Souffle Went Wrong

Since the dragon only enters on Feb 4, I thought I will bake some cheesecake souffle to welcome the dragon.  I had the inspiration for a souffle because I remember Calista Flockhart trying to bake one in Brothers and Sisters and Sally Field told her the secret is beating the eggs!  I beat my eggs till they are dead! In the oven they go and I was so impressed looking at them being baked in the oven.  Look at how beautiful they look rising up in the oven.  

Honestly, I was so excited and thought to myself not a bad attempt for a first timer.  Then the disaster happen when the oven goes 'ting'.  I opened up the oven door and slowly before my eyes, each souffle looks like some imaginary person is poking a pin into it!  They just deflate like a flat tyre!  :(
Now, it just looks like a flat portugese egg tart...

I will not attempt another round of souffle to welcome the dragon.  I think I will use the remaining cream cheese to make a cream cheese pound cake to welcome the dragon.  

East meet West 'Lap Cheong' (chinese sausage)

My son loves sausages so I thought since it's chinese new year, I will try to make my own version of lap cheong.  I looked around and found this packet of dried collagen sausage casing with provided strings to tie the lap cheong.  I remember a friend suggested to add some sticky rice with my minced meat mixture to bind the meat properly though I dont really think it is necessary but I did it to give it the effect of 'fat' instead of real meat fat.  :)  So here is my version of a westernised lap cheong.  :)

Lean minced meat for healthier option. Notice the rice?

Stuffing the casing with the meat - yuckiest part of the process

A stuffed casing

Tied to make smaller pieces.

Those meat only fill up 2 casings!

Being grilled in the oven instead of deep drying

My lap cheong pieces  :)

It is not exactly the best looking but it sure tastes yummy and much healthier as I know what meat I put in it and not oily at all.  

Sugee Cake

I make this sugee cake to usher in the dragon year which begins tomorrow.  Sugee cake is a soft butter cake made with semolina flour and a high concentration of eggs.  For this cake, I use 6 eggs!  It is a dessert served in Eurasian, Malay and Chinese cuisine.  It is quite a common cake served during Chinese New Year.  For this cake, I added almond powder and topped it with almond slivers. 

Straight out of the oven

The inside of the cake

Although it is rich (lots of eggs and butter), it is quite light for eating.  It does not fill you up and is good with chinese tea over some chit chat session.  It is a no frill cake.  :)


I have decided to sell this cake to help me pay my bills and overdue lawyer fees... :(   so if you are one of my readers in New Zealand, please forward my brochure below.  Thank you.  

Marmite Pasta

I am sharing this because over the weekend, I discovered my friend's housemate absolutely dislike Marmite/Vegemite.  Just the mention of it, he will squirm in such a way, it cracks me up.  :)  So I decided to take pictures of my marmite pasta dish and upload it.  Maybe one day by serendipity, he will stumble upon my blog and he will know who wrote that.  He could be reading it with his grandchild and say "I know this blogger.  She makes marmite with cheese on toast for her son, Urrggghh!"

A healthy dose of butter

With lots of garlic and onion and big spoonful of marmite

The meat is browned in marmite juice :)

Add the pasta

And lightly tossed eggplant with a spoonful of marmite.
 Into the oven it goes to be baked

Final result which my boy loves - the taste of marmite with grated cheese!