Carrot and the Stick

Let me eagerly enjoy my sweet carrots.

Carrots are very low in saturated fats and cholesterol.

Good source of dietary fibre, vitamin A and vitamin C.

Carrots can be harvested while they are still immature.
Immature/ fresh-market carrots can be stored for 4 to 6 weeks at 0 degree Celcius and high (95 - 99 %) humidity.
Mature carrots can be stored up till 5 months in the same conditions.



Select carrots which are firm and darker orange, this indicate higher beta-carotene content. Avoid selecting dry, cracked, wilted or limp carrots which are pale in colour.






Cooking suggestions:

1) Raw - Shaved in salads or use baby carrots as vegetable sticks for dipping in sour cream.

2) Boiled - In soups, carrots give a rich sweet taste in soups when coupled with other root vegetables.

3) Steamed
4) Baked

5) Grilled - Grilling carrots makes it crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. We can season the carrots with Thyme and salt lightly. Remember to oil the carrots directly before grilling.

Yum!




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Hot Line SOS - "Kelp Me!"

Kelp are large seaweeds belonging to brown algae.

You normally find them dried in the market.









They are a good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, but can be high in sodium.

Storage Tips:
Keep dried kelp in a cool dry place, away from salt.
Use dehumidifiers if necessary.

Cooking Suggestions:

Always soak dried kelp at least 15 mins before consumption. Different types of kelp require varying times of pre-soaking before they can be consumed.

You can boil them for 5 to 10 mins, again depending on the type of kelp you are eating. Thicker kelp take longer to cook.

I prefer to take my kelp in a light seaweed soup with tofu and dried shellfish.

However, thinner types of kelp, like the japanese wakame does very well in salads too.

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Lori's Lip Smacking Goodness

http://lipsmackinggoodness.blogspot.com/

This blog site gives information on various baking recipes and decoration tips. It has rather comprehensive recipes and methods and also has a wide following.
Highly recommended to visit and try.

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Zucchini

Sweet Zucchini, Where art thou?

Zucchini are a member of the cucurbit family, that means they are in cousins with watermelons, gherkins and cucumbers! They are usually marrows harvested at a young age.

Zucchini have high water content and low in calories. It also contains Vitamins A and C, folate and potassium.

Choose zucchini that are smaller and younger as they are sweeter. It should be firm and heavy with unblemished, bright & glossy skins.



You can store zucchini for 5 days in the fridge. Wash and trim both ends before cooking.

Cooking suggestions:

• Baking - I like to bake my zucchini with a bit of salt and olive oil. You can add a dash of honey on top if you like the light flora fragrance it gives. You can also bake zucchini in bread!

• Boiling
  

• Frying

• Steaming
  

• Stewing

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Microteaching week 15 - High fibre Foods

I wonder where I should start. The path to this micro-teaching that I trod is so new and foreign that one cannot determine where it had started and end.
Being a total newbie in F& N teaching has its various pitfalls and disadvantages. The first is the lack of experience in handling a practical class, and the other the general dos and don'ts.
I can say that this practical session was much tougher compared to when I was conducting Biology practical during my contract teaching.

I was handicapped in experience, knowledge and practical skills. All of which were fundamental in pathing the way for a good practical lesson. The amount of times I repeated the recipe to ensure that I am proficient in baking and decorating sponge cake and the effort spent on researching cake decor was mind boggling. Even so, my preparation was still sticks and bones, barely making a fragile framework for me to work on.
Thankfully, my group mates were very helpful and cooperative. The rough patches of my journey towards micro-teaching were considerably smoothened from their help and opinion.
They were also very sympathetic and gracious to my timetable which often clashed with theirs.

All-in-all I am very grateful to Zul, Amanda and Hana for their support and encouragement during this period of time. Though there were occasional miscommunication due to my ignorance of the subject, they were very tolerant and took time and effort to help me produce a decent micro-teaching product. I sincerely think that without their help, my micro-teaching would not have gone as smoothly and I would have "crashed-and-burned".

I am also very grateful to my Home Economics lecturers for giving me their comments and support during this preparation time. To say that I was clueless is an understatement. They were so concerned for me that I kept getting prodded to do more and more. However, I ended up gaining 5 kg from all the experiments. Thankfully, the knowledge I gained weighted more. Now I need to de-tox.

Amelia and Shu En also gave their assistance by discussing with me what exactly I was putting into my micro-teaching, they also had some tips that they gained from their own micro-teaching that they shared with me, which helped to supplement my thoughts.

This micro-teaching has many learning points. Which I think further reflection and action must be done on my part to ensure that the mistakes that I made will not be repeated.

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Microteaching session 6

Hello...

Microteaching has resumed this week, after a 2-week lecture by MOE HQ personel. Presenting to you dishes by Hilyah, Shuen and Siew Feng!

Topic:

Seafood is a very popular in many cultures and is now a common feature in our local diet. Make a study of the nutritional contribution of seafood and show how you could provide a balanced diet that includes an interesting selection of seafood dishes.

We were greeted with a "kampong" theme setting in the beginning of the lesson. *Slurp!*

Laksa in a coconut!

The all-time favourite dish among most Singaporeans.

Last but not least, otah with pomelo salad!

The microteaching session commenced with a introduction to various spices we could obtain from the Southeast Asian region. We were also taught the difference between herbs and spices.

The first dish we learnt was the making of curry laksa. It was said that the origins of laksa were unknown, but it was suggested that the name of this dish could have originated from the word lakhshah , which is a type of vermicelli. Another theory suggests that it could have come from "la sha", meaning "spicy sand", due to the presence of ground dried prawns which make the gravy taste "sandy".

The next dish we learnt was otah. This name of this dish could have originated from the word "otak", meaning "brains" in malay. Since otah is soft and squishy, it resembles "brains", thus its name.

The final dish, which was the most challenging among all dishes prepared today, was chilli crab. We were taught how to kill a live crab swiftly with just 1 wooden chopstick.

Anatomy of a yummy crab

All that was needed was to invert the crab (of course, with its pincers already secured tightly with raffia), remove the abdomen, position the chopstick at its middle region and pierce the chopstick into the crab after moving ur chopstick a little to the left hand side.

Leave the chopstick pierced in the crab and let it struggle for a while. Remove the raffia strings only after ensuring that the crab has turned lifeless. If it still shows signs of life, pierce with the chopstick into another region of the crab near the centre one more time.

Preparation for this dish was satisfying, especially after experiencing for ourselves how easy it is to kill it. Eat frozen crabs no more! Boiling them alive is no longer necessary also.

Both Esther and I enjoyed all 3 dishes prepared in this session. Laksa was topped with generous amounts of ingredients - taupok, fish cake, beansprouts. Wrapping the otah with blanched banana leaves was fun too, and the ratio of various spices used was just right for me. It was also satisfying to enjoy eating otak made entirely from fish meat! As for the crab, on top of the satisfaction gained from killing the crab, the gravy was sedap! It went perfectly with the steamed chinese buns.

Knitting VS Crochet?

Knitting Versus Crochet

 

This post is a sequel of a random question brought up by the three of us. 

Question post - -> What is the difference between knitting and crochet?

One most distinct difference between the two is the tools used. 

 Knitting requires two needles (top) but Crochet only need a single hook (right).

Another difference is although both can be used to make articles of clothing but crochet work is generally lighter but knitting tends to produce heavier articles like knitted sweaters for winter.

Hope to learn more on crocheting? 

 Step by step guide 

(with video, clear demonstration)

@ Crochet made Easy