Loquats

This is one of the two posts that had been sitting in my draft box for about a week.  I haven't been able to get into that writing mood.  The pictures, on the other hand, were all ready to be posted and explained on.

Perhaps I had been too busy and a little obsessed with pictures.  I drew the above picture while taking a breather away from my two kids.  They had been rather noisy.  My way of de-stressing: draw something.  So I drew these loquats.  The next few pictures below were taken some time back after I bought this bunch of loquats, just to see how these fruits taste like.

I had never eaten fresh loquats before, but tasted it in a throat soothing cough syrup, rather well-known here, 川贝枇杷膏.  Familiar, isn't it?  I wonder if the special minty taste of this cough syrup comes from loquats or from some other ingredients.  I am curious about the taste of loquats.  And my curiosity deepened when I read about it in a 4 column comics that I love.  The storyboard is simple.  Some loquat fruits hanging heavily from its branch, ripening slowly.  Two sisters walked past, commented with much excited anticipation of how delicious the ripe fruits will be.  The comic strip spoke volumes about the seasonality of these fruits, which flowers in autumn/early winter and bear fruits in late winter/early spring.  I was able to immerse myself in seasonal changes, a luxury not obviously available here where I live.  

I came across these fruits in a supermarket.  Normally, I don't buy food that I am not too familiar with.  I fear I might not like it, or the kids might not like it, and it would be wasted away.  Not adventurous?  Perhaps.  But for these fruits, their irresistibly bright yellow defeated my caution.  I bought them, attracted by their cheerful color and nudged on by my curiosity.  

They didn't taste anything like the 川贝枇杷膏.  Of course not, the cough syrup is a formula.  It has other ingredients to elevate its effectiveness against cough.  The loquat fruit cannot possibly bear any resemblance to a tablespoonful of the cough syrup.  However, the fruit I bought were not sweet.  They were slightly bitter-sour.  They were not minty at all.  In summary, they were rather bland except for the bitter-sourness.  Was there disappointment?  Not exactly.  The fruits, with their bright colors, offered themselves as fantastic prop materials for photo-taking practice.  That was before their final sacrifice as nourishment to my body.  

I had been experimenting with my camera.  It had always been set to Auto or Portrait and I would simply snap away.  Never mind the lighting because I could not quite manipulate it to my benefit.  Never mind the food-styling or composition for I do not have the appropriate crockery to present my food and I know nuts about composition to take nice looking photographs.  Nonsense, those are just excuses.  Yes, I agree.  

I would have disagreed defensively had I not come across a magazine about photography for beginners.  Shutter speed priority and aperture priority, they are Greek to me.  They still are, but I had started using these two functions to improve on my photographs.  Sometimes it worked, sometimes it doesn't.  I am still exploring, and it sure is fun to explore with a camera.  

My photographs always come with a dark background.  I did not do it intentionally.  In fact, it resulted from a combination of bright light in the background, inadequate lighting on the object of focus and a flash to complete this dark background look.  Just like these two photos.

But the magazine suggested paying attention to where the light is coming from.  Like the obedient child any parents would die for, I took heed.  I placed a white cardboard between my object of focus and the bright background light.  Next, I kept the lighting on the object of focus switched on.  This means switching on the dining room light which is directly above my dining table.  Then, I put my camera on Shutter Speed Priority, and shoot away on Macro mode.  I was lucky to get it right on my first try.  These are the results, no more dark background.  Let's not be bothered by the faint lines in the background.  One step at a time, easy does it... 

I do have a photo editing software.  But I haven't optimize it at all.  The software is just a toy for me to add text to my photographs or to add some interesting filters if I have the time to spare for editing at all.

I was envious of the innovative ways photographs are presented in some of the blogs I visit.  These pictures, obviously different shots, appeared to me as skillfully stitched together to form a panel of flowing images, horizontally or vertically.  I always stared in awe and wonder at those photos.

On various occasions, I tried to create such images using Photo-stitch and Photo-merge.  ^_^  Yes, I know, go on, laugh, I don't mind.  At least I know that photo-stitch and photo-merge are meant to do some other things and not what I had in mind, which is this.

