Bread crumbs are easily available. I bought a packet once from the supermarket, but ended up couldn't finish it. Although the pre-pack one is really convenient, it comes with a stale taste that I couldn't quite get over, which kind of ruin the flavor of the dish. After I realized how easy to make them, I never buy them anymore!

I like to bake the crumbs to golden brown as I usually use them for baked dishes. If the crumbs are too pale, the food will get over-cooked way before the crumbs turn brown. So if you are using it for fried food, remember to pull it out of the oven while it is still light in color!

Bread Crumbs

Makes 1 cup bread crumbs

Ingredients

• 4 slices white bread
• 4 tsp oil
• 1/3 tsp garlic powder
• a pinch of salt
• some pepper

Cooking Directions

1. Cut the bread into small pieces, pulse until small crumbs.
2. Mix together the rest of the ingredients and add into crumbs.
3. Bake at preheated oven at 180C for 12-15 minutes (depends how dark the color you want). Stir at least twice in between.

面包屑
做1杯

配料

• 4片白面包
• 4茶匙油
• 1/3茶匙蒜粉
• 少许盐
• 一些胡椒粉

做法

1. 把面包切成小片，用搅拌器搅成小碎屑。
2. 把其余的材料拌入面包屑里。
3. 在已预热烤箱以180℃烘烤12-15分钟（时间取决于你想要多深的颜色）。期间搅拌最少两次。

We were having a short trip in Jakarta and we stumbled upon this round flat pastry. I thought it is something like wife biscuit until DG told me that this is the Indonesia style mooncake that he used to have when he was still a kid.

Feeling curious I bought one home and gave it a try!

Tjoklat simply means chocolate. Other flavors include cheese and chocolate cheese. As you can see the pastry skin is quite thick, it is dry and a little chewy. A bit similar to the skin of our traditional mooncake but harder and denser. It stick to the teeth when being chewed on.

It is not something that I fancy but glad that at least I gave it a try!

The PSI just hit 300, my nose is blocked, and my throat is itchy. I just feel like lying down and sleep.

But Mid Autumn Festival is just around the corner!

So somehow, I managed to crawl out of the bed, and my hands started to get to work. The brainless weighing, mixing, molding is kind of therapeutic!

This is their look on the second day, I can see that the color has deepened slightly. It is recommended to wait till the third day before consumption for best result.

Simply love these bite-size mooncakes!

Mini Traditional Mooncake

Makes 8 mini mooncake of 41g each

Ingredients

A

• 50g cake flour
• 34g sugar syrup
• 10g peanut oil
• 1/10 tsp alkaline water

B

• 235g lotus paste
• some melon seed, toasted (150C 10 mins)

C Egg Wash

• 1 yolk + 1 tsp egg white

Cooking Directions

1. Mix together ingredients A, set aside for 30 minutes.
2. Divide to 8 portions, around 11.5g each.
3. Divide the lotus paste to 8 portions, around 29g each (mix together with melon seed if using).
4. Wrap each portion of lotus paste with a portion of the dough.
5. Bake in preheated oven at 180C for 10 minutes.
6. Remove from oven, let it cool for 10-15 minutes. Brush the top with egg wash.
7. Bake again for 8-10 minutes.
8. Leave it for 3 days before consumption.

Note: The skin to filling ratio is important in this mooncake. Here I use 28% skin and 72% filling.

迷你传统月饼

做8个41g 迷你月饼

配料

A

• 50克蛋糕粉
• 34克糖浆
• 10克花生油
• 1/10茶匙碱性水

B

• 235克莲蓉
• 一些瓜子，烤过 (150度10分钟）

Ç 蛋液

• 1个蛋黄+1茶匙蛋清

做法

1. 混合成份A，放置一旁30分钟。
2. 分成8份，每个大约11.5克。
3. 莲蓉分成8份，每个大约29克（如果放瓜子，把瓜子参入）。
4. 用一份面团包裹一份莲蓉。
5. 在已预热烤箱以180℃烘烤10分钟。
6. 从烤箱中取出，待其冷却10-15分钟。刷蛋液。
7. 再烤8-10分钟。
8. 放置3天回油后才食用。

注意：饼皮与陷料的比率很重要。在这里，我用28％的皮和72％的陷料。

Playground we have been to many, but Kidzania is indeed one of its kind. It is not only a fun place for the children but at the same time let the children get a feel of the adult working environment. Lyn and El were often puzzled with the concept of 'working' and no matter how we explained, they can't seem to get it quite right. This is just the right place for them!

Upon entry, one is given a map of the city, and a 50 Kidzos (the official currency of Kidzania) paycheck.

First thing first, bank in the cheque to get some Kidzos cash!

Oh how I wish these are real.

