Recycled Envelopes : Part 2

| San

The school holiday has started.  Since it is only for a week, we don’t plan much.  Not too little either, so that we have a variety of activities to choose from, even if we can’t complete all.  Fab Four.  That’s what I like. With the leftovers from here, I printed a 4×8″ list with it.  I love lists!

Hit a snag with a mis-spelled ‘museum’.  Only realize after printing out.  Since this is for a week only, I’ll correct it with a Sharpie later.

An empty template right at the bottom is for future holidays.  I learn how to print on journal cards with instructions from Paisley Press here, and my mounting template on A4 paper for 5×5″ and 4×8″ is here.

Mini Chicken Burgers

| San

Mini Chicken Burgers // mono+co

I wanted to make mini chicken burgers.  Then I stumbled upon some recipes that states slider bun as THE bun to use.  I am probably the last person on earth to know what a slider is.  Are Sliders simply Mini Hamburgers?  Serious Eats says it is not:

“…a slider is something very specific. It is not just a mini hamburger. It’s a thin, thin slip of beef, cooked on a griddle with onions and pickles piled atop patty. The steam from the onions does as much cooking as the griddle. The buns are placed atop the onions, absorbing the pungent aroma and flavor.

A slider is at once a hamburger and, yet, something more. (Maybe because you eat a bunch of them at one sitting.)

A mini burger is just a reduction of the same old thing we already know, however much we may love it.”

OK, so I am definitely NOT making a slider here, because I am simply reducing the size of these chicken patties from Indochine Kitchen, and no onions were used.

I have made the burgers with store bought butter rolls, but I have pinned some slider bun recipes for future burger/slider attempt.  They look just as soft!

 

Mini Chicken Burger // mono+co

Mini Chicken Burger // mono+co

1.Mix all patty ingredients except breadcrumbs in a large bowl.
2.Add breadcrumbs and combine well.
3.With wet hands, shape patty mixture into the 12 balls, each about the size of a golf ball (about 35g).
4.Heat up 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium low heat.
5.Place the meat balls one at a time on the heated pan, each time flattening the ball into a round patty, about 1 cm thick, before putting in the next one.
6.When the pan is filled up with the flattened patties, turn the fire up to medium high to continue cooking, about 3-4 minutes each side.  Repeat till all patties are cooked.
7.Assemble burger with buns, lettuce leaves, tomato slices, and your favorite sauce!

Sorting The Laundry Faster

| San

I know some moms who hate sisters wearing the SAME thing together.  But some of the wee clothing are so adorable, I often find myself getting identical ones for the girls, albeit different colors, if available.  They can even take turns wearing different colors for all they want, as I hang them all in the same closet, so there is not much sorting done for the “going out” clothing.

It’s the undies and pj , which we are more particular with.  When the girls were younger, visual sorting was still possible with the obvious size difference.  As they grow up, it’s now down to just one size difference, mmm…not that obvious anymore.

At first, the size labels were doing a fine job, but with more washings, the prints on them started to wear off and could no longer be seen.  I often find myself holding 2 pieces of clothing together to compare the width at the waist band/ shoulder before keeping them into the sisters’ respective drawers.

Then this idea of cutting away one of their labels as a form of identification strikes me one fine day.  And it is so easy.  No more finding and flipping that tiny label to see whether it is a “M” or “L”.  I just need to be consistent, for example, if the elder sister is the one whose clothing’s tags get cut off, stick to this system.

It works on all clothing with tags except another clean laundry sorting spoilsport: school white socks, no tags.  Luckily, the school does not make it compulsory for the children to wear the official socks with the school’s name printed on them.  So I get the elder one to buy hers from the school, and the younger one from elsewhere.

Leftover Goodies

| San

cnyleftoevers1

cnyleftovers2

The handmade, homemade, without preservatives ones went first.  These love letters were next.  Luckily, (and strangely) the urge for these stuffs come once a year, i.e. during the Chinese New Year.  Just like Bak Kwa, Kueh Lapis (an ultimate fattening 45 egg yolks recipe here) and White Rabbit milk candies, though they are available whole year round, we only eat them in the beginning of the year.  Which is a good thing, I guess.

Last Minute CNY Cookies Bake Off : Tea Cookies

| San

frozen dough tea cookies // mono+co

++Notes001 // Frozen dough can be kept up to a month.

TEA COOKIES
// Adapted from <<每天都是饼干日>>
// Yields 40 cookies

 

95g top flour, sifted
25g almond grounds
50g icing sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon salt
20g egg
65g unsalted butter, softened
2g loose tea leaves or 1 tea bag
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

01. In a mixing bowl, whisk softened butter, then add icing sugar and salt, continue whisking.

02. Mix in the egg.  Whisk again.

03. Add tea leaves and vanilla extract.  Stir with a spoon to mix well all ingredients.

04. Finally, pour flour and almond grounds into the mixture, stir until a dough is formed.  Chill this in the fridge for 30mins if it is too soft to be kneaded/shaped.

05. After 30 minutes, take the dough out and roll it into a log. wrap in plastic or parchment paper and freeze it for 1-2 hours.

06. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 180C/350F.  Take out dough from the wrap and cut it into 0.6cm slices with a sharp knife.

07. Arrange cookie doughs on lined baking tray, with 2cm gap between each cookie.

08. Bake for 10 minutes.

09. Cool cookies on racks completely before storing in airtight containers.