Chilled Mango Cheesecake

I was not in the mood to bake in this heat, but just itching to do 'something'. And as usual, noticed a bottle of Mango puree sitting in the fridge, and instantly, the idea sparked on.


This receipe is from HK Florence's blogsite. And this is the 2nd time I am trying the making.

Patience indeed is needed, chill the biscuit layer, then chill the cream cheese layer and finally the topping layer.

It is nothing close to the lovely chilled mango cheesecake in Florence's blog... well, it is delish nonetheless. Even my Mom who is not a cream cheese fan is 'won' over by this.

Yes, I hope to resume my weekly bakes... indeed therapeutic.

Pearl Barley Drink

The heat today is overbearing, even though it was windy. And after mopping the floor, (yes, housework to help out Mom once in a blue moon when I am not working), I was perspiring and out of breathe, yearning for a cooling drink.

Theres always something in the cupboard for me to uncover and there it is, a unopened can of pearl barley awaiting the 'grand opening'. Straight after a cool shower, I washed the barley seeds about four times till the water turns clear. Thereafter, I left the barley to soak in pot with hot water for about half an hour before I placed it on the stove to boil and simmer till the barley was softened. Added rock sugar to taste and after just half an hour, viola, a nice bowl of simple, homemade barley drink.

I much prefer to take the barley drink minus the barley itself. Some would compared it with taking chicken rice without the chicken. Its uncomparable I would declare. But Mom would have thought otherwise, you can imagine her outburst if she had seen me 'secretly' thrown away the barley after a bowl of the drink only.

No baking today coz hands too tired from the mopping.

Black Sesame Daifuku Mochi

extract of history from http://www.answers.com/ =
Daifuku were originally called Harabuto mochi (腹太餅, Harabuto mochi?) (belly thick rice cake) because of its filling nature. It is considered the ugliest of all the Wagashi, and is therefore called a "Polar Bear Poop." Later the name was changed to Daifuku mochi (大腹餅, Daifuku mochi?) (big belly rice cake). Since the pronunciation of Fuku (腹, Fuku?) (belly) and Fuku (福, Fuku?) (luck) is the same in Japanese, the name was further changed to Daifuku mochi (大福餅, Daifuku mochi?) (great luck rice cake), a bringer of good luck.

Interesting information indeed. And looking at my end product made earlier after reading the above history got me pondering if the title of this blog should be amended.

Having quite a fair amount of 'koh fen' in the kitchen cabinet nudged me to get my hands to do something about it before it expires next year. Then again, the thought of it laying and taking space somehow 'bothers' the mind.

Jotted a receipe from a cooking book some time back but cant remember exactly the original source. And with only black sesame paste available in the fridge, then lets make it Black Sesame Daifuku Mochi, well, the modified version.

The receipe actually states to knead the koh fen and margarine and lotus seed paste (i changed it to black sesame seed paste) and icing sugar and water into smooth dough and shape into desired shapes. So that differs from the wrapping thats was supposedly the more traditional and correct method. I highly recommend those interested in making mochis to check out LeeLee's blogsite. Hers looks great.

My end products resembles brownie topped with icing sugar, or jelly with icing sugar from a distance. Then again, when comparing this receipe with the snowskin mooncakes receipe, its practically the same.

Well, at least, I have used up some koh fen for this making. 500grams of koh fen more to go.

Cream Corn Jelly

I was in the 'craving' mood this morning to make dessert. So, while browsing the cabinet, I noticed the recently purchased can of cream sweet corn, two packets of Konnyaku Jelly powder and a small packet of coconut milk, I recalled that there was a receipe that 'inspired' the purchases. Bingo, its from Aunty Yochana's blogsite and reading through the steps, it does seem easy to follow, even for an amateur like me.

However, I had reduced the amount of coconut milk and cut down the sugar as my siblings and myself are 'sometimes' ( and i mean sometimes) calculating the intakes of the calories, sugar etc.

So there I was this late morning, for a change, with boiling pot of water and using the spoon, stirring, mixing and viola, after 20 mins of prep work, after one hour and half hours of set and chill, this was my end product of Cream Sweet Corn Jelly from a long curvy based tin.

One commented :"hmmm... as good as bengawan solo.", another commented :" texture not smooth.". My take, it can be better and it should be better next round. However, we did concur with the level of sweetness which was just right, and we love eating corn, the natural sweetness and the crunch with every bite. yumz.

Credit goes to Aunty Yochana for the receipe.