Hooney's

Pork Lomein

2011-05-03T17:38:00.000-07:00

I usually do not expect much from a recipe if it is produced by someone of another ethnicity/culture. When I look for recipes online, I tend to try those that are originated from the region or country. However, I know for a fact that the recipes featured in Cooks Illustrated usually yield good results, and this recipe is/was featured in their top ten, so I have to try it. And it did not disappoint! I will not say that is it authentic, because I have not had any Lo Mein like this in Singapore, but this is two-or-three-servings-in-a-row good.

This is the second time I use this recipe, for some reason, it doesn't taste as fantastic as the first. Some reason might be:
1) different noodles
2) different cabbage (I used Napa the first time, it wilted to nothing but taste sweeter)
3) different pan

The ingredients:
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon 5-spice powder
1 pound country-style pork ribs, sliced to 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke (optional, I omitted this)
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 medium garlic cloves, minced, about 2 teaspoons
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
4.5 teaspoons vegetable oil
4 tablespoons shao-xing wine
1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms, stem trimmed, and halved
2 bunches scallions, white thinly sliced, greens cut to 1-inch length (about 2 cups)
1 small head Napa or Chinese Cabbage, halved, cored, sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch strips (about 4 cups)
12 ounces Chinese egg noodles (fresh) or 8 ounce dried linguine
1 tablespoon Asian chile garlic sauce

Instructions:

Bring 4 quarts water to boil in Dutch oven over high heat.
Whisk soy sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, and five-spice powder together in medium bowl. Place 3 tablespoons soy sauce mixture in large zipper-lock bag; add pork and liquid smoke, if using. Press out as much air as possible and seal bag, making sure that all pieces are coated with marinade. Refrigerate at least 15 minutes or up to 1 hour. Whisk broth and cornstarch into remaining soy sauce mixture in medium bowl. In separate small bowl, mix garlic and ginger with 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil; set aside.
Heat 1 teaspoon vegetable oil in 12-inch cast-iron or nonstick skillet over high heat until just smoking. Add half of pork in single layer, breaking up clumps with wooden spoon. Cook, without stirring, 1 minute. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons wine to skillet; cook, stirring constantly, until liquid is reduced and pork is well coated, 30 to 60 seconds. Transfer pork to medium bowl and repeat with remaining pork, 1 teaspoon oil, and remaining 2 tablespoons wine. Wipe skillet clean with paper towels.
Return skillet to high heat, add 1 teaspoon vegetable oil, and heat until just smoking. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until light golden brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Add scallions and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until scallions are wilted, 2 to 3 minutes longer; transfer vegetables to bowl with pork.
Add remaining teaspoon vegetable oil and cabbage to now-empty skillet; cook, stirring occasionally, until spotty brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Clear center of skillet; add garlic-ginger mixture and cook, mashing mixture with spoon, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir garlic mixture into cabbage; return pork-vegetable mixture and chicken broth-soy mixture to skillet; simmer until thickened and ingredients are well incorporated, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove skillet from heat.
While cabbage is cooking, stir noodles into boiling water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until noodles are tender, 3 to 4 minutes for fresh Chinese noodles or 10 minutes for dried linguine. Drain noodles and transfer back to Dutch oven; add cooked stir-fry mixture and garlic-chili sauce, tossing noodles constantly, until sauce coats noodles. Serve immediately.

This is the second time I use this recipe, for some reason, it doesn't taste as fantastic as the first. Some reason might be:
1) different noodles
2) different cabbage (I used Napa the first time, it wilted to nothing but taste sweeter)
3) different pan

---Some updates---

Mr (in blue shirt and red shorts) ran and finished his first marathon on Sunday! We went out to cheer him on, and it upset Yoyo that Mr kept on running away from him.

And someone got a haircut yesterday, and is looking very cute at the moment. It doesn't last very long so I whipped out the camera to take some beauty shots. I know the (free) bandana is girlish, I wish Petco grooming service stock something more macho for a stud like Yoyo.

Yoyo has a couple of missing teeth, you can see the gap in this picture.

Sunday's Coffee Cake

2011-03-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

I love baked goods, especially with black coffee, to me the sweet and the bitter just come together so wonderfully I will take alternate the drink and the donuts/cookies/cake/scones...

So this is Sunday, March 20th (HaPPie BiRthDaY SiS!), and I am home so I've planned to try making CI's Cream Cheese Coffee Cake AGAIN. Again because the first time was a flop, while the cake was too dense it has good flavor, and we ate it all. It turned out that I didn't write the right measurements of baking soda and baking powder while I was watching the episode online.

So to make sure that I have the same cake that they showed on TV, I measured all my ingredients before I started mixing them together, my first time. I have always measure the ingredients as I read the directions.

So with all the ingredient measured out, and having made one before, I started to dumped ALL the sugar and butter in the mixer to start creaming but it just wouldn't. Reread the recipe, sad, contemplated to continue with the mistake, sad, dumped the mix, uber sad, and remeasured my butter and sugar.

I was glad that I did not keep the mistake, as the coffee cake is all raised almost 50% more than the first attempt and taste great. The cream cheese and the lemon compliment each other, the almonds/sugar/lemon zest is heavenly, the texture of the cake is airy, even better than my favorite blueberry coffee cake.

I am still thinking what I could have done with that pile of sugar and butter although it's sitting in the trash.

Yoyo waiting for his dad to come home from his run.

Almond/Lemon/Sugar topping
1/4 cup sugar, (I used turbinade sugar)
1 1/2 grated lemon zest
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Cake
2 1/4 cups (11.25 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/8 teasppons baking powder
1 1/8 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salk
10 tablesoons unsalted butter, softened but still cool
1 cup 2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated zest
4 large eggs
4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sour cream

cream cheese mixture
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
5 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

