Heavenly Paradise@AdelineAng.com

What is wrong with me?? Allergies (food allergies, particularly) have never brought to my attention for the longest period of time, when I was younger. In North America, food allergy is a norm; peanuts, flour, eggs, seafood etc.

Miles came to learn about his rum allergy in a painful way. His first experience of tasting rum ball (half a piece) resulted in sneezing and runny nose, for a few hours. In the order to be sure that it was rum that triggered the symptoms, he took a bite of rum ball the next day. This time around, it got worse. On top of sneezing and runny nose, he was suffering from watery eyes, stuffy nose; most, if not all of the cold symptoms. It was within a minute or two that his body reacted to the rum that he consumed. The allergy lasted for a week.

Besides rum, some people have allergy to other alcoholic beverage such as  beer, possibly due to the malted barley.

I’ve always been grateful that I’m free of allergies, until two days ago… Together with Miles and his parents, we went to Frank’s Finer Diner for supper. I ordered the Grilled Chicken Parmesan, and Raspberry Sour Pie for dessert. They’ve the best homemade pies ever!

I remembered my neck was itching just as we finished the meal. I couldn’t help but scratching my neck with both hands. Next thing I realized, my arms were itching. I thought it was something in the air that caused the skin irritation. There were spots on my right arm that resembled scars from mosquito bites. I couldn’t figure out when that happened…

About 30 minutes later, I was still scratching… My ears felt warm. When I looked into the mirror, they looked red! So does my neck! I pulled up the sleeves of my sweater and realized that there were rashes on both my arms! Not knowing exactly what happened to me, I approached Miles and told him that “I think there is something wrong with me…” He told me that it was hives, the moment he saw the rashes.

Hives… Could it be a food allergy?? I couldn’t think of anything I had for supper was new to my body system. Later that evening, rashes were all over my neck, arms, thighs…

Just as the name suggested, Melting Moments can easily melt in your mouth! Sharing a similar texture and taste as shortbread cookies, these bite-size Melting Moments are delicious treats! They resemble the Mexican Wedding Cakes, except that the latter contain nuts.

I was excited to try out the cookie recipe that I found here. Some even said that they look identical to snowballs, a festive treat during Christmas.

The soft texture, buttery flavour, a hint of savoury taste, sweet icing topping, and the melt-in-your-mouth nature of these Melting Moments…are simply fabulous!

Ingredients:
(A)
1 + 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup corn starch
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup icing sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract

(B)
1/2 cup icing sugar

Directions:
1. With an electric hand mixer, cream the butter and icing sugar from (A) on medium speed, for 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract.
2. In another mixing bowl, mix together all-purpose flour, corn starch, and salt.
3. Add the flour mixture into butter mixture gradually. Beat until well incorporated.
4. Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour or until firm. Alternatively, freeze the dough for about 30 minutes.
5. Form the firm dough into small balls and lined them about an inch apart, on a lined baking sheet.
6. Bake at preheated oven at 350 F for 12-14 minutes, or until the edges of cookies turn light brown.
7. Cool cookies for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle sifted icing sugar from (B) on the top of cookies.
8. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container up to a few weeks.

* Yield: ~ 5 dozen cookies

I’ve cravings for Malaysian food from time to time. This time around, it’s the famous Seremban Siu Pau! I found the bun recipe on Kuali.com and it turned out fabulous when I tried it the last couple of times.

Yumm…yumm…yummy!

Ingredients:
(A) Meat filling
~ 1 lb chicken breast, cubes
1.5 tbsp cooking oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tsp light soya sauce
1 tsp dark soya sauce
1/4 tsp ground white pepper

(B) Water dough
200g bread flour
60g shortening
2 tbsp white sugar
1/4 tsp salt
120ml water

(C) Oil dough
160 bread flour
100g shortening

(D) Egg glaze
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp evaporated milk

Directions:
1. Heat the cooking oil in wok, and saute onions until brown. Add chicken breast and all other ingredients in (A) to cook.
2. To prepare water dough, combine all ingredients (B) in a mixing bowl. Mix together until a smooth dough is formed. Cover with a damp tea towel for about 10 minutes to rest.
3. To make the oil dough, pour in bread flour in a mixing bowl. Rub in shortening gradually to form a smooth dough.
4. Divide both water and oil dough into pieces (~ 10).
5. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the water dough with a rolling pin. Place the oil dough in the middle and flatten it. Roll up the dough from one end to the other, in a Swiss roll style. Then, roll out the dough flat in a circular shape with the rolling pin.
6. Repeat step (5).
7. Place ~ 1.5 tbsp of meat filling at the centre of dough. Wrap and pleat into pau shape. Repeat procedure using the rest of the dough.
8. Bake in preheat oven at 400 F for about 25 minutes.
9. Remove pau from the oven and brush them with egg glaze.
10. Bake pau in the oven for another 5 minutes, or until they are golden brown.

