Tiramisu

Recipe:

4 egg yolks

2 eggs

80g sugar 

20g gelatine

6 tablespoon water

400g whipped cream (I used ready used whipped cream, Cool Whip)

500g Mascarpone Cheese

Notes: 

• if you whip your own whipped cream, you may use 350 ml of whipping cream and up to 100 g of sugar, otherwise a ready used whipped cream is already sweet.

Coffee:

30 g Coffee powder (I used Luwak powder)

400 g warm water

2 packets of lady fingers cookies

Procedure:

Cheese part:

1. Beat egg yolks, eggs, and sugar on top of a pan of simmering water. Beat until the mixture turn pale yellow in color. Cool it to room temperature.

2. Add mascarpone cheese and mix lightly. Do not overmix.

3. Soak gelatine powder with water then microwave for 20 seconds. Stir it well, and make sure no lumps.

4. Fold in whipped cream, and gelatine mixture. You may use tea filter when you add in the gelatine mixture, in case the mixture has few lumps in it.

  

How to assemble the cake:

1. Arrange lady fingers cookies on 9 inch round baking pan. 

2. Pour coffee mixture on the cookies (use tablespoon, and do it slowly (one tablespoon at a time), make sure that you don't wet the cookies too much, else it will be soggy). 

3. Pour in half of the cheese mixture.

4. Arrange lady fingers cookies on top of the cheese layer, and wet the cookies with coffee again.

5. Pour in the remaining half of the cheese mixture.

6. Refrigerate the tiramisu for a night. 

7. Sieve cocoa powder on top of the tiramisu cake, and you may decorate it as well.

This is how it looks like inside.

2012 Medan Trip (First Day)

Last year, June 2012, I brought a group of friends to Medan. It was a very short trip. We reached Medan around 11 am on Saturday, then we were back to Singapore early morning on Monday. They are from Jambi, Tanjung Pinang, Tanjung Batu, Jakarta. One said Medan is a Food Heaven. It was too much food that they want to try, but we only had such little time. 

Saturday:

We started with Mie Lindung (Mie Siantar) at Jalan Singa. 

    

Our second menu was Soto Medan at Rumah Makan Sinar Pagi. 

Soto Medan (Shredded chicken curry made with coconut milk)

Third destination was another mie keriting siantar. Actually, I was planning to bring them here for our first destination, but, I didn't realize that I went to a wrong shop. Both were good though. They were actually very satisfied with the first place, which was actually a mistake. We even took a video reviewing the noodle. But, after I met my brother, then only I realized that we have gone to a wrong place. Here is the right one. It is located at the corner of Jalan Singa. 

Mie Keriting Siantar(Curly Noodle with pork)

Siantar is a place in North Sumatra (about 3 hours from Medan)

Then, I was craving for Es Campur. We went to a shop located at Jalan Sei Kera. They sell all different kind of Ice dessert. Some had Es Campur, some had Avocado juice. Everything was so refreshing and delicious...

Es Campur (Mixed shaved ice dessert, contains Palm Seed, Chendol, grass jelly, fermented cassava, coconut milk, and palm sugar) 

Avocado Juice with chocolate milk

After that dessert, we thought we should take a break from filling up our stomach. Or I should say that there is no more space in our stomach. It was too much food in one afternoon. So, we went to Istana Maimun to have a walk.

For dinner, we decided to try Nasi Padang Pondok Gurih at jalan Brigjend Katamso.

Udang Sambal Petai (Shrimp & Petai cooked with Chilli)

Sayur Gori / Gulai Nangka (Young Jackfruit Curry)

Sambal Kentang Goreng (Sliced fried potato cooked with Chilli)

Ikan Goreng (Fried Fish)

Ayam Goreng (Fried Chicken)

Tamarillo Juice (Jus Terong Belanda)

It's a bit embarrassing to tell. But, our meal didn't stop there on that day. After the heavy meal, my brother's friend brought us to try Mie and Kwetiao kangkung belacan.   

Fried Kwetiao with Kangkung and Belacan (dried shrimp paste). 

Fried noodle with Kangkung and Belacan

The noodle and kwetiao ended our meal for the day. Please wait for my next posting about Medan trip for the 'Second Day' part...

P.S. Some of the pictures were taken by my buddies. Big thanks, buddies!

