We are past the midpoint of the first month of 2015 before I even realise I haven’t written any sort of blog resolution yet. Whoops. I always like to write these things down because it gives me kind of a vision for what I want to achieve this year. I don’t necessarily get to tick all the boxes but the important thing is to have chances to try. There’s something satisfactory about reading down a list and being pleasantly surprised by the efforts you have put into completing it. 2014 was a bit of a meh year for me. Chaotic at times. I was constantly behind on my blogging thanks…
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- Appetizers & Sides, Asian Flavors, Christmas & holidays, Cooking Recipes, Egg dishes, Foodie Life, Living traditions, My favourite things
Happy Chinese New Year 2014 + some January food discoveries
I contemplated whether or not to write about Lunar New Year this year because I just wasn’t in the mood for it. This is my first Lunar New Year without my grandma and her absence could not be more magnified at this moment. Back when she was still around, CNY was one of the busiest days in the house. She was meticulous. Every dish had to be carefully and perfectly arranged. All the cups and saucers had to match with the chopsticks. The food had to be piping hot when it was laid before the Chinese deities… It’s too strange not to feel her bustling presence anymore when it used to…
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Chinese New Year cookies and things
Every year in our house, we follow the Hokkien way of celebrating Chinese New Year. My grandmother, or Ah-ma as we call her, was born and raised in Fujian, China so she is incredibly traditional, and even after 50 years of living abroad, all she knows is how to speak Hokkien. My grandmother is 92 years old now and although she doesn’t look it, she’s become rather forgetful of dates, so my Mother has taken over with the Chinese New Year preparations. It’s not really about being Buddhist as much as it is about being Chinese that we still continue celebrating the Lunar New Year in the way that we…
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Easier Chocolate Babkas to make in a pinch
Ever since I heard about Chocolate Babkas, they immediately wrote themselves into my to-bake list. I had no idea what a Babka was except that it involved chocolate. Surely anything with chocolate would be fantastic right? Later on I learn that it is actually a loaf of yeast bread with chocolate inside! The reason why I am not all that familiar with babkas is because, other than the fact that I’m fairly new to the foodie world, we don’t really have much of a designated food item for the Lenten Season. I guess you can call my efforts at making these Easter pastries an attempt to start some sort of…
- Baking Recipes, Bread-making, Christmas & holidays, Experiments & experiences, Living traditions, Yeasted breads
Ye odd hot cross buns
Lenten Season comes rather early this year. We don’t really make anything in particular for Lent, I just thought these were a good place to start. There is just something about Hot Cross Buns that are so fitting for the occasion. Aside from the cross on top of course, they look so unassuming. They remind me of the Christian teachings about learning how to appreciate simplicity in our lives, rather than the material, more ornamental things. It is said that Hot Cross Buns baked on a Good Friday never became moldy, and so keeping one bun until next year’s batch for the Lenten Season would supposedly bring good luck. And while…
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Pineapple Tarts for a Lunar New Year’s treat
The Lunar New Year comes rather early this year, at the tails of my birthday no less! We’ve hardly had any time to breathe and properly digest all the birthday food and suddenly here comes the New Year food. Though I must admit, we don’t celebrate the Lunar New Year as much as the other people who follow the lunar calendar do, because where I live, we follow the Western calendar and celebrate more of the same things that Westerners do. But being Chinese, it’s only natural that we would do a little bit of the traditions passed on to us by our ancestors. Temple visits and incense lighting aside,…
