Author: immrseio

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

My first Lemon chiffon cake…

immrseio

This is my very first lemon chiffon cake. I find the texture abit dry (probably i controlled the amount of oil) but it tasted good. It’s soft & not too sweet & heavy . Most importantly, it rises well & didn’t collapse after cooling. 🙂  

For Mr Eio. 😍  

These are some of the ingredients I used. I bought the cream of tartar but omitted it in the end. 🙂

Ingredients

(A) Flour mixture:

-1.5 cups of cake flour

-4 egg Yorks (from fridge because that’s where I store my eggs.) 

-2 tsp of baking powder

-50 ml of caster sugar

-half tsp of salt

– 50 ml of water 

-50 ml of canola oil (I only have 30ml of canola oil so I added another 20 ml of extra virgin olive oil. I think I’ll increase the amount of oil to 60 ml so the cake will be more moist.)

-lemon zest (Pls don’t “over grate”. Use only use the yellow skin, not the whitish area. Used to bake lemon muffin & over-grated the lemon. So the muffin tasted abit bitter.) 

– half a lemon juice -seive before use.  (please don’t throw away the lemon after juicing. Add them into water for drinking or use them to make enzymes for cleaning) 

   
I seived the cake flour, baking powder & salt and set them aside. Beat the egg York & sugar using a whisk till I feel the sugar has mixed well with the york. Add oil & mix well. Add water & mix well again. Add the lemon juice & zest, mix well. Last but not least, I added the mixture into the cake flour mixture. Whisk till everything mix well together. Set aside (mixture A). 

 
(B) Egg white mixture: 

– 4 egg white 

-50ml caster sugar. 

I used a electric handheld blender & beat the egg white & sugar mixture till it becomes a white light foam (mixture b). Slowly fold in mixture b into mixture A. A ladle of mixture b at a time. Reminding myself not to over mix both mixtures (mixture c). 

   
Add mixture c into the baking container. I try to tap the container on the table a few times to “set” the mixture.( Extra air bubbles can escape.) Preheated oven at 160 degree celcius. Baked for 45 minutes ( I might bake for 40 min in the future so that the cake will be more moist. )

 
Test if the cake is done using a satay stick. 

   
My very first lemon chiffon cake! Em can tell that it is not just any chiffon cake but a lemon cake. So glad it’s not bitter at all. 


  
 Yums! I’ve a flask of lemon water too. 😜

  
Hope I can bake a moist cake next time round. But frankly, I quite glad with the results today. 🙂

Cafe Hopping, Food

Bar Bar Black Sheep (Bukit Timah)

immrseio

Mr & Mrs Eio were at the Bukit Timah area last weekend. Hence they decided to try out Bar Bar Black Sheep.     
There’s nothing “spectacular” for their ice coffee latte. What’s to come is truly yummy…

 Mr Eio & latte…:))

Mr & Mrs Eio decided to try one western dish & one North Indian dish. 

  
They loved the grilled chicken. The potatoes are seasoned & well grilled. The chicken meat is juicy & goes very well with the creamy mushroom sauce. Mrs Eio loves the taste of their salad dressing. 

    
Their Butter chicken & plain naan didn’t disappoint us at all. The naan is crispy on the outside but soft & fluffy on the inside. It goes well with the curry & chicken. 

    
    
They encourage self service so Mr Eio made the payment at the counter.  The cafe was not crowded on the weekend that we went. 

 
A nice & cool place to chill out or watch football together. 

   
 Nevertheless, please note that there’s limited lots in the nearest carpark but you can always check out other carpark areas.  

———

Bar Bar Black Sheep

501 Bukit Timah #01-05C

Cluny Court

Tel: +65 6763 4757

Food

Hai Di Lao Hot Pot (IMM)

immrseio

The Eios seldom travel to the west. Since they were there last week, they decided to go to IMM & try Hai Di Lao Hot Pot (SiChuan style steam boat) for dinner. 

Phone reservation are full. Hence, Mr Eio went to the counter & made reservation 1.5 hours before they were allowed to enter the restaurant. 
Eio kids are excited as they get to eat free tidbits & ice-cream, receive gifts (em-car/ el- tiara & accessories). 

