2021 November

02/11/2021

Oh, did I mention how brave and inspiring Prue Leith is? Yes, she's a self-made very successfully business woman but it's her Vietnamese journey with her daughter which finally had me. That was a very authentic 60 minutes of Prue soul searching as well as mine.

06/11/2021

There must be a chocolate curse with me. Why is it that my cake turns out to be brownies and my brownies turns out to be cakey?

07/11/2021

Martha Beck writes in such a soothing and comforting tone. I feel instantly at ease when I read her book. But as much as I adore Martha, I can't tolerate her podcast. Sorry. I know I am missing out a lot but I simply can't bear the voice.

27/11/2021

Just one month to go for 2021. I recently got in to roast chicken legs. The following recipe is so good and quick to prepare. It has become a regular.

Roast Chicken Legs

4 chicken legs (each piece has a thigh and a drum stick)
1 onion + 2 shallots (or 2 onions), roughly chopped
6 garlic cloves, crushed broken with skin on
1/4 tsp dried thyme leaves
3/4 cup white wine
Oil, salt and pepper to season
a large baking tray, double lined with tin foil

Preheat the oven to 200C. Have a large baking tray lined and oiled. Put in the onions, garlic and thyme. Lightly drizzle some oil, season with salt and pepper. Stir to even out the seasonings and spread the veggies to cover the tray equally.

On top of veggies, lay down four chicken legs with space between them and season with salt and pepper on top. Drizzle oil on top of the chicken. 

Pour the wine into the tray. Try not to touch the chicken pieces. The amount of wine should just be enough to cover the bottom of the tray. You don't want the tray to come out with a pool of water after roasting, just enough to make the onions look moist and soft.

Put the baking tray in the oven and roast at 200C for 60 minutes. Rotate the tray 180C after 30 minutes.

Rest for 5 minutes before serving. 

2021 weekly - week 12

21/03/2021, Sunday

This week's menu

Roast Pork shoulder and puy lentils

Grilled Lamb Steak with Potato Leek Gratin

Smoked Salmon

Green Beans and Tomatoes

Broccoli Soup

Wow, my roast pork is best ever tonight. No kidding. My first time trying the brining method and it worked out so well. The roasted piece came out with nice cracking and so juicy meat. I prepared half of the brine from Tom Kerridge and marinated my pork shoulder for 24 hours. I then roasted the meat at 180C for 2.5 hours on top of onions and garlic with a cup of sherry/water in a roasting tin. Everything was beautiful, meat tender, flavorful and moist, the cracking is crispy. So much easier than my old method where I had to air dry the skin and fry after roasting. This method is so much easier and will be my main method of roasting from now on!

22/03/2021, Monday

Today's exercise:

AM: FB Total Body 40 min

Readers, I've got it!

23/03/2021, Tuesday

Today's exercise:

AM: FB Lunges + Pilates 30 min

I accepted the offer. It didn't take long to decide but I spent the whole day thinking the transition. I thought I could leave without being sentimental but I actually find it hard preparing for my exit. My projects are moving into an exciting phase. I feel so sad that I cannot be with them anymore, the people I enjoy working with the most. I have to put up a straight face accepting new meetings while with millions of things going through my head. That's what 20 years do to you.

24/03/2021, Wednesday

Today's exercise:

AM: FB Lower Body 40 min 

The stars have been aligned for me lately. Thank you (who ever is up there)!

People I don't know or have not got in touch for a long time have offered their help to me instantly. I feel so lucky and grateful.

25/03/2021, Thursday

Today's exercise:

AM: FB Lower Body HIIT 45 min 

I spoke to my line manager about my decision to leave. I wasn't really dreading but I did wonder how it would go. It turned out it went pretty smoothly and quickly.

LM's first reaction: where are you heading?

EM' first answer: a lady never tells

LM's second question: Who are going to take over your work?

EM's second answer: I'm sure you will find somebody

LM's third comment: Thank you for all your good work. I wish you good luck.

EM's third reply: Thank you for the support and the opportunities.

For an EM whose CV is peppered with patents and papers, that's all LM could say. Well, LM could be in shock, whereas EM has been prepared for a week. Of course, it could also be that the manager simply didn't give a damn. Well, his loss. So, voila, the dice has been officially cast. I am a step closer to my dream.

26/03/2021, Friday

Today's exercise:

AM: FB Cardio + Upper body 45 min

Good to be back on FB routine. I feel good!

I make - Flourless Chocolate Cake

This is a "cake" with great flavor, chocolaty and not over the top. The texture is lovely and light on the day of baking and transforms into brownie fudgy texture the next day (I store the cake in a room around 15C). In fact, I am thinking using this as my go-to brownie. No matter. It's a nice chocolate dessert. I made some coffee flavored cream cheese frosting to go with. Talking about not OTP...

Flourless Chocolate Cake, adapted from RecipeTinEats 

150 g dark chocolate
90 g melted butter
1/2 cup / 100g white sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsps instant coffee granules dissolved in 1 tbsp hot water
2 large eggs at room temperature (60g/2oz each+)
0.75 tsp vanilla
0.19 cup / 12.75g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1.5 cups / 142.5g almond meal / almond flour (or hazelnut flour)

Preheat oven to 180C/350F (standard) or 160C/320F (fan forced / convection).

Butter and line a 15cm / 6" spring form pan.

Melt chocolate and butter in microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring in between until smooth.

Whisk in sugar, salt and coffee. Add eggs and vanilla, whisking well until combined,

Switch to wooden spoon. Add cocoa powder, baking powder and almond meal, fold through until just combined.

Pour batter into pan, bake 20-25 min until top has thin crust and skewer comes out clean, not smeared with batter.

Cool cake in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove sides. Cool completely on rack before carefully removing base.

Dust with cocoa powder then serve. I served mine with strawberries and dollop cream, but it doesn't need it!