2007年12月23日

Chinese Birthday Buns: Look nice enough to eat

My grandmother's birthday is sometime in December. I can never work out which day it is as it's a chinese lunar calendar date. Anyway I have made her a little card with FIMO clay (told you I have gone crazy with FIMO clay) As you can see on the card it's a dim sum steamer with a lot of birthday buns "flying" around. There are 9 birthday buns in total which implies "long living". Birthday buns "freshly" came out from the oven (just after I put some vanish on) It's a 10p coin in the picture so you can imagine the size of the dim sum steamer and the birthday buns (a 10p coin is the similar size of 1HKD coin) Buns in the steamer (the buns were painted with pastel chalk so the red on them looks very subtle and soft):

My Preparation for Christmas: Christmas Gifts

Other than buying presents from shops, I have handmade a few as well! Dylan and I were really struggling to think of anything to get for his aunt. One day, I was browsing on internet and saw a festive cat shaped cushion which I thought it was a good idea. Therefore I made a proposal to Dylan and it was an instant agreement. I started of drawin the pattern based on an image I found on internet. The finished product has turned out surprisingly well. Half way into making the cat shaped cushion: The finished product (Dylan said I should put a little trademark tag on it but I forgot, haha): I think I have gone a bit made with the FIMO clay this year. Not only using it for the cards but also in making gifts. We have several candle holders from the wedding lying around unused so I thought it would be a good idea to decorate them and give them away as a present. Here is my first attempt. Using 3 different colours FIMO clay to make a simple flower cane: Here is my second attempt. The pattern on the candle holder was made out of leftover clay while I was just messing around so it was kind of an accident. (I know I should have tried to get a better picture but I was in such a rush) I didn't plan on making the little cat on the edge but I only notice the edge was chipped when I finished. It would be a waste to give up on it after all the effort so I made a little cat hanging on there to cover up the chipped edge. Now I am in Wales putting my feet up and looking forward to unwrapping all my presents!! (There are a lot under the tree!!!)

My Preparation for Christmas: Food

As I mentioned before, we do not need to prepare any food for Christmas as we go back to Wales for Christmas and New Year so we can just put our feet up. hehe. However, sine I have learnt how to make an iced fruit cake I have got into a habit of making fruit cake for christmas. Some of our good friends tried the fruit cake I made at the wedding said it was one of the best cake they ever had so I thought it would be nice to give some cakes away as christmas presents. I really pushed myself to the limit this year by making one 6-inch, one 4-inch and 4 little fruit cakes, batches of cookies and mince pies. Looking at this picture may make you wonder that there is one cake short!! This is because the 6-inch cake I have made isn't a christmas cake but a birthday cake as Dylan's Dad's birthday is on 27th December. Dylan's mother always buys a cake for christmas so I now always make mine into a birthday cake. The decoration on this cake is daffodil as it's an emblem of Wales. It was tough to do the flowers as I don't have the proper tools. I could only make them with my hands and a few toothpicks. My small hands came in handy! I was going to make some gingerbread men but I was running out of time so I went for an easier option: pressed cookies. I wanted to make it more festive so I used the christmas tree disc for the cookies. Somehow I was feeling adventrous and wanted to make the cookies green as they were supposed to be christmas. Having healthy eating in my head, I went for green tea powder rather than green food colouring. When I showed Dylan the cookie dough before I put them into the oven, he was so horrible. I asked him,"What do you think this is?" He said spontaneously,"Turd" Well, to be fair, it does a bit but he shouldn't have said that.(cry......) When I told my colleague, Julie, about this, she said he was one brave man to mess with me. The 4-inch cake has gone to Julie. They do look like Christmas Trees, don't they?? I didn't take pictures of the mince pies as I was in such a rush to get everything ready. I have to thank my friend Jessie here because without her sending me the cookie bags and pretty food wrappers I wouldn't be able to present all the homemade food beautifully. Here is the hamper we put together for John and Roger (one each!) as we really appreciate them as friends, and also they did a brilliant job as photographers at our wedding which we can never thank enough. With a little gift tag I did on computer: Here's a hamper for Dylan's aunt, I really like that tin of biscuit from M&S because it looks so vintage:

