weighing 50g. The pretzels are not as crusty as those found in shops, I've tried one, it's quite chewy though. I sprinkled the top with cinnamon sugar instead of salt, the pretzels are baked in 220 degree & they are cooked in 12 mins.