Peach gum

After Fight-Do class on Thursday I was going around packing lunch and dinner when I suddenly craved for cheng teng. So tempted to go all the way back up to food centre but remembered I have peach gum at home and decided to cook instead. 

Actually if can tahan tahan until today to cook means I could infact go without it. I can't say about chocolates, i dont think I can tahan that long.

Soaked the peach gum before I left home yesterday. Pity I couldn't cook for K and LL ystd coz I have to clean the peach gum. Ah nia take a long time to clean. (However I think I can't clean too as it didn't puff up that much when i checked on the two bowls when i arrived home with them.) Next time 吧！When I am expecting them over then I’ll cook the day before. 

Cooked two portions - one for the girls to bring to bro tomorrow, another portion for us. 

Before cleaning 

Using the same recipe, but this time instead of adding 40g dried longan I added 50g. I didn’t want any leftover in the pantry = forgotten after some time. 

Adding the boink boink goody for skin peach gum

Transferred into a pot so to speed up cooling the dessert. Using portable fan to help me with it.

Packed for bro while I was preparing the second batch for ourselves

Ours

When I was preparing the ingredients, che-che saw the dried longan and peach gum. She further asked 

if peach gum is “the jelly jelly thing”. It was ‘the thing’ she tasted before and requests that next time when she wants to eat it, to give it to her without the soup. Well, it’s sounds really positive that she’s eating something new.

Oops! 我忘了！

Almost forgotten 🤭 about the mango yoghurt ice cream I made in October 2024 . Many times when I open the freezer to get food and all, I just look at the container but not craving for it. 

Reading back on my post, did I do the last two steps of taking it out and mixing for the second time? Nope! Was busy after that and couldn’t find any time to do so. 

7 months later when I’m suddenly wanting to eat mango 🤭. Doesn’t have that creamy texture when I tried to scoop, there were ice crystals on the inner cover 🤣. 

Still edible, I didn’t lao-sai. Has the thick thick 🥭 pulp. Quite yummy actually.  

Fail in presentation coz I couldn’t scoop properly. Haha! 

Che-che loves mangoes BUT she’s very selective. Everytime she will tell me she likes sweet mangoes - Indonesian mangoes are sweet, Indian mangoes are sweet so will always ask her to try. She will always refuse to try. The only mango she loves is Miyazaki mangoes. Yah! Like that is only after she tasted once or twice in Miyazaki. She regretted not buying back when we gave her the chance to. Too bad! We hardly see Miyazaki mangoes in SIN, not even during the countless Japanese fairs that Isetan brings in. 

🐟 ⚽️ Fishball 鱼圆

Making fishball with Ms Thermie was the first thing I want to do when I got her 2+ years ago. Goes to show how I love to talk but no action 😜. #queenofprocrastination#

3rd Apr (Thu)

Bought from Sheng Siong - $9.99/kg. I paid $7.89 for this 790g fish. However after the guy had fillet the fish for me, it was only 444g. At least I have a rough idea how much those head and bones weigh. 

After scrapping the fish meat - 328g was the final weight of what came from a 790g fish.

4th Apr (Fri)

Followed this recipe from JC 

After blending it in Ms Thermie. I blended 3x instead of 2 although it’s a small portion. The fish paste was so so smooth, I would have mistaken it for my Kiehl’s facial cream if not for the fishy smell. 

Mixing Himalayan salt in another bowl

Seeing the magic unfolds before my very eyes and touch after salt was added into the blended fish 

Lil’ one helping out. She has to work for her food.

Our fishballs don’t look round at all 😂

After 2.5hrs later I took a few pieces out to cook for lil’ one. Tested and yup it bounces. Bounced but doesn’t roll coz it’s not round at all 🤣.

Taste wise lil’ one says it has no taste “or maybe I’m sick so cannot taste anything” haha! I can’t taste it coz still on vegetarian. If not, I’ll have to use another recipe next time. 