My Preparation for Christmas: Christmas Cards

Hello everybody (whoever is reading this, hehe) I am in Wales now so I cannot write in Chinese. Dylan and I come back to Wales every year for Christmas and New Year so in general we don't need to prepare much for Christmas like most families do, e.g. buying fresh veg, turkey, stocking up booze and snacks etc. It used to be a bit like Chinese New Year in Hong Kong, shops shut for ages so people stocked up their cupboards but nowadays shops start their SALE on boxing day. I cannot understand why people still go mental on shopping groceries before Christmas. Anyway talking about my preparation, even though we don't need to worry about buying food, we still need to shop around for christmas gifts. What they tend to do is to buy a lot little ones as so called "stocking filler" and one big one as a main present. Buying one present is already a hard work so buying several for one person is even harder. Also when it comes down to me to do all the thinking and shopping is even much harder. You may be thinking why it comes down to me, to be fair, it's easier for me to do the shopping as I work in town and also it appears that I am more observant than Dylan so I seem to be able to come up with better idea than him, however my ideas still have to meet his approval otherwise I can't go ahead!!!! Everyone in the family is a grown up so it's difficult to buy as we all have more or less everything we need/want. I try to be thoughtful and come up with some homemade/handmade presents for them which you can't put a value on, hehe, so I normally get really busy and exhausted before christmas. I tend to make all the christmas cards unless I am short of ideas. Here are this year selections: For Dylan: A close up of the detail on the card (the litle keyring things were made from shrink plastic, a very magical craft material): For Dylan's brother: A close up on the card topper which was made from FIMO clay and brushed with pearlescent powder: For Dylan's aunt: The cat on the card was made out of FIMO clay and stuck on a little photo frame. The photo frame can be taken off so she can use it as a little decorative item around the house. For Dylan's Mum and Dad: The red poinsettia was made out of plain red and red glittered felt. I have made it into a brooch so Dylan's Mum can take it off after christmas and put it on somewhere (don't think it's nice enough to wear out)

2007年12月18日

搞搞新意思 — 焗釀牛油果

早前參與歡送晚宴﹐餐牌上看到了焗釀牛油果﹐當時沒有點來試﹐因為是要付錢的還是點些穩當一點的款式比較好﹐畢竟牛油果熱吃﹐孤陋寡聞的我從來沒試過。 在超市看到減價發售的牛油果立時想起了餐牌上這款熱吃牛油果菜式﹐便買了幾個自己在家在試試看。買減價的牛油果除了價錢較便宜這個好處外﹐還有就是可以立刻食用﹐因為通常正價發售的都很硬﹐買回家要放上好幾天才能用﹐放了那麼久也沒有了要吃的興緻了。 香蕉是另外一種減價必買的食物﹐熟透軟稔的香蕉用來做蛋糕最好﹗ 說回牛油果﹐製法非常簡單﹕將牛油角開邊去核﹐然後釀入喜歡的材料。我釀了煙三文魚﹑歐芹(Parsley)和Mozzarella芝士﹐然後撒上刨碎了的車打芝士﹐放入焗爐焗至金黃。 是夜將媽媽買給我的蔬菜處理器(Mandolin Slicer)開封﹐做了不太漂亮的格格薯塊。大龍說連這個都自己做以後不用買薯片囉。 食後感﹕還是冷食的牛油果較好

2007年12月13日

椰菜花 濃湯 + 藍芝士莎樂美腸司康餅 (Scone)

最近天氣很很很冷﹐早上上班車頭玻璃都結了冰﹐大龍開起車來都特別慢﹐因為路上看起來都好像冰冰的。天寒地凍最好就是喝碗熱騰騰冒煙的湯。大龍很喜歡喝湯﹐尤其稠稠的濃湯﹐所以最近都經常做湯。 是晚做了椰菜花濃湯﹐喝前撒下弄碎了的藍芝士﹐淋下圈忌廉。剩下的藍芝士混了吃剩的莎樂美腸做了司康餅(Scone)。司康餅一打﹐出爐大龍就吃了四個。 當晚我和大龍兩人喝了一大碗濃湯並毀滅了十二個司康餅 (大龍是主兇咧﹗) 上碟前的椰菜花 濃湯 司康位生坯 新鮮出爐﹗

