Mango with Sticky Rice

Every time we visit Thailand, we will definitely seek out this popular Thai dessert. It is so much cheaper and tastier than the versions found back here in Singapore. The sweetness of the mango goes so well with the fragrance of the coconut milk in the warm and slightly-salted sticky rice.

Sweet ripe mangoes are a key ingredient for this dessert and I had a hard time finding them. They were everywhere just a couple of weeks ago but now, just as they were in abundance then, they are a scarcity now. The recent few that I bought 2 weeks back were sour. To make this dish, I scoured the market stalls till I saw some huge Taiwanese ones. Thankfully, they were delightfully sweet.

A last thing to note : if you do not intend to consume this immediately, please remember not to refrigerate it. It will turn into a rock-hard sticky mess – something you definitely will not want to sink your teeth into!



Mango with Sticky Rice


Ingredients

½ cup raw glutinous rice
¼ tsp toasted sesame seeds or salted fried mung beans (optional)
1 sweet, ripe yellow mango


Sauce for rice :
½ cup coconut milk
¼ tsp salt
1 1/3 tbsp white sugar


Sauce for topping :
¼ cup coconut milk
1/8 tsp salt
1½ tsp white sugar
½ tsp tapioca starch (optional)


Method

1. Soak the sticky rice for at least an hour before steaming.

2. Steam for 20 minutes on medium-high in a sticky rice steamer or in a bowl placed in a covered saucepan with an inch of water at the bottom of the pan.

3. While steaming, prepare the sauce for the rice. Add the ½ cup of coconut milk to a saucepan along with the 1 1/3 tablespoons sugar & ¼ teaspoon salt, and stir over low heat until dissolved. Set aside.

4. Prepare the topping sauce as well. In another small saucepan, add ¼ cup coconut milk, 1½ teaspoons sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon salt, and stir over low heat until dissolved. Mix the tapioca starch with a little bit of water in a small bowl until a paste, then add as well. Mixing the starch beforehand will prevent any lumps from forming in the sauce. Stir until thickened, and remove from heat.

5. When the rice is cooked, spread out in a shallow bowl and cover with ½ the sauce meant for the rice. Stir well and keep adding more until saturation point is reached – which is usually just before puddles of coconut milk are seen. Stir well and cover with a towel. Let the rice absorb the coconut milk for 10-15 minutes.

6. Slice mango as shown and arrange on a plate. Spoon an equal amount of sticky rice next to it, and top with a few spoons of the thicker sauce. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds or fried salty mung beans.

Reference : Real Thai Recipes

Silky Girl Funky Eyelights Pencil

The last time I tried a pencil eyeliner was almost a decade ago. The experience put me off pencil liners for good as it was messy with powder fallout. To seal it off, within a couple of hours, the smudge was so bad that I looked like a panda with punched eyes.

Only in recent months after seeing smudge-proof versions in candy colours, did I contemplate revisiting pencil eyeliners. So on a whim, I bought one from Silky Girl since it was on discount at Watson’s. It was so cheap that I thought I could just throw it away with no heartache if it disappoints again.

I had my first opportunity to use my new Silky Girl Funky Eyelights Pencil in Metallic Bronze last Saturday. It was on smoothly enough without tugging although I did not use an eye primer. The colour was too sheer with just one application so I went over twice till I liked what I saw. But I wager one application will be fine for daily light make-up. There was no smudge even after four hours but for all its staying power, it was easily removed with eye makeup remover at the end of the day.

I like that application is such a breeze and it being affordable adds to the overall positive experience. The other colour I was eyeing was the Olive Green one, so now I may just go get it.

Skin79 Prestige Diamond BB Cream

A slew of Blemish Base (or BB in short) creams has hit the market since a few years ago with many touting it as a wonder must-have beauty product. It was originally developed for post-laser/surgery skin and so it supposedly has inherent gentle healing properties while providing light-medium skin coverage. Most BB creams also contain a sunscreen (both UVA and UVB) and some other properties like whitening or anti-aging.

I have been slow in getting onto the bandwagon because I tend not to have a healthy image of most Korean beauty products. Nothing proven, just a personal biasness.

But just recently since I was on the look-out for a sheer liquid foundation, I decided to give BB cream a try. After trawling CozyCot for reviews on the heaps of BB creams, I bought a sample each of Skin79 Prestige Diamond BB Cream and Dr Jart+ Detox Healing Black Label BB Cream.

Over the weekend, I tried the Skin79 Prestige Diamond BB Cream and was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it. I dabbed 2 dots each on my forehead and each cheek, 1 dot each on my nose and chin. It glided on very smoothly with a texture that is neither too thick and sticky nor too watery and diluted. It was a very close match to my skin tone with no visible differentiation in tone at the jaw-line even with only minimal blending done. I lightly dusted over with compact powder, and immediately liked how I looked in the mirror.

While I would not use it solely for skincare, it is a convenient all-in-one product that shaves minutes off the makeup routine.

