No-Frills Recipes ... cooking, baking & excerpts on travel

The tradition of Quinceanera is one of the most important celebration in the Mexican culture.   In Mexico and other countries in Latin America, it is customary to celebrate a girl’s fifteenth birthday party with full pomp and glory. Now what is Quinceanera?  It is a combination of the Spanish words quince “fifteen” and anos ‘years’.  It is one of the most meaningful event that happens to any fifteen year old Mexican or Latin American girl.   This celebration traditionally marks a girl’s coming of age, that she’s mature and ready for marriage and also to give thanks to God for all his blessings.    It is also an honour to the girl’s parents and her godparents who’ll play an important role throughout the ceremonies. The celebration normally begins with a thanksgiving mass in church, to give thanks for a completed childhood.    The godparents will bestow the birthday girl with lavish gifts and jewellery  which will accentuate her beautiful dress.    The Quinceanera dress    wil

These cupcakes were baked in a muffin pan but devoid of  paper liners as the chocolate glaze would drip down the the sides of the cakes.  If you use a paper liner, the chocolate glaze will drip onto the liner  and will look a bit messy.  I suppose these cuppies with the choco glaze and coloured sprinkles will be a hit with the kids during this festive season! Recipe for Vanilla Cupcakes with Choco Glaze   香草杯子蛋糕 Ingredients 195 gm plain flour 1.1/2 tsp baking powder 113 gm unsalted butter 1/4 tsp salt (omit if using salted butter) 130 gm caster sugar 3 large eggs 1.1/2 tsp vanilla 1/4 cup milk Chocolate Glaze 120 gm /4 oz cooking chocolate 42 gm butter 1.1/2 Tbsp golden syrup  Method   Melt all the above ingredients in a big bowl  over a pot of simmering water.  Mix well, remove from heat and let it thicken for about 10 mins.  Pour the mixture into a measuring c

Lace Wedding Dresses Lace Wedding Dresses  seem to become trendy again as nowadays women  tend to view lace as a feature of a ladylike wedding dress and more and more brides-to-be are considering lace dresses over others as their bridal gowns.  Some ladies who are keen in passing on their gowns to their daughters someday are now interested in purchasing wedding dresses with lace.  Lace adds sophistication to a wedding dress whether  the lace only appears on the collar, the upper part of the dress, on the sleeves or as an overlay over  the whole gown. Although there are many types of styles for  Lace Wedding Dresses  due  consideration must be given when deciding on a lacy wedding dress and how much lace the dress should have.  Heavy lace is perfect for fall and winter weddings and not for the summer. If you have a slender neck, a high collar heart shape lace mermaid wedding dress will bring out the elegance in you.  The lace be it sheer and lies over another bodice should

This is quite a common dish in households and my mum used to whip this up whenever we had plain white porridge for lunch.   I'm not so keen on the fish, but will make a beeline for the  beancurd sticks and puffs instead! Recipe for Braised Fish Fillet with Black Beans     豆豉焖鱼 Ingredients 2 pieces of fish fillet about 125 gm each, seasoned with some salt 6 beancurd puffs cut into half 50 gm beancurd sticks, soaked and cut into 2 inch lengths 4 pips of garlic, chopped 1 small piece of ginger, chopped 1 Tbsp black bean  1 tsp sugar or to taste 1 tsp cornflour + 2 tsp water to thicken 2.1/2 cups water 1/4 tsp dark soya sauce 1 Tbsp oil for frying Method Heat up some oil in a wok, fry the chopped garlic and ginger till fragrant, toss in the black beans, stir-fry. Add in water, let it simmer, add in the beancurd sticks and puffs, continue to simmer. Add in the fish fillet, simmer

Beach Wedding Dresses Destination weddings have become one of the hottest trends now and a destination  wedding means to have a wedding reception, casual or formal in a place more than 100 miles away from where the couple lives.  Nowadays many brides-to-be are getting bored with traditional church weddings and now opt for something unique and more memorable.  Many young couples are now quite keen to book their nuptials at a resort or beach and plan to have a more intimate wedding with their close buddies and family members between the two.  What about a beach wedding with a romantic boat ceremony?   That sounds wonderful! But there are also a few fine points to consider while planning for a beach wedding.   Will the family members be ready and can afford to take time off to join you on your journey to matrimony in a place far from where they are living?   Also the clothes to bring along if you plan to have a wedding by the beach.   Loosely fitted clothes will be the

There are many ways that you can enjoy with leftover Panettone.   You can use some slices to make a  bread pudding, a rum cake or a trifle but I took the easy way out and made them into French toast.    They were  very fragrant when they were being heated up in the pan, thanks to the cinnamon.  But I reckon that the  easiest and quickest way is to just simply toast them which I did with some. Recipe for Panettone French Toast          法国土司面包                      Ingredients 3 slices of Panettone 2 eggs 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar 1/4 cup milk 1/4 tsp vanilla 1/4 tsp cinnamon Oil or butter  (I used vege oil) Icing sugar for dusting Fresh fruits, honey or maple syrup for serving Method Whisk the eggs, brown sugar, milk, vanilla and cinnamon in a dish. Soak the slices of Panettone in the above mixture for about 10 mins., pressing down the slices to ensure that they are thoroughly

Vintage Wedding Dresses Many of you must have heard of and seen Vintage or antique cars.   They are a collector’s items and many vintage car lovers consider this as an investment with the hope that the value will increase over time.  Then what about Vintage dresses and more so Vintage Wedding Dresses?  We ladies were having tea one day and a daughter of one of the ladies among us is going to get married in 2015.   The mother lamented that it’s very stressful to shop for designer wedding dresses and her daughter is frantically searching for her dream dress.  Rather then getting a dress off the rack, why not go for a    Vintage Wedding Dress,  I suggested.  It’s actually a personal preference really  whether you want to get a modern wedding dress or something that belongs to the times of your grandma for your Big day. The word ‘Vintage’ is used to describe clothings between 20 to 100 years old.   They can be used, handmade or newly manufactured according to the design