Mini “amuse bouche” pizzas

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Mabel

While preparing pizza for dinner last night – we had a guest over so I had to double up on my pizza recipe below – I discovered that we had some leftover dough. It was enough for a pie pan but I figured that Eva would like it better if it were individual pizza rounds instead of slices. So I came up with a mini version of our pizza!

She absolutely LOVED it! She finished two mini pizzas happily and in less than 10 minutes too! Nil stole a mini to try it out and was absolutely floored by the crunch, flavour and melting textures in just one bite. It reminded us of the Top Chef challenge to make an “amuse bouche” or a one-bite finger food – hence its name.

You can use any topping you desire – last night’s was mushroom, black olives (pitted and sliced), red bell peppers or capsicum with smoked pork belly. I prefer my pizzas with more vegetables than meat so we usually have just one meat topping per pizza. Onions, salami, tuna chunks, ham, beef mince and even pineapples are good choices too.

Oh, a thin crust is important too so don’t forget to add flour and much strength when rolling your yummies out! No extra gear necessary…just good old fashioned muscle strength and I promise it won’t be messy (so put those rain boots aside).

Mini “amuse bouche” pizzas

Pizza dough (recipe from here)
Mozzarella cheese
Black olives
Red bell peppers-capsicum
White button mushrooms
Smoked pork belly
Tomato sauce

Method

Preheat the oven to 220 C and prepare muffin pans.

Roll out the dough thinly and using a glass – or any round cutter which is the same diameter as each muffin mould – cut out circles.

Place each circle of dough in the muffin pan and press down lightly to form an edge.

Spread tomato sauce using a teaspoon and add the toppings – cheese ought to be the last.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese turns golden brown. Serve as is.

Orange chocolate chip mini muffins

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Mabel

I had some dark chocolate chips in the pantry and was wondering what to bake for Eva as her breakfast portions were running out. It so happened that I was rather lazy to make a cake (blame it on knitting, dyeing and other stuff like cotinine tests) – plus her freezer compartment was filled with other stuff like her dinner/lunch meals, Nil’s breads, my ice cream…well, you get the general idea. I was also eager to try out my Christmas gift from my mother-in-law – mini muffin silicon baking moulds. So muffin it was!

Turned out to be a good choice. The size was just right for Eva – I could give her two to three muffins for breakfast and one for a snack without having to half it or deal with leftovers. I was quite happy to do away with muffin cup liners too – no more paper!!!! Definitely a great choice of bakeware!

As for the recipe, the original didn’t call for orange – I bought a few on a whim to make some cake but didn’t have the mood to make it. So rather than let the orange go to waste, I decided to add a tangy twist to it. Orange goes so well with chocolate, especially dark chocolate and definitely no complaints from Eva or us adult testers!

Orange chocolate chip mini muffins
Adapted from Simple Home Baking’s chocolate chip muffin recipe

115 gms butter
70 gms brown sugar
2 eggs
215 gms plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder*
125 ml milk
170 gms dark chocolate chips
Rind from 1 orange
1 tsp orange juice

* Omit if using self-raising flour.

Method

Preheat the oven to 190 C and prepare muffin moulds/pans.

Cream butter until soft before adding sugar. Beat until light in colour and fluffy.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time, before adding in the orange rind and juice.

Sift together the flour (and baking powder, if using), twice. Fold into the butter mixture while alternating with milk. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Fill the muffin cups halfway and bake until lightly coloured – about 25 minutes. Stand for 5 minutes before turning out.

Blog slow-down.

Posted on March 13, 2011 by Mabel

The past week has been quiet – apart from the Daphne Iking post. I did have a couple of drafts but find myself feeling lazy whenever faced with the prospects of updating them.

Offline, my life is hectic despite my recent fatigue and another spell of the common cold, no thanks to colleagues. I’ve found myself doing more knitting and dyeing than anything else – my poor sewing machine has been sitting on the shelf, getting a longer-than-usual rest.

Perhaps this is just a phase – y’know, where bloggers get a little tired of blogging about their lives? O’well, maybe things will pick up again over the coming weeks when I have more to say or get over this constant e-fatigue.

In the meantime, I’ll just enjoy the “silence”.

The case of Daphne-Ryan-Darren

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Mabel

One of the recent scandals making waves is Malaysia – and has been – is the story of the enticement of Daphne Iking. While it didn’t involved Daphne directly, the lawsuit between her ex-husband and former lover has gotten her hip-deep involved as well. It doesn’t help that the details are juicy to boot.

A woman sleeping with three men at the same time, married one of them and continued sleeping with another who is also married. The one she married found out, sue the beejeezuz out of the lover and then lo and behold, both discovered that the woman had another lover who is probably the father of the baby she had!

Along the way, many people have thrown verbal stones at Daphne, more than Ryan or Darren and some step forward to become champions in the name of feminism. The way I look at it, this case has nothing to do with feminism. I do agree that the enticement law under the Penal Code is archaic and sexist but that still doesn’t negate the fact that she broke a contract. Yes, a marriage is a contract of monogamy between two people – just because you don’t believe in it doesn’t mean it isn’t real. When I married Nil, I made a vow to be faithful and so did he, so I don’t know how people came to the conclusion that this vow of monogamy linked to a marriage (and may I add, a relationship) is a delusion. Unless Daphne and her ex-husband had agreed to an open marriage, which everyone knows, is not the case, then marriage is an agreement where both parties are to remain faithful and monogamous.

Now the trouble arises when people go against the contract and hide the truth from each other.

One commentary mentioned something along the lines of how Daphne has been making mistakes. This reminded me of Samantha’s remark regarding bad sex, “F*** me badly once, shame on you, f*** me badly twice, shame on me”. While it’s not the same thing, it does highlight one thing – When does a mistake stop becoming a genuine mistake and end up more as a habit or just a convenient excuse? If one cheats in an exam the first time, fine, people are forgiving – harsh but they’ll still be rather forgiving and excuse it to things like immaturity, lack of reflection and youth. But the second and third time? Can those excuses still be valid?

Yes, what these men and this woman do in private may be none of my business but it makes for a good lesson in sociology plus a chance to reflect on our own values and principles. I will be honest – I am not tolerant of a cheater (man or woman). This is coloured from observation, family history and just upbringing. I have seen what third parties and affairs have done to people and children; and I don’t understand the rationale behind the whole “it’s their own business” or the “I’m living for the day”. Affairs affect not just the people directly involved but family members, especially children. It can affect friends as well. The whole living for the day just points to a lack of concern for oneself.

Having said that, I don’t understand the concept of cheating.If you must sleep around, why be in a monogamous relationship? Also, it is, sad to see, that only the woman is being judged by many people based on the colourful bits of her sex life. No one is certainly labelling Ryan or Darren as cheaters and male versions of the “slut” – now, why isn’t there an English equivalent to that word? I guess this is what happens when we live in a patriachal society. The thing is that in a quest to champion the woman, some have failed to understand that those of us who are intolerant of this case are so because of one thing – cheating and lying, irrespective of who did it to who. If this was a man and the lovers and ex-es in question were women, I’d throw the same freaking fuss as well – remember Tiger Woods, anyone?

Personally, it isn’t the sex life that bothered me. It is the fact that she didn’t see that she was wrong or that she had a role to play in this fiasco. It is the fact that due to her and her bed partner’s actions, everyone else related to them have to be the victims – the baby she had, loved ones like Darren’s wife and family, so forth.