As you know from my previous post, I got my hands on Adam Liaw's 4th cook book, Asian Cookery School. Went a little rebellious and didn't start with Lesson 1. Instead, I started with Lesson 10: Sweets. :p

From Adam Liaw's Asian Cookery School, Anko (Red Bean Paste)

Two varieties of Anko: chunky variety (left), known in Japanese as tsubuan, is a little easier to make; the smooth variety (right),  koshian, is the most popular

This requires overnight soaking of the adzuki beans and 1 1/2 hours of boiling, draining, and simmering. The smooth paste (koshian) requires grinding with a mortar and pestle, and passing through a sieve to remove any pieces of skin.

Anko can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 1 month and in the fridge for up to 6 months.

Made sesame balls (page 227 of Asian Cookery School) with the smooth red bean paste.

Love the golden brown hue after deep-frying!

Don't they look good?

Om nom nom nom.

I first knew Adam Liaw on BuzzFeed Australia "19 Reasons You Need To Follow Aussie Chef Adam Liaw On Twitter And Instagram" and those 19 reasons definitely convinced me to have a look then later follow him on his social medias. His sense of humour and sarcasm fit me too well haha! Just a little introduction of him from Wikipedia:

"Adam Liaw (born 8 September 1978) is an Australian lawyer and television chef. He was the winner of the second series of MasterChef Australia, defeating student Callum Hann in the final. Liaw is the son of a Malaysian-born Chinese father, Dr Siaw-Lin Liaw,^[2] and a Singaporean-born English mother, Dr Joyce Hill AM. After his parents divorced and his mother moved to New Zealand, Liaw lived with his paternal grandmother Kwei-Eng Chew, whom he credits with a huge influence on his cooking and his life. "

Having noticed I need to brush up my Asian culinary skills as well as the Asian culture, I thought Adam Liaw would be the best chef to follow from, since he grew up with his Malaysian grandmother, surely she has a huge influence on his cooking. His passion for food and culture is what really caught me. Having stayed in Brisbane for 10 months already, I noticed there is so little that I know of my own culture, what more to say the Asian culture. And I believe as an food enthusiast myself, the best way to learn one's culture is through food.

Got myself Adam Liaw's Asian Cookery School, for Christmas!

Just want to share a bit of what he said in his book,

"Food does not exist on its own. It goes hand-in-hand with culture and experience, and to try and separate food from those things or to reduce it to just a list of ingredients and a method in a written recipe, would be to only tell half the story. In this book I want to teach you all about Asian food - not just how to cook it, but also how to understand it and appreciate it."

C'mon Adam, that's exactly how I feel too! :'D
And that is why I've always been trying and understanding new foods and cuisines, and until recently, trying to cook them.

Just to end this post with another quote of him from the book,

"Home-cooked food is more than just a tasty meal. It's an experience, a process, and achievement, and an expression of who you are."

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas my dear friends!

I've been cooking and baking after morning mass the whole day today, for Christmas dinner at home for cousin Susan and I. My cousin-in-law, Dat, went for holidays back in Vietnam so I decided to cook a simple dinner for Susan and I. Since it's just the two of us (and my 5 year-old niece, Maybelle), I wasn't too keen to cook a proper Christmas roast dinner. It'll take ages for us to finish! Alright, without further due, I'll let the photos do the talking! ;)

Italian Breadsticks and Tarama (fish roe caviar), Guacamole, Sundried Tomatoes Dips to start Summer salad: Baby Lettuce, Grapes, Mangoes, lightly tossed in mayo and sprinkled with sunflower kernels Entrée: Aunty Pat's aka my mum's famous Shepherd's Pie Bought a $3 table cloth  and 10 bonbons for $2 from The Reject Shop! So Christmassy <3

Here's a close up look at the starters. Everything is store-bought haha.

Love this refreshing salad!

Summer Salad
Prep time: 10 minutes        Serves: 2

Ingredients: 
1 stalk of baby lettuce
1 bunch of red grapes
1 medium mango
A handful of raw sunflower kernels

Dressing:
Mayonnaise

Method:
Wash and chop baby lettuce into big chunks. Toss baby lettuce and mayo in a bowl, set aside.

Half the grapes and remove seeds. Peel mango and cut into small cubes.

Scatter grapes and mango cubes on top of salad greens. Toss sunflower kernels over salad and serve.

Aunty Pat's Famous Shepherd's Pie

Prep time: 1 hour     Cook time: 1 hour     Serves: 4

Ingredients: 
500g minced beef/lamb
1 tbsp oil
2 large carrots, finely dice
1 large onion, finely dice
2 tsp light soy sauce
2 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp cornflour
Water
Salt and pepper, to taste
5 large potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
2 tbsp unsalted butter
75ml full cream milk
Shredded cheddar cheese

Method: 
In a large ungreased pan, add minced meat over medium high heat and stir to separate chunks. Cook until all water has been evaporated and meat is dry.

In a separate pan, heat oil (preferably olive oil) over medium heat and gently sauté diced carrots and onions for about 3-4 minutes or until onions turn slightly translucent.

Transfer carrots and onions to meat and gently stir to mix well. Add light and dark soy sauce, and add about 5 tablespoons of water, bring to a simmer. Cover pan and allow to cook for about 10 minutes. Add cornflour and stir well to thicken. Season with pepper to taste.

