My Memories

All About Vanessa

Just a Singaporean Chindian who juggles her career, loved ones, and is passionate about baking & cooking.

Most of the dishes whipped up on this blog are done after work. So they are fuss free and quick.

Pictures are in the original state, I am a point the digi cam and shoot kind of gal.

I am currently using a canon ixus 950 IS(8 mega pixel) camera.

PLEASE do leave a comment and thoughts if you do try a recipe. Both good and bad. Lets learn from one and another. Thank you in advance.

Please feel free to drop me a note. Always happy to hear from ya.

vanessafridalj@gmail.com

Please do NOT spam mail me.

Hot Sites

May 2008

16 May 2008 @ 11:58

Krispy Green

I am a huge fan of Krispy Kreme Donuts…. I think they are little pieces of heaven. I had my first taste of their glazed donut about 5 years ago when I was in New York. It was love at first bite.

Melt in your mouth glaze that leaves a nice buttery finish on your palate…. Sinfully good! Unfortunately, Krispy Kreme isn't in Singapore, so to satisfy my occassional craving, I have been working on a donut recipe….I wanted something different. I wanted a little asian twist to it…give it a little something extra.

I have come up with these little babies…it has a matcha glaze to it, and I must say they are pretty good! Cheok and Dad couldn't stop munching on them! It isn't as much work as I thought they would be. The glaze turned out wonderful….loved the matcha flavour.

( click for recipe (includes step by step pictures) )

Current Mood:

accomplished

32 comments | Leave a comment

16 May 2008 @ 11:21

Let Sleeping Mussels Lie

These Blue Mussels from Tasmania were really good....very different from the local ones.... but that's not why i bought these little babies.

I was so amused at the marketing!

( click here to see what was so amusing )

If you are wondering, I got it from Cold Storage :)

Current Mood:

chipper

8 comments | Leave a comment

15 May 2008 @ 15:08

City Skyline

Ah.... I think I am a city gal at heart.... I love this shot of Boat Quay!

Current Mood:

creative

30 comments | Leave a comment

15 May 2008 @ 14:34

Classes4Cooks (Meal of Decadence)

Hi All,

madmoneymonkey and I have ironed out the details for our cooking class…. It is on a first come first serve basis… .

No prior kitchen experience required. We will be demonstrating 3 dishes, followed by a dinner/socialising session.

( Details under cut )

Thank you

Current Mood:

excited

Current Music: Piece of Me - Britney Spears

27 comments | Leave a comment

15 May 2008 @ 10:04

Oven Baked Salmon with Mushrooms

I decided that it was time for another oven baked salmon dish. I wanted to challenge myself to make something even healthier. No oil (other than the oil from the salmon), something to finish up the herbs and beautiful sliced mushrooms I had in the fridge.

It is very similar to the original baked salmon recipe actually. Why fix something that isn't broken right? I just improved on it…made it healthier…and surprising with just a small change of ingredients, the dish tasted quite different! I think that's thanks to the balsamic cream…it gave it nice woody finish to the dish.

( recipe and more pictures under cut )

Current Mood:

chipper

Current Music: Skydive - Jan Johnston

17 comments | Leave a comment

14 May 2008 @ 12:29

The Blog Has Grown

The blog has grown, and I have gotten curious. Seeing the hits are now in the four digits region each day, I would like to get to know you.

What makes you visit the blog, what do you want to see more of and how often do you visit. If you could comment and share with me what makes you visit the blog and what you wanna see more, and of course vote, that would really make my day.

Don't be shy.... I would like to know you. (this includes regulars...i would like to know how often you visit and what would you like to see more)

Click here

Update: Thank you for the ones that have started voting. Please do keep them coming... it's nice to know your reading frequency.

Please do leave a comment here if there are stuff you would like me to share about more?

Eg: more on cooking time management...etc.

Current Mood:

curious

33 comments | Leave a comment

14 May 2008 @ 10:08

Beef Salad

I had one piece of steak left from Cheok's little dinner for me sitting in the fridge, marinated. I didn't want to let this great steak go to waste, but I was also very tired and frankly…I was even too tired to think or eat dinner. Have you ever had one of those days, when you are so tired and you just want to change into your PJs and crawl into bed?

