The Great Chef

On the day I arrived to Auckland, my sister S has made this Coffee & Walnut Sponge Cake to welcome me.   Before I could settle down to look around the surrounding,  she immediately slice a piece for me eventhough I wasn't rea d y upto eat anything as I was really tired and didn't s leep well th rough the journey flight.  Nevertheless instead of disappointing her effort of baking this cake for me, one mou thful of it could make you go for another slice!  This cake is indeed so delicious.......and in fact my sister has made this for the third time . So, yesterday she bake this cake again!  This cake is so easy to make, all the ingredients dump into a bowl, and just whisk till combined.  Tha t 's it!  Well, you won't be disappoint with rec ipe from Delia's COFFEE AND WALNUT SPONGE CAKE Recipe sourced from Delia Online Ingredients 165g  self-raising flour, sifted 1 ½ tsp baking powder 165g margarine (whipped vegetable fat), at room temp...

Kia Ora from New Zealand . I've been here in Auckland a week now and it is good to be back here again.  The weather is cooling and sometimes do feel warm in the afternoon.  Let's view some scenery photos.  Went to the Botanical Garden the other day as the weather is good to be outdoor.  A s now is Autumn, so won't be able to see beautiful flowers surround .                                                                   Lavenders No flowers... ...    

To all my dear friends, I will be taking a long break holiday for 3-4 months.   I'm flying off to Auckland, NZ visiting my mum,  sister, uncle, aunty, cousins, sister-in-law, nieces and friends.... t hereafter might be off to Melbourne for a sho rt visit too. Well , during this long period of time, I will try to find time to update my blog here ; , if I'm not posting my bakes or dishes, I will just post scenery pictures of NZ . Here, I like to THANK YOU all for visiting my blog and leaving your comments as it does mean a lot to me!  Take care.   Lots Love Mel                                                        It's Autumn now and be there till winter!    

What to eat?  What to cook for dinner ?  This is the common question frequently run into my head everyday.  As being the cook for the family, I am sure some of you might have to think ahead the m e nu to prepare for that day.  And most headache one is, if a member of the family is one picky of certain food, or if another member having cough or cold, we have to avoid deep fry food, or and so go on and on.... I think the easier way for me is Baked Chicken!   Baked Chicken Drumstick (Asian Style) Recipe inspired from  Greedy Gourmet   Ingredients olive oil, to drizzle 10 chicken drumsticks   sea salt & black pepper to rub on the chicken Glaze Sauce 6 tbsp honey 3 tbsp fish sauce    (I add only 2 tbsp) 1½ tbsp light soy sauce 1½   lemon lemons  (I only use 1 lemon) 3 tbsp rice wine vinegar   1½ tbsp sesame oil some whole shallots (optional) Preheat the oven to 140°C. Lightly oil a large baking dish. Season the drumstick...

I usually can't stop myself from paying a 'visit' if I happened to see food post of pies, or anything with potatoes or cheese! Though by right I shouldn't take in too much of dairy products such as milk, cheese, chocolate or butter because I have allergic rhiniti s and taking these dairy food would result in building up mucous.  And all these food are my favourite and how can I totally not having this or to to tally cut down. When Sonia   posted her Spinach, Feta & Potato Pies lately, I just got to try this out because I am sure I would love this very much.   But I made the cheated version ~ I used the ready made store bought crust pastry instead to make for a quicky fast lunch. Spinach, Feta and Potato Pies Recipe sourced from Sonia of NasiLemakLover with slight change   For the pastry 280g plain flour, plus extra for dusting (or 140g wholemeal + 140g plain flour) 85g cold butter, diced 85g shortening 100ml milk, if needed (For the pastry, I did not mak...

Made this delicious Lamb Bourguignon the other day and in fact this is not the first time I cook Bourguignon and I always find that this type of dish or something like stew is my comfort food.   I always love to cook one pot dish as it is easy with no hassle and by the time the dish is cooked, I will surely enjoy this hearty meal.   Lamb Bourguignon Recipe sourced from   Eat Your Heart Out with changes Originally from from Delia Smith Serves 6-7 Ingredients 1kg lamb chop cut into 2 inch (5 cm) squares 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 medium onion, sliced 1 heaped tablespoon plain flour 450ml red Burgundy or other red wine (1 pour in 600ml) 2 cloves garlic, chopped 2 sprigs fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried thyme 1 bay leaf 350g shallots, whole 150g smoked or unsmoked streaky bacon, cut into cubes 150g mushrooms, sliced (I used a mixture of white button mushrooms and fresh shitake) Salt and freshly milled black pepper You can either cut the lamb chop into large chunks (5cm...

STICKY RICE WITH CORN PUDDING Recipe sourced from  Febie   Ingredients   ½ cup uncooked sticky rice (glutinous rice) 2 cups water plus more 2 tbsp sugar 1 cup fresh corn or from the can Coconut sauce 2 2 cups coconut milk  (I used only 1 cup) ½ cup sugar  (I used less than 1/4 cup )   ¼ tsp salt  (just a pinch) Soak the sticky rice at least 4 hours or over night. Put rice and water in the pot cook on medium heat, stirring often. (You might need to add extra water if it is too thick). Add sugar and corn stir together and turn of the heat. In another pot cook the coconut milk sugar and salt until melt Serve the corn and rice topped with coconut sauce . Serves for 2-3 person This post is linked to the event,  Little Thumbs up  organised by  Zoe (Bake for Happy Kids)   and  Mui Mui (My Little Favourite DIY)  and hosted by Ester of Copycake Kitchen  

Usually I prefer to cook ONE POT dish because it is easy (but some one pot dish needs some long list of preparation ). Well, I do admit that sometimes I can be lazy to cook for a set of meal of 3 dishes; because you need to stand for hours preparing the ingredients, cooking, clean up etc and lately with this kind of hot weather makes you feel more lazier!   When ever I finished cooking for all the three dishes and by the time ready for dinner, I always tend to eat little. hmm...probably already so "full up" cooking and inhaling all the fragrant and aroma inside me!  I understand well now, previously when my mum cooked all the di shes, she will eat teeny weeny only and all of us the children feel why our mum so painstakingly cook ed for us and she is so scrimp of dishing up the delicious food into her plate! So once in awhile being as the chef at home, so it is alright to just cook one pot dish and hope no one is complaining and muttering  out "Ah, only one dish?...

I wasn't prepared to bake anything lately as I was busy with other things to settle with but since my hands are getting "itch" a nd just the craving to bake something that this Plain Bread is  being baked. I have so far have not bake a sandwich loaf or plain bread before because I was a little worry that it might not turn up as good as I wanted it to be.   I decided to just make half of the recipe and continue to measure up the flour, salt, yeast, sugar in half portion and pour everything into the mixer and continue to measure the warm water but I forgot to half it and pour immediately into the flour...... amigosh......too wet.  Oh my, so I have no choice to measure the other half of the flour, salt, yeast and sugar into the mixer again. Plain and Simple White Bread (Delia Smith)  Recipe source from  Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids   Original recipe from  Delia Smith Ingredients (700 g) strong white bread flour, plus a little extra for the top of th...