Baby booties

Baby Booties for 6 to 12 months old

Personalised gifts are always a joy to give away. Finally made another pair of baby booties for my cousin's newborn.

I started making baby booties in August 2014. Came across the following website with free pattern & detailed instructions to guide me through. 

http://crazylittleprojects.com/2012/10/mary-jane-baby-girl-shoes-tutorial-and-pattern.html

Based on her instructions, I carefully worked on my booties.  Takes me almost 3 hours to complete a pair and I'm eager to see the end product as every pair is special.

Other booties from my collections : Baby booties

Chin's notes: I find that making 2 booties side by side will reduce mistakes and you can see the booties form their shapes. I made a few mistakes where the straps were attached wrongly and I have to undo and redo.  I hate undoing!

Trace and cut out the necessary shapes to be sewn.
For a pair of booties you need 2 Soles, 2 Tops & 2 Straps.

Fold the Strap into half and sew them with one opening side then flip the right side out.

Attached the Straps with 2 right side Tops facing each other.
Do take note where the Straps are facing.

Sew with a sewing machine, the round corners take it slowly to get the nice rounded shape.
I'm still working on it, can't seem to get them nice and round.

Flip the Top and try to smooth the edges, use an iron to get the edges nicely & neatly pressed.
Check if your Straps are attached correctly. ;)

Fold and sew the left ends of the Top together.
Do make sure you have a symmetrical folded U before you sew.

After you sew the ends of each Top, you should get the shape on the right.

Match the Sole right side and the Top right side then pin them into position.
Secure front and back then you work around to ensure Sole and are match as accurately as possible.

I like to run some thread to hold them into place for the ease of sewing. 

After you sew them together, cut V at the edges.
They will give your booties rounder and smoother curves. 

I like my edges nicely tugged away, find a matching rectangular piece of fabric to hide the trimming.

Hand stitch to tug away the trimmings.

Next the inner Sole, with wrong side facing each other and match them as close as possible.
Remember to pin them to fix the position.

Hand sewn to hide all the trimmings.
If the stitches are neatly done, you'll can also were them inside out  :D

Fix the buttons for the straps.

Add finishing touches. Decorative bottons, ribbons or anything that will make your booties shine.

French Toast

I have some left over bread, made some French toast for the family before my kitchen takes her vacation! I also needed a vacation!!! I served them with honey & sliced bananas.

French Toast Recipe : 

6 slices of square bread, cut half. 

3 eggs 

3 tbsp fresh milk 

Butter for frying 

Honey / maple syrup 

Preparation : 

1. In a bowl , lightly beat the eggs with milk. 

2. Heat up the pan with some butter on low to med heat. 

3. Lightly coat the bread with the egg mixture, and place on the melted butter. Slowly pan fried until golden brown. 

4. Served with honey / maple syrup & with some fresh fruits. 

Bon appétit !!

Chin's notes: 

1. Heat control is important, don't burnt the melted butter. ;) 

2. You can also sprinkle with coarse sugar instead of honey / maple syrum. 

Sambal belacan

Sambal belacan, is a comfort food for me. Like to make them in advance, stored in a bottle & eat it with my food anytime. I like to add them to my rice, to my fried noodles or when we are having hot pot ( steamed boat ). 

My sambal was pounded with my stone pounder. It takes a longer time but worth it all. The texture of the sambal is smoother & less watery. 

Stone Pounder

An easy recipe from Betty Yew's Asian Delights - All time favourite recipes. A recipe book which I have since I was in secondary school. 

Sambal Recipe : 

Ingredients 

5cm x 5cm x 1/2 cm piece of shrimp paste ( belacan ) 

8 fresh chilies

Fresh calamansi lime 

Preparation: 

1. Roast belacan in a pan until fragrant. 

2. Pound chilies until smooth with a stone pounder / food processor. 

3. Squeeze some calamansi juice on the pounded chilies. 

Voilà! 

Chin's notes :

1. Stone pounder takes a longer time but it does not cause the chilie paste to be too watery & the texture of the sambal is smoother. 

2. Bird eye chilies can be used instead of fresh chilies ( about 1 big handful). They can be very spicy hot!  Remove some of the seeds if you prefer less spicy hot. 

3. Belacan used

Fried Rice served with Spicy Prawns

A lazy Saturday, after a busy week.  I like my fried rice a bit spicy hot, added some sambal belacan ( fresh chili pounded with shrimp paste ) to my fried rice.

Simple Fried Rice Recipe : 

Pre-cooked rice 

Garlic - chopped into small chucks 

Ginger - cut thinly 

1 handful of dried shrimps (hei-bee / har-mai ) / chicken / any meat. 

