Happy Seven Months Lucius！七个月大咯！

25th September 2010

Lucius又长大一个月了！ 他已经是满七个月的大宝宝了！

踏入第七个月，突然有一天他的依依呀呀婴语变成连串音调类似异国语言的巴巴麻麻啊啊。来劲时会说个不停，听起来煞是好笑。

随着Lucius一天天的长大，他和大人的互动也越来越多，很多时候他都会尝试用不同的肢体语言和音律，甚至眼神来表达他的心意。

他已经能用双手把上半身撑得高高的。他一直在学习爬行，有时弄到自己满头大汗还爬不动时会发脾气。他也慢慢的可以自己坐立。开始学坐时坐一下就要倒下来，现在买给他的高椅已经能派上用场。

他依然会和陌生人微笑和玩但让陌生人抱抱会扁嘴，还会哭。（陌生人=爹地，妈咪，外公，外婆，简称四大天王以外的所有人）。

越来越会认人了，意即也更粘身边的人，看到外婆总是啊啊叫要抱抱，而且还很会撒娇。他会把头靠在大人的肩膀上贴得紧紧，两只手绕着大人的身体抱得紧紧，有时甚至用他的小脸来磨蹭大人的脸。每当他这样对我撒娇时，我的心马上融化。

以前喂他喝奶时他总爱用小手抢着握奶瓶，但是都属于玩票性质，因为还未能握得很稳。现在他已是“全职”自己独立拿奶瓶喝奶了，为我们省下了不少功夫。

一满六个月就开始让他尝试半固体食物。第一样让他尝的是最基本的米糊。还记得第一次喂他吃米糊的情景，一口一口接着吃，吃完一口就吵着要第二口，还用手来抢。但吃了几天，便便次数多达一天三次，而且很稀。听从食品公司的建议，让他停几天后再吃较少的份量，但情况没改善。后来换了另一个牌子就没问题了。

因为这样拖延了让Lucius尝试其他食物的时间，所以至今除了米糊和自己煮的白粥，Lucius只吃过红萝卜和南瓜泥。我是follow the book的妈咪，所以我紧跟4 day wait rule，就是每次只给宝宝尝试一样新食物，一连吃四天后如无不良反反应，才介绍另一样新食物。

不要看Lucius长得比一般同龄宝宝大，他的胃口其实不大，体型也属于瘦长形。好啦，不瘦但绝不会胖。到现在他还没换大奶瓶（晕～～），150ml的奶有时还要分几次喝。还有，他还在穿M size的纸尿布，买了L size的让他试，穿起来宽宽跨跨。

这个月还没帮他量身高体重，星期五到医院复诊时量了再记录下来。

Bacon Wrapped Cherry Tomoto/ Enoki Mushroom and The 100th 樱桃番茄/金针菇培根卷和第一百

I made this for Mid-Autumn Festival dinner together with Braised Ee Fu Noodles.

It is a perfect finger food for party or as a quick snack. What you need is just a pack of bacon, cherry tomato and enoki mushroom from the supermarket. No baking or cooking technique is required, just assemble and send into the oven.

Be cautious when you eat the cherry tomato bacon roll because the juice is real hot but that's the beauty of it. After baking the cherry tomato is almost melt-in-the-mouth.

As oppose to the juicy cherry tomato, the enoki mushroom bacon roll is dryer but very crunchy when you munch on it.

Initially I didn't plan to wrap with enoki mushroom but since I bought a pack for the Braise Ee Fu Noodles I thought why not used some for the bacon roll. Anyway, D likes anything with enoki mushroom.

I made bacon wrapped cherry tomato again on Sunday morning for breakfast. After baking I removed the toothpick and had it wrapped in bread. Tasted very yummy too.

Ingredient:
Bacon slices
Cherry tomato
Enoki mushroom (separated)
Toothpicks/ wooden picks

Method:
1) Line a baking tray with aluminum foil or baking paper. Brush a thin layer of butter/ margarine/olive oil (I used canola spread). Preheat oven to 200C.
2) Roll up a cherry tomato or strip of enoki mushroom in bacon slice, cut the bacon slice to the desired length and secure the joint by inserting 2 wooden picks. Place on baking tray.
3) Bake at 200C for 10 mins then 230C for 2 mins (upper rack). Brush the bacons with the excess oil on the baking tray.

Note:
1) I used olive oil for greasing on the second time. I found that that the bacon cooked faster and the aluminum foil got slight burned. Suggest reduce the baking time if using olive oil.
2) I made 3 rolls (either cherry tomato or enoki mushroom) from each bacon slice.