FOR THE TOPPING: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together sugar and lemon zest in small bowl until combined and sugar is moistened. Stir in almonds; set aside.
FOR THE CAKE: Spray 10-inch tube pan with nonstick cooking spray. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in medium bowl; set aside. In stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter, 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, and lemon zest at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down sides and bottom of bowl with rubber spatula. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, about 20 seconds, and scraping down beater and sides of bowl as necessary. Add 4 teaspoons vanilla and mix to combine. Reduce speed to low and add one-third flour mixture, followed by half of sour cream, mixing until incorporated after each addition, 5 to 10 seconds. Repeat, using half of remaining flour mixture and all of remaining sour cream. Scrape bowl and add remaining flour mixture; mix at low speed until batter is thoroughly combined, about 10 seconds. Remove bowl from mixer and fold batter once or twice with rubber spatula to incorporate any remaining flour.
Reserve 1¼ cups batter and set aside. Spoon remaining batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Return now-empty bowl to mixer and beat cream cheese, remaining 5 tablespoons sugar, lemon juice, and remaining teaspoon vanilla on medium speed until smooth and slightly lightened, about 1 minute. Add ¼ cup reserved batter and mix until incorporated. Spoon cheese filling mixture evenly over batter, keeping filling about 1 inch from edges of pan; smooth top. Spread remaining cup reserved batter over filling and smooth top. With butter knife or offset spatula, gently swirl filling into batter using figure-8 motion, being careful to not drag filling to bottom or edges of pan. Firmly tap pan on counter 2 or 3 times to dislodge any bubbles. Sprinkle lemon sugar-almond topping evenly over batter and gently press into batter to adhere.
Bake until top is golden and just firm, and long skewer inserted into cake comes out clean (skewer will be wet if inserted into cheese filling), 45 to 50 minutes. Remove pan from oven and firmly tap on counter 2 or 3 times (top of cake may sink slightly). Cool cake in pan on wire rack 1 hour. Gently invert cake onto rimmed baking sheet (cake will be topping-side down); remove tube pan, place wire rack on top of cake, and invert cake sugar-side up. Cool to room temperature, about 1½ hours. Cut into slices and serve.

Knitting mojo

2011-02-27T17:46:00.000-08:00

I have a few hobbies, knitting, cooking, baking, etc. Some times they slowly losses my favor and other times I finding myself loving them again. The quickest way for them to be in the cold chamber is to bore, frustrate, or be uninspiring. I know it's not their fault, but that of the maker, which is me in this case. I have knit a few things that didn't do it for me, they are currently in hiberation, but they and I know that they are going to be in the bag/box/container in the basement for a long time since their presence is like having spouse who constantly nags at you to change the lightbulb.

I have knit on and off since the last blog post on knitting. There are quite a few pair of socks, many of them are worn out at the heels because I wear them so often. They are now taking up space in my socks drawer because I don't have the heart to throw them away since I spent so much time making them and yet I don't know and don't bother to learn how to repair them. Once in a while, I will take them out to wear the holey socks thinking they are fine to wear only to regret my decision because I dislike the feeling of bare heel to sole of shoes. And then there are the knits that caused me to leave the needles, I won't name names here, but if you reaaly want to know i have listed some of them in my ravelry account.

But I got my knitting mojo back, I knit 2 tops in 2 weeks! How did I get it back you might ask. Well, it started when I was chatting with a friend online, he mentioned me that his wife has picked up knitting, that leads to me adding his wife to my Ravelry's friend list (my user name is hooney) and looking at beautiful work other members have done have inspired me to pick up my needles and spend my money on yarn and patterns again. However, I have yarn stash that can possibly last me for a year if I knit daily, so I decide to seriously destash before I can buy any more yarn, I even told Mr. K about it (that shows you how determine I am).

So this is my first knit of the year, it's a improvised top from the pattern Shalom Cardigan by Meghan McFarlane. I have seen this many times and liked it, but didn't think it will work with my figure until I saw the version by Nordly. I chose to use Rowan Cotton Tape because it has the same weight as the yarn used in the pattern, and I want a top that I can wear in the summer. This is a quick and simple knit because of the gauge.

Needle: US 11 -8.0mm circular

Yarn: 7 Skeins (497 yards) Rowan Cotton Tape (Discontinued) in Color way 557

These are the few changes I made:
1) I knit the last 5 stitches of the each side together (the garter border) together at the start of the body so that it won't look wonky when I button them up, that is after I sew the buttons on;
2) I bind off 5 stitches on each side on each armhole to make the armhole smaller;
3) I did not do any shaping of the waistline.

If I were to make this again, I would:
1) knit the body with a smaller needle, maybe a 6mm needles, to get a tighter fit and make it less holey so that I don't have to wear a top underneath;
2) have waist shaping like what is in the pattern.

Just want to show you a picture of my dog before i cut his hair . My initial intention was to have a after-shot but I gave him a diseased look. I don't think he would forgive me if I post his new look on the world wide web.

Chewy Sugar Cookies

2011-01-09T20:20:00.000-08:00

While Mr. was out training for marathon, I decided to make something, something to reward (or sabotage?) his effort. Although sugar cookies are not our favorite, I decided to make them instead of baking the some cookies over and over again. Knowing my husband, he eats anything sweet, knowing my dog, he will eat anything that has plenty of butter.

This is my first time making sugar cookies, and I used the weight of the ingredients instead of measuring cups. It turns out that amount of ingredients using the scale is much less than if I use the measuring cup, thus, the cookie dough was really soft and tad hard to handle. I wish I have a portion scoop because I got I made 2o bigger cookies instead of the 24 stated in the recipe, and the cookies merged together while they were baking. That's alright, as they are so yummy that they will all be in our tummies in no time.

Chewy Sugar Cookies from CI, makes 2 dozen cookies

The final dough will be slightly softer than most cookie dough. For the best results, handle the dough as briefly and gently as possible when shaping the cookies. Overworking the dough will result in flatter cookies.

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups (11 1/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) sugar, plus 1/2 cup for rolling
2 ounces cream cheese, cut into 8 pieces
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted and still warm
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. Set aside.
Place 1½ cups sugar and cream cheese in large bowl. Place remaining 1/3 cup sugar in shallow baking dish or pie plate and set aside. Pour warm butter over sugar and cream cheese and whisk to combine (some small lumps of cream cheese will remain but will smooth out later). Whisk in oil until incorporated. Add egg, milk, and vanilla; continue to whisk until smooth. Add flour mixture and mix with rubber spatula until soft homogeneous dough forms.
Divide dough into 24 equal pieces, about 2 tablespoons each (or use #40 portion scoop). Using hands, roll dough into balls. Working in batches, roll balls in reserved sugar to coat and evenly space on prepared baking sheet, 12 dough balls per sheet. Using bottom of drinking glass, flatten dough balls until 2 inches in diameter. Sprinkle tops evenly with 4 teaspoons of sugar remaining in shallow dish (2 teaspoons per tray), discarding any remaining sugar.
Bake, 1 tray at a time, until edges are set and just beginning to brown, 11 to 13 minutes, rotating tray after 7 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheets 5 minutes. Using wide metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack and cool to room temperature.

Chicken Bouillabaisse

2011-01-08T20:03:00.000-08:00

I have been watching the entire season 10 of America's Test Kitchen online and looking at recipes in Cook's Illustrated to get idea for what to bake and cook. This recipe is on the top ten weeknight recipe list, and it look delicious. I used regular yellow mustard instead of dijon, chicken legs, and didn't use pastis or Pernod. The result is still great. The croutons and rouille adds a lot to the Bouillabaisse and I would definitely make this again.

Chicken Bouillabaisse from CI, Serves 4 to 6.

