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Hello Everyone,
Baby and I had a rather fruitful National Day because we embarked on #CookForFamily round two! Seriously, we just couldn’t get enough of cooking for our family members and hence, Baby and I decided to cook for my family members this time round.

Similar as our first round of #CookForFamily, our theme this time round is also Western. Hence, we planned and cooked a 4-course meal for them.

National Day Family Dinner Menu

Appetizer: Salad served with Thousand Island Dressing
Soup: Campbell’s Alphabet Chicken Soup
Main Course: Black Pepper Chicken Chop
Dessert: Strawberry Cheesecake

As it was our first time doing a new dessert; that is, Strawberry Cheesecake, we decided to prepare this first so that we will have some contingency plan if things didn’t went well.

Strawberry Cheesecake Recipe

1 Packet of Digestive Biscuits [300g]
2 Boxes of Strawberry-flavoured Jelly Powder
120G of Butter
250G of Cream Cheese
10G of Gelatine Powder
50G of Sugar
450ml of Hot Water
250ml of Cold Water
25 Strawberries
10-inches Square Baking Tin with Removable Base

First, we crushed the digestive biscuits into very fine bits. You could either use a blender or your hands to do that.

From National Day 2012

Then, heat up the butter over low flame and mixed the melted butter with the fine bits of digestive biscuits.

From National Day 2012
From National Day 2012

Once that is done, lay the fine bits of digestive biscuits in the square tin and even them out flatly on the base of the baking tin.

From National Day 2012

The result should look something like this

From National Day 2012

Following which, pour 200ml of hot water and mix it with the gelatine power and sugar.

From National Day 2012

The result should look something like this

From National Day 2012

Once done, pour the cream cheese into the mixer and mix it thoroughly.

From National Day 2012
From National Day 2012
From National Day 2012

When its well-mixed, add the [gelatine sugar solution] to the mixer and mix it well.

From National Day 2012

Your end result should look something like this

From National Day 2012

When done, pour the mixture onto the layer of evenly-spreaded digestive biscuits.

From National Day 2012

Then, leave it to chill for an hour or so.

From National Day 2012

While waiting for the mixture to cool, prepare the strawberries. Because it was National Day, we had heart-shaped and star-shaped strawberries.

From National Day 2012
From National Day 2012
From National Day 2012
From National Day 2012

When done, take out the mixture from the refrigerator and lay the strawberries neatly.

From National Day 2012

Leave the mixture in the refrigerator to chill once again. Meanwhile, prepare the jelly solution by mixing 2 boxes of strawberry-flavoured jelly powder with hot water.

From National Day 2012

The end result should look like this. Make sure there are no lumpy texture and that the jelly solution flows smoothly.

From National Day 2012

Then, take out the mixture from the refrigerator and gently pour the jelly solution over the top layer; ensuring that all the strawberries are covered.

From National Day 2012

The result should look like this.

From National Day 2012

Once done, leave it to chill for another hour or so and when its fully done, the final product will look like this.

From National Day 2012
From National Day 2012

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As for the soup, main course, and appetizer, I won’t be putting up any recipe for it [unless anyone requests for it] because they are pretty straightforward.

Here’s a picture of the appetizer without the Thousand Island Dressing

From National Day 2012

The Campbell’s Alphabet Chicken Soup

From National Day 2012

The Black Pepper Chicken Chop

From National Day 2012

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To top it off, we toasted to the Nation’s 47th birthday with a cup of Moscato Sparkling Wine from Italy!

From National Day 2012

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And guess how much the whole dinner cost? It cost us less than $8 per person and we cooked for 9 persons! Simply fabulous!

Conclusion:

National Day is always a time for families to get together; especially watching the parade live on television and talking [gossiping] about the parade participants.

For Baby and I, we made this year’s National Day a special one for my family by cooking for them and we were pretty happy and satisfied with the outcome [especially when we hear compliments from my family members]. My mum whom is an extremely good cook also commented us for the excellent effort and we were so glad that all of them liked the food we prepared.

Baby and I really make a good team so much so that we ought to participate in some cooking competitions! [haha]. But either way, Baby is always full of ideas and for our next cooking session, we’re planning to make an Ice-Cream Cake. Who’s up for it? Kee-chiu if you’re up for it!

Stay tuned to more updates from us!

God bless!

Hello Everyone,
on the 5th of July, we received an email from Daniel Ang [a blogger of Daniel’s Food Diary] to participate in the #CookForFamily initiative that he was organising.

So, what is the #CookForFamily initiative all about [as quoted from Daniel]?

Well, there is this saying that goes like this, “A family that eats together stays together.” In recent times, many people have moved from cooking and eating at home, to eating out because we are just too busy. I am guilty of this and seriously, nothing beats home-cooked food because home-cooked food are healthier, cleaner, and nutritious! Most importantly, eating together as one big family brings about joy, quality bonding, and better relationships. I will always remember [how during my teenage years] my mum would whip up wholesome and delicious dinner for the whole family and also [how during my BMT days] she would prepare some tonic soups for me to boost my immune system. Those were the times that I truly miss the most and I really wonder, will our future generation of kids/youths be as privileged as we were to experience this sort of warm homely feeling? Personally, I will make sure that my future children get to enjoy as much home-cooked food as I had in the past. What about you?

Anyway, the #CookForFamily is a bloggers-for-bloggers initiative. There are no competition, sponsors, or hidden agenda involved. In fact, the initiative was started with a simple objective of getting more bloggers, and hopefully their fans and followers, to start cooking for their families and spend some quality family time.

