a touch of Thanksgiving

There are so many holidays that I adore. :) Christmas would probably be my favourite (gift-giving, gorgeous decorations, Santa Claus...what's not to like?) and then there's Chinese New Year since it's the time when everyone gets together (the perfect excuse to gorge on insanely tasty goodies and get a sore throat after). Then there're also ones like Halloween and Thanksgiving that really are Western holidays and aren't celebrated very much by locals in Singapore but having grown up on diet of Baby-Sitter Club and Sweet Valley books, I knew about how these occasions were celebrated and it always seemed like kids in the U.S. (particularly the fictional town of Stonybrook, Connecticut, where the Baby-Sitter series is based :P) had the most fun during those times. I mean, getting the chance to dress up and receive candy for free? What better holiday is there?? So as this time of year comes along and I start to indulge in Fall photos on tumblr, an immense yearning for chilly weather and autumn leaves starts building up inside. I know such a scene isn't quite possible in SG but I figured, might as well get in the spirit of things. So when my Ahpo (grandmama) gave me the cutest little pumpkin that she'd grown from her own backyard, it was only natural that we would use that to make a quintessentially Autumnal Pumpkin Bread. :D





Isn't this a pretty cute pumpkin? Not particularly big but it happened to yield JUST the right amount of pumpkin puree that we needed. And I love how it grew out of my Ahpo's little vegetable garden that has managed to grow quite a number of things over the past few years. When we were younger (I must've been say...5?) she grew the hugest winter-melon fruit that was so big it was even featured in the newspapers! That would've been the perfect opportunity to have a photo in the papers but at that time I was simply terrified of that stupid fat melon because it must've been almost my size. (At least that's what it seemed like to me at the time ><) So my older sis got featured instead. HUMMPH.

I remember her having a recipe for pumpkin bread but she wasn't able to locate it amidst the many dog eared recipe books in her room so we ended up using this recipe for Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread.

It's a fairly easy recipe to follow and the only few things to highlight about the recipe would be:



1. When making the pumpkin puree, first cut the pumpkin in half and de-seed it. You can roast it in the oven till it's soft enough to scrape out but my Ahpo had a much quicker method. Just pop the pumpkin parts into the microwave for about 8 to 10 minutes. After that, the pumpkin "flesh" will be visibly softer and more moist which will make it easy to use a spoon to simply scrap the pumpkin flesh off its skin.



2. To get an even puree, it's best to use a food processor and give it a whirr until the pumpkin paste appears even in texture. My Ahpo wanted to go old-school and simply smash it up with the back of a spoon and we tried that at first but once you mix in the other ingredients like the eggs and oil you'll find that it's extremely hard to get it well-mixed. So save yourself the trouble and just blend the pumpkin paste from the start.



Psst, this was the first time EVER that I made use of Cloves. Yeah kinda lame but I couldn't help but take a photo of it since... it's the first time I've seen it in real life. I realised after that though that they're not my favourite spice. A little too strong and ... herby? for my liking. 



Ta-dah! It's really a fairly simple recipe to follow. Just mixing wet and dry ingredients together and pushing it into the oven and hoping for the best. I really was close to praying that this would work out because my dearest Ahpo has started getting a tad senile and when I asked her how to operate the oven in her kitchen, she ended up showing me the wrong buttons for the different functions! Which really panicked me for a minute there so after shoving it in and closing the oven door, I couldn't help but stare nervously for ages (knowing full well I couldn't stare it to rise but it's the same reason people press lift door buttons continuously - gives the mind something to do). Thankfully, after a loooong hour or so, it rose! And I think if I had left it in longer it would've gotten more crispy but I was in a rush to go off so I ended up taking it out when it was still a teeny bit moist on the insides.  



