Cocoa Powder Brownies

A few months after getting the can of half-used cocoa powder and half a bottle of vanilla essence from Qing, I finally found a recipe that can put both to good use.

I have been wanting to try brownies for a while now but all recipes I saw yield quite a large amount and instead of using cocoa powder, they need to melt chocolates from scratch. So imagine my delight when I finally found this particular recipe, which not only includes ingredients I already have on hand, but also do not produce too much, just in case it doesn't turn out right and I had to dump them.

The only thing that didn't come out really right was the size of the baking tray I used. As mine was an oven-toaster, I didn't specifically buy any other sizes of baking tray. So what I had was a little bigger than what was suggested in the recipe and thus, my brownies turned out to be a little thinner than usual. But other than that, all was well. :)

Mom's Cocoa Powder Brownies (recipe from : Recipezaar)

Ingredients :

- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 5 tablespoons cocoa
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions :

1. Combine all ingredients and mix well.

2. Bake at 350 Fahrenheit (about 175 degrees Celsius) for 25 to 30 minutes in an 8x8 or 9x9 pan.

3. Allow to cool before cutting.

Why don't you love us?

Came across this article and was surprised to know that there were 40% of Chinese (are you one of them?) who actually dislike the Fuwa (福娃), the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympics mascots. And what was more surprising was that, the 5 poor things do not even have the support of their creator. "Their creator has bitterly disowned them." was what the writer of the article mentioned.

Seems like the hate for these 5 babies was a result of over-dramaticised imaginations of the superstitious and some bloggers, and was quickly spreading all over, thanks to the Internet. And soon everyone was talking about the Fuwa curse : see here and here.

I guess it’s just the Fuwa’s bad luck untimely appearance, that just happened to coincide with these unfortunate incidents. I’m sure even without these 5 babies around, the creative juices of the people will still run wild and be able to find some other things to blame the disasters/accidents on. No wonder their creator also refused to have any more association with them. If all 5 Fuwa are “used up” for being the curses of the disasters/accidents, most probably the netizens and people will turn to the creator, pointing fingers and accusing him of having the “eye” that can see to the future, or a fortune-teller from the dark side, or some evil force that can summon these horrible disasters by drawing 5 innocent-looking babies, etc.

Personally, I find the 5 Fuwa quite cute. Look at those innocent eyes, and adorable smiles (though I must admit that the panda looks somewhat out of place). How can people say such things about them, especially the Chinese themselves? Comparing them to the other Olympic mascots used (an alien-looking thingy, an ice-cube, a stoned-looking dog), the Fuwas have to be one of the most lovable and meaningful ever. Just look at the promotion video.

Food For Thought

Went for lunch at Food For Thought with Qing on Saturday when we couldn't decide where to go, and happened to stumble across this little eating place. Since Qing had mentioned about this place and neither of us had been there before, we decided to give it a try.

Yes, the entire eating place is that "big". From where I took the picture, the entrance is just a few feet behind me and where that light green piece of glass is, that's the end of the shop, and the width... well, you can see from the picture yourself. Also, the cooking is done just right behind the counter, so expect the place to be a little warm and to come out of the place with the slight smell of food clinging onto you.

There is no waitress to sit you, and there is also no menu for you to browse at your table at your own leisure. The place's so-called menu are a few gigantic chalkboards hung all around behind the counter, which is where to order the food. There are also cutlery, serviettes and iced water near the counter, so that after ordering, you can gather whatever you need then go back and sit down to wait for the food. I guessed these are the reasons why the eatery can boast about having no GST and no service charge.

Qing ordered their "house special", $9.90, which includes the soup and a sandwich, or the salad and a sandwich. She got the set with the Shitake mushroom soup, and the slow-roasted pulled pork sandwich.

What is pulled pork? This was actually only my second time coming across this term. When I first heard it, it sounded kind of torturous, especially if you are a pig.

Ok, back to the sandwich, the orange bits on the pork are mashed sweet potato. The pork tasted ok, with the spicy barbeque sauce. Can't comment much on it coz that was the first "pulled pork" I had eaten. But it was more on the lean side, rather than fatty. The mushroom soup was just normal, in fact, a little on the thin side. More like a mushroom "drink" than soup, as compared to others, it had no tiny chewy bits of mushrooms in it.

You know the meal is normal when Qing eats a little too quietly. There were no constant ravings about the wonderful taste of the sauce, or the stringy pig meat, or the soup. She didn't go "hmmmm... yummy" after the first bite, or showed me the "I can eat another five of these" kind of look.

And she even rejected having a taste of my Basil Pesto Roasted Chicken Spaghetti, $12.90.

I got to admit the use of the wooden dish to serve the spaghetti was a tiny surprise. Other than that, nothing much worth mentioning about the pasta dish. I could taste the salad, spaghetti and roasted chicken, separately, rather than as one complete dish. It was like being served three separate dishes. I'm not sure if it was what the eatery is aiming for. But I didn't really like it.

If I were to ever go back a second time, it would be to try out their strongly advertised home-made desserts, which are mainly cakes. They did looked quite pretty and delicious, sitting on the display shelf.

Baked Cheese French Fries

Ok, don't get too excited, or get your expectations too high. As you can already see from the picture, these cheese fries ain't nothing like your KFC, or New York Pizza's one. (note : if you haven't tried New York Pizza's cheese fries, click on the link and go try it once you found an outlet near you. Yes, immediately.)

Anyway, back to my very pale home-style cheese fries. Got some potatoes and cheese I needed to get rid of, so thus this idea. The baked fries were surprisingly quite tasty by themselves, but some got stuck to the baking tray as I tried to turn them halfway through the baking time.