Body Composition Analysis

What I meant by body composition here is visceral/abdominal fat, muscle mass, body fat, body water, bone mass. From muscle mass and body fat data, our physique rating can then be obtained. In fact, there is a weighing machine which is able to give all those information. What we need to do is just to key in our age, and height, then step on the machine with our barefoot, after less than a minute, all the numbers will be given. I plan to find out how the formula works and I promise to post them here. Hopefully soon.

Below is the result for physique rating with its explanation that I copied from my health report done at the Health Outreach Clinic Pte Ltd:
Result    Physique Rating
1               Hidden Obese
2                   Obese
3                  Solidly-built
4               Under exercised
5                   Standard
6               Standard Muscular
7                    Thin
8               Thin and Muscular
9                 Very Muscular

It was some times in August last year (2012), when I had my body composition analyzed. My physique rating result was 4 (under exercised). I was extremely disappointed with such result. My fat percentage was 25.4, and muscle mass was 35.2 kg at that time. Abdominal fat rating was 3, which is at the lower side. BMI (Body Mass Index) was at the low side of normal range, therefore, nothing about loosing weight to improve the physique rating. After analyzing further, I concluded that I need to gain more muscle in order to improve the physique rating. I set that as my goal, which should be achieved by next year (August 2013).

Just few weeks back (March 2013), I happened to see a health marketing company which were having a roadshow to promote their nutritional product, and thing that caught my attention was definitely not the product, but they were helping customer to do a free check for body composition. Guess what? My weight is still the same, but I have gained 2.5 kg of muscle mass and loose some fat. The fat percentage is showing at 20.1, with the abdominal fat rate at 2. Physique rating is now at 7 (Thin). I am satisfied with the outcome! I could probably improve a little more to be at 8 (Thin and Muscular), but definitely not at 9.  

Some tips to start a healthy life style:

•  For people with high BMI, daily calories intake should be reduced and working out should be put on your busy schedule. I won't elaborate further about working out for now, because the first move to do is to reduce the total daily calories intake. To be able to do so, knowing calorie content in every single food that is taken everyday is a must. Some food may have label that show such information. This website is a good resource.
• For people with normal BMI, I suggest to have a body composition analyzed to know whether you are healthy or not. Skinny doesn't mean healthy. There could be some unhealthy fat being stored in the body without us knowing. Some people may look skinny from outside, but they could have excess fat in their belly. In USNEWS, it has been reported that people who have excess fat in their belly may have higher risk of dying from heart attack.  

Homemade Pizza

Recipe:
Pizza Dough:
180 g flour (can use wheat flour for the healthy version)
1 tea spoon salt
1 tea spoon dried yeast
1/2 tea spoon caster sugar
1 table spoon olive oil
120 ml warm water

flour for dusting

Toppings:
Mushroom/chicken/bell pepper
Red pepper
Mozzarella Cheese
Pizza Sauce

Procedure:
1. Mix all pizza dough ingredients, and knead the dough until you get a smooth and nonstick dough. Place the dough in a big bowl/mixer bowl. Put some oil before you place the dough. Cover with cling plastic wrap.

2. It may take about an hour to two hours to rise the pizza dough. You should rise it until it double the size (as shown in the picture below).

3. Punch the dough with your fist to get rid of the air. Then roll out the pizza dough. 

4. Spread pizza sauce on top of the dough, then mozzarella cheese and then chicken/mushroom/bell peppers.

5. Preheat oven to 200 celcius. Bake your pizza for about 20 minutes.

Tips on how to make a soft and nice bread

After trying for so many attempts in making bread, I started to understand that the key in producing a nice and soft bread is not so much about the ingredients, but it is the way how we mix the ingredients. Some of us might not be so lucky to own the popular mixer, Kitchen Aid. But, if you do, you may skip my first video, and just look at the second video. I have tried so many recipes before I manage to get the right texture of my homemade bread. For the first 5 trials, the texture of my bread was more like a hard bread. Then a colleague offered to show me how to knead the dough. She explained to me couple of times, but still, I wasn't able to get the right texture. It's actually not only about kneading, but we should beat the dough to get an elastic one. Below is the video that I have recorded for you, in case some of you may have the same problem as me. 

It usually takes me about 20-30 mins to get the elastic bread dough. Below is the video to know when you may stop beating the dough.