** update on 6th April: gave her again and she says “it has the fish taste.” 🤣🤣 what does she expect? Chicken taste? 

It’s plain so maybe next time I should add aromatics into the fishball

Pasta sauce

Made pasta sauce for the second time coz I wanted to get rid of that container. This time, I didn’t have any whole tomato left in the container, so strange as I had 3 tomatoes left in the first container. Makes me wonder if I had gotten the 400g can, how many cans do I actually need to buy in order to get 800g of peeled tomatoes. 

Used 160g onion for bro’s batch and 174g for ours coz I didn’t want to have any leftover onion. Think 174g is really overdoing it (we haven’t tried the pasta sauce yet) coz my eyes watered when I opened up the measuring cup to check on the cooking 😂

Pack bro’s pasta sauce

Ours is packed individually coz it makes sense to do it. Initially I sealed it, laid it flat and let the liquid fill up the bag but there was a pouch of air inside. Didn’t want to deal with any freezer burn or whatever you call it so had to find out how else I can pack the sauce correctly. 

For obvious reason there’s no way I can vacumn seal a bag with liquid inside. After that decided that I can instead freeze it first then vacumn seal it. Went back to prop the bags standing up instead of laying it flat. Two days later (1st April) when I was free, I vacumned sealed the frozen sauces. 

Pasta sauce

* post first drafted on 20th Feb

I miss this pasta sauce. Argh! I miss Boston 😭. 我要回去波士顿. 

Che-che and I liked the pasta we ate. Why? Maybe we were too famished from all the walking? 🤭 I believe it must be good coz (1) she’s more of a cream based sauce lover but she approved this tomato sauce (2) I have lousy taste, I eat to live. She loves to eat so is fussy over lousy and good tasting food. So if she said it’s good it MUST BE GOOD.

We bought 2 bottles of sauce back for the tomato based sauce lover back home. Lil’ one likes it, prefers this over Prego and “whatever other brands we buy in SIN”. I think she likes it coz we lugged it back from 1/2 way across earth 🌍. #overseasstuffstastebetter# We finished them in no time, even before we can finish the boxes of pasta we bought back 😆. 

So what made this Sevenhills tomato sauce nice? I found out it’s the tomatoes - San Marzano. 我从来没有研究番茄 thus I’m learning something new. We only see the round round tomatoes from Malaysia, cherry tomatoes in supermarkets. Perhaps the more atas organic marts like Little Farms might carry them? 

Read this for the TYPES OF TOMATOES

(Pic taken from : https://www.webstaurantstore.com/article/958/types-of-tomatoes.html)

About San Marzano tomatoes

As what writer Peggy Kieran wrote “San Marzano tomatoes are considered the Ferrari or Prada of canned tomato varieties. Loyalists say they are well worth the higher price tag compared to other Italian or domestically produced options.” 

(above article extracted from : https://www.marthastewart.com/7616623/san-marzano-tomatoes-explained ) 

Attestation I’m making the right choice

Where is San Marzano region? 

After finding out this region will I make a trip there? Not sure if this lifetime will have a chance. I haven’t been to many parts of Italy. Nice country with all the broken columns and history I’m interested but I hate it that pickpocketers are everywhere. 

A search online on availability in SIN was done before 2024 drew to a close. Read a little on how to identify a real San Marzano canned tomato. At one point I was happy to find that I can buy fresh SM tomatoes online, all I need to do is to use my feet to step and smash the tomatoes but I think that’s too troublesome and tiring for me. Not sure if throwing them into a blender will destroy the outcome 😅. Lazy people is like that one….. trying to find the easiest job for self 😜. 

Which brand is the best or the better?

Lost for choice with the different brands. Cento, Mutti, Alessi etc… Expensive to import, hard to bring in etc.. Decided to look in Shoppee instead of Amazon. 

Ultimately decided on this. 2.5kg x2. Haha! I don’t know why I bought so much. Not that I own an Italian eatery. Call it crazy coz I’d have to pay the same shipping for 1 can and 2 cans. Then I’ll make sure lil’ one drink the sauce up for all her meals. 

