I made three attempts at Gingerbread cookies using this recipe, but I think some of the measurements were off, e.g. our eggs are smaller than those in the US and our measurement units are different, so here’s a Singapore version.
I’ve also eliminated/simplified some of the ingredients, e.g. used self-raising flour to eliminate the need to use regular flour and baking powder/soda.
An absolute newbie should be able to bake these!
Servings: Lots of tiny bite-sized cookies.
Ingredients
300g self raising flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger (add more if you like more “spice”)
3/4 tablespoon ground cinnamon (add more if you like more “spice”)
60 grams unsalted butter
130g brown sugar (NOT raw sugar)
90g molasses sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 regular egg (the local egg you buy in 10s, not the “large” egg)
Equipment
Large mixing bowl (for wet ingredients and final mix of wet + dry)
Medium mixing bowl (for dry ingredients)
Whisk
Aluminium foil
Measuring spoons
Digital weighing scale (accurate to the gram)
Oven, or airfryer — see instructions below
Dough Preparation
In the medium mixing bowl, prepare dry ingredients by mixing flour + salt + ground ginger + ground cinnamon.
In the large mixing bowl, prepare wet ingredients by first beating butter + brown sugar + egg on low/medium speed until well blended.
Add molasses + vanilla to wet mix essence and continue to mix until well blended.
Here’s the part you need to pay attention to. Start mixing the dry ingredients into the wet. Pour just enough dry ingredients to cover the wet mix, then start folding. Continue doing this until you feel that the dough texture is correct. You should have a little bit of flour left behind. Remember — you can add, but you cannot remove!
Let the dough sit, or put into a fridge for around 30 minutes to an hour.
Baking
Meanwhile start preheating your oven to approx 180 degrees celsius in non-convection mode. Air fryer — reduce to 160 degrees celsius (I have yet to try, but will try it maybe tomorrow).
Start rolling the dough into tiny 4g (small) or 6g (large) balls. You need to use an accurate weighing scale for this.
Line the baking tray with aluminum foil, lightly flour the surface to prevent sticking.
Flatten the dough with a flat-bottom cup to make a cookie. It should not be too thick as it will rise in the oven.
Space cookies about 4-5cm apart.
Bake cookies between 7 to 10 minutes. Shorter = softer cookies. Small cookies (4 grams) are OK to remove around 8 minutes. Large cookies (6 grams) should start getting crispy near 9-10 minutes.
After baking, quickly use a thin spatula or knife to flip the cookies and allow them to cool.
Bake one batch at a time, let them sit for a while before trying them. They will turn crunchy once they cool. Don’t eat them hot or you’ll get a sore throat!
Have fun baking! Let me know how your cookies turn out!
An old college friend was planning a trip and asked if anybody wanted to tag along. Having been through several continuous weeks of noises from the upstairs dwelling (school holidays, ya) I thought to myself: “Why not?” It was also a good opportunity to catch up with an old friend.
So we (me + wife + friend) booked a trip to Turkey — a place I never thought I would go. Now that I have returned, I’d say I have no regrets.
Singapore to Istanbul to Cappadocia
We flew direct from Singapore to Istanbul, then caught a domestic flight to Cappadocia immediately after. It was pretty late by the time we arrived so we did some light shopping around the town of Goreme and then retired to bed so we could be up before 5am the next day to catch our hot air balloon flight.
Sunrise with hot air balloons in the background. Taken from the Kelebek Cave Hotel in Goreme, Cappadocia.
Hot Air Balloon, Rose Valley and Kaymakli Underground City
Pick-up service was at 5am, followed by some paper work and a simple breakfast. The actual balloon flight started around 6am and lasted an hour. We returned to our hotel for the really awesome breakfast spread before joining our day tour to the Rose Valley (no roses in summer, unfortunately) and the Kaymakli Underground City.
Crawling through the narrow tunnels of Kaymakli Underground City. I’m 1.8m tall and ahead of me is a ~1.5m lady — imagine my agony.
Ihlara Valley and Selime Monastery
Day two was a full day (6-7 hour, ~14km) hike with a private tour guide along the Ihlara Valley. A picture speaks a thousand words.
View from the bottom of the Ihlara Valley in Central Anatolia, Turkey where much of the vegetation couldn’t shield us from the scorching summer heat (~38ºC).
At the end of the hike was the Selime Monastery, where some say it is where some Star Wars scenes were filmed. It certainly resembles Tatooine, but I could not find an exact resemblance after Googling. Maybe I’ll watch all three episodes again and take a screen grab if I see it.
The Selime Monastery lies above at the higher section of the rocks in this picture and is a surprisingly short 10-minute hike up, but what’s more important is how this resembles Tatooine in Star Wars.At the top where the monastery lies.
By the end of day two our feet were sore. A Turkish bath and a nice dinner at the hotel fixed everything.
