Fairfield/Westchester code camp

I will be at presenting a session on Testing with Mocks at the the Westchester/Fairfield code camp on November 11.

Register here

The session is a shortened version of the tutorial Oksana and I are giving at the Agile Development Practices conference in December.

Hope to see you there!

More about → Fairfield/Westchester code camp

I've been tagged

Baking Fiends United has tagged me with this Hi-5 or 5-thing meme:

5 things found in your room
5 things found in your bag
5 things found in your purse/wallet
5 things you’ve always wanted to do
5 thins you are currently into
5 people you want to tag

This is the first time I have been tagged to do a meme. Well, I guess no one on earth would really be interested to know what I have in my bag or wallet, furthermore I am really not a bag person, I am 'hands free' most of the time. I rather tweak the meme a little just so to make it suit the theme of my blog...I hope I won't get hantam for making the changes ;)

ok, here's my version of the 5-things meme:

5 things found in my kitchen:

• a dinning table
• a display cupboard filled with bottled and canned Coca Cola (collected over the years)
• a fridge, studded with fridge magnets
• a useless cooker hood
• a fan (I need to turn it on during very hot weather so that my kids will not get drenched all over in their own sweat.)

5 unusual things found in my fridge:

• vitagen drinking straws
• an assortment of candies (given generously to my younger boy's friends in pre-school)
• a bottle of ling yang (antelope horn, a kind of Chinese medicine)
• a packet of quick barley (pearl barley that has been steamed and dried)
• empty styrofoam trays

5 things found in my 'baking equipment' cupboard:

• a 20yr old handheld mixer
• three 20 yr old aluminum baking trays
• a diet scale for measuring baking ingredients
• one brand new Daiso-bought 18cm tart pan
• disposable pans of various shapes and sizes

5 things I’ve always wanted to do

• to work in McDonald's (this has been on the list since I was a teen) so that I can learn how to make scramble eggs and those breakfast biscuits (I have recently found an online recipe, so I will probably drop this from the list soon!)
• to start my own business or to be my own boss (this has been on my list since the very first day I started working in the corporate world.)
• to work in Starbucks so that I can make a perfect cup of latte.
• to re-visit all the places me and my husband have been to, this time round with my kids.
• to pick up jogging, so that I can join my husband on his weekend jogging session.

5 things I am currently into

• enjoying every single moments of my life
• baking, baking and more baking
• trying very hard to improve my cooking skills!!!
• blogging and taking food photos
• planning a series of outdoor and indoor activities for the kids during the coming school holidays.

5 people I want to tag

• will not tag anyone, as I didn't following the exact meme closely ;p

More about → I've been tagged

COMFORT FOODS: COOL THINGS WITH CHEESE!

broccoli & cheese casserole

When fall is in full swing in Vancouver and it's drippy wet outside I find myself wanting comfort foods. For some reason I associate cheese with comfort foods...especially ooey gooey melted cheese. I personally love an authentic fondue but only Bebe loves cheese. But I digress...I tried out a quick recipe I found in a magazine advertising Campbell's Condensed Mushroom Soup.

BROCCOLI & CHEESE CASSEROLE
1 16 oz bag broccoli florets
1 can Campbell's Condensed Mushroom Soup
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 T butter, melted

Dump the whole bag of broccoli in a baking dish, add the mushroom soup, milk and cheese and stir the whole mixture. Mix the breadcrumbs and melted butter together and sprinkle that on top of the whole thing and bake it in a moderate oven (350F) for 30-35 minutes or until hot and bubbling.

It was a cheesy & yummy way to eat broccoli!

Now, on another cheesy note...

macaroni & cheese with caramelized onions

I made this mac & cheese with a cheese sauce from scratch. I must admit I didn't follow any recipe but just kind of made a bechamel and then tossed in however much cheese looked good to me. I caramelized onions and garlic and mixed that in with the cheese sauce and finally topped the whole casserole with fried onions. I covered it with foil and baked it until it was bubbling hot, about 20-30 minutes.

Here's a rough approximation of the recipe as I recall it:

Cakebrain's Macaroni & Cheese with Caramelized Onions
1 box macaroni, cooked al dente
3 T flour
3 T butter
salt & pepper to taste
3 cups milk
2 cups grated old cheddar cheese
1 small onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 T olive oil
4 T fried onions

• Make a bechamel sauce: in a large saucepan, melt the butter and add the flour, creating a roux. Cook the roux until golden brown and fragrant. Add salt & pepper. Add nutmeg if you like it. Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly to prevent lumps and burning. When the sauce is thickened, add the cheddar cheese and mix thoroughly. Allow the sauce to rest, covered and off the burner.
• In a saute pan, heat the olive oil on med.-high heat and then add the onion. Saute the onions until they are translucent. Then add the garlic and continue cooking until the onions are caramelized. If you like some zing in your macaroni, you can add a couple of tablespoons of balsamic vinegar or hot sauce here. Season with salt & pepper.
• Mix the onion mixture with the cheese sauce.
• In a large casserole dish combine the cooked macaroni and the cheese sauce. Mix thoroughly. The cheese sauce should look slightly runny because as it bakes it will be absorbed in the pasta. If you like your macaroni really moist, you can add more milk to the casserole if it looks too dry for your liking.
• Sprinkle the fried onions over the whole casserole; cover with foil and bake in a moderate oven for 20-30 minutes, or until bubbly

those aren't breadcrumbs, they're fried onions! yum!

