Anyone who knows Marcel Proust or madeleines will connect the two, so I don't have to do join the dots for you. I haven't read the novel. 

 

I tried, but I figure rather than run the marathon, I'd just show up at the finish line with a madeleine in my mouth, er.... half dipped in my cup of tea, and I'd get what the guy was going on, and on, and on........and ON about. And no, I'm not sure I do, but maybe it's because mine taste of pandan and take me to a whole other place ;)

Today I ha...

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Quickies Noodle Challenge Update : I am pleased to announce that we've now received  6  very interesting entries! Thank you very much and remember this is open to everyone, worldwide, so keep them coming! As this may be the last Quickies Challenge for a while,  we really hope there will be a fantastic turnout. Of course, if you really want more challenges, let us know and we'll do our best to oblige! Send in as many entries as you like, just remember to get them in by midnight of  December 14...
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Quickies Noodle Challenge Update : I am pleased to announce that we've now received  6  very interesting entries! Thank you very much and remember this is open to everyone, worldwide, so keep them coming! As this may be the last Quickies Challenge for a while,  we really hope there will be a fantastic turnout. Of course, if you really want more challenges, let us know and we'll do our best to oblige! Send in as many entries as you like, just remember to get them in by midnight of  December 14...

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It's been deliciously cool and crisp for almost two weeks now. I couldn't be happier and relish the opportunity to not just eat but cook lots of soup - something that at other times of the year, would heat up the kitchen to sauna levels! Nothing beats a bowl of steaming hot, home-made chicken noodle soup when it's nippy outside. I get bored easily though, and wondered how the taste of jasmine green tea which I can't get enough of, would work in a chicken soup.

The broth is not green as you...

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Prunes really get a bum rap.  Who doesn't associate them with dentition-challenged grandmas and grandpas who can't chew much except pudding and.... stewed prunes? They're also unfortunately stuck with the unglamarous but very true reputation of being an ace laxative. Sorry, needed saying. Last week, out of the blue, I was hit by an inexplicable craving for this dark, sticky, chewy treat. Yes, I said treat.

Forget everything you thought you knew about them and start thinking of them as dri...

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Today, I'm going to show you my extensive pumpkin-themed collection, starting with this pumpkin and squash salt and pepper shaker set.....

KIDDING!!!! I get it - enough already with the pumpkin and the kitchen paraphernalia !! We're doing mushrooms today. My apologies for the pumpkin scare up there, but it feels good to have your blood actually reach your extemities, doesn't it? ;)

When it comes to things I really love eating,  like mushrooms, my patience goes out the window, along ...

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Last night, it rained. Really rained. I was lying in bed, hoping to fall asleep, suffering my nightly ritual of tossing and turning when I heard a distant rumble. It filled me with hope. I'd had about all I could take of hot, sticky weather and being at the tail end of October, a rumble in the distance could only mean one thing. Within minutes of the outpouring, there was a perceptible nip in the air and I found myself reaching for the hardly used and up till now, mostly decorative blanket, f...

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When you hear "lavender", I'll bet the first thing that comes to mind is soap, air freshener or floral water. Quite fitting since the word comes from the Latin lavare which means "to wash". For centuries lavender has been associated with cleansing and purifying as it's believed to be anti bacterial, anti viral and anti microbial. Not the first thing you would associate with things you want to put in your mouth ;)

If you think about it in the remotest culinary sense, it may be herbes de Pro...

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I was at the dentist's office last week and stumbled on an article in a food and travel magazine about Greece and Greek food. It was so evocative and the featured dishes, so tempting, I actually contemplated tearing out the pages for, uh, future reference *blush* My 12 year old's appalled expression when he saw me fingering the inner spine of the magazine jolted me back to my senses and thanks to him, I left the office empty handed, with my head held high.

One of those dishes, Oktapodi Kra...

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I was intent on getting some tender, sweet and dense Bosc pears for a dessert that had been running round and round inside my head and wouldn't leave me alone; a pear and candied ginger cheesecake. The family had been complaining about the dearth of desserts lately. Mutiny was in the air and I honestly had run out of ideas for tarting up vanilla ice cream.

