Barley and Thermal Pots

A twist to normal barley water, added some lemongrass.

I'm a huge fan of lemongrass so I find this very refreshing; especially when bored with normal barely water.

This drink is very easy to prepare - boil for about 1.5 hours washed barley in some water together with some winter melon (for natural sweetness) and a few bruised stalk of lemongrass.

I've been having a lot of fun experimenting with thermal pots especially cooking soups. They use their own internal heat to 'cook' the food stored in the pot. It also keeps the liquid food warm for at least 8 hours. I find this way of cooking very energy efficient. But having said that, for soups I usually simmer it for at least a good 40 min before putting into the thermal pot for a richer and more flavourful taste.

Recently found them very useful to cook rice too *especially useful if you don't own a rice cooker*. No more lid-on, lid-off. For those of you who cook rice over the stove I'm sure you know what I am talking about. ;)

Wash rice and add in required water. Bring water to boil for about 3-5 mins. Turn fire off, cover and put stainless steel pot into thermal casing. Leave for about 30 mins and viola, you have warm cooked rice. I find this very useful as I can precook rice ahead of time and still have warm rice when you return much later.

For other ideas, check out bentopet's recipes.

Secret to boiling eggs

Just sharing a useful article and tip.

Eggs are a great source of protein and perfect to include in bentos. They are just so versatile and easy to decorate.

I used to think that to get hard boiled eggs, they must be boiled and boiled and boiled until almost the water run dry. Previously, I boiled them in a fierce boil for at least 10 min before deeming them ‘hard’!!! ha ha ha Hence my kitchen disaster the last time, which by the way is rather dangerous as you might have also noted too.

Anyway, ever since I read this article from justbento, realized that I didn’t need to boil the eggs 'dry/long' to get hard boiled eggs. Only have to bring the eggs to boiling point, turn off the fire and cover the pot with a lid for at least 10 min or so. It works and have not looked back since nor added any other blacken pots to my belt!! Not to mention I get to save on gas bills too ya.

This way, with peace of mind, I can have my shower, multi-task, be absent minded, yak on the phone without any worry and basically welcome all distractions until I am ready to handle the hard boiled eggs :)

For ‘extra’ hygiene, always wash the eggs before you place them in the pot of water (just in case it wasn’t washed properly the first time around). Also if the eggs float on water, better check the used by date or otherwise for any cracks.

Now you know the secret and just how REALLY EASY it is to cook hard boiled eggs (without any fuss or fear of possible danger-cum-explosion and more importantly, no blacken bottom pots)!!

Intoxicating Vanilla

Finally got my act together to make homemade pure vanilla extract.

Its pretty straight forward – all you need is vodka (any brand will do, I used 1L Absolute Vodka) and some vanilla beans (6-8 vanilla beans, split).

In about 6-8 weeks, you will get a rich bottle of vanilla extract!!

For more reads, click here and here, otherwise do a google search - seems to be a popular recipe! ;)

Sigh....2 months to go, can't wait!

PS. They make great Xmas gifts too. Not too early to start, probably nice and mature by December!