More about → COMFORT FOODS: COOL THINGS WITH CHEESE!

Banana Chiffon Cake

I wanted to make a banana chiffon cake as I had a few very ripened bananas hanging in my kitchen. However, after looking through the recipe I have on hand, it is meant for a bigger pan size. I was about to give up the idea, when I happened to visit Lousy Baker's blog. She has baked the same banana chiffon cake that I had in mind, and, she managed to reduce the quantity to fit a 16cm pan. How nice! After seeing her beautiful cake, I set off to make this cake right away!


I used 3 eggs instead of 2 eggs as I halved the portion exactly. I believe 2 eggs is just nice for a 16cm pan. As a result, the batter almost filled up the entire pan. Fearing that the batter may spill over while baking, I lined the base of the oven with a foil, just before baking! Luckily, the batter was quite 'obedient'...it stayed on in the pan, and the cake climbed over the brim! I was so happy to see the cake "blooming" away! However, this also meant that the top got burnt a little, as it almost hit the roof of the oven where the heating elements are located :(

I didn't manage to do a good job while unmoulding the cake. A few sides almost got torn and peeled off.

I made this cake with the help of my little assistant. He was responsible for the mashing of the bananas...the mashed bananas was quite lumpy and I was a little worried whether it would affect the texture of the cake. I got him to whisk the yolk batter while I gather the items ready to whisk the egg whites. I must say he did quite a pretty good job.

This banana version has got more flavour than the milo version I made earlier. The lumpy mashed bananas didn't effect the texture at all. When I offered the cake for my little one to try, he told me he didn't like it! "It's not a pandan cake! It's a banana cake! I don't like!". Well, I wasn't upset at all, as he's only used to pandan cake...and I guess, all along, he was thinking that he was helping me to make a pandan cake! lolz!!!

Well, it seems to me that making a chiffon cake is really not as difficult as what I used to think. In fact, next time, I will get the boy to handle the yolk batter on his own, while I whisk the egg whites...this will definitely cut down on the preparation time. Hmmm, I already have in mind to try the orange version soon.

Ingredients
(make one 16 ~ 18 cm cake)

3 egg yolks
25g caster sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
30ml cooking oil (I used olive oil)
85g banana puree (about 2 medium size bananas)
1/4 teaspoon banana essence (I used vanilla extract)
55g plain flour
1/8 teaspoon baking soda

3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
50g caster sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170 degC. Sieve together flour and baking soda, set aside. Mash banana, set aside.
2. Separate egg yolks/whites and bring to room temperature.
3. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl until sugar just dissolved. Add in salt, oil, essence and mashed banana. Whisk till combined. Sieve over the flour mixture and fold gently with a spatula until flour is fully incorporated into the batter.
4. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, whisk egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric mixer until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Add in the sugar in 3 separate additions while beating at high speed till just before stiff peaks form* (after note: after several attempts at baking chiffon cakes, I learned that the whites should be beaten until just before stiff peaks form).
5. Add the egg white foam into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
6. Pour batter into a 16cm or 18cm (6 inch or 7 inch) tube pan (do not grease the pan). Spread and smooth the batter evenly with a spatula. Bang the pan gently on a work surface several times to release the air bubbles trapped in the batter.
7. Bake for 25 ~ 30mins or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
8. Remove from the oven and invert the pan immediately. Let cool completely before unmould.

Recipe source: adapted from Chiffon Cake is Done by Kevin Chai

More about → Banana Chiffon Cake

HALLOWE'EN CUPCAKES: FONDANT PUMPKINS

fondant pumpkin on a white chocolate cupcake

Bebe wanted cupcakes (Bebe always wants cupcakes) and she always ends up eating all the frosting first; leaving the cupcake behind. The other day I was making FIMO food with Bebe to stock her empty larder in her dollhouse's kitchen. We made carrots, hotdogs, hamburgers, apples, pears and bananas out of the polymer clay. I didn't realize how easy it was and all you need are toothpicks and a little knife. Afterwards you bake them, following the instructions, and you have sturdy hardened little pieces of food with which to play "house." I was thinking I could transfer my food-modelling skills to real food in the form of fondant or marzipan.

I went to open my huge tub of fondant which I keep in a plastic-lidded popcorn container. To my dismay the entire piece of fondant was rock hard. I chucked it out and consulted my Wilton manual for a recipe and decided I only needed to make little pumpkins and leaves--not cover a whole cake. I quartered the recipe with good success. The recipe for rolled fondant from Wilton was easy but required a lot of kneading. I didn't have orange food colouring in my stash of gel pastes so I just mixed in some red and yellow gel paste food colouring until it looked pumpkin-coloured enough for me. After a ton of kneading, the fondant finally looked evenly coloured and ready for modelling. The pumpkins are just little rolled balls etched with a knife. I used a toothpick to poke a hole down the centre where the stem would be. Then I inserted the tiny stem and a little leaf, using the toothpick to manoeuvre the fondant and attach it.

