Mini egg tart (custard tart)

Time for Potluck! I made mini egg tart, cute and yummo~~~~~

(1) tart crust:

Beat 5 tbsp soft butter and 4 tbsp icing sugar (add one tbsp once) until the color turns white and the mixture becomes very creamy. Sift 12 tbsp all purpose flour and 1 pinch salt into the cream and fold until it forms a smooth ball. Knead a little and then chill for 10 minutes.

(2) tart filling (custard, about 1/2 cup):

Heat 75 g evaporated milk and 20 g sugar, whisk until sugar is totally dissolved. Cool to room temperature and then add 1 beaten egg, mix well and drain to remove bubble.

(3) tart:
Roll dough into a cylinder, evenly divide into 12 parts, roll each one into flat dough and then put into non-stick mini muffin pan. Fill with filling (around 80~90% full). Bake at 375 F for 20 minutes. When the tarts are not hot, de-mold and cool on a wire rack. Don't leave tart in the pan for too long, otherwise it won't be perfectly puffy.

Happy holiday!

Gorgeous roasted pork loin

Pork loin, is one of my favorite type of meat, which has clear texture and very juicy no matter how I cook. Most of time, I would like to shred the meat and stir-fry in a Chinese cuisine way. For holiday, I thinly slice the meat and then grill them on my cast ion pan -- with the beautiful grill mark, it makes the holiday more joyful. However, sometimes, I am too lazy to be creative. Then, the easiest way is, as that I do today, roasting the whole meat. Still tasty, actually, and, you can see, how gorgeous the color is!

First of all, marinate pork loin with any kind of my favorite source. Today's sauce is very simple, a mixture of dark soy sauce, sugar, salt, white pepper. Don't forget to puncture the meat all over with a fork for the sauce to soak in well.

Then, place the marinated meat fat side down on the rack with a drip pan underneath; for the first 40 minutes, use 400F and for the rest of 50 minutes, use 375F. Brush the meat with marinate every 30 minutes.

Dinner is ready:

Ruby Tuesday

This is a season of pomegranate. Very pretty, eh? A bowl of ruby.

Today is Tuesday, which reminds me of the song, and one professor I met in Quebec, who is now living in the heaven.

My home grown bean sprout

Have you ever seen mung bean, little tiny greenish bean? That's the raw material of bean sprout. It is easy to home grow the bean sprout, and believe it or not, it tastes totally different from the one sold in supermarket -- very fresh, very very fresh.

(1) Soak 2 tbsp dry mung beans in water (room temperature) overnight or 12 hours.

(2) In a 4 L icecream container, place a wet towel at the bottom, add some water (the level is just over towel).

(3) Evenly place the beans on the towel and then cap the container, put the container in a dark and warm place.

(4) Check the water level very 12 hours, add some water if necessary, but never let the beans soaked into the water. What happens in the container? Let's peek in the container on the second and sixth day:

Well, how much can I harvest?

Walnut date muffin

This muffin, is a healthy tasty one --nutty soft little bread with sweet date flavor.
Muffin is easy to prepare, just remember, never over-blend, it always comes out to be perfect.

Ingredients:
(1) Dry mixture: 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour, 4/3 cup all purpose flour, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, whisk together;
(2) Wet mixture: 1/2 cup milk, 6 tbsp oil, 2 large eggs, combine together;
(3) Nuts mixture: 11/4 cup walnut and 1 cup pitted dates, both coarsely chopped.

Directions:
(1) Stir dry mixture into wet mixture, mixing just until moistered.
(2) Fold in nuts mixture.
(3) Preheat oven to 400F.
(4) Add batter to lined muffin pan, bake for 20~23 minutes until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean.

We love this muffin.