 
Mrs Eio ordered 4 types of soup (chicken, mushroom, Mala- spicy & tomato). Her personal preference are the mushroom & chicken soup. El loves the tomato soup. 

 
There’s a counter where one can get free flow of fruits, desserts, sauce etc for around S$4 per pax. 
 
Mrs Eio ordered cod fish, shrimp paste, rice/ noodles, black pork slices, marinated beef (thigh area – chewy & tender no matter how long you cook) & spinach. 

   
If you order noodles, the chef will “perform” la mian before putting the noodles into your hotpot. Eio kids were thrilled. 

 
Eio kids get to touch the noodles before its placed into the hot pot.   
   
Some food we got from the $4~ counter. 🙂

 
Our total bill is approx S$70. Their service is excellent & food is great. The kids are “well entertained”. Looking at the overall package as a whole, I think it’s worth it. 

——-

HAI DI LAO @ IMM #03-01

Tel:68964111

http://www.haidilao.com/sg

You may visit their website & try other outlet too. 🙂

Education, Family, Kids/Children

Singapore Maritime Gallery (Eios 3-part Marina excursion)

immrseio

Eios 3-part Marina excursion includes gardens by the bay, Marina barrage & Singapore Maritime Gallery. If you are looking for an educational & less crowded place to bring the kids, welcome to the Singapore Maritime Gallery. 

  
A place with various experiential zones. Parking car could be longer than usual as there’s limited lots but it’s worth the wait as the Eios had the gallery all for themselves last school holiday. 

 

Interactive screen to find out things that Singapore imports (ship in) from other countries. 

  

Learn about how Singapore’s port develops over the years. 

 

Viewing the exhibits.    

Do they know what they are doing??
  

Ring the bell!! Em can’t reach it. Lol. 

  
  

Beautiful view of the port.  

  
  

This is the most fun part for the kids. 

  

What do you want to be when u grow up?    

You may email the photos to yourself. 

   

Touch screen activities. 
 

A place worth bringing kids to. Discover Singapore’s Maritime story… 

Check it out: http://maritimegallery.sg

Food

Swatow Seafood

immrseio

Swatow Seafood, a restaurant that’s located in the Toa Payoh neighborhood.   
It’s not easy to find car parking lot nearby that area, unless one is willing to park further away. Mrs Eio was there with her family to celebrate her father-in-law’s birthday. Teochew restaurant for the Teochew family.  

 
The dining area is bigger than what you see in the picture (above) as the other half of the restaurant is cornered off by the curtains due to a wedding. 

Mrs Eio & her family ordered a 4 pax dinner set. After added taxes etc, the bill is near S$200. 


Stir fry brocolli & scallop.   Crunchy brocolli. Scallops slightly spicy. 
Braised fish: Mrs Eio likes the fish. They are generous with the vegetables (spring onion, leek etc) on top of the fish. The sauce is slightly thickened so it’ll stick to the meat when we pick it up.  
Braised duck: thinly sliced meat. There’s dao gua (豆干）beneath the duck meat. The braise sauce goes well with rice or porridge. 

 
Boiled chicken soup with abalone & truffle.  Clear soup. Mrs Eio can taste the truffles in the soup. Everyone is served a bowl of soup. (4 bowls). 

   
Stir fry prawn. Crispy & flavourful. But the prawn ain’t big ones & it can sure be less salty. 


Sweet yam paste with pumpkin & gingko nuts: one way to find out if a restaurant is truly Teochew is to try their Sweet Yam paste. Mrs Eio loves this dessert. Sweetness from paste & doesn’t make one feels yucky.    
Sour plum drink: This a must-try is you like sour plum drinks. There’s many tadpoles jellies in the drink too. 

 

Mrs Eio & her family had pretty good experience at Swatow. If you love Teochew dishes, give Swatow a try. 🙂

Others

Cleaning liquid: vinegar plus fruit peels. 

immrseio

Post cny. Don’t throw away the mandarine orange peels after eating the yummy juicy flesh. 🙂

Make household cleaning liquid using white vinegar & the fruit peels (wash clean). Got the idea from this website: http://heidistjohn.com/homemaking/organization/homemade-all-purpose-citrus-spray

 
 Use a glass jar (prevent corrosion from vinegar). Add the fruit peels into the jar followed by the vinegar. 
   