Well I was having one of those days, but I didn't want to skip dinner…

( Read more...with more pictures )

Current Mood:

chipper

Current Music: Won't Go Home Without You - Maroon 5

19 comments | Leave a comment

13 May 2008 @ 09:58

My Baby Cooked Dinner

After my little surprise brunch for Cheok , he decided to surprise me with dinner. This is his second time cooking for me in the almost 4 years we have been together. It is quite amusing.

( Read more... )

Current Mood:

amused

30 comments | Leave a comment

12 May 2008 @ 17:11

Thankful

Walk across the road for coffee: XXX kcal
Cost of coffee: SG$1.50
Bumping into ex colleagues from Singapore Press Holdings : Priceless!

Current Mood:

happy

Leave a comment

12 May 2008 @ 16:26

Cheok's Photography

( more pictures under cut )

Cheok has been fiddling around with the SLR, and I must say he has some really cool shots!

The first one is my favourite...which is yours?

Current Mood:

artistic

24 comments | Leave a comment

12 May 2008 @ 11:58

Nice

You can see our condo from her balcony

It nice having family living really close by. When we were house hunting for our home, we stumbled across a great two plus one apartment just a street away from the one we ended up purchasing.

( Read more... )

Current Mood:

bouncy

11 comments | Leave a comment

12 May 2008 @ 11:00

Raise of Hands Please

Hi Hi....

madmoneymonkey and I are thinking of organising a cooking class on 31st May. Half a day thing...we are still sorting out what we will teach. (probably 2 dishes, maybe 3)

It is a non profit sort of thing...., we will just be charging enough to cover cost of the meal.

lolitapopyour spot is booked if you can make it cos you came up with the idea . :)

It is a first come first serve basis...., and the class will be in Bishan. We just want a show of hands on who is interested.

Anyone?

Current Mood:

creative

35 comments | Leave a comment

12 May 2008 @ 09:50

Grilled Prawns

We went prawning again! This is becoming a habit...and I really need to watch it...eating way too many prawns!

( more pictures and recipe under cut )

Current Mood:

awake

31 comments | Leave a comment

09 May 2008 @ 10:41

OMG

On my way to work today, I THINK I saw authorities fishing a body out of the Kallang Canal. I was on the train and it zoomed by too quickly for me to be completely sure.... I sure hope I was wrong....

Current Mood:

sad

7 comments | Leave a comment

09 May 2008 @ 10:23

Macarons

Macarons…a little piece of light fluffy heaven. Since I was a little kid when I was first introduced to meringues, I fell in love with them at first bite….then a couple years ago…I got introduced to Macarons….and I was sold.

( Read more...(more pictures too) )

Current Mood:

bouncy

45 comments | Leave a comment

08 May 2008 @ 17:30

Helpful Hints From Martha

This isn't my own.... It's from Martha, and it is fabulous!! I have learnt so much, I just had to share!!

Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little 'stringy things' off of it. That's how the primates do it.

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.
Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

( Read more... )

Personally i like the fruit fly, frosting and ants one! Wow!

Current Mood:

awake

37 comments | Leave a comment

08 May 2008 @ 10:43

Options Options Options

Been going through the Greengrocer website, trying to decide what I should order for this month's loot. I need some help/suggestions.

( click to read )

Current Mood:

chipper

Current Music: Orange County Girl - Gwen Stefani

41 comments | Leave a comment

08 May 2008 @ 09:16

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

After a crazy week of cooking, baking and running around. All I wanted to do on Sunday after the House Bake Sale was CHILL. We had to think of a place to have lunch. With the crazy hot weather we are experiencing at the moment, we wanted somewhere air conditioned to have a relaxing lunch.

Shredded Chicken Ipoh Noodles

We had the "famous" Holland V Ipoh shredded chicken noodle for lunch, which I have been eating since I was in kindergarten. I must say it used to be really good, and the standard has dropped drastically. But it still brings back happy memories just slurping on the noodles.

Lunch time!

Happy Bellies

Typical Cheok Shot