Healthy Chocolate Bread

Healthy Chocolate Bread

After few months break of baking, I decided to use my oven again. I didn't realize that I am out of sugar at home. But, I know that I have various honey (Manuka, raw honey, Yummy house honey etc) available. Since, I was too lazy to go out to supermarket to get sugar, so I thought why not give it a try to substitute sugar with honey.
It's going to be a healthy one for sure. But, I do have small doubt whether it's going to work. This chinese idiom then give me a complete confidence:
 用心做的東西肯定會是最好的！
Meaning: If you put your heart into doing something, you will definitely get the best out of it!

Below is my new innovative recipe. It worked!

Recipes:
375 g Bread Flour
9 g Choco powder
4 g Instant Yeast
3 g salt
200 g fresh milk
65 g honey water (mix 3 tablespoon of honey and half cup of water)--> only use 65 g of the mixture
52 g butter

The procedure is similar to that for making Yam Bread (please see my other post for Yam bread).

Chocolate filling:
2-3 tablespoon whipping cream
6 tablespoon baking dark chocolate chips

Heat the whipping cream in microwave or on top of stove, after it boils, transfer to a container and mix the chocolate in, stir it until it's well blended. Put aside.

6D Taiwan - 2013

ITINERARY

Day 1 (26/4) – Reach Tao Yuan Airport around 5:40am.

Arrival at T1, need to travel to T2 to get the simcard.

After clearing immigration, proceed to departure hall, level 3 to go to Chunghwa telecom shop to get prepaid card. 7 days unlimited for NT450. The shop is open at 7 am.  

7:30 am Meet up with driver.

9:30 am drop luggages to hotel

野柳 (yehliu)→平溪(pingxi)→十分(shi fen)→九份(jiufen)→金瓜石(jin gua shi)→基隆廟口(keelung) →九份-溫莎堡(宿) hotel

Hotel address:

台北縣瑞芳鎮輕便路282號

聯絡電話： 0912-547-078 或是 0960-576-258

Must Try Food at Jiufen old street:

·        Traditional fish balls. Address: 23 Jishan st. 

·       Jinzhi red meat dumpling. Address: 112 Jishan st.

·        Ah Gan Yee Taro Balls (Sweet potato and yam flavors). Address: 5 Shuqi Rd. 

5:30 pm Back to hotel

If we still have energy then we should go to Keelong night market. Otherwise just walk around jiufen old street and rest early.

Day 2 (27/4)

If we have enough in jiufen, then we will leave for taipei early in the morning and have lunch there. Else, another option would be walking around at jiufen old street till afternoon (after lunch) then only leave for Taipei.

We need to collect our train tickets to Taichung from Taipei Main Station!

9:00 am Leave windsor B and B

Depends on the day, we may take Keelung bus (about 20 mins ride, Fare: NT$15 weekend, NT$21 weekdays) or taxi from jiufen old street to Ruifang train station then we take train (about 1 hour ride, Fare:NT$60) to Taipei main station.

11:00 am  Arrive hotel in taipei. Check in if possible otherwise we leave our luggages at 
New Stay Inn hotel.
5F., No.72, Sec. 1, Zhongxiao W. Rd., Taipei Main Station, Taipei, Taiwan 
Exit z8 from taipei main station, through underground mall ard 10-15 mins. It is located at level 5 of one old building.  Tip: look out for the hotel sign on the 5th level of an old building across the bus station terminal building.

12:00 pm Lunch at din tai fung àthis restaurant is the first one open, even though

these days you may find it everywhere in the world.

Main Branch:

No. 194, Section 2, Xìnyì Road, Daan District, Taipei City, Taiwan

Taxi fare from taipei main station is ard 120 NT

           

MRT- blue line towards Taipei Nangang, after 2 stops, alight at Zhongxiao xinsheng station, change to orange line towards Nanshijiao station, alight after 1 stop at Dongmen. Walk 130 m to DTF.

• After lunch, we should go to Taipei LeeChi Cake Shop

         104 Taiwan Taipei City Jhongshan District Section 2, 73 Zhangan East Road (104 台北市長安東路二段73號)

         Get to Songjiang Nanjing Station by MRT(Orange Line), take exit 4. Head south on Songjiang Road (松江路), then turn left onto Chang-an East Road, Section 2 (長安東路二段) and Taipei LeeChi Cake Shop will be somewhere there. Walking distance is about 450m.

