Red Bean Konnyaku Jelly

I was in the mood for some jelly and red bean jelly to be exact. The only jelly powder I had in my pantry was Konnyaku jelly powder, so Konnyaku jelly it was. I bought some mooncake jelly molds when I was in Malaysia last year so I thought this would be the perfect time to use it or open ceremony with it like we Chinese said. I do love this molds, making the jelly looking ultra cute. I wanted to make a red bean jelly because I had a canned of red bean and making a red bean jelly was much easier than making a red bean kuih even though both tasted great. Also I got to use my new jelly molds. :)

Deep Fried Chicken Strips

Who wouldn't love fried chicken strips? Anything deep fried with batter is pretty appealing, unless you are a health conscious person who seldom eat fried food. I have cut down a lot of deep-frying at my house, but once in a while I do like to treat my girls to some deep-fried food. I love freshly ground grinder and you can easily find the Spice Depot spice grinders at WalMart. It came in bigger bottle with cheaper price which I liked, any bargain is a great bargain to me. You can visit the website for recipe idea, recipes or check out the variety of spices they carry. Here's my crispy fried chicken strips recipe to share with you.

Salmon with Ginger Slices

Salmon is rich in omega 3 fatty acid and is one of the fishes recommended for heart healthy diet. My husband and I are not a fan of salmon. Often time I eat salmon is due to the fact that it is rich in omega 3, that's the only reason that I would eat it. Another reason is salmon is not cheap at all, especially wild salmon. I don't really like the farm raised salmon mainly because coloring is added to make it looks pink, not to elaborate about the farming of salmon and the condition the salmon were in before it has been packaged. But, I found that you can actually buy affordable wild salmon at Walmart. I bought One lb (16oz) of individually vacuum sealed fillets, wild caught, all natural salmon for only $3.50 (about 4 fillets) on sales, usual price is $3.95. And the whole half size of the wild salmon for only $7+, that's affordable to me. So, I got tempted just because it's high in omega 3 fish oil. I want to balance this fish with the Tilapia fillet that we liked. When I bought this, my hubby actually said who wants to eat this yucky fish. *roll eyes*

Evy's Birthday Cake: Marshmallow Cake

I asked Evy what cake she wants for her birthday, a store-bought cake or a cake mommy made for her, at first she said she wanted a store-bought cake but later changed her mind to a marshmallow cake. So I said okay and since the strawberry was in season again, large and sweet, why not make a strawberry chiffon cake again and decorated it with whipped cream. Just like a cake I made for her last year except this time will have some marshmallow on the cake. When I started to decorate the cake, she said she wanted a smiley face marshmallow cake, so here's her smiley face marshmallow cake for her 5th year old birthday.


Another look of my tall chiffon cake. Can you see the smiley face?


This time I made it three layers with two layers of whipped cream with strawberry bits.



I definitely added too much red coloring as this cake is redder compared to my previous one. This time I also used 2 cups of fresh whipped cream plus 1/3 cup of confectioner sugar to ice the cake. Remember to place the bowl and beaters in the refrigerator before you whip the cream. The whipped cream beats best when the bowl and beaters are cold.

Note: The marshmallow turned soft the next day but nevertheless still delicious.

I realized I haven't shared the pictures of my girls for quite some time, so here are the most updated pictures of them saying Hi.


Evy with her birthday cake saying cheese.


Edda saying cheese without looking at the camera.

Stir Fried Baby Bok Choy

Baby Bok Choy has been a regular vegetable in my household. All Asian grocery stores have it, even WalMart and the grocery stores here have it. It is one of the common Asian vegetable and most people know what it is. I buy my Baby Bok Choy at the Asian market here because it is cheaper. Sometimes the Asian grocery store here doesn't carry much vegetable choices, but they always have the Baby Boy Choy and regular Boy Choy (darker green) available and looking fresh. That's why this vegetable is a staple in my house. Sharing with you an easy and delicious recipe.

Chinese Steamed Mantau (饅頭) with Red Bean Paste & Mung Bean Paste

Assorted steamed buns or Mantau with filling. I used the breadmaker mantau recipe I posted earlier. The ones at the back with pleats were with mung bean paste filling. And the round ones were red bean paste filling. I made these and freeze individually in the freezer before putting them all in a Ziploc bag in the freezer. Each time I just take out whatever I needed for breakfast or afternoon snack and reheat it in the microwave. Those were the store-bought pastes that I brought back from Malaysia, need to use it before it expired.


Steamed mantau (饅頭) with mung bean paste.


Steamed mantau (饅頭) with red bean paste.

Since this is made using the mantau recipe instead of the bao recipe, the texture is soft and slightly chewy. We can use this recipe to stuff filling but for best result mantau recipe is still a mantau recipe, leave it plain, or brush it with sesame oil and add green onion, or make flavor mantau like yam, black sesame seeds, green tea, chocolate, etc. I saw some duo colors mantau before.