Month: August 2015

Food, Uncategorized

Bosch experience with chef John See (part 3-dessert)

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Chef John See is trained in French cuisine. Hence we can see from all these dishes that  he’s very particular with the presentation. Every dish is like an art form. Rich, colorful & pretty. Of course, very nutritious too! Below are the ingredients for making this refreshing & pretty dessert. 

Dessert: Chilled melon soup with avocado & assorted berry.

 
    

Ingredients: 

2 white dragon fruits

4 avocado

4 gooseberry

1 cup fresh blueberry

1 cup strawberry  
 Melon mix:

1 Rock melon

2 cup Ice cube

1cup fresh raspberry

  1) Combine the melon mix ingredient together in a Bosch blender, puree the ice & melon to fine. Set in the fridge & stir before serve.

2) Place one of the dragon fruit halves into a soup plate & nicely place all the fruit balls & berry onto it. Then, pour the chilled melon soup into the soup plate as shown.

Done! So pretty right?  

   

Putting the same dessert in different bowls give it a different feel…

 With the 3 “H” (haze/ hot & humid) in Singapore, Mrs Eio will strongly recommend this dessert for everyone. Have a blessed & restful weekend! 

Education, Food

Bosch experience with Chef John See (part 2- main dish)

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In addition to the appetizer salad that Mrs Eio shared in her earlier post when she’s at the Bosch Experience Center, chef John See also shared his recipe on the following main dish & how he used Bosch home appliances to create this dish with ease. 

    
Main dish:

Steamed Salmon encrusted with flaxseed & walnut. Served with beetroot-tomato jam & sautéed kale with soya milk   
This is a dish with lots of superfood ingredients: 

Salmon
2tbsp Olive oil

Pinch freshly cracked salt & pepper 

8 slices lemon slices 

Flaxseed & walnut crust: 

3tbsp toasted flaxseed

Half cup toasted walnut

2 sliced toasted wholemeal fibre bread (cut to cubes)
1tbsp honey 

  
Beetroot & tomato jam:

2 cooked beetroot (peel & diced)

3 cup fresh tomato (cut to quarter)

2 tbsp Apple cider vinegar

4tbsp brown sugar 

Half white onion (diced)

Kale in soya milk:

1tbsp olive oil

2 whole garlic smashed 

Pinch of salt & pepper

300gm Fresh kale leaves

1 firm bean curd

Half cup soya milk


1) tomato jam: Heat up an pot over Bosch stove. Add all the tomato jam ingredients together & simmer to boil. Keep at low heat & keep stirring from time to time for 15 min. 

Use a Bosch handheld blender (see photo above) & purée the tomato jam into fine puree & add in the cooked beetroot cube. Set aside to serve with salmon. 

   

 2) combine all the flaxseed mix ingredients (except honey ) into the Bosch mighty mix blender (see photo below). Roughly blend & set aside. Add honey, then heating it on a pan. Set aside as a crust for the salmon.   

 3) place the salmon onto a tray top with salt, pepper, lemon slices & olive oil. Then into the Bosch Series 8 steam oven (see photo below) to steam for 5-6 min. 

Mrs Eio is impressed with bosch series 8 steam oven. It’s an all-in-one oven that can steam (that’s the container to hold water for steaming function), roast, microwave & bake etc. Recent new developments have very small kitchen, this oven will help save space as there’s no need for a steamer, microwave etc. Of course, this oven is more pricey as compared to the other conventional ovens in the market. 

  

Chef stressed that we should not over-steam salmon. If we see whitish substance on the salmon, it means that the fish is over cooked. 
  4) encrusted with the flaxseed walnut crust & place it onto a plate.   (Mrs Eio loves the taste of this crust. Crunchy & nutty. Can serve the kids as snacks. Lol) 
   

Mrs Eio has tried cooking this black tau kwa. It’s delicious, tougher & taste abit like meat. Well… You can see from the packaging that it contains antioxidants. 

5) lightly sautéed the garlic to golden brown, add kale & bean curd (see photo above & below) . Fry for 2 min. Finally add in soya milk to braise for 3 min.

   

6) serve with beetroot tomato jam. 

 

The final product! 