After trawling three markets and two supermarkets and coming up empty, temptation presented itself in the form of canned pears. Ordinaril...

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I could quite happily live on nothing but bread, cheese, coffee and bacon. Hmm... "not even chocolate, or chilli?", you'd probably think. Well, not so much those, though I'd see your point, but maybe, I'd need a bowl of soup too, every now and then.

Too many seem to view the soup pot as an edible recycling bin and fair game for every imaginable scrap that issues from a kitchen. It is tempting to throw ingredients that have seen better days, or that you can't think up any better use for, int...

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Quickies Cocktail Challenge Update : I am pleased to announce that we've now received  8  great entries! Thank you very much and please, keep them coming guys. Send in as many entries as you like,  just remember to get them in by midnight of  September 27 2010 (ET)  - we're looking forward to shouting out the winner and showcasing a fantastic line up of entries on September 28 2010 (ET)  !! What's your motivation? A gorgeous cookbook! (take a detailed peek here) And now for today's post....


St...

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Quickies Cocktail Challenge Update : I am pleased to announce that we've now received  3  very interesting entries! Thank you very much, and please, keep them coming.  Send in as many entries as you like, just remember to get them in by midnight of  September 27 2010 (ET)  - we're looking forward to shouting out the winner and showcasing a fantastic line up of entries on September 28 2010 (ET)  !! What's your motivation? A gorgeous cookbook! (take a detailed peek here) And now for today's pos...

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South Indian food can be intoxicatingly heady...... or overwhelming, depending on individual perception. The fact that I grew up being constantly assailed by smells of roasting cumin, simmering asafoetida, mustard seeds popping and curry leaves blistering in hot oil, from neighbouring kitchens, probably predisposed me to a passion for South Indian flavours. On any day, I would take them over the more well known and less assertive ones of North Indian cuisine.

food photography 101 tip no 1 - ...

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You probably wouldn't think and much less, hope, to read about dental health on a food blog, but, my dental woes  and their impact on my ability to eat normally, have got me thinking about how important my teeth are to me as a food writer and blogger. Oh yeah!!

When you're as long in the tooth as I am, a simple extraction is seldom the answer to everything, so my troubles won't end until my root canal job is finally done with. I don't like dentists and probably never will. The dental surgeon...

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CONTENT ALERT! This will be a very short recipe.

On Sunday a very generous and shy soul (who reads my blog and will freak if she sees her name) left me in possession of a huge pot of chicken curry, the kind golden hued from turmeric and perfumed as a herb garden from the liberal use of lemongrass and makrut lime leaves. My very favourite kind of curry, and she knows it.

So large a pot was it, that it provided two meals for my family, plus enough to make a speedy, delicious and practical...

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I've been trying hard not to start each post with an apology but I have been goofing off lately (sincerest apologies to my bloggie buddies who may be feeling a bit neglected) as I've been er...tied up with projects and stalking serial killers.

KIDDING!! I have been busy though, with my ongoing undertaking and playing crazy catch up watching Dexter season 1 - 4, back to back. I've always been slow to sign up *sigh* Two weeks ago I finally found a little time to watch some TV and what do I see?...
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First let me thank all who have emailed me about my week long absence, you know who you are and you have my gratitude for your touching concern - I guess I should've made some sort of announcement instead of quietly slinking away, hoping to go unnoticed. I've been immersed in a personal project which I hope to wrap up soon, so I can return to my regular posting schedule of Mondays and Thursdays (Singapore time). Until then, I will post at least once a week, probably on Wednesdays (yes, Singap...

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Becoming a food blogger and rubbing virtual elbows with so many like minded souls, has opened up my food universe and introduced me to things I might otherwise have never known, existed! Take instant pudding for example. This wonder of food science (some may  say culinary abomination, but, potayto potahto..... meat, poison) requires no cooking and sets instantly on contact with water! I might actually be spooked, if I were not so curious and amazed.

I'd read about it on Rick's blog, Bitter...

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I am very proud today that my son Joseph has been invited by Lazaro from Lazaro Cooks! to do a guest post. Please do us all the honor of checking out Joseph's post over at Lazaro's virtual kitchen and sharing your thoughts and feedback with  Lazaro, Joseph and myself. We would all love to hear from you, especially Joseph!