The rouille and croutons (steps 4 and 5) can be prepared either as the chicken cooks or up to 2 days in advance. Leftover rouille will keep refrigerated for up to 1 week and can be used in sandwiches or as a sauce for vegetables and fish. See below for information on anise-flavored liqueur options.

Ingredients

Bouillabaisse
3 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces (breasts, thighs, and drumsticks, with breasts cut in half) trimmed of excess fat
table salt and ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large leek (white and light green parts only), halved lengthwise, rinsed, and sliced thin (about 1 cup)
1 small fennel bulb, halved lengthwise, cored, and sliced thin ( about 2 cups)
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
4 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 4 teaspoons)
1 table tomato paste
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 strip orange zest (from 1 orange), removed with vegetable peeler, about 3 inches long, cleaned of white pith
1/4 cup pastis or Pernod
3/4 pound Yukon Gold potato (1 large or 2 small), cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon leaves or parsley leaves

Rouille and Croutons
3 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads
1 baguette
4 teaspoons juice from 1 lemon
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 large egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 small cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 1/2 teaspoons)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
table salt and ground black pepper

Instructions

FOR THE BOUILLABAISSE: Adjust oven racks to middle and lower positions and heat oven to 375 degrees. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add chicken pieces, skin-side down, and cook without moving until well browned, 5 to 8 minutes. Using tongs, flip chicken and brown other side, about 3 minutes. Transfer chicken to large plate.
Add leek and fennel; cook, stirring often, until vegetables begin to soften and turn translucent, about 4 minutes. Add saffron, cayenne, flour, garlic, and tomato paste and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, wine, broth, orange zest, pastis, and potatoes; bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 10 minutes.
Nestle chicken thighs and drumsticks into simmering liquid with skin above surface of liquid; cook, uncovered, 5 minutes. Nestle breast pieces into simmering liquid, adjusting pieces as necessary to ensure skin stays above surface of liquid. Bake on middle rack, uncovered, until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of chicken registers 145 degrees for breasts and 160 for drumsticks and thighs, 10 to 20 minutes.
FOR THE ROUILLE: While chicken cooks, microwave water and saffron in medium microwave-safe bowl on high power until water is steaming, 10 to 20 seconds. Allow to sit 5 minutes. Cut 3-inch piece off of baguette; remove and discard crust. Tear crustless bread into 1-inch chunks (you should have about 1 cup). Stir bread pieces and lemon juice into saffron-infused water; soak 5 minutes. Using whisk, mash soaked bread mixture until uniform paste forms, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in mustard, egg yolk, cayenne, and garlic until smooth, about 15 seconds. Whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in vegetable oil in steady stream until smooth mayonnaise-like consistency is reached, scraping down bowl as necessary. Slowly whisk in 1/2 cup olive oil in steady stream until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
FOR THE CROUTONS: Cut remaining baguette into 3/4-inch-thick slices. Arrange slices in single layer on rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake on lower rack until light golden brown (can be toasted while bouillabaisse is in oven), 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove bouillabaisse and croutons from oven and set oven to broil. Once heated, return bouillabaisse to oven and cook until chicken skin is crisp and instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of chicken registers 160 degrees for breasts and 175 for drumsticks and thighs, 5 to 10 minutes (smaller pieces may cook faster than larger pieces; remove individual pieces as they reach temperature).
Transfer chicken pieces to large plate. Skim excess fat from broth. Stir tarragon into broth and season with salt and pepper. Transfer broth and potatoes to large shallow serving bowls and top with chicken pieces. Drizzle 1 tablespoon rouille over each portion and spread 1 teaspoon rouille on each crouton. Serve, floating 2 croutons in each bowl and passing remaining croutons and rouille separately.

My Favorite Chili?

2011-01-08T00:22:00.000-08:00

For the first decade I lived in USA, I never had Chili con carne, aka chili, I believe no one around me really introduced me to the dish. I tried one in a cafeteria a couple of years ago, and another from Wendy's $1 menu, and kinda like it. Since I am trying to save money by cooking regularly and realize that chili stores well in freezer, I have made chili quite a number of times now. We really like the chili and biscuit recipe found in smittenkitchen.com, but this time I went with Cook's Illustrated.

Instead of using chuck-eye roast, I used the chili meat I got on sale at local supermarket. The chili tastes good, but I prefer the one from smittenkitchen. It takes considerably less work, and hunting for different types of dried chili, and has more vegetables. I paired the chili with cornbread using Bob's red mill stone ground cornmeal, I love the flavor but wished that I have put the cornmeal in the food processor before I used it.

Chili from CI, Serves 6 to 8.

Ingredients

table salt
1/2 pound (about 1 cup) dried pinto beans, rinsed and picked over
6 dried (about 1 3/4 ounces), stems and seeds removed, and flesh torn into 1 inch pieces
2-4 dried arbol chiles, stems removed, pods split, and seeds removed
3 tablespoons cornmeal
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 medium onions (about 2 cups), cut into 3/4-inch pieces
3 small jalapeno chiles, stems and seeds removed and discarded, and flesh cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 medium garlic cloves (about 4 teaspoons), minced or pressed through garlic press
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 teaspoons light molasses
3 1/2 pounds blade steak, 3/4 inch thick, trimmed of gristle and fat and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
1 (12-ounce) bottle mild-flavored lager, such as Budweiser

Instructions

Combine 3 tablespoons salt, 4 quarts water, and beans in large Dutch oven and bring to boil over high heat. Remove pot from heat, cover, and let stand 1 hour. Drain and rinse well.
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Place ancho chiles in 12-inch skillet set over medium-high heat; toast, stirring frequently, until flesh is fragrant, 4 to 6 minutes, reducing heat if chiles begin to smoke. Transfer to bowl of food processor and cool. Do not wash out skillet.
Add árbol chiles, cornmeal, oregano, cumin, cocoa, and ½ teaspoon salt to food processor with toasted ancho chiles; process until finely ground, about 2 minutes. With processor running, very slowly add ½ cup broth until smooth paste forms, about 45 seconds, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Transfer paste to small bowl. Place onions in now-empty processor bowl and pulse until roughly chopped, about four 1-second pulses. Add jalapeños and pulse until consistency of chunky salsa, about four 1-second pulses, scraping down bowl as necessary.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion mixture and cook, stirring occasionally, until moisture has evaporated and vegetables are softened, 7 to 9 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add chili paste, tomatoes, and molasses; stir until chili paste is thoroughly combined. Add remaining 2 cups broth and drained beans; bring to boil, then reduce heat to simmer.
Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon oil in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Pat beef dry with paper towels and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt. Add half of beef and cook until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer meat to Dutch oven. Add ½ bottle lager to skillet, scraping bottom of pan to loosen any browned bits, and bring to simmer. Transfer lager to Dutch oven. Repeat with remaining tablespoon oil, steak, and lager. Once last addition of lager has been added to Dutch oven, stir to combine and return mixture to simmer.
Cover pot and transfer to oven. Cook until meat and beans are fully tender, 1½ to 2 hours. Let chili stand, uncovered, 10 minutes. Stir well and season to taste with salt before serving.

