Omurice !?

I want to eat omurice (オムライス) !!! Haven't had that in a while.. Seriously ! The last time I had it was when I was in Tokyo, Japan. Now I am trying to find a restaurant which serves omurice in Hong Kong. Looking online now to see if there are any.. There should be, but I just need to look hard for it.

Oh.. Why the sudden urge to eat omurice? Hehe~ I am currently watching this JDrama which is about demiglance sauce, omurice, etc.. It's called ランチの女王 ; ) Watch it !

Portuguese Egg Tart (葡撻)

This has to be one of the best street food on Earth.. Seriously! This is a similar pastry to the Hong Kong-style egg tarts; the main difference is the caramalised top of the Portuguese-style egg tart. Portuguese-style egg tarts (葡撻) were actually evolved from a traditional Portuguese pastry called "pastel de nata" (a type of custard pastry). They are available at a number of bakeries (i.e. Door Door bakery in Hong Kong) as well as in Macau-style restaurants. Great as a tea-time snack, as well as an after-meal dessert, you can never get enough of this delicacy.

[ Home Training ]

Summer is finally here!!!

There is still loads of time till the start of the next academic year, so it is time to brush-up my cooking skills and learn my mom's recipes back home. I have been waiting from the start of the year for this! There is so much to learn and hope I can pick up as much as I can before I go back to London. I don't know how this new passion for cooking ignited, but I am enjoying every moment of it: from learning new knife skills to learning about the ingredients. To enjoy learning something, you will need to be interested in it.. get involve with it. Interactive learning is very important I believe: that's where all the fun is! Therefore I will make an effort to join my mom or aunt in the kitchen whenever they are making or preparing something.

Okay! I will keep you people updated later! Learning to cook something new now! Ttyl!

Chocolate Fudge Muffins !

EASY
Time Taken: 30 minutes (from melting the chocolate to end of baking) + cooling

Another chocolate muffin, but this time it's Chocolate FUDGE Muffins. It is fast and easy to make - no hassle what so ever (I made this while having to pack for my trip back to Hong Kong and I am leaving in 2 hours.. so ya~ VERY easy). The top was crusty. The center was soft and moist, which I believe how a good muffin should turn out. It taste delicious - not too sweet with a not so over-powering of chocolate taste.. not that heavy I would say. Another great recipe I would recommend for every muffin-lovers to try.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin

As I have mentioned before this is one of my childhood favorite. My mom have refined her recipe till perfection and it is time I start mine. This is another Banana Chocolate Chip muffin recipe I found online at www.taste.com.au (except for the chocolate sauce :P). This is a very simple and fast recipe that can be done within 30mins (from weighing to baking).

As a first trial to this recipe, the result was pretty good. The chocolate chip and banana really go well together. The texture was slightly rubbery though, maybe because I worked it a bit too much when mixing. I would also like it to rise more. Definitely a recipe worth practicing and perfecting. Great for parties, picnics and kids love it. Can be eaten anytime of the day, wherever and whenever you like.

Back to blogging finally !!

It's OVER ! Finally OVER ! EXAMS DONE ! FREAKING NO MORE WAKE-UP-AT-5AM-AND-READ-NOTES ! And some other stuff are might be over too..

I have finally finished my 11 exam papers in 4 weeks. Crazy as hell I tell you.. I had no life literally for 10 weeks - from Easter holiday till last week. Even though it is hell, we all still need to eat and fill our stomach with heavenly food, so I try to take a break once in a while and make some. It was sort of like a break from the "busy" revision schedule I put myself into.. oh well~ just glad that I survived.

Alright ~ New layout ! More food for everyone and a new system. I will now post the recipes that I have tried on to this blog as well. So enough of me babbling and enjoy reading !

Goodies from Paris !

Hohoho ~ ! My brother just got back from Paris and he brought something delicious, from a shop call Poilane, back with him. This is something that I would recommend everyone to get when they are in Paris - as a snack, as a dessert, great for souvenirs and gifts. What is it? What are the French famous for besides their fine dinning and Eiffel Tower? Correct ! It's their fresh bread and pastry.

