Red bean green tea flaky mooncakes

Today I finally tried baking something I've always wanted to do but just didn't.

I finally baked red bean green tea mooncake with the flaky pastry as the dough. It was not very easy to make the different layers so after making half of it I sort of realise what I needed to do to make it more flaky...I think I have to roll it more.

Anyway here are some pictures of the red bean mooncakes:

Red bean paste: Always handy to have one in the fridge so that you can make red bean stuff...


There are two different dough to make the pastry: The water dough and the oil dough (in green because of the green tea powder):



Roll water dough out and wrap oil dough:



Roll into ball:



Roll out again:



Filling the dough with red bean:



Off to the oven for 15 mins:



Voila out of the oven ready to eat:



A snippet of red bean inside the mooncake:



Very crispy and nicer to eat when it comes out fresh from the oven with the red bean still warm and the pastry falling apart as you bite into it.

Egg tarts again

Today I tried my second attempt in making better egg tarts two days in a row! Yesterday I made egg tarts at mum's but felt like my pastry was always so thick.
I always end up using the dough up quickly leaving so much egg mixture left over!

Hence today I tried using less dough and it actually works alright! I ended up making twice as much as yesterday with the same amount of dough.

If you see my previous entry about egg tarts you can see the difference in the thickness of the dough.

The egg turned out nice but I think i beat the egg mixture up too much hmmmm

I love the smell of baking especially egg tarts!! Yum Yum

Verdict: Mum and sister in law tasted it and said it was more tasty than yesterday however, sister in law actually does not mind the thicker pastry ;)

Sukiyaki

Tonight I felt like Japanese, so we drove pass ponsonby and searched for a place that looked Japanese...and came across Genki on 282 Ponsonby Road.

There was nothing different or spectacular about this restaurant than any other Jap places. I decided to order sukiyaki as I've never tried it before.

Sukiyaki is a very popular one-pot meal in Japan. The main ingredient is thin sliced beef, and it is simmered in a skillet or pan in the sukiyaki sauce with many vegetables and other ingredients. The word "yaki" means "sautee" or "grill" in Japanese. The word is used because the beef in sukiyaki is sauteed in the hot skillet.

Inside my soup were onions, mushrooms, spring onions, beef, fish cake and vermicelli. The soup was very very salty but I drank the whole bowl because it was so so tasty! My dish came with a bowl of rice and a raw egg in a seperate bowl. I didnt know what the egg was for so I dropped it into the soup and mixed it around! I came back home and search for suki yaki and found out that the egg is for dipping the meat and vege into it and then eating it up! Oh well...next time!

Sukiyaki basically reminds me of steam boat that we have at home or outside but just different in the soup seasoning and perhaps what they put inside but it's exactly like steam boat!



Definately good for the cold winter night!!! I would order that again ;-P However, I prefer Renkon where the dishes are more common, simple and all for just 10 bucks.

Name: Genji Japanese Restaurant

Location:
26 Ponsonby Road, Ponsonby

Price: reasonble
Food: 8.5/10
Atmosphere: 7.5/0
Service: 9/10 staff were friendly

Sore foot

Today went to the Auckland Museum with my Auntie and it was really really windy!! So..I wanted to take the camera from my bag and take pictures of her with her umbrella basically broken and munted from the strong gastly wind!!!

As I was taking out the camera, the main doors of the museum (those that goes round and round and you have to step into one of the section and walk to the inside) rolled over my toes and basically rolling up my feet and I was panicking!!! I pushed the door away while pulling my feet out and then quickly took out the camera just to take the picture of my aunt with her umbrella..

After that thank God the security guard was there to ask me if I wanted an ice pack and so for the next 10 mins I had an ice pack over my foot to take away the numbness!

Other than that, had a good time looking at moas, insects and old stuff...

Had a good lunch at 277 new market and then dinner at Uncle Mark and Aunt Audrey where he cooked rattatouii?? I have no idea how to spell it but it's that movie with the mouse who cooks really well! Anyway had a great time talking about how great our politicians are and how we feel so so safe in NZ....(yea right!)