Steamed Salmon encrusted with flaxseed & walnut. Served with beetroot-tomato jam & sautéed kale with soya milk  

Mrs Eio has not tried steaming fish with lemon! She usually used ginger & garlic. Hmm.. Something different that she can try at home. Hopefully the Eios will like it. 

Cafe Hopping

The Bark Cafe

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The Bark Cafe is located next to the Changi chapel & museum.  If you are looking for a place for Al fresco dining, this is a cafe that you should give a try.   

 Mrs Eio visited the Changi Chapel & museum before heading to the cafe for lunch. Good place for an educational trip for Eio kids when they are slightly older. 
   
  

No air-con but the dining area is rather cosy despite the heat. 

  
 
Ordered latte, chapel cheesy burger & of course, not forgetting waffle for dessert. 

   
Mrs Eio was really impressed by their chapel cheesy burger. One of the best beef patty ever- juicy & succulent. One thing Mrs Eio must highlight is that the chef toasted the burger bread which makes this dish even yummier. 

    
 
The waffle tasted good but it’s kind of too thin. Hence it gets soggy very quickly with the icecream, fruits & syrup.   
 Hmm… This cafe is worth re-visiting. 😊

Website: http://www.thebarkcafe.com

Kids/Children

7 ways Eio kids “self-service” at home (age 2-6)

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After shifting to their new place this year, Mrs Eio decided it’s time for Eio kids to do more “self-servicing” at home as compared to the past since they are now older & this can save her more time & trouble. Eio kids can also learn to be more independent. 

  
Nevertheless for some of the pointers below, adult supervision & guidance are absolutely necessary to ensure the children’s safety. The kids also need to know how to “self-service” correctly right from the start so that they need not unlearnt & re-learnt what they have already know. Patience are very much needed at the initial stage so parents try not to loose your cool when the kiddos miss the mark. (A reminder to Mrs Eio herself!) Mrs Eio stresses on age appropriateness & readiness of the child. In the long term, this will relieve the SAHM/ caregivers who are looking after the kids at home on their own. 
 

 1) Place a stable stool at the sink for them to stand wash hands on their own. 

Place hand towels lower (at their height) so that the kids can reach them easily to dry their hands. 

  

2) Install/ Set up a lower laundry rack so that the kids can help to keep & sun clothes

  
  

Some days Eio kids helps to fold Mr Eio’s handkerchiefs. 

  
    

3) Set up a work station (at least a table & chair) so that the kids know where to go automatically to complete their assignments or school homework. (Mrs Eio is still trying to refine this after Em goes Pri school. Probably a more conducive corner in a room… For the time being, Eio kids enjoys doing work at their windy front balcony.) 
  

Just last months, Eio kids shared a table when their do work, but Mrs Eio soon finds them distracting each other. Her in-laws gave her another table. There are time they work together but it’s good to separate them to work at different places when necessary. 😊

  

4) Place books & a box of toys at the living room or at a corner so that they kids can play or read in the morning while waiting for mommy to wake up. Lol. Eio kids has been going to their play or reading area quietly in the mornings when they woke up earlier than Mrs Eio these days. 

Books at the TV console & a box of train set etc. Messy as they’re very much in use. 😁

Mrs Eio separates the toys into a few boxes & the boxes are rotated every week so Eio kids have “new toys” to play with all the time. Lol. 

Mrs Eio is sure most kids are told not to draw on the walls etc, it’s good if we can also provide an area or an easle /whiteboard for them to scribble & express themselves. 
  

5) Use a jerry can or container with a tap for the kids to get drinking water on their own. 

  
Place their cups (unbreakable) near the edge & at a height that they can reach. 

  

El is pouring water for mama. Simply lovely! 
 

**having a stool at the sink also allows the kids to wash their own cups after use. 

Eio kids tell Mrs Eio that they can wash their own cup after use when Mrs Eio asks them to place the cups at the sink for her to wash.  

6) Lower the shower head & place the children’s soup on a lower shelf so that they can bathe on their own. 

 Em is able to bathe on his own after some guidance. This really save Mrs Eio lots of time everyday & she can prepare meals etc while he’s showering. But she’ll do spot check once in awhile.

 
Ps. This photo is posted after having Em’s permission. 😄 

7) Store/ place the socks & shoes at a good height within the children’s reach so that they can put them on on their own. (They must be taught how to put their shoes & socks on properly initially). 

