Pixelated Popup Card

| San

pixelatedpopupcard // mono+co

A last minute Father’s Day card made with instructions from here.  The template prints on an A4 paper to make 2 cards.  Neon colors are still a huge trend, so I printed mine on neon pink paper.  It’s a bit tricky to cut and score the template, so I did most of the work, but once the popup step is completed, the rest is free for the kids to design and create their one-of-a-kind Father’s Day Card.

And if you are adventurous enough, there is another 8-bit “space invader” and “skull” pop up tutorial on the site too!

Book Cover 001

| San

bookcover001 // mono+co

Journal writing a great activity to unleash kids’ creativity and we get to learn about their thoughts through their work.  I buy standard exercise books from the stationery shops and re-wrap them with brown paper and then embellish the cover with a series of heart-shaped labels.

DIY Popsicle #005 : Sports Drink Popsicle

| San

diypopsicle5 : Sports drink // mono+co

Picked up a bottle of sports drink on impulse after an evening run.  Always find them a tad too sweet, but a sudden urge for the taste of citric acid in my mouth (weird?) kicked in, and I only had a couple of fizzy drinks to choose from the vending machine, so this appeared to be the most rational one after a workout.

As I could not finished the whole bottle, the leftovers went into the popsicle molds.  The good thing about making popsicles with sugar loaded soda/canned drinks, is that you’ll consume lesser of it as a popsicle compared to if you were to drink it as a beverage.  Each popsicle mold has a 70ml capacity, so a can of soda is more than enough to make 4 servings (my Daiso mold comes in set of 4 popsicles).  The Big Man get the same level of satisfaction from eating one popsicle and from drinking a can of soda, but the amount of sugar consumed makes all the difference.

Leave the opened soda can standing on the counter for a few minutes till all the fizz are gone, before pouring it into the mold.  Otherwise, there will be lots of air pockets when the popsicle is done freezing.

The taste of this popsicle reminded me of the 10 cents ice tubes we used to eat during the younger days.

DIY Popsicle Version 005 : Sports Drink Popiscle
1. Base : Any sports drink of any flavor, if carbonated, leave the opened can/bottle on counter for a few minutes to let all the fizz out.
2. For some bites : I did not add any, but I think a few squeeze of lemon or lime could intensify the acidity of the popsicle.  The freezing process tame that down quite a bit.

Pancakes With Molded Butter Pads

| San

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I’m not sure my kids like making the banana pancakes or the butter pads better, but both recipes are pretty fool-proof, and extra fancy for a looong morning breakfast.  If your kids can stir, they can make these.

A plea from the pancakes: use real butter, not man-made margarine.  Make these individual servings of butter with your favorite chocolate molds the night before.  I got mine from Daiso, they have cute looking teddy bear ones too!

DIY MOLDED BUTTER PADS

1. Soften butter (salted or unsalted are fine, individual preference) to room temperature.
2. Spoon softened butter into molds, minimizing air bubbles.
3. Freeze the molds in freezer for 1 hour, or chiller compartment overnight.
4. Remove mold from fridge and tap them on counter top to dislodge the butter pads from the mold.
5. Use immediately, or keep them in a container, but always keep them in the chiller so that they won’t melt and go out of shape.

FLUFFY AMERICAN BANANA PANCAKES
// Adapted from : BBC Food
Yields : 4 fairly large thick pancakes.

