Corn Chowder and more

From the Allergy-Free Cookbook by Eileen Rhude Yoder, PhD

Corn Chowder

2 C      boiling water
2 C      canned corn
2 C      diced potatoes
1 tsp    sea salt
2 C      milk or milk substitute

Into boiling water, add vegetables and salt. Cook until tender. Remove from the heat and slowly stir in the milk. Reheat, but do not boil, and serve at once.

Note: I don't have canned corn. Will be using frozen corn and yukon potatoes on hand. Instead of milk, I will substitute with eggs as thickener. Perhaps add a bit of herbs to taste. Another option is coconut milk.


Cream of Vegetable Soup

1/4 cups butter
3 tablespoon flour or rice flour (I didn't know you can use rice flour as substitute!)
2 cups milk
2 cups chicken broth
Dash of sea salt
1 teaspoon sage
2 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon thyme
2 cups cooked vegetables and/or meat chunks

In a heavy saucepan, stir the butter and flour together over low heat. Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly. When the mixture begins to boil, add the chicken broth and continue to stir until well mixed and hot. Puree the vegetables in a blender. Add the salt, seasonings, pureed vegetables and the meat chunks, if using. Cook until hot.

Modification: Hmm ... wonder if coconut milk will work? Going to have to get some. I don't like pureed vegetable so I'll keep them as is.


Rice Flour Muffins

1/2 cup banana or strawberries, pureed
1/2 cup nut milk or water
1 cup rice flour
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon oil

Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Grease a 6-cup muffin tin.

Stir the fruit pulp into the nut milk. Add the dry ingredients and oil. Mix until moistened. Fill the muffin cups three-quarters full. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

Makes 6 muffins.

Variations, if tolerated:

• Substitute and equal amount of milk in place of the milk or water.
• Add 1 egg to the liquid and decrease the baking powder to 1 teaspoon

Note: Strawberry puree?? I've never thought of it. I can't wait to try it out.


Corn Muffins

3/4 cup rice flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 cup water

Preheat the oven to 425 deg F. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin or fill with paper liners.

In a medium-size bowl, stir together the rice flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add the butter, egg, and water to the dry ingredients and stir until smooth. Fill the muffin cups three-quarters full. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the muffins pull away from the sides of the cups. Remove the muffins from the tin.

Makes 12 muffins.

Variations, if tolerated:

• Substitute an equal amount of milk for the water.

Fruits for shakes:
very ripe banana
very ripe peache
pineapples (perhaps canned version if fresh is too sour)
water melon
blueberry
strawberry

Others (for the shakes):unsweetened coconut (blend together or garnish)
vanilla
nut butter (blend together to thicken)
carrots (liquified!!)
mint leaves (garnish)

Other tips from the book:
use rice or barley in soup to thicken

Blueberry Brownies

Taken from Hershey's Website

Thick and Fudgy Brownies

Skill Level:

Beginner

Ingredients

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter or margaine , melted
• 2-1/2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4  eggs
• 1-3/4 cups (10-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY'S MINI KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates
• (Used frozen blueberries instead)

Directions

1. 1 Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan.
2. 2 Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. With spoon or wire whisk stir together melted butter, sugar and vanilla in large bowl. Add eggs, stir until well blended. Stir in flour mixture, blending well. Stir in chocolate pieces. Spread batter in prepared pan.
3. 3 Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Makes 24 to 36 brownies.

Everyone dug in while it was cooling.

Can you spot the blueberries?

The Taylor's Na'Vi tribe

At whim of the moment, I signed up for the Opening and Closing Gambit for the Taylor's Annual D&D 2012. After one week of gruelling 3+ hours of pushing our "pleasure points" to the max, we finally strutted our stuff on stage on Friday 16 Nov at the Sunway Convention Centre.

In the changing room before the event. Could you spot me? 

How about now?

We were only given the t-shirt and we all had to accesorize ourselves aka be as creative as possible.
Everyone made such a big deal about my 'loincloth.' But it was much ado about nothing--I deconstructed an old brown MNG t-shirt the night before to sew it up! haha

Oven Roasted Potatoes

Got it from: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/oven-roasted-potatoes/

Ingredients

• 1/8 cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine oil, garlic, basil, marjoram, dill weed, thyme, oregano, parsley, red pepper flakes, and salt. Stir in potatoes until evenly coated. Place potatoes in a single layer on a roasting pan or baking sheet.
3. Roast for 20 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, turning occasionally to brown on all sides.

Easy Bake Roast Chicken

I keep losing this recipe so I decided to write it in our blog. That way, it'll always be here!

Easy Bake Roast Chicken

Pre-heat oven to 450 deg. F.