  
** Having a lower shelf to store clothes & socks or storing them in the lower compartments of a cabinet will also allow the kids to help us store their clothing after they have taken it from the laundry rack. 

   
 Others: Mrs Eio has tried getting the Eio kids to prepare their meals, lay the tables, clean the table after meals, vacuum & clean the floor etc etc but that’s not everyday for kids 2-6 years old. Well… They are still kids right? Lol. 

  Em is better & more particular in cleaning the area under the dining table. Lol. 
The pointers above are not exhaustive. Mrs Eio is sure there are parents with very good tips too. Please share with us so that we can all benefit & make lives as SAHM/ main caregivers easier & happier!!! Cheerios!

“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” Philippians‬ ‭4:13‬ ‭NIV‬

Animal-Milk-Protein Free, Baking, Dairy-free, Food, Recipe

De-stressed cupcakes

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Yesterday was a stressful day for Mrs Eio. She did these cup cakes in 20 min. Mr Eio & em commented, “Wah! so fast!”


Yah! Mrs Eio needed to release all her stress to these cakes & eat them to make her happy. Lol. She’s surprised that these are one of those batches that taste really good.


 The blueberries really burst in her mouth. Not joking!
Mrs Eio didn’t measure what she used. She simply dumped everything in a big bowl & keep stirring until she released all her stress & was exhausted.


 All by estimation. So Mr Eio asked if Mrs Eio can “repeat telecast”. She replied,” Err… Dunno leh…”

Recipe (“agaration”/ estimation):

1.5 cup of flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

Half teaspoon of salt.

Half cup blueberries (added on; not in those recipes she read)

2 super ripe banana (most recipe asked for 3)

1/3 cup of oil (instead of melted butter so El  can eat)

1 egg

Added few drops of vanilla extract (not in the recipes)

1/3 cup sugar instead of the usual half cup.

**Preheat oven to 175 degree celcius. Bake for 10 min (small~medium size cupcake)


Wallah!! Eliz ate 2 of them for supper. Enjoy…

Food

Bosch experience with Chef John See

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Thanks to Mrs Eio’s ex-colleague Ms Juansa Cheng, Mrs Eio had the opportunity to visit Bosch experience centre this week for a demonstration by Chef John See. Little does she know that this Learning Journey is much more insightful than she thought.

While waiting for the arrival of Chef John See, Mrs Eio toured around the Bosch Home Appliances Center. She’s pretty impressed by their high-end products – Gaggenau.


  

Suitable for landed housing & patio area. 

Yes!!! Chef John See had arrived. Despite being a veteran Chef & having a wealth of experience in conducting cooking classes, he has no air. Mrs Eio was totally at ease throughout the 3 hours session at Bosch Kitchen.

Chef John See has been working with Singapore Health Promotion Board in creating healthy menu. Hence, the dishes that he’ll be sharing are definitely good for our body & taste buds.


He will be demonstrating to us on how to prepare the following 3 dishes:

1) Sea Cucumber, white Fungi Salad with citrus Salsa & Pomegranta molasses reduction. (Salad)

2) Steamed Salmon encrusted with Flaxseed & walnut served with Beetroot-tomatoes jam & sautéed kale with Soya milk. (Main)

3) Chilled melon soup with avocado & assorted berry. (Dessert)

For this post, Mrs Eio will share on the salad. She’ll share more on the main dish & dessert in her subsequent posts.

Mrs Eio was pleasantly surprised with Chef’s choice of ingredients for the salad. Sea cucumber & white fungi? We have probably eaten cold desserts with white fungi but most of the sea cucumber Chinese dishes are braised. Hmm.. Not sure how would this salad will taste like.

These are the ingredients. 
Sea cucumber mix:

200g sea cucumber (preblanch with salt water)

50g white fungi (preblanch to cook）

1 Japanese cucumber (thinly sliced)

1 red apple (thinly sliced & soak in salt water)

55g arugula green

————-

Citrus salsa:

3tbsp White onion (thinly diced)

1 Grapefruit & 1 orange (wedge & squeeze out the juice)

This is how Chef John wedge the grapefruit & orange.


Pinch of freshly cracked rock salt & black  pepper.

————–

Garnishes:

4tbsp toasted almond flakes

2tbsp pomegranate seeds (see video at the end of this post on how to remove Pomegranate seeds.)

