Mooncake Making Workshop - Scoopy's and Cream

Mooncakes (also known as yue bing) are a commonly featured treat traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Last Saturday, courtesy of a deal Michi found though Groupon, the both of us got to make our very own mooncakes in a hands-on workshop conducted by Scoopy's and Cream ice cream parlour.

They've got the cutest logo ever!

The workshop itself was a small, humble little class with a decent gathering. Aprons, gloves and ingredients were provided, self-explanatory worksheets were handed out, and the teacher and his assistants were always very helpful. In this class, we were taught how to make snowskin mooncakes, which unlike regular traditional mooncakes need no baking as their crust is made out of instantly-edible glutinous rice. The process was surprisingly simple - and really fun!

We were making tiny little mooncakes in this workshop, so the quantities of the ingredients are a lot lesser. For the crust: 35g of fried glutinous rice flour, 35g of icing sugar, and 10g of shortening should do the trick. 

Sieving the icing sugar and the rice flour...

...then adding the shortening. Mix well.

Next, prepare a mixture of 40ml of water, a tablespoon/teaspoon of condensed milk.

Add 2 drops of the food flavoring or food coloring of your choice - I used chocolate!

Make a "well" in the flour/icing/shortening mix and gradually add in the flavored liquid, kneading until...

...you get this. It's squooshy! And kinda gross looking.

I'd like to interrupt at this point to mention that although our worksheet called for us to have the kneaded dough sit in the fridge for 20 minutes (presumably to let the extra moisture in the dough evaporate or something), the time constraints of the workshop unfortunately forced us to finish up without the refrigerating part. While our teacher assured us that the dough was still edible (it was) amidst exchanged glances between our teams (it tasted like fresh lard), I think the exclusion of this step definitely made a considerable difference in how our mooncakes eventually turned out.

I'm also going to say that while most modern mooncakes have a wide range of fillings - from the traditional lotus paste to coffee fillings and even the local favorite/hated durian paste - we were provided with pre-made red bean paste in the workshop. Our worksheet has instructions on how to actually cook the red bean paste yourself, but since I'm not much of a cook and Michi doesn't fancy red bean, I'm not replicating it here. (Also, too much work.) Anyway, on to actually shaping the mooncakes:

From the kneaded dough, pinch out 28g.

From the red bean (or azuki, or hong dou sha, or that gross black-red thing), pinch out 24g.

Roll both the dough and the red bean into individual balls, then roll out the dough to a thin spread about the size of your palm.

Next, place the ball of red bean in the center of the dough, on top of a sheet of plastic.

Start wrapping it up. Twist the bag around at the top to "seal in" the red bean and...

Ta-dah!

Put the twisty ball of red bean dough into the mooncake mould, twisted side facing you (so the smooth side can capture the imprint). Squish the dough in gently but firmly so it fills the mould. Once that's done, flip the mould over, give it a few hits with your palm and the mooncakes will pop right out.

You're done!

Not going to lie, I had way more fun making the mooncakes than eating them (sorry Scoopy's). Like I mentioned earlier, I think the refrigeration could have made a difference in how the mooncakes turned out - they were a lot more like ang ku kueh in looks, texture and taste at the end than any kind of mooncake I've seen, and I kinda wish we were given a different paste instead of red bean. Still, the entire experience was totally worth it - we left the workshop feeling pretty chipper and accomplished. Maybe next time we'll sign up for their ice-cream making workshop...

I miss Giant Eagle

Squeezing in one last post before the month of May ends to make up for the lack of recent activity! It's been two weeks since we've gotten back from our trip to the states and... man. A lot of locals here who go abroad will tell you that they always miss the local cuisine (nasi lemak, mee goreng, chicken rice etc.). I'm a traitor - I miss American food.

Really though, look at the selection we have imported here and tell me you don't miss it too just looking at what America has to offer. Or Ohio's Giant Eagle supermarket anyway.

The love of my life.

I love my snacks, so I'm going to highlight just three kinds of snack food that stood out to me the most by the sheer difference of variety available between the two countries:

Poptarts

Exhibit 1.1: Poptart selection in Ohio USA Giant Eagle

Exhibit 1.2: Poptart selection in Singapore. wat

That's right. One miserable little shelf of poptarts, in only five flavors. That's the most we have here in Singapore. Sure, maybe varying sizes of the different supermarket chains here may carry more variants of the products, but you're never going to get an entire bay of poptarts like the one above in Giant Eagle. I had to stop myself from photographing each and every box cover for the amount of flavors they carried. It was amazing.

Cereals

Some of the cereals in Ohio. I WANT THESE SO BAD.

Singapore's selection. Yay, plain boring cereal!

 ...okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration; we do carry more than just corn flakes. I do wish we had more exciting flavors like those four featured up there though. I would kill to be able to get Reese's Puffs any day I wanted. And for only 3USD! Cereals here are about 4 - 7USD per box (and man are the boxes tiny), and those are just for kid brands. The adult cereals can go for almost 6 - 12USD per box! I'm not paying that much for fibre.