1 - 2 eggs - lightly beaten

Oil for frying the rice - about 2 to 3 tbsp depending on the amount of rice. 

Soy sauce to taste 

Sambal Belacan ( optional ) 

Preparation steps : 

1. Heat up the oil in the wok , add in the garlic & ginger. Fry until fragrant. 

2. Add in the dried shrimps, fry until a bit crispy. 

3. Add in the rice, mix well then in with the egg. Stir quickly to ensure all the rice are nicely coated with the egg. 

4. Stir in the soy sauce, then add the belacan sambal if you like spicy fried rice. 

5. Dish out & served with any meat or  veggetables dish of your preference. I served them with spicy prawns. :) 

Bon appétit !

Chin's notes: 

1. You can add dried anchovies ( ikan bilis ). Ikan bilis must be pre-fried & drained the excess oil. Add them in after the fried rice is ready, the ikan bilis will stays crunchy. 

2. If chicken meat is used, cut them into cubes or thinly sliced. Marinate with some oyster sauce. 

3. Spicy prawns recipe : http://fromchinshome.blogspot.fr/2014/11/spicy-prawns.html?m=1

4. Sambal belacan recipe : 

http://fromchinshome.blogspot.fr/2014/12/sambal-belacan.html?m=1l

Satay Made Easy in the oven

Made satay for my son's school event - International Day. He wanted to tell his friends about the yummy food that Singapore has to offer... & I have to crack my head!! With the limited ingredients that I have with me, I "managed". Made 20 sticks for my classmates & teacher from French Class today. I think they love it!!

@12:30AM 19 Dec 2015, I just finished baking 100 sticks of satay (skewed in toothpick) for the International Day. 

Before bake: 

After baked & coated with peanuts sauce : 

Thanks to Esther Tho, who have shared with me a wonderful tip on the marinade for the chicken. 

Satay Chicken Recipe 

Satay peanut sauce

700g chicken thigh meat , cut into strips 

Marinade:

2 tbsp of curry powder

1 tbsp of turmeric power 

3 tbsp sugar - I used brown sugar 

Salt to taste 

2 tbsp of soya sauce 

2 lemon grass, smashed & cut thinly / chopped finely.

Bamboo sticks - soaked in water for 30minutes - I used toothpicks for mini size satay. 

Preparation method : 

1. In a bowl, mix the chicken meat with marinade ingredients. Mix well & set aside for at least 3 hrs or overnight is best. 

2. Skew the meat onto the skewer/bamboo sticks. Lined the baking tray with aluminum foil & lay chicken neatly on the baking tray. You may wish to oil on the foil with some oil to prevent the meat stuck on the foil after baked. 

3a. Bake in a preheated oven @ 180 degree C for 15 mins, take them out, coat each chicken meat with some peanut sauce. Pop them back into the oven for another 5 mins.

3b. Alternatively you can serve the peanut sauce separately in a bowl. If so, bake the chicken for 20mins at 180 degree C. 

4. Served with freshly cut cucumbers & red onions. 

Bon appétit !

Chin's notes : 

1. Coating of peanut sauce on meat is an option. You can served the peanut sauce separately.  

2. Homemade peanut sauce recipe : http://fromchinshome.blogspot.fr/2014/12/satay-peanut-sauce.html?m=1

3. Cut the chicken meat in strips not too thick abit 1 - 1.5cm wide & about 0.8cm thick. 

4. Alternatively you can try with different kind of meat, pork, beef or mutton. 

5. These are lovely finger food to prepare for parties. 

6. Chucky peanut sauce are difficult to coat on meat, if you intend to coat peanut sauce on satay, I'll suggest to purée/blend the peanut sauce to get a creamy texture. Too late for these satay I'll try next time! ;)

Satay Peanut Sauce

My son requested for Satay Chicken to be served during the international day ( coming Friday 19 Dec 2014). With the limited ingredients that I have available I managed to make a quick satay peanut sauce that turns out not too bad.

One of the major ingredient that save me a lot time & trouble is the Nasi Lemak Chilli sauce from Kwong Cheong Thye brought from Singapore. It is one of the best that I'd tasted.

Satay Peanut Sauce Recipe

Ingredients : 

1 cup of roasted peanuts , crushed or pounded to semi fine. I like my peanuts chuncky. 

2 tbsp of nasi lemak chilli sauce ( picture above). 

1 tbsp of curry powder 

5 - 6 shallots , finely chopped 

4 tbsp of sugar. I used brown sugar. Add more if you like your sauce sweet. 

2 lemon grass , slightly crushed 

1 tbsp tamarind pulp soak in 1 cup of water. Remove the seeds & keep the pulp & juice. 

3 tbsp oil 

Salt to taste. 