I can go on and on about how proud I am that my son appears to be walking in my foot steps but I won't. Please see for yourself.

To Lazaro, thank you so much for this wo...

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I'd been harbouring this jar of tahini in my kitchen cupboard and had completely forgotten about it until yesterday when I opened a door and realised there was no way I was going to manage squeezing in the groceries I had just lugged home. Oh my God. It hit me anew how much of a pack rat I am. *sigh* After the cleaning "expedition" I ended up with almost one and a half grocery bags of expired goods and a sense of shame I haven't experienced in a while. All of them were promptly and sadly disc...

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Are you thinking right now, "tomayto, tomahto"? You're not the only one. For years I had been buying, cooking and eating garlic flowers stir fried with prawns and tofu, scrambled with eggs or plopped into clear fish soup, innocent of the fact that in the West, this delectable vegetable was something of a delicacy.

Then, one day, I became a food blogger and I started reading about "garlic scape this" and "garlic scape that", but never, ever, was there a picture of garlic scape au naturel, alw...

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I'm so glad today, to have my son Joseph, doing another guest post for me! We were thrilled that his maiden post was so warmly received and when his Father's Day treat turned out so well, we thought we should share it with all of you. I hope all you lovely dads out there had a wonderful time with your families too, on Sunday. Now, without further delay, I give you Joseph!

Hi everyone. My name is Joseph and I’m 12.  This is my second guest post for mum and this time I’ll be doing somethi...

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Sometimes you just want it easy. That was the mood dictating yesterday's lunch.

Now, I don't usually give peas a chance. Really....did you think I would resist? They're round, tiny and have this tendency to roll around the plate, adroitly and annoyingly giving the tines of your fork the slip each and every time; the Frank Abagnale of vegetables. I know, I know...you're supposed to squish them against said tines then lift them to your mouth, but, I don't mix eating and exercising. I've been ...

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My son and hopefully, protege, Joseph, turned 12 two days ago and he requested his all time favourite dessert, Oreo cheesecake, like he's done every year, since he could speak.

I usually make a single large 23 cm (9 in) cheesecake. It's big, beautiful, and such a temptation, though I don't favour it above all other desserts, that I often will skip at least one  meal when I know cheesecake is coming to dinner ;) Then, I wantonly have three servings of it! For shame, for shame, except, I'm to...

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The last week has been just a little bit more hectic than usual, with me wrapping up my very first month-long food challenge, which by all accounts was a resounding success (Yaaay!!! Thanks again all 26 of you and especially Lazaro for making it such a blast!) all my boys being home together, as school holidays are on, hubby working late most days and dragging his exhausted self home well after dinner, almost every night....on top of the usual demands and commitments...yada, yada, yada! Meals...

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QUICKIE CHALLENGE UPDATE :  I'm pleased to announce that we've now received  14  very interesting entries! Thank you very much. Keep them coming guys and remember to send them in by June 7 2010  - we're looking forward to shouting out the winner and showcasing a fantastic line up of entries on June 8 2010  !! What's your motivation? Not one, but TWO fabulous prizes - a gorgeous cookbook (take a detailed peek here) and a guest blogger spot on the fabulous blog Lazaro Cooks! And now on to the d...

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QUICKIE CHALLENGE UPDATE :  I'm very pleased to announce that we've already received  3  very interesting entries! Thank you very much. Keep them coming guys and remember to send them in by June 7 2010  - we're looking forward to shouting out the winner and showcasing a fantastic line up of entries on June 8 2010  !! What's your motivation? Not one, but TWO fabulous prizes - a gorgeous cookbook (take a detailed peek here) and a guest blogger spot on the fabulous blog Lazaro Cooks! And now on ...

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First, I must apologise to Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks! and all his readers and followers. This post was supposed to have been up yesterday, Sunday 2 May, but I was hit by stomach flu late on Saturday night and have been flat on my back in bed until today, Monday. I hope late truly is better than never? Now, here's my treat for you today, Lazaro's eagerly awaited and slightly overdue guest post! Those who have been following me more or less regularly will know how much I admire his kitchen wizardr...

