Neo Grab Smart Phone Holder

I bought this smart phone holder through Qoo10 shopping website for S$24.90. It's a Korean product with good quality plastic.

Vacuum mounting base

The strong vacuum suction cap base allow the holder to mount to any flat surface with firm grip.

Lift up the lever, the holder can be dismounted from the table.

Push down the lever, the holder will be mounted firmly to the surface.

Ball and socket joint

The ball and socket joint allow the user to change the orientation of the phone easily. 

Vertical display 

Horizontal display 

Or any angle

The versatile ball and socket joint 

Handphone clip

The Handphone clip allows it to grib almost any size of phone. Too bad, the clip cannot fit the iphone 5, only iphone 4 in vertical postion. So, iphone5 can only be clipped side way 

One hand operation

You can lodge the phone to the clip single handedly without using both hands.

In conclusion, this is a good versatile handphone holder which most people will love it. It came in different colours too :)

My New L'Equip Waffle Iron

I have ordered an L'Equip waffle iron from a seller I saw on an online shop Qoo10. It cost me S$115 - quite an expensive item as compared to those normal waffle irons which cost less than S$50.

However, it is considered a good buy as it comes with many features to produce a good nice waffle:

Thick waffle

It can produce a spongy thick waffle of about 2 cm. My previous waffle maker can only bake a thin 1 cm thick waffle.

Even heating 

It produces waffle with an even golden crust.

Locking lid

The waffle iron has an automatic locking feature. You just need to turn 180 degree clockwise to lock the lid. This allows the expanding waffle to fill up all the gaps , thus producing a perfect shape waffle. It also prevent the expanding waffle from pushing up the lid and spill out.

To unlock the lid, just needs to turn 180 degree anti-clockwise.

Pour batter,

close the lid,

turn clockwise 180 degree to bake.

Crispness selection

The waffle allows the user to select the level of crispiness, from a scale of 1 to 4. 

Fast cooking time

It takes about 2 to 3 minutes to cook one waffle to level 3 of crispiness. 

Indicators lights

The Green indicator lights on both sides of the pan allow the user to observe the readiness of the waffle inside. The light goes off while cooking, and illuminated when ready. 

Easy storage

The iron can be kept in a upright position, thus minimize storage space.

 

Retractable legs

The legs can be open up and close for added stability and storage convenience.

I love this waffle iron. Now, I can have waffles any time I want :)

Recipe: this the link to the 

Pandan coconut waffle

http://mymindpatch.blogspot.com/2013/08/pandan-coconut-milk-waffle-using-l.html

raspberry butter waffle

http://mymindpatch.blogspot.com/2013/08/raspberry-butter-waffle-using-l-waffle.html

My New Philips Avance Collection Rice Cooker 1.8L HD3087

 

I bought this new 1.8L Philips Rice Cooker from Courts Tampines this afternoon. It costs me S$ 199.

Yeah! I've a new rice cooker that comes with 3D heating function and a 6mm thick 5 layers inner pot. The 3D heating is to ensure even heating within the pot. While the thick pot is to resemble the 'big pot effect'.

Rice function

Let's wait and see... I'm cooking my very first pot of rice now, hehe :)

P.s I can even choose the taste of the rice I want it to cook, soft, medium, or hard *\(^o^)/*

The LCD light panel shows the progress of the rice cooking process. As the cooking progress, more LCD light sections will light up. When the rice is about to finish cooking, almost the entire LCD panel is illuminated :0 

How exciting !

Here it is, my first pot of rice, soft and fluffy :)

The freedom to choose the taste of rice also allows me to cook a better plate of fried rice. I chose the 'hard' taste, the firmer grains give better fried rice texture.

Cake function

I tried baking almond cranberry butter cake using the new rice cooker. Despite part of the crust stuck to the pot, the texture and moisture level of the cake were good :)

Steam function

I also tried to steam a pandan cake using the rice cooker 'steam' function. The texture of the cake was soft :)

One of the new features in the steam function is you can set the cooking time. The cooking time will start when the water starts to boil. In this way, you can better estimate the cooking time without having to consider the boiling time of the water. A very useful function :)

 

Recipe please click here

 

The rice cooker steamed a soft and springy strawberry cranberry cake too.  Steaming cake has never been so easy :)

Congee function

 

A pot of pork rib peanut congee cooked using one cup of rice was ready within an hour of cooking time. The texture of the rice grains was just right, soft but not soggy, still retaining part of the grain form. The meat was tender and juicy. Open a can of braised peanuts and added to the congee to become a perfect pot of pork rib peanut congee.

Soup function

The rice cooker simmered pork ribs in the old cucumber soup to the right tenderness without having to bother about the temperature. In normal soup boiling, we need to bring the soup to a boil, them lower the heat to simmer. You need to be watchful to prevent over boiling the meat. 

With the help of the rice cooker, brewing soup is no longer tough!

Steamer rack

The new design of the steamer rack added a slot which allow you to use the rice scoop to lift up the entire steamer rack.