I must say though, that I think my dad liked this bread a lot more than I did. :p For one thing, it ended up a little too moist for my liking (my bad for taking it out when it could've stayed in the oven longer) so it ended up crumbling over easily like a cake. Plus, the mix of spices make it more savoury than sweet and I was hoping for more of a sweet pumpkin type of bread. There's something about the taste/scent of cloves that borders on pungent to me. O_o But according to the reviews on All Recipes.com (by more than 5000 bakers!) it's supposed to be a great traditional Maine recipe. Good enough as a first try for me!
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So to anyone who is celebrating Thanksgiving, what will you all be doing? :) I love the idea that it's an opportunity for everyone to get together, reflect and give thanks for things in life. We don't really need a holiday for that but it sure makes things tastier. Xoxo

Montreal in March

The one thing I'll always sort of chide myself for is not really having researched beforehand about Montreal before I'd applied to do my elective there late last year. :p There were only a few things I knew -- 1. McGill is a great university 2. Montreal is in Canada 3. Everyone who's been to Montreal has said it's an amazing place. And with that, I applied to do 2 months of electives there! :) Pretty reckless bold eh? It was only after I'd got accepted that I actually did some googling, namely "weather in Montreal", and only when I saw the digits "-10" did my jaw drop and the question, "What the hell have I gotten myself into??" actually entered my mind. But weather apart, Montreal was FANTASTIC. :) And in fact, at the end of the day, I'm actually glad that I went in March and April because it's not the peak tourist season at all, so it was easy for me to get around. Streets and metros weren't crowded, bakeries weren't extremely packed... And it was the season for sugaring off. It just seems like at any particular time of the year there's always something special to do/look forward to. That's the beauty of being in a place with seasons. 


So here are some photos from the very first week when I went there. My mum had accompanied me to settle me in :D so there are a couple of photos of her in her big Eskimo coat. My sis and I tease her incessantly about it. 
This beautiful building is the City Hall (Hôtel de Ville de Montréal) in Old Montreal or Vieux Montreal. Isn't it gorgeous? :) Horse-drawn carriages! Apparently it's a great experience but I always have a feeling that it's a tourist rip-off. Left: The Pointe-à-Callière museum right in the heart of Old Montreal. It's a great museum to go to at the start of your trip because one of the main highlights is a 20 minute long multimedia show (OMNIMAX style) about the beginnings of Montreal. Plus it comes in about 7 or 8 different languages with a flick of a switch on your headset.
Right: Someone came down from the North pole. :) Maple Syrup tart at Les Délices de l'Érable. This specialty store is pretty famous in Montreal and it's got Maple Syrup EVERYTHING. Maple Syrups of different strengths, maple syrup cookies, maple syrup ice cream among others... A must-go for first timers! Prices are probably a little more expensive too given that it's a specialty store but it's one of the really convenient places to get souvenir snacks when you're hard-pressed for time. I ended up coming here again the day before my flight back to get a whole bunch of maple syrup and snacks for friends and family.  Place Jacque Cartier. I was pretty shocked to see just these huge random blocks of ice. It wasn't snowing or anything so why on earth were they there and in such HUGE ass hunks?? Obviously I'm not well-versed in such natural phenomenons in winter so... away I snapped with my camera. It's a great area to go to during the weekends with plenty of people just milling around, taking a rest at the benches or watching pretty kick-ass street performers doing their thing. A maple syrup stall! I wonder if they only have these in the Winter-Spring period? But these sell a lot of maple syrup snacks, especially the archetypal maple syrup taffy made syrup that's poured onto ice which freezes it quickly and it's then curled onto a stick. Bit too much sugar for my liking. Lunch at a random cafe my mum and I ducked into before going for a play at a theatre nearby. Hot Chocolate and Coffee just takes WAY awesome when you're dying from the cold. Another view of the City Hall. :) I just love it.

The Crab Pot

Whew. I've not blogged so much since...forever!! But since I've got the time now I'm going to churn out as many as possible since there's definitely going to be a hiatus soon enough. ;p Almost done withe the Seattle photos! Then it'll finally be time to work on the Montreal ones. *Chugs down more green tea* (cos I can't stand Red Bull.) So since Seattle's supposed to be famous for its seafood, my uncle brought us to this famous seafood restaurant down by the bay called *drumroll* -- THE CRAB POT. It's fun, noisy, gimmicky and totally family-friendly. Helps that the food is good too!