1. Oil the chicken.
2. Salt both sides well.
3. Put chicken skin side up.
4. Roast 30 min @ 450 deg. F.
5. Turn off the oven. Let it sit inside the oven, door closed, for 30 min.

Make sure the chicken is fully thawed or it will not roast all the way through. You can also add other seasoning like dried rosemary, thyme, oregano, etc.

Spring Break to Disneyland

Went to Disneyland @ Anaheim, CA. Drove 6.5 hours. Spent 4 days in Disneyland and Disney Adventureland. By the 4th day, we were ready to go home, or at least the adults were. The kids wanted to come back next year. I don't think so.

Parade on Main St. of Disneyland.

Looks good but stinks to high heavens.

This is actually at the end of the performance.

Darth Vader and Darth Maul.

Darth Maul!!!

Fireworks every night for 30 minutes, I think.

Disney Adventureland theme park, next to Disneyland. 

It's a Bug's Life. Twirls round and round.

Woody!

That's the Matterhorn. Unfortunately, it was under construction when we were there.

Pygmy goats. Always docile.

Indiana Jones ride is in Adventureland.

Our favorite ride: Star Tours.

Best Western plus Park Inn. Taken near the door.

Only one window. A/C stopped working after 1 day.

My little setup.

Castle behind is Fantasyland. Fireworks takes place here every night.

Kids get to drive but cars run on rails on the ground.

It's a Small World boat ride.

Chip and Dale's home.

Toontown. Rides are more appropriate for toddlers.

Whale-watching in Sri Lanka

On 11 March, bright and early (again) at 7am, we went the the seaside in Marissa to catch our speedboat out to sea. There were other options: we could book a ferry (like most foreigners there), but we wanted to be able to catch whales.

(Also, I hoped the speed of the boats would stop me from being seasick). Alas, even after downing 2 tablets, I couldn't keep it down.

The experience was fantastic.

30 minutes out to sea (about 4 miles from the coast), we saw our first whale.

After 2 hours, and 8 whales later, things got a bit boring though. The tour operator sounded a bit too excited now whenever he shouts, "whale, whale, whale, whale....then tail, tail, tail, tail!"

Well, the tails were all we could see!

But he assured us that we saw Beluga and Sperm whale (tails).

Sorry, the big creatures were too fast for us. Especially since the whale will dive under whenever the whole contingent of speedboats and ferries round up on it. I respect that it wants it's privacy too.

We didn't see any dolphins though

A fishing vessel on the high seas. Fishing alongside real whales!


                                     
 Later in the evening, we took another bus in the opposite direction and came to another small fishing village at the seaside. Here (above), I'm posing with one of their fishing boats. I can't even sit in it. It was too narrow!

I wonder if the fishermen just walk on top of it on the seas.

We saw this tiny islet on the same beach. You can actually walk right up to the white front door and ring the doorbell.  It is a high class resort/hotel. (read: out of our budget!)

The waves reach up to your ankles.

Fort Galle, Sri Lanka

Here's the last look of the place called Ella, in the Hill Country. And Yes, we had to take pictures of Buffaloes walking down the road just before the 7.30a bus arrives. It is the only bus we want to catch to go down South to the coastal area.

After another 4 hours in the public bus (no air-conditioning), we arrived at the beach in Marissa. In the picture (above), you can see the coastal line, and the tuk-tuks that we sometimes travel around in.

For a 30-km distance, the tuk-tuk drivers will charge us like 1,500 SLRupees (equivalent to RM45).
Almost like KL prices, no?

The heat here is terrible. Reminds me of the open skies in Jordan.
Anyway, after putting down our backpacks in Marissa (a small village/township), we took a public bus to Fort Galle. It took us about 30-45minutes to get there. The picture (above) shows the entrance to the historic World Heritage site itself.

It's amazing. It's the only 400 year old fully complete Dutch/Portuguese/English fort in the world.
Let me explain: it was started by the Dutch, continued by the Portuguese and the English completed it 200 years ago. You can actually walk all around the fort on the walls itself. It is 3.1km long.

Excruciatingly neverending, on my aching feet. I was happily limping all over it.

 Here's me at the entrance, trying to be 20 years younger...

 The picture (above) is of Mr. Walter De Silva. He claimed to be a Security Guard there and of the original Portuguese descent. He was very informative though and the stories he told were unbelievable. I actually recorded the whole 1-hour that he was with us.

We didn't invite him to be our tour guide. But he was anyway.
After that, he asked if we could "help him" i.e. asking for money for his services and MC gave him 500SLRupees.

I felt almost "cheated" and thought that he could be a professional con-man after all.

 Lovely clock tower at Fort Galle.

 The beautiful light house.

In the middle of the fort, is actually the grounds where currently 118 families currently live-mostly bought over by foreigners. There are 2 secondary schools, post office, 3 old churches, the Court house of Fort Galle (the place). It is a living heritage!