Preparation methods : 

1. Heat up the wok with oil, & add in the shallots , fry until fragrant then add chilli follow by the curry powder. Fry until you get nice fragrant then add in the lemon grass. Fry for a little longer. 

2. Add in the crushed peanuts then add the tamarind juice & pulp. Stir well & let it simmer for a while, about 15 minutes or until the sauce is thicken. 

3. Add in the sugar & adjust the sweetness according to taste. Add in the salt. 

4. Serve with satay chicken / BBQ chicken. 

Bon appétit !! 

Chin's notes: 

1. Adjust the sweetness to your liking. I prefer the sweet satay peanut sauce. 

2. Easy & quick to make. 

Music to your mouth - Chocolate mousse

This is a recipe that I learnt to make during my stay in Paris from one of the cooking demo classes that I attended. My first attempt, the texture did not turned out right & it was too watery, but they still taste very yummy after I fridged them for a few hours.

This time (2nd attempt) they turned out better as I was able to pipe them into those mini cups & I added some decoration to make them special for my son's mini recital & gathering at his music teacher's house today.

Video tutorial added on 7 Feb 2015z 

http://youtu.be/C37PoVSVKqM

Chocolate Mousse 

Serves 25 - 30 (very mini cups) 

Ingredients : 

1/2 cup Water 

125g sugar 

250g dark chocolate (70%) cut into pieces 

2 1/2 cup / 600ml Cream (at least 40% fat) 

4 egg yolks

2 eggs 

Decoration (optional) 

Preparation method : 

1. Whisk the cream until it reaches soft peak. I used the electric mixer & whisk for 5 - 8 minutes on high & set aside. 

2. In a small pot, add sugar & water. Bring it to boil to reduce the water in medium heat. It will turn shinny & thicken. 

3. While you are preparing the sugar syrup, melt the chocolate in a bowl sitting on a pot water. Low heat on the stove until all the chocolate melted. 

4. In another mixing bowl, add in all the eggs & yolks whisk until light & fluffy on medium speed. Slowly pour your hot sugar syrup into the egg mixture when the syrup is ready. Sugar syrup should be around 110 degree C. 

5. Fold the egg mixture into the melted chocolate until well combined. Then fold in the whipped cream ( in 2 parts ) until well combined. 

6. Transfer into a piping bag & pipe into the serving cups / bowls. Decorate the mousses & fridge them for an hour / until serving. 

Bon appétit !!

Chin's notes: 

1. At least 70% cocoa in dark chocolate is preferred & full cream which can be whipped. I used these. 

2. The hot sugar syrup is very HOT!!! DO BE VERY CAREFUL !! 

3. Use cream that you can whipped to soft peak.

4. I made melted chocolate decorations to "dressed" the mousses. - to make these just melt the dessert chocolate / chocolate of choice ( like step 3 above), transfer into piping bag & pipe on to baking paper & freeze for a few minutes in the freezer. You can also put any design under the baking paper & trace the design. I made them a few days ahead. 

Ta-da... Ready to be served!!! 

l

"Cheat" Pandan Wrap Chicken

Pandan wrap chicken was made easy with tomyum paste. I didn't bother to cut the chicken into small pieces & wrap them nicely in a little parcel. They turned out delicious!

Pandan wrap chicken with TomYum paste. 

Ingredients : 

8 Chicken thighs - cleaned. Debone & cut  them into smaller pieces if you like. 

2 lemon grass - only the white part

6 shallots 

2 big tbsp tomyum paste 

2 tsp sugar, add more if you like them sweeter. 

Chillie flakes ( optional ) 

Salt to taste

Some Pandan leaves / skrewpine leaves - cleaned & soften with hot water. 

Bamboo skewers ( soaked in water for 30 mins )  to hold the Pandan leaves 

Preparation methods : 

1. Clean  chicken & cut them into smaller pieces / remove the bones if you like.

2. Marinades : Pound shallows, lemon grass into paste. Add in the salt , sugar , chillie flakes & tomyum paste. Mix well. 

3. Marinate the chicken well with the marindes.

4. Wrap the chicken with pandan leaves & secured them with the bamboo skewer. 

5. Set aside for 3 hrs or best to marinate overnight. 

6. Pan fried the chicken with some oil to "seal" the meat & get the burnt looking pandan leaves. Transfer to a baking tray. 

7. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree C for 15 mins & turned to grill for 5-10 mins to get the cripy edges. 

Bon appétit ! 

Chin's notes: 

1. If you like more spicy, can add 1 - 2 tbsp of curry power. 

2. If you do not wish to "seal" the chicken, skip step 6 & bake them in the oven for a longer period. 

3. Or you can continue to pan fried (step 6) until the chicken is fully cooked.