Lost in Translation

昨晚跟朋友Suki煲了一會電話粥﹐談及她功課的時候﹐說到用了一篇李柱銘在Wallstreet發表的英文文章作為功課的主題﹐李因此文章給大眾唾罵「走狗」、「漢奸」。

我從來對政治都不感興趣﹐但在僅有的政治人物記憶中﹐李柱銘是一個備受尊重的人物。好奇心推使下在網路上找來這篇文章一讀(China's Olympic Opportunity)﹐文章中出現了「boycott」、「press」等負面字眼﹐未知是否有心人讀無心文﹐便執著幾個字眼來斷章取義將文中意思翻譯為李鼓吹人民夥同老外杯葛中國﹑對中國施壓改善人權問題等等。沒有任何政治頭腦的我閱畢文章﹐只覺得李深信中國能成為一個更好更完善的國家﹔回顧歷史﹐舉辦奧運可說是中國向美好邁步的催化劑。

有人將李柱銘比喻為以莫須有罪名殺害岳飛﹑勾結金兵的秦檜﹔為愛妾陳圓圓引清兵入關的吳三桂﹔替日本軍賣命的汪精衛等等﹔這些遺臭萬年的歷史人物所作的惡行都是為了一己之私﹐倘若中國人權問題得到改善﹐受惠的難道只有李柱銘一人﹖

自問生在香港﹐沒有什麼所謂的民族愛國主義﹐但對於中國還是有一顆疼愛之心﹐那種感覺有點像面對一個學壞了青少年﹐但知道只需要一點點引導便能步入正途作一番建樹。中國就是這樣的一個青少年﹐有人人皆見及認同的潛力及能力﹐卻久缺了那「一點點引導」﹐未能成為人所共讚的國家。

在英國很多時都會有有關中國政府弊病漏洞民生問題等的節目﹐全部都是負面﹐看的時候既憤惱又心痛﹔為什麼中國政府經常成為其他國家的箭鈀呢﹖為什麼中國政府不能正視這些問題﹐好讓其他國家閉咀。

如果小布殊或其他領導人有能力給予那「一點點引導」﹐為什麼要頭塞沙堆鴕鳥地大罵對國家有信心的人「走狗」、「漢奸」。


PS﹕ 可能這就是叫做Lost in Translation﹐在網路上看到零零落落的譯句﹐大多未能將原文意思轉達出來。

2007年12月10日

串燒青咖哩三文魚配馬鈴著沙拉

簡單快捷且美味非常的晚餐。 買了三文魚﹐不想煎熟配個汁就算﹐所以玩玩新意思﹐來個青咖哩三文魚串燒三文魚切小件﹐用開稀了的青咖哩醬略醃﹐串在竹簽置平底鑊煎熟便可。 馬鈴著沙拉裡有青瓜和水蜜桃(當然還有馬鈴薯)﹐醬料是蛋黃醬(Mayonnaise)和沙拉醬(Salad Cream)。會做這個馬鈴薯沙拉可說歸功於Cooking Mama﹐要不是不會想吃這個沙拉呢! 愛馬鈴薯愛得要命的大龍愛死這個沙拉﹐但卻邊吃邊把水蜜桃揀出來。

2007年12月6日

大龍不愛人人愛: 甘筍蛋糕 (Carrot Cake)

做的時候麵糊水份不夠﹐蛋糕組織很密﹐有點擔心吃起來又乾又硬﹔幸好製成品吃起來很濕潤沒有影響口感﹐而且我放了椰絲﹐聞起來好香好香。 公司同事對蛋糕都讚不絕口﹐直豎拇指﹐大叫安哥﹔大龍卻嗤之以鼻﹐只試了一小塊便沒有再碰﹐他說蛋糕是不錯但不喜歡忌廉芝士餅面。 還是給他做巧克力蛋糕好了……
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