INGREDIENTS

  • 135g plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons castor sugar
  • 130ml milk
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 2 tablespoons melted butter, and slightly more for cooking
  • 1 large banana, sliced

1. Lightly whisk milk and egg in a bowl together, then whisk in melted butter.
2. In a separate bowl, mix sifted flour and powder, salt and sugar.
3. Pour milk mixture in step 1 into the bowl of dry ingredients in step 2, and stir thoroughly with a fork, until the batter has no lumps.  The batter would be thick, not the runny kind, resist temptation to add milk/water to remove lumps, keep stirring and the lumps should disappear.  Let batter stand aside for a few minutes.
4. In a pan, brush some melted butter, and turn on fire to low heat.
5. Pour some batter into the heated pan, and let it cook over low heat.
6. Arrange banana slices on the top of the pancake, tapping them down into the batter slightly.
7. Wait till the top of the pancake starts to bubble, then turn pancake over to cook the side with bananas.
8. Remove pan from heat, and serve cooked pancake onto a plate.  Wipe the pan clean with clean towel, and brush with melted butter first, before repeating step 5-8 for the next pancake.
9. Repeat till all batter are used up.
10. Serve pancakes immediately while they are still warm.  Top with gula melaka syrup (or real maple syrup) and butter pads(above).

Gula Melaka Syrup

| San

gulamelakasyrup3 gulamelakasyrup1 frenchtoast3 frenchtoast5

The local paper has mentioned palm sugar / gula melaka for 2 consecutive Sundays.  The earlier week featured it as an ingredient for a cupcake recipe. (Good riddance white sugar!  Definitely trying this out.)  The next week, a brand of granulated version of gula melaka was introduced by the same writer, which I think is more friendly to bake with.  I have been adding granulated gula melaka to my morning coffee, adding a nicely “burnt” aroma as well as a richer taste.  It’s a bonus to know that gula melaka has a lower GI than white sugar, and thus is a healthier sweetener than sugar.

Gula melaka syrup is a pantry basic good to have around if you like your breakfasts sweet, it makes a perfect drizzle for waffles, pancakes and french toasts.  It is cheaper to make gula melaka syrup than to buy maple syrup (Note: NOT MAPLE FLAVORED SYRUP).

And of course, it is also wonderful for cold desserts like sago pudding, shave ice(cendol/ice kachang), and even as a sweetener in an avocado smoothie!  I have written about a popsicle recipe using gula melaka recently.

On a side note: I got a shock when I saw the ingredients “sugar, coconut, water” on a pack of gula melaka that I randomly grabbed from the market.  It wasn’t a familiar brand, and packaging design looked generic, the kind that could be used by any dried goods distributor for their red beans, barley etc.  Isn’t gula melaka simply sap from coconut flower reduced to a solid block through a boil?

“Gula melaka is made by making several slits into the bud of a coconut tree and collecting the sap. Then, the sap is boiled until it thickens after which, in the traditional way, it is poured into bamboo tubes between 3-5 inches in length, and left to solidify to form cylindrical cake blocks.” – {via}

Anyway, I put that aside and bought another pack of my usual 马六甲正椰塘 to make my gula melaka syrup.  Just to make sure.

GULA MELAKA SYRUP
// From : Cuisine Paradise

INGREDIENTS

  • 200g Gula Melaka
  • 2 Pandan leaves, knotted
  • 80ml water

1. Place all 3 ingredients in a small pot and bring to boil.
2. Lower heat and simmer till mixture slightly thickens.
3. Remove pan from heat and allow syrup to cool to room temperature.
4. Remove pandan leaves and pour syrup into a clean container.  Use immediately, or keep stored in fridge up to 3 months.

Creamy Creamless Cauliflower Soup

| San

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4 ingredients : onion, cauliflower, olive oil and water.  No fattening cream used, same rich flavor created, thanks to the onion.  Wouldn’t you be tempted to try?

Without worrying on excessive MSG, fats or sodium level, I am adopting this creamy soup recipe to make healthier versions of other creamy soups like cream of mushroom (adding brown mushrooms, sautéed separately, and blend with cauliflower soup) or cream of corn (add fresh corn kernel to be cooked with cauliflower and onions, then blend).

You may follow the recipe below from The Amateur Gourmet, which yields 6 servings according to the site.  I prefer it thicker and add just enough hot boiling water to cover the cauliflower and onions, lesser than the 5 and 1/2 cups required.  I also cut the cooking time shorter by simply adding chopped cauliflower and hot water at the same time, right after the onions have turned translucent and soft.  The recipe originally called for the cauliflower to be cooked with the onions without water first.  I also do not like to work with very hot liquid in my blender, so I let it cool to lukewarm temperature before blending it, then reheat it again before serving.