I made the White Chocolate Cupcakes and frosted with a simple buttercream. My white chocolate mousseline buttercream would have been especially delicious on this cupcake. We decorated with some sugar crystals and popped the little pumpkins on top and they looked so cute! Bebe said the pumpkins were the best part and proceeded to eat all the frosting afterwards. As usual, after licking off all of the frosting, she was too full to eat the cupcake part!

Bebe's philosophy of cupcake decorating is that you can't have enough stars and you can't have enough sprinkles.

a star-studded, sprinkle-laden cupcake being decorated by Bebe

More about → HALLOWE'EN CUPCAKES: FONDANT PUMPKINS

Let the machine do it!

My bread machine came out with this loaf yesterday :)

It did most of the job, while my elder boy and I only took care of the measuring and adding in the ingredients in the right sequence. After 3 hours, out came this beautiful loaf!


It's a Crunchy Peanut Butter Bread recipe which I have taken from this book, The Complete Bread Machine Cookbook by Sonia Allison. The ingredients are very basic, just water, oil (I used olive oil), bread flour, salt, sugar, some milk power, yeast and the only additional flavouring is three tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter. There's no eggs or butter involved.



I wasn't expecting anything fantastic from this loaf...as I have tried enough bread recipes to have came to the conclusion that the texture of the bread made from the bread machine, somehow will not be as soft, compared to those made by hand. Indeed, I was very surprised how soft, light and airy this bread turned out to be! You can gauge the texture, just by looking at the number of holes on the bread. I should have suspected it, as the bread rose all most to the brim of my bread machine when it was baking away. It tasted very much like a plain loaf, not sweet at all, as the amount of sugar is really minimal. However, I could taste the bits of peanuts and there was even a hint of the peanut butter. It remained soft and fluffy the next morning, and after lightly toasted, it tasted very delicious when spreaded with peanut butter.

I must say, this bread fits in very well to the description given in the book:
"What can one say about a high-rise loaf flavoured with peanut butter? It's a stunner, predictably succulent when it's buttered and spread with Marmite. Or use it as a base for cheese on toast. All sound stuff with child appeal."

This is one recipe that I can really leave it to the machine to do the job!


Ingredients:

300ml(1 & 3/8 cups) water
3 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter
1 tablespoon oil
450g (3 cups) bread flour
1 & 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons caster sugar
2 tablespoon dried skimmed milk powder
1 & 1/4 teaspoons instant or fast-acting dried yeast


Method:

1. Pour the water into the breadmaker bucket. Add in the peanut butter, oil and half the flour.
2. Sprinkle with the salt, sugar and dried milk powder. Cover with the remaining flour.
3. With a finger, make a small indent in the centre of the flour, and place the yeast in the indent.
4. Fit the bucket into the breadmaker, and set to Basic white or No. 1. Select the desired colour of the crust. (The recipe did not state the loaf size, I set it as 2 lb, and selected light for the crust).
5. When the cycle completes, carefully shake the loaf out of the bucket and let it stand the right way up. If desired, brush with glaze (I usually omit this). Leave the loaf to cool for at least an hour before cutting and remove the blade/paddle if necessary.

More about → Let the machine do it!

Fun with Toast

During our recent trip to Tokyo in June, we had breakfast at one of the western cafe chains, Pronto. The cafe was just one block away from the hotel we stayed. My nephew ordered one such egg toast:


I didn't have a chance to try it, as we were all busy with the individual sets that we ordered for ourselves. After returning from the trip, I have been wanting to try to replicate this...however, I wasn't sure how the egg could set nicely on the bread toast. It remained a mystery to me until I came across a cookbook on the various ways to eat a bread toast. Although there is no specific recipe in that cookbook that teaches you how to make this egg toast, somehow, I got the idea and came up with my own version below:



I am not sure about the taste, but it did look quite close to the original version. If you are interested, here's how I went about it:

Place a thick toast (I used Breadtalk's thick loaf) on a baking tray, cut the four sides (but don't cut through) to get a square in the middle. With fingers or the back of a spoon, press and flatten the bread in the middle. Place a slice of cheese, press it down a little, and place an egg on it. Bake in a toaster or an oven, until the egg is set...depending on how cooked you like your egg to be. Sprinkle with some pepper and dried parsley's and serve. (To prevent the sides of the toast from getting browned faster than the egg, I spreaded some butter on the sides...it helps.)


My younger boy doesn't really like sunny-side-up, so I lightly beaten an egg and poured it over. The beaten egg became watery, unlike the sunny-side up since egg white is thicker. As such, I had to be extra careful when transfering the baking tray to the toaster, making sure the egg didn't spill over the sides.


Here's how the scrambled egg version looked like.


Too bad, my boy didn't like this scramble egg version either...he finds it too eggy and cheesy.


As for me, I prefer the sunny-side-up version better :)

More about → Fun with Toast