Brother

After dinner with grandma, Adrian brought Livie's drawing bag into the house from the car.

Olivia: I left my bag in the car!
Me: Your brother brought it in for you already.
Olivia: Oh, thank you Adrian!  You are the best brother I have!
Adrian: I'm the only brother you have.  In fact, I'm the only brother you'll ever have!
Olivia: No!
(Ho and I were looking at each other, confused.)
Olivia: I'll have a brother when I get older.
(Ho and I were even more puzzled.)
Adrian: That will be your son, Olivia!
Olivia: Oh...

Her brother knows her the best.

Change in Plan - Fruit Cream Cake

I felt bad for not having a special cake for my brother’s birthday. Even though the one he cut was beautifully decorated by Cherry at class, my brother thought the buttercream we used was too sweet.  (Not Cherry's fault of course because she only makes perfect cakes!)  I was going to make him a Boston Cream Cake but my pastry cream didn’t pass the storage test and water started to seep out. What can I do? In my pantry I have peaches in a can; in the fridge I have blueberries, raspberries and whipping cream… A simple fruit cream cake it is now.

I had lady fingers in my original design, they can be used with this cake too. They helped a lot because my masking skill is terrible. I used the shortest time to assemble the cake together. When I took the cake to the restaurant, feeling quite satisfied with the cake, my mom looked at it and said, “It’s SO UGLY!” She was not joking, because she hates grapes and anything that looks like grapes. Urgh! Yup, blueberries are lookalike of grapes to her. Luckily, seems like nobody agreed with her. Is it really that ugly?

Everybody focused on the taste. The cake finished quite quickly, that’s a good sign.

Milk Custard with Egg Whites 蛋白燉奶

Just when I was complaining having too much egg yolks in the fridge, I made this Chinese dessert with egg whites only again. My friend posted a picture of the one she made at home, it looks SOOO GOOOOD! Well, mind you, she uses Hokkaido 3.6% milk. While we don’t have that in Toronto, I’ll try with 2%. Less guilty to the body anyway.

It’s very easy to make.

Ingredients:

• 200ml Milk
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 egg whites

Method:

1. Melt sugar in milk with double boiler (or with a heat proof bowl on a pot of simmering water)
2. Whisk whites to foamy stage
3. Pour whites to milk mixture through a sieve to remove bubbles
4. Mix well and pour everything to 2 bowls (you can pour through the sieve one more time)
5. Cover bowls with aluminum foil and place in steamer.
6. Steam with medium heat for 7-8 mins, low heat for 2 more mins.

 Livie actually cried because she did not have enough. I have to double the portion next time.

Whisper

After the Disney on Ice Toy Story 3 show, we went to visit Jennifer. She took us n the kids to the roof top garden at penthouse of her apartment building. Ho was excited to show Adrian where he used to work. So he picked him up trying to let him see the building.

Ho: Adrian, daddy used to work there. Do you see the blue lights? That’s the building I’m talking about.
Adrian: Oh yeah, I see it.

Then Ho put him back on the floor. Adrian pulled me by the arm and whispered to my ear…
Adrian: Don’t tell daddy. I actually didn’t see anything but I was scared of the height so I just told him “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” So he will put me down.
Me: I think that’s a very good move, Adrian.

That will be our little secret.

Meatballs in Mediterranean Tomato Sauce

I learned to make hamburger with beef and pork awhile back ago. Yet I seldom make them because they are still too meaty to me. When I bought frozen meatballs from Ikea recently, I saw bread crumbs in the ingredients. A bulb lighted up above my head… So that’s how they soften the texture. I decided to make it at home.

I used one part of beef, one part of pork, and one part of Japanese “pan” crumbs (by volume, not weight). After spending the time to make the meatballs, I got lazy and used a Japanese tomato sauce bouillon I have at home. Looks good, tastes good. I’m happy with this one dish meal.

Coconut Cookies

I wish all recipes which require egg whites only will come with a pairing recipe suggesting what to make with the egg yolks. I have a big tub of egg yolks saved up in the fridge after my chocolate meringue cake and hazelnut macarons. Cherry told me her bf’s b-day was coming up, I know what to make now – Tony Wong’s Coconut Cookies!

These cookies taste wonderful but are definitely not for healthy conscious folks. But hey, once in awhile is ok, right? Besides, this is one thing that my talented niece won’t make for her bf, it is a little something I can do to thank them for letting me park my car at their place on Saturday class time.

100%

Adrian was telling us that he would only share things with boys at school, but not with girls.

Ho: That’s not fair Adrian.  We should not discriminate anyone.  We treat everyone the same.  In our family, we have 50% boys and 50% girls...

Olivia: (tried to be the smarty pants) No, we have 100% boys and 100% girls.

Ho:  Sorry, Livie, it’s impossible to have 100% and 100%, only 50/50.

Adrian: Of course we can!  I’m not 50% boy 50% girl.  I’m a 100% boy!