 Chewing / Bubble gum

Ohio. Again, a complete bay dedicated to an entire sub-category of kind-of-food!

If you find these in Singapore, someone's going to jail for it.

Totally serious. Chewing gum is actually banned in Singapore and you may even get fined for just having it on your person. (Michi chewed so much gum nonstop from the instant she landed in Ohio until we got off the plane in Singapore, it was kind of scary.)

I'll let you read up on why it was actually banned and let you be the judge of whether that move was really necessary. Remember to appreciate your local supermarkets!

edit: 12/06/11 - Found the photo we took of our shopping cart! Good times...

Food: Our Shopping List

Alright, we can't really post our shopping list because uh. We don't have one. One of the not so nice aspects of taking a room rental rather than an apartment rental is that you usually do not have access to the kitchen and therefore are pretty restricted in what you can cook. We'll leave the discussion of accommodation rental for another time, though.

As such, the majority of our consumption comes from ready to eat foods and those bought from hawker centers and restaurants. Luckily, this gives us a pretty good idea of what to pay for a whole host of items since we're so incredibly cheap economical.

My prices and comparisons are going to be coming from an American (Ohioan, at that) standpoint, so do take them with a grain of salt. Also, this is a completely incomplete list. We just noticed we had a lot of pictures with food prices. Feel free to add to the list in the comments!

What you should buy:

• Fruit- Just do it. If you don't like fruit now, learn to accept it. It's fresh, cheap, and delicious and you'll never run out of selection. Maybe make an exception for durian. You don't have to like that.

(look at that now. envious, right?)

• Local ice cream- notice the emphasized local here, you'll see why later. You can find ice cream vendors pretty much anywhere and their prices (and selection, usually) are always the same. For $1 SGD (about 70 cents USD) you can get a big hunk of delicious ice cream whether you're in Orchard or Tampines. They offer to put the rectangular piece between wafers or pandan bread. Go with the bread, even if it seems odd, I promise you you'll enjoy it. You're allowed to avoid the durian, yam, and corn flavors.

• Local favorites- Your best bet of finding good eats is always to go with where the longest line of locals is hanging around. This is important as you'll see plenty of places crowded with foreigners you want to avoid. Aside from the price tag, if you don't see a local eating there it's probably not good food. Local favorites are the obvious chicken rice, along with prata, nasi lemak and...well, a lot of noodle dishes. These are easily accessible, convenient, and always delicious. And cheap. 

(this is going to be your favorite meal soon. milo and chicken rice, what more can you want?)

What you should avoid (usually):

• Yogurt- Of course with some hunting you may be able to find some yogurt that isn't going to make you bankrupt, but seriously, it's just not worth it here. For healthy foods you aren't going to have to hunt far, and your choices will definitely be fresher and less processed.

(this is PER YOGURT. seriously, find me anyone who's willing to pay $5.10 for a yogurt and i'll show you someone with no budget)

• Any other ice cream- Okay, I'm a hypocrite here. I can't stay away from Haagen Dazs (did you know it was spelled that way!? I had to google it) caramel biscuit and cream, but we are sure to make it only a very now and again treat. And at about $15 per carton, for good reason. I don't care how good it is, the local ice cream is just as good and, well, 1/15th the price.

 (i'm sorry, my love, i promise i'll eat plenty of you on the next trip to the States)

•  ALCOHOL- Sorry to drinkers out there, but it's not terribly feasible unless you're loose with money. Even after converting currency, prices for a bottle are at least double and can be triple or more per drink. You may get away by staying away from the city center or finding sales, but otherwise you can expect to pay about $15 for a shot.

(maybe you can be forgiven for one Singapore Sling from the Raffles Hotel. this pic's not by us, just so you know, we haven't been able to justify the $25 charge yet)

You'll be able to find a lot of value for your dollar over here as long as you know where to look. Of course, indulging in some pricey foods now and again is alright too, so I'll leave you now to go indulge in my overpriced Magnum Chocolate and Strawberry ice cream bar.

Food: Teppanyaki @ Pepper Lunch

It's a Singaporean thing, I think, to constantly add the @ sign between a place and event. Library@esplanade is the actual name of... the library at the Esplanade, for example. Well, it gets the point across, anyway.

It's also a Singaporean thing to eat out a lot. A lot lot. Like, almost every meal a lot. This is due to two main factors, I believe. 1) Kitchens are usually pretty tiny and 2) It's ridiculously cheap. If you want a nice helping of chicken rice it'll only put you out about $2 SGD, about $1.40 USD. For a decently filling meal, it's usually cheaper to just head to the nearest hawker center and buy some mixed rice or nasi lemak than to eat in. As such, you'll usually find Pris and I at one of the said hawker centers getting our dinner, but now and again we do head out to town for a bite to eat.

As the day before Valentine's Day, it's already quite busy in the city center with couples heading out to dinner and the like together. But more importantly, today is my birthday. In celebration Pris and I headed out to a movie (The Rite, not too bad!) and dinner at one of our favorite restaurants- Pepper Lunch.

