Halloween Witch’s Hats - Day 24

Halloween is just around the corner, so I thought maybe I can create something for the occasion. The Jelly mould looks so much like the top part of the hat so I used them to make the hat. They are simple enough that your children can make them with you and decorate it whichever way they like it. This is my first time trying to make something with rice krispies and man, it is a challenge. It took me two days just to make these two hats and I suck at decorating it. It looks more like kids’ hats rather than witch hats. Anyway, I gave them to my friend kids and I hope they like it.

Memorial Day 2011

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. Service Members who died while in the military service.[1] First enacted by the an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)[2] to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War – it was extended after World War I to honor Americans who have died in all wars.

Memorial Day often marks the start of the summer vacation season, and Labor Day its end of summer. Begun as a ritual of remembrance and reconciliation after the Civil War, by the early 20th century, Memorial Day was an occasion for more general expressions of memory, as ordinary people visited the graves of their deceased relatives, whether they had served in the military or not. It also became a long weekend increasingly devoted to shopping, family get-togethers, fireworks, trips to the beach, and national media events such as the Indianapolis 500 auto race, held since 1911 on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!!

Today the 15th day of the 8th month according to Chinese Lunar Calendar and Chinese from all over the world celebrates the Mid Autumn Festival. This festival originated from farmers, back more than 3,000 years ago celebrating the end of their summer harvest and it seems on this date, the summer moon is at its roundest, fullest and brightest. Traditional foods for this celebration are of course, the mooncakes. For more information about the festival please refer here .

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival everyone!!

The Spirit of Hari Raya Feast

Each year, Malaysians from all walks of life, irrespective of their ethnic origin and faith join hands to celebrate the Hari Raya Aidil Fitri together with their Muslims friends. This celebration that falls on the first day of Syawal (the 10th month of the Islamic calendar) is celebrated with great enthusiasm, especially after the Muslims had completed a month of fasting during Ramadan (the 9th month in the Islamic calendar).

Besides the sumptuous array of delicious food, songs and dances, this festive celebration inculcates the spirit of sharing, caring and forgiving. Similar to the Thanksgiving Day celebration, the Hari Raya Aidilfitri instills Muslims with the need to seek forgiveness and blessings from other fellow Muslims and friends. In this way, Muslims can fortify their relationships among their friends and relatives by choosing peace and harmony as their way of life.During this month-long celebration, Muslims will invite their relatives and friends over to their homes to join in the celebration and merriment. This special invitation – which is open to all visitors, irrespective of their race, creed and social status – is generally known as the “Open House” – a tradition that our foreign visitors find very fascinating. Primarily, the objective of the “Open House” is to create harmony and forge a better understanding among friends and relatives. This is the time of the year that you can sample the most delicious dishes from the traditional Malay culinary repertoire.

Steamed Fruit Cake

Christmas is still a long way to go and why am I a baking fruit cake? Oh well, I am trying out one or two recipes now and if I like it I will bake it for the coming Christmas. I will usually use my old fruit cake recipe but I am a bit bore with it so I want something different this year. Today I tried out the famous CMG Kek Kukus Buah Buahan or Steamed Fruit Cake . I aged this cake for a few days before cutting into it. This cake is really moist and full of caramel flavor but a bit too sweet for me. If not it will be perfect. So the next time I make this I will cut down on the amount of sugar. I have another half of the cake left and will try it out in a few weeks time and see if there is a different in taste.

Ingredients:

375 g mixed fruits (I used raisins, currants, cranberries, pineapple, papaya and apricots)
250 g butter
150 g brown sugar (I used light brown sugar)
3 large eggs
¼ cup almond flakes (I used walnuts)

Chinese Dumpling Festival/Dragon Boat Festival

On the 5th day of the 5th lunar month of the Chinese calendar the Chinese all over the world celebrate the Duan Wu Festival 端午节, also known as the Dumpling Festival or Dragon boat Festival. This festival is celebrated by wrapping the glutinous rice with bamboo leaves. The festival commemorates Qu Yuan 屈原, a patriotic poet from the Kingdom of Chu 楚国 during the Warring States period 战国时代 who committed suicide upon hearing the fall of Chu’s capital city to the Qin. He was believed to have drowned himself in the Miluo River 汨罗江 on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month in 278 BCE. Civilians around the area row their boats out to try to save him or to recover his body. They beat on drums and gongs to frighten away fishes and sea creature to prevent them from eating his body. When these efforts proved futile, they threw rice dumplings into the river to prevent the sea creatures from attacking his body.

Qu Yuan came to symbolize patriotism and on his death anniversary date, it became a custom to organize Dragon boat races 赛龙舟 and to consume dumplings 粽子. For more details about the festival you can read it here .

Each year we brothers and sisters look forward to this festival as we love eating our mom’s homemade traditional dumplings which filled with chestnuts, mushrooms, black eye peas, pork and salted egg yolk. I know we can buy these dumplings but mom's one is the best. The last time I had my mom’s dumplings were many years ago as I am never home during this time of the year. She taught me the techniques of wrapping the dumplings many times but I can’t seem to get it right. I tried making it once but gave up half way through the process and end up steaming the rice in bowls rather than wrapping it in bamboo leaves