All Purpose Cornbread from CI

Makes One 8-inch Square.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups (7.5 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup (5.5 ounces) yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon bake soda
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1/4 cup (1 3/4 ounces) packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup (3.5 ounces) frozen corn, thawed
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), melted and cooled slightly

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 8-inch-square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl until combined; set aside.
In food processor or blender, process brown sugar, thawed corn kernels, and buttermilk until combined, about 5 seconds. Add eggs and process until well combined (corn lumps will remain), about 5 seconds longer.
Using rubber spatula, make well in center of dry ingredients; pour wet ingredients into well. Begin folding dry ingredients into wet, giving mixture only a few turns to barely combine; add melted butter and continue folding until dry ingredients are just moistened. Pour batter into prepared baking dish; smooth surface with rubber spatula. Bake until deep golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25 to 35 minutes. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes; invert cornbread onto wire rack, then turn right side up and continue to cool until warm, about 10 minutes longer. Cut into pieces and serve.

Happy 2011!

2011-01-06T20:05:00.000-08:00

We spent the last night of 2010 with some wonderful friends and food. I am still salivating when I think about the Steak & King Crab legs pasta, and the spinach pinwheels. Mr. picked the champagne and my contribution for the night is this coconut cake, my first pretty cake. It has a lot of coconut flavor in the cake and the buttercream, but it's a tad heavy for me. I still prefer the light fresh cream that I grew up eating in Singapore. Nonetheless, this is still very yummy.

CoCoNut Layer Cake

Makes one 9-inch, 4-layer cake.

Ingredients

Cake
1 large egg
5 large egg whites
3/4 cup cream of coconut (a 15-ounce can is enough for both cake and buttercream)
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract
2 1/4 cups cake flour (9 ounces), sifted
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon table salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), cut into 12 pieces, softened, but still cool
2 cups packed sweetened shredded coconut (about 8 ounces)

Buttercream
1 large egg whites
1 cup granulated sugar
pinch table salt
1 pound unsalted butter (4 sticks), each stick cut into 6 pieces, softened, but still cool
1/4 cup cream of coconut
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

For the Cake: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans with shortening and dust with flour.
Beat egg whites and whole egg in large measuring cup with fork to combine. Add cream of coconut, water, vanilla, and coconut extract and beat with fork until thoroughly combined.
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Mix on lowest speed to combine, about 30 seconds. With mixer still running on lowest speed, add butter 1 piece at a time, then beat until mixture resembles coarse meal, with butter bits no larger than small peas, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes.
With mixer still running, add 1 cup liquid. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 45 seconds. With mixer still running, add remaining 1 cup liquid in steady stream (this should take about 15 seconds). Stop mixer and scrape down bowl with rubber spatula, then beat at medium-high speed to combine, about 15 seconds. (Batter will be thick.)
Divide batter between cake pans and level with offset or rubber spatula. Bake until deep golden brown, cakes pull away from sides of pans, and toothpick inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes (rotate cakes after about 20 minutes). Do not turn off oven.
Cool in pans on wire racks about 10 minutes, then loosen cakes from sides of pans with paring knife, invert cakes onto racks and then re-invert; cool to room temperature.
While cakes are cooling, spread shredded coconut on rimmed baking sheet; toast in oven until shreds are a mix of golden brown and white, about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring 2 or 3 times. Cool to room temperature.
For the Buttercream: Combine whites, sugar, and salt in bowl of standing mixer; set bowl over saucepan containing 1 1/2-inches of barely simmering water. Whisk constantly until mixture is opaque and warm to the touch and registers about 120 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about 2 minutes.
Transfer bowl to mixer and beat whites on high speed with whisk attachment until barely warm (about 80 degrees) and whites are glossy and sticky, about 7 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-high and beat in butter 1 piece at a time. Beat in cream of coconut and coconut and vanilla extracts. Stop mixer and scrape bottom and sides of bowl. Continue to beat at medium-high speed until well-combined, about 1 minute.
To Assemble the Cake: Follow illustrations in chart below. Cut into slices and serve. (Wrap leftover cake in plastic and refrigerate; bring to room temperature before serving.)

Toys in my Kitchen

2010-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

hello! Meet the new member of my kitchen. I had been pining for this for a few years now I finally have a food processor that can handle more than just mincing garlic, which I rather just chop manually.

Once upon a time, I had a $15 food processor that I used less than 5 times residing in the back of my kitchen cabinet. Whenever I used it I get frustrated because of the capacity (can't be more than 2 cups), the power, and the construction (it leaked terribly). It sat in the cabinet for years, and when we moved to our new house, I put it in the donation pile.

Why did I buy it in the first place? Well, I wanted to make pineapple tarts, but didn't want to grate the pineapples manually so I thought a good processor would ease and speed up the work. But Mr. was with me when I was shopping for one and he reasoned the cheap instrument works just as good as the more expensive ones, that's not the first time he has said that when it comes to me getting kitchen equipments or anything. I didn't put up a fight and regretted it the moment I used it. It was too small to handle the job, leaked around the seams. Long story short, it would be easier and quicker if I grated the pineapple by hand.

from left to right:
VitaMix Blender, KitchenAid food processor and mixer

I have been slowly acquiring kitchen equipments that I won't curse when I use them. I do my research from Consumer Reports to customers review, to make sure they are worthy to take up the limited real estate in my kitchen. And while we can't afford All Clad and Viking, I believe buying the best that one can afford will save one repairs to the walls, windows, or the floor in the future.

Garlic Shrimp Pasta

2010-12-22T07:18:00.000-08:00

Sometime this year, we started tracking our expenses in Mint.com, a free web-based personal finance software. To track and know our spending is a rude awakening to me, our family's (2 + 1 dog) monthly food expense is a lot higher than family of 5. We went to coffee houses frequently, ate out probably 75% of the time, and fluffy got expensive treats. So in an afford to reduce our monthly food cost, I have been making a concerted effort to cook when I am home. Buying and freezing meat when they are on sale, making big portions, freezing leftovers, and encouraging Mr. to bring leftovers or frozen box meals for lunch instead of going to the cafeteria.

Although we are still spending more than most family our size, I think, we are making big progress in reducing our food cost, about 40% reduction. I don't know if we can to cut our food and dinning expenditure to the average level where similar households are at, as we like our snacks and I am also oppose to consuming too much cheap and processed food. Well, if we have to, we can cut our portions, buy cheaper cut of meat, add more carbs and beans, but I want to enjoy our shrimps, rib-eye, and cinnamuffins, for now.