We're going to highly recommend this place, it's got something for pretty much everyone. Pepper Lunch is a Japanese chain with a few outlets here in Singapore and around Asia, but none in America yet. The food is served teppanyaki style, which means they throw all the ingredients of your meal onto a sizzling hot plate and bring it out for you to cook at the table. I always end up getting the beef and rice and Pris swears by the salmon, but they've also got teppanyaki pasta and even hamburger dishes all cooked on their hotplates.

Better yet, you're not going to be breaking the bank for a meal here. A huge meal serving of your main course, plus drink and your choice of dessert, salad, or miso soup only runs about $12 SGD.

We were pretty full after popcorn and drinks at the movies so we ended up just grabbing one upsized meal to split, the beef since I'm the birthday girl, of course.

 

(it doesn't look so great when it first comes out though...)

 (...and even less when you first start the mixing)

(but mix in their honey brown sauce and garlic soy sauce after making sure your meat isn't burning to the plate)

 (and suddenly...heaven!)

We've never had bad service at any of the Pepper Lunch outlets. The food is usually out within just a few minutes of ordering and you're eating about 10 minutes after arrival. After the meat and egg are done cooking and everything is mixed together you're free to dig in. They provide handy little instructional videos outside the stores though, so I doubt you won't be able to figure out what to do. It's a very fun and delicious way to get your dinner, definitely worth a check out for anyone in the region!

(don't take just our words for it though)

Lots of Pig in the Year of the Rabbit

Needless to say, it's been getting busier and busier as Chinese New Year draws closer. A constant medley of traditional festive songs fill the air wherever you go. Fortune cats squint cheerfully down at customers as they haggle with vendors for the best prices. Stepping into Chinatown is like stepping onto and into a red carpet. Nearly every shophouse lining the narrow, bustling streets is filled to the brim with all manner of goods in every shade of red imaginable. Decor, floor mats, storage containers, signage - the color red is auspicious in Chinese culture, symbolizing good luck and prosperity, and you would be hard-pressed not to find it everywhere during an occasion such as this.  

 Very popular during Chinese New Year, but not uncommon otherwise, bakkwa (also known as bah kwa) is a smoked, preserved pork snack normally sold in thin, square slices.  It may be served alone or together with other foods, and is sometimes be cut into circles to represent coins (wealth). Prices for bakkwa hit a high around this time of year, with some brands which normally cost 23SGD per kg going up to as high as 50SGD per kg! 

The queues for bakkwa get ridiculously astoundingly long, sometimes taking up to three hours before reaching the front of the line (you can't even see the bakkwa shop in question in this picture):

I'd introduced Michelle to bakkwa a couple months back (when it was cheaper) and trying a bite of it at first she didn't seem too impressed and described it as being "similar to beef jerky". After eating a full square slice of bakkwa the opinion was upgraded to "delicious". I quite enjoy bakkwa myself and we both treat ourselves to a couple slices sometimes, but for now I'll wait for the prices to deflate. Ching chong.

Tong To-Tong Chiang

With Chinese New Year on the way, everyone in Singapore is gearing up for the celebrations throughout the country. Personally, I'm gearing up for the two days of paid leave from work.

Chinese New Year this year falls on February 3 and 4 and is a time when relatives go from house to house visiting their family members, eating some of the millions of CNY biscuits, and either giving or receiving ang pow (red packets filled with money and often given to children, sometimes unmarried family members).

The biscuits really are fantastic though! And there's no shortage of selection. So far my favorites are kueh baulu (actually Malaysian but everywhere right now), kueh bangkit, and almond biscuits, though Pris tells me I need to try the pineapple tarts as well!

We've got some celebrating right outside the door as well. They set up a stage where a singer performed a few nights and some sort of shrine where people are lighting incense as an offering. They're very decorative and beautiful~

Mandarin oranges are another auspicious symbol of the new year, so we're seeing plenty of miniature mandarin orange trees being sold and placed in front of businesses. They're very cute!

Now that some Chinese New Year events have started popping up we'll probably head down to one or two and check it out sometime in the next few weeks. Looking forward to seeing my first CNY in Singapore!

Happy New Year!

It's 2011 and though we're late on starting, late is better than never.

Pris and I (Michelle) will hopefully be updating this at least once a week, that was one of our resolutions. So whether you're one of our friends or family or just dropping by we hope you enjoy reading about our adventures and trials in Singapore!

We thought we'd bring in the New Year with a good traditional breakfast at one of the nearby hawker centers this morning. The usual traditional Singapore breakfast starts with two soft boiled eggs, which you get raw in a cup of boiling water and leave to cook for about five minutes. Once they're done, you crack them open and eat with soy sauce. Added to that you'll find toast with butter and kaya, a traditional spread made from coconut, sugar and egg, and a cup of coffee.

Since neither of us drink coffee we got one iced milo and one hot milo, which we think is a huge improvement.

Happy New Year, everyone!