The pastry featured above are apple tarts and apricot jam pastry (the one on the right bottom corner). Even though they were not hot anymore, you can still taste the freshness of the tart and the sweetness of the apple. It is great for anytime of the day because it is not too sweet - for breakfast, snack, afternoon tea time, dessert or even supper !

For those who are interested and would like to know more about the whereabouts of the shop, here is the website: http://www.poilane.fr/

Bon Appetit !

Pasta Bake !

Pasta bake~ Sounds fancy doesn't it :P but it is actually not all that hard to make. This is one of my favorite since it is so easy and quick to make (take around 30 - 40 minutes in total from prep-ing to after the baking).

Well, the baking part is only for melting the cheese to make a sort of crust (As you can see from the top). I think I used two cheeses there for this one - mozzarella and parmesan. Chaddar will give a harder crust i believe.. can't remember =.= but gonna try that next time on its own and see how it goes. As for the pasta, it was a mushroom and beacon pasta with a cream sauce (plus tomato paste). I will try to show you all other variations as well, if I remember to take a picture of it :P

Pocky Paradise - !

- The Pocky line-up -

New York Baked Cheesecake

Finally !! I made my first cheesecake ! (Well.. with the help of my mum or I helped my mum.. anyway.. :P ) I was very excited, like a little boy waiting to open his X'mas present, because I think cheesecakes are a whole new level compared to butter cakes and muffins - Not in terms of taste, but in terms of skill and time involved. Cheesecakes can be very delicate and time consuming to make, but the result is worth every bit of sweat and energy put into it. Here is what it looks like:

It doesn't really look like I have baked it for 35 minutes, since the top is not brown. I did expect it to be quite browner at the top, but I must have put too much soured cream (I have misread the recipe which made this happened). Need to remind myself to study the recipe more carefully next time. I think the most difficult part would be the timing and temperature control as like any other cake. This one required a change in temperature during the baking and I think I turned the temperature down too early. Oh well.. there is always next time ! :P



It tasted great! But it was softer than I thought - felt like I was eating mousse :P Need to make the base thicker as well and remember to not press it too much ! Definitely going to try this recipe again ^o^

Banana Chocolate Cupcake

Another banana recipe that I have been longing to try. This was my first time trying this recipe which I found on the net (www.taste.com.au) - great site loaded with recipes from publications.

As you can see from the picture above, it didn't rise much. There are 2 possibilities that I can think of:
1. I didn't mix it well enough, or
2. The chocolate chucks were too big which prevented the cupcake from rising
=.= So I will try again and see if I can solve the problem, but other than that it was delicious - rich with banana and chocolate. It was simple to make and great for breakfast or snack or even dessert ^o^.

Banana Cake !

Finally got the chance to make one of my favorite cake. My mum and aunt used to make this for me when I was little. When I was in high school, my mum made this cake for me to bring back to school for sell to raise money for charity. It was always a big hit then. It's so simple to make and it taste delicious. My mum was teaching all the basics that she herself learned back in the days when she was just a teenager! So I will try to learn all I can from her =P

This is my first attempt, but it turned out pretty well. I still need to work on the temperature and timing of the baking, but other than that everything is very simple. See if I can make it better next time =)

Pineapple Tart (HK)

People say that they are a really big hit here Hong Kong; people line up to get hold of a box of this. There is no reservation for even a box, you will have to get it at the bakery shop. I think you can only get one if you are lucky because there isn't a fix day or date that the tart is sold. The shop only sells it when they get stock from the people who made it. These are actually baked by a private household, so I personally think that they are pretty good, even for someone like me who is from Malaysia, where it is the origin of pineapple tarts. =)

A beginning to my world of food~!

はじめまして～！　わたしは　マシュー　です～！

Hajimemashite ~ ! Watashiwa Matthew desu~ !

To all food lovers out there ~ ! I am starting this blog to share my experience of the food that I have seen, tried, ate, smelled and cooked. Please feel free to comment on anything I publish. 

どうぞ　よろしく～！^o^

Douzo yoroshiku ~ ! ^o^