3:00pm Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial

4:00 pm NTU area/gongguan mrt

Take Taipei MRT-Xindian Line (捷運新店線) to Gongguan Station (捷運公館站)

•    臺一牛奶大王 (Tai Yi Niu Nai Da Wang) 台北市 (Taipei City) 新生南路3段82號 (Xin Sheng S. Road, 3^rd Section, No.82) Phone: (02) 2362-3172
•   Chen San Ding (陳三鼎黑糖粉圓專賣店)

           Most popular drink is tapioca milk tea (made with Chen San Ding's brown sugar). The pearl was cooked in brown sugar.

Address: Alley 8, Lane 316, Section 3, Roosevelt Road, Taipei
Hours: Tuesday-Sunday 11:00am-10:00pm

• Lan Jia Gua Bao 藍家割包 (Opposite the Bubble Tea)
• 大福利排骨大王 (Da Fu Li Pai Gu Da Wang) 台北市中正區 (Taipei City, Zhong Zhen District) 羅斯福路三段286巷12號 (Roosevelt Rd. 3rd Section, Lane 286, No.12) Phone: (02) 2365-1009
•  Gongguan night market

Day 3 (28/4)

7:00 am Breakfast nearby Taipei main station

8:00 am Take high speed railway to taichung

Meeting driver at 9 am

Proceed to hotel to leave our luggages

文華道會舘 //  In One City Inn

40724 台中市西屯區文華路138巷31號

No.31, Lane 138, Wanhua Rd., Situn Dis. Taichung City 407. Taiwan

Tel:04-36028088 Fax:04-36061088

10:00 am Sun Moon Lake

彩虹村，日月潭，搭攬車，

文武廟，埔里酒廠，18度C巧克力

Hope to be back to hotel by 6 pm

6:00 pm Fengjia night market

Day 4 (29/4)

7:30 am Breakfast at the hotel

8:15 am Leave hotel

9:00 am Take train to go back to taipei

10:00 am drop all luggages at the hotel. New stay inn.

Yang ming shan陽明山 (YMS)

From Taipei Main station exit M1 take bus no. 260 to YMS main bus station. From there, get an unlimited bus ride (#108), NT60 to go around YMS.

• We may try different flavor of Mantou
• Can take bus 230 at YMS terminal to Beitou MRT, about 30 mins journey. Bus stop is outside 7/11 store.

1:00 pm Lunch at Beitou, in case no food at YMS

• 24 hour small eatery in Beitou -near Xinbeitou MRT. Best item is lu rou fan, 滷肉飯 (rice with diced braised pork). Address: 台北市北投區光明路213號 213 Guangming Rd.
• After exit MRT, walk towards KFC then turn left, then walk straight till you see the restaurant.
• Desserts at Meet Fresh Sweets Shop 鮮芋仙 - They claimed that their sweets are made from  natural ingredients, no chemical. 

           Address: 台北市北投區光明路214號 214 Guangming Rd. Nearest MRT: Xinbeitou 新北投

• Hot Spring

5:30 pm Danshui old street

After exit danshui  station, walk towards left and walk along the river to reach the old street.

阿給 – fried tofu stuffed with cellophane noodles and then sealed with fish paste.

7:00 pm Shilin Nightmarket

Nearest MRT: Jiantan 劍潭 (Red Line – DanShui line)

Day 5 (30/4) Shopping and eating day

8:00 am Breakfast at Fu Hang Dou Jiang

To get here, hop on the Blue Line MRT to Shandao Temple Station and take Exit 5. Enter the building on our right and proceed to 2nd Floor. The place opens from as early as 5.30am till sold out.

10:00 am Xi Men Ding

Ah-Chung Flour-Rice Noodle 阿宗麵線

Small bowl NT$45

Big bowl NT$60.

Xi-Meng-Ting Headquarter/西門町總店：
Address: No.8-1, Emei St., Wanhua District, Taipei City
Walking Directions: 5 minutes walk from Ximen MRT station, exit 6

12:30 pm Lunch at Modern Toilet Restaurant

                Modern Toilet Restaurant 便所主题餐厅
                Ximending Store, No.7, Lane 50, Sining S. Rd., Wanhua District, Taipei City, Telephone: 02-  2311-8822 Opening Hours: 11:30am – 10:00pm (Weekdays), 11:00am – 11:00pm (Holidays)

3:00pm Taipei 101

Travelling on the same blue line of Taipei MRT, we stopped at Taipei City Hall Station 市政府站 to get to Taipei 101. There is a free Taipei 101 Shuttle Bus that brings you from Taipei City Hall Station to Taipei 101 and back, at 30-minute interval. 

To take shuttle, we should go out from exit 2.

