Banana Bread

100g sultanas
75 ml water
175g plain flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
125g unsalted butter, melted
130g sugar
2 large eggs
4 small, very ripe bananas, mashed
60g chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Put the sultanas and water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat, cover and leave for an hour, or until the sultanas have absorbed most of the liquid, then drain.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium-size bowl. In a large bowl, mix the melted butter and sugar, beat until blended. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the mashed bananas. Stir in the walnuts, drained sultanas and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture,a third at a time, stirring well after each bit. Scrap into the loaf tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 1 to 1-1/4 hours. When it's ready, an inserted toothpick or fine skewer should come out clean. Leave in the tin on a rack to cool.

Makes 8- 10 slices.

Brief history of tea

Shen Nung (神農), who was a herbalist and scholar. An interesting fact that he only drank boiling water due to the sake of hygiene. One day in 2737 BC, while he was resting under a wild tea tree, a slight breeze brew a few leaves into the simmering water that he was preparing. He found the resulting brew was delicious and refreshing, so tea was discovered.

Apple Walnut Cake

This is not a fancy cake, but an apple cake with olive oil. I read this recipe from Nigella Lawson's book, she suggest use rum to cook down the sultana and use walnut oil. Well, I think the rum's flavour will cover most of the cake and walnut oil is hard to find as well. Thus, I follow her side path to use olive oil and water to cook the sultana instead.

Ingredient: Sultana, walnut, lemon zest, cinnamon, egg, apple and flour.

$18 for a 8 inch. cake.

Glutinous rice ball with black sesame paste 芝麻湯圓

This is a traditional Chinese dessert usually eaten before the Chinese New Year.

In China, every family worship a "kitchen god" in their kitchen. At the end of the year, this god will go back to the heaven to report how this family did over the past year. The family made this sticky ball to glue the mouth of this god in order to prevent him from saying anything bad about the family.

Nowadays, these sweet ball also means reunion due to the round shape. It usually served in sweet soup made of brown cane sugar and ginger. The stuffing can varies from peanut paste to red bean paste.

Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf (Madeira Cake)

This a variation of Madeira cake. Madeira cake is a sponge cake in traditional English cookery. It has a firm yet light texture and is flavoured with lemon and butterly. Madeira cake was named after the Madeira wine, which often served with during the 19th century. An afternoon tea is not really the same without this cake.

$15 per loaf

Poach Pears

4 to 6 pears depend on size (peel, core and cut in quarter)
1 stick cinnamon
1 star anise
1 litre of water
1-1/4 cups of sugar
2 slices of ginger

1. In a large saucepan, heat the water with all the dry ingredients.
2. Slide in the pears and cover with a round of parchment paper with a small hole cut in the centre.
3. Keep in a low boil and simmered until the pears are cook through (about 30 to 50 minutes).
4. Remove from heat and let the pears cool down in the liquid.

History of Rugelach

Years ago, Rugelach was pretty much a treat that Jewish people prepared and ate. It originated in the Eastern European Jewish community. There are many ways to make them and many recipes that are called "Rugelach". Rugelach also is made in many shapes and flavors but typically they are all formed to be the size of a cookie. A classic variety is the traditional crescent shape.

Cooking with sour cream is a Central European tradition with its roots in the Middle East. Cakes, pastries and cookies combining sour cream with fruits, jams, nuts and spices are specialties of this part of the world. According to food historians, contemporary Jewish-American Rugelach (frequently made with cream cheese) descends from this tradition.

These cookies are known by different names in different countries: Kipfel from Germany, Kifli from Yugolsavia and cream cheese cookies from the United States. Presumably, the first recipes for Rugelach-type pastries were introduced to America by immigrants from Hungary, Russia, Poland, Yugoslavia and other neighboring countries. Most of these immigrants were Jewish.

Basically crescent-shaped cookies that comes from the Yiddish word "rugel" (royal), they are also called Kipfel, cheese Bagelach, and cream-cheese horns of plenty in this country. Traditional Rugelach dough is usually rolled out into circles, cut into pie shapes, covered with nuts, raisins, sugar, and cinnamon and then rolled up like crescents. It can also be rolled out into a rectangle, covered with filling, rolled up, and cut into circles. The American addition to Rugelach was cream cheese and a variety fillings used today.