This is what I had wanted so much to do.  This is what had fascinated me every time I visit those beautiful blogs.  How did I figure this out?  I didn't figure it out.  I googled for it, and youtube taught me how to do it.  Why did I ever take so long to learn this simple operation?  The answer is beyond me, but it is not important.  Now I know how to do it.  ^_^

Loquats, that's an interesting fruit to taste.  You would never know what a fruit could lead you to...

Just some pictures: Fried rice, the packing experiment

It's been ages since the last time I performed a controlled experiment.  It was a Science experiment, in a laboratory, during my "O" Levels examination;  and I hated it.  It was Chemistry, and we were supposed to test for acidity or was it alkalinity in some form of liquid mixture after boiling a solid sample into a liquid sample.  Anyway, the litmus paper test was the final stage.  The litmus paper was supposed to change color, and I really do not remember what final color was my litmus paper.  I just remember having problems lighting up the bunsen burner and sucking that odd liquid up using a pipette.  I am lucky to be still alive, for this meant that I had not used the pipette as a straw, swallowing the odd liquid that was colorless and odorless.  I think by now I can conclude with doubtless clarity that I am absolutely not inclined to Chemistry.  I am totally not adept at performing anything that requires precision.

I prefer experimenting in the kitchen.  Not that kitchen experiments lack precision, it is less darn precise than scientific experiments; at least for me.  So I am willing, and in fact, excited about testing out my theory on how different ways of packing leftover rice would affect the taste and appearance of fried rice ^_^  

I've mentioned my suspicion in an earlier post, and I think I have confirmed my kitchen theory, as I labored in the kitchen over an enthusiastic wok.  I was practically peering down into the wok that I could bury my face into grains of rice dancing and popping around on hot metal.

I had prepared two samples of leftover rice.  The rice was cooked all at the same time, done-ness and dampness of the cooked leftover rice were basically held constant.  The ingredients added to the rice were the same: garlic shoots, cubed fish cake, cubed Japanese sausages, eggs.  The seasoning was also the same, enough good quality light soy sauce for the saltiness, pepper and sesame oil to lift the aroma. 

The first sample of leftover rice was loosely packed in a microwavable container, those transparent container normally used for takeaways in food courts and hawker centers.  The other sample was firmly, or rather compactly packed using brown packing paper (those types normally used for economical rice takeaways in the past before styrofoam boxes took over the job).  Both samples were left in the fridge overnight in the same compartment, at the same time, for the same amount of time.

There were no variation in the way I fried up the two samples of rice.  The sequence and the timing in which I added the ingredients and seasoning were exactly the same.  In other words, all variables were held constant.  The only thing that differed was the packing method of my leftover rice samples.

The result confirmed my "theory"; this was important for me.  Even the Hubby noticed the differences in the two plates of fried rice I presented to them.  

This is the fried rice made from the sample of leftover rice loosely packed in microwavable container, let's call it Sample A.

Sample A

This is fried rice from the sample compactly packed using brown paper, and naturally, this would be Sample B.

Sample B

Can't tell the difference?  

Okay, here's the difference.  

Observations

Appearance

Sample A is a little more clumpy than Sample B.  If you look at Sample A carefully, there are about 4 tiny clumps of rice near the center forefront of the picture. The biggest clump is situated near the top left portion, sandwiched between a red cube of Japanese sausage and a piece of yellow egg.  Sample B on the other hand presents properly separated grains of rice, and no clumps could be found.

Taste

Sample A was less fragrant, a mouthful of fried rice tasted rather moist or damp, a little stickiness was detectable as you chew.  Sample B on the other hand offered a fuller aroma, the texture of the rice grains was firmer, and a mouthful of fried rice tasted drier and more aromatic.  The sort of stickiness present in Sample A was not detectable.  

