Steamed Cauliflower with White Sauce

 

My dad made this for us all the time no matter if we’re having rice or potatoes for dinner, and I had just garnered enough guts to attempt the white sauce this past week. It turned out OK, but I could probably use less flour or cook it over the stovetop for a bit longer to remove the “floury” taste. Nonetheless, it came close. To completely remove the clumps, I stuck my food blender in the pot and blend until I got the sauce to completely smoothen and gives the back of the spoon a silky coat.

To make the white sauce, melt butter in a pan and add a few teaspoons of white flour over low heat. Gradually add milk into the pan by the spoonfuls and while removing clumps with the ladle/spatula. Season with salt. Pour over the steamed cauliflowers (or any vegetables or dish) and season with freshly cracked black pepper.

Mushroom Char Kway Teow

Per my sister’s request, I made fried kway teow, but I had limited ingredients so I used sliced black Chinese mushrooms, choy sum, taugeh and egg. The noodles were seasoned with soy sauce, dark soy sauce (sweet kind) and Maggi seasoning sauce and just enough ground white pepper. This is also another Malaysian’s favorite street food.

Buttercream Roses, etc. (My Birthday Cake)

I had been super busy during the holidays, with visits to my ILs in Toronto, and my sister visiting me. I have completed the Wilton 1 Cake Deco course, and the last cake happened to be my own birthday cake I reused the “1st Birthday” candle for every birthday just so that there is a candle to blow out

The roses were too soft because the buttercream was used to practice throughout the course, and we had less than 20 mins to decorate our cakes. The other decorations on the cake are drop flowers, sweet pea flowers, and leaves. Will have to do better next time with the right buttercream consistency. The cake was German Chocolate mix, but I didn’t want to go out to buy caramel and pecans, so I used kaya and coconut flakes instead

Oh and my friends in Toronto surprised me with a cake as well, so I re-used the “Happy Birthday” sign on my cake.. LOL!

And then Andy surprised with 28 red roses on the day of my birthday! BTW, I turned 28 on the 28th of December