Goreme Open Air Museum and Love Valley
We spent day three touring the Goreme Open Air Museum. I must emphasize that the extra tickets to the Dark Church is definitely worth the money if you are planning to go. Unfortunately, no photo taking was allowed (so they can sell their postcards, etc.)
We also attempted hiking through the Love Valley but it was too hot to continue, so we chilled out at a small hut, bought some drinks, took a couple of photos and returned to the hotel.
The Love Valley, where rock formations looks, urm… erect. A lone sunflower stands in the blazing hot summer sun.
Cappadocia to Istanbul to Izmir, drive to Sirince
Day four was spent flying domestic from Cappadocia > Istanbul > Izmir, where we picked up our rental diesel Hyundai Accent from Erboy Car. Fuel is extremely expensive in Turkey (around TL 4.70 or US 2.20 for a litre of diesel) so a fuel economical diesel is a must.
It took me a while to get used to the left-hand-drive traffic. After a stressful drive through extremely narrow streets of a small village Sirince, we arrived at a small terrace house where we spent the night.
Ancient city of Ephesus, Basilica of St. John and House of Virgin Mary
The ancient city of Ephesus was a short 10-15 minute drive away from Sirince. It is a big city so if you are driving you’ll likely have to walk up and then walk the same distance back to your car.
I read about tourist traps offering “free” return bus rides, so we took the advice of the locals (from the village of Sirince) to park the car at the lower (south) gate, catch a horse carriage ride up to the upper (north) gate then walk back down towards our car.
Catching a horse carriage ride from the south gate to the north gate is a quick way to ensure you don’t get caught in tourist traps offering “free” return bus rides that may quickly turn into carpet purchases.If there’s just one place to visit in Turkey, it’s got to be the ancient city of Ephesus. Some say it is better than Rome. Be there early — it can get very crowded in the afternoon.
By noon there was quite a crowd and I couldn’t get good pictures despite having my GoPro mounted on a long monopod. We left and drove to two other ancient sites nearby; The Basilica of St. John was nice, but nothing was left of the ruins of The Temple of Artemis except for one rebuilt pillar (I’d suggest not to waste your time).
While the basilica looked grand from the outside, the interior is only partially excavated. A large part is still covered in earth.
We also drove up the mountains to the House of Virgin Mary. Unfortunately no photography was allowed and we left empty-handed and started our long journey to Pamukkale where we stopped mid-way for grocery shopping and … McDonalds!
After checking in to the Tripolis Hotel at Pamukkale we couldn’t resist the pool after five days under the hot sun. The view of the Travertines from the pool was amazing.
Taken from the pool at the Tripolis Hotel in Pamukkale. Service was lacking, but the pool was worth the money.
After a refreshing swim we proceeded to gobble down our complimentary dinner — which not very fantastic but had a fancy belly dance which was somewhat entertaining.
Travertines, Hierapolis and Paragliding
We set off a little later than usual on day six and made our way to the Travertines. We spent maybe an hour soaking in the limestone spring waters before we hiked to the Theater of the Hierapolis. The entire Hierapolis is massive and it was too hot out, so we did not continue.
Theater of the Hierapolis in Pamukkale.
We did, however, see people paragliding and went hunting for a paragliding company, joined them, and paraglided past the Hierapolis and Travertines.
Travertines and Hierapolis from up above. Can you see the Hierapolis Theater?
We probably spent too much time paragliding so we skipped two archeological/ruins and drove straight to Bodrum.
Our rental Hyundai Accent 1.6 CRDi Automatic by the beach at Bodrum.
We spent the evening enjoying a nice seafood meal (we haven’t had proper seafood yet) and watched the finals of the World Cup (Germany won) at a bar. Yes. Seafood, beer, world cup in Turkey by the beach. What could be better?
Yatches against the sunset at Bodrum.
Istanbul, Mosque, Mosque and more Mosques
We took a flight from Bodrum back to Istanbul where we remained for the rest of our stay in Turkey. The first thing we did in the morning was to visit the Blue Mosque.
Blue Mosque, Istanbul opened in 1616.
We also visited the Ayasofya, the Basilica of St. John, then wandered to the Grand Bazaar where our friend found the Suleymaniye mosque, which in my opinion, was a nicer mosque to visit. The Suleymaniye Mosque is not only bigger, it is about 50 years older than the Blue Mosque. What’s interesting is that the Suleymaniye Mosque’s architect Mimar Sinan was the teacher of the Blue Mosque’s architect Sedefkar Mehmed Agha, and because the teacher probably knew better, he designed the mosque with ventilation ducts which prevented the interior walls from turning black from candle smog in the old days before electric bulbs.
Interior of the Suleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul opened in 1558.
We took a tram, then switched to a bus to get to the Chora Museum. Apart from the Dark Church in the Goreme Open Air Museum, this is one of the most beautifully preserved churches we’ve seen.
The Chora Museum is a must-visit place in Istanbul. Getting there can be confusing, though.
