Mix Nuts

This is wonderful for parties and as a snack for couch potatoes.

A Nut Mix
1 tsp vegetable oil
4 cups mixed nuts of your choice
1 and half cup of strawberry jam
2 tbsp paprika
2 tsp cumin

B To Coat
half cup brown sugar
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin


Coat Mixture
Mix the brown sugar, paprika and cumin in B together and set aside. On a stainless steel bowl, lightly oil it and place the mix nuts inside.

Nut Mix
In a small saucepan, pour the jam into it and let it cook over medium heat. Add paprika and cumin in A. Cook this until it is slightly sticky about the temperature of 230 deg F or called the softball stage.

Pour the nut mix on the nuts and stir to coat it evenly with a wooden spoon. When it is cool (about 5 minutes), sprinkle the nuts with the coat mixture. Stir to combine it.


Once this is done, you can pack them in your airtight tins. Great for gifts!



Softball stage for candy
A helpful test for this would be to scoop a teaspoon of this mixture and drop it into a glass of iced water. When you remove the ball from the water, it is soft, and should be able to flatten it like a pancake. Example of softball would be fudge and fondant)

Firmball stage for candy
When you cook the mixture to about 245 deg F, this is the firmball stage. The mixture when you remove from the iced water will be able to retain the shape of the ball but if you squeeze it will be flatten. Example of a firmball - Caramel)

My New Funky Scissors

I love to buy kitchen tools. I realized that my scissors is always misplaced. I put it just over the sinks and yet they get taken by the kids for some arts and crafts so often, they don't put it back. They lose them in the school which makes me scissorless then. So the other day I bought another pair of scissors. I didn't get the large type but a small one. They have it in nice funky colours and has a little cover. Guess what is so special about these scissors?

This is my funky scissors.

See... it can be attached to the fridge!

A magnet based scissors. Very good so I can just put it back on the fridge when I am done using it! Cool, eh.

Glazed Carrots

Carrots are a good source of Vitamin A. And it is a favourite vegetable of mine since I was a child. I use them in many dishes like stews, soup, stirfries and eat them with dips, raw. But too much of it can cause our skin to turn yellowish.

This is a nice side dish when you have visitors for dinner. Becauce the glaze shines so well, your meal looks like one from that restaurant. Presentable and glamourous. Add some other vege for a nice contrast colour if you like.

10 to 12 carrots (baby carrots are great)
1 tbs butter
Half cup of pineapple jam
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
1/4 tsp of ginger, chopped very fine
Parseley or Peas for garnish


Peel carrots and cut them diagonally into 2" thickness.
Cook them till they are tender but not too soft in salted water. Drain.
Mix the butter, jam, lemon juice, zest, ginger in a saucepan. Add the carrots that have been cut, washed. Cook them in this mixture for 10 minutes in medium heat. Turn them to glaze it thoroughly. Garnish it with your choice of parseley or peas.

Star Trek Trailer 2009

Were you a fan of Star Trek? I found this trailer recently. It will be released on the big screen soon in May 2009. It looks interesting. I hope it is as good as the original Star Trek. The actors are younger and the excitement looks good from the trailer.

Black Mirror with Handle

I bought a nice little mirror recently. I needed one for the makeup bag. Although in the compact powder case there is one, I fancied one that I can use and keep. And I can use it when I am travelling too. I used to have a little old retro round one that had a picture of a lady in retro make up a the back of the mirror. It was in one of my travalling days that I left it in one of my luggage bag and I noticed that it had a crack at the side. To be safe, I threw it away.

I saw this pretty mirror with handle and although I prefered one that I can place on the table handsfree, but this one is just so pretty. It is black and has nice carved 3d patterns at the back. Very classy and trendy looking. Reminds me of those fairy tale where the stepmother takes a peek at a mirror...heehee

Have a good week.

Christmas is Next Month

Christmas spirit is finally catching on. The malls are dressing up the interior and exterior with ornaments, ribbons, sculptures, trees and all the beautiful baubles to usher the Christmas mood. However I think this year they are not going full force this year because of tighter budget compared with the last years. Perhaps the global economy turmoil, high petrol cost months ago as well as increased electricity and rental rates have caused many people to reign their expenditure.

I was out shopping for some ornaments for the tree. The christmas ornaments are very costly lately. I picked up some but put it back because I intend to go to another mall to check if there are other variety of ornaments maybe cheaper. I should be following the crowd and save more instead of splurging on expensive things now. There are still gifts to be bought and lots of things like schoolbooks and uniforms to be bought by end of the year... oh not to mention school shoes for the kids!

Crispy Shrimps

1 kg of large shrimps, shelled and deveined
1 cup of all purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup beer
vegetable oil to deep fry

Wash the shrimps and drain. In a bowl, combine flour, egg, salt and beer. Beat with a whisk till smooth. Add more beer if it is too thick.

Dip the shrimps in this batter and fry it till it floats up (means they are cooked) or golden brown. Drain and served with your favourite sauce.

Pretty Container Boxes

I love to keep boxes and containers. I cannot resist buying lots of pretty boxes to keep my stuffs. I also love to go to Ikea furniture store and buy those pretty designed boxes. So the other day when I was shopping in a shop, I cannot resist getting this 3 pretty boxes for myself. God knows what I will put in there but I am sure I will always find things to keep. I keep reminding myself that I have no use for them but the thought of organizing my things comes on pretty strong.

Don't you think they look very pretty. I would have gotten them all in the same size but they only had the pink ones in this size. So I ended up getting 3 different sizes.

Pancakes

Pancakes are great for any type of meal. I can eat them for breakfast, savoury ones at lunch and dinner or even dessert pancakes for tea and supper. If you make mini sizes, you can serve them for your parties too.