6:00 pm Raohe night market

In case we still want to make a trip to Wufenpu, it’s in the raohe night market area.

The best time to go to Wufenpu is on Friday or Saturday. Prices tend to be cheaper, but need bargaining skill here. Mondays are reserved for wholesalers. The shops in Wufenpu open at around 11am, and on Sundays, around 1pm. Only cash can be used here.

Day 6 (1/5) Last minute shopping

8:00 am Breakfast at Yonghe dou jiang da wang
        No. 102, section 2, Fuxing south rd., daan district, taipei
MRT station: Daan
Take blue line towards Taipei Nangang exhibition center, and alight at zhongxiao fuxing station (3 stops later), transfer to brown line towards taipei zoo (2 stops to Daan). Walk about 300 m to the shop. 

• Shin-Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store 新光三越
• Underground Mall
• Costco Address:No. 268, Section 1, Jiùzōng Rd, Neihu District  Taipei City, Taiwan 114

Diet Plan

Monday:
7:30-9:00 Breakfast --> Oat + a cup of skim milk
12:00-1:00 Lunch --> one fist of rice, Chicken breast, vegetable
3:30-4:00 Tea time --> 2 slices of bread with kaya
6:30-7:30 Work out, running 4 km with interval (slow 1 min, fast 1 min) plus push up, sit up or swimming for 40 minutes
7:30-8:30 Dinner-->a fist of rice with vegetable and fish

Tuesday:
7:30-9:00 Breakfast --> Skim milk + cereal +almond
12:00-1:00 Lunch --> 2 homemade burger / sandwiches (contains lettuce, tomato, a slice of cheese, and patty)
3:30-4:00 Tea Time -->a slice of chiffon cake
7:30-9:00 Yoga
9:00-10:00 A cup of Milo made with evaporated Milk (not condensed milk) and no sugar/Milo Si kosong

Wednesday:

7:30-9:00 Breakfast --> Oatmeal

12:00-1:00 Lunch -->noodle or bihun soup

3:30-4:00 Tea Time -->banana muffin

6:30-7:30 Badminton/Jogging/Swimming/Power Yoga

7:30-8:30 Dinner --> a bowl of chicken/fish noodle soup

Thursday:

7:30-9:00 Breakfast --> Skim milk + oat

12:00-1:00 Lunch --> sandwich

3:30-4:00 Tea Time --> a small handful of mixed nuts

6:30-7:30 Gym

7:30-8:00 Dinner --> rice with chicken breast and vegetable

Friday:

7:30-9:00 Breakfast --> 1 cup of Skim milk + 3/4 cup of cereal

12:00-1:00 Lunch --> a fist of rice with vegetable and small portion of meat

3:30-4:00 Tea Time --> muffin/chiffon cake

6:30-7:30 Dinner --> A bowl of Oatmeal

Saturday:

7:00-8:00 Running 7-10 km plus push up, sit up

8:00-9:00 Breakfast --> Omelette with one slice of wholemeal bread, 1/2 cup of orange juice

12:00-1:00 Lunch --> a fist of rice with vegetable and small portion of meat

4:30-7:30 Badminton

7:30-8:00 Dinner --> A fist of rice with fish fillet and vegetable

Sunday:
7:30-9:00 Breakfast --> one scramble egg with 2 slices of toasted bread +1/2 cup of orange juice
12:00-1:30 Lunch --> a fist rice with a lot of vegetable, and a little bit of meat
6:30-8:00 Dinner --> Outing (No fried food)

a fist of rice = the amount of rice should be the same size as your one hand fist.

Recipes:

OatMeal
3-4 tablespoons of rolled oat cooked in a cup of water. If you need some taste, after the oat is boiled, you may add a sachet of milo or hot cereal.

Vegetable --
Fried Kailan
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Kailan

Fried long beans:
1 tablespoon of oil
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Long beans

Fried noodles:
Blender 4 cloves of garlic, 6 cloves of scallion, 1 teaspoon of dried shrimp
1 tablespoon of olive oil
cabbage
10 whole chilli padi
salt, pepper
spaghetti noodles, boiled

1.Heat oil, then fry the garlic mixture till fragrant
2.Add cabbage and chili padi, stir fry till half cooked, then add in the boiled spaghetti noodles, fry, add salt, pepper

Omelette:
2 eggs
2 cloves of garlic
1 slice of cheese
salt
pepper
1.5 teaspoon of olive oil