While meat is cooking, heat oven to 180ºC. In a large pot, place potatoes and add cold water until the potatoes are covered by at least an inch. Add a teaspoon of salt. Bring water to boil on high heat, and cover to simmer on medium for 15-20 minutes, or until you can easily poke through the potatoes with a fork.

Drain water and add butter and milk while the potatoes are still hot. Mash the potatoes with a potato masher until well mixed. Do not over-mash potatoes or the mashed potatoes will end up sticky.

Put the cooked meat mixture into a ovenproof glass tray or pie dish, cover with mashed potatoes and spread out with a fork. Top with shredded cheddar cheese.

Place dish into oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the top starts golden-browning.




I'm really happy this pie turns out as tasty as my mum's!

Japanese Cotton Cheesecake to finish the dinner!

Baked with the Bain-marie (cooking in water bath) method. I'm really satisfied with the smooth and brown dome! I got worried at first because my 'water tray' wasn't broad and deep enough for the water to cover at least a quarter of my cake pan. My cake pan couldn't even fit properly into the water tray so I placed a wet towel in between the tray and the pan to close the gap.

Japanese Cotton Cheesecake, recipe here.

It's been a long day of cooking and baking but I feel very accomplished! I had the whole day to do these and I love it! (I am really slow when it comes to cooking but I'm managing well with my pacing today hehehe) I am actually quite tired already while writing this post. Hehe I'll sign off for now to get some rest before joining the crowd tomorrow for Boxing Day Sale!

Thank you for reading this! xx

Winter Solstice marks the shortest day and longest night of the year. Occurs in Dec 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere and June 22nd in the Southern Hemisphere. In the Chinese customs, we eat tangyuan （汤圆）or glutinous rice balls, which symbolises unity as it is a time for family reunion.

Helped my little niece, Maybelle 'shaped' these few last ones when she got tired of making them. All of these were prepared by cousin Susan yesterday.

Since I had some ground peanuts left over from yesterday, I decided to make tangyuan with fillings! Mixed ground peanuts with almond spread as I don't have any peanut butter spread at home. Cooked the tangyuan and boiled some ginger and brown sugar syrup to go with the tangyuan. Very satisfied with how it turned out! :)

Hope you had a great time getting-together with your families! :)

Did an impromptu brekkie trip to the Valley this morning. End up at James Street Markets which I've been wanting to visit!

Brekkie at Spoon Deli Cafe. Nice ambience! Sat by the window with plenty of sunshine :)

This one is Thyme Scented Field Mushrooms w sautéed spinach and garlic, Meredith goat's feta, poached eggs, and a slight drizzle of aromatic lemon oil and balsamic reduction on toasted sour dough. My poached egg whites were firmly done, yolk slightly runny. PERFECT! Love the flavours. I'm not a coffee person so I had tea. My pick would always be Green Tea, and they serve T2's genmaicha here! Love, love, love it!

Browsed around this retail market after brekkie

Fresh Sushi Co: sushi made fresh daily

Fish roe

Wide range of olives and dips

Cheese!

This market is good for people with OCD because the fresh produce are arranged nicely haha!

Look at the beans and the carrots arranged alternatively!

It's the season of nectarines, plums and peaches

Always love a bakery in a market! ;)

Christmas bushes

Beautiful orchids!

While taking these photos at the florist, one of the workers came to me and said, "Are you an unauthorised photographer here?" in a very serious manner. He and his fellow worker gave me a stare and broke into laughters seconds later, and I found out they were just joking much later. Thank God there wasn't anybody else at the scene else I'll be really embarrassed. Haha!

After James Street Markets, I walked around James Street Precinct. This precinct is apparently an 'alas' (high-end) precinct with lots of European designers influence like home design, boutique and mini art galleries. Good to see only haha ;)

That concludes my morning at Fortitude Valley! Thank you for reading, if there's anybody dropping by :)

Setting up the Christmas tree! Whilst doing this I felt so homesick because I'd usually set up the tree back at home :\

Baked some Christmas butter cookies, recipe here. Beautiful letterpressed Christmas gift tag from www.bespokepress.com.au. Got the tag from Finders Keepers last November!

Visited the 92-year-old heritage-listed Brisbane Arcade, Brisbane's oldest shopping arcade. Love the vintage feel!

It's Super Saturday in Westfield Australia-wide! Went to Westfield Carindale and grab some gifts for cousin Susan, niece Maybelle and myself. Haven't gotten any idea of what to get for my cousin-in-law Dat yet.

Got myself Adam Liaw's Asian Cookery School autographed version from Dymocks!

Westfield Carindale offers gift wrapping services every Saturday starting today! I love my personalised calligraphy gift tag by the talented Justine Moore! And it was also my first time seeing artists calligraph with my own eyes.

I got another tag for Susan as well. Wrapped her gift when I got home. Wrapping paper from kikki.K.

For Maybelle, my 5-y/o niece. She's such a sweet and cheeky girl. Wrapping paper, label sticker and 'no peeking' tag from kikki.K.

More baking and cooking to try for the coming weeks! I'll keep you guys updated soon. Till then!