I didn't dare to bake for too long after I added the cheese in case the top got dried up, and won't have the "stringy" effect when I eat them. All in all, not that bad (I'm quite easily satisfied, especially with my own cooking. haha...). But something to note though, too much of it is definitely going to make you feel slightly sick... coz after a while, everything will start to get too "cheesy".

As for the recipe, I used 2 separate ones (originals : Baked French Fries, Bacon Cheese Fries) from All Recipes and combine them into one, editing to how I made my cheese fries.

Baked Cheese French Fries

1 serving

Ingredients :

- 1 large baking potato (I used Russet potato)

- 1 tablespoon olive oil

- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

- 1/4 teaspoon chilli powder (optional)

- a sprinkle of Cheddar cheese over the fries (amount depends on how cheesy you want it to turn out)

Directions :
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).

2. Cut potato into wedges. Mix olive oil, garlic salt and together. Coat potatoes with oil/spice mixture and place on a baking sheet.

3. Bake for 30 minutes in preheated oven.

4. Sprinkle cheese over the fries, then bake for another 1 - 2 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.

Doraemon's (unofficial) ending

I came across this story while doing a bit of blog-hopping. Though I'm not really a Doraemon fan, but I thought it was quite interesting to see what the ending was like for what was supposedly to be a never-ending story.

According to Wikipedia, there are 3 unofficial finale rumours going around. There are 2 which are kind of pessimistic :

1) It suggested Nobita (大雄) fell and hit his head on a rock. He fell into a deep coma, and eventually into a semi-vegetative state. To raise money for an operation to save Nobita, Doraemon sold all the tools and devices in his four-dimensional pocket. However, the operation failed. Doraemon sold all his tools except for one used as a last resort. He used it to enable Nobita to go wherever he wanted, whichever time era he wished to go. In the end, the very place Nobita wanted to go was heaven.

2) The more pessimistic of the two suggested that Nobita Nobi is suffering from autism and that all the characters (including Doraemon) are simply his delusion. The idea that Nobita was a sick and dying little boy who imagined the entire series on his sickbed to help him ease his pain and depression no doubt angered quite a lot of fans.

The third and final one is the most optimistic one, which is also the most common one circulating around the Internet.

One day,a very normal day, Nobita came back from school and went upstairs of his house. Doraemon was there sleeping, just like the other normal day. "Hey, Doraemon, please wake up, let's play!", but Doraemon does not wake up. Nobita thought that Doraemon is tired, so he went out to play with Shizuka-chan (静香) and other folks.

After few hours, he returned to his home, but Doraemon was still sleeping. Nobita felt something strange, and tried to wake him up. But there was no reply. He became to feel afraid, and tried to wake him up, but whatever he does, Doraemon did not wake up. Nobita exactly knew that something was different. This never happened before. He began crying, but though he screamed or cried, the famous fat-cat-robot did not make a single move at all.


He came up to one idea, and jumped into his desk -the time machine-and went to the future to meet Dorami-chan, Doraemon's sister. He begged her for help, and forced her to go with him back to 1998. After a short trip again back to 1998 by the time machine, Dorami-chan looked all over his brother Doraemon to see what was wrong with him.

After few minutes, she said, "The battery is out." Nobita was relieved, and said, "Battery? So he is not broken right? Please replace or recharge his battery, and put him back like before."

But Dorami-chan shook her head and said, "Nobita-san, should I really do that?" Nobita said "What? what do you mean?" Dorami-chan replied: "His main battery is here, close to his pocket. And it ran out. But originally, he had a back-up battery in his ears, but as you know, his ears were eaten by a rat very many years ago, so he does not have a back-up battery now."

"So what do you mean?" Nobita asked. Dorami-chan replied, "I mean, if I replace his battery, every memory of you will be eternally lost from his brain program."

"WHAT?????"
"Shall I do that?"

Nobita closed his eyes. He cried, but after few minutes, he stopped crying, and quietly told Dorami-chan, "Dorami-chan, thanks for coming here. I will take care of the rest. You have to go back to your future time now." Dorami-chan could not decide what to do, but anyway she hugged Nobita quietly, and she went back home.

After she went back,Nobita carried Doraemon and placed him into the shelf.

............TIME FLIES..........

Year 2010, Nobita grew up.

Since that day, he changed. He studied hard, did not cry anymore, and he lived without Doraemon. He told Shizuka and other folks that Doraemon had to go back to his future, and could not meet him anymore. Shizuka was impressed to Nobita's mysterious appearance which became completely different from 10years ago. They fell in love, and married. Nobita became a scientist. He made a laboratory in his room, and was studying hard with his job all day. He told Shizuka not to come into the room, as it is very dangerous inside.

But one day, he called Shizuka and told her to come in to his room. It was the first time for her to enter his husband's room. The moment she went in, she lost her words ......There was her friend Doraemon, who she used to play in her childhood days. Doraemon was not moving. It seemed as he was sleeping.

"Look, Shizuka, I will plug in from now." Nobita turned on the main switch on Doraemon. Doraemon quietly, very quietly started to open his eyes. It was the moment the inventor of Doraemon became clear. It was Nobita. He studied hard and hard just to meet and talk with his old friend again. Going back and forth of time, Nobita was the one who made Doraemon. He discovered all the programs and archetecture of Doraemon-type-robot. Nobita and Shizuka was crying gently. Doraemon opened his eyes. He looked around, and finally said, "Nobita-kun, did you finish your homework?"

There was the same white clouds in the sky like the times they used to spend together.

.b.l.a.n.k.

Having some kind of writer's block (duh... like real...) these days... can't seem to have anything good to blog.

Or maybe life these days aren't exciting enough...