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I found myself alone at home yesterday - a very rare occurence for me. I can't remember the last time I was alone, since I got married and became a mother. It was a treat to potter about the apartment, doing exactly as I pleased, listening to Jeff Buckley, Ella Fitzgerald and Antonio Carlos Jobim, singing along at the top of my lungs, without eyeballs rolling left, right and centre, while sipping a little wine, just before lunch, in between the laundry, ironing and scrubbing.

Of course I l...

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I'd like to say a quick but heartfelt thank you to all of you, my dearest readers, for the wonderful show of support for both Lazaro and myself, when I did a guest post over at Lazaro Cooks. Thank you for all your delightful and heartwarming comments! I hope that having had a taste of Lazaro's genius, you will now follow his marvellous kitchen exploits! And now, on to today's post :





Jenn from Defunkt Gourmet and I, share an obsession. Yoghurt. It's always in my fridge and I cook and bake with ...

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I've been approached by friend and fellow foodie Lazaro Bernal about a guest post for his wonderful blog, Lazaro Cooks. Thank you Lazaro for the the thrill, the honour, and the privilege! How could I possibly refuse?

If you haven't already checked out his blog, please, go take a look. I cannot say  enough about it but I will say this, what Lazaro does is a labour of love and it shows in everything that he posts. I have found reading Lazaro to be an enriching experience. I hope you will too....

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You will probably be seeing more fish posts here soon, for a very good reason. One of my boys has been diagnosed with learning difficulties and we've been strongly advised to include much more fish oils in his diet, as they're believed to significantly help children with learning challenges, both from supplementary as well as dietary sources. The  next step would be Ritalin therapy, and for us, that would be an absolute last resort. Absolute.

We do everything together; when my mum was advi...

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I might well have been an impressionable and easily pleased 15 year old the first time I ate this, but if it really wasn't as good as I remember, would I still be hankering after it, ever so often, even decades later?

The version I had all those years ago had been cooked by the mother of a classmate for a farewell party at year's end. My classmate had brought it to school in one of those charmingly unchic, huge Tupperware boxes that are purpotedly so air and water tight, I think if they had...

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Pierre once told me he often "forgets" that I dwell in the tropics and keeps imagining, though he knows where I live, that I inhabit colder climes. Silvia is curious to know what I eat when no one is looking. Both are foodie friends and while I've had exchanges about food and sometimes, life, with both of them, neither, as far as I know have met or cyber-spoken to each other. These two seemingly disparate yet related remarks from two very different people, got me thinking about something. T...

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I hesitate to call this a recipe but I thought I'd share it as this sparked a craze at home, and all because I left some juice in the freezer longer than I should have.

I don't know how many of you have pre-teens and teenagers at home, but if you do, have you ever attempted to get them to do even a modicum of housework? Try it, if you really want to know what a losing battle actually is.

We have this problem at home with ice. There's never any. I make it and everyone else, especially my...

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Roasted vegetables are a passion of mine. Soup is another. And none more so than tomato. I got bored with the usual traffic-stop red of regular tomatoes and thought a bright, sunny yellow would be a slightly unexpected and fun change. Hubby thought it was pumpkin soup and was slightly aghast at the ribbon of balsamic vinegar in his glass, until he took a sip. Then he was all smiles, and having drained his dry, asked for another shot.

Normally, when roasting just about any vegetable,  I would...

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Eversince I made this cake, I've had pink on the brain. Truth is, I've never thought much of the taste of beetroot -  each time I've eaten it, I just haven't been able to get away from the association with sugar and earth. Beetroot is often described as "earthy" but the first time I tried it, I was quite surprised to find that it was an almost literal description of the luridly bright tuber.

Now the colour, oh, the colour, is something else altogether! I've always adored the vivid, almost vi...

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I hate talking about the weather -  the final destination for any conversation on its last legs, drawing it's last, choking, rasping... breath. I can hardly believe though, how crazed the weather here has been. In the last 3 weeks, I've felt like a jetsetter, going through 2 or even 3 countries in the space of a day. Scorching afternoons have given way to blustery evenings, followed by torrential 30-second downpours that have finally settled into muggy, sweat-soaked restless nights. Would y...