Variation:
1) Replace cherry tomoto and enoki mushroom with other ingredients such as asparagus, capsicum etc.
2) Use a skewer (satay stick) to stick 2 or 3 rolls together.

The 100th

Just a short note, I login to my blog and just realized I got 100 followers today, a new milestone to me.

Thanks all readers and followers for your support and encouragement.

Angel's Braised Ee Fu Noodles 爱的焖伊府面

D likes braised Ee Fu Noodles a lot but it is not commonly found in the menu of the zhi char (煮炒) stalls in coffee shop or hawker centre. Though there is something similar called fried yee mee (炒伊面) the noodle itself and cooking method are different.

Braised Ee Fu Noodles are normally served in Chinese restaurants and sometimes during wedding dinner. Thanks The Little Teochew for sharing her braised Ee Fu Noodles recipe and now I can replicate it at home for my loved ones. The recipe is very easy to follow. Though I didn't follow the recipe to a T it gave me a very good guide.

I tried to look for the dried Ee Fu Noodles in the supermarkets, went to a few including hypermarket but only Yee Mee was found. Finally I got it at the wet market near my house. (Update: Had seen in NTUC Finest and Cold Storage)

Traditionally this dish is cooked with yellow chives (韭王/Jiu Wang) but I have never seen it before in the supermarket or wet market. I tried my luck to look around for it but it was proven that I had no luck. I abandoned the project and grabbed a pack of green chives to standby.

At the end I only used the green chives for garnishing but not cooking as I afraid that the taste might be too strong to blend in with other ingredients. Then I remembered I had a Boy Choy sitting in my fridge so I used Boy Choy instead. I believe the sweetness from Boy Choy compliments other ingredients which are basically different types of mushrooms.

I cooked this dish for Mid-Autumn Festival dinner together with a finger food (coming up in my next blog post) and beancurd longan soup with egg.

I was very pleased with the result. My family enjoyed the dish a lot. D mentioned that this dish was almost perfect if not lacked of marinated green chili.

Because I had put in a lot of love and effort in preparing this dish, one of D's favourite dishes, I decided to name it "Angel's Braised Ee Fu Noodles" (Ju, I hope you don't mind).

I am sharing my adapted recipe from here.

Ingredients: (for 4 servings)
4 - 5 cloves garlic (chopped)
4 - 5 leaves Chinese cabbage/Bok Choy (白菜) (cut into stripes)

1 can straw mushroom （草菇）(halved or quartered depending on size)

1 pack enoki mushroom（金针菇）
3 large dried shiitake mushroom（香菇） (presoaked in water and thinly sliced)
4 - 5 tbsp vegetable oil + ½ tsp sesame oil
4 dried mounds (200g) Ee Fu Noodles

Braising sauce: (mix together)

3 tbsp oyster sauce/abalone sauce (I used 1 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce & 2 tbsp abalone sauce)

½ tbsp light soy sauce (adjust the amount or omit it if the oyster sauce used is salty)
1 tsp dark soy sauce (for colouring purpose, reduce the amount if desired)
1 tsp sugar

½ tsp Chinese cooking wine (花雕酒)
¼ tsp white pepper

2 cups dried scallop broth *
* Rinse 30g (or a handful) dried scallop and soak in 2 cups of water for a few hours. Remove and break down the dried scallop. Bring the water to a boil, add the dried scallop and simmer for 20-30 mins, off fire and let the dried scallop soak in the broth till cooking time.

Method:

1) In a wok, heat vegetable oil and sesame oil. When it is very hot, add in garlic and saute till fragrant. Add bok choy and stir-fry till becomes slightly soft. Add all the mushrooms and stir-fry for about 1 min at medium-high heat.
2) Add braising sauce and simmer till a gentle boil. Add in Ee Fu noodles, making sure you submerge them in the braising sauce as much as possible. Cover with a lid and let the noodles stew in the sauce at low heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Open lid and check for doneness.
3) Gradually add little hot water if the noodle is not cooked yet and continue to simmer (I repeated this step for 2 - 3 times). Meanwhile, taste the noodle, add more seasonings if required. If it is too salty, add a pinch of sugar.
4) Off fire when the noodles is almost cooked and little braising sauce is left. Cover with lid and allow the residual heat to continue cooking the noodles till al dente (when the dish is done it should have no braising sauce).

5) Dish up on serving plate and garnish with cut chives or coriander.

