Fresh Prawn salad and another cake

This crunchy prawn salad is very easy to prepare. All I did was to use a lot of fresh veges to ensure that it is healthy yet tasty. I mixed the veges in the big IKEA mixing bowl and my mom said: don't prepare too much otherwise can't finish. But guess what, half way through dinner,she asked: where's the salad, give me some more..... :)

Mango Sponge cake and Moist Chocolate Cake

I borrowed a very beginner-friendly book from Jurong Regional Library not very long ago. It's a Sponge Cake Baking Book written in Chinese and is authored by a Japanese school 'Ecole de Patisserie' or '菓子学校'. The book has very clear explanation and pictures and is incredibly pleasurable to follow. 2 methods of sponge cake recipes are given - whole egg method and egg-separated method. I have tried both and find the outcomes equally pleasant. For the kids' birthday celebration, I decided to follow the egg-separated method. But we always have 2 cakes since they are both October babies, and I wanted some variation, so I search my favourite blogs for inspiration. In the end, I chose this Designer Chocolate Cake recipe from Wendy's blog, Table for 2. The end result was fantastic. The chocolate cake was the favourite because it was not too sweet but rich and moist. 

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Chicken Rice is found in almost every food centre, hotel, school canteen and wet market in Singapore. It is one of the "National Dish" known for its fragrant rice, succulent chicken and signature ginger chilli. Although different stalls claim that they use "secret" ingredients that make them stand out from the rest of the competitors, I think they are all delisciously done. Then again, I'm not a fussy eater.

However, as the chicken rice prepared outisde contain a lot of fats and calories, naturally I would want to prepare this at home, this way I can choose to prepare the dish in a more 'artery'-friendly method. Today I prepared this dish using chicken thighs, but usually I like to discard the skin to cut down on the fats.

Our family likes to eat it with freshly cut shallots in oil (method to prepare included) as it lends extra "omph" to the taste.

Switzerland 2011 (Luzern)

Lucerne, Switzerland

Learn more about Lucerne City here:

https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-sg/destinations/lucerne/

 

Alleys streaming with pedestrians and local students

Chapel Bridge

Switzerland 2011 (Locarno)

 The locals are enjoying their morning sun (it was noon actually!)

Switzerland 2011 (Romanshorn)

The town of Romanshorn

I took the train early morning from Uster to Zurich main station, before boarding one that goes to Romanshorn. I had no particular city in mind that day, just wanted to explore the beautiful country at a leisurely pace.



Romanshorn was extremely peaceful, as I alighted the terminal station beside the Lake of Constance, and walked in the cold wind towards the Seepark, I rarely saw a car passed by along the main streets. I guess everyone was cozying beside the fire place at home or in the offices. Coming from a tiny island that is getting more populated by the year, the experience at Romanshorn was quite welcoming, and I truly enojyed the fresh air, tranquility and misty view of the lake.

The beautiful Lake of Constance

Happy ducks at the park beside Lake Constance...

What a quiet town....
Beautiful view of the Church of St Johannes.



My train arriving....

On board the train carriage

View from the train carriage. Snow-covered hills and serene town...

Switzerland 2011 (Zurich)

I spent a leisurely week in Switzerland again this year, the week before Chinese New Year. It was packed with a lot of train rides and walking, all by myself. It was a liberating experience, and I could never get tired of Switzerland! The snowy mountains and plains and clear water streams and lakes were the ultimate therapy for a troubled soul ...