Monday, 18 January 2010
"Ting!" Fresh from the Oven!
The oven is being sought after again! No, not for the Gingerbread man my mother, brother and I baked for last Christmas to give away, it is the Chinese New Year's goodies instead. Mentioning about Chinese New Year, it the festive, with Christmas that kids always yearn for and it is about in a month's time away, and we would all don on our new clothing ranging from the intricately and sophisticated hand-woven traditional costumes to the alluring and glamorous ones that are being displayed along Orchard Road. In addition, eating all the snacks and goodies such as the all-time favourite - "bah kwa"(roasted meat) till our fill and most importantly, when we are visiting, we merely have to voice a few greetings and reach out our hands humbly to receive the "ang pow"(red packet) from the adults. Simple as that and the money comes flowing into our pockets effortlessly. However, when I was young, I always wondered where the money went to as it never appeared in my bank book until recently that my mother said she saved the money somewhere. I bet she must have quite a sum of money from me.
Coming back to the point, it was my Mum's sister, which is my aunt, who brought up the idea of baking pineapple tarts and aha! This idea struck me that I should bake and seize this golden opportunity for me to write about. That is killing two birds with a stone and I ought to milk whatever it is worth out of this wonderful hands-on experience that one can never put a price tag on. My mother, aunt, brother and I started it all early in the morning and not forgetting about my camera to capture the memorable moments as evidence. Tones of pictures were taken but sadly, many did not turn out well as what I contemplated for... Nevertheless, here are some of the pictures to share with:
- That's me! Meticulously trying to crack the egg to separate the white from the yolk -
- Alright, have closer look -
- Slicing the butter into smaller pieces to melt faster... Science!!! -
- Sifting icing sugar and flour. A snowy mountain! -
- Manual mixing like a machine -
- A smiley face made of pineapple filling... -
- A bowl full of pineapple filling rolled into balls -
- The process of inserting the fillings -
Overall, it was indeed tedious work to knead the dough by hand, slowly and manually, causing your muscles to tire out and ache badly at the end of the day but that's how you truly experience the entire process and doing it from the bottom of your heart. Everyone was fatigue and our eye lids were gets heavier and heavier as the timer on the oven ticks when every second pass by but we could not afford to doze off, so we waited in anticipation and impatiently for the arrival of tarts with golden-brown crisps, emitting a strong aroma that make our mouths water uncontrollably. However, reminiscing the hard work at the end of the day, the sense of accomplishment that somehow could not be described in words made it all worthwhile.
It was dusk and the day did not ended just like that as our whole family including my relatives had to head down to the airport to celebrate my grandmother's birthday at one of the Chinese-styled restaurants in Terminal 3 and I was drained by then and so was my mother and brother. The food served was appealing at sight and after trying it, it did not disappoint me. The food was full of zest with succulent and vivid flavours, and not a single bit was left over, instead we ordered more and the dinner ended off with a lychee ice-cream cake that leaves a slight soothing after-taste invigorating your taste buds, and which I had two servings...
- The cake -
That is my cooperative brother and I ought to thank him for kindly agreeing to be my wonderful photographer for the day as i got my hands dirty.
As the sky turned turned velvet black, it only meant one thing - the day is approaching the end. It was a fulfilling day that I fully made use of every single second there is to spare and I wonder when would I probably bake again...
THE ONLY ONE cut the sentence at 2:33 am
*****