1 tbsp pomegranate molasses reduction (see photo below) . Mrs Eio thinks it taste like berry essence. Leaving a sour aftertaste at the back of your tongue. However, if you dip arugula green into this reduction, it’ll bring out the sweetness of this vegetable. 

1) combine all the sea cucumber mix together in a big bowl, set aside.

2) combine all the citrus salsa ingredients, mix well & tossed it over the sea cucumber mix.

3) top it with the garnishes & serve.

Photo of the end product! Which type of plates would you like your salad to be served in? 

  
Same salad but serving it in different plates gives a different look & finishing. Mrs Eio supposed different prices too. Lol. The salad is very refreshing. Of course, the zero calories & high-in-collagen sea cucumber will make you craving for more. Try it at home. Well… Mrs Eio’s mother-in-law has been eating sea cucumbers to improve the condition of her knee joints. Hmm… This is another option to prepare this wonderful ingredient from the sea.

There’s weekly cooking demonstration at Bosch experience center. Do check it out! A chef & teacher at heart who also enjoys eating what he cooks. Attached please find Chef John’s sharing on how to remove the flesh (seeds) of the pomegranate fruit.


As you can see, Mrs Eio had an enriching & fruitful session at Bosch that afternoon! She will share on the main dish & dessert, as well as an all-in-one Bosch oven that can steam, microwave etc. in her subsequent posts on her “Bosch Experience with Chef John See”. So stay tuned!

PS. This is not a sponsored post.

Food

Hua Yu Wee Restaurant (华友园）

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Hua Yu Wee (seafood restaurant) was where Mrs Eio’s brother &  her did part time job when they were schooling. Her mom has been working in their kitchen for many many years (even before Mrs Eio’s younger sister was borned). A family-runned business but with lots of human touch. The lady boss is someone Mrs Eio respects as she’s ever kind to her workers.

Last night, Mrs Eio & all were there for dinner to celebrate her father’s birthday. These are the dishes they ordered.


Spring chicken is a dish one must try. Simply crispy & fragrant.


  

We’ll usually order steam fish. Last night was an exception. However, Mrs Eio prefers steam fish. How about you?


Brocolli is for Eio kids. You can have them at home instead. Lol.

 
Many people goes Hua Yu Wee for the crabs. Most prefer Chilli & pepper crabs. Well.. Mrs Eio’s personal favorite is steam Crab. Not forgetting the yummy egg white that comes along with it.

  

If you are there on weekdays, their beef steamboat is worth trying. The Eio’s were there 2 weeks back to satisfy Mrs Eio’s craving. (Posted photos on FB).

Another dish Mrs Eio missed is the drunken prawn. She simply loves the herbal soup plus the prawn of course. One of the challenging dishes that she used to find it difficult to serve to customers when she’s working as a waitress in Hua Yu Yuan many many many years back. The live prawn will jump out of the pot when Mrs Eio poured wine into the pot in front of the customers. Remembered the times she held her breath serving this dish. Nevertheless, the taste & smell are remarkable.

Yes.. Photoshoot after everyone is extremely full. El’s already sleeping.( Way passed Eio kids sleeping time). Hmm.. It’s fine since everyone is happy! Cheerios!!!

Hua Yu Wee Seafood Restaurant

Add: 462 Upper East coast Road. S466508.

Tel: 64429313 (Mrs Eio can memorise this number by heart even till now as she was always calling this number to look for her mother during her kindergarten & lower Primary school days. 😁 Telecom (aka Singtel now) had not even added the number 6 infront of all Singapore’s Telephone number yet. )

Many many many years has passed… The “era” when Mrs Eio was working at Hua Yu Wee, there were Golden beach & Yong Chun Yuan along the same side of the road. Now, only Hua Yu Yuan’s surviving & the fragrance of their food still lingering… Simply nostalgic.

Kids/Children

El & her newly “invented” game

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Mrs Eio bought a number of “cheapo” things for Eio kids from her visit to USA this March. These stuff are selling at usd $1 at Target. So she simply buy without blinking her eyes. Lol.

She still has some stock & is rationing/ taking out the “toys” only during “rainy days” when Mrs Eio is desperate & wanna keep the kids occupied.