CREAMY CREAMLESS CAULIFLOWER SOUP
// Adapted from : The Amateur Gourmet

INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, sliced thin
1 head cauliflower, chopped
Salt, to taste
Hot boiling water

1. Heat the olive oil in a pot on medium heat. Add the onions, cook them over low fire until they turn soft and translucent.  Ensure that they don’t turn brown, stir occasionally.
2. Add the chopped cauliflower and just enough hot water to cover the ingredients.  Increase the heat slightly, add salt and allow soup to boil.  Once the soup starts to boil, turn heat lower and simmer for about 15 -20 minutes, till cauliflower is cooked and turn soft.  Let soup cool aside till lukewarm.
3. Pour the mixture in batches into a blender and blend.  When the soup is fully blended, pour it back to the pot and reheat it.
4. Season with salt and pepper.  Serve immediately.

DIY Popsicle #004 : Gula Melaka Coconut Milk Popsicles

| San

diypopsicle4

Gosh, it has been drizzling pretty often recently, hasn’t it? But the temperature hasn’t really come down after the rain, neither am I enjoying any cool breeze from my kitchen window. So the DIY popsicle project continues….

Sticking to the preference for creamy popsicle, I turned to ingredients commonly found our local dessert for inspiration : Gula Melaka Sago / Cendol. I removed the sago and cendol bits as I don’t think they taste good frozen, but I kept the red beans (think: potong ice-cream).

You may end up with extra Gula Melaka Syrup, depending on how sweet you want your popsicles. Keep them in clean glass jars, and consumed within a few weeks.

DIY Popsicle Version 004 : Gula Melaka Coconut Milk Popiscle
1. Base : Make Gula Melaka syrup by melting 100g Gula Melaka with a bit of water (50ml) in a small pot over low heat. Add Pandan leaf (1 qty, knotted) and simmer till mixture slightly thickens. Remove pot from heat and let syrup cool down slightly, about 15 minutes. Remove Pandan leaf. Mix 1/8 tsp of salt to 1 cup of coconut milk. Add Gula Melaka syrup to coconut milk slowly till preferred sweetness level.
2. For some bites : Boil and cook 2 tablespoons of red beans till soft. Fill the base of the molds with some red beans first before filling the rest of the molds with Gula Melaka Coconut Milk Mixture.

Credits :
Gula Melaka Syrup via Cuisine Paradise
Gula Melaka Sago via My Kitchen Snippets

Veggie Tempeh Sub

| San

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The first time I bought “fresh” (those wrapped in banana leaf and newspaper) tempeh from wet market, I thought it had turned moldy and threw it away.  Little did I know that these fermented soy beans are ranked so high on nutritional scale because of these “moldy” qualities.  Since then, they have turned up pretty regularly on my grocery list.

Besides deep-frying them to make tasty crispy snacks, tempeh is also great as a meat replacement patty.  The trick is to marinate the tempeh to taste “meaty” and saute till brown after.  Garlic powder, Worcestershire or BBQ sauce are great for that purpose.  I boil the tempeh slices first before dipping them in marinate so that they can absorb the sauce better when they are still hot.  After topping up with mushrooms, alfalfa sprouts (another superfood!) and caramelised onions, my kids can’t even tell that there is no meat in this sandwich.

