Easy Recipe for Chinese Mid-autumn Festival

Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the largest festivals in a Lunar calendar and Chinese community. As the date of every 15th of August of the Lunar Calender, which means autumn has come. In this year, the mid-autumn festival is 15 September 2016 (Thursday).

On that day, family will reunion and enjoy a dinner earlier and then have the mooncake for the dessert under the Full Moon. The next day of the Mid-autumn festival is a public holiday in Hong Kong.  

Mooncake is a very traditional baked cake, made of egg yolks and lotus seed paste. Various ingredients such as nuts and Chinese ham are also available for another variation. Usually it is sweet. I recommend the best way to taste the mooncake is to bake for few minutes (180C ) so the crust is more crispy. Some of mooncake lovers will have mooncakes within that week / month as the mooncakes are only available for sales in mid-autumn festival. 

To pair with the mooncake, I am sharing my recipe which is also a dessert of Hong Kong : 
Pomelo, Sago and Mango Drink , let's do it.

POMELO, SAGO AND MANGO DRINK  (for 1 pax)

Ingredients:

Mango :  1 piece (Matured)

Pomelo : 2 slices

Sago  :    2 table spoons

Fresh Milk :  half cup

Coconut Milk :    1-2 table spoons  for seasoning
Coconut Sugar / Sugar  (optional)

Equipment:

Blender

Method:

Boil sago for 10 minutes until cooked transparently (can keep in the container for serving)

Now we make the mango drink : 

(1) Peel mango and cut into small pieces

(2) Put coconut milk, milk

Combine (1) and (2)

Blend together to smooth mixture

Then combine pomelo and sago, with the mango drink to serve. It is a no sugar added drink, as mango already contains sugar as sweetener.

Serve it chill is recommended.

Enjoy! Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Easy Recipe - Pain Perdu , good for tea time !

Pain Perdu, meaning a "Lost Bread" from French, is one of recipes from France. This one is easy to cook at home, and less fats than the version from Hong Kong. The one from Hong Kong is deep-fried and with peanut-butter filling between two of the sliced breads, which is deemed as a high calories tea break item in Hong Kong.

So, today I will use one piece of bread for my tea time serving with some fruits and my coffee, hoping that it is less calories... :)


Ingredients  (1 pax)

1. bread of your choice 
2. 1 egg
3. 30 ml of fresh milk
4. cinnamon
5. salt
6. butter

Method

1. beat the egg in a mixing bowl
2. add a pitch of salt
3. add a pitch of cinnamon
4. mix well the mixture
5. put the mixture on a tray with milk
6. soak the bread until all mixture is absorbed (cut your desired size in advance)
7. heat the skillet with butter
8. pan fried on medium heat and serve with Nutella or toppings of your choice.

Bon appétit!

Yo-kai Watch - I love Jibanyan !

I have not watched an animation so crazy before, when I watched Yo-kai Watch. Yo-kai (妖怪) are spiritual beings whose influence is responsible for every one of the strange, paranormal events in the human world.

There are many Yo-kai and each Yo-kai also have many evolved versions. Some Yo-kai are the key characters such as Jibanyan, Komasan, Komajiro, USAPhon, Whisper and every one has the background and stories behind.



Jibanyan (地縛貓), a red and white cat was named Ruby and was died in the car accident when saving the life of his master, Amy.

Jibanyan is so cute just because he is like one of friends around, eating chocolate bars, being a fan of MeowKB , a group of singers in Japan. If you have asked him to help you, just using the medal to call him out. He is always with you.

Komasan and Komajiro, two brothers were from the rural areas of Japan living in a shrine. The story is taking about how they live and are adept in the city.

Komasan, the elder brother is so naïve sometime but he always wins the heart from his interpersonal skills.

Komajiro, is more easily adept to the city and both brothers are showing respect and support to each other.

I know there are many games such as watch and medals, playing cards, Nintendo etc. for this animation but I am not yet get into it.  However, I support their merchandises....

Another Yo-kai from the season 2 is USAPhon, who died in the rocket experiment in USA. That's why he always keep manufacturing a spaceship for a next space journey.


They have many songs and games for dancing too. That's why they have promotion campaigns to showcase the dancing. Look at Jibanyan how he dances, so ROCK.

Wanna make some Jibanyan Cookies? Click my recipe here 

Easy Recipe - Organic Soya Milk

Soya beans are rich in protein so it is good for vegetarian. Even though I am not a vegetarian, I suggest you to make soya milk at home instead of purchase the packaged one, with less sugar and more nutrients intake.

I picked the organic soya beans here.

Organic Soya Milk

Ingredients:

Organic Soya Beans : 250 grams
Sugar : a little (optional)

Equipment:
Blender
Filter bag

Method:
1. Soak soya beans in the water and remove the skins (it takes time to remove)
I recommend to remove all beans for mise en place and keep in the fridge for preparation.

2. Use a blender to blend the amount of your desire , the pictures shown here is only 3 tablespoons of beans I have made.

3) After blending, use a filter bag to filter the milk.

4) Boil the soya milk and add sugar if you prefer.

5) Serve it hot or chill !

As soya milk cannot keep long, so it's good to cook desired portion for consuming.

Let's try!

Soya Beans - After removal of skins

Boiling

Feng Shui - Eat your way to fortune

Do you know what is "Feng Shui"? Do you believe in it?

I just bought a book taking about "Eat your way to Fortune" from the book fair last week. The author of the book is named Mr Li Kui Ming, a renowned Feng Shui Master in Hong Kong.

This book is taking about how to change your fortune by eating what kind of food , wearing what colors and what to do to change the fortune according to your date of birth.

There are five elements in Feng Shui, let's me explain first. Five elements are Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth . And they are complimentary and intertwined.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Xing

He classified four types of fate according to the birth date, you can refer as below:

Four Types of Fate:

Type 1:

Date of Birth from 19 February to 4 May : Lack of Metal

Type 2:

Date of Birth from 5 May to 7 July : Lack of Water

Type 3:

Date of Birth from 8 July to 7 November : Lack of Wood

Type 4:

Date of Birth from 8 November to 18 February : Lack of Fire

In general, Feng Shui for fortune telling request "8 words" meaning the time of your birth in year, month, day and time to calculate your fortune. However, master Li has classified into 4 types of fate for our easy reference, because :

Type 1 is born in Spring. Spring is full of WOOD,  METAL is required to overcome the interaction. Thus, people need more METAL in the daily life for a good fortune.

Type 2 is born in Summer. Summer is hot and symbol FIRE is on. Thus, people need more WATER in the daily life for a good fortune.

Type 3 is born in Autumn. Autumn is in the Feng Shui we called "Month of Metal" so people born in Autumn without WOOD in the "8 words", thus WOOD intake in the daily life for a good fortune.

Type 4 is born in Winter. Winter is cold and lack of FIRE element. Thus people should get more FIRE elements for a good fortune.

During reading the book, I implement my eating habits and waiting any positive impacts to me.
I will share more contents to people who are interested in Feng Shui in later posts.
I am still learning it as I am a beginner to Feng Shui. Forgive me for any incorrect explanation.

Book Credit : Li Kui Ming - Eat your way to Fortune