Getting ready for school

Knowing Little Buddy’s strong character, we encroached the subject of him going to school very early on although he will only join his elder brother next year. As expected, we encountered resistance from him right from the start and all the way from there.

He argued that he does not need to go to school to learn as Mommy and Grandma can teach him at home. He insists that he is a small boy and cannot go to school yet (he says this when he is asked to do something he does not want). He refuses to go near the school bus when it arrives to fetch Big Buddy and will run off.

Sigh…thankfully he is now more receptive to the idea of going to school after continually talking about school, the friends he will make, the fun activities he will enjoy. Big Buddy’s excited chatter about his school day has helped tremendously as well.

At the current moment, we are stuck at the stage of getting him to accept the idea of going to school in the school bus. Although he enjoys bus rides, for some unfathomable reason, he balks at the idea of getting on the School Bus.

Today, while waiting for a neighbour’s kid, the bus aunty and driver invited Little Buddy to go up the bus and have a look. With much persuasion, he finally relented and allowed me to carry him up and be introduced to the Bus Aunty, Driver and the other children. He remained disinterested and insisted on getting off after a while.

However, it is a positive step forward and hopefully, after today, his resistance will slowly come down and we can soon count it as one challenge overcome…

I can't walk...my leg pain pain

Much to my displeasure, one of the recent activities Little Buddy has taken to is jumping. He loves to climb onto the bed or sofa or the toy box and from there, take a flying leap to the floor.

I should have no qualms if he wears appropriate protective gear and practises his jumps in a safer environment. As it is, I have shouted myself hoarse in stopping him whenever he does this at home. I have taken the soft approach of explaining to him why he should not jump from such a height, the tough stand of punishment in the naughty corner and even caning but to no avail. Once my back is turned, there he is at it again.

That is, until last evening when Little Buddy complained of pain at the back of his left knee and upon examination, I noticed some swelling of the knee. Fearing the worst as he could not even stand without support, I brought him to the KK Women's and Children's Hospital, for an X-ray just in case, he had a fracture. Armed with masks and with apprehension at entering a possible H1N1 environment, we quickly made our visit and left within half-an-hour, thankful that there was only a handful of people at the Children’s Emergency.

I thank God that it was just a strain. Little Buddy had most likely pulled his hamstring, thereby causing some swelling. The doctor bandaged his knee to minimize movement in that knee joint and assured us that recovery should be in sight in 2-3 days’ time.

Cheese Scones

Hubby and I love the salty and cheesy taste. So with the packet of shredded Cheddar cheese in my fridge, I made some Cheese Scones and had them with jam for today's breakfast.

Half-way through, I realized the recipe called for grated, not shredded cheese. I was too lazy to further chop up the cheese, and so used it as it was. The texture was not compromised and we liked its lightness and fluffiness.

I used half the portions for my bake and yielded 20 scones. You may add more cheese if you prefer a cheesier taste.



Cheese Scones


Ingredients

250 gm of butter, semi-melted
30 gm of white sugar
1 egg
500 gm of self-raising flour
250 gm of fresh or skimmed milk
(230 gm to be used in the recipe, 20 gm to brush over scones before baking)
100 gm of Cheddar cheese, grated


Method

1) Cream butter and sugar at slow speed for 2-3 min, or until blended. Add egg and continue beating at slow speed to combine all ingredients. Stop beating, scrap the mixing bowl to dislodge any butter residue at the side and bottom of the bowl.

2) Combine grated Cheddar cheese with self raising flour. With low beating speed, blend in the cheese and flour mixtures in stages. Pour in 230 gm of milk immediately after mixing the flour. Beat till all well combined.

3) Remove dough from mixing bowl, and place it on a floured surface/ kitchen table top. Let dough rest for 20-30 min. Extensive kneading is not required, just knead to form a dough will do.

4) Sprinkle some flour on the dough before rolling out to about 1 inch thick. Flour a round/oval shape cutter of 1.5 inches in diameter (about half a palm-size) to cut out the dough. Flour the cutter constantly and tap it sharply so that it goes through the dough to shape the scones easily. Alternately, cut in squares with knife, and shape it round with bare hands.

5) Place scones on a lightly greased baking tray and brush the top of each scone with milk.

6) Place scones at middle rack and bake in oven preheated to 180°C for 15-20 min, or until golden brown.

7) Leave scones on a colling rack to cool before serving.

Reference : My Wok Life

Mini cyber geeks

I wanted to create an email account for each of my sons so as to enable them to each own at least a decently-named email address.

Little Buddy has no problem getting his at Gmail since he has a relatively unique name. However, I had difficulty finding something meaningful for Big Buddy. I knew his name was a popular one but was surprised that when combined with his father’s last name, it was still a pretty much common occurrence.

I created accounts with Hotmail and the associated @live.com but I failed to get them to work with my Microsoft Office Outlook despite checking out the various help forums and fiddling around with the settings, etc.

Finally, for ease of checking emails, I decided to settle for Gmail for both fellas till I figure out how to get Hotmail to work with my Outlook.

Me a cyber geek, not!