It makes me feel that the piece of fort wall in Melaka is like a big joke.

At the time when we were there, the roads were being paved with grey bricks. We were told that the Dutch government is looking after the Fort, not the Sri Lankan government really.

 Here's me again. I made MC take a tourist-sy picture of me.

The first entrance earlier is the newer one. Here's the original entrance to the fort dating back 400 years ago. The best part are the thick doors, which have never been replaced! Strong wood indeed.

Bread Magic

Here's the first thing I made last night using my new toy a.k.a the CN stand mixer!

I made the bread using the recipe found in this book (below). You can also order the books from Y3K from this website http://www.y3k.com.my/y3kcookbooks.htm

They ship worldwide.

By the way, the bread turned out quite nice. But got to prepare myself mentally, as it takes 4-5 hours from weighing the ingredients to finally getting the bread out of the oven to cool.

I think I should start the process at 6p to finish by just before midnight when I sleep. So, the girls get freshly baked bread in the morning. What do you think?

My stand mixer!

This is it! I bought this stand mixer yesterday after gnawing at my fist for the past few months.

You can view the actual product from http://www.cnunited.com.my/
I'm RM1500.00 poorer. But happy to have this work horse.

The company imports it directly from Taiwan. By any other name, it is called the Spar mixer too.
Here's what the product lists:

The Gear Transmission Type Mixer
 - 5.0 Liters
 - 1 HP DC Carbon Brush Motor
 - 10 Variable Speed Control
 - Ideal for Bakery School, Bakery Workroom & Hotel
 - Standard Package
***One Stainless Steel Bowl / One Flat Beater / One Wire Type / Dough Hook

Adam's Peak, Sri Lanka

We were in Sri Lanka from 12-17th March 2012.

This was the first picture taken of me in Sri Lanka. As you can see, I was still excited. Still uninitiated about the the true nature of backpacking!

We arrived at the Negombo International Airport at about 8am (local time). Then took a 4-5 hour trip up straighaway to the Hill Country. The place (above) is Kandy. In the background you can the see famous site, Buddha Tooth Relic temple. Well, we didn't go in. We just took a stroll around the Kandy lake and went back to our family-run place called the Majestic Hotel.

The hotel was decent enough. In comparison, (after staying 6 nights in 6 different places), the Majestic was the only place that provided us soap (!), towels and toilet paper.

We left Majestic Hotel in Kandy, and took 2-3 buses to our second destination--the starting point to climb Adam's Peak. This picture (above) was taken in the middle of the night at about 2 p.m. The lights (as we were about to discover) are actually tea-stalls and street lights that lit the whole way to the top.

 I think it's called the Wathsala Inn. The cost was US$15/night. The downside was the hot water is actually boiling HOT, or non-existent!

The biggest joke was that The Wathsala inn was only 2 doors away from another place called Slightly Chilled (which wanted to charge US$60 per night).

Well, we walked and walked. We stopped 2 times for me to catch my breath and to order a cuppa tea along the way up.

The most amazing thing was as we go UP, pilgrims/devotees were coming DOWN! They were probably part of the convoy of cars, vans and trucks that were streaming past when we were having dinner.
You can see all sorts of pilgrims, the young, the old, but all smiling and satisfied that they've made the pilgrimage.

Oh, and I found out that Adam's Peak is only "open" to devotees, from December to May every year. It is closed for 6 months every year in turn.

Here I am at the peak. It's amazingly cold. But lots of people were milling around. Locals and tourists.
Did you know that Adam's Peak is famous because there is an imprint of someone's footprint there?

Update: the Hindu and Buddhist devotees believed it was Buddha's.
I heard Christians claim it was Adam's (from the Bible).

(The footprint is housed in a tiny temple, and covered with a gold/silver cloth. In the picture, on the right). There are temple officers there. So, no looking and no taking photos of the sacred footprint either.

Ok, I'm now going to draw your attention to that polka-dot headpiece which I sewed myself. (grin)

 At about 6:30a, the temple officers took the altar items from the temple, and walked around the grounds. Lots of pilgrims touched and blesesd the items. Many of the ladies bought pink/white lotus blooms as offerings.

Mine and his shoes just before starting the descend at about 7am. Lots of people so got some time to catch a breather.

 About 30 minutes away from the temple. Still looking fresh...

 About half-wy down, still feeling cocky. Notice, I've undressed as it was getting too hot. Legs starting to cramp.

Darn it. His head is in the way.

 This is me. Exhausted. Tired out. Hungry. But feeling rather heroic. Satisfied that I made it and back albeit limping in the second leg of the journey
.
It was 9am. We have walked for nearly the past 7 hours.

The details of the climb as stated on the walls of Wathsala Inn.