* Yield: ~ 10 buns

I enjoy watching fireworks; the burst of excitement as the sparkles released into the sky is beyond description. The glittering fire artistically spreads on the wide charcoal canvas. It’s thrilling and fascinating. A loud, roaring crackle followed by bouquets of brilliant colours, forming unique images or patterns. It’s especially exciting to watch the glimmering light falling from the sky, almost hitting my face…..

However, fireworks are usually observed only during special occasions for entertainment purposes. For example, Canada Day and New Brunswick Day celebration in Fredericton. Miles and I have decided to get our own fireworks and set them off on a beach in Saint John. It was very enjoyable, despite the chilly weather in the evening. I enjoy the moments of anticipation as fireworks were set off; never know what to expect until the burst of light makes its appearance for a surprise.

It has been a while since I last enjoyed domestic fireworks. They were banned in Malaysia in the 90′s. In Canada, fireworks are only sold to individuals of age 19 or older. I had the “privilege” to be asked for an ID when I made the purchase ;)

The crackling “ground bloom flowers” were spinning gleefully at their full speed.

Sparklers! I haven’t played them for ages! Miles was moving his sparkler in the air swiftly while I captured this unique image.

There is a variety of blueberries, such as highbush and cultivated blueberries.

Highbush blueberries found in the wild.

Store-bought wild blueberries.

Cultivated blueberries. They are noticeably larger than wild berries.

The “gigantic” cultivated blueberries.

Fresh blueberries are delicious on their own. Having said that, I enjoy them in various baked good. Besides having store baked blueberry mufiin and doughnut, I had fun making blueberry treats myself. Blueberry zucchini cake, blueberry cake, and blueberry muffins. Yumm…

What other ways can you enjoy the goodness of blueberries? How does blueberry jam, syrup, and wine sound?

Blueberry goodies on sale at the farmers’ market.

Try the new blueberry mochi!

Blueberry mochi, filled with blueberry jam.

A healthier blueberry cake? How about blueberry zucchini cake? Marie came out with the idea of baking the cake, with the help of Miles and I. It turned out to be tasty! My all-time favourite topping added a unique texture to it. The cake would have been better if it’s more moist. Happy baking!

Ingredients:
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
3 tsp vanilla extract
2 + 1/4 cup white sugar
2 cup shredded zucchini
3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 cup fresh blueberries

Topping:
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp margarine
4 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:
1. In a mixing bowl, mix together the eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and white sugar. Fold in the shredded zucchini.
2. In a separate bowl, combine all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon.
3. Pour in the flour mixture gradually into the egg mixture. Fold in the blueberries.
4. Transfer batter into 2 round cake pans and 1 loaf pan.
5. Prepare topping by mixing all the ingredients with hands, to form crumbs. Sprinkle topping on the batter generously.
5. Bake in preheated oven at 350F for 50 minutes, or until cooked.

* Modified from Allrecipes.com

Acadia, is another name for the Canadian Maritime provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island), as well as Maine in the United States. Among these places, about 86% of the total Acadian population settled in New Brunswick. Acadians are known as the descendants of the 17th century French colonists.

The Acadian Day is celebrated annually on August 15th. It’s a celebration of the Assumption of Mary. The date of celebration was set in 1881 in Memramcook, New Brunswick, at the first National Convention of the Acadians.

In conjunction with this special occasion, there were bouquets of flowers on sale. How were they special? These flowers came in yellow, blue, red, and white; just like the Acadian flag! How nice… The blue roses were especially precious. I’ve been wanting to get some in the past, and my dream came true… when Miles handed me this unique bouquet of flowers as a surprise gift. ^v*

A bouquet of red, white, and blue roses; matching colours of the Acadian flag.

The red rose.

The white rose.

The blue rose.