Conclusion

In an earlier post, I had theorized that leftover rice loosely packed in a container still retained moisture, or dampness.  I think this is due to the pockets of space not taken up by the rice.  Even though it was left in the fridge to "dry out", the moisture basically condensed onto the walls of the container and fell back onto the rice, hence the moisture retention.  The moisture retention thus caused difficulty in separating lumps of rice, therefore resulting in clumps of rice seen in Sample A.  Moisture retention also resulted in the end product being more damp tasting than Sample B.  Moisture retention in the rice also seemed to affect the amount of aroma each grain of rice can absorb, thus resulting in less fragrant fried rice as observed in Sample A.

On the other hand, leftover rice compactly packed using brown paper has little space left for moisture to condense and return to the rice.  I suppose this means the leftover rice in Sample B retained lesser moisture in comparison to Sample A.  Lesser moisture retention means drier rice, which makes it easier to separate the lumps of rice when frying.  It also reduced the number of clumps, in fact, there were no rice clumps in Sample B.  Because each rice grain is drier, the ability to absorb aroma is heightened, otherwise Sample B wouldn't have tasted richer in aroma.

This is the end of my fried rice experiment.  I wonder if it would be useful to anyone.  Maybe those who prefer moister fried rice can consider packing your leftover rice loosely in a container.  Those who like to experience a little difficulty swallowing your aromatic fried rice might want to consider leaving your leftover rice to "dry out" more in the fridge compactly packed in paper.  


One more thing.  I didn't bring the leftover rice back to room temperature.  I find that this also affects the texture and taste of the end product, clumpy, damp and lacking a lively saltiness even though enough seasonings have been added.


As for me, I think I need to stop making fried rice for a while.  We had been having fried rice on every weekend for the past 4 weeks even though there are only 3 entries here.  The kids and Hubby may still want to enjoy a fried-up fare but I think I need a break from it...

A walk in the park: Picture diary of a flower trail

All ready for the walk...

The trail starts here...

Bright sun, brilliant colors...

Images of nature, spectacular...

Strange-looking, stringy fallen blossom; taken from three angles...

Some distractions taking us off the flower trail...

Back to the floral track...

The bud...

The full blossom...

Roughing it out among gravels and weeds...

Bearing fruit despite unfavorable conditions...

Morning glory, blossoming gloriously...

Dancing merrily under the golden sun...

What's a rose bud doing among the grass...

It's not a rose, it's a leave uncurling...

Nature is amazing...

Heavy with fruits...

Bougainvillea: common, sturdy, vibrant...

Orange Cream cheese tarts

That was a quarter of an orange peeking out from the background.  This is a picture taken with insufficient lighting.  But it doesn't bother me, for I had finally produced a fruity variation of cream cheese tart after a small hiccup in the form of some ugly tart crusts.

The tart crust for this version came from an earlier recipe, while the cream cheese filling is the recipe I wanted to experiment.  The original recipe used sweetened preserved lime to create the citrusy taste.  I didn't think I would like that flavor.  The substitution was made with the zest of an orange.

I liked the effect.  Just a hint of fresh orange, not overpowering, not stealing the limelight away from the tangy creamy cream cheese.  

After the whole experiment, I would conclude that cream cheese tart is not a difficult bake, as I imagined.  Of course, a state of panic can be well avoided if the tart crust dough is pressed THINLY into the tart mould for blind baking.  

Orange cream cheese tarts

(adapted from "Famous Cuisine, Issue 71, Nov/Dec 2011, with modifications)

Ingredients

Tart crust recipe refer to My first egg tarts

Cream cheese fillings

160g cream cheese

60g caster sugar

40ml whipping cream

2 eggs

2 tsp corn flour

freshly grated zest of an orange

Method

1. Bring cream cheese and eggs to room temperature

2. Beat cream cheese and caster sugar until soft, creamy and smooth. 

3. Add in the eggs, beat until well combined.

4. Add in whipping cream, corn flour and beat until well combined. 

5. Zest in the orange zest and mix well.

Assemble the whole pastry together

1. Preheat oven to 160deg C.

2. Pour orange cream cheese filling into blind-baked tart crust.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.

Notes

- When baking these tarts, my cheese fillings swelled into a small dome when 15 minutes was up. I opened the oven door a little and continued baking until the filling wasn't wobbly any more.  This will reduce the swell and at the same time ensure the filling is fully cooked.