Our #CookForFamily Experience
And so, Baby and I decided to cook for her mother, sister, and brother-in-law on the 29th of July 2012 (Sunday). We planned a simple 4-course meal that consisted of the following:

+Side Dishes/Appetisers+

Stir-Fried Egg with Radish

From Cook For Family 2012

+Soup+

Cream of Mushroom Soup

From Cook For Family 2012

+Main Course+

Black Pepper Chicken Chop

From Cook For Family 2012

+Dessert+

Milo Tiramisu Cake

From Cook For Family 2012

Ok, this was the plan but never did we knew that Baby’s mother had whipped up some dishes as well. So, our #CookForFamily plan also became a #CookWithFamily plan. These were the dishes that Baby’s mum whipped up:

+Sides Dishes/Appetisers+

Sliced Cucumber and Cherry Tomatoes served with Thousand Island Dressing

From Cook For Family 2012

Braised Pork with Mushrooms and Sea Cucumber

From Cook For Family 2012

+Fruits+

Strawberries and Grapes

From Cook For Family 2012

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Photos Taken Before and During Dining:

Butterfly Meh Meh [a.k.a BMM] checking out the sumptuous dinner. She’s not checking out the chicken but perhaps smelling the rice [BMM’s a vegetarian].

From Cook For Family 2012

Before Dinner

From Cook For Family 2012

During Dinner

From Cook For Family 2012

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Behind-The-Scenes

Alright, here are the photos that Baby took while I was preparing the dishes.

To make the Milo Tiramisu, we first prepare 3 cups of hot sweetened coffee. For us, we used 3X 3-in-1 NesCafe and mixed it with hot water. Ensure that they are thoroughly stirred. Once done, leave it to cool.

From Cook For Family 2012

Next, you will need two fresh eggs. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites into two different bowls.

From Cook For Family 2012
From Cook For Family 2012

Then, standby 60 grams of sugar.

From Cook For Family 2012

Next, take the 250g of mascarpone cheese and put it into the mixing bowl, and add the two egg yolks in as well.

From Cook For Family 2012

Stir the mixture [mascarpone cheese cheese and egg yolks] vigorously.

From Cook For Family 2012
From Cook For Family 2012

And make sure that the end product is creamy yellow in colour.

From Cook For Family 2012

Once that is done, leave the mixture aside and begin to beat the egg whites. Make sure the end result is something like a stiff white foam.

From Cook For Family 2012

When that is done, slowly lather the [stiff egg white foam] into the mixture [egg yolks and mascarpone cheese] and mix all of them together and ensure that you have a creamy white texture.

Now, take the ladyfingers, dip it into the cooled coffee [make sure the ladyfingers are soaked entirely with the coffee] and place it in a container.

From Cook For Family 2012

When the first layer is completed, pour some of the mixture [stiff egg white foam + egg yolks and mascarpone cheese] over the ladyfingers and make sure that it covers every corners of the ladyfingers and container.

From Cook For Family 2012

Once done, do the same for the second layer.

Finally, sprinkle some milo/cocoa power over the top layer and leave the whole tray in the refrigerator to chill.

From Cook For Family 2012

When cut, the cross-section of the tiramisu cake should look like this [doesn’t look appetising but taste superbly good].

From Cook For Family 2012

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For the Black Pepper Chicken Chop, we used our newly bought HappyCall Jumbo Pan!

From Cook For Family 2012

All we needed to do was just heat up the HappyCall Jumbo Pan and then put the already marinated chicken thighs. Oh, and this is an extremely important point, we didn’t use any oil at all!

From Cook For Family 2012
From Cook For Family 2012

That’s me posing for a shot.

From Cook For Family 2012

Allow it to cook for about 20 minutes until the chicken is firm and tender. When done, turn off the flame and close the lid to keep the chicken warm.

From Cook For Family 2012

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For the Stir-Fried Egg with Radish, we used the Happycall Jumbo Pan as well! And yes, we didn’t use any oil at all because there were some left-over oil from the chicken that we cooked. All that is needed to be done is to beat 3-4 eggs together and pour the mixture into the heated Happycall Jumbo Pan. Then, add the radish on top and wait for it to be cooked.

From Cook For Family 2012
From Cook For Family 2012

The end product should look something like this.

From Cook For Family 2012

When cooked, plate the Stir-Fried Egg with Radish accordingly. Here’s Baby and her mum in action!

From Cook For Family 2012

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The Cream of Mushroom Soup was perhaps the easiest dish to prepare. All we had to do was to pour 2 cans of Campbells’ Cream of Mushroom Soup into a pot, add two cans of plain water, stir the mixture together, and turn up the flame.

From Cook For Family 2012

Initially, we wanted to prepare the Cream of Mushroom Soup from scratch but due to a lack of time, we decided against it. When the soup has been boiled and not clumpy, turn off the flame and the soup can now be served.

From Cook For Family 2012

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Some Random Photos Taken

Me playing with Baby, the beautiful green Lovebird

From Cook For Family 2012
From Cook For Family 2012

At the last minute, I realised that we bought Teriyaki Marinade instead of Teriyaki Sauce!

From Cook For Family 2012

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Conclusion:

Honestly, the #CookForFamily was an awesome experience and we are really glad to be part of this initiative that involved more than 100 bloggers! This event definitely promotes family bonding and healthy eating and seriously, we hope that this post would have inspired you to do the same for your family too. For those of you whom are parents, are you willing to spend some time to cook for your children? For those of you whom are sons and daughters, are you willing to spend some time to cook for your parents? Well, I hope you will and also share your experience!

Stay tuned to more updates from us.

God bless!