中秋芋头蛋和月饼男孩 Mid-Autumn Festival Mini Yum & Mooncake Boy

月饼吃多了，今天和大家分享一年一度只有中秋节时才能吃到的迷你芋头～芋头蛋（我不知道正确的名字，因为家里都是这样叫的）。

以芋头拜月、祭拜祖先和吃芋头是潮汕中秋节的一大习俗。从前我们家每逢中秋节都会买很多芋头蛋和菱角来过节。

说起来已经很多年没吃过菱角了，现在很像从没看过有人卖。菱角的外壳是硬的，形状像在飞的鸟，因为是黑色的，所以我常常把菱角和老鹰联想在一起，小时候看了会怕怕。吃时把壳剥开就行了（就像是吃栗子一样），里面的肉是白色的，感觉有点像在吃栗子，但是和栗子比起来，栗子会比较好吃。

照片中看到的是来自汕头的芋头蛋（也有来自香港的，味道没那么好）。和一般的芋头比起来，芋头蛋的味道更香浓，吃进口嘴尾还带有甜味，口感更是绵绵幼滑。做法很简单只要拿去蒸就行了，单单这样吃或是沾点幼糖吃就已经很好吃了。

今天是中秋节，在此派出Lucius祝愿大家中秋节快乐。

但愿人长久，千里共婵娟。

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to all friends and readers!

(Photos taken on 22nd Sept 2010, Lucius, 6 months 4 weeks old)

Quick & Easy Sardine Puff (Ready-made Puff Pastry) 简易烤沙丁鱼角（现成酥皮）

I made this in a cooling Sunday morning to replace my usual toast with jam breakfast, as I preferred something warm that day.

I used frozen puff pastry in small square (that means I don't even need to divide and cut the puff pastry). What I need to do is just to wrap it with some fillings and bake in the oven.

For the filling, I used canned sardine, onion and chili padi again. This time I made it spicier by adding extra chili padi (refer here).

Since the puff pastry is frozen so you need to thaw it ahead before use. You may let it thaw slowly in the fridge (not freezer) overnight if you know you are going to use it the next day. If you need to use it as soon as possible, you may preheat the oven with low temperature, switch off the power and let the frozen puff pastry thaw in the oven (this is what I did for this batch of sardine puff).

Due to our warm and humid weather I feel that puff pastry that is still cold (but not hard) is easier to handle than room temperature one. So just thaw it until it is soft enough to fold. If it is too hard you will tend to break the pastry into half while folding, so be gentle and bend it slowly.

I bought the square puff pastry (as shown in the picture) from JB Jusco at RM4.50/pack. I have seen it selling in JB Carrefour at slightly lower price. It comes with 10pcs of puff pastries which are nicely stacked on layers of plastic sheets.

I am not sure if this brand is sold in Singapore, can anyone advise? Also, can you please share your favourite brand of ready-made puff pastry, where to get it and the price by leaving a comment here?

To assemble, I place the puff pastry with the plastic sheet on my palm, remove the plastic sheet on top (remain the bottom one), add one spoonful of fillings then fold the pastry into half (your choice to fold it into rectangular or triangle shape), press down the edge with the tines of a fork. Turn over and press down the edge again (do it on both sides just to ensure the edge is tightly sealed). Place it on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Then apply egg wash (I used whole egg - egg white mixed with egg yolk) after complete all the wrapping and bake in preheated oven at 200C for about 15-20 minutes or till the pastry becomes golden brown.

蛋花腐竹龙眼糖水 Beancurd Longan Soup with Egg

最近又是Sardine Puff又是烤月饼的，很燥热，今天就来点糖水润润喉。

照片是晚上拍的，效果很差，但不要质疑它的美味哦!

这甜品可是我们家的最爱，虽然是热食的但我们喜欢热天喝，很润喉止渴。不止当饭后甜品，这还是我们家晚餐饭桌上的汤水，有这个当天就不煮汤了。边吃咸的菜肴，边配这个甜汤，这就是我们家的吃法。相信“外人”很难理解，包括D在内。哈哈哈！

做法非常简单，腐竹加入适量水煮至软（加入一把班兰叶一起煮会更香），加入龙眼干，煮一会儿，味道出来后加入适量冰糖或白糖，最后徐徐倒入蛋液煮滚就行了。

注：
1) 腐竹有两种，一种是煮咸的料理用的，要选购煮甜品的腐竹.
2) 龙眼干也有两种，一种来自中国，有加入黑糖，一种来自泰国，比较小颗，完全是原味。个人觉得煮甜品用中国的比较好喝。照片中的龙眼干是中国的，汤水因为龙眼里的黑糖所以颜色比较深。