This is a quick and easy meal to make on a weekday, I whipped this up in less than an hour. The beauty of this meal is, I have everything in my fridge and pantry. It is simple to make and yet packs in a lot of flavor from the garlic, the seafood broth I made, and shrimp that's not overcooked. I added tomatoes because I think the acidity adds to this dish and like to fruits and veggies. I will add frozen broccoli and reduce some pasta, to increase my dietary fiber and vitamins intake.

Serves 4.

Marinate the shrimp while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

Ingredients

5 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 5 teaspoons)
4 medium cloves, smashed
1 pound large shrimp (21-25), peeled, deveined, each shrimp cut into 3 pieces
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound pasta in short, tubular shapes, such as fusilli, campanelle, or mezze rigatoni
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup clam juice
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon lemon juice plus 1 lemon, cut into wedges
table salt
ground black pepper

Instructions

Toss 2 teaspoons minced garlic, shrimp, 1 tablespoon oil, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in medium bowl. Let shrimp marinate at room temperature 20 minutes.
Heat 4 smashed garlic cloves and remaining 2 tablespoons oil in 12-inch skillet over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until garlic is light golden brown, 4 to 7 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and use slotted spoon to remove garlic from skillet; discard garlic. Set skillet aside.
Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large Dutch oven over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon salt and pasta. Cook until just al dente, then drain pasta, reserving 1/4 cup cooking water, and transfer pasta back to Dutch oven.
While pasta cooks, return skillet with oil to medium heat; add shrimp with marinade to skillet in single layer. Cook shrimp, undisturbed, until oil starts to bubble gently, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir shrimp and continue to cook until almost cooked through, about 1 minute longer. Using slotted spoon, transfer shrimp to medium bowl. Add remaining 3 teaspoons minced garlic and pepper flakes to skillet and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute; stir in vermouth and cook for 1 minute. Add clam juice and parsley; cook until mixture starts to thicken, 1 to 2 minutes. Off heat, whisk in butter and lemon juice. Add shrimp and sauce to pasta, adding reserved cooking water if sauce is too thick. Season with black pepper. Serve, passing lemon wedges separately.

The Best Blueberry Muffins

2010-12-21T07:48:00.000-08:00

Best Blueberry Muffin

Two weeks ago, I found the best blueberry muffins recipe (watching America's Test Kitchen online) I have baked so far, Mr. and I have also declared them to be the best blueberry muffins we ate to date, fluffy gives his nod of approval too. So when the box of 18 ounces blueberries were displayed in the cooler at Sam's club, they were calling out to me to bake them. I tried to resist, Mr. can testify, since we are trying to keep our groceries bills down, but I caved in. I reasoned I can gift them away to neighbors and friends for this holiday season, who doesn't want freshly baked muffins?

I started making the blueberry jam yesterday and planned to bake them early this morning at 6am so that Mr. could have them for breakfast before he drove to work. I didn't woke up till 6:52am. I still might be able to make them before he stepped out of the door if I hurry, I told myself. I can tell you now that it's not a good idea to rush when one is half awake. I measured my dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt) and whisked them together. Melt the butter and whisk the wet ingredients together (buttermilk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla essence). Incorporate the blueberries, wet and dry ingredients together. The mixture looked different than what I had the first time I baked these, I tasted the batter.... I FORGOT the sugar! I didn't want to throw away the sugarless batter, so I added the sugar to the already rubbery dough, hoping for the best.

Out from the oven

While waiting for the failed muffins to bake in the oven, I mixed another batch of blueberry muffins, this time carefully followed the instructions, at least I will have some good ones to gift away. Verdict - the 1st and 2nd batch of muffins taste similar to me, 2nd batch is slightly bigger.

2nd batch on the left, 1st on the right

The 2nd batch raised more than the 1st, possibly due to over-mixing.
The recipe calls for under mixing the batter

what should I do with the leftover Lemon-Sugar Topping?

Best Blueberry Muffins from America's TEST KITCHEN

Makes 12 muffins.

Ingredients

Lemon-Sugar Topping
1/3 cup sugar (2 1/3 ounces) (I used Turbinado Sugar)
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated zest from 1 lemon

Muffins
2 cups fresh blueberries (about 10 ounces), picked over
1 1/8 cups sugar (8 ounces) plus 1 teaspoon
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk (may substitute with 3/4 cup plain whole-milk or low-fat yogurt thinned with 1/4 cup milk)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

FOR THE TOPPING: Stir together sugar and lemon zest in small bowl until combined; set aside.
FOR THE MUFFINS: Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Bring 1 cup blueberries and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing berries with spoon several times and stirring frequently, until berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to ¼ cup, about 6 minutes. Transfer to small bowl and cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.
Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk remaining 11/8 cups sugar and eggs together in medium bowl until thick and homogeneous, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in butter and oil until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Using rubber spatula, fold egg mixture and remaining cup blueberries into flour mixture until just moistened. (Batter will be very lumpy with few spots of dry flour; do not overmix.)
Following photos below, use ice cream scoop or large spoon to divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups (batter should completely fill cups and mound slightly). Spoon teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into center of each mound of batter. Using chopstick or skewer, gently swirl berry filling into batter using figure-eight motion. Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over muffins.
Bake until muffin tops are golden and just firm, 17 to 19 minutes, rotating muffin tin from front to back halfway through baking time. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.

Zemotion

2010-12-18T19:57:00.000-08:00

All the pictures taken from zemotion.deviantart.com

Zhang Jingna

I appreciate good photography and often wish that I have the ability to take great pictures, especially like Zhang Jingna's. I don't usually follow photographer's work but I am a FB fan of zemotion. Zhang is highly talented and a fellow Singaporean, I started to follow her work when I was looking for wedding photographer. No she does not do wedding photography, although I wish she does, I would totally hire her, her work can be found in some bridal magazines. Here are some of her beautiful work I wish I have, framed.

You can see her work in her blog, facebook, and deviantART

Chocolate Cupcakes

2010-12-18T09:16:00.000-08:00

I bought a big bag of Ghirardelli Bittersweet chocolate chips about a month or two ago, I have made several batch of cookies and still have about half a bag left. In an afford to use up the chocolate chips and Hershey cocoa powder, I came across a cupcake recipe that I have to try. The result is truly decadent.

The chocolate ganache filling should be in the middle but as you can see in the picture below it's at the bottom of the cupcake.

These cupcakes received Kevin's approval, he said that these are as good as what we can get from our favorite local cafe.