With the cash, one can spend on the taxi rides, bus rides, getting driving license etc.. To earn more money, they can 'work' on over 70 different professions. Dentist, firefighter, policeman, factory worker... just to name a few. 

Now who wants to be a dentist? The children first went through a educational clip about oral hygiene and now doing their practical. We were surprised at how realistic everything are. The children are supposed to 'dig' out some dirt/plaque from the teeth and then clean the teeth by spraying water. Quite a task ya!

Bee-do-bee-do-bee-do, the little fire-fighters are working hard spraying water.

The trio window-cleaning-crew were as busy as bees.

Making sandwich by spreading chocolate, cut the bread and make a bear (or panda?) imprint on the sandwich.

Look good?

You can buy some magic props here, using real money though.

And maybe you will be allowed to perform here.

Dancing with flags I guess?

You will need at least 2 children to play this, one as cashier and another one as shopper. The more people the merrier. 

To get yourself a license, you will need to get a body check-up. Upon completion you will be issued this slip.

Simply bring the slip to Honda and...

Tadah! Your driving license is ready!

You can now drive around, and pump some petrol.

The little make-up artist is serious at work! The staff told me those are just baby powder, so no worries.

Chocolate factory! Simply sprinkle some nuts at the bottom of the chocolate mold, pour the melted chocolate over, cool down the chocolate in the fridge, and it is time to enjoy the delicious chocolate!

At the end of the session, there are still many other professions that we hadn't get to try. Here are only some of it:

Kidzania
Pacific Place L6 - 601 Sudirman Central Business District
Jl. Jend Sudirman Kav. 52-53
Jakarta Selatan 12190 - Indonesia

It had been a while since my last post, I was on a short trip to Jakarta and there is something that I simply can't wait to share with you!

Before the journey, I was very much looking forward to greet the Jakarta malls after hearing raving review about how magnificent their malls are. Erm... I have to admit that I was rather disappointed. Well, the malls are huge, but the shops are pretty much similar to those in Singapore. LV, Coach, Prada... With so many branded shops around we ended up mostly having fun window shopping. What to do, monthly allowance not enough, hint hint...

So the malls aren't impressive, what am I so excited about? There there...The highlight of the trip is the hotel!

This was my first time stay with Ritz-Carlton and I think it is super AWESOME!

First I have to declare this post is not sponsored at all. Simply a post to share my delightful experience.

Ritz-Carlton Jakarta, Pacific Place is located on the Golden Triangle of Jalan Sudirman, the central business district. It is connected to Pacific Place, a high class shopping mall completed with supermarket, fashion outlets, restaurants, children playground, ATM, cinema and even Jakarta Stock Exchange.

Upon arrival we were expecting the norm so we were looking for the 'counter' to check in. To our surprise, there is no check-in counter and we were escorted straight to our room! How about the check-in? Well it was done while the kids were running around exploring the room and the adults were comfortably seated at the table, enjoying complimentary welcome chocolate and fruit basket. To make things easier, the staff are equipped with a hand-held credit card reader so that all check-in procedure can be completed in the room.



The room was HUGE! I think it is almost half the size of our house. And there were two queen size bed, two! Even the cot bed was ready at the time we entered the room.



The bathroom is probably the size of our two bathrooms at home combined.



There are two entrance to the bathroom. 

Look at the range of toiletries provided! So complete I can't think of anything left out.



Bath tub! I could stay there whole day! Bath salt, shower gel are both provided. There is even luffa for those who wants to get rid of some dead skin! Watching TV or enjoying scenery? It is totally up to you! If you are feeling shy you can always shut the blind.



Love the idea of separate shower room equipped with both rain shower and hand held shower head. It might not mean much to an adult but Lyn and El are very uncomfortable with rain shower. This thoughtful design save us from struggle loaded shower experience.



Coffee machine at your service, and those are my favorite TWG tea!



Without even being asked, they brought two luggage stand for us. Those were the little things that count!



Now comes to my favorite part - food! Well, I know there is nothing special about hotel serving food. But continuously served free food for hotel guest? That is the first! Sooo good to be true, I simply can't believe it...




During the breakfast we were greeted by a friendly staff Sutharno, Dh was casually mentioning how great it would be if bolster is provided. Guess what, a bolster was sent to our room in the afternoon!



Lyn and El were also each given a waist pouch to keep their Kidzos after he learnt that we were going to Kidzania that afternoon.



And this is Ms Henny - a very kind young lady who took the effort to remember Lyn and El's name and getting to know them. Look at those two little ones, they simply couldn't let her go, they dragged her all the way from hotel to the plaza!



The night before we went back, Henny packed some cookies with notes for the kiddos, too bad they were too tired and sleepy to greet her goodbye. She has one of the most attractive and the friendliest smile that I have ever seen, oh I miss her already!



The price of staying at Rits Carlton may not be cheap but those excellent service with personal touch? Those are truly priceless!