Do not fill to the brim to allow space for the air to be collected during reaction. Otherwise, Mrs Eio think the jar cover will “pop”! 

   
Cover the jar & let it sit for couple of days. (Don’t think need weeks before we can use). 

 
See photo for result on second day. There’s nice smell of the Orange peels. No more vinegar smell. Wonderful. Label the jar to know when the liquid was made. 

  
Use it! 

Food

Post cny: cooling drinks to bring down the heat!

immrseio

Finally, Chinese New Year (CNY) is over. After eating so much Cny goodies & sleeping late at night, it’s time to have some time to “cool” down. 

Mrs Eio brewed (on separate occasions): 

1) barley with melon strips drinks &

薏米、冬瓜条。

2) luo han guo, xia ku cao, chrysenthemum & gan cao drinks 

罗汉果、夏枯草、菊花、甘草。

Rinse the ingredients & put them in the rice cooker. Add water & switch on the rice cooker.

Eio kids drank them without complaining about the taste etc. So it’s truly worth trying. 

  
 
Using rice cooker saves Mrs Eio the hassle of having to check the stove. Her rice cooker has the auto function to “keep warm” after boiling the herbs for some time. 

   
 
When it’s about time to serve the drinks, simply add rock sugar to taste will do. 

Enjoy…

Education, Kids/Children

EtutorStar Reading Pen 易笔通

immrseio

Mrs Eio bought Etutorstar reading pen last Nov/dec school holiday from a promoter at Popular bookstore. There’s a couple of reasons why Mrs Eio decided to buy this pen (not cheap) : 

1) Since Mrs Eio has never send Em for any CL enrichment class, she thought it’ll be good to get this gadget to read to Em while she read to Eliz. 

2) something to get the kids occupied during the dec holiday.

3) this pen can read “好朋友”. The magazine that Em has to purchase when he’s in primary school. However, the content of the magazine has to be downloaded from the website into the pen for it to be able to read it. 

4) this pen encourages independent learning & self-learning. 

5) there’s other functions in this reading pen (Eg. Voice recording function) which can be useful for Em. 

6) Mrs Eio’s mouth can rest a bit more from reading to the kids. Lol. 
  

One may purchase the books at a discounted price if you buy the reading pen. 
  

There are books more suitable for preschool level & another set of books for primary level. 

  
  

So far, the pen is pretty sensitive in terms of reading the words that it’s pointing to.  

  

Em learning to pronounce the words after the reading pen.
  

Eliz also enjoys using it. Frankly speaking, Mrs Eio think this reading pen is more suitable for students from Kindergartento primary  level & above. Em can maximise the usage of this pen but Eliz needs more guidance in using the pen. 

  

Em’s reading using the reading pen while I read with Eliz. 
 

Mrs Eio decided to share this post only after she has reap all benefits from this pen for the amount ($) she spent. The kids are still using the reading pen. Em will ask for permission to use it so its viewed as a privilege to use the reading pen. After all, people need to increase their exposure to the language if they want to learn it well. 

For more information, please visit their website: http://www.etutorstar.com

Food, Marriage

Mr & Mrs Eio’s couple staycation @ Elizabeth Hotel

immrseio

Me & Mrs Eio had their 3d2n couple staycation @ Elizabeth hotel last year Dec. They hope to meet 3 objectives: catch up on sleep. Enjoy nice food. Rest & relax. Couple of things to note when booking a room in this hotel: Ask for renovated room, high floor & free parking coupons on the day itself.   

Elizabeth hotel is just 5-10 min walk to paragon. There’s so many great food in orchard. Hence Mrs Eio did not have any meals in this restaurant @ the hotel lobby. 

  
The room is newly renovated & there’s no carpet. That’s great! Everything looks clean. 

 
 
For day 1, the Eio couple checked in the hotel at 2pm. The main highlight of that day is to explore Holland Village. The couple had tea @ 2am: dessert bar since Mrs Eio won 2 vouchers on a Facebook contest. See link below: 2am: dessert bar | I am Mrs Eio

https://immrseio.com/2015/12/11/2am-dessert-bar/

   
They tried some hawker food at the holland Village food centre. 