Was reading the label and it says “Dell'Agro Sarnese Nocerino” 什么来的？

Must look for these logos which this can has

Huh? What is pomodoro pelati? Did I buy wrongly? One guy said it must be indicated on the label as San Marzano tomato in the ingredients list to be certified a San Marzano tomato. 

Clarification for this super kancheong over nothing person 😂. Wah…can’t blame me coz I don’t understand and speak Italian except grazie, buongiorno and arrivederci 

As what is stated in their website on the canned tomatoes I bought 

16th Feb (Sun) - 凡事什么都需要试一试。I will find a time this week or next week to make the sauce. Buy so much maybe I can make pizza sauce too? 🤭 

Recipes 

I hope I can retrieve the photos of the Sevenhills pasta label with the ingredients. Apparently I can’t find it in their website. 

Alternatively is to find a recipe in Cookidoo and let Ms Thermie do her job. I do intend to cook pasta for them for home and school the next few weeks when hubby is not in SIN. 

@ 28th Feb (Fri). Took this out and put it in the kitchen. Must see this so I can put all my acts together. Hmm…maybe I do it tomorrow or the day after or …. Procrastinator Queen at it again. 

1st Mar (Sat)

Walked past the huge can on the table many times, looked at it and mind hands and legs not wanting to work so I walked away 😂😂 each time. 

Later in the afternoon, bro and SIL dropped by to pass me something and they laughed at the huge can. Only crazy person like me can think of getting this huge can. Siao! When will I start thinking logically? Asked if they wanted the other can of tomato 🤣. SIL is a much better cook than me, I’m sure she can cook it much tastier than I do. 

Never mind from the beginning they were my first guinea pigs, if after testing the first recipe and tastes ok I will make a batch for them. I can’t give this to mom coz she’s not into angmoh pasta chiak. Not sure if sis likes it, will check with her, if she likes then I’ll give her a batch as well. 

Tomorrow! Tomorrow! Tomorrow I must put all my actions together.

2nd Mar (Sun)

Can strike lottery day! 老娘 woke up from the wrong side of the bed and feel so ready to tarantella 💃🏼 

As I lifted the lid, a sea of red greeted me. I couldn’t be as close to Mt Vesuvius 🌋, now I’m close to the fruit that grew there. 

@ 10.09 Ms Thermie started working for me

Muahaha! Left with so much. 

Not much to wash or keep coz Ms Thermie is a bao-gar-liao machine which helps you weigh and mince food as well as many other tasks. Thus I had the free time to do this rubbish photo taking.

@ 10.27 after I took the above photo. Ms Thermie doing the final step while I nuah on the sofa, the smell permeated the home. Smells yummy! Hope it tastes nice.

@ 10.42 - done! Did the testing and tastes ok. It wasn’t that sweet sweet I was expecting from this tomato so maybe lots of sugar was added to the sauce? I added one more teaspoon to it and taste is elevated a little. Still not that sweet but I stopped adding anymore sugar. Would be better if chilli powder is added to it and maybe oregano (?) too. 

I can cook everything in one pot but I decided to separate them coz I’d like to keep the extra sauce clean. 

Tested by the panel of judges more critical than Master Chef’s judges. Lil’ one likes it, says “it’s not that sweet like Boston one but it’s ok. You can throw away the Prego sauce now.” Che-che doesn’t really like tomato based pasta so a simple nod is the best approval I can get. 

The extras. Not sure if I should freeze my next batch? Will it affect the tastes months later? Lil’ one says it’s better to make it fresh. However she’s not the one cooking 讲这么容易. 

***********************

@12.17pm - in the midst of making the second batch for bro. Sis don’t like it so won’t be giving it to her. 

Sterilize bottles in my caldron 🧙

Ready to leave the house and pass it to them

Abit bor liao and wrote the date of production. But after looking at the photo now I realised I’m still dreaming I’m in Feb. 

Hope they like it.