Ailin Bakery (A quaint shop for baking supplies)

When one speaks of baking shops, Phoon Huat is the common choice cos' they've got many outlets around the island. Today, I'm gonna share this little gem tucked away in Tanjong Katong Complex called Ailin. They're a small establishment that's a little messy but I love them for their good variety of baking stuff, especially their cutters and tins. This is the only outlet that they have and the owners are very friendly. I come here at least once a year to buy their Sarawak Pineapple Paste which I adore.. 

Mason Jar Salads (A variety of combinations)

I've been recently in love with these Mason Jar Salads as they're easy to prepare and even a greater joy to eat. I've prepared several variety of it and I'm glad to share them with you (: I got the wide mouth mason jars from Amazon and the narrower ones with coloured lids from Taobao. I prefer the handles (and prettier lids!) of the taobao jars but I love the ease of stuffing food into the wide mouth Amazon ones. 

I usually prepare the ingredients the night before. I have heard of these salads being able to last all week in the refrigerator so you'd only need to prepare them once and last the week. However, I prefer making them fresher. 

Royal High Tea with Délifrance

I had the privilege to be invited to Délifrance French Royal High-tea on Saturday. I was excited cos' I love croissants and Délifrance happened to be launching their new Heritage Croissant on Saturday. They've introduced 2 sweet and savoury croissants in addition to the existing savoury choices that the hubby and I adore. I love the egg mayo, tuna and seafood one while the hubby simply loves the egg mayo ones. I still fondly remember having them when I was much younger as a child. My mum and grandma would order 2 - 3 of different fillings and we'd mix and match the fillings on our own so we could have the best of both/all worlds. My grandma loved their cappuccino and as we grew up and that grandma passed on, we've not really visited Délifrance any more. I do still pop by once in a while for my croissant/ciabatta fix or... for my favourite fruit tart! XD

In any case, I made my way to UE Square on Saturday morning dressed in my happy dress!

When I reached UE Square, I was blown away by the 4 types of croissants that were offered to us. 

Almond Florentines

These are A.D.D.I.C.T.I.V.E. I ate like 8 pieces at a go cos it's so crunchy and fragrant! These Almond Florentines are easy with a simple premix that can be found in baking shops. I got my premix from Phoon Huat. Sun Lik in Bugis has the Bienetta variation. Both works in similar ways. 

I feel that the florentine isn't as sweet as the bienetta, but that's just a personal take of mine. This recipe is easy so I'd rate it a difficulty 2 out of 5 and it takes merely 10 minutes or so per batch! 

Oven baked Potato Chip Chicken

This was a dish I came up with after some research as I wanted some fried chicken for my Oyakudon dinner earlier this week. However, I really wasn't keen in deep frying chicken. So I worked on this Potato Chip Chicken and gosh, it was good. I made the hubby close his eyes to eat one (straight out of the oven, no less!) and he loved it! I dumped most of it into our Oyakudon but kept a handful to munch on. I did a simple Sweet Thai Chilli Mayo dip for it (: 

This is almost too easy to make and it took about 30 - 45 minutes to put together. Try it, it's good and most importantly, it's EASY!!!!!! 

Strawberry Tofu Hearts

Valentine's Day is approaching and it's always a lovely time to do something special for your loved ones though I do truly believe that one should do it all year round! Here's a lighter less guilty of the Strawberry Jelly Heart, tofu version. This recipe doesn't require an oven so it's convenient for those who do not have one! (: 

I used mini cups I re-used from a local caterer. I found similar styled cups though slightly larger in taobao (yay!!!). I'm sure the hubby would love these cups better cos he complained that the mini ones had too little cheesecake and was tough to dig into! The larger ones would be perfect.. I can't wait to bake something new in them! XD However, it was a pity that they arrived a day later than I wished. Nevertheless, if you're using mini cups, you'll get about 28 - 30 cups and about 15 - 18 larger cups using these taobao cups. 

The larger cups I got from taobao looks like this! It even has lids! (: 

These beauties are relatively easy to bake so I'd rate them a difficulty level 3 out of 5. They'll take a total of 1.5 - 2 hours to bake.

Crab Bee Hoon (Soup)

For our New Year's Eve party, I cooked this Crab Bee Hoon cos' I found lovely fresh crabs in the supermarket while doing my last minute shopping. I simply LOVE crabs with roe (: The broth was lovely and rich... and of course, the crabs were awesome. This dish is almost too cheap to prepare as compared to paying lots of $$ in restaurants for it! 

This recipe was cooked in a hurry so I failed to document the image steps. But fret not, I'll do so when I cook this soon! (: I took the inspiration from Rasa Malaysia.

This dish is pretty manageable so I'd rate it a difficulty level 3 out of 5. It takes about 30 minutes - 45 minutes to prepare this dish. The speed greatly depends on how fast you can clean the crabs (:  

Mango Tofu Cheesecake Cups

Happy Sunday! This is the first bake of the year and it was fun! I woke up early this morning to cook for the hubby before he left for work so I decided to bake after that. Last Friday, we had food catered for our meetings in the afternoon. The food was served in these lovely cups which I collected, washed ,dried and re-used. I'm sure these cups or similar ones can be found in baking shops like Phoon Huat (: This recipe is pretty 'big' cos I made about 80 mini cups of cheesecake. If it's too much for your liking, halving the recipe would be a good idea (: 

This recipe is fairly easy and I'd rate it a difficulty level 3 out of 5.. It took me about 1.5 hours in all to prep and wash everything.