Hokkaido Soup Curry (video)

*All pictures and video taken with my Iphone 7 because my camera was in repair*

Last year, I went to Hokkaido for a road trip. I had a wonderful time driving 1200km around the island together with my husband. We ate a lot of local delicacies and one of it is Soup Curry.

Frankly, when I read about this dish, I was skeptical about it. I thought it's a sweet spiced broth with no punch. I was wrong, so wrong!!

We went to Samurai Soup Curry, it was one of the nearer ones to our hotel in Sapporo. Out of 10 levels of heat, I ordered heat level 7 and my husband ordered one at level 4. I thought... oh what... it's just Japanese standards, how hot can it be for a Malaysian?

Strawberry Buttercream Cake

Light and refreshing. Everybody loved this cake.

I like to make flavoured buttercreams by using the cooked buttercream method because I can incorporate flavours without worrying about making the buttercream way too runny.

Cooked buttercream is also lighter in taste but it is not as stable as meringue based buttercream. 
Just keep this cake well chilled, and it will be alright.

Strawberry Cream Castle Cake

Two years back, my 4yo niece Arianna requested for a Castle Cake.

A castle cake!! Woohoo!! I've been wanting to make one for the longest of time, but both my girls never agreed to have one. I just don't understand why they won't want a castle cake. And my other nieces too, they didn't want one too.

It was quite a big project for me. I had to plan the execution properly. I didn't want to use fondant, or use plastic parts on it, and tried my best not to use food colouring to make this cake. The colouring on sprinkles were inevitable.

Kelp and Nori Soup 海带紫菜汤

Kelp and nori soup.

Kelp is also known as kombu, or 海带.
Nori is the type of seaweed used to wrap sushi. The type I used today is the snack pack nori.

I was curious about this soup found in a recipe book I have. And it's a great way to use up nori snacks that have turned limp in our humid weather.

Steamed Sweet Potato Gems

This is an easy kuih and it's nice to eat. I can finish the whole lot of it myself! LOL.

Previously, I have eaten the pumpkin version of this, and having it in sweet potato form is an interesting change.