Dangshen Pork Rib Stew 党参焖排骨 - Pork Ribs #3

Today.... is my first day back to work.
After 5 years of staying home, my child care leave has ended and I'm back to my teaching career.
There are many concerns, particularly about my kids, and my in laws are currently taking care of them while I'm at work. It's going to be tiring as I might work 6 days a week at times.

Cooking will be greatly reduced at home, probably to once or twice a week, as I only reach home by 7.15pm. But this blog will still be running with new recipes weekly. As some of you know, I always have too much back logs to clear. I hope I can still bake in the morning before I leave for work. The blog goes on... as this blog was born back in 2007, when I was teaching.

Pork Rib Noodles - Pork Ribs #2

When I was a kid, there was this noodle stall next to my family's coffee stall, that was known as "Har Look". We were operating just next to the town field. The noodle stall was always busy busy busy and the couple would work until they were quarrelling all the time. Sometimes, when the day is less busy... then they will joke, "no quarrel, no money", hahaha!

Black Vinegar Ribs 排骨醋- Pork Ribs #1

A dish that I made on impulse.

Initially I wanted to make sweet vinegar ribs 糖醋排骨. I bought a bottle of sweet vinegar and thought of experimenting with this. I tasted some, it wasn’t too sour and so I daringly used 250ml of it. In the end, the whole dish was sooo dark, I chose to leave it soupy and tadah… it became this dish

Serradura 木糠布丁 - AFF HK Macau Desserts #3

These are set in Ikea's tealight cups

Serradura, also known as Sawdust pudding is a Portuguese dessert popular in Macau, the former Portuguese colony.
Why the name sawdust? The cookie crumbs that make up this pudding is the sawdust. :-)

I first got to know of this dessert from a TV documentary. The host visited a dessert factory in Macau and was taught how to make this simple dessert.

Ginger Double Boiled Custard 姜汁炖蛋 - AFF HK Macau Desserts #2

I first heard of this dessert in a Hong Kong TVB serial when I was a kid. The actress, Miu Siew Wai keep on asking the man she loves to eat this steamed egg dessert. Then my mom tried making this and it was hoooooooooooorible. It was eggy, smelly and ultra sweet. Well, my mom loves all things sweet and her tolerance level for sugar is way way way higher than mine. I have better tolerance now than when I was a kid, but still, nowhere near my mom’s

Mango Sago with Pomelo 杨枝甘露 - AFF HK Macau Desserts #1

Mango Sago Pomelo is a popular dessert from Hong Kong.

It is a dessert that is made of mango, tapioca or sago pearls, pomelo arils, coconut milk and evaporated milk or cream.

And usually, pomelos are one of the quintessential fruits for Chinese New Year because the name sound prosperous. Besides eating it fresh, you can turn it into this dessert. It'll be a good way to serve this fruit during this hot hot weather, or maybe for next year's celebration :)

Pumpkin Scones with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Glaze - Scones #3

I rarely bake without my weighing scale..but on this day.. it died on me just when I wanted to weigh my flour.

Scones are very forgiving, and you need not to be on the dot, unlike delicate cakes and pastries. It'll still come out alright. A +/- of 20gm flour doesn't matter much, as we don't even measure how much we dust the table during shaping and cutting. As long as the dough is soft and sticky, don't overwork it, you should be on the safe side.

Strawberry Heart Shortcake - Scones #2

Valentine's day is coming...... my girls love hearts.
They also love scones, and when scones come with hearts, they will love it even more.
The taste of is shortcake is pretty much close to a scone to me, and so I included it into this week's theme.

Lemonade Scones - Scones #1

I think most of us do have the issue of having leftover whipping cream after baking a cake and not knowing what to do with it.

I had some extra cream from a cake and was thinking of making scones with cream. So, I googled for "lemon cream scones". When I saw this recipe,I got interested. The gas in the soft drink provides aeration and the sugar in it... just replaces the sugar that we put in. The cream just takes place of the milk and butter.
The lemonade....the lemonade......will the flavour shine through?

Unfortunately I can't detect the flavour of the drink I used. Too subtle.
But it's ok. I enjoyed the crisp crust with a soft fluffy center.
My kids enjoyed it with whipped cream and homemade strawberry jam.

Take note that you need to use cold lemonade from a freshly opened can. Bottled ones are not recommended as they are less gassy than canned ones. And cold ones release less gas when you form the dough, and will only release more gas upon contact with heat during baking.

Lemonade Scones
Adapted from: foodinaminute 

260gm Self Raising Flour (better to use 300gm)
150gm cold lemonade soft drink (Sprite or 7up, weigh it as gas will make volume measurement difficult)
150gm cold whipping cream (35% fat)
1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 200 (fan)/220C.  Prepare a baking tray lined with baking paper
2. Pour lemonade and cream into one cup. No need to stir.
3. Mix flour with salt and make a well in the center.
4. Pour the lemonade cream mixture into the center.
5. Use chopsticks or 2 dinner knifes to combine the ingredients. As long as the flour look moistened, stop mixing. It may still look lumpy and very sticky.
6. Sprinkle 2 Tbsp of flour onto the table.Scrape the dough onto the floured surface. Sprinkle very generously with more flour.*
7. Form the dough (pat with hands and use a scraper to straighten the sides) into a 1 inch thick rectangle. Flour a dough scraper, and cut it into 6-8 squares, according to your preference. Flour the scraper before each cut.
8. Transfer the cut dough onto the baking tray and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the scones look beautifully golden.

*I used almost 1 cup of flour just to dust.