I went to the Japanese bookstore near my workplace that sells used books at bargain prices. Previousy, I have already bought 2 cookbooks from there – one on breadmaking and the second on tea-related recipes. And this time round, I bought another book on hotcake mix recipes for $4. Never mind that I only recognise the pictures in the books, I’m already amazed by the variety of products that can come out of an ordinary-looking hotcake mix. Hotcake mix – as the name suggests – is to make hotcakes. Yet the book actually recommends recipes to make cakes, breads etc. It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it? I suppose I can just follow the recipe according to the pictures and see what comes out of it!
My latest addition to the cookbook family
I can’t explain the impulse that made me agree to part money from my wallet, but I have quite a soft spot for good and interesting cookbooks. The range of my cookbooks varies from the all-rounded types, to peranakan, to dim-sum, to sauces, to tarts, to mooncakes etc. Some are self-bought, some are gifts, but all hold a very special place in that antique bookshelve of ours in the past, and recently their temporary holding place until they find their new place of belonging in the house. At the very least, I hold the belief that if I follow the recipe closely and interpret the instructions correctly, I shouldn’t fail that badly. I believe whoever the author of the cookbook is, he/she would have spent tonnes of hours in the kitchen perfecting their treasured recipes and there must be some hidden gems within that caught the eyes of the publisher who then decided to publish into a book for sale. I used to blame the books and recipes when I failed in the past, but then I realised with time that it was my own misinterpretation of terms like “stiff peaks”, “beat”, “fold in”, “whisk” that resulted in the numerous failures that I experienced in the past.
My recent success is the cashew nut cookies from my peranakan cookbook. It was CNY and I was cravng for some cashew nut cookies desperately and I decided to bake one of the nights and 1.5 hours later, I was happily munching on them. Not quite similar to my childhood memories yet, but it was still satisfying nevertheless.
Fresh out from the oven!
My all-time favourite CNY goodie
The internet is also a wonderful place to source for good recipes. While some of my favourite recipes are adapted from the internet, I have also been thoroughly disappointed with some recipes after spending a fair amount of my time meddling around in the kitchen. So far my experiences tell me internet recipes can be on the opposite ends of the spectrum, so there’s always a gamble involved. Like what I have learnt, tempting pictures on the net doesn’t necessarily mean successful recipes for you, so discretion is absolutely needed!
Till the next time I have the opportunity and time to bake again, I shall continue to oogle at the pretty pictures in my cookbooks and online to satisfy my baking craving visually!