 

Mediterranean food for dinner. 

  
 

Enjoy the Christmas decor along Orchard Road… & listen to online sermon. 

  

For day 2, Mr & Mrs Eio enjoyed their Breakfast at Paul cafe (Paragon level 2). See link below: Paul (Paragon) | I am Mrs Eio

https://immrseio.com/2015/12/12/paul-paragon/

  

The Eio couple watched the movie “Mr unbelievable”. This movie is really unbelievably funny. Lol. Probably the older folks can appreciate it better. Mrs Eio enjoyed the show though. Must be because of the companion she’s with…

 

The Eio couple seldom has the opportunity to shop/ window-shop without Eio kids. It feels good to be out with your soul mate!   

    

The Eio couple has lunch at Takashimaya. See link below: East Ocean Teochew Restaurant | I am Mrs Eio

https://immrseio.com/2015/12/12/east-ocean-teochew-restaurant/

 

Mr Eio bought $10 executive lounge access (24 hour) @ Elizabeth Hotel. The lounge is actually just a pantry. So they can have free nuts, fruits, drinks or cup noodles. The gym is pretty small though. 

Time out without the kids. Great opportunity to have a discussion session on “thanksgiving for 2015 & goal setting for 2016”. 

  

It’s wonderful to be able to enjoy a performance in one of the shopping mall. They played beautifully. 

    
The Eio couple walked pass London Fat Duck (Scotts square). Well… They decided to have their dinner there. See link below: London Fat Duck | I am Mrs Eio

https://immrseio.com/2015/12/12/london-fat-duck/

Some of the hotels in Orchard are having 50%discount on their desserts & pastries at night. Pls see link below: 

http://www.ladyironchef.com/2015/12/hotel-cakes-half-price/
 

How can Mrs Eio miss such good deal? Elizabeth Hotel is just 5-10min walk to Goodwood park hotel (walking through York Hotel).  For Goodwood park hotel, the discount is only after 8pm daily. For takeaway only. 

Yummy! Hotel standard cakes at half price. 
   

Day 3… Mr & Mrs Eio had their Breakfast at Cedele. See link below: Cedele (Paragon) | I am Mrs Eio

https://immrseio.com/2015/12/13/cedele-paragon/

 

Cherish & enjoy every moment with your spouse… Check out from Elizabeth Hotel before heading back home to face reality & resume their duty. Lol. Thanks to Mrs Eio’s in-laws & sister for taking care of Eio kids. 

If you have never had a couple getaway with your spouse, it’s probably time to plan for one now. The Eio couple is looking forward to another staycation soon. 🙂 

Food, Recipe

Quick Crustless Spinach quiche 

immrseio

Rainy afternoon. Preparing quiche to use up the left over cheese in fridge.  This is Eio’s lunch.  
Ingredients: 

1) A packet of baby Spinach  

2) 2 tomatoes

3) 1 big yellow onion & garlic

4) 6 eggs 

5) some dried Italian herbs 

6) 1 cup of cheese 

7) 1/3 cup soy milk

8) Half tsp of fish sauce 

9) 1/3 tsp of pepper

10) Half tsp of salt 

11) olive oil for stir frying the vegetables & greasing the baking container. 

 
Directions:

– preheat oven at 200 degree celcius. 

– Chop up ingredients 1, 2 & 3 

– mixture A: add olive oil to frying pan & stir fry ingredients 1-3 together. Add salt. Cook till the vegetables softened & water dried up. 

– mixture B: beat the eggs. Add ingredients 5-9 into the beaten eggs. Mix well. 

– grease the baking container. Add in the vegetable mixture A, followed by mixture B. Briefly stir to mix. Do not over mixed them. 

– bake the mixtures in oven for 30 minutes. DONE!

   
Mrs Eio used lesser eggs as compared to other online recipes. Replace butter with olive oil. Used soy milk as it’s what El drinks at home. If you have cow’s milk at home, it should be fine too. 

 
Mr Eio gives a thumbs up. Enjoy!