Ugly but tasty tart crust

Look at the uneven surface.  Look at the rough bottom.  These are my really ugly but absolutely tasty tart crust.  

How did they end up this way?  

I had been too liberal with the amount of dough that got pressed into the tart casing.  I forgot that the dough would rise when blind-baked.  I did not have any blind-baking beans, neither did I put any sort of weight on top of the dough during blind-baking.  These crust rose promisingly, but I didn't want them to.  They rose so much that there wasn't any space left to take in the cream cheese filling I was about to prepare.  I despaired.  I had prepared the ingredients for cream cheese fillings, letting them come to room temperature.  What should I do with them? 

Anyway, how did I get myself into this mess, though a deliciously one.  I had not made any tarts after my egg tart making episode.  I had been wanting to try some other kinds of tarts, but had procrastinated until I saw a couple of cream cheese tart recipes in a food magazine I bought.  

The ingredients for this tart crust is different from the one I used for those egg tarts.  But the method is the same, rubbing-in of fat into the flour.  The fat, in this case butter, is quite high in proportion to the amount of flour used.  I ended up with a very soft dough even before adding beaten eggs.  So I changed the amount of egg added. 

Even after chilling the dough for 30 minutes, it was still very soft.  I found it difficult to handle, which is probably a reason why I failed to realize that I had pressed in too much dough into the tart casing.

When these tart crust came out of the oven, I left them to cool, and whisked up another batch of tart crust, this time using the recipe for my egg tarts.  That recipe gave a drier and firmer crust, though not any less delicious.

While waiting for the new batch of dough to chill, and the ugly crust to cool.  I took one bite into one of these golden brown skin and practically beamed from ear to ear.  Looks are deceiving.  They may not be material for a beauty contest, but these crusts are from the category I love.  Crunchy to the bite, yet melting into your mouth with a burst of rich buttery aroma!  

I had been wondering what I should do with these ugly casings before taking a bite.  After that first bite, I think I could dress up or disguise their imperfections with a little whipped cream and canned peach.  This was what I did to them.  

I am quite proud of the outcome.  I know these are definitely not tarts that can make an appearance in a bakery.  These are absolutely homemade tarts, suitable for the home only.  I am proud of the outcome because finally I managed to whip up some cream decently, and manged to pipe them onto something without making a horrible mess.  Needless to say, the couple of early experiences with whipping up fresh cream and using it had not been successful. 

I took some over to my Mum and Dad.  Dad, who doesn't really like "western" pastries, said that these tarts were good.  He said the cream tasted good.  This is another reason why I am proud of the outcome. 

I think I am going to give this crust recipe another try some time soon.

Ugly but tasty tart crust

(adapted from Famous Cuisine No.71, November/December 2011, with some modifications)

Ingredients

160g plain flour

60g caster sugar

120g butter

2 tbsp beaten egg

Method

1. Combine flour and sugar.  Rub-in butter, you will find that it will not resemble coarse bread crumbs.  Instead you will have a mixing bowl of quite moist and lumpy chunks of flour.

2. Add the 2 tbsp of beaten egg.  Mix the egg in with fingers held in a claw-like manner, until everything coheres into a very soft dough. 

3. Wrap in cling wrap and chill for 30 minutes before using.

To bake these tart crust, just press into tart casings of preferred shape.  Bake in a preheated oven at 180degC for 15-20 minutes.  

Q1 Outing: East Coast Park

We had our quarterly birthday celebration outing last weekend with our friends, at East Coast Park.  To be honest, when the location was first suggested, the first thing my Hubby and I thought about was "What if it rains".  


No, we are not people walking around with negative thoughts and negative energy.  You see, it had been raining on alternate days for the whole of the last two weeks.  In fact, the rain alternated on odd days.  It rained on Monday and Wednesday, but remained bright and sunny on Tuesday and Thursday.  And the date for our celebration meet-up happened to be on a Friday, Easter day.  