I am left with casserole rice functions to test thte rice cooker. Wait for my update :)

Blessing in disguise

My son would hang this small Doraemon plush toy on my kitchen fridge door every time before he left for school. He would collect it back when he returns from school. When all the family members left for school or work, this plush toy will become my kitchen companion.  

Day by day, week by week, it has become yellowish with dirt unknowingly.  I told myself, I need to give it a scrub one day.  However, it drags and drags until yesterday ...

I accidentally stained the plush toy with sour cream while mixing the bread. My first thought was to wipe the stain away using a tissue paper. But, second thought, although the stain has been physically removed, the sour smell still linger. The only way was to give it a bubble bath. After a few rounds of rinsing, it looked like a brand new plush toy happily sunbathing in the morning ray.

If not because of the stain, the Doraemon plush toy would not have its bath :)😊🌻

What's in the kitchen on 28 July 2013?

Today's chicken gyoza showed a much improvement in terms of appearance and crispness compared to last preparation. 

Crispy chicken gyoza prepared by frozen gyoza using Happycall to steam-fry.  First pour about 1 tbsp olive oil into the medium hot pan. Arrange the frozen gyoza in the pan avoiding touching each other. Pan-fried till the base of the gyoza become golden, pour in dilute flour water (1/4 tsp flour mixes with 60g water). Close the lid to steam the gyoza.  When all the water has been evaporated, open the lid and allow the base to fry to crisy golden.

Serve hot with black vinegar and shredded ginger :)

A sweet cooling dessert brewed with bit size white fungus, dried longan, candied winter melon bits, Chinese barley, sago pearl, wolfberry, red dates, honey date, pandan leaf and rock sugar. A yummy dessert to be serve cold during a hot day. 

I omitted the black fungus this time as it seemed to dampen the clear and subtle appearance of this dessert. 

A failure is a step closer to success. 

Practice do produce better result each time. 

What's in the kitchen on 30 June 2013?

Lunch

Today's a Sunday. A day of minimal cooking and a day to get rid of almost-overdue-food :P

Garlic Bread

I was left with 4 Okara sesame breads which I had baked 3 days ago. One of the best way to salvage the stale bread was by making garlic bread. Spread with thick layer of garlic butter, the melted butter percolated  through the bread leaving behind garlic chips waiting to be baked to golden ~

Mushroom Soup

I had a tray of sliced button mushrooms sitting in the fridge veggie compartment turning brown soon. I decided not to waste these delicious mushrooms and to churn them into mushroom soup.

I steamed one potato, one medium carrot and half an onion in the rice cooker till soft. The sliced mushrooms were toasted in the toaster oven till fragrant. I blended all these cooked ingredients in a food processor.

In a warm pot, I melted 10g of unsalted butter and add in the blended ingredients. Add in fresh milk, water, salt and black pepper. Ta-ta~ the soup is ready :)

No good food should be wasted unnecessarily, a little effort could give them a second lease of lives :)

What's in the kitchen on 29 Jun 2013?

Lunch

I cooked this Korean tangy spicy chicken thighs for lunch. They were so juicy that my hubby's first bite on the meat resulted in the juice squirting out of it o.0

To avoid burning the chicken skin, I spent almost 45 minutes grilling and basting the meat using low temperature. All worth the effort ^^

Recipe link: http://mymindpatch.blogspot.com/2013/06/tangy-sweet-spicy-chicken-thighs.html

Dessert

I love this cool aloe vera cubes in light brown sugar syrup. The slice of lime really adds zest to the plain aloe vera dessert ~

Recipe link: http://mymindpatch.blogspot.com/2012/06/aloe-vera-cube-in-pandan-black-sugar.html

What's in the kitchen on 28 Jun 2013

Lunch

Stir-fried rice pasta with garlic, omelette, green veggie, sweet soya sauce, sweet chili sauce and fish sauce. 

I like it sweeeet ~

Dinner

Chicken vegetable stew. An all-time favorite for the family. 

Potatoes and carrots were first steamed in rice cooker. Chicken thighs were marinated with salt, pepper, oyster sauce  and sugar. The meat was added to the sautée onion in the pot. When the meat was semi-cooked, oyster sauce, sugar, salt, pepper and about 100ml of water was added. When the mixture started to boil, add in cooked potatoes, carrot and tomato wedges. Simmer till soft ~

Baking

I baked this pumpkin honey loaf with chia seeds.

Chia seeds are the superfood seeds rich in omega-3 fat, fibre and antioxidant. 

Love this soft and tender loaf 💕 yummy 😋

Is the haze episode over?

Singapore has been blanketed by haze starting from 14 June 2013. It's The island worst haze episode since the year 1997. The haze PSI hit a record high of 401 on 21 June.

However, the blue sky returns after 1 pm on 22 June without any warning. No rain, no strong wind. I came out of the kitchen, and was greeted by the pale blue sky when I looked up through the hall's bay window. Astonishing!

In the midst of people queuing frantically for N95 musks, the haze cleared off without leaving any trace or smell Amazing nature...