Annin Dofu

Mar Mar used to make 大菜糕 for us all the time when we were little.  No one seems to know what I'm talking about whenever I mention 大菜糕 because it's better known as 杏仁豆腐花 or annin dofu.  It must be the easiest dessert to make (even easier than lychee panna cotta) since you can't possibly screw it up.  Well, you can, but it's fixable.  Puts macaron-making to shame, lol...

Note to myself: never follow the recipes on the packages.  They are so wrong, especially when the Chinese instructions asks for half a pound of sugar and the English counterpart asks for 120g.  I ended up using only 80g.  *facepalm

Making the whole 7g package of agar agar with the suggested 900mL of water resulted in a medium so hard that even yeast won't culture on it.

Epic fail.

But here's where it gets fun.  Unlike gelatin, which turns into a big mess of guck when reheated after it solidifies, agar agar can be left to set, reheated to liquid form, then set again at room temperature!  Needless to say my science experiment ended up looking and tasting like dessert after all!

Annin Dofu 杏仁豆腐花

7g package of powdered agar agar (if using agar agar sticks, I suppose you can weigh it, but haven't tried it yet.  I've always eyeballed it.)
3 cups water
4 cups half and half cream (I used a 370mL can of evaporated milk and the rest was water and I found the 大菜糕 not creamy enough)
10mL pure almond extract
80g sugar

1. Stir agar agar into water and heat until no traces of agar agar is left (especially when using the sticks, otherwise the 大菜糕 will be lumpy).  Add sugar and stir until completely dissolved.
2. Remove from heat.  Add cream and almond extract and stir until combined, being careful not to make bubbles.
3. Let cool gently and pour mixture evenly into serving dishes.  大菜糕 will set at room temperature so don't wait too long.  Chill in refrigerator (optional, but it'll taste better).  To serve, garnish with plenty of seasonal chopped fruit or if you're lazy, use canned.

Slurp away.

and yes, I don't normally keep mint at home so that green stuff is a piece of lettuce from my box of spring mix.  Stop laughing.

Testing Waters

It's been a while since I've posted!  Yes, I've fallen behind on P365 2013 which means I haven't done much since coming back from HK.  What I finally ended up doing late last night though, was catch up on the photo-a-day for CLM.  I took the photos, just had to put them into the digital album.  Now that that's done and up to date, maybe I can tell myself to get cracking on the 8 weeks of layouts that I'm sort of dreading to do, haha...

CLM is finally walking!  That little bibibak is always practicing by walking round and around the kitchen island, stopping by the Roomba every once in a while to stare at it and wondering if he should go touch it.  When CLM was still crawling, he used to go touch the Roomba all the time despite us scolding him not to.  One time he pressed the button and the Roomba started "coming at him" so I told him urgently: "你仲唔快啲走啊!?!  Wuwu 機來咬你喇!!"  He would go "test the waters" and touch the Roomba and quickly scoot off to see if it'll actually come after him and since the Roomba attempts to re-dock itself after it gets moved, it'll start making noises which freaks CLM out even more so now he knows not to go near it.

Still no teeth, but adorable nonetheless!

However, he still tests me by going to my computer, pressing the keyboard and throwing my mouse.  We've told him so many times over NOT to go near my computer (he once picked up my portable hard drive and whipped it across the room, while it's spinning).  Last night, I was working on my computer and he would come around every time I walked away to do something, just to see what he can do and get away with.  After shooing him away a couple of times, I noticed him quickly walk by, nonchalantly press a key on my keyboard and quickly ran off!!!  That little sneaky CLM!  Giggling the entire time!  Babies nowadays are just too smart!

Spoiled?

Oh dear, CLM has been up every hour tonight since going to bed... it's going to be a looooong night..... *yawn*