1 cup milk
2 tbsp butter melted
2 eggs beat well
1 cup flour sifted
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

In a saucepan, heat milk and butter. Let it cool. (Some uses buttermilk bought from dairy section)
Beat the eggs, flours, baking powder and salt. Beat until smooth with a whisk.
Pour some batter (about a ladle) into the lightly greased pan. Cook till it is golden brown and turn the other side to cook) Do not turn it when the sides are still raw as it may stick to your pan.

Serve this with your favourite maple syrup, jam or even butter.

Plain Bento Box

I collect many many types of bento box but first, I will show you the plain ones that I have, which I use for many occasions. These are 3 tier ones and very handy to put your rice on one deck, veg on another and meat in another. Using this means you do not need to use those bento dish as this one already has an individual container and stacks up in a neat stack and secured with a nice bento belt.

As I bought this years ago for myself and my hubby, I still keep them and use it for snacks.

Tamagoyaki Pan

Well, in case you have no idea what Tamagoyaki pan looks like, I shall post it here. The Tamagoyaki pan is rectangular shaped. Of course you can use your normal round teflon pans too. I use the rectangular ones because I don't have to worry about the uneven shapes at the end part of the egg when rolled. Also I did a version of these egg roll using spinach and seaweed late last week for my daughters' bento.

Tamagoyaki is Sweet Egg Roll Omelette

I was bloghopping yesterday when I found a recipe for making the sweet egg omelette that are prominent in Japanese breakfast, bentos and meals. The Japanese calls it Tamagoyaki. It is basically a simple recipe very much like a sweet omelette although there are savoury versions too. When cooking this egg roll, you have to watch your heat as the sugar contents in the egg may tend to give you an easily burnt omelette.



Here is an easy recipe to get you started.
4 eggs
3 tbsps dashi soup stock
2 tbsps sugar

Some recipes do add a little touch of mirin and soya.


The method for cooking:
Beat eggs in a bowl. Add dashi soup and sugar in the egg and mix well. Heat a frying pan on medium heat. The Japanese use a rectangular pan call the Tamagoyaki Pan, but a round frying pan will do if you can't find one.

Oil the pan. With a small ladle, scoop egg mixture in the pan and spread over the surface. Cook it until half done and roll the egg toward the bottom side. Move the rolled egg to the top side.

Oil the empty part of the pan and pour another scoop of egg mixture in the space and under the rolled egg. Cook it until half done and roll the egg again so that the omelet becomes thicker. Cook the omelet until done. If you are using a regular frying pan, shape tamagoyaki on bamboo mat. Leave it there for 5-10 minutes for it to take shape of a roll.

Cut tamagoyaki into 1-inch thick pieces.

I found a bento accessory blog

Well, if I never got to start my bento due to lazyness, at least I got to do some shopping online. I went to this blog that has every kind of accessory of bento and those that are japanese inspired. If you need to get some ideas what are being used for bento-ing, this site certainly helps.

This place that I go to is called All About Kawaii. Although they do not post bento pictures but the items more than makes up for ideas. You have to check it out!

Perhaps after my weeks of browzing there, I can then get my bento started!

Pesto

Pesto is a wonderful sauce that I use on many Italian pasta. This quantity that I have is enough for serving 5 people. Preparation takes only 10 minutes. I always stir my pasta in a little bit of Pesto before I add my bolognese or pasta sauce because they do make the pasta tastier.

a large bunch of fresh basil leaves
5 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons pine nuts
70g freshly grated parmesan cheese
250ml extra virgin olive oil
salt to taste

Combine basil garlic, pine nuts in a processor and chop it till fine.

Transfer into a small bowl, add in the parmesan cheese. Gradually stir in the olive oil and season to taste with salt.


To use this pesto, once you have cooked your pasta al-dente, scoop a tablespoon of this pesto and toss. It is wonderful with all kinds of pasta or on your pizza or garlic toast. If you intend to season it before a pasta with other sauce, use sparingly, since your regular pasta sauce may be already flavoured.

Share My Recipe Book

Since I started this blog, I've been wanting to share some recipes that I have copied down in my little handwritten book. These are the recipes that have been collected over the many years too. If I had been blogging since, I'd have started taking down these recipes on my blog but it is never too late to start.

This is going to be my very own online recipe book and these recipes do not come with pictures as back then I do not own a digital camera. But as I go along, and cook them again, I will remind myself to take the pictures and put them into the existing recipe.

Some of these recipes have been tweaked while some are exactly as those I have taken off the recipe books that I have borrowed over my many trips to the library. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Lazy Bones

It's been a week and I haven't updated anything here. I really want to get started. Something is stopping me. I think it's a virus called LAZY and it is growing bigger and bigger.

I wanted to take some pictures of the bento accessories I bought lately but have not got the chance to. The weather is gloomy. I need some natural light. Do you have any nice bentos you wanna show me, anybody? Let me know and I'll come running to your blog.

Someone kickstart me please. LOL

I noticed a trend in Bento Box lunches lately. It is like an epidemic among motherhood. Perhaps there are more stay home moms. But then, I noticed that many moms who work also does Bento Lunches not just for the children, but for themselves.

I love Bento Lunches. I'm still new. But I love to shop for Bento stuff, whether I need it or not. It's my passion to collect them.

Mom Can Blog

I started this blog because I am a shopaholic for cute things. I buy things for my girls as an excuse but because I, too love them myself. Most of the time, I look for those stuff that are prized reasonable and fun. And I love gifts that are unique too.

Share the journey with me as I shop and blog it here. I also found a new interest in Bento Lunch. I love to shop for Bento accessories, mostly and buys them on my weekly feeds when I go to the mall.