Taiwan Honey Starfruit

In Taiwan, Carambola is also known as Honey Starfruit in common and besides being delicious it is also rich with vitamins. It is a popular summer snack that is recommended as a remedy for sore throats and the common cold. These few weeks you can find some Taiwan famous fruits such as Honey Starfruit, Loquats(枇杷) and Rose Apple(莲雾) on sale at major NTUC during their "Taiwan Fruit Fair".


During one of my recent trip to NTUC, I found these golden honey Starfruit from Taiwan which are similar to those that we have eaten during our April Taiwan trip. So without hesitate, I choose a few home to eat as well as make it into starfruit juice. The colour of the juice is so beautiful with that golden orange colour which is similar to Orange/Mango. The taste is so refreshing and fragrant..... Do give it a try if you can find some at your nearest NTUC.

Easter Gift

This is the best Easter Gift I have received this year. And I have to give credit and thanks to one of my best blog pal Quinn from "Quinn's Baking Diary". Despite of the expensive postage from Australia to Singapore, she is still so willing to send me the April Issue of my favourite "Super Food Ideas" in order for me and Rey to try out some of the Easter recipe in it.

Quinn is so thoughtful that she even take the effort to email a couple of the Easter Recipes in picture format before sending me the book just to make sure that we have enough time to do the Easter recipe. Thank you so much Quinn, I owed you "One" :p And with her help, we are able to try out the "Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns" just in time for Easter.

Steam Bun Vs Pancake

Very excited that I finally got hold of this book from the Public Library near my area after seeing those beautiful bakes from one of my favourite blogger "Happy Homebaking" on her " Fun With Steam Bun" post a few weeks back. I have being searching for this book for quiet sometime before I read from her post that it is available at the Library.

Although I got hold of the book but there is something that I would like to bring out and share. I actually reserved this book online and after collect it from the Library and browse through I was rather shocked that almost more than 10 pages of the feature recipes had been torn out from the book. Immediately I bought the book back to the Library and report on the incident and hope to exchange for another copy. It's rather upset to get a book that you want and yet with so many missing pages. I guess the Library should have some system on tracking those books to stop all these kind of nasty act.

Thank God, I am able to exchange for another book which is in good condition that I can get to read on those recipes that I wish to try on. If you love to make steam bun or bakes, this is one of the book that you might be interest with. You can try to find a copy at the Library near you. This book features a lot of different kind of steam bun, like Bao - 包 and Man Tou - 馒头.

Other than the book above, I also grab hold of this "108 Ways of Making Pancake" by a Japanese Author. I have saw this book on sale at Popular Bookstore but since I can get it from the Library I might as well make good use of this facilities.

You will find a lot of simple and easy pancake recipes that is suitable to do together with your kids. Or you can even find some great gift ideas on making those "cute" gift by using pre-packed pancake flour. No matter what you are look for, there is sure something that interest you :)

Paradise Pear

Saw these cute little pear at one of the fruit stall near my area and without much consideration, I choose roughly around 10 of it and make the payment. When the stall owner told me the price, I was kind of shock.... imagine, 10 little pear cost $7.90 which is around $0.80 per pear........

According to the signboard and from the stall helper, these pear are known as "Paradise Pear" and they are from Australia. They are very small, sweet and crisp. These delightful, bite-size 'mini-pears' are borne in bunches and just right for kids!

Other than the paradise pear, I also spot this mini apple shape like fruit from the stall. And according to the stall helper, he told me this is called the "Bird Pear - 鸟梨". At a glance, I was attracted by this cute little pear which I thought rey might be fancy about it. But when I reached home, I realise that this is not those "Fresh" type of fruit, this is kind of those Chinese Preserved fruit which is soaked in vinegar.

Asian Cooking Spices

There are a lot of cooking spices range from either Western, Asian Chinese, Indian, Malay, Thai and etc. Each culture has their own signature use of spice. Eg. Thai people will like to use Lemongrass and Lime, where Western will fancy basil and parsley. No matter which group you belong to, there is always a some nice spices that you will pick up with.

"Cinnamon Stick - 肉桂棒" is one of the common recipe found in Nonya, Malay and Chinese Cuisine to be use in making curry, meat roll and even soy sauce duck. While in western country, you might find cinnamon powder being use in making apple pies or use in coffee or tea and etc.

"Cloves - 丁香" can be use in baking, or cooking some of the Indian cuisine and it is usually paired with together with cumin and cinnamon. You can find this commonly use in Biryani and it is normally added whole to enhance the presentation and flavor of the rice.

"Cardamom - 豆冠子" can be use to prevent indigestion and relieve flatulence while some even say that it can sweeten your breath. But no matter what function it has, Cardamom spice is a highly aromatic spice which is most commonly used in Eastern and Arab cuisines. Its unique slightly sweet and savory flavor allows it to be combined with both sweet and savory dishes.

Come across this "Fish Seasoning" spice which caught my attention. I have not seen something like this before which consists of a few types of spices which I am unfamiliar with. From the packaging, I only recognise Black Peppercorns and Cummin, and Fennel Seeds. If you are familiar with this seasoning or you have use this before, do drop me a note so that I can learn and share with the rest of the readers too :)

Fu Gui Cai

Saw this very interesting leafy vegetable from the wet market. It seems to look like a bunch of blooming flower with a lot of small leaves attached to it. According to the stall owner, this is called "Fu Gui Cai - 富贵菜". To me it seems like those mini "Xiao Bai Cai" that stick together to form a bouquet of flower. The stall owner told me that, to consume, just remove the individual leaf then clean them as usual and you can stir-fry with either minced garlic or prawns. And this plant, usually can only be found during Chinese New Year season.

So if you happen to see this vegetable, or you already have some ideas about this. Do share your tips and experience with us so that we can learn more about this interesting vegetable.

Little Garden

Have you seen this the blue pea flower that is also known as Bunga Telang or Clitoria flower which is usually found in the blue colouring of the Nyonya Kueh such as Pulut Tai Tai and Pulut Inti which is shown in the photo below. These flowers are used as natural food dye and the blue colour looks really lovely in foods.

As you can see from the photo, Pulut Tai Tai is the steam Glutinous Rice (colour with the blue peas flower) and serves with Nyonya Kaya. While Pulut Inti is serves with cooked shredded coconut with gula malak(coconut sugar). They actually soak the dried flowers in water to get the blue colour then soak the glutinous rice with it and steam together with coconut milk to get that blue marble effect.

Recently, one of my mum's neighbour just bought a pot of this local grown Passion fruit Plant at around S$36.00 which young passion fruits attached to it. Passion fruit is a small egg-shaped tropical fruit, which contains several seeds and has wrinkled purple brown rind on maturing. The seeds and the pulp inside, both are edible, making it easier to consume the fruit. Although nowadays we can easily get Passion fruits from local supermarket or fruit stalls, but it is still an interesting sight to look at the real fruit attached on the plant itself.

I have also used this fruit in some of my dishes as shown below, so do take a look if you want to know more about them :-

1. Banana & Passion Fruit Chiffon Cake
2. Homemade Banana & Passion Fruit Jam
3. PassionMisu
4. Salmon With Passionfruit Sauce