Chocolate Cupcake with Ganache filling from CI
Makes 12 cupcakes

The recipe recommends using high quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate like Callebaut Intense Dark Chocolate L-60-40NV or Ghirardelli Bittersweet Chocolate Baking Bar.

Ingredients

Ganache Filling
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar

Chocolate Cupcakes
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
1/3 cup (1 ounce) dutch-processed cocoa
3/4 cup (4 1/8 ounces) bread flour
3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 chocolate frosting (see recipe below)

Instructions

FOR GANACHE FILLING: Place chocolate, cream, and confectioners’ sugar in medium microwave-safe bowl. Heat in microwave on high power until mixture is warm to touch, 20 to 30 seconds. Whisk until smooth; transfer bowl to refrigerator and let stand until just chilled, no longer than 30 minutes.
FOR CUPCAKES: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard-size muffin pan (cups have ½-cup capacity) with baking-cup liners. Place chocolate and cocoa in medium bowl. Pour hot coffee over mixture and whisk until smooth. Set in refrigerator to cool completely, about 20 minutes. Whisk flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.
Whisk oil, eggs, vinegar, and vanilla into cooled chocolate-cocoa mixture until smooth. Add flour mixture and whisk until smooth.
Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Place one slightly rounded teaspoon ganache filling on top of each cupcake. Bake until cupcakes are set and just firm to touch, 17 to 19 minutes. Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 10 minutes. Carefully lift each cupcake from muffin pan and set on wire rack. Cool to room temperature before frosting, about 1 hour.
TO FROST: Mound 2 to 3 tablespoons frosting on center of each cupcake. Using small icing spatula or butter knife, spread frosting to edge of cupcake, leaving slight mound in center.

Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients

1/3 cup (2 1/3 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large egg whites
pinch table salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened and cut into 1-tablespoon pieces
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Combine sugar, egg whites, and salt in bowl of stand mixer; place bowl over pan of simmering water. Whisking gently but constantly, heat mixture until slightly thickened, foamy, and registers 150 degrees on instant-read thermometer, 2 to 3 minutes.
Place bowl in stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Beat mixture on medium speed until consistency of shaving cream and slightly cooled, 1 to 2 minutes. Add butter, 1 piece at a time, until smooth and creamy. (Frosting may look curdled after half of butter has been added; it will smooth with additional butter.) Once all butter is added, add cooled melted chocolate and vanilla; mix until combined. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light, fluffy, and thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds, scraping beater and sides of bowl with rubber spatula as necessary.

French Toast

2010-12-18T09:04:00.001-08:00

I cook and bake for different reasons:
1. need to eat;
2. want to save money;
3. want to use stuff up before it goes bad;
4. want to experiment different recipes, especially when the word "BEST" is in the title;
5. has plenty of time, but doesn't feel like cleaning/exercising/anything else that's more important.

In this case, the reason is #3. I forgot to mentioned in the last post the recipe yield 2 big loaves of Challah bread. What should we, as a household of 2 +1 dog, do with so much Challah?

As I was searching for recipes to peruse the carbs that would last us for months at the rate we are consuming bread. The French Toast published in Cooks Illustrated January 2009 caught my eyes, especially when the recipe states that a good challah produces best results. Now for 2 mornings in a row, we chowed down the best french toast I have made by far. Granted it's probably my second or third time making french toast in my lifetime, I know it won't be my last.

Ingredients

8 large slices hearty white sandwich bread or good-quality Challah
1 1/2 cups whole milk, warmed
3 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus 2 tablespoons for cooking
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Maple syrup

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Place bread on wire rack set in rimmed baking sheet. Bake bread until almost dry throughout (center should remain slightly moist), about 16 minutes, flipping slices halfway through cooking. Remove bread from rack and let cool 5 minutes. Return baking sheet with wire rack to oven and reduce temperature to 200 degrees.
Whisk milk, yolks, sugar, cinnamon, 2 tablespoons melted butter, salt, and vanilla in large bowl until well blended. Transfer mixture to 13- by 9-inch baking pan.
Soak bread in milk mixture until saturated but not falling apart, 20 seconds per side. Using firm slotted spatula, pick up bread slice and allow excess milk mixture to drip off; repeat with remaining slices. Place soaked bread on another baking sheet or platter.
Heat ½ tablespoon butter in 12-inch skillet over medium-low heat. When foaming subsides, use slotted spatula to transfer 2 slices soaked bread to skillet and cook until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip and continue to cook until second side is golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes longer. (If toast is cooking too quickly, reduce temperature slightly.) Transfer to baking sheet in oven. Wipe out skillet with paper towels. Repeat cooking with remaining bread, 2 pieces at a time, adding ½ tablespoon of butter for each batch. Serve warm, passing maple syrup separately.

Challah

2010-12-17T21:26:00.000-08:00

Baking bread was something that I wanted to do but didn't have the courage to attempt. However the desire to make triumphed the fear or failure yesterday as I embarked on my first journey to bake my first loaf of bread.

I know I wanted to make some white bread, because I wanted to make some meatballs that calls for that, after browsing a number of my favorite website for recipes, challah bread from smittenkitchen.com was calling out for me with incredible pictures and numerous positive comments. I have tried challah, a Jewish braided bread eaten during Sabbaths and holidays, from our local bakery and love the fragrant and taste of a freshly baked loaf.

The most daunting part of making bread for me is the rising of the bread, I am always afraid that it's going to flop right in the middle of the bread or have a bread that can kill a duck if I throw one in the lake (scene from "About a Boy"). So I told my time, read and rereading the recipe, watch and re-watch the youtube video that demonstrate how to braid bread. And here's the result.

It bread doesn't taste like what I had from the Grain Bin from 8 years ago, not as sweet, fragrant, or soft but it might be what homemade bread taste like. My bread is more dense than commercial bread, which might be due to over handling when I was trying to braid the bread? Someone will have to tell me or I need to remake it again to find out myself. Either way, with my first attempt in bread making out of the way, I can foresee my next loaf in the near future, maybe some dinner rolls from x'mas dinner?

Here's the recipe from smittenkitchen.com

Best Challah (Egg Bread)

Time: about 1 hour, plus 2 1/2 hours’ rising
Yield: 2 loaves

1 1/2 packages active dry yeast (1 1/2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon plus 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup olive or vegetable oil, plus more for greasing the bowl
5 large eggs
1 tablespoon salt
8 to 8 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup raisins per challah, if using, plumped in hot water and drained
Poppy or sesame seeds for sprinkling.

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in 1 3/4 cups lukewarm water.

2. Whisk oil into yeast, then beat in 4 eggs, one at a time, with remaining sugar and salt. Gradually add flour. When dough holds together, it is ready for kneading. (You can also use a mixer with a dough hook for both mixing and kneading, but be careful if using a standard size KitchenAid–it’s a bit much for it, though it can be done.)

3. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Clean out bowl and grease it, then return dough to bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until almost doubled in size. Dough may also rise in an oven that has been warmed to 150 degrees then turned off. Punch down dough, cover and let rise again in a warm place for another half-hour.

4. At this point, you can knead the raisins into the challah, if you’re using them, before forming the loaves. To make a 6-braid challah, either straight or circular, take half the dough and form it into 6 balls. With your hands, roll each ball into a strand about 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. Place the 6 in a row, parallel to one another. Pinch the tops of the strands together. Move the outside right strand over 2 strands. Then take the second strand from the left and move it to the far right. Take the outside left strand and move it over 2. Move second strand from the right over to the far left. Start over with the outside right strand. Continue this until all strands are braided. For a straight loaf, tuck ends underneath. For a circular loaf, twist into a circle, pinching ends together. Make a second loaf the same way. Place braided loaves on a greased cookie sheet with at least 2 inches in between.

5. Beat remaining egg and brush it on loaves. Either freeze breads or let rise another hour.

6. If baking immediately, preheat oven to 375 degrees and brush loaves again. Sprinkle bread with seeds, if using. If freezing, remove from freezer 5 hours before baking.

7. Bake in middle of oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden. (If you have an instant read thermometer, you can take it out when it hits an internal temperature of 190 degrees.) Cool loaves on a rack.

Note: Any of the three risings can be done in the fridge for a few hours, for more deeply-developed flavor. When you’re ready to work with it again, bring it back to room temperature before moving onto the next step.

Peacock Feathers Shawl

2006-08-31T22:05:00.000-07:00

This is the reason why no grass was moving in my blog for almost two weeks - I was devoted to finish this shawl for no reason. It's not a gift, not a job, nor to commemorate any occasion. I. JUST. WANT. TO. FINISH. IT. I am obsessive compulsive like that when it comes to knitting. That's also one of the reasons why I only work on one project at a time. Another reason - not keeping a journal.

The pattern for this shawl is all in chart except for the first 12 rows. I know there are many knitters out there who adore charts but I am not one of them. I have a huge problem with them when I was working on Backyard leaves from Scarf Style. Even though I finally got it, I still prefer working with written instructions which I think it requires less thinking.

I made quite a number of mistakes along the way but always correct [not frog] them whenever I got to them. So there are some holes that are smaller than the rest. I am not going to point them out to you but you are welcome to find them if you want. This is where I have a question (or two) for all you readers. Do you frog or correct your mistake? Do you mind having a couple of stitches that are either too loose or tight?

This is the first time I use Zephyr Wool-Silk and I love it knitting with it although I am still trying to get use to knit with lace yarn. One thing about yarn, my bamboo circulars now have reddish tint at the points and the water was slightly pink when I wash the shawl. Is it always the case with this yarn? O, and has anyone tried their DK weight? Check out Sarah's Yarn, her Zephyr Wool-silk is the cheapest I can find.

This picture shows the shawl in Day 2.

This picture shows the true color of the yarn.

Picture taken in the evening, that's why it is a little orangey.
*Pattern: Peacock Feathers Shawl from Fiddlesticks Knitting
*Yarn: Jaggerspun Zephyr Wool-Silk in Ruby
*Needles: Cheap Bamboo circular from eBay in 4.0mm (US 5) and 3.5mm crochet hook
*Cost: US$25.95 ($16 for yarn + $9.95 for pattern)

*Cast on: August 16, 2006
*Cast off: August 29, 2006

Swap Meet

2006-08-30T13:37:00.000-07:00

I didn't tell you sooner but I realize that I need to be honest. I lost my first to Whose lace is it anyway? Knitters Lace Swap. How was it? Very satisfying! I am not sorry to say that I will do it again and again and again. Why? Because my lacey friend is great! Come look at what came in the mail on Monday.

A package from France!

Everything was contained in this bubblewrap, held together by this cute pin. Where did you find that, Dorothee?

Look at this! Wouldn't you just be as excited to receive this package? Here is a breakdown of what's in it

* 10 skeins of Rowan Scottish Tweed 4 ply
* 2 skein of red soft lace alpaca 780 metres
* US 7 Addi Turbo 60 inches
* The Pacific Northwest shawl
* Handmade Ultra Cute Bear (can I have the pattern please)
* flower markers and clip
* A bag of honey candy that is ruining my diet

Tomorrow is the last day to sent out Whose lace is it anyway? Knitters Lace Swap package and I have finally put together what I think my lace pal would like. So the package will be out in the mail tomorrow. I know it's a little late, hope my pal won't mind waiting :p. Also, I want to thank Donna and Ailsa for organizing this swap.

While we are still at this topic, Secret Pal 9 will be open for signups starting September 1, 2006 till September 30, 2006. You know who will be there, don't you?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know this blog hasn't been update for a while but there is a reason for that. I was trying to finish this mofo. It was FINALLY completed last night and washed and blocked today. You will get to see it on me tomorrow.

Michael Kor Aran Tee

2006-08-12T12:15:00.000-07:00

Finally! I have left this sweater on the back burner for a couple of months because I do not like picking up stitches from the neck. Since I finished my DFS and have not gotten yarn for projects that interest me, I picked it up again yesterday to work on the neck. 4 hours and searching for help online (for tubular bind off) later, I can show it off at last.

I first started on this tee many months ago, finished the back piece and was working on the front piece when I realized I messed up the entire decreasing part of the front. Frustrated, I restart the entire sweater again, this time working it in the rounds because I am terrible in seaming. I altered the stitches so that the pattern still remains the same. Another alteration I did was shortening the sleeves.

This sweater is many firsts for me. I learned tubular cast on from Anna and tubular bind off (knit-one purl-one bind-off) from knittinghelp.com. The results of those techniques give the ribbing a more professional look, I think. Although they do take a lot more time than long-tail cast on and basic bind-off, it's worth the effort.

Specs:
* Pattern : Michael Kor Aran Tee from Vogue knitting Holiday 2005
* Yarn : Baruffa Maratona, US 8 bamboo circular needles
* Started : Can't remember
* Ended : August 8, 2006

Fancy Diamond

2006-08-08T18:11:00.000-07:00

I knitted a Kiri a while ago, my first lace shawl. However, in my excitment to get it finished and blocked, I put it in the washer with a little detergent in the pre-soaked cycle and it came out felted. My heart dropped when I saw it and tried my best to get it back to shape but it's still in its shrunken state. I told a lady at my LYS about my plight, she suggested soaking the shawl in water and LOADS of detergent and reblock it by stretching it out. I still haven't try this yet. Anyone out there has used her method?