VEGGIE TEMPEH SUB SANDWICH
Makes 1 sandwich
INGREDIENTS
- 2 tempeh slices
- 1 Ciabatta bread
- Olive Oil
Tempeh Marinate :
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon tumeric powder
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
Toppings:
- Cheddar cheese slices
- 1 big portobello mushrooms, sliced
- 1/2 yellow onions, sliced
- Alfalfa sprouts
INSTRUCTIONS :

01. Mix marinate ingredients in a saucer, set aside.
02. Cook tempeh in boiling water for about 3 minutes, remove tempeh from water place in marinate sauce.  Prick tempeh with fork a few times and marinate for about 10 to 30 minutes.
03. In a heated pan with olive oil, saute onion slices till they turn soft over medium heat.
04. Add portobello mushrooms and continue to saute, add more oil if necessary.
05. Once onion slices have caramelised and mushrooms turn soft, remove from pan and set aside.
06. Add some oil to the pan, and saute marinated tempeh on both sides.

ASSEMBLY :

01. Slice Ciabatta bread into half, and toast with cheddar slices. Place tempeh slices.
02. Add saute mushrooms and onions.  I added some chopped uncooked onions as well for some crunch.
03. Lastly, top with alfalfa sprouts and serve immediately.

Frugal Holiday Part 2 : June 2013 School Holiday Activities

| San

P.S. Frugal Holiday Part 1 Here

Last week, while checking out museums to visit, I found a few more places of interest from Children’s Season 2013 website that would come in handy for planning school holiday activities with kids:

1. Infocomm Experience Centre (iExperience)
27 May 2013 – 16 June 2013
Address : 90 Bras Basah Road #B1-10/18 Esplanade Xchange S(189562)

Children Infocomm Workshop
Weekdays: 10.30am – 12pm / 2.30pm – 4.30pm

“Specially designed for children from 4-12 years old, the Children’s Infocomm Workshop is for children to learn about next generation infocomm technologies through play. Children will get hands-on experience with various infocomm tools such as interactive board, multi-touch interactive table, video-conferencing, fun shopping with mobile and creation of 3D videos.”

Children’s Fiesta (Full)
Weekends: 10am – 4pm

{Source}

2. Land Transport Gallery
17 May – 30 June
Address : 1 Hampshire Road Block 1 Level 1 S219428
9.30am – 5pm (Mon – Sat)

“Explore the past and present of Singapore’s land transport system through games, activities and tours in our latest download line train model. Activity booklets and goodie bags will be given away too, so join in the fun at the Land Transport Gallery this Children’s
Season!”

{Source}

3. Old Ford Factory
Address : 351 Upper Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 588192

History Through Drama
15, 22 June

“Calling all budding drama kings and queens! Put on your thinking caps and get your creative juices flowing! Memories at Old Ford Factory is excited to present to you a fun and stimulating way of learning about Singapore’s history. Get your young talents to join in the skit and learn how to design their own drama performance – kids will take part in designing the props! Through the activities, children will understand the hardships of war and better appreciate the peace and harmony enjoyed today.”

{Source}

4. Police Heritage Centre
Address : New Phoenix Park Police HQ Tower, Level 1 & 2, 28 Irrawaddy Rd, S(329560)

I Want To Be A Policeman
Weekdays: 23 & 31 May / 7, 14, 21, 27 & 28 Jun
10am / 2.30pm / 3.30pm
Saturdays: 25 May / 8, 22 & 29 Jun
9am / 11am
Free admission
Visits are by appointment only

“Our young visitors will get to tour the Police Heritage centre, role-play as police officers and make their very own warrant cards. There will also be photo-taking opportunities with our police officers!”

{Source}

5. Singapore Maritime Gallery
Address : Marina South Pier 31 Marina Coastal Drive S(018988)

Discover Maritime Singapore
18 May – 30 June
9am – 5.30pm (Tues to Sun)
Free admission
Free guided tours are available on weekends at 11.30am, 1.30pm and 3.30pm
Free shuttle service to and from National Museum of Singapore on weekends at regular intervals. Note: Pick-up point from National Museum is at the Fort Canning entrance.

Learn how Singapore transformed from a small fishing village into one of the world’s leading maritime centres.  Understand the intricacies and vibrancy of the world’s busiest port. Come and experience an interactive maritime journey with the Singapore Maritime Gallery.

{Source}