But luck seems to be with us every time we prepare for our quarterly outing, well, maybe excluding the mini episode of miscommunication last year, when we went for our trip to Pulau Ubin.  There was no rain in the morning of our meeting day.  We made our way there, all ready for a few hours of fun before lunch. 


My kids were excited about the trip.  They had been counting down to Easter Day every day for the whole of last week.  They agreed, between themselves, that they would definitely go for cycling once they reach the beach.  I was pretty excited about the idea of cycling again.  Of course, after the experience in Pulau Ubin, I've secretly decided not to take anymore backload (aka passenger) on my bicycle.  I have made up my mind to ride on my own.  


As we walked towards the beach in search of our friends, we walked past this bicycle rental shop.  The kids, especially the Tiny Man, were so excited about it that they stopped by a group of bicycles, choosing and pointing out to me which style they wanted.  My girl was still under the impression that she would get to be my backload.


Then my two kids saw our friend's son playing on the beach with his sandcastle-making toys.  They went through instant memory loss.  Forgetting totally about bicycle riding, they went running off to play with sand and the sea water with our friend's son. 


While they played, I toyed with the idea of taking the girl back as my backload for a while.  By the time we made our way to the bicycle rental shop, I discarded the idea.  This park is actually very crowded on weekends and public holidays.  The day we were there, there was a bustle of activities going on, cycling, roller-skating and roller-blading.  There were experienced cyclists and skaters as well as the less experienced ones.  I, for one, am not a professional.  I have the tendency to swerve into somebody's path.  It would save many lives and hassle if I do not take with me a backload.  Instead, I've decided to be my Hubby's backload!  Yes, we settled on this double-seater bicycle.  Let the Hubby cycle me around for a change.  I was pleased with my idea.

The truth is, this arrangement proved rather nerve-wrecking for me.  It started from the beginning.  Mounting on and launching into a ride.  The Hubby wasn't exactly slender.  And I am sure he was not used to a heavy backload too.  We swerved about a little, before finally steadying out and cycling along smoothly.  I was worried that I might be flung off the bicycle and fall flat on my face or perhaps fly into somebody's path.  I was worried that the Hubby might forget that he had a backload, go down a slope too fast and again fling me off the bicycle.  Or maybe he would take a corner too sharply and again fling me out into a nearby pond or grass patch.  All these ridiculous thoughts went flashing through my head for a couple of minutes in the beginning.  I was totally tensed and gripping the handles really tightly.  I was nagging at the Hubby's back to "slow down a bit, you are going too fast, the kids can't catch up".  I am sure the Hubby found this backload noisy.
  
I knew why I behaved this way.  I was the passenger.  I had no control of the vehicle, and I could not get a full view of what's in front of me.  There were uncertainties.  I could not handle the uncertainties.  I was not able to entrust myself fully to the navigator of the bicycle.  When I realized this, it was with some difficulty that I persuaded myself to relax the grip and trust the Hubby in his navigation and balancing skills.  It was tough at first.  I still found myself bobbing up and down, trying to get a view over his shoulders.  But it got easier, I relaxed more and started to enjoy being the passenger.


I suppose life's like this too, especially in a family.  When both tries to be in control, or there is no trust in each other, there would be tensions.  There would be a lot of noise.  It is only when both take a step back, come to an understanding of their responsibilities, have a little faith and trust in each other, that some balance may be achieved.  With this balance, lesser noise would be created, taking away tensions arising from uncertainties.  I know I simplify things.  But I guess it is always easier to operate in simplicity.


So much for philosophizing.  We rented those bicycles for one hour and we made full use of it.  By the time we rode back to our starting point, which of course is the bicycle rental shop, the kids were almost dying of thirst.  You see, the weather had been generous, showering us with tons of sunlight.  


We headed back to our picnic spot where the kids replenished on the liquid and munched on some goodies prepared by our organizers. 

For me, I went back to make more clicking sounds on the shutter.  I loved the beautiful sunshine.  

