chayohome2020

Go Out And Smell The Roses: Part 1

By Andrea Pavee For the past two weeks, I was away in sunny England. Having never been to England before during the spring/summer changeover, I was swept away at the beauty of nature in all its glorious splendour. Touchdown was at Manchester. Then, we drove through the Yorkshire countryside to reach Scarborough, the first stopContinue reading “Go Out And Smell The Roses: Part 1”

Beginner’s Choice: Tea-time and Breakfast Treats

Healthier muffin options I attended a muffin-baking class recently given by Soo Mui, a food and nutrition teacher, who said that there isn’t such a thing as a healthy cake, but there are healthier options of cakes with healthier ingredients. Her muffin recipe had been vetted by a dietitian. The muffins had oil and milkContinue reading “Beginner’s Choice: Tea-time and Breakfast Treats”

Beginner’s Choice: More of Val’s Amazing Lunchboxes

Nurses not only have to be on their feet the whole day attending to patients, they often have to be awake at night on night shift. Despite her tiredness Val always has a smile for me whenever we meet, and she still finds time to send me photos of her lunchbox meals. Pearl, who isContinue reading “Beginner’s Choice: More of Val’s Amazing Lunchboxes”

Student Specials: Anne Lise’s Superfood Breakfast

Breakfast is a meal many people tend to miss or to rush through, but it is in fact an important meal that has to get us through half of the day until lunchtime. In February we featured the Spanish-style French toast with orange compote, blood orange and beurre Suzette and Dutch pancakes (poffertjes) which AnneContinue reading “Student Specials: Anne Lise’s Superfood Breakfast”

Beginner’s Choice: A Tribute to Mothers

Bianca, who is studying in Australia, sent a photo of the sans rival cake she baked. With a note: “I baked sans rival! A Filipino dessert.” Bianca Sans rival means without rival or unrivalled in French. I had the famous Filipino sans rival cake for the first time in the Philippines. It left an impression!Continue reading “Beginner’s Choice: A Tribute to Mothers”

Beginner’s Choice: Mother’s Day Special

Mother’s Day Celebration Planning Skills Therese, who leads a busy life and hardly has a minute to spare, cooked a Mother’s Day celebration meal from scratch. She was seen preparing beans before she went off to work in the morning. She was again in the kitchen in the evening cooking something else. There were nicelyContinue reading “Beginner’s Choice: Mother’s Day Special”

Home Traditions: Bilis Goreng

By Andrea Pavee In Asia, anchovies are a must in the various types of cuisine, be it Malay, Chinese, Indian and others, available here. Anchovies, or more commonly called, ikan bilis come in all shapes and sizes, and are dried and heavily salted, before packaged and sold in shops. At home, ikan bilis is aContinue reading “Home Traditions: Bilis Goreng”

Sourdough diaries continued!

By Anne Lise Tan Hello everyone and Happy Easter*! If you remember my sourdough post from a few months ago, I started growing and maintaining my sourdough starter, Cricket, at the start of my second university year in London and am happy to report that I have made many successful loaves and sourdough derivatives sinceContinue reading “Sourdough diaries continued!”

Beginner’s Choice: Home-cooked Feasts

April is a month of celebrations for many. People in Thailand celebrated the Thai New Year with the Songkran festival (water festival). Sri Lankans also celebrated their New Year. Yesterday many celebrated Hari Raya (or Eids al Fitr). Sri Lankan New Year Krizia made kiribath (milky rice) and ordered Sri Lankan sweets for the SriContinue reading “Beginner’s Choice: Home-cooked Feasts”

Beginner’s Choice: Easter Brunch

Easter brunch is a tradition in many homes, especially in families that attend the late night Easter vigil. Vici sent photos of her Easter family brunch. I was impressed with Vici’s baking skills. I only knew her as an exchange student in Singapore who cooked well. She baked a typical Easter bread called Osterzopf andContinue reading “Beginner’s Choice: Easter Brunch”