For this long weekend, Mrs Eio took out these colourful rubber bands to tie El’s hair. It’s a packet for usd$1. After awhile, she decided to used some of them to teach El counting & colors.
Show mama the purple rubber band…

Counting…


Still counting…

Mr Eio decided to play a game with El by throwing the rubber bands into her small pail.

El’s turn to aim & shoot! She did it. Hi5 from papa.

The next day, El is asking everyone to sit down & play with her. She told us she has a new game to share with us.


Well… She arranged the rubber band like this & explained that whoever place the rubber and on the green plate is the winner! (Err… What is this 2 plus years old thinking about??)


After while, she said she’s making an improvement for her game & we must put the rubber band around micky’s head.

Some time later, she decided to walk around the house. She said she’s trying to think of ways to make improvement.

El came to Mrs Eio crying as she can’t think of ways to improve her game. We tried to console & affirm her that she’s doing a good job & she’s has come up with a nice game. We can slowly think of ways to improve it later on… 

From this episode, Mrs Eio realised how creative human beings are. (We have a creative creator… It’s in our DNA! ) We innovate & constantly seek to make improvements.

It takes a couple of years for Mrs Eio to truly/ better know how to empathize with Eio Kids. El’s effort to “invent” a new game would be less appreciated & her frustration would seem ridiculous to Mrs Eio if this happened years back. Mrs Eio is still trying to adapt & learn as the kiddos grow but she can definitely understand their “lingo” after these years of “staying home”.

I hope this little girl’s desire to innovate & improve don’t stop here. Though we’ll face challenges, we will overcome!

We are overcomers in Him!!!

Family

Eio’s Golden Jubilee long weekend

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Besides meeting with friends over at Eio’s place & having a good time visiting & catching up with some wonderful people in our lives, followings are some activites in which Eios did over this super long weekend to celebrate & commemorate Singapore’s golden jubilee.
Firstly, Em came home on Thursday with the hats, gifts, puzzles & SG50 bag etc that he made in school.  El saw & wanted to make the hat & bag. We used recycled materials to make similar stuff for her. Phew…    

We planned to visit the Art & Science museum since its FOC over this long weekend but the queue is simply too long at MBS. We are there before the opening time at 10am. Em was disappointed. We shall visit the museum another day! Shifting our target to another place of interest- Singapore Flyer. 

     

Mr & Mrs Eio has been to the Singapore Flyer for at least twice. So this time is simply for the Eio kids. 

  

The entrance fees is S$33 for 1 adult. For Singaporean, 1 child enters free with every adult. Child below 3 years old enters free so El enters FOC. Initially, Mr Eio wanted to bring Eio kids to the flyer while Mrs Eio can have a cuppa. But the kiddos voted for her to join them. Hence Mr Eio got a good deal again. He chilled out somewhere out there…

      

After awhile El is cranky. Mrs Eio passed her hp to em & told him to “self-entertain”. Lol. Great timing! We saw the Black Knights’ performance while we were on the flyer. Em took these 2 photos below plus a selfie. 

  

   
 
Of course, Eio kids had a pleasant ride. 

  

Eios visited Mr Eio’s classmate & his newborn baby after the flyer. Em’s totally excited with this new game he learnt from one of Mr Eio’s classmate’s son- Eraser battle. 

  

On National Day, the Eios watched the proclaimation at 9am. Eio kids were still in their pyjamas. 

  

They sang the National anthem & said the pledge. 

  

Eios visited Mrs Eio’s 85 years old grandpa & suggested to fetch him over for dinner & watch NDP together. Well… But he insisted to stayed at his own home…

Eios played more traditional games like chapteh, paper ball etc… El “invented” a new game. Shall share more next time round. 

  

  
    

The Eios watched the NDP parade. Em said,”I know the Prime minister Lee Hsien Loong. I saw him at GDOP! “😊 He told Mrs Eio,”Mr Tony Tan is my president you know?” 

  

Singing National Anthem & saying pledge again… El refused to put down her hands. Lol. 

   
Eios managed to see the fireworks at Tampines Central from their front balcony. Everyone’s excited. Mrs Eio hopes that putting all the excitement aside, we’ll be evermore grateful, continue to stay united & remember those who are less fortunate. 

Blessed Golden Jubilee Singapore!
“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”  –  Lamentations‬ ‭3:22-23‬ ‭NIV‬‬