Psst... Tell you what, I just found that chocolate goes really well with banana!

After my various adventures with banana butter cakes, I was inspired to add to it some dutch cocoa powder that I have brought from Indonesia during Chinese New Year. The usual brand that I use is Hershey cocoa powder which is very good but lack the intensity in color. I crave for that dark, deep black color in my cake.

So I tweak the recipe of my banana butter cake and I was eager to see how it goes!

Guess what, I just declared cocoa powder as the 'perfect' partner for bananas in my butter cake! To top the excitement, the chocolate ganache made with 71% dark chocolate totally bring the cake to next level of addictiveness!

I know ganache can be tricky to some people, me inclusive actually. For this cake, I prefer my ganache to have a slightly textured look instead of smooth surface because the banana cake has a uneven top to starts with. The trick is to be patient, wait until the ganache has cooled down and it will thicken on its own to a spreading consistency. Mine was around the body temperature when I worked with it. Still a bit too liquid if you ask me, but I was getting impatient so I just get over with it.

Now if you excuse me, I am going to enjoy my cake.

Chocolate Banana Butter Cake

Make one small loaf 7" x 2" cake

Ingredients

• 100g butter
• 47g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 100g banana puree
• 85g plain flour
• 15g cocoa powder
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda

Ganache

• 30g semisweet chocolate chips
• 50g whipping cream

Cooking Directions

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy
2. Add eggs in a slow steady stream with low speed.
3. Add in banana puree and combine.
4. In a bowl mix together plain flour, baking powder and baking soda.
5. Sift dry ingredients into the batter and fold until just combined.
6. Bake in preheated oven at 180℃ for 30 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, melt the ingredients of ganache over gentle heat.
8. Pour the ganache over the cake. Refrigerate until the ganache is set.

巧克力香蕉牛油蛋糕

做一个7" x 2"蛋糕

配料

• 100克牛油
• 47克糖
• 2个鸡蛋
• 100克香蕉泥
• 85克普通面粉
• 15克可可粉
• 3/4茶匙发粉
• 1/8茶匙小苏打

巧克力铺料

• 30克半甜巧克力豆
• 50克奶油

做法

1. 牛油和糖打到轻和蓬松
2. 缓缓加入鸡蛋，以低速搅拌。
3. 加入香蕉泥混合。
4. 在一个碗里混合在一起面粉，发粉和小苏打。
5. 过筛的粉料倒入面糊，用切拌法混合直到刚刚结合。
6. 在已预热烤箱以180℃烤30分钟。
7. 同时，用文火融化半甜巧克力豆和奶油。
8. 巧克力铺料倒在蛋糕上。冷藏，直到巧克力凝固。

Bananas, I can't tell you enough how much I love them. They taste so good on its own and any over-riped one can be made into great dessert easily. 

They are natural sweetener. With bananas in my dessert, I always reduce the sugar substantially. Then, I can tell myself that I am eating 'healthy' dessert! Woohoo!

My butter cake is seldom made plain. I simply cannot stand it being lonely. This time, I find it a companion. Yes you get it right, banana it is!

Me want bananaaa...! Poopaye. 

('I want banana! Goodbye' in Minion's language)

To make this banana cake in a no-mixer way, you can use this quick and easy reverse creaming method. It makes my life so much easier with this one-bowl mixing trick! I will show you how to do it step-by-step in the following video:

The Editors of America's Test Kitchen and Guy Crosby Ph.…

The Editors of America's Test Kitchen and Guy Crosby Ph.…

12)

The Editors of America's Test Kitchen and Guy Crosby Ph.…

The Editors of America's Test Kitchen and Guy Crosby Ph.…

12)

Banana Butter Cake

Make one small loaf 7" x 2" cake

Ingredients

• 100g butter
• 47g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 100g banana puree
• 100g plain flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda

Cooking Directions

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy
2. Add eggs in a slow steady stream with low speed.
3. Add in banana puree and combine.
4. In a bowl mix together plain flour, baking powder and baking soda.
5. Sift dry ingredients into the batter and fold until just combined.
6. Bake in preheated oven at 180℃ for 30 minutes.

香蕉牛油蛋糕

做一个7" x 2"蛋糕

配料

• 100克牛油
• 47克糖
• 2个鸡蛋
• 100克香蕉泥
• 100克普通面粉
• 3/4茶匙发粉
• 1/8茶匙小苏打

做法

1. 牛油和糖打到轻和蓬松
2. 慢慢加入鸡蛋，以低速拌均匀
3. 加入香蕉泥。
4. 在一个碗里混合在一起面粉，发粉和小苏打。
5. 把粉类过筛倒入面糊，用切拌法混合到刚刚结合。
6. 在已预热烤箱以180℃烘烤30分钟。