That to me is a good opportunity to practice photo-taking. 

At least, I did not have to worry about the lighting.

Thanks to the lighting, I am beginning to like the photos I've taken.


The weather's behavior was in sync with our activities.  Just as we were getting ready to leave for lunch, dense black clouds hung across the sea in the faraway, announcing imminent downpour ominously.  Little raindrops came pitter-patter down on our wind-screen just as we drove out of the car park towards our venue for lunch.


It was a simple birthday lunch for us over here.

As usual, we ordered what we wanted to try, and settled down to our chit-chat before having to scramble back into action when our kids' food arrive.  The conversation beside me switched between user review of the Samsung Galaxy Note and some sort of apps download.  The group of tiny beings beside me were engaged in some games on a Daddy's mobile phone.  Before long, food arrived, and that sent all the parents into portioning-the-food action, while some took the task of coaching and coaxing their kids to take this green and that morsel of meat ^_^


Our food arrived in well-spaced timing.  These are our orders:

TLC in the forefront, tomato juice at the back.

Peach and lychee cooler

Cream of mushroom

This, believe it or not, is my girl's order of cream of mushroom.  Didn't she dislike mushroom, to the point of hate?  Yes, she dislikes mushrooms, and well almost to the point of hate.  But she loves cream of mushroom.  She seemed to love the creamy, mushroomy taste.  She didn't mind the tiny bits of blended mushrooms.  Maybe she didn't know that those were mushrooms! ^_^  There was a large piece of mushroom sitting at the bottom of the bowl.  She turned to me and said that she didn't want the soup anymore.  I took out that large piece of mushroom, she cleaned out the remaining bowl of soup.  *Sigh*


The son wanted pasta.  He wanted the adult portion of Spaghetti Bolognaise.  On the kids' menu, there is an exact version, Spaghetti Blow You Nose, this is it.  

The Hubby needed to replenish in a spectacular manner after the morning workout.  He wanted to try the Oven Roasted Pork Knuckles.  The size of this dish really "knuckled" my jaw open!

The girl, a meat-eater like the father, went for something more dainty.  Crisply fried wings with chips.  The chips were crispy, not oily tasting at all.  It was placed in such a strategic manner, looking deliciously at a friend's son.  The sweetheart could not resist the chips, and the wings too!

For me, I missed Greek salad.  A friend suggested that I could make my own.  Yes, I could.  But I missed eating Greek salad prepared in a restaurant.  Why did I say that?  My first Greek salad was in a restaurant, on the Greek island Mykonos, four years ago.  I love the crunchy peppers and cucumbers, sweet and tangy tomatoes, slightly salty black and green olives, and the very milky and salty Greek feta cheese.  There was Greek salad on the menu, so that would be for me.

My Greek salad

It didn't quite taste like the Greek salad in Mykonos.  There was feta cheese, peppers, tomatoes and olives.  But it was just different.  It wasn't disappointing, just different.  This is the Greek salad I'd met four years ago.

Now that I take another look at it, I think there were capers and a generous sprinkle of oregano too, or was that rosemary?  I am not too sure, I had forgotten how the dried herb tasted like.


As we, the "elderlies" made our way into the food slowly, most of the young ones had finished up whatever their taste buds fancied.  And they went about their way of entertaining themselves.  There was a bell, one that you would see in those steam ships, and that caught the imagination of the kids.  They rang the bell, once, twice, thrice, and many more times, until one of the Dads threaten the kids with plate-washing in the kitchen.  They got bored again, until one of them decided to imitate some of us poor old folks with presbyopia, or "old eyes".

Kids; they say the darn-est things and do the darn-est things, all at the darn-est time.


We took the opportunity to get a feel of the kind of activities, and most importantly, the most suitable timing, for the rest of our quarterly meet-up.  It looks like this year promises more physical activities, with the kids more mobile and capable of looking after themselves.  There is a swimming outing in the pipeline, my family would be looking at trekking in Bukit Timah Hill, and another family may be putting together a short trip to Malaysia.  This is going to be exciting!