This time when I blocked my newly finished Diamond Fantasy Scarf/Shawl, I used the steam from the iron to relax the wool. I think it works great! From pinning the shawl down to having it dried took less than 2 hours. So I am now a proud owner of a DFS.

This pattern calls for 6 repeats for a scarf and 10 repeats for shawl; I did 7 repeats and I am glad I did. One more repeat would require me to get more yarn, and one less repeat would make DFS too small for my liking. To finish this shawl, the designer uses I-cord edging which took [me] a long time but the results is totally worth it.

Specs:
* Pattern : Diamond Fantasy Scarf/Shawl by Sivia Harding
* Yarn : 1 Skein of Bare, Merino wool Fingering weight yarn from Knit Picks
* Needle : Ebay Bamboo 32" circular in 4.0mm, 5.0mm for I-cord Edging
* Started : August 2, 1006
* Ended : August 8, 2006

Jaywalker

2006-08-04T11:53:00.001-07:00

Needless to say, what I was knitting with my home dyed yarn is the famous Jaywalker by Grumperina. I am very surprised by how the sock turned out; very uniform stripe pattern. Note to self: the next time I dye, I want to achieve stripes like Vesper Self striping socks. I took a picture of Calla Lily Sock next to Jaywalker to compare the two. Sundara's yarn has more vibrant colors and they shine whereas Kool-Aid creates muted colors.

hehe, you can see stitch holder and knitting needles because I don't have tapestry needle to finish them. But do not worry, the tapestry needles should be here next week.

Even though I knit the two socks with the same US1 Addi turbo, cast on 76 stitchs for Jaywalker, and cast on 63 stitches for Calla Lily Socks, Jaywalker is tighter on my foot. Was it the pattern or the yarn? Oh, another downside of my Jaywalker, they are not superwash wool. I still have 2 skeins of undyed yarn from knitpicks.com which I might exchange for their new dyeable sock yarn that are machine washable. Then I won't have to worry about them felting.

I started on another project this week. Look at it.

Why did I start on this? Because I want to have this. I cannot get over how beautiful it is. I need to have one! But what I am knitting now is a test run. I am making this Diamond Fantasy Shawl by Sivia Harding with Knit Picks Sock yarn which is only $3.99 for 440 yarns of soft merino yarn. Nothing can beat that price! Besides, I have already wind up the skein into a ball, there's not way I can do a return or exchange. So why not put it in good use?

Before I forget, a few of you asked about the flavors I used for my yarn dyeing. Here is the list:

Deep Red - Black Cherry + Grape
Pink - Pink Lemonade
Green - Lemon Lime
Orange - Orange
Yellow - Lemonade

This is a better resource. Hope you have as much fun playing with Kool-Aid as I did.

KOOL AID

2006-07-31T11:50:00.000-07:00

I bought Kool Aid for the first time last week! For dyeing my knit picks' sock yarn. Even though I know it's a common drink amongst the kids (maybe adults), I have never had it. So before I begin my dyeing project, I decided to try it once. I tore open a packet of Kool Aid, mixed it in water, took a drink, and spit it out. It tasted terrible to me. I told my husband about my Kool Aid experiment and that's when he said, " you DiDn't add SUGAR?"

Okay, lesson learn - Always add sugar to Kool Aid mix if I want to drink it.

Other than that, dyeing yarn with Kool Aid is a lot of fun. Here are the results:

This is what it looks like knitted up. Can you tell which pattern I am using here? Answer will be out in the next post.

Baby Trellis

2006-07-25T09:38:00.000-07:00

There was something small items that hindered me from knitting them - I thought they were too delicate for my *giant* hands. Hence, all my FOs were adult scarves and sweaters. Last week, I broke down the barrier and started on a baby sweater and socks. And yesterday, lavender Trellis was officially completed.

Specs:
* Pattern : Trellis by Britta Stolfus Rueschhoff from Knitty.com
* Yarn : 2 Skeins of Cascade Sierra in Color #29 from Threads
* Needle : Ebay Bamboo circular in US 7 for body, US 8 for cast on and bind off
* Started : July 19, 1006
* Ended : July 24, 2006

Overall this is a fast knit because it is small! I do not like to deal with any thing more than the 2 sticks on my hand when I am knitting, therefore I skipped the cable holder. For all the future Trellis that I might knit, I will knit the all the pieces of the body in one piece to save time.

My Lady Eleanor

2006-07-22T11:02:00.000-07:00

Lady Eleanor came into my life when I saw this and this. I fell in love and the next thing I know, I ordered this book from Amazon.com. One thing lead to another, I purchased Noro Silk Garden in Skein Scene at $6.50 per skein (if you know me, I would not have worked on this project if the yarn is at retail price.) This is my first entrelac project and it is not as difficult as it looks. If you know how to knit and purl, you can do entrelac. The only thing that bothers me is the constant turning of the project. I tried reverse knitting (aka knitting back backwards) but purling is just faster for me. My Lady E has short tassels instead of the long fringes because at 9 skeins of yarn, the stole is already a little too long for me. I do not wish my lovely lady to sweep the ground. Take a look at my lovely lady...

Specs:

Lady Eleanor from scarfSTYLE by Pam Allen
9 skeins of Noro Silk Garden 217, less than 1/2 skein for the tassels
Cheap Bamboo circular needles from ebay in US9

New Skin

2006-07-22T06:30:00.000-07:00

I am currently experimenting with different skins that are available on the web.

My first Sock

2006-07-21T15:16:00.000-07:00

I have knit and frogged Calla Lily socks from Sundara's Petals Collection more than a couple of times using cheap bamboo and plastic DPNs. Frustrated, I went to my LYS a couple of days ago to buy Addi Turbo US1 and also pick up a card on how to knit socks on one circular needle. I am in love with Addi - smooth knitting and flexible cable. I have to say that I prefer to work on socks using the magic loop method rather than messing around with DPNs. Or maybe I just need better dpns to work with.
As for the yarn, it is a dream to work with and Sundara is a genius with colors. Every row I knit, I hold up the sock-to-be and admire the colors. Take a look at it.

I am also working on another project, started the same day I started the sock. My friends are expecting a girl this coming September, I think a lavender Trellis using Cascade Sierra would be a great baby gift, don't you agree?

2006-07-18T11:07:00.000-07:00

This is Lady Eleanor at the beginning of the seventh ball of Noro Silk Garden 217.

I tried to get YoYo to model the shawl but he wasn't interested.

YoYo wearing Branching Out in Noro Big Kureyon #12, as you can probably tell, he is not a willing model.

I have not weave in the ends yet because I have not decided if I want to lengthen it or frog it to make something else. I bought 4 skeins of this yarn and only used up one for this scarf.

Virgin Blog

2006-07-08T20:47:00.000-07:00

This is my first web log ever. Even though my husband help me to set it up, I think I can do it without him :)