The last few days were spent — well — shopping! No Singaporean goes overseas without shopping! There are many touristy shopping districts in Old Istanbul (European Continent). The popular ones are the Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar. I’d recommend not buying anything at the Grand Bazaar, and maybe some spices and coffee grounds from the popular store Mehmet Efendi at the Spice Bazaar. These two tourist districts are filled with unmarked prices and touting shopkeepers. Once you’ve seen those two places and had photos taken, take a tram and head straight across the bridge to New Istanbul. There’s a big shopping district/street starting from Taksim Square headed towards the south(west).
The Spice Bazaar is filled with touting shopkeepers, but ranks better than the Grand Bazaar in our opinion. But hold on to your money and travel across the bridge to shop along the shopping district near Taksim Square at New Istanbul (European continent) instead.
July 7-20, 2014
Caveat: July is probably during the worst time of the year to visit with the combination of hot summer and Ramadan (fasting month for Muslims). If you think hot and long summer days weren’t tiring enough, imagine being constantly awoken at 2am by drums for Muslims to have their pre-dawn meal.
2013 has been yet another crazy year, although much better than 2012. A summary of what I have learnt in 2013: –
Patience is a virtue, especially when driving. (Easier said than done.)
If you ask, you shall receive.
Expectation is a bitch. Expect less and you may be happier.
In order to grow yourself you need to grow those around you.
Regrets are meaningless. Instead take them as lessons learnt and make the best of it.
Money is a tool. Use it to buy more experiences, not things.
Stock markets are dominated by computer bots. Be weary. Do not trust reports from trading firms.
It’s never too early to plan your finances. Track income & expenses in detail. Document your net worth monthly.
Healthy food costs more, unfortunately. If you can afford it, eat healthier instead of getting a $60 haircut. I went to QB house for the entire of 2013.
Was having dinner at Qi Ji Tiong Bahru Plaza when a guy found the empty seat beside us and placed his bag to “chop” the seats.
Mind you it was a table for six. Me and wife were seated across each other at one corner, so there was space for four. That guy placed his bag in the middle seat beside wife.
--Me----**----**--
[XXXX][XXXX][XXXX]
-Wife--Bag----**--
One boy came over and asked if the seat was taken, the man said no YES. (Edit: Sorry, he said YES, meaning the seat was taken.)
Then he went to queue for food and came back. Guess what? Yes, he was alone. But the best part was he sat in the following seat labelled as Ass, leaving two empty unoccupied seats across him.
--Me----**----**--
[XXXX][XXXX][XXXX]
-Wife--Bag---Ass--
Then as he started on his laksa, he didn’t like the chilli, so he scooped it and poured it on the table top, leaving the mess behind so the next guy in line had to either wait for somebody to clean the table or avoid the seat.
Mind you this guy was not some old grouchy uncle you may be thinking. He’s a young man, well dressed, well groomed, wearing that few thousand dollar watch Bvlgari watch.
I was tempted to take a photo of him, but I didn’t. Me and wife decided to clear the place and grab a coffee instead.
Had a picnic with wifey, Francis and girlfriend last Saturday morning. I volunteered to prepare egg mayo (just the filling) since Francis would be getting melons, parma ham and bread.
We arrived together at the Botanical Gardens at 9.30AM, found a spot under a tree and started munching away at the delicious food.
Stan who had initially turned down the picnic decided to tag along rather last minute. He called Francis and offered to bring hotdogs.
And this was how he arrived:
Those were the only hotdogs he brought along.
Anyway while we were halfway through our food, some people with dogs jogged past us and Stan’s dogs started barking.
We turned around and saw two beautifully groomed Pomeranians and their gay owners.
Then when Stan’s dogs jumped up and started running towards the two Pomeranians, Stan held the leash back and made a classic statement…
I must say it was the best trip so far. Sydney (New South Wales) was nice, but Melbourne (Victoria) was really such a beautiful place, and I absolutely enjoyed the scenic drive along the Great Ocean Road. I will certainly return again!
Panoramic view from the Three Sisters at Blue MountansBeautiful Beaches
On our way to the Great Ocean Road, we dropped by Pettavel Winery and Restaurant in Geelong for lunch and the food was awesome (so was the wine). We even saw people fly in via Helicopter so it must be really good. I’d highly recommend anybody going past Geelong to have a meal there. A decent meal with a glass of wine averages around S$40-60 per pax.
Fine Dining at Pettavel
The 2010 Holden Commodore SV6 with a 3.6l V6 engine we rented was also extremely fun to drive and handled really well around the winding coastal/mountain roads.
Apollo Bay Motel and Holden SV6
We also took a 10 minute heli ride in a Robinsons 44 which was worth the experience!
12 Apostles taken from the HeliRobinsons 44 landing
And of course there’s no visiting Australia without coming into contact with Seagulls. Here’s a really fat one.