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You'd never induce me to buy a jar of ready made pasta sauce, or a box of cake mix but there are two commercially prepared foods I love, and am hardly ever without; canned tuna and canned condensed soup. They're fabulously versatile ingredients and just looking at them standing proudly full frontal, on supermarket shelves, almost fries my circuitry because of the lunch or dinner ideas that start to flood my mind.

In our house, there's no such thing as "tuna surprise" or "captain's casserole"...

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I am a cake fiend. I can't go two days without baking something and lately, my husband's been grumbling about a thickening middle (his of course) and the amount of sweet treats the children have been scarfing down owing to my baking mania. I thought of how to cut down both the butter and sugar in a cake recipe, as well as reduce cholesterol, for my mum's benefit, without sacrificing taste to the point that it's no longer worth eating. I've never liked prunes - their very name inspires depress...

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I saw a gorgeous fillet of salmon on the fishmonger's slab and knew right away that I wanted to eat it with the Yukon Gold potatoes and the almost needle fine beans I'd bought the day before. Cooking food sealed in parchment paper is a classical French method known as "en papillote". I love, love, love this way of preparing fish as it's almost laser quick, mess free, healthy and relies very little on fat for flavour.

What you get is a cut of fish cooked to absolute perfection, which for me,...

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When was the last time you had a really good, sizzling plate of Sze Chuan chicken in a Chinese restaurant? If your experience was anything like mine, you probably enjoyed the first few mouthfuls, relishing the crisp exterior of the chicken and the yielding, tender flesh inside, all bathed in a rich, dark, unctuous gravy heavily inflected with garlic... and oozing with oil.

I'll bet though, that once the dish (and your ardour) cooled down and the gravy began to congeal, what was left on the pl...

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I made these egg free, low cholesterol, lacto-vegetarian, dairy-restricted [ have I got your attention yet? ; ) ] brunch bites for my husband yesterday. We didn't feel like joining the Valentine's Day throng and falling victim to inflated restaurant prices, so, a lazy and langourous day spent almost entirely in bed was how we marked the occassion.

These delicious savoury rolls, filled with grated parmesan and topped with a tomato half, not only make a very tasty and satisfying brunch nibble...

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Having missed posting a recipe for World Nutella Day, there was no way I was going to let Valentine's Day slip away from me. To be on the safe side, I decided to test these babies out ahead of the day itself and they turned out so well, I couldn't wait a minute more to post this. If you're planning to stay in this Sunday and are looking for something delectable but undemanding to make for your sweetheart, may I suggest these? 

Ironically, Valentine's Day was never on my list of annual highl...

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I finally cooked that special dinner I had been planning for hubby's return to home and hearth. It was a quiet but warm reunion, one befitting a couple as low-key as we are. After dinner, the family retired to the living room with dessert - I am not one of those mothers who forbids eating in front of the television. I don't recommend it for everyone, but it can't be denied that sitting in front of the telly with your feet tucked under and a decadently indulgent dessert on your lap, is one of ...

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If you've been reading my blog for a while, you may know that I've been devoted to Nutella for most of my life, so, I felt a little disloyal, for not posting something themed on it, for World Nutella Day (5 February) and decided that today would be the perfect day to make up for it. Being the avid baker I am, I often have shortcrust (sweet and plain), bread dough and sometimes even danish pastry in my freezer. If you're not similarly inclined, by all means use commercial frozen pastry - I hav...

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There are times I'll bet, when like me, you feel like the inside of a garbage bin. Days, maybe even weeks of eating anything that crosses your path, the first thing you see when you open the fridge door, or two-thirds of your pal's taco chips, if she still dares to open a bag when you're within sight. I usually feel this way post Christmas and New Year's, after all that wanton and mindless feasting and will almost always repent slowly and painfully for the first 2 months or so, of the new yea...

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I've encountered this cocktail more than once, when island hopping around the Maldives. It's a zingy blend of citrus, ginger and mint that really makes the palate tingle while quieting the churning tummy discomfort that can arise from being tossed about the waves like a ragdoll in a toyboat, when the usually placid, and always beautiful, Indian Ocean is less agreable. After a bone rattling speedboat ride, under the relentlessly blistering Maldivian sun, on my last trip there late last year,...

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