Aside from Minny Jackson's never-ending plug about the use of crisco, I personally think one should really have Crisco in their pantry.

I used to only use it in baking. Then when I started making fondant cakes, I found out that rubbing crisco all over my hand, keeps fondant off.

Also fried chicken in it, crispy yum.

Then found it very useful when kneading dough. The same way as fondant, it kept the dough off my hand. Perfect!

I suppose other brand works the same way. I just haven't had the chance to try other brand.

I'm all for fresh ingredients. I'm next to a humongous supermarket which I consider my personal disneyland. But, sometimes, I have cravings that cannot wait.

Frozen Calamare Rings is just one of the products that is sanity-saviour for me.

Thaw, season with salt and pepper, dredge in flour and dry. Instant Pub Food!

Sautee in butter, garlic and onion, add a bit of cream, voila! gourmet, perfect for toasted breads.

There're just so many reasons why any fridge should have one of these babies.

Similar Recipe: Crunchy Calamari

Stand Mixers are gift from heaven. You don't know how useful it is until you start making fondant cakes, and boiled icings. These babies are practically saving your arm :P

Yes, your stand mixer will not do everything for you, you still have to work but it's not as hard as if you don't have one with you.

With fondant, the mixing stage all happens in the mixer. The initial kneading stage also happened in there. Once it's no longer sticking on the side of the bowl, that's when I do manual kneading. It's the only way to know when your fondant is ready.

With boiled icing, the part where I'm supposed to slowly pour the boiled sugar on the sides of the mixing bowl while beating is definitely the part my KitchenAid handles very well. I remember doing this stage when I didn't have my stand mixer, both I and my reliable nanny almost burned our arms and fingers and I had sore arms for few days too. There is a stage in this icing process where you have to continue beating the icing in a bowl until it goes down to room temperature. Believe me... it doesn't cool down to room temperature even after half an hour with ice on the sides!

There are so many more complicated tasks that stand mixers make simple, all I say is, you'll never know when you'll really wish you have one with you.

For silly mixing, like basic cakes, pancakes, cupcakes, I normally use my handheld beater. My stand mixer is reserved for big time jobs.

Amazing how useful whipping cream is. Obviously, it's great for desserts, partner with fruits, even hot chocolate.

One of my discoveries is making my own flavoured home-made butter and buttermilk from whipping cream.

How to Make Butter and Buttermilk (click for recipe)

Out of one litre of whipping cream, I extracted 500 ml buttermilk which I use to marinate chicken for frying. This is also essential in making the fluffiest pancake. The butter I got from processing is a huge chunk and so it lasted us for a few days... yeah... I love butter too much. I know I might be skinny as hell but I think my heart is complaining from all the cholesterol, I'm just too young to notice.

The whole process of making your own butter and buttermilk is so much fun that I buy whipping cream a lot, looking forward to the next butter making with my boys.