Finished off the night with Aunt Wah Wai's rhuburb orange, lime cake! Yum Yum....

Birthday cake

Birthday cakes are done so light and lovely at the asian bakeries.I had such a hard time choosing which cakes to buy because they all looked so good. There were blackforest, red bean, tiramisu, green tea, chocolate, taro, blueberry. Since it was only for my hubby I bought a small slice of blueberry mousse cake for my hubby from Classic Bakery. It was blueberry mousse in between layers of sponge cake. The overall taste was not that sweet so it is good for those that don't like too sweet stuff. I ended up eating most of it coz hubby not a cake fan ;)

It looks so good though.

HoPe

What does it mean to place hope in something?

Dictionary states that it is the feeling that it is a feeling of what is wanted, can be had or that events will turn out for the best.
As a verb it is to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence, to believe, desire, or trust.

So by placing our hope on the Lord is placing our trusts in him and believe and have confidence that the the outcomes will be the best.

Psalm 33:18-22

The eyes of the Lord are on those who FEAR him,
On those whose HOPE is in his UNFAILING LOVE
Wait in HOPE for the Lord
he is our HELP and our SHIELD
In him our hearts rejoice as we TRUST in his holy name

To have faith and believe in the power of God's name that what he says in his word is true and as I place my TRUST and depend on his name and unfailing love my heart will rejoice as an outcome. His name holds power and so many attributes as shown in his word. Jesus name heals, sets people free, = life hope love faith and the list goes on...

It's so hard to trust sometimes especially when the circumstances around us seems so dim and so hard to comprehend. Yes God's understanding and ways are definately much higher and his timing is always right but in the midst of what we go through we often get confused because we want things to happen right now and quick! Hence that's what I feel means to "wait" on the Lord. Not to rush things or expect a quick fix but to wait and trust the Lord.

I know I have to learn to trust the Lord more and to know in my heart that in his unfailing love he has everything under control.
To keep HOPING and placing my trust in the dreams that he has install for us.

Whats in my hands

During my time away, God has been revealing many things to me about life. So many things are happening around the world - the flood in China, America, and India, the politicians and how corrupted they are, the increase of crime and petrol and food prices, and how life is so fragile and unexpected.

Fear and uncertainty creeps up. So many questions I want to ask but know that it can't be answered. Life is definately short, we are put on earth for a reason, What God creates he can take away, we are only temporary beings on earth..how then am I making full use of what I'm on earth for? How much more time do I have before I am called to go home to God? What matters in my life?? What is in my hands that I can use to leave a legacy behind? What is my attitude like and how am I treating the ones around me? It is so easy to love the loveable but how hard it is to love those that hurt others? That's when I need God to show me because God is LOVE and Perfect Love casts out Fear! When I walk in Love and bring that to the ones that needs it there will be no harm or danger because God's love protects!

Ephesians 4:28 - Doing something useful with my hands that I can share with those in need
Ephesians 5:15-21 - Making wise choices out of every opportunity because the days are evil.

So what am I doing and waiting for. Use what God has given me..what's in my house?

Milktea

What is it in milktea that makes me want to have one everyday??

I dont know. But I know that it taste better than starbucks and other coffee made with solely milk. I can't remember when in my trip to Malaysia and Hong Kong I did not have milk tea.

I've found out that I really like the Xi Mut milk tea at Old White Town Coffee (below). Ever since drinking the ying Yang tea in Hong Kong I've decided that I'll stick to the old milk tea as it tastes so much better. However, the Old town coffee sachets does taste pretty good themselves!



Having said that I no longer like ying yang, the one at Kim Gary's is very nice so I think it's how the shop makes them?



Below is milk tea and old town ice coffee we had at Ipoh, again the milk is so milky and I tink it's the condense milk that makes it gives it the flavour and makes me want to have more!!




Another place I got introduced to while in KL is Hollys at the Curve. They do really nice ice blended black tea but too sweeet so next time you are there ask for less sugar.



Too bad the milk tea here all costs so much compared to back home. Maybe i'll just stick to the old mochachino or perhaps assam milktea packets.