Introducing: King Oyster Mushroom

Have you seen this in the Asian market and wondering what it is? It is called king oyster mushroom which is also referring to as almond abalone mushroom in China as when it is cooked, the texture is similar to that of abalone. I was told of this mushroom when shopping with Lily (she introduced me to a lot of things eh...hehe). She told me this is the fresh abalone mushroom (instead of canned) that we read about in the forum. I was like really and quickly grabbed one to try. Since that day, I have been buying this mushroom every time I was in an Asian market. I really like the meaty white steam as well as the cap as this mushroom really soaked up the flavor of the broth you cooked it in.



This is what I came out with. Just a simply stir-fry and then cooked it in a oyster sauce flavored broth and top on green veggie. So good man, even my hubby finished it all. I also stir-fry this mushroom with sliced chicken breasts for variation. If you spot this mushroom in the store next time, do give it a try ya! :)

Ground Pork & Mushroom Dried Noodle

I organized an annual potluck picnic in the park this past Saturday. It's an event where we meet and eat in the park where the kids can enjoy some outdoor play time. The weather turned out to be so cooperating and nice, and we had a fun time eating a variety of food. Too bad, I don't have a picture of the spread because I didn't bring my camera out. But I did take a picture of what I brought to the picnic before we left the house.

Moist Chocolate Cake

I wanted to try this Moist Chocolate Cake because it looked so good and easy. This cake indeed turned out very soft, moist and delicious. Thanks Pupsha! :o) I have tried several recipes from her blog and it all turned out great. I simply love her easy recipes!



I made a mistake though. Can you spot it?

Don't think you can since I bury my mistake from your eyes. LOL! Anyway, I made a mistake by baking it in a bundt pan since I thought it would make a prettier cake. What a disaster!!! My cake got stucked on the pan again and turned out broken. The picture above is the only piece that was presentable. I purposely bought PAM for baking with flour and thought this would solve my problem. Since I also saw a review of this item at American Test Kitchen the other day with colorful result. They tested it with bundt pan and said all their cake turned out non-stick and beautiful. So, I quickly went out and bought one (even paid more to get the exact same brand). However, not in my case though. *sob sob* Pam, why you let me down? Do you think I should let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes first before I invert it on a cooling rack to cool completely? I inverted mine while the cake first out of the oven and it literally got broken into half. Aiyaya.... just horrible!

Anyway, this cake is simply delicious, so soft and moist and now it's my keeper recipe. Next time I would bake it in a square/round pan and lined with parchment paper and greased it, just for precaution. Oh, for my bundt pan, I only need to bake it for 30 minutes.

Japanese Seaweed Salad

I bought myself a packet of dried seaweed (Dolkak-Cham Miyuk) at H-Mart while shopping with Lily the other day. She told me a little bit would do because it expands a lot. So, I just used a scissor to cut a small corner off and soaked it in hot water. After 30 minutes, when I opened the cover, whoa! it really EXPAND A LOT and thus I left with extra seaweed. I only need about 1/2 cup for my Gochujang tofu soup. So, what about the rest of the seaweed? I need to do something with it and thus turned it into the seaweed salad that I concocted myself.

Green Tea Daifuku/ Mochi

Daifuku is a Japanese sweet consisting of a small round glutinous rice cake/mochi stuffed with sweet filling. Most Daifuku are covered in a fine layer of corn or taro starch to prevent them from sticking to each other, believe me this is one sticky dessert without the flour. I adapted my Green Tea Daifuku from Hugbear aka LeeLee and used the basic red bean paste as filling. I have tried it plain with toasted ground peanuts before and it was yummy as well.

Chocolate Swiss Roll

What can I say, after seeing the Swiss roll one after another popping up at East Meets West Kitchen, I got motivated. I adapted this easy Swiss roll recipe from my previous Pandan Kaya Jelly Roll . I wanted to use this recipe again because (1) I wanted to proof that I can still make a Swiss roll without the 1 Tbsp. of hot water (as in the original recipe). (2) No butter or oil was used in this recipe, thus a healthier version.

I turned this into Chocolate Swiss Roll because I wanted to use Nutella as filling. Little did I know this combination can hardly see the swirling effect of Swiss roll. In addition, I didn't roll it once out of the oven and thus the top got cracks. :( Anyway, as long as it still tasted good right? ;)