Banana Cake

Last Thursday my mother gave me the ripen green banana that she used it to bai tian gong (pray to Emperor Jade) on Lunar 9th. With so many bananas in hand, I decided to make banana cake. I made once before but the cake is not very nice so I did not blog about it. I blog hop for more recipes. Then I stumbled upon Wendy's recipe here. What attracts me was the simplicity of the recipe. I decided to gave it a try. I do not know what is pisang emas so I just use my pang jio, literally translated from Hokkien is fragrant banana.


The whole kitchen was filled with the fragrant of the banana, from the mashing stage to the baking stage. It even attracted my hubby to the kitchen. When the cake is baked, strange enough, it smell like fried nian gao. Haha. I love the smell and when it is slightly cooled, I cannot wait to have a taste. I love everything of this cake, from its taste to its texture. With minimal ingredients, minimal steps, minimal washing, the result is fantastic. I will definitely make this cake again for my friends and family. My mother also love this cake and she promised me she will supply me with more bananas for this cake.


Great satisfaction. :)

My Weekend Lunch

Working. Our lives revolve around our work. This is the most common thing that everyone does. Most of us need to work. I am also part of the working force. Being part of this force, hardly do I have the time to prepare dinner on weekdays. Luckily I am living near my mother-in-law and she is very kind to have us over for dinner almost everyday. I really appreciate her understanding.

So when do I cook for my hubby and myself? On Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Why not Sunday dinner? By Sunday night, I am already having Monday Blues so I prefer to spend my night on the sofa or in front of the computer and not in the kitchen washing. So what do I usually cook? The most frequent dish is PASTA. Haha. The reasons being you can add any ingredients into it and it is my chance to clear my fridge. Secondly, I only need one pan and one pot. Minimal washing. Haha. I know I am lazy. I love to cook but the washing really annoys me. Luckily, my hubby is kind enough to wash everything for me after I cook. Thanks dear.

I have tried cooking Aglio Olio and the recipe is from Elinluv's Tidbits Corner. I added deep fried bacon bits on top. I really love this simple dish and the bacon bits really enhances its taste.

I also love tomato-based pasta. The tangy sweet salty flavour really got me. The pasta below is my own creation. Haha. I just simply saute half a chopped onion and chopped garlic, with sliced portobello and some sausages until they brown up nicely. Then I added in a can of stew tomatoes and simmer it. After that, I added in the cooked pasta, tossed and served. Just nice for a lazy bum like me.

Valentine's Day

For the past week, I have been indulging myself with CNY goodies like my favourite bak gua, pineapple tarts, love letters... The list is so long. The angel in me will tell me to watch out for my waistline and the devil in me will say one year once only, it's ok. Sigh. I always lean towards the devilish me.

For Valentine's Day, by right I should be making heart shape cookies or chocolatey heart shaped cake or even heart shaped truffles (even though I never make it before) but I think my hubby and I had enough of those high sugar, high sugar, high calories goodies (or maybe I should call them baddies ;). I should make something for him that is part of his daily three meals so I would not increase his calories intake. My decision is Bread. You may think that I am unromantic. Yeah. You hit the jackpot. I must say I am quite a practical person. Flowers for Valentine's Day? I don't know how to appreciate them and I don't really crave for them. I rather have something practical. Haha. Hope he gets my hints.

I made him cheesy heart-shaped buns with a little raw sugar sprinkled on top. I read about this technique of shaping in Happy Home Baking. The recipe that I used is adapted from Angie's Recipe. In order to add more fiber to our diet, I replaced 30 g of bread flour with wholemeal flour. As for the taste, you cannot expect it to be super soft and fluffy like the white bread. However, it is indeed soft even on the second day (which is today) without toasting. I can say that I am satisfy with the result. :)



I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers hosted by Cuisine Paradise. More information can be found here.