My Uncle and cousin, Samantha, all ready to EAT. Now for the pièce de résistance:  

HUMUNGOUS amount of crab, oyster, sausage, corn... did I miss anything out? It's a lot of fun just eating straight from the table and basing at crab legs and shells with a wooden hammer. Things fly about at great velocities so they provide you with a plastic bib that you'd be well advise to wear. 

The Crab Pot 

 Seattle Waterfront 

1301 Alaskan Way, Pier 57 

Seattle, WA 

Definitely a must-try for a fun night of dinner with the family. :D

the second New Year of the year :)

As it's 1 a.m. this time now, I should say Happy Chinese New Year to everyone! :) I really had meant to do a little CNY eve post and show some of the photos that I took over dinner at my grandparents' house but but but my mum, sis and I got carried away with the latest episode of Modern Family. :) It's HILARIOUS and if you aren't already hooked onto it, you should definitely start watching. It'll provide endless hours of side splitting laughter and make you feel good on the crappiest of days.

That said, I'm so glad it's the Year of the Dragon this year, because *ahem* I'm one too. X) And so far it's been a pretty good year and there's a ton to look forward to over the next few months so... I'm feeling pretty happy at the moment. But really, it's just because the next two days are public holidays and I'm gonna be stuffing my face with new year goodies and sleeping in and being a total (happy) pig.

Some photos from dinner at my grandparents' house tonight:
    

Isn't Baby adorable??? (yeah, that's her name!) She's my cousin's doggy and she's probably the fattest, laziest, cutest retriever I've seen yet. Most of the times when I go to the house in the afternoons, she's ALWAYS snoozing in a patch of sunlight. I can totally understand that though. It's one of the best ways to deal with the insufferable SG heat. She's usually not allowed inside the house but I guess they let her inside the kitchen since it was raining outside. I thought it was so cute how extraordinarily attentive she was inside the kitchen; watching everyone prepare the food and probably hoping to get lucky. :D



Teehee. Staring at the food on the table!

The CNY eve dinner spread!! There was sooo much good food and there's definitely gonna be more tomorrow. :D Really looking forward to tossing some Yu Sheng tomorrow. 

 

Nian Gao cooked with slices of yam. Not my favorite thing in the world 'cos it's kinda just a big slab of sweet sticky glutinous cake that you get sick of eating after about 3 bites. But that's tradition for you. Appears on the dining table every year. ;p

 

So that's my little niece, Amanda, in the center. She's about 16 months now and is pretty darn adorable. The two people by her side are my mum and dad. I thought it was pretty funny/cute how they were both taking turns feeding her after her main meal was over. My dad was like, "Turn right, and you get some fish maw. Turn Left and you get some bun!" Heh. It was kinda sweet/freaky seeing the two of them feed her that way. Almost seemed like a scene from 20 + years ago when my sis/I were that age. D'awwwww. :)))

Getting up close and personal with Amanda!! She likes going reaaaaaaaaaaal close to the lens; sometimes so close I can't even focus on her! It's nice having a teeny toddler around the house, especially at gatherings. Whenever there's a bit of a lull in the conversation or when people are too full and lazy to talk, all they have to do is sit around and watch that little ball of energy as she entertains herself, not realizing she's also entertaining about 10 other people in the room. ;)

Before I head off to bed and some pre-bedtime reading (soooo happy I've got more time to read now that the exams are over), you must must must watch this awesome video: 

 

This is one of the BEST video clips I've seen hands down. It's basically a promotional video done by Onitsuka Tiger about the legendary Zodiac Race among the animals that decided the order in which they'd be featured in the Zodiac calender. It's hilaaaaarious, especially if you listen hard to the commentary! :D And of course, you get to seen how incredibly magnanimous the Dragon was. There's really just no competition. 

 xx Peace out.